Matthew's Gospel, chapter 27. If you read the bulletin and
saw what was the subject, and you know what a profound subject this is, and
if ever a man is unfit, unable, unworthy to deal with the subject,
this is it. Matthew 27, read with me verses
11 through 14. And Jesus stood before the governor.
That's Pilate and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the
king of the Jew? And Jesus saith, 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. And I hope we will marvel this
morning. Scripture says of the Lord Jesus
Christ, grace poured into his lips and another place. They
all wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of
his mouth. I hope we will wonder and marvel
this morning that he kept his mouth shut. He opened not his mouth. He spoke not a word. Luke's gospel. And this is recorded in Matthew,
Mark and Luke. Luke's gospel says he was also
taken before Herod after this, who questioned him with many
words, but again, it says he answered nothing. He spoke no
more. Until he hung on the cross. As we read as prophesied by Isaiah,
he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet. He opened not his mouth,
he's brought as a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep before
her shearers is dumb or silent, so. He opened it, not his mouth. The Lord Jesus Christ was and
is the lamb slain. Before the foundation of the
world and in time and then all shall see him for eternity as
the lamb as it had been slain. He is the substitute for sinners. This thing of our Lord being
the substitute for the four centers is the gospel. This is the pith, the marrow,
the heart, the soul, the sum, and the substance of the gospel. Christ, our substitute, the Lamb
of God, who taketh away the sin of the world. The Lamb of God
who was without spot and blemish. He who was without spot and blemish
was crucified and slain for those who have nothing but blemishes
from the sole of their feet to the crown of their head. And
here in this story he's about to be tortured. He's about to
be crucified for sins he did not commit. For the sins of my
people. He said. He's bearing the blame,
he's bearing the transgression of others, the blame for the
transgression of others. He is the sinless one, the blessed
Lord and precious Savior comes before the court, the judgment
hall, to stand trial, to be judged for many charges, all of which
concerning him are false. all of which concerning us are
true. They're all false, all of these
charges, for in him is no sin. Not one. Think of it. Scripture says that in our flesh
dwelleth no good thing, but in him No fear not one bad. Not one. No fear. Holy. Unblameable not one single
thing to blame unreprovable before God man. Think of it. Not one single act or thought
of sin or evil his entire life. No thoughts of lust no thoughts
of pride no thoughts of envy no thoughts of hatred malice
and certainly no act not one ever his entire life not one. Not one single lie. Proceeded
out of his mouth. but only truth his entire life
not one single word of complaint murmuring or complaining but
only praise honor and glory to God all of his life. We come forth from the womb speaking
lives he came forth from the womb speaking. He could not. Only speak. Malachi wrote of this, of him,
as do all the prophets give witness. Malachi said this, listen, the
law of truth was in his mouth and iniquity was not found in
his lips. Not one single time in his entire
life of thirty-three years upon this earth did he have one single
unclean or impure thought of any kind Not one, ever. Only pure thoughts, mind you,
pure, wholesome thoughts, as well as deep, clean, God-honoring
thoughts ran through his mind. Think of it. We ought to stand
amazed. From a small child, from a baby, from an infant, no selfishness. No thoughts of self. I kind of
believe that he didn't even cry as a baby. Were you to ask his so-called
earthly mother, she would tell you, he's a good child. He really is. No crying, he's a child, no self-pity,
a teenager. no thoughts of self as a teenager,
no vanity, no vain thoughts, no vain pursuits, no idle words. Are we entering into this? No
foolish thoughts as a teenager, no foolish thoughts, none, zero,
always about his father's business. Though tempted Scripture says
in all. Anything we have ever been tempted
with a human being he was tempted in all points yet. Without. No wonder. That God the father. Say. Well. Some of you have had good children,
as far as good children go, haven't you? You have. You've been blessed. It's the Lord's restraining grace,
isn't it? You don't attribute it to yourself. You attribute
it to the Lord's restraining grace. If you've had a model
child, you can thank the Lord for that. And you are well pleased
with them, aren't you? No wonder the father said of
this altogether loveless son. God, who was silent, could not
keep silent when it came to his son. We brag on our children,
don't we? They're sinners like us, and
they're going to do something to make us ashamed at some point
in time. They will. Not his son. Not God's
son. Never, ever. And God Almighty
had to say it. He said it twice. Who is this man? Then who is
this man? Scripture says he's declared
to be the son of God. How? By the spirit of holiness. Because he's holy. There's not
a just man on earth that doeth good and sinneth not. That was
prophesied, wasn't it? Until he came. And now there's
just one. Just one. The just one. That's what he called him. The
holy one of God. The son of God. God declared
it. His life declared it. Even his
enemies had to declare it. Satan came and says, found nothing
in it. He tried. Found nothing in it. Pilate said, I wanted to. I tried to. But I can find no
fault in this man. He's a perfect substitute. He's
perfect. Well, here he stands before a
court of law to be tried on many charges, all false. And yet he opened not his mouth. They charged him with everything
imaginable. slandered him insulted him brought
false witnesses against him all fall yet he did not defend himself
he did not open up his mouth of this is humanly impossible.
