Turn with me then please to this verse of scripture, chapter 27 of Matthew's Gospel and verse 25. Then answered all the people and said, His blood be on us and on our children. His blood be on us and on our children. I was of a mind to cry and encourage the students to take some of the difficult texts around the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. I commend this fellow to take the sayings, to take the people and to look at them in the light of the rest of God's word and to seek to show what God is speaking to us of in these difficult texts and around the persons who stood around the cross of Jesus. Words are strange things. We never know how far a word will go, or what strange meanings even our own words will carry. Words fall so easily from the tongue, and with an altered emphasis or with a changed accent, they may gain quite extraordinary meanings. They may take on the foretelling of tomorrow. Caiaphas spoke, and the words formed into a sentence took on a meaning that he did not understand. It is expedient, he said, that one man should die for the nation. Pilate spoke, and his words Behold the man have been taken to the hearts of many of God's believing people down through the ages and they have looked upon Jesus with such love and tenderness. Pilate didn't dream that his words would be used in such a way and the priests and the others taunting Jesus cried out in derision, he saved others, himself he cannot save. And the priest did not think for one moment that their words would be repeated as a testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ and as a heartfelt expression of his atoning death for sinners. And now these words His blood be on us and on our children. These words are holy words. They are part of the holy word of God. And when fresh cried out they were the words of blind men who were prepared to accept responsibility for the death of Jesus. Pilate said I'm having nothing to do with this just man. Symbolically he washed his hands of the whole affair. You see to it. Okay they said. His blood be on us and on our children. It became the chant of mob fury. Literally his blood on us and on our children. His blood on us and on our children. His blood on us and on our children. and it increased in volume and in fervour. It was the reckless answer to Pilate. Pilate who sought to say, I'm innocent, it's up to you. Some fifty days later, Pentecost had come and Peter is preaching before the men of Israel. In his preaching he came to this part where he said, him he hath taken, and with wicked hands hath crucified and slain. And under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, these conscious struck men, pricked in their hearts, wounded, bleeding in their hearts, wrung their hands, and said to one another, Men and brethren, what shall we do for the world? His blood on us and on our children had an altogether new meaning for them. And since that time, men and women, young and old, burdened with guilt, broken with repentance, have dared to think of God and of holiness and of judgment to come. And they have looked at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ and they have sought to shelter under these words, His blood on us and on our children. And oh the peace unspeakable and the joy inexhaustible they are sheltering under the blood of the Lamb of God that bears away the sins of the world. His blood on us and on our children. I would dare to suggest that these words can be taken as the cry of those who are condemned, who have condemned themselves. What people have taken so lightly the fearsome responsibility that these Jewish people did that day? as they clustered around the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. They hurried, they hounded the Lord Jesus Christ to his death. We love the Jew. Oh, we love the Jew. We owe them so very, very much. These sons and daughters of Abraham after the flesh. But what people have been so tortured upon the earth. Down through the ages, and God forbid that you and I should do it, but down through the ages they have been taunted with their own words. His blood is on them and on their children. From time to time you come across a person who just doesn't seem to be at home. They just don't seem to be within. Tormented and tortured within. And no life of joy or peace or gladness shines from their eyes. For only demons dwell within them. Because all they remember is some terrible thing that they have done in their past. It's so strange that the Jewish people have given so much to this world of genius, of intellect, of music, of literature, of science. They have contributed way beyond as it were their national size. So rich in history. We are in their debt in so many ways. yet what other people have cast themselves away from God, the natural branch cut off from the vine. The cry of the condemned is heard from more than the sons of Abraham and from more than the daughters of Sarah. Israel's Pilate's judgement seat And the whole world is gathered there, not just those who were present in time, but Jesus is there at the judgment seat. He is the central figure. He stands as bonny as ever, as