Turn with me, if you would, to
Matthew 27. Matthew 27, let's begin reading
in verse 11. And Jesus stood before the governor,
and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the king of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou
sayest. And when he was accused of the
chief priest and elders, he answered nothing. Then said Pilate unto
him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee?
and he answered him to never a word, insomuch that the governor
marveled greatly. Now at that feast, the governor
was want or known to release unto the people a prisoner whom
they would. And they had then a notable prisoner
called Barabbas. Notable prisoner. A rioter, a
robber, a murderer. Barabbas was a sinful man. He was a sinful man. A wicked,
ruined, worthless, vile, wretched man. That was Barabbas. Verse 17, 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? For he knew that for envy they
had delivered him. When Pilate was set down on the
judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing
to do with that just man? For I have suffered many things
this day in a dream because of him, that just man. Jesus Christ our Lord, he is
a righteous, holy, obedient, spotless, sinless man. Verse 20. But the chief priest and elders
persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas and
destroy Jesus. They called evil good and good
evil. Verse 21, the governor answered
and said unto them, whether of the twain will ye that I release
unto you? They said, Barabbas. Men loved
darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. Verse
22, Pilate saith unto them, what shall I do then with Jesus which
is called Christ? They all say unto him, let him
be crucified. And the governor said, why, what
evil hath he done? But they cried out the more saying,
let him be crucified. When Pilate saw that he could
prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water
and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent
of the blood of this just person. See ye to it. He washed his hands. His blood is not on my hands.
That is the delusion of all of mankind. That is the delusion
of every soul on this earth. His blood is not on my hands. There's not a soul on earth that
is innocent from sin against the Lord Jesus Christ. There's
not a soul on this earth. Pilate was just as guilty of
sin against him and being an enemy in the flesh against him
as every other man and woman that has ever walked this earth.
Verse 25, then answered all the people and said, his blood be
on us and on our children. In the way that they meant it,
his blood was on them. His blood was on their hands,
on their children's hands, every hand since. Verse 26, Then released
he Barabbas unto them. And when he had scourged Jesus,
he delivered him to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor
took Jesus into the common hall and gathered unto him the whole
band of soldiers. And they stripped him and put
on him a scarlet robe. And when they had plaited a crown
of thorns, They put it upon his head and a reed in his right
hand. And they bowed the knee before
him and mocked him saying, Hail, King of the Jews. And they spit
upon him and took the reed and smote him on the head. And after
that, they had mocked him. They took the robe off from him. and put his own raiment on him
and led him away to crucify him." Amazing, isn't it? They released
Barabbas and scourged the Lord Jesus. That word, scourged, means
they beat and indescribably tortured him with the use of a special
whip. It was referred to as a cat of
nine tails, specifically made for this purpose. A braided whip was called a scourge. But a scourging was not just
a whipping. It was something indescribably
greater. According to John Gill, I did
a lot of thinking about this and a lot of pondering on this,
and I've never heard this before. But according to John Gill, the
Jews claimed this scourging of the Lord Jesus Christ. According to John Gill's records,
the Jews were the ones who gave our Lord this scourging. Verse
26, it says, then released he Barabbas unto them, unto the
Jews. And when he had scourged Jesus
or given the command that it was okay to scourge him, he delivered
him to be crucified. Verse 27 says, then the soldiers
of the governor took Jesus into the common hall. So I'm not saying this with certainty,
but from what I read, it appears that Pilate let the Jews have
their way with him first, before the Gentiles had their
way with him. It is said that it was common
for the Jews to whip offenders as a punishment. It was a very
common practice to By law, they couldn't go more than 40 stripes.
And so they would do 39, 40 save one. They'd do 39 just in case
they miscounted. They didn't want to break the
law. So in their kindness, they would
give 39. But scourging was so far from
a punishment, it couldn't even be called a punishment. It was
not even considered a punishment. Scourging was the worst form
of torture that could be administered. It was a form of execution itself. The cross was a form of execution. And scourging was also a form
of execution. if that is what the desire was. It's not that it was sometimes
possible. This is what I, the way I've
always thought about it, that, you know, sometimes it gets a
little too out of hand and every now and then it goes too far
and somebody could die from it. That's not it at all. Scourging
had to be deliberately held back if you did not want the person
to die. This whip was braided with sharp
bones in the end of it, or some devastating thing in the end
of it. And a lash, we think of someone getting a lash by his
stripes, we think of a stripe across the back. A lash with
it wouldn't just create a stripe. It physically mutilated. It physically
mutilated. It was the most severe and cruel
form of torture that could be given. It was so cruel, it said
that the Roman citizens were exempt from it. The Romans would
not do that to Roman citizens. I cannot, I'm not going to, I
can't bring myself to tell you right now what all I read about
it. It's not appropriate for half of us adults, me included. It was gruesome to read. It's not appropriate for the
children. There are historical eyewitness
accounts. John Gill quotes a man named
Josephus a lot. He was a historian. He wasn't
a religious man. He was just a record keeper from
the days of the apostles. And there are historical records
and eyewitnesses accounts from men and women who watched this
happen to someone. It was always a humiliation. It was always done in public.
