from the Presbyterian churches in Peru. It's a delight this morning to hear us confessing the Apostles' Creed last Sunday about this same time. The Presbyterian churches in Lima were confessing those exact same words. It's a delight to think of the Catholicity of the church. It was my great privilege last week to be in Lima, finishing a teaching ministry at Dr. John Payne, working with around 150 key pastors from all over the nation of Peru, focused on worship and preaching, but it's good to be home. I've often told you how John Calvin was expelled from Geneva in 1538, but three years later, the people pled for his return from Strasbourg, and when he came back to Geneva, and he stepped into the pulpit, everyone was breathless, would he scold them and lambast them for running him out of town three years earlier? And when Calvin returned, he simply opened his Bible to Psalm 82, which was the text where he'd left off three years earlier and began to expound that. Well, I haven't been out of the pulpit for three years, only three weeks, but we will resume exactly where we left off. Look with me at your copy of God's word in Luke 23. beginning in verse 26. And if you're wondering where we are in terms of the timeline of the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, we've been in that last 12 hours from Thursday evening till Friday morning that are sort of a blur. In these last 12 hours, there was the celebration of Passover with Jesus and the 12 and the institution of the Lord's Supper. There's the washing of the disciples' feet. There was the stealthy exit of Judas from the upper room at just the right moment. There was the upper room discourse with the giving of the new commandment and all the instruction about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Then there was the trek with the eleven to the Garden of Gethsemane. The disciples nap instead of praying and Jesus agonizes even to the point of sweating blood over the coming cross. And then there was the arrest as the night got late. The arrest by the huge mob of soldiers and Sanhedrin members. By most conservative estimates, at least eight to nine hundred men come armed to the teeth to arrest Jesus. And then there are the six trials. Three Jewish trials, first before Annas, Caiaphas, then before the entire Sanhedrin, then three Roman trials before Pilate, before Herod, then Pilate again. And Pilate now in our text has just handed Jesus over to justice. It's now Friday morning as we turn to verse 26. Jesus will be dead and buried before sundown on this day. And now before us in our text are those last steps that Jesus takes. The last steps to Golgotha. to the cross. Jesus' life, all his life, has been leading up to this moment. It's been pointing towards the cross. Jesus himself has been telling the disciples this, preparing them for this reality. Think of how often Jesus tells the disciples this. In Luke 9, Jesus says, the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised on the third day. He says things like this repeatedly. in Jerusalem. Every Friday afternoon in Jerusalem, since the 1300s, an order of Roman Catholic monks, every Friday afternoon, walks the road from where the Roman fortress of Antonia stood, where Pilate would have sentenced Jesus. There's now a school of Islamic studies there. They walk the road to the hill of Golgotha outside the city. And we're not going to get up and physically do that, but we're going to, in the text, make that walk now. What's been called the Via Dolorosa. Let's seek the help of the Lord now. Oh, blessed Holy Spirit, we praise you that you've placed in our hands your perfect, inerrant, inspired, authoritative word. And so we hold in our hands this amazing treasure that tell us blow by blow, step by step of these last hours and even minutes of our Lord Jesus' life. But oh Lord, we will remain in our ignorance and stony heartedness unless you enlighten us. Then having heard this truth, we will remain immobile unless you empower us to be more than just hearers of the word, but doers also. So we plead, grab hold of our minds, instruct us, and then grab hold of our feet and our hearts and move us into joyful and obedient living, following hard after Jesus. We pray through Jesus our Savior. Amen. I want you to look at verse 26 and 27 as we analyze almost syllable by syllable these words about this procession. Now, there's something that is important for us to understand, just a sequencing issue, and this is why it's so vital to read all four of the Gospels at the same time. Because what we find is the Gospel narratives never contradict one another, they supplement one another. And if you look at verse 26 of our narrative, all that you would think in terms of the carrying of the cross was