In this sermon, the preacher starts by expressing his love for singing and mentions that they will be focusing on the first and fourth verses of a particular song. The song talks about finding life in looking at the crucified one and expresses gratitude for the salvation and wholeness received through Jesus. The preacher then leads a prayer, asking for a deeper love for God and His blessings. He goes on to discuss the wisdom, mercy, grace, and love of God, referencing the famous Bible verse, John 3:16. The preacher shares a personal experience of visiting a village and seeing a wall with a block dedicated to a little girl who sacrificed for her sister. He draws a parallel between this act of love and Jesus' crucifixion, highlighting the moments of compassion and pain Jesus experienced on the cross. The sermon ends with a story about two sisters caught in a snowstorm, where the older sister selflessly protects and cares for the younger one.

We now, we've been following the footsteps of Christ, right from the glory, down through Bethlehem's manger, and on through the highways and byways of both Galilee and Samaria and Judea, and as we left last month, just before the holidays, we saw Christ in the Roman trial under Pilate, and Pilate handing him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified. So we're still following his footsteps from Pilate's hall to the place called Calvary, and tonight we just want to watch the crucifixion. I want to sort of stress that because I feel that in expanding the cross-work of Christ, that sometimes there's a mistake made here. I don't want to mix the crucifixion with the substitution. I think that the cruel crucifixion is just one thing that we want to see. Then in nights to come, we shall move on into the depths of the work of the cross. Because on the cross, remember, in the deep darkness, there was a substitutionary sacrifice made for every believer. Remember the work of redemption, it's quite different. And so then we get it all mixed up, you know. But the work of redemption is quite different. There's a hillman avenger down at Gratton's, and the army's down ready to blow it up. Hillman avenger. It's Bob's. Bob, go and talk to the army the way you should. That's all right. He belongs to the hospital squad and he's allowed to do things like that, but the army don't seem to get the message. Yes, I want to get to the crucifixion tonight, and I'm not touching the redemptive work or the substitutionary sacrifice, not even the reconciliation that was made through the death of God's Son, nor the propitiation, which is absolutely different. Again, I hope you know something about the cross. I'm just stopping with the crucifixion. And you can see from your notes that I want to show you some of the prophecies about the crucifixion, because this crucifixion was classified in the Old Testament. And then we want to take just a moment or two with the person they crucified. And then we should go to the place of the crucifixion And a very important point tonight, and the most important one, is the period of the crucifixion. Because you need to be instructed in how to count the time properly. And if you get the message about the time this evening, you'll have no problem when we come to the resurrection about three days and three nights. Because they come to me with this all the time. And they say if he was crucified on Friday, well, he couldn't be three days and three nights. Oh, well, you've a lot to learn yet, isn't that the problem? So we'll have to watch the time element this evening. We'll look at the prophecies, and then the person, and then the place, and then the period. And then I want to go into the pains of the crucifixion. And I'm not talking about the pains of substitution. I want you to get the hold of what we're getting at. And then we'll get on to the plan of crucifixion. So we're starting with the prophecies. Let's go way back to Deuteronomy, chapter twenty-one, please. The book of Deuteronomy, chapter twenty-one. I'm convincing to read it verse twenty-two. Deuteronomy twenty-one, verse twenty-two. And if a man hath committed a sin worthy of death, and he be good to death, and thou hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day. For he that is hanged is accursed of God. I want you to try to get the hold of that. He that is hanged is accursed of God. Or if you like to take the marginal reading, the curse of God is upon him. It's a tremendous thing, because Paul comes from here in the New Testament. It comes with a letter to the Galatians for a moment. Paul's letter to the Galatians, and we're at the third chapter. And he explains something that some folks never seem to see the difference in, in verse twelve. Galatians three, verse twelve. He says, and the law is not of faith. I hope you would know the difference between the law and faith. Because you know when you look at the Ten Commandments that they're always saying do, or don't do, thou shalt or thou shalt not. The law is surrounding this word do, or don't do. Now faith is surrounding the word done. Faith looks back to a finished work. And there's no more do, it's all done. And the law is not of faith. This is what Paul was trying to hammer into these Galatians who were going back to work. He says, man, stop your doing, it's all done. He said, and the law is not of faith. But the man that