The Meaning Of A Name

Bro. Tayler Norris began by showing how names in Scripture often carry meaning. In the Old Testament, names beginning with Ben often point to sonship, as in Benjamin, whose name means son of the right hand. In the New Testament, the Aramaic form Bar carries the same idea, as seen in names like Bartholomew, Bartimaeus, Barnabas, and Bar-Jesus. That led the message to Matthew 27 and the prisoner Barabbas.

Barabbas means son of the father. That meaning creates a striking picture in Matthew 27:15-26. Pilate set before the crowd two men: Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, and Barabbas, a fallen and guilty man whose name also spoke of sonship. One was innocent. The other was known as a murderer, an insurrectionist, and a notable prisoner. The crowd chose Barabbas and cried for Jesus to be crucified.

Bro. Norris also warned that familiar passages can become so familiar that readers stop seeing their details. The crowd's choice can sound unbelievable until we remember how crowds can be stirred, pressured, and turned. He illustrated this from life in Zambia, where public panic and crowd reaction could escalate quickly. That helped frame the scene before Pilate: a crowd that knew of Jesus' works still cried for His death.

The Fallen Son

Barabbas pictures the fallen nature of Adam and mankind. Bro. Norris connected Barabbas to 1 Corinthians 15, where death comes by man and life comes by Christ. Luke 3 traces Adam as the son of God, but Adam's disobedience broke fellowship with the Father and brought sin and death into the world. Barabbas stood as a picture of that fallen sonship: created for relationship with God, but corrupted by sin and standing under judgment.

That picture is not only about Barabbas. Bro. Norris pressed that Barabbas stood in our place as well. Every person is corrupted by sin. Every person stands guilty before God. Romans 3 teaches that there is none righteous, and Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death. Barabbas deserved punishment, and so do we. The crowd may have cried out for his release, but the deeper truth is that sinners are the ones who deserved the cross.

Sin never affects only the sinner. Bro. Norris warned against thinking that one act of disobedience is small or private. Adam and Eve's sin broke relationship with God and affected all who came after them. In the same way, choices that seem personal often affect families, churches, and others around us. The fallen son does not merely need improvement. He needs restoration to the Father.

The True Son Took Our Place

Jesus willingly stood where sinners should have stood. The sermon emphasized that Christ was not a victim of the crowd's power. In John 10, Jesus said He laid down His life and that no man took it from Him. When the people cried, "Give us Barabbas," Jesus stood there willingly. He chose to take the place of the guilty so that the guilty could go free.

Bro. Norris explained that Jesus is the only begotten Son of the Father, yet He took the place of fallen sons and daughters. Barabbas walked away free while Jesus went to the cross. That exchange points to the gospel: Christ took the punishment sinners deserved, not because they had earned mercy, but because He willingly gave Himself.

Christ did not come merely to give a ticket out of hell. Bro. Norris said salvation is more than escape from judgment, though that is a real benefit. Christ came to restore the broken relationship between sinners and the Father. Sin keeps people from God's presence. Jesus died and rose again so that the relationship broken in Adam could be restored through faith in Him.

That is why the Barabbas scene is so personal. It is not only an episode in the trial of Jesus. It is a picture of substitution. The guilty man goes free because the innocent Son takes the cross. The sinner's hope is not that God ignores guilt, but that Christ bore the punishment and opened the way back to the Father.

Power To Become Sons Of God

Those who receive Christ become children of God. John 1:12 says that as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. Bro. Norris made clear that salvation is not earned by religious work. Ephesians 2:8-9 teaches that salvation is by grace through faith, not of works. A sinner must recognize that his relationship with the Father is broken, that he deserves separation from God, and that Christ alone restores him.

Romans 8 deepens that promise by speaking of adoption. Those led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God, and they receive the Spirit of adoption by which they cry, "Abba, Father." Bro. Norris emphasized the privilege of that restored relationship. Believers become heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. They can come boldly to the Father with their needs, not because they are worthy in themselves, but because Christ has made them children of God.

The question is: where are you in the lineup? Bro. Norris asked whether each hearer still stood in the place of Barabbas, fallen, guilty, and unrestored, or whether he had come to Christ and been made a child of God. The message was not only for first-time visitors. Bro. Norris testified that he had grown up in church, worked on bus routes, taught Sunday school, and attended Bible college before realizing he was trusting his works rather than Christ. Being around church does not guarantee salvation.

That testimony sharpened the appeal. A person can know Christian language, serve in church, and appear close to spiritual things while still trusting personal effort. The power to become a child of God is given to those who receive Christ, not to those who can stack up enough religious activity to prove themselves worthy.

Living Like A Child Of God

A child of God should not live like a prodigal. Bro. Norris also warned believers who have trusted Christ but are drifting toward the world. The prodigal son looked to the far country and ended up in the pigsty. The world may appear to offer pleasure for a moment, but it cannot offer what the Father gives. Those who are saved should keep serving, keep following, and return quickly if they have begun to stray.

Pastor Ortiz closed the service by echoing the message's call to take inventory: Am I a child of God? If I am, am I living like a child of God? The invitation pressed both salvation and rededication. The gospel restores fallen sinners to the Father, and restored children should live in a way that reflects who they now are.

Bro. Norris also tied the message to missions by saying that Christ was the first missionary, leaving the splendor of heaven and coming to a place that was not His own so sinners could have faith in Him. Missions is not separate from this gospel. It flows from the Son who came to seek and save the lost and who now sends His people with the same message of restored relationship.

Are you a child of God? That was the central question. Barabbas shows the guilty sinner released while Christ bears the punishment. Adam shows the broken relationship caused by sin. Jesus shows the true Son who came to restore that relationship. The right response is to come to Christ by faith, and for those who already belong to Him, to live faithfully as children of the Father, not drifting back toward the old sinful bondage again.