Turn with me to Matthew 26. Matthew 26. Our Lord is on trial
right here. before a man named Caiaphas. And at the end of verse 63, Caiaphas
said, I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether
thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Are you the equal member of the
Trinity? God Almighty manifest in the
flesh. And the Lord answered him and
said, yes, I am. Verse 64, Jesus saith unto him,
thou hast said, nevertheless, I say unto you, hereafter shall
you see the son of man sitting on the right hand of power and
coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his
clothes saying, he hath spoken blasphemy. Now that's a lie. Our Lord had not spoken blasphemy. He was exactly who he said he
was. But Caiaphas in his false religion
ignorance, and that's what all of false religion is, it's ignorance.
And this man Caiaphas, in his false religion ignorance, verse
65, he rent his clothes, saying, he hath spoken blasphemy. What further need have we of
witnesses? Behold, now you have heard his
blasphemy. What think ye? They answered
and said, he is guilty of death. Then did they spit in his face
and buffeted him, and others smote him with the
palms of their hands, saying, prophesy unto us, thou Christ,
who is he that smote thee? I've been reading through this
chapter for weeks now. We're going through the book
of Matthew. We have been in chapter 26 for
quite a while. We're studying a particular set
of verses, but I'm always reading ahead, reading through, getting
the whole context of the situation. Every time that I read these
verses right here that I just read to you, these last two verses,
I'm amazed by the condescension of our Lord. For weeks now, I
have been, I read these and I'm just amazed by the condescension
of our Lord. I'm amazed by how much he humbled
himself. I'm amazed by the fact that he
stood there silently and allowed them to spit in his face. Just get that scene in your mind.
He just stood there. And he allowed them to buffet
him. That word buffet, that means
to repeatedly beat with the fist. Just to repeatedly. Repeatedly, repeatedly, repeatedly,
repeatedly, repeatedly, repeatedly beat with the fist. And then
one man's fist would just be wore out and the next one would
come in. And then when they were finished,
it says in verse 67 others smote him with the. That word palms
translates rods that they were holding in their hands. They
didn't slap him with the palms of their hands. They were holding
in the palms of their hands rods. And you can just see him. just
repeatedly, repeatedly, screaming in his ear. I'm sure they didn't
politely ask him. They were trying to bust his
eardrums, screaming, Prophets turned to us. Who spoke the poem? Who was that? Don't we realize that he could
have, in that moment, prayed to his father, And he would have
immediately sent more than 12 legions of angels. 72,000 angels. Our Lord humbled himself and
allowed himself to endure that. He allowed those men to do that
to him. Why? That the scripture might be fulfilled. that the scripture might be fulfilled. Turn with me to Isaiah 50. The heading at the top of my
page says, Christ's Patient Suffering. This is speaking of Christ. This
is the prophecy of that very moment that we just read. And
verse five says, the Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was
not rebellious, neither turned away back. That capital L, lowercase
O-R-D, that's the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the fullness of
the Godhead, the fullness of the God, the fullness of the
three persons of God in a body. The Lord Jesus Christ opened
his own ear. He willingly opened his ear to
the words of the Father. He opened his ear to the desire
of the Father, the work that his Father laid on him to do.
