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The Gospel Stands Unchanged
This is the word of the living God. Luke chapter nine, verse 23.
And he said to all, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?
And over in Matthew chapter 16,
Matthew 16, in beginning in verse 24 there, the word of God says, then
Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his own soul?
For what shall a man give in return for his soul? Then in Mark's gospel chapter eight,
Mark chapter eight in verse 34, Mark chapter eight, verse 34, in calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
For whoever would save his life will lose it.
But whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it.
For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his own soul?
For what can man give in return for his soul?
Two things right at the very front here. Two things, number one, the gospel has not changed.
The gospel has not changed. Number two, and as equally important is this, that the gospel call has not changed.
The gospel call has not changed. Charles Spurgeon said this concerning Peter's confession of faith,
Peter's statement of faith. He said this, Spurgeon said, remember when you were burdened with sin, you can never forget that.
You were crushed to the earth under your load of guilt and Jesus was revealed as the sin bearer.
You will never forget that. And as you kissed his pierced feet, he spoke pardon to you and you knew that he was
God. I wonder today how many professing quote unquote
Christians today understand that statement. How many understand that we outside of Christ are crushed beneath the load of our sin and that nothing but the wrath of God abides on us.
But do you remember that day? I know the old song says, I never shall forget that day when all the burdens of my soul were rolled away.
He made me happy, glad and free. I'll sing it and shout it for he's everything to me.
Having a testimony that you are saved is very, very important. It is equally important to understand, to know that our testimony is not what saves men and women.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is what saves men and women. But our testimonies are the direct result of the gospel of Jesus Christ in and on us as individuals.
The gospel itself has not changed. First Corinthians chapter 15, if you just want to write these references down.
First Corinthians chapter 15 verses one through four. The apostle Paul is writing to the church at Corinth and he says now,
I would remind you brothers of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand and by which you are being saved.
If you hold fast to the word that I preached to you unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures.
The gospel has not changed since then. He went on to say that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.
The gospel has not changed. It is still the death, the burial and the resurrection of Christ.
The apostle Paul stated to the Galatian church. There's a meme went around this past week of the commander of the
Star Trek, the bald headed guy Picard or whatever. In one scene, it showed him making a lovey -dovey face and it said
Paul's letter to the Philippians. And in the bottom picture, it showed him cocking a gun and it said
Paul's letter to the Galatians. Paul did not cut any slack to the
Galatians and he said in Galatians 6 .14, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world.
The gospel has not changed. Number two, the gospel call has not changed.
Throughout the scriptures, the gospel call is exactly the same.
For example, in Acts chapter two, verse 36 through 40, the word of God says this,
Peter in preaching this message of the gospel on the day of Pentecost, he said, let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both
Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. The gospel call has not changed.
It's never been, we have never been called to make it palatable, to make it comfortable for those who hear the gospel.
The gospel is an offense. It's an offense to the Jew and to the Gentile.
It's an offense to the sinner because the sinner has to recognize and understand that we are truly just that, sinners separated from a holy
God. Peter goes on to say, now when they heard it, or the scripture goes on to say when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and they said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do?
Oh, I would to God that God would bring such conviction in the world today that men and women and boys and girls would come to that place where they're broken under their sin and they know nothing but to say,
God, what shall I do? To which the church of the living
God is able to say what Peter said to them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit. He went on to say, this promise is for you and for your children and to all who are far off, everyone to whom the
Lord our God calls to himself. Oh friends, it is not ineffective nor inefficient for us to proclaim the gospel everywhere we go.
As a matter of fact, it is commanded in the scripture. Proclaim the gospel far and near.
And the scripture says there in the 40th verse, and with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them saying, save yourselves from this crooked and this perverse generation.
The gospel call has not changed. Whether we're preaching on the sidewalks at the abortion meals, whether you're at Walmart talking to your friends and neighbors, whether I'm at Home Depot speaking with customers, the gospel call never changes.
It is always the same. Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, we sung that song when
I surveyed the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died. My riches gained,
I count but lost and I pour contempt on all my pride. Forbid it
Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ my God. All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice to his blood. See, from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e 'er such love and sorrow meet or thorns composed so rich a crown were the whole round of nature mine that were a present far too small.
Love so amazing, love so divine demands my soul, my life, my all.
The gospel call never changes. However, in the world in which we live,
I wanna give you a quote from J .C. Ryle in the 1900s.
