Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to the Gospel according to Matthew
chapter 27. And we read for our text two
verses, verse 36 and verse 54. Verse 36 reads, And sitting down
they watched him there, that is, the Roman soldiers and those
that crucified him. Then we read in verse 54, Now
when the centurion and they that were with him watching Jesus,
saw the earthquake and those things that were done, they feared
greatly saying, truly this was the Son of God. And so we have a picture of those
that were the Roman soldiers, the centurion, and how they were
watching the Lord Jesus Christ and what their testimony was
at the end. So what was done here? The crucifixion. We have the picture of it. If we'd have read earlier on
his being humiliated before Pilate, coming before Pilate, Pilate's
testimony on him, releasing a murderer, and then causing our Lord to
be crucified. How that they, stripped him of
his robe, arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, a scarlet robe, and mocked
him. And then they plaited a crown
of thorns, put it on his head, reed in his hand, and they mocked
him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews. The soldiers, they did
this. They spit upon him, took the
reed, smote him on the head, and then they took that robe
off him and led him out to crucify him, laying on one Simon that
was coming out of the country to bear his cross, and then they
crucified him. The agonizing, terrible, slow
death of crucifixion. And after they had then nailed
him to the cross, raised him up, hanging there in agony, then
they go and they sit down and they watch him there. What a
picture, what a scene that that is. They put over his head Accusation,
this is Jesus, the King of the Jews. They have a thief each
side, one on one side and one on the other. And there is the
soldier sitting down and watching him. Many times in our lives
we might sit down and watch something, sit on the seashore, watch all
that's happening out at sea. We might view various things
that We're watching children at school or in their sports
day or watching something taking place and being done, unfolding
before our eyes. See an air show, watch an aeroplane
or something like that. And we're sitting there, taking
in all of the sights, all of the sounds, all that is happening. And what they were doing, we're
sitting in front of one that was dying, a slow, agonizing
death and watching him and observing all that was happening and listening
to all that was being said. This is what they were doing.
Now I want to think first, why? Why was this done? What was the
reason for Christ to die? In the words of the Jews, the
reason was that because he made himself the son of God, he ought
to die. That is what they said. They
had taken him because of envy, and they desired his death. They
called him an imposter. What about the Romans? will pilot after presiding over
a real farce of a court and judgment. But he does say, I find no fault
in this man of the things whereof ye accuse him. There's nothing
under the Roman law that they were crucifying him for. And
the Romans, we might say, were just doing the job, the bidding,
of their rulers. But what was the reason in God's
account, the real reason as it were? Our Lord says in John 10,
I lay down my life for the shame. No man taketh my life from me. I have power to lay it down,
I have power to take it again, this commandment have I received
of my father. And we can see in the things
that are observed that how he died and how he laid down his
life was marked as different even by Pilate and the soldiers,
they could see that he, as it were, died or laid down his life
before the two thieves died. before they expected him to die. He yielded up his spirit to God. There are three different accounts,
you might say. Peter, in Acts, when the day
of Pentecost was come, he says that he was delivered by the
determinate counsel and for knowledge of God. He says, ye have taken
and by wicked hands are crucified and slain. Man sees one reason,
God sees another. God works out his purposes. Man is not innocent when he works
wicked works, but God is glorified when he turns that wickedness
to glory. Really, when we think of the
salvation of the people of God and the glory that is to be in
heaven. It comes principally from two
events at which man was guilty, sinful, culpable, and yet God
turned it for good. The fall of man. It was our sin
and our guilt. And yet God takes that fall and
he takes our guilt And he lays it upon his own beloved son. And in the act of doing that,
and in putting away the sins of his people, man again is acting
in a sinful, evil way. And God brings good out of it. And you might say right through
the lives of God's people, we find what Joseph said to his
brothers. Ye meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good. And we think of when the king
of Moab got Balaam to curse the children of Israel instead of
cursing him. He blessed them three times in
three places. God does that and we need to
remember that. When we have man doing things
that cause us grief and sorrow, when we have those things that
we really smart under, remember that right through the Word of
God, God is glorified in turning that about for good. Yes, our
sins, our personal sins, our transgressions, things that we
have done, things that we reproach ourselves for, the Lord turns
and makes them work for good. How he would bless the Lord for
that one sacrifice for sin. It is the hope of all the people
of God that the Lord Jesus Christ died in their place, suffered
for their sins, put away their sins by the sacrifice of himself,
appeased the wrath of God, brought in an everlasting righteousness
and a hope beyond the grave for his people. And here then was
the time when this was being done. We might think that if
good things are being done, if blessing is with the Church of
God, then it will be a season very conducive to that. And everything
will seem well and nice and been going well, but that was not
like that when the Lord was brought into this world. You think surely
God would bring his beloved son into the world when there was
a good king, good king over the Romans and one that would deal
well with him. But no, it was a tyrant, one
that was prepared to kill all the children two years and under
to destroy and to get the Lord Jesus Christ. But in spite of
that, our Lord is preserved. And then, when it comes to the
greatest work of redemption, there is his own people crying
out against him. And that greatest work which
was done is, was done in the most bitterest of circumstances,
especially for those who said, we trusted. It should have been
he which should have redeemed Israel. And again, we are too
Remember this. Many of the Lord's dear people,
many of us, if we were to speak of the sweetest and most blessed
blessings that we've had, they've come on the back of bitter sorrows,
of darkness, of trouble, of tribulation. And we've had those. And the
Lord has brought in those bitter blessings. And why should we
be surprised at that? The Lord says, in me, you shall
have peace. In the world, you shall have
tribulation. And those two, they go together.
