Two women found out.
Let us turn to Romans 7.
This is verse 4:
Wherefore, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ; that ye should be joined to another, even to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God.
Let us have a further word of prayer.
Father, we thank You that Your Word is true. We come before Your Word once again tonight. Only Your Word can reveal Yourself. We have to acknowledge that we do not understand Your Word, but we thank You that the Holy Spirit already abides in us. He will lead us into all truth.
May tonight, as we gather before Your feet, You reveal Yourself. Even though we come empty-handed, may we go away full. When You are satisfied, then we are satisfied. All glory and love be unto You, in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
We know that the theme of this conference this year is the way to the eternal purpose of God: the cross. My responsibility is to speak about how the cross deals with the law.
When you speak of the cross, you have to speak of two sides. One is objective, and one is subjective. Two thousand years ago, our Lord completed the work of salvation. That is objective.
But because the Holy Spirit has come and abides in us, He brings into us and works in us that which happened two thousand years ago. This is fellowship. So we speak of it as the fellowship of the cross.
When we speak of the objective cross, we have to see and we need to know, because it is according to something that has happened in history. If we want to be delivered or free from the law, then we have to see what the Lord has done two thousand years ago.
If we are to do it two thousand years later, it is too late. He did not leave anything for us to do.
So, two thousand years ago, we know that when our Lord was crucified, something happened. This has to do with the redemption of the cross.
Through Paul’s life, through his relationship to the history of the law, we saw the redemption of the cross: how he became dead to the law through the body of Christ. This is a glorious truth.
Tonight, we are going to look at a different angle. We are going to speak of the fellowship of the cross. The redemption of the cross has delivered us from the law; likewise, the fellowship of the cross will fulfill the law.
To be delivered from the law and to fulfill the law—it seems like a contradiction, but it is not. Our Lord said that He came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. So today we will continue to see how the cross deals with the law.
Last time, we saw that Paul could not be justified by the law. If someone is to be saved, if somebody wants to have a position before God, that is the work which God accomplished through the history of the law.
Between the first Pentecost and the second Pentecost were fifteen hundred years. When the law was given, there was a purpose: that man would seek grace.
The law is like a mirror, to show us that we cannot keep the law. Through fifteen hundred years of an experiment, that experiment proved that man failed. It proved that man needed the Saviour.
Through these fifteen hundred years, God used the experts—those who were supposed to be able to keep the law, the Jews. If the experts were to fail, then all others would fail.
Those fifteen hundred years of experience brought man to his end. It is as if a person is about to drown. You cannot go and save him immediately. At that point, the one who is drowning may take you down with him. You have to wait until he is weak, and then you can save him.
This is what happened two thousand years ago. Through fifteen hundred years, the Jews—the experts—said, “We can, we can, we can.” But even Paul said, “I cannot.”
It was as if they had reached their end. Then the Lord Jesus came, and He became their Saviour. For this reason, man was not saved by the law. Nobody can be justified through the law.
Man is justified through faith, not of yourselves, but as a gift from God. What does that mean? It means that God has put us under grace.
Grace is not that you did anything; it is that the Lord has done something. God has done something on the cross. Brothers and sisters, this is justification by faith.
Thank the Lord. On the road to Damascus, Paul met the Lord. The Holy Spirit regenerated him. When he read the Scriptures again, the Old Testament became bright. It was the same Bible, but now the Holy Spirit interpreted it and led him into all truth.
Then Paul’s eyes were opened. Before, he thought, “Those who are hung on a tree are cursed.” Therefore, Jesus could not be the Messiah.
Now the Holy Spirit spoke to him: yes, those who are hung on the tree should be cursed. Jesus should not have been cursed. The ones who should have been cursed were you and me. We should be cursed by the law. But the Lord died for us. He hung for us on the cross and redeemed us from the curse of the law.
Now Paul understood. Before, he was zealous for the law. As to the righteousness which is in the law, he was blameless. He fulfilled the entire law. If there were one hundred commandments, he would have kept one hundred—but he missed one.
Stephen told those who kept the law, “Ye do always resist the Holy Spirit.” They had killed and murdered the Righteous One, the Son of God, the gift of God. They claimed that they had not broken any commandment, yet they had rejected Christ.
