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Hey man, so keep your place in Mark chapter number 15. So tonight we're in the, back in the random characters in the Bible sermon series and I want to do a sermon on Barabbas, this man that we see released instead of Jesus in Mark chapter 15 and in other places that we'll look this evening. But I have two goals tonight and you say, why preach a story about Barabbas? Why talk about Barabbas in the Bible? I have two goals tonight talking about this story about Barabbas who was mentioned just very briefly in the Bible. My first goal is this, is to show you how Barabbas in the Bible is a picture of Satan. And that's the first goal and I want to show you the comparisons and the similarities between Barabbas and Satan himself in the Bible and then I want to show you how this story of Barabbas is used and can be applied as pictures of our lives and that's what I want to show you this evening. So number one, show you how Barabbas pictures Satan in the Bible and number two, show you how that can be overlaid upon our lives, even our lives as Christians today. So look down there at Mark chapter 15 in verse number six. Hopefully I can prove to you this evening and show you this evening how nothing is in the Bible by accident. Nothing that happened in the life of Jesus especially was in the Bible by accident. Everything has meaning and the more you look into those things, the more you will find these meanings in the Bible, the more you read it, the more you study it and the more you understand about the more experience you get in the world, the older you get and the more you know the Bible, you'll just start to see these pictures pop out at you. Look at Mark chapter 15 and look at verse number six. So this is Barabbas, not to be confused with Barnabas, okay? So it kind of sounds the same, Barnabas good guy, Barabbas not a good guy, okay? So we're talking about Barabbas, this man that was released on the Passover by the Roman governor here, Pontius Pilate. Verse number six, it says, now at the feast, he released unto them one prisoner. So this is kind of a tradition that the Romans did for the Jews just to help show their, what do you want to call it? Just to kind of be nice to the people that they're ruling. They would release a prisoner every year on the Passover, whomsoever they desired. And there was one named Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection. And the multitude crying aloud began to desire him to do as he had ever done unto them. But Pilate answered them, saying, will ye that I release unto you the king of the Jews? So of course, they had brought Jesus to be executed by the Romans because the Jews can't execute anybody. And they're trying to falsely accuse Jesus and get him to be killed by the Romans, which they succeed. And then verse number 10, for he knew that the chief priests, so Pilate has no respect for the Jews. You can just see that in almost everything that he says. But he says, that I release unto you the king of the Jews. He's like, do you want me to give you your king back? He's kind of making fun of them, for he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy. So he said that sarcastically, cuz he knew that they hated him, that they didn't want him to, they didn't believe he was their king. But the chief priests moved the people that he should rather release Barabbas unto them. And look at verse, go to Revelation chapter 12. So that's the story in Mark chapter 15 about Barabbas. They instead want this guy released that led this insurrection to be released. So that's the first parallel with Satan about Barabbas right there, is Barabbas led an insurrection. Barabbas led a rebellion against the Roman government. And Satan also led an insurrection. Look at Revelation chapter number 12. Look at Revelation chapter number 12, and look down at verse number three. So Revelation chapter 12, I'm not gonna preach a sermon on Revelation chapter 12, but Revelation chapter 12 is basically explaining a timeline, this great timeline from the fall of Satan, which happened, when did Satan rebel, when did the fall of Satan happen? Sometime before man was on the earth, sometime before that time, all right? We don't know exactly when, but Satan led a rebellion. Revelation chapter 12, that whole chapter is all the way from the fall of Satan, his rebellion, all the way to the arrival on the scene of the Antichrist. And that three and a half year period where the Antichrist makes a covenant with many that we see in the book of Daniel. And then leads that three and a half years of tribulation into the great tribulation before the abomination of desolation and then our eventual rapture, okay? So that's what Revelation chapter 12 is about. It's this symbolic picture of this, all right? Look at verse number three. So the first characteristic about Barabbas that parallels him with Satan is that he led an insurrection. Look at verse number three, we're talking about Satan here. It said there appeared another wonder in heaven, and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns upon his head. So the dragon is Satan here, and his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and did cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man-child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. So right there we know that this man-child is Jesus Christ, okay? Now, who is the woman? The woman is not Mary, okay? This is just a very symbolic way of saying, cuz the woman is described in verse number one as already being. It's not any one person, okay? What you're gonna see is the woman really is representing the