Well, good morning everyone. If you would open your Bibles with me to Mark chapter 15. Mark chapter 15. Before we begin, let's bow before our Lord together in prayer. Our father, how thankful we are that in your goodness and mercy to your children, that you've allowed us one more opportunity to meet together and to worship your precious name. And father, I pray that you would send your spirit upon us this morning and enable us to do that, to truly worship you from the heart. How I beg of you that you deliver us from just going through the motions of religion. But father, that you would enable us through your word to hear our Lord Jesus Christ to see him with the eye of faith to believing and father to truly worship. If you don't meet with us, we've met in vain. Father, please, we pray that you would meet with us and able the name of your son to be glorified and magnified in this place today.

And we also father pray for our Children's class that father at this time you'd be pleased to to bless your word to their hearts, that you would plant the seeds of faith in their hearts and that father in your time, you might be pleased to reveal yourself to them in mercy, grace. We thank you for them. Father, we pray that you would watch over and protect them in this difficult time in which they're growing up and father above all that you'd be merciful to them. Father, we pray for those who are away from us traveling today, that you give them traveling mercies and those who'll be traveling this week. Father, for the sick and afflicted of our number here and in other places, we pray that you'd be with them in a mighty and special way. Father, you'd work your purpose in these trials, that you would teach us more of yourself, that you'd teach us to trust you more. Father, that you'd deliver as soon as it could be thy will. All these things we ask and we give thanks and that name which is above every name, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

I believe I have a lesson this morning that will be very helpful to us in our daily lives and in interactions with folks, religious folks at different times who use this phrase about taking up your cross. And that's what I've titled The lesson, take up your cross. To every believer, I say, take up your cross. Our text begins in Mark 15, verse 20. And when they mocked him, they took off the purple from him and put his own clothes on him and let him out to crucify him. And they compel one Simon, a Cyrenian, who passed by coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.

Now I'm sure something that comes to our mind when we hear this phrase or hear this story about Simon bearing the cross of Christ, about taking up your cross. If you look back at Mark chapter eight, that phrase is used several times in scripture. And here's one of them, Mark eight, verse 34. And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, He said unto them, whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Now that's a common phrase that people use, isn't it? This is my cross to bear. I have this cross to bear. This doesn't mean when somebody, or the way the phrase is used in scripture does not mean, well, I have this curse that's come upon me. It's my cross to bear. You know, I have a, you know, sour, mean, you know, personality. That's just my cross to bear. That's not what it means. It doesn't mean, well, I've got this trial. The Lord sent this trial to me, and I may as well not complain about it. It's my cross to bear.

Now, we know our Lord said, in this world, you shall have tribulation, and absolutely we will. Every time a trial comes to us, I can assure you this, it's come from the hand of our Father. He sent it for his purpose to accomplish good and to teach us something.

In this world you shall have tribulation. But that's not what bearing my cross, or this is a cross for me to bear, means. Not as it's used in scripture. And it certainly does not mean that we're to carry some sort of a burden, some sort of burden of the cross to help Christ save me or to somehow contribute to my salvation. You know good and well, that's not what it means.

What this means, take up your cross, what it means is this, to take up the gospel of the cross, to take up the gospel of what Christ accomplished on the cross, to take it up as your very own and to believe it and to confess it.

When Paul wrote to the church at Galatians, Galatians 6 verse 14, he said, God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was meaning, God forbid that I glory in anything except what Christ accomplished on the cross. God forbid that I'd preach anything, save Christ and him crucified, what Christ accomplished on the cross.

You know, Paul did not mean I'm glorying in that hunk of wood. Whatever that hunk of wood was shaped like. Some people say it was just a pole. Some people say it was shaped like a T, and some people say like an X. That's not, that's immaterial. That's not what Paul's talking about. It means the gospel of Christ. What Christ accomplished on the cross for his people. That's what I want to try to show you from the scriptures today.

Now this man, Simon, We don't know anything else about him from scripture. He's never mentioned again. The only thing we know about him is he was in town on this weekend and they compelled him to carry the cross of Christ. Was he a believer? We don't know. Scripture is completely silent on that. I sure hope so. I mean, that's my answer. Every single time we run across someone in scripture or in our lives, are they a believer? Well, I sure hope so. I sure hope so.

