Let us turn once again to the
scriptures in the gospel according to Luke In chapter 23, as we
continue in this part of Holy Scripture, and reading at verse
46, Luke 23, verse 46, And 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 ghosts. Now when the centurion saw what
was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous
man. And all the people that came
together to that site, beholding the things which were done, smote
their breasts and returned. And all his acquaintance and
the women that followed him from Galilee stood afar off, beholding
these things. Last time we were considering
in particular the words of verse 46 and the saying of Christ upon
the cross. He cried with a loud voice and
said, Father into thy hands I commend my spirit and having said thus
he gave up the ghost, and among other things we observed here
the reality of that human nature, the great truth of the incarnation,
that God was indeed manifest in the flesh, that Christ was
in the possession of a real body and a reasonable soul. And here
we see how he gave up the ghost and the verb that used to give
up has that literal meaning of breathing out. Remember when
God created the first man, he breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life and man became a living soul. Well, here is
the Lord Jesus Christ, as it were, breathing out His soul
as He makes the great sacrifice for sins. In the words of Isaiah
53, He hath poured out His soul unto death. The Lord tells us that it is
the soul that sinneth that shall die. And so Christ must suffer
not only physically but he must also suffer here in his soul. This is a true humanity. It is important for us to grasp
the significance of that fact. There are those we know who are
in grievous error concerning the human nature of the Lord
Jesus. There are those who deny that
he has a soul. that his humanity was merely
a physical thing, while the scripture, quite contrary to that, makes
it clear that his was a true human nature. A man is made up
of body and of soul, and it is even as he comes to sacrifice
himself, that we see here upon the cross something of the sufferings
of his soul. The Hymn writer says the pangs
of his body were great, but great are the pangs of his mind, and
mind being the faculty of the soul. How the Lord suffered in
his soul, suffered here at the hands of God. He who knew no
sin being made sin for his people. Again in Isaiah we have that
statement, when they shall make his soul an offering for sin. And so we see it in the way in
which the Lord speaks here at the end of his sufferings as
he has made that great sacrifice for the sins of his people. He
cried out, remember it is finished. And as he uttered those words
so it was not a word of defeat It was a glorious word of triumph,
of accomplishment. All that work that the Father
had given him to do was an accomplished work. And so now he commends
his spirit into the hands of his Heavenly Father and he breathes
out his soul onto God. And then in what follows, verses
47, 48 and 49, we see something of the reaction of those who
are beholding these things, these onlookers. Now when the centurion
saw what was done, he glorified God saying, certainly this was
a righteous man. And all the people that came
together to that site, beholding the things which were done, smote
their breasts and returned And all his acquaintance and the
women that followed him from Galilee stood afar off, beholding
these things." Well, I want us to consider what he said in these
three verses this morning, the reaction of these onlookers. And what do we observe? Well,
a public execution, of course, would draw a crowd of people. It was such a spectacle to be
held and so we read here in verse 48 how all the people came together
to that site they were there to witness these things and in
these onlookers we can discern two types of reactions there
are those who seem convicted by the thing that they were beholding. We know that the ministry of
the Lord Jesus Christ throughout his earthly ministry was a dividing
and a separating ministry. His person, his words would cause
a division amongst the Jews many times as we are told in John's
Gospel. And as was the case with the Lord Jesus, so also with
that ministry that his apostles exercised. To some it was to
come as the saver of life, and to others it would come as the
saver of death. The end of the second chapter
in 2 Corinthians. Paul can write, We are unto God
a sweet saver of Christ in them that are saved and in them that
perish. to the one we are the saver of
death unto death to the other the saver of life unto life and
who is sufficient for these things he asks for we are not as many
which corrupt the word of God but as of sincerity but as of
God in the sight of God speak we in Christ the apostles ministry
in that sense is the same as the ministry of the Lord Jesus
it's a continuation and there is that separating between those
to whom that preaching comes savouring of the things of God
the things that bring life into the soul but to others alas the
opposite the savour of death and even here I say at the cross
we see that there is a difference there are those who appear to
be under real conviction of sin we are told how they smote their
breasts they smote their breasts as they beheld this remarkable
sight now remember that was one of the marks of the man whom
Christ said went to his house justified the publican as he
speaks here in chapter 18 of those two men who go to the temple
at the hour of prayer, the Pharisee and the Publican. The Pharisee
is a self-righteous man but the Publican amongst other things
he smites upon his breast and he cries out, God be merciful
to me a sinner. Why does he smite upon his breast?
