Let us turn again to the Word
of God and to the Gospel according to Mark. The Gospel according
to Mark, chapter 15 and verse 39, or the last part of verse
39. Mark chapter 15, verse 39, the
whole verse reads, and when the centurion, which stood over against
him, saw that he so cried out and gave up the ghost. He said,
truly this man was the son of God. And the last part of the
verse really that's been on my mind is those words of the centurion,
truly this man was the son of God. And I was thinking about
this verse really following on from preaching last Lord's Day
from a passage in the epistle to the Hebrews. which talks about
Jesus as this man and says, this man, after he had offered one
sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God.
And that got me thinking about all the other places in the Word
of God where Jesus is spoken of using that phrase, this man,
this man. We have it here in the words
of the Centurion. This man was the son of God.
We had it A few times in the chapter that we read, in Luke's
gospel, chapter 23, we know that Pilate used that phrase to speak
of Christ. And more than once in that chapter,
he says, he had brought this man unto me. I have found no
fault in this man. And then, of course, we have
the words of the dying thief who said, this man hath done
nothing amiss. It's an expression that appears
many times in the New Testament. I think you'll find 56 times
in the New Testament we have the phrase this man. And 26 of
those times it's used to refer to Christ. Truly this man was
the Son of God. Now of course in the passage
that we read we have other words attributed to this centurion.
In that passage, he is recorded as saying, certainly this was
a righteous man. But we see here that he said
also, truly this man was the son of God. This man, and we
sang that hymn at the beginning of the service, didn't we, which
spoke of Jesus as that man, this wondrous man, of whom we speak
is true almighty God. Well, the expression, of course,
is used by both those who were followers of Christ and by those
who were his enemies. But as we have it so many times
used to describe the Lord Jesus, one thing that springs out and
is very obvious on the surface is that he was a man. He was
a man. There's no doubt that he was
a man. And those of you who know your church history will know
that this is something that has been denied by many. There was
a man in the 300s, AD 300 or thereabouts, a man called Apollinaris,
and he was so keen to emphasise the divinity of Christ that he
ended up denying his humanity. And that's something that many
people have done. They've struggled to reconcile those two great
truths, that he was truly man and truly God, that he is truly
man and truly God. It's not that he was something
in between, that he was half one and half the other. It's
not that he was some kind of hybrid, neither truly man or
truly God, but something in the middle. But this man Apollinaris,
he said, well, surely if he was a man, he must have been a sinner,
and therefore he can't really have been a man. And he taught
that his human mind was really replaced by the divine word,
as if he was an ordinary man, but with something taken away
and something else added, as if Jesus is some kind of middle
ground between God and man. Well, if Jesus was not really
a man, there's only one thing we can say about the word of
God, and that it is very misleading, because it speaks of him time
and time again, using those words, this man. And we know that there
is a modern version of that heresy, really, and it is a heresy, which
speaks of the humanity of Christ's body, but denies the humanity
of his soul. And there are those today who
teach that Jesus is something like a man, but because he didn't
have a human soul, he was not really a man. Well, we have this
expression here. As I say, we have it repeated
time after time. in the Bible, and it speaks of
Christ as this man. Well, really, that is enough,
isn't it, to blow out of the water all of those false doctrines?
He was a man, he is a man. There is a mystery there, of
course. There are those who, as I say, are ready to try and
grapple and wrestle with that mystery and end up speaking of
it as if it's something that they can understand using their
own human intellect. But the hymn writer got it exactly
right, didn't he, when he spoke of those who go wrong on this,
but he said, I love the incarnate mystery and there I fix my trust. Truly, this man was the son of
God. He was and is a man, body and
soul. There are two natures in his
one person. He is fully man, he is fully God. Well, that is
certainly true. But whilst that is true, the
centurion here is absolutely right, isn't he? Truly this man was the son of
God. How did he know this? Why did he say this? Well, we're
told, aren't we, that it was when he saw that Jesus so cried
out and gave up the ghost. It was when he saw that and when
he heard that that he was brought to say this. Truly, this man
was the son of God. It was because of the way he
died. If you know anything about the way in which the Romans used
to crucify, it was an intensely painful and humiliating death. And it would have been unheard
of for a man to cry out with a loud voice shortly before he
died. Really, if you're crucified in
this way, you really would die by suffocation. That, naturally
speaking, would be the way that your life would end. But here we have one who, though
he had been crucified, and no doubt crucified in the ordinary
Roman manner, yet we see him crying out with a loud voice,
we're told in other passages, aren't we? It wasn't the voice
of a dying man, but it was a voice of a man who was still in his
full strength, as it were. And it reminds us of the words
of Christ, doesn't it? When he spoke of his life, and
he said, no man taketh it from me. His life was not taken from
him. Whilst it's absolutely true to
say that Jesus died, we have to be careful when we say things
like he was killed. He died, but he was not killed.
