Simon, The Cross and You

Mark, chapter 15, starting at verse 16 and reading through to verse 32. The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace, that is, the praetorium, and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then wove a crown of thorns and set it on him.

And they began to call out to him, Hail, King of the Jews. Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spat on him. Falling on their knees, they worshipped him.

And then when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put on his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to be crucified. A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country.

And they forced him to carry the cross. They brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha, which means the place of the skull. When they offered him a drink of wine mixed with myrrh, he did not take it.

And then they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get. It was the third hour when they crucified him.

The written notice of charge against him read, The King of the Jews. They crucified two robbers with him, one on the right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, So, you who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself.

In the same way, the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. He saved others, they said, but he can't save himself. Let this Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.

Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him. In holiness we worship you. And we will overcome by the blood testimony of the world.

We will overcome by the blood of the world. As we declare the blood of God. On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame.

And I love that old cross where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown.

Oh, that old rugged cross so despised by the world has a wondrous attraction for me. For the dear Lamb of God left his glory above to bear it to dark Calvary. In the old rugged cross stained with blood so divine, a wondrous beauty I see.

For it was on that old cross Jesus suffered and died to pardon and sanctify me. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown.

To the old rugged cross I will ever be true, its shame and reproach gladly bear. Then he'll call me someday to my home far away where his glory forever I'll share. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross till my trophies at last I lay down.

I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown. A certain man from Cyrene, Simon the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country and they forced him to carry the cross. Let's pray.

Father, we've heard sung and we've joined in the anthem about the cross of our Lord Jesus. And some of us are quite happy, though in a thoughtful fashion, to say with the Apostle Paul, but God forbid, that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me and I to the world. And what we're asking at this juncture in our service is that that old rugged cross, with all its horror, with the grotesque realization of a man in pain, and yet the great consequences of the aftermath of that death, that it may grip all our hearts and that you will get from us the response that's due to your name and enable some of us here to embrace the message of the cross of Christ.

For the Savior's sake, Amen. I'd be grateful if you'd have your Bibles open at that reading which I've just repeated. Read earlier by our young friend, I remind you it was in the Gospel of Mark in the 15th chapter, and the 21st verse.

I asked David particularly if he would learn that piece and sing it this evening on the cross of our Lord Jesus because it's one of my favorite hymns. I remember as a lad singing that back home in my northern county where I was brought up in Yorkshire. And there's something about the cross of Christ which really attracts the preacher and indeed the sensitive Christian like nothing else will.

There's a verse in a hymn that sometimes we sing here at the tab. It's really in the children's section of our hymnal. And the author envisages the sight of Christ dying.

I sometimes think about that cross and close my eyes and try to see the cruel nails, the crown of thorns, and Jesus crucified for me. Well, by God's grace I want to explain to you once again that lovely story which I never grow old in telling of the cross of our Lord Jesus. And I do so by drawing your attention to the first cross-bearer.

The first cross-bearer. Then I want to show you how you can carry the cross today. And then briefly I want to tell you of something of the blessings that attend those who are prepared to engage in the exercise of cross-carrying.

But first of all, the first cross-bearer. A certain man from Cyrene, Simon the father of Alexander. Now, I rejoice in this scripture and I will tell you why.

The first person who was to help our Lord Jesus in this whole ministry of cross-carrying was someone who was most unlikely. I mean by that that you perchance would have thought that one of the eleven who had somewhat faithfully with varying degrees of closeness had followed our Lord Jesus. That Peter or James or John or one of the others might have had that privilege when our Lord Jesus moves away from the streets of Jerusalem and starts to climb the skull-shaped hill that one of them might be enlisted to help him carry part of the cross.

But no, we don't read that. Simply the Bible puts it in the authorized version, one Simon or the NIV, a certain man from Cyrene, Simon. He comes across the page of scripture, not introduced in any other passage at all.

And in one sense we praise the Lord for that. The first person to engage in the ministry of cross-carrying is someone who up to this point in reading the narrative is utterly unknown. And I'm sure that there are people who've come to the tabernacle this evening and in one sense you also are utterly incognito.

We don't know you. You came here, well, maybe by many events just converging. Perhaps you were in a friend's house and they informed you of our service and you decided to come along.

Or maybe you were attracted as to why a fair number of people come out on a winter's night to church and you thought you would investigate it. And in that sense you can well identify with the subject of my verse, at least at this point, a certain man called Simon. A man who was a foreigner, if you please.

