chapter 27, and we will read
together verses 11 through 26. Matthew 27, 11 through 26. And Jesus stood before the governor,
and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the king of the Jews?
And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest. And when he was accused,
the chief priest and the elders He answered nothing. Then said
Potiphar unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness
against thee? And he answered him, Never a
word. Insomuch that the governor marveled
greatly. Now at the feast, 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
that for in thee they had delivered him. When he was set down on
the judgment seat, his wife sinned 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 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?
They said, Barabbas. Pilate saith unto them, What
shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ. They all say
unto him, let him be crucified. And the governor said, why? What
evil hath he done? But they cried out for more,
saying, let him be crucified. When Pilate saw that he could
prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took rudder,
and washed his hands before the prostitute, 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. Then released he Barabbas unto
them, and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be
crucified. Now the title of my message this
evening is The Silence of the Lamb. The Lord Jesus Christ stands
here in fulfillment of Holy Scripture, silent, as the Lamb of God. He stands silent before his accusers,
silent in the judgment hall, and though Pilate didn't understand
what was going on, the very prophecy of Isaiah, back in Isaiah 53
and verse 7, was being precisely fulfilled. Our Lord Jesus took
great care that he fulfilled all things written in the Scriptures
concerning He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened
not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is done, so he openeth
not his mouth." What Matthew records for us, what the Holy
Spirit gives to us here in this passage in Matthew 27, is a picture
of our Lord Jesus standing in Pilate's judgment hall. Pontius
Pilate, the Roman governor of Judah, one who was appointed
to rule over Judah has assembled a crowd before him, and before
his bar stands the Son of God, to be judged by this mortal man. Imagine the wonder, the astounding
wonder, with which the angels of God beheld this scene. Here
is a mortal about to judge him who will one day be his judge. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, condescended to be judged of men who later he himself would
judge and appoint their eternal destiny. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
the great Creator, here stands before the body of man to be
judged by a man condemned of horribly evil crimes, even if
blasphemy against God, though he himself is totally innocent,
and he will one day judge those who here sentence him to death.
The Son of God, in great humiliation, condescends to be judged and
condemned as a guilty fellow, to suffer and die under the wrath
of God, and he does so with perfect, complete silence, because he
was determined voluntarily to lay down his life for us under
the wrath of God, under the sentence of the divine law, to satisfy
the justice of God for us. Hold your hands here and look
at Philippians chapter 2. Philippians the second chapter.
The Apostle Paul is here describing for us the marvelous humiliation
and condescension of our Lord Jesus. Sometimes we get our feathers
ruffled and we get ourselves puffed up pretty quickly and
we think, well, I won't take this and I won't endure that.
Don't be so high-minded concerning yourself. Let us ever seek to
emulate the humiliation of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is, in
humbleness of mind, giving consideration to the needs of one another,
and in humbleness of mind submitting ourselves to the will of God.
Listen to what the Apostle says here in Philippians 2. If there
be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of
love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any vows and blessings,
and certainly these things are in Christ, fulfill ye my joy
that ye be like-minded. having the same love, being of
one accord and of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife
or vain glory, nothing be done to satisfy yourself, but in lowliness
of mind let each esteem other better than themselves, even
as the Son of God esteemed you better than himself, so that
he for your sake is willing to suffer the wrath of God and the
terror of divine judgment. Look, not every man on his own
things. That's where we get in trouble. That's where we get
in trouble, always. Always is looking on our own
things. But every man also on the things of others. Look after
each other instead of yourselves. Let this mind be in you which
was also in Christ Jesus. And here it is. Through being
in the firm of God. God did not want me to be equal
with God. but made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself." That is, when he came here, first
he comes as a servant, the surety of the covenant. He comes the
surety in the human nature of our father Adam. Though he is
not Adam's son, he comes with Adam's nature without sin. He
comes of man, the seed of the woman. And he comes now as he
enters into the world and humbles himself. You would think how
much more can he humble himself? He who is God has become a man. But he continues to humble himself
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him. That is the reason
for his exaltation, is his willing humiliation. And God Almighty
will in due time exalt you. as you willingly submit yourself
in obedience to his will. So the Lord Jesus here stands
before us as an example of one who has humbled himself under
the hand of God, and he comes now willingly to suffer and die
by the hand of God, according to the will of God, as a silent
lamb, to be crucified as our substitute. Now, as we listen
to this passage of scripture and consider the verses we've
read, I want to call your attention to four things. The Holy Spirit
seems directly to show us these four things in the passage we've
read. First, the innocence of our Lord Jesus Christ is clearly
demonstrated. Now this is so very, very important.