And at the cross, greatest pains and darkness and sorrows, and
yet the greatest work done, a people redeemed and saved everlastingly. Look this evening at these soldiers. They were sitting down. They
watched him there. I want to consider under two headings. Firstly, what they saw and heard. And we'll divide that up again
into three parts. But then secondly, what the centurion
and the soldier's testimony was after they had seen all these
things. And I do want us to remember
that. That testimony did not come until
the end. Often we can judge things before
the time. The Lord says, judge nothing
before the time. Wait until the end. Joseph would
say, wait until the end. That is what we need to do when
we get the right testimony from these soldiers here. Wait until
the end. And then we hear it. But firstly,
what they saw and what they heard. The first thing is what they
saw and heard of those that passed by, the reaction to those roundabouts,
what was actually happening. As they sat there, they were
not only observing our Lord Jesus Christ, they were observing how
others were reacting to him. We read in verse 39, and they
that pass by reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou
that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save
thyself, if thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. So as they watched him, they
observed this as well, those that were passing by, They are
speaking against him. They're taking the words that
he had said and what he meant was not the literal temple, but
the temple of his body, destroy that, put that to death in three
days, raise it up again. And the Lord did rise again on
the third day, but they were misunderstanding it, speaking
of it as a literal temple. But then they were blackening
his name if they didn't believe his testimony that he was the
son of God, the Jews, why they crucified him because he made
himself the son of God, but God owned him as his son. Truly He was the Son of God and
that later is going to be the testimony. Remember these soldiers,
they're listening, they're seeing things that go on. They would
have heard this. These are people going by and they're questioning.
If thou art the Son of God, they're questioning that. In the minds
of the soldiers, the Son of God, these people, they're talking
about this man on the cross being the Son of Man and questioning
whether He is or not. We'll think about later what
their testimony was. But this is what they heard.
And then they not only heard that, but they heard from the
chief priests. Likewise, also the chief priests
mocking him. And with the scribes and elders
said, he saved others. Acknowledge that. Himself he
cannot save. If he be the king of Israel,
remember, said over the top, this is Jesus, the King of the
Jews. Let him come down from the cross
and we will believe him. Now, the Lord had said when he
spoke of Lazarus and the rich man, the rich man thought if
one rose from the dead, if Lazarus were sent to my brethren, then
they would believe. The Lord said that Moses and
the prophets If they believe not them, neither will they believe,
though one rose from the dead. And that is exactly what happened.
The Lord did rise from the dead. And there were those that still
did not believe, even though they said that they would. But
this is what the soldiers are then hearing. They're hearing
what he had said. And again, they're hearing and
seeing this title the king of the Jews, the king of Israel.
They're hearing that he trusted in God, that he said, I am the
son of God. Even those that are blaspheming,
ridiculing the scribes, they're giving a real true testimony
in that way. of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our
Lord is not saying these things. They are saying these things
at this time. These soldiers are listening.
These people are saying it in mockery. They're saying this
is what he claimed, but they don't believe it is true. But
these things must have been going on in their minds. And what about
the thieves? What about those two on either
side of him? We read in verse 44, the thieves
also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. They were saying the same things
all around him, all against the Lord. What an isolated position. Have you ever thought how lonely? They all forsook him and fled,
all his disciples, How alone, how alone our Lord was. In thinking
of this, I thought, in one sense, what an unbalanced testimony. Why did not the Holy Spirit pick
out people that were saying, oh, but He is the Son of God?