Christians. And I guess you could say, I guess I've thought about this, why call it a woman? Why say it a woman? Why is that symbolic? Because the Christians came out of mankind as the woman came out of man, I guess. That's kind of the way I've thought about it. But this is not some particular woman. This is a very symbolic chapter here. No one was clothed with the sun, okay? I mean, literally, this is a very symbolic chapter. But she brought forth a man-child and was to rule the nations with a rod of iron, that is clearly Jesus, this man-child, okay? And the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there 1,203 score days. That could be a parallel of Mary and Joseph fleeing to Egypt, but it's also a parallel of just the Christians being persecuted, okay? Especially in that time, that three and a half year period of that tribulation, all right? So you kinda gotta not put a name to the woman here. You see what I'm saying? And there was a great war, look at verse number seven. And there was a great war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not. So the dragon lost this war in heaven, okay? Neither was their place found anymore in heaven, verse number nine. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, so now we understand who the dragon is, I'm not just making that up. Which deceiveth the whole world, that's important. And he was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him. Now, I wanna give you a little difference that I have even with some friends of mine. And if you have a different opinion about this, it's not a big deal, okay? But I believe that Satan is cast out of heaven. I do not believe that Satan goes back and forth to heaven and to earth. I believe that we're talking about one war here, there was one war. And that comes from things that I see in the Bible, my study of the Bible. That also comes from just this idea of what I believe about angels. And I kinda debated whether or not I should give a detailed angel sermon before this sermon. But I'll give you a couple things about, turn to Luke chapter 10 and verse number 18. So all I have to say this, there was this great rebellion and a third of the angels went with Satan, okay? There was this great rebellion, clearly Satan rebelled. Whether you believe Satan goes to heaven and earth and back and forth right now or not, Satan rebelled against God. There's no doubt about that. But look at Luke chapter 10, let me turn there myself. And look at verse number 18. The Bible says, I mean, just my thought on, I think Satan's not in heaven. He's done, he's on the earth. He's the prince of this world, the Bible says. Look at verse 18 of Luke chapter 10. Jesus himself says, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. So Jesus himself said, I've already seen Satan fall. Jesus was there when Satan rebelled and led the war against, the war in heaven against God. And a third of the angels went with Satan. I mean, telling you that angels are not, you know, these, angels have free will as well. Angels have free will to either choose or not choose God, which is gonna be important with the sermon. We're gonna go a little deep here for a second, but just follow me, okay? I believe Satan fell from heaven, he's done, he's not in heaven. All right? Now go to first Timothy chapter five and go to verse number 21. First Timothy chapter five. First Corinthians 15, here's another reason. The Bible says corruption cannot inherit incorruption, meaning it's kind of using incorruption to describe heaven. Saying our flesh and blood can't go to heaven, we have to be in a glorified state to even go to heaven. Our flesh, you can't go to heaven with this body that you have. Because corruption, which is this body, this flesh, this sinful, you know, vessel that I'm in right now, that you're in right now, it can't be in heaven. So heaven is literally called incorruption in first Corinthians 15, verse number 50, I believe it is. But I don't believe corruption can be there. It doesn't make much sense to me. Turn to first Timothy chapter number five and look at verse number 21. Here's another reason that I don't think Satan goes to heaven anymore. All right? Because look, you have to think about this. We don't know when the angels were created. Okay? Something the Bible just doesn't tell us. You know, when the angels were created. But we know that they were created. Hebrews chapter one talks about how they were created to help with us, you know, to help manage this mess. And then, you know, we know that they were created sometime before, you know, mankind was created. They were already there when we were there. I think it's Psalm 48, I believe, talks about just the creation itself, and angels are listed there. So they are created beings. They're created beings. They clearly have free will if they can decide to follow Satan or follow God. But look at first Timothy chapter five and verse number 21. The question is, why then if Satan can rebel and take a bunch of angels with him, why aren't there more angels that, I mean, is that just a one-time thing? That just happened one time? Couldn't angels, you know, rebel again? Couldn't that happen? Look at verse number 21 of first Timothy chapter five. It says, I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ. And look at this, though. And elect angels, and thou therefore observe these things without preferring one before another, do nothing by partiality. So the only thing I want you to see there is just talking about these elect angels. Now, elect in the Bible is not talking about Christians that were, elect is usually talking about people, usually talking about men