But we don't know. But, you know, it appears that his sons were believers. Mark, when he writes about this man, Simon, saying he's the father of Alexander and Rufus, he doesn't give last names or any other distinguishing characteristics about these two men, Alexander and Rufus. It's like people would automatically know, the people who are reading this writing would automatically know who Alexander and Rufus were. Just like in this setting, if I tell you that this week I talked to Greg and I talked to Moose, you know exactly who I'm talking about. I talked to Greg Amquist and I talked to Moose Parks. I didn't need to give any, because in this setting, you know exactly who I was talking about, The same thing is true of Alexander and Rufus.

Now these names are mentioned later in scripture. In Romans 6 verse 13, Paul said, salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord and his mother and mine. Many people believe Paul's talking about the same man, the son of Simon Rufus. In Acts 19, we read about this man Alexander. Many people believe it's the same person. Alexander was with Paul while he was preaching at Ephesus. So it could be, it sure sounds like these two boys were believers, and maybe their daddy was too. Maybe he carried that cross to Golgotha's Hill and he stayed and watched and learned something. Maybe the Lord saved him. I don't know, but I sure hope so.

But here's the question. What was Simon doing carrying the cross of Christ, this instrument of Christ's death? the instrument of his humiliation and his painful death, bearing the curse of the sin of his people. What is Simon doing carrying this cross?

You know, it seems like Simon just happened to be passing by. It just so happened he was passing by at this very moment. Maybe he'd come to town for the Passover, maybe he'd come to town on business, and it looks like from the way this is written, he was passing by, This going out of the country, going back home. He lived in a place that was far away and he'd done whatever it was he needed to do. He's leaving the city and he's on his way home. And as he's on his way home, the Roman soldiers stopped him and they compelled him. They forced him to, I don't care where you're going. I don't care what you're doing. You carry this cross up this hill. We're going to crucify this man on it.

Now, why Simon? I mean, you know our Lord could have carried that cross all by himself. I mean, he carries the government of the world on his shoulder. Certainly he could have carried this cross. He didn't need the help physically, and he certainly didn't need any help of the spiritual burden of carrying the cross, carrying the curse of the sin of his people. He did that all alone. We know that. So why did Simon carry this cross? the instrument of our Lord's death. Why was he carrying it?

Well, I believe that the Lord used Simon to give us a picture of what does it mean for a believer to take up our cross and follow Christ. That's what Simon did. He carried that cross behind Christ. The Lord Jesus walked first in his beaten, battered, bloodied state, and Simon was behind him, carrying the cross, following Jesus to Golgotha's hill, And this is a picture of what does it mean for you and me to take up our cross and to follow Christ.

First, I see this. Simon was compelled to carry that cross. You know, Simon's just walking out of town and minding his own business. And the soldier saw him and grabbed him and they forced him to carry this cross. Now that's a picture of God's irresistible grace. When God lays hold on a sinner, He lays hold on you. If you know Christ, you know this. In your experience, somehow the Lord laid hold on you and He didn't give you a choice. You believe Christ because God didn't give you a choice. He gave you faith to believe Him. You come to Christ because God didn't give you a choice. He laid a hold on you and drew you to Christ.

Our Lord said, no man can come to me except the father which has sent me drawing. The father by his spirit lays hold on his people and draws them to Christ and you come, but you don't have a choice. When the Lord intends to save a sinner, he forcibly lays hold on that sinner and he makes them believe. Now he doesn't make them believe by making them change their mind and believe something they didn't used to believe. He makes them believe by putting faith in them, by putting a heart, a new heart of faith in them. And he makes them believe. He gives, he lays hold on them and gives them a need. You didn't think you need Christ. It wasn't any big deal, you didn't need. Now you need him. Why? It's because the Father laid hold upon you and made you need Christ. He makes you come to Christ. And I tell you what, you're thankful. You're thankful. This is my only hope of salvation, that the Father would lay hold on me and make me do the opposite of what this nature wants to do. I'm so thankful. That is my only hope of salvation. And my prayer is, Lord, draw me. Lord, draw me to Christ. Draw me ever closer to Christ.

And to think that the Father laid hold on me and made me come to Christ, drew me to Christ so that I see him. By God's grace, you do too. We see him. We believe him. Aren't you thrilled? What a thrill to, by God's grace, see the Lord Jesus Christ and believe him. That's, it's a thrill.

And I think, I just think about just the, how this story just played out, just in a fleshly sense. Maybe Simon is not a lot like me, maybe he is, but he had a plan. I tell Janet all the time, you gotta have a plan. You gotta have a schedule. If you're not gonna, you know, you're gonna do something, you gotta have a plan or you're never gonna get it done. And maybe he's thinking, well, I leave at this time, So I get home at this time, and these Roman soldiers stop and compel him to carry the cross. You know, I mean, they had the authority to do it. They'd killed him if he didn't do it, so he had to do it.

