Setting The Theme: Luke 23

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You are listening to Heat the Word with our pastor and teacher Ken Davis. Pastor Ken is the senior pastor at Calvary Chapel Southwest Metro in Burleson, Texas. Please join us as we study the Gospel of Luke verse by verse.

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If Christ saved himself, then we would be without a savior. It was an either-or situation. His life was the opportunity cost for our salvation. He had to die that we might live, and so for him to be the Christ, he could not save himself. Oh, he could have saved himself and left us hopeless, but he loved you too much for that. And so, in compassion and love, he refused to save yourself.

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The Gospel of Luke is the third account in the Gospels of the life and teachings of our Savior, Jesus Christ. As believers, there are a few studies that will benefit us more spiritually than studying the life and teachings of the Master. The challenge that the monarch smeared at Jesus was. If you are the Son of God, then save yourself. Jesus could have saved himself with no trouble whatsoever. This would have discounted him as the Messiah. You see, in order to be the Messiah, Jesus had to willingly offer up his sinless life in a place. Don't forget to stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Heed the Word, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching.

If He Saved Himself, We’re Lost

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But for now, please open your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 23, verse 26, so join Pastor Ken.

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I have a word from the Lord for you this morning that He spoke to me in just the last few moments. Not part of my text, but in keeping with my text. And I think it's something that, particularly now, given what much of our body is going through, that you need to know. But you need to understand that there are many within our body today who are struggling. There are many in our body today who are in pain and who are grieving for various reasons. The enemy is raging against the Church of Jesus Christ. And he wants nothing more than to

God’s Love Demonstrated In Our Sins

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destroy us. But he will not be able to do so. God is good and God is faithful, and God wants you to know something this morning.

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You say, but I've sinned.

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Yes. Yes, you have. And he loves you. But I failed. Of course you've failed. But he loves you. But I'm not good enough. No.

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You're not good enough. But he loves you. He loves you passionately. He loves you powerfully. He loves you perfectly. And he loves you completely.

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God loves you. And lest you think these words are mine and not his, I quote, from Romans chapter 5, verse 8. But God demonstrated. You know how often we say that, oh, well, hey, you can tell me you love me, but can you show me that you love me, right? Show me you love me. Let your actions speak, not just your words. Words are cheap, aren't they? It's so easy to say, I love you. But to actually love someone, that's powerful. And Paul writes here in Romans chapter 5, verse 8, but God demonstrates. That means he didn't just say he loved you, but he showed you that he loved you. And he continues to show you that he loves you. But God demonstrates his own love toward us, not our love toward him, but his own love toward us. In that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. While we were still sinners, that means before we even thought about repenting, before we even felt bad for our sins, before ever we confessed Christ is Lord, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

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And he did so as a demonstration of God's love. He did it for you. That's awesome.

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You know, I don't care what you're struggling with today. I don't care how badly you feel as though you failed and how unworthy you think you are. You cannot change God's love for you.

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And if you'll be honest, you cannot deny it. How precious is the demonstration of God's love.

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And it's that demonstration, that giving of his son for us that we're going to look at today as we continue our study in Luke chapter 23.

Pilate’s Authority From Above

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To set the context for our study today, I'm actually going to go to John. So we'll begin, we'll be beginning, that is, in John chapter 19. This doesn't give us the textual context, but it does give us the situational context, that is, what was going on prior to the verses that we're going to study today. We'll be starting in John 19, verse 1. Now you'll remember, of course, that the Sanhedrin and the priests and the scribes, they had brought Jesus to Pilate and they had preferred charges against him. And Pilate now is sitting in judgment. So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him. Now you remember he had said that he found no fault in him, that he had done nothing worthy of death. And so Pilate, in an effort to satisfy the Jews, takes Jesus and has him scourged. And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe. Then they said, Hail, King of the Jews, and they struck him with their hands. Pilate then went out again and said to them, Behold, I am bringing him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in him. Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and Pilate said to them, Behold the man, look at him, look at what I have done to him. You should now be satisfied, is basically what Pilate is saying. Behold the man. Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate said to them, You take him and crucify him, for I find no fault in him, meaning, Hey, I'm I'm not gonna do your dirty work for you. Then the Jews answered him, We have a law, and according to our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. So finally they're honest about the true charges that they are accusing him with. Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid and went again into the praetorium and said to Jesus, Where are you from? But Jesus gave him no answer. Then Pilate said to him, Are you not speaking to me? Do you not know that I have the power to crucify you and the power to release you? Pilate's like, Hey, who do you think you are, Jesus? Answer me when I talk to you. Respect me. Don't you understand that I have the power to crucify you or to let you go? And Jesus answered, You could have no power at all against me, unless it had been given you from above. Therefore, the one who delivered me to you has the greater sin. From then on, Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, saying, If you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar. Jesus makes a point here that we need to understand, and that is this Pilate could have no authority over Jesus unless it had been given to him from above. That means that everything that Christ suffered, though he suffered it at the hands of Pilate and at the hands of the Roman soldiers, it was ordained of God.