You remember our Lord Jesus is about to die as the Paschal Lamb,
as the sacrifice for the atonement of sin. He's about to suffer
being himself sacrificed under the hand of God for the sins
of his people. He must be separated. He must
be separated from the people. He must be set aside and examined
carefully to see if there's any spot or any blemish in him, whatever. And he must publicly be declared
to be altogether innocent. He must publicly, as a lamb,
be declared as one without spot and without blemish. And so the
Lord God takes great care. that as our Savior is examined
both before Caiaphas and before Herod and before Pilate, that
in all things this innocence is maintained and clearly declared. Pilate himself declares the Lord
Jesus to be totally innocent. He speaks of him as a just person. His wife tells him that he should
have nothing to do with that just man. And Pilate speaks to
this man and says, I have found no fault in him. As he presents
him before the people, he says, I find no fault in him. Now this
is important, and this is our comfort. Our Lord Jesus Christ
is himself altogether innocent, holy, harmless, undefiled, and
separate from sinners. Otherwise, he could not be our
Redeemer. He who comes to satisfy the law
of God, for Rex Bartley, must be altogether without obligation
to the Lord. He comes in perfect conformity
to the will of God, as it is revealed in Scripture, both to
the law and to all things contained in the law, and he fully satisfies
all the demands of the law, so that there is not one thing at
the end of his life that anyone can point to and say, there,
he has failed. He's altogether innocent, altogether
righteous, and therefore he is able to stand as our representative. This one who is the Lamb of God,
being declared righteous, is himself the infinite God, worthy
then of acceptance with God for all his people. That simply means
this. Everything that Christ did, he did totally in conformity
to the will of God, and he is accepted of God with infinite
merit on our behalf. So that whatever he has done,
is worthy and acceptable to God for all the people he represents.
So, in this passage of Scripture, the Spirit of God began by showing
us that our Lord Jesus is totally innocent. Bob Pontzer is totally
guilty. Don Fortner is totally guilty. We could never, we could never
perform righteousness, we could never satisfy justice, but Christ
has come to fulfill righteousness for us, and to pay the debt we
had incurred by the satisfaction of justice. Second, the Spirit
of God seems here to call special attention to the spinelessness
of Pilate. If you read through history,
You will not find a more spineless man, a man of less principle,
a man of less character than Pilate. Indeed, I'm reluctant
to even refer to him as a man. But Pilate stands before us in
this passage of scripture as a representative of, and a warning
to, every man who is put in a position of power and influence in this
world. Pilate certainly is typical in
this passage of our modern-day politicians. And I'm not speaking
concerning the liberals or the conservatives, I'm speaking of
both. I'm not speaking concerning national politicians or local
politicians, I'm talking about both, national and local. This
man Pilate stands before us as a man whose sole object seems
to be to keep the favor of the people. He is altogether without
principle. He's altogether without character.
He's altogether without courage. He is not there to serve the
people, but rather he is there to serve himself, and so he seeks
to maintain the constant favor and smile of the people. And
he's willing to sacrifice anything to do it. Now remember, what
Pilate does here, he does not because he's suspicious that
neither the Lord Jesus is guilty. Not because he's suspicious that
maybe the Son of God has done something amiss. Not at all.