And initially, Simon probably was not too happy about this delay in his day. He probably was not too happy about having to carry this cross. I mean, everybody knows what the cross is. It's a sign of shame. Death on the cross was reserved for the very worst of criminals. He didn't want to be identified with being, you know, some of the worst criminals on the face of the earth. He's not too happy about having to carry this burden. I mean, you see people today and they, oh, they're going to carry the cross and they're going to, you know, walk all this way. Usually they got it on wheels and, you know, really, Finely sanded and and you know, it's got all this polyurethane on it. So it looks real nice This was a rough old piece of wood. I mean you're gonna get splinters on you It's gonna cut you rub you he just wasn't real thrilled about having to carry this cross But he did it because he had to because he didn't have a choice

That's not the attitude of a believer not at all God has no unwilling servants If you don't want to serve Christ and you don't want to come to Christ, don't. God had no unwilling servants. Here's how God lays hold on his people. He lays hold on them. And when he lays hold on them, they're coming to Christ. They're going to believe Christ. But at the same time, the Holy Spirit makes us willing. We're willing to come to Christ in the day of his power.

Because when God laid hold on me, he gave me a new want to. Now I want to come to Christ. Now it just, he's my heart's desire and I want to come to Christ. Look at Matthew chapter 16. Matthew 16 verse 24. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, If any man, if this is his will, if this is what he wants to do, if he's willing to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

When a believer's born again, we're given a new nature. And that nature wills to come to Christ. I want to come to Christ. There is nothing that I want more than to come to Christ and believe him. There's nothing I want more than to come to Christ and be in his presence, to be in the presence of the Savior. There's nothing that I want more than to be saved on God's terms. I love God's terms of salvation. Don't contribute anything of my own. Everything that I've ever done that I thought is worth offering to God as a way to help my salvation, Count it as dung and throw it away and trust Christ. Trust Christ to do it all. Trust Him completely. I love that. I want to come to Christ. I want to come to the worship service so that I can hear more of Christ. Tell me again, I want to. I want to come serve the Lord whatever way that that is possible. To serve the Lord by serving you, and helping you, and being with you. I want to do that.

The Lord says, come. And when a believer is born again, we say, ready or not, here I come. Jesus, I come. That's what a songwriter said, Jesus, I come. I'm coming because the Lord gave me a new will, so that I want to come to Christ.

And here's the second thing. Carrying this cross and being stopped by the Roman soldiers and compelled to be part of this parade, going to Golgotha's Hill, the Lord made that a blessing to Simon. I know it's something, it just had to be something he didn't want to do at first, but the Lord made this a blessing to this man. He carried that cross all the way up Golgotha's Hill and then somebody took it from him and he watched him. He watched him lay that cross down on the ground, lay this man, Jesus of Nazareth, on that cross and nail him to it. Drive these nails through his hands and his feet to nail him to that cross. And then he watched them. They picked up that cross and they dropped it in the hole. And there he is. He saw that. He probably, I mean, maybe he didn't, but after he went all that way, He's carrying the cross and they're passing all these people. Remember how those women were crying and lamenting over this? And Simon watched as the Lord stopped and told him, don't you weep for me. You weep for yourselves and you weep for your children, but don't you weep for me. No, I'm doing this willingly. This is my will to go and glorify my father and save his people from their sin. Don't you weep for me.

Now he had to wonder about that. He had to, this man who just beaten and battered and I mean he knows how horrible this must feel physically. He said, don't you weep for me? And he stood around and watched and he had to think. He had to think.

If he stayed around, he had to think this. This is unusual. I've seen other people crucified, but this is unusual. He saw the charge written over his head. This is the king of the Jews. This is the king? Suffering and dying like this?

And as he's wondering about that, suddenly the sun turned off. And there was darkness over all the land for three hours. Wherever Simon was when the sun went out, that's where he stood. That's where he stayed for three hours. He couldn't go anywhere. He couldn't see his hand in front of his face. He was there during those three hours of darkness. He saw everything that went on there at the cross. He saw everything the centurion saw.

When the Lord gave up the ghost, what did the centurion say? Surely this means the Son of God. Simon saw all that. And he heard everything, too. He heard everything that the Jews threw against him. Well, let him come down from the cross, and we'll believe him. He saved others, himself he cannot say. He heard that. And then he heard the Savior say, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.

