The Centurion’s Confession

it was my privilege to be with you lastnight and uh this morning and uh thismorning we spoke about the story of Johnthe Baptist and his execution at thehands ofHerod and we realized that uh whenpeople are sent out on Mission by Godit's not a one-way trip to popularityand Applause and popular claim um ratherif we are willing to accept the call byGod to be his ambassadors in FallenWorld we must reckon that thepossibility of what happens to John theBaptist may happen to us as well andthat's part of what it means to followJesus and some people God allows to livelong healthy glorious lives and somepeople their lives are cut short by menof violence uh what matters is not howwe die but whether we live for JesusChrist and whether when we die we havethe promise of eternal life or not andso uh this for our second service todayI'm going to talk about the centurion'sconfession it's a story of the Centurionat the foot of the cross uh we're goingto be looking at that one verse in a bitmore detail today um if you are notfamiliar this is our AFM magazine wehave some out in the fo you there I'dencourage you to pick that up and takeit home and um if nothing else just readread through it and start praying forthe missionaries that are in therebecause mission is a story of answeredprayer when people are praying God movesin Mighty ways and when you are facingdiscouragement knowing there's somebodypraying for you gives you wind in yoursales and so start praying formissionaries um pray for our AFMmissionaries pray for your ownmissionaries from this congregationyou're going to multiple mission tripsign his hand to the next year or so umpray for those people and um we we'llsee God at work when we unite in prayerand if you're wondering about aparticular missionary um I have at thefront here Enrique and Georg Padia theyserving in Georgia the Republic ofGeorgia not not the states of Georgiaand um so if you want to know more abouttheir Ministry want to get the magazinefor 6 months want to receive theirnewsletter we want to be a supporter andwe do need support for this ministry umplease pick up one of these from themthey're from the pades at the front hereor in the foyer on the way out and uhyou may you may work and live in Mentonebut when you go to sleep at night thatyou are you have an employee working foryou and for the kingdom of God in theheart of the Middle East there so um bea 24-hour Soldier for Jesus Christ buttoday we're going to look at the storyof another Soldier the story of the uhthe Centurion at the foot of the crossand uh before we begin let's bow ourheads and ask for the blessing of theHoly Spirit heavenlyfather father we we're so grateful thatwe can gather heretoday Father there are no secret policeat thedoors there's no Bandits out theretrying to close usdown but father we know that Satan is aroaring lion seeking whom he may devourand father we know that Satan has yourSaints in hiscrosshairs and Lord we're coming todayfrom a wide variety ofhomes well some of those homes arefilled with peace and some are filledwith AngryWords some are filled with understandingand some are filled withconflict Lord I'm asking that todaywhatever home we've come from we'll stepinto those courts of Praise we'll have aglimpse of who Jesus iswhat he is doing for us and hear thegood news again though he appeared thefirst time to deal with sin he willappear a second time to save those whoare eagerly waiting forhim so Lord I pray that you'll speakthrough me I pray you speak for me wegive this Worship Hour into your handsin the name of Jesus we ask amen know itissaid that preaching changes lives Iheard a sermon when I was 13 years old Iwas at a camp meeting on the northeastcoastal town of scabra in the UnitedKingdom and there was a preacher fromJamaica he was a revivalist and he waspreaching about Hosea and G and God'slove for Wayward Israel and every timeHosea go GMA ran away from Hosea Godsaid to him go and get your wayward wifeand bring her back because I still loveher and I realized when I heard thatsermon that God has a love for Waywardhearts and it doesn't matter how farthat heart has strayed from the kingdomof God God still has a love for thatWayward heart and so um I gave my lifelife to God on that day I answered thealtar call I came down to the front ofthe church and I would say it was thebest decision I ever made in my life itwas the best decision the other gooddecision was choosing a wife whosemother-in-law my mother whose motherlived in Moscow which means mymother-in-law lives a long way from mebut umanyway it is said that preaching changeslives preaching does change lives andtoday we're going to reflect on thestory of that Centurion in the gospel ofMark we're going to understandin a bit more depth why the gospel issuch a radical document why the gospelsuch a radical message why the gospelchallenges all the powers the systems ofpower this world has on offer whenDaniel had his dream in Daniel chapter 2when Daniel was asked by KingNebuchadnezzar to describe the visionand the interpretation before Danieldescribed the head of gold and the armsof silver and thighs of brass Danielsaid in your vision you saw this statuehe said and the appearance of it wasterrify in and in that little phrase theappearance of that statue was terrifyingDaniel summarized that throughout humanhistory there are always those who seekto oppress to impose cruelty to imposesuffering on innocent human beings andit is only at the foot of the statuewhere we are now waiting the coming ofJesus that there is a promise of akingdom where the lion shall the lionshall lion shall lie down with a lamband the little child shall lead themwhere every tear will be wiped away butat the moment we're living through thoseEarthly Kingdoms in the appearance of itis terrifying to men and women of goodconscience and goodfaith so our journey today looks likethis oh there's my contact informationthere um I did create a new YouTubechannel about four weeks ago justbecause deep fakes are coming out and Iwant to make sure if there's a deep fakeof me as probably there will be one dayum you can go to my original Channel andif it's not on that channel don't assumethat it's for real so it's just @ ConradVine on YouTube and I loaded it up abouta month ago I've already had one strikeagainst me from YouTube so um I knowthat they're kind of keeping their eyeson me these days you might say but thisis our journey today we're going to setthe context they going say the gospelbegins we're going to have comparisonsbetween Caesar and Christ we're look atthe centurion's confession andapplication for Modern Man for us todayso this is the journey we're going to goon today and uh we are focusing on whatthat Centurion said at the foot of thecross but first of all um let'srecognize that throughout this gospel infact throughout all the Gospelsmany people say many things about whoJesus