At Todd's Road Grace Church,
we'd like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nibbert. I'd like to read a verse of Scripture
from Luke chapter 23, verse 26. And as they led him away, speaking
of leading the Lord Jesus away to be crucified, 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." I've entitled this message, Simon
Bearing the Cross. A preacher of 150 years ago,
Charles Spurgeon, maybe you've heard of him, made this statement,
and I've never heard a statement that hit me like this. He said, if we limited our preaching
to nothing but the cross, and had no other subject. It would be a widening rather
than a narrowing of our ministry. Did Paul say anything less when
he said, I determine not to know anything among you save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified? He said, I'm interested in no
other subject than this, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I'm not going to preach anything
but this, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now, would you agree
with Spurgeon's statement? Would you agree with Paul when
he said, I've determined, I've made this my determination not
to know anything among you, to esteem anything, even as important,
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Well, let me make four statements
regarding the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. First, the cross
of Christ is the focal point of all history. It's the most
important, infinitely the most important event to ever take
place in time. Nothing was more important than
that in the past, now, or in the future. The cross of Christ
is the central focal point of all history, the most important
event to ever take place. Jesus Christ being nailed to
a cross. Now, the second statement is
the cross of Christ Christ being nailed to a cross, being led
away to be nailed to a cross, is the most evil event to ever
take place. The creature nailed its creator
to a cross. What could be more evil than
that? And yet the cross of Christ The
most evil event to ever take place is the most God-like thing
God ever did. While it's the most evil event
to ever take place, it is also the most glorious event to ever
take place, the most God-like thing God ever did. Now, Christ being nailed to a
cross, It's the subject of the eternities. Now there was a time
when there was no time. There were no moon, there were
no stars. All there was was God and the Trinity of His blessed,
sacred persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. No universe,
no stars. Even then, Christ is called the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Before time, Christ
was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Eternity passed. He was the subject. And what
about when time is wrapped up and we go back again to eternity,
eternity future? I know I'm speaking as a man,
and if there's a past and present and future, it's not eternity,
obviously, but this is all we can get hold of. We're creatures
of time. But what about when time is no more? And what will
the song of heaven be? Worthy is the lamb that was slain. And even in heaven, Christ is
going to have the scars of the wounds he received being nailed
to the tree. Now, why? When I'm in heaven,
I'm not even going to remember what it's like to be a sinner.
perfectly conformed to the image of His Son. But I'm going to
look at the scars on my Redeemer, and I'm going to know that the
only reason I'm there is because of Him, what He did for me. And the cross is the reason behind
all that God does. Now, this gives us some idea
of the importance of the cross. It's the focal point of history.
It's the most evil and yet the most glorious thing ever done.
It's the subject of the eternities and the cross is the reason behind
all that God does. Now understand this, the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ was not God's response to the fall
of Adam and trying to clean up the mess he made. No, the fall
of Adam was for this one singular purpose, the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It was because God's will was
the cross. God said to Adam, in the day
you eat thereof you shall surely die. He didn't say if you eat
thereof you'll die. He said when you do. You see,
the fall was all a part of God's purpose for the glory of the
cross. Now that's just so. That's just
so. That's not up for argument or
debate. God is God, and the will of God is the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ, that everything He does, He does for His own
honor and glory, which is seen in the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, if those things are so,
and they are, it's true. If all we talk about is the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ, it will be a widening rather than
a narrowing of our ministry. Mr. Spurgeon was spot on, and
Paul meant it when he said, I determined not to know anything among you,
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now back to the text. One morning,
a man by the name of Simon of Cyrene, that is a country in
northern Africa, and he was probably a Jewish proselyte of some kind,
and he was in Jerusalem for the Passover, very much like the
Ethiopian eunuch was, and he was returning home, and he runs
into a procession. This was not something he was
looking for, but it was something that happened to him. He was in Jerusalem to observe
the Passover, and he had no idea that he was getting ready to
observe the true Passover. And this had all been determined
for him before time began. He didn't know it, but he was
going to truly observe the Passover. As he was leaving Jerusalem,
he happened upon this procession. We know from John's account that
the Lord initially bore the cross. It was placed upon him. Now,
the Lord had been beaten with the cat of nine tails. It had
the crown of thorns pressed upon his head. He'd been struck, blindfolded
by the soldiers. He'd been spit upon, shamefully
abused. He'd probably gone quite some
time without food or water, and you can imagine how weak he was
as he left Jerusalem, heading toward Golgotha, the place he
was to be crucified. and he was exhausted. Neither
while he was on this walk, he either fell underneath the load
of the cross, or perhaps he wasn't moving fast enough. For the Roman
