we gather together. If you would,
open the scriptures, we'll go to the book of John once again,
and also the chapter nine, once again. I'm actually going to
read some verses that I read to you last Wednesday, and we
ask God to give us grace as we meet, help us to understand and
rejoice in our Lord Jesus and in his sacrificial death. I certainly
hope each of you have a happy Thanksgiving and generally time
to spend with families and so enjoy your families tomorrow.
and we will look forward to meeting together again on the Lord's
Day. Reading once again tonight from
John chapter 19, there is a great contrast set before us in verses
23 and then down to verse, especially
verse 25. Because on the one hand, you
have the soldiers who are unbelievers. These men who are vulgar. These
men who have no interest in Jesus of Nazareth. They are going about
their duties as soldiers who are appointed to carry out the
crucifixion. But over against those men who evidently four soldiers because
they parted his garment into four parts, each one taking a
part, and then they gambled for his coat. But over against that,
there are four women who love the Savior. So here we have four
enemies and four who are friends. Four who care nothing for the
one who is dying on the middle cross. And then four who loved
Him, who believed Him, who rested in Him, believed that he was indeed the
Savior, he was the Messiah. And so we see this here in verse
23, then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, so they
nailed him to the cross. They then took his garments,
we said last week, and I'm sure you're very much aware of the
fact that the Romans crucified their victims naked. They took his garments and made
four parts to every soldier apart, and also his coat. Now, the coat
was without seam, woven from the top throughout. Indeed, a picture of that righteousness
that he would weave for us. A perfect garment that each of
his people wear before God. Well, the soldiers said in verse
24, then said they, therefore among themselves, let us not
rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be. And this they
did, and they had no intention of fulfilling Old Testament scripture. They didn't know anything about
the prophecies of the Old Testament. This they did by divine appointment
that, as it says here, the scripture might be fulfilled. The scripture
would say it. They parted my raiment among
them. For my vesture did they cast
lots. These things, therefore, the
soldiers did." And now, here are the believers. Dear sisters
in Christ Jesus. Now, they're stood by the cross
of Jesus. First of all, his mother. Oh, how She suffered in her soul
watching her firstborn die in agony. She then understood what had
been said to her many years before this by one symbiote in the temple. who said, a sword will pierce
your soul also. And here it is. This has got
to be what he was speaking about, what he prophesied of a sword
piercing her soul. And his mother's sister, that
would be the wife of Zebedee, one named Salome. She's the mother
of the Sons of Thunder, James and John. So there's Mary, and
then even though she isn't named, and she's only named in Mark
chapter 16 and verse 1, but she is the wife of Zebedee. She's there, and then Mary, the
wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene. She's there. When Jesus, therefore, saw his
mother, and the disciples standing by whom he loved. He saith unto the woman, or unto
his mother, woman, behold thy son. Now, let me just say this. I know who she's talking about,
or I know who the scripture's referring to. The Savior is referring
to John. But first of all, I want us to
at least consider this. Woman, behold thy son. Look at it that way. It's a little
different way to look at it. And I understand she's talking
about John, but actually she was beholding her son, her firstborn
son. dying in her room, in her stead,
and in her place. But of course, the main thrust
of the words, woman, behold thy son, and he doesn't address her
as mother. He addresses her as woman. And then he said to the disciple
in verse 27, behold thy mother. I think a legitimate question
that could be raised here would be, wonder what was the reason
that the brothers of the Lord Jesus, that is half brothers
and sisters, wonder why the care of Mary was not entrusted to
them. Ever thought about that? The scripture doesn't tell us.
except that we do know this, at this time, they are not believers. The scripture tells us they didn't
believe him until after his resurrection. And so here is the Lord Jesus
taking care of his mother, and he entrusts her welfare over
to John. I think we may safely assume
that at this point Joseph has passed away, and indeed most
writers believe that he passed away some years before this. And so we continue, and from
that hour that disciple took her into his own home. After this, Jesus, knowing that
all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled,
saith I thirst. Now there was a set of vessel
full of vinegar. They filled a sponge with vinegar
and kind of a sour wine, inexpensive wine that the soldiers drank. They put it upon hyssop. lifted
it up to his mouth. When Jesus, therefore, had received
the vinegar, he said, it is finished. That is, it is literally accomplished. Because in the original, this
is the same word, and I'm I'm sure you've been told this before,
as in verse 28, accomplished is identical to the word finished. And in my Bible, I just circled
both of them and drew a line so that I'll know these words
mean the same. And then he bowed his head and
gave up the ghost, reminding us of what he said, that nobody
takes my life from me. I have the power to lay it down,
and I have the power to take it again. And now He lays it
down. He lays down His life for the
sheep, and the first day of the week, He'll take it again. Well, let's bow our heads and
seek God's face. Our Father, it is It is such a serious thing to
consider the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we want to
be so very careful and so serious-minded as we think of this, the substitutionary
sacrifice of the Savior for his people. Indeed, there's no other
event that can match this event. This is where the issue was settled. This is where redemption was
fully accomplished. This is where all of the scriptures
concerning the death of Messiah, the death of the Lamb, the Passover
Lamb being sacrificed, this is where they were all fulfilled.