Pilate recognized that the Jews delivered Jesus for envy. Do
you see that? Don't they think? He knew that
they for envy had delivered him. He knew that the charges that
were trumped up at Caiaphas' court were trumped up all together
by vipery. And that those things that the
Jews accused him of had nothing to do with any kind of criminal
law in the courts of Rome. Pilate recognized this man was
altogether just, altogether just, and had it been that he was desiring
to do justice, had he been indeed unaffected by the opinions of
the people, he would have turned the Lord Jesus loose and declared
every charge against him to be without foundation. But Pilate
was a politician, a self-serving politician, and he wanted to
know what the people wanted. What will you that I should do
with him? What's your pleasure? What is
it that you want from me? What is it that you want to be
done with this man? Though he's innocent, I put him
in your hands. What do you want?" Oh, pity the
man who has such little character that he bends with the wind and
does that which men please rather than that which himself is convinced
is right. And pity the nation that's ruled
by such people. As you well know, I don't spend
any time dealing with politics in this pulpit. I've got more
important things to deal with. But regrettably, we are a society,
and not just ours, but it appears the world's society as a whole,
that is ruled by politicians whose only desire is to serve
themselves. And consequently, they have no
principle. They have no sense of right and
wrong as far as their actions are concerned. Indeed, I do not
doubt that they know full well that the laws they legislate,
the principles they enforce upon men, the actions that are demanded
of us, they know full well they are contrary to the law of God,
the glory of God, and the benefit of society. But they're determined
to give folks what they think people want. And so they act
without principle, they act without scruple, they act without character,
they act altogether without any backbone. I've often said, if
you could find me a man, any man, who absolutely had some
character and some backbone, if I totally disagree with him,
I believe I'd vote for him. But they're not to be found.
Politicians these days serve themselves and use the people
to serve themselves. But the politicians are not by
themselves. The same thing is true of the preachers of our
age. Turn one more time to a passage in 1 Timothy chapter 3. 1 Timothy
chapter 3. I'm sorry, 2 Timothy 3. The apostle Paul is warning us
of these perilous, perilous times. These dangerous, dangerous times.
You see, the state of society, the state of the civil world,
is nothing but a reflection of the state of the ecclesiastical
world. We recognize that the cause and the root of the problem
in our society is not with the politicians, but with the preachers. And here the apostle talks about
these perilous, perilous times in which religious men and women,
having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof, shall
heap themselves teachers, having itching ears. And therefore he
gives this charge to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4. I charge thee
therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall
judge the quick and the dead of his appearing and his kingdom.
Preach the word. Be instant in season, out of
season, reprieve, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust shall
they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. The warnings
are so plain, the warnings are so plain, so obvious, and yet
men pass right over them. Such men are like, as A.C. Rouse said, they're like dead
fish, they just float with the tide. They serve themselves,
they have no principle by which they operate, but rather the
people and the opinion of man is the idol they serve. And for
that, they're willing to sacrifice the glory of God, they're willing
to sacrifice their own conscience, they're willing to sacrifice
your soul, and they're willing to sacrifice their own souls.
These who serve themselves as private beings. These who serve
themselves both politically and in the ecclesiastical sense,
both the politicians and the preachers, will stand in the
day of judgment and will be condemned of God for their self-serving
attitude and their self-serving conduct. I have no question at
all that the Holy Spirit has given us this picture of Pilate's
spinelessness. He knew right from wrong, but
he chose the wrong. He knew that which was just,
but he chose that which was unjust. He knew that this was according
to truth, but he chose that which was according to a lie. And he
did so to please the people, so that he could retain their
favor. What a picture. What a sad, sad
picture. But then thirdly, our text gives
us a picture, a terrible picture of the depravity of man. Here
is Pilate. This governor of Judah appointed
by the Roman Caesar, this man who sits in judgment over the
Son of God, and yet he alone is not, and he is not guilty
alone, and does not alone show forth depravity and corruption
of heart. The Jews, the people, the chief
priests, the elders, all of them together, demonstrate clearly
the utter depravity of man's heart. These men were thirsty
for the blood of the Son of God. They despised him, they hated
him, they could not stand him, they would not endure him, but
they had no cause. It is written in the scriptures
in John 15, they hated me without a cause. That is, there was no
reason for it. He did nothing but heal the sick.
He did nothing but feed the hungry. He did nothing but visit the
polytheists and the winners in their affliction. Our Lord Jesus
Christ did nothing but that which was right and righteous. And
for those things, they despised him. They despised his doctrine. In John chapter 6, you read about
a multitude following the Lord Jesus, and then suddenly they
quit following him. They said, this is a hard saying.
