Thank you, Brother Frank. I've
got the wool pulled over a lot of people's eyes. Well, I won't take much time. I don't want to wear you. But
I want you to look at my text this morning over in Acts chapter
4, if you will. Acts chapter 4. I spent a day
or two with Bob and Sally. I'm up for soul go, and I'm so
thankful I was privileged to do that. Oh, such a blessed man. I want to read a few verses to
you in Acts chapter 4, beginning here in verse 23. Acts chapter
4 and verse 23. And being let go, these apostles
were there before the Sanhedrin, threatened them, finally let
them go. And being let go, they went to
their own country and reported all that the chief priests and
elders had said unto them. And when they heard that, they
lifted up their voice to God with one accord and 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 hath said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people
imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood
up, they took their stand. The rulers were gathered together
against the Lord and against His Christ. For all the 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 before to be done." I want you to think
on this subject with me this morning. Who killed Jesus many
years ago? There is no doubt in any of our
minds, it is so plain in the scripture and even they tell
us in Roman history that Jesus of Nazareth did indeed die. And
we know how he died, don't we? He died the death of crucifixion.
He was crucified upon the cross outside the old walls of the
city of Jerusalem. And he yielded up to They knew
he was dead. His friends wrapped him in gray
clothes with a napkin about his face and put him in a tomb. And there he lay for three days
and three nights and then raised. The Father raised him from the
dead, raised himself from the dead. I have power to lay my
life down. I have power to take it up again.
And he was seen of over 500 witnesses at one time. and ate with them
and preached to them, and then ascended back to heaven at the
right hand of his Father, where he presently resides, reigning
over all things for the glory of his people, and shall reign
until he has put all of his enemies under his feet." Christ died. Who is responsible for his death? Now, there are people who believe,
as well as you and I believe, that Christ died. But for some
reason or another, they don't want to look and examine to see
who is responsible for the death of the Son of God. Pat McGinnis,
some of you may know him. He was a song leader for years
at Vermont, over here in West Virginia. He used to sing this
song, Who Killed Jesus Many Years Ago? Who is guilty of a crime
so low? Why did he have to die? What
is the reason why? Who killed Jesus? I would like
to know. I want to know this morning.
Who is responsible for the death of the Son of God? And this song
that Pat used to sing asked this question. Was it the Roman soldiers
with their tools of war? driving nails through hands that
did no wrong, mocking and abusing, crowning him with thorns. All
the evidence is very strong. Was it Pontius Pilate? He was
governor, trying to decide the case that day, finding that the
Savior had no fault of his own. Was he guilty when he turned
away? Was it the Hebrew children proud
of who they were, shouting, crucify him at their king, trading their
Messiah for a common thief, rebelling against the kingdom Christ would
bring? Who killed Jesus many years ago? Our text here lists different
groups of people that were involved in this. He tells us there in verse 26
the reason for their doing so. The kings of the earth stood
up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against His Christ. You and I have often heard how
Christ saves men of all different ages and cultures and nationalities
and brings them together in unity. gives them peace one with another.
How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together
in unity. Well, you know there's a sense,
too, in which his enemies are brought together in unity because
they hate him. Here was such, Peter tells us,
such diverse groups. They were brought together and
their common interest was one. They hated him. They were against
the Lord and against His Christ and were told here especially
two groups, the Gentiles were the people of Israel. Now can
you think of two more opposing nationalities than the Gentiles
and the people of Israel? The Gentiles looked upon the
Jews as nothing but self-righteous, self-serving hypocrites. They
condemned the Gentiles for the same sins that they themselves
committed. And they looked upon them with
disgust and mistrust. They hated the Jewish nation.
That's why the Jews were always having to fight to exist as a
nation. They were hated. But the Jews,
look how they hated the Gentiles. They counted them as dogs, devil
worshippers. And they wouldn't even have any
company with them. Not allowed to sit and eat with them. But
here they're made friends, and their common interest is one. They were gathered together against
the Lord and against His Christ. And we're told here about another
couple. Here's Herod and Pontus Pilate. Herod the king, Pontus
Pilate the governor. The scripture tells us that for
some reason or another, these two men hated each other. They were at enmity. They disliked
each other. They were feuded. But they were
brought together in friendship because they were brought together
against Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. And the scripture
tells us this, when Pilate had sent the Lord Jesus to Herod,
they were made friends together because before they were at enmity
one with another. And the occasion for this makeup
was their hatred, their enmity against the very Son of God.
