Good. Your pastor, you may not
know this. We, uh, on Free Grace Radio,
we air sermons by, I think, 51, 52, 53 preachers from around
the world. I don't get a chance to listen
to all of them by any stretch, not even very many of them. But
I had been informed that of all those preachers, Your pastor
is the only one that gives you his sermons in two parts. So
I always feel safe preaching here. I'm not going to preach
too long. I've never had to give you one in two parts yet. Turn with me, if you will, to
the book of Matthew, the 27th chapter. And hear this statement carefully. The most important singular subject
revealed in the scriptures, the most important singular subject
revealed in holy scripture is substitution. That's the most important thing
revealed in this book. Substitution is vital to the
understanding of God's word. It is vital to any understanding
of the gospel of God's free grace. Indeed, it as is at the very
heart of the gospel. Everywhere I go, I preach this
message of substitution. Here in Matthew 27, I want to
read for you a vivid clear illustration given by divine
inspiration of what substitution is. Matthew chapter 27, we'll
begin reading at verse 15. Now at the feast, that is the
Jews' feast of the Passover, the governor was wont to release
unto the people a prisoner whom they would. And they had then
a notable prisoner called Barabbas. Therefore, when they were gathered
together, Pilate said unto them, whom will ye that I release unto
you, Barabbas or Jesus, which is called Christ? For he knew, he knew. that for in thee they
had delivered him. When he was set down on the judgment
seat, his wife sent unto him saying, have thou nothing to
do with that just man, for I have suffered many things this day
in a dream because of him. But the chief priests and elders,
the religious leaders, the theologians, the church hierarchy, all the
folks who were muckety-muck in the religious circles. The chief
priests and the elders perceived what Pilate was up to, and they
persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas and
destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said
unto them, Whither of the twain will ye that I release unto you?
And notice how the Spirit of God emphasizes the will of these
people. Pilate said, whom will ye that
I release to you? Now whither the train will ye
that I release unto you? He said how the custom was that
he would deliver a prisoner whom they would. All right, verse
21, the governor answered and said unto them, whither of the
train will ye that I should release unto you? They said, Barabbas,
Pilate saith unto them, what shall I do then with Jesus, which
is called Christ? They all say unto him with one
voice, not a dissent among them, let him be crucified. And the
governor said, why? What evil hath he done? What
has this meant? We've examined him. We've tried
him. You've brought every accusation
you can against him. What evil has he done?" But they
cried out the more saying. That is they yelled this like
angry mobs that they were. Let him be crucified. When Pilate saw that he could
prevail nothing but that 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. See ye to it. Then answered all
the people and said, his blood be on us and on our children. Oh, my soul, what an implication. Then he released Barabbas unto
them. And when he had scourged him,
when he had scourged the Lord Jesus, he delivered him to be
crucified. If you're taking notes, you might
want to jot down Luke 23 verse 25. This is how Luke describes
the same thing. He released unto them him that
for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they had desired. but he delivered Jesus to their
will. The next time you think about
the will of man and the character of man's will, remember the Lord
Jesus hung upon the cursed tree by the hands of wicked men nailed
to that tree according to the decree, the purpose of God Almighty
from eternity by the act of man's corrupt, depraved will. And will worshipers worship their
free will by which the Lamb of God was nailed to the cursed
tree. Will worshipers worship their
will by which the Lord of glory was put to death and despise
the message of absolute substitution that this portrays. Despise the
message of the cross of Jesus Christ. Despise the message of
the gospel of God's free grace. Now, men everywhere talk about
substitution and substitutionary atonement. You can go to most
any church in this county, most any church in this state, most
any church in this country that is most any sort of conservative. Let's just make a broad sweep,
sort of conservative. You know, it doesn't have to
be real conservative, just sort of conservative. And everybody
talks about substitution, substitutionary atonement, substitutionary redemption. They talk about the Lord Jesus
dying voluntarily, vicariously, and victoriously. But nobody
has a clue what substitution is. Pick up your phone tomorrow,
call your closest friend outside of this congregation, and ask
them to please tell you what the Bible teaches about substitution.
