Go back to Matthew 27. Now remember, this is the Passover feast. This is what's going on in Jerusalem
at this time. This is the true Passover. All the other Passovers were
types. They were pictures. But this
one is the true Passover. This is the Lord's Passover happening
right here. They don't realize that they
are involved in the true Passover, the Lord's Passover. And Christ
is the Passover Lamb. This is the Passover lamb that
is to be slain for the sins of God's people. You know, that
was instituted back over in Exodus 12 when they were coming out
of Egypt. God gave them the Passover. And
here is the reality of the time right here. And the blood of
this Passover lamb is the atonement for the sins of God's children,
His people. But also we have here in these
verses a notable, a notorious sinner. We have known some notorious
people, Charles Manson, he would be considered a notorious, a
notable sinner. Here is one here we have, sitting
in the Roman prison, waiting for execution. That's what he's
waiting for. He's not waiting to see what's
going to happen to him. He knows what's going to happen
to him. He's already been tried and he's guilty and he's sitting
in his prison waiting to be executed. Barabbas was guilty of murder. That's what it tells us over
in Luke. He was guilty of robbery. He
was guilty of sedition. He was against the government.
This man was mean. This man was mean to the core. He was mean. He deserves what
he's supposed to get. This man deserves what he's waiting
for. Execution. He deserves it. But he doesn't get it. He ends
up getting what he does not deserve. He ends up getting what Christ
deserved, really. This man ends up getting freedom. He ends up getting freedom. Can
you imagine what it was like for him sitting
there in prison waiting to be executed and end up being set
free? But in verse 11, Christ stands
before the governor. Here is the God of heaven and
earth standing before the governor, Pilate. Remember Pilate said
to him one time, don't you know I have the power to execute you
or let you go? He said, you don't have any power
against me at all except God give it to you from above. But
he's standing here before him to be tried and put to death.
When I read this, I thought we see injustice and justice being
done. at the same time. Injustice on our part. He was
hated without a cause. He was charged with crimes by
men that he did not commit. They gathered false witnesses
against him. Yet they put him to death anyway.
How many times in just these few scriptures He called a just
man. Why? I found no fault in him.
That's what he says over in the other Gospels. I find no fault
in him. But now, listen, on God's part,
it was the execution of justice on his people for their sins
in their substitute. On our part, it was injustice. We charged him with things he
didn't do, but on God's part, It was justice. Because he's
been charged. He's been charged, he's guilty
of the sins of his people. And God's going to execute him
for it. The law of God is going to execute him for it. Now, Pilate
says, Are thou the king of the Jews? Are you the king of God's
elect? Are you the king of the Jews,
God's elect? He sure didn't look like a king.
He might have looked like the king of the homeless or the king
of nothing, but he did not look like a king standing there before
Pilate at all. And here's his answer. Thou say'st,
or thou hast rightly said, yes, I am. I am the king of the Jews. I am. And then Pilate marveled
He marveled at his silence. That's the only thing he said.
That's the only thing he said. Thou hast rightly said. And Pilate
marveled at his silence. Our Lord did not come into this
world to defend himself. He came into this world not to
live, but to die. He came to die. That's what he
came for. He came to take the place of a multitude of guilty
sinners given to Him to redeem by the Father before the world
was. And this is part of the process. This is part of it. And this
is the fulfillment of Isaiah 53. As a sheep before her shearers
is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison
and from judgment, and who shall declare His generation? This
is being fulfilled. They read that time after time
after time and didn't realize that they were fulfilling it. Although he was innocent in himself
of all these charges, all these false charges that were laid
against him, they were true. They were true of us. They were
true of all his people. Therefore he opened not his mouth."
Now at the feast, at the Passover, this is the Passover feast, the
governor would release, it says, one prisoner. Over in Luke it
says it was a necessity that he release one prisoner, whom
they would. Here we're going to see free
will at its best. You want to see free will. Here it is. You're going to see
it at its best. Let's see what it will do. Let's
give men and women their free choice. Let's see what they do
with it. Now it says here in verse 16,
and they had then a notable prisoner called Barabbas. He was a murderer. He was a robber. That doesn't
mean that he just indulged himself in petty theft. You look this
up and study it out, it means violent. Violent robber. If he wanted something and you
had it, he took it. He took it. And then he was guilty of sedition.