His life was not taken from him, but he laid it down of himself.
And he says, doesn't he, in John chapter 10, I have power to lay
it down, I have power to take it again. This commandment have
I received of my father. And so the centurion, when he
sees this, when he hears Jesus crying out with a loud voice,
despite all that he had endured and despite all the sufferings
that he had passed through, he still has the strength to cry
out with a loud voice. Then the centurion is so struck
by this, Truly, he says, this man was the Son of God. It was
no ordinary death, in other words. The centurion would have been
used to seeing people who were crucified, no doubt. I don't
suppose this was the first time he had seen people crucified,
but he recognised that there was something very different
about this case. Truly, this man was the Son of
God. His death was no ordinary death
because he was the Son of God. And when we think about his extraordinary
death, there are other things about his life which are equally
extraordinary, aren't there? And I was thinking about his
teaching. And we have another this man
expression, don't we? In John's Gospel, in chapter
7, Jesus' teaching in the temple. And as always, his teaching is
divisive. There are those who hear, There
are those who murmur certain things concerning him. We read
that many of the people were believing on him, and they were
saying, when Christ come in, will he do more miracles than
these which this man has done? They're impressed by the miracles,
and they're ready to acknowledge him as the promised Messiah. And the Pharisees, when they
hear the people are murmuring such things concerning him, they
send officers to take him. And it seems that the officers
come, as Jesus is there in the temple, and they hear him speak,
and they listen to his teaching, and they come back to the chief
priests and Pharisees empty-handed, don't they? In John chapter 7,
verse 44, we read, some of them would have taken him, but no
man laid hands on him. And they come back to the chief
priests and the Pharisees, and they said unto them, why have
you not brought him? We sent you to arrest him, and
now you come back without him, why have you not brought him?"
And the officers have to confess, never man spake like this man.
There was something about his teaching that was extraordinary. There was something about his
teaching that so impressed them that they felt powerless before
him, they couldn't lay hands on him. His teaching was so striking,
it was so against so different to what they were used to. Again,
we have those words in the beginning of Mark's Gospel, don't we? Towards
the end of the first chapter, or in the middle of the first
chapter, we read that the people were astonished at his doctrine.
They were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one that
had authority. and not as the scribes. They were used to a
kind of teaching where the scribes would constantly be referring
back to ancient rabbis and saying, well, Rabbi so-and-so, he said
this, and this other rabbi, he said that. But Jesus Christ comes
and he says, this is what I say. This is my word. These are my
teachings. He's not reliant upon those old
rabbis, but he comes with something so different. He taught them
as one that had authority. and not as the scribes, never
man, spake as this man." And again, earlier on in that seventh
chapter, we have another this man expression in verse 15. The
Jews marvel at him, don't they? How knoweth this man letters,
having never learned? They knew that he had never been
to the school of the Pharisees, They knew that he had never been
taught by the great Jewish rabbis, and yet he comes and he seems
to know so much. Of course, we remember when he
was 12 years old and he's there in the temple asking questions
of the doctors of the law and answering their questions. And
they're all astonished at his understanding even when he's
12 years old. And now he comes and teaches
in the temple. How knoweth this man letters,
having never learned? His teaching was extraordinary.
There was something very different about him. And then, of course,
you can think about his deeds, what he did. We've already mentioned
the miracles and how the people are so ready to be impressed
by the miracles. And, of course, later on in John
we have that greatest or that wonderful miracle concerning
Lazarus, who, despite having been dead
for four days, comes out of the sepulcher where he had been laid. And what do the people say on
that occasion? Well, in John 11, verse 47, we
have another this man expression. The chief priests and the Pharisees
gather together a council and they say, what do we do? What
are we going to do? For this man doeth many miracles. This man doeth many miracles.
Even his enemies had to confess that his teaching was extraordinary.
