Well, good morning. Welcome.
Join me in the Gospel of Luke chapter 23 this morning. In our previous lessons, we were
talking about release unto us Barabbas and the events leading
up to the trial and sentence of execution for the Lord. So we'll begin reading in Luke
23, verse 25 this morning. He released the man who had been
thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked
for, and surrendered Jesus to their will. And as the soldiers
led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way
in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him
carry it behind Jesus. And a large number of people
followed him, including women, who mourned and wailed for him.
And Jesus turned and said unto them, Daughters of Jerusalem,
do not weep for me, weep for yourselves and for your children.
For the time will come when you will say, Blessed are the childless
women and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never
nursed. I'm reading from the NIV here this morning on this. Then will they say to the mountains
fall on us and to the hills cover us For people do these things
when the tree is green what will happen when it is dry? And two
other men both criminals were also led out with him to be executed
and when they came to the place called the skull In the KJV it's a Calvary and
in the other Gospels called Golgotha they crucified him there along
with the criminals and one on his right and the other on his
left. And so that's our, we're going to
kind of hop around a little bit and we're going to, we're going
to circle back around as they say to the daughters of Jerusalem,
weep for yourselves part maybe in a later lesson. But today
we're, We're looking at particularly
verse 26 and 27. And as they led him away, they
laid hold upon one Simon a Cyrenian coming out of the country, and
on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus.
So, we're looking at these last steps of Jesus in this earthly
manifestation and the culmination of His earthly journey, a journey
that was determined in eternity and carried out in time as we
know it, as it says in Galatians. Fullness of time was come. God
sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
them which were under the law. Redemption was the purpose of
His coming and the purpose of every step that He took. And
you know, 33 short years, yet every step was
in complete accordance with the will of the Father and the eternal
purpose of God. And if you recall years ago when
we first started studying Luke in chapter 2, he kind of disappeared
for a while from his parents and they didn't know where he
was. He said, how is it that you sought
me? Don't you know that I must be about my father's business?
From the very beginning. And in chapter 4, verse 43, and
he said unto them, In Luke 4, verse 43, it says, I must preach the kingdom
of God to other cities also, for thereunto am I sent. And
he preached in the synagogues of Galilee. And in Luke 19, we remember when
he was up in the northern area and he came to a place and he
looked up and saw Zacchaeus. And he says, Make haste and come
down, for today I must abide at thy house. And he must need to go through
Samaria on these final steps in his 33 years. And in Luke
9, verse 22, it says, And the Son of Man must suffer many things,
and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes,
and be slain and be raised the third day. And so all these musts that we
covered, I think we had a whole lesson on the musts of Jesus. He must accomplish these things. He must go these certain places.
He must do these certain miracles. He must do all these things.
according as it was written, and they were recorded for us.
And they were by no means all, but they were a representation
by which all of his steps were measured. They were all They
were all in accordance with the will of the Father that sent
Him, all according to purpose and all according to grace. And
as it was written, the journey began in Bethlehem, the house
of bread, and ends here in Jerusalem, the city of peace. And isn't
that what His death did for us? We have peace with God through
Jesus Christ who died on the cross to pay for our sins. In Micah 5, it says, Thou Bethlehem
Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is, to be
ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from old, from
everlasting." And that was one of the very things that they
brought to the Romans. that scripture and saying, well,
he's going to be king of the Jews. And that's against Caesar. And we have no king but Caesar,
so you should kill him because he's usurping your authority.
And that's what they used to cajole the Romans into performing
their dirty work for them. But Jerusalem, it began in Bethlehem
and ended in Jerusalem. And many times in scripture,
we find Jerusalem a synonym or a metaphor for the church. And
in Isaiah chapter 40, verse 2, it says, speak you comfortably
to Jerusalem. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.
