I think every time I visit your country, it's not long before someone says to me, Mr. Ford, what's the difference between America and England? Well, I'll tell you one difference. We're a bit smaller. Well, I think we really are. But of course, there are a number of things that always strike me. For instance, November the eleventh. Some years ago I found myself down in Wainsborough. I think it might have been the last time I was here with you, eleven years ago. I'm not quite sure. But I found myself in Wainsborough over the eleventh of November, and I suppose being an Englishman, they asked if I would speak at the United... Well, I'm going to call it the Armistice Day Service. and upon my regular expense. It was held in one of the large chapels there, and I went along prepared to speak at the British Armistice Day service. I found out I was the only one with a black tie, and I found out that there was one vast difference that the eleventh of November would view as a celebration of victory and would ask it to morning for the day. I found out that when I arrived at the church there was being a procession through the streets led by girls with almost no clothes on and sticks thrown in the air and all sorts of queer things. And I thought of our eleventh of November. You know, if you were in England on the eleventh of November and you were strange to what was happening, I'm sure there are a number of questions you would ask. You would stand by the side of the road, and you would see marching to the Senate ask, from handlets and villages and towns, a contingent of men, the high-muckled drum. But what in the front their number gets smaller and smaller and smaller every year? What in the front of the marching folk to the Senate are? You would see a company of old people, some on sticks, some even being pushed there now in their chair. And you would say as you looked at them, the great rows of ribbons across their chest. Who are they? Who are they that they shall leave the muffled drums, that they shall leave the marching bands, that they shall leave the contenders of hundreds of men, who in the first and last wars of war. Who are they? They'll get to queue and say, well, you see, on them behind the story. The older men here will remember. It was the First World War. And they've crossed that little section of water that we know of the English Channel. They've crossed that section of water a contingent of men. And when Kaiser heard that they crossed the water, with a sneer upon his lips, he turned to his generals and said, Prisoner's contempt of an army! Prisoner's contempt of an army! You ask me who they are? They're the old contempt of an army. For a name of shame, in my country has become a name of fame. A name that was used in miracles. Kitchener's contemptible eye is a name that makes a great man have his blood run faster in his veins and desires even old folk to stand upright and march behind the drums. For kitchener's contemptible eye has become the old contemptible. greatest regiments of our lives. You must forgive me tonight. But if you and I had gone back through the years, and in the day of the Lord Jesus, we would have heard someone speak at the cross, we would have seen For a man turned pale, and fine women shudder. For the Bible had said, Crafty is every one that hangeth upon a tree. If there was a means of death that made men shudder, it was crucifixion. If there was a means of death that made men scream, it was crucifixion. But listen, a name of shame has become a name of shame. that which made men and women long ago feel great. Today, dare say, God forbid that I shall glory, save in the cross. Just as might in my land, a name of shame has become a name of shame, so the world of God, a name of shame, Christ is everyone that hang up upon a tree has become a name of faith. Tonight, in a moment or two, I want to talk to you about the cross. I want to talk to you about that which above all else I would glory it. But I want to talk to you not just of the cross, but of the man of the cross. we have a lovely old hymn in the redemption hymn book that we sometimes sing that others who will have the cross of the Christ the Christ of the cross is mighty and I want to talk about men's attitude to the cross but mostly to the Christ of the cross And so I'm going to read from two portions of the Word of God. Again, let me repeat, if you have your Bible and care to turn with me, please do so. Or you may have your Bible and yet look much rather than I just read the Scripture to you. Feel quite at liberty, please, just to listen or to turn whatever you wish. I'm going to read, if I may, from the nineteenth of John, and then we will read from the fifteenth of night. the nineteenth of John. Verse twenty-eight. I'm sorry, verse twenty-three. Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garment and made four parts to every soldier of part, and do so his coat. Now the coat was without seeing woven from the top to outs. They said therefore among themselves, Look us not, rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be. But the scripture might be fulfilled, which sayeth they parted, my raiment among them, and for my vestures they did cast lots. These things, therefore, the soldiers did. Verse twenty-eight. