Alright, go back with me to Matthew
27. Matthew 27. This story of Barabbas is given
in all four Gospels. There's very much to be seen
here. The first thing that we're going
to see is terrible story, a black picture
of man's utter depravity and wickedness, a natural man's hatred
of all that is holy, just, and good. Especially in this story, we
have to be faithful to the Scripture. We cannot preach this story as
bad as it was. The half has never been told.
We have never known what we are capable of. And the gospel only really shines
bright when it's given in light of just
how bad man is. And the most beautiful part of
this story, and the glorious part of this story, the glorious
The wonderful story we're going to see is this substitution. It's the heart. It is the gospel. Christ in our stead. Two men
were before the people. Verse 11 says Jesus stood before
the governor. And later he stood before the
whole mob. Thousands of people were gathered
that day. Jesus, the man. Who is sufficient for this? This
man who walked this planet. Scripture calls him holy, harmless,
separate from sinners, undefiled. Scripture calls him the altogether
lovely one. Beautiful, pure, blameless, good. holy, just, kind, merciful in
all his ways, gracious, lovely, loving, perfect in thought, unable
to be bribed, unprejudiced. Surely good people would love
such a good person as this. Well, good people would. Oh, the man. His very character,
I thought about this, the very character of the man, Jesus,
ought to make people sit up and take notice that this is more than just a
man. There's never been a man like this. That man is not capable. With man, this is impossible
to act as he did, to speak. No man spake like this man. No
man was more kind. No man was more merciful. No
man was more gracious. No man was more compassionate.
No man was more loving. No man was holy as He was. Just. No man more fair, more
righteous in all His ways. No man. There's never been a
man like this. It ought to make us sit up and think, He must
be more than a man. Even Pilate. not written here,
but in another gospel, when he beheld this man, he watched him
carefully for days, and he exclaimed, Behold, the man! God had him
write that to show us what a man, what a man. But he's not just
a man. He's the God-man, God that was
manifest in the flesh. We say this all the time, don't
we? We quote that all the time, don't
we? We keep saying that over and over again, don't we? Well, number one, this is our
salvation. But this man was more than just
a man. A mere man can't save me. Salvation
is of the Lord, you see. And we say it because the world,
all they see is a man. That's all they see. And salvation
is to see this One high and lifted up. Christ said, if I be lifted
up, I will draw men to Me. That's salvation, to see Him
as He is. All flesh is going to see Him
someday as He is, aren't they? All flesh. Many are going to
be shocked to see that the Jesus they thought was gentle Jesus,
meek and mild, and so forth, and still in their hands to do
with as they will. They'll be shocked to see that
they are in His sovereign hands, always have been, to do as He
will. They'll be shocked. They're going
to see Him as He is. Omniscient. All-knowing. Omnipotent. All-authority. All-power. over all flesh, Christ
said. All power over all flesh. People, they just don't... Well,
our Lord said they do err not knowing the Scripture. Omnipresent. Always present. Everywhere. Sovereign. Reigning. This man
who stood before this puppet judge, pilot, is the one that
put him there. Knoweth all authorities of God.
The powers that be are ordained of God, and the one standing
to be accused and judged is actually the judge of the accuser. This one is truly the governor.
The profound irony of all this, Scripture says he stood before
the governor. The governor. That man's reign
ended, didn't it? But of His reign, Scripture says,
of Christ's reign, there is no end. The governor of all the
nations, the universe, sovereign, all that that may, choosing whom
He will, saving whom He will, doing as He will. Well, it was
this person that the people hated then, who I'm talking about now,
whom the Scriptures declare, the sovereign Christ, the reigning
Christ. is the one they hated back then.
Notice when Pilate said, what will you do with Jesus? The Christ. Christ, now, the Jews knew back
then that Christ meant God. Sammy, they knew that the Christ
that was coming was going to be the King, the Sovereign One,
the reign over them, the rule of them. God. They said it in
Isaiah 25. The people, this is our God. We've waited on Him. He will
come down. They didn't expect him to be
a man. Not like this, anyway. And they hated him. They said, we will not have this
man reign over us. Remember they said, you're just
a man. You make yourself to be God.
Remember that? Remember, they said, you're not
50 years old yet. Have you seen our father Abraham? He said, before Abraham was,
I am. And they took up stones. Every one of them got rocks.