You know, there's a commercial on TV that says that means you're
supposed to send a food box to Holocaust victims. But that might be a good thing
to do, but it's not the gospel. Comfort she, comfort she, my
people. Speak comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that
her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned,
for she has received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Not just a minimum payment. But he has satisfied the Lord's
requirements double. There's no possibility that it's
not enough. And that turns out to be a big
stumbling stone for the Jews, as it's written in Romans 9.33,
as it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumbling stone and
a rock of offense, and whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed. And that comes from Isaiah 8,
verse 14. He shall be for a sanctuary,
but a stone of stumbling and a rock of a fence to both the
houses of Israel, for a gin and a snare to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble
and fall and be broken and be snared and be taken. And therefore, thus saith the
Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a
tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth
shall not make haste. Judgment also will I lay to the
line, and righteousness to the plummet.
and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the water
shall overflow the hiding place." Boy, isn't this just a wonderful
block of Scripture? I like what Hawker is fond of
writing. Everything that tells us about
the Lord is just interesting and precious. Every little snippet
that we get, every little detail that we get, here He is in Jerusalem,
all these things have been fulfilled. And He's the stone for the sure
foundation. But I call your attention to
line 17 of Isaiah 28, because judgment also will I lay to the
line, and righteousness to the plummet. Those are the things
by which salvation is going to be measured. Those two things. nothing else
is going to come up to the line. The plummet is used to mark the
trueness of something in being perpendicular, being vertical. We use those in carpentry and
things to mark a spot. We use a plumb bob or plummet
to determine, because gravity is always true. The principle
of gravity never wavers. And so everything that has to
do with salvation has to be compared to that plummet, that plumbob. And if it's to the left or to
the right, it doesn't measure up and it's not acceptable. It
says hail is going to sweep away the refuge alive. So everything
that is not in accordance with the line and the plummet, the
level, and the plummet is going to be swept away. And they're
called lies because they're not true. The plummet line is the
true line. In Jerusalem shall the Lord,
the Christ, by the sacrifice of the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, be the surety of His people in taking judgment
in their stead. And He is the line, the plummet
by which God the Father determines satisfaction." He's only going
to be satisfied with those two things. His righteousness will
be the plummet in determining what's right and true. And nothing
else will be accepted. Nothing else will work. And all
this was determined by God eternally. You know, it's just amazing when
we look at things and we find that the elect whom He would
redeem, their very names written in the Lamb's Book of Life, and
it goes down into further detail. It says even the very hairs of
their head are all numbered. That's the detail with which
God knows His people and works to, to satisfy His righteousness
through the application of the Gospel, and how He operates in
intersecting His elect with the Gospel, and either bringing them
to it or bringing the Gospel to them. You know, we find Christ leaving
in a way his infinite nature and taking on the nature of man
to walk these final steps to death. And it says, as they led
him away, They laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian." And again,
whenever the Lord sees fit to record someone's name or some
particular thing, because sometimes He says it was a certain person,
it's something that we should probably pay attention to. They
laid hold of one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and
on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus.
And in Isaiah 53, verse 7, it says, He was oppressed, He was
afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. In the King James
Version, it says, He's brought as a lamb to the slaughter, as
a sheep before its shearers is done, so opened He not His mouth. In the NIV Version, it says,
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before
its shearers is silenced, so opened He not His mouth. So it's interesting that this
Simon person, he's a Cyrenian, and Cyrene was an area near Tripoli
in Libya. So he's pilgrimaged up to Jerusalem
for this Passover feast, likely, and was there for that purpose
because the law said that all male Jews had to attend three
feasts in the year. likely he was a proselyte from
that area down there, from Tripoli, from Libya. And there he is kind of coming in
to see what all the hubbub is about and ends up being made
to carry the cross of Christ. And then we find that It's this Isaiah 53-7. It's the same scripture which
the Ethiopian eunuch was reading out loud when the angel of the
Lord sent Philip down to him from Samaria, where he'd been
preaching the gospel up there to the Samaritans. And in Acts,
the eighth chapter, In verse 26, the angel of the
Lord spake unto Philip. You know, it says it's the angel
of the Lord here in a couple of verses down. It's called the
capital S Spirit. The angel of the Lord spake unto
Philip, saying, Arise and go toward the south unto the way
that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And
he arose and went, and behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of
great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who
had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for
to worship." Another proselyte from Ethiopia coming to Jerusalem
for the feast there. It doesn't say which feast he
was there for the purpose of worship, but one of those three. And he was returning from Jerusalem
and was sitting in his chariot, read, Isaiah is the prophet.
