The twenty-seventh chapter of
the book of Matthew. Matthew chapter twenty-seven. a few of these verses here this
evening, which have to do with the unjust accusations made against
the Lord Jesus. And Jesus stood before the governor. That's the eleventh verse. And the governor asked him, saying, Art thou king of the Jews?' And
Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest. And when he was accused of the
chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest
thou not how many things they witnessed against thee? Remember thou, this is the testimony
of God concerning him that he went about doing good. So I wonder
about all these accusations that these folks made against him.
What kind of a ground or a basis for their accusations did they
have? Hearest thou not how many things
they witness against thee? And he answered him never a word,
insomuch that the governor marveled greatly. It was unusual for the
governor to be in the presence of one who was accused unjustly
and falsely and not make a response of some sort. effort to defend himself against
the lies that were told regarding him. And he marveled at that. Now, at that feast, the governor
was wont to release the people of prisoner whom they would. At this particular time of the
season and year, they released one of the prisoners. He was
asking the people, have you fellows got together and decided on what
prisoner you want me to release? And they had then a notable prisoner
called Bar Abbas. That is, he was notorious for
his wickedness. And there wasn't a single solitary
thing about him that had any redeeming value, nothing. He was just an out-and-out convict,
a robber and a thief, injurious, notable prisoner. He certainly
was. Therefore, when they gathered
together, Pilate said unto them, Will ye that I release unto you
Barabbas, this notorious one, or Jesus, which is called Christ? For he knew that for envy they
had delivered him. He knew what they wanted. And
when he was set down on the judgment seat, His wife sent unto him,
saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man? Now, I don't know what the outcome
of that lady's life amounted to. I don't know. I hope for
the best. But she told the truth here.
Now whether she really understood, I don't know. But she said he
was a just man. And the Bible says that the just
for the unjust. That he might bring us to God. The just for the unjust, that
he might bring us to God. So this is the one who's going
to deliver the prisoners. He's the one that's going to break the chains that bind them
and deliver them from bondage. He's the one that's going to
be accountable for them. And she said to her husband,
she said, Have nothing to do with that just man. Now, just
in the sense of the context here, means right, correct, the upright
one, or the accurate one. This just one, right one, accurate
one, upright one. All of those fit his character. She said, For I have suffered
Many things this day and a dream because of him must have had
a nightmare of some sort. And the chief priests and the
elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas
and destroy Jesus. And the governor answered and
said unto them, Whither of the twain will ye that I release
unto you? And they said, Barabbas. And Pilate said unto them, What
shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? And they all say unto him, Let
him be crucified. If Jesus Christ is all in all,
like we read that he was here this morning, if Jesus Christ
the Lord is all and in all, then what are men going to do without
him? What kind of a plea will the
average person make if he is able to make a plea at the end
when judgment day comes? What kind of a plea? If Christ is of no value, if men like these men, reject Him and
say, Give us a thief instead. Deliver the thief and crucify
Jesus. Kill Him. Put Him on the tree. If He is all and in all, what
use then is a Christless religion? If he is the way, the truth,
and the life, and no man come to the Father except by him,
if that is true, then what use is a religion without him? And what pleas will men
make at the judgment bar of God? A Christless religion And that
is what is predominant in our time, is a religion without Christ,
a Christless religion availeth nothing. Most people that are
involved in this Christless religion, they have a few vague notions
and empty expressions, and they trust. that they're no worse
than somebody else. That's a Christless religion
which will avail nothing. Christ is all in the sinner's
justification before God. Through Christ alone can we have
admission into the presence of Almighty God, a Christless religion
is vain and useless. What can a man bring as a plea
for his acquittal before the Most High God if he has that
opportunity? I don't know that he will, but
it indicates that some at this great judgment, according to paragraphs that I have read in
the Bible about judgment. Some of them are going to say,
Lord, we have done this and that in thy name. We have cast out
devils in thy name. We have preached in thy name,
done miracles in thy name. So evidently they are going to make some plea and
indicate that maybe the ordinary person like you and I, if we be outside of the Lord
Jesus, that they may furnish us a certain amount of time to
make a plea. What will be my plea? What will be your plea? Their
plea was that they cast out devils. And they said, We didn't do it
in our name. We cast out devils in your name. And our Lord said, Depart from
me. Take your place, bind them hand