and women. But when it's talking about elect in the Bible, it's not talking about people that were chosen by God to be saved. It's talking about simply people that are saved. People that what? People that chose to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. So here he calls the angels. He charges thee before God and these servants that God created, the elect angels, these are the angels that did not go with Satan. These are the angels that are, well, I don't want to say saved because, you know, that's not really defined in the Bible. But these are the angels that stayed with God. Now, angels aren't born. Angels aren't being born just like people are being born. So all the angels were created at one time. And the Bible says in Revelation chapter, actually go to Revelation chapter five in verse number, I guess this is kind of turning into an angel thing. So this is, go to Revelation chapter five and look at verse number 11. I don't want to, you know, kind of gloss over the angels' details. So I think I will give a detailed sermon on that. But the Bible says in Revelation 5, 11, you think about the amount of angels. Okay, so let's just think about the amount of angels. It says, Revelation 5, 11, I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels, round about the throne, and the beasts and the elders, this is in heaven. And the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000, and thousands of thousands. We're talking about hundreds of millions. So if we're talking about a third of a hundred million, we're talking about tens of millions of angels rebelled against God. But here's what I want to get you to understand, and this is what I believe about the rebellion and the war in heaven being one thing, one time, where Satan was cast out, period. I believe it was all the angels were created. They were created by the time that Adam and Eve were put on the earth, the angels were all there. There's no more angels being born every single day and every single year like there are people. There was one choice for the angels. And that one choice, this just seems to make sense to me. That one choice was when Satan rebelled, and it was like you're either with me or you're against me. And there was that war, and some angels chose to stay, and some angels chose to go. So why are there no more rebellions of angels? Because they're the elect angels, they're the angels that chose the Lord. They're the angels that stuck with the Lord when the option of rebellion was given them. Does that mean angels are without sin? The Bible, obviously not, I mean, clearly, rebellion is a major sin. But I believe they're kept by God. This is just my belief. I believe that they chose God. That's why he calls them the elect angels. And they're kept by God just like the believer is eternally secure by God. There was one choice for the angels. There's not angels that are born in 100 years and 200 years. They were already all created. And there wasn't like baby angels, all these different things that men go through throughout history, okay? There was one choice, there was one war, and you either went with Satan or you're one of the elect angels. That's my belief on that. So look, there was one rebellion. And look, you don't even have to believe that angels suddenly become without sin to believe that. Because even Christians, not everyone that sins as a Christian rebels against God. I mean, you could say every sin is a small rebellion. But even a Christian that gets backslidden and falls out of the Christian life, that Christian doesn't necessarily go and fight against God. I mean, some maybe do, but I mean, not all rebel against God. So there was one rebellion. All that to say this, that I believe there was one rebellion and not everyone rebels. So he was an insurrectionist, just like Satan was an insurrectionist. Turn to Genesis chapter number three. Turn to Genesis chapter number three. And I get, you know, Job 1, 6 is the verse that people go to where it says, was it the sons of men came to present themselves before the Lord. The sons of man, or the sons of God, are men that are saved. And where are they? They're on the Earth. I don't think that there's any evidence that that took place in heaven. And it makes sense that Satan would be there, because where is Satan? Going to and fro, where? In his realm, in the Earth. So I think Satan is on the Earth. He's bound to the Earth. He's the prince of this world, meaning the Earth. This is where he is, this is where he operates. But again, it's Bible prophecy stuff, so there's a lot of ways to interpret some of these things that we look at through a glass darkly, all right? But look at Genesis chapter three, and look at verse number one. So the first thing is, Barabbas and Satan were both rebellious. They both rebelled against the Lord. And look, rebellion's a big deal. You know, the Bible says, what Saul said to Samuel, we were just talking about this after church this morning. I believe the statement that he said in 1 Samuel 15 is, rebellion is as witchcraft. But you know what that means is that rebellion is of Satan. It literally comes from, so this is why it's such a big deal if a child would rebel against their parents, because rebellion is as witchcraft. If you rebel against the authorities in your life, that's the kind of stuff that Satan brought to the Earth, all right? Look at Genesis chapter three and verse number one. Here's the second one. He was a murderer. Barabbas was a murderer, and Satan was a murderer. Look at verse number one of Genesis chapter three. The Bible says, now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. And said unto the woman, yea, God had said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the, yea, hath God said, sorry, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? He's like, did God really say that you shouldn't do that? Look at verse number, I'm gonna read for you verse number 44 of John chapter eight that we just went through, where Jesus says, you are your father, the devil, and the lust of your father you will do, talking to the Pharisees. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there's no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. So he murdered with a lie, is what the Bible is saying here, what Jesus is saying in John chapter eight, when he says, had God really said this, and the woman, look at verse two, said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit, now she tells him the truth, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God had said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die. So he killed her with a lie. He killed her with a lie. He lied to her. If somebody says, oh, I'm gonna step into this pit, and I'm worried that I'm gonna die, and she's like, you're not gonna die, just go right ahead and go in there, and then you know they're gonna die when they go in there, you're killing them. You're part of the murder of them. In Romans chapter five and verse number 12, why don't you go ahead and turn there. But look, Satan is the murderer of mankind. Satan murdered mankind through a lie. She died the minute she disobeyed the word of the Lord. Look at verse number 12 of Romans chapter five. Paul explains this to us in Romans five. He says, wherefore, as by one man's sin entered into the world, and death by sin, there's the truth of what Satan lied about, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. For until the law sin was in the world, but sin was not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. That's, of course, Jesus. But the point is that death entered the world through Satan's lie. Satan is a murderer. He's the father of lies, and he's a murderer. And Barabbas, as we just read in Mark chapter 15, is a murderer. So they're both murderers, and they're both insurrectionists. So we see that parallel right there. But here's the main point. So there's two for you right there. They both rebelled against God, or they both were insurrectionists, and they're both murderers. You say, well, you know, lots of people are murderers, and lots of people rebel. You can say anybody rebels. Turn to Matthew chapter 27. Let me give you the big one, and the one that really applies to us today. Turn to Matthew chapter number 27, and let's look at verse number 17. So Matthew chapter 27 gives us a little bit more detail, a little bit more of a different angle on the same story of Barabbas. Look at verse number 17. Matthew chapter 27, look at verse number 17. So what do we know so far? We know that he was an insurrectionist, just like Satan, and he was a murderer, just like Satan. It says, therefore, when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, whom will ye that I release unto you, Barabbas or Jesus, which is called Christ? For he knew that for envy they had delivered him. When he was set down in the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, have nothing to do with that just man, for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him. She's telling him, stay away from anything that these Jews are trying to do to Jesus. She's been, you know, she had these visions. Look at verse number 20, and this is the point that I wanna get at for the third and main point tonight. It says, but the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas and destroy Jesus. And this is also a question I told you I was gonna answer you from this morning's sermon, but the third point is this. The third point is that the crowd chose him. That's the third parallel between Satan and Barabbas. The crowd, let me use some synonyms here. Let me get the thesaurus out. The crowd, the multitude, the majority chose Barabbas. And that is a parallel of Satan right there because the crowd, the multitude, the majority today will choose Satan. And that's what I showed you this morning when Jesus answered that question, are there few that be saved? And Jesus said, broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. Because the majority, just like the majority here, will choose Satan. And I told you I was gonna answer the question why that is today. Now, it's an interesting question, and I've thought about it for years and years and years. Why the majority will choose Satan? Why would the majority of people make the wrong choice? Think about that for a second. When I was a kid, there was this game show. I don't know if it's still on, probably not. This was a long time ago. But when I was a kid, there was this game show called Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? And it was a trivia show. And you would sit down, you got three, you got three lifelines. One of them was you could call somebody. One of them was ask the audience. And the other one, what was the other one? There was another one. I don't know, you could eliminate one of the answers or something? Okay, yeah, so anyway, the best one though that was always right was ask the audience. Just ask the majority of people. I don't remember it ever being wrong when the audience or the majority gave their opinion, and then you just go with that opinion, and it's correct. So the question is, if you have these random trivia questions that the majority will almost always get right, why, when it comes to the most important decision in your spiritual life, your