And I do wish all you mothers
a happy Mother's Day. I always think about my own mother
because she was used so instrumentally in bringing me under the gospel. And I look back, you know, we
look at that passage of our brother Joseph back in the Old Testament. where he, when he confronted
his brothers and he told them, he said, now you meant it for
evil. So there's no excuse for what you did. But he said, God
meant it for good and to save much people alive. And I recognize
that in my own life because when I first started going to a church
where the gospel, the true gospel was preached, I really meant
it for evil. Because I went there feeling
sorry for my mother, I was trying to get her out of there. That's
what I wanted to do. And in that process, and she
was very truthful with me, I told her one time we were driving
home, and my dad, he didn't go to church, so it was just me
and her. My brothers were elsewhere, so it was just me and her, and
I was driving home, and I just heard a gospel message, which
at that time, I didn't believe it. And I told her, I said, Mom,
I said, what he said this morning's true. I'm lost. And she said
to me, she said, she called me Billy. She said, Billy, if you
don't believe this, you are lost. And I thought, my goodness, my
own mother telling me I'm lost. But I kept going, and not for
a good purpose. But eventually, I had what I
call a two-by-four moment. You know, you've heard the old
adage about you got to hit the mule in the head with a two-by-four
to get his attention. And I had a two-by-four moment
where God hit me in the head with a spiritual two-by-four
and got my attention. And I said, I need to learn more
about this. And in that process, at some point in time, which
I don't know for sure, I don't know the exact day or hour, and
that's not important. But God brought me to faith in
Christ and repentance of dead works. But I always think about
my mother, how she persevered with me and all my shenanigans
and my rebellion and all of that. So you all, you men and you sons
and daughters, thank God for your mothers. Happy Mother's
Day. I may say this whole thing again
at 11 o'clock. Anyway, we need to hear it. Look
at Matthew chapter 27 verse 15. It's an interesting point of
history. Christ on his way to the cross.
He's been brought up before the Sanhedrin. He's being condemned
by them. They took him before Pontius
Pilate. And now look what happens in verse 15. Now at the feast,
this is the Passover feast now. The governor was wont to release
under the people a prisoner whom they would, a prisoner of their
choice. Now this was something that Pilate
did in order to appease the people. And he thought this would gain
him points with them. So a prisoner, a Jewish prisoner,
he released one of their choice. And verse 16 says, they had then
a notable prisoner called Barabbas. You know the story of Barabbas.
You know who Barabbas was. When it says notable, that means
he was infamous. He was well known among the people. He was, I put in your lesson,
he was a thief and a robber. We know this from other passages.
And he was guilty of sedition. And that's rebellion against
the Roman governors and the conquerors. He had joined with others in
an insurrection and had committed murder. Now you'll see that in
John 18, 40 and Luke 23, 19. I've got that listed in your
lesson. So he was a thief, a robber, he was an insurrectionist, and
he was a murderer. And everybody knew it. In other
words, there's no doubt that according to Roman law anyway,
he was guilty and deserving of death. But even according to
Jewish law, being a murderer, I'm sure they didn't mind him
being an insurrectionist, because they all hated Rome. That's the
conquerors. But him being a murderer, he
was guilty of their law, too. Thou shalt not kill. And the
punishment for that was capital punishment, according to their
law. Pilate, he presented them with,
verse 17 says, therefore when they were gathered together,
Pilate said unto them, whom will ye that I release unto you, Barabbas
or Jesus, which is called Christ? Now, that's significant now because
what Pilate is saying here, should I release Barabbas or should
I release one who is Jesus called the Messiah? And of course, you
know how they felt about him claiming to be the Messiah. They
thought that was blasphemy. And so Pilate, he stated it that
way, and I believe that was providential. Pilate didn't believe in the
Messiah. Pilate didn't believe truth.
Over in the book of John, it talks about when Christ was before
Pilate. Pilate made that famous statement,
what is truth? Because he was one who adhered to the philosophy that
there is no absolute truth. And you know you'd be surprised
how many people who call themselves Christian today feel that way,
without even knowing it. There's no absolute truth. What's
truth to you is not truth to me. You'll see it a lot of times
when people talk about interpreting the scripture. They say, well,
what that verse means to you, it doesn't mean that to me. It
means something else to me. And that's not right, that's
not biblical. That's not godly. But that's
the way Pilate was. But he mentioned, this is the
way he put it. Who am I gonna release unto you? Barabbas, this
thief, this murderer? Or Jesus, which is called the
Messiah? And so Pilate presented the people
with this choice between a criminal and Jesus called the Christ.
