Acts chapter 4, and I want to begin reading here
in verse 26. This is a statement that David
had made in the book of Psalms chapter
2. And Peter and the other apostles gathered here with the Church
quoted this in the Scriptures. Acts chapter 4 verse 26. It's
concerning the sufferings and the death of our Lord Jesus,
and here's what he said. The kings of the earth stood
up, and rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy
child, thy holy Son Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Harry,
Pontius Pilate, and the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were
gathered together. For to do whatsoever thy hand
and thy counsel determined before to be done." Now, I want to look
this morning that who's responsible for the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I have this old, old psalm
that I want to read to you. It says, Who killed Jesus many,
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. And that's why I want to listen
to this this morning for myself. I want to know. And three of
the verses says this. Was it Roman soldiers with their
tools of war, driving males 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 Hebrew children proud
of who they were, shouting crucify him at their king, trading their
Messiah for a common thief, turning down the kingdom he would bring? We know the Lord Jesus Christ
came into this earth. We know he had a body like ours,
flesh and bones, sin accepted. We know he went about doing good,
pleasing God, fulfilling the law of God. And we know he died. Even human history tells us that
Jesus Christ died. We know how he died. He was crucified
on a cross, outside what then was the walls of the city of
Jerusalem there in Israel. And we know that they buried
him in a tomb near to where they crucified him. And after three
days and three nights that he arose from the dead, was with
his apostles, many of his disciples, for forty days. And then he ascended,
he ascended through this vast universe, he ascended, sat down
at the right hand of the authority, of the power, the right hand
of God on high. And while many would agree with
all of that and profess that, yet for some reason or another,
they're either very weary or leery of examining the scriptures
to see who is responsible for the death of Jesus of Nazareth. But I want you to go to the scriptures
this morning and look with you. Who killed Jesus a long time
ago? Who is responsible for the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ? And we have it here in verses
26, and in verse 27, and in verse 28. Now, it's been said that
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ brings all manner of people
together. It unites them together. All nationalities, all cultures,
all races, families. He unites all manner of people
together in faith, and love, and in fellowship. The gospel
does that. But here we see also the gospel
brings together those who were before enemies, and it unites
them together against the Lord Jesus Christ and His cause. That's
the first thing we see in this passage. We have here these two
cultures, these two nations, these two people. We're told
here that the Jews and the Gentiles. The people of Israel and the
Gentiles were gathered together. Here are two nations that abhorred
each other. They despised each other. The
Gentiles looked upon the Jews as a weak, religious, superstitious
group of people, and they despised them. And they loved that any
time they had the opportunity to remind them that you're under
our rule. You're under the Caesar, our
king. They hated the Jews. And the
Jews, in turn, looked upon the Gentiles as dogs and sinners. They avoided them. They would
not let their children marry them. They would not eat with
them. They despised the Gentiles. Here's two nations that hated
each other. But the Holy Spirit said here,
they were gathered together. They joined hand in hand against
God and against Jesus. The Gospel unites people. In
the cause and for the glory of Christ. But I tell you, the gospel
does something else. It unites enemies against Christ
at His cross. And here we're told something
else. We're told Herod and Pontius Pilate, they were innocent. And I want you to look at this
with me. Look over here. Take your Bibles, and you'll
need your Bibles this morning. But look with me in Luke chapter
23. The Holy Spirit says here in
our text that Herod and Caesar were gathered together against
the Lord and against his Christ. Look in Luke chapter 23 and begin
here in verse 4. Luke chapter 23 and verse 4. Let's see Herod's responsibility
in this. Look in verse 4. Here's where
the Lord Jesus had been brought by the Jews before the judgment
of Pilate. And then said Pilate to the chief
priest and to the people, I find no fault in this man, in the
Lord Jesus. And they were the more fierce,
saying, he stirred up the people, teaching throughout all Jerusalem,
beginning from Galilee to this place. And when Pilate heard
that he was of Galilee, he asked whether this man was a Galilean,
