Jesus' Crucifixion: A Call to Repentance and Faith

Bibles, again, with me please, to Luke and chapter 23, and we're going to go on and read just a few more verses. Luke 23, starting to read at verse 26.

As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way from the country, put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed. Then they will say to the mountains, fall on us, and to the hills, cover us. For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry? In many churches today, you will see stained glass windows with crosses on them, Bibles with crosses on them, furniture with crosses on them, as well as Christians wearing crosses either around their necks or on their lapels. And in most churches, if not all Christian churches, you will hear people singing songs about the cross of Christ.

And you will hear preachers or ministers speaking about the cross of Christ. We should not be surprised by this because the cross and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus are at the very heart of Christian teaching and belief. Listen to what the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, verses 3 and 4. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance. Or he might have said primary importance. That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. We will never, ever understand the Christian faith unless we see why Jesus died upon a cross. On a Sunday morning we are looking at Luke's Gospel.

We've arrived at what's known as the Passion Narrative. With the emphasis being very much on the sufferings and death of the Lord Jesus. And for that reason we're not rushing through this. We're lingering because we want to glean everything we possibly can. Now before we get into these verses that I have just read, let us do a little recap.

Jesus has been arrested by the religious leaders and accused of blasphemy. And they want him dead. They've taken him to Pilate, the Roman governor, and they have accused him of three things. You may remember this from last week. One, subverting the nation. Two, opposing the payment of taxes. And three, claiming to be a Messiah, a king. And Pilate has found Jesus innocent of all the charges.

For that reason he has wanted to release Jesus. But the religious leaders will not leave the matter alone.

And they, along with the crowd that has gathered, applies tremendous pressure on Pilate. And in the end he gives them what they desire. And so we read here in verse 26 that the soldiers led Jesus away to be crucified.

And of course he would be led outside the city to a place called Golgotha. Now it was the done thing in those days for the convicted person to carry their cross.

And that's what we find Jesus doing in the gospel record. Whether Jesus simply carried the crossbeam or whether he carried the crossbeam and the upright, I'm not sure. And there is much debate about that. But I don't think it really matters.

Jesus is unable to carry his cross. And it's not surprising, is it, when you think of all that he's been through. When you think of the beatings, the terrible beatings that he received. In fact, it's a wonder that Jesus can even walk to the cross. He collapses. Now the soldiers, the Roman soldiers,. think it really matters.

Jesus is unable to carry His cross, and it's not surprising, is it, when you think of all that He's been through. When you think of the beatings, the terrible beatings that He received. In fact, it's a wonder that Jesus can even walk to the cross. He collapses. Now the soldiers, the Roman soldiers, are not going to come to His aid and carry it because it is too shameful a thing for them to carry such a thing.

And so they seize a man named Simon from Cyrene, who just happens to be walking that way, and he has to carry Jesus' cross. And so they all make their way to the place of crucifixion.

And there are lots of people that look on. Remember, this is the time of the Passover. There are many people who have come to Jerusalem, and Jesus is one who generates lots and lots of interest. And they want to see. Now the crowd includes some women who we read in verse 27, mourn and wail for Jesus.

Who are these women? Are they professional mourners? Professional mourners were common in these days. It's possible, but I'm not inclined to think that that's the case. Are they disciples of Jesus? Possibly, but there's no indication that they are. They're not described as the disciples of Jesus. They're simply referred to as the daughters of Jerusalem.

Are they then simply a group of women who see Jesus heading towards agonising and shameful death and have sympathy for him? I think this is the most likely explanation. Now this is a bit of an aside, but I read this week that there are no examples in all four Gospels of a woman being hostile to Jesus.

I didn't know that before I read it this week. Not one single example in the Gospels of a woman being hostile to Jesus. During this week, I listened to a sermon by Dick Lucas on these verses. It was one that he preached in the 1980s to lots of city workers, and he suggested to his listeners that at their places of work, they most likely heard men using the name of Jesus as a swear word, but not that many women. And I was interested by that comment that he made. These women have sympathy for Jesus. But what is it that Jesus says to them as they weep and mourn for him?