Pick up your phone and call the nearest preacher who lives to
you. Any denomination, any church, this one excluded, and ask him,
what does the Bible teach about substitution? I'll guarantee
you there won't be one person to report back tomorrow afternoon
that you found somebody who understood. Religious people everywhere talk
about substitution, but they speak of substitution and redemption
and vicarious atonement and atonement and blood atonement and the death
of Christ in such vague terms that no one really has an idea
what Christ accomplished when he died upon the cursed tree.
And substitution not only declares that Christ died in the place
of his people, But because he died in their place, every sinner
for whom Jesus Christ died not only must be saved, but shall
assuredly be saved. Every sinner. You mean, Brother
Don, there's nobody who's going to be lost in hell for whom Christ
died? Man, I was good at explaining
that, wasn't I? Nobody? You mean Christ didn't
die for those people who perish under the wrath of God? What
fool would believe such a thing? What fool would believe such
a thing? And pastor, I use that word lightly.
Fool? Fool? Call a man a fool? Yes, sir, because God does. God
does. He speaks of those who deny him
and deny his gospel as blaspheming fools and their religion as Fouleret,
Tom Fouleret. They don't have a clue what the
book teaches about substitution. Here we have before us this clear
illustration of the nature of Christ's death and how it is
that God saves sinners by the sacrifice of his son. I want
you to know his son and I want you to know his salvation and
I want you to rejoice in it. This picture is given not by
accident but by divine design. Your pastor and I were talking
before the rest of you came in this evening. When you read this
book and you read about historic narratives, historic events in
the history of Israel, among the people of Judah, with the
saints of God in the Old Testament and the saints of God in the
New Testament. Every event in history recorded in this book
came to pass by God's design and purpose from eternity to
teach us something about how God saves sinners through the
sacrifice of his son. It's not just that the inspired
writers picked up on this story and said, well, that'll make
a pretty good illustration. Oh, no. The event transpired
intended by God to be an illustration of how God saves sinners by his
grace. every single event recorded in
this book. And what we have before us here
is a story which you're all familiar. Barabbas and his being released
from imprisonment, being set free from certain death, and
the Lord Jesus dying in his stead is recorded by divine inspiration
in all four gospel narratives. Matthew, Mark, and Luke, all
four give us various details, all consistent details but each
one giving a little bit better light than another or a little
more light than another or shall we say a little different light
than another on the same subject because God the Holy Spirit intends
us to understand this is an important picture. Since some prisoner
must be released on the Day of Atonement, pilot thoughts now
I have an opportunity to allow Jesus of Nazareth to go free
without compromising myself before my superiors in Rome and I can
appease these Jews honoring their holy day, their Passover observance
and they'll surely let me now get by with this and they'll
be satisfied. And so he offers to release the
Lord Jesus and keep Barabbas to be executed. But without hesitation,
without a dissenting voice, without a dissenting voice, the people
cried unanimously, release Barabbas, crucify Jesus and let his blood
be on us. If anybody is to be damned for
this, let me be damned and my children be damned. His blood
be on us and on our children. And so Pilate, willing to content
the people, released Barabbas unto them and delivered Jesus
when he had scourged him to be crucified. Who was this man Barabbas? Edward not told one thing about
him, except that he was a thief, a rebel, a seditionist, a robber,
and a murderer. Nothing else. That's all we're
told about this man Barabbas. But we're told a little bit by
just the bare meaning of his name. His name means his father's
son. Barabbas portrays for us all
the sons and daughters of our father Adam. intended by God
to give us a picture of who we are and what we are by nature,
who we are and what we are when God sent his son to redeem us
with his blood, who we are and what we are when God finds us
and saves us by his grace. Barabbas is his father's son,
a vile, wicked man, guilty of these three crimes, murder, sedition,
and robbery. This wretch is brought out. and
said in competition with the Holy Son of God and the poor
inhabitants of Jerusalem were so hardened, so malicious, so
bloodthirsty that they preferred to subject themselves and their
children, their wives and their kids to the company of Barabbas
and murder the Lamb of God. Can you imagine that? Can you
imagine that? Shouldn't surprise you. Doug
and Don would have been in the same crowd if we'd been there. You too. You too. Oh yes. You would murder the
Son of God if you could. If you could. That's what man's
enmity against God is. It is not that his heart is at
enmity with God. The book says your heart is enmity
against God. Man by nature hates God. Hates God. We teach our children,
we lie to them from the time they're just small children.
