Go back with me, if you would,
to Mark 15. Mark 15. Last week, we began
the message with a question. I want to begin the message today
with the in the same way. All right, here is our question
for the morning. What is the gospel? What is the gospel? Here's the
answer. We're not going to build up to
it. I'm going to have a big crescendo. Here's the answer. Substitution. And satisfaction. The gospel
is a person and what He has done. All right? What is the gospel? Substitution
and satisfaction. My hope and my prayer and my
desire is that by the end of this message
we will understand what substitution and satisfaction is. The reason
is because understanding that will help us to know whether
the preacher we are listening to is a true gospel preacher
or a false prophet, a liar. Understanding substitution and
satisfaction will cause us to know if the message that we are
hearing Is a true gospel message or just
a big old pile of lies? Am I hearing a true gospel preacher
with a true gospel message or am I listening to a bunch of
lies? Now, I know that this is shocking, shocking to hear. I'm not, I'm not in the shock
business. And I'm not trying to be shocking,
but I know it is. I know it's shocking to hear.
Many, many, many. And I want to go on to say many,
many, many, many, many preachers, lots of preachers, tons of preachers
are liars. That's shocking, isn't it? They don't preach the gospel. The reason we know that they
don't preach the gospel is because they're not preaching substitution. And satisfaction. People love to hear gospel songs.
They love it. They love going to gospel singing.
One comes on, it moves everybody, it makes them think about things,
and they love to hear gospel songs. I love to hear gospel
songs. I really do. But once we come
to a knowledge of substitution and satisfaction It'll shock
us. It'll absolutely shock us. How
many of those so-called gospel songs need to be thrown in the
trash can? The reason is because they're
not gospel songs. Build my mansion next to Jesus
is not a gospel song. That's not a gospel song. It's a religious song. Yes. But it's not a gospel song. The
way we will know a true gospel song when we hear it is it will
sing that wonderful and beautiful and glorious message of substitution
and satisfaction. We just sang on Christ the solid
rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. Now what is substitution and
satisfaction? What is that? The answer is in
what actually happened at the cross. People believe they know
what happened at the cross, but man by nature does not understand
what happened at the cross. And the truth of substitution
and satisfaction is in what actually did happen at the cross. I want us to see the clearest
example of substitution I believe I've ever seen in my life. I
believe this is the clearest example of substitution we could
possibly look at. Right here in Mark 15 verse 1
says, And straightway in the morning, The chief priest held
a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council
and bound Jesus and carried him away and delivered him to Pilate. And Pilate asked him, art thou
the king of the Jews? And he answering said unto him,
thou sayest it. this is the king of the jews
this is the king of the jews that is amazing who is doing
this the king is the one doing this the the one who is king
of kings and lord of lords he's the one doing this verse three
and the chief priest accused him of many things but he answered
nothing they lied on him They accused him of committing sin
that he never committed. Never. But he did not say one
word. He didn't say one word. He answered nothing. Why? Why did he not answer one
word? It's because he was standing
there as the substitute. That's the reason. He was standing
there as the substitute. Verse 4 says, And Pilate asked
him again, saying, Answerest thou nothing? Behold, how many
things they witness against thee! But Jesus yet answered nothing,
so that Pilate marveled. Now at that feast, he released
unto them one prisoner whomsoever they desired. At that feast of
the Passover, it was their custom that Pilate would release a prisoner."