If you want to read, I won't turn over there. I don't want
to take your time to turn over there. But sometimes if you want
to read in Luke chapter 23 concerning Herod's responsibility in the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ, we're told two things about the
judgment of Herod. Two things about that man. The
Lord Jesus called him a fox, didn't he? That fox. You go tell that fox. The Lord Jesus, as a man, belonged
to Herod's jurisdiction. Herod had the right to judge
him as a man. That's why Pilate sent him to
Herod. That's the first thing. But the second thing, this was
said about Herod, that he found no fault in him that he should
be put to death. He had the right to judge him,
and having the right to judge him, he had the responsibility
to judge him justly and lawfully. And he found no fault of death
in him. Why then did he not let him go? He was under his jurisdiction, but he sent him back to Pilate.
Why did he do that? He counted his friendship with
Pilate worth more than the judgment against a righteous man. Who
is responsible for the death of the Lord Jesus Christ? Herod. Herod. Brothers and sisters,
I tell you, this is not the first politician And he won't be the
last that's abused the person and the name and the people and
the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what Daniel said about
politicians. He said God raises up the nations. He rules in the nations and he
sets over them the basest sort of people. Isn't that amazing? Why does God set base people
over nations? It's to show you and me that
politicians are not the ones that keeps the nations. Why don't
He set godly men? Why don't He set wise men over
the nations? They'd get the glory for keeping
a nation. Who's kept this great nation of ours? Politicians. He sets these base men up. And
then he comes to us and says, pray for them. Pray for them. Because they've
got their own political corrupt ends that they seek. And God
upholds the nation in spite of them. God have mercy upon us,
brothers and sisters. If our well-being and our existence
and our life depends upon politicians, Here was a politician and he
was implicated in the death of the Son of God. Why? Because he hated the Lord Jesus
Christ. Look right quickly, just over
to your left, concerning Pilate. Who killed Jesus many years ago? Peter was preaching to the Jews
in Acts chapter 13, and he said Pilate was determined to let
Christ go. And I think Peter probably realized
that because he was there for some of the trial, listening
to it, observing it, and hearing people talk. And he realized
that Pilate was determined to let Christ go. He wanted to let
him go. Didn't want to find him guilty
and crucify him. Six times here in the eighteenth
chapter, in the nineteenth chapter of John, you find Pilate desiring
to release the Lord Jesus Christ. If you want to read it, you can
begin in verse twenty-eight of chapter eighteen of John, and
you see there in that chapter Pilate determined to let Him
go, wanting to let Him go, wanting to let Him go. And then we start in verse 19.
He's still disheartened to let him in chapter 19. And look in
verse 1. John 19. Then Pilate therefore
took Jesus and scourged him, and the soldiers plaited the
crown of thorns and put it on his head. They put on him a purple
robe and said, Hail, King of the Jews. And they smote him
with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again
and said unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you. that you may
know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth wearing
the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and Pilate said unto them,
Behold the man." Now I wonder why Pilate did this. He did it
for two reasons, I think. He scourged the Lord Jesus. He
whipped Him. He had Him whipped. And he did
this for two reasons. One, he wanted to appeal, if
there was any sense of justice in these Jews, that this was
a righteous man. Scourging was a form of interrogation. They asked you questions. Who
you are? What are you about? What have
you done? And when they laid the whip upon your back, you
answered truthfully. Here he brings him out and says,
I have scourged him. I find no fault in this man.
Therefore, justice says let him go. Justice says let him go. And then in verse 5, there is
another reason for him scourging him. He comes out here in verse
5 and he says, Behold the man. Can you imagine the Son of God
standing there with blood running down His crown? Weak, tired,
Maybe with somewhat of a fearful look on his human face. Is that
a king? Pilate said. They call him a
king? You're afraid of him as your
king? He's a man. He's a humiliated man. I will release him and let him
go. Over and over again, I will release
him and let him go. And what did they finally say?
If you release him, You're not Caesar's friend. You're not Caesar's
friend. It's a dreadful thing to be in
leadership, ain't it? A dreadful thing to be in leadership.
