The Hands of Lawless Men

I want to show you a God so loving, so deeply merciful to his children, that he would die by their hands, take their punishment on his own back, and set them free of the death they deserve. I want to show you a God so powerful and triumphant that he could bear the weight of an eternal death sentence and cut it down to three short days. And I want to show you a God who did not go about this task of dying and rising because he fell victim to his enemies. He did it all according to his carefully laid plan. I want share with you the tactically planned victory of an unjust crucifixion.

Note: This transcript was auto generated and may have errors.  If you would like to volunteer to review and edit our sermon transcripts before they are posted, contact Gail Peterson, gpeterson@calvaryefree.church.

[00:00:01] Well, tonight we gather as a church to remember the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross on our behalf. We know that our entire hope as sinners who are guilty of rebellion against God, rests in that same God becoming a man and going to the cross in our place. We know that the just punishment for our sins before a holy God is death and separation from him forever. And we see in God’s Word to us that his gracious forgiveness is given to us, not because God changed his mind about the consequences of sin, but because he took the consequences of sin himself. Christ is our substitute on that cross. He took what we deserve and he gave us what only he as a sinless man deserves. He exchanged his righteousness for our sin and the entire history of redemption from the moment sin entered the world in the Garden of Eden, until the moment Jesus said, it is finished and died on the cross, went exactly according to God’s carefully laid plan. Tonight, as we reflect on the cross, I want to consider the way Christ’s crucifixion was both a great act of lawless injustice and the precise plan of a just and gracious God. And I know at first that sounds contradictory. How can something be both a horrible human evil and at the same time precisely the plan of a good and loving God? Well, beginning tonight and continuing on into Easter Sunday morning, I want to show you how Christ has saved us from destruction, using the very means of our destruction.

[00:02:07] I want to show you a God so loving, so deeply merciful to his children that he would die by their hands, take their punishment on his back, and set them free from the death that they deserve. I want to show you a God so powerful and triumphant that he could bear the weight of an eternal death sentence and cut it down to just three short days. And I want to show you a God who did not go about this task of dying and rising because he fell victim to his enemies. He did it all according to his carefully laid plan. Tonight, I want to share with you the tactically planned victory of an unjust crucifixion. We’re going to do this by looking at the words of Peter, one of Jesus closest friends, that he preached in the streets of Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, just 50 days after Jesus resurrection. He speaks to a crowd of gathered Jewish people who are are well aware of the events surrounding Jesus crucifixion, but Peter gives them the insight they need to show to see how this terrible act of lawlessness and injustice is, at the very same time, central to the carefully laid plans of our gracious God. And we’re going to look at the cross from both of those angles, that it’s both the act of lawless men and the definite plan of God.

[00:03:44] And as we listen to Peter in those two short verses that we’re going to read tonight, I would encourage you to prepare your hearts for communion while we do this, as we as we consider the lawlessness of the men who killed Jesus, consider how your own sin and lawlessness at one time turned you away from Christ. And as we consider God’s well laid plan of salvation through the cross, consider God’s mercy on you that he would willingly plan to take your punishment and to set you free. This is from acts chapter two, verse 22 and 23. Men of Israel hear these words Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God, with mighty works and wonders and signs, that God did through him in your midst. As you yourselves know, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. Now, this is the part of Peter’s longer sermon where he turns to the topic of Jesus. And Jesus would be a topic fresh on everybody’s mind. That day in Jerusalem, this crowd was present in Jerusalem for the Passover. They were a part of the actual crowd gathered as eyewitnesses surrounding Jesus arrest and trial.

[00:05:17] Crucifixion. They would also have been present for much of Jesus ministry. You’ll remember that Jesus traveled all over Israel from town to town, healing people, teaching the gospel, performing miracles, and all of these miracles were signs that pointed to his authority, to the reality that he is uniquely the Son of God. That’s why Peter emphasizes it here. As you yourselves know. He’s saying, you know this. You saw Jesus. You know who he was. They knew who Jesus was. But what did they do with that knowledge? They crucified and killed him by the hands of lawless men. That the people in this crowd are culpable for Jesus death. They helped the plan along when they cried out to Jesus to be crucified for his supposed crimes, which we’ll come back to here in a minute. And Peter isn’t saying, by the way, that that he’s not just declaring that they’re the only ones who are guilty and he’s not declaring his own innocence here. He denied Jesus, and he stood by while the crucifixion took place. So it’s not as if these particular people are the only ones to blame. But Peter wants this crowd to understand the good news. He wants his hearers to really, truly understand what is good in the message of Christ, and for anyone to understand and to receive the gospel, they first have to come to terms with the truth, and we have to come to terms with the truth.