Kill Him right then and there. No, we will not have you reign
over us. We'll have you heal our bodies.
We'll have you feed our belly. We'll have you do this and that
and the other, but not reign over us. It was that way then,
and it's that way now. And you can preach the good,
kind, gentle Jesus to men today, and they'll love every word of
it. But just don't give us this sovereign Lord. But this is salvation. Isn't
this the message that God used to convict your heart? It was the message at Pentecost,
wasn't it? And it's the message now. It's
the saving message now. Who is this? Just who is this? We can't labor
this point enough. Because of who He is means everything
He said is right. Because of who He is means everything
He did was effectual. Because of who he is, that means
your relationship with him is salvation or damnation. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son hath
not life. Who is it? Jesus. Jesus. Well, then there's another
fellow, Barabbas. Who is this Barabbas fellow?
Verse 16. He says he's a notable prisoner
called Barabbas. His name, I looked it up, it's
just the son of a man named Abbas, Bar-Abbas. Barabbas, it says though, was
a notable prisoner. A notable prisoner. We've, in
our history, we've known a few notable prisoners, haven't we? The Charles Mansons. The, who
else? The Timothy McVeigh is the notable
one. That means notorious. That means
everybody knows him. Everybody takes note. This is
the worst fellow of all. Notable prisoner. Everybody knew
him. Knew how bad he was. Notoriously wicked. Violent. Well known for his wickedness. A man who could kill without
remorse. Just take a life and have no
thought whatsoever. There have been many, haven't
there? A man who could take what belonged
to others without any pain or prick of conscience. He was the
people's choice. Amazing isn't it? There used
to be a preacher, I always use the term so-called
preacher, a man many of you older folks might remember him, named
Rex Humbart. I hesitate to use his name, but
he's a notorious, a notable, one of these notable ones. But he got all carried away in
his little sermon one day and he said, talking about this,
tears running down his face, he said, if I'd have been there,
I'd have stopped it. If I'd have been there, I'd have
stopped it. Poor Jesus. No, he wouldn't have either.
He'd have been careless. If he'd been in religion, he'd
have been careless. The high priest, the one delivering him
up, money. For money. Judas. The people, verse 17, were offered
a choice. Pilate said unto them, Whom will
ye? Whom will ye that I release unto
you? Barabbas, this notable, this notoriously wicked fellow,
or Jesus? This notable holy man. What do you have? What will you
have? They were offered a choice. Men
like to have choice, don't they? Men like to have freedom of will,
don't they? Alright then, what do you have? Here is holiness personified.
Do you understand this? Yeah, you do. Here is holiness
personified. The only holy man that ever lived,
really, walked this planet. And even his accusers could find
no fault in it. Here is the worst man that ever
lived. What do you take? Who do you
have? The multitude. Roy, there was not one single
dissenting voice. There was not one single person
in the crowd who said, this is not right. To a man, to a woman, to a young
person. They said, verse 22, Whither of the two? They said,
Barabbas. Up in verse 18, we looked at this last week ago
or so, it says they delivered him for envy, meaning they envied
his power, they envied his authority, they envied his everything. He
had all power and authority and they wanted that for themselves.
So let's get rid of him. Get rid of him. Pilate said,
why? They said, crucify him. Pilate
said, why? What evil has he done? That's just it. Would you go
with me to John 15? John chapter 15. Remember our
Lord said one time, if you then be an evil. Scripture says of the natural
man, Can the Ethiopian change his
skin? Can the leopard change his spot?
Neither can you do good which are accustomed to doing evil. That's what it says of the natural
man. The new man is a new man, creating the image of Christ
Jesus, just like him. A new creature. A new man is
given a new heart. The heart that's deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked, that hard heart of stone, that's
what every man has by nature. But God Almighty in Ezekiel 36
says, a new heart I will give them, a heart of flesh. I'll
take away that stony heart, give them a heart of flesh. They'll
love me. I'll put my spirit in them. But the natural man, that's who
we're talking about. The natural man. Our Lord said this in John
15 verse 22 and following. He said, if I had not come and
spoken unto them, they had not had sin. But now they have no cloak, no
excuse, no covering. See, what the Lord, what the
Scriptures does, the Word, the Word written and the Word incarnate,
what the Word does is it exposes us. The first thing it does.