The sin Paul committed was the greatest sin of all. No wonder Paul said that he was the chief among sinners. The one who kept the law, the one who was blameless according to the law, could now see, “I am a sinner.”
When Paul received revelation, when he saw what was accomplished on the cross, he prostrated himself before the Word and before everything God had done. Thank the Lord.
This is what Augustine said: God gave the law so that grace might be sought. Through fifteen hundred years of failed history, man says, “I need grace. We need the Saviour.”
But there is another angle. Why did the Lord give grace? He gave grace so that the law could be fulfilled. Is that not amazing?
The law is holy. It represents God’s will. That standard is never lowered. Heaven and earth can pass away, but God’s Word—not one iota—will pass away.
The Lord said, “I came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.” God gave the law so that we might seek grace, and He gave grace so that the law might be fulfilled.
This is the continuation of Paul’s experience. When he was saved, he said, “Justified by faith.” He said, “I did nothing. Everything the Holy Spirit did.”
In Galatians 3:3, Paul said:
Are ye so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are ye now perfected by the flesh?
Are you so foolish? Do not forget. Paul could help the churches of Galatia because he had learned a deep lesson through the history of his seeking after God.
After he began in the Spirit, there was still the habit of being under the law. He could think, “Yes, to be saved, I do not have to do anything. I am born of the Holy Spirit. But if I am to grow, if I am to be complete, then perhaps it is by the flesh.”
Do you understand? Someone who has lived a long time under the law may see that he has nothing to do with the law concerning salvation. He is born again. But then he asks, “What happens if I want to grow? If I want to be perfect? I have to do something. I have to help God a little bit.”
Brothers and sisters, even though these words rebuke the Galatians, this is what Paul himself experienced. How do we know? If you read Romans 7, you will know.
Some people say that Romans 7 is an autobiography of Paul. Many scholars dispute whether this chapter describes Paul’s experience before he was saved or after he was saved.
If you read the context, it is very clear: it is the experience of Paul after he was saved. Why? He says, “In my inner man, I delight in the law of God.” An unregenerate man would not delight in God’s law in this way.
Romans 7 is the history of Paul’s failure. It is the conflict of the flesh and the spirit. It not only speaks of sin, but it speaks of death. Sin has to do with our corruption; death has to do with our weakness in doing God’s will.
Now Paul had been saved. He understood God’s Word. He wanted to please God.
What did he say to the Corinthians? “Be ye imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.” Paul was one who imitated Christ. He wanted to please God.
What did he say in Ephesians 5? “Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved children.” Brothers and sisters, Paul imitated God. How could Paul imitate God? How could he imitate Christ? He wanted to please God.
For this reason, he established certain laws for himself. God had already put him under the principle of grace, yet Paul put himself under the principle of law.
Before, it was the burden of sin; now, it was the burden of holiness. Why was it a burden? Because now he said, “I have to be humble like Christ. I have to be gentle like Him.”
Before, the law told him what was black and what was white, what was sin and what was not sin. But now the question was deeper: What is the humility of Christ? What is the gentleness of Christ? If I am to imitate Christ, is what I do today like Christ?
So daily Paul put himself under the law. When you read his epistles, you find that he uses the word law in two ways.
In one use, he adds the article: the law. This refers to the Law of Moses. But when the article is absent, it refers to a principle.
We know that Paul is not under the law; he is under grace. But this does not mean there is lawlessness. It means that sin is no longer your master.
Now the Lord uses the principle of grace to deal with Paul, no longer the principle of law. Yet Paul wanted to grow. He wanted to be an imitator of Christ and to be like God.
Christ’s standard is high. God’s standard is high. Paul wanted to please God. Could he please God? In Romans 8:8, he says:
And they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
Paul knew that he had flesh, and the flesh could not please God. At one point, he desired to please God. But unknowingly, he put himself under the principle of law.
He could say, “From now on, I have to be very careful what I say. From now on, I need to be patient.” But the more he tried to manifest patience by his own will, the more impatient he became.
He could will to have Christ’s gentleness, but this was something he was trying to do by his own will. In this way, he put himself under the principle of law.
To imitate Christ is a matter of life. It is naturally the life that grows.
If you put a group of chickens and a group of ducks by the water, the ducks love the water. But the chickens draw back. This is a matter of life.
A duck can move freely in the water because it has the life of a duck. But if you want a chicken to reach that standard by imitation, you are putting it under the principle of law.