and foot. What will be my plea? What will
be your plea for acquittal before the Most High God? Shall we say,
We've done our duty. We've done our duty to God. We
have done our duty to our neighbor. Will that be our plea? It will be a plea grounded on
a lie because we haven't done our duty towards God and we haven't
done our duty towards man. But will that be our plea? Shall we bring forward at that
time our prayers and our regularity, our morality, our churchgoing. Shall we ask to be accepted on
the basis of any of these things? Will that be our plea? I go to
church every Sunday where I've been very faithful in prayer
meeting night and things of that nature. Shall we ask to be accepted
because of any of these? Which of these will stand the
searching inspection before the eye of God? Not a one of them. Not a single solitary one. Mouths are going to be shut,
I guess. Well, I know this, if we come and make a plea in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no other ground that
we can stand on except that name. If to be accepted by God, we
must come to the Lord Jesus Christ because he is all. We must stand on no other ground,
make no other place, and make no other plea than this,
that I am a sinner, hopeless and helpless, and unless you show mercy, I
am doomed and damned forever. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ. is the message of the Bible. It says, Come unto me all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, all ye that are trying to work
your way into God's presence, all those that are weighted down
with religion, a Christless one at that, those that are weary
in doing these things in order to gain God's attention or trying
to gain favor in God's sight, weary of all of that, come unto
me, all ye that weary and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest for your
soul. Let's come to Him. Come, being
robed! dressed in the garment of our
elder brother, who is the Lord Jesus. He is not only our advocate,
but he is our elder brother. He is our brother. He who is
God, condescended to become a man. He took upon himself our flesh to
become a human being. And so is our elder brother.
So if we come to the Lord Jesus Christ as sinners, we come dressed
in His garment of righteousness. If we come to the gates of glory
in our own name, in our own worth, which we have no worth or value,
we shall not be admitted. Only the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the passport to God's eternity. And I said that and
said that and said that and said that over and over and over and
over and over, month after month and month after month and year
after year and a lifetime of saying that wherever I preach,
whether it be to the few or to the many. I always say you've
got to come to him. You've got to do business with
God. I always say the only place that
God and the sinner will meet is in Christ Jesus. He'll meet
you on no other ground but he'll meet you on the ground of the
Lord Jesus Christ. come robed in the garment of
our elder brother. Oh, if we come in our own name
and in our own works, we shall not be admitted. No, the mark
of the blood of Christ is the only mark that can save us poor
sinners. I pity those people who try to
be holy without Christ, they labor in vain. And there are
lots of them, all these that are in these Christless churches
where Christ is not honored and exalted, where Christ is not
preached, all these. are an offense to
God. They are an offense. They dishonor
God. Their labor is in vain. It is
like putting money in a bag with holes in it. It is like pouring
water into a sea. Christ is the only meeting place
between God and man. She said, She said, have nothing to do
with that just man. Have nothing to do with him.
He's a just man. He's an accurate man. He's an
upright man. Have nothing to do with him.
He came unto his own, but his own received him not. The whole
world hated him. A man who went about doing good,
altogether One whom God testified Himself with a loud voice, said,
This is my beloved Son, whom I am well pleased. And the whole
world hated Him, including you and I. Don't you be afraid to
say that you didn't hate Him. You didn't. If you didn't love
Him, you hated Him. If you can't hate, you can't
love. If you can't love, you can't
hate. We all hated him, didn't want
him to interfere. Well, is there a proud soul among
us here tonight? Is there anyone thinking of making
himself fit for heaven and good enough to pass muster by his
own doings. Is anybody here like that tonight?
Well, if you are, then you're building a tower like those fellows
in the book of Genesis who built a tower to nowhere, a tower of
babble that went no place, trying to reach heaven. And all the
works and the pleas of lost men is going nowhere. It is a tower
of battle. You never reach heaven in the
present state that you are in right now. If you would be justified,
you must be content to go to heaven as a beggar with empty
hands. Nothing in my hand I bring,"
we sing. Nothing, absolutely nothing in
my hand I bring. Simply, I simply cling to Him. That's all I've got. Oh, come
to Him as a beggar without nothing and be saved by the free grace
of God, or never go at all. Come that way, as you are, nothing
in your hand. As a beggar, no merit, or never
go at all. That's as short as I can make
it. But there may be one here who
is laboring and is heavy laden, who wants to be saved and they
feel like they are vile sinners. Well, I say, you come to Christ.
