Matthew chapter 27. Now I'm taking
the title for the message from what is given here to us in this
story in verse 11 down to verse 15. Let's read these verses once
again. I'm calling and entitling the
message Barabbas or Jesus Christ. Barabbas or Jesus Christ. And the Lord stood before the
governor, Matthew 27 and 11. We know this is Pilate, the governor
appointed by Rome. And the governor asked him saying,
aren't thou the king? You the king of the Jews. And
the Lord said to him, thou sayest, what you say is right, I'm king. And when he was accused of the
chief priests and elders, he said nothing. Then said Pilate
unto him, hearest thou not how many things they witness against
thee? And he answered to 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. Then they had 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 the Christ? For he
knew for envy they had delivered him." Of course, we know what
happened. The people cried out for Barabbas. And Pilate said, what about this
man, Jesus? You kill him. We want a robber,
a murderer. And you kill this one called
the Son of God. What do we see in these verses
and what can we learn? I think first of all and foremost,
we see how depraved we are, how sinful we are, how depraved humanity
is. We use the term total depravity
because that describes Man by nature is a total sinner before
God. Truly we are sinners in God's
sight when left to our own wicked fallen will. And these people,
when they're left to their wicked fallen will, they chose to show
mercy to Barabbas, who was a robber, he was a murderer, who was a
rebel, who led many in sedition against Rome, and they condemned
an innocent spotless Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. It
says in Luke chapter 23, Pilate released Barabbas, and then it
says that he delivered Jesus to their will. That's a bad place
to be. What was their will? Crucify
Him, crucify Him. You say, well those people in
those days were depraved. Human nature has not changed.
Human nature has not changed. Human nature is no different
today. We may be more refined, and more educated, and more sophisticated,
but in the sight of God, we're still totally sinful, wicked,
depraved. Here's the one word that describes
us, guilty. Guilty. You remember in Romans
chapter 3, let every mouth be stopped and all the world become
guilty, guilty before God. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. In Genesis chapter 6, God saw
that every imagination of the heart was only evil continually. That's God looking on our heart.
He said, The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked." Does this describe you? This is the way God sees us.
The way He sees things is the way they really are. Now we have
seen in our study through the book of Matthew, we've seen the
trial of the Lord Jesus before the Jewish Sanhedrin, that court,
and they concluded that the Lord Jesus Christ was guilty of blasphemy
and they condemned Him to death. You remember back, turn one page
back. And Matthew 26, verse 63, Jesus held His peace and the
high priest answered and said, this is Matthew 26, 63, I adjure
thee by the living God, that thou tellest whether thou be
the Christ, the Son of God. And the Lord said, nevertheless
thou hast said, nevertheless I say unto you, that hereafter
you shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of
power, coming in the clouds of heaven, The high proof's rain
is closed, saying he has spoken blasphemy. What further need
have we of witnesses? Behold, now we've heard this,
his blasphemy, what think ye?" And they answered and said, he's
guilty. Guilty. Then they did spit in his face.
They did buffet him, and others smote him with the palms of their
hands, saying, prophesy unto us, thou Christ, who it is that
smote thee." So we see the trial before the Jewish Sanhedrin,
and they come up with a fact that they say he's guilty, guilty
he must die. Now we see the Lord Jesus Christ
before Pilate, the Roman governor, and Pilate sends him to Herod.
You read about that in Luke 23, I believe it is. And the Roman
government, to answer the charges of the Jews, brought against
him. Pilate tries his best to release him. He says, not once,
but twice, but three times, I find no fault in this man. But the
Jews insisted that he must be crucified. When he brings the
Lord Jesus Christ before this howling crowd and says, behold
your king, you remember what they said? Away with him. Away with him. We have no king
but Caesar. Now, what can we learn about
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ from this scene of rebellion
against Almighty God, against the Lord God Almighty, and against
His Christ? What can we learn? What can we
see in these things? We know that all this is coming
to pass, and all this is happening according to God's eternal purpose. You remember in Acts chapter
4? Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Jews, and the Gentiles were all
gathered together for to do whatsoever God's hand determined before
to be done. So what we see going on here
is the will of God, the purpose of God in accomplishing our salvation. Now, here's the issue. At issue was this, and here's
my first point. Art thou the king of the Jews? Art thou the king of the Jews?
Well, he's not only the king of the Jews, he's king of kings
and lord of lords. In Luke 23, don't turn, let me
just read it to you. In Luke 23, the whole multitude
then arose, verse one, and led him unto Pilate, and they began
to accuse him, saying, we found this fellow perverting the nation,
forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself
is Christ the king. And Pilate asked him, saying,
art thou the king of the Jews? And he answered and said, what
you said is right. I am. I am the king. I am the king of the Jews. The
Lord Jesus Christ is indeed king. He's king of all races. He's king of all people. He's
much more than just their king. He is king of kings and lord
of lords. I'm sure as he stood before Pilate
and Herod, He didn't look like a king, did he? They mocked him,
they beat him, they spit in his face, they pushed a crown of
thorns down on his head. As he stood there beaten and
battered, he looked defeated. He didn't look like a king. He
is indeed the king, the king of the Jews. But indeed, for
sure, the Lord Jesus Christ is God and king. He's God and King
over all the earth, over all men, everywhere that ever lived.