It exposes our evil. Man is not born good, but evil. And our Lord went on to say in
John 15, He said, He that hateth Me, hateth My Father also. Verse
24, If I had not done among them the works which none other man
did, they had not had sin. But now they have both seen and
hated both Me and My Father. In the name of God, they do what
they do and say what they say, but they don't know God. If God
were your Father, you'd love me. You'd hear me. You'd believe me. You'd bow to
me. But He's not. He's not the Father of all men.
He's our Father by adoption. So Pilate, back in our text,
Pilate said, why, what evil hath he done? That's not it. The evil
is not in him. It's in them. It's in us by nature. What evil? Crucify him. Do we
understand? I hope somebody heard it on the
radio. If not, maybe I know you'll hear
it. Do we understand that these people who were there this day were
the most orthodox? They were orthodox Jews. They
were religious people. Barnard used to call it a Sunday
go to meet and lynch mob. Sabbath-day-keeping bunch. They
all were very zealous about keeping the law. I mean, the Bible. Very moral, very upright. And yet when true holiness walked
this planet, these good, moral, upright, Bible-believing, Sabbath-keeping,
law-keeping people, The utter rebellion and sin came out of
them to the most horrible degree. They said about God and holiness,
kill him, just kill him, let him die the death of the worst
criminal on earth. I cannot preach this like it
is. And this is the thing, whenever
God begins to deal with any son of Adam, the first thing He shows
them is their utter depravity. Lord, if you don't save me, I'm
going to perish. Lord, I'm such a sinful man. Peter, it's the
first thing that the Lord showed him. He said, depart from me,
Lord, I'm a sinful man. Didn't it? No, Peter, that's
why I came. I'm not going to depart from
you, and you're not going to depart from me. I came to save
you. I came to be your substitute. I came to redeem. I came for
the likes of you. Me, I'm the worth. That's exactly
who I came for. But I'm the chief of sinners.
Yeah, and you're a pattern, Paul. That's all. Of who God saves. I didn't come to call the righteous,
Christ said. This is a gospel for sinners.
I'm talking hell-bound, hell-deserving sinners. Romans 7 sinners. Those who do evil, they would
not. That's what they do. The good
they would, that's what they can't do. Oh, woe is me. I'm undone. Isaiah, six sinners. Romans 7, who shall deliver me?
Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me? The very next
chapter tells us. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. He's come to deliver us from
what? Sin. Sin, substitute. My, my. And the multitude, oh,
I was stricken with this. Sherry, you're an astute hearer. Take good notes and all this.
As we go through this, we ought to be reminded of Isaiah 53.
Isaiah 53 is in detail all that they did to Christ. Psalm 22.
But Isaiah 53 says, He is despised and rejected of men. Every one
of them. It says, all we like sheep have
gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. We hid, as it were, our faces
from him. There was a time when every believer
in here rejected thumbs down the truth. Was not interested
in God, not interested in Christ. Like Barabbas. Like Barabbas. Our Lord, look at this. He exposes
man. In verse 24 it says, Pilate saw
he could prevail on nothing, 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. I'm innocent. This man is just.
I'm the judge and he's just. But I'm killing. Is he innocent? Is anybody innocent? Can a person
be indifferent to this message? No. Up there in verse 19, it
says, his wife sent word to him, have nothing to do with this
just man. The just one. Keep saying this,
doesn't it? The just one. She said, have nothing to do.
I've suffered many things. this day in a dream because of
him. You know, men and women, even young people have a conscience.