and as soon as he knew that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction,
he sent him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem at that
time. And when Harry saw Jesus, he
was exceedingly glad, for he was desirous to see him of a
long season, because he heard many things of him, and he hoped
to have seen some miracle done by him. Then he questioned with
him in many words, but the Lord answered him nothing." And the
chief priests and the scribes stood and vehemently accused
him. And Herod, with his men of war, set him at naught, and
mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him
away to Pilate. And the same day Pilate and Herod
were made friends together, for before they were enmity between
themselves." See what Christ does. He not only joins men together,
but he divides. He divides and he gathers. He
divides and he gathers. And verse 13, Pilate, when he
had called together the chief priests and the rulers of the
people, said unto them, Ye have brought this man to me as one
that perverts the people. And behold, I have examined him
before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things
whereof ye accused him. No, nor yet, Herod, for I sent
you to him, and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto
him." Now, Herod is here, we're told,
in verse 7 of this chapter, was over the jurisdiction of Galilee. And when the Lord Jesus was sent
there to be examined of him, it was up to Herod either to
send him back to Pilate or to put him to death or to release
him. The responsibility was laid squarely on Herod's shoulders. He was responsible. And we're
told here by Olive himself And I imagine he had a note sent
from Harriet or someone had told him that Harriet finds no fault
in this man. What should he have done? He
should have released him and should have let him go. Why didn't
he? The Holy Spirit tells us why
he did it. There's only one cause that he did it. He was gathered
together against God and against Christ. Harry is responsible. You know these two rulers here
aren't the first men that use the name of the Lord
Jesus and His cause to further their political careers. We have
that going on today, don't we? These two men joined together
against Jesus Christ to further their cause. It's going on today. It's going on today. Who was
responsible? Harry was responsible. He should
have released him. He should have let him go. He
was under his jurisdiction. He said, I find no fault in this
man. Look in John chapter 18. Let's consider Harry. Let's consider
Pilate, just for a minute. Look in John's Gospel, chapter
18. Who killed Jesus? Who's responsible? Harry was against him. Peter
tells us in his message in Acts 3 that Pilate tried to release
the Lord. He was determined to let him
go. And we can see this here in John 18, the different times
that Pilate sought to release him. I want you to look at this
with me. There's a lesson in this. Look
at verse 28 of John 18. This is after they'd captured
the Lord Jesus and had him there in the chief priest's house,
and they smote him and mocked him. Then led they Jesus from
Caiaphas unto the hall of the judgment, and it was early, and
they themselves went not unto the judgment hall, lest they
should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. Pilate then went out unto them,
and said, What accusation bring ye against this man? I want to
hear the charges." And they answered and said unto him, if he were
not an evildoer, if he were not a criminal, a malefactor, we
would not have delivered him unto thee. And what they're simply
saying is, we don't need to bring charges. If he had been a criminal,
we'd have never brought him to you to begin with. The fact that
we brought him to you is enough for you to know. We brought him
here for you to give permission and put him to death. And you
don't need to know the judgment. It's enough. It's enough that
we brought him here as a criminal. Then said Pilate unto them, Take
ye him and judge him according to your law then. If you're so
convinced he's guilty, And you're not telling me what crimes that
he's committed, then you take him and you kill him. You judge
him. How though? Already was determined
to let him go. Already. Already. He said, I don't want anything
to do with it. You take him yourself. You take him. Judge him according to the law,
for the Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us
to put any man to death, that the saying of Jesus might be
fulfilled which he spake, signifying what death he would die." That's
the first time he sought to release him. You take him and you judge
him. Look in verse 33, here's the second time. Then Pilate
went into the judgment hall again and called Jesus and said unto
him, Art thou the King of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Thou
sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did somebody else tell it
thee of me? Thou have answered, I am, am I a Jew? Thine own nation