Well, he feels sin to be such an awful reality in his breast.
He feels what he is in the very depths of his being. He knows
something of the awfulness of his fallen nature. And we are
told that, are we not, in Scripture? That sin is within men. God saw
that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and every
imagination of the sort of his heart was evil continuously. In Genesis chapter 6, every imagination
of the sort of his heart, the heart which is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. And the Lord Jesus Christ himself
in his ministry tells us plainly that it is out of the heart that
all evils proceed. It's not those things that the
man eats, the things that enter into his belly that defile the
man, but rather is it those things that come out of the heart of
men that defile them. As he speaks in Mark chapter
7 Verse 20, that which cometh out of the man, that defileth
the man, for from within, out of the heart, out of the heart,
proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts,
covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, and evil art,
blasphemy, pride, foolishness, all these evil things come from
within and defile the man. Though the sin of them will smite
upon his breast, though he feels that he wants to strike at his
own heart, which is the root and the source of every evil,
the fountain of all sins. In his paraphrase of Psalm 51,
Isaac Watts says, I'll wash my soul from every sin and make
my guilty conscience clean. Here on my heart the burden lies
and past offences pain my eyes. The burden is on the man's heart
and so the sinner must strike at his breast. And there are
those here who were told, smote their breast when they beheld
this sight. What was their previous behavior?
Well, they were there witnessing the sufferings of the Lord Jesus
Christ and there were those who were taunting Him. They that
passed by were told they reviled Him, they were wagging their
heads at Him, they were saying all manner of evil against Him. But now as they behold the signs,
And as he comes to make the sacrifice, as he breathes out his soul as
he dies, so they smite upon their breasts. And it is this sight
that has such an effect upon them. There's an emphasis, is
there not, in these verses upon what they are witnesses. They came together to that site,
beholding the things which were done. And again at the end of
verse 49, beholding these things, they are looking at these things,
they are considering these things. And it is interesting to observe
here how the The sight of the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ
has such a profound effect upon the people. We know that there
is that conviction that comes through the law of God, that
is the ministry of the Lord, it's the ministration of condemnation,
it's the ministration of death. The great purpose of the law
is to show the sinner what he is. The law is good if the man
uses it lawfully, says Paul in the first chapter of his first
letter to Timothy. And that lawful use of the law
is to bring conviction into the soul that we might see what we
are. in the light of that law which
is spoken of as being holy, that commandment which is said to
be holy and just and good how we do not measure up to that
standard that God has set in his holy law but the law cannot
bring that conviction into the soul that will lead on to salvation
the hymn writer rightly says law and terrors do but harden
all the while they work alone, there must be something else.
There must be that sense of what sin is, that sight of what sin
is, in the light of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ, where
there's going to be a true evangelical repentance following. And isn't
this the promise of the New Covenant? There in the end of that long
16th chapter in the book of Ezekiel the prophet makes mention of
that covenant the last two verses of Ezekiel
16 I will establish my covenant says God and they shall know
that I am the Lord that they may remember and be confounded
and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame when
I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done saith
the Lord God. Here that covenant is the covenant
of peace clearly that thou must remember and be confounded and
never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame when I am
pacified toward thee. It is that covenant that speaks
of God being at peace. It's the new covenant. It's the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that is being spoken of. And
it brings this sense of shine to the sinner. It's not a hardening
thing, you see. Again we see, do we not, in that
12th chapter in the prophecy of Zechariah, in the end of verse
10 there in Zechariah chapter 12, God says, They shall look
upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him
as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness
for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In that guy,
shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem. That day is a reference
clearly to the day of the Gospel. The reference surely is to this
scene that we have at Jerusalem, outside the walls of Jerusalem,
when the Lord Jesus Christ is crucified and there is a mourning.
