Another drive by Gospel nugget. Yes the Father would have to treat Jesus like Barabbas so that He could treat Barabbas like Jesus but what does that mean Judah? It is a nice saying that may resonate with many but many more will be utterly confused, especially those who are not saved. Why did Jesus have to be treated as Barabbas? Where is the discussion of our sin and need to repent? You see beloved, Judah Smith is not selling salvation. He is selling a confectionaries' candy coated gospel that is always all about love. When you believe this in your core you confuse the basics of Christianity. Notice the utter confusion Smith exhibits from one thought to the next. He correctly sees that he is Barabbas. That we all are Barabbas. Yet in the very next thought he openly admits that he had to wrestle with the idea of God loving Barabbas; because after all he was a bad man. Wait a minute Judah! You are Barabbas! I am Barabbas! We were bad men too! We were in rebellion too! It was our beating Jesus took! It was our head the crown of thorns should have been shoved into. The cross was ours! It seems every time Judah Smith gets dangerously close to the actual Gospel he moon walks away from it as fast as possible to peddle this false love paradigm.
'"For while we were still sinners Christ died for us." God sent His Son for Barabbas, even the one He knew would walk away from Jesus and His free gift, and never come back" He loves Him. And the nerve, all the audacity of the believers to think "I got saved by grace, but now that I'm in this deep, dark place of bondage, I better work hard to get myself out..' WHAT?! That's the opposite of the gospel. Are you bound? Are you held under the power of this temptation and sin? Do you feel like it's controlling you? What are you going to do? 'Oh I'm going to shake and set myself free'" STOP IT. NO YOU WONT. YOU'RE NO MATCH FOR THE POWERS OF HELL, AND THE URGES OF SIN. YOU WILL NOT OVERCOME IT AND YOU'LL NEVER OVERCOME IT. YOU'LL JUST BE ANOTHER STATISTIC. There's no answer within yourself. Your own goodness, your own discipline, your own devotion will not save you. There's only One that can save you. and He's the One that took your place.' -- Judah Smith
Yes! While we were yet sinners he died for us but why Judah? You only had to read one verse past that and see that it was to escape the wrath of God! The while we were yet sinners verses deal with reconciliation, not sloppy love. I need to remind us all here that the Bible does not speak to the eternal destination of Barabbas. To state that he walked away to never come back is adding to the text to support your pre-biased sermon points. Now we see Smith start to go off the rails. His rant here is prefaced as if he is speaking to believers but then he ends up talking about them getting saved. Now, I agree that alone we can do nothing. Apart from Jesus we are helpless. Remember beloved that discernment is telling the difference between right and almost right. Judah Smith sounds right. That is why he is so dangerous. Not every false teacher is as obvious as Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, and Mike Murdock. Even though there are slivers of truth running through this diatribe, let's really drill down and see what he is saying here. Now, for unbelievers he is absolutely right because without the indwelt Holy Spirit, one cannot stand against the temptations of the flesh. He started this though by declaring it to believers. So does the Bible say that we are no match for the powers of hell and the urges of sin? Absolutely not! The Bible says we are to know the schemes of the devil. It says we are to stand firm and resist the enemy. It says that we are to store up His Word in our heart that we might not sin against God. Now, can we do any of this apart from Christ and His indwelt Spirit? Of course not but that is not what Smith is teaching here! It is eerily similar to a teaching from Joseph Prince where he declared that the word repent really means to consent to be loved. No, no, a thousand times no. We play a role beloved. The first word in the ministry of Jesus Christ was "repent." That word does not mean that God loves us. It does not mean we allow God to turn our direction. It means we choose to turn from sin and view it differently. It does not mean we just sit back and stare into Jesus' eyes like some star crossed high school crush.
'He's the one that stood on the platform with pilate and said "Yes, let them have Barabbas " Take Me." How many times have I stood on that platform with pilate and Jesus and I'm the Barabbas. And they start to take my chains off and I say 'NO! NO! I DESERVE THIS. I DESERVE THE GUILT, I DESERVE THE SHAME, I DESERVE THE CONSEQUENCE. I DESERVE IT.' And Jesus seems to look at me and say "NO child, let Me have it. Let Me have your sin, let Me have your pain." and I say 'No God I did it to myself" I deserve it. I deserve it all.' --- "NO!" God I'm so ashamed.. He says "Give Me your shame But God, what if I do it again? He says "I'll still be here Oh God I don't want to hurt You, I love You, I don't want to do this anymore.. He says "Everything will be alright, just give Me your sins ' -- Judah Smith