If the life of a duck grows in it, then it is under the principle of grace. This is the story of Paul after he was saved. This is the story of Paul’s growth.
Finally, he said, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me out of this body of death?”
Romans 6 speaks of the body of sin. Romans 7 also speaks of the body, but the emphasis is the body of death. Death speaks of weakness—the weakest of the weak.
Paul said that some did not discern the body of Christ at the Lord’s table, so some were weak and some even died. What does death mean? It means that someone has become weak to the point that he cannot become weaker.
His body was a body of death. He was brought to the end of himself. He cried out, “Who shall deliver me from this body of death?”
This is Romans 7. This is Paul’s failure. It was a failure after he was saved, because he wanted to be sanctified and victorious. He learned that he could do nothing.
Before Paul spoke of his own story in Romans 7, he noticed one thing. When he was under the bondage of sin, sin was like his master and he was a slave.
Before, it was the burden of sin. Now, it was the burden of trying to be perfect. How can we have the patience, love, and glory of God? It is impossible by ourselves.
Not only is there the law of sin; there is also the law of death. The law of sin makes me sin. The law of death does not enable me to follow God.
I see the standard. Christ is that standard. I want to imitate Christ. I want to reach that standard. But unknowingly, Paul put himself under the law.
It is as if he were bound by a rope. If he is to be delivered from the law, how can he be delivered? He must be delivered from the law in the same way that he is delivered from sin.
When we commit many sins, the Lord’s precious blood deals with our sins. But sin itself is a nature—a sinful nature within us.
The Lord does not simply eradicate that sinful nature as though He were pulling up a root. Rather, He deals with us as persons. God’s way is not that sin dies; God’s way is that we die.
If sin does not die, I die. We may think that God wants sin to die. Throughout church history, there have been groups of people who sought sinless perfection. But the more they sought it, the more they found that they could not attain it.
That is not God’s way. God’s way is that we die. As long as we die, everything is solved.
Not only do we have to be delivered from sin; we also have to be delivered from the law. The secret of being delivered from sin is to be delivered from the law, so that we may be under grace and not under law.
How are we delivered? Paul noticed something: he was actually married to the law.
When someone is married, there are mutual vows: whether in health or in sickness, they will remain together. Paul was like that. He was married to the law as though it were his husband.
But do not forget: this is a good husband. It is not a bad husband. All its requirements and demands are right, but Paul could not accomplish them.
Imagine a husband with good and proper demands. He wants his wife to honor the parents, care for the children, keep the home in order, and understand the needs of modern life. None of those demands are wrong.
Yet the wife may be unable to meet them. She may be messy while he is very clean. She may not understand computers while he expects her to sort through all his emails. Sooner or later she says, “O wretched woman that I am!”
Why is marriage sometimes a war? People outside of marriage want to enter, while people inside marriage want to get out. But this husband is good. He loves his wife. His demands are simply too high for her to fulfill.
Soon the wife will have a nervous breakdown. It is not that she does not want to fulfill the demands. She just does not know how.
Can she divorce? If she cannot divorce, how can she be freed from the husband? There are two ways: either the husband dies, or the wife dies.
Paul used this as an example. The law is like the husband. According to the Bible, not one iota of the law has passed away. It lives forever. The law cannot die.
The law is God’s standard. The law is God’s will. God’s way is not that the law should die. The law cannot die. God’s way is that Paul dies. He wants you and me to die.
Then the cross comes. What did Paul say?
Wherefore, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ.
It is very interesting. When the Lord was crucified, the veil was torn from top to bottom. According to Hebrews, that veil represented the body of Christ.
The body was broken and parted, just as the veil was torn. There were cherubim embroidered on the veil, speaking of the living creatures. When the veil was torn, all those creatures died as well.
Paul saw that when our Lord was crucified and the veil was torn, Paul was there. Not only did the Lord die; Paul died. In relation to the law, he died.
The Holy Spirit is very specific. He does not merely say that Christ died; He says, “through the body of Christ.” This body does not end in death. This body will be resurrected.
When the Lord resurrected, Paul resurrected with Him. If the husband does not die, then the wife must die to be delivered. But if she dies, it seems that all hope is lost.
Yet Paul says there are two husbands. Since he has been resurrected, he is joined to another husband. This husband is Christ Himself.
