This evening we're going to go to that sacred spot that we've been singing about. I want to invite you to take God's Word and turn to Mark's Gospel, Chapter 15. Mark's Gospel, Chapter 15. Child of God, that should thrill your heart, those words. We're turning to the Word of God. We're turning to God's Word tonight. This Word that is forever settled in heaven. We're going to read Mark's account of the death of Jesus Christ. We're turning to the 33rd verse of the chapter. Mark chapter 15, the verse number 33. When the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Iolai, Iolai, lama sabath kanai, which is being interpreted, my God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he called, calleth Elias. And one ran and filled a sponge full of vinegar, and put it in a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone let us see whether Elias will come to take him down. And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost, The veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. When the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he had so cried out and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly, this man was the Son of God. There were also women looking on afar off, among whom was Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the less, and Joses, and Salome, who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him and ministered unto him, and many other women which came up with him unto Jerusalem. And now, when the evening was come, Because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, an honorable counselor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came and went in boldly on to Pilate and craved the body of Jesus. Pilate marveled, if he were already dead, and calling on to him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead. When he knew of it, off the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. And he brought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in the sepulchre, which was shewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre. And Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of Joses, beheld where he was laid. Amen. We'll end our reading at the close of the chapter. Let's keep the Word before us open. Let's seek the Lord in a word of prayer together. Our loving Father, we come and stand beneath the shadow of the cross. We say in the words of the hymn writer, O God, help me to understand it. Help me to take it in, what it meant for Thee, the Holy One, to bear away my sin. Help us, dear Father, to preach Christ and Him crucified. He is the only Savior, the only Savior for sinners. And Lord, we pray that the sinner tonight may see Him. Lift the veil. Oh God, we think of this veil that was rent from top to bottom. Lord, take the veil from off the sinner's eyes. Lord, shine gospel light in. May there be, oh Father, a winning of their hearts to Christ. Answer prayer, glorified, fill me with thy spirit, with all the physical weakness of this body, common with fresh power, and with, O God, a divine anointing that only can come from God. Lord, answer prayer, sanctify the vessel, make me one that is usable in thine hand. where I offer prayer through our Savior's precious holy name. Amen, amen. This week, our nation celebrated and commemorated the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings in France. It would become a pivotal event that led Britain and her allies securing victory over Nazi Germany in the Second World War. As a nation, we owe a tremendous debt to our armed forces. Armed forces who put their lives in harm's way so that we might enjoy the freedoms that we do, freedoms that too often we take for granted. Consisting of the Royal Navy, the British Army, the Royal Air Force, the United Kingdom's Armed Services represents one of the premier military forces in the world. It has a personnel of 190,750, making her the 25th largest military body in the world. In recent days, the British Armed Forces, once the envy of other nations, saw her numbers decline. Regiments merged or disbanded, equipment decommissioned and replaced in a streamlining exercise to make her fit for 21st century combat. Our armed forces have not been the only armed forces that have gone through that cycle, the cycle of establishment, expanse, and then sadly decline. Take, for example, the army of the Roman Empire, the foundations of which this imperial army was laid by Rome's first emperor, Augustus, who reigned between the years of 30 BC to 14 AD. By the end of Augustus' reign, the imperial army consisted of a quarter of a million men. However, by the time we reach the 5th century, that once mighty army bore little resemblance to the legendary fighting force that dominated the classical world. By the time the barbarians ransacked Rome in 410 AD, and again in 455 AD, the empire was beyond hope and the Roman army was rapidly in decline. I mention the above because tonight in our reading we met a member of Rome's imperial army, a soldier who served in its ranks within its heyday. His name is not disclosed to us, simply his rank. He is a Roman centurion, a professional officer within the Roman army who commanded a group of about a hundred legionnaires. Tonight I want to take that man, want to preach a gospel message for a soldier, a gospel message for a soldier. I want to focus our remarks upon this centurion and all the events that he witnessed at the cross of Jesus Christ. There are a number of points that I want us to consider this evening in this gospel message. The first point I want us to consider tonight about this man is his stationing at the cross. His stationing at the cross. Now Mark informs us in the verse number 54, No, the verse number 39, sorry, Mark chapter 15, verse number 39. We read here, 