Just like sometime a president will release a prisoner as he's
changing office. And verse 7 says, there was one
named Barabbas which lay bound with them that had made insurrection
with him who had committed murder in the insurrection." This man
Barabbas was laying in a prison cell, bound with them, it says. That sounds like two to me. Them,
Barabbas and two others. Three crosses were made for that
day, isn't that right? Somebody hewed three crosses. And the reason is because Barabbas
and those men created an insurrection. That's a riot throughout the
city. They started a chaotic, rebellious
riot. Don't go over there. But John
18 says now Barabbas was a robber. He was a robber. I know you've
seen on the news these riots that get started in cities. These
just. Wicked, wicked, aren't they horrible? Evil, that's what they are. Riots
that get started in cities, they set everything they can on fire,
don't they? Other people's property. They literally break and smash
everything they can get their hands on. And they love it. They love it
while they're doing it. They're laughing, they're smiling, they're
cheering. Somebody will, you know, smash a car with something
and everybody starts cheering. They break all the windows out
of the stores. Everybody runs in. They start grabbing everything
they can hold. Run out, smiling, laughing. No restraint on the evil that's
just lashing out in him. No restraint. Do it. And I. It'd be best if I just
don't say what I think ought to happen to him. It'd just be
best. I just hate it. I really hate
it. But that was Barabbas. That was Barabbas. He created
an insurrection. He was a robber, and it says
in verse 7, he committed murder in the insurrection. As he was
running through the city, looting, rioting, everything that they
were doing, he started murdering people along the way. He'd just grab somebody and murder
them. Somebody's family member, somebody's, doesn't say how many,
doesn't say if it was one or a hundred. Committed murder. Now here's the holy, innocent,
pure Lord Jesus Christ. Here stands Pilate and here is
the king, the pure, spotless Lord Jesus Christ and here stands
Barabbas. Verse 8. And the multitude, crying
aloud, began to desire him to do as he had ever done to them. They started crying to Pilate,
we want you to release a prisoner just like you always do. But
Pilate answered them saying, will ye that I release unto you
the king of the Jews? For he knew that the chief priest
had delivered him for envy. And it's amazing that the chief
priest were the ones behind all this. When I say the word priests,
what do you think of? Yeah. When I say the priest,
we're going to go see a priest. We're going to go see the man
who's supposed to stand between me and God. The priest were the
ones who stirred all this up, it says, verse 11, but the chief
priest moved the people that he should rather release Barabbas
unto them. And Pilate answered and said
unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom
you call the king of the Jews? And they cried out again, Crucify
him. Then Pilate said unto them, Why,
what evil hath he done? And they cried out the more exceedingly,
Crucify him. Kill the innocent Lamb of God.
Kill the innocent Lamb of God and let that guilty, vile, rebellious
sinner go free. Now let me ask you this, does
that sound fair? Does that sound fair? People, you know, talk about
fair, fairness in salvation. Does that sound fair? You kill
the holy, perfect Lamb of God who went everywhere healing. So all he did was heal people.
He raised people from the dead. Kill him and then you let this
wicked, vile, evil, rebellious sinner go free. I can see Pilate
in this right here. Pilate kept dragging this out.
He kept trying to stall the people. And he'd go back to them and
say, surely you want me to release this man. Surely you do. And then he would go back to
the Lord. He kept turning around, going back to the Lord saying,
you're going to have to say something. You're going to have to say something. You're going to have to speak
up if you don't speak up and defend yourself, you're going
to die in that man's place. You understand that, right? Why aren't you saying anything? If you don't speak up right now,
everything that He has coming to Him is going to be taken out
on you. Substitution. Substitution. Now, let me ask
you this. What did Barabbas do to deserve
this substitution? Nothing. What did he do to earn
this salvation? Nothing. Did Barabbas ask the Lord to
do this for him? Do we read that that he asked
the Lord to do this for him? No. He didn't ask Jesus to come
into his heart. He didn't make a plea in front
of everybody. He didn't stand up and say, OK,
I'll stop. I'll stop. I'll clean up my act,
I promise. What role did Barabbas play in
every bit of this? He was just the sinner. That's all he was. He was just
the sinner. He was just the sinner against
God. But in spite of Barabbas, without
Barabbas, Jesus Christ willingly took his place. He willingly
took that man's cross. He never said a word. That cross
was made for Barabbas. He never said a word and he took
his cross. He took the one with his name
on it. The Lord Jesus Christ willingly,
lovingly, graciously, mercifully stepped in as his substitute
and set that man free. Christ made Himself to be Barabbas. And all of the hate, all of the
anger that Barabbas deserved from that crowd of people. Barabbas
stole their stuff. He burned their stuff. He murdered
their families, their friends. All of that hate and anger that
he deserved from that crowd of people, Christ made that to be
His own. Verse 15 says, And so Pilate,
willing to contend the people, released Barabbas unto them and
delivered Jesus when he had scourged him to be crucified. Now, everything we're about to
see happen to our Lord should have happened to Barabbas. And
everything that we're about to see happen to our Lord should
have happened to you and me. And had it not been for our substitute,
this is exactly what would have happened to you and me. This
is the wrath of God. This is the wrath of God. If
we don't have Christ, our substitute, the wrath of God is waiting for
us. But if we have him, if we were
chosen in him, if God gave him to us last week, we saw for God
so loved this world. He gave. Had God not given his son to
us and us to his son, this is what we would have waiting for
us. Verse 16, And the soldiers led him away into the hall called
Praetorium, and they called together the whole band. The whole band,
John Gill said that was the same band that came with Judas to
take him that night. He said it was above 500 men. More than 500 men. They each
took turns, 500 men, each took turns using their strongest blow,
the height of their strength, to hit him, kick him, spit on
him, pull his hair out. You know, four or five men can
do quite a number on one man that they're beating. You know
that? What could 500 men do? Especially when they all want
in on it. They all fervently want in on it. And God allows
them. He leaves them to themselves. He allows them to unleash all
the hatred they have on Him. By the time they were done, the
scripture says his visage was marred more than any man has
ever been. No man has ever been this beaten.
