Now look back to Luke 23. Luke 23. And we want to try to
look at verse 13, down through verse 25. Luke 23, 13, down through verse 25. I've entitled
the message today, Barabbas is released and the Lord Jesus Christ
is crucified. That's what we read in these
verses. Pilate was determined to let somebody go, and he thought
that the Lord Jesus should be let go, finding no cause of death
in him. But when he presented the Lord
Jesus Christ, whom do you want released, they said, give us
this robber, give us Barabbas, and you kill the Lord Jesus Christ. Barabbas is released, and the
Lord Jesus Christ is crucified. That's the long title, but the
short title will be much easier to remember, and it's one word,
substitution. Barabbas, that day, rejoiced,
don't you think, that he had a substitute? He's sitting on
death row, convicted, condemned of murder. He knows he's going
to die. And yet he's released and someone
took his place. Brabus said in his heart, thank
God I had a substitution. That's what I want us to focus
our attention on today. The Lord Jesus Christ takes the
place of a notable robber, a murderer, one who was charged with insurrection,
sedition, rebellion against Rome, and the Lord takes his place. The
Lord dies in the place of Barabbas, and Barabbas is set free. He's got free. I mean, he's pardoned. They can't charge him with another
crime. Rome has set him free because someone paid his debt. My friend, that substitution,
and that's the heart of the gospel. God made Him, the Lord Jesus
Christ, to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Christ. That substitution
and that satisfaction that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The guilty set free. And the innocent one is put to
death. Now he's guilty only by our sin
being laid upon him, but he's innocent in his person. Had no
sin, knew no sin, and did no sin. And yet, before God's holy
justice, he is the guilty one, having our sin laid upon him,
charged to him, and he dies in our stead. Sinners are delivered
and set free only because the Lord Jesus Christ paid our sin
debt. That's the gospel. Barabbas is
spared and the Lord Jesus Christ is crucified. That's substitution. Now, it's a simple principle,
is it not? Barabbas is set free. Charged
with no crime because someone stood in his place, paid his
debt, paid his crime debt, and that one is the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the good news of the
Gospel. Salvation is for sinners just like Barabbas. The Scripture
said that Christ came to save sinners. The Scripture said that
the Lord Jesus Christ died for the ungodly. He came not to call
the righteous but sinners. to repentance. I'm glad the Lord
has taught me I'm a sinner. Do you know that lesson? Have
you been taught that lesson? That you're a sinner? If you've
been taught that lesson, look to the Lord Jesus Christ as your
substitute to put away your sin. Now we know the record of Holy
Scripture. The Lord Jesus Christ dies for the sin of His covenant
people by the determinate will, counsel, and purpose of God.
Remember when they came to arrest Him? He could have just simply
as they fell backwards when he said, I am. He could have simply
just walked away as he did many times. But he said, no man takes
my life from me. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
in my father. He willingly submits himself
to such brutality of men. But much more than that, the
wrath of holy God for our sin, and he dies in our place according
to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, him being
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have by wicked hand have taken and crucified the
Lord of glory. But never look at Calvary as
an accident. Christ dies on purpose. God's
purpose, God's will, even Herod and Pontius Pilate who before
were enemies, They were united in one purpose. They became friends,
allies, to put the Lord Jesus Christ to death. You remember
Romans, rather Acts chapter 4? Herod, Pontius Pilate, and the
Jews and Gentiles were all gathered together against the Lord and
against His Christ to put Him to death, but they did what God
determined before to be done. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
a helpless victim of ungodly reprobates. He is appointed sacrifice
of a thrice holy God. This is God's Lamb that puts
away our sin. The Lord Jesus Christ dies the
appointed death. This is God's sacrifice for sin. He dies at the appointed time.
