耶穌或巴拉巴斯, 你選擇誰?

當耶穌和巴拉巴被帶到以色列人面前時, 人們可以選擇釋放耶穌或巴拉巴. 人們選擇釋放巴拉巴. 透過影響 (宗教) 人民領袖, the people didn’t choose for the good and for righteousness by releasing the innocent Man Jesus Christ, but they chose for evil and unrighteousness, by releasing the guilty prisoner Barabbas, who was a thief and murderer and deserved the death sentence. And so the guilty Barabbas, who deserved to be crucified was released and the innocent Jesus was scourged and crucified(馬修 27:15-26, 馬克 15:6-15, 路克 23:13-25, 約翰 18:38-40).

There are many aspects to this event, including the following two, 即, that the people were influenced by the (宗教) leaders and therefore chose evil instead of good and released the criminal; 罪人, and judged the Righteous, and that Jesus Christ took the place of the prisoner Barabbas, 罪人; the transgressor of the law, who deserved to be crucified and took the punishment upon Himself, while Barabbas was released.

耶穌或巴拉巴斯?

Now at that feast he released unto them one prisoner, 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, 說, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews? For he knew that the chief priests had delivered Him for envy. But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them. And Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews? And they cried out again, Crucify Him. Then Pilate said unto them, 為什麼, what evil hath He done? And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify Him. And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged Him, 被釘十字架 (馬克 15:6-15)

還有人, who don’t understand that when God’s people were given a choice between the releasing of Jesus or Barabbas, the people chose to release the guilty prisoner Barabbas, whose name means son of a father or teacher, instead of releasing the innocent Man Jesus Christ, and point with a judgmental finger to the people.

但不是這樣嗎, that in our age many do exact the same thing and reject Jesus Christ; 這個單字, and chose the sinner and sin through the influence of the words of the devil and by believing and following his words and do the works of the flesh and approve of sin?

They don’t choose to submit to God and walk in obedience to the Word after the Spirit in the will of God and do righteous works, but they reject the words of God and chose to walk after the will, 私慾, and desires of the flesh and do the works of the flesh and persevere in sin.

And so many approve of sin and/or persevere in sin

神是光，在他裡面毫無黑暗

那是我們聽說過他的信息, 並聲明你, 上帝是光, 在他裡面根本不是黑暗. 如果我們說我們與他有獎學金, 並在黑暗中行走, 我們撒謊, 而且不要真相: 但是，如果我們在光明中行走, 就像他在光中一樣, 我們有彼此的團契, 他兒子耶穌基督的寶血洗淨了我們所有的罪孽 (1 約翰 1:5-7)

犯罪違反法律的人: 因為違背律法就是罪. 你們知道他顯現是為了除去我們的罪孽; 在他並無罪. 凡住在他裡面的，就不犯罪: 凡犯罪的都沒見過他, 兩人都不認識他 (1 約翰 3:4-6).

但是每個人, who is born of God and has received His nature and belongs to Him, should not walk in darkness and persevere in sin. Because in Him is no darkness and if we are in Him, then shall there be no darkness in us and we shall not do the works of darkness.

每個人都, who persevers in sin walks in darkness and not in the light.

If someone says to walk in the light, but do the works of the flesh and doesn’t repent, then the unrighteous works of the person show that the person belongs to the world; 黑暗王國, and not to Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God (1 約翰 1:5-11).

聖經說, that God has not called us unto uncleanness, 但為了聖潔. 他, 所以, that despises, 不鄙視人, 但上帝, who has also given unto us His Holy Spirit (1 帖撒羅尼迦人 4:7)

When you refuse to submit to God’s Word and His will and keep living in uncleanness; 罪惡和不義, then you shall not be any different from the world. 因為那些, 誰屬於世界, belong to the generation of fallen man and walk as enemies of God and His Word as transgressors of the law of God in darkness and live after the flesh in uncleanness (另請閱讀: ‘If Christians live like the world of what should the world repent off?').

He that does righteous is righteous, 即使他是公義的, but he that commits sin is of the devil for the devil sinned from the beginning

小孩子, 不要讓任何人欺騙你: 公義的人是公義的, 即使他是公義的. 犯罪的人是屬魔鬼的; 因為魔鬼從一開始就犯罪. 為此目的，神的兒子顯現出來, 以便他摧毀魔鬼的作為. 凡從神生的就不犯罪; 因為他的種子留在他裡面: 他不能犯罪, 因為他是由神生的。神的兒女在此顯明, 和魔鬼的孩子們: 凡不行義的，就不是出於神, 不愛弟兄的人也一樣 (1 約翰 3:7-10)

And so many believe the lies of the darkness and chose to submit to the sinful nature of the flesh and obey the will of the flesh and do the works of darkness, whereby they obey their father, 魔鬼, who is a transgressor of the law of God and a liar, 小偷, 和一個殺人犯.