that Simon the Cyrenian carried the cross of Jesus from Pilate's hall to Golgotha. Well, you wouldn't have the whole picture. Keep one finger here and look over at John 19 so that we can start off on the right foot understanding this procession. John 19, verse 17, we have there the starting of the procession. In John 19, 17, we read these words. And He, that is Jesus, bearing His cross went out to a place called the Place of the Skull. Now what we find out is, and the Gospel writers don't fill in the rest of the details as we'll see, is the procession begins away from Pilate's Hall with Jesus bearing His own cross. More on that in just a moment. This road that He goes on, on the way to the cross, has been called the Via Dolorosa, the Way of Sorrows, or the Via Crucis, the Way of the Cross. So the procession begins with the cross being probably weighing somewhere between 80 to 100 pounds, laid across the upper back, the shoulders of Jesus. What has been foreshadowed so many times in the Old Testament is now reality. Think of how many times we see this picture being typified for us in the Old Testament. We saw it as far back as Genesis 22 when Abraham lays the wood on his son Jacob, on his son Isaac. And there we have that picture for all time of a loving father laying the wood of sacrifice on an innocent son. We see it in the blood of the innocent lamb being smeared in cross fashion on the doorpost to protect the inhabitants in Exodus 12 on the night of the Passover. and dozens of other illustrations, foreshadowings of the cross being laid on the sufferer in the Old Testament. But all of those shadows now fade into recess. The reality is now here. This is what Jesus' entire life has been moving towards, is the cross. A hundred times, no, probably a thousand times, as Jesus had been sawing a board in his carpenter's workshop, as he'd nailed a cross beam for a doorpost, as he'd run his hand over a piece of wood. Jesus had stared at that wood and anticipated the cross. And so the petibulum, that's what it's called, the cross beam. the rough wooden beam. Of course, this wouldn't have been sanded and made nice and smooth. This was just a rugged beam. It would have been laid across Jesus' bleeding and mutilated shoulders. The same shoulders and back that would have just, a few minutes earlier, just have endured 39 lashes by Pilate's tortures. Lashes delivered with the flagellum, a piece of leather whip with bits of bone and metal in the end. And the torturer would have laid those into Jesus' back, ripping out flesh and blood and bone. And now on top of that, raw. irritated, aching, bleeding back, this piece of wood is jammed down on his shoulders. His lacerated back that was so torn to shreds that it resembled a piece of raw meat. That's why Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 52, 14, that he was marred more than any other man. The Romans had the practice of making those who were going to be crucified, making the condemned man carry their own cross. This is a Roman tactic, to further break the will of the criminal. It's like having the condemned man do the wiring for the electric chair that will be used to kill him. It's one last psychological indignity. And then Jesus, we are told in John 19 and here, that he was led. Now the Romans had a specific military fashion in which they led condemned men to the place where they would be crucified. They would be led by a squad of five soldiers. The first soldier would march in front and he would be holding a placard on which would be scrawled in chalk the reason why this prisoner was being executed. And so ahead of the Lord Jesus Christ goes a man holding a placard showing it to all sides. And then behind him walks a box of four men. And they form a box around the prisoner. And in case he slows down, they prod him with their spears or their sword. The Romans, when they were going to crucify a man, never took the most direct way to the site of crucifixion. But in order that the condemned man might be seen by the largest number of people, they would walk him up and down the main streets of the city, by the squares and markets and city gates. They did this for a very specific reason. They wanted all citizens to see what happened to lawbreakers. This was their method of keeping down criminal activity. And notice where this procession is headed. as we see this procession leave and slowly wind away from Pilate's hall. This procession, as it meanders through the narrow lanes of Jerusalem, is headed outside the city gates to Golgotha. Why is Jesus going to be executed outside of the city? This is a vital theological point. Because for some of you, you think, It doesn't matter where Jesus is executed. He could be executed right there in front of Pilate's hall. They