Remember he said, my hour is now come. He dies, we know, for
the appointed people. He said, I laid down my life
for the sheep. And he died to accomplish God's
eternal and appointed purpose. What is the whole purpose of
this? The Lord Jesus Christ coming, living, dying, ascended to glory,
seated at the right hand of God. What is all the purpose in? What
is the grand design of redemption? As Jonathan Edwards said in his
book, The History of Redemption, you know what it is? The glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He dies on purpose to the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We should always remember His
righteousness and His death, His blood atonement is the life
of our soul. It is the blood atonement that
has been given for our sin and we must forever praise Him and
thank Him for had He not offered himself up in our room and in
our stead, we must forever pay the debt of our sin and suffer
under the eternal judgment of God for our sin, had the Lord
Jesus Christ not suffered in our stead. We read this in 1
Peter, he suffered the just for the unjust, Have we once suffered
for our sin, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us
unto God? He is the only just God and Savior. Thanks be unto our great God
for the substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ, who make complete
satisfaction to the holy justice of God. My pastor used to always
say, learn two words and learn the gospel, substitution and
satisfaction. How God can be just and justify
the ungodly through the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's the message of the gospel,
is it not? Now, this message has four points. They all begin
with the letter S. Sovereignty, sin, substitution,
and salvation. These four things. Sovereignty,
sin, substitution, and salvation. That's what we see in these verses.
And here's point number one. Sovereignty. Sovereignty. I pointed out in the reading
of this, notice Pilate said, I will therefore, verse 16, Luke
23, I will therefore chastise him and release him. For of necessity
he must release one unto them at the feast." Of necessity. Of necessity. The Lord Jesus
Christ dies upon God's sovereign necessity. Now, when we talk
about the word sovereignty, I mean by that that the Lord our God
is an absolute universal dominion over all things in this world
and in our life. There's no point and nothing
that goes on in our life that's not under the direct control
and dominion of God Almighty. Of Him and through Him and to
Him are all things to whom be glory both now and forever. Nothing happens by accident. my dear friend, and your dear
friend, brother and pastor Frank Tate. He's been here and preached
for us many times, even before he was a pastor. But his youngest
daughter had a very serious car wreck. And a lot of people say
it was a car accident. Well, I don't use that word.
It was a car wreck. And she broke many bones, many
bones. ribs, legs, pelvis, hip. I mean, she broke all things
in her body, bones. But my dear friend, Brother Frank,
said this was not an accident. This happened by purpose, God's
purpose. Understand that? I don't understand
all that's involved in the providence of God. But I know that all things
are of God, and we rest in that. We believe that. And that's the
comfort that Frank and Janet are going through right now,
even though their daughter's in severe pain. It's hard to
look upon one when the one you love is suffering so in pain
and agony, and there's nothing you can do. You pray, but you
can't take away that hurt. But nothing happens by accident.
Everything God does, He does on purpose. God never saved a
sinner by accident. You just didn't bump into the
gospel. God saved you by purpose. God's purpose. Everything He
does, He does on purpose. He must of necessity, because
it's God's necessity, God must have a sacrifice for sin, and
we know that sacrifice is the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember our
Lord said that He must be rejected, that He must die, that He must
be raised again. There is no other way. Remember when Peter drew out
his sword, when they came to arrest him? and took off the
ear of that high priest's servant, Malchus, and the Lord said, put
up your sword. I could call 60,000 angels right
now to wipe out these people, but how shall these things be,
for it must be that I die. for the sin of my people." This
word, must. Hold your place there and look
back to Luke 9.22. I'm having a problem with those
numbers this morning. Luke 9.22. I get the verse and
forget the chapter. Luke 9.22. The Son of Man must
suffer many things and be rejected of the elders, the chief priests
and scribes, be slain, be raised the third day. It must be. It is of necessity. He must come
and he must die. Now if you find Luke 22, 37.