is and most of them have anincomplete understanding of what theymean so for instance in in Mark 1 verseone as we're going to come to in a fewminutes it says that Jesus is the son ofGod but at that stage of the Gospelnobody really knew what that meant interms of the spiritual identity of Jesusin Mark chap 1: 11 at his baptism Godthe father says this is my son theBeloved so God the father says thatJesus is his son but nobody seems tounderstand what God the father is sayingat the baptism of Jesus then in Mark3:11 and 5:7 the demons they give thecorrect title to Jesus they call him theSon of God but they don't have a corrector full understanding what it means toconfess Jesus as the Son of God at hisTransfiguration God the father says ofthe son he says this is my son theBeloved or my beloved Son and once againeven though God the Father understandsit and Jesus understands it and PeterJames and John who are watching it stilldon't understand what it means for Jesusto be the Divine Son of God and in Mark8 and: 27 Jesus asks the 12 he says whodo men say that I am and Peter says wellmaybe you're Elijah maybe you're one ofthe prophets maybe you're John theBaptist come back from the dead and butJesus says but who do you say that I amand Peter says you are theMessiah but Peter still doesn't quitegetit but we find perhaps the most profoundconfession of faith in Jesus in thisentire gospel at the foot of a crossit's not from a disciple it's not fromMary Mother of Jesus or MaryMagdalene it's not from any of thetheologians of the JewishSanhedrin perhaps the most complete andsuccinct explanation of who Jesus iscomes from a RomanCenturion a killer a professional killerwho's just crucifiedJesus he's just crucified Jesus and yethe has perhaps the most profoundexpression of Faith found in this wholegospel so let's set the context here Iwant you to imagine this morning thatwe're not sitting in Mentone in 20124but we're going to go back in time to ad65 and we're not sitting in Californiawe're sitting in the city of Rome and weare a congregation we are a house churchwe are made up of Jews and Gentileswe're made up of young and old male andfemale literate and um illiterateemployed and unemployed includes in ourmidst our Beggars and those who give toBeggars we live in the capital city ofthe greatest empire ever known to man upuntil that time but not everything iswell within our nation and within ourcity because even though we are sittinghere in Rome here this morning we haveheard rumors of wars from a far awayfrom the land known as Palestine We HaveHeard on the grap Vine that there aremen called sikari they're called sikaribecause they have these little curveddaggers and they walk up behind thecollaborators with the Romans in thecrowd and they knife them under the ribsand so they're known as sikari okay andthey are the zealots who terrorizinganybody who is collaborating with theEmpire of Rome murder and violence arerampant within Palestine social tensionswe hear are at Breaking Point the poorare suffering from incredibleexploitation many poor people in inIsrael are selling their children intoslavery to pay off theirdebts in fact so common was the problemof selling your children into slaveryand remortgaging of properties so thatyou could pay your taxes that when thezealots captured jerus M for the firsttime they went into the temple and thefirst thing they burnt were thefinancialrecords they destroyed the economicrecords so that nobody knew who owedwhat to who nobody knew who was theslave of who nobody knew who owned whatland everything got burnt because thethe economic system was oppressing thepoor of Israel in those days they'veheard in Rome that the rich have nomercy that the courts are corruptedwe've heard rumors any day there isgoing to be Rebellion against Rome andjust in case we know that Rome haspositioned a large armony in Syria justto the North of Israel of three Legionsjust in case there is a rebellion andwhen the Rebellion comes as we all thinkit will be there will be a lot ofBloodshed and we think Jerusalem isgoing to bedestroyed it was actually destroyed andover a million people perished whenJerusalem was destroyed inad7 they sold so many Jewish people atslaves they sold them in batches of 30in the slave markets ofCairo andAlexandria here in though here though inRome things not that much better becausemany people worship the emperor butthere's a group of people called Jewsand they have a faith called Judaism andJudaism is very unpopular with our Romanauthorities as are those of the way thatis the followers of Jesus Christ in factone of the most recent Emperors Claudiushe even expelled all the Jews from Romebecause of their disputes about one whois called theChrist just a few years ago half of ourcity of Rome was burnt to the groundjust like that fire outsidemany of the poorest districts of thecity of Rome were completely wiped outand some of our brothers and sisterslost their homes also in that fire rumorhas it that the emperor Nero set thefire deliberately why because he wantedto make room for a bigger Palace and asindeed he did build a massive Palace inthe area that was destroyed by the firebut the emperor Nero doesn't want toaccept responsibility like anypolitician today and so he blamed theChristians they are the ones that did ithe's mad at the Christians and so now heis crucifiedand casting into oil and burning aliveand throwing before lions and wild dogsany to do any today who profess to be aChristian and so today on this sabbathin Rome we are not meeting in Mentowe're in the home of one of thewealthier Christians of Rome and we hopethere are no police spies in the roomwe're certainly afraid of banging at thedoor it may be the police come to arrestUs in fact some of our ChristianBrethren are so afraid of the RO of theRoman secret police that they'reworshiping in the underground tombs ofRome known as the catacombs and they'reworship among the rotting bodies of thedead because they know that the Romanspies the Roman soldiers won't go intothe underground tombs to find thoseChristians they don't like the bodiesand they don't like the smell so yes thepolice are hunting for Christians likeus everybody's now required to worshipthe emperor and to say that Caesar isLord and they are executing anyChristian who professes faith in JesusChrist or they say that all you have todo if you're arrested they take you infront of the judge and the judge willgive you an altar and on the altarthere's a statue of the emperorhis bust his his head and his shouldersand all you have to do is put someincense in it and say kaerus that meansCaesar is Lord and you'll be setfree but Christians say yesus curiosJesus isLord and on those two words your entirefuturehangs kaak curios or Caesar or Jesuscurios so why we here today on thissabbath day why are we gathered in thislarge home in Rome well because today isa special day it's exciting day