Well, look at verses 28 to 31, and it's these verses that we're going to focus our thoughts on this morning. Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me. Weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed. Then they will say to the mountains, fall on us, and to the hills, cover us. For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry? There are two essential things that Jesus says to these weeping women. And the first is, don't weep for me.

Don't weep for me. I wonder whether they were surprised to hear these words coming from the lips of Jesus. Why are they not to weep for him? Well, because he is going about his father's business.

He is on a mission. And it is a mission to atone for sin, so that repentance and forgiveness of sins might be preached throughout the whole world. Moreover, his life is not going to end at the cross. No, he will rise again and in due time ascend to his father in heaven, where he will sit at his right hand and be crowned with glory and honour. What do we read in Hebrews chapter 12? And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Don't weep for me.

There is a purpose in me walking towards this cross. I come to die. With joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Don't weep for me. There is a purpose in me walking towards this cross. I come to die. I've come to atone for sin. And after I have died, I will rise and ascend.

Don't weep for me. No, weep for yourselves and for your children. Why are they to weep for themselves? Well, the answer is given by Jesus in verses 29 to 31.

What is Jesus talking about in these verses? He's talking about what will happen in AD 70. What will happen in AD 70? The Romans will lay siege to Jerusalem and pretty much destroy it. There is a terrible time, therefore, coming for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Now, I'm not sure how much detail I should go into this morning, probably not too much.

So I will simply say that there is starvation, disease, and death on the horizon for the people of this ancient city. Look at verse 29.

It will be so bad that it will be better for a woman not to have had children. Verse 29, for the time will come when you will say, blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.

It will be a day when Jerusalem's inhabitants will wish for a quick death. Verse 30, then they will say to the mountains, fall on us and to the hills, cover us.

We see such language being used in connection with the fall of Samaria in the Old Testament. Hosea chapter 10, the high places of wickedness will be destroyed. It is the sin of Israel. Thorns and thistles will grow up and cover their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, cover us, and to the hills, fall on us. Weep for yourselves and for your children. Now, we move on to verse 31.

A lot of commentators argue that the verse 31 amounts to a proverb. I think that's probably the case. What does it mean? Let me read it to you.

If people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry? I think the green tree, the tree that is full of moisture and should not be put on the fire, refers to Jesus. You see, Jesus should not be put on the fire. That is, Jesus should not be condemned to death. He should not be nailed to a cross. The word fire, of course, is being used by me as a metaphor. He's innocent, innocent of all the charges that have been brought against him. He is sinless.

And yet, he is soon to be killed. I think the dry wood, the wood that one would naturally put on the fire, refers to the people of Jerusalem. You see, they are ripe for judgment. Why are they ripe for judgment? Because they have rejected their Messiah. They have rejected the Son of God. The events of AD 70 will be the judgment of God upon the inhabitants of this city for rejecting Jesus. Just turn back with me for a moment, if you will, in your Bibles to Luke chapter 19.

Luke chapter 19. And I'm going to read from verse 41. As he, that is Jesus, approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it. Jesus has already wept over this city because he knows that its inhabitants will reject him and crucify him. In the verses that we're looking at, he's encouraging the mourning women to weep over Jerusalem. As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, if you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace, but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls.

They will not leave one stone on another because—you see the all-important word—because you did not recognise the time of God's coming to you. You see, what greater sin could the inhabitants of Jerusalem have committed than the rejection of God's Son, the Lord Jesus? What greater sin could they have committed? Don't weep for me. There's purpose to me going to the cross. And after I have died and been buried, I will rise from the dead and ascend to the right hand of my Father. Don't weep for me. Weep for yourselves and for your children.