This man was a violent man. He was a murderer. He was someone
that you did not want to deal with. Barabbas. Barabbas. His name means this,
son of his father. And he was just like his father
Adam. Just like his father Adam. And this name fits every one
of us. By nature, just like our father
Adam. Just like him. A spitting image
of him. A spitting image of him. Now,
Pilate is trying to figure out how he can release Christ and
save face with Rome. All this is going on. I mean,
this is what a scene we've got going on here. And this prisoner,
this notable prisoner, sitting in a Roman prison, doesn't have
a clue that his name has come up. I mean, he doesn't have a clue
what's going on here. So Pilate here, He's trying to
figure out how he can release Christ and he's going to save
face with Rome. So he thinks he's got a solution
here. I've got this notorious prisoner. I mean, this man is
mean. This man needs to be locked up.
This man needs to be executed. You don't want to turn him back
loose on society. Surely, surely the people will not choose
this man over Christ, who is known to have been going about
doing good and healing. You know, that was known of him. He believes that the multitude
will surely choose the Lord Jesus Christ. But they don't. They don't. The multitude hate Christ, and it has not changed. When
you preach the Christ of this Bible, as He's revealed in this
Bible, you'll find out that men hate Christ. Several years ago,
I think it was John Lennon, one of the Beatles, said, he said,
are more popular than Jesus Christ. And there was a big uproar. The
Ku Klux Klan even got in on it. They were going to bar from coming
in. They were coming over here to
do a concert. And they interviewed this one guy who was one of the
Ku Klux Klan. And he got in on it. You know,
he was going to defend. He was going to defend Christ. I watched this documentary the
other night. I thought, you know what? John
Lennon was right. They were more popular than Christ.
They were. The Christ of the Bible. He is
not loved by this world. The greatest population of this
world hates and despises the God-man, Jesus Christ. They hate
him. And it's proved right here. They
were given a choice. And these are supposed to be
a bunch of good people here, too. They're supposed to be the best.
These are the best of men. And what did they choose? A murderer. A murderer. Here is a good picture
of human nature. Given the choice between good
and evil, given the choice between God or Satan, I'm telling you,
if God leaves man to himself, if he pulls back his hand and
lets man have his so-called free will, here it is. Here it is. Put God to death, put his son
to death, and choose a murderer. That's free will. That's free
will. Now, Pilate knew that for envy
they had delivered Christ unto him. Not for justice. Envy. Envy. They were jealous over
his popularity. In one place they said, if we
don't do something, the whole world is going to follow him. They
were jealous over his freedom. He plucked corn on the Sabbath
day. And they're like, man, we can't do that. They were jealous
over his freedom. They were jealous over his power
that he had over demons and over his ability to heal. They were
envious. It was out of envy they delivered
him, and Pilate knew it. He could see through their phoniness.
He knew it. But right in the midst of all
of this, all this commotion going on, When Pilate was sat down
on the judgment seat, his wife said unto him, saying, Have thou
nothing to do with that just man? Here is an unsolicited vindication of his holiness. His wife comes in and she says,
Don't deal with this man. Have nothing to do with this
just man. Don't condemn this just man. Leave this one alone. And she calls him a just man. God had given her a dream. Here's
an unsolicited vindication of His holiness. No one could find fault in Him. This is God's Passover lamb.
God found no fault in Him. Men found no fault in Him. Satan
hath come and found nothing in me, hath nothing in me. Pure,
holy Son of God. Look what they do. But the chief
priest and the elders persuaded the multitude that they should
ask Barabbas, ask for Barabbas and destroy this man named Jesus. Be careful who you follow. Be
careful. Be careful. The chief priest
they trusted, they had a lot of confidence in. They convinced
them to ask for a murderer and destroy the Son of God. The governor answered and he
said unto them, which whither of the two will ye that I release
unto you? Here's an opportunity. Here is an opportunity for the
human race to justify itself. Right here. Who do you want? Who would you that I give? And they said, Barabbas. Give
us that murderer and destroy Jesus. What shall I do, he said,
with Jesus? And they said, Crucify Him. Crucify Him. What do you want me to do with
him? You know, listen, everyone must deal with this man sooner
or later. Every man, every woman sooner or later is going to deal
with this man, either in this life or in the life to come.