Luke 22, 37. He said, for I say unto you that
this, thus, this that is written must yet be accomplished. He was reckoned among transgressors. For the things concerning me
have an end." He must fulfill all things. These things must
be accomplished and must be done. One more scripture on that, find
Luke 24 verse 7. When the ladies, the women came
to the grave after he was crucified and buried, When they came to
the grave and found the grave to be empty, the messengers from
heaven said, verse 7, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered
into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and the third day
rise again. The Son of Man must suffer. No other way. There's no other
way. God in his infinite wisdom, if
there could have been another way, he would have found it.
The only way God can be just, punish our sin, and justify the
ungodly is for the Lord Jesus Christ of necessity to lay down
his life for our sin. No other way for God to secure
our salvation. the salvation of His covenant
people than by a full payment for sin. And that's what the
Lord Jesus Christ paid all our sin debt. That's what the Lord
has done for us, and we know all this was completed not by
luck, chance, or fate. Not by lady luck, not by mother
nature, not by misfortune, but by purpose. Everything God does,
He does on purpose. He appeared once in the end of
the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. You got
point number one? Who's in charge that day? Remember
Pilate said to the Lord, Don't you know that I'm in charge?
I have power to release you. I have power to crucify you."
And the Lord corrected him. He said, you don't have any power
over me except that which my Father gives you. You see, the
powers that be are ordained of God. Pilate is the governor by
God's purpose and God's choice, God's will, because God is sovereign
over all things. Now the second word, I told you,
we see not only in this story here, the sovereignty of God.
And we see this all through Scripture. It's on every page of Scripture.
But the second thing we also see on Every page of scripture is this,
sin, sin, sin. Notice if you will, verse 21,
Luke 23 verse 21, Pilate willing to release the Lord Jesus spake
unto them, but they cried out saying, you kill him. When they say crucify him, what
are they saying? You murder him. You let Barabbas
go, but you kill this one. You kill him. And he said unto
them the third time, why, what evil has he done? I found no
cause of death in him. I will therefore chasten him,
and I'll let him go. And they were instant. I mean,
it wasn't, no, let's think about this. Let's reconsider this. They were instant. with loud
voices requiring that he might be killed. And the voices of
them and the chief priest prevailed. Pollock gave sentence, he gave
way that it should be as they required, and he released unto
them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison,
whom they had desired They desired a wicked man, but he delivered
the Lord Jesus to their will. Now what was their will? It was
a wicked will. Now you think about this. Here
is the lovely one, the Son of God, who fed the multitude, raised
the dead, healed so many, and went about doing good. This one,
the Lord Jesus Christ, they're looking at Him, and they're considering
comparing Him to a murderer, a robber, a thief, a man who
was no good, who had probably robbed so many of these same
people, and yet, because of their wicked will, because of their
sinful nature, when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should
desire Him. They say, this lovely one, the
Lord Jesus Christ, you kill Him. We want him dead. Give us this
murderer. We want this murderer. Now don't
tell me we're not wicked. You just consider this situation
right here. What were they confronted with?
The lovely son of God, God Almighty manifest in the flesh or this
notable rotten rebel of a man named Barabbas. And what did
they say when left to their will? You kill the Lord Jesus. You give us His wicked man. Now,
what do we see in all this? Sin. S-I-N. Why did they act the way they
acted? Because their will, when the
Word says, He released them to their will, The will of man,
man has a will, but it's controlled by something. It's controlled
by his wicked nature. Man's will is always self-ward
and downward, never God-ward and upward. Man's will is like
free-running water. There's a spigot on the wall
outside this building here on that wall. And the parking lot
goes one way away from this building, downhill. If you turn that spigot
on, which way is that water going to run? Now you know which way
it's going to run. It's going to run downhill. And
that's us. Left to ourselves, it's all downhill. Because our wicked will is not
free. It's in bondage. I hate that
word free will. Everybody talks about man having
a free will. His will is not free. It then
bonded you with sinful nature. If your will was absolutely free,
you could walk out that door this morning and flap your wings,
your arm like a bird and just, I will to fly. How far do you think you're going
to get? You're not going to fly anywhere. Your will is determined
by your nature, and your nature is held to the ground by what
we call gravity. Man's will is not free. It is
wicked. It is sinful. That's us. You see yourself that way. I've
heard people say, well, if I'd been in that crowd, I wouldn't
have said, give us Barabbas, give us Barabbas. I would have
said, Barabbas is getting what he deserves. You let the Lord
Jesus Christ go free. That's not what they cried, and
that's not what you cry either. Left to yourself, left to your
wicked will, when they cried out for Barabbas, Pilate said,
why, what evil had the Lord Jesus Christ done? What did he do?