They said, these things are tough. These things are tough to embrace,
and from that time, many of his disciples went back and walked
no more with him. You know why? Because he told
them the truth, and they would not endure the truth. They would
not receive the love of the truth. He told them the truth concerning
themselves, concerning their sin. And self-righteous men will
not peddle that. They will not peddle having their
sin exposed and being told of the corruption of their nature.
He told them the truth concerning righteousness, that God alone
is righteous, and that man must have the righteousness of a substitute,
otherwise he cannot be accepted with God. He told them the truth
concerning God, his character, his sovereignty, his having the
right to do with his own what he will, and they would not tolerate
it. Our Lord Jesus told them the
truth concerning salvation and faith and eternal life. He said
it's a gift of God. And they said, crucify him, crucify
him. These youth thirsted for his
blood because they would not endure the remuneration of divine
truth as he presented it. We often think of ourselves as
being a men and women who admire goodness. We like to think that
we approve of righteousness. We like to think that we could
look at sermonists and rejoiced in it. I hear fellows
talk as though somehow they have a great, great appreciation for
holy things. Let me tell you something. Truth, and holiness, and goodness,
and righteousness came here in the person of Jesus Christ, and
we spit in his face and know it individually. The crucifixion
of Christ is not just a revelation of the enmity of the Jews' hearts,
or of the weakness of Pilate's character, it is a revelation
of the enmity and corruption of our own hearts before God
Almighty. Turn to Romans chapter 7, or
Romans chapter 8, rather. Romans the 8th chapter. I don't know how to emphasize
this sufficiently, but somehow we've got to learn it. While
you live in this world, children of God, don't trust your hearts. Don't trust yourselves. We are fools if we trust ourselves. We put ourselves in circumstances
and positions where I can handle this, I can handle that. Don't
be so foolish. The heart of man is deceitful
above all things and desperately Here in Romans chapter 8, the
Apostle Paul speaks in verse 6 and says, to be carnally minded
is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. And
this is the reason. Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God. It does not say the carnal mind
is at enmity. It says the carnal mind is enmity. That means wrong word. Everything
you are by nature hates God. Everything. Every thought, every
passion, every emotion, every feeling, everything about you
and about me by nature hates God. If we could get our hands
on God, if we could get our hands on God, we'd kill him. That's
what the heart of man is. That's the heart of man. Pastor,
I don't know about that. I know, I know. I hope, I pray
that God will call us to find that. Our hearts, by nature,
are enmity against him. There is absolutely no corruption,
no violence, no evil. No wickedness, no hideous sin,
no harlot crime that you and I would not do if God just left
us to ourselves. Don't trust yourself. Don't trust
your own heart and don't be surprised. Don't act shocked at the wickedness
around us. We read the newspapers and my
own response, I'm not speaking about yours now, my own response
betrays the horrible self-righteousness of some men by nature. My response
is, I don't see how a man can do that. I don't understand how
a woman can do that. I don't see how a man can behave
like that. Oh, my soul. If God just leaves
John Lincoln alone for a little bit, that's how they behave like
that. That's what happens. If God just takes up his restraining
hand a moment, that's what happens. Our hearts are deceitful, and
our hearts are desperately wicked. So we're taught about believers.
The carnal heart of unbelief, the carnal heart of the flesh,
the carnal nature in which we still live, is just exactly the
same as it was before. exactly the same. While we live in this world,
these hearts of depravity will never improve. May God There
is given us a new nature, a new heart, a new will, that follows
after peace, that follows after righteousness, and seeks the
glory of God. But that old man is ever present
with us, and he is constantly evil, and never, never, never
is there any good to be found in him. This is Paul's statements
concerning himself in Romans chapter 7. He says, I know that in me, that is in
my flesh, in my natural self, dwelleth no good thing, for to
will is present with me, but have to perform that which is
good I find not. For the good that I would, I
do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now, if I do that which I would
not, it is no more I that do it, but S-I-N, sin that dwelleth
in me. The evil that's Sin. Sin. That's what we are. Sin. Enmity against God. Sin that
crucified the Lord of Glory. Sin that would get God and kill
Him, if it possibly could. If man could get his hands on
God, you and me, by nature, we can. Now let me show you one
fourth thing. We have before us here a blessed,
beautiful, glorious picture of substitution. Let me read part
of the text for you again, verse 17. 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 that for envy they had delivered him, And the chief
priest, they consulted with the people and said, when he asks
you this now, they knew the custom. They knew that it was a custom,
and someone suggested that it was because of the Romans giving
honor to the Jews, they would give a respect, a tribute to
commemorating their coming out of Egypt. And so they would take
a man who was a criminal and release him to the people on
this particular time. And so the Jews knew that. And
they said, now when he asks you, you tell him to give us Barabbas.
