reading about, hearing about,
thinking about, or preaching about the glorious sovereignty
of our God, the wonders of his providence, the mystery of his
grace, and the marvel of substitutionary atonement. This evening I'm going
to return to that which is my favorite of all subjects, the
subject of substitution. The title of my message is Barabbas,
A Picture of Substitution. Let's read for our text, Matthew
27, verses 15 through 26. Now at the feast, the governor
was wont to release to the people a prisoner whom they would. This was a custom. And they had
then a notable prisoner called Barabbas. Therefore, when they
were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will you
that I release unto you, Barabbas, or Jesus, which is called the
Christ? Now, this man Barabbas was a
man whose name implies his father's son, or as we would say, his
daddy's boy. It's a name that either implies
that he was himself a man like his father, or he was a man who
was named by a father who would be indulgent toward him, one
who would be a bit scrawled. And so Barabbas was one who was
well known and he was notorious in and around Jerusalem in his
day. As a matter of fact, Acts chapter 3, we're told that he
was not only guilty of sedition and robbery and revolution, but
this man was guilty of murder. This man Barabbas was in prison.
He was due to die. And the Lord Jesus was also now
before Pilate's judgment hall, and he was one who had been delivered
to Pilate by the Jews in him to be crucified. And Pilate was
fearful of He was fearful of the fact that his wife had a
dream concerning him. He was fearful of the witness
that had been testified concerning this man, his innocence, all
those things. Potter wanted to see the Lord
Jesus turned loose. And so there was a custom. It
wasn't a Jewish custom, but a Roman custom. The Roman government,
in an attempt to appease the Jews who were their captives,
who were subjugated by their dominion, they would every year
on the Feast of Passover, on the Day of Atonement, they would
give a prisoner and release him among the people and let them
decide who it would be. Now they did this, probably,
simply out of a tribute to the Jews, because the Jews were here
on this day celebrating their deliverance from Egyptian bondage. And so Pilate offers to deliver
the Lord Jesus out into their hands, and he hopes that they
will take him rather than Barabbas. Read on. Verse 18. For he knew,
he knew that for envy, just because they were angry, 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 priest and the
elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas
and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said
unto them, Whither of the train will ye that I will listen to
you? Can you imagine his shock when
they cried? They said, Barabbas. And Pilate saith unto them, What
shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ, Jesus which
is called the anointed, this man whose name is Savior, the
Christ, the anointed, the King whom God has sent? and they all
saying to him, let him be crucified. And the governor said, why? What evil hath he done? But they
cried out the more, saying, let him be crucified. When Pilate
saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was
made, he took water, and symbolically he washed his hands before the
multitude, saying, I am of the blood of this just person. There it is again. Three times
he says he's done nothing evil. This man's a just man. You've
got no cause for this. And then the Jews said, they
answered all the people and said, his blood be on us and on our
children. Oh my soul, what an imprecation
of damnation. upon themselves and their children
to this day. Then released he Barabbas unto
them. When he had scourged Jesus, he
delivered him to be crucified. Now there are many things that
could be said concerning this man Barabbas. I'll pass over
them with just a note. There's certainly a warning here
concerning this man. if his name implies what it appears
to imply, that he was a child of indulgence. Barabbas, like
Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, and like Absalom, David's son,
stands as a warning before us concerning the matter of spoiling
our sons and daughters. Overindulgent parents do nothing
for the benefit of their I cannot say it strongly enough, I realize
we're living in a generation where folks, everybody's gotten
smarter than God these days. We don't want to whip our children,
we want to paddle our children, we don't want to administer corporeal
punishment after all that's barbaric and cruel. No, the cruelest thing
you can do, the cruelest thing you could possibly do, that's
for your children, is let them have their own way. The most
cruel, barbaric thing you could possibly do. Foolishness is bound
up in the heart of a child. the rod of correction drives
it from them. So let parents be careful that
they exercise consistent, loving, faithful discipline of their
sons and daughters, lest we wind up with children like Barabbas,
Absalom, Hophni, or Phinehas. Now, the thing that I want to
call your attention to in the text, however, is the fact that
this man Barabbas, who appears to have committed at least three
notorious this man who was imprisoned for sedition and robbery and
murder, is set free. Though he was doomed, though
he was condemned, though he was appointed to be crucified on
this particular day, he was set free, and the Lord Jesus Christ
is crucified in his stead. Now, what the picture is, is
obvious. This act of freeing the guilty
and binding the innocent gives us a vivid example and portrayal
of salvation by the substitutionary sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. The guilty is set free, the innocent
is put to death in his place. That's exactly what happened
when Christ died for us. We have in this striking A marvelous
display of how it is that God Almighty is able to be just and
justifier of the ungodly. Now in our day, in our society,
in this religious world, I realize that everybody talks about substitution.