There are those who are made to mourn and they strike upon
their breast, they are under conviction. as they behold this
awful scene, the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's a
conviction that lasts, it lasts through to the day of Pentecost. We see how Peter in the course
of his ministry is preaching on that day, addresses these
very people. In the sermon recorded there
in Acts chapter 2, verse 22 he speaks to the men
of Israel ye men of Israel hear these words Jesus of Nazareth
the man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and
signs which God did by him in the midst of you as you yourselves
also know him being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have
crucified and slain and there is an effect They were there,
they were there, beholding these things upon the cross. There
when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and said
unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren,
what shall we do? Here is the beginning we can
see something similar, can we not, in Paul's experience. He
is there at the stoning of Stephen. He beholds the death of that
first Christian martyr. and it has an effect. And ultimately
it leads to his conversion to Christ and it's the same with
some of these who were there at the cross. They behold the
scene and in many ways it's a precursor to what will come subsequently
when they hear the preaching of Peter on the day of Pentecost. They smite upon their breasts. They feel something they don't
altogether understand what it is. But there's some effect upon
them. But as I said, it's not the same
with all. All the people that came together
to that site, beholding the things which were done, smoked their
breast, it says, and returned. There are others, you see, who,
in a sense, it doesn't have any real effect upon. It's just a
passing thing that they behold, they return. Are there not some
who, as Peter says, they only return to wallowing in the mire,
or as a dog to its vomits? There are those who seem to have
a concern but it doesn't endure, it's not a true concern, it's
not a real conviction. It's something that comes only
for it to pass away. Those words then of the Apostle
Peter writing in the second chapter of his second epistle. Solemn
words he speaks, if after they have escaped the pollutions of
the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ, he says, they are again entangled therein and overcome,
the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For
it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness,
than after they had known it, to turn from the holy commandment
delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them
according to the true problem. The dog is turned to his own
vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in
the mire. Though they have a concern, but
it doesn't endure, it is not lasted. There seems to be some
conviction, but it's not a true conviction. It's godly sorrow
that works as repentance or salvation, says Paul. It's the sorrow of
the world that works nothing more than death. And so, there
is a difference. There are those who are truly
being wrought upon, but there are those whose concern is but
for a moment, a brief, passing feeling. Oh, there is a difference
here then. with regards to these who are
beholding the scene, present there at the dying of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now we read further here of those
who are referred to as his acquaintance and the women. The reference
surely is to those who we might say were his true followers,
those who are believers already and they are present. And they
also witness what the multitudes are looking upon. Verse 49, and
all his acquaintance. And the women that followed him
from Galilee stood afar off beholding these things. In a sense, is
there not here some confusion in their minds, they can't understand
these things, they can't fathom these things. these things seem
to be so contrary to what they'd expected in the next chapter
of course we read of those two on the road to Emmaus and we
see what confusion they were in as the Lord draws near to
them and begins to converse with them and they they don't recognize
it their eyes are holding it says they cannot recognize it
but they enter into conversation and they say Verse 21 there in
chapter 24, We trusted that it had been He which should have
redeemed Israel. Besides all this, today is the
third day since these things were done. Yea, and certain women
also of our company made us astonished, which were early at this epoch,
and when they found not His body, they came saying that they had
also seen a vision of angels, which said that He was alive.
