Which turn back to Luke chapter
23. We're going to observe the Lord's table
tonight. The Lord said this do in remembrance of me. I have entitled the message for
this morning. Simon bearing the cross. Simon bearing the cross. Charles Spurgeon, a preacher
from the 1800s, most of you are familiar with him, made this
statement. If we limited our preaching to
nothing but the cross, and we had no other subject, it would prove to be a widening
rather than a narrowing of our ministry. Here's my question. Do we really
believe that? Do you believe that? Do I believe that? The cross will make four statements
before I get into Simon, bearing the cross. The cross is the focal point
of history. Everything that's taking place
and will take place in this thing called time, the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ is the focal point. It's infinitely the greatest
event that has or ever will take place. Here's my second statement. The
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is the most evil event to ever
take place. When the creature nailed his
creator to the tree in malicious hatred. But not only is the cross
the most evil event to take place, nothing else can even be compared
it's also the most glorious thing to take place ever. The cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ is the most God-like thing God ever
did. Thirdly, the cross of Christ,
that one being nailed to a tree some 2,000 years ago, is the
subject of the eternities. Before time began, before there
was a universe, before there were any creatures, even then
when Christ, the Spirit and the Father dwelt alone, what was
the song of eternity past? Christ, the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. Before there was any existence,
before there were me and you, Christ, the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. And what will heaven be about? Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. That's all heaven is going to
be about. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ will still have
his wounds, his scars from his death. That will still be evident. I love thinking about this. We'll
know, I'm not gonna be a sinner anymore. I'm not gonna have any
sin. And I'm not even going to remember what it's like to be
a sinner. But this I know. I'll look at those scars and
I'll know that's the only reason I'm here. Fourth statement I want to make
about the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is the cross is the reason
behind everything God does. The cross was not God's response
to clean up the mess man made. The fall of man had this one
singular purpose, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if
what I said is so, if the cross is the focal point of history,
If it really is the most evil event to ever take place and
the most glorious event to ever take place, if it is the subject
of the eternities, if it is the reason why God does everything
he does, Mr. Spurgeon was spot on, wasn't
he? If we narrowed ourselves to speaking of nothing but the
cross, it would be a widening rather than a narrowing of our
ministry. One morning, a man by the name
of Simon of Cyrene, a country in northern Africa,
he was a black man and he got up one morning with no idea of
the events that were getting ready to take place that God
had already determined. In all likelihood, Simon was
a Jewish proselyte and was in Jerusalem to observe the Passover,
much like the Ethiopian eunuch came to Jerusalem to observe
the Passover. And he had no idea that he would
be observing the true Passover. As he was leaving Jerusalem,
he happened on a procession. Now we know from John's account
that the Lord initially bore his cross. That day, he had been beaten
with a cat of nine tails, furrows laid down his back, the thorn
of crown still pressed upon his head, emaciated. You couldn't
even recognize him. They beat him, blindfolded him,
struck him. He'd gone who knows how long
without any food or water. And he is bearing the cross. Either he fell beneath the load
of the cross or he was moving too slowly for the Roman soldiers.
And Simon runs into this procession. Now notice it says in verse 26
of Luke chapter 23, as they led him away, they laid hold. They seized. He was not a willing
participant in this. They laid hold of Simon, that's
Irenaeus. Now, if you read the other accounts,
three words are used, and I'm getting these from Matthew and
Mark's account also. They found him, they laid hold
upon him, and they compelled him to carry the cross. I pray that this morning God
will find somebody and lay hold of them and compel
by irresistible, invincible grace them to be a willing bearer of
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's the way grace works.
You understand that? Grace is an offer. Grace finds
somebody, seizes them, takes them and compels them and causes
them to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's called
invincible, irresistible grace. you'll find Christ and his cross
to be irresistible if God takes hold of you. And this man had no idea that
morning of what a privilege he was going to be given to be an
actual bearer of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. What greater
honor could anybody have? than what this man was given. Turn with me to Mark's account,
Mark chapter 15. Mark chapter 15, verse 21, and they compel, there's
that word, they force. They compel one Simon, a Cyrenian,
who passed by coming out of the country. And notice this biographical
note that Mark gives. This Simon was the father of
Alexander and Rufus. And he says that almost like
the church would know who he's talking about. the father of
Alexander and Rufus. And when you read Romans 16,
when Paul is closing that epistle, he speaks of greeting Rufus.
