I new viral sermon jam by Judah Smith sounds so right but when you apply the Bible to it...

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But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. - Mark 15: 11 (ESV)

Operating a discernment ministry leads to openly questioning what mainstream churchianity seems to accept without reservation. I remember a few years back when there was a "spoken word" that went viral regarding everything wrong with religion but right about relationship. It sounded so right. It sounded so pious. Yet when you held it up to the unwavering truth of Scripture you were forced to admit that it was filled with doctrinal chasms and outright unbiblical teachings. I even remember some saying at the time the usual refrain of, "what's the big deal?" What we allow to go viral in our spirit forms our doctrine. It becomes rooted in our beliefs and soon it is our religion, whether we like that word or not. Fast forward to today and the vast majority of purpose driven churches and up and coming pastors routinely embrace this false theology of relationship over religion. Those who discern know that God established the word religion and a great deal of the New Testament is God outlining the parameters of our religion. Relationship on the other hand was human wisdom used by NAR and experiential Christianity to describe their preference for listening to their own wickedly deceitful hearts and claiming it was "hearing from God" because after all, you are in relationship with Him right? The reality is that every human being on this planet is in relationship with God. The only question is the status. He is either your Lord and Savior or He will be your judge and jury.

So we come to a new sermon jam video making the rounds from Pastor Judah Smith. The sermon itself appears to be from a few years back but now it has been crammed into an eight minute jam that is produced for most effectual impact, like the spoken word video discussed earlier. Like that video, it sounds so right. It sounds so pious. But is it? Charles Spurgeon once said that discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong. It is the difference between knowing right from almost right. That is what we are dealing with here again in the Judah Smith sermon jam. It is always helpful when you start by understanding who you are listening to. People often say they listen to someone like Joel Osteen knowing full well he is a heretic. They fail to see the danger in allowing a little leaven into their doctrine. Like Eve before us, we dance with devil and think that there are no consequences but there always are and when we dance, he always leads. Who we choose to associate with makes it easy to discern who it is we are. Judah Smith is an up and coming darling amongst the best known false teaching circuits. He is associated with Carl Lentz, Brian Houston, Steven Furtick, Perry Noble, and Louis Giglio; just to name a few. Some might be asking why this matters but remember, what we allow in as teaching forms our doctrine. If you are constantly sustaining yourself on spoiled rotten meat and rancid milk, it is no wonder that your own teaching ends up spoiled. So let us reason together through the sermon jam and the story of Barabbas, through which we can learn a great deal from God.

"A Love Story // Jesus and Barabbas // Jesus and I. We see the story of Jesus going to the cross, and everything seems to be kind of hand in hand, and there' this one character that seems to interrupt a little. His name is Barabbas. We don't even know much about him, except that he's a murderer, the leader of an insurrection and a rebel. Why he's even mentioned -- sometimes I'm not so sure. It's like 'This is about Jesus going to the cross..' but no, it's a love story." -- Judah Smith

As part of the new age young gun pastors, Smith fully embraces the sloppy agape gospel that is heavy on love and not so much on repentance. We will see this theme throughout this jam as Smith yells at the congregation for daring to think there is anything they can do about their own wretchedness. It's all about Jesus dontchya know? Except that is a dangerous mixing of eternal principles and temporal realities. Yes there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. Salvation is entirely a work of the Lord. We do not believe in works as it relates to becoming saved but that does not mean we throw works in the trash beloved. Faith without works is dead. Barabbas is not out of place at all. Jesus is going to the cross to die for our sins of which we need to repent. Barabbas represents us all. We deserved to die the death of an insurrectionist. We deserved to die the death of a rebel. Yet Jesus dies instead of us. Judah skirts along these lines throughout the jam but his intention is to push the sloppy agape agenda and not what the text actually says and reveals. Is the cross a love story? Sure but is that all it is? Is it not a redemptive story? Is it not a story of the wrath of almighty God? The Apostle Paul tells the Ephesian Elders he is innocent of their blood because he did not hesitate in proclaiming the whole Gospel. What Judah Smith traffics in is a half gospel which is a whole untruth. If you look to the cross and only see love then you are not looking hard enough. Look deeper and see the blood and the flesh. Look deeper and see the sacrifice. Look deeper and see why He had to die our death. Do not skirt by it like it does not matter.

"So in this moment, Pilate thinks 'I hold the destinies of these two men in my hands. I know the Jews have a tradition that on a holy day -- I will release one of the prisoners on death row.' Pilate stands on this audacious stage who now presents Jesus, son of God -- verses Barabbas the thug and rebel. And says 'Alright, who do you want?' This is blasphemy, this is gone too far, there's no comparison, this is a rightful prisoner, a man who should be on death row. He is a rebel against wrong, and he is a bad man, a thug and a crook. He deserves the chains, and he deserves the crucifixion. Jesus? What has He done but heal, restore, deliver, set free, open blind eyes, and open deaf ears, heal the lame and the leper" What has Jesus done? Who do you want?' ---- We want Barabbas, give us Barabbas. They say 'Give us Barabbas' and the soldiers come up and they put the key in they take his chains, and unlock Barabbas from his chains and shackles, and he walks down the platform. Welcomed by all of his thug friends. "Yeah, the people love me, the people love me. I don't even know who this Jesus guy is, but all I know is my people love me." There seems to be no conscience in Barabbas. There's no record of him turning to Jesus and saying "I owe You everything now, for You have set me free." No. You don't see any of that in Barabbas. God knew that." -- Judah Smith