soldiers, and Simon of Cyrene runs into this procession, and
the Roman soldiers find him, seize him, lay hold upon him,
and compel him, force him to bear this cross. Now he was an
unwilling participant at first. I believe that as he watched
our Lord and heard the words that were said, I think the Lord
used that to save him, just like He did the thief on the cross. He heard the same things the
thief on the cross heard, the seven sayings of the Lord from
the cross. I think by the time this was
over, the Lord had saved him, but when it began, he was an
unwilling participant. Now, according to Mark, chapter
15, verse 21, Mark gives some biographical information that
I think the early church would have known what he was talking
about when he said in Mark, chapter 15, verse 21, and they compel
one Simon, a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country,
the father of Alexander and Rufus. And notice how Mark identifies
Simon as the father of Alexander and Rufus, as though the early
church would have known who these two men were. And that implies
that his children were converted. You know, if you look in Mark
chapter 16, I mean Romans chapter 16, when Paul is giving his final
greetings to the church, he says, greet Rufus and his mother. Evidently, there's no reason
to think that this isn't the same Rufus that is spoken of
by Mark that was the son of Simon. And then we read of a Simon who
was a leader in the early church at Antioch. So I believe that
this man ended up being saved by the grace of God. And what
a privilege he had of being a bearer of the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now remember how this message
began. The cross is the focal point, the most important event
ever. The cross is the most evil event
to ever take place, and it's the most glorious thing to ever
take place, the most God-like thing God ever did. The cross
is the subject of the eternities, before time and after time. And the cross is the reason God
does everything He does. It's the eternal purpose that
God purposed in Himself. Now this cross that Simon was
privileged to bear was the instrument of the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It was the instrument. There
was no saving power in the cross itself. As far as that goes,
the cross was a pole. It wasn't a cross like this.
That didn't even come about. Nobody ever thought anything
like that into the third century and it became a religious symbol.
The cross was a pole that they stretched the Lord out on and
nailed Him to it. Now, understand this. If we had
the actual cross that the Lord Jesus was crucified on and actually
had His literal blood still there staining the cross, there would
be absolutely no saving efficacy in that at all. Men make an idol
of the cross. and wear it as jewelry and so
on. You know that's blasphemous.
That's idolatry. There's no saving benefit or
power in the cross or any kind of religious image or religious
relic. I've seen in these churches with
crosses or even images of Christ hanging on a cross, and that's
idolatry. There's no saving efficacy in
the physical wood of the cross. So when we're speaking of the
cross, and the cross is the whole counsel of God, not talking about
the instrument that was used for the death of the Lord, not
talking about that at all. We're talking about the whole
counsel of God. That's what the cross is. Now,
the cross is nothing less than God's eternal purpose. When Peter was preaching on Pentecost,
he began with these words, Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and with
wicked hands have crucified and slain. The cross was God's will
being done. Let me repeat that. The cross
was God's will being done. Now, do you remember in Gethsemane's
garden when Christ said, oh, Father, if it be possible, let
this cup pass from me. And that's talking about Him
drinking the cup of the sins of His people, and being made
sin, and being separated from His Father, being forsaken by
His Father, the cup of God's wrath. Him drinking the full
equivalent of an eternal hell, of Him being made sin. The Son
of God knew this was His purpose, but as this was contemplated
in the Garden of Gethsemane, He said, if it be possible, let
this cup pass from Me. Nevertheless, not My will. but thine be done." This was
God's will for Him to be nailed to the cross as the sin-bearing
substitute of His people for the glory of God. The cross was nothing less than
the will of God. Yes, it was the will of the people.
The scripture says He delivered Jesus to their will, and man
wanted Him dead. Yes, it was the will of the people,
but here's why it was the will of the people. Because it was
the will of God. God is sovereign over the free
actions of men, and the reason He went to the cross was for
this one singular reason. It was God's will. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1
verse 17, he said, Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach
the gospel. And that doesn't mean that Paul
was indifferent about baptism. We love it when people confess
Christ and believers' baptism. It's the public confession of
Christ, and what a blessing it is to see people confess Christ
and believers' baptism. But Paul said, that's not my
purpose to baptize, to see results. He sent me to preach the gospel. And then he said, for the preaching
of the cross. And that word preaching is literally
the word of the cross. the doctrine of the cross, what
the cross actually has to say. The preaching of the cross is
to them that perish foolishness. They hear the doctrine of the
cross and they say, I don't believe that. That's foolishness. But
unto them which are saved, saved by the grace of God, They see
what the world calls foolishness as nothing less than the power
of God. The preaching of the cross is
to them that perish, foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
it is the power of God. Now, just what is it that the
cross teaches? What is the doctrine of the cross? Essentially three things. The
cross gives us the true character of man. The cross gives us the
true character of God. And the cross tells us how one
described by the cross, God, the God who is described by the
cross, how he can save someone like the man who is described
by the cross. The true character of man, the
true character of God, and the true character of salvation.
