Would you turn to Mark 15? And
while you're turning there, I'm trying to preach through the
book of Genesis. And I always look for messages
that somebody else has preached on Genesis. And my next message
is going to be out of Genesis 25, verse 5. And Abraham gave
all that he had unto Isaac. found a message an Irish Presbyterian
had preached from it. And I listened to that message,
and I said, this is great. And then he quoted Pastor Don
Fortner from the United States. So I thought that was really
cool. I wanted to let you all know about that. I mean, I was
shocked by how good the message was. And there we go. So you
just don't know, do you? One other thing, when you were
reading Psalm 66, I remember as a young believer, I used to
kind of dread that Psalm because coming up to the verse, if I
regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord won't hear me. And I
thought, oh. But you know what that means? If I regard my iniquitous self-righteousness
in my heart. If that's what I look to in my
works, the Lord won't hear me. And when I heard somebody say
that, that just relieved me. Because that's a psalm, that
verse has always troubled me. If I regard iniquity in my heart,
that was a blessing. Mark chapter 15, I'd like to
read the 39th verse. And when the centurion, which
stood over against him, and that word is generally translated
contrary to him. It's not talking about proximity,
it's talking about he was contrary to the Lord Jesus Christ. When he saw that he so cried
out. And we know from John's account
what it was he cried out at that time. He heard this cry, it is finished. When he saw that he so cried
out, he said, truly. Surely, certainly, this man was
the Son of God. Now, he didn't know that at the
beginning of this crucifixion, but he came to find out who Jesus
of Nazareth was, the Son of God. And whenever I preach, there's
four or five things that I want to be uppermost in my mind. Number
one, I want the message to glorify God. And if it doesn't give him
all the glory, it wasn't any good, was it? And secondly, I
want it to be according to the scriptures. I don't want to give
my own thoughts. And as I get older, I become
more anxious about that. I don't want
to give my own thoughts. I don't want to misrepresent
the Lord. I want to give what God's Word actually says. And thirdly, anytime I preach,
I want to know that I've given my best in the preparation for
that message. I don't want to just pop off. I want to study, pray, seek the
Lord's blessing, leadership, I want the Lord to bless it.
I don't want to ever be unprepared when I preach a message. And fourthly, I don't want anybody
to ever hear a message where they would come in ignorant of
the gospel and leave not having heard the gospel. I want to preach
the gospel every time I preach, without exception. Also, this
is the last thing I'd say about this, every message I bring,
I want to be satisfied with this message if it was the last one
I ever preached. Every message ought to be, without
exception, a message I could be satisfied if it was the last
one I ever preached. Now I hope that this message
does all five of those things. I've entitled this message, Truly,
This Man Was the Son of God. Now these were the words of the
man who presided over the crucifixion. He was the foreman on the job. He told the other Roman soldiers
what to do. He was a Roman centurion over
a hundred different soldiers, and two things caused him to
make this amazing confession. Truly, this man was the son of
God. Number one, revelation. If you know he's the son of God,
you're just like Peter. When Peter made that great confession,
thou art the Christ, the son of the living God, Christ said,
blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you, but my Father, which is in heaven. And if you believe
in your heart that Jesus Christ is God the Son, the creator of
the universe, the absolute sovereign over providence, the Savior,
the Lord Christ. If you believe he's the Son of
God, it's because God himself revealed himself to you. That's
why you believe. Now he believed because of the
things he heard and the things he saw. God revealed himself
to this man through the things he heard and the things he saw.