Come to him, come to this just man. Pilate's wife said, have
nothing to do with that just man. He is a just man. He enables God himself to be
just and to be the justifier. of him that believeth in Jesus.
Are there one here tonight that fears the wrath of God? Well,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is all in all, in justification,
in sanctification, and in salvation, and in redemption, He can deliver
you, He can deliver the vilest sinner from the wrath to come
if you come to Him. Are there one here who feels
the curse of the broken law? Well, I'll tell you this, Christ
can redeem you from the curse of the broken law. Come to Him,
this just one. Does your conscience bother you
and tell you that you're guilty and you're just playing religion?
You've just been playing all these years? Your conscience
convicts you and tells you that you're guilty. And you know you
are. Do you feel like you're far off
from God and there's no way back? Or that you've never been with
him to begin with? Well, Christ, the Bible says,
has suffered in the sinner's place to bring the sinner nigh
unto God. Do you feel unclean tonight? Well, if you do, Christ's blood
can cleanse us from all sin and shame and guilt. Do you feel
imperfect? We all are imperfect. The only
problem is most of us won't admit it. But we are imperfect, and
if we are imperfect, we are sinners. Well, listen, the Bible says
if you come to the Lord Jesus Christ with all your sins and
all your guilt and your shame, He'll make you complete in Him,
for He's all and enough. He'll make you complete. Well,
do you feel like you're nothing? Christ will be your all in all
if you feel like you're nothing. Never did a saint, never, that's
a long time, never did a saint reach heaven with any tale, any
story but this, I was made white. And I was washed in the blood
of the Lamb. That will be the story of the
sinner going to heaven. I have been washed and made white
in the blood of the Lamb. I have been cleansed. Well, can
you come like that, empty-handed? Can you come? Listen, don't allow
yourself to mingle anything of your own with Christ. Don't allow yourself to do that.
Don't allow yourself to add anything to Christ. I do not frustrate
the grace of God, he said. I don't mix up the grace of God. I don't frustrate it. If so,
if I do, then the Lord Jesus Christ died in vain. It's all
of the Lord Jesus Christ or nothing. Well, let me just recite here
some things that are strange and mysterious, but yet these
things are true. concerning the Lord Jesus. And
these are figures which are used in the Bible to tell of the fullness
of Jesus Christ, who said, Christ is all and in all. He is all
in everything, all in creation. He will be all in the world to
come. He will be all in heaven. He
will be the object of adoration, even in heaven right now. and he'll be all in all in between.
And these are figures here that I'm going to recite to you, and
they're used in the Bible to tell of the fullness of the Lord
Jesus Christ, that he is all in all. It says that he's called a high
priest, one that stands between God and the sinner. He's the
high priest. and says he's the Redeemer, and
says he's the Mediator, and says he's the Savior, and says he's
the Advocate, the Lawyer, who pleads the sinner's case. And
he never lost a case. Never have lost a case. Now,
old Jeff's the lawyer. He's lost a case or two. I would
hope he'd never lose a case. I hope that from every case he
has from now on, he wins every one of them. But I know he won't.
But this lawyer, this mediator, this pleader, this crier out
on behalf of the poor, the Lord Jesus Christ never lost a case.
He's called the advocate. And then to the other extreme,
he's called a shepherd, the shepherd of the sheep. And then he's called
the physician, the Great Physician. It says that he did not come
for people who are well and not sick. He comes for those that
are sick and in need, the Great Physician. He is called the Physician,
he is called the Bridegroom, he is called the Head, he is
called the Bread of Life, he is called the Light of the World,
he is called the Way, the truth, and the life, and the door, and
the vine, and the rock, and the fountain, and the son of righteousness,
and the forerunner, and the surety, and the captain, and the prince
of life, and the Amen. He's called the Almighty. He's
called the author and the finisher of faith. He's the Lamb of God. He's the King of kings. He's
the King of saints. He's the wonderful, mighty God. and the blessed eternal counselor. He is the bishop of our souls. And there are many more other
types and figures in the scriptures that tell us of the fullness
and the completeness of the Lord Jesus Christ. What value is a
Christless religion? No value at all. No value at
all. It is Christ or nothing. Well, the Lord bless us. We'll
meet again on Wednesday night and talk about him whom to know
is life eternal.