lovely as ever, gentle, gracious, wise, patient, forbearing, and without sin. And you and I hear the question, what shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? We hear the question. Perhaps it is echoing in your heart because you have heard it again and again. What shall I do with Jesus which is called Christ? And from human hearts if not actually from human lips, we hear the cry, let him be crucified, let him be crucified, for I will not have him, I will not have him, ah, but I am running away with my son. We will have him, we will have him as a teacher, we will have him as one who would teach us morals and ethics. We would have him as one who is an example of love thy neighbour as you love yourself. But there is one way in which we will not have him, and that is to rule over us. When we disdain the poor and the needy when we vote for unrighteousness with our silence, when in excitement of spiritual purity we mock holiness, when ambition sacrifices truth in our experience, when we let evil thoughts linger in our mind When we allow earthly desires to break in upon the soul, when we show little mercy and instead cruelty, then we are answering that question in our hearts. What shall I do with Jesus? Crucify him. Crucify him. He is of no use to me. And when with the priest and the Levite we turn away from Jesus on the other side, we hurry Jesus to the cross. And when sin hardened in our hearts, we mock him. We mock his cross. We accept all that we can about Jesus. except that he should die for us, except that it is necessary, expedient that he die. We mock Jesus, his blood be on us and on our children. We are taking the responsibility to say no, I do not want myself and I do not want my children taught this blood sacrifice, the cry of the condemned. I was a student, just as some of you are, preaching in a place in Scotland outside Glasgow called Coatbridge. I was having lunch with one of the families and well, my head was a little bit in a turmoil. because Junior's homework was brought out, and Junior's report card was brought out, and Junior's this, and Junior's that, and I thought, I'm never going to have a moment to myself the rest of the afternoon before the evening service. And then they began to speak. One of the congregation was in hospital. Where's the hospital? Oh, just five minutes away. I'll go and visit him for you. And I went for the wrong reason. I went to have some peace. I found the gentleman in hospital, wife and family there. I spoke with them. I read the scriptures. I prayed with them. I was turning to go leave the hospital. The nurse got a hold of me. Minister, she said, will you come and speak to another man? And I said, well, as long as you know and understand I'm not a minister, certainly. She took me to another man, pretty seriously ill. Wife and family there. And again I spoke with him and prayed and read from the scriptures. And I was leaving. And she caught me again, this nurse. And she said, I don't know if I should ask you, but there's a man who is dying. He could die any moment. Will you come? And going up the corridor, I could hear this voice and it still echoes in my head. No! No! No! No! And the nearer we got to the room, the louder it was. I went in, she introduced me as a minister. And I didn't know what to think. There was a man on his bed, crying out, No! No! With all his dying strand. He didn't want to die. Would He have me speak of Christ? No! No! Would He have me read the Word of God? No! No! I didn't know what to do. I looked at the family and said, May I? And they nodded their head and said, Go on. And I read of the Good Shepherd. I read the 23rd Psalm. And all the time in reading and in praying, He was condemning himself. No! No! No! I won't hear of Jesus. I won't hear of mercy and love and forgiveness in Christ Jesus. His blood can be upon me and my children. And he entered his death. Eternity. Single. Single. It may also be the cry of the convicted, his blood on us and on our children. First heard, it is a shout of derision. It is the cry of those on whom the blood of Jesus remains for their eternal condemnation. All sin loved and held to which scorns and resists appeal and entreaty which recklessly disregards the word of God, his people, which makes light of God, is guilty of the blood of Christ. But let a man or a woman, young or old, realize the sinfulness of sin. What is sin? Any want of conforming to the law of God, any breaking of the law of God. Not just breaking the word, the commandments of God, but not conforming to the word of God. What does that mean? If I don't love God with my whole being, I have sinned against God. If I don't love my neighbour as I love myself, I have sinned against God. But as I say, let a man or woman, young or old, come to that position of realising what sin is, of realising that they need forgiveness. and that there is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood. Then they may cry, his blood is on me, I am guilty, I have sinned, I have done this sin against God. There are different kinds of conviction. There is the conviction that has the fear of being found out. Oh yes, I