Now the gospel that I attempt to preach to you week
in and week out, and I think really is the gospel,
is substitution. Substitution. Christ's death
at Calvary was a substitutionary death. He died as a substitute
and he made satisfaction to God with his death. Christ died in
place of the guilty. And therefore, because he purged
the sins of the guilty, Because he answered the demands of God's
holy justice. Those for whom he died must be
set free. I want to show you an illustration
of that this morning in the death of Barabbas. The death of Barabbas. Matthew 27, 15 says, Now at that
feast, feast of the Passover, the governor was wont to release
unto the people a prisoner of their choice, whomever they would.
They are under the government of Rome. This is the Roman official
here. And he's doing this for the Jews.
It's probably just a political gesture to look good in the sight
of the Jews, keep them from having an uprising. And they had then
a notable prisoner called Barabbas. Here's the first thing I want
you to see. Barabbas was guilty. He was guilty of insurrection,
that is, sedition. That means he was a rebel. He
rebelled against the authority. He caused trouble. He was a troublemaker. He hated authority and he rebelled
against it. His name means his father's son. Our first father, Adam, every
man in this room, every woman, child in this room, your first
father, Adam, rebelled against God, made insurrection against
God by one transgression, just one. Before that, the law had
nothing to say to him whatsoever. Before that, he was upright And
God was his rule of life. He walked with God. He talked
with God. He was directed by God. He was
instructed by God. He had God's word to direct him. But the moment he rebelled against
God with that one transgression, he went under the curse of the
law. Separated from God because he rebelled against God. And
you and I, and everyone in here, are our fathers, sons, and daughters. That's what we are. Rebels against
God. We are conceived with this nature. We're born with this nature.
And by nature, we hate the authority. That's what Scripture says. The
carnal man hates God. And we hate Him by nature. And
because there is no authority but of God, we hate all authority. Your children are born and you
begin to teach your children. Try to teach them that which
is right. And you do not have to instruct
your children to rebel against you. Some of you are new drivers. You went through driver school
and you learned all about the rules of the road and how to
drive. Everything was taught to you
was in accordance with that which is right. Nobody had to teach
you. Nobody had to persuade you. Nobody
had to As soon as you got out of mom and daddy's sight, you
watch that speedometer go right up over the speed limit. We rebel
against authority. It's what we are. It's what we
are by nature. Barabbas was guilty of robbery.
He was guilty of robbery. Adam's one transgression was
robbery against God. That's what it was. We robbed
God of His glory when we refused to worship Him. We rob God of
His honor when we refuse to believe His Word. This Word is true.
You rob God of the glory of His honor by not trusting His Word.
We rob God using everything He's given, everything He's made to
fill our bellies and to consume it upon our lusts and not having
any regard to God. We rob Him. That's what the law
of robbery, every law God gave after that one transgression,
Every law he gave was to show the spiritual rebellion against
God that we are. The law was given that the offense
might abound, that we might see the offensiveness of that one
transgression against God. Everything about that law, adultery,
robbery, sedition, covetousness, everything is against God in
that one offense. And we pass this on to our children.
We make our We pass this on to our children,
and we're guilty of the blood of the Son of God. Guilty of
the blood of the Son of God by nature. Seditious, robbing, murderers. He was guilty of murder. That's
what we are, murderers. Envy, and hatred, and anger,
and wrath, and malice, they're all the same before God. They're
murder. Murder before God's law. That's
what we are. Seditious, robbing murderers. That's the substance of every
man's heart by nature. Listen to the scripture. Out
of the heart, there's the fountain. There's the fountain. You can
get all the pollution out of the Mississippi River from Memphis
down to New Orleans. But it won't do any good if the
pollution's right back up there at the head of the string. It
won't help you at all. We can get all the pollution
out of these hands and out of our feet and out of our eyes
and reform to the point that we look like we've got it licked.
But the sedition and the murder and the robbery is in the heart. There ain't but one that can
fix that, and that's God Almighty. God Almighty, that's what we
are. And just as Barabbas was captive, he was in prison. Because he, that's how, that's
what we are by nature. We come forth in prison. We're
captive. Taken captive by Satan at his
will. We're under the prince of the
power of the air. Children of wrath by nature.