It must have shocked him, don't you think, when they cried out
for Barabbas? And the Lord delivered, the Lord
Pilate delivered the Lord to their will. We see the will of
man is totally corrupt, totally controlled under the dominion
of our wicked nature. If we say we have no sin, S-I-N. It doesn't say S-I-N-S. If we say we have no sin, sin
nature, sin principle, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not
in us. That's 1 John 1, verse 7. If
we say we have no sin, ye by nature, we love darkness and
we hate the light. This is every man's response
to the gospel. Left to his own wicked will,
we will not have this man to reign over us, Give us Barabbas, and kill the
Son of God. We can read in John chapter 19,
when Pilate brought forth the Lord Jesus Christ, and presented
Him again to the people, and he said, Behold your King. Remember
what they said? away with him, we have no king
but Caesar." And you crucify the Lord Jesus Christ. See, we
all have this sin problem. We all have this sin nature. And that sums up what we are. Rebels, murderers, and robbers
just like Barabbas. This sums up our wicked way.
to rob God of His glory, to rebel against His sovereignty, commit
insurrection against God, and murder the Lord Jesus Christ,
murder His gospel, and count it as a wicked thing. I can't
preach us as low as we are before God. There's none righteous, no, not
one. There's none that understands,
there's none that seeks after God. They're all gone out of
the way, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's all men everywhere, dead
in sin, wicked, sinful, shut out, without hope, without God
and without Christ. Now, what does a sinner like
that need? Well, he just needs a little
bit of He just really needs a pat on the back and a helping hand.
He really just needs, you know, just reach out and pull him up. Is that what he really needs?
No, he needs life from the dead. And we can't give life. God must
do something or we'll perish. So what do we need? We need a
substitute. The Lord Jesus Christ. Notice
verse 25 again, here's the third word, substitution. Sovereignty,
sin, and substitution. And he released unto them him
that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they
had desired that they delivered the Lord Jesus Christ to their
will. Barabbas was released, and the
Lord died in his place. And that is substitution. Do you see the picture? It reminds
me of a story, I'll have you turn there, turn over to Genesis
chapter 22. It reminds me of a story of Abraham
and Isaac. Remember God told Abraham to
take that special son Isaac and take him up upon Mount Moriah
and kill him, sacrifice him unto God? Genesis 22. Verse 7, Isaac
spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father, and he said,
Here I am, my son. And he said, Behold, the fire
and the wood, where is the lamb for a burnt offering? Isaac knew
you could not worship God without a sacrifice, a blood sacrifice. Verse 8, Genesis 22, And Abraham
said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb, for a burnt offering,
so they went both of them together, and they came to the place which
God had told him of, and Abraham built an altar there, laid the
wood in order, bound Isaac his son, laid him upon the altar,
upon the wood, and Abraham stretched forth his hand and took a knife
to slay his son, And verse 11, the angel of the Lord called
unto him out of heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said,
Here am I. And he said, Lay not thy hand
upon the lad, neither do anything unto him. For now I know that
you fear God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine
only son. Verse 13, Abraham lifted up his
eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the
thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the
ram and offered him for a burnt offering in the stead of his
son. He took Isaac from off that altar
and put that ram on that altar and the ram took the place of
Isaac and the ram shed his blood for Isaac And Abraham called
the name of that place, Jehovah-Jireh, as it is said this day, in the
mouths of the Lord it shall be seen. The Lord will provide.