could stick a cross up. It doesn't matter. No, it matters. It's vitally important where Jesus is executed. He's going to be executed outside the city. Why? Look back to Leviticus chapter 24, and what we'll see is that even the place of our Lord's execution is a fulfillment of prophecy and type. Leviticus chapter 24, we see laid down a principle for us. Leviticus 24, we have a man who's blasphemed, violated the third commandment, and the Lord speaks to Moses and tells him how the blasphemer, how the wicked lawbreaker is to be executed. Leviticus 24, verse 13 and 14, the Lord spoke to Moses saying, take outside the camp, him who is cursed. Then let all who heard him lay their hands on his head and let all the congregation stone him." And what we see here is a principle being laid down of the wicked man being thrust outside of the body and executed there. But even more to the point, Jesus had to be executed outside the city to fulfill the type of the sin offering. When you think of all the different types of offerings of the Old Testament, the sin offering had to be burned outside the camp. We see this told us in Leviticus 4, Leviticus 16. The reason why is because God can have no fellowship with sin. And so the sin offering is taken outside the camp. And Jesus became our sin offering for us because we are sinners and had Broken communion with God through our sin, our substitute must endure this separation. He must be thrust outside the camp. The writer of Hebrews picks up on this. Look at Hebrews 13 and he says this is actually a vitally important principle where Jesus is executed, where this procession ends up. In Hebrews 13, The close of his letter, the writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 13 11, he actually even spells out theological implications. Hebrews 13 11 and following, the writer of Hebrews says, the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp bearing his reproach. And so this procession that we see, it has a goal. It's headed outside the gates, outside the camp, that Jesus might be an outcast, that he might be thrust away. Who's in this procession? Look very carefully at our text once again in verse 27. were specifically not told of any of the disciples who had followed. Did you hear that? Were specifically not told of any of the disciples who had followed, but Luke takes great pains to mention the women who mourned and lamented Jesus. Of course they did. Jesus is the first man to treat women the way he did, with kindness. and respect and dignity and gentleness. Luke's gospel way back in 2007 when we began our exposition of Luke. One of the things I told you was unique to Luke was how many women he featured in the pages. Elizabeth and Mary, the sisters Martha and Mary, Mary Magdalene, the widow of Nain, the widow who was bent almost double and many others. Among the Gentiles, women were degraded. Among the Jews, the rabbis actually thanked God that they weren't born women. But Jesus, the first man in history who ever did this, gave women dignity. In fact, no woman is mentioned as speaking against Jesus in His life or having any share in His death. On the contrary, He was anointed by burial by a woman, Women were the last at his grave and first at the resurrection. To a woman he appeared when he first rose again. A pagan woman interceded for him with her husband Pilate. And here we see women already mourning this most illegitimate travesty of justice. Jesus is being led on this procession. Get the picture. Jesus is being led in this box of Roman soldiers. The soldiers at the front pulling him, no doubt a rope attached to his neck, his shoulder, his waist, and other men in the box are prodding him with spears and swords. It has to be said over and over that this Jesus, the mighty, omnipotent, second person of the Trinity, the one who spoke and all things came into being, ex nihilo, out of nothing, This sovereign, powerful Jesus doesn't lift a finger to resist as he's being led away. Why? Because of his great love for you. Because of his deep determination to suffer on your behalf so that you might never undergo one minute of the wrath of God. Well, look at the new character who comes into the picture in verse 26. Jesus is a carpenter in the physical prime of his life, a 33-year-old strong and virile man. He's accustomed to heavy lifting. He knew how to put his shoulder to a task. But remember as well, Jesus has had nothing to eat or drink since the evening before at the Last Supper. And then after that, he undergoes a grueling marathon prayer session in the Garden of Gethsemane, which involved great loss of bodily fluids. You'll remember the gospel writers tell us physiologically he loses all kinds of sweat and blood. And so he's already physically weakened. Then