J .C. Ryle addressed this issue and this is important and this is a very relevant issue today because in many areas and in many avenues and in many branches of quote unquote
Christianity, the gospel is made to be less than what it is or it's made to be more than what it is.
The gospel is what it is and it alone is the saving power of God unto salvation.
God does not need our help. It does not need to be edited. It does not need to be redacted.
Nothing needs to be removed and nothing needs to be added. It must be Jesus Christ alone.
By faith alone, through grace alone and Christ alone, according to the word of God alone, for God's glory all alone.
But J .C. Ryle said there is a common worldly kind of Christianity in this day.
He wasn't speaking in 2021. He was speaking in the early 1900s. There is a common worldly kind of Christianity in this day which many have and think they have enough.
It's a cheap Christianity which offends nobody and requires no sacrifice.
It costs nothing and he said this, it's worth nothing. A Christianity that does not call you to come unto
Christ, to follow Christ, to deny yourself and take up your cross is a false gospel.
R .C. Sproul said we need Augustans and Lutherans to speak to us anew. Lest the light of God's grace be not only overshadowed but be obliterated in our time.
Listen, church, we live in a day where the gospel is soft peddled to people. It's soft peddled and in an age where easy believism is preferred to the old truth of the
Bible. Oh, here comes those terms again, old truth. He must be talking about traditionalism.
I'm not talking about traditionalism. I'm talking about the old truth of the gospel. I'm talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ being the power of God unto salvation.
I'm saying that there is no other way to the Father but by the Son and except you repent of your sins, turn unto
Christ, believe what Christ has done for you that you will be forever damned.
What we need, church, is for the young and for the old. We need men, women, boys, and girls who are willing to simply stand up for Jesus.
To stand up for Jesus and to stand out in the world. Far too long, the church has become syncretized to the world.
It's blended with the world. The church has done everything to attract the world. Listen, there is nothing attractive about the church to the world.
To the lost people, there is nothing beautiful about it but to us who are being saved.
Oh my gosh, there's a beauty beyond compare. There is nothing that compares to the beauty of what
God has accomplished in and through his church. So, a question for personal reflection this morning.
For us to ask ourselves. Ask yourself maybe this question if you wanna write this down. And it's actually, as you know, when
I ask one question, there's typically several that follow. Am I a proclaimer of the gospel?
Are you a proclaimer of the gospel in this world? If you are not a proclaimer of the gospel, the message is simple for you today.
Repent and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. And if you are proclaiming the gospel,
I would ask you this, what gospel are you proclaiming? Is it the old gospel?
The gospel of the death, the burial, and the resurrection of the virgin born son of the living God? Amen.
It's almost like you're getting an outline today to help you proclaim the gospel.
It's pretty close to that. Gospel preachers really don't change a lot of things up just so you all are probably well aware of that, right?
When you get to the true gospel, you don't have to change anything.
Are you proclaiming the gospel of the death, burial, and resurrection of the virgin born son of the living
God? Next question. Are you proclaiming the biblical doctrine of the penal substitutionary atoning death of Christ on the cross for our sins?
Are you proclaiming the biblical doctrine of the penal substitutionary atoning death of Christ on the cross for our sins?
That's when you say, hold on, that's doctrine. That might be going too far to preach to people.
No, doctrine is what the Bible teaches. So we need to proclaim what the Bible teaches. And the
Bible teaches that Christ died a atoning death for our sin, that he who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Are you proclaiming that doctrine? Are we proclaiming a bloody, unfiltered, socially unacceptable gospel?
Yes, amen. Are we proclaiming a bloody, unfiltered, socially unacceptable gospel?
Kind of like in what I'm referring to here in the gospel of John, when Jesus fed the masses, he left, they followed him, they came back, he told them, you're only coming because you got your belly filled.
He told them, I'm the bread of life. You remember, this is John chapter six. I encourage you to read it. Verify what
I'm telling you. Don't trust me. Trust the word. But if it's verifiably true, you can trust me a little.
And what did Jesus say? Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you'll have no part of me.
Boy, if there was anything socially unacceptable, that was a socially unacceptable statement. It was unfiltered.
It was pure. But my friends, the gospel is a bloody message.
For without the shedding of blood, the scripture says there is no remission of sins.
From the old, through the Old Testament, God set up a system of blood sacrifice.
The blood of bulls and goats and other animals. We learn in the New Testament in the book of Hebrews. Read the book of Hebrews this week, you'll find.