Was it because no one did say that? No one was bold enough
to be a lone voice, a voice that countered all of this. But there's
nothing raised up, nothing is said. All those that he'd been
used to save others and to bless and there's not a single voice
in his defence. Sometimes we can get like that
in our lives too. We think everyone, everyone is
speaking against us, not a single voice. raised on our behalf. We're to think of what our Lord
went through when we go through things in our lives, His path,
what He endured suffering for our sins, what constituted part
of His agonies. And just these soldiers watching,
this is what they are seeing of others' reactions Do we notice
others' reactions to the Gospel, to the Word of God? I believe
you know it's a good thing to contrast it at times. When I
speak to people of the Word in the street or in varying places,
you get many different reactions. Many. Some are hostile. Some,
they will just take everything and then say, You can believe
that. It doesn't matter. Some may go
along with it quite well until you insist that the only way
of salvation is through the Lord Jesus Christ, and then they get
very angry and upset. But people's reactions. This
is what the soldiers will be noticing. But where it's good
to notice it is when you notice a difference. When you get someone
like Lydia, whose heart the Lord opened, and who responds in a
different way, and you notice that. You know, sometimes when
I go walking around the woods and I start a conversation with
someone, and you can soon tell whether you can proceed in the
things of God or not. Sometimes they'll pick my accent,
and they'll say, oh, where do you come from? So Australia,
why did you come from Australia? We'll take the basket here, St
David's Bridge, and suddenly you get a blank going down, oh,
a religious person, we don't want to hear anything more there.
Others are starting to show an interest. You then take that
a bit further as to why, and you can speak to them. And it's
good to notice people. Notice their reactions to things.
This is what the soldiers are doing. And I believe a very important
part of what we've just noticed is to what later on is their
testimony. But then what they saw and heard
from the Lord Jesus Christ. So now taking the attention from
those around him, those passing by, focus on the Lord Jesus Christ
himself. what they would have seen there
and heard there. Well, we can base this on the
seven sayings of our Lord upon the cross, those utterances that
our Lord made that were coupled with things that were being done. When our Lord was crucified,
as recorded in Luke 23, and verse 34, we read that he said, Father,
forgive them for they know not what they do. They would have
heard our Lord speak of forgiveness over those that were crucifying
him, the Jews, the Romans, all what they were doing. If you'd
ask them, they'd say, we know what we're doing. We're crucifying. this malefactor, but they did
it as like the Apostle Paul said, that he served the Lord with
a pure and clear conscience from his youth. And that which he
did, he did as has been foretold, that men shall think that they
do God's service when they are persecuting the people of God. forgiveness, set forth, proclaimed by our
Lord, even upon the cross. They heard that. Then they saw
and heard something else. In the 43rd verse of Luke 23,
we find a change that is made to one of those thieves. Remember
the Roman soldiers, they saw both cast the same in his teeth. And now they're hearing and seeing
something different. They're hearing what the thieves
are saying, one to another. Verse 40, verse 39, one of the
malefactors, which were hanged, railed on him, saying, if thou
be Christ, save thyself and us. And then the other one is different
now. He rebuked him, saying, dost
not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?
Suddenly there is one that is speaking for the Lord. and he
is also suffering on the cross, he's with him. You know one thing
that will make us speak well for the Lord is when we have
some fellowship with him in his sufferings. When we get a little
glimpse of what he has gone through and what he has endured to put
away our sin. And this dear man, he saw it,
he saw it, and he says, Do we indeed justly, for we receive
the due reward of our deeds, that this man hath done nothing
amiss? How vital in true conversion,
true work of grace, is a confession of our sin, that those things
that happen in our lives, the sentence of death, our fallen
nature, all is due to our sin. But then he turns to the Lord,
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And then we
have the words of our Lord to him. Jesus said unto him, Verily
I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. There is a hope beyond the grave. There is a paradise. There is
life after death. The Lord shall be there. This
thief shall be there. The soldiers are seeing and they're
hearing this that has been going on. Then as recorded in John, we
have a beautiful act of compassion and love of our Lord to his mother,
Mary. In John 19 and verse 26, we read
that When Jesus therefore saw his
mother and the disciple standing by whom he loved, that is John,
he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son. Then saith he
to the disciple, Behold thy mother. And from that hour that disciple
took her into his own home. In the midst of all his sufferings
and agony and the great work that was being done, He didn't
forget his mother. Sometimes in our troubles and
in our trials, we can forget another's troubles and trials.