Teach them to say, I love Jesus. Well, they don't. They don't. Not one of them. They're born
hating Jesus. They go forth from the womb speaking
lies, enemies to God, hating God. And the reason they get
angry with mom and dad with their authority is because you're the
nearest thing to God they can get hold of. Man's heart is enmity
against God. And this cry, let him be crucified,
is but the expression of man's heart. In this act of freeing
the guilty and binding the innocent, that's the picture we have of
salvation by substitution. This guilty man Barabbas is set
free and the innocent dies in his place. Barabbas is spared
and Christ is crucified. That's how God pardons and justifies
the ungodly. He does it because Christ, his
dear son, suffered and died in our stead, the just for the unjust. We deserve to die. We deserve
to go to hell. The lowest pit of the damned,
you deserve and I deserve. There are no exceptions. I'm
married to that dear lady right there, and I love her with all
my heart. And she's the finest human being
I've ever met. And she deserves God's everlasting
wrath for what you are by nature without God's son. You too. You too. Not my mama. Yeah, your mama
too. Not my daddy. Your daddy too. Not my husband.
Your husband too. Not my wife. Your wife too. Not
my child. Your child too. And if you don't
go to hell, it'll be only, Paul, because God had mercy on you
through Christ his son, who died to redeem you. Because Christ
took your place under the sword of divine justice and satisfied
God's love for you. That's the God we worship, adore,
and love. He died in our stead. in the
Old Testament in the rite of cleansing the lepers. You'll
recall that two birds were involved. One bird was slain and the other
bird, the live bird was, the bird that was killed, his blood
was caught in a bowl and the priest would take the live bird
and dip its feathers in the blood of the slain bird and set the
living bird free, flying through the air dipped in blood, crying,
singing, I can almost hear redeemed how I love to proclaim it, redeemed
by the blood of the lamb, redeemed through his infinite mercy, his
child and forever I am. That's how God saves sinners,
by blood atonement, by blood ransom, by blood sacrifice, by
the blood of his darling son. The Lord Jesus Christ suffered
in the place of sinners like Barabbas, satisfying the wrath
and justice of God. And like Barabbas, those sinners
for whom Christ made satisfaction must and shall go free. And let me make four statements
concerning this man Barabbas and what transpired here in the
passage we've read. And I won't be long doing it.
God help you to hear them. Number one, Barabbas was a guilty
man, guilty of many offenses. He was
guilty of murder and robbery and sedition. Like Barabbas,
we're all rebels, rebels. Do you know what it takes to
get a fellow not to do something. You know what it takes? Tell him he's got to do it. I plead guilty. Do you know I
know that it's smart to wear a seatbelt? And I wore seatbelts
before the law required you to wear seatbelts. And I still wear
a seatbelt most of the time. But every now and then, I get
in my truck, get in the car, and I say, man, I don't want
to snap that thing. How come? Because I hate for
the law to tell me I've got to do it. That's all. That's all. I just hate being told by Uncle
Sam I've got to snap my seatbelt because I like to be my own independent
person. Because I am by nature like you,
a rebel. And I hate authority. I despise
authority. Always have. Just despise authority. That's what rebels are. And we
all, like our father Adam, are rebels against God. We're born
with his nature. The pride and self-will of Adam
reigns in our souls by nature. And all the days of our lives
we've spent in rebellion against God. We sin willfully against
God's law. We act like we do because we're
rebels. We behave like we do. Our society
is what it is because we're rebels. And we all steadfastly persevere
in rebellion. We just persevere. We came forth
from the womb speaking lies. We spent our days rebelling against
authority when we were children. If you're too scared to act it
out publicly, you didn't want mom or dad to find out about
it, you'd hide and sneak, but you still rebelled. I recall
our daughter, bless her heart, I don't ever remember her speaking
back to me. Don't ever remember that. She's
39 years old now. I don't ever remember her giving me any sash
or lip. I wouldn't have tolerated it, but I don't ever remember
doing it. But I do remember one time. seeing her when she thought
I wasn't looking. We sent her out to weed some
beans out in the garden. And she wasn't but seven, about
that, seven, eight years old, and showed her how to pull the
weeds up around the green beans. And you know what she was doing?