Sometimes you see young men wanting to become pastors. And I want
to tell them, oh God have mercy on you. You see these fellows
wanting to get into political offices and make laws, and these
other fellows running for office to enforce laws, and judges wanting
to sit on benches. God have mercy upon a man that
has the position to rule over another man. It's a fearful thing to be a
pastor, is it not? Obey them that have the rule
over you. For they watch for your souls,
as they that must give account." We must leave our pulpits and
go up to heaven and give account how we watched over men's souls. But do these politicians or these
governors exempt from such an account? He was a man that left
this judgment and condemned the righteous Son of God, but he
has to go up now to heaven and give them an account, and he
cannot wash the blood that is there upon his guilty hands. It is a fearful thing, Brother
David, to rule over other men in a spiritual realm or in a
secular realm. One may ask the question, why
was Pilate? What was he to do? What was he
to do? If he released the Lord Jesus
Christ, he may bring Caesar's wrath upon him. If he released
Christ, there may be a turmoil among the people. This is the answer to that. What risk? What risk is not worth
running for the truth? What is truth? There He stands. You're looking at Him. He's in
arm's reach of you. Will you court Caesar's friendship
and lose the truth? Out of the fear of turmoil, will
you bow and judge a righteous man to be guilty? Will you lose
the truth? What is truth worth? What's it worth? Worth everything,
is it not? If we don't have truth, we have
nothing. Give up the truth and we've lost all. Who killed Jesus many years ago? Pilate was guilty. Herod was
guilty. There's another group that's
guilty. The song, Ask It, was it the
Roman soldiers? Look over here with me, just
on to your left in a couple of more books, in Mark chapter 15.
Was it the soldiers? In Mark chapter 15. And look in verse 15. Mark chapter 15 and verse 15. Look at this, So Pilate, willing
to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered
Jesus, when he had scourged him to be crucified. And the soldiers
led him away unto the hall called Peitrim, and they called together
the whole band. And they clothed him with purple,
and plaited a crown of thorns, and put it about his head, and
began to salute him. saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote him on the head
with the reed, and did spit upon him, bowing their knees, worshipped
him." Now, somebody might ask the question, weren't these soldiers
just fulfilling their obligation to obey? It goes deeper than
that, doesn't it? I think if you read the text
closely, you realize that Pilate had never commanded these men
to do this. He commanded him to be scourged. Why did they take the time to
plait a crown of thorns? Why did they take the time to
strip his robe and look upon the nakedness of Jesus Christ? Why did they put a mocking robe
upon him and bow the knee before him? Why was it necessary to
drive the crown of thorns down upon his head? It wasn't that
they were obeying orders. They were being motivated by
the enmity of their hearts. And it was the whole band. They
weren't content for three or four to carry out this order. It was said here the whole band
was gathered together. And why? enmity against the Lord and against
His Christ. Do we ever read that one soldier
lifted up his voice in protest? Do we ever read that one said,
I will not partake of this? Not one time do we read such
a thing. One may be as much condemned
for his silence and inaction against an evil deed as his participation
in it. I was watching a documentary
the other night where in World War II we'd gone into
Poland and our armed forces gathered the
citizens of that country and made them come out and carry
the decapitated bodies. of those Jews and bury them. And the general that was there
got the town together and said, You remain silent. You would not lift up your voice. Now you bear the blame and you
bear the shame. Martin Luther said if men will
not stand for that truth that is under attack in their day,
then they are just as guilty as those who attack it. And here
these soldiers, the whole band, was gathered together against
the Lord and against His Christ. And all of them are guilty, are
they not? They are guilty. Who killed Jesus
many years ago? Our text gives us another group,
doesn't it? And the people of Israel. Herod, Pontius Pilate, the soldiers,
and the people of Israel. It was in 1965, Roman Catholicism
got their little holy seed together, and they exonerated the Jewish
nation in the of Jesus of Nazareth. You may misrepresent history.
You may even rewrite history, but you can't rescind it. The
Holy Spirit never once exonerated the Jewish nation from the death
of the Son of As we begin to read the book of Acts, the first
thing you'll see when the Holy Spirit fills those apostles,
the first thing they said was things like this, you have taken
and by wicked hands you have crucified and slain. And the first six chapters, they
are confronted with the death of the Son of God. Does that
mean we hate those people? Well, I know that doesn't mean
we hate them. We're not excusing them either. The people of Israel
killed him. And Paul said they killed the
Lord Jesus. They killed their own prophets.