We think that ours eclipse everything. Ours are more important, and
we dwell upon ourselves. But what a sight that the Roman
soldiers saw. Here is the Lord in the greatest
agonies and death, And he is remembering his mother, remembering
her sorrow, remembering what she is going through. If the
disciples did not know, they trusted it should have been he
that should have redeemed Israel. The mother too, remember when
he was born, she took the words of the shepherd, she pondered
them in her heart. At 12 years age, what he said
in the temple, Wish ye not that I must be about my father's business,
that word still remembered. And it's coming to that time
that these things should be revealed what they meant, but really more
than that, it appears Joseph had already died and Mary would
have been dependent. Men got welfare state, they relied
upon the men, on the brethren, to look after their mothers,
to look after their widows. And here our Lord is making sure
His mother is cared for. The Roman soldiers, they saw
this, they heard that going on. And then we have, going back
to the chapter where our text is, the pangs of the soul of
our Lord. Now I know most of these accounts,
they are duplicated in several other parts, but we have the
hiding of his father's face. About the ninth hour, Jesus cried
with a loud voice. The darkness had been over all
the land from the sixth to the ninth hour, three hours, and
he cried with a loud voice saying, That is to say, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? The very words spoken by David
in Psalm 22 is that Psalm opens with these words a thousand years
before this time. One of the ways we know the scriptures
are true and a true witness from God is prophecy and prophecy
fulfilled. And we find it here. And we find
also, as in many of the Psalms, an entrance into the soul of
our Lord. What is going on deep within?
You read Psalm 34, we know that that is prophetic of our Lord.
This poor man cried, the Lord heard him, saved him out of all
his troubles. But we know what was going on
outwardly with that, because David was before Abimelech, the
Philistines had recognized him, his life was in danger, and the
Lord delivered him. And there is that outside, what
is happening outside, there's what's happening in the soul.
People might say, well, what was the death of our Lord more
painful, more worse than the two thieves? The two thieves
was the same bodily crucifixion, but they had not got the weight
of all the sins of our Lord's people that were hanging upon
him, nor had they a hiding of a father's face, nor had they
the sole exercise and burden that he had. May we also remember
this. We can look at a brother's outward
path and say, well, it's the same as so-and-so. You're both
walking the same path. Yes, outwardly, yes. But inwardly,
it might be very, very different. Every heart knoweth its own bitterness. Stranger doth not intermeddle
with his joys. And God's people, they have the
exercise of soul and burden of soul. Those that know the Lord,
they feel when he hides his face from them. They know what it
is when darkness is over their soul. And here the soldiers heard.
They heard this, this man, that so many that passed by were questioning
whether he was the Son of God. They're questioning whether he
really was the King of Israel. Now they hear from him and in
this cry, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? All these
things that they're hearing, all these things that they're
seeing in the darkness over the land. Then going back to John, we have,
in one way you might say, the pains of the body. John 19 and verse 28. We read that, After this, Jesus,
knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture
might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full
of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon
Hesab, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received
the vinegar, he said, and then we find the next thing that will
bring forth. But there is the thirst, that
greatest of things associated with the crucifixion. Tremendous
thirst. Now Lord, right through scriptures
very clearly identified God and man in one person and even on
the cross. We have his divinity, we have
his humanity, we see both. His sufferings, we never should
think, well because he was truly the son of God, somehow that
made his sufferings less. It's easy to think that, right
through his whole life. that somehow that they were less
because he could sustain himself in the garden. It was the angels
that were sent to sustain him and to uphold him. But we know
from the weariness on the well, the sleeping in the shed, he
had those, not sinful, but infirmities that belong to humanity. And those things that he felt,
the contradiction of sinners against himself, are just what
you and I would feel as well, and feel it keenly so. Those
pangs of his body. Then there is the declaration
in verse 30, John 19, of a finished work. The soldiers, they hear
this. He said, it is finished. And
he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. A declaration, a strong
declaration of a finished work. What was finished? What questions
must have gone through the minds of those soldiers and the centurion? You know, we have the laying
down of the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Luke 23 and
verse 46, we read, Our Lord, when Jesus had cried with a loud
voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And having said thus, he gave
up the ghost. This is what the centurion and
those that were hearing, they saw this. They saw a man that
was not dying through weakness, but strong at the last, commanding
his spirit to his God, into his Father's hand. No man taketh
my life from me, I lay it down of myself. This commandment have
I received of my Father." And so they saw these things that
were happening while their Lord was alive while he was speaking. And then when he died, then there
