I invite you to turn in the Scriptures with me tonight to the Gospel of Luke. The Gospel of Luke, chapter 23. Chapter 23, we'll be considering together tonight, verses 26 through 43 of Luke, chapter 23. Luke, chapter 23, this is the Word of the Lord beginning tonight, our consideration at verse 26. And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene who was coming in from the country and laid on him the cross to carry it behind Jesus. And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. But turning to them, Jesus said, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. for behold the days are coming when they will say blessed blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed then they will begin to say to the mountains fall on us and to the hills cover us for if they do these things when the wood is green what will happen when it is dry two others who were criminals were led away to be put to death with him and when they came to the place that is called the skull there they crucified him and the criminals one on his right and one on his left and jesus said father forgive them for they know not what they do and they cast lots to divide his garments and the people stood by watching but the rulers scoffed at him saying he saved others let him save himself if he is the christ of god his chosen one the soldiers also mocked him coming up and offering him sour wine and saying if you are the king of the jews save yourself there was also an inscription over him this is the king of the jews one of the criminals who were hanged railed at him saying are you not the christ save yourself and us but the other rebuked him saying do you not fear god since you are under the same sentence of condemnation and we indeed justly for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds but this man has done nothing wrong and he said jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom and he said to him truly i say to you today you will be with me in paradise the lord bless the hearing tonight of well the scene before us tonight in luke chapter 23 is obviously as you were reading that very disturbing it's a very disturbing scene as we think about what our lord was facing and undergoing for us heading now to the cross and the passage that is and and obviously crucified as we read but it's also troubling to see in this particular passage tonight how many people had no idea of why jesus was going through this why jesus was doing this how they were confused about this and not just confused but completely misunderstood what was happening and transpiring in front of them the scene is moving because at this point they have putting together the details of the gospels and looking here particularly at what luke says they have laid a heavy cross on his back he of course is being led outside the city for he is to be crucified and treated as a criminal even though as was already expressed here and by pilot we know he was the innocent and the just one so exhausted was our lord we know that he couldn't even carry the cross were moved by how excruciating the pain was as it is shown here in his humanity as emphasized, the sheer exhaustion makes him fall. And we can't help but see that what he is carrying here, all of what Isaiah has captured for us, he is carrying on his back the weight of our sin. And of course, that is something he is facing in his soul as the wrath of God. And he is enduring that wrath. We know he is going to conquer and he is going to rise again, which we're going to celebrate. But he is facing at this moment the intense wrath of God being poured out on his soul. Here he is heading outside the city to be crucified to undergo in Roman world the worst kind of death. It was the cursed death. Scripture had anticipated this. When we think very carefully of what he had already endured. It's a moving picture. It's a tragic picture in light of showing us what humanity was like and the terrible things that they had done. He was, as the words of Isaiah say, despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, we just sang out about, acquainted with grief, and we, as it were, hid our faces from him. We did not esteem him. We despised him. and now at the end of his life he is now facing uh the worst of trials false witnesses have come a terrible betrayal has come upon him by one of his own one of his own inner circle in judas iscariot and with a kiss the horrors that he had already been enduring in gethsemane sweating big drops of blood then to see then to see those who were the most loyal to him throughout his earthly ministry scatter at the moment that he is struck he is alone facing this alone false witnesses yes have risen up against him the leaders of the day have ridiculed him not just guilty but guilty punishable by death though no one could find any fault with him it's a remarkable testimony isn't it no one could find any fault he's now been beaten and scourged heavy wooden cross laid upon his back sheer exhaustion in his humanity his soul suffering the torments of hell we're all left silent looking from our point in history knowing what we know that this is the moment that we all celebrate that Christ has stepped into our place. I want you to hold on to that for a moment. Christ has stepped into our place. It's the reason we call it a substitution. A substitutionary atonement. This is the moment we see Him facing what we will have if we don't have him, or what we would have had to, right? Had he not interceded and climbed up Golgotha for us. Well, as he's moving forward, we see this whole event has caused quite a stir. Multitudes of people have gathered together. Multitudes of people are