he's arrested. followed by hours of standing, no doubt he's not allowed to sit or have any rest. He stands first in the halls of Annas, then Caiaphas, then the Sanhedrin, then Pilate, then Herod, not a moment of sleep or even rest, and then come the multiple beatings he undergoes at the hands of the Sanhedrin, and then the Roman soldiers, and then come the scourgings, those scourging that were so severe they killed many men, And so by the time Jesus is declared guilty, he's beyond physically exhausted. He's in agonizing pain from the dozens of lacerations, from the punctures on his scalp to the open wounds all over his back and shoulders where the blood is flowing freely. He's endured massive blood loss. No doubt he's already in a medical form of shock. His head is reeling. And remember, we believe in the full and true humanity of Jesus. He does what any other man in this bodily condition does. He cannot go another step carrying this weighty cross beam. Perhaps he faints or stumbles or reels like a wounded butterfly until his knees begin to buckle. And the Roman guard who surround him are concerned that he'll die before they can kill him in the way that they've been commanded to, by crucifixion. And that would never do. So they spot a likely man in the crowd. One of the burly Roman guards lays the flat edge of his sword on this African man that he sees in the crowd. And he says, you there, pick up that cross. and come along with us. And so Simon, the Cyrenian, who has just come into town, we're told from the text, all Jerusalem is now staring at him, a North African carrying a cross, following this beaten up, staggering man surrounded by four soldiers. Now who is this man Simon? This, by the way, is a glorious side note to this whole story. Who is this man Simon and why was he in the crowd? He's just traveled 800 miles from his homeland of Cyrene, which would be in modern day Tripoli, Libya. He's just come up to attend the Passover, so we assume he's a Jew. He's just come into town. Acts 2 verse 10 tells us that people came from Cyrene to Jerusalem for the great feast season. We see Cyrenians there on the day of Pentecost in second chapter of Acts. Acts 6, 9 tells us there's even a synagogue full of Cyrenians in Jerusalem. And so Simon comes into town to celebrate the Passover, that celebration of deliverance through the blood of the spotless lamb. I want you to trace this out with me because this becomes one of the great stories of the early church. Keep one finger here and look at Mark chapter 15. Mark fills in more details about Simon for us. Mark chapter 15, verse 21. Just a side note for those of you who don't know, Mark is writing his gospel. His gospel is directed to the church at Rome. Everyone in the church of Rome would know these people. That's why he says this. In Mark 15 verse 21, Mark writes, Then they compelled a certain man, Simon of Cyrenium, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by to bear his cross. Now keep tracing this theme with me. This man, Simon, who bears the cross for Jesus, he's the father of Alexander and Rufus. So when Paul writes his letter to the Romans, look how he closes it. A few years later, look at Romans 16. Romans 16, Paul closes the letter to the church at Rome by saying these words. Romans 16 verse 13. Now we have the son of Simon in Romans 16, 13 where Paul writes, greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord and his mother and mine. Historically, the church has understood this incident this way that Simon was converted by this chance encounter as he watches and listens to the events of that Good Friday and he becomes a leader in the early church at Cyrene when he goes back and was a part of that group of preachers from Cyrene who came in Acts 11 to preach the gospel at Antioch and preach Christ. Wow, there's a church in Cyrene that's evangelistic and outreaching, and his children, Alexander and Rufus, become leaders in the Roman church, and his wife was like a mother to the apostle Paul, Paul says in Romans 16, 13. And so God takes what seems to be a meaningless grab of a man out of the crowd by these brutal Roman soldiers, and he uses it for the converting of Simon, the impact of his sons, and the spreading of the gospel all over the Mediterranean basin. Once again, the providence of God redeeming even seeming meaningless chance encounters. But as well, I would be failing if I didn't point out the glorious picture that's painted for us there in verse 26 and 27. What a glorious picture of the truth that Jesus has already told all his disciples. When he says in Luke chapter 9, If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up the cross and follow me." What a glorious picture we see of that obligation, that gospel duty of every