eternity, will the majority always be wrong? Think about that for a second. Well, guess what? The Bible gives us the answer. We have the answer, and the answer is actually in verse number 20 or on the front of your bulletin. That's why I picked it as the verse of the week because there is something, there's an X factor. When it comes to spiritual things, there is a variable that is injected that changes the opinion of the majority. Look at verse number 20 of Matthew chapter 27, or just look, I believe it's the verse of the week. Look at the front of your bulletin. The chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The X factor is this. Really, the X factor is Satan. The X factor is Satan, but the X factor here and the X factor in our world today is the false prophet. That is the X factor. That is why the majority will always be wrong. And Jesus knew, what did Jesus knew? Jesus knew I beheld Satan as he fell from heaven. Jesus knew Satan was here. And Jesus knew that he had all these demons, his angels, these tens of millions of angels that were working for him, and Jesus knew that there would be all these false prophets that are working for Satan and his interests, and that's why he gave the answer, broad is the way. And narrow, narrow, straight is the gate. Straight is the gate that leads to life. Jesus knew the influence of the false prophet. That's why, I mean, let's go to some verses. We could go to literally dozens and dozens and dozens of verses on warnings against false prophets. You turn to 1 John 4. Turn to 1 John 4. I'll read for you Matthew 7, verse 15. Beware of false prophets. Warning, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves, saying these false prophets, they're gonna be sneaky. They're what? What is Satan? He's subtle. He's subtle. He doesn't come to you and say, I'm Satan, I'm here to kill you. I'm Satan, I'm here to make sure you never go to heaven. I'm here to make sure that as a Christian, you destroy your life and destroy the life of your family, and I don't want, you know, you're saved, but I don't want your kids going to heaven. Satan never approaches you that way. He's subtle, so are the false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing. We're harmless. We're just here to help. I am Satan, I'm here to help. That's the false prophet today. Look at 1 John 4, verse number one. Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God. Talking about just people, you know, prophets that would come to you, because many what? False prophets are gone out into the world. So that's why you need to know the Bible. That's why you need to know the Bible right there, because there's all kinds of people that are gonna tell you all kinds of things. You're just talking about the truth test, the universal truth test from Wednesday night. Yeah, it's better if you know the Bible. It's better if you can just, like, try the spirits, what's it saying? Somebody's telling me that you're, you know, comes into the church and starts preaching, yeah, I believe you're gonna trust Jesus and all this, but you also need to do this. Like, whoa. Like, I mean, that would obviously never fly here, but I mean, the point is that you need to try the spirits against the word of God. Everything needs to be filtered through the word of God, and if you don't know the word of God, you're not gonna catch all these subtleties. That's what the Bible is warning us against. Second Peter chapter two, verse number one, you turn to Matthew 24, it says, but there were false prophets among them, also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, even in the church, who privilege shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction. There could be false prophets and false teachers that bring in damnable heresies here. You know that? You say, but Pastor, you're crazy, because if somebody came in here, a damnable heresy is a heresy, like, you know, I have a difference on what I think about, you know, the war in heaven and Revelation 12. It's not a damnable heresy, even if I'm wrong. I don't think I am, but I mean, even if I am, it's not damnable. A damnable heresy is, I think that, you know, we need to have, you know, trust in Jesus, faith in Jesus plus something. That's a damnable heresy. That's not gonna damage anybody here, but guess what will happen? Let me give you an example. Repent of your sins doctrine. Repent of your sins doctrine. You have a Baptist church that had the right gospel for 50 years, and all of a sudden, you have some new pastor or even an old pastor, which is crazy that this would happen, but it does. Come in and start just either appeasing the repent of their sins people that come into the church. I think maybe that's where it starts, or maybe he feels, the pastor feels that there's some power in telling people that they need to listen to him to a certain degree, and if they don't do this, that, you know, I mean, are you really saved kind of thing? It creeps in like this. The people that are already saved, there is no danger for them, but guess what? The people that come into the church new, and this is the gospel that they hear, they're not saved. This is how you end up getting a church that is just this mixture of saved and unsaved people because this damnable heresy comes in, the gospel changes. I've seen it personally happen, like in churches that I have been in. So it sounds crazy, but it's real. Like damnable heresy will creep in, and it creeps in. So like anybody starts teaching another gospel around here, please let the pastor know because that is something that needs to be stomped out immediately. It's not gonna endanger your