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, I first. Now there was such a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled with sponge with vinegar, and put it upon this of. and put it to his mouth. And when Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. The Jews, therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, for that Sabbath day was a high day, but thought, Pilate, that their legs might be broken. that they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers and break the legs of the first and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already, they break not his legs, but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side. forthwith came their eyes, blood and water. And he that saw its fair record, and his record is true, and he knoweth that he saith truth, that ye might believe. Now I want to turn over to the fifteenth chapter of Mark, if I may be permitted, please, in the fifteenth chapter of Mark, and I want to read, if I may, just wonder, verse thirty-nine. And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that his soul cried out and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God. May I repeat that? Truly this man was the Son of God. Now may the Lord just add his blessing to the reading of his own precious word. I wonder if you would join me please in a word of prayer before we just consider the message together this evening. Shall we all pray? O God and Father, our hearts are strangely moved within us when we think of one who has taken the base things of this world to confound the things that are wise and the weak things to confound the things that are mighty we thank thee for the one that's taken a name of shame and made it a name of fame we bless thee that one that has taken death and through it brought to men and women life the one that entered into darkness, that we might receive light. The one who was rejected, that we might be accepted. Tonight, as we think a little more of him, may it please be to speak to our hearts for his name's sake. Amen. You will have noticed this evening that in the portion of the Word of God from which we read in the nineteenth chapter of John, and in the portion from which we read in the fifteenth chapter of Mark, the writers were very careful to tell us the story not just of the Christ who hung upon a cross, but of the soldiers that encircled that cross. And of your permission tonight, and I trust in some measure with the help of God, I want to talk with you about the people that encircled the cross. There is a little ego spiritual that you sing over here so often. It asks a question, as you know, a very plaintive question. Were you there when they crucified, my Lord? May I repeat that? Were you there? Or how many times have you heard it, son? Were you there when they crucified my Lord? And do I have little doubt that many of you in this service would say, But what do you mean, Mr. Preacher, was I there? It was not my spittle that was mingled with the spittle that ran down his face. It was not my lips that trained wires of refuel and hurled them at him. It was not my faith that was clenched just like it. What do you mean? Was I there? Oh, ladies, don't let argue tonight about terms. I think every one of us, if we're honest, know what I mean. You know as well as I know, that those that encircled the cross, whoever they may have been, are bones that in some measure represent every one of us here. And while I have spoken of the high priest, I'm not going to. And while I have spoken indeed of other religious leaders that were there at the cross, I'm not going to. And while I have spoken of the very women of the women who sat at the foot of the cross, I'm not going to. But I'm going to take three classes of soldiers that were there at the cross, and as we think of these soldiers, I wonder when they ask you, sir, would you think with me, please, or would you think with me, please, into which of the categories do you fall? First, as I think of those soldiers, the first class of soldier, it seems to me, I would say are callous people. There would be that. There were soldiers who were callous people. Could you tell me of anything but a callous event? That they are under the very shadow of the death of the Lord Jesus. They are under the very shadow of one who dies with a crown of thorns on his brow and nails with his hands and feet. They are under the very shadow of the cross. There were men that took their joints and sat down and gathered. Tell us enough that they stood there. Tell us enough that they spoke to one another as he died. But can you think of anything more, Philip? And under the very shadow of the cross they should take their joints and gathered. But then I think you will grant me that as we think of the story of the cause, there are not only callous people there, but I wish I could think of a word stronger. But I can't. Why, did you understand that I mean your name at birth of my heart, that there are not only callous people there, but there were contemptible people there. what