Who Killed Jesus?

If you've got your Bible, turn with me to Luke chapter 13. Luke chapter 13, we're going to ask and answer a very simple question, which throughout the years has been a very provocative question. Who killed Jesus? And while usually I don't like to stop in the middle of a paragraph for one particular sermon, that's all we're going to be able to cover this evening. Who killed Jesus? Let me read to you Luke 13 verses 31, 32, and 33.

Just at that time, some Pharisees came up saying to him, go away and depart from here for Herod wants to kill you. He said to them, go and tell that fox, behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow and the third, I reached my goal.

Nevertheless, I must journey on today and tomorrow and the next, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem. Is it possible that someone actually could want to really kill the Messiah of Israel, Jesus Christ our Lord? Well, the answer to that is yes. He came to offer that which every man needed, that's forgiveness. That without forgiveness, there'd be no entry into glory. Every man needs to experience the forgiveness of God. He came to offer heaven joy that would come to those who would believe in Him.

He, the perfect Son of Man, He, the Holy One of Israel, He, the One who had no sin, who had no evil, was despised and rejected by His own. The Bible says that He came into His own and His own received Him not.

He came to the children of Israel, they despised Him, they rejected Him, they wanted nothing to do with Him. The blessed Messiah, the Holy One of Israel, came to demonstrate His kingdom, to present Himself as King, and Israel rejected Him. But who is it that actually killed Jesus? That question has been asked and answered in numerous ways over the years. Let me begin by saying that from the very beginning, Satan wanted to thwart the coming of the Messiah.

Turn back with me, if you would, your Bible to Revelation chapter 12, one of my favorite chapters of the Bible because it gives us the history of the world in one simple chapter. But it begins this way in verse 1 of chapter 12 of Revelation. And a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven, and behold a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his head were seven diadems, and his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.

The dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. A number of years ago I preached a sermon towards the night before the first Christmas and used this as a springboard to helping us understand that the dragon stood over the cradle to devour the child, the dragon of course is Satan, the woman of course is Israel, the child of course is the Messiah.

But from the very beginning Satan did everything he could to make sure that the Messiah was never born. If you go back to Genesis chapter 6, you have the daughters of man cohabitating with the sons of God. Satan would use that to produce some kind of demon hybrid race, because God didn't come to save demons, he came to save man. So the Lord destroyed the whole world with the flood, start anew. You go to the book of Exodus, you realize that Satan would try to destroy the Jewish males by making sure all those newborn babies, two years and under, were drowned in the Nile River.

That didn't work and so way back in 1 Samuel chapter 18, Saul, the king of Israel, set out on a journey, a mission to kill King David. If he could kill King David, he could destroy the Messianic line, Messiah would not come. Saul failed. Go to the book of Esther, Haman tried to kill all the Jews, for if he did, Messiah would never come, but he failed and Messiah was born. And in Matthew chapter 2, you have a man by the name of Herod the Great. And he realized that there was a king that was born in Bethlehem.

The Magi had come and they had asked, where is he who was born king of the Jews? Herod the Great was like, there's another king, I'm the king of the Jews. And Herod the Great was a vicious, murderous man. He would kill members of his own family because he was so paranoid that someone would take his throne from him. And so in an effort to thwart this king that was somehow born, he gathered the scribes together and said, is this true? Is there a king born in Bethlehem, the scribes said, oh yeah, there will be one born and according to the prophet Micah, chapter 5, verse number 2, they quote that verse to him, they show it to him.

He sets out to kill all the children, two years and younger, for he did not want a king to take his place. Herod the Great wanted to kill Jesus, but it didn't happen. Joseph and Mary would flee to Egypt, they would come back after Herod the Great had died, and he would be raised in Nazareth. He would grow up, he would begin his ministry. Luke chapter 4, we know that chapter very well, he came to preach in his own hometown in Nazareth, and there he preached and told the people of Israel that God had rejected them because they were selfish, prideful, arrogant people who trusted in their works and not the truth, and the Messiah came to preach the gospel to the poor, to the blind, to the broken, to the downtrodden, and they didn't exemplify that.