Paul says that you are “joined to another, even to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God.”
Now you have the fruit of humility. You have the fruit of gentleness. Now you are like Christ.
On one hand, we are delivered from the law. On the other hand, we are one with Christ. This husband is different from the former husband.
The former husband had demands but no supply. Christ has a demand, but He also has supply. To be married to Christ is to be joined to the One who represents grace.
This is how Paul, through the objective work of God in history, saw how he could be delivered from the law. This is what God did two thousand years ago. We also have been crucified.
We need to acknowledge and reckon this. As long as you believe, thank the Lord, this is something that has already happened. You simply have to receive it.
Then the Holy Spirit takes us to the next step: the fellowship of the cross.
God gave the law so that we might seek grace. God gave us grace so that the law could be fulfilled—to tell the whole universe that God’s will is forever God’s will. He did not abolish His will.
We can reach and fulfill what He desires until we are conformed to the image of His Son. That is God’s eternal purpose. The way to the eternal purpose of God is through the cross.
Because of the work of the cross, we are dead to the law. That is something to know and to see. But do not forget: in our daily lives, the Holy Spirit wants to take what happened two thousand years ago and work it into our experience today.
Today we are going to look at another character. Let us turn to Matthew 27:32.
And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to go with them, that he might bear His cross.
This is a very special verse. We know that our Lord was judged in the judgment hall, condemned, and led away to be crucified.
Not only was Jesus being led to Calvary; there were also two criminals. According to the custom of the time, each condemned man bore the crossbeam of his cross.
The vertical portion of the cross was already on the mount. The condemned persons bore the crossbeam. Soldiers led them in procession, not by the shortest route, but by the longest route, so that many people would see and fear.
To bear the cross meant that they were condemned. There would be a placard identifying the crime for which each person had been convicted. That placard would later be nailed to the cross.
According to John, at the beginning our Lord bore His own cross. Think about it. In one night, He was interrogated, dragged from one place to another, scourged, and mocked. At this point, He was exhausted to the point of death.
When our Lord was about to fall down, Simon of Cyrene was compelled to bear His cross. We are speaking about the cross and the law, and here we have the fellowship of the cross.
To bear the cross speaks of fellowship with the cross. How do you have that fellowship? Here was a man from Cyrene.
Cyrene was in North Africa, in the region of Libya, near the Mediterranean Sea. It was a mountain town, about two thousand feet above sea level. The mountains helped block the heat of the Sahara, and the soil was fertile.
Cyrene was an important city in that region. Simon of Cyrene was a Jew. The city had formerly been Greek, but after the division of Alexander’s empire, many Jews were forced into the region.
These Jews had not chosen to go there. They were under the dominion of a foreign power. They were not their own.
Simon did not want to bear the cross. The Jews who had been sent to Cyrene did not want to go there either. But they were no longer their own people; they had been compelled.
Especially at Passover, these Jews would save money through their whole lives so that one day they could go to Jerusalem and keep the feast. It was a lifelong dream.
Their one desire was to go to Jerusalem once in a lifetime. Why did they want to go? They wanted to worship. They wanted to be with the children of God.
Simon did not plan to bear a cross. Then somebody touched him on the shoulder. When he looked back, it was not an ordinary hand; it was the flat side of a Roman spear. He had to obey.
So Simon of Cyrene had to bear the cross of Jesus. Can you sense what he was feeling? It was probably the grimmest day of his life.
He would ask, “Why me? Why did the soldier not touch somebody else? Why did he touch me?” Do we not react in the same way? When difficult things happen to us, we say, “Why me?”
But if somebody gives you ten million dollars, you never ask, “Why me?” You gladly receive it. But as soon as you bear the cross, you ask, “Why me?”
Simon did not want to bear the cross. He was not ready to bear the cross. He was a Jew who wanted to keep the law and the will of God. That was why he went to Jerusalem.
Yet in his itinerary, he never included bearing the cross. After we are saved, we love God and want to mature. But sometimes we are like Simon of Cyrene. Something happens, and the result is that we have to bear the cross.
We did not commit the sin. It was as though Jesus were the sinner, yet He had no sin. What does it mean to bear the cross? To bear the cross is to confess, “I am a sinner.”
Only Jesus was not a sinner. When we bear the cross, it proves that we are sinners saved by grace.