When we're wrong when we're slandered to not defend ourselves he opened
not his mouth. I couldn't help but think of
the angels, he says, which things the angels desire to look into.
The angels who surely must have watched this scene as they apprehended
their Lord, as they put their filthy hands on their Lord of
glory, they didn't know why he came anyway. They really didn't. Why are you going down there?
Well, here he comes. And these people lay hold on
him and bring him before this kangaroo court. And these angels
are thinking, surely. He could just with a word, just
with a word, call down fire from heaven, like Elijah did. Surely
with a word, he can call a legion of angels. Ten thousand angels
come and destroy the... He didn't say a thing. He didn't
defend it. He did not deny any charges against. The wall. He opened his mouth. For us to be just. Why. Why didn't they say so. Because he's a substitute, he
has become the substitute for guilty sinners. He has become
his people guilty. He's a substitute. He's taking
the blame for his people, God's elect, all of which are to be
blamed. He's taking their blame, though
he himself is guiltless. All these charges are being brought
against him. And the answer is none of them,
as though he were guilty. He's taking all these charges
that no charges be laid. The gods of it. Are you with
me? He's taking these charges that
there be no charges laid against God. Look at verse twelve it
says when he was accused of the chief priest and elder accused
that's putting it mildly. In another place it says they
they hurled these things in his face. They hurled accusation after
accusation shameless accusation slander and insults accused him
of blasphemy. Blasphemy is saying what's untrue
about God. And they hurled these insults
at him, blasphemy, they hurled insults after insult. It says
that all with one voice, in another place, with one voice railed
on him and shouted at him, roaring at him. Like mad dogs foaming
at the mouth. And that's what I, Psalm 22 says,
dogs have encompassed me. Dogs have encompassed me. I thought about this. We, my
wife and daughter and granddaughter walk, take walks around our neighborhood. And there are a couple of dogs
in the neighborhood. Bad. And. They come out. Mark. At. My beloved. They come out. Mashing their teeth. Barking
just surround them while they're walking down the street. You know they come back and tell
me that and I want you know what I want to do don't you. Those dogs aren't fit to live
barking at my beloved. Deliver my soul from the darling
of the dog. That's a darling, my darling
from the dog, he said in Psalm 22. Well, the Lord allows these dogs
to bark at his son. Why? Why? Because, do you remember the
story back in Exodus 11? When it says that the Lord was
bringing the children of Israel out. Going to bring them out.
What's He going to take? A lamb. Chapter 12. But John,
before that, the Lord said, I'm bringing you out. He's going
to take bloodshed. Firstborn is going to die. He's
going to take substitution to bring you out. And when I bring
you out, He said, Not a dog is going to bark at one of my children. Nobody is going to lay one charge
to my leg. Not a dog is going to bark. And so he allows these barking
dogs to hurl these insults at his beloved son. A sinless substitute. Now beginning in the garden.
