So Mark 15, I want to look there beginning in verse 15 where it
says, And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released
Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had
scourged him to be crucified, when he had scourged him to be
crucified.
Verse 16, And the soldiers led him away into the hall called
Praetorium.
And they called together the whole band, and they clothed him
with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his
head.
And it began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews!
And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon
him, and bowing their knees, worshipped him.
And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from
him, and put on his own clothes on him, and led him out to
crucify him.
I want to focus in here on verse 20.
It says, 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.
And they bring him unto the place called Golgotha, which is
being interpreted the place of the skull.
And I want to preach a sermon called Simon of Cyrena.
Simon of Cyrena, this is a very interesting character that we
see in the few of the gospels here, and I think there's some
parallels that we can draw from Simon and bring into our own
lives.
And one of the first things I want us to see is that Simon is
somebody who came from far away.
He was somebody that came from far away.
So if he's Simon of the Cyrenian, meaning he was Simon
who was from Cyrene, and this is a country, a town that was in the
north part of Libya, which is west of Egypt.
So understand that this is not somebody who was local there.
This is somebody who came from very far away.
It says there, and if you would, keep something in mark for the
beginning of the sermon.
We're going to be there for the rest of the evening.
But if you look over at verse 21, it was Simon a Cyrenian who
passed by coming out of the country.
So he's actually, in all likelihood, he's coming, you
know, into the country.
Most likely, if I had to guess, he was a proselyte.
He was not a Jew.
We see that from the fact of his son's names there.
They have Greek names.
He's the, if you go to Mark 15, well, you're Mark 15, verse 21.
He's the father of Alexander and Rufus.
You know, these are Latin and Greek names.
These are not, you know, Jewish names that they're given.
So we can kind of piece some things together here about
Simon of Cyrene.
One, that he's somebody that's come from a great way off, and
he is not of the nation of Israel, okay?
He's a proselyte, and he's likely coming to observe, you
know, the Passover.
This is why he's coming out of the country.
I'll read to you from Matthew 27, verse 32, and it says,
as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name,
and they compelled him to bear his cross.
So he's a man of Cyrene.
He's from a country that's a great way off.
And, you know, this is an application that we can make to
ourselves.
You know, we also were people who were what?
Came from afar off.
You know, there was a time when we were separated from Christ.
Go over to Ephesians chapter 2, a familiar passage.
Go to Ephesians chapter 2.
You know, we can relate to Simon of Cyrene in several different
ways this evening.
And this is just something I want to preach to help us to
reflect upon, you know, what Christ has done for us and who
we are and what we should do because of the love that Christ
had for us.
And we could also, you know, just begin to look at the story
of his crucifixion, and it's one of those heart-wrenching stories
to hear all of the things that Christ suffered for our sake.
And then, of course, in the middle here you have this story,
just this quick few verses, you know, actually just one verse,
really, in Mark where he's just talking about this man Simon of
Cyrene.
I mean, why is it giving us these details?
I believe it's so that we can read about this man and
understand that he represents, in a way, us in this story,
all of us.
So you're there in Ephesians chapter 2.
What's the first thing we saw about Simon of Cyrene is that he
was somebody that came from a great way, somebody who was,
what, afar off when he found Christ.
And look there in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 11.
Wherefore, remember that ye being in times past Gentiles in
the flesh.
That's something we can relate to with Simon.
He's also a Gentile who are called uncircumcision by that
which is called circumcision of the flesh, made by hands, that
at that time he were without Christ.
And look, being without Christ, that's not just an awshucks kind
of thing.
I guess I missed out.
Look, when you're without Christ, what does the Bible say
here?
You're being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and
strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and
without God in this world.
You know, we can relate to Simon of Cyrene as somebody who came
from afar off.
You know, we were people who were once afar off.
And what does the Bible say when you're afar off?
That you have no hope.
You know, that's why we should have compassion and pity for the
people that don't know Christ out in this world, because
they're hopeless.
I mean, it'd be easy to sit there and try to pick them apart
and look at their lives and say, oh, they're making such a mess
of everything.
But you know what?
They're like sheep led to the slaughter.
They're people who have no hope in this world.
They're people who are without God.
Look at verse 14.
For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken
down the middle partition between us, having abolished in
his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained
in ordinances, and to make himself twain one new man, so
making peace, and that he might reconcile both unto God in one
body.
Of course, he's talking about Jew and Gentile reconciling
both by unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the
enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you, which
were what, afar off?
And to them that were nigh, for through him we both have access
by one spirit unto the Father.