What the scripture teaches, that what the blood of bulls and goats could not do, the blood of Christ perfectly atoned for our sin.
It is a bloody, unfiltered, socially unacceptable gospel.
Or have you bought into the lie of the devil that people would be turned off by such a message?
If the devil whispers in your ear, people will be turned off by the message. Preach it anyway.
He's a liar. He don't know who's gonna get saved. He don't know who
God will regenerate and who God won't. Who will be born again by the grace of God.
Nor are we able to know that. But God knows. Therefore we should proclaim the gospel.
John Calvin said all parts of our salvation are contained in Christ. And that he alone ought to shine forth.
And he alone ought to be seen conspicuous above all creatures. In as much as he is the beginning and the end of all things.
In the first place, he says that we have redemption and immediately explains it as meaning the remission of sins.
For these two things agree together. This is our liberty. This, our glorying in the face of death.
That our sins are not imputed to us. He says that this redemption was procured through the blood of Christ.
For by the sacrifice of his death, all the sins of the world have been expiated.
Let us therefore bear in mind that this is the sole price of reconciliation.
It is the precious blood of Christ. What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh, precious is that flow. That makes me white as snow.
No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Here are the
Bible facts. If you're still taking notes, six facts.
Number one, to proclaim the gospel biblically, preach this, that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Number one, all have sinned and come short of God's glory. Number two, there is none good.
There is none who are good. Number three, there are none who are righteous.
These are pretty easy to follow. The scripture is clear in this. Number four, there are none who seek after God.
Number five, there is only one remedy for the sinner.
There is only one remedy for the sinner. And number six,
Jesus alone is the sinner's hope. Jesus alone is the sinner's hope.
You can preach this on the sidewalk. You can preach it at Walmart. I can preach it at Home Depot.
You can preach it when you go to the restaurant when you leave this place today. It'll preach anywhere that you are willing to preach it.
In an article from 2008 on the Reformation 21 webpage, there's an article, basically it's a book review of Michael Horton's book that he wrote called
Christless Christianity. And Christless Christianity is what we're seeing today.
It's Christianity without Christ, which isn't Christianity. And by the way, if you are saved, you are a
Christian. You don't have to think of some trendy, cool name to call yourself.
You're a Christian or you are not a Christian. You are lost or you are saved. You are born again or you are unredeemed.
But in this article, Michael Horton is quoted, Christless Christianity is anti -gospel error with a smile.
It has enough truth or perhaps words associated with the truth to maintain plausibility and enough error to pander to the cravings of our sinful hearts and minds.
Our ability to obey is massaged. Our spirituality is pampered.
But our sins, our true guilt, our total helplessness, our need for Jesus Christ and his substitutionary death are neglected, ignored, and replaced.
And what they are ignored, neglected, and replaced with are worldly cares.
You can be a better boss if you'll come to Jesus. He has a wonderful plan for your life.
Look at the apostles and the disciples dying in the faith.
Read Hebrews chapter 11. If you wanna know what God's plan is for your life, it's to preach the gospel and die and give glory to God alone.
He goes on in this article, Horton is quoted as stating this, it's like the easy listening music that plays ubiquitously in the background in shopping venues.
The message of American Christianity has simply become trivial, sentimental, affirming, and irrelevant.
He said, I think our doctrine has been forgotten, assumed, ignored, and even misshaped and distorted by the habits and rituals of daily life in a narcissistic culture.
Does anybody in here not know what it means to be narcissistic? It means to be wrapped up in yourself.
It means to love yourself more than you love others.
If you're loving yourself more than you love others, then certainly you are loving self more than you love
Christ. And Christ should not have the second place, but he is the preeminent one.
The article goes on, instead of a gospel that is all grace all the way down, Christless Christianity is moralistic, therapeutic deism.
That's on page 40 of the book. Even though it may try to distance itself from the old legalism of fundamentalists, it is in fact a gentler form of legalism with an irrepressible confidence in human ability.
It is law and not gospel. This whole approach is typified, and this is the quote, this whole approach is typified by the dazzling self -help moralism of Joel Osteen.
Osteen seems to think that we are basically good people. He actually said this on an interview with Larry King.
I think people are generally good. Osteen seems to think that we're basically good people and God has a very easy way for us to save ourselves.
Not from his judgment, but from our lack of success in life. With his help, of course.