Rufus. And there's no reason to believe
that that's not the same Rufus. And if you look in Acts chapter
13, when you read of the leaders of that church in Antioch, we
read of Simon the Niger or Simon the black. And most people think
that this is the Simon that was compelled to bear the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ. At any rate, this man, Simon,
was selected by God to have the privilege of bearing the cross
of his beloved son. And he's a picture of every believer
in me. He was following the steps of the Lord Jesus Christ, bearing
his cross. Now, remember how this message
began. The cross of Christ in Simon
might have even been made to help drop the cross in the stand
after our Lord was nailed to that tree. The cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ is the focal point of all of history, everything
that takes place in this thing we call time. The cross is the
most evil event to ever take place, and it's the most God-like
thing God ever did. The cross is the subject of eternity,
the eternities, and the cross is the reason God does everything
he does. Now, this cross that Simon was
privileged to bear was an instrument. It was an instrument, nothing
more. It's the instrument upon which
God's purpose was fulfilled. And there's no saving power in
that piece of wood. Now I realize people make an
idol of the cross and they wear crosses around for jewelry and
so on. And for one thing, the cross
was not this. That didn't come around in the
third century. The cross was a pole. And if you had the very
wood, that had the literal blood of the Lord Jesus Christ on that
wood where he was nailed to that tree and you came in contact
to that wood, do you know it would be of no saving benefit
whatsoever to you? It would not do any good. People make an idol of the cross
and what if someone, what if someone's
mother was killed by an axe murderer, and they wanted to use an axe
as a piece of jewelry. It doesn't make sense, does it? It doesn't make sense. The cross,
men make an idol of it, but oh, what does the cross actually
have to say? You know, we don't sing that
song. They sing that song, I'll cherish
the old rugged cross, not me. I cherish the Christ of the cross
and I love the way that song is sung. I cherish the Christ
of the cross. So while we're not speaking of
the pole that Christ was nailed to, it was the instrument used
and that's what Simon was made to bear. When we speak of the
cross, now you listen to this statement real carefully. Maybe
you've heard me say this before, but it's just as true now as
it was the last time I said it. The cross is the whole counsel
of God. I repeat, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is the
whole counsel of God. And let me make five or six statements. The cross is nothing less than
the eternal purpose of God. When Peter preached on the day
of Pentecost, He said, him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and for knowledge of God, you have taken and with
wicked hands have crucified and slain. The cross was God's will
being done. You remember the Lord praying
in the garden, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." Now the Lord knew this was His
eternal purpose, yet the thought of drinking the contents of that
cup, the thought of drinking our sins in His own body on the
tree and being made sin and being separated from the Father Oh,
if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not
my will but thine be done. You see, the cross is the eternal
will of God. It's the eternal purpose which
He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Yes, it was the will of
the people. Scripture says Jesus was delivered
to their will. It was the will of the people,
but before that, it's the will of God. And the only reason it
was the will of the people is because it was the will of God
Almighty. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief. So
the cross, is nothing short of God's will. Now, turn with me to 1 Corinthians
1. Verse 17. For Christ sent me not to baptize. Now I have interestingly heard
people say this shows that baptism is no longer a part of the New
Testament dispensation. That's not what that means at
all. Paul is saying my purpose is not to see results. I like seeing results, don't
you? Don't you love it when someone confesses Christ the believer's
baptism? We love that. But our purpose is not to see
results. Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the
cross of Christ should be made of none effect. Oh, you know,
that scares me to death. I don't want to use wisdom of
words to try to dress up the cross, the gospel, to make it
more palatable to the natural man. Don't want to do that. Oh,
may God give me grace to preach the cross and its naked simplicity.
Now look what he says in verse 18, for the preaching of the
cross. Now that word preaching is the
logos, the word, the doctrine of the cross. The preaching of
the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which
are saved, it's the power of God. The doctrine of the cross,
what the cross has to say is nothing less than the very power,
the omnipotence of God. Now, what does the cross have
to say? What is the doctrine of the cross?