And so look at verse 18, it says, for he knew that for envy they
had delivered him. Pilate knew that the Pharisees
and the elders delivered Jesus unto him because of their jealousy
and their hatred, people following him, multitudes. Now we know
that in general, they followed him not for the truth, in the
multitude that is. There were a few, there was a
remnant now, but the multitude followed him for the miracles,
for the loaves and the fishes. And of course, that same multitude
we're gonna see turned against him. And it says in verse 19,
it says, when he was sent down on the judgment seat, this is
Pilate, his wife sent unto him saying, sent a messenger, have
thou nothing to do with that just man? Ain't that interesting? Pilate's wife called Jesus a
just man. Now you know the word just is
the same word in the Greek that's translated righteous. This is
a righteous person. Don't have anything to do with
this righteous person, this just man. And she goes on and says,
for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of
him. So she had a dream. Now as I said, Pilate knew that Jesus was brought
to him based upon wrong evidence. lying evidence, just because
they were jealous. We know why they were jealous.
They hated him. They resented him. They resented that people
would follow him and not them. And then, mainly, you know what
they hated. They hated his message, which exposed them to be liars. You know, you think about it.
I've got it cited in the lesson here because of this. You know, a lot of commentators
will say that that the devil's the one who put that dream in
Pilate's wife's head because he wanted to stop Christ from
going to the cross. Wrong. First of all, the devil
doesn't have that kind of knowledge. But who do you think stirred
up the Pharisees and the elders and the scribes to accuse him?
Well, the devil. Remember in John 8, 44, Christ
said, you are of your father, the devil. the works of your
father you do and he was a liar from the beginning all of that
so don't don't don't give the devil more than his due that's
what I'm telling this was the providence of God And I believe
it is recorded in scripture to focus on and to hammer home this
great truth of the impeccability, the righteousness, the justness,
the purity of Jesus Christ. That he was never a sinner. He
didn't know sin. The only way he came into contact
with sin is he came to save sinners. and he ate with publicans and
sinners, but he was never corrupted, he was never defiled. All through
his life on this earth, he was the impeccable, perfect, pure,
just, righteous God-man. And to say anything less or more
than that is blasphemy. You got that? Can I make that
even more clear? That's what he is. Even Pilate
knew this. Pilate, look over with me at
Luke 23. And that's why it's amazing to
me that certain so-called preachers of the gospel would say, when
they go to passages like 2 Corinthians 5.21, he was made sin, that it's
more than imputation. Well, what more is it? And you
all have heard a man say that he was made a sinner. He wasn't.
Most of them won't go that far, but they'll say, well, we don't
know. He was corrupted some way. No,
he wasn't. Even Pilate's wife knew it. Even
Pilate knew it. But look at Luke, let me see
where it is. Luke 23, look at verse 14. I think it is. I hope I don't have
it. Yeah. Verse 14. Pilate said unto
them, you have brought this man unto me as one that perverted
the people and behold, I having examined him before you have
found no fault in this man. Touching those things where of
you accuse him. So Pilate said that. And then
over in, look down at verse 22. He said unto them the third time,
why, what evil hath he done? I have found no cause of death
in him. I will therefore chastise him
and let him go. And that's where Pilate said,
I'll scourge him and that ought to be good enough for you and
I'll let him go. And then you can read about it over in John
18 too. This is all in the providence
and work of God. And I believe he sent that dream
to Pilate's wife to emphasize this point, that this man whom
they're bringing before you with these accusations is innocent. But at the same time, we have
to always understand, as Christ is the just man, the righteous
man, suffering for the unjust, that before God Almighty, his
Father, He was guilty, guilty, guilty, and deserving of condemnation,
but not because of any sin in Him. Understand? It was because of our sins imputed
to Him, charged to Him. And He accepted that willingly
before the world was ever created as the surety of God's people,
the surety of the covenant. So here he is, and Peter, that
term, the just for the unjust, is found in 1 Peter 3, 18. He
was innocent, unblemished, unspotted lamb, who was unjustly accused
and condemned by sinful men, but he was made sin and guilty
only by the sins of God's elect imputed to him, as they were
all made the righteousness of God in him, by his righteousness
imputed to them. And what a beautiful message
that is. Why would anybody want to corrupt that? Fool with it.