And they became so angry with him that day, the people he grew up with, his friends, those closest to him in Nazareth, who had known him for 30 plus years, his family decided they wanted to take him to a cliff there in Nazareth, throw him off, and kill him. Get rid of him because the message he preached was nothing they had ever heard of before, and how dare this one that grew up in their town, Nazareth, would come and explain to them that they were not going to experience the blessing of God. So they wanted to kill him.

They of course did not succeed. So in John chapter 2, when Jesus entered the temple at that first Passover, during his ministry era, he went in and cleansed that temple.

You know about that. The Bible says in Psalm 69 that the zeal of the Lord consumed him. He went in and he turned over the tables, he went in and he ran out the money changers and they were absolutely furious with him. And he said, you destroy this temple, and in three days I'll raise it up again. Well they thought it was Herod's temple, Herod the Great who was the one who built the third temple, and they thought it was that temple he was speaking of, but Jesus knew that in their hearts they hated him, would want to kill him, and he said, if you destroy this temple, I'll raise it up again, in three days.

Because he knew that down deep in their souls they would hate him. Not too long after that, in John chapter 5, there at the pool of Bethesda, there in Jerusalem, there was a man who was paralyzed for 38 years, and Jesus would heal the man on the Sabbath. He would heal that man, that man would take up his pallet, he would walk, and the leaders of Israel were furious with what Jesus did. And the Bible says in verse 15 of John 5, the man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well, and remember that in the Gospel of John, the phrase the Jews doesn't refer to the nation itself, it refers to the leadership of Israel, okay?

And it says that the Jews, it was, I'm sorry, the man went and told the Jews, the leaders that is, that it was Jesus who made him well, and for this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But he answered them, my father is working until now, and I myself am working for this cause, therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him. Because he not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God his own father, making himself equal with God.

See it's important to understand what Jesus said when he made this statement, my father and I are working, because no Jew had ever referred to the great God Jehovah as father in a personal sense. He'd only been referred to as father in a national sense, until Jesus came on the scene. And they knew that he was making himself equal with God himself, and they wanted to kill him, because in their mind he was a blasphemer. So whether it's the leadership of Israel, whether it's his friends and family in Nazareth, whether it's Herod the Great, there was a great desire to kill him.

In Luke 23, the nation itself would all chime in and say crucify him, crucify him, and Pilate would offer over Barabbas in exchange for Jesus, but they didn't want Barabbas, a murderer and a thief, they wanted Jesus to be crucified. Even Pilate wanted Jesus to be killed, because he was concerned about his reputation with Rome, his reputation with the people, and even though he knew that there was no fault in Jesus, even though Pilate's wife warned him about this man Jesus and how righteous he was, Pilate still wanted to keep the peace.

Pilate still was concerned about his popularity, and so he too wanted to kill Jesus. The Roman soldiers, they of course wanted him dead, they would mock him, they would strip him, there was a whole slew of people who wanted to kill Jesus. But in our text tonight, we find out another individual who wanted to kill Jesus. Isn't it interesting that the holier you are, the purer you are, the more you embody truth and preach the truth, the more enemies you will have. We forget that today. Jesus wasn't popular with the multitude.

Oh, they liked his miracles, yes. Oh, they liked the way he spoke, yes, but they hated Jesus. They hated him, because he confronted their sinful lifestyle. He preached the truth. And when you do that, people are going to hate you. They're going to despise you. They're going to ridicule you. They don't want others preaching the truth. They don't want to hear the truth. They don't want to be held accountable to the truth. And the holiest one who ever lived, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, was a person that everybody wanted dead, except for just a young man.

Very few people who were believers in him. Let me talk to you about two points this evening. Number one, the warning from the leaders.

Number two, the word from the Lord. The warning from the leaders. Number two, the word from the Lord.

In that warning, you'll see three things. You'll see the moment of the warning, the message of the warning, and the motivation behind the warning. Okay? First of all, the moment of the warning.

It says in verse 31, just at that time some Pharisees came up. What time is that? Well, the time was when he was speaking and going about from village to village and city to city, as it says in verse number 22, passing through one city and village to another, teaching and proceeding on his way to Jerusalem. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. Time is coming to an end. But he is preaching and teaching the truth of the gospel. And what is he saying? He is saying what we talked to you the last couple of weeks about.