Purpose In Suffering And Trials

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God had a purpose in the suffering of Christ. And can I tell you in your lives when you suffer, that God has a purpose in your suffering as well. You may not like it, you may not enjoy it, and you may not feel grateful for it. But the fact of the matter is that the purposes of God are accomplished in our suffering. Because through our suffering, God shapes us and he molds us and he makes us into the people that he wants us to be. The Bible tells us that he chastises those whom he loves. That if we sin and we aren't chastised, it means that we're illegitimate and that we're not really born of God. Recognize that in your suffering and in your trials, that God is with you in the midst of them, that God will see you through them. As I've said many times before, and I'll say many times again, God never promised us a smooth flight, but he did promise us a safe landing. He never said that the Christian walk would be easy. In fact, quite the opposite. He said it would be hard. Is the servant greater than his master? Are we greater than Jesus? That we should live and not suffer? That we should not experience tribulation, that the world should not hate us when it hated the one whom we serve? There will be trials. But he will be with you through the trials, and there is nothing that can happen to you, there is nothing that will happen to you that God will not sustain you through. Because you see, no power could be given to them except it came from above. From then on, verse 12 tells us, Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out more, saying, If you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend, for whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the pavement, but in Hebrew Gabbatha. Now it was the preparation day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour, and he said to the Jews, Behold

From Judgment Hall To Golgotha

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your king, and they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate said to them, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. Then he delivered him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led him away. Verse 17, and he bearing his cross went out to a place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha, where they crucified him and two others with him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center. Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross, and the writing was Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. And so we see that as Jesus sets out from the place of his judgment, he's bearing his cross. And this is where we pick up Luke's narrative in the 26th verse of Luke, chapter 23. Now, as they led him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon, a Cyrenian, who was coming from the country, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus. Now, Simon Peter had claimed that he would go to jail for Jesus, that he would even die with Jesus, but Simon Peter denied Jesus three times. We know this from our study. But this other Simon, this Simon of Cyrene, would be pressed into the service of bearing the cross for Christ. Jesus, after having been tried throughout the night and beaten and scourged and mocked and spat upon, having been deprived

Simon Of Cyrene Bears The Cross

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of any sustenance or sleep, had no strength with which to bear his cross. And so as he sets out, the Roman soldiers see clearly that he's not going to make it to the place of execution unless they get some help for him. And so they press into service. This Simon of Cyrene. Cyrene was a city in a province of Libya, west of Egypt. That was where Simon was from. Mark's gospel account tells us that this Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus, which could indicate that these two sons of his were known by the Christians of the early church. Otherwise, why would Mark mention that Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus? And so we see that here, this man who we have really no other information about in Scripture, this man, because he bears the cross of Christ, very likely came to a saving knowledge of Christ himself, and not only he, but also his children.

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Verse 27.

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Simon of Cyrene was coming from the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus. And a

Daughters Of Jerusalem Warned

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great multitude of the people followed him, and women also mourned and lamented. But Jesus, turning to them, said, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, Blessed are the barren wombs that never bore, and breasts which 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 in the green wood, what will be done in the dry? Even now, as Jesus is being led away to the cross, his concern is not for himself, but it's for them. He's saying, Listen, don't weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children, because a time is coming when there will be great tribulation. And if they will do this, what they're doing to me, to an innocent man in this time, when I am present among them, what will happen later? How much worse it's gonna be. Jesus is warning them, he's saying, There's a time coming when you're gonna say, Blessed are those who are childless. Because the suffering will be so great. Only forty years, less than forty years later, that very thing was fulfilled when Titus lay siege to Jerusalem, and millions died, mostly of disease and starvation.

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Jesus is warning them, even as he himself is being sacrificed.

