We want to turn now to Luke chapter
23, and let's read one verse, verse 26. Luke 23, verse 26. And as they led him away, remember
Pilate delivered Jesus to their will, wicked, wicked will. And as they led him away, they
lay hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and
on him they laid the cross. They laid hold upon this man
and they laid the cross that he might bear it after the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now here's the title and here's
the subject. They compelled Simon to bear His cross. Now, what does this mean? What's
involved here? Now let me make this statement
absolutely clear as I can. This is not teaching in any way
that God needs our help, that God needs our assistance, that
He cannot do as He will, when He will, that he cannot do is
not implying that he cannot do without us. He can. He doesn't
need our help. The Lord said, if I were hungry,
I wouldn't tell you. The cattle on a thousand hills,
they belong to me. We know from the record of scripture
that salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is His doing. Salvation
is everything that God has done for His covenant people. It has
no way in what we are doing for Him. We often say that salvation
is of the Lord and it's election to His glorification and everything
involved in between. It's all of God. It's all of His sovereign grace
and salvation is received by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Does faith accomplish salvation?
Absolutely not. Faith receives the Lord Jesus
Christ who finished and accomplished salvation for us. Now, there's
a big difference. Big difference. Salvation to
the Lord. And we know that faith, even
that, even faith is the gift of God. "...not of works, lest
any man should boast." Salvation of the Lord. Now, by way of introduction,
let me go with this. We read earlier from John 19,
verses 16 and 17. Here's what we read. It said, "...they took Jesus and
led Him away, and He bearing His cross..." went forth into
the place of the skull, Golgotha, or Calvary." It makes no mention
there in John 19 of this man who they found, who they compelled
to bear or help the Lord Jesus bear this heavy wooden cross. Now, some would say, reading
that with reading Matthew 27, Mark 15, and Luke 23, some would
say the Word of God has places that seem to contradict each
other. And the skeptic and the agnostic
would say, well, there, there's a contradiction. John said that
the Lord bear his own cross. Matthew, Mark, and Luke say that
Simon, the Cyrenian, he bear the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And some would say, the agnostic
or the skeptic would say, well, there's a contradiction in the
word of the Lord. Let me put your minds at ease.
If there's any contradiction, it's only in our puny mind. It's
only in our puny thoughts. God never speaks in a word or
speaks in words that contradict each other. What he speaks, he
speaks in absolute truth. All the word of God is like unto
himself, holy, Unchangeable. It is impossible for God to lie,
and it is impossible for God to change. He cannot lie. He cannot change. He said, I
am the Lord. I change not. Now, hold your
place in Luke 23, and let's turn over here to Matthew 27. And
here we see what the record here in Matthew has. All this is inspired
of God. Matthew 27 verse 31. And after that they had mocked
him, they took the robe off from him,
and put his own raiment on him, and they led him away to be crucified. And as they came out, that is
they went out of the city, remember he suffered without the gate,
And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name,
and him they compelled to bear his cross all the way, verse
33, when they were coming to the place called Golgotha, that
is to say, the place of the skull. He carried or bared the cross,
Simon did, all the way to the place of execution. Now, I want
you to find Mark 15. I'm pretty sure while you're
turning and having us read these things, well, stay with me. Mark
15, and down to about verse 20, Mark 15, 20. And when they had
mocked him, they took off the purple, that is the purple robe
from him, and put on his own clothes and led him out to be
crucified, verse 21, and they compelled one, Simon, a Cyrenian,
who passed by coming out of the country and he was the father.