we'vereceived a letter from a guy called JohnMark well who exactly was this John Markhe was a companion of an apostle calledPaul um on his missionary travels andjust before pizza was executed here inRome by in here in Rome by Nero just afew years ago petza passed on his fulleyewitness account of the life of Jesusto this young man called John Mark andso today was Matthew is an eyewitnessaccounts of Jesus and John is aneyewitness accounts of Jesus Markwritten by Mark is the eyewitnessaccount of the leader of the Apostles aman called Peter and today we're goingto hear Peter's eyewitness account we'regoing to hear today why Peter waswilling to be crucified upside downrather than bring dishonor upon his Lordand Savior and so we settled down it's ahot day here in Rome as it is here inMento we greet one another some of usmaybe close our eyes it's been a longweek and the Story begins ver chapterone and verse one and these are the wordthe first words of this gospel andimmediately our eyes Jer jerk awake andthis is what it says it says thebeginning of the good news of JesusChrist the son of God and you may notthink of it in 2024 as a radicalstatement but if you're sitting in Romein ad 65 with the Roman authoritieshunting the followers of Jesus even tohear this phrase is treason andSedition this is a radical statementthat says there is another ruler in thisworld other than the emperor on thethrone that Romans have to obey andpledge allegiance to the emperor of Romebut Christians are talking about anotherruler and the question is who who do youobey who is the king of your life it isthe Emperor in Rome or is it This ManCalled Jesus of Nazareth so we're fullyawake now the story of Jesus is about tobe read and as the story is read webegin to understand why the Romanauthorities want to Stamp OutChristianity and so the Story beginsRoman Mark chapter 1 and verse one thebeginning of the good news of JesusChrist the son of God well um when youwrite emails do you have a standard wayof writingemails Ido when I was in Adra I used to I usedto say dear so and so greetings fromwherever it was dambe let's say intajikstan and I had an agreement with mycolleagues that if I started a letterthat said uh dear so and so you know I'mwriting about this then they know thatsomething's wrong if I said dear so andso greetings from wherever it was andthey knew that everything was okay itwas like a code signal okay when I us totravel on the roads of Afghanistan uhthese these drunk teenage boys withAK-47s they're hiring marijuana or crackcocaine or there was Mar heroin backthere they they couldn't read or writebut they they would they would shoot atyou and take things from you and so whatI discovered was um how do I figure outwhether they're literate or not so Iwould produce a way Bill and I print theUN heading on it but I'd put the stampat the top left of the document becausenormally when you write a do doent youstamp it at the bottomright and I'd give them the documentupside down with the stamp at the bottomright and they would receive thedocument upside down and because thestamp was at the bottom right theypretend to read it even though thedocument was upside down then I'd knowoh these guys are literate they don'tknow what they're talking about okayit's a simple test to check whetherdrunk soldiers can read or not next timeyou face a drunk Soldier it's a helpfulHilt tohave but the story says this thebeginning of the good news of JesusChrist the son of God now Luke in hisgospel has a standard introduction tothe historicist historians introductionto the Gospel of Jesus Christ but Markis different he begins his his word hisgospel with one word it meansbeginning John 1 also begins in thebeginning was the word and the Word waswith God and the Word was God the Bookof Genesis 1 verse1 starts with the wordbeginning what Mark is saying to hislisten listeners there in Rome what he'ssaying to us today is that the story ofJesus is as significant for Humanity asis the story of creation itself whybecause in Jesus God is making a newcreation he's promising he will make usinto a new creation the introduction ofJesus is no less momentous than thecreation of the world itself for in thestory of Jesus Christ God is promisingto make All Things New in your lifetoday the story says it's the beginningof the good news now the word good newsis Evangelion we get the word Evangelfrom that from there we have the wordevangelism and this word has a longhistory in in in ancient Greek andsitting here in Rome we know that manyof us have have studied say Homer'sOdyssey and we know that the word aelionwas used there repeatedly as it means areward for good news but by the time ofthe first centur ad as we're sittinghere in Rome we now know that the wordEvangelion is always almost exclusive il used when it's referring to theemperor himself when the emperor arrivesin town the Heralds announce the arrivalof the emperor this is good news andwhen the emperor wins a battle theHeralds announce in the streets of Romethis is good news Evangelion and whenthe emperor comes to the throne and whenthe emperor has a birthday is announcedthroughout the Empire the good news ofthe emperor of Rome that this issomething to do with him something ishappening to him today but to listenersin Rome listening to this first versehere this is startling because they areused to only hearing good news aboutCaesar and now Mark is presenting thegood news about another king A ManCalled Jesus Christ so this isn't thegood news about tiberias or Julius orAugustus or Nero or Caligula those earlyRoman emperors this is the good newsabout a man who is not on the throne ofRome and Mark says uh this is good newsabout somebody else you haven't heardabout him yet but if good news is onlyused for the ruler of the world known asCaesar then what does it mean aboutJesus if the word good news is usedabout himhim both G Caesar and Je both Caesar andJews Jesus were hailed as saviors bothwere worshiped as God In the Flesh thearrival of both was celebrated as goodnews yet there was a profound differencein how this word is used here and howthe Romans use it and what is thatbecause in the gospels the word goodnews is always asingular and whenever the Romans used itit was always in theplural what does that mean yousay it means me that when when whenreferring to a Caesar it meant that thiswas good tidings among other goodnews but the good news of Jesus Christis a singular it means that it is thegood news of God in Jesus Christ besideswhich there is no other good news thegospel is the only news intown Mark is drawing this passage fromIsaiah 52:7 how beautiful upon themountains are the Feats of the messengerwho announces peace who brings good newswho announces salvation who says to Zionyour god reigns now Caesar claims toreign inRome and Mark is suggesting no no caesarno longer Reigns in Rome god reigns inRome because he reigns in yourhearts