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but
fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of
God.
And of course, you know, this is likely what happened with
Simon of Cyrenium.
He's being named, his sons are named, I believe, because he
became somebody of reputation.
He was somebody that was known by the early church.
I mean, if you were the one that came, you're coming in out of
the country, you're just coming along, and I'm just going to
observe the Passover, and all of a sudden I'm being compelled by
these Roman soldiers to help Christ bear his cross, and then
I hear about everything that he's done.
I hear about all the miracles.
I see him three days later, he comes back to life.
I was just behind him.
I was just helping him drag the cross.
I was just watching him go to his death.
I watched him die, and now three days later, he's alive.
I mean, he's probably had a story to tell.
He was probably somebody to say, hey, talk to Simon of
Cyrenium.
He was there.
He saw it.
The next thing I want us to understand is that yeah, he was
afar off.
Yes, he wasn't somebody that was nigh unto Christ, but was made
nigh by his blood, just as we all are, is that he wasn't
looking for Jesus.
I mean, he's coming to observe the Passover.
If, you know, what I surmise is in fact the case, you know, he's
coming from Cyrene.
He's coming from, you know, this country thousands of miles away,
and he's making this trek maybe by ocean, maybe by land.
Who knows?
And he's showing up to observe the Passover.
At that point, he's probably not even heard of Jesus.
I mean, the church really doesn't begin to spread the
gospel until Acts, you know, Acts 7 and 8, where Stephen is
martyred and the church is dispersed.
And then Paul comes along and takes it to all the Gentile
nations.
Simon isn't somebody in the story, I believe, that was even
looking for Jesus.
Of course, we understand if he's a proselyte, he's looking for
the Lamb of God.
He's looking for the Savior.
We understand that.
But he wasn't looking, when he showed up that day, he thought
it's going to be a Passover like any other.
I'm going to go and I'm going to observe this, and I'm going to
go back home, and I'll be back next year and do it again.
But when he showed up this time, he found the Lamb of God.
He found that Messiah.
He wasn't looking for Christ.
Look at Mark 15, verse 21.
It says again, and they compel when Simon, a Cyrenian, who did
what?
Who passed by.
He was just going about his business.
He was just trying to get to Jerusalem in time.
He was just there to observe the Passover, and next thing you
know, he's being asked, being told, rather, compelled to bear
this cross.
And the other thing we need to understand is that, you know,
when we are far off and we find ourselves distant from Christ,
when we find ourselves so far off and we finally find Christ,
we have to understand this.
You know, we say that sometimes, don't we?
I found Jesus.
But that's not really the case, is it?
He found us.
That's usually how it goes.
He found us.
You know, Simon was just going about his business, and next
thing you know, Christ is right there.
Christ found him.
You know, I heard, I remember an evangelist came through once and
he would always tell the story about how people would come to
him and say, hey, I heard you found Jesus, and I loved the
response he had.
It always stuck with me.
He said, no, Jesus wasn't lost.
I was.
He found me.
And that's really how it is, and I understand we say that.
We use that terminology.
We just say, oh, I found Jesus, or I, you know, but the truth is
is that really what happened is that we stumbled upon him.
You know, that's the case for most everybody.
You know, if we, maybe we didn't grow up in a Christian home
knowing about Jesus.
Maybe we didn't really know the truth of the scriptures.
Maybe, you know, we just got older.
We grew up without God, and one day someone comes to us and
says, hey, have you ever thought about what's going to happen
when you die?
And next thing we know, well, no, I've never really given much
thought to that.
Well, can I show you from the Bible?
And next thing you know, we find Jesus.
We are just passing by.
We're just going to go on our way.
We're just living our life.
Next thing you know, somebody's showing us Christ.
They're showing us the fact that, what, he died for our sins.
If you would, go over to Luke chapter 14.
Again, keep something to Mark 15.
Go over to Luke chapter 14.
You know, this should be a lesson to us that we should seek
those who are not seeking because for the vast majority of
people, that's the case.
We weren't seeking when we found Christ.
We were just going about.
We were going to just pass by, and then we found Jesus.
Then someone compels us.
Look at the cross.
Look at the Savior.
We should seek those that are not seeking.
The Bible says in Romans 10, you're going to Luke 14.
Isaiah is very bold and sayeth, I was found of them that, what,
sought me not.
I was manifest unto them that asked not after me.
You say, why do you take so much time to go out into these
neighborhoods and knock on all these doors?
You're going to knock every door in Tucson?
What's the point?