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Verse 32. There were

Father, Forgive Them

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also two others, criminals, led with him to be put to death. And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then Jesus said to them, or then Jesus said, Excuse me, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. And they divided his garments and cast lots, and the people stood looking on, but even the rulers with them sneered, saying, He saved others, let him save himself if he is the Christ, the chosen of God. The soldiers also mocked him, coming and offering to him sour wine, and saying, If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. And an inscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. This is the King of the Jews. As Jesus comes to Calvary, they would lay the cross upon the ground, and then they would position the one who was to be crucified on top of the cross. They would take the spikes and they would begin to drive them through the upper part of the wrist here, through his hands, and then also through his feet. These were

Mockery, Prophecy, And True Kingship

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large nails, like railroad spikes. And the pain must have been excruciating. It says here that they divided their clothing among them. What does that mean? That means he wasn't wearing any clothing. And so there was incredible and excruciating pain. There was overwhelming shame and humiliation. Having already suffered so much, still he suffers more. And in the midst of his suffering, what do we see Jesus doing? The hands that had reached out to bring sight to the blind, the hands that had touched and cleansed those that no one would have touched, the lepers. The feet that had walked upon the water, these hands and these feet were now being nailed to a cross. And the ability that Jesus had to minister was cut off. And yet, in the midst of all that, he still continues to minister to them in that which he is capable of doing, and that is in prayer. He prays for the very people who are putting him to death. And what does he say? Father, forgive them. For they know not what they do. Father, they don't realize, they don't recognize, they don't know what they're doing. Father, forgive them.

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And you know what? His prayer was answered.

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We see, at least in part, the answer to that prayer in Acts chapter 4, verses 17 through 20.

He Could Not Save Himself And Us

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When speaking of the crucifixion, Peter preaches these words. Yet now, brethren, speaking to the Jews, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all his prophets that Christ would suffer, he has thus fulfilled. Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus Christ who has preached to you before. Two thousand people came to the Lord at that preaching, bringing the total number of believers at that time in the church to five thousand. And so Jesus' prayer at that time was answered, in that that sin was not laid at their feet. They were not blotted out or brought to judgment by God for what they had done. But the opportunity to repent and to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior was still available to them. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. What compassion did Jesus have? Which of us would have that much compassion? Would be able to be that forgiving to say, the very ones who are taking my life, who are bringing such suffering, I'm praying for them. When people speak against you, when people revile you, when people bring harm and hurt to you, do you pray for them?

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Are you willing to forgive them? You may be justified in your anger. God would have been justified in his. And yet he chose to forgive. So should we.

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So must we, if we are to be called by his name. Now, in the midst of all of this, Jesus is being rebuked and reviled. Mark 15, 27 through 32 tells us this with him they also crucified two robbers, one on his right and the other on his left. So the scripture was fulfilled, which says, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads and saying, Aha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself and come down from the cross. Likewise, the chief priests also, mocking among themselves what the scribes said, He saved others, himself he cannot save. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross that we may see and believe. Even those who were crucified with him reviled

Closing Encouragements And Resources

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him. Even those who were being crucified upon his left and upon his right, even they mocked him, being in the same situation themselves. Now we're going to talk probably next week about the multitude of prophecies that were fulfilled in the crucifixion of Christ. We're not going to focus on those today, but rather upon the event itself. But here we have the people passing by just shaking their heads and saying, Man, he said he would destroy the temple in three days and build it up again. Look at him now. And the priests and the scribes saying, He saved others, but himself, he can't save. You know what?

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They weren't right.

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They said, Hey, if you're the Christ, if you're the King of Israel, come down from the cross and we'll believe you. But you know what? If he had come down from the cross, then he could not have been the cross. He saved others. Himself he could not save. That's a true statement because had he saved himself, he could not have saved others. Had Christ saved himself, then we would be without a savior.

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Truly, these are some of the most difficult times that many of us have ever seen. The economy is bad, work is sparse, and there's no shortage of strife throughout the world. But as believers in Jesus, we've been given many great and precious promises. For instance, listen to this verse, taken from our current study. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows. You see, it doesn't matter how bad things get, God has promised to take care of us. Today's teaching was only part of a full-length message taught by Pastor Ken Davis on a Sunday morning at Calvary Chapel Southwest Metro in Burleson, Texas. To hear this message in its entirety, log on to heathheword.org. That's heedtheword.org. Once you're there, select the listen online page. Or if computers aren't your thing, that's okay, you can always call us. That number to call is 817-447-5675. That's 817-447-5675. Even if you're not ordering a copy of today's study, we'd love to hear from you. Knowing that God is using Heed, the Word for His glory, and to encourage His saints is one of our greatest joys. So call us today. This study through the Gospel of Luke has been a real eye-opener. Maybe you've been challenged in some areas in your walk with Jesus. Well, we want to exhort you not to just hear God's word, but to do it. Begin to walk in obedience to the things you're learning. From all of us here at Heather Word, we want to say thank you for tuning in, and may God richly bless you as you seek his face.