was more things that they saw. Going back to Matthew 27, we
see what happened when he died in verse 51. And behold, the veil of the temple
was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. They would not
have seen that. They had been in the temple. We're told what
was happened though. But what they would have known
and would have found, than the earth did quake and the rocks
rent. And what they again wouldn't
have, well, they would have seen the graves open, but then after
our Lord rose, many bodies of the saints which slept arose. But they saw, they saw the effect
when our Lord yielded up his life. The whole ground shook. and the rocks rent, it would
have been a very fearful sight indeed that they saw. You think of verse 36, and sitting
down they watched him there, and all these things they saw,
those passing by and round, what they were saying, what the Lord
Jesus Christ said, and what he did, and what happened when he
died. And what then was their testimony
and their reaction? Going back to the second verse
of our text, verse 54. Now when the centurion
and they that were with him watching Jesus, saw the earthquake and
those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying,
Truly, this was the Son of God." What a testimony. Of course,
we can change that. We can say, truly, this is the
Son of God. By His death, He didn't cease
to be the Son of God. He is the Son of God, the eternal
Son of God. But in the view and the testimony
of the soldiers, this is their testimony. There is quite a marked
difference between the soldiers here in all that they had seen
and their testimony, and those that were given the task of guarding
the tomb of our Lord, because they were bribed, they were given
money, and to testify that His disciples came and took Him away. They didn't have the same fear,
the same testimony. But those who had seen all these
things, and heard all of these things, they did. I want to think of this just
briefly with our own lives. The way God works with his children
is through those things that they see and those things that
they hear. He gives them eternal life. He gives them spiritual life. He gives them seeing eyes and
hearing ears. And for the first time in their
lives, They begin to see and they begin to hear. Now we said
before that there was to be a waiting, a waiting until the set time
may be with you. The Lord has already given you,
given you eyes, given you to see things. You're watching. How often we are exhorted in
this to watch and pray and we're listening. Listening to what
maybe other church members are saying, what others are saying,
you're listening to the prayers. You know, I remember a time I
never listened to the preaching, never listened to the prayers.
I hadn't got a spiritual life, hadn't got interest. But when the Lord begins, then
you begin to listen. And at first there may be all
of these isolated things you hear, and you puzzle over, and
you pray over, and you think over. But judge nothing before the
time. Wait and watch on. Because there came a time when
this centurion and those that were watching, they did speak. They had to speak. They did fear
God. They were brought to a conclusion. that they utter, truly, this
was the Son of God. The testimony of the eunuch to
Philip when he said, if thou believest, thou mayest, was,
I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. He had the same testimony
as this centurion, and he had baptized on that. It might not
be as many things. The same things that we see and
hear as what these soldiers did, that they will be enough. They'll
be enough to bring us to the same testimony. With the heart
man believes, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. And it all centres around our
Lord and our belief in Him. Now I've said this in other assemblies,
do notice of what the testimony is of God's people through the
scripture. The eunuch was not required to
give a testimony, although it is implied in it, a testimony,
I believe that Jesus is my saviour, my redeemer, and he put away
my sin. In that sense, it was a testimony
of that. God's people do have, when they
have a scripture realization of what it is to believe in the
Lord, that is true. But we are not to be looking
inwardly to try and find out that answer, but in a way, the
Holy Spirit will point us out. And you say, you want to know
who my people are? They are they. that I will reveal
the Lord Jesus Christ to them, I will show Him to them in such
a way that they are drawn to Him, they love Him, they gladly
receive His Word, they follow Him, and what glads their heart
is what they see in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's a very
different thing from what they see in themselves. In themselves,
they're nothing but sin and disgrace. But what the Holy Spirit reveals
in Christ, they see a beauty and drawn to Him and attracted
to Him. And that is a seal that God puts
on His children. If you say, not the world, not
the ungodly, they do not see any beauty in Christ. They don't
see who He is. But my people are given to see
who I am and to believe Him. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. That was the testimony that Paul
required from the Philippine jailer, and because he had been
set before him. And here, with the watching soldiers,
all that they'd seen, and all that they'd heard, and then it
comes to this testimony, truly this was the Son of God. In all
that the Lord shows us and all that we've heard, may the Lord
give us that glad heart and that same testimony that we as well,
our eyes have seen the beauty of the Lord. We have seen the
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. We have
seen the Lord Jesus Christ as the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and full of truth. So may we have this same testimony
and may we see those things that bring us to gladly receive His
Word and sweetly believe in Him. Amen.