doeth them shall live in them. If you're going to keep the whole Ten Commandments, then I can tell you you're going to have trouble with the last one. For the last one says, thou shalt not covet. And both you and I have bothered with that. Even the Greek Apostle who was a Pharisee, and lived according to that strict sect, he said, blameless, which is a tremendous word to use, he said, I have not known sin except the law. I'm saying, thou shalt not covet. For you see, you can't keep it. Actually, you know, if you try, you will break it, it will curse you. You'll be cursed of the law. In fact, the law will become your schoolmaster and rock your knuckles again and again to tell you that you need a failure. It's the law that tells us fellows that we need a savior. And he says in verse 12, and the law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them. Then he comes to Christ. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. Being made our curse for us. Then he quotes from Deuteronomy, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Going right back to the prophecy, you can see. Now, that was the prophecy about the crucifixion that was back there. Of course, you know, I meet a lot of boys who argue about this and that and the other. And they take me back to Deuteronomy 21 and they talk about everyone that hangeth on a tree. It's only a few months ago when I had a couple of boys at the door and they say, you know, Christ wasn't crucified. He was hanged on a tree. He was tied with his hands above his head and his feet and he was left there. I wonder who taught them that nonsense. And they tried to establish this nonsensical, erroneous, devilish thing from the word hangeth. But I shall come back to an Old Testament prophecy in Psalm 22. Let's have a look at that. This is a great psalm, this 22nd psalm. And if I started to do everything about the cross in it this evening, well, I would be here far too long. I think that you can see that it has an application to Christ on the cross from the very first words. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And that's the cry of the cross. If you go on down to verse 16 and you take the last phrase, it says they pierced my hands and my feet. That's the prophecy about the crucifixion. And that's what crucifixion is all about. And so I took these lads to task and brought them here. And then I said to the big one, what would Thomas have meant when he said, except I see the print of the nails in his hands, I will not believe you tell me what he meant. Now that's absolutely elementary to you, but there are boys who are going about talking nonsense. You see, the curse of crucifixion was prophesied. And remember your master, by hanging on the accursed tree, was made a curse for you. And remember that the cruelty of the crucifixion is that they pierced his hands and his feet by nails. I think sometimes we miss this little bit. Sometimes I say, I can hear the doves blow the hammers from low, they're nailing my lawn to the tree. Remember it has nothing to do with substitution. The nails going through his hands never paid for you. Oh, you get that sort of emotion in the inner head. I think this is where we get mixed up. You don't tell me that cruel men put nails on his hands and drove them through to pay for your sin. You don't tell me that because you're far away from the mark. No, it's just man's brutality for the Son of God. You see, he was despised and rejected of men. That's an old custom in Prophecy 2 in Isaiah 53. You see, he was despised by the proles that were around him in that day. Look what Peter said when he was preaching in Acts chapter 4, the Acts of the Apostles, and he was preaching that great message in chapter 4, in chapter 3, and then he was arrested in chapter 4, and then he was rattled, so it's the permission that I want to get to. It says here, in chapter 4, of verse 25, 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, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. For if a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both here, let's get him in, and Pontius Pilate, let's get him in, with the Gentiles, Roman soldiers and so on, and the people of Israel. You know, all proles were against him. He was despised by proles. Terrible, better than not. He sent them back to Pilate. And while Pilate knew that he was absolutely thoughtless, and he knew that for envy the Jews had delivered him, yet Pilate sent him to be crucified. It's the act of mercy. And the Gentiles were in a mess, and all the Jews were in a mess. And when the appeal was made, the people cried, away with him, crucify him. I want you to get the hold of this, because this hanging of the Son of God on this tree, on these true nails, is nothing else than the sinfulness of man. Let's get the hold of that. I want you to get that, because we'll go into the depths as we go on, but it's the crucifixion we're at. Just think of taking the hand that touched the leper, and the hand that touched the dead, and the hand that touched the eyes, and the hand that touched the ears. Stretching it out and putting it in your heart, and poking it through. That's what we're talking about. We're talking about the cruel crucifixion. Just the cruelty of it, that's all. Now, let's have a look for a moment, that the person may crucify it. Come to 1 Corinthians with me. First letter