and as citizens of the kingdom ofGod the one who is the ruler of yourlife is not the president of yourcountry or the prime minister of yourcountry or the Emperor of your countryit is Jesus Christ and so theannouncement the the Ral of Jesus Christis setting up a direct confrontationwith all the Earthly powers that existedfrom um from geneses all the way toRevelation it's a challenge to theauthorities of thisworld this passage Isaiah 61 Mark isdrawing upon this in verses 2 and threesays the spirit of the Lord God is uponme because the Lord has anointed me hesent me to bring good news to theoppressed to bind up the Brokenheartedto Proclaim Liberty to the captives andrelas Le and release to the prisonersand Jesus quotes this passage when heannounced his ministry in Luke chapter 4we call it the Nazareth Manifesto but inthis passage Isaiah tells of a time whenpeace is going to break out on planetEarth when good news and release fromoppression will be showered upon God'speople a new dawn has appeared theAdvent of Jesus means that there is atime for repentance and faith and thecontent of the good news according toMark 1:1 is not some abstract umtheological idea it is the person ofJesus Jesus Christ himself the true Sonof God the good news is not just aboutJesus Christ it is Jesus Christ himselfwho is both the Christ and the Son ofGod now as we go through this gospel andwe won't go through it all today as wego through this this gospelsystematically we see that as far asMark is concerned under the inspirationof the holy spirit all Earthly rulersall Earthly Gods all celebrities allemployers all internet influencers theydidn't have them back in Rome but theyimagine they had influencers back thenall person with influence in our livesmust give way before the arrival andclaims of Jesus ofNazareth it's arejection of the powers of thisworld there is another kingdom and it'sthe kingdom of God and gathered here inRome today Mark is challenging us tolive not by the values of the ways ofthis world not by the values of the Paxbritanica or the Pax Americana we arechallenged to live by the principles ofthe kingdom of of the Messiah JesusChrist as it is written in the prophetIsaiah says Mark behold I'm sending mymessenger ahead of you who will prepareyour way the voice of one crying out inthe wilderness prepare the way of theLord make his paths straight In thispassage here Mark is is merging threeOld Testament passages he's mergingExodus 23:20 which refers to a Divinemessenger of God who would lead God'speople he's referring to Malachi 3:1referring to an Elijah figure who was tocome and announce the arrival of theMessiah in the kingdom of God that wouldbe John the Baptist Isaiah 40:3 which inJewish thinking announced not only thearrival of the Messiah but theappearance of God himself so the gospelis therefore the appearance of Godhimself in the person of Jesus ofNazareth it is not an afterthought ofGod as if his earlier plans for Humanityhave gone aray no God Jesus stands incontinuity and in fulfillment of theentire Old Testament he is not only thefulfiller of the law and the prophetsbut without the Old Testament the personand Ministry of Jesus of Nazareth willmake no sense to us as we listen here inRome that is why it's important for usto know ourscriptures to know ourscriptures so let's look at some carcompcomparisons between the Cults of theRoman emperors and the worship of JesusChrist because this document as welisten to it here in Rome it's anintensely political document it's notjust a theological document there Markis setting Jesus up as a directChallenger to the authority of the RomanEmperor and the question is who are yougoing toserve who are you going to serve youhave to choose you this day who you willserve the first comparison between thecult of the Roman Emperor and theworship of Jesus is found in the what wecall Omens now back in Rome Omens werebelieved to signify the accession thethe the death of an emperor beforeJulius Caesar died a small bird bearingthe spring of Laurel died in theentrance to the Senate building whenAugustus the first Roman Emperor wasabout to die an eagle was said to haveflown over his head while at a publicceremony in Rome and then left the citywalls and Owl was believed to have flownover Herod agrippa's mother before Herodwas born then it appeared again on themorning of the day in which he died soum Birds appearing were were were linkedwith momentous events in the lives ofthe Emperors and when Jesus was baptizedguess what happened and just as he wascoming up out of the water he saw theheavens torn apart and the spiritdescending like a what like a dove uponhim so we're listening in Rome we knowthat Julius Caesar has come and G hascome and gone tiberias has come and goneAugustus has come and gone and each ofthese Roman Emperor's lives theappearance of birds comes at crucialmoments in their life so there'ssomething about Jesus Christ then welook at um Mark 8:22 and 26 we call itthe healing touch now because theEmperors were divine believed to bedivine it was believed that their touchwould bring healing we read of theemperor Vespasian and Josephus and Iquote a man of the people who was blindand another who who was lame came toVespasian as he sat on the tribunalbegging for the help for their disorderswhich the God carapus had promised in adream for the god declared thatVespasian that is the Emperor wouldrestore the eyes if he would spit uponthem and give strength to the leg if hewould Dain to touch the heel Vespasianwas prevailed upon by his friends andtried both things in public before alarge crowd and with with great successnow that's the Emperor of Vespasian hewas the emperor just after thatJerusalem was destroyed from ad70onwards but it was believed in the Romanworship of the Emperors that if theemperor touched you or if he spat uponyou and then touched you it brought youhealing and so Mark tells a story aboutJesus so they came to beeda some peoplebrought a blind man to him and beggedhim to what touch him is what theempress did to bring healing it saysJesus Took the blind man by the hand himout to the Village when he put saliva onhis eyes and laid laid his hands on himhe asked him can you see anything theman looked up and said I can see peoplebut they looked like trees walking thenJesus laid his hands on his eyes againand he looked intently and his sight wasrestored and he saw everything clearlyand so here you have a comparison theemperor claimed to heal by the physicaltouch or by spitting upon you thenrubbing something in your face Jesusdoes exactly the same in thisgospel then you find theappearance of the Advent of the emperorthe anticipated arrival of an emperor inRome was referred to as his parasa orhis Advent it's a word used throughoutthe New Testament to refer to the comingof Jesus Christ when Claudius and Nerowere crowned the Emperors just for thisthis uh gospel is written coins