They persecute us. They are contrary to all men.
And the wrath of God has come upon them to the uttermost. It is my hope. It is not even
my understanding of the Scriptures. I do not know. But it is my hope. Charles Spurgeon said he would
regather those people and save them. If he does, it will be
by Christ. They will look upon him whom
they pierced. It won't be by rebuilding temples
and reinstituting the Levitical priesthood. It will be just like
he saves you and just like he saves me. And I live in the hope
of that, that that nation would be humbled. for the last 2,000
years, brothers and sisters, that blood has been upon them.
And not in a way of redemption, but in a way of judgment. His
blood be on us and on our children. You better be careful. You better
be careful. Boy, it's easy to brag when you've
got your enemy under your feet, isn't it? It's easy at most when
you're healthy and strong. Oh, but the wrath of God came
upon that nation. Who killed Jesus? The people
of Israel. Look back in my text right quickly,
and I won't keep you too much longer, but look back in my text
because the Apostle Peter here didn't stop there in verse 28.
Look at this. For to do whatsoever thy hand
and thy counsel determined before should be done. Who was responsible
for the death of the Lord Jesus Christ? Here it tells us that
God was. That God was. Peter. Peter finally saw this. He obviously saw this and now
he can't get away from it. Remember when the Lord Jesus
told him that said, I'm going to be betrayed. I'm going to
the cross. I'm going to raise again, and
Peter said, Lord, you can't do that. Be that far from you. He
didn't understand that Christ had came to suffer and die. Finally,
the Lord opens his heart, and then in chapter 2, he preaches
this very same thing. You have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain, but you've done the very thing
which God had purposed all along to be done. And here he comes
to it again. He finally sees that God's purpose
all along was the redeeming death of his Son, the Lord Jesus. And
he can't get over it. He can't get over it. Every time
now he prays, every time he preaches, he brings it out in his message. God has an eternal purpose, does
he not? A few years ago, I guess it was
the fundamentalists that came up with this thing about somewhere
or another things got out of the Lord's control when he was
here. He'd come to set up an earthly kingdom and present himself
as a king and he was rejected and he had to revert to Plan
B. And thank God they said he had
an alternative route to take. But what's he telling us here?
No, no, no. He tells us two things. God's
purpose. God's determinate counsel. It was His purpose all along.
Brother Don told us this morning, didn't he? Go back yonder before
He laid the foundations of the world. Go back in the heart of
God as far as your faith can soar. And there you see Jesus
Christ in the very mind and heart and purpose of God. And He's
a lamb. as it had been slain from the
very foundation of the world. You come here in Genesis and
your Bible in chapter 3 and verse 15, he begins to reveal something
of his purpose. And what is it? That the Son
of God would be born of a woman. He would be the seed of a woman.
And then we keep going and he reveals more of his counsel that
he would be the seed of Abraham. He would be of the tribe of Judah.
He would be of the house of David. He would be born to the Virgin.
He would be a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. Then you
go there on Mount Moriah. Abraham finding that realm and
affected it, he makes this wonderful promise, Son, God will provide
Himself the Lamb. and from Mount Moriah to Mount
Calvary where the Son of God hangs in our humanity, bruised
and bleeding and lifeless upon the cross. And what God is telling
us all along, this is my purpose. This is what I've determined.
It's no accident. It's no plan B. It's not an alternative
route. It's the very way that I've purposed
from all eternity to redeem my people. God's counsel. Isn't that a blessing to think
of that? Yes, they were guilty. These men were guilty. They meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good. And out of their meanness and
out of their wickedness came our redemption. Isn't God a wise
God? Isn't He a wise God? Said something else here too,
didn't he? Not only his counsel, but look at this, his hand. For
to do whatsoever thy hand. Oh, God had a hand in the death of
the Son of God. He had a hand. He did something
that no man could do. God had a hand. Oh, it was a
heavy hand on our Master. It was more severe than any stroke
man gave him. The stroke that justice gave.