know I've done wrong, but wow, the only thing that worries me is that I will be caught, that I will be found out, that wife or husband, father or mother or child will come to know what I have done. There is the conviction that the word of God brings, I had not known what sin is, except I was taught it in the word of God? And then there is a deeper conviction yet, when we realize that we are guilty for Christ crucified. Oh, what then? It was my sins that nailed him to the tree. The cross was set up by more than Roman soldiers, more than Jewish hands. That death was brought about by more than Jewish sins. Your sin and my sin nailed Jesus Christ to the tree. Paul had only to hear, Paul, why are you persecuting me? Why are you persecuting me? To realize the death of his sin against God, injuring the church. David, that reckless sin of all your years with Bathsheba, He only had to hear Nathan tell him, David, you're the man. You're the one who has stolen your neighbor's new land. You're the one who has done this. And both Paul and David knew his blood was on them and on their children. Against thee, thee only have I sinned. And done this evil in thy sight. O break, O break, hard heart of mine, Thy weak self, love, and guilty pride, His Pilate and his Judas were, Jesus our love is crucified. A broken heart, a font of tears, Ask, and it will not be denied, A broken heart, love's cradle is, Jesus our love. is crucified. The cry of those convicted of their sin. It can be a terrible burden. A terrible burden that some will bear for weeks, for months, some even for years. They, by their sin, have crucified the Son of God. But it is also the cry of the converted. Oh yes, his blood on us and on our children. Not only the chant of mob fury raised in derision, not only the broken hearted cry of the convicted, but also the clear and humble song of the redeemed. Let his blood be ever upon me and my children. Was there anyone that day when Christ was crucified who understood these words? His blood on us and on our children. Was there no one who understood what the words were meaning? What the words were saying? No one amongst all the religious elite of Israel's priests and holy men who understood what it was for blood to be shed in sacrifice there was one he heard the words he heard the chant and I do believe there was singing in his heart for he knew the perfect Lamb of God what it would mean for His blood to be given there on the cross. And He stood silent before the judgment seat as the words fell upon His ears, His blood on them and on their children. And surely He saw the doorposts sprinkled with the blood of atonement. He saw the lintel covered with the blood of atonement. He saw it over the lintel and the doorposts of the hearts of those whom his father had given him, and he knew that the angel of death would pass over them. And he saw down through the years those who would bow to him as their apostle and high priest of their profession, those who would enter into peace and forgiveness and freedom and holiness those who would sing at the last thou was slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood Jesus heard the words Jesus knew their meaning Jesus knew that in giving his life it would be the giving of his lifeblood as a ransom for many. Many have heard that and many have welcomed that cry and many have said yes Lord Jesus shelter me under the blood. Young people, William and Trevor I met them in our church hall some years ago and they were both in tears. They both started what we call secondary school from about the age of eleven and a half, twelve. Different schools and they both had a similar experience. One of their male teachers had used the name of the Lord Jesus Christ as a curse. They both wisely waited until the classroom was empty and they both of them went to their teacher and tried to say that they should not do such a thing. And both of them met with a volley of further curses. They had met the next week. How did you get on at school William? How did you do Trevor? And this one thing was on their mind and they shared it with each other. The hurt that was done to their Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. They were sheltering under the blood of the Lord. They were young, but they understood what it meant to look unto Jesus and to be saved. She was 90, even older than that I'm sure. It was a busy day in the north of Hungary many years ago under communism. I think it was the 5th, 6th, maybe even the 7th service that day in different homes. There was a metre, three or four feet of snow on the ground. And the pastor said, just the last one, just the last one. And it was the last one. He said that about three or four times already. But just the last one, just once more. And he took me to a home where there was an elderly couple. She was 80, had been a believing Christian, converted, believing in the Lord Jesus for some 12 years. He was 82. and had been converted, a believing Christian, for two years. And the pastor said, now we'll have a full service, don't leave anything out. And after we're finished, we'll all pray. Oh, he said that there might be