A crime worse than Calvary. Preached at the morning service in John Knox Memorial FPC. First preached in Kilskeery FPC, 22nd April 1984. "But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses," Acts 3:14-15. Today is Reformation Sunday. Memories are stirred to recall the suffering of the saints of God in those days of blessing and deliverance when God loosed the chains of popery from the minds and hearts and necks of multitudes in Europe through the blessed gospel of Christ. Suffering has ever been part of Kingdom of God. So said our Saviour. "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves . . . It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?" Matthew 10:16, 25. Today, we wish to think of that suffering that lies at the heart of the gospel - the Saviour's suffering on the cross. How plain and blunt were the words of Peter to the multitude at the temple. Such plainness of speech characterised apostolic preaching, 2:23. It was required in order to bring home to sinners the enormity of the sin of rejecting Christ. Such terminology is required still!