What is that conscience? What is it? What does the scripture
say? It's the law of God written on the heart. And their conscience
smites them. We better hope our conscience
is never silent or silent. The conscience smite men and
women. Matthew Henry said this, man's
conscience is strong, but his corruptions are stronger. Much
stronger. See, somebody's got to conquer
that corruption. Somebody's got to overcome the
evil one. Somebody's got to wrestle this
old Jacob down to the ground, doesn't he, John? Get him down
in the ground and put his hell-bound, unbended knee in the dirt and
put his obstinate hard head, bow his hard neck, stiff neck
and hard heart and put him down. Is that too rough? Oh, Jacob
was so glad somebody grabbed hold of him. Paul said, I was
apprehended. Aren't you glad? I was apprehended. A stronger than I. Oh, I'm so
glad. Somebody stronger than me. Got
me down. Because if I, he that is abased,
will be exalted. Too hard? No. Old Brother Byron
used to say this too. He is first your Lord before
he's your Savior. He's no man's Savior whom He's
not first, their Lord. Well, the multitude, Isaiah 53,
oh my, it says He was despised and rejected. And every
one of them. And all we did too. How many
years did you spend and didn't give God a thought? Huh? How many? You know, to ignore somebody
is the same as saying, I don't care if you're alive. Isn't it? It's a very rude thing to ignore
somebody. Not acknowledge that they're
there. A non-person. That's what it is to ignore God
and Christ, isn't it? The One who feeds us. The One
who clothes us. The One whose breath we breathe.
We're all squatters on God's earth, trespassers on God's earth,
lived many, many years and never given God a thought, never even
asked Him permission to breathe His air, never given Him one
word of thanks. I'm being faithful to this. All
of them, all of them, all we like sheep have gone astray.
John, how many years did you spend in religion before the
sovereign Christ made Himself known to you? What if he left
you to yourself? Oh, my. And we suffer fools gladly. We
choose wicked men and women. Our will chooses that which is
a robber and a thief, as we noted in the message this morning.
The pulpits are full of thieves and robbers. Isn't that what
the Lord said about when He came into the temple? He said, You've
made My house a den of thieves. Stolen My glory. Come in Your
own name. Doing what You do for money. God ought to wipe the whole bunch
out, shouldn't He? Who does He save here this day? This day. Got all these good moral, upright
people, you know, Sabbath. Who on this day, at this particular
time, who does he say, who does he come to be a substitute for,
to take the place of, the Redeemer of? A most notable man. A prisoner. Here is the glorious
picture of salvation, of substitution. Substitution is the gospel. Substitution
is the gospel. Here in this story, in the providence
of God, according to God's predetermined will and counsel, See, God works all things after
the counsel of his own will, Ephesians 1 says. A counsel,
that is a meeting that took place before the world began. God Almighty
was there. I'm talking Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit. These three are one. God. Here, O Israel, the Lord our
God is one. But these three are one. And
they met together in this counsel, this meeting. And they predetermine
all things, predestinated. If he's God, it must be so, right? If he's God, he doesn't make
plans and they don't come to pass. That's not a God. See,
God does, they asked David, said, what about your God? He said,
I'll tell you about my God. My God is in the heavens and
he hath not whatsoever He hath pleased. You see, my God is God. Your God wants to be and can't
unless you let Him. But He still won't be, even if
you do. My God is. And my salvation is
He let me know that. He revealed Himself to me. He
chose me that I might know and understand that He's God. That's
where it all starts. It's all our comfort, our hope,
our peace, our salvation. Who is this man? God. Come to
do His perfect will. It's in the volume of the book
it is written of me. Lo, I come to do Thy will. And he said, This is the will
of Him which hath sent me, that every one who seeth the Son,
I will raise him up. Every single one. He didn't come to try to do anything.
He didn't come to make an attempt at anything. He didn't come to
make a down payment on redemption. He came to fulfill that eternal
counsel held before the world began. And every person that
God Almighty chose in that counsel, every single human being God
determined to save will be saved. Their names were put in the Lamb's
Book of Life. Why is it called the Lamb's Book?
He's the one that gives life. As the Father quickeneth whom
he will, even so the Son hath this power to quicken whom he
will." That means give life. And he gave these to his son
in this council to come down and redeem them. Pay the price
for their sin, which is death. The wages of sin is death. To
do for them what they could not do, what God demanded of them.
Just do and live. They can't. They've all broken
it terribly. And they've got to die. Christ
did, so they live. He died that they might live.
Substitution. Substitution. And every single
one of them, He said, My sheep, I left the ninety and nine to
go after the one. And he finds them, where he puts
them, and on this particular day, one of them was waiting
in an old, dark, damp jail cell. He's named Barabbas, a notable
fellow. Oh, I love this story. I can
say with absolute confidence, based on the Scripture, that
Barabbas was a saved man. Oh, yeah. Everyone for whom Christ
died is saved. He was a substitute for this
man. God Almighty determined purpose for this certain man
to be in jail at a certain time in order to release him. He only
saves prisoners, you know that? He only saves sinners, you know
that? You know that. And this man was saved for one
reason. This man went scot-free for one reason. One reason only. After it was over, he knew it.