to the Corinthians, and we're at the second chapter. And just to save time, it says in verse 7, 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 7, but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have crucified, now let's get the person into perspective now, the Lord of Glory. You know, we want to take a moment just now, and just settle down quietly. If we could only go through Calvary now, and see this person stripped stark naked, because they parted his garments among them, and for his vesture, his undervesture, they cast lots. And the book says he despised the saving, they stripped him naked. And they nailed him, let's get it quite clear now, they nailed him to the tree. Now are you sure of who he was? Because if you're not sure after this verse, we may throw this book away. He was none other than the Lord of Glory. This amazes me. This humbles me, this scares me, let me tell you this, it scares me. When I was in Palestine, I went up to where the cross was, one Sunday morning. And with a few friends, just spread a tablecloth there, and got wine and bread. And we were going to remember the Lord. Just where I thought the cross might have been. You couldn't be sure, but I was pretty near the spot. And you know there was quite the crowd, the folk began to come round and sit down, and Germans who could speak English said, can we break bread with you, and Australians and so on. Certainly. No back seat at this table. It was a Sunday morning it was. And I got up and preached to them from the steps, if the princes of this world had known. And I talked about the unknowledgeableness of the princes. If the princes of this world had known, they would not have crucified. And I talked about the unspeakable pain. I talked about the crucifixion. I talked about the princes. I talked about the pain, and then I talked about the person, even on the cross, with nails in his hands, and thorns on his brow, and his bones out of joint, he was still the Lord of Glory. Unchangeable person. He will always be the Lord of Glory. He always was the Lord of Glory. Sometimes you can scarcely take it in that men like us nailed the Lord of Glory to the cross of shame. But let's move on from the prophecies, and the person, he was Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews and so on, Let's go to the place of crucifixion. Let's go to John's Gospel, chapter 19. John's Gospel, and we have the 19th chapter, and verse 17. John 19, verse 17. And he, bearing his cross, went forth into a place called the place of the skull, which is called in the Hebrew, Golgotha. Now, that's the Hebrew word. Don't let's forget that. When we say Golgotha, we're talking Hebrew. Now, the Latin word is the word Calvary. Don't forget that either, because it's actually Latin. The English word is the word skull. And skull, and Calvary, and Golgotha, they're all the same. It's only different languages. And if you were ever in Palestine and went outside the Damascus Gate and went up the road a bit, you would have no trouble at all identifying the place. There's a hill outside, and there are two cave-like eyes. It's just a skull, that's all. And I had a fellow by my side who was a millionaire, who was a cattle dealer. He didn't go to school or anything like that, but clever, you know, made piles of money selling and buying cattle. And we're coming up the road, and he got me by the arm, flesh and all. He says, there it is. Yes, it was easy to see. It was like a skull. That's the place. Now, I want you to notice this a little bit. And he, bearing his cross, went forth into a place called the Place of the Skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha, where they crucified him and two others with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. And Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross, and the writing was Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. This title then read, many of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city, wanted to get there. You see, the Roman Catholic Church has taken a place in Palestine, and they say this is where the crucifixion took place. But you see, some hundreds of years later, after they claimed that, some of our great archaeologists found the old wall of the city. And it's too bad for the Roman Catholic Church, because they have the crucifixion placed inside the wall. But there was a great Christian called General Goggin, and he could see this at a glance. This cannot be Calvary for it's inside the old walls. And he found outside the city wall a place that is now called Garden Calvary. And I would think if you ever paid a visit to it, you would know it's the place, all right. I remember rising at four o'clock one morning, and slipping out of the hotel, and going down the street, and out through the Damascus Gate, and up the road. And when I got there, my millionaire farmer, cattle dealer, was there before me. He had me coming, he was sitting on a rock. And he was crying. And I just watched him. And I could see his big shoulders heaving. And then I came up and sat beside him. He said to me, he was up there, look, he was up there, where the Lord of Glory begged for a cattle dealer like me. He was reeled ahead. Oh, sorry. Remember, it was outside the city wall, it was outside the gate actually. Have a look at Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews 13. And this settles it forever. I was arguing with some of the Roman Catholic priests, and then I had to bring them here. It says in verse 11, For the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned without the candle. Wherefore Jesus also, Isn't that lovely? Because you have the type in one verse and you have the fulfillment in the other. Wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered, quit now, without the gate. There isn't any problems at all, you know. For you can see the prophecies, and you can see the person, and you can see the place. Now, I want you to be very careful with this period. Let's go to Mark's gospel now. Chapter 15. Gospel by Mark, and we're at the 15th chapter. Now, this is something that you should all pay attention to, because I'll show you why in a moment. Verse 24. And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, whatever a man should take. And it was the third hour, and they crucified him. Now, I want you to get the hold of that, because we're at the period now. Now, when it says it was the third hour, what does it mean? Well, if you know anything about the calculation of times, you'll know that Luke is writing about Roman time. The Romans had a way of counting time that was altogether different from the Jews. Now, you just follow me very carefully. You see, the Roman day began at sunrise in the morning. It was six o'clock in the morning. That's when the Roman day began, and still begins. Now, it was three hours after the beginning of the Roman day that Christ was crucified. That was nine o'clock in the morning. That's how you count that. It must be Roman time they're talking. You see, Jewish time was quite different. This is where the boys get mixed up about three days and three nights, because that happens to be counted by Jewish time. It's a great pity of some of you wee fellows, you know, because you think you're smart sometimes, and you just haven't grown up. That's the trouble. Now, you know about Jewish time. At least, I think you should. You see, Roman time began at sunrise. Now, Jewish time, the day began at sundown. It began at sundown. You see, when we're reading in Genesis, it says, on the evening and the morning were the first day. The Jewish day begins at night. So, we're almost in the same fix in our country. Roughly speaking, it's nine o'clock now. Maybe a minute or two more, but we'll make it nine. It makes it easier for me. Well, we say it's nine o'clock. If you go out to the airport out there, it will be continental time that's up on the clock. It will be twenty-one. And it bothers me sometimes, because I'm not the best of a country. And when I look my ticket, and it says 2140, well, I hardly know where I am, or what I have to count, and all, all shits. You see, continental time's all right from midnight to midday, up to twelve. But then when it goes to one, what we call one, they call it thirteen. When it goes to two, they call it fourteen. When it goes to nine, they call it twenty-one. So you can see that there are ways of counting time, and I can tell you a whole lot more ways, you know. Because this is something I have to learn about counting time in this book. Because if you don't know the way to count the time, you're going to get into trouble. So when it says here, and it was the third hour, and they crucified him. That was the third hour from the morning, from six o'clock in the morning, so it was nine o'clock Roman time that they crucified him. It's quite different when you begin counting in Jewish time, but we'll do that at the reflection. Now I want you to notice this, let's go to Luke's Gospel, 23. Luke's Gospel, and we're at the twenty-third chapter. I want you to get this properly now, and we'll read from verse thirty-nine. And one of the malefectors which were hanged, revealed unto him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering, rebuked him, saying, Doubt not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, He said, Lord, well that was very wonderful that he should use that word, wasn't it? For the man hanging by his side was covered with blood, and his face was battered, and his hands were nailed, and so on, and his bones out of joint, and there were spittles on his face, and his hair was battered. And yet this fellow hath got enough light now to call him Lord. He said, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom, and Jesus said unto him, Very may I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. And it was about the six hour. You got that? Because that's six hours from six in the morning, that's still Roman time. So then it's twelve o'clock midday, the way we shout. You see, according to our account, he was put on the cross at nine o'clock in the morning. Now for the first three hours, the sun was shining at its usual height. And you'll find this out, that it was about the sixth hour when this took place, except in verse forty-four, and it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. That is, there were three hours of darkness now, from twelve o'clock to three o'clock. He was put on the cross at nine in the morning, and on up to twelve o'clock, the sun was shining. Now in those hours, while he was hanging on the nails, and his bones were out of joint, you know, he talked about a lot of things. In fact, he prayed for the people that nailed him. Father, forgive