I don't know where she learned the things I think she was saying.
I'm not sure exactly what she was saying, but whatever it was,
she wasn't saying, oh, my daddy's such a sweet fellow. She was
grabbing those things up and just saying something, sometimes
she threw one down. Why? Because she's a rebel. She's
a rebel. And God's going to break your
rebellion or you're going to hell. One of the two. You're going to bow to Christ
as your Lord and be glad of it or you're going to hell. Just
that simple. Every man by nature is born a
rebel and lives a rebel. And even after being born of
God, we still have that Adamic rebel nature. Paul said, when
I would do good evils present with me, I can't do the things
I would. Like Barabbas, we're all robbers,
thieves. We rob God of his glory, refuse
to worship him. We rob God of his honor, refusing
to believe his word. We rob God of that which is his
own creation, that which is made for his pleasure, and use it
as though it were made for our pleasure. We rob ourselves and
rob our children by our sin and rebellion. We rob ourselves of
blessedness and rob our own children of blessedness. Through our sin
and rebellion, our race is reduced to nothing. but emptiness, vanity,
and meanness. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form
and void. God didn't create it that way.
Something happened. Something cataclysmic, some judgment
fell, and the earth became without form and void, and darkness was
upon the face of the deep. That's exactly what happened
to us in the fall. God created man upright, and
through the fall of our father Adam, darkness and chaos and
emptiness came upon the race. And we live a race of human beings
in darkness, chaos, vanity, Well, it's more like Barabbas.
We're all murderers. We've committed murder many times. Oh, not me, Brother Don. How
many times did you get furiously angry with somebody? Your wife or your husband or
your son or your daughter? or your mother or your father.
Read Matthew chapter five and you'll find out that the Son
of God said, that's called murder. Murder. We've infected our children with
a deadly disease called sin, the plague of the hearts. And
what's more, we're all guilty of the blood of the Son of God. Let us never forget what we are
by nature. Turn over to Matthew chapter
15 for just a second. Matthew 15. There's not an evil in the world.
There is not an evil in the world. There is not an evil in the world,
past, present, or future. that's not in you and in me. Carl, that's the most shocking
thing I ever discovered about myself. Nothing. Nothing. Those things that you look at
and you hear on television news or you read it in newspaper or
somebody tells you, just happens to say, how could anybody do
that? I can't tell you how many times
I've said that. Only to beat my own heart and
acknowledge my God, I do understand how man could do such an evil
thing. Because that man just like me and just like Greg Rogers. Is that what our master taught?
Is that what he taught? Let's see. Matthew 15 verse 19.
Religion likes to deal with outward stuff. You know, religion will
tell you don't wear shorts, don't smoke, don't chew, and don't
run with the girls who do. And if you, you know, if you
eat the right stuff and you drink enough green slime and eat hay
instead of meat, then you'll get to be real good. Read your
Bible and give somebody, and you're sure to go to heaven. Tells us washing your hands won't
do you any good. Performing religious ceremonies
won't do you any good. That's what he's talking about.