This is where God the Son gave his life for his people. And indeed, as a result of his
death, infinite blessings are going to come our way. And as
it were, he was the great high priest who had his arms outstretched. And though he was nailed upon
the awful cross of Calvary, Yet his arms were outstretched, they
were lifted up. And as a result of his death,
we are infinitely blessed. For by his death, we see the
death of our own sinfulness. By his death, we see the fulfillment
of the law of God. By his death, we see justice
fully satisfied. By his death, we see our life. And in Him we have life and life
more abundant. We give thanks to you, Father,
this time of the year when there has been set aside for our nation
a national day of thanksgiving. Your people thank you every day
for the unspeakable gift of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him we
have salvation, so full and so free. And we rejoice in Him. And we give grateful praise unto
thee, O God. You saw us. You saved us. You have welcomed
us into your family. And one of these days you will
welcome us into heaven's everlasting glory. You have ordained, you
have predestinated that we'll be conformed to the image of
Christ Jesus. And one of these days we shall
inherit that wonderful inheritance reserved for us in the heavenlies. And we shall Receive that which
you have purposed for us, an eternity of bliss, everlasting
glory, to be with the Lord Jesus Christ and enjoy Him and worship
Him forever and ever with all of the saints of God of all of
the ages. Lord, direct our thoughts tonight
May we be reverent and may we have such a gratitude in our
hearts for this suffering, dying Savior. And may we render, O God, unto
Thee and unto the Lord Jesus Christ that worship and praise
You're so deserving of. We lift up to you those who are
sick, as our brother has mentioned some of them. And as he indicated,
Lord, we know that there are many who are associated with
our congregation who are sick. Lord, you know the needs. We
don't have to know all about every situation. except to know
that you care. May we do as Peter admonished
those strangers scattered throughout Asia Minor. He said, casting
all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. So Lord, keep us ever looking unto
Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. And may we, for
these few moments, escape, as it were, from the things of the
world, the things that occupy our minds that are of a secular
nature. Lord, may we now come aside brought,
even sanctified by your Spirit, set apart to worship. May it be so. And unto you, O
God, will go all the glory, thanksgiving, and praise. For Jesus' sake we
pray. Amen. We have been looking at the subject
of our Savior's death for the last few Wednesday evenings. What a remarkable event there
is set before us. Now as you look at the four gospel
narratives, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, very little is made
known by the Spirit of inspiration concerning the early days of
our Lord Jesus. Indeed, Matthew and Luke give
us some information about his infancy, about his birth. Not
a great deal of information, but we know where he was born,
a little bit of the circumstances when the shepherds were there
to see the Lord Jesus as an infant. We also know that from Matthew,
the second chapter, that a little bit later in his life, probably
when he was at least 18 months old, maybe two years, there came
the wise men who were searching for him. And so the manger scenes
that we so often see, and you know, you have the three kings
that are typically set forth bringing their gifts to the baby
Jesus. They weren't at the manger scene.
