Truly, this man was the Son of
God. This is the Roman centurion's
confession after what he heard and what he'd seen. Truly, certainly,
this man was the Son of God. Whenever I attempt to prepare
a message, whether it's Sunday school, Sunday morning, Sunday
night, Wednesday night, TV, radio, whatever it might be, it is very
important to me to know that I have given it all my effort
in the preparation of that message. I never want to bring a message
where I didn't give all my effort. And secondly, I want every message
to be a message where someone does not know the way of salvation,
the way of grace, when they come in here, they can at least leave
having heard the gospel. And with every message that I
bring, No doubt I have failed, but with
every message I bring, I want to be satisfied that if this
was the last message I preached, it'd be all right. And I deeply
feel that way about this message. Truly, this man was the son of
God. Now, these were the words of
the man who presided over the crucifixion of Christ. He was
the foreman at that time, giving the other Romans direction as
to what to do. Now, two things caused this man
to make this confession. Number one, revelation. That's the only way he could
know. The same thing could be said
of him that was said of 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 me. But my father, which is in heaven. If you know that
Jesus Christ is the son of God, God himself revealed that to
you. That's why you know. And that's
why this man knew. And he knew because of the things
he heard and the things he saw. He heard. those seven sayings
from the cross. Oh, what a gospel message each
of those sayings are. And the scripture points out
in verse 39, and when the centurion, which stood over against him,
saw that he so cried out. He so cried out. No man ever died like this man. He so cried out. And I think it's interesting
that Luke says in his account of this same event, surely this
man was a righteous man. Now, God, the Holy Spirit has
that recorded. This man said, surely this man
was a righteous man. But I think what's interesting
is in the original, the definite article is used. What's a definite
article? Well, if I say a Lord, or if
I say the Lord, big difference isn't there? A Lord, there can
be many Lords. As a matter of fact, there's
one place where Paul says there's God's many and Lord's many in
1 Corinthians. But when I say the Lord, there
is only one Lord. This man is the righteous man. The only righteous man to ever
live. He's confessing. the deity of
Christ, the Son of God, the humanity of Christ, the righteous man. I love the way Mark's gospel
begins, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son
of God. That's the first verse. What
a great way to open up that book. And then we have this ending
where this Roman centurion makes this confession, surely, certainly,
truly, This man was the Son of God. Now, let's not forget who
this man was, a Roman centurion, the head over 100 soldiers. He
was the foreman, as it were, over crucifixions. At this time,
crucify so many, this was his job. Any criminal against the
state, his job was to make sure they were crucified. He presided
over this. Crucify so many and get back
home in time for dinner with the wife and kids. This was his
job. He had presided over many crucifixions,
and you can imagine just how desensitized he was toward this.
I mean, he'd seen this so many times, it just didn't mean much
to him. Let's get this guy crucified.
Let's get this guy crucified. That was his job. I don't know
what participation he had in the actual physical crucifixion,
but he told them what to do. Was he involved in the mocking?
Perhaps. But I've already pointed this
out. Mark says he stood over against
him. Now that word means he was contrary
to him. He was against him. He was not for him, but something
truly miraculous takes place. A miracle of grace takes place,
and this is no less miraculous than that of the thief, and he
now knew who this man is. Just like the thief, he went
to the cross not knowing who he was. But he found out who
he was, didn't he? He's the Lord. He's God. He must be successful. He's gonna
come back as a mighty reigning king. All he has to do is remember
me and I'll be saved. He knew who he was. Isn't that
saving faith? This man now knew who Jesus Christ
was, the Son of God. He's the one, this man is one
of the ones that Christ prayed for. Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. You
know what? The Father forgave that man.