Well, very simply, the cross gives us the true character of
man. The cross is a description of
me and you. The cross gives us the character
of God. And the cross tells us how the
God who fits the character revealed in the cross can save somebody
that fits the character of the man that's revealed in the cross.
That is the doctrine of the cross. The doctrine of the cross is
that me and you, if left to ourselves, And all
the restraint is taken away and left to our will. We nailed the Son of God, the
Holy One of Israel to a cross. We did not like what he has to
say. We don't like who he is. Now,
nobody feels that way about the weak Jesus that's preached in
our day. The Jesus who wants things and
can't have them unless you let him have his way. Nobody's afraid
of that Jesus, but that's a non-existent Jesus. You understand that? That
Jesus is an idol. He's not true. But the Jesus
who absolutely rules and reigns and controls everybody and everything
and your eternal destiny is up to Him. Whether or not you'll
be saved, you have no control or say it, it's up to Him. You
know what men wanted to do without Christ? Kill Him. Put Him to
death. And that's exactly what they
did. When God left men to themselves. Now, let me say real clearly,
most people don't realize they hate Jesus Christ because they've
never heard of it. They've never heard of the true
Christ. They've heard of a false Christ that men make up, but
when they hear the true Christ, the one where salvation is of
the Lord, your salvation is in His hand. It's up to Him as to
whether or not you'll be saved. You don't have any control when
men hear of that Christ. Kill Him! We'll not have this
man reign over us. Now that's how bad everybody
in this room is. Beginning right here. I really
believe that about myself. Listen, don't look within your
own heart to find out how bad you are. You won't find out.
Oh, I feel guilty because I did this and I did that. Well, you
ought to feel guilty because you did this and you did that,
but that's the least of your problems. You believe that? The cross, the doctrine of the
cross, gives the true character of man. But not only does the doctrine
of the cross give us the true character of man, the cross,
only the cross. This is why the cross is so glorious.
Yes, it's evil and it shows the evil of man, but only the cross
gives us the true character of the living God. God is not known
apart from the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every attribute
of God is so clearly displayed in Jesus Christ being nailed
to that cross. His sovereignty right off the
bat. It's his purpose. God's will is always going to
be done. And it was the will of God for his son to be nailed
to that cross. And that's exactly what took
place. Why? Because God is God. And whatever he wills must come
to pass. But oh, the cross is such a demonstration
of the justice of God. God's just. He will not let sin
go unpunished, even if it's found in his only begotten and well-beloved
son. God's holy. God hates sin. Oh, but the power displayed in
the cross. Let me tell you what power is
displayed in the cross. The cross made it, what our Lord
did on Calvary's tree made it to where the sins of everybody
he died for are no more. No more! Not simply forgiven,
but put away, blotted out, canceled, they are gone. Now, I've heard
there's two things that are impossible. It's impossible to take something
and make it to not be anymore, as far as like matter. Matter,
if it's in the universe, it's here for good, it's not gonna
leave. And it's also impossible to make something that wasn't
there before. Well, on the cross, both things were done. Christ
made my sins to not be. And he made me to be what I am
not, perfectly holy and righteous and just in God's sight. That
is the work of the cross. Every attribute of God is fully
displayed. Everything he's been pleased
to make himself known is seen in the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ and the cross of Christ. Here's the doctrine of the cross.
It tells us how a God who is described in the cross can make
a man who is described by the cross just like his son. And that, my dear friends, is
the doctrine of the cross. The doctrine of the cross is
how God can be just. and justify somebody like me.
Galatians chapter 3, verse 13, Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us as it is written,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Now turn with me to
Colossians chapter 1, for just a moment. Somebody may think, are you ever
gonna preach anything but the cross? I hope not. I hope not. God have mercy on
my soul if I do. I'm in trouble. The cross is
the foundation of everything we preach, everything we believe. Now look in verse 20 of Colossians
chapter one. and having made peace through
the blood of his cross. Now, before I go on reading,
let me say this. I have peace. And that peace has nothing to
do with me. And if I think it has anything
to do with me, I no longer have peace. My peace is that He made
peace before I was ever even born. Before I had any faith,
before I had any repentance, before I had any consciousness
of my existence, He made my peace through the blood of His cross.