them. And then he talked to his mother, because although he was in great pain, and hanging in this terrible, cruel, crucifixion state, he had thoughts for his mother. And he had kind thoughts for this thief. But all this was happening in the daylight bit, because the crucifixion is divided into two. There were three hours of light, three hours of darkness. And in the darkness he didn't talk to anybody. He cried, My God! My God! Why has the power forsaken me? Because something else was taking place then. The substitutionary thing, and the redemption, and the reconciliation, and the propitiation, was all being made when the darkness had deepened. God was dealing with him then, it wasn't man. When man spiked his hands, that was man's cruelty to him. Oh, but it pleased the Lord to bruise him. God made his soul an offering for sin. But don't let's get into that light. Let's leave it out, or I'll mix you up. We're at the crucifixion, you see what we're at now. So I hope you've got the period properly in the way to count it, and that you'll remember about this. Now I want you to get the pains of the crucifixion properly too. Have a look at Matthew's Gospel, chapter 26, for a moment. Matthew 26, verse 67, I want you to get this. Verse 67, Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him. This is the old Jewish Sanhedrin questioning him just before he went out. It says in verse 65, Then the high priest rang his calls, he wasn't allowed to do that anyway, saying he had spoken blasphemy, but for the need of we witnesses, behold now ye have heard this blasphemy. What think ye? They answered and said he is guilty of death. Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him. Now that word buffeted is a very special word. It's a Greek word, it's kolaphizo. Now, Greek doesn't matter. But this one matters because kolaphizo, for any Greek scholar, he would know that it means that they struck him with the closed fist. I want you to see the difference, you see, sometimes we don't follow the Scriptures properly. Watch this again. Verse 67, Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him, and others smote him with the palms of their hands. You can see there's a difference between buffeting and smiting with the palms of their hands. Otherwise there would be no need to say it, would there? You see, some of them closed their fists and punched him in the face. You know, when he hung on the cross, he had black eyes, and teeth out. I can tell you friends, they punched him in the face. That's the word. Others just smote him with the palms of their hands. Now, the crucifixion, his face was buffeted. I think you know this. Let's go back to Isaiah 50 for a moment. The prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 50, Isaiah 50. And it's a great prophecy. Verse 6, I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord God will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face like a flame. You know, he gave his back to the smiters. Have a look at Psalm 129 just for a moment. I think we might as well do it properly. Psalm 129, and speaking of this that I'm speaking of, it says in verse 3, The ploughs ploughed upon my back, they made long their furrows. You know, this scourging that Christ got before he was put on the cross, is it from then you think? It was done like this. They have a scourging pool, which was as high as this is before me, and they bathed him over it, and tied him down like that. Then they lifted his foot from his back, and a man came to do the job, had a long lash. They tell me it was four feet long with leather, and in the end of the leather was intertwined little balls of lead. And he could cut it, and he could lift a rain of flesh off with every shot, so that he ploughed his back. And this punching in the face, and this furrowing of the back, is all part of crucifixion. It's all that we charity a man, is what it is. Don't you ever think that it paid for your redemption, for it didn't. You could never teach me that a man can take a leather thong and beat the Sages back to make atonement for the sins he's committed. Ah, you're on the wrong side of the thing. You're on the manward side. You want to get the crucifixion very careful, and then we'll get the rest of it properly. You see, his face was battered, and his back was furrowed, and his brow was punctured by these long eastern thorns. If you could ever see these thorns, I held them in my hand and twisted them round. The thorn is longer than my index finger, longer than that. And it's hard as steel, and it's sharp as a needle. And when they're crushed down, they go right in. It's only the brutality of man, but it's the crucifixion. Because we've already seen that his hands were pierced. And you know when they lifted this cross open, rattled it into a socket, and their hands on the nails, his bones at the shoulder come right out of the joint. That's what makes crucifixion crucifixion. It's terrible what man did to the Lord of Glory. You know, I worked for ten long years with perhaps the greatest surgeon in the British Isles. I think God sent me there just to teach me a lot of things, and I'm so thankful that he did. Because I had a lot of things to learn, and this man was good to me. And when he had big extra operations on, he would allow me to go. He would dress me up in his own room with a great green overall thing, and