That man was a saved man. That man had the gospel revealed
to him. You know, he'd never seen a man
die like this before. And when the centurion which
stood over against him saw that he so cried out, and we know
what he cried at this time, it is finished. Oh, what blessed words. Nothing
for me to do. What about, hold on. It is finished. There's nothing for me to do. He cried as a mighty conquering
king. And the scripture says, he yielded
up the ghost. Now, death doesn't need our permission
to take us. but it needed his permission. It couldn't take him until he
yielded himself up to it. Perhaps he was stunned by a silence. You know, there's such majesty
in a silence at this time. Or perhaps he was stunned by
the majesty of his person. He'd never seen strength like
this before. Matthew's account says he was
watching Jesus, carefully observing him. Now don't forget what this
man experienced. He was there when the sun stopped
shining. Maybe people lit torches, I don't
know. But there was thick darkness. And he felt the earth quake at
that time. He felt the rocks rent. And Matthew's account says he
feared greatly, awed by the majesty of his person. The fear of God,
that's the beginning of wisdom. Luke's account said he glorified
God. in this confession. He went from
being a hardened Roman centurion who crucified people for a living
to one who feared and glorified God. I want to be one of those
people, don't you? I want to be one of those people
who fears Him. and glorifies him that fear,
which is the beginning of wisdom. Truly this man was the son of
God. This man knew who Jesus of Nazareth
was. Now, if you have asked him, if
he was saved, he probably would have not understood what you're
asking him. If you would have asked him if
he were a Christian, he probably couldn't give a positive answer
to that. If you would have asked him if he was one of the elect,
he probably would have said probably not. If you would have asked him if
he had been born again, he would scratch his head wondering what
you were saying. If you asked him, are you growing? What? Are you growing in grace? He couldn't give an answer to
that. But if you asked him who this man is, surely this man
is the son of God. Now this is the son Isaiah prophesied
of. In Isaiah chapter nine, verse
six, unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. This is the eternal son of God. He was born as a child, but he
didn't have a point of existence when he began to be. He's the
eternal son of God. 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. This is the son of God that Nebuchadnezzar
saw in the fiery furnace in Daniel chapter three. I love that passage
of scripture. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
are bound and thrown into a furnace that was so hot that the people
who threw them in were burned up. And Nebuchadnezzar looks
within that furnace and he said, Did we not throw three men bound? Lo, I see four men loose, and
the form of the fourth is likened to the Son of God. You see, when he's revealed,
you know who he is. You recognize him. And you recognize
that which is not him as well, if you know him. Here's the issue. John chapter
five, you can turn here if you want, I'm just gonna read it.
Verse 17, but Jesus answered them, my father worketh hitherto
and I work. Notice my father, my father worketh
hitherto. And I work, whatever he does,
I do. Therefore the Jews sought the
Lord to kill him because not only had he broken the Sabbath,
but he said also that God was his father making himself equal
with God. There's only one person who's
equal with God, God. No one else can be compared to
him. There were two men that had no
biological father, the first Adam and the second Adam. Neither one had a physical biological
father, but there's only one who had no point of which he
began to exist. the only begotten Son of God. And understand this, that begetting
spoken of is not an event of time that took place, it's an
eternal fact. He is the eternal, only begotten
and well-beloved Son of God, the eternal I Am. Now, listen to this scripture.
In the beginning, John 1, what? In the beginning, that's before
creation. That's hard to get hold of, isn't
it? A time when there was no time,
eternity. In the beginning was the word. He was always there. And the
Word was with God as a distinct person from God. And the Word
was God. God, the Son. I love it when the Lord says, what
think ye of Christ? What's he say next? Whose son
is he? They answered, the son of David.