He's talking to them about the fact that the kingdom of God is what is important, and there must be a biblical repentance from your iniquity to enter that kingdom. Strive to enter, for narrows the way, and few there be that find that way. And then he stressed not only a biblical iniquity or repentance from iniquity, but a vital realization of the urgency. You better hurry, because when the owner gets up and shuts the door, it's over. And we talked to you about the fact that when the door is shut, it's symbolic of death, because once death happens, there's no second chance.

We talked to you about the second coming of the Messiah. When that happens, there's no second chance.

We also talked to you about the fact that there comes a time when there is an abandonment, when God abandons you and turns you over to your sinful desires, there is no second chance.

When he shuts the door, the owner, the Messiah, Jesus shuts the door, there's no other opportunity. You must come to realize the urgency of biblical repentance, how important it is to do that now.

That's the message he's preaching. He comes and then says, you must have a personal relationship with deity, because when the door is shut, people will stand outside and say, Lord, we know you. How come you don't know us? We ate with you. We talked with you. He says, I never knew you. I don't know who you are, and I don't know where you're from. A lot of people profess Christianity. Few people possess Christianity. That is just so important. A lot of people talk the talk. A lot of people have the lingo down, have the verbiage, but the Lord knows that very few truly are born again.

That's why the urgency is crucial. It's crucial. You must have a personal relationship with deity. He must be in you. That's why Paul would say in 2 Corinthians 13, 5, test yourselves, prove yourselves to see if Jesus us is in you. That's so important, so important, because the urgency, the door could be shut. And then he talked about the essential recognition of eternity. It's forever, a place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Some will go into the kingdom of God. Gentiles, he speaks of going to the kingdom, and those sons of Abraham, not entering that kingdom, but going to a place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

That's his message. That's what he's preaching. We talked about that the last couple of weeks. That's what he's doing. It's at that time. It's at that moment. You see, Jesus is preaching about the essential elements of the kingdom, the components of Christianity, what it means to be a follower of Christ. Jesus is an evangelist. He's not a deeper life speaker. Jesus didn't come to do Bible conferences. For Christians, to help them understand how to walk better with the Lord God of Israel. He came as an evangelist.

The message he preached was always an evangelistic message. See that? He came to seek and to save that which was lost. He didn't come to say, you know what, let me give you some principles so that you can walk deeper with me.

No. He went on to enter into a relationship with him. He wanted them to understand that he was the Messiah. So he would preach the truth that would help them come to grips with the fact that they were either in the kingdom or outside the kingdom. Where are you? It's at that moment the Pharisees come up and they give this message. Herod wants to kill you. This is not Herod the Great. He's dead. This is one of his three sons, Herod Antipas. Remember he had three sons. One was Archelaus, the other was Philip, the third was Herod, Herod Antipas.

And in his will he wanted his sons to rule the land of Israel. So Archelaus ruled Judea, Samaria and Idumea. Philip ruled in the northern part of the Galilee in a place called Caesarea Philippi. And Herod, the tetrarch of Galilee, ruled the Galilee region and that which was south of the Jordan River called Perea. And that's where Jesus was at this moment. The Jews hated Herod Antipas. One of the reasons they hated him was because he brought in all kinds of idols into the land of Israel and was into pagan worship.

And Israel was against that. Another reason they hated him was simply because of the fact that he built the city Tiberias on a Jewish cemetery. And those of you who have been to Israel with me know where Tiberias is on the western bank of the Sea of Galilee, the beauty of that place. And he built that city on a Jewish cemetery. And of all the records we have in the New Testament of Jesus, he never went to Tiberias. And if you know the Sea of Galilee region and you know all that takes place around that area, it's amazing that Jesus never went to Tiberias but was as close as Capernaum, as close as Bethsaida, as close as the area surrounding Tiberias, but never went to that city himself.

And Herod Antipas would rule in that area there and also in Perea. He was a puppet of Rome. He was the one who murdered John the Baptist. If you recall the story, remember Herod Antipas? One night he was drunk and his wife had their daughter. Remember he married his brother's wife, Philip's wife, and John the Baptist spoke against that. Joseph, I mean John the Baptist would come and speak against Herod's adulterous affair. He married his brother's wife. And one night as to John the Baptist had been captured by Herod, she had her daughter come out and dance in a sexual way before him and because of his lustful passions asked her, asked me whatever you wish and I'll give it to you.