disciple to pick up the cross, the shame of the cross. the obligation of the cross and follow hard after Jesus. This form of Simon trudging after Jesus is actually a marvelous profile of every Christian and what it means to be a Christian. In the course of this death march, the Lord Jesus, even though he can barely breathe, stops and speaks to the weeping, mourning, lamenting women who are lining the streets of Jerusalem. Look at what he says in verse 28 through 31. He restates what he had been teaching in the temple just that week. Now to refresh you, perhaps you forget what the subject of Jesus' teaching had been. You remember that Jesus, the previous Sunday, we're now at Friday morning. The previous Sunday, Jesus had come into Jerusalem in a triumphal entry to the south of Hosanna. Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. And Jesus immediately began teaching and telling the people in Jerusalem, in one generation, your city's going to be destroyed. for rejecting God's Messiah. In one generation, trouble is coming. Look back at some of those words in Luke 19, for example. These are words that were spoken within the last week in Luke 19. For example, in verse 43 and 44, these are words spoken probably on the Monday before this Friday. In Luke 19, verse 43 and 44, Jesus says, days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you, and close you in on every side, level you and your children within you to the ground, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another because you didn't know the time of your visitation. Jesus says the same thing in Luke chapter 21, verses, for example, 20 through 24. And what Jesus is doing is he's talking about the coming destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman forces. And what Jesus does, isn't this amazing? He's giving one last warning as he's on his way to the cross. He's reminding the people of Jerusalem about these prophecies that he's issued in Luke 19 and Luke 21. He's issuing a formal historical prophecy about events that will happen in their life, a prophecy that will be fulfilled in one generation. Jesus is looking ahead to those events leading up to 70 AD when the Jews of Jerusalem will seek to revolt and throw off the Roman yoke and over a million Jews will amass in Jerusalem to fight the Roman army. Jesus looks forward and sees the siege of Jerusalem under General Titus when thousands of Roman soldiers dig embankments around the city and wait for the Jews to starve to death. Jesus sees the thoroughness of the Roman army as they build towers and bring up catapults to haul massive stones against Jerusalem's wall. He sees the squabbling factions in the besieged city, fighting each other instead of fighting the foe. He sees starvation killing thousands, cannibalism ensuing, husbands killing wives, and husbands killing their own children. He sees disease rampant because of the number of rotting corpses laying in the street of the besieged city. He sees escaping Jews caught by the hundreds and crucified. And of course, All of Jesus' prophecies of the destruction of Jerusalem come to pass in one generation. The omniscience of Jesus is on display even here as He's so reeling physically. He never ceases to be omniscient. He never ceases to know the future. Our Savior knows the future because of His omniscience. He knows the future because He decrees it. Nothing surprises Him, nothing dismays Him. Nothing can ever happen to us that He didn't know or purpose to happen. And so look carefully at what He says in verse 29 through 31. Jesus says, in that time, He's talking about the events that are just around the corner in 70 AD. He says, in that time, He's speaking to the ladies. It'll be a blessing to be childless. Now this is a shocking statement to say to a woman in first century Palestine. He's saying, it'll be a blessing to be childless so that your little ones won't have to suffer such things. Childlessness in that culture was normally considered to be shameful and children a blessing. But Jesus says in that day, you won't even want to have children. It's going to be so difficult. And he says in verse 30 that the people of Jerusalem are going to be in such agony, they'll plead for earthquakes to put them out of their misery. And then finally, he states a proverb. Look at it in verse 31. A proverb to the women standing by the side of the road as he stumbles towards the cross. He says in verse 31, if they do these things in the greenwood, what will be done in the dry? This proverb should be interpreted in this way. if the Romans are doing this to me now. In other words, if they are putting me to death now when they acknowledge me as innocent, if they're willing to put an innocent man to death, what will they do to the