[00:07:10] We share in the blame of Jesus death. So let’s consider these lawless men and the role that they played. The first is Judas Iscariot. Judas was one of the men Jesus chose as his 12 apostles, the messengers that he would send out to carry the message of the kingdom of God to the region. Judas would betray Jesus by leading the Roman soldiers to find Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, where he was there praying on that Thursday night. Uh, Judas serves as the linchpin to the plan that connected the Jewish High Council to the Roman government, because the Jewish High Council wanted him dead, and the Roman government is the one that could execute people. And Judas served both teams, the Jewish officials. The Sanhedrin paid Judas 30 pieces of silver to lead the Roman soldiers to the location where Jesus was to arrest him. And Judas certainly fits the description of a lawless man who had a hand in killing Jesus. And usually when we think of Jesus enemies, Judas comes to mind. But he was really only a pawn in a much bigger scheme. The second group of lawless men that we think of is the Roman government. They were the civil authority at that time. They were the arbiters of justice. The they decided who was at fault and not only who is at fault for different crimes, but how those criminals would be punished.

[00:08:52] They had the responsibility of the law. But in the case of Christ, they were lawless. Pontius Pilate was the governor of Judea at that time. His job was to keep the peace in the region and keep the tax money flowing from the region to Rome. The Sanhedrin told Pilate that Jesus was an enemy of Rome because he claimed to be a king. Now that would certainly put Jesus at the top of pilots list of concerns. If he was claiming to be a king who might usurp the Roman government. That was a big problem for Pilate. He couldn’t have a seditious usurper on his hands trying to raise the people up against the Roman government. And so Pilate questioned Jesus. And you know what he found out? He found out that Jesus is nothing of the sort. Jesus did claim to be a king, but of a kingdom that is not of this world. Do you know how threatening an otherworldly spiritual kingdom is to Rome? Not at all threatening. They didn’t care. Rome had this policy where they didn’t care what you believed, so long as you paid your taxes and you didn’t cause a ruckus. That’s all they cared about. And so Pilate goes to the people and he tells them he didn’t find anything illegal about Jesus. He hasn’t done anything wrong as far as Pilate is concerned.

[00:10:18] But when the crowd, including the people from this crowd that Peter is talking to here, when they when they heard Jesus declared innocent, the crowd demanded that he be found guilty. Now, you would expect that a lawful ruler, a just governor, would simply make his verdict and set Jesus free. I didn’t find anything wrong with Jesus. I don’t care what you say as a crowd. I’m the one who’s in charge and I’m going to set him free. That’s what you would expect from a lawful and just ruler. But that’s not what happened here. And I’m indebted to the great theologian John Stott in his excellent book, The Cross of Christ, for pointing out the four things Pilate did instead of being lawful. First, he sent Jesus to be judged by Herod, who is a sort of a a Jewish under King who had jurisdiction over the region of Galilee at that time. So Pilate sort of kicks Jesus crime or his his trial down to a lower or smaller court. And Herod simply ships Jesus back to Pilate. So that didn’t work. So the next thing he does is he decides to have Jesus punished by flogging him, figuring that’ll that’ll satisfy the people, I will, I will flog him. I will punish him. He’s innocent. Jesus doesn’t deserve to be flogged or beaten. But by not killing him, Pilate can claim some level of innocence here.

[00:11:51] But the crowd doesn’t buy it. See, the crowd doesn’t want Jesus to be flogged. They want him to be killed. Crucified. And so Pilate makes a third and and in some ways brilliant move. It’s Jewish custom to release a prisoner at the Passover. And so Pilate gives them the choice between Jesus and an actual thief and murderer and insurrectionist, a guy named Barabbas thinking, surely they’re going to pick an actual murderer, an actual thief, an actual usurper, to be the one to to be released. But wouldn’t you know it? They said, give us that thief and murderer. We want him. We want him over. Jesus. And so finally, and fourthly, Pilate does the only thing that he knows and has left to do. He lies to himself. He gets a bowl of water, he washes his hands in front of the crowd, and he declares, I am innocent of this man’s blood. See, the one who is supposed to keep the law condemned a man he knew was innocent, to die on a cross, and then declared himself innocent in the process. The hands of lawless men. The third group of lawless men is the most surprising because it it should have been the group most eager to receive and to love Jesus. And yet this group, the Jewish Council or the Sanhedrin, was the most responsible for Jesus death.

[00:13:40] Jesus says so. Jesus says they’re the most responsible when he’s speaking to Pilate in John 1911, it’s recorded, as Jesus tells Pilate, he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin. He’s probably talking about Caiaphas there, the high priest. Jealousy drove them. This, this Sanhedrin, this, this Jewish council. It drove them to to use Jesus greed and the Roman propensity to murder criminals to their advantage. They took took advantage of these these two facts, put them together and made a plan. They used a combination of lies and threats and willpower to convince Pilate to crucify Jesus. And while this council would have no real concern for Roman law, they wouldn’t have cared about that at all. They answered to a law of much higher authority. God’s law. The Mosaic Law protects innocent people. It’s shaped by God’s justice. It orders God’s people to be fair and just and gracious. It forbids lies and murder. It carefully lays out the procedure for securing witnesses in a case like this. But religious leaders, over time, had turned their hearts away from the Lord and figured out that they could use the law to their advantage to gain riches and power. They placed themselves as authorities over God’s law, and so that what they would do is they would pick and choose which ones they would apply and how they would be applied, and they would use it to judge and condemn people that they wanted to judge and condemn.