Now he heard the seven sayings of the Savior from the cross. How clearly the gospel is revealed
in those glorious seven sayings of Christ from the cross. And
he heard all the things different men said about him. If you're
the Christ, if you're the Son of God, all these accusations
that were made. He heard these things while this
was going on. He was there. when the sun quit shining. Now can you imagine how terrifying
that was? That orb in the sky at noon all of a sudden goes
out? He was there when that took place. He felt the earth quake when
the Son of God died. He felt the rocks rent Now, in Luke's account, he's
quoted this way. Truly, this was a righteous man. Have you ever noticed that? In
Luke's account, he calls him a righteous man. In Matthew and
Mark's account, he calls him the Son of God. Now, in the original,
the definite article is used. Surely, this is the righteous
man. Now an indefinite article, a
righteous man among many, like a lord or the lord. He's saying
this is the righteous man, the only righteous man to ever live. Now in this confession, surely
this is the Son of God, surely this is the righteous man. He's
confessing the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, he's got the Son,
and he's confessing his perfect humanity. He is the righteous
man. Now Mark's gospel begins with
these words, and I love this, the beginning of the gospel of
Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Don't you love that? And then
in this closing chapter, this last moment of his life, this
Roman centurion confesses, surely, truly, certainly this man was
the Son of God. Now let's not forget who this
man was. He was a Roman centurion, the head over a hundred soldiers,
and Crucifying criminals against the state was his job. How many
people had he crucified? This was his job. Crucify so
many people and get home in time for dinner for the wife and kids.
I mean, this was the way he made a living. And how desensitized
he must have become. He saw this all the time. He
presided over it. And we would be shocked at the
gruesomeness of it, but it was no big deal to this guy. He'd
become desensitized for all of this. Was he involved in the actual
nailing of the nails, hammering of the nails? I don't know, but
he told him to do it. Was he involved in the mocking
that went on? I'm not sure of that either,
but I do know this. It's pointed out that he stood against the
Lord Jesus Christ. When Christ first went to that
tree, and when he was nailed to that tree, this Roman centurion
was contrary to Christ. He was against Christ. He had
no love for Christ. He did not believe Christ. But by the time the Lord dies,
this man knows who he is. Isn't that what saving faith
is? Knowing who he is. Everything is predicated on that.
Knowing who he is. He didn't know who he was at
the beginning, but now he does. And he says, surely this man
was the son of God. And my dear friends, this is
no less a miracle than that of the thief. You know, the thief
went to the cross reviling Christ. Even while he was there, he was
reviling and spitting out his infamy with regard to the Lord
Jesus Christ, and now all of a sudden he sees his Lord. He
sees he's God. He sees he's never sinned. He
sees he's gonna come back as a mighty conquering king in his
kingdom. He knows who he is. How does
he know? Revelation. How does this man know that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God? The same way you do. God revealed
this to him. Now, he's one of the ones Christ
prayed for. Father, forgive him. He was forgiven. He was one Christ
prayed for. And you know, this man had never
seen a man die like this before. Look in verse 39 again, when
the centurion which stood over against him saw that he so cried
out. He'd never heard a cry like this.
And when he saw that he gave up the ghost, you know, he'd
never seen anybody die like this. could not come and take him until
he gave up the ghost. He's the only man to ever do
that. He's the only one who couldn't die until he gave death permission
to take him. And it's not gonna be that way
with me and you. We don't have any say in it. But he did. And
he didn't die until he gave up the ghost. The only man to ever
do that. Perhaps this man was stunned
by the silence of the Lord, or he was stunned by the majesty
of his person. He'd never seen strength like
this. Matthew's account says he was
watching Jesus, carefully observing him. Now, don't forget, this
man saw everything that took place. And he carefully observed
the Lord. And Matthew's account tells us
that after seeing all this, he feared greatly. And that's the fear of God that's
the beginning of wisdom. And Luke's account tells us he
glorified God when he made this confession. He went from being
a hardened Roman soldier who made a living crucifying people
to one who feared God and glorified him greatly. Truly, this man
was the son of God. Now, if you would have asked
this man, if he was truly saved, he might not have been able to