He's going to be dealt with. He's going to be dealt with.
And then another vindication of his holiness. And the governor
said, why, what evil has he done? Tell me. What sin, what evil
has this man done? They couldn't come up with a
charge. Couldn't come up with anything. But they cried after
more. Instead of coming up with a charge,
they just cried louder. Crucify Him! They just got louder. Remind me what Doris said one
time, when in doubt, shout. That's what they did. They just
got louder. They just shouted louder, crucify
him. And when Pilate saw that he could
prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water. Here in verse 24, he took water
and washed his hands before the multitude saying, I'm innocent
of the blood of this just person. I tell you what, you and I are
not the ones who make ourselves innocent. And washing with just
water like this that we drink is not going to put away sin.
It's not going to put away sin. He washed his hands, but water
will not wash away sin. Only the blood of Christ can
put away our sins. This man is the governor. He's
in charge. And he's going to wash his hands
in water and say, I'm innocent. No, that doesn't get it. That doesn't get it. That doesn't
make us innocent. And look what they said in verse
25. Then answered all the people
and said, His blood be on us and on our children. And it is
to this day. His blood, now listen, His blood
be on us. That can be a good thing. That's
salvation. If it's truly on us in a substitutionary
fashion. But it also can be a curse. In the sense they did it. They
murdered Him. They said, I tell you what, let
the guilt of it Let the wrong of it be on us
and on our children. His blood can save or condemn. And I tell you what, the children
of that generation still suffer from that right there. They still
suffer. Now, let's look at the message,
the gospel message in these verses. We have Christ standing before
the governor. He's delivered up by the hands
of wicked men to be put to death. This is the Passover, and we have a sinner sitting
in jail to be executed. One of the first things that
I see in this, I see God's eternal purpose in redemption being accomplished. God Almighty, God the Father,
is orchestrating this whole Passover. This is His Passover. He's overseeing
this service, this Passover service. He's overseeing it. Pilate tried
to let him go, but he couldn't do it. He could not do it. The people who just before this
cried, Hosanna, glory to God in the highest, blessed is he
that cometh in the name of the Lord, this same crowd is totally
convinced by the high priest and the elders to have this man
crucified and a man named Barabbas released. Now, how in the world? Well, we know how, by sin. But
you take a crowd like this that goes from crying Hosanna and
seeing these miracles. These people saw these miracles.
They heard him speak in the temple. And then this same crowd turns
and says, crucify Him. This same crowd vented out their
venom on Him. The same crowd. It's amazing. God's in control of this. He
lets man become man. That's what He does. He just
lets man become man. And this is what will happen
every time If God turns human nature loose, if it can, it would kill God. If it could destroy God, it would. No fault could be found in Him.
I mean, this is so clear, so evident, that they still couldn't
let Him go. This is like the ram whose horns
were caught in a thicket. They just couldn't let him go.
This is the substitute. This is the Passover lamb. He
has to die. This is the Passover. In order
for God's people to go free, he has to die. God is sovereignly ruling, controlling
this whole service. It's the Passover. It's the Passover. And then we have the sinner.
Barabbas, a notorious sinner, a guilty sinner, a violent sinner. This sinner has been tried, condemned,
and waiting to be executed. Waiting to be. Which is a good picture They've
been one of God's children. Guilty. Sinful. And you and I would be just shocked
if God pulled back His hand how violent we would be. It's there. It is there. That nature is there that will
do anything if God does not constrain it. And now we have here substitution. We have Barabbas, son of the father, Bar, son of,
Abba, father. Yes, he's a son of Adam. But
you know what? That also can now be son of the
father, heavenly father. In Christ, we are the son of
the Heavenly Father. And we were sons of Adam. And
are sons of Adam by nature. So Barabbas is waiting execution. I don't think he knows at all
what's going on here. He's down there in a dungeon
somewhere. He's down there. And his name comes up. in connection
with this man. But he's down there not knowing
anything, waiting for execution. The guards come in. And I know he's scared. I know
he's horrified. Because he is to be crucified. He was supposed to be crucified
with those other two thieves that were crucified. He was supposed
to be there. Barabbas should have been in
the middle. And so when these two guards
come in, he's scared, he's horrified. He sees these men coming. He knows what's coming. And they
go in and open the door. They go in and they take the
shackles off and they say, you're free. You're free. There was another chosen to die
in your place. The people chose Barabbas. But
now listen, God the Father chose Christ. He chose His Son to die
in our place. To die in the place of all His
people from beginning to end. He chose him. He chose him. A man named Jesus was chosen
to die instead of you. Barabbas should have been there.