He said, I heard it and I was not rebellious to it. Verse six,
he said, I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them
that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame
and spitting. For the Lord God will help me,
therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face
like a flint, And I know that I shall not be ashamed. Doesn't
that break your heart? It's heartbreaking to me. Our
Lord humbled himself because it was his father's will for
him to humble himself. It was the work his father laid
on him of fulfilling all scripture, whatever was prophesied. and
fulfilling the punishment that His people deserved. That's what
He was doing in that moment as He stood there silently in that
moment. He was fulfilling the punishment
that you and I deserved. He was fulfilling the punishment
that all of His chosen elect people deserved. Every soul the
Father selected and gave to Him to endure this for them. He was taking what was owed to
you and me. You think about that. That was
supposed to be you and me. And outside of Christ, in the judgment,
that will be you and me. The gospel of salvation. People
talk about the gospel. People talk about salvation and
being saved. What is it? The gospel of salvation
has everything to do with Christ being made to be the substitute
of his people. That's the gospel. Every type, every picture. Moses,
you tell the people they'd better have a lamb. A lamb for a house. They better have a substitute. If we want to know where salvation
really is, it is in Christ being made to be the substitute for
His people. Go with me back to Matthew 26. in their lies on our Lord. Verse 66, they answered and said,
he is guilty of death. Now, he was not guilty in himself,
but here's the thing about it. I was guilty in myself. About 30 minutes ago, I said,
you remember that word guilt for about 30 minutes. I was guilty in myself and he
was made to be me. This right here is the amazing
mystery of the gospel. He took, literally, actually,
he took my sin and my sorrow and he made them his very own. He bore that burden to Calvary
and suffered and died alone. My sin, oh, the bliss of this
glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the
whole. Total redemption. You want to
hear the definition of the word total? That means the whole of
the matter. absolute, complete, all of it,
not one dot or tittle left out. My sin, not in part, but the
whole, was nailed to the cross. I bear it no more. Praise the
Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. Christ was made to be the substitute
of his people, not just on their behalf, but in their place. He didn't just die for the sin
of his people, he died with the sin of his people. Here is the amazing thing about
substitution. Even though in the eyes of man,
our Lord was completely innocent. because he took the place of
his people. And all through this, you know,
he's standing before Caiaphas and they're lying on him, but
then he's going to go to Pilate. Pilate's going to say, I can't
find any fault in this man. This man is innocent. Even though
in the eyes of man, he was innocent. Because he took the place of
his people in the eyes of God almighty, he was made to be guilty. And I say this fearfully, this
is holy ground right here. Like the Lord said to Moses,
and Moses represents the law, you take your shoes off, you're
standing on holy ground. Don't you lift yourself up that
far, not the sole of your shoe, you come down. This is holy ground. In their lies concerning our
Lord, they spoke the prophecy of what Christ was made to be
in order to save his people from their sin. Call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sin. How? He was made
to be guilty. Verse 66, what thank you. They
answered and said, he is guilty of death. The spotless, holy,
innocent one, in order to save his people from their sins, he
was made to be their guilt. And if he was made to be guilty,
do you know what all of his people were made to be? Innocent. Innocent. Every soul that the
Father placed in Him was made to be innocent. Turn with me
to 2 Corinthians 5. Second Corinthians 5 verse 21,
it says, for he hath made him to be sin for us. God the Father
made Christ to be sin for us. Who knew no sin? Jesus Christ himself was spotless,
which is so critical because if he was made to be us, And
we were made to be Him. That's what we had to be to enter
into glory. He was spotless. But He was made
to be sin, the sin of His people. And through that transaction,
it says, his people were made to be the very righteousness
of God in him. He made him to be sin for us
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. He was made to be our very sin,
that we might be made to be his very righteousness. So what does
that mean then? What did that transaction accomplish? What does substitution with Christ
mean for us? This is what it means, verse
17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Don't
you wish the past would go away? Don't you wish the present would
go away? Well, in Christ it has. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. That's what Christ accomplished
by his substitution for his people. That's what Christ accomplished
in being made to be guilty in the stead of his people. He wiped
our slate clean. He made himself to be filthy
in order to wipe our slate clean. He put every old sinful thing
away forever. He made everything to be spotlessly
brand new. Verse 18 says, and all things
are up God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. and hath given to us the ministry
of reconciliation. He has given to us the ministry
of preaching what Christ accomplished for us in his substitution. That's
our ministry. Verse 19, to wit or to know that
God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto him, not acknowledging. the reality of their trespasses
unto them, not imputing their trespasses unto them. Why? Because
he imputed their trespasses to Christ. He saw every single one
of them. He said, that's the fact of the
matter. They're on Jesus Christ. And he has committed unto us
the word of reconciliation. Verse 20, now then we are ambassadors
for Christ. As though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's stead. He stood in our stead, and we're
in his stead. Be ye reconciled to God, for
he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him. First Peter 2
says, he bore our sin in his own body on the tree. And when
he did that, he became guilty. He cried, my God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? It's because he was made to be
guilty. The Lord our God said he would
by no means clear the guilty. And he didn't. He couldn't. Turn with me over to Psalm 22.