and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou
done? Jesus said it to him." Brother
Larry quoted this verse this morning. My kingdom is not of
this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
then would my servants find that I should not be delivered to
the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate therefore
said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou saith
that I am the king. To this cause was I born, and
to this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness
unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth
heareth me, and I will say unto him what is truth. And when he
hath said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and said unto
them, I find no fault in him at all. But ye have a custom
that I should release unto you one at the Passover. Will ye
therefore that I release unto you the king of the Jews?' And
they cried out again, saying, Not this man, but the rabbis
who was a murderer." That's the second time he tried to release
him. I find no fault in him. This is an innocent man. And
therefore he thought, surely they'll release him. But they did. And now look at
chapter 19. Read on in chapter 19. Here's
another place. Here's the third time. And the soldiers planted a crown
of thorns and put it on his head, and 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 ye may
know that I find no falsehood in him. Then came Jesus forth,
wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said
unto him, Behold the man." Pilate did this for two reasons. He
did this for two reasons. He scorched the Lord Jesus. That
was a type of interrogation. If you were guilty, you were
going to admit it. Because they whipped you. They
whipped you. They interrogated you with a
whip. They whipped you first, then they asked you. And then
they whipped you again. And Pilate thought no doubt within
himself, I'll appeal to their sense of justice. If I bring
him back out here and say, I quit him, and he's not guilty, or
he would have confessed it, if there's any justice in these
people, they'll say, OK, let him go. Let him go. He tried
that way to release him. That's why he scorched him. But
another reason I think he scorched the Lord Jesus, as he did, because
he came back out here and said, here in this chapter later on,
he said, behold your king. Behold your King. What did Jesus
Christ look like while He stood there? Man, they had humbled
Him. They had humiliated Him. His
eyes, no doubt, were black. Some of His beard had been plucked.
Blood was running out of His back. And what heart did that
for Him? He was saying, release Him now
and let Him go back in among the people. Who's going to consider
this man a King? Look at it. That's another reason
he scorned him. To appeal to their sense of justice,
that he's not guilty. And to humble him in their eyes,
that nobody would consider such a man a king. But what was their
reaction? Look here. Look here in verse
6. When the chief priest therefore
and the officers saw him, They cried out, saying, Crucify him,
crucify him, either Seth or two of them. Take ye him, and crucify
him, for I find no fault in him." There was another time he tried
to read it. He was determined to let him go, wasn't he? Look
in verse 7. The Jews answered him, We have
a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he maketh himself
the Son of God. Then Pilate, when he heard that
saying, he was the more afraid, and went again unto the judgment
hall, and said unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus answered,
gave him no answer. Well, verse 10 is very, very
important. Look at this. Then said Pilate unto him, Speakest
thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have
power to crucify thee, and power to release thee? Boy, out of
his own mouth, he condemned himself, didn't he? Humanly speaking,
he did have the authority to either justify the Son of God
and release Him, or to take Him and crucify Him. He had that
authority. Now, the Lord Jesus said, you
could not have that authority if it wasn't given you from Him.
But he acknowledged that authority was given to him. But he said,
you couldn't have it. But you know something, with
this authority comes also responsibility. With the authority comes responsibility. What an awesome responsibility
those have who are in authority. Wouldn't you hate this morning
to be a lawmaker? People run for governor, they
run for senator and representative, to get elected, to make laws,
to rule over people with. And you have judges, and you
have district attorneys, and you have sheriffs that run for
elections seeking to be a ruler and a judge of other men. I just
wonder if they realize what an awful responsibility they have. The wisdom that it takes The
awful fortitude to stand and render judgment over those whom
they judge. Because they not only will give
account to you and to me, but they'll give account to God. Caesar made the statement here,
I've got power to crucify you, I've got power to release you.