Now that's unusual. He had to think, that had to get his attention. Father, forgive them. He heard him cry, I thirst, I thirst. I don't know what Simon knew at that time or anybody else around the cross knew at that time, but I do know this. Now we know this, the Savior wasn't meaning I physically thirst. Although I'm sure he did, but that's not what he was talking about. I thirst. I thirst for righteousness, because the Father stripped it from me. It made me sin for my people, and I thirst for it. He said that so you and I would know. He took our sin away from us into his own body on the tree and put it away by the sacrifice of himself.

And Simon heard that firsthand, a thirst. He heard our Lord look at his mother and say, woman, behold your son. John was there beside her. He said, now John's your son. And he said, I'm dying. I'm going to go back to my father. Now John's your son. And he said, told John, behold your mother. You take her into your house from this day forward as your mother, and you take care of her. In his dying agony, Simon heard our Savior. He heard his love for his people. He heard his love, how he provides for his people. That he took the time to provide in that agony of not just body, the agony of soul that he was going through, all the love of God for his people, the love of Christ for his people.

And he heard him cry. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Now again, I don't think it's possible. At that very moment, maybe later somebody could preach Christ to him and he could understand it, but at that moment, Simon couldn't understand what you and I understand today. Our Savior is God. He's God in human flesh, in a human body. He knew exactly why the Father forsook him. And he didn't say, my father, why did you forsake me? Because at this time, God is dealing with God. God is dealing with Christ as the sinner's substitute, as a sacrifice for the sin of his people. This is God dealing in judgment with the sinner's sacrifice. And he knew exactly why God forsook him. He asked this question so you and I would know. The holy God forsook him because he'd been made sin. And the father could not look on him in any kind of favor, any kind of love, any kind of grace, any kind of mercy, because God hates sin and must kill it. He must kill it. And the father turned his back upon his son and dealt with him as the judge and thrust the sword into the heart of his fellow, because sin must be put away. And our Savior cried, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? So you and I would know he was forsaken on Calvary Street because of our sin. And if the father turned his back on his son and Calvary for your sin, he'll never turn his back on you. The only thing he has for you is a smiling face.

And then he heard the Savior cry, it's finished. It's finished. Father, into thy hands, I commend my spirit. And he gave up the ghost. This man gave up the ghost. He didn't die because somebody took life from him. He gave it up. He gave it up. And he only gave it up when the great transaction was finished. Sin was paid for. Sin's gone. The purpose of the father and the salvation of his people is finished. The father purposed to save his people through the sacrifice of his son. by the precious blood of his son. The blood's been shed. The blood's been applied on the altar in heaven, those three hours of darkness. It's like our savior was the high priest who went behind the veil. He took his blood before the altar and sprinkled on the blood before the father, and the father said, that's enough. I'm satisfied. It's finished. The price is paid. It's finished. The people that I love, They're justified. They've been washed free from all of their sin. I put their sin away from them as far as the East is from the West. It's finished.

And I sure hope Simon stuck around and heard that, heard that and saw that and believed, believed on Christ. That dying thief, he saw enough and he heard enough to believe on him, didn't he? Oh Lord, will you remember me when you come into your kingdom? Maybe Simon did too. I sure hope so.

And if the Lord saved you and me, this is why I like, I don't know if Simon heard that. Oh, I hope so. But if the Lord saved you and me, that's what you and I have seen. By faith, that's what we've seen in Calvary. And that's what we've heard in the gospel. And I'm telling you, we're blessed. We're blessed. I've heard old preachers say the greatest blessing a town could ever have is God sends his gospel to that town. You and I are blessed. We're blessed.

Maybe if we hear it, maybe if our loved ones hear it, maybe if our children hear it, maybe they'll believe too. And by God's grace, this is the gospel we're going to keep preaching in. Because this is the means that God uses to save his people. And that's what we've heard. If the Lord's revealed himself to us, that's how he did it, through the preaching of Christ, telling us what it is that Christ accomplished on the cross.