Oh, he should have been hanging there. But instead, the Son of
God was. The guilty goes free while the
innocent dies. That's what it looks like, doesn't
it? And that's usually the way it's preached. The innocent dies
and the guilty go free. But is that really substitution? That's what it looks like on
the surface. And that's what it looks like to the natural
eye. To the natural man, that's exactly
what it looks like. It looks like the guilty one
was set free. and the innocent one died. Is that justice? Would that satisfy
God's justice? That wouldn't satisfy our justice. If someone murdered my son and
I took an innocent person and put him to death in the place
of the person who did it, would that serve justice? that would not serve justice.
You see a picture. The things we've got to learn about pictures
and types, they don't tell the whole story. That's why we have
line upon line, precept upon precept, here little, there little.
We have types and pictures and shadows. When all these come
together, we have Christ. We see Him. Now listen. Yes, I am guilty. I know that and I will always
know that. I know I am guilty of sin. I
know that by nature I am sin. I know what I am. And I know
this, I know that Jesus Christ knew no sin. He never sinned, ever. He never knew sin, ever. A sinful thought never crossed
his mind, ever. That never happened. Justice
is not served in an innocent man dying and a guilty man going
free. That's not the way justice is
served. I want you to look at a few scriptures.
Look over in Genesis 18. Genesis 18. In verse 24, Genesis 18, peradventure,
there be fifty righteous within the city. Wilt thou also destroy
and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from thee to do after
this matter. Men would do that, but not God.
Listen, to slay the righteous with the wicked, and that the
righteous should be as the wicked? That be far from thee, shall
not the judge of the earth do right? Shall he not execute justice
rightly? Shall he not do that? Look over
in Exodus 23. In verse 7, keep thee far from
a false matter, and the innocent and righteous slay thou not,
for I will not justify the wicked. And the innocent and righteous
slay thou not. Don't kill an innocent man. Don't
kill a righteous man. For I will not justify. I will not justify the wicked. I will not do it. That would
be injustice. We know that, don't we? We know
it in our own court system. We know that. We know that. Look
over in Proverbs 17. I touched on this Wednesday night,
and it's coming back up in this chapter. Proverbs 17. That is in Matthew 27. In Proverbs
17, look in verse 15. He that justifieth the wicked,
and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination
to the Lord. Mark that down. He that justifies
the wicked. And he that condemns the just
puts him to death. Even they both are an abomination
to the Lord. The Scripture says he will by
no means clear the guilty. Here's what happens in substitution. When Christ was made sin, he
was made guilty. He was made guilty. And the law
dealt with him as a guilty man. The Word of God says that over
in 2 Corinthians 5.21, that he who knew no sin was made sin
for us. That we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. He was made sin. And by that transaction, only
God can make such a transaction. And by that transaction, he was
guilty. And the innocent are set free. When he was made to be what I
am, he stood before God's law guilty. And I tell you what,
he felt the guilt of it. He felt it when he agonized in
the garden of Gethsemane. He was agonizing over being made
sin, being made what I am or being made me. He agonized over
it. It was such agony that it caused
him to sweat great drops of blood. That's agony. That's agony. And when he was put to death,
Now listen, when he was put to death on a cross, a guilty man
was put to death. He was put to death. And when
you and I are set free, God set an innocent man free. Innocent man, innocent woman. In Christ, my sins are all gone. In that new birth, there is no
sin. There's no sin in that new birth,
in that new man. There's no sin in it, and there
never will be any sin in it. That is an innocent man. That's
an innocent man. I want you to turn back to Isaiah
53. This is real substitution here. To just let a guilty man go free
and put an innocent man to death would not be real substitution. Real substitution is him becoming
me, being made me, being made sin, being made what I am. That's
real substitution. It's not me just going, it's
not, it would not be like me, you know, I play football. I
go out and substitute or somebody can substitute for me, you know,
just go out and then they just take my place in the game. No. being made what I am. He said
in Psalm 40, my sin, my iniquities, if they can hold on me. He didn't say someone else's. He
said mine. He called them his. You notice, Frank read this over
in Psalm 24. I'll get back over here to that
in a minute. But over here in Psalm 24, I want you to listen
to this. This is in verse six, this is
a generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face. And
you notice what he calls him here, the Lord, this is what
they call the Lord here, what he's called Old Jacob. He's called
Jacob. Deceiver. Crash and Old Crasper. Jacob. This is a generation of
them that seek him, that seek thy face, Old Jacob. He's so
identified with his people that he's called by their name. Jacob. There in Psalm 24. I know over
in the margin it says over here, O God of Jacob. And that's true.