wereminted which proclaimed the first Adventof the king the Advent of New Emperorwas believed to usher in a new age theage to come that the Romans believedthat there was a mythical golden age inthe past like the statue of Babylon ofDaniel chapter 2 and they believed thatevery Emperor was going to take Humanityback to the the the Golden Era ofEarth's history Emperors would bringabout a new age because they were belito have a direct connection withheaven and this passage ofJesus this teaching of Jesus says thisbut in those days after that SufferingThe sun will be darken the moon will notgive its light and the Stars will befalling fromHeaven and the powers in the heavenswill be shaken then they will see theson of man coming clouds with greatpower and Glory it's the Advent of theson of man then he will send out theangels and gather his elect from theFour Winds from the ends of the Earth tothe ends of heaven so the Roman EMP theRomans in as we Roman audience here webelieve there are Omens of birdsassociated with Empress we believe thatthe empress can heal by physical touchwe believe that there is going to be anadvent of the emperor all of thesethings are shown in this gospel to applyto Jesus Christ as wellthen there weretoasts beginning from the EmperorAugustus onward toasts were to be pouredout to every banquet public and privatein honor of the emperor we read in theRomans historians quote the governmentordered all people not only in publicbut also in private Banquets to poorLibations and that is a drink offeringand make toasts to se make toasts to sesorry make toasts toCaesar and what did Jesus do in theLord's Supperhe commanded us to eat the bread anddrink of that grape juice while theywere eating he took a loaf of bread andafter blessing it he broke it gave it tothem and said this is my body then hetook a cup and after giving thanks hegave it to them and all of them drankfrom it he said to them this is my bloodof the Covenant which is poured out formany truly I tell you I will never drinkagain of the fruit of the vine untilthat day when I drink it new in theKingdom of Heaven Jesus in in 1Corinthians 11 the Apostle Paul reportsthat we had to do these things inremembrance of Christ until he comesagain so whereas the Emperors Augustuscommanded people to issue toasts todrink grape juice or wine in honor ofthe emperor Jesus commands his followersto drink that wine at the Lord's Supperin honor of the coming savior so youhave to choose who you're going to drinkthe you're going to make a toast to thenyou have the phenomenon of I called ithere postmortem deification that'ssounds a it's a long phrase isn't it tobe seat at the right side ofglory after his death every Emperor waswas believed to be enrolled among thegods when Julius Caesar died hissuccessor held games in Rome in thehonor of Julia Caesar and during thosegames the historians record that a Cometappeared for seven nights appeared overRome and people believed it was the soulof the Divine Julius Caesar journeyingto the home of the Gods when Augustusdied himself he was cremated in Rome andmany said as the smoke ascented from thefuneral P people allegedly saw the formof Augustus moving in the in Smoke upinto the heavens abovein ad55 just before this gospel waswritten the emperor Claudius put out acoin showing him sitting at the righthand of Augustus in Heaven abovereferring to himself as a god from Godthe emperor hadrien had a statue made ofhimself standing at the right hand ofZeus the senior God in in the Greekpantheon of gods and Caligula theemperor just before Nero here told hiscourt that he dreamt that quote he stoodin Heaven Beside the Throne of Jupiterso all of these Roman emperors in thefirst century are claiming that theemperor has has upon death has ascendedinto heaven and his seats at the righthand of the chief of the Romangods and when Jesus speaks to the RO tothe Sanhedrin at his at histrial he says to the chief priest hesays the the chief priest asked him areyou the Messiah the Son of the blessedone and Jesus said I am and that was hisdeath sentence he was claiming Divinityin that moment I I am so what God saidto Moses at the burning bus and you willsee the son of man seated at the righthand of the power and coming with theclouds of heaven and we're sitting inRome remember not in Menton Californiawe are familiar with the fact that theRoman emperors are these Divine beingswho are going to be seated in glory inHeaven above at the right hand of themost important god of the Roman Pantheonguy known as Jupiter or Zeus and nowJesus is saying I'm going to be seatedat the right hand of power and I'mcoming in the Clouds Of Heaven so onceagain we see that Jesus the wor worshipof Jesus is a direct rebuke and threatto the worship of Caesar then popularAcclaim when an emperor ascended to theImperial Throne he was dressed in apurple robe he was given a scepter ofauthority and a crown of leaves we'veall seen the emperor being um enthronedin Rome in our lifetimes and even herein Menton if you watch the coronation ofKing Charles III he received a robe hereceived a crown and he received ascepter and he received an orb and thethe imagery doesn't change over thecenturies each of those things has hashas significance and meaning and whenJesus was was portrayed in the gospelsthe RO now it's no longer normally theRoman soldiers they dress the emperor inthe Roman in the purple robe and theyAcclaim him as Caesar and in the trialof Jesus it is Roman soldiers who arenot dressing Caesar in a purple robe butthey're dressing Jesus in a purple robelike something's going on here it saysthe soldiers led him to the Courtyard ofthe palace that is the governor'sheadquarters and they called togetherthe whole cohort it's about 600 men theyclothed him in a what purple cloak andafter twisting some Thorns into a crownthey put it on him they began salutinghim hail King of the Jews they struckhis head with a reed spat upon Him kneltdown in homage to him and after mockinghim they stripped him of the purplecloak and put on his his own clothes onhim then they led him out to crucify himand then the last thing here was therewere appearances at thetomb because whenever those Romanemperors died there were repeatedreports of the appearance of ghostlyfigures either of the emperor himself orof his closest friends at the Tomb ofthe Dead Emperor or the the appearancesof Those whom he had executed Caligulain par particular was an evil emperorjust for KIRO Nero he was kind of aMadman actually he killed multitudes ofinnocent Romans and we read that quotethe caretakers of the gardens weredisturbed by the ghosts ghostlyappearances by Garden tombs became partand parcel of the Imperial cult theworship of the EMP emper and when Jesuswas buried read in Mark 16 when thosewomen entered the tomb they saw a youngman dressed in a white robe sitting onthe right side and they were alarmed wehave a figure dressed in