Before I turn you to the Word of God, I do bring to you the greetings of the Evangelical Church in Walsham-le-Willows, where I'm a member and where I preach quite regularly. We're always grateful when Pastor Hetherington comes and preaches for us at Walsham-le-Willows and at our midweek prayer meeting Thursday evenings. There are certain churches that we constantly remember in prayer and this is one of the churches that we do pray regularly for, so I bring you the greetings of the saints at Walsham-le-Willows. I turn you tonight to the gospel according to Matthew to chapter number 27 and to the verse number 36. And sitting down they watched him there. The reference, of course, is to the Roman soldiers who had just nailed him to the cross. Having nailed him to that shameful cross, they sat down and they watched him there. These soldiers, professional executors, had been commissioned to carry out the death sentence passed reluctantly by Pontius Pilate. And into their hands the governor had delivered the Savior. Then released he Barabbas into them. When he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers, 550, a cohort of a Roman legion. 550 Roman soldiers gathered to see the scene. How ironic. Barabbas was released. The name Barabbas comes from two Hebrew words, ba, and Abbas. Bar means son, Abbas, father. The name Barabbas means son of the father. Barabbas, the son of an earthly father, is released, but he who is the son of the eternal father is delivered to be crucified. And with brutal haste these Roman soldiers executed their task. They exposed the Lord Jesus Christ to the indignities of a mock coronation, robing him in scarlet, a cast-off Roman cloak, crowning him with thorns, hailing him as King of the Jews, smiting him upon the head with a reed, giving full vent to their enmity. They spat upon their creator. They mocked him. Then they led him forth to Golgotha, known as the Place of a Skull. Some commentators suggest it was named Golgotha, the Place of a Skull, because they believe that was the very site where David carried the head of Goliath and buried the head of Goliath in Jerusalem. Golgotha, the Place of a Skull. And there they nailed him mercilessly to the cross. and then having gambled for his garments, they sat down and they watched him there. By way of introduction, observe first of all, this is introduction, the circumstances. It was the religious leaders of Israel that had taken the initiative We read, for example, in chapter 26, of the religious leaders. Then assembled together the chief priests, Caiaphas and Annas, and the scribes and the elders of the people unto the palace of the high priest who was called Caiaphas, and consulted that they might take Jesus, my subtlety, and kill him. and the common people were in full accord with their religious leaders. For we read in the Gospel according to Mark that they requested that Pilate adhere to that unjust custom of releasing a prisoner to them against all the laws of justice. And when Pilate gave them the choice of Barabbas or Christ, They chose Barabbas. And when asked what to do with Christ, the people cried unanimously, let him be crucified, away with him. Those were the circumstances. The note, the scene, again by way of introduction, it was on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Jerusalem? the kingly residence of David, the royal city, the seat of Israel's kings, the city which had witnessed the magnificence of Solomon's reign, the city where the temple of Solomon had stood, the city where the Lord Jesus Christ had taught and wrought miracles. The very city which just a few days earlier he had ridden, seated upon an ass, and the multitudes then just a few days before had cried, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Now crucify him. Israel had rejected their king. and is conducted beyond the bounds of the city so that he, in the words of the Apostle Paul, was to suffer without the gate. The circumstances, the scene, the time. He was crucified on the 14th day of the Jewish month, Nisan. the first of Israel's great national feast, the Passover feast, that solemn celebration of that night when all the firstborn sons of the Hebrews were spared from the angel of death who swept through the land of Egypt. At this season of Passover, a great multitude thronged Jerusalem. It was one of those three annual occasions when every male Israelite over 20 years of age, was commanded to appear before Jehovah in the temple, Deuteronomy 16, verse 16. And so large crowds had journeyed to Jerusalem from all parts of Judea and Israel, and the 14th of Nisn was the divinely appointed day for the crucifixion. It had been fixed in eternity. Read through the gospel according to John, Time and time and time again the Lord would say, the hour is not come. But then in John 17, as he is about to enter Gethsemane, Father, the hour has