Christ died as our surety. God was not wrong in punishing
this just person. You say, well, that doesn't sound
right. Well, that's the conundrum. That's the problem that is answered and solved by
the gospel. How can a holy and just and righteous
God punish His Son who is perfect, just, and righteous, punish Him
and still be just in doing so? How can He do that and say, I'm
doing right? See? No religion on earth even poses
that question, let alone answers it. But the gospel does, and
I'm gonna talk about that in the message today because I want,
what is unique about the gospel we believe? Even amongst a lot
of what is called Christianity today. Because it poses that
question and answers it. And it's only by God's grace,
based upon our sins imputed to Christ, his righteousness imputed
to us. How can he look at us, who are sinful people, and who
don't deserve anything but death and hell, and say righteous. Is he just acting? Lying to himself? Is it just a fiction? You know,
I've heard a preacher say it's legal fiction. No, it's not,
it's real. Because it's based upon that,
the fact that God is the God who justifieth the ungodly. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that
justifies. So here we have Christ standing
before them, Barabbas beside him, and Pilate says, who am
I gonna release to? Now Pilate, he just knew they
were gonna pick Jesus and say, condemn Barabbas. But that's
not what happened because Christ had to go to the cross. He had
to suffer and bleed and die for the sins of his people charged
to him. He said that at the very beginning
of his public meeting. Of course, that's said all through
the Old Testament in prophecy and type and picture. Why were
all those lambs slain on Jewish altars? The bullocks. Why was
all that blood? Somebody said that was a bloody
religion. You bet it was. Because it was driving home the
point that sin demands death. And in order to satisfy the justice
of God for sin, there must be death. That's not because God
is bloodthirsty or a maniac or some kind of an unchecked murderer. It's because he's holy. It's
because he's righteous and he's just. And he must do that which
is right. Abraham said that, shall not
the God of the earth do what is right? You bet he will. Human
judges don't necessarily do what is right, do they? But this judge,
he does what is right. And therefore, Christ had to
come. He had to keep the law. He said, I kept it perfectly.
He had to suffer and bleed and die as the surety of his people. And so he was justly condemned
in their place, for our sins imputed to him. Remember, I know
that evil men, and that would include us too, as by nature,
as we're born into this world, fallen in Adam, evil men did
to him what they wanted to do. But they couldn't have touched
him, could they? Unless he allowed them to do it. Peter said that
at Pentecost. He said, you did no more than
what God, before the foundation of this world, purposed to do. So look at verse
20 now. All right, it says in verse 20,
but the chief priest and elders persuaded the multitude that
they should ask Barabbas and destroy Jesus. Well, Pilate,
as I said, this shows how much man by nature is at enmity with
God. The carnal mind is enmity. They
were determined that Jesus of Nazareth be crucified. They hated
him that much. And they went out and persuaded
the multitude, choose Barabbas and reject Jesus. Now, and I
put in your lesson here, and this is important. Remember that
this natural hatred of God is prevalent in all of us by nature,
as we're naturally born, fallen in Adam. We fell in Adam in our
state of spiritual death and depravity. So that today, if
I can honestly say that I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and
I love him and I love his truth, it's all because of the sovereign
mercy and grace of God. None of it is owing to my own
volition, as if I made the right choice. Now I can tell you I
made the right choice, but it's because God changed my heart
and my mind and my affections and my will. It was all Him. And so we need to understand
it. And I've got a list of here, we won't turn there because I've
got a long passage here. Ephesians 2, 1 and 10, read that. And that'll show you what I'm
talking about. Well, look at verse 21. He says, the governor, in verse
20, they said, we should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.
The governor answered and said unto them, whither of the twain
will you that I release unto you? And they said, Barabbas. And Pilate saith unto them, what
shall I do then with Jesus, which is called the Christ? And they
all say unto him, let him be crucified. Let him be crucified. And the governor said, verse
23, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more,
saying, let him be crucified. Now you gotta understand that
the multitude here that's saying let him be crucified, that was
the same multitude that before was crying Hosanna when he entered
in Jerusalem. And that just shows you that
by nature, man will not choose Christ, will not choose the Lord
God. God has to do a work of grace. So there he is. Pilate's determined to release
him, but the crowd said, give us Barabbas. And that's how much
they hated Christ. Look over at Acts chapter three. We'll read this one. And this
is a message that It emphasizes what we're talking
about. Look at Acts chapter three, if
I can find it, yeah. Verse, what have I got there? Verse 13, Acts chapter three.
