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.
And 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 the 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 in 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 two, a familiar passage, go to
Ephesians chapter two.
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 two.
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, far off when he found Christ.
And look there in Ephesians chapter two, verse 11.
Wherefore, remember that ye being in times past Gentiles in
the flesh.
That's something we can relate to with Simon.
He is 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 aw shucks
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 are far 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.
You know what?
They're like sheep led to the slaughter.
They're people who have no hope in this world.
They are 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 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
a far 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 for- when he showed up that day, he
thought, it's going to be a Passover like any other.
I'm going to go and observe this, and then 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, when 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, 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, but 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,
what Isaiah says 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 bring, look, and there's a place for all
that.
Because there's 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 Cyrena, and 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.
The problem with, you know, with not being a 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 had
told the 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.
And 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
it'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 a 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 help him
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.
It has to be there.
Someone's got to pay that price.
Someone has to shed that blood.
Go over to 2 Corinthians 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, 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 that 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,
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 a
separate 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.
I mean, 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?
The same time we say, praise God that he went through all that
suffering, praise God that he came down.
He 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 story is 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 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.
The picture is 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,
being 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.
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 he 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 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.
So 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 to to serve Christ, it's a 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, it's going to cost me mother, it's going to
cost me wife, children, brothers, sisters, even my
own life.
So be it.
That is the cost.
Otherwise, lest happily after you have laid the foundation,
he got started.
So I'm going to live for God.
I'm going to be this, I'm going to live this Christian life.
I lay that foundation and is not able to finish it.
All that began to behold it begin 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 to be able
with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with
twenty thousand?
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 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 we need to be willing to
give up 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 on to?
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, 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, and 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 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 share in
Christ's sufferings.
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 not henceforth
live unto themselves.
We should be constrained by the love of Christ because of the
fact that we were all dead.
We were all dead.
We were all far off at one point, and we were made nigh by
what?
Christ's death, his suffering.
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, the Simons
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're 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, 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, and he was there.
I mean, he saw it firsthand.
How could that not just be a powerful, life-changing moment?
It changed his life permanently, and look, 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 them again in Romans 16, and he's in Rome.
So is that his son?
I don't know.
You find him, I don't think it's Alexander the coppersmith
because that guy did Paul much evil.
So I don't think it'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.
Maybe they 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 myself.
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 are changed.
And that's the way it ought to be.
Our lives ought to change when we come across to 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, will
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 to because of the fact, in a sense, 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 could do, the least we could 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.
There should, 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.