Wrathful children. Hating God and hating one another
by nature. And we're under the prince of
the power of the air. And all Satan has to do to get us to
do our bidding, to do his bidding, is just flatter us. Or offend
us. Or whatever. And we'll be captive
by him at his will. Doing whatever he wants us to
do. In bondage to our nature. That's
why we can only do what our nature allows us to do. We're snakes by nature and we'll
do what a snake does by nature. Venoms under our tongue. We bite. We sting. We strike. That's what
our nature is until God gives a new nature. He's got to give
a new heart, a new nature. Then we're going to be captive
to that new nature that He's given under the power of God.
We're bound under the curse of the law. Scripture says, We know
that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who are
under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world
may become guilty before God. That's why God gave that law.
That's why He gave that one law. I said to you that law had nothing
to say to Adam before he sinned in the garden. It had nothing
to do with him. But once he sinned, there was
nothing Adam could say. Because that law said to Adam,
you're guilty. But I, shh, you're guilty. But,
shh, you're guilty. Now that's just how it is. You're
guilty. And that's why the law was given.
It wasn't given as a thermometer, a measuring stick, a rule. It was given to say, shut your
mouth, you're guilty. That's what it's for. Barabbas
was guilty and the law demanded that he die. The law demanded
he die. That's the case with every chosen
child of God that was given to the Lord Jesus Christ. When we
sinned in Adam, the law demanded they've got to die. We died spiritually
when we were cut off from God in Adam. We came forth dead from
our mother's womb and we're Dying physically, day by day, day by
day, day by day. Since the first breath we took,
we've been dying. And when sin has brought forth,
when it's conceived and when it's brought forth, it's going
to end one way. Death. Death. As many as are
of the works of the law are under the curse. That's the curse. Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. Let me get you to just envision a line here. Okay, there's
a straight line. Let's say that top of that curtain
right there. Let's say that's zero. That's zero and everything
above that's plus and everything below that's minus. Adam started out at zero. Upright. Normal. Natural. He could walk
with God. He had no sin. He was perfect
to be accepted of God. And when he sinned, he went all
the way down. And all the law was given that
that one offense to show us just how far down we went. Now, if
you could do everything that law said, everything written
in the book of law, if you could do everything, big deal. All you've done is got back to
zero. You don't deserve a reward for doing right. When's the last
time anybody stopped you on the highway, a police officer, and
gave you an award for doing the speed limit? That's not what
it's for. If you did it all, it don't.
So we call everybody in this day and time is a hero. You know
why? Because everybody's such a zero. If you do any little thing, you're
a hero. these days. But if we did everything we're
supposed to do, we've just done what we're supposed to do. That's
all. We don't deserve anything for
that. Well, that's the soul that sinneth, it must die. We can't
get back to zero. We can't even get back to where
we're just right. We can't even get to there. And
God's law demands the soul that sinned must die. His law demands
it, His holiness demands it, and His justice demands it. Gotta
die. We got three strikes against
us. His law, His holiness, and His justice. We gotta die. Every
one of us sitting right here has got to bear justice. Every one of us. Now, you think
about that long and hard. Think long and hard about that.
Every sinner in this room who is without Christ is sitting
in that jail cell with Barabbas and you're on death row. You're
on death row. If you don't trust Christ, if
you're not believing Christ, you're sitting in a solitary
confinement on death row. It's not a matter of if, it's
just a matter of when. Is there any hope for Barabbas? Is there any hope for you? How can God be faithful to His
holy law and pardon your sin and have mercy on you? The only
way God's going to be merciful to you is if one is found to
take your plagues. That's the only way. I got news
for you. I got news for you. There's not a man among us, born
of Adam, that is able to do that. Because we are all in the same
boat. We are sinners from the beginning. But Christ the Lord
is the perfect substitute. Christ the Lord is the perfect
substitute. Look at verse 17. He said, Now we got this notable
prisoner called Barabbas. Therefore, when they were gathered
together, Pilate said unto them, Whom do you desire that I release
unto you? This is your choice. Now who
do you want me to release unto you? Barabbas or Jesus, which
is called Christ? For he knew, Pilate knew, that
it was for envy that they had delivered Christ. And when he
was set down on the judgment seat, his wife had said unto
him, and she said, Don't have anything to do with this just
man. He's just. And I've suffered many things
this day in a dream because of him. Pilate says he's not guilty. His wife says this is a just
man. I'm tormented by dreams that we even have this man in
jail, Christ the Lord. And Pilate saw this as an opportunity
that he could release Christ and still stay in good standing
with his superiors because here's one that's so vile, so guilty,
this man Barabbas. this robbing, murdering, rebel
against Rome. Surely these people will say,
yeah, kill him, crucify him because this man Jesus hasn't done anything
wrong whatsoever. Verse 20 says, but the chief
priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should
ask Barabbas and destroy Jesus. These chief priests and elders,
those who had the Word of God, who had the shadows and the types
of the Old Testament, the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms,
who had been waiting for the Messiah to come, who had been
looking for Him, whose word was the Messiah's coming, trust the
Messiah, trust the Messiah, trust the Messiah, went all through
the crowd and all through the people, these were the leaders,
and they persuaded the people and said, if they ask us who
we want released unto us, You tell them to release Barabbas
and destroy Jesus. If Jesus is the King and He's
the Savior, these men aren't the King and they aren't the
Savior. And they envied His glory. They envied the glory. They were
rebels, murderers, robbers of God's glory themselves. They
were just like Barabbas. Christ Jesus is the righteous
substitute. This substitute must meet God's
requirements and he must be willing to die. He must be God so that
he can satisfy eternally. And because it's a man that sinned,
he must be a man like his brethren, like those for whom he dies.