would you tell me is the most contemptible thing a person can do? Madam, what would you think is the most contemptible thing a person can do? Would you not agree with me in this? But the most contemptible thing anyone can do is to desecrate the dead body of a person. all we are living in a day when there are men and women, then they'll do all sorts of things for living, folk. But could a man sink lower than this, that when someone is dead, he will take his knife and defecate that body? Do you remember what we read? Those soldiers came. They came to break the leg. the bones that were on the cross, and they came to the two thieves who broke their legs to hasten their death. But when they came to Jesus, this is what we read. They saw that he was dead already. And one took his spirit, and into the side of one that was dead already. He plunged us. Could anything be more contemptible than that? No, praise God for that. Oh, bless God, that as I look at the stories we have read, I read the story of talisman, I read the story of contemptible men, but oh, bless God, I read the story of did we not read in that wonderful fifteen chapter in Mark. When the centurion heard that he so cried out, he said, Sure indeed, was the Son of God. My Bible said whosoever beneath us that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. the Savior himself when he looked into the face of a man born blind, who saw here restored to him, sent for the man, that leave us now on the Son of God. Here was one who said, Surely this was the Son of God. Sir, madam, very courteously I trust, for above and where else I would be courteous. Very courteously, can I ask you this evening, into which of these three groups do you form? Talos, indifference, contemptible, or combative. So what children of sorts, and please, I want to keep very near the structure. Look, I have not one desire in being with you, maybe two desires. I have the first desire that I might introduce you to Jesus Christ, my Savior. That's my first desire. But my second desire is this, that I might preach the Word of God to you. I'm not concerned with anything else. I'm not concerned with what men think or men say. I'm concerned with what the Bible says. And so I want you to keep finding the other Word of God. As I look at this story, as I say to myself, here are men who were so callous that under the very shadow of the cross they would take their dice and toss them. I say to myself that why? Why do men, why do men become so callous as this? Why are women so callous as this? Yes, sir, please. I believe their sons and daughters are still alive to death. I believe there are men and women equally as callous today. Why were they so callous? Well, no Bible leads me in no doubt. No Bible tells me there are three reasons that these people were callous. First of all, they wanted the world's possessions. There would be that. They wanted the world's possessions. You see, the world keeps us at very little of this world's goods. I know there are questions to be answered, and I know not the answer to them. You have every right to come to me and say that if Jesus was born of low estate and a manger, if his mother, when she offered the sacrifice for the poor condition of herself, after she'd given birth to a child, could only offer two pigeons, two dogs, the poorest of sacrifices, what happened to the gold and frankincense and myrrh that the wise men brought? I mean, gold is worth something in the markets of men, and mire is one of the most precious of things, and frankincense. Why, it was worth very, very much, what happened to the gold and frankincense and mire? It should only offer her pigeons for the purification of herself after the birth of her child. Well, I don't know what happened to the gold and frankincense and myrrh. I only remind you, of course, that despite what is popular opinion or popular tradition, I only remind you that the Bible tells us that those wise men did not come at Christmas time. They did not come to a stable. It says they came to a house. and they did not come to a baby. It says when they saw the young child. So even after the order of ordinary men, the golden phantom sense of law would have been given long after the eight-day period, which was necessary before she went to the offer of her sacrifice for her purification. And the whole note then immediately after the wise men presented their golden frankincense and mar but joseph and mary took the young child and fled for two years into egypt maybe it was god's provision for them while they were down in egypt the bible doesn't tell me i don't know but this i do know But as Jesus walked in the night of us, men and women, he bore our sins. But more than this, the Bible says, he bore our grief and carried our sorrows. And where men knew poverty, Christ knew poverty. Where men knew suffering, Christ knew suffering. Where men worked, Christ worked. where men was misunderstood, Christ was misunderstood. Oh, where men died, Christ died. He's born our grief. He's carried our thoughts. But there was one thing that's so important. There was one thing that Jesus did have at the end of his journey. It was the only