They weren't at the stable when he was born. This is later. It's
later in our Lord's life, as I say, perhaps somewhere between
a year and a half and two years of age. But we know that happened. We know He was taken into Egypt
for safety. And other than that, other than
what we're told in Matthew and in Luke, we don't know anything
else about our Lord's early years, the years when he was growing
and maturing, other than the scripture just says that he grew
in stature and in favor with men and with God. We do have
that little portion of scripture in Luke the second chapter about
our Lord Jesus when he was 12 years old and it goes with Joseph
and his mother Mary to Jerusalem and of course he stays there
and he's speaking with the the authorities with the teachers,
with the professors, with the theologians, and he is discussing
theological points with them, and they missed him. That took
place at 12 years old, and of course they were quick to rebuke
him, and he said, wish ye not that I must be about my father's
business. But with that exception, you
think of this, we had three decades of our Lord's life of which we
know virtually nothing. Three decades. And the scriptures
are silent. Well, what conclusion can we
draw from that silence? Well, it would be this. It's
not necessary for us to know. It is not necessary for salvation. This is not a knowledge that
we need to have. Would we confess and admit our
own curiosity? Of course we would. It would
be of interest to know the things that happened to him as he grew
up, no doubt in Joseph's carpenter shop. And as he matures, and
as he grows, and the interaction with his half-brothers and sisters,
that would have all been interesting to know. But listen, if all of
the things that happened to the Lord Jesus were recorded in books,
John says, the world couldn't hold them all. So those things
are not necessary for us to know. But that which we do know is
this, when he was 30 years of age, he embarked upon his public
ministry, which began with his baptism and then he's led by
the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of Satan for 30
days and 30 nights. And then after that, after that,
he goes forth preaching the gospel. Now what we do know is that Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John all speak of his entrance into Jerusalem
and his substitutionary death and his resurrection. All of
them do. In fact, as you look at Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John, at least one-fourth to one-third of the
contents of those four gospel narratives have to do with the
last week of our Lord's life. So the emphasis that we should
be focused upon, that which should draw our attention mainly concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ, is really not so much His miracles, though
they are important. Not so much his activities during
his life, though they are vital. But we must focus upon what the
Scriptures major on. They major on the last week of
his life. And the last week of his life,
it includes his entrance into Jerusalem, and then his betrayal,
Of course, that time spent with his disciples, which John spends
a good bit of the time of his book, of his gospel narrative,
speaking of our Lord's teaching and preaching to his disciples,
they emphasize that, and then they all emphasize his death,
his sufferings. As you look at Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John, you'll find that in each of the Gospels, they
will have something peculiar just to them. Now, it is very
true that Matthew, Mark, and Luke have much of an overflow
of material that is what's in Matthew is kind of condensed
in Mark and you'll often find it in the book of Luke too. And
so there's a blessed harmony to those three gospel narratives. Whereas John gives us much information
that is unique just to John. And we get lots of information
about our Lord Jesus from John that we don't get from Matthew,
Mark, and Luke. But what we do get from Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John is this. He died for us. And that which led up to His
death was awful suffering. And He suffered at the hands
of men, and He suffered at the hands of God. Our Lord Jesus was born to die. This is the emphasis of Scripture. We would take nothing away from
His life. Certainly not. His obedience
to divine precepts. It was a perfect life. It was
an exemplary life. So much so that Peter says in
1 Peter 2, He's our example. You want to know how to live?
You want to know how to conduct yourself? You want to know how
to speak? You want to know how to respond
to the commands of God to you? Study the life of our Lord Jesus. He was the perfect servant of
Jehovah. But more than that, more than
an example, He's the Savior. And this is what each of the
Gospel writers focus upon. his substitutionary death. He
was indeed born to die. And so we read in Galatians,
but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth
his son, made of a woman, made under the law of God, in order
to redeem them that were under the law. He came forth to redeem. This was his mission. This was
his work. when he had spoken to the woman
at the well in John chapter 4 and the disciples had gone to town
to buy groceries because they assumed he's got to have lunch
to eat. After all, he was a real man.
He had real necessities of the body, just like all people do,
and they came back and they said, we've got lunch for you. And
he said, I have meat to eat that you know not of. I've got the
work of my father to do. And the work of the Father was
to give His life a ransom for many. And these modernists who
say that Jesus of Nazareth really didn't know what His reason was
for existing, they're absolutely wrong. They're untrue to the
Scriptures. He knew from His entrance into
this world the reason why He came. And so he's recorded as
saying in Hebrews chapter 10, Lo, I come to do thy will, O
God. I come to do your will, your
redemptive will, your saving will. That's the reason he came
into the world. He came as God's obedient servant. Now, how did he live his life?