Now this is interesting. He was the father of Alexander
and Rufus. Remember we studied about Rufus
in the book of Romans. To bear his cross and they bring
him unto the place Golgotha, which is being interpreted the
place of the skull. You would read those records,
John, you would read Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and you would
say, well, seems to be a contradiction here. Well, there's not any contradiction
at all. You need to read all the Word
of God and put it all together. Now, it says in Matthew that
they found this man and they compelled him. And then Mark,
it says they compelled one named Simon to bear the cross. And
then in Luke 23, in our text, it says there that They laid
hold, you see verse 26, Luke 23, and they led him away and
they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian. This man was from
Africa, most think he was a black man. Now, wouldn't it be a blessing
if the Lord would be pleased to do that for us this morning? If he put those three references
together, It wouldn't be a blessing if the Lord would find us by
His all-knowing will and purpose, by His omniscient power, and
cause us to take a stand for the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then secondly, wouldn't it
be a blessing if the Lord would compel us by his almighty and
irresistible grace to believe the message and the doctrine
of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then thirdly, wouldn't
it be a blessing if the Lord would lay hold upon us, that
he would lay hold upon us and cause us to believe the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ and make us willing in the day of
his power. to cause us to believe the message
and doctrine of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is
to hear Him, to believe Him, to follow Him, to confess that
Jesus Christ and Him crucified is all our salvation before God
and before men, that He would find us, compel us, and lay hold
upon us that we might believe the gospel. I know this, if He
doesn't, if He doesn't do all that for us, We'll go right on,
thinking that the message of the cross is nothing but foolishness
before God. Now, let me give you this reference. Don't turn, let me just read
it to you. In Mark 8, 34. 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, what does
that mean? What does that mean? What does
this really mean and how does it apply to us? That is, to deny
ourself. What does it mean? It means to
surrender, give up, and submit to the sovereign will of God.
Deny yourself. Say, Lord, not my will, thy will
be done. And then take up the cross and follow Him. What does
that mean? Well, what is the cross? When
we read of the cross of Christ, what are we talking about? Talking
about the message and the doctrine of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Let us take up the gospel, that
is to publicly confess Him, own Him as all of our salvation before
God and men. To identify with the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ and to identify where the gospel is
preached, to identify with the people who believe the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. To be blessed to say with Peter,
and here's what it is. To be blessed to say with Peter,
neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other
name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. And again, Peter said, we are
redeemed. not with corruptible things,
but with the precious blood of Christ, the Lamb that was slain
before the foundation of the world." Wouldn't it be a blessing
if God would lay hold upon us, and compel us, and find us, and
cause us to deny ourselves, and to confess Him as Peter did?
You know the Lord laid hold upon Peter, didn't He? And confessed Christ. Shedding
His blood is all of our remission. Or to be blessed to say with
the Apostle Paul, I'm determined to know nothing among you but
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. To say with the Apostle Paul,
it's God who saved us, it's God who called us with a holy calling,
not according to our work, but according to His own purpose
and grace. Or to say with and to be blessed
to say with the Apostle John, Behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called sons
of God. What a blessing it is to be called
a son of God, an heir of God, and a joint heir with the Lord
Jesus Christ. To be blessed to look upon the
Lord Jesus Christ alone by God-given faith and rejoice in Him. Looking
unto the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the author and finisher of
our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the
cross, despising the shame, and is set down on the right hand
of the throne of God, wouldn't it be a blessing to have eyes
of faith to see Him as all of our salvation? And to rejoice
in Him, as the Apostle says to the Philippians, we are the true
Israel which worship God in the Spirit, that rejoice in Christ
Jesus, and we have no confidence, no confidence in the flesh. The
Lord would have us, He said, look unto Me and be you saved.
Would you look somewhere else? Would you look to yourself, look
to your tradition, look to the works of the law? He said, look
unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth. I am God,
there is no other. He said, I'm the only just God
and Savior. Look to Christ, the Lord Jesus.