This is where our Lord said that. This is the prophecy of our Lord
saying that. Psalm 22. These are all the words of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Verse one says, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me and from the words of my roaring? Oh my God, I cry in the daytime,
but thou hearest not. And in the night season, and
I'm not silent. Why? Why? Because he was made
to be guilty. And in verse 3 he said, but thou
art holy. I know why. It's because you're
holy and you cannot clear the guilty. Thou art holy, O thou
that inhabitest the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in
thee, they trusted and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto
thee and were delivered. They trusted in thee and were
not confounded. But I am a worm. and no man, a reproach of men
and despised of the people." He said, I am a worm. That's
the feeling of guilt. That's what guilt causes a man
to say. When my guilt, the feeling of
my guilt was transferred to him. And I'll just tell you something. I feel guilt over my sin. I'm not going to confess my sin
to you, that's to God only, but I'll confess to you that I feel
guilt over my sin. Do you ever feel guilt over your
sin? Are you ever driving down the
road and then something comes to your mind and you think, oh,
I wish I hadn't thought of that again. One of these days real soon,
I'm going to get to experience the fact that He took my guilt
from me. He took my sin from me and He
bore my guilt from me. But right now I still have sin
to commit and guilt to bear because of it. He took all of my guilt
from me. But when that happened, when
my guilt, the feeling of my guilt, it was transferred to him, that's
what it caused him to say before God. He doesn't exaggerate. He doesn't speak words for no
reason to his father. He said, I'm a worm. Do you ever
feel like that? Thou worm Jacob. That is, that's amazing. That
is so holy. Again, that's such a, this is
such a holy transaction. Oh, that he would do this. Turn
over to Psalm 40. Again, this is the Lord speaking.
Verse 7, then said, I, lo, I come. In the volume of the book, it's
written of me. Hebrews 10 tells us, it's quoting
that, saying that our Lord said that. It tells us this is the
Lord speaking. But look at verse 11. It says, withhold not thou
thy tender mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy loving kindness and thy
truth continually preserve me for innumerable evils. They could never be numbered,
there's so many. Innumerable evils have compassed
me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me so that I'm not able to look up. They are more than
the hairs of mine head. Therefore, my heart faileth me. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me. O Lord, make haste to help me."
Why would he say that? It's because he was sinking down
into sin's despairs. He said, my inequities have taken
hold on me. He didn't commit them, but he
possessed them. He owned them. He held them. He felt them. He carried the
weight of them, all of the burden and weight that came with them.
He carried that. all the way to the grave. Thank
God, all the way to the grave. You know, these sins that we
bear and we carry, you think, I wish they'd go away. I just
wish they'd go away. They have. They're all taken
away, away. And we're going to know that
experience real soon. I'm telling you real soon. You
know, we feel so sorry for, well, I do feel sorry for men and women
who leave this world outside of Christ. But when a believer
dies, someone whose hope is in the Lord, that is the moment
that sin is taken away. All the guilt, it's all gone. It's just all gone because he
carried it all to the grave. That's what he did with our sin.
Turn over to Acts chapter 8. Acts chapter 8 verse 26, The angel of the Lord spake unto
Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way
that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose, and went, and behold,
a man of Ethiopia, and eunuch of great authority under Candacy,
queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure,
and had come to Jerusalem for it to worship, was returning
and sitting in his chariot, he read Isaiah the prophet. Then
the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near and join thyself to this
chariot. And Philip ran thither to him,
and heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and said, Understandest
thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except
some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he
would come up and sit with him. The place of the scripture which
he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the
slaughter. And like a lamb done before his
shearer, so opened he not his mouth. In his humiliation, his
judgment was taken away, and who shall declare his generation,
for his life is taken from the earth? And the eunuch answered
Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet
this, of himself or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth
and began at the same scripture and preached unto him the Lord
Jesus Christ. how he came to this earth. I
wish that would happen to me sometime. I wish I'd come up
on somebody reading the scripture, but for the grace of God, you
won't, because everybody who is in public with the Bible open
thinks they're the authority on the Bible. You know, the pride
of man is so great. But I'd love to come up on somebody
and say, do you understand what you're reading? And they say,
how can I, except some man would guide me. Where are you reading?