All the time I was in Bible college, I went to two Bible colleges
that were of great high repute as far as conservative religious
training was concerned in this country. Went through their whole
five-year courses. And they talked all the time
about substitution, all the time about substitution, but never
one time, never one time did I hear anyone raise or address
the question, how can God be just and justify the guilt? Not
one time. And that's the crucial issue.
Why was it necessary that the Son of God die at Calvary? It
was necessary because that's the only way that God, in his
holiness, justice, and truth, could justify guilty sinners.
Now Barabbas gives us a picture of that. We are all in the position
of Barabbas by nature. We deserve to die for the punishment
of our sins, but Christ, the mighty substitute, stood in our
place and died in our state. We deserve eternal punishment
because of our guilt, but Christ, our Trinity, stood in our place
and satisfied the debt that we owe to God. We stood in the position
of brevis, guilty sinners, wicked, condemned, and shut up under
the law. But when we were without hope
and without strength, when we were yet enemies in due time,
Christ died for the ungodly, and now, because Christ has died
in our place, because Christ has satisfied the justice of
God, because Christ has fully atoned for our sins, God looks
on us and smiles in justice to forgive us our sins. You understand
that? Bobby, the Lord God Almighty
is just and merciful to forgive your sins. just and merciful. He could not and would not forgive
your sin at the expense of his law. He could not and would not
forgive our sin at the expense of his justice. But now he is
able both to satisfy his justice and forgive our sin because Christ
has satisfied his own law and justice on our behalf. In the
Old Testament, there's a beautiful picture of exactly what I'm talking
about. There are many of them, but this
is what I was thinking about earlier today. when the leper
came to offer sacrifice. Do you remember what was required?
He was required to bring two birds. One bird was slain, and
his blood was drained out of his body into a basin. A second
bird was dipped in the blood of the slain bird, and he was
let go free. That's exactly what happens with
us when Christ redeemed us. The bird that was slain represents
our Lord Jesus Christ, who, when he was made to be sin for us,
was sacrificed under the wrath of God because he was made sin. And that bird that was dipped
in his blood is a representative of you and I, who have been ourselves
plunged into the blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and we
fly away, seeing you redeemed, how I love to proclaim it, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. We are set free from God's law
and justice, set free from the penalty of sin, set free from
death and condemnation, set free from hell itself, because Christ
has suffered all the hell of God's wrath in our room and in
our state. 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 was made to be sin. Those sinners for whom Christ
made satisfaction must go free. Now I want to call your attention
this evening to four things in this picture of substitution.
First, I want you to understand this. Barabbas was a man guilty
of many, many offenses. This man Barabbas was one who
you wouldn't like to look at. He wouldn't like to have him
for a neighbor. If he was one of those who was turned loose
and they announced in the newspapers he was going to be set loose
and have probation in Danville, Kentucky, you'd raise up and
say, not in my community. We don't want him here. We don't
want this man here. This man was guilty of robbery. He was guilty of insurrection
or sedition, and he was guilty of murder. And this man Barabbas
well represents you and me, for we are all like Barabbas by nature
rebels. That's the nature of humanity.