Few days before this, beginning in the garden, our Lord, there
in the garden, says, sweat, as it were, great drops of blood. He's being made sin. As I said,
nobody's fit for this. No one can tell this. We can
just narrate it. He is being made sin, beginning
in the garden, he is being made sin. He who knew no sin, he knew
no sin. In him is no sin. He is being
made sin. Literally, actually, made sin,
made guilty. All the charges, all the sin,
all the iniquity of God's people are being laid on him. That not one charge be laid on
him. He's being condemned. And he
will die. That there might be no condemnation. To them. Substitution. He became us. That we might become
him. He was rejected. That we might
be accepted. He was made guilty. That we might
be innocent. He was put to shame. That we
might never. He was stripped naked. That we
might forever be. As a as a sheep before her shearer. As a sheep before her shearer
she I've seen this does anyone saying a sheep being sheared.
Down in Tazewell County, Virginia, several years ago, met a man
who had 900 head of sheep on a 2,500 acre farm. And when he sheared those sheep,
he would take those sheep, sheep would be adorned with a thick
woolen coat, beautifully adorned. Sheep, you know, when they reach
their peak, their beauty, beautifully adorned with that thick coat
of wool. And they're wearing that for
someone else, he said. God put that on those sheep for
man. For they're beautifully adorned
with a thick coat of wool. And then all of a sudden, somebody
lays hold of it. And with seemingly cruel hands,
takes that sheep and lays it down and takes those shears and
shears it, strips it naked, completely shears all of its adornment,
all of its beauty, all of its covering, all of its glory, all
of its warmth, completely strips that sheep of everything until
it is naked, naked. And all the time, it's amazing,
that sheep is not uttering a word. You know, afterward, it does. When that shearer sends that
sheep out after it's been sheared, stripped of its beauty and its
glory, and it's made naked and turned out seemingly alone, then
it cries out. And it cries out. When our Lord
Scripture says, was seized, was taken by cruel hands, wicked
hands, and crucified. Yet it pleased the Lord to do
this. God was doing this, shearing his sheep. As a lamb, a sheep
before her shearers is dumb, he opened not his mouth. God
Almighty was stripping his son naked, stripping of his glory,
stripping him of his righteousness that we might be clothed. stripping
him of his beauty, until his visage was marred more than any
man, so that we might wear his beauty, made perfect through
his company, that we might be clothed. And then, and then only,
when he hung on that cross naked, then he cried out. My God, As
a substitute for his people, Christ stood before the law.
Why did not Christ say a word? Why did he not open his mouth? Because as a substitute for his
people, he's standing before the law of God, which said, Whatsoever
things the law sayeth, it sayeth to them that are under the law.
He was made a woman, made under the law. It sayeth to them that
are under the law that every mouth When charges are laid against
every son of Adam, our mouths are stopped because
we're guilty. He has become guilty of all charges. You know, I thought of this.
We have a law in our land that you have a right to remain silent.
Come on. Is a command must remain. Do not open your mouth, it will
continue. We are guilty of all charges.
Our Lord was made under the law, made of a woman in the likeness
of sinful flesh, but without sin made under the law. Why? Not to show us how to keep it.
But to redeem, to be a substitute, to redeem them that were under
the law. And so, as our substitute before
the law of God, and the charges are laid against us, we're guilty.
Every mouth stop. He's me. He doesn't defend himself. Because
he's me. Oh, who would you take the blame
for? Who would you take the blame
for? Who would you be willing to take the blame for? Listen
to this. Stand the maze. For a good man,
for a righteous man, some will die. Yet for adventure, for a
good man, some might even dare to die. But God commendeth his
love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Center for
the ungodly Christ died ungodly took the blame. Of a part of the chief worst
of what took the blame would you do that aren't you glad he's
God. Aren't you glad. And then our Lord listen to this
closing our Lord is the captain of our salvation he felt called
the captain of our salvation. Our captain volunteered to be
taken captive. Our captain volunteered to be
taken prisoner in order to set the prisoners free by the job
he himself was put in. Hostage. The ransom. Captain of our salvation was
taken prisoner that guilty prisoners literally like Barabbas will
go for. Often down through the years
through different wars, men have been taken captive by the enemy.