This is God's sacrificial lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now all
that is a picture of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
a picture of God's substitute. God provided a substitute for
Isaac with the ram, caught him in the thicket, removed Isaac,
and offered the ram in his stead. And again, That's substitution. And it's a picture of the gospel.
The Lord Jesus Christ coming and dying for the sin of His
people. We're all in the same place as Barabbas. Convicted
by God's law. Guilty before the law of God. Condemned to death. The wages
of sin is death. We deserve nothing but God's
just wrath for all of our sin against Him. But, thank God,
God has provided a substitute for us, the same one that Barabbas
had that day, and none other than the altogether lovely Lord
Jesus Christ, who dies in our place. And we call that gospel
truth substitution. That's the core and heartbeat
of the gospel. The just die for the unjust. God made him to be sin for us,
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. Now here's the fourth word. In
closing, here's the fourth word. Salvation. Salvation. Verse 25 again. He released unto
them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison.
Barabbas was released. He was delivered from condemnation
because a substitute took his place. All for whom the Lord
Jesus Christ died, And he died for those sheep given to him
in that blessed eternal covenant of grace. All those for whom
Christ died must be set free. And they are. They are set free.
None can perish for whom the Lord Jesus Christ died. And he
did not die for all of the sins of all men. He died for all of
the sins of some men given to him in that eternal covenant
of grace. The Lord prayed about it, preached
about it. He said, All that the Father
giveth to me will come to me, and those that come to me I will
in no wise cast out. His sheep must be delivered,
must be released, because the Lord Jesus Christ paid our debt. Now if the debt's paid, if the
ransom's paid, the captive goes free. And that's what Christ
has done. He set us free. God who spared
not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall
He not with Him also freely give us all things? Those for whom
Christ died cannot be condemned because Christ has paid our debt.
You remember Romans 8, 1? There is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is what
the Lord Jesus Christ came to do. If He paid our debt, and
He did, fully, and He did, then we're set free. We're set free. The old songwriter said, God's
justice can't twice demand. First at my bleeding surety's
hand and then again at mine. That would make God unjust, would
it not? To punish Christ for my sin and then turn around and
punish me again. That would make Him unjust. And we know God is not unjust.
Now listen to these scriptures. Galatians chapter 1 verse 4 and
5. Christ gave himself for our sins
that he might deliver us from this present evil world according
to the will of God and our Father, to whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. He gave himself for our
sins that he might deliver us. Now Christ just didn't make salvation
a possibility. He paid their debt and they go
free. He called his name Jesus. He
shall save his people from their sin. Romans 11 29 says this,
And so all Israel shall be saved, as it is written, this is spiritual
Israel, there shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall
turn away all ungodliness from Jacob. This is my covenant unto
them, when I shall take away their sin." God said, their sin,
their iniquity, I remember no more. Do you know what that is?
That's an effectual atonement. That's atonement that got the
job done. And that's what effectual means.
Do you remember we studied in Luke 4 verse 18 where the Lord
said, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. because he hath anointed
me to preach the gospel to the poor, he hath sent me to heal
the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives,
recovering of sight to the blind, to set them at liberty that are
bruised." And that's what he does in the gospel. Sovereignty,
sin, substitution, and the fruit of that is what? Salvation. Salvation, that's what we have
in the Lord Jesus Christ. God said, I am God, beside me
there is no other. I'm the only just God and Savior. He said, look to Me. Look to
Me. Would you look somewhere else?
Mom and Dad can take care of a lot of things, but they cannot
take care of your sin. Brother or sister, husband and
wife may help you in a lot of things, but they cannot take
away your sin. The Lord Jesus Christ and Him
crucified is the only one who has taken away the sin of His
people. Our Lord said, You shall know
the truth, and the truth shall set you free. Do you have a substitute? Do you have a Savior? Yes, I
do. Thank God for Christ and Him
crucified.