And look what Scripture says in verse 26. Then released he
Barabbas unto them, and when he scourged Jesus, he delivered
him to be crucified. Now understand the picture. Barabbas
was a guilty man. If Barabbas was an insurrectionist
who was to be crucified, then Barabbas was a man who, in the
act of insurrection, was guilty of at least murder, if not of
multiple murders. Crucifixion was reserved for
the very basest criminals in society. Moravius was a man who
was guilty. He was a man who was condemned
to die. The sentence of death was passed
upon him. This man was held in prison. He was just awaiting his execution. The Lord Jesus Christ, by divine
arrangement, took his place. The Lord Jesus Christ took his
place and was condemned. He took his place and was held
over for execution. He took his place upon the cross
and suffered and died in Barabbas's bed. And Barabbas went stock
free. He went stock free. Barabbas
was sitting down somewhere over in Jerusalem by the Son of God. was suffering the wrath of God
upon the cursed tree. The Son of God died under Roman
law, and Roman law couldn't touch Barabbas because he had died
in that one who took his place. Understand what I'm saying? That's
exactly what happened with us. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. We were guilty. We were condemned. We were sentenced to execution,
and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took our place. He died in our womb and in our
stead. He died as our substitute, for
he, the Lord God Almighty, hath made him to be sin for us, who
knew no sin, that we might be made to righteousness and proud
in him. Look in Galatians chapter 3,
verse 13. It will be 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter 3. I'll stop there, verse, chapter
2, verse 24. Christ his own self, bare our
sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins should
live unto righteousness, by whose stripes he were healed. Now look
at chapter 3, verse 18. But Christ also hath once suffered
for sins," get it now, the just for the unjust. Now, underscore
this next word, that. That. This is why he died, the
just for the unjust. This is why he suffered for our
sins, that he might bring us to God. It was not possible for
you and I to be brought to God, except Christ, who is just, should
suffer for us the unjust, satisfying the justice of God, that he might
bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened
by the Spirit. And so we are redeemed, we are
justified by the Lord Jesus Christ. And since Christ has died in
our Since he paid our debts, since he is our penal substitute,
since he suffered the wrath of God for us, we must go free. Got to go free. It is utterly
impossible that those for whom Christ suffered the just vengeance
of God Almighty to the full satisfaction of justice, it is utterly impossible
that one of those sinners for whom he suffered and died should
not go free. Every soul who was represented
by Christ, everyone whose place he took, everyone for whom he
was made to be sent, shall at last, like Pharaoh, go free,
everlastingly free before God Almighty, restored to him in
the perfection of everlasting glory and righteousness. Look
with me at one more text, 2 Corinthians chapter 8. 2nd Corinthians chapter 8, verse
9. For ye know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes
he became poor. The Lord Jesus, who was everlastingly
rich, in his eternal glory as God, rich with the praises of
heaven's angels, rich with the satisfaction of his own glorious
being, rich yet for your sakes, yours and mine. He became poor,
so poor that he became the object of God's holy wrath when he was
made to be sin for us. And he did it. that you through
his poverty, I teach you. Thank God for Christ, our Redeemer,
who as the silent Lamb of God suffered the wrath of God and
satisfied the justice of God for the putting away of the sins
of the people of God. Amen. Let's sing number 145. Number 145, this will be our
benediction. Hail thou once despised Jesus,
hail thou Galilean