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. I think it's a Mark's gospel that we read something similar over there in Matthew's gospel. Now when the centurion and they that were with him watching Jesus saw the earthquake And those that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God. Now in Mark's Gospel, chapter 15, this verse 39 is the first mention of this particular Roman officer. And yet I believe that it was this man who was given the responsibility of taking the Lord Jesus Christ from the place of condemnation, Pilate's palace, to the place of crucifixion. hill called Calvary. Now how he came to be in Jerusalem at this time we're not told. It's strange because his barracks would have been in the city of Caesarea and yet today finds this centurion in the city of Jerusalem. Security was most likely heightened within the nation, the ancient city of Jerusalem, because the Feast of Passover was taking place. That would have involved a large influx of residents of Israel into the capital city for this annual festivity three times a year the Jew would go up to Jerusalem and there worship God and bring offerings and sacrifices and so you can imagine the security forces they would have been on edge that day actually the entire week they would have been the security would have been heightened the security forces would have been on high alert because they would have been afraid that this influx of people into the capital city, these rebels from Galilee and from elsewhere, they would have felt that this would have been the perfect time for an uprising to occur among the native Israelites in an attempt to overthrow and oust the foreign power that was ruling over them, the Romans. And so anyone who had any allegiance to Rome was on edge because the perfect storm just seemed to be brewing at this particular time. Added to that was the arrest, the trial, and the sentencing of the Lord Jesus Christ, the supposed king of the Jews. The city's population had been stirred up into a frenzy already by the Jewish religious leadership seeking Jesus Christ of Nazareth's crucifixion, which the Roman governor Pontius Pilate consents to. The Son of God is taken by the Roman soldiers through the streets of that particular city or through one of the northern gates and to the place of execution. It would be there that His hands would be kneeled to the cross. The cross would be lifted high and dropped in to its prepared socket. I believe overseeing all of those particular proceedings was this centurion who's found at the foot of the cross. This centurion who has been stationed at the cross. Now some would have called that a coincidence. Others, an accident. Some, a twist of fate. Others, happenstance. Others, simply chance. But I am convinced that a sovereign God had all of this planned and purposed for this particular man. God's providence had led to this Roman soldier being stationed at the foot of the cross, where he would witness many things on this most momentous day. It's as if God gives this man a front row seat to give him an unimpeded view to redemption's drama that is about to be enacted on the stage of Golgotha's hillside. being a witness of the work of Christ that day, that man is going to acknowledge Jesus Christ to be the Son of God. And it is all because a sovereign God stationed Him at the foot of the cross the day that Jesus Christ was crucified for sin. You may have felt like this centurion felt that day, You may feel tonight that it's simply a coincidence, an accident, happenstance, chance that you're found in this meeting house this evening. Maybe it was simply a telephone call from a loved one, a text message just to invite you along to the house of God. Or maybe you are visiting family members and friends. And they suggested, why not come to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ? Maybe you're just here to fulfill a promise that you made to this preacher or some other Christian that you would come to a service sometime and hear the minister preach the gospel. But really your presence here tonight is nothing more, at least in your mind, than a random event of life. But I am of a different persuasion because I believe and a sovereign goal. I believe in a God of providence. I believe in a God who engineers all of life's circumstances. I believe in a God who directs our paths. I believe in a God who orders our steps. I believe in one who is able to turn the heart of the king. I believe in a God who is sovereign in all of his ways. You see, Proverbs 16 verse 9 tells me this. man's heart diviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps. And whether you want to believe it or not, God has directed your steps into this house tonight. He's brought you either up the Hilton's Town Road or he's brought you down the Hilton's Town Road. He's brought you from Ballymena, Ahawkel, Cullabake, Portlanone, the surrounding district here in this particular region of Northern Ireland in County Antrim. It is not chance that you're here. It is not a mistake that you're here. It is not an accident that you're here. God has brought you providentially to this house to confront you with the crucified Savior. And you're going to have to make a choice about him tonight. You're going to have to come to a place of decision concerning the one who's on the tree. You're going to have to make a choice about what you're going to do with your sin, whether you're going to hold on to it and suffer the eternal consequences of it, or whether you're going to relinquish it and venture your soul on the Lord Jesus Christ, God in His providence. has so arranged your week, so arranged your day, that you're found in the house of God. And I pray, as others have been praying, as God brings you to the foot of the cross, and as you see and hear all that Jesus Christ did for you, as you're found stationed there, that tonight you'll leave your sin, you'll receive him as your Lord and Savior. For this man, it was simply just another day, but God has so ordered it that he's found close to the Christ of God. And so we find his stationing at the cross. The second point for us to consider about this Roman centurion is the sights and the sounds that he witnessed at the cross. The sights and the sounds that he witnessed at the cross. Many they were. Many were the sights and the sounds that this burly soldier witnessed the day that Jesus Christ was crucified for sin. Unique sights, unique sounds. that they and he would have heard. Can I say in the first place that he was a witness to the cruelty and the indifference of his colleagues. He was a witness to the cruelty and the indifference of his colleagues. By the time the Son of God reaches the place of appointed execution, his visage or his appearance In the words of Isaiah 52 verse 14, was so marred more than any man, and is far more than the sons of men. Don't forget, by the time he reaches the place called Calvary, he has already been battered and bruised by the fists of those men who made up the Jewish Sanhedrin, with the exception, I believe, of Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. Sixty-eight men battered the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Added to their cruelty was that which was meted out when he reaches what was known as the Judgment Hall. And there he is unceremonially disrobed of his own garments. He is draped in purple and then crowned with a crown of thorns. That crown is driven into his head by a roll with blood flowing from every and each point of contact. between thorn and brow. He is then scourged by Pilate. The Jews, they showed mercy. Forty stripes save one, but no such mercy with the Roman authorities. They would whip a man until he fainted. And there he's tied to the stake, whipped. His back is now like a ploughed field. blood and gore flows down his precious, precious side. He's then taken through the cobbled streets of that ancient city. Such was the weakness that comes over his humanity. The Lord Jesus Christ at one point of that journey falls under the full weight of the old rugged cross. You can only but imagine what that fall would have done and how it would have added to his already physical injuries. And then he reaches the cross. He reaches the place where nails are going to be driven into his hands and his feet. Ruthlessly, callously, no mercy, these men just simply impale him to the tree like an animal would be impaled to some kind of sake. That cross is raised to be dropped low, every bone now out of joint, yet not one broken in answer to prophetic scripture. Those men, all they did that day, for them it was just another day at the office for them. They had witnessed many a crucifixion. They had grown accustomed to this kind of treatment on criminals. The Savior's crucifixion wasn't the first crucifixion that they'd been at, and it certainly wasn't going to be the last. As a result, they had become desensitized to the suffering that was inflicted upon the one who suffered crucifixion. And thereby, we simply read this record from one of the Gospels. Sitting down, they watched Him there. Sitting down, they watched Him there. These soldiers then proceed, think of it, as Christ is suffering, those soldiers proceed to roll the dice of the gambler. They roll the dice, there at the foot of the cross, there they gamble for the garments, the seamless robe, the outer garments. Mark tells us that these cruel men parted his garments casting lots upon them what every man should take. They had no interest in Christ. They thought nothing of Him. They thought nothing of why He was dying, the claims that He made. No, they're interested in what they can get out of Him, what they can get out of Christ. I tell you, that gambling, it shows me the complete indifference these men had for the Son of God and the work that He was doing for sinners. cruelty and indifference of this man's colleagues. And maybe tonight you are aghast. Maybe tonight you're amazed at the indifference of these men and all that they did on the blessed Son of God. And yet, sinner, I want to ask you, what about your indifference? What about your indifference? What about your apathy when it comes to the Son of God and the gospel? You hear what Christ has done for sinners, what he has done to secure eternal salvation for you, but what do you do? As you hear such things, I tell you what you do. You look around as the preacher's preaching. You start to eat your meals, try to distract yourself, flick your way through the hymn book, allow something to distract you, fiddle away at something in your handbag. Some of you would even fall asleep. falling asleep as Christ is preached, as the cross is presented? O sinner, where's your indifference? Where's your indifference? You try to drown out the voice of the preacher, and then there are those, and you do listen. You listen to the message. You listen how the cross is painted to you in vivid language. And yet the sufferings of the Savior, to them all you are indifferent. It means nothing to you as you pass by the cross. It means nothing to you that one has been found of suitable standing with God to take away your sins by the pain of it, by his death on Calvary's cross. I am convinced that out of all the sins that any person can commit, indifference to the gospel is the most dangerous, maybe the most damning, to be indifferent to it all. Sinner, do you not realize tonight As you sit here, while you're being careless, and while you're being indifferent about your soul, do you not realize that time is advancing? Do you not realize, sinner, that your body is decaying? Sinner, do you not realize