God is keeping record, this is what Osteen said, in a direct quote, God is keeping a record of every good deed you've ever done.
He says, as if this is good news. In your time of need, because of your generosity,
God will move heaven and earth to make sure you are taken care of, according to Joel Osteen. Heaven and earth does not revolve around you or I.
Everything revolves around Christ. The message of Christianity has been diluted and watered down through the years, but brothers and sisters, be certain of this.
Be certain of this, the gospel has not lost its power. It is not ineffectual.
Jesus is still the only way to the Father. Matthew 11, verse 27 through 30 states this.
Jesus said, all things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the
Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the
Son chooses to reveal him. And then Jesus said, come unto me, all who are labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
He said, take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. The gospel has not changed.
The gospel call has not changed. So, three words, primarily, we're gonna draw from the text here to look at.
Three words, that word come, where Jesus said, if anyone would come after me, it is the
Greek word ekomai. The next word we're gonna look at very quickly, as quickly as possible today, is the word denai.
What that word denai means, agnomai is the Greek word. And then last of all, we're gonna look at the word ero.
Ero means to take up. So, let's examine this, and let's look at this in light of what the scriptures say, in light of the scripture itself.
So, Jesus said, if anyone would come after me. That word come means to follow.
It means to appear, to make one's appearance, to come before the public.
Jesus called to come after him to deny ourselves and to take up our cross is a matter of action.
It is not a matter of complacency. It is not a matter of passivity. It is imperative that you, as a
Christian, come follow Jesus, deny yourself, take up your cross after him.
Action is the resulting effect of being born again. In the golden chain of redemption in Romans chapter eight, we have laid out for us the intentional purpose of God.
Those whom he predestines, he calls. Those whom he calls, he justifies. And those he justifies, these he glorifies.
So, if the Lord purposefully does these things, and know this of a certainty, everything the
Lord does is intentional. Purposefully, if the Lord has purposefully done these things then he certainly has purpose that we be conformed to the image of his son as the book of Ephesians states.
This is also referred to in Galatians as walking in the spirit. And this matter, this idea, this notion that so many
Christians want to continue to propagate, this idea of a private Christianity.
Private Christianity that many who profess to be saved say they have, and I'm gonna make this statement, it will be of no value on the last day.
Private Christianity will do you no good. Christianity is not a private religion.
Rather, it is a public confession. It is a public confession that is evidently set forth so that the world may know that Jesus Christ is the savior of the world.
The Christian faith is meant to be lived publicly. Christ did not come privately.
Nor should the gospel be proclaimed in a secretive manner. Oh, come here,
I've got a secret I wanna tell you. No, the gospel is not meant to be proclaimed in a secretive manner but publicly so that those who hear the gospel would believe and be saved, so that they would believe and be saved.
We have this demonstrated for us in the scriptural text, Acts chapter 26. Acts chapter 26, verses 12 through 26.
The context here is Paul is brought before Festus and King Agrippa, having been imprisoned for proclaiming that Jesus Christ is the son of God and that there is basically no king but Christ, and this is what the scripture says in verse 12.
In this connection, Paul is giving his testimony. I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests.
At midday, O king, chapter 26, 13. At midday,
O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven brighter than the sun that shone around me and those who journeyed with me.
And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the
Hebrew language. Thank you, dear. Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
It is hard for you to kick against the goats. And I said, who are you,
Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose.
Thank you, dear. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and a witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which
I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the
Gentiles to whom I am sending you, for this purpose to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.
Therefore, Paul begins to wax eloquent here. Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but I declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the
Gentiles the message that never changes. That they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with repentance.
For this reason, the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. To this day,
I have had the help that comes from God. And so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets in Moses said would come to pass, that the
Christ must suffer, and that by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the
Gentiles. And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice,
Paul, you are out of your mind. Your great learning is driving you out of your mind.
The King James says, you are mad. You have gone crazy. But Paul said,
I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words.
True and rational words, for the King knows about these things.
And to him, I speak boldly, for I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner.
It wasn't done in secret. It was done publicly. And so that word come, ekomai, come, means to follow publicly.
The next term, arnomai, deny. Jesus said, let him deny himself.
The gospel message has not changed. Jesus said, come and follow me. Jesus said, deny yourself.
Arnomai, it means to disregard your own interests. It means to prove false to yourself, which is contrary to what we're taught psychologically, to your own self be true.