Why don't you just, you know, why don't you just focus on
advertising and look, and there's a place for all that
because there are some people that aren't going to take notice
of the billboard.
They're not going to go on the Internet and look up
Baptist Church.
They're not interested in church.
They think they're fine.
They think everything's okay.
That's who I want to find, the one who's not even seeking.
I want to find the one who's seeking, too.
You know, there's people out there in this world, in this
city, who don't even know it yet, that one day they're going
to stumble upon Jesus, and they will get saved.
They're going to wake up, and they're going to think it's just
a day like any other day.
They're going to be like Simon of Cyrene or think it's a
Passover like any other Passover, and next thing you
know, they're going to be compelled.
They're going to be confronted with the cross of Christ.
That's why we seek those that are not seeking.
We're not a seeker-sensitive church.
I'm all for the seekers.
You know, we'll preach in the Gospel just like everybody
else, but you know what?
We're an everybody-sensitive church.
We want to find everybody, those that are seeking and also those
that are not.
You know, with not being seeker-sensitive that people
would have is that you'd actually have to go and find
those people.
Look, the seeker-sensitive search just says, well, if
they're seeking, they'll find us.
All we got to do is just sit here and, you know, get the
purple lights and make it real cool so when they walk in,
they'll be impressed by the facility, and we'll just tickle
their ears and give them a good show, and then they'll come
back.
The people that aren't seeker-sensitive, we're the
type of church we have to actually go out and find them
and compel them to come in.
That's a story in Luke chapter 14.
Look at verse 16.
Then he said unto him, A certain man made a great supper and
bade many, and sent his servants at suppertime to say to them
that were bidden, Come, for all things are now ready.
And they all with one consent began to make excuse.
The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I
must needs go and see it.
I pray thee, have me excused.
And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen.
I go to prove them.
I pray thee, have me excused.
Verse 20.
And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot
come.
So the servant came and showed his lord these things and said,
Look, I went and told to get everybody you told me to get,
everybody that got the invite in the mail, everybody that was
had told to RSVP, and none of them want to show up.
So that servant came and showed his lord these things.
Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his
servant, Go out quickly into the street and the lanes of the
city, and bring in hither the poor and the maimed and the
halt and the blind.
Go find the people that can't do anything for you.
Go out and find the people that nobody else is looking for.
Go seek them that are not being sought after.
Verse 22.
And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou has commanded,
and yet there is room.
And the lord said unto his servant, Go into the highways
and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be
full.
You want to go over to Luke chapter number 23.
We'll be there next, Luke chapter 23.
Look, we need to seek those that are not seeking, because
somewhere out there in this city, there is a Simon of
Cyrene, somebody who's not looking for Jesus, who's just
going about his life, just living his life.
If we would just come to him and open up the scriptures and
preach to him the gospel of Christ, he will get saved.
That person will believe.
That's why whenever I go out soul winning, whenever we go
out in these groups, I just trust that we're going to find
them eventually.
You know, we didn't get anybody today.
We were out there for two hours with four teams.
You know, we did what, you know, several man hours of
soul winning, and no one got saved.
But you know what, maybe we just didn't go long enough.
And we'll pick it up next week.
We'll go over to another neighborhood and we'll find
them there.
Look, if you keep going and you keep going, you will get
somebody saved, because there's somebody out there.
I'm telling you, there's a Simon out there in this city.
The other thing I want us to notice about Simon of Cyrene is
that this is probably something we don't often think about,
but what's in the story is that when you think about what
happened in the story, he actually helped crucify Jesus.
I mean, that's, I mean, I know he was being compelled.
I know he was being forced.
I know that it says there in Luke 23 where you are, look at
verse 26, and as they led him away, they laid hold upon one,
Simon, that laying hold upon, you know, that compelling,
they're making him do this.
This isn't something he wanted to do.
He didn't volunteer this.
He had a big burly band of Roman soldiers say, hey, you,
you've been with that cross, or you're next.
He helped.
And it's true he was compelled, but at the same time,
he was compliant.
And I'm not faulting him.
I'm not saying he shouldn't have done it or anything like
that, but I am saying this, that there's a picture here
that we did the same thing, every single one of us.
You know, your sin crucified Christ too.
Our sinful, why is that?
Because our sinful nature demands an atonement.
It demands an atonement.
Someone's got to pay that price.
Someone has to shed that blood.
Go over to 2 Corinthians chapter 5,
2 Corinthians chapter number 5.
The Bible says in Isaiah 59, your iniquities have separated
between you and your God.