thing. Sure, in his life the Bible could say the pups is of those, but the thorns of the air have their nests. But the Son of Man hath no other land had than the result that he had. At the end of his journey he possessed one thing that was useful in the markets of man. It was a garment. It was woven from top to bottom. It was woven throughout the Scriptures that would out obtain. It was a garment that was worth money in the markets of man. It was the only thing that he had that was worth money. Those soldiers stripped him, and upon his shoulders they placed a robe of mockery. Then they went, and they took his garments, and they divided it, one to another. But then they came to a nicer garment. They said, we won't let it. We won't care. It's worth too much. We've got dice for it. And there were men and women who wanted the world's possessions. They wanted a fine garment. They wanted something that could be sold for money. And they turned their eyes away from a god that was dying for them. Maybe the story of Calvary is not so old-fashioned, huh? Maybe it's not just a story of two thousand years ago. So come on, let's be honest. if there is one thing above all else that has turned men's eyes away from Christ, it's a love of the world's possessions. We think sometimes time for pleasure, time for business, but for Christ the crucified, not a place that he should enter in the heart for which he died. And there are men and women today who have thought through Christ of making wealth, so occupied with providing good things for themselves, so occupied with this world, both. They take their eyes away from Jesus. I heard someone say something very trussed just two weeks ago. It is not. I heard a dear brother referring to some people that lived in the very district in which he lived, and this is what he said, our good friend Mr. Brown, some of you know him. Our good friend Mr. Brown, there in North, uh, uh, Atlanta, Bible chapter, speaking of some problems at Dartmouth, he said, do you know something? They've got a ninety thousand dollar home. house, a ninety thousand dollar house, and a ten cent home. Oh, I thought that was very true. But God shall occupy you with this world. Don't! There's a great throne of Paul, the great wonders of Samuel, the great glories of salvation. Think about! Tarmy eyes away from the greatest dream of God's love that mortal man never bathed upon. But they wanted the world's possessions. By the way, plenty of people in the Bible like that. Remember the Tenth of March? The Bible said he was rich. The Bible said he was young. The Bible said he was a ruler. I say, you don't, Hulk. Where is it you want in life? Do you say to yourself, I know what I'd like in life? I'd like it well. Well, you had it. And by the way, most folks that get well, not everyone, aren't you, but most folks that get well, they get it when they reach an age that they can't endure it. Isn't that right? And they'll run for a whole other night, and when eventually they've got it, then they've got to start sending it out. Doctors, especially in America, don't bother them. They've got the world and they can't even get it. But here was a man who was rich when he was young. He could enjoy it. And listen, he was a ruler. There are people who think the only thing that matters in life is to get wealth. The thing that matters in life is that you have health and strength. You have all that. There are people who think the thing that matters in life is to have power. So if only I could say to this man, Joe, he'll go, and that man, carry a car. So is that slope? Well, this young man has rich, young willow. But there was one thing he didn't have. He didn't have something. And Jesus looked at him, and the young man ran, and fell on his face before the Lord, and said, Good Lord, what must I do, or good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life? How ignorant people can become, can't they? You know, they can have the greatest education that they're rulers. They can have the greatest wealth that they're rich. They can have the greatest health that they're young, and be so ignorant of the simplest things in life. Good master, what must I do to inherit? You don't do anything to inherit, you're getting the family. I haven't got anything, but just a little bungalow that's, you know, head over heels in a mortgage. But if I was to die tomorrow the little thing I have got, my children were dead, not because they've done anything, but because they're my children. You inherit when you're in the family. And listen, in a Jewish family, that's stronger than in a Gentile family. Under the law of Moses, you couldn't even sell your inheritance. You had to leave it. You had to leave it. You had to leave it to your sons. And the young man, they were ruler. He hadn't learned the sinless things. What must I do to inherit? He hadn't learned. If you want to inherit, you better get him a family. You better be born again. And Jesus looked at him and spoke to him about the law. And he said, I deserve these things for my youth. And Jesus looked upon him, loved him, and said, One thing thou lackest. Thou shall whatsoever thou hast give to the poor. can't take up the cross in God's name. And he went from there, he grieved at that feeling, for he was rich. Jesus put his finger right on the very question. He put his finger on cards that he had before thee, God. He said, get rid of that card. He went away, great. Oh, fine, did I ask you? Where are you in the cross? Are you around the cross with those that toss their dice? Because you've got the world's positions. You've never trusted Jesus Christ because you know that Christ will make a claim on your life and he will. He will. I have never, never, never subscribed to this modern sort of preaching that says, trust Jesus and everything in the garden will be lovely. Oh listen, my friend. If trusting Jesus Christ meant that you would lose everything you've got down here, you're still able to trust Him. Not only for your own worship, but for the glory of God, you're still able to trust Him. And I can't speak for you while you know as far as I'm concerned. But trusting Jesus Christ cost me my livelihood. It cost me the way I earned my bread and butter. It cost me almost everything I had. I look around and I see some Christians playing with the world. And my heart moves. It cost me how I earned my bread and butter and I live when I trusted the Savior. But I tell you this, I thank God that ever I trusted him. I blessed God that ever I said yesterday. For better turn your eyes upon a Christ of the cross and live, than have the world's possessions and perish. For what shall it profit a man as he gain the whole world? Do it his own soul. But there was another reason, it ain't, that they turned their eyes away from Christ. Not only because they wanted the world's possessions, but he listened. Because they wanted the world's pleasures. Oh, they were tossing their debts. Oh, we'd better have some gambling. Now don't just get away from this. The Christian church will give to no one on this. The Christian church will give to no one on this. Gambling is immoral. Before someone can win, someone has to lose. That's what gambling is all about. Before someone can win, someone has to lose. And that's immoral. And the Christian faith will give them knowledge. Do you know if there's gambler in the Bible? They called his name Adam. God said, the day you eat thereof, you surely die. And old Adam took a chance with God. He said, I'll have a gamble. See what it's like. And he did what God said he must do. He shall return to God. But listen, he lost. He lost. But the tragedy is this, that he became the father of a great family of gamblers. right down through the avenue of tolling. You can see them. Many of them willingly took the chance with God. It was a lot who pitched his tents towards Sodom and Gomorrah. And that's bad enough, isn't it? But it wasn't long before he got into Sodom and Gomorrah. Listen, you young folk. It wasn't long before Sodom and Gomorrah got into him. He lost. He took the chance with God. And they lost! He lost his wife. He lost one of his children and his son and Lord and his grandchildren. He lost his name and he lost his character. He almost lost his wife. And if it wasn't for a verse in the New Testament, I would have told you he'd lost his soul as well. But the New Testament tells me, hadn't, so I mustn't say it. But it's only the mercy of God that enables me to say that I lose this all. He took a chance with God, old friend, don't take a chance with God. These people tossed their dice. There they couldn't turn their eyes upon the Christ. The greatest sinning of God's love. The greatest manifest faker of God's mercy. And the world's failures took their eyes on it. And the world's failures took their eyes on it. And I believe this, I don't know how far you will go with me in this, but I believe this, sir. I believe that if sin has slain its presence, pleasure has slain its thankfulness. Not that there was anything wrong with pleasure, except that it is that it takes our eyes off the most important thing of all. But there was one other thing, literally. Callous! Callous because they wanted the world's possessions. Callous because they wanted the world's popularity. I'm sorry, the world's pleasures. Callous because they wanted the world's popularity. This is what we read. These things the soldiers did. These things the soldiers did. World these. The soldiers did. Now if any of you men are familiar with tossing dice, you know this, don't you? That you don't have two people toss dice at the same time, do you? It's one man that tosses his dice. So you think you have a man made up your arm, but he's waiting his turn. One man tosses his dice, but these things were soldiers did. Is not the Bible telling us these? But there they gathered around that gun, and there they took their guns, there they began to toss them, and maybe one of them began to turn his head upon by one on the cross. And the other one said, You burned! And because they wanted the world's popularity, there wasn't one of them prepared to turn and say, Look, Alice, what a foolish thing to do under this. You men won't mind me speaking to you. I'd rather speak to men than anyone else I've heard. Listen to me, man. Come on, Satan