The gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the essence of it is redemption by the bloody sacrifice
of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the essence of the gospel.
If you ask me, what is the good news? What is the good news of
the gospel? It is that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures. and that he was buried and that
he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. That's good
news. It's good news for people who've
been convinced that they're sinners. It's good news that a substitute
has died in our stead. Now, as far as the gospel is
concerned, the very heart of it is redemption. And I'll say
this, the essence of the gospel is satisfaction and substitution. I enjoy reading Charles Spurgeon. He's one of my favorite writers,
dead for many, many years now. But I enjoy reading his sermons,
and I would say that I probably read something of his every day. And he said, concerning the gospel,
he said, two words ought ever to be kept in mind. concerning
the gospel. He said the first one is satisfaction,
and the second one is substitution. You see, God wrote his law, gave
it to Moses from Mount Sinai, the law of commandments. And
the Israelites had broken that law, And Moses, when he came
down from the mountain, he threw down the two tablets. You remember
that story, I'm sure. And that indicated that's what
the Israelites had done. They had broken God's law. And
you've got to understand God's law, they're not suggestions. They're commandments. You see,
the law of God doesn't demand that you do the best that you
can do. The law of God doesn't demand
that you put forth a good effort and then the Lord Jesus will
make up what's lacking. Here's what the law of God demands,
perfection. And we can't produce that. And
so our Lord Jesus came down here made of a woman, made under the Law of God. He came, and one
of the reasons was to satisfy the Law of God. Somebody had
to honor the Law of God, keeping it fully, and our Lord Jesus
did. He's the perfect man, the only
perfect man who's ever lived. Satan came to Him, and Christ
said He found nothing, He found nothing with which to work in
the Savior. because our Lord Jesus did no
sin, He spoke no sin, He thought no sin, He's the perfect Redeemer,
and He had to be to satisfy God's law. He satisfied that. And then He satisfied divine
justice, because God said, the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
Our Lord Jesus died on the cross. He died to satisfy God's justice. Sin, when it is finished, the
Bible says, bring it forth death. That's why Christ died. He died
for our sins. Otherwise, we would have had
to have died. Somebody's going to die for sins. And our Lord
Jesus died as the satisfaction to God's justice. He had to satisfy
God. Think of it this way. Our Savior
had to do something for God before he could do anything for us.
He had to satisfy God's demands. And he did that by his perfect
law keeping life. And he did that by his death
upon the cross of Calvary. Satisfaction, he had to satisfy
God. And the second word, Mr. Spurgeon
said, kind of defines the gospel, is not only satisfaction, but
substitution. Substitution. And that's what
I want to be talking about this morning. That is substitution
illustrated. Substitution illustrated. Now all of you, even the young
people here, you know something about what a substitute is. School
has begun. Like it or not, school is in
session. And those of you who attend school
You know what a substitute is if your regular teacher or one
of your teachers, if you change classes, gets sick, can't make
it, well, for whatever reason, you'll have a substitute, one
who stands in for another. Well, in the Bible and in the
gospel of the good news of the death and resurrection of our
Lord Jesus, the doctrine of substitution is very, very important. I've already said somebody's
going to die for sins. Well, our Lord Jesus on behalf
of His people, God's elect, His sheep, Our Lord Jesus, He came
to this earth. As I said, born of a woman, born
of a virgin, He grew up. And though the law of God was
aggravated and angry with us because of our sins, the Lord
Jesus, as it were, pushed us out of the way and said, take
me instead. And God's law took Him. in the stead of his guilty people,
and we go free. But our Lord Jesus had to answer
all the demands of justice, and that included suffering and death. He was our substitute. He stood in our place. Now, I
said the doctrine of substitution and satisfaction, these are keys
to understanding the gospel of the grace of God. You remember,
here's an illustration of substitution. You remember back in the book
of Genesis, the second chapter, God put Adam in a garden that
was beautiful and had wonderful, luscious fruits and vegetables
and whatnot. And the Lord gave Adam one law,
just one law. There's a tree in the midst of
the garden, a tree of the knowledge of good and evil, now don't you
eat of the fruit of that tree, for in the day you eat thereof
you shall surely die. Well, I don't know how long Adam
ate of the fruits of the other trees, but Eve, having been tempted
and deceived by the serpent, she took of that forbidden fruit. I don't know what the fruit was,
that doesn't matter. Because it was symbolic of the
absolute authority of God. She took the fruit, ate of it,
nothing happened. She said, hey honey, this is
good. This is good. You know, I've
been told that when we eat of this fruit, we'll be as gods,
knowing good and evil. Have some of this. Adam was our
representative, as we all know. And he took that and he willed
to eat. You see, sin takes place, first
of all, in the heart. It isn't only what you do. It's
the reason that you do it and the motivation of doing it, and
that comes forth from a corrupt heart. Adam willed to eat. And he fell. He fell into sin. And he was guilty. And both of
them realized their guilt. And they heard the Lord coming
in the cool of the day, seeking them. And they tried to hide
from him. But that was a futile attempt.