Your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear.
Look, our sins, our iniquities, they've separated us from God.
We are at enmity with God.
And in a way, we've actually, what, helped in the crucifixion
of Christ, because somebody needed to come and pay that
price for us.
Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 20,
a familiar verse, great verse.
Now it says there in verse 20, now then we are ambassadors
of Christ, as though we need to beseech you by us.
We pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled to God.
Verse 21, for he hath made him to be sin for us,
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him.
He became sin for us.
Someone had to take upon themselves the iniquity of us
all.
And that was laid upon Christ.
And, you know, you have to kind of wonder how Simon of
Cyrene might have felt about after learning who it was
that he helped up that hill, the place called The Skull,
and helped put that cross in the ground and sat back and
watched what they did to him.
And only to find out truly this was the Son of God.
And at the same time, you know, we might think in the
same way, we might say, well, I don't like the fact that,
you know, my sin made Christ go to the cross.
We have to understand that it was necessary, it had to
happen, or else we are what would have remained without
hope in this world.
If you would, if you're still in, if you would keep
something, I should have told you to keep something in
Luke 23 and go back there.
The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 9, almost all things
are purged by the law, excuse me, almost all things are
by the law purged with blood.
And without the shedding of blood is no remission.
So Christ once offered to bear the sins of many, was
once offered to bear the sins of many.
But Christ had to die for us.
Someone had, without his blood, there is no atonement.
So you can see how in a way because of our sinful nature
because of the fact that our iniquities have hit us in
and have separated us from God, we in a way have
compelled Christ to what?
To be crucified for us.
And it's kind of a paradox, isn't it?
I mean, we read the story about the crucifixion and
we mourn.
We cry, we weep, we think about what Christ suffered
for us and it makes us feel bad.
And it should.
But at the same time, we rejoice at the fact that he
did that, don't we?
At the same time, we say praise God that he went
through all that suffering, praise God that he came
on and was willing to be obedient even under the
death of the cross for my sake because without that,
I'm hopeless.
So at the same time, you know, we have crucified
Christ, we lament that fact, at least we should.
It shouldn't bother us.
But at the same time, we also rejoice.
It's this paradox.
So we can see how much Christ truly has done for
us.
You know, and really, the other thing, one of the
last things I want to point out here this evening is
that not only did Simon Cyrene come from afar, not
only did Simon of Cyrene just stumble upon Christ,
wasn't seeking, just thought it was going to be a
Passover like any other, not only was it that he
helped Christ be crucified, but I want us to see also
in the stories that he bore the cross.
He also bore the cross.
It says there in Luke 23, that's where I had you go,
verse 26, and as they led him away, they lay hold
upon one Simon of Cyrene and coming out of the
country, and on him they laid the cross, that he
might bear it after Jesus.
Now, I don't believe that this was, that Jesus
stumbled and dropped the cross, and they had to
pick it back, and then they made him do it.
It says he bore it after Jesus.
I believe he picked up that other end.
Jesus still bore his own cross all the way to that
hill called Golgotha.
But I believe that at some point, the Bible is
teaching us that Simon of Cyrene had to come along
and pick up the other end of that cross to help
him bear that cross.
And the picture of this is that, you know, we may
have compelled Christ, we may have, our nature has
demanded that Christ be crucified.
We have in our own way crucified Christ.
We lament it, but we also rejoice.
But we also have to understand this is that we
have a cross to bear today.
Not a literal one, obviously, but we still have
it.
There's a burden to be born.
Not so that we can earn salvation, not so that we
can, you know, get good merits or something like
that.
Look, the atonement has been paid for in full by
Christ and his blood.
But there is still a cross for you to bear.
I believe that's the picture that we see here.
If you go to Luke chapter 14, Luke chapter number
14.
So this cross that we're called to bear, not a
literal one, but what is it?
It's a counting of the cost.
You need to count the cost of the Christian life
and understand that if you're going to live for
the Lord, it's going to be a burden.
There's going to be sacrifices that have to be
made.
You're going to have to pick up your own cross and
bear it.
He said in Luke 14 verse 25, and there went great
multitudes with them and he turned and said unto
them, if any man come to me and hate not his father
and his mother and wife and children and brethren
and sisters, yea, and his own life also, and people
get so bent out of shape when they read this
passage.
What do you mean you got to hate your mom and your
dad and everybody else?
Well, and they kind of gloss over the fact that
it says, yea, and your own life also.
You know, we need to be willing to sacrifice our
own life for Christ, give up of our own time, give
up of our own resources, be willing to give back
the life that he has purchased for us.
