“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,” Mark 15:39.

I am turning to this wonderful verse and remarkable testimony to the Saviour by this Gentile man, a soldier in one of the cruellest armies that was ever assembled by a nation! The Word of God teaches us that the character of the Roman Empire was set forth by the Lord in Daniel chapter 7. “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it [was] diverse from all the beasts that [were] before it; and it had ten horns,”  verse 7.

The cruelty of the Empire would have been chiefly manifested through its armies. Yet here was a senior officer, on duty at the execution of the Lord Jesus, speaking in this most reverential manner of Him! Please learn boys and girls:

I. THE WICKEDEST OF SINNERS CAN BE MADE TO SEE TRUTH

This man had been one of the cruel mockers and torturers of the Saviour a short time before, Matthew 27:27-35.

1. The words of Christ and the disturbance in the natural world, convinced this man. The Word of Christ is the means of conversion, 1 Pet 1:23. The natural world supports the testimony of the Bible, Psalm 19:1-4. They act as scribes and messengers of God’s wisdom, power and majesty.

2. It is to be noted that he was near the cross when this truth was revealed to him. He ‘stood over against Him’. He not only heard what the Saviour said but he saw the willingness, the submission, the patience the Lord Jesus showed amidst His sufferings. That is where all sinners MUST be brought if they are to be saved! It is there that the love of God shines brightest and clearest! “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him,” 1 John 4:9.

3. What he saw he immediately testified of. “He said”. Boys and girls, when true faith enters the heart then the mouth will declare it, Romans 10:9. The mouth reveals the faith in the heart. If the mouth is silent then the heart is empty of faith!

Notice what he says of the Saviour: “Truly this man was the Son of God”.

          (1) He was most certain. ‘Truly’.

          (2) He was most clear. ‘this man was the Son of God’.  He testified of his belief in the deity of Christ.

          (3) He was most courageous. What he said was contrary to all that Rome believed and most certainly was a defiance of the Saviour’s accusers. “The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God,” John 19:7. These things mark him as a true convert.