Now we come to the question, what does it mean to take up your cross? Well, look at Luke chapter nine. Look at several times that this phrase is used in scripture, and it'll tell us what it means. Luke nine, verse 23. To take up your cross, means to deny yourself any credit or any glory, any contribution to your salvation and to trust Christ alone. Luke 9 verse 23. And he said to them all, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Deny yourself. Deny yourself any credit, any glory for this thing. Deny yourself any of your own righteousness. Deny yourself. Deny those things that the flesh wants to do. And follow Christ. And trust Christ. To take up your cross means to confess. Publicly confess. What does the cross mean? The cross is the glory of God. If you want to see the glory of God, the place you see it most plainly is at the cross, where God fully and completely punished sin. At the same time, fully and freely poured out mercy and grace and forgiveness on all of his people. That's where it happened. It was at the cross. It's what Christ accomplished at the cross. He accomplished the purpose of God. He accomplished satisfying justice for his people. And he saved all of his people by grace, by grace. He saved all of the elect that the father gave him to save. He justified them. He made them without any sin so that the believer, this body, It's nothing but sin. This body cannot go straight into the presence of God because of the sin that's in it. That's all it is, is sin. But by his death on the tree, Christ justified his people so that the new man born in you, when this body dies, goes straight into the presence of the thrice holy God because of what Christ accomplished on the cross. That's what he accomplished.

Next, to take up your cross and follow Christ is to confess faith in Christ. Look at Mark chapter 10. It's to confess that I trust him and him alone. And what he accomplished on Calvary's tree is mine because he gave it to me. He gave it to me. Mark 10 verse 21. This is the Lord dealing with that rich young ruler. Then Jesus beholding him loved him. and said unto him, one thing thou lackest, go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give it to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

This is what the Lord tells that rich young ruler, throw away all hope in yourself. And he's telling us the same thing. Throw away all hope in yourself. Throw away all hope in your religious knowledge. Throw away all hope in your Calvinistic doctrine. Throw away all hope in everything that you've done or things that you haven't done. Throw away all of your righteousnesses. They're filthy rags. They're not helping you. They're hurting you. Throw them away and trust Christ. Trust Christ. Say it publicly. Follow him.

In Luke 9 verse 23, the Lord said, take up his cross daily and follow me. Daily, daily confess Christ. Yes, we confess him in believers baptism and we daily follow him too, don't we? We daily trust him. We daily follow him. And to take up your cross is to take up your cross and you don't just take it and stand there and hold it. You follow Christ. You take up this message of what Christ accomplished on the cross and you follow him. You follow him wherever he leads. And you know where he leads every single one of his children? Outside the camp.

Simon had to take up that cross and carry it and follow Christ outside the camp. Outside the walls of Jerusalem to Golgotha's Hill because that's where the sacrifice is burned and disposed of. It's outside the camp. You follow Christ outside of man's religion. Whatever it was that you used to do and you used to trust in, you leave that and you follow Christ outside the camp. You follow Christ outside of your false refuge, your refuge of lies, your refuge that's based on everything you've done, and you follow Christ, to refuge in Christ.

And if you're gonna follow Christ, you don't just look to him, Peter said looking, constantly looking unto Jesus. If you're gonna follow Christ, you gotta constantly look at him, because you take your eyes off of him, you turn around, he's gone, and you don't know where he went. He went this way, you expect him to go this way.

If you're gonna follow Christ, you can't take your eyes off of him. You look to Christ like the sheep look to the shepherd. The sheep look to the shepherd, so they're following, wherever he goes, but they look to him in dependence. I look, I'm looking to Christ so I can follow him into the green pastures of his word, so he can lead me beside the deep still waters of his word that give life to my soul. I'm looking to Christ so he provides protection, that he'll protect me with his rod and his staff from wandering off and falling off a cliff. I'm looking to him to protect me. I'm looking to Him. If I see Him, my soul's comforted. If I see Him, if I'm close enough to see Him, my soul's comforted, because nothing can harm my soul. If I'm looking to Him, I find such comfort in being in His presence. There's such comfort in looking to Him and trusting Him to be my righteousness, trusting Him to be my sanctification, trusting Him to be my prophet, my priest and king, trusting in Him to be everything that I need,

When I take up my cross, when I take up this gospel of Christ and what Christ accomplished on the cross, where else will I keep looking? I gotta keep looking to Him. He saved me, and He's my Lord and my master, and I wanna follow Him. I want to be where He is, don't you? And I wanna look to Him, and God forbid that I ever look to myself, that I ever look to you, that I ever look to some of the prince of this world, and look to Christ, and God will enable me to take up this glorious gospel of Christ and Him crucified, take it as mine. This is what Christ did for me. I'll follow Him.

All right, well, I hope that'll be a blessing to you, and understand that, what that phrase means next time somebody uses it to you, all right?