And little did he know that God was going to hold him to account
for the decision he made. Who killed Jesus a long time
ago? Who is responsible for his death? Pilate is. Herod was, and Pilate
is. Look on here in verse 11. The
Lord Jesus said, Thou couldst have no power against me at all,
except it were given to thee from heaven above. Therefore
he that delivered me unto thee hath a greater sin. Now, verses
12 through 16, look at this. And from thence Thou hast sought
to release him from this time forth. But the Jews cried, saying,
If Thou let this man go, Thou art not Caesar's friend. Whosoever maketh himself a king
speaketh against Caesar. When Pilate therefore heard that
saying, he brought Jesus forth and sat down in the judgment
seat, in the place that is called the pavement, but in Hebrew,
the Bethlehem." And it was the preparation of the Passover,
and about the sixth hour, and he said unto the Jews, Behold
your king. And they cried out, Away with
him! Away with him! Crucify him! Thou hast said unto
them, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, We
have no king but Caesar. And then delivered he him therefore
unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led him
away." Now somebody may ask the question concerning this man,
what else was he to do? He was under a lot of pressure. He let the Lord Jesus go, released
him. He was fearful that word may
get back to Caesar. And he would be perceived in
Caesar's eyes as not being his friend. He courted friendship. He courted the favor of Caesar. He was afraid if he released
the Lord Jesus, there would be a great demonstration throughout
this city. There would be turmoil. What
was this man to do? What else could he have done
that he didn't do? He was determined to release
the Lord Jesus. Well, let me answer it like this,
brothers and sisters. What is more important? What is more important? Courting
men's friendship? Courting the favor of this world? Or the truth? What's more important? What's more important? Quietness
in our neighborhoods or a desire for the truth? Which one is more
important? Do we want quietness at the expense
of justice and what's right? What else was Pilate to do? I'll
tell you what he could have done. He could have done what was right.
He could have done what he knew he should have done. He was the
ruler. He was the governor. It was in
his power to release Jesus Christ, and finding no fault in him,
that's what he should have done. He took his hands and put them
down in a pan of water and said, I'm clean from the blood of this
man, but he is guilty as he can be. He was against the Lord and
against his Christ. The third party that we have
in the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit sent Herod and Pontius
Pilate with the Gentiles, with the Gentiles. And no doubt that
was the Gentile soldiers, the soldiers of Herod and the soldiers
of Pilate. Now look, that will be over to
you later. Let's consider them just for a minute. Look in Mark
chapter 15. I just want to know, brothers
and sisters, as this little song says, who's responsible? I would like to know. Pilate
was responsible. Herod was responsible. And he
said, these soldiers. And look at these soldiers. Look
here in Mark chapter 15, and look in verse 15. Now look at this. And 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 Praetorium, 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, held King of the Jews. And they smote him on the
head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowed on the knees,
they worshipped him. And when they had mocked him,
they took off the purple robe from him, and put on him his
own clothes, and led him out to crucify him." Now the question
may arise here, Weren't these soldiers under obligation to
obey Pilate? But if you read this closely,
that's not the question that even should be asked. Of course a soldier is under
responsibility to obey his superior, but that's not even the question.
Pilate said, scourged him. But these soldiers did much more
than that. It's their whole attitude, their
whole motive in what they did. They left the presence of Pilate. Two or three of them could have
touched the Lord Jesus, and obeyed the orders of their superior,
and scourged Him, and then took Him out to crucify Him. But that
wasn't enough. That wasn't enough. They stripped
Him naked. Do you read your work pilot instructing
them to do that? They put on him this purple robe.
They put a crown of thorns upon his head. They bowed the knee before him
and mockingly worshipped him. They humiliated him. Then they
stripped him naked again and put his own clothes back upon
him. This wasn't obeying orders. This was done out of malice.
This was done out of hate in their hearts. And the Holy Spirit
said it well when he said they were gathered together against
Jesus Christ. It wasn't enough for two or three
soldiers to go perform the command of their governor. No! They wanted to involve everybody
else in their malice. So they called the whole family
of soldiers and said, come, let's mock this Jew that calls himself
the Son of God. Their conduct wasn't a manner
of obedience to the superior, but it was a conduct of malice
and hatefulness against the Lord Jesus. They were guilty. Let me say this. We don't read
of one soldier who lifted his voice in protest against the
malice of his fellow soldiers. If Herod and Pilate were guilty,
of injustice against the Son of God, these common soldiers
are responsible just as much as Pilate and Herod. They had
an opportunity to lift their voice against the injustice that
was done to the Lord Jesus Christ. And we never read of one that
lifted his voice and said, this is wrong. This is wrong. One may be as much condemned
for his silence and inaction against evil as well as his participation
in it." Those countries there that allowed
the Holocaust to go on, and they watched Nazi Germany annihilate
millions of Jews. And they kept silent about it,
never lifted their voice to condemn it in protest. But when he was
exposed to the world, they bore the shame and the guilt of their
silence. Dear Martin Luther said this,
he said, those who will not lift their voice to speak out to defend
that truth that is under attack in their day, are guilty, and
just as guilty, as those who attack that truth. And here was the Lord Jesus Christ,
and who was He? He was the embodiment of truth.