In Paul’s old age, he said, “I am the chief of sinners.” He used the present tense. He did not say, “I was the chief of sinners in the past.” One who bears the cross knows, “I should die. I am a sinner. I can do nothing.”
This is Simon of Cyrene. He was not ready. Somebody touched him on the shoulder, and now he had to bear the cross. It was the grimmest day of his life.
But it was also the best day of his life. So many times when we bear the cross, we say, “This is such bad luck.” But there is no such thing as bad luck. This is actually the most blessed time.
The experience of Simon is our experience. If the Lord says that someone is to follow Him, that person must deny himself, take up the cross, and follow Him.
What is it to deny oneself? It means that you do not have your own plans. Simon had saved money and planned to go to Jerusalem. His purpose was to worship God and rejoice with the people of Israel.
But if Simon had a portion in God’s eternal purpose, how could he reach it? He thought that he would reach it by going to Jerusalem for the feast. Yet to deny himself meant that he had to put his own plan aside.
No matter whether he liked it or not, he had to bear the cross. Brothers and sisters, when you look back, you see that Simon was most blessed.
When you think that you are going through difficulty, when you bear the cross, you may think that you are suffering. You may have suffered much. But afterward, when you look back, you will see that you received the greatest blessing.
When Mark described this, he said that Simon of Cyrene was the father of Alexander and Rufus. What does that mean?
Mark’s Gospel was written for the Romans. Therefore, it must mean that the people in the Roman church knew who Rufus was.
It means that Simon was saved. When you read Romans 16, Paul says:
Salute Rufus, the chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.
It is quite amazing. Paul says, “His mother is my mother.” This is not something ordinary.
Simon of Cyrene had asked, “Why me?” The Lord’s answer was that his son Rufus was chosen in the Lord because Simon himself was chosen.
Every time we bear the cross, that is our glory, because we have been chosen.
Paul says that the wife of Simon was also his mother. This is why the cross is the way to the eternal purpose of God.
For Simon of Cyrene, that was the grimmest day of his life. But when he looked back, it was the most glorious day of his life.
The Holy Spirit uses this story to describe to us the fellowship of the cross and how it can fulfill the law.
What does this have to do with the law? It has a great deal to do with the law. Why could the soldier compel Simon to carry the cross? There was a law in Rome.
The Jews were an occupied people. Under the Roman Empire, everybody had to obey.
Do you remember Matthew 5:41?
And whosoever shall compel thee to go one mile, go with him two.
Please remember the word compel. It is a verb, but the noun form has a great deal of history. The word was borrowed from Persia.
In Persia, the word referred to a courier. We remember the story of Esther. When a royal command had to go throughout the empire, messengers had to carry the message from place to place.
There were many courier posts. At these posts, there would be food and water for the couriers. But sometimes the supplies ran out.
Persian law provided that a courier could require anyone to provide water, provide food, or become a courier himself. This is where the idea of compulsion came from.
Many things passed from Persia to Rome, including the practice of crucifixion. But the principle of compelling someone for public service also passed into Roman law.
Under Roman law, one could not compel another person indefinitely. If someone was required to walk, the maximum required distance was one mile. You were protected under Roman law. You only had to walk one mile.
Against this background, our Lord said, “If one compels you to go one mile, go with him two.” After one mile, the law does not require you to walk farther. That is the highest demand of the law.
But there is a demand even higher than the law. Who makes that demand? Our Lord does.
Your enemy wants you to walk one mile. According to Roman law, you need walk only one mile. But who asks you to walk the second mile? Our Lord asks us to walk the second mile.
Here is something higher than the law. It is a demand higher than the law. Not only walking the second mile, but also turning the other cheek—it is the same principle.
The Lord says, “Ye have heard.” He does not say merely, “Ye have heard from the law.” He speaks of “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.”
This is one of the oldest legal principles in the world. In history, one of the oldest law codes is the Code of Hammurabi, which was given about seven hundred years before Moses.
That code speaks of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The Lord uses it to speak of the principle of law.
When you read Exodus 21, the Bible says:
And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,
eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
When someone strikes you on one cheek, according to the law, you are entitled to return it. The law is fair. The Old Testament speaks of justice.
But what does the Lord say? He says, “Turn the other cheek.” After the enemy strikes one cheek, he is not expecting you to offer the other cheek.