And those who saw it, they go into so much detail on what these
bones and this cat of nine tails did to the flesh and to the organs. And it's just something that can't
hardly be stomached. They said when it was over, a
man's back looked like a plowed field. Apparently it's on record that
that's what the Jews did to him. His own. That's what his own did to him.
John Gill quoted that according to historical documents, The
elders of Jerusalem took him and brought him into the heart
of the city and bound him to a marble pillar and smote him
with multiple whips, multiple cat of nine tail whips. And while
they did it, they said to him, where are all those miracles
that you did? That's what they were screaming at him. Where,
where are those now? Whether it was the Jews or the
Romans who physically carried that out, it doesn't matter.
I'm not saying with certainty, it doesn't matter. He endured
the suffering of it either way. All of them wanted him to suffer
it either way. The important point that I want
us to take from this is that scourging was meant for someone
else. That scourging was meant for
Barabbas. It does not say that the other
two thieves weren't scourged. Scourging was a common practice
for criminals. It was a very common practice
for criminals. Three crosses were prepared for
judgment that day. One of them was meant for Barabbas.
That cross was set in the ground for Barabbas. I'm sure it was intended that
all three of those men would be scourged and nailed to a cross. But one of those three men had
a substitute to stand in his place. One of those three men
had a substitute to stand in his place. This right here is
the gospel. I'm telling you, the gospel is
not about us. It's not about who we are or
what we're going to do. We don't matter. It's time we
get us out of the equation. This is all about him and what
he did in our place. The gospel is substitution. The glorious news of the cross
is in the fact that someone else would stand in my place and take
the horrible vengeance that was owed to me. That's the gospel. Verse 26, then released he Barabbas. What an amazing statement. set
him free, pardoned him. Full liberty, you're free to
go. Do I need to stay within the
walls of the city? You're free to go anywhere you want to go.
You're a free man. Full liberty. Verse 26, then released he Barabbas
unto them, and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be
crucified. I believe in my heart, I just
cannot imagine a man, no matter who the man was or what the man
was, seeing what was ahead of him. I believe in my heart that Barabbas
watched everything that happened to Jesus Christ. I believe that man witnessed
Jesus Christ crucified. I believe he saw Jesus Christ
crucified. Knowing in his heart, that was
meant for me. That was meant for me. That man
is standing in my place. That man is suffering my scourging. That man is hanging on my cross, dying my death. Oh, that we could see that and
say that. Oh, that we could know that he
stood in our place and suffered our scourging. Our scourging,
and I'm not talking about the scourging of man. I'm talking
about the scourging of God, our scourging. You say, what scourging?
I don't have a scourging coming to me. Turn with me over to Isaiah
28. Isaiah 28 verse 16 says, therefore,
thus saith the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation,
a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste. Judgment also will I lay to the
line, and righteousness to the plummet, and the hail shall sweep
away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the
hiding place, and your covenant with death shall be disannulled,
and your agreement with hell shall not stand when the overflowing
scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by
it. When the Lord comes back in judgment,
he said, there is going to be a scourging of men and women. Shall I go back and retell what
scourging means and what a scourging is? When he comes back, there's going
to be a scourging A scourging of sinners against
Him. And here's the thing about it.
That's what we are. That's what we are. Our only
hope of being delivered, our scourging, is that someone would
stand in our place. And the Gospel declaration of
salvation, the Gospel announcement of Jesus Christ is, someone did
stand in our place. Every soul that Christ stood
in the place of, God's Spirit will send that soul faith to
believe that. Number one, to believe that I
was standing in that place and there's a scourging ode to me
because I'm the sinner against Him. And then in love and mercy and
in grace, Jesus Christ did came. In loving kindness, He came and
stood in my place. He stood in my wicked, ruined,
worthless, vile, wretched place. Jesus Christ, my Savior, Jesus
Christ, my Deliverer, He bore the vengeance. He bore the vengeance. Our Lord bore the vengeance of
man, but in that moment, He also bore the vengeance of God. He
bore the scourging of man, but He also bore the scourging of
God. If the vengeance of man is indescribable, if we just
hate to even hear about the scourging of man, what could we possibly
say about the scourging of God? The vengeance of God. Thank God,
Christ bore it all. He bore it all. He bore it all
for His people. His chosen Barabbas. He bore
it so we could be released, set free, pardoned, given full liberty. One day, I'm going to get a hold
of that. You know, it says in glory, they're
all just crying unto him who loved us and gave himself for
us. We're going to know something
about that one day. We're gonna enter into that one
day. Look with me back at Matthew 27. Verse 27 says, then the soldiers
of the governor took Jesus into the common hall and gathered
unto him the whole band of soldiers. A band was 500 to 600 men. The whole band, 500 to 600 men
gathered unto him. Verse 28, and they stripped him
and put on him a scarlet robe. They were mocking his kingship
in doing that. But that scarlet robe means something
more than just kingship to God's people. That scarlet robe represents
something glorious to God's people. Do you happen to know what Isaiah
1 verse 18 says? Just listen to it. Though your
sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.