Well, the Lord replied, if he's David's son, why did David in
spirit call him Lord, saying the Lord said to my Lord, sit
thou at my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool. At the announcement of his birth,
the angel said to Mary that holy thing. It's almost like even the inspired angels couldn't
come up with the right word to call him. That holy thing which
shall be born of you shall be called the son of God. The only record we have of his
youth, he identifies himself as the son. I must be about my
father's business. I'm his. son at the beginning
of his public ministry at his baptism do you remember the voice
that came down from heaven god speaking this is my beloved son
in whom i am well pleased oh the father's pleasure at his
son i think of poor old peter And I'm not saying in this in
any way judgmentally of him, but he said maybe the most stupid
thing ever said on the man of transfiguration. When he saw
the Lord transformed in his glory and his deity and shining and
his deity burst through his humanity, and poor old Peter has to say
something. He said, Lord, it's good for us to be here. Let's
make three tabernacles, three tabernacles, one for you, one
for Moses and one for Elijah. Putting the Lord on the same
plane as those created men. Well, at that time, the scripture
says a bright cloud overshadowed them and they hit the dirt. And
the voice from heaven said, this is my beloved son. Hear ye him. And they didn't say Moses or
Elijah anymore. Did they? They saw no man say
Jesus only, you know, that man possessed with a demon knew who
he was. And this is somebody got saved.
that man possessed with the demon when he saw Jesus afar off the
scripture says he came and ran and fell at his feet and worshiped
him saying to Jesus thou son of the most high God torment
I adjure thee I beg thee torment me not he didn't know the Lord
was gonna save him What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou
son of... We have no connection. He had no idea the Lord was gonna
save him. But that's exactly what the Lord did. But you know,
anybody that knows he's the son of God like that, that's somebody
God's revealed himself to. When he walked on the water,
coming to the disciples during that great storm, and they cried
out in fear. And when he came into the boat,
And the storm ceased and there was a great calm. They said,
truly, this man is the son of God. You see, he did only what
God could do. He controlled the weather. I
mean, can you imagine somebody that had the power to control
the weather? I mean, that can't be duplicated by a mere man,
but he could. Peace, be still. And there was
a great calm. He brought matter into existence
that had not been in the universe before, when he created new bread. Only God can do that. He could read men's minds. Lynn
thinks she can read my mind, and 9% of the time she can, but
not really. I mean, nobody can read somebody's
mind. He could. He knew exactly whatever man
was thinking. He raised the dead. Only God
can raise the dead. Colossians 2.9 says, in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. You know, when they refused,
they tried to make him king once. Tried to force him into office.
Tried to vote him into office. He refused it. He left. He wasn't
interested in their affirmation. And at that time, he brought
a message that everybody listening got so angry, they left. Every
one of them. Every one of them. I can imagine
maybe some of the things the disciples were thinking, do you
have to say it like that? Listen, we have some, we're having
some interest here. And he didn't ask those people
to come back either. When they left, he watched them
leave. And he said to the 12, will you
also go away? And Peter, here's something glorious
Peter said. I know Peter said silly things,
but he said the greatest things that ever been said. He said,
Lord, to whom shall we go? It's not like we have an option
or we have some other place to go. Thou hast the words of eternal
life and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the
son of the living God. You'll remember when the Lord
said, whom say men that I am? And well, they said things, some
people would have thought they were putting him in good company.
Jeremiah, Elijah, one of the prophets, those things were derogatory
to the Lord Jesus Christ. To call him any man like that
is a derogatory, it's slam against him. And it was all contradictory
too. Then he said to Peter, but whom
say ye that I am? Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. That's when the Lord said, blessed
art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, flesh and blood hath not revealed this
unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven. Thou art Peter,
and upon this rock, this confession of who I am, I'll build my church. Now hear his father's testimony.
I want to read this in Hebrews chapter one. You can turn with
me there if you want to. But in Hebrews chapter one, beginning
verse eight, this is his father's testimony. But unto the son,
he saith, this is God the father speaking, thy throne, oh God,
is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou has 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. 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's what the father testifies
of the son. Hear the son's testimony. He
was talking to that man that he had given sight to. And he
said, does thou believe on the Son of God? And he said, who
is he, Lord, that I might believe? And he said, thou hast both seen
him, and it is he that speaketh to thee. Are you the son of the
blessed? I am. The Holy Spirit bore testimony
to him when he descended from heaven like a dove. and landed
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. I think of the way he received
worship. What if somebody came up and
started kissing my feet and I didn't stop them? What would you think
of me? You would think, why, you confounded hypocrite. You're
the worst person alive. You shouldn't let anybody do
that to you. But when they did it to the Lord, he received their
worship. You know why? because of who
He is. He said, you believe in God? You believe God's holy? Believe
me. You believe God's all-powerful?