that your faculties are wasting away? Do you not realize that sin is conquering you? Do you not, as you sit here careless and indifferent, do you not realize that death is coming, that the judgment is coming, that hell is coming, that eternity lies before you? Sinner, arise from your indifference. Arise from your sleep of death. You're going to die without Christ. You're going to die and go to hell if you sit as you are in your sin. Sinner, don't be indifferent like these men. And so he witnessed the cruelty and the indifference of his colleagues. The second thing that this centurion witnessed that day was the mockery of Christ's countrymen. Note the record there in the verse 29 and the verse 30 of the chapter we've been reading, Mark 15, 29 and 30, and they that pass by reeled on him. wagging their heads and saying, ah, thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself and come down from the cross. Their actions, their words, evidence, the mockery of these countrymen, they reeled on him. They spoke reproachfully of him. They blasphemed him, that's what it is, the very word, and then they wag their heads. It's a sign of utter contempt. It's a sign of insult. They wipe their heads, and then they beckon to Him, come down from the cross, save Thyself from the cross. They mock Him and all that He is doing and enduring for sinners. Being a witness to that mockery, this centurion must have been impressed. He must have been impressed at the restraint the Savior showed in the face of their tongues. He answers them, not a word. What restraint? From the God of glory, the creator, the maker of all things, the one who could have spoken and legions of angels could have came and wiped out all around the cross that showed this mockery and contempt for the Savior. And yet, the sheep before the shears remains silent. Silent. The blasphemer. the mocker. I tell you, sinner, you find your company among them, don't you? You find your company among people like this. You're quite happy to be in the company of the blasphemer, of the mocker of Jesus Christ. You find welcome company among the grouping of people who mock and taunt and jeer at the gospel and the Son of God. Many a time you spoke reproachfully of him, have you not? You're happy to blaspheme and take his name. you're happy to take that precious name and use it as an oath and a curse. And here you are tonight unconcerned about the utter contempt that you have for the Son of God. May God do such a radical, such a transformational work within that soul of yours that your contempt for Christ would be replaced with love for Christ. Because if such does not occur, I speak to you, the mocker, As such does not occur, you, the mocker, will become the mocked of God. Proverbs 1, 26 and 27, I also will laugh at your calamity. God's the speaker. I will mock when your fear comes. when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you, God says, I'll mock the mocker." Maybe you work beside a Christian, and they're mocked at work. And as you look at them and their response to such mockery, inwardly, you're impressed at how they suffer for Jesus Christ. And well, you know that you could never do that in your present state. Speaking to our brother, as I said, Mr. Shields, he was telling me a little bit about his testimony. He told me about the night that he went to the pub There was a young man outside the public house with a little bundle of gospel tracts. He took a gospel tract and put it into his pocket, and all his friends around him laughed and mocked the young man, and he added his own voice to it. But he told me this, that whenever he went into that public house, he had nothing but utmost respect for that young man. He said to himself in his own heart, he never said to his friends, But in his own heart, he said, I could never be the man that that young man is. I could never be as bold for Jesus Christ as that young man is. He wasn't impressed with his friends who mocked, but he was impressed with the man who took the mockery and yet remained silent. That impressed his mind. I asked him, did he ever know who that young man was? He said he didn't. That young man, he probably stood there weeks after weeks being the object of shame and mockery. And maybe to this day he doesn't even know that just him being there made such an impact on a young man's life that is now saved by God's grace and going about here, there, and yonder preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, sinner, I tell you you're impressed by the Christian. You'll not admit it. I know you won't. But you understand the shame and the mockery and the scorn that they receive from school friends, from neighbors, from those in the community. And you think within your soul, what a man. What a woman. I tell you, it is only because of the grace of God Christ in us, the hope of glory. And there he witnesses the mockery of Christ's countrymen. But there's a third thing. This centurion was a witness to the venomous contempt of Christ's enemies, because added to the voices of his countrymen were the voices of the chief priests and the scribes, the Savior's arch enemies. Verse 31 and verse 32, likewise, also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, he saved others, himself he cannot save. Let Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him. Their claim, that they would believe on him if he descended from the cross, was disingenuous to say the least. They had no intention of believing on the blessed Son of God, because ever since he stepped on to the public stage and commenced his public ministry, the Lord Jesus Christ was their object, and the object of their venomous assaults. And their harassment did not even end when he hung in naked shame upon the tree. And yet the centurion would have noted that