Then the Spirit, capital S Spirit said unto Philip, go near and
join thyself to this chariot. Interesting, we were just thinking
about the wonder of it as we were talking about this Normanite
this morning and how God worked all things, caused this Ethiopian
to be a proselyte, caused him to have to go to Jerusalem, caused
him to be particularly reading at this very instant Isaiah 53. And at the same time, he sends
a spirit to Samaria and grabs Philip and says, trot on down
to Gaza and intersect with this Ethiopian man. And Philip ran thither to him
and heard him read the prophet Isaiah, so he was reading it
out loud, and said, understandest thou
what thou readest? And this Ethiopian was just like
many that we find in religion. They read all these words, and
they're just sort of words to them, and they may get some moral
guidance or social regulations and rules to go by, but they
don't really see the spiritual aspect of it in the gospel, just
things to do. And he says, do you understand
what you're reading here? This Isaiah 53, do you understand
what that's about? And he said, how can I, except
some man should guide me? You know, it takes the Spirit
of God to say, to cause a person to say, how can I understand
this? The Scripture says, unless a
man be born again, he can't see this Kingdom of God. The natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither
can he know them, because they're spiritually discerned. He said,
how can I? That's a revealed thing, to be
able to understand that. How can I understand this on
my own? How can I accept some man should
guide me? And he desired Philip that he
would come up and sit with him. And the place of the scripture
which he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the
slaughter. And like a lamb done before his
shearer, so opened he not his mouth. Right out of Isaiah 53,
7. Every step of the Lord foreordained,
every person there foreordained according to the purpose of God.
And so, we come back to this Simon of Cyrene, and the soldiers
led him away, and they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on
his way from the country, and put the cross on him and made
him carry it beside Jesus. And he was there again for the
Passover feast from this city of North Africa in Libya. And I think this name and where
he was from was recorded for us on purpose because a couple
of things. If we look over to Mark's Gospel
in Chapter 15, recording this same thing that's going on in Mark
15, 21, A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander
and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country and
they forced him to carry the cross. Well, it isn't going to
be too many years later that Paul is writing from Corinth
to the Romans and he says, greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord. and his mother, who's been a
mother to me too." You know, there's nothing really
revealed about his brother Alexander, but I'm pretty sure this is the
same Rufus. In this fact that he's from Cyrene,
we could go over to Acts 2. In verse 1, it says, When the
day of Pentecost was come, they were all together in one place. 50 days after is what that Pentecost
was. Suddenly a sound like a blowing
of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where
they were sitting. And so all these disciples are
there and these people that came to hear. They saw what seemed
to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each one
of them. And all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and
began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now
there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation
under heaven and when they heard this sound a crowd came together
in bewilderment because each one heard in their own language
being spoken and Utterly amazed they asked well aren't these
all who are speaking Galileans? How do these rude country hillbilly
folks know how to speak my language? and How is it that each of us hear
them in our own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites,
residents of Mesopotamia and Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus
and Asia, those are the places that Peter wrote about to the
strangers, all that area up in Turkey. Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt,
and the parts of Libya near Cyrene, and visitors from Rome. Isn't
that interesting that we have this Simon there, probably a
proselyte up from Libya, come up to worship because it was
required, came the same as that Ethiopian guy from Candace, came
up to worship and got intersected with the gospel. You know, it
goes on to say in Acts chapter 2, well, let's just go there. We have
enough time. We'll just go over there and
read that. It's interesting. As we continue on here in verse
11, Cretans and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our own
tongues the wonderful works of God. Well, that's what Philip
was telling that Ethiopian about all the things that Christ underwent. With His stripes we're healed,
all we like sheep have gone astray, and the Lord laid on Him the
iniquity of us all. That's the wonderful work of
God, laying the iniquity of us all on His Son to pay that penalty. And they were amazed and were
in doubt, saying to one another, What meaneth this? And others
mocked, saying, These men are full of new wine. So we have
that separation there. We have the people that were,
they recognize them as wonderful work of God, and others that
were just mockers. Peter, standing up with the eleven,
lifted up his voice. And you men of Judea and all
that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you and hearken to
my words. You're not drunken, as you suppose. Sing. It's only
the third hour of the day, but this is that which was spoken
of by the prophet Joel." He takes them right to the Gospel in the
Old Testament. And he tells them about how this
was going to occur, how these men were going to be able to
speak the Gospel to all these people in their own languages.
and let's skip on down there to verse 22. You men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by
miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst
of you as you yourself know, Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God you have taken, and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain. whom God hath raised up, having
loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should
be holden of it. For David speaketh concerning
him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on
my right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore did my
heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad moreover my flesh shall
rest in hope because thou will not leave my soul in hell neither
will thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption so he goes
on preaches the gospel of the death burial and resurrection
of the lord And it verifies that in verse 31. And verse 32, This
Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses. And now
he's by the right hand of God exalted. And now we come to where
the rubber meets the road in verse 37. Now when they heard
this, they were pricked in their hearts. Same thing that was said
to Paul on the road to Damascus, hard to kick against the pricks.