And how did he die the death of the cross of Calvary? Well,
he did all of this obediently, and he never wavered. He's the
perfect servant of God. Here are four words. He obeyed. He was obedient to the will of
the Father. He did the work of the Father,
the will of the Father, absolutely freely. No one forced him or
compelled him to do what he would do. He did it freely. And I've
already indicated that the Savior said, no man takes my life from
me. Who could take his life? He's
the life giver. He is the life. He said to his
disciples, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Nobody's
going to take his life. If He is to die, He must die
by His own will. And so we read here in John chapter
19, He said, it's finished, verse 30, He bowed His head and gave
up the ghost, He said in another gospel narrative,
Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And he said it with
a victorious voice. This is not a man who's wore
out. This is not a man who can go no further. This is not a
man who can take no more. This is the Son of God, the Son
of Man who is triumphant in his death. He's so powerful he could
save a thief in his last dying moments. How did he live his life and
how did he die? Obediently and freely. And he did this all thoroughly. He did it thoroughly. Thoroughly. He left nothing undone that needed
to be done. He said in John 8, 29, as he
was speaking to the Jews, he said, I do always those things
that please the Father. Always, thoroughly, thoroughly. And fourthly, the word that comes
to mind is fully, fully. Whatever the law of God demanded
of him, he rendered it. Whatever a sinner's needed, he
provided it fully. He perfectly obtained it. That's
the reason it says in Hebrews chapter nine, having obtained,
eternal redemption for us. So I say, behold upon the cross
of Calvary, that one who dies on the middle cross, he suffered
in his body, he suffered in his soul. I received a very good
email last Wednesday night from one who was viewing who had,
and their email to me indicated quite a bit of insight and understanding
of our Lord's obedience and of His death and of the physical
side of His suffering and then the mental anguish and the sufferings
of His soul. There had to be both. He had
to suffer physically, and then he had to suffer in his soul. Which brings me to ask this question. Why must the Lord Jesus, first
of all, suffer at the hands of men, and then why must he suffer
at the hands of God? Why must he suffer physically? Could not the Father have taken
Him aside and rather than the crucifixion, rather than the
horrible, excruciatingly, physically painful death that He died, could
not the Father have pulled Him to the side and then laid stripes
upon His soul and dealt with Him in vengeance and in justice
that way? Why must He suffer physically? as well as suffer in his soul. Why must he suffer as one that
the people considered to be a sinner? Do you know how they considered
him to be a sinner? Do you know the reason they considered
him to be a sinner? A sinner by association. By association. They said, he's the friend of
publicans and sinners. He's guilty by association. And they punished him physically. Well, why did God punish him? Because he was guilty by imputation. By imputation. He had to suffer bodily. and
he had to suffer in his soul. And the reason he had to suffer
bodily is this. We have dishonored God in the
flesh, with our bodies. We've been disobedient with our
hands, with our eyes, with our minds, with our ears, with our
feet, We have sinned physically. We've
committed actions against God that were wrong and are wrong. In fact, our sins of the flesh,
while we've been committing them all the way back to our days
is childhood. And it's like you go back You
go back to your earliest childhood, there's an endless caravan of
sins you've committed in the flesh. And they just keep on,
it's almost like an infinite line, an infinite caravan. Here they all lined up right
from the beginning here, and they continued to go. And they'll
go, you'll continue sinning against God physically, physically up
until your death. And that's why our Lord Jesus
had to suffer physically. Because we have sinned physically
against God. By divine appointment. He must suffer the excruciating
agonies of the cross of shame. You remember how Adam and Eve
were naked? And after Adam's sin, he was
ashamed. He was ashamed before God. And our Lord Jesus, He's got
to suffer the shame, the shame of sin. It's been charged to
His account. He is responsible. And as our
first parents stood naked and trembling before a holy God,
so our Savior must Himself bear our shame in His own body on
the tree. And there He hangs naked before
the eyes of men and before the eyes of God. And he had to bear the physical
anguish that he endured. But there's more to his sufferings
than just the physical agonies. Because yes, we've rebelled against
God with sinful thoughts. That's part of the flesh. Sinful
motives, all of these things. But we've also rebelled against
God in our hearts. And really, that's the reason
for the outward sins, isn't that right? That's the reason for
the outward disobedience to the laws and commands of God, is
that inward sinfulness. We've rebelled against Him. Our
souls have been alienated from God. alienated from Him by sin that's
unseen by others, but very much seen by God. Before others, before you, and
you before me, we appear to be decent, upstanding men and women
who love the Savior. But before a holy God, He knows
what we are by nature. that our souls are polluted.
There's a depravity issue within us. We're filled with the pollution
of sin so that all that we do is corrupted. The Lord said through the pen
of Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 1 in verse 5 concerning Israel, why
should you be stricken anymore? You will revolt more and more.