He's got to be perfect, sinless, spotless, Holy! So that He can
be the perfect, spotless, holy substitute. Or else He can't
Himself take the sin of His people upon Himself. This is Christ. He's the God-Man. He's God and
Man. And He knew no sin. In Him is
no sin. In Him is no guile. In Him is
no hypocrisy. He's what we saw in James this
morning. He's that pure, peaceable, non-partial, He's that wisdom
from above. He's that good and perfect gift
that God gave. That's who He is. Turn with me
to 2 Corinthians 5, verse 19. And this one was willing. This
one was willing. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 19. God was in Christ. God providing Himself a Lamb,
God in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word
of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you
in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God, for He God the Father
has made Him sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. Look over with me now at Isaiah
53 verse 8. This substitutionary death means
that this one has to be sinless, he has to be God who can accomplish
eternal satisfaction, and he has to be man because it's man
that offended God. He's got to be holy. He's the
God-man, the perfect one. Is He willing? Is He willing?
Look at verse 7. Isaiah 53, 7. He was oppressed
and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth
not His mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment. And who shall declare his generation?
For he was cut off out of the land of the living for his own
sin, for his own transgression. For the transgression of my people
was he stricken. He willingly didn't open his
mouth, didn't defend himself. When they came to arrest him,
you ever noticed in Scripture, When he was in the garden and
he said to Peter and the others, pray, ask God, lest you fall
into temptation, they slept. They slept. He said, this is
how you're going to be saved. Pray to God. Ask Him. And they
slept. When they came to arrest him, instead of resting, they
drew the sword. That's us, isn't it? That's our
transgression. We won't obey God. We won't trust
God. This is the transgression He
willingly submitted to those that came to take Him. Everything
that's being done here. This is the Prince of Lies. He
could speak and open the prison doors. He could speak and make
the walls crumble. He could speak and take the breath
from the life of these men. But He's willingly, willingly
opening not His mouth because He's taking the transgression
of God's people. the transgression of those people
that are God's, the Father's, and are entrusted to Him. He's
doing it out of love for the Father and love for the brethren.
And He is accomplishing their salvation on their behalf in
their room and their stead. Now watch this. And He made His
grave with the wicked and with the rich in His death because
He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth.