salvation, obviously, but it's a real danger to new people that are not saved. If they hear a false, you know, it's like a false Trojan horse type gospel. People think, I mean, the worst thing is somebody that thinks they're saved and they're not. Somebody that thinks they're saved because they believe something that's pretty close to the gospel, something so subtle, people think it's not a big deal, but it's not close to the gospel. And when you think about it, it's just another version of works-based salvation. It really, all the works-based salvation, all the heresies out there, that's actually why I kind of got out of the American Heresy series after a while because he started to notice a pattern that it's all the same thing. Like what do these people believe? The Seventh-day Adventists, and the Mormons, and the Jehovah's Witness. Man, and this, and this, and the beginning of the sermon is really interesting for 15, 20 minutes when you hear about the aliens, and the planets, and the, you know, all that stuff, but then it all comes down to works-based salvation. It all comes down to that, always, because it's Satan. It's Satan and his false prophets, it's his doctrine that you can be like the Most High, just like what Satan thought. So the point is this, the difference, and the reason that the majority is wrong on spiritual things, or the things that apply to spiritual things, the difference is the false prophet. The priests and the elders that were there, they convinced the multitude, what were they? They were false prophets. They were false teachers, and they pressured, they persuaded the multitude. Look, just as in the end times, I mean, right now we're dealing with Satan, his angels, and the false prophets. That's now, that's what we're dealing with now. But in the end times, what's it gonna be? Satan, the beast, and the false prophets. And the false prophet, there's gonna be a main one. So it's really, when you think about Satan, the Antichrist, the Antichrist, and the false prophet, it's really not that much different than what we're dealing with today, because we already have Antichrist leaders everywhere. Like, I don't know, all of them? And you have false prophets everywhere. It's just the end times is just one prominent one that unites the world, comes up with this covenant, declares himself to be God. I mean, not every world leader does that. But the point is this, that is the X factor, is the false prophet convincing the multitudes, the majority, the crowd, all right? Turn to Titus chapter one. I mean, just think about it, think about the difference. Now let's go back to this idea that you would think the majority would be right, just like on that game show. You would think that the majority would have it right. But think of the difference, folks. Think of the difference. Think about when you go out soul winning, and if you find somebody that literally has no other beliefs, aren't they much easier to get saved? When you find somebody that's really interested in knowing what the Bible says and knowing how to get to heaven, but they have no other beliefs, they are super simple to get saved. Let me give you what I'm describing right now. Children. Children. This is why children are so easy to get saved, because they are uncorrupted. Look at Titus chapter one in verse number 15. Titus chapter one in verse number 15. I've used this analogy before, and the place that I got this analogy is from this verse. The analogy that I've used is that the gospel, to a perfect conscience that has not been damaged and scarred, a conscience that is intact, a heart, a conscience that God gave that is intact, no religion has been taught. It's just a person hasn't been, you know, corrupted, taught filth, taught things that are anti-God, had false doctrines put into their head. Look, all these things can happen very early, by the way. But the point is this, to someone that hasn't had any of that, whose conscience that God gave them from birth is intact, the gospel will fit like a perfect key. That is why it is so easy to get children saved. I mean, I'm not saying that you're not gonna find a 12-year-old that hasn't had a lot of bad ideas and false doctrines and things like that. You'll find it. But the vast majority of the time, children are very receptive to the gospel, and it is because of Titus chapter one, verse number 15. It says, unto the pure, all things are pure. But unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure. But even their mind and conscience is defiled, meaning somebody who does not have a defiled conscience, the gospel will fit like a perfect key into that lock. You know, sin doesn't save you. Sin doesn't, you know, stopping sinning does not save you. Turning from your sin does not save you. But living a life of sin could scar your conscience to the point when the gospel is presented to you you have no interest. You could live a certain way before you are saved to the point where you just desensitize yourself to sin. You scar that law in your heart. That's why, you know, people that get saved later in life, and I'm one of these people, people that got saved later in life, I was like, that was the feeling that I had. Like, thank God that that didn't happen to me. Thank God, I mean, I felt like I slid into a home. And I mean, that's how I felt when I got saved. I was like, thank you, God, for not letting me go. That's how I felt when I got saved. People that get saved later in life, I mean, they just seem to thank God that their padlock was intact enough to where that gospel key still fit. Because that is the case. When you go out and you talk to all these people, they're