white in agarden tomb making an announcement it'sjust as we find in the Romancult andthen the last comparison with The Cultof theEmperors that claim is the son of GodJulius Caesar was officially recognizedas quote the Manifest God and Universalsavior of human life and quote the ruleof Augustus the first of the Emperorsmaybe the greatest was referred toSimply as quote the Mastery of Caesarthe son of God end quote he was calledemperor Caesar God and Lord or moresimply in the documents as Caesar OurGod augustus's Mastery over nature wasreferred to as the emperor Caesar Son ofGod the god Augustus the overseer ofevery Land and Sea you kind of get thepoint don't you Caligula an emperor afew Emperors later was simply called anew God Tiberius the emperor when Jesuswas born in Bethlehem was called theemperor Tiberius Caesar Augustus Son ofGod and Nero the emperor at the timethat we're reading this gospel here inRome was was referred to as quote thegood god of the inhabited world thebeginning and existance of all thingsNero Claudius and cesia the Savior andLord of the inhabited world end quotethat the emperor at the time we'rereading this gospel in Rome is referredto as Lord and Savior and Son ofGod and we know this because we'recitizens inRome and as we go through this gospel wefind that everything that's the that theEmperors of Rome say about themselvesMark is saying about this man Jesus ofNazareth and we know that the Emperorswill wipe out any who stand against themand if you are disloyal to the Empire ifyou disloyal to the emperor you aregoing to be executed so this Gospel ofMark is a radical document it's sayingto those Christians in Rome it doesn'tmatter what the political system is inthe country where you're living there isa new kingdom coming it has a new king anew ruler he is the Son of God he is ourLord and savior and you have to make achoice today are you going to Bow beforethe gods and the Emperors of this worldor are you going to bow in faith beforethe Son of God himself himself and sothe people of Rome are being forced tomake a choice the gospel of Mark isn'tjust filled with nice stories it's anintensely political document thatdirectly challenges the authority of theemperor ofRome and so we come to the foot of thecross to the Centurionhimself what exactly is acenturion Centurion is a career Soldierthey signed up mostly for 20 to 25 yearsthey a veteran of many years service youRose through the ranks to become acenturion you're an experiencednon-commissioned officer you'vesupervised many in execution underPontius Pilate the execution of Jesusand those two other criminals is justanother bloody day at the office theRomans have already crucified thousandsunder Pontius Pilate by the time theycrucified Jesus Christ this RomanCenturion has participated in the brutalmilitary suppression and oppression ofthe Jews and other groups throughout theempire EMP on joining the legions hewould have signed an oath of personalloyalty to the emperor and on his armmay be tattooed those famous wordsspqr you're familiar withspqr any of you see the filmGladiator there's a scene in Gladiatorwhere he's taking off a tattoo on hisarm may remember thatscene take another look the they wouldtatto on their arms spqr it meanssenatus populus qu Romanus it means forSenate people in Rome they literallytattooed their loyalty to Rome on theirarms this is a man who kills to upholdthe worship of Caesar with all theaspects just described this is a man whojust participated in the mockery andtorture of Jesus in Pilot'sheadquarters he has personally beeninvolved in the beating of Jesus thescourging of Jesus the stripping and thehumiliation ofJesus all this has been done in the nameof the son of God sitting in Romeand so for thisCenturion at the foot of the cross tosay truly this man was the son ofGod what was it that he was saying itwas a conscious rejection of the EarthlySon of God who sat behind him in Romehe's saying this man is the Son of Godthe guy I've just killed not the guyI've been killing for for the last 20years this is the man who is the trueSon of God it was a rejection of theentire Cult of the emperor it was arejection of the Union of church andstate that held the Roman empiretogether it was a conscious rejection ofeverything he's fought for everythinghe's killed for everything he has bledfor is a conscious rejection of hisprofession as a soldier dedicated as ato the loyal servants service of theemperor himself it was a consciousrejection of all that he had done in hislife it was a rejection of the RomanEmpire itself of Earthly politicalsystems of hierarchies and forces ofOppression of suppression of tyranny ofexploitation of others of Social andeconomic Injustice of Empires that Crushall in their path of their self-glorification and pride of exclusiveself-interest of arrogance of murder ofextortion of greed of slavery ofeverything he has done for and in thename of the Earthly Son of God theemperor in Rome behind him he realizeshe's now killed the true Son of God andin turning to face Jesus at the foot ofthe cross that Centurion turned his backon the emperor in Rome and all that hestood for in hislife it wasn't just a soldier sayingtruly this man was the son ofGod he was rejecting everything he'dfought for and killed for in hislife and he did sopublicly he did so public he didn't cometo Jesus in secret like Nicodemus at thefoot of the cross in front of the otherRoman soldiers this man makes hisconfession offaith knowing he's rejecting his oath tohis Emperor knowing that he may well beexecuted himself for making thatconfession ofFaith what is the application for ustoday well if the man who oversaw theexecution of Jesus can be saved then socan wetoday if the man who drove the nailsinto the hands of Jesus can be savedthen so can you if the man who strippedJesus naked and scourged him within aninch of his life then put his ownclothes upon him and hold him up to thatcross if he can be saved despite what hepersonally did to the true Son of Godand I want to say today there's prettymuch nothing you've done in your lifethat is beyond the reach of God'sgrace at the foot of the cross even whenhe was dead Jesus won that centurion'slife so what does it mean for us todaywell like the Centurion to accept Jesusas the Son of God it means a consciousrejection of the Gods of our lives andof our fallen world the firstcommandment is Thou shalt have no othergods before meThe Remnant people are described inRevelation 12:17 as those who keep theCommandments of God and have thetestimony of Jesus and the firstcommandment is important because it isThou shalt have no other gods beforeme and if there are other gods in yourlife then it's time to get rid ofthem the last four years many peoplegave into mandates because they hadother gods in their lives their careertheir profession their mortgage theirincome their social prestige their toysthose areGods people