Now listen real carefully as the Lord, may the Lord give me
and you hearing ears to hear what's being said. The cross
is a declaration of the true character of man. When man is left to himself,
this is the way you are, this is the way I am, all God's got
to do is leave us alone and we will nail His Son to a cross. You see, men hate the Christ
who reigns. They don't mind a Jesus who can't
do anything unless we let him. That's a fictitious Jesus. That's
the Jesus most people believe in. Nobody hates him. But the
one who is God, the one who is in control, the one whose salvation,
your salvation is up to him. It's not up to you. It's up to
him. Your salvation is in his hands. Now that Jesus, people
say, we will not have this man reign over us. And that's exactly
what they did. They nailed him to a cross. Men hate God and his reign so
much that if left to themselves, they'll nail Christ to a cross. Now, that's how bad men you are.
You know, people talk about free will. Well, I can freely choose.
Your will is controlled by an evil nature. Here's your will. He delivered Jesus to their will. The will of man is the most wicked
thing there is, and unless God is pleased to give you a new
will, you'll be just like these people. The cross, not the newspaper,
not the bad news, the cross. is the declaration as to the
true character of man. And the true character of God
is seen in the cross. How holy is God? He is so holy
that when He sees sin on His Son, He kills Him. That's how holy God is. The cross is a declaration of
the justice of God. God is just. All sin must be
punished. And sin was punished even when
it was in His only begotten Son who bare our sins in His own
body on the tree. And God's justice, the sword
of God's justice came down upon Him and killed Him. God is just. God's immutable. He's not going
to change. The cross was always His purpose,
and the cross is His purpose coming to pass. We see His wrath
in the cross, His hatred of sin. We see His power in the cross.
Now, His power is such that He actually made sin not to be. That's the power of the cross.
Everybody Christ died for, their sin was put away. It's gone.
It's no longer. It's no more. We're justified. That means we didn't do anything.
It means we have no sin to be condemned for if we're in Christ.
If Christ died for us, He made it to where we're justified.
Oh, in the cross we see the power of God and that because of what
Christ did on the cross, every believer is destined to be perfectly
conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're going
to be made to be what they're not, just like Christ. How we
see the love of God and the mercy of God and the grace of God in
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ that He would give His Son for
sinners. How we see the wisdom of God.
How God who is so holy and so just and so righteous has made
a way to be just and yet justify people who are so unjust. Only
God could do this. Oh, the wisdom of God in making
a way to be just and justify the ungodly. And oh, the peace
that comes from the cross. In Colossians 1, verse 20, Paul
makes this statement, and having made peace through the blood
of his cross. Now, this is what the Lord did.
He made peace. Somebody says, have you made
your peace with God? No, Christ made my peace with God. having
made peace through the blood of His cross by Him to reconcile
all things unto Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometimes
alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death to
present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. Now here's what the cross did.
That peace he made makes every believer holy, unblameable, and
unreprovable. Now I have peace, and that peace
has nothing to do with anything that I have or haven't done. It has wholly to do with what
he did on Calvary's tree to make me holy, unblameable, and unreprovable. Oh, the peace of the cross. And you know, you can't talk
about the cross of Christ without talking about the offense or
the scandal of the cross. Paul spoke in Galatians 5.11
of, if I preach circumcision, if I preach works, then is the
offense of the cross ceased. You see, The cross offends men's
sense of self-righteousness because it says we don't have any self-righteousness. It offends men's sense of rights
because it says we don't have any rights. We forfeited them
all by our sin. The cross offends men's sense
of pride because it declares a salvation that's all of grace.
The cross offends men's sense of dignity because it says it
addresses them as nothing but sinners, that and nothing more.
And it offends men's sense of self-control because it says
we don't have any control. God is absolutely sovereign and
we're in His hands. The cross offends men's love
of self because we're called on to deny ourselves, take up
our cross and follow Him. But when I talk about the offense
or the scandal of the cross, you know what the biggest scandal
of the cross is? That somebody like me can be
saved. That, my dear friends, is scandalous. It's that somebody like you can
be saved. That is scandalous. And if you know your own heart
and the sinfulness of your own heart, you know that so. And
then there's the glorying in the cross. Paul said, God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I have confidence in, I rejoice in only the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. I don't look to myself. I don't
look to my works. I don't look to anything I've
done. I look to Christ only. God forbid that I should glory. Oh, may it never be so that I
glory in anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Now
remember who Paul was. He was the man who was brought
into the third heavens. He was taught the gospel by Christ
directly. He was used perhaps more than
any other man who's ever been used in expounding the gospel.
And he says, God forbid that I glory in any of that, but that
I glory only in who Christ is and what he did. Now one Simon
was found by grace, he was taken by grace, and he was compelled
by grace. And if God ever saves you, he'll
find you, he'll lay hold upon you, and He'll compel you to
go to His Son." And he became a bearer of the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ, grace that would not take no for an answer.
saving grace, made this man a bearer of the cross. And I have no doubt
that although he ended up being an unwilling participant, he
became someone who gladly denied himself, took up his cross, and
followed the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. To request a copy of the
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