Even his enemies had to confess that his works were extraordinary,
that they were nothing like what they had seen before. Well, when we come to these expressions. It is an opportunity for us to
examine our own attitude towards this man. What would you say
of him? Would you be ready to say, as
those Jewish leaders said, this man doeth many miracles? Have
you known his power in your own experience? Has there been a
miracle of grace in your own soul? This man doeth many miracles
and of course You can also think of the man that had been born
blind. And as you read through that
ninth chapter of John's Gospel, you'll find more than one this
man expression there. You find the Pharisees speaking
of this man, and they're ready to condemn him, aren't they,
as they so often are. Though they couldn't deny his
miracles, though they couldn't deny the the authority that was
behind his teaching, yet they're always ready to condemn him on
some insignificant point concerning their traditions, aren't they?
And in John 9, verse 16, they say, this man is not of God because
he keepeth not the Sabbath day. Of course, they were quite wrong,
weren't they? He kept the Sabbath day perfectly. There was never
any sin in his keeping of the Sabbath day. But he failed to
observe their man-made traditions. Their keeping of the Sabbath
had become so legalistic, hadn't it? It had become so mechanical.
It was just a list of do's and don'ts. And Jesus comes and he
reveals to them what it is to keep the Sabbath truly. And they
say, well, that can't be right. He's not doing the right things.
He's not keeping our traditions. This man is not of God, because
he keepeth not the Sabbath day. And again, later on in the chapter,
Another this man expression, they call the man that had been
blind and they say unto him, give God the praise, we know
that this man is a sinner. They say to him, it is a wonderful
thing that your sight has been restored, but don't pay too much
attention to that one who did it. Look up to God and give thanks
to him, because this man is a sinner. And it's wonderful to see the
contrast between their view of Christ and the view of that blind
man. In verse 33 of that chapter,
what does he say of this man? He says, if this man were not
of God, he could do nothing. If this man were not of God,
he can do nothing. His death was extraordinary.
His teaching was extraordinary. His miracles were extraordinary.
And as I say, It's a good opportunity for us to consider our own attitude
towards him. Do we think of him as one that
is extraordinary? When we look back in history
we see some great men in the past, don't we? Men who have
achieved great things and had a great impact upon the history
of the world. But there's nobody who has had
an impact anything like this man who the centurion speaks
of here. Truly this man was the Son of
God? Is it clear to you, it was clear
to this centurion? Are we ready to say, with him,
this man was the Son of God? And yet, despite the fact that
he is the Son of God, he still dies. That's what brought this centurion
to this realisation, wasn't it? Isn't there something of a mystery?
Perhaps this centurion had heard of Jesus, heard of his teaching,
heard of his miracles. He didn't seem to have been convinced
by those things, but what did convince him was the way that
he died. He did die. He cried out with a loud voice,
it says in verse 37 here, and gave up the ghost. Truly this
man was the Son of God. Why did he die? Another this man expression in
the epistle to the Romans, chapter 8. He died because it was needful
that he had something to offer. In Hebrews, chapter 8, the apostle
is speaking of the similarities and the differences between Jesus
and the high priests of the Old Testament, as he does often through
that book. And he comes to something of
a summary in chapter eight, doesn't he? Now of the things which he
hath spoken, this is the sum. We have such an high priest who
is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the
heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which
the Lord pitched and not man. For every high priest is ordained
to offer gifts and sacrifices. That was a big part of the responsibility
of the high priests in the Old Testament, wasn't it? They were
there to teach. And they were there to lead the
people in various ways. But a big part of their role,
of their duties, was to offer gifts and sacrifices. And so
Paul says, wherefore, it is of necessity that this man, it's
the same this man, it is of necessity that this man have someone also
to offer. He wouldn't be a priest, says
Paul, if he didn't have something to offer. Well, what was it that
he offered? Well, Paul tells us in the previous
chapter of that epistle. He's spoken there about Jesus
as the great high priest after the order of Melchizedek. And
he says towards the end of that seventh chapter, he doesn't need
daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifices, first for
his own sins and then for the people's. For this he did once
when he offered up himself. He offered up himself. It's a
contrast, isn't it? Between Jesus and those priests
of the Old Testament. They offered up gifts and sacrifices.