Who tells you to turn the other cheek? It is our Lord. Brothers and sisters, there is the Jewish law, the law of Hammurabi, and the Roman law. But Christ’s law is higher.
Consider the tunic and the cloak. When you read Exodus 22, you find another law. A person might have several tunics, but only one cloak.
During the day, the cloak served as a robe. At night, it served as a blanket. Therefore, if you took your neighbour’s cloak as a pledge, you had to return it before sundown, because otherwise he would have nothing with which to cover himself at night.
If someone takes your tunic, he may not want your cloak, because he would have to return the cloak before sundown. But the Lord says that you are also to give him your cloak.
Why walk the extra mile? Simon of Cyrene bore the cross according to Roman law. Yet, according to what the Lord taught, if one asks you to walk a mile, you walk two.
When Simon later read this part of Scripture, what feeling do you think he had? He might have thought there was no purpose in bearing that cross. But there was a purpose.
The final result was glorious. Why do we turn the other cheek? Why do we give the cloak? Why do we walk the second mile? This is a story of love.
Without life, you cannot do these things. This love is the love of the cross. Where is this love shown? It can be acted out in one place only: on the cross.
When man crucified our Lord, that was the apex of man’s hatred toward Him. Who crucified Him? Man crucified Him. The entire world smote our Lord’s cheek.
Did salvation become complete merely because man crucified Him? No. If that were the case, Judas would have contributed to salvation.
Many people want to speak on behalf of Judas, as if Judas had to betray our Lord so that we could be saved. No. Man crucified the Lord, but salvation was not yet complete.
When man hated the Lord to the uttermost, the Lord prayed for us:
Father, forgive them.
Forgive whom? Those who crucified Him. Who were they? Sinners—you and me.
Would God listen to the prayer of His Son? Of course He would. But if God answered that prayer, where would the judgment and righteousness of God be fulfilled? God cannot simply treat a sinner as though he had no sin.
What did God have to do? When our Lord was crucified, because He prayed for us, “Father, forgive them,” He had to stand in our place.
The Bible says:
Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows;
yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
Man smote Him. Man crucified Him. But for the accomplishment of salvation, the Son had to stand in the position of man. Then God judged Him.
What is the love of the cross? It is not merely one cheek. The enemy wanted His right cheek, but God required Him to turn the other cheek, and then God smote Him.
Our Lord obeyed God until the very end. Only then could God’s love and God’s salvation be accomplished. Judas made no contribution to salvation.
This is the love of the cross. When He was on the cross, the soldiers divided His garments and cast lots for His tunic.
The soldiers divided His clothing into four parts. One took the shoes, one the turban, one the girdle, and one the cloak. The only thing left was the tunic.
The tunic was one seamless piece. They did not want to tear it apart, so they cast lots to see who would receive it.
When people divided His garments and cast lots for His tunic, what did our Lord give to others? In man’s eyes, He was stripped. God used men to strip His Son.
There is the weight of the cross, and there is the stripping of the cross. A brother wrote a hymn in the 1950s:
Now You are dismantling my building;
it is as though You were stripping me of all.
Lord God, You may strip anything from me,
but please leave me Your stripping hands.
On the cross, through the soldiers, God stripped His Son entirely. What does that mean? That is the love of the cross.
Man wanted Him to die: “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” Yet He rose from the dead. Man wanted Him to walk one mile; He walked two. Therefore, He accomplished the work of salvation.
This is the love of the cross. This love is complete love.
The love you have for your brothers is one kind of love. The love you have for your friends is another kind. But only when you pray for your enemies, when you love your enemies, is love made complete.
We are all enemies of the cross. The world is against the cross, and the flesh is against the cross. Yet we are the objects of the love of the cross.
What does the Lord say? “Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Can we do that? Can we be as perfect as the Father is? It is impossible by ourselves.
When you read the passage, this perfection speaks of the perfection of love. We cannot do anything in ourselves, but the Lord calls us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect.
What does that mean? He gives rain not only to good people, but also to bad people. If love is complete love, you must love not only your friends but also your enemies.
On the cross, there is that love. He wants us to have fellowship in that love. This is the fellowship of the cross.
If you walk one mile, you accomplish the law. If you give the tunic, you fulfill the law. If you turn the right cheek, you fulfill the law. But why are you not happy, restful, and joyful?