Instead of choosing Jesus Christ; 這個單字, and obeying the Word and doing the Word, they choose and obey the devil and the sinful flesh and because of that, they show that they love sin and death rather than righteousness and life.

This not only happens in the lives of many believers, but also in the lives of many preachers, 長老, and leaders of churches, who suppose to be born again and spiritual and ought to walk as mature sons of God after the Spirit in de will of God, 但相反, they carnal and walk after the flesh and do the will, 私慾, and desires of the flesh and a.o. 說謊, 欺騙, 偷, 喝, get involved with sexual uncleanness, 淫亂, 通姦, 和離婚 and act like it’s all normal.

And if they are caught and people address their behavior and confront them with their deeds, their acting talents arise and they show some remorse and repent and are believed by the people and are restored and after a while, they revert to the same behavior and commit the same sin again and walk the same road as before, whereby they not only defile and damage the church, but also make a mockery of the gospel of Jesus Christ and crucify Jesus Christ again(另請閱讀: ‘你能再次釘死耶穌，讓他公開羞恥嗎?', ‘‘Lay hands suddenly on no man, 保羅的意思是什麼?, 和 ‘Can you be complicit with the sin of fellow believers?').

Many churches have become indifferent towards sin

Many churches have become indifferent towards sin and approve of sin in the church and allow the people to walk in sin and/or fall back into the same sin over and over again, even if they are in ministry.

Instead of condemning the sin and acting according to the Word and calling to repentance and the removal of sin, they condemn the believers of the church, who obey the Word and condemn sin, and to substantiate it, they use some pious words and subjects from the Bible, 斷章取義, like false love, 恩典, and forgiveness (另請閱讀: ‘What does it mean to deliver a person unto satan?’, ‘什麼是虛假的愛?’ and ‘Lost in the sea of grace’).

And so they turn evil into good and good into evil and because of their carnal humanistic behavior, they reject the Word and turn the truth of God into a lie and worship and serve the sinner and their sins and give power to the devil, who continues his destructive work.

The grace of God is not a permit to sin

那我們該說什麼? 我們要繼續犯罪嗎, 使恩典顯多? 上帝禁止. 我們該如何, 向罪死了的人, 繼續住在那裡? 你不知道嗎, 我們中的許多人被施洗給耶穌基督受洗? (羅馬書 6:1-3)

那怎麼辦? 我們會犯罪嗎, 因為我們不受法律約束, 但在恩典之下? 上帝禁止. 你不知道嗎, 你們把自己當作僕人來服從, 你們是他的僕人，你們要服從他; 是否犯了至於死的罪, 或順從正義? (羅馬書 6:15-16)

But Jesus has not taken man’s place on the cross, so that man could remain living in sin. The grace of God and the blood of Jesus Christ are not a permit to persevere in sin.

Just like sin reigned as king unto death in the old man, the grace reigns through righteousness in the new man unto eternal life by Jesus Christ and His perfect work of redemption.

Jesus has taken the place of (墮落) man on the cross, so that through regeneration in Christ; the death of the flesh and the resurrection from the spirit from the dead, (墮落) man would be healed (變得完整, reconciled) and be truly free. Reconciled with God and free from the power of sin, free from the authority of the devil and the kingdom of darkness, 死亡統治的地方.

Just like what happened to Barabbas, the thief, and murderer. The sinner, the transgressor of the law, who was found guilty and deserved the death penalty, was released and Jesus took the place of Barabbas and carried sin (transgression of the law) and the punishment for sin, which is the death.

Jesus Christ gave His life and died for mankind

But what nobody knew, was that Jesus not only took the place of Barabbas and carried the punishment for sin, 這就是死亡, but Jesus took the place of the whole human race.

Jesus Christ gave His own life and died on the cross for all those sinners, who were born of the seed of Adam and belonged to the generation of the old man, and by hearing the words of God and the confrontation with their sins and sinful nature and their state as sinner repent and lay down their own lives and follow Jesus Christ, 上帝的兒子和活潑的話語 (另請閱讀: ‘有人必須付出代價!.’).

Do you love Jesus Christ?

小偷不來, 但為了偷竊, 並殺死, 並摧毀: 我來是為了讓他們得生命, 並叫他們得的更豐盛 (約翰 10:10)

如果你愛我, 遵守我的誡命 (約翰 14:15)

父親愛我, 所以我愛你: 繼續我的愛. 如果你們遵守我的誡命, 你們要遵守我的愛; 正如我遵守了我天父的誡命, 遵守他的愛 (約翰 15:9-10)

如果你愛耶穌基督, you shall submit to Him and keep His commandments. 因為耶穌說, that if you love Him you shall keep His commandments. And as long as you keep His commandments you will abide in His love.

But if your love for Jesus Christ becomes lukewarm and you don’t spend time with Him and don’t do what the Word says, but give priority to other things, it won’t take long before you will return to your old life and chose to please your flesh instead of the Spirit.