a mask, and something on my head, and you wouldn't know who I was. And I think that some of the nurses thought I was an extra special surgeon that was in to see the job, and all that sort of thing. But I'd been there when he worked for hours at taking the tumour out of the brain, and very successfully too. And he and I were just proud, that's all. And coming home in the car one day, he said to me, are you preaching tonight? I said, yes sir. He said, do you ever preach about the wounds of Christ? I said, I try. Difficult, you know. He said, no wonder did you ever think this, that all the wounds that can be inflicted on the human form, were born by Christ. And my ears almost moved. I said, now tell me carefully about that. He said, you see when we're training young nurses, there are only five kinds of wounds that can be inflicted on the human form. There is what we call a contused wound. And you nurses and you doctors that are here know all about it. Just a black mark. Black eye will do. It's contused. And then he said, there is what is called a punctured wound. Let's see if you tread on the nail with your bare foot. Punctured. Not a dangerous one. Then there is what is called an incised wound. That is if you were stabbed with a knife. Then there is what is called a laparated wound, where the flesh is torn, like Christ's back was torn. Then there is what is called a perforated wound, and that's one that goes right through. Now, these aren't the only wounds that you nurses know about. Or you're ever going to know about. And the Lord bore them all. The contused wound was on his face. The punctured wound was in his brow. The incised wound was in his side. It was made by the spear. The laparated wounds were on his back, where the flesh was torn away and furrowed. And the perforated wounds were in his hands and his feet. And I shocked the old surgeon, and I said, you know, I don't think you know a thing about it. He almost stopped the car, you know. I said, all that you're talking to me about now, sir, is the brutality of man to the person of Christ. These are not the real wounds of Christ, you know. Because I would have you know that he was wounded for my transgressions. And it wasn't perforation, nor laceration that did it. Oh, when we get into the substitutionary thing, and in the darkness, my sins laid upon him, then God put a stall between the upper and lower milestones of his wrath, and God crushed him. He was crushed, his soul was made an offering to sin, to man. And I'm with Wesley here. I need no other argument. I seek no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died. And he died for me. You don't think I need any Roman potpourri, do you? You don't think that I need Mary, you Roman Catholics listening. You don't think I need beads. You don't think I need potpourri, do you? You don't think I need candles. You don't think I need a Roman priest, do you? Because I can tell you that will take you to hell. Let's differentiate between the crucifixion and the substitution, and we'll get all right. But we're still at crucifixion tonight. But what a thing it was. You can see the pain. You can see the physical. You can think now how they walked past the cross and left. They scorned them. They cried, They deceived others. Themselves we cannot save, they marched on. I want you to get the plan of the crucifixion before we leave. You know, when this book talks about God and his Son, it has a lot of things to say. It says that God spared not his Son, but delivered him up for us all. You know, God delivered him into the hands of sinful men. What a mighty thing this was. I asked a fellow in this meeting, sitting over there somewhere, Would you give your son to some of these rebels that are blowing up the book? He said, I wouldn't. You'd give your only son? I can tell you that God gives his son. God spared not his son. He delivered him into the hands of sinful men and stood back. And it's only to prove to the world the wickedness of man. Oh, how sinful man is. You know, if you go back through the whole life of the Lord Jesus, he was crimeless. He was harmless. He was heartless. He was sinless. Why should people take him so? You are saved, folks in this meeting. Let me tell you that this is the way you are saved now. You are just standing with the crowd saying, not this man. We don't want him. You are not big enough to take us down with him tonight. I'll tell you what you would do and you don't think you would. You'd put him back on the cross. If he came back to this world tonight and he did the same things over again and he blots men right, left and center, I'll tell you what they would do with him. Put him on the cross. And God has to prove that. Oh, how wicked we are. We would chase the Lord for glory and strip him naked and kneel him to the tree for love. Oh, you deserve to go to hell. You have no shame for Christ. Yes. Shows the wickedness. I'll tell you this. It shows the foolishness of the saints. You know this, and I don't want to take too much time with it, that when he first mentioned that he'd be delivered into the hands of sinful men and taken and slain, Peter took him. You remember me stopping you at the verse. It says, Peter took him. Now, I'm not big enough to know exactly what it means. I follow the reasoning of Dr. Campbell Morgan at times. He says, I don't know what it means, but it