Whosoever doth not bear his cross, he said, and
come after me, cannot be my disciple.
Well, I want to follow Jesus.
Well, you know where it is?
It's on the other end of that cross, Simon.
That's where the following takes place.
It's that I'm going to join in the sacrifice of
Christ.
Again, it's not a literal cross, but it's a
counting of the cost.
He goes on there in verse 28 and says, for which of
you intending to build a tower sitteth not down
first and count at the cost, whether you have
sufficient to finish it, lest happily, after you
hath laid the foundation, is not able to finish it,
all that behold it begin to mock him.
This is tied in here with the preceding verses,
verse 25.
People say, I'm going to live for Jesus.
I'm going to go to church.
I'm going to be a Christian.
I'm going to go all the way for the Lord.
And they get on the religious bandwagon.
People say, oh, you got religion.
You got churchy on us, right?
Those type of things they say.
But look, if you don't finish that, if you don't
follow through with that, what's going to happen is
people are going to begin to mock.
You know, I've experienced this in my own life, and
I know of other people that have experienced this.
I remember being told by a family member, you know,
the you of two years ago would make fun of the you
today.
I said, that's true.
Yeah, and you're just on, you know, you're just on
some religious bandwagon.
You'll get off that soon enough.
Look, if you want to serve Christ, it's a life of
sacrifice.
There's a cross.
There's a burden to be born.
And you have to be willing to say, look, if it's
going to cost me father, if it's going to cost me
mother, if it's going to cost me wife, children,
brothers, sisters, even my own life, so be it.
That is the cost.
Otherwise, let's have a church.
Otherwise, lest happily after he had laid the
foundation, he got started, said, I'm going to live
for God.
I'm going to live this Christian life.
I laid that foundation and is not able to finish it.
All that began to, behold it began to mock him,
saying, this man began to build and was not able to
finish.
Or what king going to war, to make war against
another king, sitteth not down first and consulteth
whether he be able with 10,000 to meet him that
cometh against him with 20,000?
Or else, why, he has had a great way off.
He senteth an ambassador and desireth conditions of
peace.
So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh
not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
Now, of course, back then when Jesus was walking the
earth, this is a very literal statement.
Are you saying, look, if you want to follow me, I'm
here for three years.
If you want to be my disciple, I'm going to go
preach in all the towns and the villages.
Jesus said, if you want to follow me, I'm here for
three years.
If you want to be my disciple, I'm going to go
preach in all the towns and the villages of
Judea and Samaria.
And if you want to follow me and you want to be my
disciple day by day, you're going to have to forsake
everything.
It's a very literal interpretation back then.
Obviously, we don't have to go to that degree
anymore, but what are we willing to give up for
Christ?
What are we willing?
What sacrifices are we willing to make?
He's not, you know, we might never be asked to give
up all these relationships that Jesus said, well, you
need to be willing to give up these relationships if
it comes to that.
We need to be willing to give up all these
relationships if it comes to that.
We might never be asked to give up our own life.
But, you know, here's the thing.
What are we willing to give up?
What are we holding onto?
What are we holding back on from God that's preventing
us from serving Christ the way that we know we ought
to?
Well, I just don't want to suffer.
I just don't want to give up anything.
I don't want to have to be made to feel
uncomfortable to live for the Lord.
But, you know, here's the picture of Simon Cyrene and
Jesus.
It is a life of suffering.
I mean, all, and think, when you think about it,
Christian life or not, life really is just suffering.
Sorry, kids.
I know everything's just this big, you know, all
this optimism, and look, it's not just all suffering,
but look, life involves a lot of suffering.
And for some people, it's a lot more than others.
But here's the thing about the Christian life.
It's a life of suffering, but it's a suffering with
purpose.
There's purpose behind it.
There's meaning.
If you would, go over to 2 Corinthians 5, 2
Corinthians 5, and we'll close there.
You say, well, I want to be like the Apostle Paul.
I mean, he did great things for God.
Yeah, but didn't the Apostle Paul have to suffer?
Didn't he say in Galatians 6, from henceforth, let no
man trouble thee, for I bear in my body the marks of
the Lord Jesus Christ?
I mean, Paul, the greatest Christian that's ever
lived, who's done more for the gospel of Christ
probably than anybody else, got to do great things,
but you know what?
He also had to bear the bodies of the, bear in his
body the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he had to be stoned, right?
He had to go through all these sufferings, but you
know what?
He was willing to do that.
He was willing to make that sacrifice.