He's still King today, ruling in heaven and in earth, always
doing His will. He is King of Kings. We studied in Psalm 47 recently
where it says that God is the King of all the earth. God reigneth
over the heathen. God sitteth upon the throne of
His holiness. The Lord Jesus Christ is God,
our Savior, and He is King. In Psalm 47, 12, it says that
God is the King of old, old eternity, working salvation in the midst
of the earth. From everlasting to everlasting,
thou art God. He's always been king. He's always
been God. In Psalm 2, we read that God
said, I've set my king upon my holy hill Zion. He is king in
salvation. He will have mercy on whom he
will have mercy. He is king. I want you to turn
and read this with me. Turn to 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy
chapter 1. 1 Timothy chapter 1. This is interesting here. 1 Timothy
chapter 1, talking about the Lord Jesus Christ being king.
1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 15. This is a faithful saying, worthy
of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtain
mercy, that in me, first Jesus Christ, might show forth all
longsuffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe
on him the everlasting life. Now to the King, eternal, immortal,
invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and
ever. Amen. Now turn to one other scripture. Find 1 Timothy chapter 6. 1 Timothy
chapter 6. Now look at this. This is verse
13. 1 Timothy 6, 13. He says, fight the good fight
of faith, verse 12, lay hold on eternal life. I give thee
charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before
Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate, witness a good confession. That's what we're seeing. That's
what we're reading, studying. That thou keep this commandment
without spot, unrebukable unto the appearing of our Lord Jesus
Christ, which in time past He shall which in his time he shall
show who is the blessed, only potentate, the King of kings
and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in light
which no man can approach, whom no man hath seen or can see,
to whom be honor, power, everlasting, amen. Scripture's clear on this. The Lord Jesus Christ is King. He is King. He was born king,
God incarnate in human flesh. The wise men came and they asked,
where is he that is born king? Remember? In Matthew chapter
three. He was born king. He lived as
king among men. You remember when the disciples
were on that boat in the midst of a storm? And the boat started
taking on water, and the boat started to sink, and the Lord
Jesus Christ was resting, sleeping. And they woke him up and said,
Master, don't you care that we perish? Remember, he stood forth
and rebuked the wind, and there was a great calm. And they said,
Behold, what manner of man is this, that even the wind and
the seas obey him? What kind of a man is he? He's
a God-man. He said, God, man, without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. He was born king. He lived as
king. When he came to the city, you
remember, look back at Matthew 21. When he came into the city,
Jerusalem, you remember how he came? He came riding in on that,
on that colt, the foal of an ass in Matthew 21. Verse four,
all this was done that it might be fulfilled which is spoken
by the prophet saying, tell you the daughters of Zion behold
your king cometh, Matthew 21 verse five, behold the king cometh
unto thee meek and lowly sitting upon an ass, a coat, the fold
of an ass, And the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded
and brought the ass and the coat and put on them their clothes.
And they set him thereon. And a very great multitude spread
their garments in the way. And others cut down branches
from the trees and strawed them in the way. And the multitude
that went before that followed cried, saying, Hosanna to the
son of David. Blessed is he that cometh in
the name of the Lord. Hosanna. In the highest, that
means, oh, save us. Who could save us? None but the
king. The king of kings and lord of
lords. So he's born as king, he lived
as king, he came into the city as king, healing the sick, demonstrating
that he's king, and you know how he died? He died as king. He died as king. Look at Matthew
27, 35. Matthew 27, Verse 35, they crucified him
and parted his garments, casting lots that it might be fulfilled
which is spoken by the prophet. They parted my garments among
them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. That's Psalm
22. And sitting down, they watched
him there, and they set over his head his accusation. Or they
made a sign and put it over his head, his accusation. This is
Jesus, the King of the Jews. Pilate had this written in Hebrew,
Greek, and Latin. He had it written in three languages. Hebrew, the Jewish language,
the Greek, the Roman language, the Latin, the language of the
educated. All could see that he is king. The Jews got upset, remember?