He said, come unto me all ye that labor and be laden, and
I'll give you rest. God, help us to deny ourselves
and take up Christ and the gospel and to follow him. As he says,
my sheep hear my voice, I know them and I give unto them eternal
life and they do follow me. Now, when we talk about, as it
says there, they laid on him the cross in our text, Luke 23,
when they laid on him the cross. Now, when we talk and we preach
about the cross of Christ, we're not talking about the symbol
or a sign that most religious people use or wear, you know,
the cross. We're not talking, when we talk
about the cross of Christ, we're not talking about a piece of
wood, we're not talking about a religious symbol that people
use or wear, Or if you look upon most church buildings, you'll
see a cross somewhere around the building, on top of the building,
or in the front door, or wherever. You can look around here. If
you look real carefully, we try to have nothing that appears
to be a cross. Even this table, if you look
at this table, You see on the back side of it, there is a symbol
of a cross. But you notice how I've turned
the table. I've turned it backwards. Because
I'm not trying to promote any kind of sign or symbol. When
we talk about the cross, we're not talking about the simple
symbol or sign of the cross. All the religious people, all
the religious literature, whenever you get something, you'll see
a sign or symbol of the cross. We always see somebody around
Easter time, Easter time of the year, walking down Route 23,
dragging a large wooden cross. Usually they put a little wheel
on the end of it so it doesn't drag on the ground, and sometimes
they'll put it on their shoulder and they'll march all the way
across the country, or at least across the state, trying to promote
Really, what they're promoting is themselves. They're not promoting
the gospel. In some countries, people even
had themselves crucified, nailed to a cross, so as to identify
with the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, they actually literally
have them nailed to a tree. They don't die, but they're nailed
there for a while. Now, if you could actually find
the piece of wood upon which the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. What would you do with it? I know what most people would
do with it. They would make that religious relic a symbol of history,
a symbol of idolatry. They would put it in a special
shrine and people would flock all over this world just as they
do to Bethlehem today. And they would look to that piece
of wood and they'd worship it. You know, it's the same thing
the Jews did with that brazen serpent that Moses was instructed
to make. And when he raised that serpent
up, they were to look at that brazen serpent. That was a picture
of Christ crucified. But you know what those Jews
did? And those who looked in faith were healed. But you know
what those Jews did? They took it down and put it in their temple.
And they started to worship it. And then when one of those kings
of Israel who came forward and who believed God, he said, bring
that thing out. He crushed it up and he said,
it's nothing but Nahashton. You remember? A worthless piece
of brass. You see, God is worship in spirit
and in truth, not in signs and symbols. So, if you could find
that piece of wood, what would you do with it? Burn it. Burn
it. Be done with it. So, when we
talk about the cross, we're not talking about the sign or the
symbol. Someone told us one time, you know, the cross is a recognized
symbol of Christianity. Who says so? That's just Catholicism, that's
who says so. But when we talk about the cross,
we're talking about the doctrine or message of the cross. The
accomplishment of what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished upon
the cross. When he died for our sin according
to the scripture, what did he accomplish? He bought the church
with his own blood. God bought us. We're a blood
bought. But here's what, here's, I want
you to turn and read this with me. I know you're familiar with
this, but turn to Romans 1. Here's what we're talking about
when we're talking about the cross, the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Talking about Christ and Him
crucified. Talking about the accomplishment, what He accomplished
when He by Himself purged our sin with His own blood. Romans
1 verse 15, for as much as in me is, I'm ready to preach the
gospel to you that are at home. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, at taking up the cross and following him. For it is
the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believes, to
the Jew first and also to the Greek. Therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the
just shall live by faith. So when we talk about the doctrine
or message of the cross that we're not ashamed of. We're talking
about the power of God unto salvation, how he is a just God and Savior,
how he is just and the justifier of God's people through that
blood sacrifice that happened upon that bloody tree. Secondly,
turn to 1 Corinthians Chapter 1, this will be familiar to most
of you because we're studying through 1 Corinthians right now.
But 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 17, Paul said, For 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.
For the preaching of the cross, that is the message or doctrine
of the cross, is to them that perish foolishness. But unto
us which are saved, it is the power of God. Now, look down
to verse 22, 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 22. For the Jews require
a sign, the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ
crucified unto the Jews, it's a stumbling block, Under the
Greeks, it is foolishness, but under them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and Christ
crucified, is the wisdom of God. If you look right across the
page, 1 Corinthians 2, verse 2, the apostle again said, I
am determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. Now, one other reference, in
terms of the book of Colossians, Colossians. Colossi. Colossians. They're in the city of Colossi.
Chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1. When we
talk about the message of the cross, the doctrine of the cross,
the gospel of the cross, Christ and Him crucified, we're talking
about the accomplishment of salvation. The completeness of salvation.
