Truly this man was the Son of God

 

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 24 APRIL 2022

MARK 15 VERSES 33 – 41

 

We see one man standing in the shadow of the cross – verse 39 “truly this man was the Son of God.”  I want us to look at the experience of this centurion.  God will take you as you stand.  Here was a man standing at the foot of the cross. He didn’t have to go away to make amends, to clean himself up.  He was standing there and was accepted where he was.  I want us to think of the privileges tonight for this man to be received by the God of heaven, to be saved by God’s sovereign grace.  Have you really considered this great privilege as a child of God tonight?

 

Look firstly at the privilege of this man’s position.  This man was a Roman centurion.  A man of authority.  He ruled over other soldiers.  An experienced army officer and because of that experience he was here to oversee things, to see what his men did.  He had to make sure that nothing happened that was untoward.  He has been given the command that these 3 men would be crucified.  They left Jerusalem and went to Calvary, to the place of the skull.  As we look at this scene, as the centurion looked on these 3 crosses he saw the Son of God, the Lamb of God, the one who came into the world to seek and to save that which is lost.  He took your sin and mine and placed it all on his own body.  There on Calvary he took our sins that we might be redeemed.  The privilege of this man’s position.  He was on duty at this place on this particular day.  A selected soldier.  Little did he realise that day when he went out to fulfil his duties that this was the day, he would come face to face with the Son of God.  It was some position to be in.  God has brought us to this place for one purpose.  The one who died in our room, for our sins.  The privilege of our position.  Have we taken it for granted?  In Acts 16 the Philippian jailer had a privileged position.  Paul and Silas were brought into his custody.  He placed them in a cell and put their feet in stocks.  His duty was to guard them well.  He never thought for one moment that he would come face to face with his sin and how Jesus came to save him.  What a privilege he was in.  Do you realise the privilege of position you are in tonight?  To be born in a home where parents spend time in prayer for you.  Many don’t have that privilege.  Of attending a good bible believing gospel preaching church, to hear that week after week, to have had teaching from the scriptures by Sunday School teachers.  In Acts 18 we read of a man called Apollos.  He came to Corinth one day and in that congregation, there was a godly couple Priscilla and Aquila.  This couple realised something was missing in his preaching.  Verse 26 “he began to speak boldly in the synagogue whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.”  They sat him down and took time through the scriptures to show him his great need.  The eunuch coming up from Jerusalem.  His head was full of religion.  He had the word of God before him and in particular Isaiah 53.  Philip came alongside him, and he invited him up into his chariot.  Philip showed him from those same scriptures Christ.  Remember Moses when he came to that great decision – “he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God that to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.”  He was educated in all the intellect of Egypt, brought up in the palace, the son of Pharoah’s daughter.  Where did he hear about sin?  Not from Pharoah’s daughter or the teachers in the palace or school.  Where did he hear about sin?  On his mother’s knee.  What a privilege to be taught in the things of God.  Just like Timothy.  Paul reminded him of the godly upbringing he had from his mother and grandmother - “which are able to make you wise unto salvation in Christ.”  What a privilege we have had in this province of ours.  Mission after mission, open air preaching.  Have you taken the opportunity of that privilege?  Are you saved by God’s grace?  Have you stood where this man was standing, gazing on the one who was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, God’s own sinless Lamb of God?

 

The privilege of his place.  His position brought him to the place of the cross.    It was all because of his position and rank.  He was brought to the shadow of the cross.  Maybe it has made you turn away?  The position he held in life gave him this great privilege.  Hearing those words from Christ.  7 times he spoke while hanging there.  I am sure he turned his head each time he heard Jesus speak.  His position in life gave him a privileged position that day.  Every statement went into his heart like an arrow.  Every arrow came with that deep conviction as he listened to Jesus until that final statement “it is finished”.  Then he said, “surely this man was the Son of God.”  Isn’t it wonderful to hear the word of God?  To bring us to Calvary, to contemplate what Christ has done for us?  Sometimes we let it go past us.  He was God’s own precious son, yet God loved you and I that he would send his son into a sin cursed world, to take every sin on his own body.  To die a redeeming, atoning death for every person because he loved us so much.  We have let that privilege go past us.  Remember Nicodemus who went to Jesus by night.  He had been selected by the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of the Pharisees.  He followed Jesus, listened to every message, watched the miracles he performed.  That position brought him to the feet of the Lord.  Remember what he said, “Rabbi we know thou art a teacher come from God.”  Something special in the way he preached – “for no man can do these miracles.”  He was examining all these miracles and realised something very special.  Jesus looked at this man standing before him and said, “except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  Remember the leper living in a colony.  He had the opportunity to meet the Lord.  He runs to him, falls down at his feet.  A leper brought to the place of redemption, to the feet of the Lord.  What a position.  That it brings us to the very place.  The centurion stood at a place where he gazed up and looked into the face of Christ.  Have we ever taken a moment of saving grace to ponder what Jesus has done for us?  The Old Testament tells us that Jesus would be taken and rejected, would be beaten and scourged.  They plaited his brow with a crown of thorns.  A robe was put around his shoulder.  He was mocked and beaten.  He had to carry his own cross to the top of a hill called Calvary.  They nailed his hands and feet then lifted him up.  We cannot take it lightly.  We preach a salvation that is free, but it cost the Lord so much.  His visage was marred so much.  Maybe the centurion was present when Jesus had been beaten in the Judgment Hall.  Can we see our handiwork tonight?  Dying for your sin and mine.  The thief recognised he was dying for his own errors.  He knew he was different, something special, different about his death.  His sins were transferred.

 

A privilege of his profession.  This centurion was transfixed to the very spot.  Let’s just stop at that place, to look and gaze upon him.  This centurion looked upon Christ, halted where he was.  He looked on the Lord.  Reflected on the day.  Even Pilate said, “I find no fault in him.”  He saw Judas carrying the money back to the chief priests, throwing it down and asking to be free from it.  Maybe he heard Pilate’s wife who warned her husband not to have anything to do with Christ.  Jesus on the cross saw the Roman centurion.  Perhaps he was the one who nailed his hands and feet.  Perhaps he heard the words “Father forgive them.”  He asked for forgiveness from those who had scourged him and beaten him in the Judgment Hall.  Now he hears those last words “it is finished” and he yielded up the ghost.  His profession makes him say “surely this man was the Son of God.”  The gospel rings out loud and clear.  The call of the gospel goes out tonight.  God is looking for you, searching for you.  He can do no more.  He has sent his son to die for you.  Accept him as Saviour. He suffered and died and bled for your soul.