My friend, you cannot hide from God because he's everywhere.
He fills the universe. But here's what our Lord did
for them. Remembering that the Lord said, in the day ye eat
thereof, you'll surely die. Whenever you eat, you'll die. Well, I'm sure they waited for
the hammer to fall. But then the Lord announced to
them, the seed of the woman is going to come. And then he illustrated
exactly what the seed of the woman, meaning the Lord Jesus
Christ, he illustrated what would be done in that day when the
Savior came. And here's what the Lord did
for Adam and Eve. He killed innocent animals in
the stead of Adam and Eve. See, there's substitution. You
see it, don't you? That's substitution. The animals
died. The animals were innocent. They
didn't rebel against God. They didn't mouth off to God,
if they could talk. They weren't cruel toward the
Lord. Their hearts weren't filled with
rebellion. They did nothing wrong. They
were innocent. See, they were a picture of our
Lord Jesus. And those animals were killed.
Blood was shed. The first blood in this world
that was ever shed teaches us how God can be a holy God and
a just God and a righteous God and still deal with sin in a
just way. And so he killed the animals
and he skinned them. So I believe that's the Lord
Jesus doing that. He took upon him the form of
a body. Remember this, all of God's dealings
with men and women in the Bible and even now are always through
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not going to deal with you
any other way. In fact, when we get to heaven, we're not going to see God the
Father except as we see Him in Christ the Son. And we're not
going to see the Holy Spirit except as we see Him in the Son
of God. All of God, and we are Trinitarians,
but all of God we will ever see is the man, Christ Jesus. And he illustrated substitution
there. I'll give you another illustration.
If you want another one, you want another one? I'll give you
another illustration. Where you want it or not, go and get it.
Here's another illustration. Abraham was commanded by God
to take his son up on a mountain and offer him as a burnt offering
to God. And he did that. He was up, took
him up on that mountain and the wood was laid in order Isaac
was strapped to the rocks, the altar that had been piled up,
rocks there, and Abraham raised the sacrificial knife. He's ready
to execute his son because he believed, Hebrews 11 says this,
he believed God was able to raise him up even from the dead. He raised that knife. And the
Lord said, stop. Yes, Lord. Don't lay your hand
on the lad. There's a ram caught in the thicket
by its horn. Offer that ram on this altar
in the stead of Isaac. That's substitution, isn't it?
And I'll tell you what. Abraham, he released Isaac, and
he took that ram that the Lord had already caught it for him.
And he butchered it, hoisted it up on the wood that was on
the rocks, and he set it on fire. A ram was offered as the substitute
for Isaac. You're getting the picture, aren't
you? Can I give you one more illustration in the Old Testament?
One more. Israel is in bondage in Egypt. They can't get out. Their escape
is impossible. The only one who could get them
out of Egyptian bondage was God Almighty. And he did that by
means of a sacrifice. It's called the Passover. The Lord said, I want every house,
if your house is small, you can go in with your neighbor, everybody
take Passover, take a lamb for the Passover. It's gotta be a
male. It's gotta be a male of the first
year. It's gotta be a male that's innocent, that is, Nothing wrong
with him. It's got to be no spots, no blemishes,
no scabs, no wounds, no broken bones, nothing like that. It's
got to be perfect. Leviticus 22, 21 says, it shall
be perfect to be accepted. See, there's another picture
of our Lord Jesus. And each of the lambs, they pictured
Christ Jesus. He's the lamb of God. And we sing that. So, on that Passover night, everybody
killed the Passover lamb, all Israel did. They killed that
Passover lamb in the stead of the firstborn of the family having
to die. God said, I'm gonna pass through
Egypt, firstborn of every family is gonna die. So how'd they die? They died
at the hand of God. And Moses said, now listen up.