Talking about the salvation which He bought and purchased, paid
for with His own blood. Colossians chapter 1. Verse 19,
for it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. He is the fullness of God. In
Him dwells all the fullness of God bodily and we are complete
in Him as Paul says in chapter 2. Having made peace through
the blood of His cross. Now the blood of His cross. Now,
it's just not that a Jewish man died. Who is this Jewish man? In the fullness of time, God
sent forth His Son. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
them, having made peace to the blood of His cross by Him to
reconcile all things unto Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be
things in heaven, earth or things in heaven, and you that were
sometimes alienated enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet
now hath he reconciled in the body his flesh through death
to present you holy, unblameable, unreprovable in his sight." So
when we talk about the cross of Christ, It's the doctrine
and the message of His salvation that He accomplished for us with
His own blood, how He reconciled us unto God. The message of the
cross is the message of eternity past. Do you know that? We read
in Revelation 13 that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain
before the foundation of the world. We see Christ crucified
before Adam ever sinned. So it's a message of eternity
past, but it's also the message of eternity future. Remember
in our study through the revelation, the revelation of Jesus Christ,
how many times the Lord Jesus Christ is seen in those 22 chapters
in His sacrificial character as the Lamb of God. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to receive all honor, glory, power, and blessing. The redeemed
of the Lord say unto Him who loved us and washed us from our
sin in His own blood. So it's a message that's not
a new message. It's a message of eternity past.
The gospel of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is as old as
God and that Infinite, He's the eternal God, and it's a message
that will go on forever and ever. It's a message of eternity future.
The Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And it's our message
right now, that creatures of time, where we live right now,
we are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. When we talk,
therefore, about the cross of Christ, we're talking about the
doctrine that the Lord Jesus Christ crucified, the doctrine
of his accomplishment, the success of his atonement, the accomplishment
of his atonement when he said, it is finished. All the work
the Father gave him to do as our prophet, priest, and king,
the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished, he said, it is finished. He prayed,
Father, He said, I've finished the work you gave me to do, now
glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with the glory which I
had with Thee before the world was. The Lord Jesus Christ did
not come to try to save His people from their sin, He did so. Call His name Jesus, the messenger
from heaven said, for He shall save His people from their sin.
He did not die to make salvation a possibility, did He? Wouldn't that be a sad thing?
Christ died that maybe some folks would be saved. God doesn't operate
like that. He decreed it and it's done.
The Lord Jesus Christ died to make the salvation of His people
absolutely certain and sure for He justified them with His blood. We read in Romans 5, God committed
His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us Much more than being now justified, we shall be saved
from wrath through Him. How? How are we going to be saved
from His wrath? His judgment. Through His blood. He justified
us. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them who were in the Lord Jesus Christ. He came not only
to justify us by His blood, but He also came to honor the law
of God for us, to establish for us an everlasting righteousness
that we must have to stand before God. I hope you listened to the
radio program this morning. I thought it was an excellent
message on the righteousness that we must have to stand before
God. Think not our Lord said that
I came to destroy the law and prophets. I came not to destroy,
but to fulfill." The Lord says you must have an exceeding righteousness. Above that is described in Pharisee.
And that righteousness is only found in Christ. He is our Redeemer,
right? And He is the Lord our righteousness.
He's the Lord our Redeemer. He's the Lord our righteousness.
He redeemed us from the curse of the law. He redeemed us from
the curse of the law being made a curse for us. The Lord is well
pleased for His righteousness sake. He will magnify the law
and make it honorable. He came to fulfill the law of
God for us. God's going to save us, but He's
not going to ignore His holy character or His holy law. He
must satisfy His own character and His own holy law. And that
is done in Christ in Him crucified. His obedience unto death, even
the death of the cross. Now, we've got some time to do
this. I want you to turn in your Bible
to the book of Daniel. Can you find the book of Daniel?
Chapter 9. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel. Chapter 9. It's page 1120, if
you have the Cambridge that I have. Page 1120. Of course, you with
using an iPad, you can find it quickly, quicker than I can.