History says usually the prisoners would not make it to the cross.
It was tradition, not with that many, but to beat the prisoner
before they went to the cross. And they said usually the prisoner
never made it to the cross. He died in the beating beforehand.
Our Lord was so beaten and so tortured. It says in verse 16,
The soldiers led him away into the hall called Praetorium, and
they called together the whole band. They clothed him with purple,
and plaited a crown of thorns, and put it about his head, and
began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote him
on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing
their knees, worshipped him, and when they had mocked him,
they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes
on him, and led him out to crucify him. And they compel one Simon
Assyrian, who passed by coming out of the country, the father
of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross." He was so beaten,
he was so tortured, he couldn't carry his own cross. They laid
hold of this man and his story is precious and we don't have
time to look at it today. But he couldn't carry his own
cross. Verse 22 says, And they bring him unto the place Golgotha,
which is being interpreted the place of a skull. And they gave
him to drink wine mingled with myrrh, but he received it not. And when they had crucified him,
they laid him down on this pole. They nailed his hands and his
feet to that pole. They picked him up and they dropped
him down in a hole and jarred all of his bones at a socket. They left him there for everybody
to see. Verse 24. And when they had crucified him,
they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man
should take. And it was the third hour and
they crucified him. And the superscription of his
accusation was written over the king of the Jews. And with him,
they crucified two thieves, the one on his right hand and the
other on his left. Those other two robbers that
were with Barabbas. The Lord chose to have mercy
on Barabbas, and he's still going to show mercy to one of them,
isn't he? Three men did this. And God had mercy on two out
of the three. Isn't that something? Verse 27, With him they crucified
two Thebes, one on his right hand, the other on his left.
And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered
with the transgressors. And they that passed by railed
on him, wagging their heads and saying, Ah thou that destroyest
the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself and
come down from the cross. Thank God he didn't do that.
Thank God he didn't do that. This band that had just beaten
him. They came out with Judas and
our Lord knew they were coming, he told his disciples, stand
up, let's go, they're coming to meet us. When they got there,
he asked all 500 of them, whom seek ye? They said, we seek Jesus
of Nazareth. He said, I am. And they all fell
backward like trees. Same man. And then he let him get up and
he said, now whom seek ye? He was in absolute control of
those men. Peter took a sword out. He tried
to kill the servant of the high priest. He missed, cut off his
ear. And the Lord said, Peter, don't
you know that I could right now call down 12 legions of angels,
6,000 infantry in a legion, plus a contingency of cavalry I could
right now call down 72,000 angels and wipe every bit of this out.
Thank God he didn't do that. Thank God he didn't do that.
He stayed on that cross. He put himself on the cross and
he kept himself on the cross. Verse 29, they that passed by
railed on him, wagging their heads, saying, ah, thou that
destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself
and come down from the cross. Likewise, also the chief priest,
mocking, said among themselves with the scribes, he saved others,
himself he cannot save. You know what you call that?
The gospel. The gospel, do we hear substitution
right there? Let me tell you what's not the
gospel. When people stand up and say, I tell you what, brother,
had I been alive back then, I would have stopped this. I would have
been on his side. I would not have allowed that
to happen. Well, buddy, you're not preaching the gospel. He saved others, how? How did he save others? He did
not save Himself. Verse 31, He saved others, Himself
He cannot save. Let Christ, the King of Israel,
descend now from the cross that we may see and believe. And they
that were crucified with Him reviled Him. And when the sixth
hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the
ninth hour, And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud
voice saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, which is being interpreted,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? You know what you
call that? The gospel. The gospel. You know why God's people will
not be forsaken by God. It's because God forsook his
own son. The only hope that a sinner like
me can have. The only hope that a sinner who
knows he deserves to be forsaken by God. The only hope any of us can have.