And they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles and men
and brethren, what shall we do? And he said, repent and be baptized
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for or because
of the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of
the Holy Ghost. And we go on down to verse 41, it says, and
they that gladly received his word were baptized. And the same day there were added
unto them about 3,000 souls. Isn't that amazing? And some of them was from Cyrene.
Probably one of them's name was Simon. So they hung around after the
feast was over until the 50 days, and then they continued steadfastly
in breaking of bread and prayers with the apostles. What an amazing
set of circumstances there. So now, as we mentioned earlier,
that they led Jesus away in Luke, it says, to Calvary. And that's
a Latin word. That's the Latin for bald head. This mount that was the shape
of a skull. In Greek it was Golgotha. In
the Greek, the actual Greek word is cranium from where we get cranium and
the skull. They don't know exactly where
this Golgotha is precisely. It's probably as many times in
history we find a place that was there and then it was reduced
to rubble and then built over and reduced to rubble and built
over. At the time of this writing,
it said it was outside the wall of Jerusalem. And that's what
the scripture said, that Jesus would have to be led outside
the camp. So at this time, it was outside the wall, outside
the old city gate. That's what it says in Hebrews
13, 12. Wherefore, Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people
with his own blood, suffered without the gate. That comes
from Leviticus 16, 27, that describes that process. But the exact location
is unknown according to God's purpose, I believe. Because if
we knew exactly where it was, we would make a shrine there.
And it would be that would be the thing and not
the Lord. And we'd build a religious monument
there and go to worshiping that spot, just like Norman saying,
well, if we had the brazen serpent, we'd be just like the old Israelites. We'd go to worshiping that. If
we had the piece of the Ark of Noah, we'd go to worshiping that
and all this iconical things. In John 420, when Jesus talked
to that woman at the well, she says, well, our fathers worshiped
in this mountain, and you say that Jerusalem is a place where
men ought to worship. And he says, you know, that's
not the point. Where you worship is not as important
as who you worship. Believe me, woman, the hour cometh
when you shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem
worship the Father." You don't know what you worship, he tells
her. We know what we worship for salvation
is of the Jews, that's refers to himself, but the hour cometh
and now is when true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth. Because God is a spirit, they
that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. For
the Father seeketh such to worship him. You know, it's just like even
the disciples were kind of guilty of that back in Luke chapter
9 when they were on the Mount of Transfiguration and they saw
all this. supernatural happenings where
the Lord was transfigured and there was two others standing
with him. And he says, they said, oh, it's
good for us to be here. Let's let us make three tabernacles
here on this spot. One for you and and one for Moses
and one for Elias. We'll make a a religious worship
spot here. So, you know, I think the purpose
of Golgotha was to be outside the camp and visible, according
as it was written. They crucified him in a place
where they could be seen and made a spectacle of so that it
would be a warning to others. It was outside the wall, and
the distance from the Praetorium or the Hall of Judgment, where
Pilate gave sentence to Golgotha, it's not really revealed, but
likely it was. The two things that I read about
said, depending on which route you take, it's either a third
of a mile, probably, because they don't know the exact location,
but they know approximately where it would have been. It would
either have been a third of a mile or 1.3 miles depending on which
route you took. And again, even the route has
been speculated, but it's been turned into a religious iconery,
mostly by Catholics who encourage pilgrimages along the way that
they've named the Via Della Rosa, which is the way of suffering.
And they have all these worship sites along the way where you
stop and worship the spot and maybe leave an offering. However far and whichever route,
we know that those were both determined in eternity and purpose
to be carried out absolutely and completely and without deviation. But it's not in the purpose of
God that we may know the exact steps. Otherwise, we'd fall into
idolatry. But you know, in Psalm 37, verse
23, it says, The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord,
and he delighteth in his way. There's none good but God. Why call me thou good? So today
we're going to stop there, and next week we'll have Brother
Lance here, and we'll be having brunch at this time and enjoying
fellowship with a man of God that is truly a missionary. So be free because the good man,
Jesus Christ, took these steps in your place. Because there's
one God and one mediator between God and man, and that's the man,
Christ Jesus. So, be free.