After a most exhausting and draining thirty hours or so, Jesus Christ is led away to be crucified. We are in Luke Chapter 23 and at verse 26. The authorities force a dark skinned man from Tripoli to carry this heavy wooden beam. No Roman would carry the cross, and the Romans would not ask a Jew, not in this situation, in the middle of a Religious Festival. It was the Passover.

Simon of Cyrene carries the cross of Jesus, and this man received a mighty reward. It appears from Mark 15 and verse 21 that he and his wife and two sons became disciples of Jesus.

No man carries the cross of Jesus faithfully without receiving a work of God in his own life, and on occasions, through his life into the lives of his family.

Remember what your Cross is. You can lift it up or put it down. It is not sickness or anything of that nature.

Luke 23:27. The news had travelled fast of what was happening in Jerusalem and a sympathetic crowd had gathered, and they are not afraid to express their emotions.

They are not afraid to allow their deep feelings for Jesus to flow out towards Jesus. And yet, Jesus says, Do not weep for me. Weep for yourselves and for your children.

Jesus knew what was going to happen to him, but they did not know what was going to happen to them, just as many today have no idea what Jesus is doing, and what is about to happen to those who live as if there were no God.

Jesus, as he climbs Calvary, begins to refer to the coming day of judgement, because as the Judgement of God is revealed, unconverted unrepentant sinners will cry out to the mountains and rocks to fall upon them.

These, understandably, are serious and solemn words. There are not many new songs and choruses based on these words from Jesus Christ! I wonder why?

It has been found that people believe what they sing and find it easier to believe what is sung rather than what is preached and taught.

We have to be very careful as to what words we give people to sing when they come together for praise and worship. Some of the songs today are no more than vain repetition. And, there is a difference between singing and praise and worship and we need to inform and teach our people that too. This is an area out with these current studies but it is a crucial matter which demands our serious consideration.

When I hear people say, “O, the worship was wonderful today”, I usually make the comment, “I wonder what God thought about it”. That is what counts. Not the feelings in the hearts of men, important though these are, but was the singing and praise pleasing to God the Father?

Author bio:
Alexander “Sandy” Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness – on the Moray Firth Coast – not far from the Loch Ness Monster! Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word. Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40 a.m., New Orleans time, at wsho.com.

In Luke Chapter 23 and at verse 24, Pilate caved in, and gave the people what they wanted. He is so weak. He is so spineless. He has no moral backbone, and just goes along with the critics of Christ Jesus and with the crowd.

In reality, it was not Jesus who was on trial. It was them! Jesus is going to the Father, admittedly by a very painful route, but it was essential. The sacrificial lamb has to be slain.

Pilate’s pathetic actions, and Herod’s rage, and the evil plans of the religious leaders, cannot stop Jesus Christ from fulfilling the will of the Father and doing His Saving Work.

You cannot stop Jesus. You cannot stop God.

Having read of the trial of Jesus Christ, in Luke 22,23, we read on at verse 26, which describes the crucifixion, and it is the cross which lies right at the very heart and core of our faith.

That political weakling, Pilate, gives way to the demands of the people, and anxious Herod must have this rival king killed, and the Jewish leaders want this troublesome Jesus out of the way, and then, things can return to normal.

But, that can never be, after a man has met Jesus Christ. After you have been confronted by the Lord Jesus Christ, a man can never be the same again, no matter how that man might react, by receiving or rejecting.

There are consequences, good and bad, wonderful and tragic. We have a man like Peter, or a man like Judas.

When you meet Jesus, it can never be as though you had never met Him.

The physically exhausted Jesus is led away to be crucified, along the narrow compacted streets of Jerusalem, and across the busy thoroughfare to the hill.

It has been a long 24 hours, very long, for Jesus.

He has been teaching, breaking bread and sharing that cup at the Passover Meal, praying and wrestling and struggling and battling in the Garden amidst the olive trees. Jesus has been betrayed, arrested, denied by one of his key disciples, put on trial, taken here and there, mocked, ridiculed, scourged and now they compel someone to carry his cross.

This is not very pretty. How did people ever come to present it as being respectable and dignified, like His birth? Why does man want to dress things up, and have them appear nice? Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem, and now the real purpose of it all is about to be evidenced to the whole world who wishes to know and understand.