They wash their hands before they eat. And the Pharisees,
they didn't even wash their hands. They would bathe themselves before
they ate and do it publicly. They'd get them some water and
they'd wash their hands and wash their faces Oh, they'd be spit,
shined, and polished. Now we're clean and we can eat
with clean hands. Our Lord says, out of the heart,
verse 19, proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications,
thefts, false witness, blasphemies. We are all the descendants of
Adam. We are all of our father, the devil. We're like Barabbas,
children of our father. Second, this man Barabbas was
a prisoner. The sentence was passed. This
man found guilty, must die. On the day when the Jews observed
their Passover feast, it is appointed that two thieves are to be crucified
and Barabbas being the most notorious of three must be crucified in
the midst of them. Picture Barabbas in that prison.
He expected very soon to be taken out and nailed to a cross and
hung up to die because he had been found guilty of insurrection. Murder and robbery. He's about
to be put to death because he deserves to be put to death.
He knows that there's no appeal. He knows that the crime must
be paid for. Law demands his death and die
he shall. That's the just condition of
every person in this world by nature. Hear me, you who are
without Christ. The book of God describes you
as children of wrath. The book of God says the wrath
of God abides on you, abides on you. God's angry with
you. You have no reason to even suspect
that God might be gracious to you. You have no reason to imagine
that God loves you. Nowhere in this book is the love
of God declared to be given to anyone outside Christ. Nowhere. No. If you're without
Christ, the wrath of God abides on you. The only difference between
you and the damned in hell today is you're still breathing. You
got one more breath right here. That's the only difference. Only
difference. Well, but Brother Don, what does that leave us? That
leaves you nothing but to sue for mercy at the feet of the
Son of God. Like Barabbas, we are not on
probation. We are under the sentence of
death, shut up under the law, prisoners, guilty, guilty at
law, dead at law, and execution is appointed. Man's bondage is
cruel and terrible as it is sure. Today, men talk about, well,
not today. We always did talk about freedom.
Oh, we like to be free. I see these fellows walking around
with their britches, you know, halfway down their behind. Last
time I saw one, I said to my wife, if I had a cigarette or
a cigar, That's where it go. Right there. And fellows, well,
I'm just expressing my freedom. Following people as though you
were slaves chained together in a prison line mindlessly just
because everybody else is doing the same thing. But you know
what I've remembered? This is tough for me to acknowledge.
I'm 60 years old. I remember back in the days when
Elvis Presley first got real popular. And do you know how
I wore my blue jeans? I had a little old thin narrow
belt and I shoved them down just as far as I could get them down
and not get arrested. How come? Because I was free. Because I was acting just like
everybody else. The sad thing is folks still
do it when they're 60. Men live in constant bondage,
bondage to their peers, bondage to religious tradition, bondage
to religious custom, bondage, but worst of all, in bondage
under the sentence of God's holy law, in bondage to your own will. I remember several years ago,
I was preaching up in Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. N.B. Magruder,
brilliant fellow. He came up to me and he said,
isn't it amazing, Brother Don, that man takes that which is
the weakest aspect of his character and makes it his God? How many
of you folks talk about me? Well, man's got a free will.
Let's see. Let's see. You remember Lay's
potato chips? Bet you can't eat one. Oh, but I've got a free will.
God's going to do what I tell him to do, but I've got a free
will. Who do you think you're fooling?