You want your oldest child to live? Here's what you do. Put up this lamb, a male of the
first year, innocent, no spots, blemishes. You kill that lamb,
shed the blood, shed the blood in a basin. roast the lamb and
take that basin of blood and go outside of your door and dip
hyssop in it like a sponge and you put blood over the top of
the door post and on the side post outside. God said, when
I see the blood, the blood of a substitute, you see, I'll pass
over you. Now, when we get to the New Testament,
Here before us, and I've already read it to you, is another really
good illustration of substitution. It concerns the release of a
horrible, notable prisoner named Barabbas. Barabbas. He was a murderer. He would have tried to lead Israel
in defiance, in rebellion against the Roman Empire. He was a thief. He was just an awful rebel. And he and his two cohorts in
crime, the three of them, had been locked up. They had faced
a stern trial. And they were found guilty and
the sentence was crucifixion for all three of you. You'll
all die for your crimes. And two of them did die. But this man by the name of Barabbas,
he didn't die that day. Why didn't he die? A substitute
died in his place. Our Lord Jesus. Several years
ago, Brother Lloyd Bush, who's been with the Lord a number of years now, we were
talking about Barabbas, and he asked me if I thought Barabbas
was a saved man. I said, I do not know and I have
no answer. We're not given the answer in
the Bible. I know this, he was saved from physical execution
that day. Beyond that, I dare not venture. Learn this, if the Bible is silent
on something, you better be silent too. And we both were in agreement
on that. So Barabbas, he had been sentenced
to be executed, but when they came to get the other
two prisoners, the two thieves, our Lord was crucified between
them, when the soldiers, the guard, execution guards, when
they came to get all three of them, they unlocked the cell
of Barabbas, and I'm sure he thought, boy, this is it. This
is my time. And the guard said to him, you
go with this guy over here. Barabbas, you're free. I basically,
what? What do you mean I'm free? because
somebody's gonna die in your stead. You see, that is substitution. Substitution. And it teaches
us, just like those three illustrations I gave you from the Old Testament,
the execution of this man by the name of Barabbas teaches
us the only way God could save us in a manner that was consistent
with his justice. Somebody had to take our place,
but not just anybody. It had to be a special person.
It had to be an innocent person. It had to be somebody who was
equal with God. holy and righteous and just and
full of grace and full of mercy. It had to be somebody who was
equal with God. Somebody who knew the demands
of God. Somebody who understood the sentence
of death because of the sins that he would take upon him. Had to be a very special person.
Had to be equal with God. But that substitute also had
to be a man. Had to be a man. I just told
you a while ago, God fills the universe. You can't nail Him
to a cross. Not unless He makes Himself visible
not unless he joins his deity to our manhood. And that's exactly
what the Son of God did. Born of a virgin, capable of
suffering, capable of agony, capable of being punished and
feeling the pain, capable of dying. That's our Lord Jesus
Christ. He was the substitute for sinners. He died in our stead. I've often
thought about Barabbas. After he walked away and, you
know, the gates opened for him. There they go opening. Have a
good day, Barabbas, from them soldiers ahead. We'll probably
see you again in here. No doubt they said something
like that. But he walked away, and as he did, he looked back
and he saw, he saw his two buddies, two cohorts in crime. He saw them, and boy were they
suffering. And then he looked at Middle
Cross. I'm sure he asked some of the people who were around
there, who is that on the middle cross? And they said, that's
Jesus of Nazareth. Barabbas, he took your place. He's dying the death that you
ought to have died, you lowdown scoundrel. And our Lord did indeed take
his place in death. And he did that for all of his
people. I don't know whether Barabbas
was a saved man or not. That's none of my business. I
hope so. But hey, surely the God of the
earth will do right. He did right by Barabbas when
he died. He'll do right by you and everybody
else too. but for the people of God, for
those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you believe
Him? You're not resting in your works, are you? You're not resting
in your obedience. You don't think, well, I believe
God's gonna accept me because I do pray every once in a while. Had a man tell me not too long
ago, I invited him to come hear me preach. He said, well, you
know, I believe in God. I said, well, the devil believes
in God, too, and he trembles. I said, I'd appreciate if you'd
come hear me preach sometime. I'll tell you about Christ Jesus
and his cross death for poor sinners. You see, when the wrath
of God, if the wrath of God gets a hold of one of us, it won't
for the Lord's people, Those who die in their sins, the wrath
of God is going to take hold of you now. You leave this world,
you're not going to be a pretty picture. You're going to suffer.
And the wrath of God will not let up on you. Judgment will
never be eased. But for all of those in whose
stead Christ Jesus died, And those who are brought to
believe Him, to rest in Him, to find their hope of salvation
only in Him, not in works, not in baptism, not in Scripture
reading, but Christ only. I'm going to preach tonight on
the Transfiguration, and the title of my message is going
to be, Jesus Only. That's how the apostles spoke
of it. Elijah and Moses disappeared
at the transfiguration. They saw no man save Jesus only. Jesus only is the Savior. Only the Lord Jesus Christ. And all who look to him only. Do so because of the gift of
the Holy Spirit of faith. and all who believe him are safe. You know, this release of Barabbas,
do you know it's recorded by all four evangelists? Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John. If the Lord tells us something
one time, it's gotta be important, right? If he just says it one
time, But two times? Three times? Four times? Well, I ought to be four times
more attentive to the story of Barabbas having a substitute. I ought to pay attention to that
because substitution ought to be really a foundational truth
that you lay hold of with all the faith that you've got. Preacher,
why do you feel like you're safe for glory? Because I had a wonderful
substitute. That's why. You say, why do you
believe you'll go to heaven when you die? Because of who my substitute
was and what he did for me. Now hear me. If I ask you, will
you go to heaven when you die? Is everything okay between you
and God? Are you saved? If your answer
begins with the one letter I, you're off base already. Salvation is not about I, it's
about Him. It's about Christ, the only substitute. You see, I should have died,
I know that. I don't know the fullest extent
of my guilt, and nobody does, but I do know this, the soul
that sinneth shall die, and I've sinned bunches and bunches and
bunches of times. I don't even have any idea how
many times I have sinned. But the Lord Jesus, he took my
sins in his own body on the tree. And he set me aside. James Ferguson
Byrd, you will not die. And I say, Lord, why won't I
die? I deserve to die. I'm as guilty
as Barabbas. I'm a thief. I've stolen God's
honor. I've received gifts from him,
and I haven't given thanksgiving back to him. I'm a murderer because
I've hated people. I've got angry with people. I'm a rebel? What, Lord, I deserve
to die. Why won't I die? Because somebody
died for you. That's the glorious truth of
substitution. I'll give you four quick things.