Look down at verse 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. It made satisfaction. It satisfied
his justice and declared him just in showing mercy to his
people. It says here, He, the Father,
hath put him to grief. When 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." The Lord God Almighty, Jehovah, has a seed, a children
he gave to his son, and that chief seed, that son, that firstborn
to whom all the honor and glory goes, to whom the whole house
was entrusted, this one Went forth, and doing the pleasure
of God, doing the will of God, he willingly submitted himself
and laid down his life at Calvary's tree, being made sin for his
people, that God might be just, that
every transgression be paid, that every sin be paid, that
every sinner be purged of his sin, justified, and the law now
say, satisfied. That's what he did. And the Lord
said, this is my pleasure. Because in this I'm going to
show mercy. He raised that firstborn son
from the grave. He raised that seed, and in that
seed He raised all His children. And in that seed, when He prolonged
His days, He prolonged the days of all His children to all eternity. He shall see of the travail of
His Son. This is Christ birthing His children. This is Christ doing what No
man ever did. He's travailing in his soul and
he's satisfied. By his knowledge, he's the wisdom
and power of God unto salvation. And by his knowledge shall my
righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. That's substitution. Now, back
in our text, here's the third thing. The first thing, you're
guilty. I'm guilty. I'm Barabbas and
you're Barabbas by nature. We're in the cell. We're captive. We're getting what we rightfully, justly
deserve. Christ is the righteous servant
of God. He's the righteous substitute
that God sent to bear the transgression of God's people. Now let's see
an illustration of substitution. Verse 21, The governor answered
and said unto them, Matthew 27, 21. The governor answered and
said unto them, Which of these two men are you
willing that I release unto you? And they said, Barabbas. Now
he's asking the whole crowd. He's standing up and they're
all there together. The chief priests and the scribes
have gone about and they've said now, they've told him what to
say. And now he asks them. Pilate stands up and asks them.
And they all together answer. Barabbas. It's a multitude of
people here. Barabbas. Pilate saith unto them,
What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They
all said unto him, Let him be crucified. And the governor said,
Why? What evil hath he done? They didn't bring forth any evil
that he had done. Of course, they had none. But they weren't worried about
what's right. They said, let him be crucified. They cried it the more, let him
be crucified, when Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing,
but rather a tumult was made, a riot was made, and this thing
was boiling over in the street. He took water, and he washed
his hand before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the
blood of this just person, see ye to it. Then answered all the
people and said, His blood be on us and on our children. Now
I want you to put yourself in that cell with Barabbas. You're in that cell with Barabbas. You know what you've done. You know what you deserve. You
know what you're about to get. You're on death row. You know
that today is the day you're going to die. You're going to
answer to justice today. And he's sitting there in that
cell. Everything's quiet. And he hears all of a sudden,
in the distance, a multitude of voices and they're crying Barabbas Barabbas Barabbas Clay Clay Clay David, David, David, Scott, Scott,
Scott. He listens. You see him going
to that jail cell, that door, that cell, and putting his ear
up to the window. What's this about? Everything gets quiet. Maybe it's not today. And all of a sudden he hears
another noise. Crucify him. Crucify him. Crucify him. Barabbas. Barabbas. Barabbas. Crucify him. Let him be crucified. Crucify him. And he hears that jailer coming
down the way. Those keys jangling. And he stops at his cell. And he sticks the key in the
lock. Opens up the cell door. And he walks over. and he unlocks
the shackles on his feet. He says Barabbas, Scott, Clay, Vincent, you're free to go. Jesus Christ of Nazareth is down
in your place today. That's substitution. That's substitution. Verse 26 says, Then released
Heberabbas unto them, and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered
him to be crucified. Christ died for those chosen
of God and given Him in eternity. And every single one of those
for whom Christ died, for whom He shed His blood at Calvary,
He thoroughly, completely, fully, finally, forever, freely justified
of all their sins, purged them of all their sin, accomplished
their redemption so that they might go free. He accomplished
it. And it's not possible for the
law to punish Him and then punish one for whom
He died. They must be given eternal life. He bought it He shall see the
travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. With his stripes
we are healed. That's the doctrine of substitution. That's the doctrine of particular
redemption. That's the gospel wherein the
righteousness of God is revealed by divine revelation. Let me ask you something. When that jailer opened up that
jail cell, and he unblocked those shackles, and he said, Barabbas,
somebody's dying in your place today. You're free to go. You're a free man. Do you think
that jailer had to twist his arm to get him out of that cell?
Do you think that jailer had to beg him and plead for him
to come out of that jail cell? I bet you when he said those
words, I bet y'all it just looked like once he was there the next
minute he was gone. He took off. Didn't wait around
to hear another word. That's all I need to hear. I'm
free. I'm free. My prayer for you who don't believe
this morning is that the Spirit of God might enter into your
heart like that jailer entered into that jail and with the keys
of this gospel of gospel of the substitutionary death of our
Lord Jesus Christ that He might take the veil off your heart
and turn you and cause you to look in the face of Christ Jesus
and behold the glory of God in your salvation. That's my prayer
for you. And for you who know Him, who
have been made free indeed by Christ Jesus the Lord. Let's
come now and let's take this bread and this wine and let's
remember our Redeemer who died in our womb and our stead and
accomplished our salvation. Amen.