people of Jerusalem in 70 AD when they are truly guilty of rebellion? That's what's being stated. If they'll kill an innocent man now, What will it look like when they really get angry and get serious about the business of killing rebels? This is a warning. He's warning them. In fact, in Luke 21, he warns them to flee when those days come. So how do we apply this account, this narrative of Jesus on the road to the cross? When we open the text next week, we will be at Golgotha's Hill. How do we apply this text? Let me make several applications. First of all, the amazing selflessness of Jesus is on display. He's in amazing physical and emotional agony, about to be crucified. And Jesus' concern is for the believing residents of Jerusalem, not himself. There's no self-pity here, only concern for others. Only a deep longing for his countrymen. We see that when he weeps over Jerusalem in Luke 19. Only a deep longing for his countrymen to repent and escape the wrath of God. Now, the reason why I point this out, We see the deep selflessness of Jesus. This is the image to which God is going to conform you. This is the image of Christ. If you're a converted man or woman or boy or girl, When God says He's going to conform you to the image of Christ, that's not just a theory, it's concrete. This is the character trait to which He will conform you. He will put you more and more outside yourself, less and less selfish, and more and more other-centered. Here Jesus is in raw pain, with His back a shredded mass of blood. And what is His concern for? Now, some 90 minutes away from death, His concern is for others. Do you see the radical others nature of the Christian life? That this is the life we are called to live? No matter how unhappy, no matter how bad we feel, that there's never a time when we can say, it's about me today. If there was ever a time when someone could have said, it's about me today, forget others today. Even in the moment of greatest agony, Jesus never takes the focus off others. A second application we should see. Even as He is preparing to die, Jesus is still exercising His office of prophet. In fact, he's the final prophet, as the writer of Hebrews 1 argues. He demonstrates that he is a prophet by stating careful facts that do come to pass. Now, you know the test of a true prophet, don't you? Deuteronomy 18, we have a text that tells us of the prophet, namely Jesus to come, and also tells us how to spot a false prophet. A false prophet is anyone who claims to have a word from the Lord and it doesn't come to pass. Once again, Jesus is shown to be a true prophet. He knows the future. These words that we see, Here in verses 28 through 31, these are a formal prophecy and they come to pass. When he speaks about any future events, you're always wise to believe him. If he says there's a day of judgment coming when he will separate all men into sheep and goats, believe him. If he says he's going to heaven to prepare a place for all who love him, believe him. He's a true prophet. We see Jesus in his last minutes of life, still exercising. His office of prophet. A third application. One of my great fears is that we will read this narrative and be so moved by emotion that we will have the wrong response. The right response to this event is not sympathy for Jesus. but faith in Jesus. Jesus even tells the bystanders not to weep over him. It is not emotions about Jesus or sympathy for him, but faith in his virgin birth, his sinless life, his substitutionary death and resurrection that saves us. When you stand before the great judge one day and he says, why should I let you into my heaven? Oh, I felt terrible about that crucifixion business. My friend, sympathy doesn't save us. Faith in Jesus is what saves us. If there's any sympathy or weeping to be exercised, it is for objects of wrath and judgment. The right feeling, the right response when you see this is not sympathy. It is bedrock faith in Jesus alone. The final application. So let me remind you again. Jesus endured this road, this humiliation, this torture, this exhaustion, these fetters and chains, this wicked escort to a cruel and accursed death, all so that you might be escorted by angels into the presence of God. Jesus underwent that escort. so that you might have a royal escort into the presence of a father who will embrace you. Let's pray together. Father, how we thank you for this word. Once again, showing us the humiliation of Christ. And oh Lord, we look to him as our only object of faith. The one who was humiliated and is now exalted. Our trust is in him alone. We have no other hope. but this one who is the sinless son of God bearing our sin in his body on the tree. Oh Lord strengthen our faith in him and our love to him we pray in Jesus name. Amen.