And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulcher,
and found it even so as the women had said, but him they saw not. Then he said unto them, O fools,
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things, and enter into his glory? O you see how slow
they are to believe these things. They cannot understand these
things. And so it is with these who are there at the cross, these
women and these acquaintances. They stand and they behold these
things but they can't understand these things. Believers many
times are like that. They feel themselves to be confused,
they stand and they look in astonishment. This is what we have you see
in these verses. God's people are like that. They
feel unsure, uncertain. There are many things that come
along that they cannot begin to rightly interpret. We read of those in Isaiah 59
who grope for the wall like mind men. They cannot see clearly
what should be done. And so it is with these. They
stand far off beholding these things. There's a sense really
in which the sight is altogether overwhelming to them. It's interesting
that again we read concerning that publican in chapter 18 that
he doesn't only smite upon his breast but he stood afar off. He stood afar off. Do not God's
children feel like that as they come to consider the the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ is dying as that great substitute and
all that the cross entails it is of course the very pinnacle
of his work that work that the Father had given him to do he
must be obedient not only obedient in his life fulfilling all righteousness
by a life that he's lived in complete accordance with the
Holy Lord of God but he must be obedient unto death even the
death of the cross. And these his acquaintances stand
afar off, for the ground is holy ground. How can any venture too
near to such a site as this as the Lord Jesus Christ is making
that great sacrifice? And how these are those, of course,
he has come to make the sacrifice for. It's in their room, it's
in their stead, it's as their saviour, that he is thus suffering,
pouring out his soul unto death, shedding his precious blood that
they might know the cleansing virtue of that sacrifice. They stand afar off. There's
much that they can't understand, but at least they know that the
site is a holy site. We see then that there are these
different responses to those who are present on this occasion. There are the multitudes of people
who come together to look at the spectacle of public execution
and yet amongst them there are those who begin to feel some
conviction in their souls some real understanding of what sin
is and then there are these who are his true followers, his disciples
these believers and in a measure they cannot understand the sight
they are confused in their minds just as those two on the road
to Emmaus but then also we have in verse 47 the remarkable confession
that is made by the Roman centurion. Now when the centurion saw what
was done, he glorified God saying certainly this was a righteous
man. And what a confession is this. This is truly a real confession
of faith. We know from what we read in
the other Gospels, the other Synoptic Gospels, in Matthew
and Mark, that he went further than this. In Matthew's account,
Matthew 27, 54, he said, truly this was the Son of God. And the words are very similar
in Mark 15 and verse 37, truly this man was the Son of God. That was his confession. He confessed
that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God. Now, you might say to me, well,
how can we reconcile these different accounts? What we have in Matthew
and Mark, it's different, is it not, to the words that we
have here in this 23rd chapter of Luke here he simply says certainly
or truly this was a righteous man how can we reconcile that
to those other words well we have to remember of course what
it was that the Lord Jesus Christ was accused of what was the reason
for his crucifixion is Judge, the Roman governor Pontius
Pilate says he could find no fault in him so far as Roman
law was concerned this man had done nothing that was worthy
of death he was being crucified because of the charge that the
Jews brought against him and the charge that they laid at
his door was that of blasphemy even here at the end of chapter
22 verse 70 then said they all art
thou then the son of God that is their question art thou the
son of God and he said unto them ye say that I am and they said
what need we any further witness for we ourselves have heard of
his own mouth all they understood you see he is not denying that
he is the son of God they need no further witness he is guilty
of blasphemy and this is what they say when they come before
Pilate in John 19 verse 7 we have a law by our law he ought
to die because he made himself the son of God Now when the centurion, who was
obviously aware of these things, when this man says here, certainly
this was a righteous man, is he not simply saying he is innocent? He had only spoken the truth. the Jews said he was guilty of
blasphemy because he said he was the son of God but this man
is saying he is evidently the son of God he is what he said
of himself and so we can reconcile these statements you see in Luke
and what is written there in Matthew and in Mark they are
really saying the same thing he is a righteous man He is exactly whom he said he
was. It's the manner of his dying
that makes such an impression upon the Roman centurion. The
Lord Jesus Christ here in the depths of his humiliation, as
he is making his soul an offering for sin, in the words of Paul,
as he is crucified through weakness. Amazingly, this Roman centurion's
eyes are open and he sees that this person is truly the son
of God. But as he is the son of God he
is also the righteous man. He is the only righteous man. That is the wonder of it, isn't
it? We know that he was made under the law, that's what we're
told in Galatians chapter 4. He's not only made of a woman,
he's not only truly human as we said at the beginning, human
body and soul, but he is as a man subject to the law of God. when
the fullness of the time was come God sent forth his son made
of a woman made under the law, he is subject to the law he is
that one who comes to stand in the very law place of his people he will answer for them with
regards to all that the Holy Lord of God commands and he will
honour that Lord of God and he will honour it by the obedience
of a sinless life. This is what he did. He fulfilled
all righteousness. He perfectly obeyed every one
of the commandments of God. And remember how in the Sermon
on the Mount expounds the full vigour of the
law, how the law doesn't just have to do with the actions of
men, it has to do also with the very attitude of their hearts. If you are angry without just
cause, you're guilty of murder. If you look lustfully, you're
guilty of adultery. He shows the spirituality of
that law of which Paul speaks in Romans 7. The Lord is spiritual,
says the Apostle. And Christ obeys it in all the
full vigour of it. He obeys it in thought, in word,
in deed. He is the righteous man. And
yet, here is the righteous man dying the sinner's death. Or the wonder of it, you see.