He was willing to pick up that end of the cross and
that's why he said in Galatians 2, I am crucified
with Christ.
Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in
me.
In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by
the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave
himself for me.
You're there in 2 Corinthians 5.
Look at verse 14.
The Bible says, for the love of Christ constraineth
us, because we thus judge that if one died for all,
then we're all dead.
And that he died for all, that they which should
live, hence, should not henceforth live unto
themselves.
We should be constrained by the love of Christ
because of the fact that we were all dead.
You know, we were all dead.
We were all far off at one point.
And we were made by, made nigh by what?
Christ's death.
His suffering.
And as a result of that, we were all dead.
We were all dead.
And as a result, what's Paul telling us?
That we should not let henceforth live unto
ourselves.
And just make life all about us.
You know, we need to care about other people.
We need to care about the other people in this room.
We need to care about the other people that aren't
in this room.
That should be in this room.
We should care about the people that are what?
Living the Christian life alongside of us.
We should care about the people that are out there
in this world that aren't even looking for Christ.
We should have enough burden for them to go out
and to preach them the gospel.
We should not live just unto ourselves.
And just think that life is just all about us.
Because, look, you're not your own.
You are bought with the price.
Therefore, glorify God in your body.
You know, he owns us.
He paid the price.
The last thing I want us to understand about
Simon's life, and I'm almost done with this,
is that, you know, we're all dead.
We're all dead.
The last thing I want us to understand about Simon's
life, and I'm almost done, is the fact that
Simon's life changed.
I mean, how couldn't it?
I mean, what a powerful moment to be a part of,
to witness that close, the suffering of Christ.
I mean, we just read about it, and we're moved.
We're filled with emotion.
He was there.
I mean, he saw it firsthand.
How could that not just be a powerful, life-changing
moment?
We need to develop enough spirituality to be able
to see these things and understand that these
things happened and understand that our lives
need to change.
We should be transformed by the renewing of our
mind.
The Word of God should change us.
It should reorganize our priorities.
Not only did Simon's life change, I want to close
on this thought, too, is that it changed the life
of his sons, Rufus and Alexander.
Now, I've studied these guys out.
There's not a lot of Rufuses.
You find him again in Romans 16, and he's in Rome.
So is that his son?
I don't know.
I don't think it's Alexander the coppersmith
because that guy did Paul much evil, so I don't
think that's the same Alexander.
It could be Alexander who was an Ephesus in the
book of Acts.
Maybe, or maybe they're not mentioned anywhere
else.
Maybe they were just two young men that were what,
recognized by the Apostle Paul and those that were
alive at that time.
I would read Paul's writing when it was first
written and unroll that and say, oh, Rufus and
Alexander got a shout out.
Well, I know who those guys are.
Why?
Because it changed their lives, too.
And when somebody comes along that wasn't expecting
to find Christ and finds Christ and gets saved, it
will change them, and it will change their family.
How can it?
People's lives just go in a totally different
direction.
I used to live for the world.
I used to live for the pleasures and the cares of
this life, but now I live for Christ, and it's
changed me, and it's going to change those that come
after me.
It's going to change those that, my sons, my
daughters, my children, their lives have changed.
You know, and that's the way it ought to be.
You know, our lives ought to change when we come
across Christ, when we behold the suffering that
He went through, when we decide I'm going to
partake in the cross, I'm going to partake in the
sufferings of Christ.
That is a life-changing type of thing.
So I know it's a quick sermon tonight, but it was
just something that stood out to me.
The fact there's this man that's mentioned, Simon
of Cyrene, somebody who was, what, far off.
Somebody who wasn't necessarily seeking Christ
in the way that he found Him, but found Him
nonetheless.
And when he found Him, what did he do?
He helped.
He helped bear that cross, and his life was changed.
And I hope that these parallels, you know, we'll
think about these things.
The next time we're reading through the Gospels
and we come across this character, we'll think
about that it's not just a random name that's just
in there for no reason.
God is trying to get us to understand something
that we have a cross to bear, too, because of the
fact, in a sense, we also helped.
We also helped crucify Christ by our sin.
And He's gone ahead and taken care of that for
us.
He's the one that has made that atonement.
The least we can do is give back some portion of
our life back to Christ and say, you know what,
I'll live for you in this area.
And really, it should be the whole thing.
I mean, we read Luke.
Lord, nothing's off limits.
Whatever you want.
The whole thing is yours, because that is the
reality.
Let me hold nothing back after what He's done for
us.
Let's go ahead and pray.