She went and asked her mother Herodias what do I ask for? She said you ask for the head of John the Baptist on a platter right now.

And because he had a safe face, because he made the promise in front of everybody, John the Baptist was beheaded and the head was brought to Herodias that night. And this was a wicked man, a wicked man. And the message to Jesus was Herod wants to kill you. Really? Why did they say that? Why would Herod want to kill him? Well I'm sure he was riddled with guilt over the murder of John the Baptist. I'm sure that that had to play a part in everything because if you read the account in Matthew chapter 14 and Mark chapter 6, he liked John.

He was surprised at how John carried himself. He didn't want to murder John necessarily. He had him in prison. But yet he killed the forerunner to the Messiah. And Herod knew about Jesus. He knew all kinds of things about Jesus. He knew that Jesus was a miracle worker. And maybe this Jesus who was the follower of John the Baptist was going to seek revenge on Herod. Maybe he was going to develop a revolt that would come against him and overthrow him in Galilee. He didn't know. He had no idea. And maybe if Jesus wanted to seek revenge on him, it best he kill him first before Jesus comes to him.

Finally in Luke 23, Herod had the opportunity to meet Jesus. If you've got your Bible, turn to Luke 23 for a moment. Luke chapter 23, verse number eight. Jesus had been before Pilate. Herod was in Jerusalem. It says in verse number eight, now Herod was very glad when he saw Jesus for he'd wanted to see him for a long time because he had been hearing about him and was hoping to see some sign performed by him. You see, Herod knew of the signs that Jesus had performed. The chief priests and the scribes were standing there accusing him vehemently.

And Herod with the soldiers after treating him with contempt and mocking him, dressed him in a gorgeous robe and sent him back to Pilate. Now Herod and Pilate became friends with one another that very day for before they had been at enmity with each other. Verse nine says, Herod questioned him at some length, but Jesus answered him nothing. And Herod answered him nothing. Jesus never spoke to him. He spoke to Annas, spoke to Caiaphas. He spoke to Pilate, but he never ever spoke to Herod Antipas. Oh, Herod would love to have him say something, but he never did.

He never did. And Pilate and Herod were enemies, but they became friends because of one common denominator. They had to get rid of Jesus. So that was their ambition. That was their desire. So the moment was the time when Jesus was preaching and teaching about things pertaining to the kingdom of God. The message, Herod wants to kill you. The motivation, why would they do that? Were these Pharisees having a soft heart toward Jesus? Were these Pharisees wanting to protect Jesus? Were these Pharisees kind Pharisees?

Wanting to show compassion and generosity to Jesus? You'd think at the outset that they're trying to protect Him. That is not the case. See, the Pharisees sneered at Jesus. They snubbed Jesus. They mocked Him. Now they want to scare Him. They want to scare Him. They want to scare Him out of Perea, getting back across to Jordan where the Sanhedrin has the authority because they've already purposed in their heart to kill Him. They already have purposed to get rid of Him. They've got to get Him out of Perea, back across to Jordan where the Sanhedrin has the authority so they can deal with Him their way.

And so their motivation was as evil as it gets. And so they tried to intimidate Jesus. You know, you can't intimidate Jesus. Ever try to intimidate somebody and you can't do it? How frustrated, how frustrating that is and can be? I'm sorry folks, this ear thing is driving me crazy. But anyway, you ever try to intimidate somebody? You think you got them and you think you're going to scare them and they don't flinch. Nothing bothers them. You can't change their emotional makeup. You can't change their response.

You're furious. You're looking to get some kind of rise out of them and nothing happens because they're non-intimidable. You can't intimidate them. That's Jesus. Can't be intimidated. They want to scare Him. They want to get Him back into their area so they can plot their way to His death. But Jesus is not intimidated. So you go from the warning of the leaders to the Word of the Lord. And three things you need to see about the Word of the Lord. Number one, deals with the plan of God behind it.

Number two, the purpose of God in it. And number three, the proverb from God about it. Now understand this, that Jesus, without hesitation and without fear, calls Herod a name. Shows great disdain for Herod. Great contempt for Herod. He calls him a fox. He says, go and tell that fox, behold, I cast out demons and perform cures. Today and tomorrow and the third I reach my goal.