watching, as has been the case throughout the course of his earthly ministry. We've been studying in Mark how many multitudes were following him. Here is the great moment, and now many multitudes, these multitudes of people have gathered to see the event. They heard him. They knew who he was. They knew the things that he had done. Something begins to happen, though. As he is being beaten, as he is being scourged, as the blood is covering him, people are starting to realize how horrible of an event this really is. They are. They're feeling it. They're seeing it. I mean, look at verse tonight. Look at verse 27 and what begins to happen. And they followed Him. There followed Him a great multitude of the people and of the women who were mourning and lamenting for Him. Mourning and lamenting. Now I find this situation distressing. There's a huge crowd gathering around Him. They see Him carrying the cross. They see here, you remember in verse 28, they seized one, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross to carry it behind Jesus. They're watching all of this. They see him weak. They see him torn. They see him beaten. They see him mocked. They see everything that was terrible to do, the worst kind of treatment to a human being, and they begin to pity him. They begin to pity him. maybe all of a sudden they started realizing, you know, are we making a mistake here? Has this man really done enough to be worthy of this? And then we think, nobody had anything against him. And yet, you know, the crowds had said, release Barabbas and give us Jesus. And they're witnessing this and they're starting to think, maybe this is going a little too far. They look at his torments, they look at the beatings, and looking at what Jesus is here, many of the women, we notice, began to weep and they began to lament. You can imagine it. And this is in no way a fair comparison, but you know in Braveheart, if you've ever seen that movie, you know when he is being tormented that the women who are there in that movie start yelling out, mercy. Mercy! Mercy! They see Him in full exhaustion. They're weeping over Him. What a horrendous scene this was. Now, how true it is when we think about what goes on at this time of year and we think about Good Friday and how much this is being thought about and celebrated. And we think of all the events that are happening. It's amazing how the stores are full right now. Everyone's getting ready their meals and everyone's getting ready for Sunday. But tonight's the night they're thinking about Good Friday and what our Lord did. And you know in our culture how many movies have been made to try to depict this and how emotional those movies have created, created scenes for people so that they walk in. We think of all the recent ones that have come out, Risen, the Son of God. We think back to the Passion of the Christ where streams would come out of the movie theaters weeping over this. Of the graphic depiction of what people saw over Jesus going through this. It was terrible. Large nails penetrating through His wrists, through His hands and wrists, into the wood. A massive nail right into the feet to pin Him to the wood. unbearable pains hanging there with the tearing of tendons. A horrible display of the body. Unquenchable thirst. Unbearable thirst. The mental anguish. The body dying in front of people. It was a horrible scene. I noticed that in the Philippines, they have a practice, the Senaculo, which is an account of Jesus' passion and death and resurrection. In the tradition every year it's highlighted by Christ's crucifixion. It's followed by a procession of devotees who sometimes nail themselves to a cross. Themselves and pin themselves up there to try to recapture and offer something to God thinking about what the Lord did that they want to identify with that. all of these multitudes are there, mood, pity, tears. Maybe you felt a little shocked at Jesus' response when we read it. In verse 28, He responds to this. And He is in the heart of His afflictions. He is going through what we could never undergo. And in verse 28, turning to them, Jesus said, daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed. Then they will begin to say to the mountains, fall on us and to the hills, cover us. For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry what a moment we're stunned stop crying for me cry for yourselves what was jesus reacting to they had no idea of why jesus was going through these things they did not understand that at this moment in the heart of his afflictions in both body and soul he was suffering what we confess in the Apostles' Creed, the torments of hell. The wrath of God was falling on him. No mere man could grasp this, what he was facing at that moment. They couldn't sentimentalize it either because they were getting the whole event wrong. this is such a big moment for us tonight as we come together to celebrate they were weeping but they had no idea why this must happen and i wonder how common that is in the celebration of good friday i wonder how common it is in the celebration of easter the christ had to die that was no mistake but how sad this is they had no idea that such a death that he was experiencing was God's answer to their problem. And that's the key to this. For the moment, he was suffering the torments of hell, but he would be victorious. He would rise again. He would triumph. He had been proclaiming this. But what did this mean for them? That was the question. They were looking at this and saying, oh, what an awful way to die. What a terrible thing to have to undergo. but had they ever considered their future? Think about this. In a sense, it's a dangerous thing