The scripture says he comes from Cyrene. Now probably he was one of the Jews that we would call part of the dispersion. Let me explain the term.

It's easy to grasp hold of. The Jewish people didn't all live in Palestine. At various times in their history they'd been scattered around the face of the then known world.

And wherever there were pockets of Jews in Alexandria, in North Africa, or in Rome, in Italy, there you discovered the people that were referred to as the dispersion. They'd been scattered abroad. Now it was the goal of any Jew who was born outside of Palestine, like it's the goal of every Muslim to visit Mecca.

So it was the goal of every Jew, at least on one occasion in his life, to go to Jerusalem at the time of the Passover and to keep this great celebration when the Hebrews remembered the freedom that they had been granted by God from the slavery in Egypt centuries back. And so here is this man, a relative foreigner, a Jew, but not domiciled, not living in Palestine. And he's come some journey across the sea from Africa.

Maybe his boat came into the port at Joppa and perhaps he started on that long walk in the countryside towards Jerusalem. And maybe his heart was filled with the songs of praise that you find in the book of Psalms as he mounted from one high point to another high point, waiting till that moment would dawn, when possibly for the first time in his life he saw the holy city. And if I'm right in suggesting that this was his background, then how unusual were the turn of events that were to break out in his life in a few moments' time.

You see, he was utterly unfamiliar with what was going on. Here are a group of women. They're some distance from Jerusalem.

They're crying. And in front of the women there are three men, two who are in reasonable shape, one who's in very poor physical condition, and they're each carrying a cross. But Simon's got no knowledge of this at all.

He's a man, you see, who's just, my text says it, he was passing by on his way in from the far country. And by chance he finds himself suddenly involved in this crowd, but he really doesn't know what's happening. As perhaps there are those in our galleries and down below in our main sanctuary this evening who are utterly unaware of the heart of the gospel.

You're very much like this man who is destined to be the first cross-carrier. You're just in effect passing by this Jesus thing, this story of the crucified Savior. Well, obviously you've got a little knowledge, but it doesn't mean a great deal to you.

You've got other things in view. As Simon had other things in view in his life. He was going to Jerusalem to keep the Passover meal.

And doubtless he was preoccupied with that, the feast that was just around the corner. Maybe he hadn't even got lodgings for the night. I don't know, I speculate.

But one thing is quite true for me to suggest most dogmatically to you from Scripture, and that is that the first cross-carrier had little knowledge of just what was going on. And then suddenly there's a cry. It's not a choice, soft cry.

It's not melodious. Have you ever heard the sergeant major on the barracks square suddenly come out full blast fortissimo as he tells those poor soldiers what to do and what he thinks of them? Well, that's the sort of voice that rings out and disturbs Simon from Cyrene. You see, as I mentioned this morning, the Roman soldiers are occupying Palestine.

The Jews, they're under their jackboot. And when a Roman soldier speaks to a Jew, whether the latter likes it or not, he has to do what the Roman says. And when the Roman has rank, he has double reason to be quick.

And so the cry comes from the lips of this Roman soldier. Take the burden of that man. You there, and start to help him carry his cross.

Do you ever have, now be honest, the same sort of feeling as I have when I'm driving in Worthing and suddenly there's a police car and I hear the siren go behind. Now, honestly, I was going at 25 miles an hour, but the adrenaline is right into my bloodstream. And my heartbeat is quickened.

I don't know what it is about a police car, but when it's behind me, I'm sure it's me that they're going for. I'm sure there's something that I've done that's wrong. Now, it might be, and I don't think I'm being so fanciful in speculating this, that Simon's reaction on this occasion is simply something like that.

I've got a lovely book of paintings by a Dutch artist, a brilliant Dutch artist back home. And these paintings, they depict the life of our Saviour from infancy to resurrection. And the artist has tried to show the reaction of Simon when he hears the barrack cry of the Roman officer and says, hey, help that man.

And Simon sort of turns inward on himself and there's a look of great astonishment as he points back and gesticulates with his other hand to the Roman. You mean me? Me? I'll tell you something. I wish, though, with softer tones, I had the ability this evening to arrest your attention and to change the course in your life.

As much as this Roman soldier was able to arrest the attention of Simon from Cyrene. Hey, take up his cross and help that man get to the top of the hill. But my concern is to plead with you in softer tones to join the royal guild of cross-bearers.