They said, don't write that this is the king of the Jews. Write
that he said he was king. Remember what Pilate said? What
I've written, I've written. God had that written down. He
came as king, lived as king, died as king, and oh by the way,
he's coming back. Look back at Matthew 25. In what
character is he coming back? Now what character is he coming
back? Matthew 25 verse 31. Matthew 25 verse 31. And when
the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels
with Him, then He shall sit upon the throne of His glory, and
before Him shall be gathered all nations, and He shall set
them one from another, as the shepherd divides his sheep from
the goats. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, the
goat on the left. Then shall the King say, And
to them on his right hand, come ye blessed in my Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
He's coming back as king. And in eternity, he's going to
reign and be worshiped as king. We sing unto him who's a lion
of the tribe of Judah, worthy as a lamb that was slain to receive
all honor, glory, blessing, and power. And they're going to sing
unto Him who is King of kings and Lord of lords, as it says
in Revelation chapter 19. The second thing I want us to
learn from the Scripture is this. We see that the Lord Jesus Christ
is the spotless Lamb of God, just as recorded in the Scripture. Even though His enemy said that
He was a blasphemer, a wine-bibber, and a gluttonous man, They even
said he was in league with Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. They
said things that were just horrible. But our blessed Savior, He's
holy, he's harmless, he's undefiled, he's separate from sin. He had
no sin, knew no sin, and he did no sin. He had to be the spotless
Lamb of God to take our sin to himself. We went over this last
week, but let me just remind you, even his enemies testified
that he had no sin, did no sin, and knew no sin. Even Judas the
betrayer, remember he came back and He brought back those 30
pieces of silver, threw them on the floor. Remember what he
said? I betrayed innocent blood. Pilate's wife, we read about
her a moment ago, she said, don't have anything to do with that
man. I've suffered many things in a dream about him. He's a
just man. He is the just God and Savior.
And then Pilate said, You take him and you handle this matter.
I find no fault in him. Herod did the same thing. I find
no fault in this man. The Roman soldier, look at Matthew
27, verse 54, when the Lord Jesus Christ was nailed to the tree,
suffering, and when he yielded up the ghost and the veil of
the temple was rent, look at verse 54, Matthew 27, now when
the centurion and they that were with him Watching Jesus saw the
earthquake and those things that were done, they feared greatly
saying, truly this was the Son of God. This is God, the Son,
the Son of God. It says over in Luke 23, another
soldier said, this was a righteous man. They spoke the truth, didn't
they? The Lord Jesus Christ does not
robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation,
took upon himself the form of a servant, became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. He said, no man takes
my life, I lay it down of myself. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the
only one who is fully qualified to be the Lamb of God. to be
the Lamb of God, the Christ of God, the Savior of God, the Christ
of God, the only one who can be made sin for us. Now think
about this. God incarnate. He was made flesh
and dwelt among us. He was made flesh that He might
be made sin for us as the spotless Lamb of God. God made Him to
be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. He's the only one who could be
the surety of the everlasting covenant, the God of peace that
brought again from the dead the Lord Jesus Christ, the great
Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting
covenant. He's the only one. could be the Lamb of God, the
only one who could be the surety of that everlasting covenant.
He's the only one who can be the mediator between God and
the sinner, is the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the only one
who can be the advocate for us when we sin. We have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the only one who can be our just God and Savior. God to satisfy, man to suffer. That's why he had to be the God-man
in one blessed person. God alone, as the old preachers
used to say, God alone cannot suffer, man alone cannot satisfy. But the God-man did. He both
suffered and satisfied as our substitute. As our substitute,
call his name Jesus, he shall save his people from their sin.
God to satisfy, man to suffer for us. Now here's the last thing. Here's the last thing. We see
a picture of substitution, don't we? We see a picture of substitution. The Lord, in his sovereign, marvelous
providence, shows us a vivid, powerful, plain picture of substitution. Barabbas, the notable criminal,
with a rap sheet that's a mile long, who's been a ringleader
in sedition, murder, and robbery, he's set free, and the Lord Jesus,
the spotless Lamb of God, takes his place. That's substitution,
is it not? That's a clear, powerful picture. What a story for us to consider.
The innocent one dies in the place of the guilty. This is
our story too. The Lord Jesus Christ takes to
himself our sin, the sin of God's elect, dies under the holy judgment
of God because of our sin. He bare our sin and his own body
on the tree. And because He died in our stead,
satisfied God's holy law and justice, paid the full debt of
our sin, suffers the wrath of God, God justifies us in Christ
and Him crucified. That's a miracle of the gospel,
is it not? There is therefore now no condemnation to those
who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now think about this for a minute.
Put yourself in the shoes of Barabbas. There he's in jail. And I think he's in jail with
many criminals, but maybe that morning they were going to crucify
three people, Barabbas and two of his friends. They'd been robbing
and stealing and cheating and murdering people, and they're
in jail, and justly so. And they're sentenced to die,
and they're going to die that day. But think what was going through
his mind. He does not hear Pilate say, Whom shall I release unto
you? All he hears is, give us Barabbas,
give us Barabbas. That's all he hears. When the
crowd yells out, he doesn't hear what Pilate says. He doesn't
hear Pilate say, what shall I do with Jesus? He doesn't hear that.