On him eternal vengeance fell that would have crushed this
world to hell. And where did that vengeance come from? Whose
vengeance was it? Oh, he said, your hand hath pressed
me sore. You brought me to the dust of
death. All your waves and your billows have gone over me. God did something that nobody
but God could do. I love to think of this. Don
mentioned it this morning. When God gathered all the sins,
all the wicked thoughts, all the foolish thoughts, all the
unbelief of His people from all times, He searched every crack
and every crevice. He made sure with His all-seeing
eye there was no sin left. He gathered it all up and He
put it upon in the body and the soul of His dear and blessed
Son upon the cross. Who can do that but God? Thankful He did it, aren't you?
If He leaves our sins upon us, brothers and sisters, we die. We die the death ourselves. But
He didn't do that, did He? Thank God He didn't do that.
He put them on His Son, His dear and blessed Son, in a most real
sin. Oh, I agree with Don this morning. This was a pretense. How could He do that before we
were born to know our sins and take them? He's God. And only
He can do that. And He lovingly did it. And Jesus
Himself said, You know my foolishness. My foolishness? Lord Jesus, You're
the wisdom of God. But I've got Your foolishness.
My sin is not hid from You. And all brothers and sisters,
He not only bore them, He bore all the effects of them. The
guilt of them. The weight of them. The corruption
of them. And He bore the stroke. The jolt. That's why he prayed in the garden.
Oh, Father, let this cup. This cup. What was in that cup? Sometimes, get your concordance
and study about the cup of God's fury. The cup of His indignation. In that cup, there's a mixture.
But it's not a mixture of good and evil. It's all that's evil. Luther said it was all that was
in God's bad side. His anger, His wrath, His hostility
against sin. And when He looks upon His Son,
He sees sin nowhere else but in Him. And He says, I'm going
to punish it. And that's what He does. That's
what the cross is about, isn't it? That's what the cross is
about. You and I are saved, brothers
and sisters, in such a way that divine justice called for our
eternal salvation. And divine justice forbids the
stroke of God to ever be upon us again, because it's been laid
upon His Son by God Himself. God didn't sweep our sins under
the rug. God didn't lessen our sins. He
punished our sins to the fullest extent of the law and justice. And when the Lord Jesus says
it is finished, sin is no more. Someone said, and I often repeat
it, the only way the believer is allowed to consider his sins,
even while he confesses And what he weeps over them is that 2,000
years ago they were purged. That they were washed away in
the history of our world. One man upon a cross purged our
sins away by himself. Isn't that wonderful? Who was responsible for the death
of the Son of God? God Himself was. God himself
was. And out of that came our eternal
life and our reconciliation to God, our redemption. Two more things and I'll close.
Think of this. Who was responsible for the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ? He himself. He himself. No man takes my life
from me. No man takes my life. You've
got no power against me. You can't touch me. The Lord
Jesus Christ would have still been living among us if he had
not willingly laid down his life. He gave himself to God for us. There has never been a more deliberate
act A more willing act, a more loving act than the Son of God
laying down His life upon the cross of Calvary. Who killed
Him? He gave Himself. He gave Himself. And He says, greater love hath
no man than this, that a man lay down his life. I'm laying
down my life for you, my friends. And lastly, consider this. Let
me go back to this song that Pat used to sing, because this
is the last verse. When I think of Jesus and the
way He died, how upon Him all my sins were lain. All the other
people fade away from view. It's for me the sacrifice was
slain. I no longer wonder any more.
I have found that which I have been seeking for. My sins demanded
hell. On Him the judgment fell. I am
guilty." Now it is plain to see it was
really me. Are we willing to sit and take
a part in His death? Are we willing to take our place
as an ungodly person and say he died for the ungodly? Are
we willing to say with the old hymn writer, "'Twas you my sins,
my cruel sins,' his chief tormentors were. Each of my crimes became
the nail, unbelief the spear." If we won't take a part in his
death, we can't have a part in his redemption. Died He for me who caused His
pain? Me who Him to death pursued? I am responsible. My sins took
Him there. My sins put Him upon the cross. My sins caused His agony. But
we can look out of our guilt, can't we? We can look out of
our desperation. And we can look to Him whom we
pierce. And when we see Him expiring
in our spirit, all the guilt, all the judgments consumed in
redeeming love, bless His holy name. Thank you, pastor.