certainly means something. Did Peter take him by the arm? Did Peter take him aside? It says, Peter took him out of town to redemption. Did Peter take the Lord aside and begin to redemption and say, far be it from you. You're not going to the cross. You know the truth that when God went to a mass in the shard and downcast, the whole world has dropped apart. And Jesus himself drew near and went with them and they didn't know him. And they began to tell, we thought, we thought he would have redeemed Israel. But all he does condemn them and crucify them. And now they can't even find his body. You know, they didn't understand. Oh, the saints are so foolish. My, this thing that happened on John's scholarship hill. I sat down beside my farmer friend. I said, I'll tell you a bit more about this. You sit there. And for an hour or more I began to tell them about the deep depths that Christ went into and the price of redemption that was paid in ruby blood. And all that was accomplished. Friends, thank God that God let them go. You know, you can see the wickedness of man and the crucifixion. You can see the foolishness of saints. You can see the willingness of the Saviour. Don't tell me that he wasn't willing. In Isaiah 50 we've just read, I set my faith like a boot. And from the back he turned my back. He came to where I lay in wanton sin and he saved me. Blessed be his name. Oh, the willingness to see. He knew all about it. He knew about the thorns. He knew about the puncture. He knew about the spittle. He knew about the furrowing. He knew about the beard being plucked from his face. He knew every item. Yet he was willing to go through because he wanted to be the Lamb. The sacrifice for your offenses. Wonderful Jesus. You know, this not only proves the wickedness of sinners and the foolishness of the saints and the willingness of the Saviour, but Christ crucified proves the wisdom of our God. Behind me we greet Christ crucified. Unto the Jews, you know, a stumbling block. Unto the Greeks, foolishness. But unto us we shall change. It is the power of God and the wisdom of God. God was God that wisely ordained this. He let men spike unto the tree and then put a stop to it. And in the darkness God dealt with him on my account. You can see the wisdom of God. You can see the mercy of God. You can see the grace of God. You see the love of God. You know the text that I... For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. You know, I was preaching way up in the highlands there. And a friend took me down to a little village. I don't even remember its name. But he took me to a wall where there was a little plaque in the wall. And it says, to Mary Elizabeth Goddard. Mary Elizabeth Goddard. The little girl who loved her sister and gave herself for her. And I looked at it and I said, tell me about it. You know, these were two kids. Mary Elizabeth was seven. The other one was only four. And they were away out on the hills when a snowstorm came. Came quickly. And the little one apparently had got cold and she couldn't go on. And when they were found, the bigger one had taken off her overcoat and put it on the wee one. Then she had eventually taken off her pullover or whatever you call it, the cardigan, and she had put it on the top of her. She had taken almost every stitch off her and wrapped her wee sister in it. And she was found lying over the top of her holding her in her arms. She had given herself for her. Look, let's take a minute tonight and let's just stand still and look at the cross. And if we only look at the crucifixion, what Jesus endured for you at the crucifixion. It's tremendous. But remember, you're not even starting to think of what he did for you. Oh, wonder! I think, what said, when I surveyed the wonderful cross where the whole realm of nature lies. No wonder C.T. Studd said, if Jesus Christ was God and died for me, there is no sacrifice so great that I can make for him. Sometimes I wonder what we're doing with ourselves. Sometimes I wonder do we love him at all. Sometimes I wonder if we've ever sacrificed anything. Sometimes I wonder if we've ever suffered for him who suffered so much for us. We're going to have a night or two around the cross here. We'll get deeper as the nights go by. Don't miss next Tuesday. We should sing a couple of verses, Nora. 123. I'd love to sing it all, but we'll just sing the first. And we'll just sing the fourth verse. First and fourth, 123. There is life for a look at the crucified one. Life at this moment for thee. Thank you. Thank you. There is life for a look at the crucified one. There is life at this moment for thee. There is life for a look at the crucified one. There is life at this moment for thee. There is life for a look at the crucified one. Ten thousand rocks I've laid and since God has decreed Let me say there's no more to be done I'm here, I'm here, I'm here I'm here, I'm here, I'm here And if my head's falling on the ground I'm not going to be my crown And if my head's falling on the ground Lord we bow our heads and hearts before thee And we want to say to thee from the very depths of our being just now Thank you Lord for saving my soul Thank you Lord for making me whole Thank you Lord Jesus for giving to me Thy great salvation So rich Lord and yet so free Help us to love Thee more Part us in Thy fear and with Thy blessing For Thy holy name's sake Amen