to commemorate this. It's a dangerous thing to come together with no understanding and celebrate Good Friday and resurrection. Jesus says in the heart of this, don't weep for me. Weep for yourselves. And to come to the answer in saying, unless these people weeping, turn to him with more than mere sentimental affection or sentimental sorrow they are seeing and this is the point tonight they are seeing their own future heavy heavy what do i mean they would be lost and they would face this suffering we too should never gather just to memorialize the event without understanding why christ did this and what it says to me and what it says to you. Look at what he says. Daughters, weep for you and your children. For the days are coming when you will say, blessed are the barren wombs that never bore and the breasts which never nursed. Jesus had already referenced the fall of Jerusalem, but I can't help but to see here that he is clearly referencing the end. He is referencing the end. You see what Jesus was saying. Look at my crucifixion. Are you looking and seeing what this really is? Falling and being poured out on me, unquenchable thirst, I am facing the scourgings, the beatings that you are witnessing and seeing. This is before you is exactly the final judgment. You're looking at it. You're looking at the future. Mine will end, and I'll be victorious. You don't need to weep for me. But you need to weep for yourselves. And he immediately takes it to the future. Have you thought about the future? It's interesting. He mentions here in verse 30, they will begin to say to the mountains, fall on us, and to the hills, cover us. Who picks that up? Who says that very thing to John in Revelation 6? Jesus. They're His words. I looked when He opened the sixth seal and behold, there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth. That happened on the cross, by the way. The sun turned black. And the moon became like blood and the stars of heaven fell to the earth. Remember, there was a resurrection and bodies got out of the grave. The whole thing, the whole story was being told right at the cross. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it's rolled up and every mountain, every island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and the rocks, here it is, fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of His wrath has come and who is able to stand? He's quoting it right here. Luke 23, right in the middle of his afflictions. Jesus says, for if they do these things in the green wood, when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry? That was a proverb of the day. Everyone knew that wood didn't burn easily. It's moist, wet wood. Green wood didn't burn easily. It's moist, it's wet, but dry wood burns quickly. And you can put that together. If even the greenwood is burned up, what do you think is going to happen to the dry? At this moment, I'm facing my Father's hottest wrath. What's going to happen to the unrighteous? Now, we don't understand this tonight well if we think Jesus is being cruel here. Jesus is giving a plea. I wish I could capture the tone of how He said it. I'm certain I'm not doing that justice. I don't know how that tone came out in the middle of his afflictions. But this is undoubtedly a plea and a call to escape what is to come. Jesus is showing here, even at the last moment, that he's not concerned for himself, but for them. That's the point. Concern is coming out. Why do I say that? What did they now see? And this is where I want to go tonight, and then we'll come to the supper. The whole text turns immediately after this scene that's somewhat confusing to us and it seems a little bit perplexing to us of what happened. It turns to two men, two criminals on the cross next to him. We read in verse 32 that two others who were criminals were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place it's called the skull where they crucified and the criminal and the criminals one on his right and one on his left the scene is given to us they've arrived here the place of the skull jesus is in the middle one on the right one on the left father forgive them for they know not what they do here's where we end up at the very last moment jesus captures for all those standing there the kind of faith repentance that he's after you have this scene multitudes are watching women are weeping rulers are sneering he saved others but he can't save himself. He's the Christ, the chosen of God. The soldiers mock him offering sour wine saying, if you're the king of the Jews, save yourself. All sorts of things are happening at this moment. And there sits over his head an inscription, the king of the Jews. Pilate had put that there as a form of mockery. This is your king, oh Jews. This is the best you have. And in this moment, in the middle of the worst of scenes, two other crosses are set up next to Him. I find the imagery here thinking of two other crosses standing next to Him, one on the right and one on the left. That's powerful. It's the last hour. Think of this. Darkness is about to come on the land. It would be over. And here in the cross event, you see a picture of the end of the world. Then one of the criminals who hanged there, blaspheming them, saying, if you are the Christ, save yourself and us. But the other answered rebuking Him. Do you not even fear God seeing that you're under, we are under the same condemnation? The same sentence of condemnation? now do you see the connection the women said were weeping and jesus said weep for yourselves you're under the same condemnation notice how his action stands now in stark contrast everyone else who had approached him multitudes of