And when you check the names, the names of those who have been in that society right down to the beginning when the whole thing was formed, you'll find Simon Cyrene. Now I want you, I'll tell you right now and I'm hardly through my address, I want you to be a cross-bearer. I want you to know what it is to take up the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ in one sense, in a spiritual fashion.

Yet, speaking spiritually, it will make a great deal of tangible difference in your life because Jesus said, I believe I'm right in saying, is repeated in every one of the four gospels that unless a man takes up his cross and follows me, he cannot be my disciple. Pardon the pun, but the crux of the Christian gospel is the cross of Christ. That's why I say it draws me this message.

I've preached it in different forms hundreds of times, perhaps thousands of times, and each time I preach it, I get drawn to it afresh and I get excited about it because here is the very heart of the Christian gospel. Our Lord Jesus is looking for cross-bearers, for men, for women, who will not dangle the charm around their neck or place it through a hole in their ears, but rather will allow the message of the cross to so transform their lives that others in secular society recognize that there is a difference in the way that man, in the way that woman lives when compared to the lifestyle of others. Simon from Cyrene, the first of the royal honorable guild of cross-bearers.

I'm looking for a Simon here, for someone called Simon, no, I don't care for your name, someone called Mary, someone called George, somebody in their 20s, somebody in their 40s, somebody in their 60s, I'm not even bothered about your age, nor your sex, nor your name, but I am concerned to harness you, to arrest you, so that you might follow our Lord Jesus Christ and take up the cross as you draw near to him. What does it mean, you say, to carry the cross today? How do you do it? Well, fundamentally, to make the cross your own you have to confess who Jesus is. In one sense, it's not so much you taking up the cross as the cross taking up you.

For Jesus said that he had come to be lifted up. If the Son of Man is lifted up, he will draw all men unto himself. He's speaking about the cross again, are you hearing me? You see, go back to your physics.

The days when you were in the laboratory at school and you had some iron filings and you brought a magnet towards the filings. What did the magnet do? It attracted the filings. If you put the magnet under a piece of paper, it brought the filings into certain patterns.

Not so, there was a correspondence between the filings and the magnet. And so it is with our Lord Jesus. For those who are sensitive sinners, for those who are concerned to have something done with the greatest problem that confronts them, their own inadequacies before God, then the cross has an attraction.

When they lift the cross, so they identify themselves and they realize that all their sins have been attracted towards the Lord Jesus. When the cross lifts you up, then you'll be able to lift the cross up by making Jesus your Lord, by confessing him, by submitting your life to him, by engaging in Christian service. These are many ways, there are many ways in which you can become a cross bearer, but have I made the fundamental point clear enough? You become one by acknowledging who Jesus is.

You say, well, on that cross is my dearest friend. In one sense, when I think about that cross, it becomes my own, the old rugged cross which I cherish, because I believe that the man who died there was doing for me something that I couldn't do for myself, and I'll tell others about that. I'm not ashamed of the cross of Christ.

You see, this is what makes a watershed between the believer and the unbeliever. The believer is always on about the cross, not in a defeatist sense, because he'll go beyond the cross to the resurrection, but he'll realize that the whole of his salvation just sort of pivots on the cross, and that's what's so wonderful about that. If you were just to be given five minutes with one person in the world, I speak as a fool, that's not easy, that's not difficult for me to do.

If you were given five minutes of conversation with only one person in the world, and that would be the end of your life, and they didn't know the Lord Jesus as Savior, what would you talk about? Would it be the cross? You see, that's a way to test whether the cross is really yours, whether you've cherished it or whether you've just heard it being sung. You make Jesus your Lord as you tell others about the cross, as you submit to God's plan for your life. You know, some people have to bear a cross, don't they, in the circumstances in which they live.

I was with a consultant, a gynecological consultant in the heart of East Africa just a few weeks ago. He could make thousands in this country. I don't know what a consultant gets, I guess not much short of 20,000, perhaps more than that, per year.

And here he is in the heart of Africa living on relatively a pittance. Why? Well, you see, he believes that that's his cross. And he doesn't take it in a fashion whereby he goes around with a face that will stop a clock.

He so loves the Lord Jesus and recognizes the service that the Lord Jesus has called him into that he's proud to live a crucified life. I've known many a poor person who has been sick or has been born deformed and it's not been within the providence of God to heal them. And they have taken upon themselves, manfully or womanfully, the cross of Christ and they've shown the crucified life as they have submitted to the providences of God.