Now, we look at a passage like this and we say to ourselves, well, what application is there for us? What strikes me as I read these verses is the ignorance of these women, the ignorance of these women. They are ignorant of the real reason Jesus is going to the cross. And they are ignorant of the consequences for Jerusalem on account of rejecting their Messiah. Why is Jesus going to the cross? Jesus is going to the cross to pay the price for sin so that forgiveness of sins can be preached to all the world. Friends, there is no forgiveness of sins unless Jesus dies on the cross as a perfect sacrifice for sin to satisfy God's judgment. Sorry, to satisfy God's justice.

Think of a man who goes to court, and there he stands in the dock. And he is found guilty of committing a number of crimes against others. What's the responsibility of the judge? It is to judge him, isn't it? It's to pass sentence. It's to execute justice. It's to give him a prison sentence or whatever it might be. The judge cannot simply say, what you've done doesn't matter.

I forgive you. Now be on your way, and please don't be such a naughty boy again.

If a judge does such a thing, well, he's going to be taken off the bench, isn't he? He's going to be given the sack. He's not worthy of being a judge. His responsibility, his primary responsibility is to uphold justice. Well, God is the judge of all the earth.

And he must uphold justice. He must punish sinners according to his holy law. He cannot just give away forgiveness without first satisfying his justice. And so what God does is come into this world in the person of his son, Jesus Christ, and he dies upon a cross, and in doing so pays the price for sin to satisfy God's justice so that God is then free to forgive sinners who repent and trust in Jesus.

Why is it so important for us not to reject Jesus? You see, we can behave, can we not, in just the same way that the people in Jerusalem did. We can reject Jesus. And because our sin is serious, because it has consequences, we need to be very careful that we do not reject him. Unforgiven sinners must be punished by a holy God on the day of judgment. reject Jesus. And because our sin is serious, because it has consequences, we need to be very careful that we do not reject him. Unforgiven sinners must be punished by a holy God on the day of judgment. And dare I say it, it will be much more terrifying than the judgment that came upon Jerusalem in AD 70.

Listen to what we read in Revelation chapter six. These verses speak of the final judgment of God. And as we hear these verses read to us, I think we would do well to draw the conclusion that the judgment that came upon Jerusalem in AD 70 foreshadowed the final judgment. And as I read these verses, I think you'll see why I say that. Revelation six, 15 to 17. Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves among the rocks of the mountains. Trying, you see, to hide from God in his great holiness and majesty. Verse 16, they called to the mountains and the rocks, 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 their wrath has come and who can withstand it? Friends, we must not reject Jesus because our sin is serious in the sight of God and forgiveness of sin and peace with God can only be found in Jesus Christ. In none other. We cannot find forgiveness with an earthly priest. We cannot find forgiveness in water baptism. We cannot find forgiveness by taking the bread and the wine at the communion table. We can only find forgiveness in one person, Jesus Christ. As Peter once said, this is the apostle Peter, salvation is found in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.

What did the angels say to Joseph? You shall give him the name Jesus because he shall save his people from their sins. So let me finish by asking a question.

How do we come to Jesus and find forgiveness and peace with God in him? How do we do that? Well, let me say two things in response to such a question.

Firstly, in repentance. We are to come feeling sorrow for our sin with a sincere desire to turn from it. The word repentance involves a turning, turning from sin. At the heart of sin is self, me living for me rather than living for God. We are to come in repentance and faith. Faith is the second thing to say. Jesus invites us to come to him and to put our faith or our trust in him, believing that he died and rose again so that in him we might find forgiveness and peace with God. Let me read to you what it says in John chapter three.

For God so loved the world, a fallen world, a sinful world, that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes or trusts in him shall not perish eternally but have eternal life. Yes, with God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him. Whoever believes, whoever trusts is not condemned but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only son. You see, we cannot afford to reject Jesus Christ, can we? When I was a teenager, I remember watching a friend of mine walking down the road with someone else after the church service and there were tears in his eyes and I remember sort of scratching my head. I couldn't work out why. He was a big fella, taller than me.