POWs, prisoners of war. and those prisoners of war. They're
kept or the enemy in an attempt to get these men to betray their
country to reveal secrets against their country. The country to reveal those secret
to expose That man's country to danger to expose that man's
country to attack or perhaps even destruction. If those were
secrets were revealed. To try to get them to reveal
those secrets. To betray their country, they
would torture them to no end. Some miraculously. Through God given strength and
love to their country, some who really loved their country. Though
greatly tortured, would not accept deliverance. Though greatly tortured,
they would never betray, never reveal the secrets of their country
for whom they loved. And they died. And those secrets
died with them. Thou, Lord, seest me." Simon, the sinner, came before
the Lord. He knew all about it. He knew his secrets. He knew
his obvious. He knew his past sin. He knew
his present sin. He knew his future sin. His presumptuous
sin. He knew it. That's what Simon pleaded, didn't
he? Thou, Lord, knowest. You know me. You know me. The Lord who knows all our sins,
our past, present, and future sins, sins which could and should
expose us unto shame and reproach, sins which could and should condemn
us forever and damn us before God and even man, for his great
love wherewith he loved us. That's who you want, knowing
your secrets. And in saving love, himself he
could not save. Saving others, he could not save
himself. Rather than expose us, Love coveteth a multitude of
people. A multitude of people. Greater love hath no man than
this. Greater love hath no man than
this. He lay down his life to covet. And so they nailed him to the
cross. They took him away. Took him away, nailed him to
the cross, and in doing so, the handwriting of ordinances,
all the law that was against us, all charges against us, every
jot and tittle against us, nailed to the cross in blood. Paid. Fulfilled. And all the evidence that could
ever be used, all the sins of all of God's people. Would
you get a hold of that? All the evidence against all
of God's people are nailed into that. And can never be brought up. And he hung there on that cross.
And he died. Our secrets. And, you know. That like that
scapegoat, you know, that story of the scapegoat. For everyone
came, they didn't confess their sins to one another, but they
confessed their sins on the head of that scapegoat. Oh, manner
of sin. These were sinful people. They all, whoever needed to confess
their sins or guilt. Moses said, there's a scapegoat.
God has made a scapegoat, a real scapegoat. Yes, confess your
sin. This represents Christ. If you'll
come and just lay your hand, confess your sin on the head
of the scapegoat. What God says will do. is we'll
find us a fit man, a fellow who can travel a long way. How far? As far as the east is from the
west. You got anything that haunts
you, any past, confess it. We're going to get, God's going
to get rid of it. We're going to wipe it clean. And that fit man, see Christ
is both the scapegoat and the fit man. He's all. And they confess,
and that fit man took any other sins, confessed. All of them,
put them all there. Lay on him the iniquity of us
all. And let him out. And it says
that fit man took him out in the wilderness and took him where
it could not ever be found. And that's what God says about
the iniquities of his people. The sins, the iniquity of Israel
shall be sought. They've never found that cross,
have they? On which Christ does. That's
by design. Because everything that was on
it Because the Lord Jesus Christ
is the substitute for his people. Yes, he bare their iniquity.
He opened not his mouth. He died, but we must live with
God. He presented before him, holy,
unblameful, unreproved, and in God's sight. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? Not one barking dog. Who is he
that condemned? Christ. No condemnation. Is that good news? All right. Let's sing in closing,
number 175. Man of sorrow, what a name. Hallelujah,
what a sight. 175. Let's stand. Sing the first and last verse. Man of sorrows, what a name for
the Son of God who came, ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Second verse. Bearing shame and
scoffing rude, in my place condemned he stood, sealed my pardon with
his blood. Hallelujah! What a Savior! The whole song. Guilty, violent,
helpless, weak, spotless Lamb of God was He. Full atonement can it be? Hallelujah! What a Savior! Lifted up was He to die, It is
finished was His cry, Now in heaven exalted high, Alleluia! What a Savior! When He comes, our glorious King,
All His ransom home to bring, Then anew this song we'll sing,
Alleluia! What a Savior! Thank you very much.