He was truth itself. What is truth? I don't say. Well,
there He stands right before you. That's truth. And yet no one spoke up in his
defense. And the Holy Spirit said here,
they did not do so because they were against the Lord and against
his Christ. Who was guilty? The Gentile soldier. And fourthly, the group he says
here, the people of Israel. Who killed Jesus many years ago? The people of Israel. The Jewish
nation is responsible for his death. I think it was in 1965. Some of you may remember this. Catholicism got together with
one of their councils. And they exonerated the Jewish
nation in their part in the death of Jesus Christ. It's something
now Catholicism can put itself in God's place and do what God
did not do. exonerated them in any guilt,
any responsibility for the death of the Son of God. You may deny history, but you
can't change it. You can't change it. And they're
guilty. History tells us they're guilty.
I remember a few years ago, the Smithsonian Institute there in
Washington, D.C. had got some of these shrunken
heads from South America. Some of the awful things that
went on down there. They killed each other and just
wasn't enough to kill each other. They put their heads in these
chemicals and they learned how to shrink their heads. And the
Smithsonian Institute got ahold of some of those heads, but they
locked them away in the back rooms. And they said, this truth
is too horrible to confront. It's too shocking. That's what some people don't
want to face, is history. And the Jews do not want to face
the fact that they're guilty of the death of their Messiah,
but they did it. They did it. beginning in Acts
chapter 2, and throughout the early church, those apostles
faced the Jewish nation with these two things. You, by wicked
hands, have taken and crucified the Lord of glory, the Prince
of Light. You do. Look over here in a couple
of places. Look in the book of Acts with
me. Who's responsible for the death of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Look over here in Acts 5, and look in verse 27. This is where the apostles were
preaching, and the Jewish council here arrested them and brought
them before them to give account of why they were preaching. Verse
27, Acts 5, And when they had brought them, they set them before
the council, and the high priest asked them, Did not we straightly
command you that you would not teach in his name, this name?
And behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend
to bring this man's blood upon us." Don't accuse us of this. It was already going on back
then. Already denying what they had done. But look in verse 30. Then Peter and the other apostles
answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than man, the
God of our fathers, raised up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged
on a tree. They said, we deny this, and
you stop trying to bring this blood upon us. And what did Peter
do? He turned right around and confronted them with it again.
You're guilty, he said. You're guilty of this shameful
act. You did it by wicked hands. Look over here in 1 Thessalonians.
And if we could go through the scriptures, there are so many
proofs that the people of Israel were just as guilty, if not more
so, than Herod and Pontius Pilate and those Gentiles also. Look
at 1 Thessalonians 2, and look here in verse 14. 14 For ye, brethren, become followers
of the churches of God, which in Judea are in Christ Jesus.
For ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen,
even as they have of the Jews." And look what the Jews are accused
of. They both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets,
and have persecuted us. They please not God, and are
contrary to all men. Who killed Jesus many years ago? The Jews did. The Jews do. Those Jews told the Lord one
day while He was upon this earth. They said, if we'd have lived
in the days of our forefathers, we'd have never killed the prophets
like they did. And then they turned right around and killed
the Lord and the prophets. And they're guilty, aren't they?
They're guilty. See, I'm not interested in this morning in
pleasing a bunch of people. I don't have to do that, see.
I've got nothing here at stake. I've got nothing to lose. If
somebody said, we're offended at what you said, we want you
to take it back. We're going to go to your sponsors
and we're going to have you fired. We're going to cut off your...