Why did He call him a fox? Well, you need to understand how the Jews saw foxes. Were they cunning? Yes, they were. Were they sneaky? Yes, they were. But foxes, foxes in the days of Jesus were viewed as the most insignificant animal around that could actually do nothing. No fox ever killed a human. And Jesus is saying, Herod's nothing but a varmint, nothing but a fox. He's not going to be able to kill me. No man can kill me, let alone a varmint try and kill me. Great disdain. Now, there is a problem here on the outset because the book of Exodus says you can't speak evil of a ruler.

So how do you deal with that? The Bible says in the book of Exodus, chapter 22, verse number 28, Ecclesiastes 10, verse number 20, that you're not to speak evil of a ruler.

That is, you're not supposed to speak evil of the president of your country. The Bible speaks against that just in case you wanted to know that. The Bible says you're not supposed to speak evil of any ruler because he'd been put there by God.

So to speak evil, listen carefully, against a ruler put there by God means you're speaking against who? God. So next time you want to talk about the president, think twice. Okay? But here's the deal. There are times in the Old Testament where God told the prophets to speak against the leaders of Israel. He called them thieves. He called them robbers. He called them adulterers. Why? Because they lived lives in disobedience to the truth in the midst of overwhelming evidence. So God would tell Isaiah, God would tell Ezekiel, God would tell Hosea to speak against the leaders and they called them names because God told them to.

Because it would accentuate the character and nature of the leaders. For Jesus to call Herod a fox would be the right thing in this context because that fox would be unable to do anything to the Messiah of Israel, the King of Israel, for three reasons. One was specifically because the plan of God behind His mission. Listen to what it says. It says, Behold, stand amazed, I cast out demons, I perform cures today and tomorrow and the third.

The word day is inserted there because this was a Hebrew way of speaking of continuation. In other words, Jesus is saying I'm going to continue to do what I've always done the way I've always done it until the end. It's time to end it on the third or the third day, the day of completion.

When Jesus finally died on the cross, what did He say? It is what? Finished. The work of redemption had been accomplished. It was done. He came to be sacrificed. He was sacrificed. It's done. Nobody could thwart that mission. Nobody. Peter tried to. Matthew 16, Matthew 16, Matthew 16. Remember that? When Christ said, Who do men say that I am? And they would say, Well, some say you're Elijah, some say you're Jeremiah, some say you're one of the prophets. Christ said, Well, who do you say that I am?

Well, you're Christ, the Messiah of Israel, the Holy One of God. And Christ says, Don't tell anybody that.

Instead tell them this, the Son of Man must suffer, must die, must rise again. And Peter took Him aside and said, You don't understand who you are. You have an identity crisis, Jesus. Let me help you understand who you really are.

And what did Jesus say to Peter? Get thee behind me who? Satan. Because Peter didn't have in mind the things of God. Peter had his own mission. He didn't have in mind God's mission. See? Big difference there, right? And so there was a purpose. There was a plan behind the mission of the Messiah. I will continue to do what I've always done until it's time for it to be completed. John 10, 17 and 18. Christ said, Nobody takes my life from me. I lay it down on my own initiative. And that's exactly what He did on the cross of Calvary.

He died only after all prophecy leading up to His death had been fulfilled. And then He pillowed His head. And then He gave up the spirit. And then He gave His life away. It wasn't until He was ready to die that He died. No one takes my life from me. I give it up on my own initiative. He says, I'm going to minister. And He did. He continued to minister for several weeks, even several months in Perea. And Herod could do nothing to Him because he was in complete control of his destiny. So there was the plan of God behind His mission.

And there was the purpose of God in His mission. He says, verse 33, Nevertheless, I must journey on today and tomorrow and the next. There was a purpose. His purpose was what? His purpose was to die. But He wasn't going to die at the hands of Herod. He was going to die on His own timetable. And this is one of those divine musts in Scripture. Remember way back in Luke chapter 2, we talked about this. Luke 2, 49, I must be about my Father's business. And then over in Luke 4, 43, I must preach the kingdom of God from city to city for this purpose I was sent.