give a certain answer to that. If you would have asked this
man if he was one of the elect, he might have thought probably
not. If you would have asked this man if he was a Christian,
well, that word had not even come into existence yet. That
is introduced to us first in Acts chapter 11. He wouldn't
have known what you were talking about. If you ask this man if
he had been born again, he'd say, well, I don't know. If you would have asked this
man if he can see changes in his life that proves that he's
really been a recipient of grace, I would say he would say, well,
no. But if you ask this man, is this
one nailed to a cross, the son of God, he would have said, surely
this man, and this is what faith is, surely this man, faith is
not what you think about yourself, it's what you think about him,
surely this man was the son of God. And this is the son Isaiah
prophesied of in Isaiah chapter nine, verse six. Remember that
scripture? Unto us a child is born. Unto
us what? A son is given. Now that son was not born. He's eternal. He is given and
the government shall be upon his shoulders and his name shall
be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. Do you remember the story when
Nebuchadnezzar has Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego thrown
in the fiery furnace. You can read about it in Daniel
chapter three because they refused to bow to Nebuchadnezzar's image. And he had them bound and thrown
into that fiery furnace. It was so hot that the people
who threw them in were consumed by the flames. And there they're
thrown into that fiery furnace. And Nebuchadnezzar somehow is
looking within that furnace. And he says, Did we not throw
three men bound in that furnace? True Lord, three men bound. He said, lo, I see four men,
four men walking, loosed. And the fourth man, his form
is like unto the Son of God. He saw the same one. who's hanging
on this tree. I'd like you to turn to John
chapter five just for a moment. Here's the issue. Him being the
son of God. Verse 17. But Jesus answered them, my father
worketh hitherto and I work. And here's what that means. What
he does, I do. We are one and the same. What he does, I do. Therefore, the Jews sought them
more to kill him, because not only had he broken the Sabbath,
but said also that God was his father, making himself equal
with God. Now, there's only one person
who's equal with God. God. In the beginning was the
Word. The Word was with God as a distinct
person. And the Word was God. Now, the Son of God is God the
Son. Now there were two men that had
no biological father. First Adam. and the second Adam. Adam and
the Lord Jesus Christ, but there is only one who had no point
at which he began to exist. That is the only begotten Son
of God. And that term, only begotten,
is not an event of time. It's an eternal fact. irrespective
of time. He is, was, and always will be
the only begotten Son of God. The Son of Mary, the Son of Man,
is the eternal Son of God. I love it when the Lord posed
this question to the Pharisees. What think ye of Christ? What'd
they say next? Whose son is he? And they replied, well, he's
the son of David. And then the Lord said, why did
David in spirit call him Lord, saying the Lord said to my Lord,
sit thou at my right hand till thy foes are made thine. Now at the announcement of his
birth, the angel said to Mary, that holy thing, And even the
angels could not come up with the proper word. I say that reverently,
but they said, that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall
be called the Son of God. The only instance we have of
the youth of the Lord Jesus is when he was left with the doctors
of the law asking him his questions. His parents leave, they come
back and they said, we've sought thee sorrowing. And he said,
how is it that you sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about
my father's business? He wasn't talking about Joseph,
was he? God the Son, speaking of God the Father. At the beginning of his public
ministry, when he was baptized, what took place? A voice from
heaven. This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. And God the Holy Spirit testified
when he came down in the form of a dove descending upon him
to show this is the Son of God. I think of when the Lord was
transfigured, the man of transfiguration. Scripture says his face shined
like the sun. His clothes became white and
glistening. They didn't know what to do. And Peter makes what I suppose
is the most stupid statement a human being probably has ever
made. So the next time you worry about making a stupid statement,
well, you'll make them, but he made one just as bad. This is
Peter. He said, Lord, it's good for us to be here. Let us make
three tabernacles. One for you, one for Moses, and
one for Elijah. He was putting the Lord on the
same plane as these men. Now at that time, the scripture
says a bright cloud. came down and overshadowed them.