another person there, the one I mentioned, she'd be over 90. And if he'd known the words, he would have said, as we say in Scotland, she's a cantankerous old I can translate that later for you, but an awkward character. She had no respect for the things of God, but she would come and he said, well, we'll all pray that she won't. So we did. We preached on heaven. We were putting on our coats to leave and we heard a clatter and we turned round and the cantankerous old lady was on her knees and praying as the old folks did in Eastern Europe, hands up lifted and clasped before their face. You didn't need Hungarian to know that she was pleading before God for forgiveness. The tears running down her face spoke of that. She lived another six months. They came from many, many miles around to visit this old woman. converted in her last days, and the burden of her encouragement to the Christians who came was, tell the children, tell the children, I have wasted more than 90 years before finding Christ and sheltering under his blood. What of you? Where are you sheltering? Many times in seeking to speak of Christ and to share Christ with different people, I have often been rounded upon and spoken to harshly. And one of the favourite expressions back home in Scotland was, your Christ is a crutch. It's holding you up. And I would smile as sweetly as I could and say, yes, He is my crutch. What do you have for a crutch? Will you lean on your crutch when you come to die? Will you be prepared to lean upon your particular philosophy of life when you come to meet God? Will you trust it? Your thoughts? Your planning? Your being as good as the next person? Or will you throw it all away? before the cross of Jesus Christ and plead God, be merciful to me a sinner. Paul reminds us that God has made us to be accepted in the beloved in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. And Peter joins Paul you were redeemed not with corruptible things such as silver and gold from your vain way of life received by tradition from your fathers but you were redeemed by the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot and John the beloved disciple joins both Peter and Paul and declares the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin and he goes on in another place, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Ah, there is grace on the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ, but it's not that. Ah, there is glory in the person of the Son of God, But it's not that. There is blood in his giving himself a ransom for many. Blood in the sacrifice of himself. Blood in his death for sinners. The blood of the cross. The blood of redeeming love. You are invited to come and shelter with us. under the blood of the Lamb. And to sing one day unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us both kings and priests unto God and His Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Some years ago, England, Scotland was devastated by the foot and mouth disease. that attacks cattle. And the government, in wisdom or otherwise, decided that instead of these animals being killed and buried, they were to be burned. And along the ridge of the hill behind where we were staying, there was one funeral pyre after another. And we could see these animals, these corpses being burned, and I did not see one of them all on their backs with their legs in the air. John caught up into heaven is concerned because there is a scroll and nobody worthy to open it. And one of the elders turns to John and says, John behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He is worthy. And John tells us something so beautiful. He said, well I look I looked all around me, and you know something? I couldn't see a lion, but I saw a lamb. A lamb that was slain, now alive forevermore, standing in the midst of the throne. He gave his life. That's an amazing thing. He had power to give him. But I don't know which is the more fearful thing. That he had power to give his life or that when he was dead, truly dead, he had power to take his life back again and be raised by the Father under the blood that He gave on the tree, under the blood that He shed there for me, under the blood there forever I'm free, under the blood of the Lamb, under the blood that grace gives to see, under the blood that love opened for me, under the blood that in mercy makes free, under, under the blood of the Lamb. How do you cry tonight? How do you plead tonight? Is blood on thee and on my children the cry of those willing to be responsible for the death of Jesus Christ and spurning the love and the mercy? Or those convicted by sin conviction of one kind or another knowing that you or sins are responsible for his blood being shed convicted but not yet there are those who will stand among the redeemed of the Lord singing praises to the Lamb of God that was slain and now is alive forevermore because they are willing and only willing to shelter under the blood. Oh may his blood be on me and may it be on my children and my children's children. May they all be found believing, trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Let us pray.