Now listen, my peace has absolutely nothing to do with me. It has wholly to do with the
fact that He made peace through the blood of His cross. By Him. Let's go on reading.
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 or before times 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 that is what He did by the
blood of His cross and that's where peace is. The only way
you're going to ever have any peace is if you are holy and
unblameable and unreprovable. And the only way you and I can
be holy and unblameable and unreprovable is through the blood of His cross. Amen? The cross. The scandal of the cross. Paul said, if I preach circumcision,
then the offense or the scandal of the cross has ceased. And
when the scandal of the cross and the offense of the cross
has ceased, the saving power of the cross has gone too. The
scandal. That's a strong word, isn't it?
Scandal. The cross is scandalous. And
you know what's most scandalous about it? That somebody like
me can be saved. That's the biggest scandal I
know of. That I could be saved. That I
could stand perfect before God. That I could stand without sin
before God. You want to talk about a scandal?
The scandal of the cross. You know, the cross is offensive
to the natural man. The way it addresses men as nothing
but sinners, having no rights, being completely dependent upon
God. I know all that. That is scandalous to the natural
man. But I'll tell you what the scandal
to me is. That I could be accepted by God and loved by God and embraced
by God and viewed as worthy of fellowship with God. What a scandal. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me to Galatians chapter
6. These are the words of Paul the
Apostle, verse 14. But God forbid. Now that's strong language, isn't
it? God forbid that I should glory. that I should rejoice in, that
I should have confidence in, that I should boast in, that
I should feel good about. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. I will not, by
the grace of God, glory in anything else. I'm not glorying in how
God has used me, Paul's saying. Now, you think about Paul. There's
never been another human being that experienced what he experienced.
Brought up into the third heavens, taught the gospel directly by
the Lord Jesus Christ himself, and came back to earth. used to write 13 books in the
Bible. No man has ever been used by
God, as far as men go, like the Apostle Paul. You know what Paul
says about all that? God forbid that I should glory
in any of that. Only one thing I glory in, the
cross. of the Lord Jesus Christ. I boast
in the cross. I rejoice in the cross. I glory
in the cross. I have confidence in the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's the confidence I have
that everything that God requires of me, I have in the cross of
Christ and I don't need anything else. Now, Simon, let's get back to
Simon for a moment. He was found. He wasn't looking
for this great privilege of grace. He was found. Didn't the Lord find you? I found God. No, you didn't. No, not at all. Not at all. He found you. And then the scripture
says he was seized. They took Him. Isn't that what
happened to you? The Lord took you. He seized you. He stopped you
on the road to hell that you most surely were going down.
He stopped you. And then He compelled you. He
compelled you. He caused you to follow after
the Lord Jesus Christ. And you became, as every believer
is, a willing bearer of the cross. Now, when people say, that's
my cross to bear, and they talk about some kind of trouble they
have in life, don't talk like that. That's not your cross to
bear. Just get that out of your thinking. As far as that goes,
this is something when the bearing of the cross, Simon was made
willing. Lord said, deny yourself, take
up your cross and follow me. Now, what is it to take up the
cross? Well, the cross is our confession that all of our salvation, all
of God's will, all of God's counsel, all of God's purpose, all of
God's salvation is in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ and
we Take that up, knowing that men will hate us for that message. You know, when Jonah 2 was being
read, as soon as he said, salvation is of the Lord, that fish spit
him out. Anybody believe salvation of
the Lord, fish can spit you, even a fish won't take you. A
fish will spit you out. And that's what it is to bear
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And may we enable to be just
like this blessed man, Simon, a bearer of the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name,
that you would find us, that you would take us and that you would compel us
to deny ourselves, to take up the cross of thy son and follow
him. Lord, we all pray that we might
be Simon's bearers. What a privilege. And Lord, we
confess that all of our salvation and all of our desire is found
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, cause the cross
to be to us. what it was to Paul, how he saw
the world as a crucified thing, and he was crucified to the world
in light of the cross. Lord, cause that to be that to
us. Now bless this message for your
glory and for our good. In Christ's name we pray, amen.