The whole head is sick. It's diseased. And the whole
heart is faint. It's indescribably unwell. Unwell. And this is what he's
talking about. It isn't the outward actual sins
that people might see, but that inward guilt and pollution that
God sees. Those are sins from the soul,
from the heart. Therefore, our Lord Jesus must
suffer in His soul. And that's where the Father enters
into the picture. Now, of course, the Father had
the soldiers punish Him physically. And He had to have that. It could
not be that He only suffer in His soul. He must suffer in His
body. Listen, when people perish in
their sins and of course they meet God at the judgment, they
meet the Son of God at the judgment, He will join body and soul back
together and people will go to hell body and soul. Isn't that right? Because they've
sinned against God in their bodies and in their souls. And if we
are to be delivered from that kind of punishment, then the
one who represented us must suffer bodily. And he did. And he must suffer in his soul.
That's what it's gonna take to save us. He can't bypass the
cross. He can't bypass either the physical
suffering or the soul suffering. Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 10
says, it pleased the Lord to bruise him. Well, how did God
bruise him? He bruised him inwardly. He bruised
him in his heart. He bruised him in his soul. He
bruised him in his innermost being. The prophet is setting forth
the inward sufferings of Christ Jesus and he tells us these were
divinely inflicted. This is a penal death. There's
nothing pleasant about it. There are the agonies outwardly
and there's the agonies inwardly. And He is the suffering Savior.
You know this about our Savior. He often spoke, He referred to
His Father, and other times He referred to His God. When he
referred to his father, he's speaking of the one with whom
he's equal. And so he says to Mary, he says,
stop clinging to me. I go to my father and your father. Oh, that's blessed. But he also
said, I go to my God and your God. He says that is the servant. And so on the cross of Calvary,
one of the seven saints of our Savior, you hear him saying,
Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. He's
saying that is one who is equal with God. Because you remember
in John chapter 5 when he says, my father worketh hitherto and
I work. The Jews understood that he was
saying, I'm equal with the Father. I'm equal with God. But when
the father forsakes him, when the father abandons him upon
the cross of Calvary, he doesn't say, my father, my father, why
hast thou forsaken me? No, he speaks as the forsaken
servant of Jehovah. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? And the reason that we will never
be forsaken is because the Lord Jesus was God's faithful servant,
His righteous servant, who rendered exact obedience to all of His
demands, and who suffered in His body
and in His soul. Now, I bring you now to really
the last part of this message, but I've actually given the message
this title. Why did Jesus die? Why did Jesus
suffer, bleed, and die? Who did it? That is, who killed Jesus? There's
a book that was actually put out, I'm gonna say a couple of years
ago, And it had that title, Who Killed Jesus? Well, I'll give
you several answers. Who killed Jesus? Well, Judas
did, because he sold his blood. He sold him for money. Oh, how
horrible was the sin of that disciple. Our Lord had assigned
to him a trusted position among the apostles. In fact, there's a remarkable
verse in Psalm 41, 9. Our Savior said, yea, mine own
familiar friend in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath
lifted up his heel against me. My own familiar friend, my close
friend. Actually, one translation reads,
one of my best friends. Another reads, my peaceful friend. Yet another reads, the man with
whom I had no differences. I was at peace with him. Our Lord took Judas into his
confidence. Judas, like the other 11, heard
the Master's private instructions reserved just for the 12. And our Lord was a real man. He had emotions that were not
contaminated by sin, but he had human emotions. He wept. mentions him as being a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief. Christ gave to Judas a high position
and he even said, a man whom I trusted. I tell you, whenever you place
great confidence in someone and someone betrays that confidence
and trust and they prove at last not to be that close friend that
you thought they were. You feel that deep in your soul,
don't you? You feel that deep in your heart.
So did the master. So did the Lord Jesus. They ate
together. The Lord provided food for him.
Why, even when he was indicating to Judas that he knew what he
was up to. And the Lord had said, one of you
is going to betray me. And Peter said to John, ask him
who? And John said, Master, who is
it? The Savior said, the one with
whom I'll dip a sop. And he put a piece of bread in.
to the bowl of whatever it was. And Judas did at the same time.
They broke bread together. And he went out and betrayed
him. Sold him for 30 pieces of silver. The scripture says there, he
will lift up his heel against me. not merely turn his back
on him, but like a horse, he'll kick him and injure him. Who killed Jesus? Well, Judas. Certainly his name needs to be
mentioned. The Sanhedrin, they did so by
demanding his blood. These were the men who spent
their lives studying the scriptures. They read the Old Testament every
day. A day never began but what they
didn't read, the word of God. They were students of the Bible.