Is that Christ our substitute was forsaken for us? God cut
him off. I can't, I'm not even going to
try to describe what it would mean for God to cut a person
off. God poured out his wrath and
God killed Christ, his own son, instead of me. Verse 34, at the
ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Eloi, Eloi,
lama sabachthanai. which is being interpreted, my
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And some of them that stood
by, when they heard it, said, behold, he calleth Elias. And one ran and filled a sponge
full of vinegar and put it on a reed and gave him to drink,
saying, let alone, let us see whether Elias will come to take
him down. And Jesus cried with a loud voice
and gave up the ghost. He gave up the ghost. Our Lord
gave up his ghost. He said, no man takes my life
from me. No man. I will willingly lay
it down myself. He gave up the ghost. Seeing who our Lord is, seeing
what he did actually, What actually happened on the cross, is it
not so disgraceful how weak men make him out to be? Isn't that
so disgraceful? How weak they declare him to
be. He has done all that he can do. He died for you. But if you don't
accept Him, God's not going to save you. Christ has done everything
He can do for you with God now. Did He ever ask Barabbas to accept
Him? Did He ever ask anybody to accept
Him? Is God God or not? Is He God or not? If he needs my help, he is not
God. If he needs my permission, he
is not God. He's not God. He said in Isaiah
43, I will work and nobody is going to stop me. Nobody who
will let it. Nebuchadnezzar said all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest
thou? None. He never asked anybody
if he could be their substitute. He never asked one person if
he could be their substitute. Never. Had he asked, all of us
would have said no. All of us. The scripture says
he came unto his own and his own received him not. No. Thank
God we don't have a say in the matter. Thank God we don't have
a say in the matter. That has to be one of the most
shocking truths a person could hear. We don't have a say in
the matter. We don't have a say in the matter.
Salvation is not an option. It's not an offer to accept or
reject. It's a finished work. It's a
finished work. Salvation is not something to
come. It's something that has already been done. It's finished
work. Just like our being born into
this world was not an option. None of our parents came to us
and said, would you like to be born? Would you, would you, would that
interest you at all? Would you like to be conceived? If you would like to, you could
grow in the womb for nine months and then be delivered. None of
us were asked that. It was not an option. Same thing
goes for spiritual life. The same thing. It's something
that has already been done. It was accomplished through the
substitution of the Lord Jesus Christ. When he died, all of
his people lived. That's it. They all lived. He
took their death. They got his life. Substitution.
Now, I only want to read one more verse of scripture in this
message. This one verse tells us that in the substitution of
the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Father, His judgment, His justice,
His wrath, He's completely satisfied. His anger is appeased. The sin
is fully dealt with. God told Moses to build a tabernacle. And the reason he told him to
build that tabernacle was so blood could be shed. A sacrifice
could be offered. Blood had to be shed for the
sin of his people in the Holy of Holies. That's what God said.
But he said only the high priest can go into the Holy of Holies
with that blood. Only the high priest. So he said,
I want you to sew a curtain. All of these layers of fabric,
thick, extremely thick. Sew it all together. Hang it
up by curtains. That's going to keep all of the
people out. It's going to keep them from
coming in to this place. He said, if anybody steps foot
inside the Holy of Holies, I'm going to kill them. The reason
is because of sin. Sin is what keeps God's people
out, anybody, all people. Sin, it keeps them out of his
presence. Sin is the problem. But when
Jesus Christ, the substitute for his people, died, when he
paid that price in full and that sin was dealt with and gone,
God the Father reached down into that tabernacle and he grabbed
ahold of that curtain. Verse 38 says, And the veil of
the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. He took that curtain, he took
that veil that separates his people, it on purpose says it
was from the top to the bottom. When Christ died and put away
the sin of his people, God grabbed that and ripped that thing wide
open. And what he said is, welcome
in. You're welcome now into the holy
of holies. You're welcome to come in because
blood is on you and atonement is made. That debt is paid. It's gone. Sin is gone. Complete. If God is not satisfied,
then salvation is not complete. If salvation is not complete,
we're all goners. The reason is because if Jesus
Christ couldn't finish it, if the perfect, spotless, holy God
man couldn't finish it, none of us can. So if it's not finished, we're
all goners. But here's the good news of the gospel. He did finish
it. Our substitute satisfied God. Substitution, satisfaction. That's the only true gospel there
is. There's only one gospel. It's the gospel of this entire
book, start to finish. If a man stands up and tells
you that you still have to write your own sins, you still have
to make good on it. He's lying to you. He's lying
to you. not preaching the gospel to you.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is substitution, complete and total
substitution, complete and total satisfaction. Just rest right
there. Just thank Him for it. Just thank
Him for it. When it comes to what must I
do, just thank Him for it. Thank Him. Believe His Word and
rest in what He's done. Okay, let's all stand together.