We sometimes look at our sons and daughters and try to convince
ourselves they're not really rebels. We try to convince ourselves
and everybody else they're just bad, they're not rebels. The
problem The problem is, we don't dare cross their paths. That's
the problem. If you ever cross their path,
you'll find out that they're rebels indeed. Our sons and daughters
are like us. They are born with hearts of
rebellion. Barabbas stirred up sedition. He was a revolutionary. That's a modern-day term for
rebels. He would not submit to authority. He would not bow to
law. And this is the problem with
our race. This is our problem. This is why we stay in trouble
all the time. We are proud, self-willed rebels
who despise authority. In our father Adam, we rebelled
against God's communion and God's command. Adam said to God, I'll
take over. And we did the same thing. We
came forth from our mother's womb, speaking lies with a rebellious
nature. In pride, self-will, and rebellion,
all the days of our lives, we've lived with our fists shoved in
God's face. That's the nature of man. A rebellion
against God's holy law. seems totally contrary to sense,
and it is. All it takes for us to buck up
is for God to say do this, and man says no. That's all. All
it takes for us to buck up is God says don't do that, man says
I'll do it if I want to. I'll do it if I want to, and
that's our nature. For some strange reason, it's
not too strange when you understand man's depravity, In our society,
we teach our kids. I hope you don't. I hope you're
not gifted. But our society teaches our kids.
Mamas and Daddies everywhere know you don't have to pay attention
to that teacher. You don't have to pay attention to the law.
Nobody tell you what to do. Nobody tell you what to do. We
need to teach our kids. Somebody's going to tell you
what to do. And law represents God. Authority represents God. Men and women teach their kids
to rebel in agreement with their nature because we rebel against
authority. We rebel against God. A teacher
in school, by God's appointment, represents authority. And to
rebel against the teacher is to rebel against God. Fathers
in their homes, mothers in their homes represent authority, they
represent God. And to rebel against your parents
is to rebel against God. The scriptures are abundantly
clear, and yet this is our nature. We live all our days, all our
days as children, as adults, even as believers, there is within
us that evil heart of unbelief that lives continually in rebellion
against God because the carnal mind is what? In the thing against
God. It is not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can it be. It's not possible. It's not
possible. We are like Barabbas then. Rebels
by nature. Rebels at heart. Rebels all the
days of our lives. There is nothing in God's law
we have not rebelled against. And like Barabbas, we're all
guilty of robbery as well. You see, it was Adam's determination
in his sin against God And it is our determination in sin to
rob God of his right to be God. That's it. That's what sin is.
We rob God of his right to be God. Man in every act of transgression,
man in every evil of his heart, would if he could, hit God by
the throat and say, what you claim is yours is mine. I'll
be God myself. We rob God of his glory, refusing
to worship him as God. We rob him of his honor, refusing
to believe his word and reverency. We rob God of his creation, stealing
everything that God has made for himself and using it for
our lust to gratify our own desires. We robbed ourselves and our children
as well. For we robbed ourselves of the
blessedness of the creation which God gave in the beginning. We
robbed ourselves and our children of fellowship with God, of the
image of God, the freedom that God created man in. And we robbed
ourselves and our children of God's favor and of life. More
than that, we robbed each other. We robbed each other. So I wouldn't
steal anything. Oh, yes, you would. Oh yes you
would. Now I'm not even talking about
now little things like stealing pencils from work. I'm not even
talking about that. You would if you could steal
everything you could get your hands on. You absolutely would. Now preachers don't talk to me
that way. Some monies talk to you that way. It's called envy. Covetousness. Jealousy. Anybody here not objecting? You
see something somebody else has said, boy I wish I had that.
Now you don't say it out loud, what you're saying is, I wish
I had one like that. What you're saying, I want what
you've got. You don't deserve it, I do. You don't deserve it,
I do. It's called robbery. It's called
theft. And we're all guilty. There's
no exceptions. More than that. Though we live
in rebellion against God and live in rebellion continually,
having reduced ourselves to nothing but emptiness and damnation,
we lift ourselves like we were some kind of mighty prince and
think, well, I've done nothing wrong. I've done nothing wrong.