They knew the promises made to Abraham of the promised seed. They knew the son of David would
come, Messiah. They knew the prophets wrote
a Messiah. And they knew something of the
necessity of the sacrifice of animals, the shedding of blood
for remission of sin. They knew these things because
they participated in these things throughout the years. And yet when Jesus of Nazareth
began His public ministry, And though all of these pieces were
before them, born in Bethlehem, and all these other prophecies
were being fulfilled, it's like here are all the pieces of the
puzzle. And to you and me, because the
Spirit of God has given us understanding, we see how those pieces fit together,
don't we? But they couldn't see it. They
couldn't see it. They had ears, but they refused
to hear. They had eyes, but they refused
to see. And they found Him guilty of blasphemy. And at last, when Pilate said
to them, well, it's tradition that I release to you a prisoner. Well, you say, I release Him. and not Barabbas. They said,
release Barabbas, who was a known murderer, a convicted felon. Well, what shall I do with Jesus
who is called the Christ? Crucify him, crucify him. Who
killed Jesus? They did. Who killed Jesus? Who shed his
blood, Judas, by selling his blood, as it were, the Sanhedrin
by demanding it, and the people who consented to his death. They demanded his death. And
when Pilate said, I find no fault in this man, and then Pilate
washed his hands and he said, I'm innocent of the blood of
this man. You know what all the people said? His blood be on
us and on our children. Oh, what a curse. It's still
on the nation. After all these years. There's
a blindness over them, a covering over them, and they can't see.
This is the judicial reprobation of God. Who killed Jesus? Well, Pilate. He ordered his death. What a
spineless man. He kept saying, I find no fault
in this man. He's innocent. But then he said,
I washed my hands of it. I'm innocent of the blood of
this man who killed Jesus, the soldiers, by actually crucifying. And after they'd nailed him to
a cross, they sit down and said, we say let's gamble a little
bit. Let's roll the dice for his coat. Winner take all. Who killed Jesus? Well, in a sense, the Lord took his
own life. Because the scripture says, he
poured out his soul unto death. For I quoted the verse, he said,
no man takes my life from me. Well, how is it that he's going
to die? He will will His own death. It's the only way He could die. You're talking about a willing
victim. I know the Scripture says there's
a lamb that is led to the slaughter. And as a sheep before her shearers
is dumb, so He opened not His mouth, but He was not ignorant
of that which awaited Him. It was for this purpose He came
into the world. He knew full well that which
He had to endure, and He went forth as our Savior, and He volunteered
to lay down His life for us. He agreed to this. Why, He agreed
to this in the covenant of grace. Who killed Jesus? We did. We did. Our sins. You want to know why he had to
die? Your sins. My sins. All the sins of all of his people
of all of the ages. Because without the shedding
of blood, there is no remission of sin. Because what can wash away my
sin? What can wash away your sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. I'll give you one more. Who killed
Jesus? God did. God did it. He used these others. They were
all pawns in His hand. As are all of us. It's God Himself
who manipulated, who directed, who authorized, who ordained
all of the things that would happen to His Son. Because it
was the Father who chose a people unto salvation. And it was the
Father who appointed His Son. to be the sacrifice for our sin. And His own Son said, here I
am, Father, send Me. I willingly go. And so we read, and I'll close with
this, if you care to turn to it, in Acts chapter 4. And so we read in Acts chapter
4, Peter and John have been released
from prison and commanded not to preach anymore. And they went
back to their own company. They went back to the other saints
of God. Then, the people of God began
to quote what is set forth in the second psalm. Let me begin reading in verse
23. And being let go, they went to their own company. They reported
all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. And
when they had heard that, they lifted up their voice to God
with one accord, all of them together. And they said, Lord,
thou art God. which hath made heaven and earth
and the sea and all that in them is, who by the mouth of thy servant
David in Psalm 2 hath said, Why did the heathen rage, and the
people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood
up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ, for of a truth against thy holy child Jesus,
whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with
the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined, that
is, decreed, foreordained, predestinated before to be done. Who did it? God did it. He did it because He loved the
people from all eternity. And this was the only way whereby
we would be saved. By the physical sufferings and
death of the Lord Jesus, and by his soul sufferings." Oh,
what a Savior. What a Savior. Let's sing as
our closing hymn tonight, number 477 at Calvary.