Truly This Man was the Son of God
Samuel D. Dean
April 3, 1988
Easter Sunday
First Baptist Church
Clinton, TN
If you happened to have been around when Jesus was crucified, you would have had an interesting experience listening to everything people were saying. It would have been a gossiper's paradise. People love to talk, and there were a lot of things to talk about, for Jesus was at the very center of the controversy People were saying all kinds of things. Certainly, you could have heard his accusers making statements over their justification for what they had done. They had succeeded in killing Jesus. Now they were trying to rationalize what they had done. They were probably talking about many of the things that he did that were wrong. He had violated the law. He had been guilty of blasphemy over and over again. They probably cried to lessen their guilt by enumerating the things that were wrong. Pilate probably didn't talk very much at all about it. He had what I would call a disinterested avoidance of the whole issue. He wanted to avoid Christ, and he probably only made some off-the-cuff remarks, trying to put the whole issue behind him. He did not want to bring his uneasiness to the surface. The crowd... they loved to talk. They tried to mock Jesus. They were having a ball. The people who did not have a lot going on in their lives came and watched someone die for enjoyment. It was thrilling to see something unusual happening. So they gathered around the cross, and they had many things to say about Jesus. "If you are the Son of God, come down....perform another miracle for us, o man." They talked. The disciples talked in privacy. Most of them were gone when Jesus was crucified. They talked among themselves. They probably talked about how they were going to deal with their future. For, after all, they were fearful....what did this mean for their existence? Remember, these were young men whose lives were ahead of them. They talked about what does this mean? The women, who stood at the foot of the cross...they talked very little, but cried a lot. You could hear their sobs. There was one man who talked, and his one statements has been recorded for all these centuries and for all of time...the centurion, who looked and he saw Jesus die. He said, "Truly, this man was the Son of God." He didn't say very many words, but in his own callousness, he was able to sense something unique about this man. He was able to identify with his spirit, with the truth that he lived to such an extent that he would proclaim, "Truly, this man was the Son of God." And just a few days later, something would happen which would bring this statement into greater focus. The resurrection....for it was the resurrection which brought about the greater realization that Jesus was much more than a man....more than a teacher....more than an innocent lamb.....more than some conquering king...yea.....He was the Son of God!
At Easter, we talk about the resurrected life which we will have, and that is important. That is one of the main themes of Easter. But I want to submit for your consideration today that the resurrection experience meant something a little greater than that to the early Christians, for the resurrection of Jesus Christ spoke to them that Jesus was the Son of God....that there was a special relationship with God. They had seen Him walk, teach, perform miracles, do a lot of things before their very eyes, but now they had seen the great glory of God revealed to them in the life of this man. They saw that humble teacher now as being related to God in a very unique way. There was something different about Him. So, on Easter, you find those who were accusing him now being troubled and rather fearful. You find his disciples, who had been rather fearful, now becoming courageous....full of hope. You find Pilate probably wringing his hands again saying, "I thought I was through with this man! I want him off my hands!" You find the women who were sobbing, crying in the grief, suddenly now have seen the risen Lord and have been entrusted with this greatest gospel of all ages... HE IS ALIVE! It made a world of difference in all their lives, one way or the other. Oh Jesus, if he is the Son of God, does it make a difference........yes, a great difference. He makes a difference because He is the one who enables us to see above this vale of tears to behold a joyful, hopeful life beckoning us ahead. My friends, Christ enabled the disciples to see above the valley of tears, all their grief, all their sorrow.....they could see life breaking again for them.
Too often, we live negative lives. We dwell on the past. We dwell on all the things that are wrong, and some of us have even grumbled because the times have changed. Thank God you are alive to see the times change. Some of us may have even grumbled about getting dressed to go to church so early. Isn't it ironic that we would do that when we are celebrating the Lord who was crucified for us? We cannot even arise one hour earlier? Strange, isn't' it? We need to see above all the negative things in life to behold the power of God at work in life.
A few days ago, my wife flew home to visit her relatives. I picked her up at the airport and she started talking to me on the way home about all the people who have problems and burdens. She updated me on the people who were getting divorces, people who have died, people who had problems....and I listened. The conversation continued into our dinner meal. Finally, I said, "Honey, I have had about all of this I can stand! I just don't want to think anymore about all these bad things." And that's the way I am in life. I think that is the way most of us are, but sometimes we are tempted to do otherwise. We become so preoccupied with this vale of tears that some people call life, that we fail to see the breaking of a new day. We fail to see the hope that is for us in Jesus Christ....hope for an eternity. But if there is hope for an eternity, there is hope for THIS day and for tomorrow. It's not all W-A-Y out there somewhere. That hope inspires me and causes me this very day to want to build my life on something that is positive, good, and wonderful. Jesus gave that to those young men who were rather negative on Easter. They found hope.