He who knew no sin. made sin for us that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. Oh, what a remarkable
confession it is that this man is making then. And in the making
of it, he is glorifying God. When the centurion saw what was
done, he glorified God saying, certainly this was a righteous
man. This righteous man, he is true
almighty God. This righteous man, he is the
eternal son of the eternal Father. This righteous man is truly the
son of God. And of course the important question
is, what think ye of Christ? He read that 22nd chapter in
Matthew where the Lord puts that question. Oh, what a question it is. Now
it comes to us time and again and it is a question that we
must answer. What thinking of Christ is the
test to try both your state and your scheme. You cannot be right
in the rest. unless you think rightly of him,
we must have right views of this man who was crucified and our
views must accord with what we read concerning the confession
of the centurion. You see there's another question,
it's not just a question of what's in key of Christ but it's that
question that the Lord Jesus puts to the man in John chapter
9, the man who was born blind to whom the Lord gave sight. And then what did the Jews do?
They put him out of the synagogue, they cut him off, they excommunicated
him. But the Lord Jesus Christ finds
him again, and what does Christ say to him? Just so believe on
the Son of God. That's the all important question.
Yes, that first question is the most significant one. And as
I say, we have to answer it, what did he of Christ But if
we have right thoughts of Christ, we must be those who are believing
in Christ. Dost thou believe on the Son
of God? If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath
raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the
mouth confession is made unto righteousness, and with the heart. Oh, there is that belief. that
believing unto salvation. And those who believe in Him,
do they not have to come where Paul comes and see Him as the
Lord, their righteousness? Is that your desire this morning?
To be found in Him? To be found in the Lord Jesus
Christ? How are we found in Him? We are found in Him by faith.
We have to believe in Him. Literally believe into Him. To
be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, says Paul,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. To make that confession, even
the confession that this centurion is brought to make, when the
centurion saw what was done. It's all we're reading. We read the account, we've considered
something these past weeks of the detail of that account as
we have it set before us in this particular chapter in Luke's
Gospel. But do we really see into these
things and the significance of these things? Here are those
who were beholding these onlookers and amongst them the centurion
when the centurion saw what was done he glorified God saying
certain this was a righteous man truly this was or truly this
is the son of God and all the people that came together to
the site beholding the things which were done smoked their
breath and returned. Oh, we move to smoke our breasts
to see what sin is and to see the awfulness of sin in all that
the Lord Jesus Christ has to suffer as the great sin-bearer
and the Saviour of sinners, the Saviour of His people. Do we
see it here? And because of what we see of
Christ, this righteous man in his awful sufferings, we see
how dreadful our sin is. This is the only way of salvation.
And all his acquaintance and the women that followed from
Galilee stood afar off, beholding these things. Do we recognise
that this is holy ground? that we are treading on as we
come to consider Christ or the Lord grant that we might be those
who do truly behold these things that we are those who want to
look into these things and understand something of the mystery of the
sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ and be those who as we
come to some understanding by God's grace of this great mystery
so our faith and our trust might be in this Lord Jesus Christ.
May the Lord bless His word to us, for His name's sake. Amen.