That's how you bear your cross. You see, there are some of us who think that we must always go to the other side of the field because the grass there is the greenest and we don't ask, is that the side of the field that the Lord wants us to go to? We should be asking, where does the Lord want us to serve him? Where does he want us to take up our cross and follow him? Cross-carrying today, you carry your cross, I say, by confessing who Jesus is, by submitting to his plan for your life, by engaging in Christian service and telling others of him. But why would you want to be a cross-carrier? Do you love anybody? Is there anyone in your life, any people that you can say, I really love? I'm glad to be able to say that.

People in my life who I really love. Now, if you really love someone, what would you do for them? Well, if your love is absolute, you would more or less do anything for them, would you not? Now, what did Jesus do for you? Well, he did the most difficult thing of all. He took your shame, I've told you already.

He took your sins, and he bore them on the cross for you. You've got a friend, but you haven't got one that's better than Jesus, have you? Not if you're a Christian. There's a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

I love my brother, but Jesus is more than my brother to me. Now, how do you show your love? Well, the apostle Paul, who's a cross man, he's in the royal order of cross bearers, he's in that society, he's in that guild. He says that the love of Christ constrains him to preach the gospel.

You know, if you're happily married, you want to keep your wife happy. It's one of the reasons why you're happily married, I imagine. The same goes the other way around, doesn't it? Or in just an ordinary friendship.

What does the love want you to do, if you possibly can? Now, what is it that the Lord Jesus wants you to do if you're a Christian? To tell others about the cross. And you do it because the love of Christ constrains you. But there's another reason for doing it, and that is that people outside of this information are eternally in great difficulty.

You know, sometimes our modern world just prostitutes. That means it makes nonsense I think the insurance agents are the worst. They sell life insurance.

They don't, not really. They sell death insurance. But they would never be able to flog their policies if they called it death insurance.

But it is death insurance, isn't it? You know, somebody else benefits if you die. Now, here's another little bit of 20th century nonsense. When someone dies, how much were they worth? Well, the truth is that if a person dies who's worth 70,000 pounds or 150,000 pounds and they haven't confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord, they're worth absolutely nothing.

Jesus said that a man could gain the whole world and lose his own soul. And he's in trouble. He dies a pauper, right? So, another reason why I want to carry the cross, bear the cross, promote the message of the cross is because the love of Christ constrains me and I know that if people die ignorant of the message of the cross and what Jesus has done eternally they are doomed.

That's not my word. It's the word of the Lord Jesus. So, that's why I need to be a cross carrier today.

Just like Simon was yesteryear. Let me draw my message to a conclusion. What are the blessings of cross carrying? Well, let's think it through in terms of Simon.

Let's go back to him for a moment, shall we? The blessings of cross carrying, well, first of all, they keep you close to Jesus. I mean, here is Simon. Imagine it.

He's now taking up the cross. Maybe the cross is in two parts. Perhaps Jesus was carrying one piece, the cross member, and Simon was carrying the heavier piece that eventually would be attached to the other and then Jesus' body would be fixed to it.

There was just one piece of wood and he was carrying part of it and the Lord was staggering along having taken the weight so far. But what can be said is this, that Simon was so close to Jesus. That's what the cross does.

You're a cross carrier. It makes you follow the footsteps of Jesus. Nothing can keep you closer to Jesus than a man, a woman, who's living a crucified sort of life.

A life in which they're endeavouring to reproduce the character of our Lord Jesus. And what's more, it identifies you with his death. I mean, you don't really think of the death of Jesus without, if you've got the full picture in your mind, also thinking about the man, this almost anonymous Jew from the dispersion who was enlisted in the service of helping Jesus by a Roman.

You see, he's identified with the death of Christ eternally as well as historically. And if you're a cross bearer, if you too have made the cross your own, then the very reasons for which Jesus died, which I've now explained twice, they're credited to your account, aren't they? Of course they are. Some people will say, now, look, you're really stretching this one because it doesn't say that Simon became a Christian, all right? No, it doesn't, not in so many words.

But we are given a mind with which we reason when we read Scripture and there are certain deductions that we can bring from information that it's given. What are we told about this man? A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus. Now, why in the name of logic does Mark, the evangelist, put in the name of the kids? Well, why was Mark writing the gospel? Let me remind you of something that I told you years ago when we started this, at least it seems years ago, when we started our expositions, our explanations on a Sunday night of Mark's gospel.