people are mourning over him fear uh watching this understanding this for all the the wrong reasons the crowds are mocking him as he did this there was a call here they had struck him they had offered him sour wine you'll see all this in the middle of this they mocked him they sneered at him they cast lots for his clothing but one tonight in the midst of all of this the lord put next to him to shine out to show us what he's after listen to him listen to his words in verse 40 do you not fear god since you are under the same sentence of condemnation and we indeed justly for we're receiving the due reward of our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong. This man has done nothing wrong. You and I, we're just as guilty. We're getting what we deserve in this life for the things that we've done. We've committed things that are deserving of this. Think of the women don't weep for me weep for yourselves we deserve this him he's done nothing wrong he he never did anything wrong how much have you committed do you um ever think like this and and struggle with how much in looking over the course of your life you're such a failure and how much you have done against the lord and against his anointed did you see the two kind of hearts represented here one so calloused and hard and the other so understanding and soft saying i deserve this we all deserve this there is no sentimentalizing of christ's death the broken and the contrite heart is shown in understanding that this is what i rightly deserve i deserve the cross I deserve the anguish. I deserve the cup of wrath. I am the sinner. I am the one that has done wrong against the Lord who is holy and just and pure. I did these things worthy of the cross. That is my judgment. This is what David said in his sin. He said, listen, Lord, I fully agree you are blameless when you judge and just when you condemn. And what David was saying was, and this is the same heart in Psalm 51, it's the same heart. If you were to enter into judgment with me and you were to put me into hell, you're right to do it. That's a test of sincere repentance if you can say that. That's a test. I weep today over my own sins. And then all of a sudden he looks at Jesus and he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. That's a remarkable statement. It's full of faith. How could you say that unless you believed? How could you say that? If Jesus was not who he said he was, Jesus was a great fake, You can't say that. What could he do? This is faith. Remember me. Would you think about me when you come into your kingdom? Have you thought about that? How many people have existed in the face of this earth through all these generations? Would you remember me? Would you think upon me? Would you save me? It's a cry of faith. And in the midst, think of all the women there weeping, think of all the mockery, I can imagine Jesus looking right to His right and gazing His eyes upon Him and saying to Him, today, you will be with Me in paradise. Today. What a moment. What a beautiful moment there. It's hard to even express the joy that should come out of us tonight. Who if you can say, I deserve the same condemnation. And you worry about your sins and what will that judgment day be like? Jesus, in looking to Him and saying, today, Lord, would you remember me? Jesus just said, I'll never forget you. I'll never forget you. A great transaction was just made. Lord, I'm the guilty one. I'm the one. Remember me when you come in your kingdom. And then think about the Lord saying to these women who refuse to understand this any more than sentimentally, it would have been worse. You will say it would have been better never to have children. The Lord says to all who believe, the Lord gives promises and says this promise is to you and to your children. Think of it. He stood between you and the Father. He shouldered the curse. He promised you that the moment your eyes close in death, you will be with Him in paradise. That when you look at this event that we're coming together to worship the Lord for tonight, what should you see it as for what it is? It is your judgment day. It is your judgment day. It is judgment day. And for all who have Christ, He assures you tonight at His table that there is therefore now no condemnation. Even though you were under the same condemnation, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. That's the gospel. That's his promise to us. And he wants us to come tonight to his table with the same kind of believing, trusting heart that we see from this man in the last moment of his life. And if you want to be encouraged even more, Here he is. His hands are pinned. He's lived a life of total rebellion. He's never done one good work with his hands. Never one. And Jesus right there justified it. Right at the end of his life. Right at the last moment. And that is the kind of confidence we can have tonight in looking to Jesus and understanding. I pray tonight that we have come together to celebrate this great thing that the Lord has done for us, not sentimentally, but with hearts of faith. And so that when we're done here together tonight, the sorrow that we have, Jesus says, I will turn to joy. Let's come to his table with confidence tonight. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for encouraging us with this powerful passage. Thank You for strengthening us with the food and drink of eternal life. Thank You for Your promises of the Gospel. Thank You for sending Your Son to become the curse for us and the substitute so that we might be together tonight and have peace and joy. We praise You and thank You that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Thank you.