Everybody knew it. Why are you going free? Because
that man died for me. That's why. Picture of salvation. Somebody
took his place. And God Almighty has an elect
chosen by Him. And when He chose them, even
while we were yet sinners, every one of them were thieves and
murderers, adulterers, guilty, held captive by sin, Satan, and
the world. All of them rebels. Yes, rebels,
guilty of insurrection against the King, we already said that,
with squatters on God's earth, not giving Him a thought. How
long would you put up with somebody pitching a tent on your property,
Charles Robb? How long would you put up with somebody just
raping your land? Huh? How long would you put up
with somebody eating all your food, drinking all your water?
And then your son comes along and they kill him! So you have
no right here. Kill you! How long would you
put up? Would you do anything for people like that? Behold,
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us! Rebels that we should be called! Oh, Barabbas could quote this,
couldn't he? The thief on the cross could quote this, couldn't
he? Behold! That's his favorite verse! The thief on the cross, his favorite
verse! Oh, behold! Oh, heaven and earth behold what
manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon this rebel that
I should be called. Now I'm sitting, Mephibosheth
could, that's his favorite verse, wasn't it? Oh, I'm sitting at
the table with the king and all my brothers are dead. All of
them have been hung up, taking their heads off. All Mephibosheth's
brothers died, had their heads hung up. Not Mephibosheth. Why? A covenant. Can you hear
me? A council, a covenant. For Christ's sake. God's not
going to take our head because He took my head. Christ's in
my stand. Substitution. A doctrine I wish
I could preach just like it's a person that took my place. Go down to death row like this
fellow, and here's some of the worst fellow of all. And go down
there, and he's about to go into the gas chamber, the gallows,
and tell him, hold it, stop. Tell Victor Kushner, stay your
hand, stop. Why? Somebody's going to take
his place. Only the hardest heart. Oh, my. That's what this is. A person
taking the place of worthless man. See why we have to paint
the picture as black as it can be? And we can't. We can't. We can't. Nobody has. The past
never been told. And God Almighty, oh, He sent
His altogether lovely Son. Go back to... I'm out of time. Go to Isaiah
53 in closing, okay? Let's read this in closing. This
is the, what do you say, epitaph or the crown on Christ, our substitute? Isaiah 53, oh my. Though we rejected him, God accepted
him. Though we wouldn't have him,
God did. In our behalf. Verse 10, it says, it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He put him to grief. When thou
shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his day, and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. What's that
pleasure? To make an oberabus to his people. Amen. He shall see of the travail
of his soul and shall be satisfied. Substitution? satisfaction. By his knowledge, not ours, his,
shall my righteous servant justify many, he shall bear their iniquity. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoiled with
the strong, because He hath poured out his soul unto death. He was
numbered with the transgressors. He bare the sin of many, and
made intercession for the transgressors." See, the law demanded this. The
law demanded it. We have a law that such and such
can go free, but one has to be held. Somebody's got to suffer
the penalty. We have a law. Whom will it be? Well, the people said that they
did what God determined for it to be done. It pleased the Lord
to prove it. God said, deliver him from going
down into the pit. Barabbas, I have found a ransom. Take him. He that spared not
his own son, the law says, Barabbas must go free. And that man walks
out. No claims on him. Law. No claims.
His record is absolved. He'll never have to pay for that.
Any crimes he's ever done. You'd think he's a changed man.
Huh? Come on now. What kind of Savior
is Jesus Christ if he doesn't? Huh? He ain't no Savior at all.
He's not a Savior in head and doctrine. He gives you a new
heart, a new life. Walk by faith. And old Barabbas
walked out of there. If he didn't know, somebody told
him, you're going out of here because look, look, look right
there on that central cross hanging right there. That man is dying
in your stead. And John, when he looked, he
was saying, I guess he was. Yeah. That's what God said. And Barabbas is in here. Look,
be saved. Substitute. Okay. Let's sing
a closing hymn.