come. The appointed hour, the hour appointed in eternity past has come. And we read sitting down, they watched him there. I've got three questions tonight. First question is to those Roman soldiers as they sat down and watched in there. The second question is to myself. And the third question will be very brief because that's a question to you. The first question is to the Roman soldiers as they sat down and as they watched in there, tell me Mr. Centurion, tell me, you Roman soldiers that have crucified the Lord of Glory, tell me, tell me what it was you saw when you sat down and you watched him there. What did you see? I think they saw many things that day, in those six brief hours. First, they saw the most amazing event in the history of the universe. They saw the most awe-inspiring spectacle men ever saw upon the face of the earth, and yet they saw the most tragic and yet the most glorious deed ever performed in the realm of creation. As they sat down and as they watched Him there, they saw Him who is God incarnate taken by wicked hands and slain. And yet they saw the Redeemer, voluntarily laying down his life for those who could have no claim upon his mercy whatsoever. Ah, to these Roman soldiers this was just an ordinary event, an everyday event, the execution of a criminal by crucifixion. The Jewish historian of the time, Josephus, records that some 35,000 criminals were crucified by the Roman soldiers in the Roman occupation. This was not just a one-off event, this was an everyday occurrence. Crucifying criminals, 35,000 crucified by the Roman soldiers. And at first, at least for a while, Christ appeared as no more than just another dying Jew, Yet they were witnessing an event upon which the history of the universe pivots. A second thing I think they saw, and they could not help but see it, they saw the sinlessness of Christ. They could not help that there was something about this man which was entirely different from all the other criminals they ever had executed by crucifixion. Read the account by Josephus who describes in great detail crucifixions during the first century. And those men, those criminals that were being crucified, as they were nailed to the cross, they would actually spit into the face of the Roman soldiers. They would curse them, swear at them, call down all kinds of maledictions upon those who were carrying out the death sentence. But as they crucified the Lord Jesus Christ, no cursing came from those blessed lips. There was no reviling of his enemies. no maledictions upon themselves. The very reverse. As they nail him to that cross, his lips are engaged in prayer, not in cursing. Father, forgive them. Who? The Roman soldiers. Forgive them, for they know not what they do. Caiaphas knew what was happening. Annas knew. The scribes knew, the Pharisees knew, the religious leaders knew, the common people knew, but the Roman soldiers did not. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. How amazed they must have been when they heard the blessed one making intercession for the transgressors. They saw, they heard the two malefactors crucified mock the Redeemer. The thieves also which were crucified with him cast the same in his teeth. Then they heard one of those malefactors turn to the Lord Jesus. Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And then they witnessed an unparalleled display of sovereign grace to one of the chief of sinners as the Lord turns to that repentant thief, verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. And that very day that dying thief went to paradise. Those crucified sometimes would take three, four days before they expired. When the Roman soldiers broke the legs of the two thieves, it was to hasten their death. The reason given, because the following day was a Sabbath that was not lawful according to the Jewish law, for bodies executed to hang upon the cross on the Sabbath day, that was not the reason. The real reason was the Lord had prayed, today, not tomorrow, not in today's time, today, shalt thou be with me in paradise. Oh, as they sat down, as they watched him there, the Lord Jesus Christ was unlike anyone else they had ever crucified. So they saw the most amazing event in the history of the universe. They saw the sinlessness of Christ. A third thing they saw was the most mysterious, inexplicable phenomena. They sat down, they watched him there, and for three hours they watched every agony. As a Roman soldier, their eyes were not allowed to wander over the crowds. They must fix their eyes upon those being crucified. And they saw the precious live blood drain from those wombs, but at midday, they could watch no more. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour, Luke tells us, over all the earth. Not just over Judea, the whole earth, west to east, north to south, was enshrouded in a gross darkness. At midday it suddenly became darker than midnight. This was no eclipse of the sun. There was neither moon nor stars to enlighten the darkness of that midday blackness. It was as though the sun refused to shine, the moon turned away her face in horror, the stars wept in unison when their creator was nailed to the cross. The whole of creation mourned over such a sight. Of course, we read in the Old Testament of this in the prophecy of Amos. In Amos we read of this event. Amos chapter 8 and 9 verse we read there, And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day. He was a fulfillment of the prophecy of Amos. At midday, the sun refuses to shine, the moon turns away in horror, the stars wept in unison. During those three hours, a transaction took place between the Eternal Sun and the Eternal Father, which was infinitely too sacred for human eyes to gaze upon, a mystery which no mortal mind can ever fully enter into. Then as the darkness lifts, they heard him speak, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He understood why Peter had denied him, why the disciples had forsaken him. But here is the most agonizing cry of all. Why hast thou forsaken me? He had not forsaken God, the Father. Then again, as they sat down, and as they watched him there, and as they listened to his words, they heard a shout which reminded them of a victory shout. of the Roman armies returning to Rome after a mighty victory over the enemy. Tetelestai! It is finished. Then they saw him bow his head. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. Then he yielded up the ghost. How amazing it seemed. Not so much that they had taken his life from him, but rather that he had voluntarily yielded up the ghost as they sat down and as they watched him there. But back in the temple, there is a great stirring. The ground beneath Golgotha begins to rumble and to tremble. The rocks are crying out in agony. The veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom of this four-inch thick tapestry, rent in two from the top to the bottom. And the graves were opened. Many bodies of the saints which slept arose. As they sat down, as they watched him there, they saw, they heard mysterious, supernatural miraculous things for God was presiding over the events at Calvary. For he was no ordinary sufferer. He is the creator of heaven and earth, and heaven and earth express their sorrow. The sun refused to shine. The earth and the rocks are rent asunder when their creator is nailed to the cross. Another thing they saw And I'm convinced of this. The centurion and the soldiers appointed to carry out that execution, I believe they saw that which convicted them. These brutal, callous, merciless Roman soldiers, I believe God was pleased to soften their hearts to illuminate their heathen minds, and to answer the prayer our Lord had uttered, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Verse 54, when the centurion and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, truly, this was the son of... Roman soldiers fearing? Roman soldiers feared nothing. They would face the enemy front on, no defense for the rear. A Roman soldier was not allowed to fear. They feared greatly. They're paralyzed with fear. Truly, this was the Son of God. Or as we read in other gospel narratives, truly this was a righteous man. As they sat down, as they watched him there, they saw the most amazing event in the history of the entire universe. They saw the sinlessness of the Lord Jesus Christ. They saw mysterious phenomena. They saw that which I believe convicted them. So I turn to the second question. And that's to myself. As I sit down beneath the cross of Jesus Christ and as I watch him there, what do I see? I see many things. First, I see the true character of man. Calvary, I believe, reveals man as he really is, at enmity with God. Calvary shows the heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Even when Christ was born, Herod determined to slay him. When our Lord went about doing good, those of Gadara besought him that he would depart out of their coasts. According to John chapter 15, men hated him without a cause. The men and women of Nash Mills of Hemel Hempstead hate the Lord Jesus Christ tonight. Oh, they are greatly enamored with a Christ of modern theology. the liberal theology proclaim in most established church. Oh, they like that. A God of their own imagination, a God of love, a God that will not cast a soul into hell. Oh, they like that kind of nonsense. But they hate the living God, and they hate the Christ of Scripture. They hate the one who is God manifest in the flesh. Proof of that? Listen to any television program, any radio program, any political commentator. If they can speak for more than three minutes without blaspheme in the name of Christ, they've done well. They never blaspheme Buddha, Mohammed. There's a man in my village, he's a staunch Roman