Daniel 9. Look at verse 24. And here we
see six things, six things the Lord declares that the Lord Jesus
Christ accomplished for us. Daniel 9.24, 70 weeks are determined
upon thy people, upon thy holy city, talking about the time
that the Lord would be manifest in the flesh to finish transgression,
number one, to make an end of sin, number two, to make reconciliation
for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up the
vision and the prophecy, that is to accomplish all that God
had promised and pictured, and to anoint the most holy. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ is
the anointed one of God. Now, if you go back and look
at those six things, I would encourage you to go to Sermon
Audio, and you can find some good sermons by Brother Nybert,
Brother Fortner, other grace preachers, Brother Mahan, on
this verse, Daniel 9, 24. He says, To finish transgression,
the Lord appeared once in the end of the age to put away sin
by the sacrifice of Himself. To make an end of sin, He did
that for us, didn't He? When He by Himself purged our
sin, He set down the right hand of God. To make reconciliation
for our iniquity, we reconcile to God in the Lord Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. To bring in an everlasting righteousness,
we lost that righteousness in Adam. We have that righteousness
given to us in Christ. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputed righteousness with our works. and to seal up the vision and
prophecy, to finish the work the Father gave Him to do, and
then He is the Anointed of the Lord. Remember in Luke 4, verse
18, He said, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath
anointed Me to preach the Gospel, to set at liberty them that are
bruised, to heal the brokenhearted, to set the captive free. He is
the Anointed Priest of God. Now in closing, Go back to our text, Luke 23. I want to go back and consider
those words that are spoken about Simon of Cyrene. You remember those three things? They found him, they compelled
him, and they lay hold upon him. Simon, he didn't that day get
up thinking, well, I'm going to volunteer. I'm going to help
the Lord Jesus out. No, he was going about his business,
and these men interrupted him. By God's eternal purpose, they
did so. And by God's eternal purpose,
they did those things, they laid hold upon him, they found him,
they compelled him, and they laid hold upon him. It was no
accident. Simon was of Cyrene, a foreign
country, down in the African coast, like that man in Ethiopia,
going to Jerusalem to worship. And this man somehow, for some
reason, by God's purpose, was in Jerusalem, and God used him,
compelled him, laid hold upon him. May the Lord do that for
us right now by His grace, that He might find us. Now, He knows. We're the ones that's lost. Don't
ever say, I found Jesus. I hate that statement. I didn't
find Him. He found me. He wasn't lost. I was lost. And don't ever say
that ridiculous thing, well, have you got Jesus? Or as my
friend of mine used to wear around on his hard hat, I got saved.
Those are terrible statements. Salvation of the Lord. You see,
He is the one who has found us. We were lost sheep going astray
and He arrested us. He found us lost and dead. And He made us alive. He quickened
us by His grace. And then you know what He did
when He found us? He compelled us. Remember the Lord said, no
man can come to me except my Father which sent him, compel
him, draw him. And that's what he does. He compels
us by his almighty irresistible grace. And you know how he does
that? He makes himself irresistible. That's what you ladies did when
you courted your boyfriend. before you married him. You painted yourself up, you
fixed your hair, you put on perfume, brushed your teeth, put some
earrings in, put on your best dress when your boyfriend's coming
to pick you up. You're making yourself irresistible,
aren't you? That's what the Lord does when
he saves us by his grace. He makes himself irresistible. When He says, thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy power, He does that by making,
He compels us and draws us, because He's so beautiful and precious
and irresistible, we say, we must have Him. We fall in love
with Him. And we have Him, and then may
He lay hold upon us. were kept by the power of God.
He said, no man can pluck them out of my Father's hand. My Father
which gave to me is greater than all. He lay hold upon us by His
mighty power. Now, this man, Simon of Cyrene,
was a blessed man. I believe he came to be a believer
of the Gospel. And the reason I say that, over
there in Mark 15, 21, where we read earlier, don't turn. But
it says, do you remember what it says there of Simon? He's
called the father of Alexander and Rufus. Now, why would the
Lord, the Holy Spirit, make mention of Simon's two sons? Well, the Scripture in Romans
16 verse 13, it mentions this man Rufus. Do you remember in
our study? In Romans 16, it says this in
verse 13, Rufus was chosen in the Lord. I believe Simon came
to believe the Gospel, and I believe his family did too. And then
of Alexander, we read of him in Acts 19.33, and there he defended
Paul at Ephesus. He defended the Gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, may the Lord be pleased
to do that for us, to cause us to believe the gospel and to
bear publicly the gospel and to confess Him as all of our
hope of salvation.