[00:15:29] And when you twist God’s law to your liking and make it do your bidding, you’re no longer under God’s law. You’re lawless. Listen to this exchange between Pilate and the Jewish officials. Now, you’ll note, as we as you hear this, the four things that that Pilate does. But I want you to listen for how the Jewish leaders guided this conversation with their power, with their sheer will. This is Luke 23, verses 13 to 25. Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people. And he said to them, you brought me this man as one who is misleading the people. And after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him. I will therefore punish and release him. But they all cried out together, away with this man, and release to us Barabbas. A man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder. Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus, but they kept shouting, crucify! Crucify him! A third time he said to them, why? What evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him.

[00:17:02] But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified and their voices prevailed. So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will. When you’re listening for it. You can really hear the immense injustice in that, can’t you? You can really hear it. Pilate knew what was right, but he ultimately didn’t care. The chief priest. They knew what was right, but they only wanted their will, not what God’s law told them. Any sense of what is right, good and fair was disregarded. Lawless men killed. Jesus. But here’s the thing about that. It was required that lawless men kill Jesus. What do I mean? Well, there would have been no lawful way for him to die, would there? To be punished under a law, you have to break the law. That’s what the punishment is for. It’s for the person who broke the law. You have to sin. You. You have to be in the wrong. But Jesus is God. He is. He is God the Son who took on flesh. He is. He is the human embodiment of the Word of God as we learn in John chapter one. On a human level. He didn’t break any Roman law of that. Pilate was absolutely certain.

[00:18:51] But on a on a cosmic divine level, he kept God’s law perfectly because he’s God. The Apostle Paul would later describe Jesus as he who knew no sin. The one who knew no sin. Meaning Jesus didn’t commit a single sin in thought or in deed. There was absolutely nothing in Jesus to condemn him under law, so his death required lawlessness. So how is it that the perfect Son of God would find himself caught in such an unjust scheme at the hands of lawless men? Well, it’s because at the very same time that this is the scheme of evil people, it is also the carefully worked, divinely orchestrated plan of God. This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. Delivered up here has a meaning very similar to hand it over. So the Sanhedrin handed over silver to Judas, who handed over Jesus to the Romans, and who then handed over Jesus to the will of the chief priests and the shouting of the crowds. But none of that sequence could even start until God the Father first handed over Jesus to the lawless men. And not unwillingly listen to Jesus describe his plan with God the Father in John chapter ten, verse 17 and 18. This is Jesus. This is Jesus speaking to his disciples. He says, for this reason, my the father loves me.

[00:20:50] Because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me. But I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my father. Jesus lays down his own life. That was the plan that he had with the father. In fact, if the religious leaders had spent less time caring about their power and more time reading their Hebrew scriptures, they would have realized the Messiah they were waiting for had to be a suffering servant. Isaiah 53, verses eight and nine, written 800 years before Jesus time on earth, says by oppression and judgment he was taken away. And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. And they made his grave with the wicked and with the rich man in his death, although he had done no violence. And there was no deceit in his mouth. They killed Jesus according to their own scriptures. They had God’s playbook in their hands and they weren’t reading it. The definite plan of God was right there, but they weren’t aware enough to see how their own lawlessness played a pivotal role in God’s plan. Friends, from the moment in the Garden of Eden, when all of humanity fell into sin.

[00:22:40] God had a plan for saving us out of it. And that plan was this our sin is condemned by God’s law, and the punishment for sin is death. But in his mercy God Himself would come and live a lawful life, a truly lawful life, the life we can’t live. He would live a life that would deserve no death at all. Lawless men would condemn him when the love of money and cowardice and envy converged to create this massive injustice. And Jesus would not open his mouth to defend himself, so that the lies and the anger would result in crucifixion. He willingly allowed himself to be the victim of injustice. And he did this so that on that cross he would be the sinless, clean slate on which the sins of all God’s people would be placed, and those sins would die with him. Stricken for the transgression of my people. That’s what Jesus was. He was stricken. For the transgression of lawless people. That’s what Jesus laid down his life to do, to take the transgressions of God’s people. Let me ask you. Has he taken your sin on his back? Is your sin. What do you see when you see the cross? Do you see your sin die there with Jesus? Have you trusted in Christ to take the place of your sins? Let’s pray.