up. Men, is it not a fact that there are thousands of men and women in St. Louis or not? Thousands of men who haven't trusted Christ because they're fighting to what their neighbors have said. Talking of what the man who works on the bench by their side will say. Talking of what the man who works on the office will say. Fortunately what the fellow on the floor will say. But it isn't... Oh no, please, please. It's not that they wouldn't trust the Saviour. It's just that they're not prepared to face the ridicule of their friends. wanted the world, not the others. He wanted to go with the rest. He wanted to be playing with the others. And they turn his eyes on Christ. Oh, friend, we used to sing an old hymn in the Sancti movie hymn book. We don't sing it very often today, but let me quote it to you. My old companion, spare thee well. I will not go with thee to hell. I think it makes sense. I did. Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Tell us, men! I say, contemptibly, men? No, no, I don't believe there are any of them here. I don't believe such a person would be here. But you know and I know that there are such persons today. I repeat, could you think of anything more contemptible than one should calm and climb a spear into the hide of one that was dead already? How contemptible? I wonder why he did it. Now, I don't know. The Bible doesn't tell me. It tells me he did it. So can tell me why. He didn't do it now. He's dead. He was dead already. He knew he was dead. The Bible says he was dead. Why did he do it? They will make me think this is imagination and a kid, and I may be wrong. I don't think I am, but maybe I'm wrong. But if history has told me anything, history has told me this, that if there were a people, if there are people that are hated, it was and is the Jewish people. Still today. In the time of the Romans, you may read Josephus, the Jewish historian, you may read many of the profound historians, and you know this is true, you've young folks still in high school that are doing something to that history, you know. But if the Romans conquered a people that were continually a thorn in their flesh, that people were the Jews. You may look at the Roman Empire and relax. You may place it as you know there have been three Roman empires. You may place it in whatever area it went, even when they came over and conquered their own country. Those original folks who lived in their land were not afforded in the flesh of the Romans, anywhere near as much as the Jews were. And here was a soldier. He was there to put down the Jews. He was there to keep them under his hand. He was there to show the power of Rome. Can I imagine, did the man have a voice away in Rome? Was he separated for his family and his loved ones? Has he grown the stone that he had? Has he grown the heavy of the people? Because there were people to bow down under the hand of God. He had them be there, separated from all, that he cherished them loved. And so they looked at the cross and read, The King of the Jews. Isn't it? You see, it was written in Latin, the language of power. It was written in Hebrew, the language of religion. in Greek? The language of love? He will read it. The king of the Jews. And did he that day look at the Christ himself? The king of the Jews? Oh, so do I think of the Jews. In other words, because someone else had done him evil, He took it out on Christ. Because someone else had done him evil, he took it out on Christ. And I can't think of anything more than countable than that. And yet I see that every day of my life. I see that every day of my life. You ask the person concerning the claims of the Saviour. You ask them if they will trust the Lord. And do you know what? Many of them will say, they'll look at you and say, have me become a Christian? I'm a man who calls himself a Christian. And because someone else has done something evil, they take it out on me. May I use this silly illustration of I? May I use the last one I was with you. I don't know. If I didn't forgive me, I should. But when my daughter was just a wee little child, she used to think she could play the piano. Now she was the only one who said, because we've never had a piano. But if she could get into a house where there was a piano, my little girl used to sit down at the piano and burn, burn, burn, burn, burn. What would you have thought? It's one day I found myself in a home where there was a piano. And my little girl sat down at the piano, and I noticed that there on the piano was a piece of music written by Mr... Who wrote music? Patteras Guild, did you write music? Oh, that wasn't how we had yet. No, we can't write it too late. Mr. Schofen, how about that? There we are, you see, a piece of music written by Mr. Schofen. And I took an eye, put it in front of my little girl and said, Janet, would you play that for me, please? You know, she would have looked at it as though she was a batterist. Ooh. And she would have said, yes, Daddy, I'll play it for you. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. Now, in the name of common sense, would I have the right to turn to my wife and say, Did you hear that, Nick? I thought Chopin could write music. The chubby fella can't write a thing. Bang, bang, bang, bang. Would I have the right to judge Mr. Chopin's music by my little girl banging on the piano? And neither have you the right to judge my Saviour by someone else sitting down to heavenly music and sometimes making discord, but at least trying. You can't judge Christ boils from my horses' down. And that soldier looked and read the King of the Jews and he said, I'll show you what I think. And because somebody else had done him ill. He took in all those cuts. Friends, come on and carry one of the old puffed evil stone babies. So why are you here to tell me one thing that Christ has done you to make me do? Yet it comes somewhere else. He calls himself a Christian, but don't! You take it I don't say it. You'll forgive me, won't you know I don't ask you to forgive me because I'm going to say it, but you don't forgive me. How contestable! How contestable! To take it out on Christ when someone else is done here. Were you then? Oh, but listen. Oh, thank God. Oh, bless God tonight. There were not only callous men there. And a contemptible man there, but hallelujah, there was a converted man there. But he looked at the cross. No, no, he didn't look at the dice. No, no, he didn't look at the garment. No, no, he didn't look even at the face of them, his friend. When he saw, he so cried out, he looked at Christ. Keep him and look at him and see in him that which represented all the kings that he loved. He looked at him and saw him in his agony and heard him in his train. And he said, Sure it is. This is the Son of God. It does, doesn't it? Oh please, it does. And it poses a tremendous question, doesn't it? That if Jesus Christ loves the Son of God, whatever he's doing there, and if we're living, if we're dying, whatever he's dying, I said the other night, Many of you know it is my joy, and I spend, I suppose, three months of every year among undergraduates in Cambridge. And over the course of the year, if there are questions that are asked, and so many of them are so different, that if there are questions that are asked, there is always one question that's asked. right at the top of the list of questions I get asked by these young men so filled with academic knowledge that every time they open their mouth they show my increase but if there's one question they do ask me a thing stands for just more how can one man die for the sins of millions How can one man die for the sins of millions? Especially when that man dies before I was even born. How can one man die for the sins of millions? It doesn't make sense. Mathematically it's ridiculous. Is that what some of you getting fed to ask? Listen, there's nothing wrong with asking that. Oh, you young folks, let me say this to you. Let me say this to you from the depth of my heart. If you have questions, don't bottom them up. Hustle! Hustle! Don't you allow anyone to tell you you mustn't think? Even if your pity leads you into pathways that folks are not pleased with, don't you allow anyone to tell you you mustn't think? that don't you ever bottle up your questions with your thinking. For you remember, though you may not know the answer, there is an answer to them. Whenever I get asked that question, I look at them and I say with a shrug on my shoulders, Jerry, I've nothing to say to that question. Because one man can't die for the sins of millions. One man can not the life of the sins of millions. Of course he can't. But one God can. Surely this was the summit drop. I must ask you even an imagination to come further with me as I close. There were soldiers and Roman soldiers. They were up across to the Passover feast when this thing happened on the eve of the Passover. They know that it would be camping on the hillside that overlooked Jerusalem. I can see them that night, the cold night. And there's a fire. And as I look, I see a man. And he next goes in his arms. What a government that day. It is. He's got a government. That's all he's got. I look again, and away from the company of others, for such men don't have friends.A way from the company of others, I see another man with a face that has a scale of life. And I say, that man's not got a garment, that man's got a growth. But I look again, and I know not where he was, maybe separated from his men, for he was a centurion. And as I look at him, I see no garment in which he huddles to keep himself warm. I see no grouse upon his face that tells of his fellowness. But I look at him. And he's got glory. He's got glory that day. For that day he received the grace of God. That day he said, this is the Son of God. Tonight I want to ask you, may I please, please, ma'am, were you there when they crucified my Lord? If you were, what have you got on it? A garment that will perish for the mob? A grace that will be with the employment of the eternity. Or because of the cross. Have you trusted that Saviour? And can you say, Christ did me the hope of the Lord? The answer is yours. May I repeat my text of last night? What? Will you do then with Jesus, who is called the Christ? I want to think, closing, we could sing together, please. When I survey the