If Jesus is the Son of God, then He is the one who enables us to see beyond the pile of petty problems plaguing us to behold the great purposes of God. Too often we view problems instead of purposes. We live lives that are full of a lot of minute things that do not really matter. I love the passage of scripture in Acts where the disciples were admonished to go into the temple and to speak all the words of this life. In preaching, you don't preach about problems...you preach about solutions. In preaching, you proclaim the good news. And so it is in life. There are enough problems to plague any man or woman, boy or girl. But the good news of Easter is that there is a purpose...a purpose that transcends all of the problems that plague us. What we need for all of the petty problems in life is an overriding purpose. We need something to give meaning to all of the problems that we have in life. The disciples were not free from problems.....they had them, and they were going to escalate. However, they had a purpose, and that purpose was the Kingdom of God, the will of God at work in their hearts and lives. Once they saw that great purpose, they were able to deal with the problems that plagued them. If Jesus is the Son of God, then He has the purpose greater than all of our problems. And if Jesus is the Son of God, He also is the one who enables us to see through all the superficiality in modern-day life, to behold the glory of God.
I remember the first time that I ever saw a color movie. If I am not mistaken, I saw it at church when they were showing a film on the resurrection of Christ. In that film, they tried to depict the glory of Christ by showing the glory surrounding the resurrection experience. Now their attempt to that was rather feeble, yet their motive was wise, for there is such glory surrounding the resurrection of Jesus Christs that even the scriptures could not convey it adequately. For if Jesus is the Son of God, then there is glory surrounding him.....the glory of God, and in the face of Jesus Christ, we behold that glory. Frequently, we have lost the sense of the glory of God. We live mundane lives and we fail to lift our eyes to behold the glory of God at work in our life. There is glory about us, for life is a creation of God....life is good and life has been redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ. And the beauty of life is all about us, and God has filled this world with His glory if we would only behold it. In Jesus Christ, we can see the glory of God breaking in on the human arena. No longer is life mundane....no longer is life full of purposelessness, but rather life is exciting because it is touched at every point by God. And because God is holy, it causes us to live with excitement, for we live in the very presence of God. Jesus was the Son of God. Surely, this man was the Son of God. What will you say about Jesus today? What will your gossip consist of? Will it be the words of the two men on Emmaus Road "Did our hearts burn within us as we walked along the road?" If Christ is the Son of God, He will warm your heart and that experience will cause you to want to gossip the gospel.
Will you pray with me?
**This picture is from Ocean Lakes......where we have lots of memories spending Fall Breaks with Mom and Dad. This is my first Easter without them. It brings new meaning about our hope of eternal life. I have peace knowing that they are on the receiving end of this resurrection and are celebrating beside Jesus on this Easter.
April 3, 1988
Easter Sunday
First Baptist Church
Clinton, TN
If you happened to have been around when Jesus was crucified, you would have had an interesting experience listening to everything people were saying. It would have been a gossiper's paradise. People love to talk, and there were a lot of things to talk about, for Jesus was at the very center of the controversy People were saying all kinds of things. Certainly, you could have heard his accusers making statements over their justification for what they had done. They had succeeded in killing Jesus. Now they were trying to rationalize what they had done. They were probably talking about many of the things that he did that were wrong. He had violated the law. He had been guilty of blasphemy over and over again. They probably cried to lessen their guilt by enumerating the things that were wrong. Pilate probably didn't talk very much at all about it. He had what I would call a disinterested avoidance of the whole issue. He wanted to avoid Christ, and he probably only made some off-the-cuff remarks, trying to put the whole issue behind him. He did not want to bring his uneasiness to the surface. The crowd... they loved to talk. They tried to mock Jesus. They were having a ball. The people who did not have a lot going on in their lives came and watched someone die for enjoyment. It was thrilling to see something unusual happening. So they gathered around the cross, and they had many things to say about Jesus. "If you are the Son of God, come down....perform another miracle for us, o man." They talked. The disciples talked in privacy. Most of them were gone when Jesus was crucified. They talked among themselves. They probably talked about how they were going to deal with their future. For, after all, they were fearful....what did this mean for their existence? Remember, these were young men whose lives were ahead of them. They talked about what does this mean? The women, who stood at the foot of the cross...they talked very little, but cried a lot. You could hear their sobs. There was one man who talked, and his one statements has been recorded for all these centuries and for all of time...the centurion, who looked and he saw Jesus die. He said, "Truly, this man was the Son of God." He didn't say very many words, but in his own callousness, he was able to sense something unique about this man. He was able to identify with his spirit, with the truth that he lived to such an extent that he would proclaim, "Truly, this man was the Son of God." And just a few days later, something would happen which would bring this statement into greater focus. The resurrection....for it was the resurrection which brought about the greater realization that Jesus was much more than a man....more than a teacher....more than an innocent lamb.....more than some conquering king...yea.....He was the Son of God!