He liked putting himself about a bit on the football pitch, loved to slide tackle. He never took any prisoners when he did that. What was he doing crying? I thought something really bad had happened. Perhaps someone in his family had died. Later I learned that his tears were tears of. You know, I couldn't work out why. He was a big fella, taller than me.

He liked putting himself about a bit on the football pitch, loved to slide, tackle. He never took any prisoners when he did that. What was he doing crying? I thought something really bad had happened. Perhaps someone in his family had died. Later I learned that his tears were tears of sorrow over his sin before God. I never watched him walking back towards the church, but I suspect that those tears of sorrow turned to tears of joy because it was the day, you see, that he repented of his sin and trusted in the Lord Jesus as his saviour. It was the day that he came to know forgiveness and peace with God.

Will you come to Jesus? Repentance and faith if you haven't done so already. Jesus invites you to come to him. He's a wonderful saviour. He brings joy to the heart of men and women and young people and boys and girls. Come. Come whilst he may be found. Come.

Live your days without any fear of the judgement of God, which will come. It will come. Now some of us might say to me this morning, well, thank you, Mark, for preaching the good news of the gospel.

We like to hear it. But what application is there for me?

I repented, you see, many years ago of my sin and put my faith or my trust in the Lord Jesus. What application have you got for me? Well, two very brief points of application.

The first is this. Repentance is not something that we exercise just at the beginning of the Christian life. Repentance is something that we continue to exercise throughout the Christian life. Every time we sin against God, who has become our heavenly Father, we should repent and receive his forgiveness. Repentance is something that should characterise the Christian life. And the person who professes faith in Jesus Christ, but carries on willfully and persistently sinning apart from repentance, ought to have serious concerns about whether their profession is real. Repentance, you see, marks the Christian life. And of course, it's a good and healthy thing for us to be Christians who repent on a daily basis, because that helps us in our walk with the Lord Jesus.

The second thing to say by way of application is that faith or belief is not something that we just exercise at the beginning of the Christian life. No, we continue to trust, we continue to believe throughout our Christian lives. Faith, belief is something that marks the Christian life. We're to go on believing in Jesus. And one of the reasons why we come to church on a Sunday morning and a Sunday evening and go to Bible study during the week and pick up our Bibles each day and read and pray, so that we might be helped to go on believing in Jesus. You see, Satan is at work. And one of the things that he seeks to do is to draw people away from the faith. We need to persevere in it.

We need to go on believing and trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray together and then we'll sing. Well, we have read some very solemn words this morning from your word.

Words that speak of judgment, your judgment upon a city. Judgment that points us to the final judgment. What a terrible and awful day that will be. But we thank you, Lord God, that you have made provision so that we can be ready to stand and to stand well on that day without any fear whatsoever of your just condemnation.

You've given us your Son, your most precious gift to our world. You gave him so that he might die and pay the price for sin, that he might satisfy your justice. Without any fear whatsoever of your just condemnation, you've given us your son, your most precious gift to our world. You gave him so that he might die and pay the price for sin, that he might satisfy your justice so that you might freely forgive all those who repent of their sin and trust in your son as their Lord and Savior. We thank you for such good news, the good news of the gospel. May none of us in this room this morning reject the Lord Jesus. May our hope, may our confidence, our trust be in him and in no one and nothing else for our salvation. Help us as believers to live lives of repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus.

Keep us trusting, keep us walking with our Savior, the Lord Jesus, until that day when we see him face to face. Ask these things in his name. Amen. Let's stand and sing as we conclude our time together. It's number 697 in the Praise Hymn Book. Above the voices of the world around me, my hopes and dreams, my cares and loves and fears, the long-awaited call of Christ has found me, the voice of Jesus echoes in my ears. Let's stand and sing.