And we read of the blood of bulls and of goats later on in the
epistle. And it's very striking, isn't it? When you read through
the books of Numbers and Leviticus, and you can read about the the
constant procession of sacrifices that there were in the Old Testament
tabernacle and then in the temple. In Numbers chapter 28 you can
do the maths. Two lambs of the first year every
day, one in the morning, one in the evening, and on the Sabbath
day two additional lambs, and on the first day of every month
two young bullocks and one ram and seven lambs of the first
year without spot. It would be thousands of animals
a year. And besides those animals you
have the offerings of the people who came with their sin offerings
and their free will offerings. The constant procession of animals
being taken into the temple to be sacrificed. What does it represent? We know that it didn't take away
sin. It's not possible, says Paul, that the blood of bulls
and of goats should take away sin. But in those sacrifices
there is a remembrance again made of sins. They are reminders
of sin, reminders of the seriousness of sin, reminders of the consequence
of sin, reminders of the necessity of a substitute. And it's a wonderful
expression, isn't it, that you come across in the book of Deuteronomy
and Leviticus, when the Jew brings his sacrifice and he lays his
hand upon the head of it. And as if he would say, this
animal is about to suffer the death, that I deserve. He died
as an offering he gave himself. He gave himself. And yet we know
that he did not give himself for his own sins. As I say, we
have the witness of the dying thief there in the chapter that
we read. And what does he say of him? This man, the same this
man, hath done nothing amiss. Nothing amiss. Not true of any other. human
being, not true of any of us. You can't say of yourself that
you have done nothing amiss, but this man, says the dying
thief, and he was absolutely right, just as the centurion
was. This man hath done nothing amiss. He didn't die for his
own sins. He didn't have any sins that
he needed to atone for himself, but he died for the sins of others.
And I love that expression in I think it's hymn 122 in this
book where the hymn writer speaks of the powerful blood of Christ. He says, Jesus, my great high
priest, offered his blood and died. My guilty conscience seeks
no sacrifice beside his powerful blood did once atone. Powerful
blood. Why does the hymn writer say
it's powerful blood? Well, it's powerful blood because
it achieved what those sacrifices of the Old Testament could never
achieve. When you read about the comparison that Paul makes
in the epistle to the Romans, it's as if he's picturing in
his mind a set of old-fashioned scales with the two arms that
balance like this. And he takes all the sin and
lays it on one side. And then it's as if he piles
together all those sacrifices of the Old Testament. and puts
it on the other side and there's nothing there. It makes no difference.
They don't weigh anything. But then you take this sacrifice,
the shedding of the blood of Christ, the giving of himself,
you put that on the other scale and the sin, it's nothing compared
to the significance of that sacrifice. It's powerful blood. It's powerful
blood because of what Paul says when he when he writes or when
he bids farewell to the Ephesians. You remember how he's departing
from them on his way to Rome. He doesn't expect to see them
again. And he charges them, doesn't he? Take heed therefore unto
yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost
hath made you overseers to feed the church of God which he hath
purchased with his own blood, with the blood of God. Yes, it
was human blood in a sense. We don't think of it in the same
way as some of the Roman Catholics have. You know how they have
their relics and they pretend that they have a pot of Jesus'
blood as if it's somehow just significant just to have the
physical blood. Well, the physical blood was human blood, but the
significance behind it was because of his person. He is the son
of God. He is God. It is the blood of
God, in a sense. And that's why it is of infinite
value, and that's why it's such powerful blood. Such powerful
blood. And we have another contrast
in the Hebrews, don't we? Where Paul, having spoken of
the countless sacrifices that were offered by the priests of
the Old Testament, Every priest standeth daily ministering and
offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take
away sins. A great heap of sacrifice, uncountable. But then, he says, this man,
after he had offered one sacrifice, one sacrifice and one was enough. We don't believe with the Roman
Catholics that when we celebrate the Lord's Supper, what they
call the Mass, there is a re-sacrificing of Christ. We don't believe that
by breaking the bread and pouring out the wine there is more and
more grace being manufactured to balance out the sins of the
church. No, says Paul, not necessary.