When do you have joy? It is when you turn the other cheek. What is that? That is grace living in you.
You are no longer under the law, but under grace. Thank the Lord. This life is a transcendent life. It is more than conquering. It is a love that is more than conquering.
The Lord wants to bring that fellowship into you and me. Then we can be complete. We can be perfect like the heavenly Father. That is God’s eternal purpose.
When we are conformed to the image of His Son, that is His will. That is God’s eternal purpose. His standard is higher than any other law.
But thank God: when you enter into perfect love, you have fulfilled the law. The law may only require sixty points, but you receive one hundred on the test.
You have not abolished the law, yet you have fulfilled the law. What does it mean to fulfill the law? It means to accomplish the eternal purpose of God.
When Simon of Cyrene bore the cross and followed the Lord, did you notice that Matthew says they compelled him to bear the cross?
Mark tells us that he was the father of Rufus. But Luke adds something more. Luke says that they laid the cross on him, “that he might bear it after Jesus.”
Many people bear the cross but do not bear it after Jesus. That is not the Lord’s meaning. If anyone would follow Him, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Him.
We often forget the words, “Follow Me.” We remember only how much we suffer. We remember family problems, difficulties with our spouse, and quarrels. We remember that we have borne the cross and suffered much.
But what is it to bear the cross? When Simon bore the cross, he also followed the Lord.
The daughters of Jerusalem were weeping as they saw the bruises on the Lord. They wept for Him. What did the Lord say? “Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves.”
He said that Jerusalem would come under judgment, that one stone would not be left upon another. How could this person be a sinner? How could a sinner say these words? He was the Saviour.
Simon could know who He was because he bore the cross. When you bear the cross, you are closer to the Lord. You hear every word He says.
Who actually heard these words? How did Luke record them? Luke’s account was given through Paul, and Rufus’s mother was Paul’s mother. Who saw these things clearly? Who became a witness for the Lord Jesus and a witness for the cross? Simon of Cyrene.
When you bear the cross, that is when you are closest to the Lord. He wipes away your tears. Your loss is no loss.
You may not understand. You may say, “Why did the Lord treat me this way? I came to worship Him. That was my dream. I did not want to bear the cross.”
But you never know what God has prepared. Simon never thought that he was a chosen one.
When you bear the cross, God is choosing you. God is treating you with love. God is giving you glory. Now you can follow Him. Now you can hear His words. Now you know Him more.
You can see Him crucified, see how the soldiers stripped Him, and hear Him say, “Father, forgive them.” What does that mean? That is the fellowship of the cross.
You can have the closest fellowship with the Lord. Simon of Cyrene fulfilled the will of God upon his life.
Mark once thought it would be an honor merely to carry Paul’s suitcase. Yet when he encountered difficulty, he ran away. That was Mark.
But Simon of Cyrene, when he looked back, had not merely carried a suitcase. He had carried the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
If he knew that the Lord was the Son of God and his Saviour, why did God choose him and give him such glory—that he could bear His cross?
Brothers and sisters, when we bear our own cross, we may think that there are many crosses. But there is only one cross: the cross of Christ.
When we receive from the Lord His cross, then it becomes our cross. Thank the Lord. That is the story of Simon.
Unbeknown to Simon, he fulfilled God’s heart. I believe he did not merely walk one mile; he walked the second mile. He was under the cross.
At the very end, the will of God was accomplished. May the Lord open our eyes.
God gave the law so that we might seek grace, so that we might be delivered from the law. Thank the Lord.
Because He gave us grace, we can turn the other cheek, walk the second mile, and give our cloak. As the Lord was on the cross, we can be conformed to His image.
Where are we conformed? That mold comes from the cross. May the Lord speak to us.
Let us pray.
Lord, we want to commit these words into Your hand. If You see fit, please use these words.
Lord, solve our problems. So many times we do not know what it means to have fellowship with the cross, but You have given us the love of the cross. We thank You.
So many times we do not understand, but we want to hear Your words: deny ourselves, bear the cross, and follow You.
We thank You that You have chosen us. We give You praise and worship. We prostrate before You.
Even if we have to crawl, we want to come after You, because You are the One who has looked favorably upon us, so that we can bear the cross and follow You.
Listen to our prayer, in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
I am sorry—I borrowed eight minutes, but I will not return them.