I'm not worried about that. My sponsor's in heaven. The church's
sponsor's in heaven. And we ain't worried about who's
offended or who isn't. All you and I are concerned with
this morning is who killed Jesus many years ago. The truth of
it is all I'm concerned about. I don't care where it falls,
or who it hurts, or who it makes mad, or who it makes glad. I
want truth, don't you Tommy? Look back over at our text again.
Look back over at Acts chapter 4 and look at this. Look at this. Look in verse 28. Who's responsible
for the death of Jesus Christ? Look in verse 28 of Acts chapter
4. This is very important. Look
at this. All these groups were gathered together against the
Lord and against His Christ. For to do whatsoever thy hand
And thy counsel determined before should be done." Who's responsible
for the death of Christ? God is. God is. We're told two things here. We're
told God's purpose, that is God's counsel, to do whatsoever God's
counsel determined before should be done. In God's hand we have
those two things. God's counsel, His purpose. What
did God's purpose concern in the Lord Jesus Christ? I read
a commentary on this verse last week, and it amazes me how people
twist that. When it said that these men did
what God determined should be done, he turned right around
and said, now God never determined them to do what they did. What
did they do? They did everything that the
Old Testament said they would do. They denied Him. They despised Him. They made
long burrows in His back. They plucked His beard out. They
pierced His hands. They pierced His feet. They fulfilled
everything that the Old Testament Scriptures said they would do
of Him. Well, who wrote those Old Testament
Scriptures? God wrote them. Everything he
purposed to be done to Jesus Christ, these men did it. But
here was the difference, brothers and sisters. They did it with
malice. Their purpose in doing it was
out of hate. But what was God's purpose in
doing it? Love. Goodness. Redemption. You meant it for evil. God meant
it for good. That's the difference. That's
the difference. The world with malice killed
the prince of life. But through his dying, death
was destroyed. They killed him with malice,
but God had determined through their malice to kill death with
the dying of his son. Ain't that wonderful? Ain't that
a mystery? God not only rules, he overrules
the wrath of man for his glory and even our eternal good. What
a God! What a God! The world with hearts
of enmity crucified the Savior, but in His crucifixion on the
cross, He slew that enmity and made peace between God and man. What a purpose. What a God. The world said, let us kill Him. Let us rid ourselves of Him.
Away with Him. We'll not have this man to rule
over us. But in their doing away with
him, God brought us nigh unto him." What a purpose, what a
purpose. See the difference? What they
did was out of malice and hate, when all along God had determined
something good, even the redemption of his people. And secondly,
it talks about the hand of God. And when I say here the purpose
of God, I mean something that was in God's mind that he purposed
to do. But when he talks here about
his hand, that's something he actually does. He stretches out
his hand. God had a hand in the sufferings
and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. He had a hand in it.
Two things are said in the scriptures that God made Christ. God made
Christ. First of all, we're told He made
Christ to be sin for us. Now, that's a mystery, and I
can't explain that. We just believe it. God hath made Christ to be
sin. Man had nothing to do with that. Angels could not make Jesus Christ
to be sin, but God made Christ to be sin. God, as only He can
do, and graciously and lovingly did, taking all the sins of all
His people, of all ages, from them and putting those sins in
the body of His own Son. It takes God to do that. That's
God's hand at work. And when God put those sins in
His own body, and made the Son of God to be sin, then God did
something else that only God can do. God made His soul a sacrifice,
you see. His body, His soul. What happened on that cross?
Well, we know man's part, but what was God's part? He had a
hand in it. He had a hand in it. And what does the Scripture say
God did on that cross? The Scripture says Jesus was
smitten. stricken of God and afflicted. The Scripture says God bruised
him and put him to grief. Even the Lord Jesus said himself,
all your billows have gone over me. That is your waves of wrath
and hot displeasure. He said, you've brought me to
the dust of death. Your hand has pressed me so where
God had a hand in his death. And on Jesus, the psalm said,
eternal vengeance fell, the vengeance of God. The vengeance of God
against sin fell on Him, Jesus of Nazareth. A vengeance that
would have crushed this world to hell. The vengeance of God. I want nothing to do with that.