Believe me. You believe God is absolutely
sovereign? Believe me. You believe God is immutable?
Believe me. Whatever you believe concerning
God, that's revealed in his word. You believe the same thing concerning
me. Now, let me wrap this up. This
Roman centurion confessed at this time, the content of saving
faith, the content of the gospel and the content of preaching. First, he confessed the content
of saving faith. Now let me make that good from
the word of God. Philip has preached the gospel to the Ethiopian eunuch. He hears what's being said. Don't
you love that passage of scripture where he began that same scripture
and preached Jesus unto him? Oh, I would love to heard that
message. And they come up to water and
the Ethiopian eunuch said, see, here's water. What does hinder
me from being baptized? And he replied, if you believe
with all your heart, thou mayest. And what did he say? I believe
that Jesus Christ is the son of God. When the Lord told the Gadarene
Demonic to go home and tell him and his friends and family, the
great things that God had done. The scripture says he went and
told them the great things Jesus had done. In Acts chapter 16, 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. Now, if you believe that Jesus
Christ is the son of God, it's impossible for you to even think
of him not being successful in what he did. It can't be done. If you know who he is, this,
this settles everything, who he is determines everything else.
If he's almighty, sovereign, immortal, eternal God, everything
becomes obvious. It's who he is. That is the issue. Who is Jesus Christ? These are written that you might
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and believing
you might have life through his name. This is the content of
saving faith. Secondly, this is the content
of the gospel. you that in scripture. Turn with
me to Romans 1. I'd like you to look at this with me. Romans
1. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which
he had promised to for by his prophets in the holy scriptures
concerning his son. The gospel of God is the gospel
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. There's two things that
demonstrated his being the son of God. The only holy man to
ever live, he was raised from the dead. That's the content
of the gospel and everything is predicated on who he is. You
find out who he is, everything's settled. You know, I think of
election, chosen in him. WHAT IS ELECTION WITHOUT JESUS
CHRIST? IT'S JUST A HARSH, YOU DON'T, CAN'T AVOID CHOSEN HIM. JUSTIFIED BY HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS.
REDEEMED BY HIS BLOOD. GIVEN ETERNAL LIFE BY HIM. HE
SAID, I GIVE UNTO MY SHEEP ETERNAL LIFE. PRESERVED IN CHRIST JESUS. CALLED BY HIS GRACE. You know, His person is so glorious
that when we shall see Him as He is, we'll be made just like
Him. That's how glorious He is, to
see Him as He is. You'll be turned just like Him. So this is the content of faith. Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
This is the content of the gospel, and this is the content of our
preaching. Now, let me show you that. Turn
to 2 Corinthians 1. Verse 18. But as God is true, our word,
our word toward you was not yay and nay. Well, that, uh, demonstrates
most preaching yes and no to the same thing. Is Jesus Christ
enough to save you off? Of course he is, but not unless
I let him save me. Well, that's yay nay. That's
all it is. It's foolishness. Now look what he says in verse
19 for the son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among
you by us. There's our message. The son
of God who was preached among you by us, even by me and Sylvanus
and Timotheus was not yay and nay, but in him was yay. It's all yay. It's all yes. For all the promises of God in
him are yay. And amen. And to the glory of
God by us. Now, this is the content of our
preaching. And I, this is not cliche. We preach
a person, the son of God. Who he is, what he accomplished
and where he is right now and what he's doing there. Can you say with the Roman centurion, truly this man is the son of God. If you can, blessed are you. God revealed this to you. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
revelation of thy dear son. Lord, we ask in his name that
you will be pleased to make him known to everybody in this room for Christ's
sake, that we all might say with this Roman centurion, truly this
man was and is the son of God in Christ's name we pray. Amen.