He Took My Place
Mark 15:1-15
Preached at the Local County Jail
September 13, 2026

I was looking forward to bringing this message to the men at the local county jail. There is such a powerful picture of the gospel in the account of Barabbas and Jesus. A guilty man is released, and the innocent Son of God is delivered to be crucified. Barabbas deserved the punishment. Jesus took his place.

What a truth to preach in a room full of men behind bars. And what a truth for the man standing behind the pulpit! I see myself in Barabbas. I have rebelled against God. I have broken His commandments. Yet Jesus Christ, the spotless Lamb of God, bore the judgment that belonged to me.

I have been preaching at this jail for over twenty-five years, and sometimes you can sense the difficulties before the service gets underway. That happened this time. Some men came in laughing and talking together, then settled into the back row. After the singing, I asked everyone to give me a few minutes of their attention, assuring them there would be time to visit afterward.

For a while, that helped. But as I preached, the conversations grew loud enough to make it difficult for others to follow the message. Finally, I stopped speaking. You can hear that moment in the recording. I calmly pleaded with the men to stop talking for just a few more moments. Thankfully, they quieted down enough for me to continue.

But I would be less than honest if I said it did not affect me. I struggled to regain my own focus. Part of me wanted to hurry to the finish. Another part knew I needed to settle down and keep putting the truth before these men. I tried to do that, though I left wondering how much had gotten through.

Still, the harvest does not depend on the farmer making a perfect toss of the seed. There is power in the seed itself! I can explain the Word, convey its meaning, and plead with people to believe it. But changed lives come through the power of the Word of God applied by the Spirit of God. My unsettled delivery did not make His truth any less powerful.

There was another burden that day. I usually preach two services, but after waiting quite a while for the next group, a guard came in and explained that the schedule had changed. Previously, there had been two chapel services for the general population and a separate service for inmates housed in the sexual offender population. He told me that the sexual offender population had grown so much that the general population had been moved entirely to one side of the jail. With these groups housed separately for safety, there would now be only one chapel service for each group. It was sad to hear of that growth.

I asked whether they had experienced problems fitting all the men from general population into one service. He said they had. That troubled me. The chapel can only hold so many men, and I am concerned that some who want to attend may no longer have room. Whatever brought these men behind bars, they need the gospel. Please pray that everyone who wants to come will have the opportunity—and that the Lord will use His Word to bring them to repentance and faith in Christ.

Through it all, this was the truth I wanted them to hear: Jesus Christ took the sinner’s place. There is a bondage deeper than a jail sentence, and there is a freedom that only the Son of God can give. Our guilt is real. But His sacrifice is sufficient, and His invitation calls guilty people to repent and trust Him.

I invite you to listen to “He Took My Place.” Whether you hear it behind a locked door or sitting comfortably at home, we all need the same Savior. My prayer is that you will see your own need in Barabbas—and see in Jesus the One who can meet it.