At Easter, we talk about the resurrected life which we will have, and that is important. That is one of the main themes of Easter. But I want to submit for your consideration today that the resurrection experience meant something a little greater than that to the early Christians, for the resurrection of Jesus Christ spoke to them that Jesus was the Son of God....that there was a special relationship with God. They had seen Him walk, teach, perform miracles, do a lot of things before their very eyes, but now they had seen the great glory of God revealed to them in the life of this man. They saw that humble teacher now as being related to God in a very unique way. There was something different about Him. So, on Easter, you find those who were accusing him now being troubled and rather fearful. You find his disciples, who had been rather fearful, now becoming courageous....full of hope. You find Pilate probably wringing his hands again saying, "I thought I was through with this man! I want him off my hands!" You find the women who were sobbing, crying in the grief, suddenly now have seen the risen Lord and have been entrusted with this greatest gospel of all ages... HE IS ALIVE! It made a world of difference in all their lives, one way or the other. Oh Jesus, if he is the Son of God, does it make a difference........yes, a great difference. He makes a difference because He is the one who enables us to see above this vale of tears to behold a joyful, hopeful life beckoning us ahead. My friends, Christ enabled the disciples to see above the valley of tears, all their grief, all their sorrow.....they could see life breaking again for them.
Too often, we live negative lives. We dwell on the past. We dwell on all the things that are wrong, and some of us have even grumbled because the times have changed. Thank God you are alive to see the times change. Some of us may have even grumbled about getting dressed to go to church so early. Isn't it ironic that we would do that when we are celebrating the Lord who was crucified for us? We cannot even arise one hour earlier? Strange, isn't' it? We need to see above all the negative things in life to behold the power of God at work in life.
A few days ago, my wife flew home to visit her relatives. I picked her up at the airport and she started talking to me on the way home about all the people who have problems and burdens. She updated me on the people who were getting divorces, people who have died, people who had problems....and I listened. The conversation continued into our dinner meal. Finally, I said, "Honey, I have had about all of this I can stand! I just don't want to think anymore about all these bad things." And that's the way I am in life. I think that is the way most of us are, but sometimes we are tempted to do otherwise. We become so preoccupied with this vale of tears that some people call life, that we fail to see the breaking of a new day. We fail to see the hope that is for us in Jesus Christ....hope for an eternity. But if there is hope for an eternity, there is hope for THIS day and for tomorrow. It's not all W-A-Y out there somewhere. That hope inspires me and causes me this very day to want to build my life on something that is positive, good, and wonderful. Jesus gave that to those young men who were rather negative on Easter. They found hope.
If Jesus is the Son of God, then He is the one who enables us to see beyond the pile of petty problems plaguing us to behold the great purposes of God. Too often we view problems instead of purposes. We live lives that are full of a lot of minute things that do not really matter. I love the passage of scripture in Acts where the disciples were admonished to go into the temple and to speak all the words of this life. In preaching, you don't preach about problems...you preach about solutions. In preaching, you proclaim the good news. And so it is in life. There are enough problems to plague any man or woman, boy or girl. But the good news of Easter is that there is a purpose...a purpose that transcends all of the problems that plague us. What we need for all of the petty problems in life is an overriding purpose. We need something to give meaning to all of the problems that we have in life. The disciples were not free from problems.....they had them, and they were going to escalate. However, they had a purpose, and that purpose was the Kingdom of God, the will of God at work in their hearts and lives. Once they saw that great purpose, they were able to deal with the problems that plagued them. If Jesus is the Son of God, then He has the purpose greater than all of our problems. And if Jesus is the Son of God, He also is the one who enables us to see through all the superficiality in modern-day life, to behold the glory of God.
I remember the first time that I ever saw a color movie. If I am not mistaken, I saw it at church when they were showing a film on the resurrection of Christ. In that film, they tried to depict the glory of Christ by showing the glory surrounding the resurrection experience. Now their attempt to that was rather feeble, yet their motive was wise, for there is such glory surrounding the resurrection of Jesus Christs that even the scriptures could not convey it adequately. For if Jesus is the Son of God, then there is glory surrounding him.....the glory of God, and in the face of Jesus Christ, we behold that glory. Frequently, we have lost the sense of the glory of God. We live mundane lives and we fail to lift our eyes to behold the glory of God at work in our life. There is glory about us, for life is a creation of God....life is good and life has been redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ. And the beauty of life is all about us, and God has filled this world with His glory if we would only behold it. In Jesus Christ, we can see the glory of God breaking in on the human arena. No longer is life mundane....no longer is life full of purposelessness, but rather life is exciting because it is touched at every point by God. And because God is holy, it causes us to live with excitement, for we live in the very presence of God. Jesus was the Son of God. Surely, this man was the Son of God. What will you say about Jesus today? What will your gossip consist of? Will it be the words of the two men on Emmaus Road "Did our hearts burn within us as we walked along the road?" If Christ is the Son of God, He will warm your heart and that experience will cause you to want to gossip the gospel.
Will you pray with me?
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