But if you're being true to yourself above that of the Lord, you are an idolater. You are worshiping yourself.
And my friend, you are no God, certainly. To disregard your own interests, to act entirely unlike himself, to deny.
It means to abnegate, to abjure. It means not to accept, but to reject, to refuse something offered.
That's what it means to deny yourself, to refuse something offered. We have a tremendous illustration and example of this in the
Old Testament. In the book of Daniel, chapter one, verses one through 15, the word of God says this concerning deny, self -denial.
In the third year of the King Jehoiakim, King of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
And the Lord gave Jehoiakim, King of Judah, into his hand with some of the vessels of the house of God.
And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his God. And he placed the vessels in the treasury of his
God. Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of nobility, used without blemish, to bring those of good appearance and skillful in wisdom, those who are endowed with knowledge, those who understand learning, and those who are competent to stand in the king's palace and to teach them the literature and the language of the
Chaldeans. So the scripture says, the king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate and of the wine that he drank.
They were to be educated for three years. And at the end of that time, they were to stand before the king and basically become his counselors.
Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah.
And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names. Daniel, he called Belteshazzar.
Hananiah, he called Shadrach. Mishael, he called Meshach. And Azariah, he called
Abednego. But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food or with wine that he had drank.
Therefore, he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. And notice verse nine, and God gave
Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs. And the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, I fear my lord, the king.
He wasn't speaking about God, he was speaking of the king himself. He said, I fear my lord, the king, who has assigned your food and drink, for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age?
So you would endanger my head with the king. If the king sees, because you're not eating what he's offering to you, that you're getting worse, the eunuch said,
I'm gonna be the one that has to pay for this. But the scripture is beautiful.
Then Daniel said to the steward, whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over, Daniel, Hanani, Mishael, and Azariah, they said this, test your servants for 10 days.
Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king's food be observed by you and deal with your servants according to what you see.
So Daniel said, give us some vegetables and some water. After 10 days, let's just do a 10 -day trial.
He said, you set us up against the other youths that are being fed the king's food, and let's judge righteous judgment here.
So he listened to them in this matter, and he tested them for 10 days, and at the end of 10 days, it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king's food.
There was an intentional self -denial by Daniel and the children, the
Hebrew children. There was an intentional self -denial there, and it is that same intentional self -denial that we as Christians are to discipline ourselves, to bring ourselves to, to submit ourselves to the truth of the word of God, to deny ourselves, and to follow
Christ. It is not a comfortable thing much of the time.
You will not or should not hear that Christless gospel proclaimed, just come to Christ so everything can be all better, for Jesus did not preach that himself, for he proclaimed in the world, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.
Last of all, he said, remember, he said, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily.
That is the Greek word there, and it means to, that phrase, take up, it means to take upon oneself and to carry what has been raised up.
It means to bear. Scriptural illustration would be Matthew 9, verse six.
We read the scripture says, Jesus said, but that you may know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins.
Then he said to the paralytic, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.
What's the context? The context there is this. Jesus was in a house preaching, he was in the courtyard.
It was so crowded, a paralytic man had no ability, they didn't, a paralytic man's friends had no ability to get into Christ, so they took the roof off the building, lowered him down into the courtyard.
Jesus heals the man, right? And Jesus declares to the Pharisees and the scribes standing by, who were in opposition to this, that the son of man has power on earth to forgive sins, and the power, the son of man has power to say, rise up, take up your bed, and walk.
But that term there, rise, pick up your bed, and go home, pick up your bed, is the same
Greek word used in Luke's gospel, Ero. And it means to take upon oneself and carry what has been raised up.
A man, woman, boy, or a girl will only be raised up, spiritually speaking, in the power of Jesus Christ.
You cannot spiritually pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. You must be born again.
Last of all, in Matthew chapter 27, and in closing, Matthew chapter 27 and verse 32.
A very, should be a very familiar text to us. If not, I pray you familiarize yourself with the text.
But in Matthew 27, we have the account of the crucifixion of Christ. And in verse 32, the scripture says, as they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, and they compelled this man to carry
Jesus' cross. They compelled him to Ero, to carry, to pick up, to take upon oneself and bear what has been raised up to us, and carry it.
Simon of Cyrene was called to bear the cross of Christ. We, as his people today, are called to carry our cross.
The good news is this, the price has been paid. The propitiation has been made already.
The work is done. Follow Christ today.
Follow Christ now. If anyone, Jesus said, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.