yielded to the mandatesbecause they had other gods in theirlives like the Centurion today to followJesus means a conscious rejection ofevery corrupt and oppressive politicalsystem of our time it means a rejectionof the ways and the values of our fallenWorld it means a rejection of our fallenway of life with our own self-interestour own Pride our own ambition my ownself-aggrandisement the way I haveexploited others the abuse of behaviorsand attitudes that I have manifest in mylife my lack of concern for those lessfortunate than myself that's what itmeans to turn your back on the values ofthis world like the Centurion to expressfaith in Jesus as the Son of God aboveall other um Earthly uh contenders forthat title it means a Content aconscious rejection of my Fallen selfand my desire to dominate other peopleand in the kingdom of God maybe therewas one thing that curses congregationsmore than anything else it's a desirefor power andposition the yearning for power theyearning for position the yearning forPrestige means I'm willing to push youdown so I can be pushed up in theprocess and churches are torn apart andfamilies are torn apart when somebodyseeks domination over others the rule orruin attitude that sister white writesabout I'll will rule or they'll be ruinwell I'm going to ruleto follow JesusChrist means I have to look in themirror and realize I am a fallen humanbeing and I take pleasure in havingpower over other people and I need togive that up to Jesus because he is theking of kings Lord of lords and he isthe Son of God and he is on that thronein Heaven above not me and I need to puthim on the throne of my life as wellwhen Mark's gospel was written Nerofiddled while Rome burnt today whenMark's gospel is read aloud our federalElites are fixated on enforcing grosssexual immorality and gender confusionon minors and millions are so engrossedin professional sports and the pursuitof entertainment that our homeless arehuddling on our streets our parents arechoosing between rent utilities or foodand around our world today thousands ofinfants will simply fade away todaybecause their mothers did not haveaccess to something as basic as cleandrinking water our world is a brokenplace to follow Jesus is a positivepostive Choice it is to obey the Son ofGod and to follow him in Repentance itis to follow where he leads not where wewould wish to go is to follow Jesus umnot knowing where he leads but trustinghim that where he leads is according tothe will of God and not according to ourown fall nor sinful desires to followJesus today means that I'm going to cutout from my life anything that wouldhinder or impede my entry into thekingdom of God I need to do a spiritualselford it Lord is there anything in mylife that I cannot give as a holysacrifice to a holy God if there is notI need to remove it from my life tofollow Jesus Christ today means to seekto serve others in love and to meettheir needs in humility and love it isto consider the needs and wishes ofothers as more important than our ownFallen desires and priorities it is towelcome and care for the sociallyinsignificant it is to seek to live inpeace with others it is to come to Godas a child without potentionalself-sufficiency not saying Lord I needsalvation because I've earned it or Ideserve it I'm worthy of it or I'm goodenough for it but it's to come to God onthe basis of need as a child comes to aparent and says Dad I'm thirsty can Ihave a drink the father gives the childthe drink not because the child demandsit or because the child says I've been agood boy today the father gives hischild the the the life-saving cup ofwater because the father loves thatchild and we come to God withoutpretention without saying Lord I I'mdemanding salvation because you owe itto me I've been a good boy this week noI'm reaching out my hands as a child andsaying Lord father be merciful to me asinner it's say be stripped of our self-potention and our self-sufficient it isto make as we saw ear today with ourbrother through the waters of baptism itis to be willing to make a publicconfession that Jesus is the Lord Of MyLife come what may regardless of Earthlyconsequences regardless of Earthlyconsequences it is to be willing toaccept persecution for the sake ofChrist for it is through participationin Christ suffering that we have coonirin Christ as the Apostle Paul says andwhen we have coir with Christ in hissuffering we have the promise we willhave corer or participation with Christin his glorification when he comes againit is not a bad thing to sufferpersecution because you bear the name ofChrist rejoice and be glad for so thepersecuted the prophets before you ifthey're persecuting you for followingthe Son of God count your blessingsyou're doing something right it is not asign that God has abandoned you it is asign that Satan is angry with you sowhen you face persecution is not a signthat God has abandoned you to followJesus Christ as with this uring and theearly church who listen to this Gospelof Mark means to walk daily in theshadow of Jesus and the shadow shadow ofhis cross because that that that isentry into the kingdom of Glory whenJesus returns for his own so we come toour conclusions here this morning thiswas a radical introduction the firstverse of the first chapter of Mark thebeginning of the good news of JesusChrist the son of God and so the churchin Rome and the church in Menton and youtoday are being asked to make a choice Cdo we will we either follow the Caesarsof this world with all their pretentionsto be the Divine Son of God or will orwill you follow the true son of God willwe follow the laws and the rules ofthese Fallen rulers or will we followthe principles of the kingdom of Godwhen people see us will they say is thata soldier of Rome or is that a soldierof Christ when people talk about us willthey say that that person knowseverything about the Emperors or doesthat person know everything about JesusChrist when people hear and see us inaction will they see the cruelty and theoppression of this world or will theysee the kindness and the love and theself-sacrifice of the Son of God peoplewill know your profession and Faithbefore you open your mouth simply by howyou live your life and we are calledtoday to make a decision that I'm goingto follow Jesus as the Divine Son of Godand I'm going to allow him to be theruler of my life and all Earthly rulersall presidents Prime Ministers Governorsparliaments and congresses must bowbefore the claims of Jesus on my lifethat's right and that is the choice weare called to make today as did thoseancient RomanChristians and they had to make a choicefor Jesus KN that if they chose forJesus they may well they may they maywell end up in the lines in front of theliines in theColiseum or they may be dipped in oilthen crucified and set a light it was astreet light like the streets of Rome atnight or they be dressed up in animalskins and put