Here's sinfulness described. Barabbas was a rebel against
authority. That's me. Whose authority? God's authority. I'm a rebel
against authority. And I'm a robber. I didn't know
our preacher was a robber. I've robbed God of the worship
that is due him. I've robbed God of the glory
of creation. That's what most people are doing
now, believing evolution. I've robbed God of the glory
of providence. Instead of attributing everything
to Him, we attribute it to other things, luck, chance, fate. And we've robbed Him of the glory
of salvation by promoting our so-called free will. Salvation is not in any way by
your will. Your will is only free to sin. That's all your will is free
to do. It's not free to stop sinning, like what Brother Scott
Richland one time said. He said, yeah, we're as free
as a prisoner in jail. He's free to jump up and down.
He's free to lay down. He's free to take a nap. But
he's not free to get out. And that's us. Sinfulness described. Hey, your
name is Barabbas too, did you know that? That's my name. James
Barabbas Byrd. And then the sentence has been
determined, the soul that sinneth shall die. Did Barabbas deserve to die?
Yeah. Pilate, see Rome had a, they
tried to, be kind to Israel, and when it came Passover time,
that's when the Israelites were released by the power of God
from bondage in Egypt, so they implemented this custom, and
it was a custom, that at Passover time, that the authorities, the
padel, in this case, would release somebody who was held as a prisoner. And so Barabbas was the one released. But his sentence had already
been determined. And the sentence of sinners has
already been determined. The law of God says you're guilty,
you gotta die. But here is substitution demonstrated. And I mentioned this a little
bit ago, I wonder what went through Barabbas's
mind as he walked away. Who is that man who's dying in
my stead? How did he come to die for me?
I don't even know him. He had to ask me, who is that?
I don't know. I don't know him. Why would he
die for me? And when I heard the gospel of
substitution and satisfaction, heard that Christ died for sinners,
one of my first questions was, why would he die for me? Does he know who I am? Does he
know what I've done? Does he know what I've thought?
Does he know how rotten I am? Does he know how sinful I am?
And the answer to all of that is, yes, he knows. He's dying
to take my sins away. He's dying to make me righteous. Substitution is demonstrated
right there. He was a suitable person, God
and man, and he did what nobody else could do. He died in my
stead. I know this one sinner can't
die for another sinner. It wouldn't do any good for me
to have hung on the cross to save you. I'm a sinner. I can't save another sinner. I need somebody who's righteous
and just. That's why 1 Peter 3, 18 says,
the just died for the unjust to bring us to God. And here is the last thing. Here's
salvation demanded. What would you think? What would you think if this
story went on to say the Lord Jesus died in the stead of Barabbas, put him in the grave, he rose
again. What would you think, though,
if the Roman government sent soldiers after Barabbas saying,
you know what, we're going to kill you, too. We're going to
execute you, too. That, my friends, would be a
miscarriage of justice, wouldn't it? Ain't no justice there. He's already, he's died, somebody's
died in his stead already. And I'll tell you, everybody
Christ died for on the cross, everybody he represented, everybody
whose sins were laid on him, everybody that he suffered, bled,
and died for shall go free. The justice of God demands it.
Salvation is demanded for those that Christ died for. Oh, I encourage
you. Trust the Son of God. Just flee
to Him by faith. Somebody said to me not long
ago, I don't even know how to believe. I said, well, I kind
of understand what you're saying. But you know, if I told you something,
if I told you I'm going to meet you tomorrow, the Lord willing,
at 10 o'clock, would you believe me? You'd believe me. Surely
you'd believe me. I've never lied to you yet. Yeah,
preacher, I believe you. You mean you believe me, but
you won't believe God? Can you believe God? You can if God gives you faith
to believe on His Son.