One sacrifice for sins forever. And he speaks of him sitting
down on the right hand of God. Not like those priests who stand
daily. Their work is never done. But
he sits down. It's the blood of God. There's
no taking away of sin by those sacrifices. But here is a blood
that does take away sin, a powerful blood. He offered up himself
and he sat down on the right hand of the throne of God. And
so that explains, doesn't it, why Paul is able to say what
he says to the Jews in Antioch. You remember the account in Acts
chapter 13. It's another this man expression. And Paul, having spoken about
Christ as the son of David, and spoken about his resurrection,
how he didn't see corruption, but was raised again by God from
the dead. And he comes to this in conclusion, doesn't he? Acts
chapter 13, verse 38, Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren,
that through this man, it's the same man, through this man is
preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by him, All that
believe are justified from all things from which he could not
be justified by the law of Moses. How can Paul be so sweeping in
his statement and say all things and all that believe? He doesn't
just say, well, there is forgiveness of sins here if you've just done
a few sins or if you've just done what we might describe as
small sins. No, he takes the whole of sin
and he says it doesn't matter. All that believe are justified
from all things because it's such powerful blood, because
it's the blood of God. By Him all that believe are justified
from all things from which you could not be justified by the
law of Moses. Well, it came as a message of forgiveness to
those Jews in Antioch and so it comes to us. Whenever we hear
the Gospel, whenever we read the Word of God, It's true of
us, just as it was true of them, that through this man is preached
unto us the forgiveness of sins. And it's strong evidence of the darkness
of man, isn't it? And the enmity of man against
God, that when Paul comes to Antioch and speaks of the forgiveness
of sins and of glad tidings, The Jews which hear, they're
full of envy, and they speak against those things. They're
not interested in the forgiveness of sins. They don't want it for
themselves. They certainly don't want the
Gentiles to hear about it. And Paul and Barnabas, they speak
very solemnly to those Jews, don't they? It was necessary
that the word of God should first have been spoken to you, but
seeing you put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of
everlasting life, and that was what they did. Though they were
sinners, they needed the forgiveness of sins. And there was no other
way for their sins to be forgiven. You can't be justified by the
law of Moses, says Paul. And if that's true of the law
of Moses, how much more is it true of our lives and our traditions
and our works? We can't be justified by them.
We all need the forgiveness of sins, but the tragedy of these
Jews is that they put it from them. and judge themselves unworthy
of everlasting life. And so Paul and Barnabas say,
lo, we turn to the Gentiles and see how different the reaction
of the Gentiles is. When the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as
many as were ordained to eternal life believe, through this man
is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and that is the only
way to find it. But it's not just in the New
Testament that we read of this man, is it? There are those places
in the Old Testament where Christ is spoken of and revealed in
a very clear way. In Micah's prophecy in chapter
5, we have a this man expression. And we know that it refers to
Christ in the context. Micah is talking about the coming
of Christ. Thou Bethlehem Ephrata, though
thou be little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of thee shall
he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose
goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. He's talking
about the coming of Christ, the incarnation of Christ, his birth
in little Bethlehem. And what does he say of him?
In verse 5, this man, it's the same man. This man, he says,
shall be the peace. This man shall be the peace.
There's no doubt he's talking about Christ. This man shall
be the peace, the peace, the only peace, the only way of peace. Doesn't it remind us of what
Isaiah says of him in the 32nd chapter of his prophecy? Again,
it's the same man. A king shall reign in righteousness,
princes shall rule in judgment, and a man shall be as an hiding
place from the wind and a cupboard from the tempest, as rivers of
water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary
land. Very striking and figurative
and expressive language, isn't it? The shadow of a great rock
in a weary land. It's as if Isaiah sees sin and
the law and the punishment of sin like the burning heat of
the sun beating down upon the land, and the land is burned
up with it, and the land seems to be weary. But then here is
a great rock, a great rock, a foundation laid in Zion, and it casts a
wonderful and refreshing shadow, says Isaiah, like rivers of water
in a dry place. Well, is that what this man is
to you? When you think of him, when you
look at him, when you read of him, do you say, well, it was
true what he said of himself? when he cried in that last and
great day of the feast, if any man thirst, let him come unto
me and drink. Rivers of water in a dry place,
the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. It's something
experienced, isn't it? Something enjoyed. If any man thirst, let him come
unto me and drink. Well, said the centurion, truly,
truly this man is the son of God. This man spoke as never
man spoke, despite never having learned. This man who did many
miracles, proving himself to be the son of God. And yet this man who came in
order to die, to offer himself as a sacrifice for sin. This man who is the peace, through
whom come the forgiveness of sins, And yet what else do we read
of this man? A lovely expression, isn't it, though it was spoken
so contemptuously by the Pharisees in Luke chapter 15. What did
they say of this man? They saw him. They saw the publicans
and sinners drawing near to hear him. And they said, this man
receiveth sinners and eateth with them. Well, as I say, they
spoke it in a way of condemnation. They looked down upon him. They
said of him, well, shouldn't he be spending his time with
us, the Pharisees? Haven't we been so diligent in
our keeping of the traditions, and yet he comes and he doesn't
seem to care much about us. He seems to be more interested
in the publicans and sinners. This man receiveth sinners and
eateth with them. They meant it in condemnation, but look
at how Jesus answers it. He answers it by speaking three
parables, doesn't he? In Luke chapter 15 we have the
parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the lost coin
and the parable of the prodigal son. What is Jesus saying in
answer to the criticism of the Pharisees? He said, yes, I do. Yes, I do receive sinners because
there is joy in heaven over sinners that repent. Joy in the presence
of the angels of God over sinners that repent. And when the son
comes back to his father, His father doesn't say, well, you
used to be my son, but you've thrown all that away now. No,
he receives him with joy. This my son was dead and is alive
again. He was lost and is found. This thy brother, he says, was
dead and is alive again. And he receives sinners. Yes,
I do, says Jesus. And he still receives sinners
today. No, no change there, no difference there. Yes, it was
Two thousand or so years ago that those words were spoken
by the Pharisees. Two thousand or so years ago
that those parables were spoken by Christ in answer to their
criticism. But He is the same yesterday and today and forever.