Your will is bound to your corrupt nature, and you cannot act otherwise. The Ethiopian cannot change his
skin, the leopard cannot change his spot, and you that are accustomed
to doing evil cannot begin to do good. Sinners cannot begin
to do what's righteous. Man by nature is nothing but
sin. Sin under the sentence of death. The only one who can set the
prisoner free is Jesus Christ, God's darling son. So here this
third thing, a substitute was provided to die in Barabbas'
place. I love to picture that Roman
soldier coming to Barabbas' cell. He rattles the door. And Barabbas shakes like a quivering
baby scared to death. He's about to be executed. And the soldier comes over and
takes off his shackles, takes off his leg irons, walks him
outside while Barabbas is quivering. And he said, Barabbas, you go
home now. Jesus of Nazareth must die in
your stead. And do you know what? Barabbas
went home free because Christ was nailed to
the cursed tree in his stead, a substitute in his place. Substitution means that Christ
took Barabbas' place. Both of them couldn't hang on
that tree. One hangs on the tree, the other
goes free. Substitution means that Christ
took the place of his people. He died the Lamb of God in the
room instead of his people. I'll give you an assignment.
I'll give you an assignment. You read this book. I dare you
to read this book. I dare you to read this book.
Find me any place in all the Old Testament services, ceremonies,
and rites of worship given by law in the Old Testament in which
any sacrifice was made, any priest was given, any offering was made,
any holy service was performed, which was not performed for a
designated, named, specific people. Every place done for the children
of Israel. Every place done for the sons
of Judah. Every place done for the children
of Abraham. And so it is with that which
is the fulfillment of the type. Christ Jesus did everything He
did in the room instead of God's elect chosen in Him before the
world was. Now, here's the fourth thing. Since Christ Died in Barabbas
instead? Barabbas went free. Barabbas went free. Curtis, since
Christ died in our stead, not only shall those for whom he
died go free, we must go free. Because justice satisfied can
demand no more. Did you get that? Christ satisfied
the justice of God for us. Christ satisfied the wrath of
God for us. The Lord God cried against his
son, awake, O sword, against one that is my fellow, smite
and slay the shepherd. And the Lord Jesus voluntarily
takes the sword into his self and swallows up the fury of God
in our room instead. Do you remember when they came
to arrest him in the garden? The Lord takes the initiative
and he said, whom seek ye? And they said, we're seeking
Jesus of Nazareth. And he said, I am. And they fell
away like dead men. And I presume he must have raised
them up because they got up. And he said, now that you understand
who you're dealing with, who is it you said you were looking
for? We're seeking Jesus of Nazareth.
He said, I am he. If therefore you seek me, let
these go their way. And that's what the son of God
says to God's holy law. When the law comes seeking satisfaction,
I am the lamb of God. I am the substitute who bear
their sin in his own body on the tree. I am the sacrifice
pointed to in all the Old Testament scriptures. I am the one appointed
of God to satisfy justice. If therefore you seek me, let
these go free. And the names of the tribes of
Israel on the Savior's breast. now must go free. Complete atonement thou hast
made, and to the utmost our debt hath paid, all his people owed. Payment God cannot twice demand,
first at my bleeding surety's hand, and then again at mine. Believe on the Son of God. Oh, God helped you to believe
and you're believing. Your faith in him is the fruit
of him having redeemed you, having died as your substitute. Believe
on the Lamb of God and thou shalt be saved. But your faith, your
faith, hear me now, your faith is the gift of your Redeemer.
not what caused Him to redeem you, the gift of your Redeemer. We don't beg and plead with sinners
to do something for Jesus. It won't do you any good to come
down here as if there was some kind of an altar here. You just
as well kneel at an altar in a Catholic church and confess
your sins to some fellow in a woman's skirt with a white collar on. I'm just telling you the
truth. That voodoo stuff is not Christianity. It's just voodoo
religion. Just voodoo religion. That's
all it is. You might as well worship a rabbit's foot. It's
just voodoo religion. I'll tell you what you must have.
You must have God do something for you I can't do. You must
have God do something for you this church can't do. You must
have an absolution given from God the Holy Spirit by the blood
of Christ sprinkled on your own heart and conscience. And I'll
tell you when you believe on him, if you're his, when he calls
you by his grace, unexplainably, just unexplainably, you'll find
yourself believing this stuff. Mother God don't know how to
explain it, but God's given me faith in Christ. I believe on
the Son. Oh God do that for you, for Christ's
sake. Amen.