so into the world, they're so corrupted with all these things, they're so defiled, they have no interest. We're all dead in our sins. But if you don't want to accept the gospel, if you've been so defiled that you have no interest in that key, it doesn't look like it fits you at all, that's a major problem. That's a major problem. Turn to Matthew chapter 12. Turn to Matthew chapter 12. So that's why the majority chose Barnabas, because of the false prophets. And that's why the majority will choose Satan, the same reason. This is why Jesus says this, look at Matthew chapter 12 and verse number 30. Jesus says this, says, he that is not with me is against me. And he that gathereth not with me, scattereth abroad. Jesus here is saying is, if you don't choose me, you are choosing Satan. You're like, whoa, that's an extreme statement. That's, I mean, it's the same thing today. When people choose the world over Christ, they have chosen Satan. He's the prince of it. That's what John 14 calls them, the prince of this world. They literally chose Satan. Look, out soul winning today, I am sure you found people that did not have time to hear the gospel or had no interest because they were watching the game on TV. I am sure that that happened. It always happens when you go out soul winning on Super Bowl Sunday. But guess what? Those people just chose the murderer. That's the, that is the point of this story in the Bible. They're deceived by the world. They're deceived by the lights and the entertainment and the alcohol and the drugs or whatever it is. They're deceived to the point where they'll literally choose the insurrectionists. They'll choose the murderer. Look, it's easier than we think to choose Satan. People are like, I don't worship the devil. But when you refuse Jesus, you choose Satan. And guess what? When you choose, let me take it even more extreme. When you choose a murderer, you choose to murder. Oh, think about that for a second. When you choose the murderer, don't you choose to murder at that point? If you've chosen a murderer, you have chosen to murder. Look, everything changes perspective when you put it in the light of soul winning. Everything gets more clear and more focused. Every single person that doesn't take the opportunity to hear the gospel themselves and get saved and then get into church and then learn the gospel and then be able to give the gospel to all their unsaved family and their unsaved friends that they say that they love so much, they chose to murder. When you just follow that chain of events, they chose to murder their children, their family, their friends. I have a story, I don't tell a lot of stories because when you tell stories as a pastor, you realize that you only have so many stories because everybody's only so interesting. But I had a story that came to mind when I was writing this sermon. It was a story, it was over 20 years ago. I wanna give you an example of this. I was not saved and the people that I was with were not saved. But every single person, we were out fishing on a lake. Every single person in this boat except one person was a Christian, was a church person. None of us were saved. One person was not a church person, was very anti-church and anti-God in general. We're out fishing on this lake and when you go out fishing on a lake, you end up doing a lot of talking because there's really nothing going on because it's not like fishing with me. When you go fishing with me, there's nothing but screaming and fish flying everywhere. But fishing on a lake is kind of boring and we got to talking. There was this group of guys that I was with and we were all church guys except this one guy. And this one guy, we ended up talking about, starting to talk about life and death. This guy also happened to be older than the rest of us. We got to talking about life and death and this story is just tattooed in my memory. I will never forget it. This guy made some comment along the lines of when I die, you don't ever bring me into a church or I'll come back from the grave and I'll get you all, something like that, along those lines about how he just wanted to have nothing to do even after his death with God or religion or anything like this. You know what we all, all of us Christians in that boat said? Nothing. We said nothing. Look, we're not saved. I now know that I wasn't saved at that time. I was years from being saved at that point in my life but you know what? That bothered me so much that I said to the guy that I knew the closest later on that day when we were back on shore, I said, you know what? I said, you know what, man? That's messed up that when that guy said something, we didn't say anything. Because every single one of us Christians in that boat, even though we weren't saved and didn't even know ourselves how to get to heaven, what it took to get to heaven, every single one of us knew that he was going to hell. And we said nothing. You know what I said to this guy? I said, this guy is like, some friends we are. Some friends we are, we're gonna sit around and we're all gonna have fun together and somebody's gonna make a comment like this and every single person in the boat knows that he's going to hell. By the way, he's dead now. Every single person in the boat knows, at least in their mind at that time, that this guy's gonna go to hell. If he continues that way. And we said nothing. This is the importance of your Christian life right here. Everything gets more serious when you think about soul winning. Everything. Choosing to be, I felt the same way. I felt the same way before I was saved. And look, you know what this was that was bothering