Isaiah 53. Well, this is what it's saying.
It's saying the holy spotless God of heaven and earth came
down here and took the sin away from all of the people that the
father chose to save. They were all laid on him and
he stood there holding every wicked thing you've done in your
total depravity. And the father looked at him
and he looked at the father in an absolute anger and hatred. God the Father killed him. He
buffeted him and smote him. And he died. And his body, bearing
all of your sin, inside his body, his body was laid in that grave. And when he arose, the sin did
not come with him. He left it there. forever. And now you are free from sin. That's what this is saying. You're
going to be given a portion with the grape. You're free from it
all. All the guilt, they could put
you in prison for life for what you've done, but you're exonerated,
set free, free forever. By the sacrifice of himself,
by the shedding of his own blood, he set his people free forever. Philippians chapter 2 says, because
he did that, I ask our brother to read that for our scripture
reading, because he did that, because he humbled himself all
the way down to the guilt and the shame and the sin of his
people, all the way down to the grave of his people. God the
Father has highly exalted Him and we do too. We lift Him up,
highly exalted Him to the throne of glory and given Him a name
that's above every name and everything bows to Him and everything confesses
He is Lord, He is Lord. because He arose from the death
that I was supposed to die for me. He's risen from the dead
and He is Lord. And now in the righteousness
that He left His people in, He took their sin and He left His
righteousness. And in His own righteousness,
in Christ's righteousness, we can now, with this covering of
righteousness, we can approach the throne of God Almighty. We can walk right up to the throne
of God Almighty anytime we need to. That's what Christ accomplished
for us in being our substitute. Whatever He could do, we can
do. What can He do? He can walk right
up to the throne of God Almighty if He wants to. In Him, so can
we. Go over to Hebrews 4. I'll close
with this. Hebrews 4 verse 14. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of
God, let us hold fast our profession, for we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. but was in all points tempted
like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. Do you know that if we were still
in the guilt of our sin and we approached that throne, we'd
be killed on sight? And I do want to tell all of
us this, I want everybody to hear this. There are people right
now all over this world who are still in the guilt of their sin. And that is exactly what is going
to happen to any soul who approaches the throne of God outside of
the blood and righteousness of Christ. But in Christ, In Christ, the
sin is gone, the guilt is gone, we're free to come. Don't approach
the throne outside of pleading the blood and righteousness of
Jesus Christ. Not my works, not my righteousness,
not my anything. Christ alone. Christ alone. Lord, put us in Christ. Put us
in the substitution of Jesus Christ. May it be said that he
stood in our place and bore the guilt of our sin and the punishment
and the condemnation of our sin for us. If he did, I'll tell
you how you'll know. And I'm going to leave us with
this. Okay. Some, he did some, he didn't.
If he did, this is how you'll know, he will give you a deep
desire for Christ to be your substitute. You'll say with Jacob, I cannot
let you go unless you're my substitute. He will give you a continual
need to cry out to him, begging him to be one of the ones who
he bore the guilt for. Those that he didn't do it for,
they will not worry about this. They will assume they're fine. And in their mind, they're good
to go. Let's go meet God. But if he did this for you, you
will cry and plead and beg, Lord, please do not let me stand before
the throne of judgment outside of you. Let me stand before the
throne of grace and mercy to help me in my time of need. Please
let me be in you. If all of your hope is in his
substitution for you, that's your evidence he was your substitute. It is. I pray the Lord will put
that need in every soul here. I need him to be my substitute. I need to find life through him
bearing my death. I need to find innocence through
Him bearing my guilt. Lord, please be my substitute. May that be the cry of every
soul here. Amen.