Here then in Luke chapter 9, the Son of Man must suffer many things. Again, the divine must. Here in Luke 13, I must journey to Jerusalem. To the men on the road to Emmaus, He said, How? The Son of Man must suffer these things. That's what the law and the prophets said. It's all about the divine must. He was here because of the providence of God. He was here to fulfill the purpose of God. There was a plan behind everything He did. There was a purpose for all that He did. That purpose was to die at the right time in the right place on His own initiative.

And He said, And then, and then He says this, For it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem. That's a powerful statement. Because, listen, all the prophets of God died in Jerusalem. It wasn't the pagans who killed the prophets of God. It was the nation of Israel that killed the prophets of God. And they killed them in Jerusalem. You see, the prophets would prophesy in Jerusalem because that's where the leadership was, that's where the temple was, and that's where the word would be spread from Jerusalem.

In fact, if you go back to the Old Testament, you'll read in the book of 2 Kings 21 that Manasseh filled Jerusalem with innocent blood. In 2 Kings 24, Jehoiakim filled Jerusalem with innocent blood. Isaiah was sawn in half in Jerusalem. The prophets of God were killed in Jerusalem. That's why this is called the proverb from God about His death. Listen, all the sacrifices were done where? Jerusalem. If He was the ultimate final sacrifice, where must He die? Jerusalem. And so this proverb was well known in Israel.

We'll see it later on when it says in verse 34, Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills, what? The prophets, and stones those sent to her. The city that kills the prophets. That's what Jerusalem did, see. So Jesus gives this proverb that explains exactly why He must journey to Jerusalem. Why? Because the people of Jerusalem, that's where they died. And who were they killed by? Israel. The people of Israel. And so He says, I must go there. But it wouldn't be Herod. He wouldn't have the opportunity to kill Him, at least not at this time, because it wasn't the time for Him to die.

So who killed Jesus? Who killed Him? Well, remember the Old Testament prophesied the Messiah would die. If you're a Jew, you have a hard time with this. You have a hard time reconciling the death of the Messiah. And yet that's what the Old Testament said, Daniel 9, 27. The Messiah must be cut off. A reference by the rabbis that refers specifically to death. So if the Messiah's going to be cut off, when's He going to die? How can that be? The Old Testament also taught the Messiah was divine. So if He's divine, how can the divine one die?

They had all kinds of issues they had to answer. That's why Jesus says, you search the Scriptures and you miss Me.

How do you claim to be a student of the Scriptures and miss Me, the one in whom the Scriptures speak of? But they did, because they were blinded to the truth. But it's true that the nation came together to kill their Messiah. In fact, listen to what the Bible says in Isaiah 49.

Isaiah chapter 49, verse number seven. Because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you. It says, thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and His Holy One, to the despised one. He's called the despised one. Over in Isaiah 53, it says, He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and like one from whom men hid their face, He was despised and we did not esteem Him. So the prophets would speak of the fact that the Messiah would be one who would be despised.

Well, if He's going to die, He would die because He was despised by those He came to save. The Bible says over in Psalm 22, Psalm 22, verse number six.

In prophesying about the Messiah, but I am a worm and not a man, a reproach of men and despised by the people. All who see me sneer at me, they separate with the lip. They wag the head saying, commit yourself to the Lord. Let Him deliver Him. Let Him rescue Him because He delights in Him. The Old Testament would speak of how the Messiah would be despised, how He would be rejected, how ultimately He would die. And so when Peter comes on the scene, he begins to preach in Acts chapter two, these words.

Men of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus of Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs, which God performed through Him in your midst. Just as you yourselves know, this man delivered up by the predetermined plan of four lines of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. Peter says to the Jewish nation, you killed your Messiah. He says in verse number 36, therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucify.

Over in chapter three, verse number 12. Jesus of Nazarene says these words. Verse 13, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered up and disowned in the presence of Pilate when he had decided to release Him. But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead. Again, in Peter's second sermon, he tells the nation of Israel, you put to death the Prince of life.

Over in verse number 10 of chapter 4, it says, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. So Peter makes it very clear to the nation of Israel, you crucified your Messiah. But it just wasn't Israel involved because Jesus prophesied in Mark's gospel on two occasions that it would be the Gentiles who would crucify Him. It would be the Gentiles who would put Him to death. And that's why in Acts chapter 4, it says these words.