Now we see Judah begin to add to the text. The story of Barabbas is in all four Gospel accounts yet nowhere does it suggest that Pilate thought that he held the destinies of these two men in his hands. The stage is not audacious beloved. This is not some gnostic point in Scripture that hides a deeper truth. The Bible tells us point blank that Pilate knew the Jewish leaders had delivered Jesus up out of envy. He knew that Jesus was not guilty of what He was charged. This was not blasphemy beloved. Pilate was trying to get out of crucifying Jesus. The truly sad thing is the comparison he makes between Jesus and Barabbas is correct. What a glorious opportunity to discuss the actual Gospel and the need for everyone to repent of their sins! To compare the sinless Christ to the sinful world. What an opportunity missed however when instead, Judah decides to add more to the text. The text does not say that Barabbas was welcomed by all of his "thug" friends. Nowhere does it say that he was this mocking persona saying how much the people loved him. There is absolutely no indication of the conscience of Barabbas whatsoever in the text and to claim otherwise is to lie. Plain and simple. For all we know, Barabbas repented as the thief on the cross and became a Christ-follower. Nowhere does the Bible say anything about him after he is released and do you know what that means? It means it was not important enough to God to mention so Judah Smith has no business assuming and putting words or attitudes in the mouth and persona of Barabbas. Judah disproves a negative here and then assigns it as foreknowledge to God. For someone so concerned with blasphemy a few moments ago, he ought to be more careful with putting words in God's mouth.

'Jesus stood there silent. For He knew the will of His Father, and He said "It's fine Father, let them have Barabbas." For Jesus knew that the Father would have to treat Jesus like Barabbas, so He could treat Barabbas like Jesus. Barabbas thought it was the people that set him free" No, it was the love of of a heavenly Father. And when I look at the story, I realize who Barabbas really is. That's me. That's you. That's us. And I felt like I was reading this the other day, and I felt God speak to me "I love Barabbas.. I love him.." And I wrestled a little 'But God, he is a bad man..' "I love him.. and I wanted him to go free." 'But didn't you know that he probably would have never acknowledged the free gif-' "Yeah" But I love Barabbas.."' -- Judah Smith

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

How many times have we stood on that stage? Zero. While Barabbas is a good word picture for us, we are not him. And how many people do you know who would be so self-condemning as Judah is making himself out to be here? The more disturbing thing at this point is to connect the dots Judah Smith has laid out so far.

The cross is a love story

Barabbas was a bad guy

It was really Jesus that chose Barabbas to be released

Jesus love Barabbas

You are Barabbas

Jesus loves you

You're no match for the urges of sin, stop struggling

Everything will be all right, just give me your sins

Oh and I will still be here if you keep on sinning

This sounds nice beloved but it is not the Gospel. The Gospel speaks about carrying your own cross, crucifying the flesh, and dying to self. Not sin, give your sin to God and then sin again. Jesus did not tell the woman caught in adultery if you sin again just come on back and give me that one too. He said go and sin no more. Will we fail? Yes. Will He forgive us if we confess? Yes. That is not what Judah Smith is selling here beloved. It just is not. The jam concludes:

"This is all we have, this is all I have and this is all you have. We can play games, we can play church games. We can pretend like some people are better than others, and that's why they're blessed. Or we can all come to the honest conclusion that it's God, and it's God alone. The greatest challenge is not your discipline, your devotion or your focus. Your greatest challenge is believing and living the Gospel. Could it be that there's a God with a love so scandalous, so wide, so deep, so vast, so high, so expansive, so welcoming and so inclusive"? "Let Me have your sin, My Child." ".. and I give Him my sin, and I stand in this empty space of forgiveness and acceptance while Jesus walks off to the cross that I deserve. I see Him, I see Him walking to the post to be whipped. As I stand a free child, all the attention is turned now; and I feel the love of God saying "Go My child, live your life! I'll pay the price.." Where did we get off thinking that we were going to set ourselves free? It's still Jesus, It'll always be Jesus and it'll never stop being the power of Jesus. His blood is sufficient for your salvation. His blood is sufficient to sustain you, through every sin, and every challenge and every temptation. Jesus is enough." -- Judah Smith

The only one playing church games here is Judah Smith. By selling a half-baked, half-truth gospel meant to draw unsuspecting goats in to follow him. It is most certainly true that Jesus is enough. Remember this sermon jam sounds really convincing. Jesus is all we need for salvation but remember His first ministry word was still repent. There is none of that in this jam. Why not preach about a repentance so scandalous, so wide, so deep, so vast, so high, and so expansive? Because Judah Smith can't sell that because it requires something of us. But sloppy agape love that allows you to stop struggling with your sin and not worry about your future sin? Yeah that sells like cotton candy. I chose the key verse from the story of Barabbas because it reveals another application for the church today. We all have a choice beloved. Every single day and in every single thing we do. We can choose to release Jesus or we can choose to release Barabbas. We can choose to follow His Word or we can choose to act in rebellion and insurrection. This is a hard decision we all face, every minute of every day. Sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. Sometimes we reflect to that hidden word in our heart and do not sin against our God. Other times we rebel and seek forgiveness from our savior through heartfelt confession. It is hard enough to resist the devil and the temptations of the flesh without the church teaching us to do the wrong thing. Look at the key verse. It was the religious leaders who stirred up the crowds against Jesus and for Barabbas. In many ways these are like the false teachers we see today directing us down the wrong path towards Barabbas. Insisting that the cross, which is the ultimate sight of both the love and wrath of God, is only about love. Judah Smith is not Barabbas in this verse beloved. He is the chief priest stirring up the crowd to release Barabbas.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- October 19, 2017

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.