And they hit the dirt. They were scared to death. And
the voice came from the cloud. This is my beloved son. Hear ye him. And when they rose
up, scripture says they saw no man save Jesus only. The man possessed with the demons
knew who he was. He saw Jesus, the scripture says,
afar off, and ran and worshiped him, saying, what have I to do
with thee, Jesus, thou son of the most high God? I beseech thee, torment me not. He didn't think there was anything
the Lord would do but torment him, but he knew he was. And
he ran and he worshiped him when our Lord was walking on the water. There was a great storm and the
disciples were scared to death. And they see him walking on the
water and he comes and gets in the boat and all of a sudden
there's a great calm. And the storm ceases. And you
know what they said? Of the truth, this man is the
son of God. You see, he did what only God
could do. He controlled the weather. He
gave life to the dead. He brought matter into existence
in the universe that was not there before. When he fed the
5,000 with five barley loaves and two fishes, matter was brought
into existence that was not there before. He did what only God
could do. He could read men's minds. He
knew exactly what to think. He can read your mind right now.
I think about this, Lynn thinks she can read my mind, and a lot
of times she comes up with a pretty good guess. I've found it's frustrating
when somebody gets mad at you for what you're thinking. Why
do you know? But she can't really read my mind, but the Lord does.
And he reads your mind. He did what only He could do. You see, the scripture says,
with regard to Him, in Him dwelleth all, the fullness of the Godhead,
fullness of sovereignty, fullness of holiness, fullness of omnipotence,
fullness of wisdom, fullness of independence, fullness of
immutability, all that God is in Him. fullness of the Godhead in a
body. When some men tried to make him
king, they tried to make him king by force. You can read about
that in John chapter 6. He wasn't going to let anybody
make him king. He already is king. He didn't
need their affirmation and he left them at that time and the
next day he preached the message. Everybody that heard Those people
that he had fed miraculously, all of them came and when they
heard this message, they left. And went back, the scripture
says, and walked no more with him. And then he looked at the
12 and he said, will you also go away? That's a very sobering thing
that he didn't ask the people to come back. He didn't say,
let me rephrase that. He just looked at the 12 and
said, Will you also go away? And Peter said, Lord, to whom
should we go? It's not like we have options. We believe that the words that
they find to be harsh words, thou hast the words of eternal
life. And we believe and are sure that
thou art that Christ, the son of the living God. When he said, whom say men that
I the Son of Man am? Well, they came up with some
answers. Well, some say Jeremiah, Jeremiah, one of the prophets,
one of the Old Testament prophets, which they put him in some high
cotton, but in reality, it was a slam. You can't compare any
man to the Lord Jesus Christ. They were bringing him down.
So thinking they were putting him up, they were bringing him
down. But he said, whom say ye that I am? And Peter said, thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Blessed art thou,
Simon Bar-Jonah, flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you. But
my Father, which is in heaven, thou art Peter, and upon this
rock, this confession of who I am. I will build my church and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I'd like you to read
with me, if you turn to Hebrews chapter one, just for a moment,
the father's testimony with regard to the son. Verse five. For unto which of the angels,
Hebrews chapter one, verse five, for unto which of the angels
said he at any time, thou art my son. Remember, that means
he's equal with the father. You believe in God, believe also
in me. Whatever you believe concerning
God, you believe concerning me. Unto the son, Thou art my son,
this day have I begotten thee. And again, I'll be to him a father,
and he shall be to me a son. Again, when he bringeth in the
first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all the angels
of God worship him. And to the angels, he saith,
who maketh his angels, spirits, and the ministers of flame and
fire, but unto the Son, he saith, thy throne. This is the Father
speaking to the Son, thy throne. Oh, God is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows,
and thou, Lord, in the beginning, has laid the foundation of the
earth. And the heavens are the work
of thine hands. They shall perish, but thou remainest. And they all shall wax old as
doth a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and
they shall be changed. But thou art the same, and thy
years shall not fail." That is the Father speaking to the Son. I love it when The high priest
said, art thou the son of the blessed? I love his answer. I
am. I love the way, let me put it
this way. What if somebody in this room
came and fell at my feet and started kissing them? It would be offensive. It would
be evil. If I would let that take place,
you all ought to run me out of here. But when people kissed his feet,
he received their worship. Why? Because he is God the Son. Now, let me close with these
three statements. When this Roman centurion made
this confession, surely, truly, this man was the son of God. Number one, here we have the
content of saving faith. And let me make good on that
from the scriptures. You remember when Philip was
preaching to the Ethiopian eunuch? And the scripture says he began
at that same scripture from Isaiah 53 and preached unto him Jesus.