But really, that's what it says. O Jacob. O Jacob. Now turn to Isaiah 53. Now if you'll do a word study
here in the Strong's Hebrews, it says in verse 5, he was wounded,
wounded. Now over in the margin it says
tormented. But if you look that word up and do a word study,
here's what it means. He was profaned. Here's another meaning. He was
polluted. It's hard to say that, isn't
it? Hard to say that. He was polluted for our transgressions. He felt it. He felt the guilt
of it. You know, over in Hebrews, which
you should look at that tonight in chapter 4, it says the Word
of God is quick and powerful. Let me read it to you. Hebrews 4. He says in verse 13, neither
is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but
all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom
we had to do it. He felt that. He felt that nakedness and guilt
that belonged to me. He felt it. He experienced it. That's why in the next verse
it says, now see him then that we have A great high priest that
is passing through the heavens, Jesus, Son of God, let us hold
fast our profession, for we have not a high priest which cannot
be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was at all
points tempted like as we are yet without sin." He felt it.
He experienced it. He knows it. Oh, he knows it. Yet he knew no sin. He knew no
sin. But that word wounded also means
stained. He was stained for our transgressions. Here's another word that it means.
Defiled. He was defiled for our transgressions. It was real. It was real. Christ stood before the law of
God guilty. Guilty by imputation? Yes. But now listen. God does not
impute. that which is not there. He does not charge that which
is not there. Now in closing, this is how God
saves sinners. Christ being made what I am and
I being made what He is. Righteousness. Barabbas, now
son of the Heavenly Father. I see some Barabbases here. Sons and daughters of the Heavenly
Father. Sons and daughters of Adam? Yes. But I see some sons
and daughters of the Heavenly Father. And then it says back over here
in Verse 26, Then released he Barabbas unto
them. You know what that word means? It
means dismissed. Dismissed. All charges dismissed. The law could not go back after
Barabbas, after they hung Christ, after they nailed him to the
tree. They could not go back the next day and get Barabbas
and then put him on a tree. He was released. Dismissed. All charges were dismissed when
they let him go out of that jail. He went out an innocent man.
Dismissed. No charges. No charges. Justified. That's the way we
stand before God. Justified. It also means loose
him. Remember, our Lord said, Loose
him and let him go. It means to forgive. It means
liberty. It means to depart. Release him. The law has no claims
on an innocent man because there are no charges. There are no
charges. They've been put away by the
sacrifice of the Lamb of God. That's real substitution. That's
real substitution. For Christ's sake, release them. Release them and let them go. The law cannot hold an innocent
man or woman. It's of necessity, it says over
in Luke, it is of necessity that one be released at the Passover.
And it is of necessity that everyone for whom Christ died be released,
dismissed. You're innocent. I know I'm guilty. I know it. God said, I'll remember thy sins
no more. You know why? Because there are
none to remember. It's not that he can just forget.
It's because there's nothing to remember. They're gone. Gone. Man, if we could ever get
a hold of that, they are gone. You can't remember what's not
there. It's gone. Gone. Alright, Mike.