You want nothing to do with the vengeance of God. No man can
stand before God when he's angry. And that's why Jesus Christ,
the vengeance of the eternal God. He had that cup, God himself
had the cup in his hand, the cup of his judgment against sin,
and he put it to the lips of his son upon that cross. The
cup of judgment, the cup of damnation, and he drank it dry, right to
the very last dregs. God had a hand in his death. God punished sin with his own
hand of justice. Now sin is no more for those
who believe the record that God gave of his son. God so loved
the world that he gave, he delivered up, he spared not his only begotten
son. Two more things, right quickly,
and I'll close. Just give me one more minute, and I'll close.
Look over here in John 10, right quickly. John 10, verse 17 and
verse 18. Having said all of this, and
all that we said is absolutely true this morning. Who was responsible
for the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. But look here. Look here
in John chapter 10, and look here in verse 17. Therefore doeth my Father love
me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No
man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself." Pilate don't
take my life. Harry don't take my life. Those
Roman soldiers that come to get him, they didn't take his life.
All he has done is spoke the word. And brothers and sisters,
I'll say this, if it so pleased Jesus, he could have still been
hanging on that cross. He is life himself, and no man
can take his life. He said, I lay it down of myself. He's responsible, ain't he? Greater
love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends. And you know what that tells
me? There's never been a more willing act, a more willing act,
a deliberate act, than Jesus Christ expiring upon that tree. He wasn't forced to do it, He
wasn't made to do it, but He did it of His own free loving
will. Ain't that amazing? Harry had a part, Pilate had
a part, the Gentile soldiers had a part, the Jews had a part,
God had a part, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself had a part. He loved us and gave Himself,
listen to this, an offering and a sacrifice to God. He gave Himself. And lastly,
it's this. And I want to read the last portion
of this psalm that I began with. Listen to this. The last phrase
is this. When I think of Jesus and the way He died, how upon
Him all my sin was laid. All the other people faded away
from Him. When I think of my sins laid
on Him, Herod fades from view. Pilate fades from view. Israel and the Gentiles, they
fade from view. It's for me the sacrifice was
slain. I no longer wonder anymore. I
have found what I've been searching for. My sin demanded hell, on
him the judgment fell. I am guilty. Now it's plain to
see. Who killed Jesus many years ago? It was really me. It was me. You say, Bruce, I can't plead
guilty to that. What's the wages of sin? Death. Your death. Your death. If you
and I will not own a part, our part, in His death, can we claim
a part in His redemption? He was my sin for which He died. My sin brought the judgment of
God upon me. My sin's wages he bore, which
was death. It's plain to see. It was me. It was me. The scripture says in Zechariah
12, they shall look upon him whom they pierced. They shall look upon him whom
they pierce." We look upon the very one whom
we are guilty of piercing. We face the shame of it, we face
the guilt of it, but by looking upon him whom we pierce, you
know what we see? Both sin and the shame of it
is taken away. by redeeming love. Who's guilty? We are. But in His dying for
us, even the guilt of that is taken away. Bless His Holy Name. Our Father
in Heaven, O Gracious Father, we thank You, we bless You. Our hearts are just not able
to lay hold of these things. We see in here all the guilty
parties, and we confess our own guilt and our own shame. But we see your great love. Our hearts cannot believe it.
It's too wonderful. O Lord, how wicked we feel. How
ungodly we feel. but how just and how pure and
how holy you are, how full of love you are in goodness and
kindness and tender mercies, that you suffer your creatures
to treat you in such a manner, with such spite, and out of all
that, to bear their guilt and their shame and redeem them We
bless your holy name. Thank you this morning for your
precious word. We thank you for the food that's
been prepared this morning. We pray that you'll bless it
for strength for our bodies. Bless this, dear people. Let
us see how you're blessed. Let us rejoice in the Lord. Let
us believe Him. For Christ's sake, praise glory.
Amen. Is dinner ready, Gilly, or do
you know? We'll give the ladies a few minutes,
and then we'll go back when they holler for us, okay? Thank you
for your patience.