This man Barabbas, we read nothing about anything here revealed
of him making any confession or admission of guilt of any
kind. All we read about is he was there. He was there. And
most men in this world live all their lives excusing themselves
for sinning. Excusing themselves. Will we
justify ourselves? We'll justify ourselves with
anything. Anything. We live all our lives giving
some extenuating circumstance, and I'm telling you the only
way you will ever, ever, ever inherit the grace of God is when
you acknowledge your sin. You've got to come to your utter
emptiness. You got to take your place in the dust before the
throne of God, high like a pebbleton. God, be merciful to me, the sinner,
that's what I am. My name's Barabbas. We've all
become ectic, helpless, bankrupt creatures, and we need to acknowledge
it. More than that, like Barabbas,
we're all murderers. In the course of his robbery
and sedition, The rapists had committed murder, and so have
we. There's not a guiltless one in
our midst. I'm not talking to folks down
the road, I'm talking to you. There's not a guiltless one in
our midst. My wife and her husband, Bob Pontzer and his wife, and
everybody sitting here, babies downstairs, those down there,
we're all guilty. We're everyone guilty. We came
into this world jilted because of Adam's sin, but more than
that, as we grow and mature in our own days, we each one, by
our own act in significance of Adam's transgression, live as
murderers before God Almighty. So, preacher, how can that be?
We've committed multiple murders in our hearts. Our Lord speaks
plainly and says that when you're angry with somebody without a
cause, you've murdered them. You murdered him. Husband gets angry at his
wife. Just out of anger. Out of anger. Killed her. Woman gets angry at her husband.
Starts to speak evil to him. Man gets angry at his child and
just you could strangle him. It's called murder. called murder. Well I didn't do it. Oh yes you
did. Oh yes you did. Oh yes you did. God Almighty looks at the heart
and declares you guilty. Guilty. We've infected our children
with a deadly disease of sin. Every father bringing children
into the world, every mother bringing children into the world,
brings into the world a child under the wrath of God, infected
with the only thing that can give them our nature, sin! And
it'll bring them to everlasting destruction. So that even as
we bring in the dead object to our love, As we hold to our breast
the child that we give our name and we give our inheritance,
we have our highest aspirations for it, that child is infected
with our sins, our disease, our corruption, our death, and our
guilt. What's more, we're all guilty
of the blood of the Son of God. like these Jews, cried out against
Jesus Christ, let him be crucified. Let him be crucified. Or perjured,
not me. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. The days of our rebellion and
unbelief, when you heard the gospel, heard the message of
God's free grace, and refused to believe the gospel, In your
heart your unbelief is a declaration just as plainly and foully as
this of the Jews. Let him be crucified, he's not
fit to be believed. This one who claims to be God,
I don't believe him. Let him be crucified, and such
a one would deserve to be crucified. He would deserve to be slain.
And in our hearts we'll esteem him stricken, smitten of God,
and deflected. That was the heart attitude of
us all in our unbelief. And for you who yet believe not,
it is your heart attitude. What I'm laboring is this. We
must never, never forget what we are by nature. Don't forget
it. So, Pritchard, you don't give
us much opportunity. I don't ever intend to give you
much opportunity to forget. for out of the heart, out of the heart, proceed evil
thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness,
blasphemies. I have one darling Apple of her father's eye, the
light of my heart, and I've just read you what's in her heart.
And I've been trying to make her understand it all her life.
Look at Karen back there sitting there, wrapped his arm around
her. Honey, I just read you what's in your heart. And you'll never
believe it till God shows it to you. Never. That's the heart of man. That's
the heart of man. We are all the descendants of
our father Adam, we all have our father's nature, we are all
like Barabbas, children of the devil, children of wrath, even
as others. There's not a deed of evil, there
is not an atrocious crime, there is not an infamous recorded in
the pages of human history which does not reside in Larry Christie's
heart by nature in potential. Nothing. The only thing that
keeps us from acting like we would is God's restraining hand. That's all. That's all. Look at the book of God's law
and read the commandments. And when you read the commandments,
read them right. read them honest, read them regular, read them
regular, every one of them, and understand this is what they
say, guilty, condemned, cursed. You are guilty of death. I am guilty of death. And the
second place, this man Barabbas was a prisoner under the sentence
of the law. This man had been found guilty.