There are three most helpful words we use when leading people around these significant places in Jerusalem. They are Gethsemane, the Gabbatha (or Pavement) and Golgotha.

In Gethsemane, Jesus Christ prayed. At the Gabbatha, Jesus was on trial before Pilate, and today you can visit and walk on the very same excavated pavement slabs in the Via Dolorosa on the north side of the city of Jerusalem. And, on Golgotha Jesus Christ was crucified and shed his blood to wash away all our sin.

Those of you who preach and teach, take these three words beginning with the same letter and your people will remember what is so central and vital. Present your people with facts about Jesus Christ. Allow them to be confronted by the gracious loving rescuing and saving Christ. When we do our work, the Holy Spirit does His!

Author bio:
Alexander “Sandy” Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness – on the Moray Firth Coast – not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40 a.m., New Orleans time, at wsho.com.

Where You Sit and The Company You Keep Is Vitally Important

We have taken a longish time look in detail at this last day in the physical life of Jesus Christ as Dr Luke relates it in Chapter 22, but it is important that we do not hurry over the crucial issues raised in this passage. It is also helpful too to read the parallel passages in Matthew Chapter 26 and Mark Chapter 14. These accounts are given to us for a very real purpose.

In verse 54Jesus is led away, humbly but with dignity, and Peter follows, afar off and at a safe distance.

There is no safe distance when you are distancing yourself from Jesus. Peter is watching, trailing behind, and in great danger. We are called to come close, and draw near and be right at the very heart, and be involved, participating faithfully, following and serving Jesus, where He has placed you and appointed you.

Peter continues following, from a distance from the Garden of Gethsemane, through the valley, up the slopes past the Temple, watching where they were going, keeping an eye on what they were doing, and being careful not to be discovered and found out.

We have followed that route from Gethsemane on various occasions and it has not changed all that much over these past two thousand years.

The man who had vowed never to leave Jesus side was now keeping his distance.

Verse 55. Peter sat down with them. He sits down in the wrong place. We have to watch our company and be careful who we are with, and where we are seen. At times it matters.

Jesus would sit down with sinners, and mix with anyone, but this was different.

A young girl sees Peter – “This man was also with Him.” Here was an opportunity to witness for Jesus, and Peter denies His Lord. “Woman, I don’t know Him.”

Peter was prepared to take on 200 soldiers and religious leaders with his sword, but the words of a young girl floor him. Sometimes it is the little things that get us down and defeat us, especially when we are sitting where we should not be sitting.

Trailing behind and falling behind and moving into the wrong company, and denying Christ. There is a progression, all within about the space of an hour.

Verse 58. Again Peter denies having any knowledge of Jesus. “You are also one of them.” We must be prepared to be called ‘one of them’ at times too.

Verse 59. Around that charcoal fire Peter must have become involved in the conversation. Someone recognised his accent, and accused him of being a follower of Jesus. If only he had kept his mouth shut, but he opened it on the wrong occasion, and kept it shut when he should have been speaking. “I don’t know what you are talking about.” And immediately, the cock crows, and through the High Priest’s Courtyard they eyes of Peter meet the eyes of the arrested Jesus.

You can go into that courtyard today. It has been uncovered and excavated, and you can look into the cell where Jesus would have been held. They are on the same level. When they were still doing the archaeological work I jumped over the rope and checked things out. Yes, the eyes of Peter and the eyes of Jesus would have met. It is interesting to check out what can be checked in Jerusalem and Israel, and to find it all accurate and authentic.

That loving look shattered Peter. After you have failed someone like Jesus, it is hard to look them in the face. He went out and wept bitterly. Peter seemed to have made such a mess of following Jesus. In a way, yes, but 30 years later he is still there.

Three times Peter denied Jesus as he was sitting around a charcoal fire. Two weeks later Jesus is around another charcoal fire and three times gives Peter the opportunity to declare his love and loyalty. It is good to get it all sorted out. Not only is it good. It is essential to have all these matters and issues sorted out and resolved.

Originally here:
Word from Scotland

Author bio:
Alexander “Sandy” Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness – on the Moray Firth Coast – not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40 a.m., New Orleans time, at wsho.com.