Though they be red like crimson, They shall be as wool. Lamb's
wool. How? How is that possible? By
laying all of them on the Lamb of God. By robing all of them
on God's Lamb. That scarlet robe represents
the sin of all His people being laid on Him. Verse 28 says, They
stripped Him. That band of soldiers stripped
him of his clothes, representing God's stripping of him. We read in our scripture reading
a moment ago that his judgment was taken away, stripping him
of his judgment. We read where he prayed in John
17, give me the glory that I had with you before the world, give
it to me again. I hate to even say this, but
he was stripped of his glory. Why? That I might give it to
them. That's amazing. That is amazing. Stripped of his righteousness,
he was made sin. Why? That we might be made his
righteousness. stripped of his life, his life
is taken from the earth. Why? That we might live. Verse 28 says, they stripped
him and put on him a scarlet robe. Verse 29, and when they had plaited
a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head. That crown represents
his kingship. But again, those thorns represent
our sin. Our sin that was pressed into
Him. You know they did not just set
that on His head, they pressed it into Him. And those thorns
represent the sin that He felt the infirmity of. Felt the pain
of. Verse 29, when they had plaited
a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head and a reed in his
right hand, and they bowed the knee before him and mocked him,
saying, Hail, King of the Jews. All of their mockery is our cry
of mercy and praise. All of their mockery is our praise. That word, hail, means And this
is how they were mocking Him. The word hail means be glad. Be glad. It means rejoice. This is the
King of the Jews. Their mockery is our praise. Verse 30 says, And they spit
upon Him. Six hundred men took their turns
spitting upon Him. spitting on the Lord of glory.
Can you imagine spitting on the Lord of glory? That breaks my
heart. That absolutely breaks my heart
because I know, but for the grace of God, I would have been right there with
them. You want to talk about honesty?
You want to get honest? Had Christ not stood in my place
for me and redeemed me from what I was, had he not been my substitute,
I would spend an eternity in hell for every single thing that
they were doing to him. That's where I would be. If Christ
was not my substitute, if Christ did not cry on my behalf, Lord,
I know you will not leave my soul in hell, neither will you
suffer me to see corruption. I would have spent an eternity
in hell. I would be right there with them. God be merciful to
me. You know, God was merciful to
a lot of them. Amazing, isn't it? Verse 30,
they spit on him and took the reed and smote him on the head. And after that, they had mocked
him. They took the robe off from him and put his own raiment on
him. and led him away to crucify him. Blessed Redeemer, precious Redeemer,
seems now I see him on Calvary's tree, wounded and bleeding, mutilated. Physically, his bones were out
of joint. His back was a plowed field. But that was just the mutilation
of man. We could never understand the mutilation of God on him. Seems now I see him on Calvary's
tree, wounded and bleeding, for sinners pleading. Father, forgive
them, forgive them. You see this, forgive them. Sinners who were blind and unheeding. I will not have him reign over
me. Crucify, kill him. Kill him. We're sick and tired
of him. That was me. That was all of
us by nature. But he was dying for us. Dying
for us. We're going to observe this table.
Our Lord gave us this table, and here's the thing about it.
If your only hope before God Almighty is that He stood in
your place and suffered what should have come to you, then let's observe this table
together. If that's not our only hope,
let's not observe the table. If we're going to blaspheme what he did and bring offense
to him and to the father for saying that everything he went
through was not enough and I've got to add my hand to it and
help him out, then let's just not do this. But if him hanging there and
suffering all the vengeance and wrath and scourging of God for
you to set you free, if that's your only hope, then let's remember
him, this do in remembrance of him. It's all about him. Let's
remember him together. Let's worship him for what he's
done in observing this table together. His broken body is
shed blood. I've asked Brother Bob Coffey
and Dwight Moody to read for us tonight. Brother Bob, you
come.