The sentence was passed. The verdict was in. Barabbas
must die. On the day when the Jews observe
the Passover, two thieves will be crucified, and the vilest
of the two is the third man who will hang in the midst of them.
His name is Barabbas. Barabbas on that day will be
the skeptical. He will be the one everybody
will look at and say, there is the vilest of all men. There
is the man who above all men in society deserves to die. There he hangs in the midst of
these two thieves. picture Barabbas in prison. He
expected very soon to be taken out, stretched out on a cross,
and nailed there like a common vile obstacle, worthy of man's
reproach and man's hatred, and then to be hung up to die as
a just payment for his crimes. He was held under the sentence
of the law, and that's just the condition every one of us are
in by nature, just the condition. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. I can't think of that without
terror in my soul. for you who know not our God."
The wrath of God abides on you. Now, we know that what things
soever the law saith, that saith to them that are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, the law says you're guilty! And
the law is given so that you know you're guilty! And every
soul, laws of the world, may become guilty before God. As many as are of the works of
the law are under the curse. For it is written, Cursed. Cursed. Not you're going to be cursed.
Not someday you're going to be damned. Not someday you're going
to experience God's wrath. The nightmare of cursing is every
one that continueth not in all things written in the book of
the law to do them. The scripture hath concluded
all in underneath. that the promise by faith of
Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe, that before
faith came we were kept under the law, servant to the faith
which should afterward be revealed. We are by nature children of
wrath, even as others. Our bondage, our natural bondage
is a cruel and terrible tragedy. We like to think we're free. You remember our Lord spoke to
the Jews, like they bondage said, don't tell us we're in bondage,
we're free. They were at that time. They were at that time
in bondage to the Romans. Don't tell us we're in bondage,
we're free men. We do what we want to do. We
were children of Abraham. Don't talk to us about bondage.
Amen to that. I'm a priest. I like to do my
own thing. I like to cast off restraints.
I like to cast off the mold and walk my own way. I know what
I'm talking about. I did. And by nature still do. By nature still do. Surest way
on this earth to get me to do something is tell me I can. That's
the surest way on this earth. Surest way on this earth to get
me not to do something is tell me I ought to do it. You got
to do this. You got to do that. Because by
nature we want to cast off restraint. The problem is we all live in
bondage. And we live exactly as men have
for six thousand years now. Our kids like to have their way,
you know, and we kind of excuse it. We call it sowing their wild
oats. Don't be surprised. Sowing your wild oats is man
sowing himself in rebellion against God. A woman sowing herself in
rebellion against God. A man is not free. He's in bondage to religious
tradition, in bondage to social custom, in bondage to peer Peer
pressure. Peer pressure. And we've got no excuses, you
know. Boy, peer pressure's so strong. It's not any different
today than it was in Bob Fox's institute. It's not any different. Peer pressure's the same, doesn't
matter where it is. The problem is we don't have any parent pressure
these days. But man lives in utter bondage, and the worst
of it is the bondage of his own heart, his own nature. I remember well when the galling
chains of my bondage of iniquity began to trouble me. And I thought,
well, I'll straighten up a little. I'll straighten up a little.
And I was able to reform my outward behavior. By faith and at his
will, we're prone to every kind of evil in the world, and the
chains of darkness and sin hold us back and will not let us go. We live in bondage, all men.
We're brought to despair and in our helplessness feel utterly
hopeless. The only one who set us free,
the only one who set you free, is Jesus Christ the Son of God. We are such as sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death. being bound in affliction and
iron, the psalmist says. And then we cried unto the Lord
in our trouble and he saved us out of all our distresses. He
brought us out of our darkness and the shadow of death and break
our pains and sorrows. O Son of God, come and set in
prison sinners. I tell you this also, our sentence
as sinners by nature was fixed and unaltered and immutable,
fixed sentence. This is what the scripture says.