Wouldn't you have loved to have heard that message? And all of
a sudden they come up to water. And the Ethiopian eunuch says,
see, here's water. What hinders me from being baptized? I want to know. If there's a
reason why I shouldn't be baptized, let me know. And Philip said, if you believe
with all your heart, you may. And his answer, I believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Can you say that? I believe that
Jesus Christ He is the Son of God. You remember when the Lord
told that gathering demonic he'll go home and tell them the great
things God has done for thee? You know what the scripture says
he did? He went home and told them the great things Jesus had
done. He knew that Jesus Christ is
God. The Philippian jailer said, sirs,
what must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. And the scripture says he believed
in God with all his heart. Here is the content of saving
faith. Believing who he is. You see,
if you believe who he is, everything's obvious. Here's where we got
to begin. Secondly, here we have the content
of the gospel, who he is. Turn with me to Romans chapter
one. I want you to see this in the scripture. Romans chapter one, verse one,
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated
unto the gospel of God which he had a promise to for by his
prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son." There's
the gospel. It's concerning his son. You know, people say, who am
I? Quit asking silly questions like that. That's not the issue.
Who is he? That's the issue. He's God the
Son. Let's go on reading. Concerning
His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, which was made of the seed of
David, according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of
God with power, according to the spirit of holiness by the
resurrection from the dead. Now, here is the declaration
of His Sonship, Humanity, this Godhead, he's declared to be
the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead.
You see, when he was raised from the dead, he raised himself from
the dead. God raised him from the dead.
He raised himself from the dead. Why? Because he's the only one
who could satisfy God. That's what the resurrection
tells us. I'm completely satisfied with what you've done. And he's
completely satisfied with everybody he's known before, too. The Spirit
of holiness. He's the only truly holy man
to ever live. And this is the declaration of
His person. You see, every doctrine of the Scripture is only understood
in light of the Son of God. Election, chosen in Him. Redemption,
redeemed by His blood. Justification, justified by His
righteousness. Eternal life, He gives eternal
life. Preservation preserved in Christ
Jesus. He is such, there's such glory
in His person that when we, by His grace, see Him as He is,
everyone who sees Him as He is, they'll be made just like Him. God the Son. There is the content
of faith, There is the content of the gospel, and this is the
content of our preaching. 2 Corinthians 1. Verse 17, when I therefore was
thus minded, did I use lightness? Were the things that I purposed,
do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should
be yea, yea, and nay, nay, yes and no, the same thing? But as
God is true, our word toward you is not yea and nay, for the
Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you. That's the content of our preaching.
The Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you, even
by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, Do you believe that the blood
of Jesus Christ is enough to bring you into glory? Well, of
course I do. Yes, I do. But I need to accept him as my
personal savior for it to work. Now that's saying yes and no
to the same thing. That's yea and nay preaching. Do you believe
salvation is all grace? Well, of course I do. I believe
salvation is by grace. But if you don't accept that
grace offered, you won't be saved. That's yea and nay preaching.
That's all it is. Look what Paul says with regard
to the preaching of Christ. For in him was not yea and nay,
for all the promises of God in him are yea. If Christ died for you, you must
be saints. No ifs, ands, and buts. No contingency
plans. They're all yay and they're all
amen. So be it. Unto the glory of God
by us. Now can you say with the Roman
centurion, truly this man was and is eternally
the Son of God. If you can, blessed are you. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you, but the God of glory. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
excellency and the glory of thy son. How we thank you that you've
revealed to us who he is. And Lord, we ask that we might
be enabled to make this same confession with our hearts that
this Roman centurion did, knowing who he is, Lord, all of our hope
of salvation is found in who he is and what he did because
of who he is. We thank you for our glorious
Savior. In his name we pray.