He was writing to Romans, Roman Christians or Christians at Rome who were really going through great difficulty. And it was a personal letter, a wrong one, but it was a personal one. He was writing to these, telling them all about people that they had some knowledge of.

Now, what's the point of putting in the names of Alexander and Rufus apart from the fact that the people in Rome that he was referring? See, it's Simon, the father of these two lads who you know. There's a man by the name of Rufus who's referred to in the last chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans, and it's probably the same man who then is in Rome. And it's a reasonable deduction to hold before you this evening that this dear man, Simon, went home after a full understanding of the reasons why Jesus had died and his resurrection and so forth and told his lads about what had happened.

Can you imagine, if I'm right, if they made a commitment to the Lord Jesus, how proud they would have been, how glad they would have testified their father was, that though unwittingly and unwillingly in the first instance, he was pressed into being a cross-bearer of the Lord Jesus. You see, the blessings of cross-bearing are these, that you have the benediction of Christ resting on you. Jesus said in a different context, if you offer a cup of water in my name, if you visit a prisoner in my name, then you'll certainly be rewarded.

Now, isn't it reasonable to suggest to you that Simon was blessed for carrying the cross of our Lord Jesus and that Alexander and Rufus are included in this account because they are well known by the recipients of Mark's gospel as those who have later on in their lives made a commitment to the Lord Jesus as their Savior. All right, I'm now through. He was Simon, and he's impressed into the service of Jesus.

Incidentally, have you thought, it's a sort of PS, no extra charge, have you thought about the way that the Lord synchronized all this? You see, I mean, here is this brute of a Roman soldier and he's bawling out to Simon, and it all seems as though it's accidental, and yet the Bible tells us that there's not one thing that happens in our life that is accidental. Imagine the circumstances that God has got to sort of prearrange to ensure that at the right moment, one called Simon is just passing by, by chance at the human level, this crowd, Simon moving towards Jerusalem, and they're coming out. Remember the voyage across the sea, the walk across the countryside, and the Lord sets it all up.

In the nick of time, the soldier spots Simon and impresses him into the service, and as a consequence, a knock-on effect, he completely changes the life of Simon from Cyrene. I don't know what brought you here this evening, but I don't believe it was chance. I believe that all the events that brought you to this point are known by the Lord.

For what reason? I'm going to pardon the pump so that an English sergeant could inform you as to what it means to be a cross-bearer and reminded you that Jesus died for your sin. Will you embrace the cross and confess him as your Lord? Let's bow our heads in prayer. Let's just think quietly about what I've been sharing.

The Lord Jesus and his death on the cross for you and for me, and our need to confess that we've committed sin and that Jesus, our Redeemer, has died for our sins, and then to take the message of salvation into the world so that others might benefit from it. We need to thank our Lord God for sending his Son into the world. So let's just commit our lives to him right now.

Those who know the song, let's start to sing quietly. There is a Redeemer, Jesus, God's own Son. There is a Redeemer, Jesus, God's own Son.

Precious Mother of God, we sing of thee, Thank you, O my Father, for giving us your Son, and He is my God. That's a contemporary hymn. Take your hymns of faith and let's sing finally an older hymn that speaks of exactly the same thing.

298. Rock of Ages cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee. Again, the top lady is speaking of the cross of Christ, the blessings of just committing your life to Him, indicating who can come.

Anyone who feels their inadequacy can make a trust, a commitment to Jesus Christ. 298. Let's sing it sensitively.

Rock of Ages cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee. And the last time is lost in the night. It's forevermore lost in the night.

Now, Father God, we thank you that by your sweet grace and providence you cause to be written into scripture the account of a hitherto unknown man. You gave him the great privilege of physically helping the Lord Jesus to carry the cross, and you set down a graphic illustration even for dull people like ourselves to be able to latch onto and to appreciate in some measure what you're calling us to. Help us to live lives that are dominated by the cross, that its shadow may be upon us.

Bless us, Lord, these dear young people. We commit them to you and to your grace, these middle-aged and elderly folk, too. And we ask that this week we may have discovered ourselves to have been enrolled in that royal guild of cross-carriers, and may we know the attendant blessings that flow from the privilege of assisting our Savior, not in freeing the world from sin, for that we cannot do, but in spreading the message of that emancipation which he has brought.

So bless us to this end, and do us good during these days before we meet again. For his sake. Amen.