I want you to look at it. Turn to Ezekiel chapter 18. Ezekiel
chapter 18 and verse 20. You've heard me quote it many,
many times, but I want you to look at it right here in the book
of God. Ezekiel 18 verse 20. The soul that sinneth, it shall
have. The son shall not bear the iniquity
of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity
of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon
him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. The
soul that It shall die. Now there's no exception. There's
no possibility of escaping that. There's no possibility that somehow
God's going to change that. You and I, everyone must die! Because we've all sinned. God's
law says you must die. God's holiness says you must
die. God's justice says you must die. And we are all by nature
under the curse of God's law right now. Barabbas was sitting
in prison awaiting execution and all men and women by nature
are dead spiritually We're going to die physically and subject
to eternal death, but the difficulty is we're right now dead at law. You're not on probation, but
dead and the law says you're condemned already. To be dead
at law means simply that the law's already passed the grant,
all appeals are over, and the day of execution awaits you.
That's all. That's exactly the condition
man's in by nature. But not all by discretion. God
Almighty is merciful. God found a way, God found a
way, to maintain his holy law so that James Lincoln both dies
and never suffers one thing for sin. He found a way so honoring
to his law that he fully satisfies every demand of justice and yet
he forgives his people's sins so fully that he declares them
never to be guilty of sin, so fully that he declares them to
be perfectly righteous. He blocks out our transgressions,
he blocks out our sins, and he looks upon us in his dear Son
because of the righteousness of his Son as being perfectly
holy. The ransom he found is Jesus
Christ his own Son. So mark this third thing and
rejoice. A substitute was provided to die in Barabbas's place. Imagine Barabbas. I try to picture him sitting
in his cell, by himself. You know those prisoners
once in a while the news media interviews them on death row
and they put up a front. Act like they're brave. Read, if you can, sometimes how
they act when they get strapped in that chair. The front's all
gone. They're fixing to meet God in
eternity. They're terrified. Here's him
to grab us alone in his prison cell. And he hears the commotion. They're fixing to come get him. He can possibly look out the
window and he can see those soldiers putting the cross pieces together
and he knows what's awaiting him. Perhaps, perhaps they've already
taken the other two felons out and executed them and Barabbas
knows he's to be the crowning act of the day and he sets their
trend. Terrified. I've been there, I
know what it is. The soldier comes in and he hears
the rattle of the keys at the door and he shakes. The soldier
does his shackles and his leg irons and he says, uh, Moravius,
you're free to go. Huh? You're free to go. The people
have said, you're free to go. The judge has said, you're free
to go. The law says you're free to go. They've taken Jesus of Nazareth. and they're going to put him
on your corpse. Now I'm fairly confident Barabbas had no idea
what the Son of God was about to do. And I can just imagine
the relief he had when he heard those words, you're dead. And he walked out, heard the
jail door shut behind him, he walked on his way. with no fear
of condemnation. No fear of the soldiers coming
after him again. He's free to go because somebody
dies in his stead. Now listen to me. The Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, suffered and died in the place of guilty
sinners. And those sinners for whom the
Son of God suffered and died must go free. God's justice will
not allow that one of those for whom he died perish under the
wrath of God. We come in the gospel and proclaim
not a possibility of redemption, not a possibility of salvation,
but the accomplishment of redemption. Jesus Christ died under the penalty
of God's law and satisfies the justice of God for every sinner
who believes on him. I'll preach to you how can I
know he died for me? If you believe him, if you believe
him, if you believe him, he speaks by his word and by
his spirit to your heart and says you're free. You're free. You're free. John Bunyan and his pilgrims
progress describes how he went up to Mount Calvary. He had been
to Mount Sinai, and he'd been to this place and that, and trying
to get rid of the burden on his back, the terrible burden on
his back, picturing his sin. And finally, Evangelist told
him to go to Mount Calvary, and he went to Mount Calvary. And
he said, I looked up and saw Christ, the Lamb of God, who
bled and died for sinners, and no sinner did I see Him. Then
my burden fell off my back and rolled down the hill and has
never come up again. Never come up again. As you look
to Christ, God speaks in your heart and says your sins are
gone. Turn back to this passage Rex
read earlier this evening. Back in Isaiah 43. Back in the
office. You ladies didn't hear it, but
you turn back there for a moment. Isaiah 43. Notice, Bobby read this out here,
didn't he? In Isaiah 43, verse 22. The Lord says, Thou hast not
called upon me, O Jacob, but thou hast wearied me, O Israel. He says in verse 23, Thou hast
not bought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings, neither
hast thou honored me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused
thee to serve me with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense.