whenever the Savior was reviled by these men, he reviled not again when he suffered, but he threatened not. The Son of God's composure in the face of such contempt, I believe, would have left a lasting impression upon that soldier's mind. Today the religious world still continues to show contempt for Christ. A contempt that shows itself in many ways. One of the ways in which it does, the religious world has formulated and presented other ways of salvation apart from Jesus Christ. That evidence is their contempt for the blessed Son of God. And maybe you're in this house tonight you've latched on to one of those so-called other ways of salvation. Ways that, by the way, are no ways of salvation at all. And by your trusting in those ways, shows and evidences your contempt for the person and work of Jesus Christ. You're trying to go to heaven your way when God says, I am the way. the truth and the life. No man cometh on to the Father but by me. But you plan to go your own way, and by such you show contempt for the Son of God. Now you would say, Preacher, I certainly would not want to be charged with such contempt. But I tell you, if you're trusting in anything or anyone else apart from Jesus Christ for salvation, you are contemptuous. against your God, and you show contempt for the person and work of Jesus Christ. May grace triumph in your soul tonight. A fourth thing that this centurion was a witness to was the forsaking of God the Father. From the depths of the darkness that shrouded the cross, a solitary voice arose that signaled God the Father had forsaken God the Son. Eolai, Eolai, lemma sabathkanai. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? That cry would have rang in the ears of that centurion. God, who is of pure eyes to behold iniquity, cannot at this moment look upon the darling of his bosom. He cannot gaze upon his only beloved Son as the deluge of our sin sweeps in upon his soul. Thus, he must forsake the Son. And yet in that forsaking of the Father of the Son, by the Father of the Son, there comes a solid comfort, and it is this comfort. Because he was forsaken, I shall never be forsaken. Because he went into the depths alone, I'll never have to be alone. because he was forsaken. I shall never be forsaken. What a blessing. What a blessing to know Christ. But for you who know him not, you who still live on in your sin, eternally forsaken you shall be. When God launches you, into the blackness and darkness of hell. There is one final thing that this Roman soldier, and there are many, it is not exhaustive, but he would have been a witness to the devotion of Christ's followers. Mark tells us here in the verse number 40 that there were also women looking on afar off, looking on afar off, among whom was Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James the less, and of Joses and Salome. That group of women would have caught the eye of this centurion. He who was loyal to a living Caesar must have surely marveled at the devotion and the loyalty that these women had to a dying king. His loyalty lay with a living Caesar. Theirs lay with a dying king. I'm sure he was bamboozled, puzzled, at a loss at why they wanted to identify themselves with such a pathetic, and I use it reverently, such a pathetic individual. He who claimed to be the king. Look at him now, the mockery of men. the scourge of the world, the sin offering, the sacrifice he's making, the song of the drunkard. Look at him, what a pathetic sight he is. What is it about him that they want to identify with such a one? There must be something about him. He must have thought that. There must be something about him, something extraordinary, something that I cannot presently see. They're standing devoted and loyal to a criminal of the state. He must have been impressed at their devotion. And I say to you, a non-Christian, are you not struck? Are you not amazed at the devotion and the loyalty of those in your family circle when it comes to the person and the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ? Does it not astound you that there are family members and friends of yours who want to identify with a man that they've never met in person? Does it not astound you? And do not find yourself wondering, what is it about Jesus Christ that makes people so fanatical, so obsessed about him? What is it about him? I'll tell you what the cause of these things are. It is what that one has done. It is what he is doing. and what He is going to do for them that causes them to be so devoted and so loyal and so true to the Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you that if God was to save your soul tonight in this house, and if He was to deliver and He was to rescue you from hell, You too would become devoted and loyal to Christ as that loved one or friend of yours is. You would then appreciate who this man really is. He is my Savior. He is my surety. He is my substitute. He is my guarantor of heaven. He is my friend, my redeemer, my prophet, my priest, and my king. He is my everything. He is my all. He is my everything, both great and small, because he gave his life for me. He made everything new. He is my everything now. How about you? Being a witness to all of these sights and sounds that made the death of this man different from any other death he had been a witness to, this unnamed centurion comes to a settled conclusion about the one on the center cross. What is that conclusion? That brings me to consider quickly the statement he made at the cross. His stationing at the cross, the sights and the sounds he witnessed at the cross, the statement he made at the cross. That statement is found in the verse 39. This is what he said about the man in the middle. Truly this man, was the Son of God. A sight of Christ made this Roman soldier declare that Jesus was the Son of God. Now Caesar claimed to be God. He claimed to be the manifestation of God. But this man, his allegiance is now to the one on the center cross. No, he said, Caesar, your claim to be God or a God is a false claim. But truly, this man was the Son of God. Now, to the Bible or to the casual Bible reader, that statement to you may not appear to be very significant. But if you place that statement alongside the words of 1 John 4, verse 15, then you'll begin to see how significant this statement really is. 1 John 4, verse number 15. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. Whosoever shall confess Jesus as the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. What did the centurion say about Jesus? Truly this man is the Son of God. Therefore, I believe that this man dwelt in God, and God now dwelt in him. He could not say this in and of himself. Something happens. This can only be said by the one who dwells in God and who is indwelt by God. In other words, it's a statement that only a Christian, a follower for Christ, can make. This Roman soldier became the second known convert of the Savior that day. You know, the first was a dying thief. But this man, I believe, he becomes the second convert, the known convert. of Jesus Christ the day that he died on the cross, because he publicly confesses Jesus Christ as 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 salvation, and with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. as you consider the Son of God as we close. What is your assessment of Him tonight? Maybe you simply see Him as a good man. You may see Him as a religious leader, a miracle worker, an example worthy of following. Now He's all these things, but He's much more than that. Because as I read the record of the Son of God, In God's Word I find that He is the Son of Man, unequaled among men in wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. I read that He is the expressed image of God. I read that He is the first begotten of the Father. He is the co-eternal, co-equal, consubstantial with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. I read He is the way, the truth, and the life. I read that He is the only Savior of sinners. It is because He is the Son of God, sinner, that He can deal with your sin to the satisfaction of God and make you ready for heaven. Now, is that not a prize worth having? Is that not a prize worth possessing? Well, such can become yours when you repent of your sin and believe the gospel. Will you not do that tonight? Will you not cry to God these words, God, be merciful to me, the sinner? If you do, he'll save you and he'll welcome you in to the family. Listen, if God could save a hardened soldier like the one we have been considering tonight, can he not save the likes of you? Of course he can. Of course he can. So then why not put him to the test? Why not put God to the test and say to him, God, you said that if I came to thee, you would in no wise cast me out. God, I'm putting you to the test. Here I am, a sinner. I'm coming to Christ. Take me in. Receive me. Make me your child. And you will find when you put God to the test that he'll not be found wanting. You'll find that he's able to save you to the uttermost as you come on to God by Jesus Christ. This man was saved. This man identified himself with the Son of God. He is the Son of God. Oh, may you come to Christ. May you be saved. And may God so work in your soul that you're able to say, He is my Savior, He is my God, and He is my Lord. May God bless the word to our hearts. Let's bow our heads in prayer. O soul, are you wearied and troubled? No light in the darkness, you see. There's life for a look at the Savior. There's life at this moment for thee. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Now, sinner, Providence has stationed you in this house tonight, and it's invitation time. Will you come to Christ? Sinner, will you come to Christ? Will you cry to Him for mercy? Do you need help in that? Well, I'm here to help as far as I can. I cannot save, but I can try and help. You need to speak at the door. And you take the hand of this preacher and say, preacher, I need to speak with you tonight. God has brought me to the cross. And I've understood a little of what Jesus Christ has done for me. And I don't want to be found among those who mocked and criticized and ridiculed the Savior. I'm coming on to the side of Christ. Tonight I'm switching allegiance. This man's going to be my God. He's going to be my Savior. O sinner, come. Come to Christ and be saved. If I can help you, then speak at the door. Our loving Father, we close this meeting with grateful hearts. We thank you for help given. We thank you for thy Word bringing us to the cross again. It is my glory. It is the glory of every believer. God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of Jesus Christ. Thank thee for the day that at the cross, the cross where I first saw the light, the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight and now I'm happy every day, every day, because my sins are forgiven. Lord, speak to hearts. Think of those that have maybe just come in, And really they've just thought, well, it's just another gospel meeting, but God has done something as this meeting has progressed. The heart's soft, it's tender. God's been speaking in. The voice of man, yes, has been heard, but there's been a still small voice. Oh, God, use that voice. Bring, draw, draw the sinner to Christ. Accept the Father, draw them. Oh, may there be a drawing, a magnetism to Christ. Oh, let us tread the courts carefully. Let us leave this house prayerfully. May sinners who are in the valley of decision, may they decide for Christ tonight. We offer prayer, and through the Savior's holy and precious name, amen and amen.