Catholic. I don't think he ever goes to Mass or whatever, but he tells me he's a Roman Catholic, was always blaspheming the name of Christ as it's shown. You're blaspheming the name of my Saviour. I never hear you take the name of Mary in vain. Or the priest wouldn't like it. Do you think the Lord likes you taking the name of his eternal Son in vain? Why is it men take the name of Christ upon their lips? as a form of cursing. It is because they hate the Christ of this book. They hate him with an inveterate hatred. Light has come into the world, but men love darkness for their deeds are evil. And at Calvary, the real true character of man is fully revealed. In the treatment of the Son of God, received at the hands of wicked men, we see sin in its true colours, sin stripped of all pretense, of all disguise, sin exposed in all its hideous, hellish reality. Rebellion against God. The climax of sin, that which germinated in Eden's garden, reached its climax at Calvary. The fearful, the horrible lengths to which sin is capable of going. Yes, I see the true character of man. A second thing I see, though, as I take my stand beneath the cross of Christ, I see the true character of God. Oh, it is true, the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth forth his handiwork, but nowhere are the perfections and the glorious attributes of God more prominently displayed than they are at the cross at Calvary. For example, I see the holiness of God at Calvary, burning with intense bitterness and hatred against sin, God hates sin wherever sin is found, and he could make no exception of Christ when he saw sin, when he actually imputed sin, laid upon his sinless Son the iniquity of us all. When our sins were laid upon his Son, the Son had to bear that sin in his own body on the tree. bear the guilt of that sin and take the punishment of that sin. The undiluted wrath of God was poured out upon the Son. For God is a purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity and the Savior cries in that agony of dereliction, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? At Calvary I see the unchanging courage of a holy God. Psalm 22, thou art holy, thou art holy. A certain thing I see regarding the courage of God, I see God's inflexible justice. The pronouncement of God's holy law is the soul that sinneth it shall die. He has declared in Exodus, he will by no means clear the guilty, but oh, Mr. Preacher, can God the Father not make an exception of his son of whom he had testified, this is my son in whom I am well pleased, the one who is without spot and without blemish, can he not make an exception of his son? In no way. For though Christ was sinless by nature and by deed, yet because the sins of his people were laid upon him, the apostle Paul tells us that God spared not his own son. Think of Abraham and Isaac. Isaac was spared. He'd been laid upon the altar, bound to the altar. The knife was in Abraham's hand. Abraham, Abraham. and found a ram caught by his own horns in a thicket. Took the ram and bound his son and laid that ram upon the altar and the ram was slain instead of Isaac. Isaac was spared but Paul says God spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all. I see God's holiness. I see God's inflexible justice. I see a third thing about God. I see God's amazing grace, God's amazing love, God's amazing mercy. As Paul puts it when he writes to the Romans, God commendeth his love toward us. And that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Had the Father so pleased, he could have consigned the whole race of Adam's generation to the flames of hell, for that is where each one of us deserves to be cast. By nature, born in sin, shapen in iniquity, by nature depraved, by nature corrupt, from our birth we had no love for God. But for reasons known only to the Godhead, He determined to save a people from their sins and to redeem them to Christ, that we might be to the praise of the glory of His grace. He determined to pluck them as brands from the burning. They were unable to help themselves. They could not ever merit salvation. Ah, but the God of all grace provided an all-sufficient sacrifice for them. I see the riches of His grace wondrously displayed at Calvary, His love, His mercy and His grace. Another aspect of God's character I see at Calvary, I see God's manifold wisdom. The Word of God declares There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination. But then as I read my New Testament, and indeed my Old Testament scriptures, I read of the wisdom of God. To make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hidden, God, who created all things by Jesus Christ, to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. Oh, the wisdom of God that drew salvation's plan. Oh, the grace that brought it down to man. How can such a vile and hell-deserving sinner ever enter into the presence