Thou hast brought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast
thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices, but thou hast
made me to serve with thy sins. Thou hast wearied me with thine
iniquities." Well, the next word, the next word's got to be, I'll
kill you. Hell will be your portion. Eternal
damnation will be yours. When Bobby read that, I took
my pen and marked it one more time. I hope never to forget
it. Listen to God's word. This is God's response to the
sins of his people for Christ's sake. Ron Wood, this is God's
response to your sin because his son died. This sin, I, even
I am he that blotted out my transgressions for mine own sake and will not
remember It's called substitution. Substitution. By marvelous transfer of grace and a marvelous transfer of justice,
God took the sins of his people and laid them on his son and
made him to be saved for us who knew no And when Jesus Christ, who knew
no sin, was made to be sin for us, God said, Awake, O sword,
and smite the man that is my fellow. And the sword of justice
drained the life's blood from the Son of God. This is the reason why I did
it. That we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Exactly the same way. Exactly the same way. Listen to me. God is happy to
hear me. You cannot make yourself righteous. I cannot make myself righteous. What can these hands do? What
can this heart think? What can this mind imagine? that's acceptable to him whose
name is holy. I can't. I can't. I can impress
you and I can impress other men who think they're good but I
can't impress God. Can't do it. Can't do it. The
only way on this earth this sinner can be made righteous is the
same way that Jesus Christ who could not sin, because he knew
no sin. The only way he could be made
to be sin is by divine imputation. By God in an act of law, justice
and grace, charging to him the sins of his people. Now, God
in an act of law, justice and grace, because Christ paid for
our sins, charges to us the righteousness of his dear son. Now one last
thing, and I'll quit. Because Christ died in his place,
Barabbas was set free. That's the glory of the picture.
It is not possible for those for whom Christ died to suffer
the cause of their sin under the wrath of God. It is not possible
for the law to punish my substitute and punish me. Now, I can't stress
this sufficiently. Any doctrine that teaches that
God will both punish Christ and punish those for whom Christ
died is not the gospel and is not of God. It is not the message
of substitution. If Jesus Christ died in your
state, you shall not die. It's not possible. From whence
this fear and unbelief? Hath not the Father put to grief
his spotless Son for me? And will the righteous judge
of men condemn me for that debt of sin which the Lord was charged
on thee? Complete atonement thou hast
made, and to the utmost bothering pain, what error thy people nor
can his wrath on me take place while sheltered in thy righteousness
and sprinkled with thy blood. If Christ has my discharge procured,
and freely in my room endured the whole of wrath divine, pay
what God cannot twice demand, first at my bleeding surety's
hand, and then again at mine. Turn then, my soul, unto thy
rest. The merits of thy great high
priest have bought by liberty. Trust his efficacious blood.
Never fear thy banishment from God, since Jesus died for thee. Christ satisfied the justice
of God for his people, and every citizen who believes Christ is
set free from the curse of the law. and his sin for that man. Because Christ died for you and
for man. Listen to the scripture. If we
confess our sin. If we confess our sin. Don Fortner if you take your
place in the dust before God Almighty and take the only ground
God gives you. This is the only ground God gives
you. Sin. That's it. That's the only ground
God will give a man. If you take your place in the
dust before God's holy throne and confess your sin. I do. I do. Sin is my nature. Sin is my name. Sin is my practice. Sin is my
heart. The ugliest thing in the world,
most obnoxious thing in the world, sin is what I am. Can you own it? I'm asking you
now, can you own yourself? Just like that, the poor God
Almighty. If we confess our sin, He is
faithful and just. A just God and a Savior to forgive
us our sin because Christ has satisfied His justice on our
behalf. and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Amen.