No change there. He receives publicans and sinners.
He receives publicans, the worst of sinners. even today, this
man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. And then just two
more of these expressions. In Genesis, you remember the
account of Rebecca and of the seeking of a wife for Isaac. Abraham sends his servant back
to his relatives He says, I don't want my son Isaac to marry one
of the daughters of the Canaanites. He sends his servant back to
his own country to find a wife from there. And of course, you're
familiar with the incident of the well and the drawing of water
for the servant and for the camels. And the servant is brought into
Rebecca's house and he speaks of the reason for his coming.
And there's a wonderful question, isn't there, that's put to Rebecca.
and I don't want to spiritualise it, but it does come as a question
to us, doesn't it, this morning as we consider this man and all
that he has done and all that he represents. They call Rebecca
and say unto her, will thou go with this man? Will thou go with
this man? Will thou be a follower of this
man? Will thou be a disciple of this
man? It was the question that was put to Peter, wasn't it?
In John's account of the arrest of Jesus in the garden. And it's
a searching question, isn't it? As it comes to us in verse 17,
here is Peter in the house of the high priest, warming himself
by the fire. And the damsel comes to him and
she asks him, are not thou also one of this man's disciples?
Are not thou also one of this man's disciples? Well, are you? Are you one of this man's disciples?
Are you one who learns of him? That's what a disciple is. It's
a student, a hearer, one who sits at the feet of a teacher
and listens. A disciple is one who comes recognising
the authority of the teacher, ready to be disciplined by the
teacher, ready to confess that the teacher knows more than they
do. The disciple doesn't come to the Master and say, well,
I'll come and I'll listen, but don't expect me to hear everything.
I've got my own views as well. And Christ said, didn't He accept
ye come as little children? Ye shall in no wise inherit the
Kingdom of God. Are not Thou also one of this
man's disciples? This wondrous man of whom we
speak, where we sang about it in that opening hymn, didn't
we? And it really puts it into perfect language, as the hymn
writers often do. He speaks of him, this wondrous
man, of whom we tell is true Almighty God. He bought our souls
from death and hell, the price, his own heart's blood, and so
the hymn writer comes to this conclusion, doesn't he? Come
then, repenting sinner. Come, approach with humble faith.
Oh, what thou wilt. The total sum is cancelled by
his death. How can the hymn writer say that?
How can he say, oh, what thou wilt? The total sum is cancelled
by his death. Well, he goes on to speak of
his blood, doesn't he? Powerful blood. His blood can
cleanse the blackest soul. and wash our guilt away. And
it can. And it's a wonderful thing to
experience. He will present us sound and whole in that tremendous
day. And the hymn writer in the last
hymn that we're going to sing in a moment, he speaks of this
man again, doesn't he? And may it be our experience
This man shall be the peace. That's the reference at the top
of the hill, at the top of the hymn. That quotation from Micah's
prophecy, this man shall be the peace. And he comes to the end
of that hymn, doesn't he? And he speaks of those times
when the eye of faith is dim. And we know, some of us I'm sure
know what that is like. When the eye of faith is dim,
what does he say we are to do at times like that? Especially
at times like that. when the eye of faith is dim,
rest thou on Jesus. Sink or swim, and at his footstool
bow the knee, for Israel's God thy peace shall be." Israel's
God, and yet this glorious man. May God grant us that we might
see what this centurion saw. We don't read anything more about
this centurion, do we? There's nothing more about his
life. We don't read of him as a part
of the church. But I like to think that he became
a follower of this man. Truly, he said, this man was
the son of God. May God bring us to the same
realisation and become, that we might become followers, disciples,
hearers, learners of this wondrous man. May God bless his word to
us each. Amen.