All he hears is crucify him, crucify him. So think about what
he's hearing. He's hearing Barabbas, Barabbas.
He's hearing crucify him, crucify. He's thinking, man, it's over
for me. That crowd wants to get rid of
me. They're going to come and crucify
me. Now, here he sits, chained, bound to the wall, sitting in
there with those other criminals. They're probably talking among
themselves, boys, we're going to die today. We're going to
die right now. He hears the jailer rattle the
door, unlocks the door, and he goes down the stairs and Brabus
is thinking, Okay, they're going to take us away and crucify us.
And the jailer says, unlocks his chains and said, you're free.
You're free. Walk out of here. You're free.
Another took your place. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a good picture of substitution,
is it not? Substitution. You're free. Another took your
place. What great delight must have flooded his soul? Another
took my place. Who is this man that would do
that for me? Jesus of Nazareth, of Galilee. What a wonder someone
so holy, someone so eternal, someone who so much God and yet
a man in the flesh should die for one who was guilty. That's
our story. You know what my name is? Barabbas. Barabbas, that's my name. That's
my name. That, my friend, is love, that
Christ would come and die for such a one as me. Wonder of wonders,
marvel of marvels. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but he laid down his life for us. Is that a marvel? He
gave his life for us. Hereby perceive we the love of
God, because he laid down his life for us. Christ suffered
once for our sin, the just for the unjust, that he might bring
us unto God. Like Barabbas, we're all guilty. Guilty of sedition, rebellion
against God. Guilty of robbery. We've robbed
God of his glory. Guilty of murder. Our Lord said
to be angry with someone is to kill them in your heart. And
we're in bondage just like Barabbas, in bondage to our sin. We've
all sinned and come short of the glory of God. You might think,
and you might be tempted to think, oh, you're not talking about
me. I've not broken the laws of the state of Kentucky. They
don't have no claim on me. Before the law of God, you're
guilty. Guilty as charged. Everyone's
guilty. It says in Romans 3, there's
none righteous, no, not one. Whatever things the law saith,
it saith to them that are under the law, that every mouth may
be stopped, and all the world become guilty, guilty before
God. You see, we've not kept the commandments
of God one time. We've not kept one commandment
one time. We've broken all the law of God.
To offend in any point is to be guilty of all the law. The
law says the soul that sinneth must die. The law says the guilty
must die. The good news of the gospel is
the Lord Jesus Christ, He did obey the law of God for us perfectly
in every precept. The law of God did, that Lord
Jesus Christ did obey the law of God for us in every precept
and every obedience. He was faithful unto God in every
aspect of that law. He honored every precept of the
law so much so that God said, this is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. You remember in Matthew 5, our
Lord said, I didn't come to destroy the law and the prophets. I came
not to destroy, but to fulfill. You see, the Lord honored every
precept of that law. He never had a wicked thought,
wicked motive, or did anything wrong. Everything He did was
holy. His obedience and His faithfulness
to the law of God is our righteousness before God. You see that? Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works.
His faithfulness, obedient unto death, is our obedience unto
God. That's the good news of the gospel.
His perfect obedience is our righteousness before God. Blessed
is that man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without
works. Second thing, he not only honored the precept of the law,
but what about the penalty of that law? The penalty of that
law says those who are guilty have to die. The Lord Jesus Christ
took my sin, took my guilt, took my judgment, and took my wrath
and set us free. Set us free. The Lord Jesus Christ
willingly takes all the sin of God's elect to himself, his sheep,
his children, suffers under the penalty of those sins, gives
his life for those sins and transgressions and iniquities, In Christ, therefore,
because he paid our debt, who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? Is God the justifier? Who is
he that condemneth? It's Christ who has died. Yea,
rather, is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God,
who also makes intercession for us. My pastor used to say, learn
these two words and learn the gospel. Substitution, satisfaction. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
substitute, wounded for our sin, bruised for our iniquity. With
his stripes we are healed, and he satisfied God on our behalf. Gives us a perfect righteousness,
justifies us freely by his grace. Do you have a substitute? Do
you have a savior who is King of kings and Lord of lords, suitable
to answer all the demands of God's holy law. Do you have a
substitute savior, a righteousness every believer can say? Yes. The Lord Jesus Christ is all
of my salvation. Not some of it, all of it. He
didn't come to call the righteous sinners to repentance. The Lord
Jesus Christ didn't die for good folks. He died for the ungodly. He came to seek and to save the
lost. The Lord Jesus Christ, it says in Luke chapter 4, that
He came to set the prisoners free. Free. We sing that song often times.
Free from the law, O happy condition. Jesus had bled and there is remission. Free from the law, we're free. You shall know the truth and
the truth shall set you free. And that's what we have in