Verse 27, for Jesus said, truly in this city they were gathered together against the Holy Servant Jesus, whom now disanoint both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel to do whatever thy hand and thy purpose predestined to occur. In other words, it wasn't just a Jewish nation, it was a Gentile nation. It was Herod, it was Pilate, it was everybody who was involved. But listen, they did it because it was predetermined by the sovereignty of God. That's why it says back in Acts 2, Peter says very clearly, these words, this man delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross.

Listen, who killed Jesus? Secondary cause, Gentiles, Jews, Herod, Pilate, everybody involved. Primary cause, God. God killed His Son. Isaiah 53.10, it pleased the Lord to crush His Son. It pleased the Lord to crush His Son. Think about that. God the Father killed God the Son. It was a predetermined plan. Listen to 1 Corinthians 2, verse number 8. 1 Corinthians 2, verse number 8, says these words, the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood, for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

Now think about that for a moment. For if they understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. If Messiah came and they accepted Him, they would not have killed Him. If they did not kill Him, there would be no salvation. The providential irony of God. If they would have accepted Him, they wouldn't have killed Him. But if they did not kill Him, there would be no salvation. That's the sovereignty of Almighty God at work in the hearts and minds of sinful man to accomplish His great purposes.

Oh yes, it was the Roman soldiers who nailed Him to the cross. Jews didn't kill people by crucifixion. They stoned people for blasphemy. But the Romans crucified people and that's what they did. The religious leaders of the day were instrumental in making sure that the people followed them and yelling crucify Him, crucify Him, crucify Him. They would walk by Him, they would mock Him, they would sneer Him as He hung on the cross on that road outside of the gates of Jerusalem. Pilate would sentence Him to death along with Herod and the religious leaders of the day.

But ultimately it was a plan of Almighty God, the predetermined plan of Almighty God to bring about the salvation of sinful man. The point being is that what they did, God overrode through His providential plan to bring about their salvation. So when He put His Son on the cross, He put Him there as a substitute in your place and in mine. So somehow we would experience the saving grace of Almighty God. Here is Jesus going around preaching from village to village and city to city, telling people better strive in the narrow way.

Few there be that ever get there, but you better strive. There better be a true repentance and you better hurry up because you don't know when you're going to get there, when that time is over and the door is shut. And you need to understand that in order to get there, there must be a relationship with the living God of the universe where He is in you. If He is, you'll spend eternity in the kingdom of God. If He's not, you'll spend it away from Him. And on the heels of that, the Pharisees come and say, Herod's going to kill you.

He wants you dead. And it gives Jesus another opportunity to say, you know what? I'm going to tell you something about my death. It only happens in my time, in my way, when I want it, how I want it, because I'm going to die for sinful man as a sacrifice in Jerusalem, just like the prophets of old have stated. So that when people get to the narrow gate, they're able to strive. They're able to repent because of the gift of God, the grace of God that allows them to experience the love of God. Our God is so good.

And we're going to baptize some people this evening that for all practical purposes have come to understand what the Lord did on Calvary. He died in their place. He died as their substitute. And everything that Jesus did, that divine must, I must journey to Jerusalem, that thing that propelled Him to move toward the cross was for people that we're going to baptize this evening, people like yourself, because they've experienced the saving grace of Almighty God. I trust that you have. I trust that you know, because next week we'll see the compassion that Jesus has for people already condemned.

Our God is a marvelous God who loves the everlasting love in a way that we really can't understand, but His compassion is overwhelming for people who need to know that He is the only Savior of the world. Let me pray with you.

Father, we thank You for tonight, a chance to study Your Word and a chance to look at what You say concerning the death of Your Son.

Thank You for the plan, the providence of God, and how it worked itself out perfectly for sinful man. Truly, Lord, You are a great God and worthy to be praised. And I pray for everyone here tonight that they would know for certain that Jesus is in them. That's the key. Is Jesus in them? For if He's not, these words make no difference to them. If He is, these words mean everything to them, because they've been saved from their sin, and they're going to spend eternity with the King in the kingdom of God.

Pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.