me? It was my conscience that God gave me. It was my conscience. I felt the same way when we lived in Texas and Baptists would knock on my door. And I saw these Baptists walking around, knocking on people's door. I actually went and asked my Lutheran pastor at some point, seems like we should be doing this. Because it's your conscience, it gets you. It gets you. But everything becomes more focused when you look at it from the perspective of soul winning. You literally endanger dead souls. You literally endanger people that are walking around with the wrath of God upon them. That's how important your Christian life is. Say I'm saved and all this, and even maybe your kids are saved. But here's the thing, this is why profit works exponentially, but so does backsliding as a Christian. Because think of all the people, I think of all the people that fall out of church. And I think of all the people that won't get saved because they fell out of church. That's what I think about. When I look at our soul winning numbers every single year, it's clearly a function of man hours. It's a function of how many hours, how many people spend doing it every single day and every single week. If we go soul winning more, we will get more people saved. It's not like we're gonna, like I said, I've said this before, we're gonna leave Grant on the ground. So when you think about your Christian life from that perspective, even when you choose to get backslidden, you're choosing Satan. Because you're endangering people's souls. Those are people that you will never reach. The Christian that is a Christian for two years and then stops will never reach hundreds, yay, thousands of people. With that life. And then guess what? It's exponential, just like profit is exponential. The Christian who is profitable, it's exponential. You get somebody saved, you get that person into church, they get saved, they become a soul winner, now you have two people going out soul winning. And then it becomes four and then eight and pretty soon, I mean, what in the world? Why isn't the whole world saved? Because of what we just talked about. But the point is this, it's exponential on the profit side, but it is also exponential on the backsliding side. Because even when you backslide, you could cause others to stumble. You could backslide and get into sin and cause others to fall out as well. That's why the Christian life is either all in or falling apart. That's why it seems like that's why it works that way because it's either Jesus or Satan, that's why. You're constantly choosing Jesus or Satan. Turn to Matthew chapter seven. Did I have you turn there? Well, I think I read that for you this morning. You don't have to turn there. Turn to Jude chapter one. Let me just give you one last thought. One last thought on this idea that the majority will always choose the murderer. The majority will always choose the murderer because of Satan and his influences. Just like the story that we see with Barabbas picturing Satan and the people chose him. So what can I do with that? What should you do with that? I just wanna give you two quick points on that. The first thing is this, and I said this this morning, but just know this. Just know that. Have that head knowledge. The majority are gonna choose Satan. Just know that Jesus said, wide is the gate, broad is the way that leads to destruction. Because again, if you think that your goal is to turn it all around, and for us to become the majority, you are in for a miserable life of stress and disappointment. So just know that. Know that the false prophets and the minions of Satan and his demons are out there working overtime and the majority is never going to be us. But the second thing is this. This is the second way to take that. The second way to take that is we just need to save who we can. We need to go out and we need to save as many as we can. Look down at Jude 1 and verse number 22, Jude 22. The Bible says, and of some have compassion, making a difference. Talking about how there's just different ways to get to people. There's different ways to get people. You know, there's some people that maybe you just need to show that, you know, those people that you're not knocking on their door and just confronting them with the gospel. Maybe some people, they need to see your Christian life. And others, save with fear. That's kind of, you know, soul winning right there. Pulling them out of the fire. Hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. Some people would just need to go out and tell them, like, you're in danger. And that's what we do when we're out confrontationally soul winning. We're out showing people that they are in danger. We're out trying to convince people and plead with people and as Paul says, persuade people to choose Jesus and not choose Satan because there is no neutral ground. You are choosing one of the two. And we're trying to convince people to choose Jesus. So if you've ever wondered why this story of Barabbas is in the Bible, this is why. This is why it's in the Bible. And it plops right upon the lives of people today, of every, again, of every single person that's alive today or ever who has been alive, this story applies to them. And it especially applies to us as the Christian, as the soul winner. Showing you how important it is to have you in this Christian fight, in this Christian life, doing what you're supposed to be doing, protecting your Christian life, protecting your household because literally, the murderer is out there and if we allow them to be murdered, they will be. So that's why this story is in the Bible. Let's bow our heads and have a word.