in the arena then they setlions and and wild dogs on you to kindrip you to pieces that's what it meantto follow Jesus backthen today we call it cancel culture butit's no really nodifferent trly no different the hearerof this Gospel of this verse here we arebeing invited by God to make a choicewhich kingdom are you loyal to whichkingdom do you belong to which kingdomwill youpromote which kingdom will you sacrificefor which kingdom the the values ofwhich kingdom will you live by whatkingdom will other people see in you whois the ultimate Authority in your lifethe Caesars of Rome or Jesus of Nazareththat the rulers of this world and thereare many the good the Bad and the Uglybut they're becoming uglier by the dayor Jesus himself who hurt no man when hewas on planet Eartham there'sa famousstory have you heard the story ofpolycarp yes he was a pupil of theApostle John he lived between 1755 ad soit connected him to the to the apostlesand to the early church Fathers as theCatholics would call them he served as abishop of a City on the eastern coast ofturkey on the aan sea a city called SMAand his death is one of the mostwell-documented deaths of a Christian inthe early uh the early 2nd Century hewas arrested in the year 155 ad on thecharge of being a Christian and theRoman Pro Consul he listened to thisman he listened to this man and when hewas arrested he said to the arrestingofficers do you mind if I pray for youand he prayed for about 2 hours forthose arresting officers in front ofthem the God would bless them then thoseRoman officers took him off to the procConsul the governor of the of the regionof Western Asia or turkey of today andhe was told to Proclaim kakura CaesarhisLord but he didn't he was told at theage of 86 that if he would just makethis simple declaration and offer asmall pinch of incense to Caesar'sstatue he would Escape torture and deathand be set free on thespot how did polycarp respondhe led the church for many years he ledit through persecution through bad timesand Good Times his words are capturedfor us in those early records it is saidthat he said this Four score and sixyears have I served Christ and he hasnever done me any wrong how can Iblaspheme my king who savedme polycarp refused to affirm his faithin Jesus as Savior and Lord as theDivine Son of God he was condemned todeath but because because it was after3:00 in the afternoon apparently somebureaucrats said you can't feed theLions after 3:00 so he was burnt aliveat the stakeinstead polycarp died for one reason hisunyielding faith in the Lord JesusChrist today we believe that a master isone who dies for their faith but in theBible a mar is one who lives their faithup until the point of death if necessarypolycarp was a witness or a martyr theword Mar means a legal witness notbecause he died but because he wassteadfast in his confession of faith inJesus while helived and Mar polycarp served Jesus whoinspired thesewords and just as is as just as it isappointed for Mortals to die once andafter that the Judgment so Christ havingbeing offered once to Bear the sins ofmany will appear a second time not todeal with sin but to save those who areeagerly waiting forhim I love that versedo the demons know that Jesus is comingback yes they do does Satan know thatJesus is coming back yes they do sosimply knowing that Jesus is coming backdoesn't mean that you're in a savingrelationship the key is the pH is the isthe adverb thereeagerly if you are eagerly awaiting thecoming of Jesus you don't just know thatJesus is coming but you're eagerlyawaiting the coming of Jesus it meansyou know this world is Fallen you knowthis world is falling apart you know thegods of this world and the empires ofthis world are fallen and rotten attheir C poor and you're looking forwardto the time when sin is wiped away onceand for all and love will pulsatethrough the entire universe and if youare eagerly awaiting for the coming ofJesus Christ then you have the assurancethat Jesus is coming back for youeagerlyawaiting Jesus Christ is returning forall who confess him as Lord todayregardless of the consequence in yourpersonal life in your career yourstudies your financial or socialprospects in confessing Jesus as Lordtodaywe have the Assurance when he comestomorrow he will be oursavior he is Lord today and then he'llbe savior tomorrow many people just wantJesus to be savior tomorrow but theywant to remain Lord of their own lifetoday it doesn't work that way for Jesusto be my savior tomorrow I accept him asLord of my life today and I live my lifeby his principles and I know hisprinciples because I read the gospelsfor myself and I apply those principlesin my life on a daily basisamen I want to challenge each one of youtoday as we draw this this uh thissermon to aclose one day Jesus Will confess beforethe universe those who in the Lamb'sBook of Life and they will receive acrown of eternallife I want to challenge you todayconfess in your life before a fallenworld that you are choosing the Son ofGod Jesus of Nazareth over all the godsof this world do not be ashamed of himbecause because the sons of God of thisworld the most they can do to you istake yourlife but what the true Son of God can dois give you eternal life there is nocomparison the gods of this world cantake life but only Jesus can give lifethey can take life for a few years butJesus can give you eternal life so Iwant to challenge you today to acceptJesus as your lord and savior to confesshim as Son of God to live by theprinciples of his kingdom and not by theprinciples of America or California oryour employer or your family live by theprinciples of God's kingdom God sees itGod will honor you and as we read in 1stSamuel chapter 3 those who honor me themwill I honor also those who honor methem will I honor also so the beginningof the good news of Jesus Christ the sonof God is not just a text in the Bibleit's an invitation to choose JesusChrist today I chose Jesus when I was 13was the best decision of mylife have I made mistakes oh yes I'vemade mistakes I have a wife and that'swhy you have a wife there to remind youof your mistakes when you get marriedyou need not remember your mistakes everagain your wife will remindyou I've made mistakes areplenty but that doesn't mean I'm not inGod's kingdom because when we enter intoa saving relationship with Jesus Christwe're entering into a marriage covenantand in our marriages there are ups andthere aredowns but doesn't mean mean you you're adivorced just because you have a bad dayin your marriage there's always thepossibility of forgiveness andconfession andrestoration so walk withJesus feed on hiswords apply his principles in your lifelet the world know that there is acoming King because they see it in howyou live your life and when Jesus comesagain he's coming as Savior for thosewho who accept him as Lord today may Godbless you as you live and choose forJesus every day amen