It said when Peter's preaching here, he says, the God of Abraham
and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified
his son whom you delivered up and denied him in the presence
of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. Pilate was determined
to let him go. But they insisted, and he says,
but you, verse 14, you denied the Holy One and the just, and
desired a murderer to be granted unto you, and killed the prince
of life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are
witnesses. That's what you did. Peter was
not exempt from this. Now he was one of the disciples.
Remember, he denied him three times. So it goes back to understanding
now, even the elect of God, even his sheep, it was our sins that
put him on that cross. Now we know God did it, but it
was because of our sins. He had to die, all of that. So they cried out the more. We'll
go back to Matthew 27. Look at verse 24. When Pilate saw that he could
prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, the mob was
stirred up, she say. He took water and washed his
hands before the multitude saying, I'm innocent of the blood of
this just person, see ye to it. And then he says, then answered
all the people and said, his blood be on us and on our children. Think about that. And it says
in verse 26, then released he Barabbas unto them, and when
he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. That scourging
was the whipping, with the cat of nine tail, you remember. So,
Pilate realized he couldn't persuade this crowd. So what'd he do? You know the story. Washed his
hands. I'm innocent. Now, that didn't
exonerate Pilate. You know, Pilate was the governor.
He was a magistrate. He was a judge. What Pilate should
have done from his viewpoint now, from the human point of
view, was to release Jesus of Nazareth because he was innocent.
That's what a just judge would do. A just judge doesn't sentence
an innocent person to death. And so Pilate, just because he
was politically smart, And he knew that it would upset the
crowd. He released a known murderer into the crowd and back into
society. What kind of sounds like our
government today, doesn't it? And sentenced an innocent person
to death. Now again, and I emphasize this,
I hope you don't get tired of me saying this. Now, Christ was
not innocent before the father. This was all in God's plan and
God's purpose, and it was just and right for him to do so. It
pleased the Lord to bruise him, and all of that. But from a human
point of view, all we see here are lies and injustice. That's
us by nature, see? And here Pilate himself, he bore
testimony of the innocence of Christ. And his wife told him,
don't have anything to do with this just man. And here the crowd
said, well, let his blood be on us. Now, washing your hands
is not gonna get rid of the sin. You know, back in the old covenant,
they had ceremonial washings with water, and that never did
get rid of the sin problem, but it was ceremonial. The only way
that we can get rid of the sin problem is by the washing of
the blood of Jesus Christ. And then within us, It's by the
washing of the water by the word, which doesn't get rid of all
the flesh, but it gives us the cure because it brings us to
look to Christ as our only hope and stay. So his blood be on
us and on our children. And I've got in the end of this
lesson, I want you to see this. They could not have harmed Jesus
They could have not laid one finger on Jesus of Nazareth except
it was God's sovereign purpose and will for his glory and the
salvation of his elect through the obedience unto death of Christ.
And that's why I've printed here in your lesson Isaiah 53 10 and
then given you some cross references. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. he hath put him to grieve, thou shalt make his soul an offering
for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. And then
secondly, they also could not have done any harm to him, unless
he willingly submitted himself to suffer and die for his people.
And then I've got, John 10 here, verse 15. The Father, he said,
Christ told his disciples, as the Father knoweth me, even so
know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. Frank, we were talking about
this earlier. He came to seek and to save that which was lost.
And who is he talking about? His sheep. And he says, and other
sheep I have which are not of this fold, that is this Jewish.
God hasn't elect people out of every nation and tribe and kindred.
he said, them also I must bring, not might but must, and they
shall hear my voice and there shall be one fold and one shepherd
therefore doth my father love me because I laid down my life
that I might take it again no man taketh it from me but I lay
it down of myself and he said, I have power to lay it down,
I have power to take it again and this commandment have I received
of my father. So, as I conclude the lesson,
all through this dark event of the history of fallen mankind,
we see the sovereign will and glory of God in the Lord Jesus
Christ for the salvation of his people. Okay.