of God? How can one so devoid of any righteousness ever be accepted by a righteous and by a holy God? How can such a poor sinner find the currency to pay the ransom that will satisfy the justice of God? Oh, I cannot just appeal to the mercy of God? For he cannot override his justice, his truth, his integrity. Ah, but there at the cross, I see the manifold wisdom of God. As we read in the Psalm 85, mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. There at Calvary, God's justice is fully satisfied and God's mercy flows through rich torrents. As one of the Puritans puts it, mercy comes swimming to us through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, I see the character of God, his holiness, his justice, his mercy, grace, and love, his wisdom. Something else I see at Calvary, as I sit down and watch from there with the soldiers, I see myself. I see Christ hanging there as my surety, as my substitute, bearing my sin, taking my place. satisfying on my behalf every requirement of God's law, paying the full price which justice demands for my sin, clothing me in the robe of his righteousness, dressing me in the garments of salvation, so that in the words of the Apostle Paul I can say, I am crucified with Christ, who loved me and gave himself for me. What do I see? The true character of man, The true character of God, His holiness, justice, grace, mercy, love, wisdom. I see myself. What did the centurion and the soldiers see? The most amazing event in the history of the universe. The sinless perfections of the one that they crucified. They saw mysterious, supernatural, miraculous phenomena. The sun was darkened, the rocks are rent, the veil is torn apart, the earthquakes. So that leads me to the third question for you to answer. As you sit down and take your stand beneath the cross of Christ, what do you see? What do you see? Only you can answer that. C.T. Studd was a famous cricketer. in the 19th century. He played for Cambridge University, Middlesex and England. They tell me he was a prolific right-hand bowler and batsman, what we would call today an all-round cricketer. Batsman and bowler, prolific. He was born on the 6th of December, 1860. He died in the Congo in 1931. At the age of 17, he was converted to the Lord Jesus Christ. Shortly after, as a young man, he inherited from his father's estate 29,000 pounds in 1885. That is equivalent today of four and three quarter million pounds. he inherited as a young Christian man. But he had felt the call of God to the mission field of the world. He gave up his promising test career, played his last test match for England against Australia in 1883, determined to spend the rest of his life serving Christ on the remote mission fields of the world, first in China, then in India, and then at the end in Africa. Having inherited this, I use today's money terms, four and three quarter million pounds, 29,000 as it was then, he determined to give away most of that vast inheritance, and it was vast in those days. 5,000 pound he donated to the Moody Bible Institute in America. 5,000 pound he donated to George Muller's orphanage in Bristol. £5,000 he devoted to work amongst the poor in Whitechapel in London. A further £5,000 he donated to the Salvation Army, leaving £9,000 which he determined to put to one side to support his wife Priscilla. However, Priscilla reminded her husband Charles of the rich young ruler in the Gospel. Go and sell all that thou hast and give to the poor." So it was, the remaining 9,000 pound he gave every last penny of that vast inheritance away, and he and his wife Priscilla left for China. After serving the Lord in China and India, he returned briefly on furlough to England toward a number of churches Then he informed the churches that he felt the call of the Lord to go to Africa. The ministers, the pastors, the leaders of those churches that he spoke, ah, the cannibals will eat you. To which he instantly replied, ah, and the worms are going to eat you. Matter not to see he said whether he was eaten by cannibals in Africa or by worms in the soil of England. In 1831 he was stricken down with malaria in the Congo and there he lay on his deathbed. Friends from the mission station gathered around him and they read the Word of God and they were reading the Word of God to him as he passed from this life into eternity to that inheritance reserved in heaven. The man who had read the scriptures at C.T. Studd's deathbed, as he breathed his last, he leaned across and picked up C.T. Studd's Bible and opened it, and on the inside cover, he discovered these words had been penned in the handwriting of C.T. Studd. If Jesus Christ be God, and he is, and if Jesus Christ died for me, which he did, then no sacrifice is too great for me to make for him. I leave you with a question. As you sit there with the Roman soldiers and the centurion, what do you see? Amen.