And I do ask that you would keep this passage on the forefront of your minds as we go into our time of study this morning, because it will, we will come back to it at some point Exodus chapter 33 and I'm a start in verse 14 and he said my presence will go with you and I will give you rest. And he said to him, if your presence will not go with me, do not bring us from here. For how shall it be known that I found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us that we are so distinct and I your people and from other people on the face of the earth? And the Lord said to Moses, this very thing that you have spoken, I will do, but you have found favor in my sight and I know you by name. Moses said, please show me your glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness past before you and will proclaim before you my name, the Lord. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy, but he said, you cannot see my face. For man shall not see me and live. And the Lord said, behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock. And while my glory passes by, I will put you in the cleft of the rock and I will cover you with my hand until I pass by. Then I will take away my hand and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen. If you will jump over to the gospel of Mark, chapter 15, starting in verse 21, I'm sorry, excuse me, starting in verse 16. And the soldiers led him away inside the palace. That is the governor's headquarters. They called together the whole battalion. They clothed them in a purple cloak. And twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. They began to salute him, pale, king of the Jews. And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. When they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. They led him out to crucify him. And they compelled a pass of by Simon of Cyrene who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus to carry the cross. And they brought him to the place called Golgatha, which means place of a skull. They offered him wine mixed with merr, but he did not take it. And they crucified him, divided his garments among them, casting lots for them to decide what each should take. It was the third hour when they crucified him. In the inscription of the charge against him red, the king of the Jews. And with him, they crucified two robbers, one on the right and one on the left. And those who passed by, derided him, wagging their heads and saying, aha, you who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself and come down from the cross. So also the chief priest and the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, he saved others, he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the king of Israel, come down now from the cross, and we may see and believe those who were crucified with him also reveled by the God as we come to a very sobering passage, detailing the suffering of our Lord, pray that you would bless our time together. Amen. I started off this morning with three questions to kind of help us get on the same page to get our hearts and minds going in the same direction. This morning and the first is this. How did you become a Christian? What I want you to do is think back to all the people's lives that had the intersect to bring you before the face of God, to bring you to a place of faith. Maybe you come from a covenant home and I always say the most beautiful testimony there is out there is that you never knew a day without knowing Jesus. If that's true of you, think about who introduced your parents, who introduced your grandparents, who prayed for them, who discipled them, think about all the moving parts that allowed you to be in a covenant home. Maybe it was a Sunday school teacher, maybe it was a VBS leader who brought you to that church, who led you there. Maybe it was a friend, maybe it was a coworker, maybe a grandparent, maybe a pastor, who brought you before them. I would love this morning if we could all just come up here and give testimony about God's faithfulness and who he used in our lives to grab a hold of us to be amazed at the circumstances and the prayers that allowed us to be believers. What I want you to see is it's all because of the hand of God that he's in every second question that I ask this morning. How'd you get here? I don't mean mode of transportation. I mean, how in the world did you end up in Locust, North Carolina, at Carolina Presbyterian Church this morning to worship our Lord and Savior, the King of Kings and Lord of Woods? How? Think about all the moving parts. Think about all of the coincidences that put you here this morning. Again, I would love to share how we got here, but I guess the best way to describe it is by the hand of God. I assure you of one thing this morning, and I can say this with confidence, whether it's your first time here, whether you've been here for a long time, I can say with confidence you are here, you're supposed to be here this morning because God made it that way because he worked out every detail in your life for you to be here this morning, which means he has something to say to you this morning. I hope that gives you goosebumps. I hope that gets you excited. What does he have to teach me? What does he have to say to me this morning? You will see that it's not just for your benefit. I hope you understand that, but even more so, it's for the growth of his kingdom that you're here this morning. The third question that I have, and this is more for the kids, to get them caught up and to get them listening to us this morning, I ask you this question, what's your favorite dessert? What is your favorite dessert? Why is that your favorite dessert? You see, if you say, oh, just because I like it the best, well, who gave you your taste buds? God did. Well, if you say, well, it's my favorite dessert because the first time I had it, there was this wonderful memory that's surrounded by it, and every time I eat them, I remember who gave you that memory. Do you see what I'm saying this morning? How you became a Christian? How you got here, even your favorite dessert and your favorite color is all by the hand of God. It's all his providence. It's the reason why I had Sali do the Westminster short of Catechism questions this morning. Listen to it with me this morning. What are God's work of providence? God's work of providence are his most holy, his most wise, and most powerful, preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions. What we're talking about this morning is the providence of God. Everything, every detail of your life is God working out his perfect plan. Why? Simply this, to reveal himself. The display, his glory, that he would be glorified as we look at our passage this morning. It's so important for us to remember the providence of God, to remember that God is in control, to remember that Jesus knows what God is about to do the whole time. He didn't walk into this blindly. He knew what he knew what was going to have to happen countless times. He told his disciples and I quote, the son of man is going to be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill him. When he is killed after three days, he will rise. Jesus believed in the providence of God. He trusted in the providence of God. Our passage starts off this morning. It says the soldiers led him. The soldiers led Jesus away. It ends with this. They led him to be crucified. You see, the scriptures say they're doing the leading, but who's really leading Jesus to be crucified? The hand of God, the providence of God. So often it looks like man is in control, but ultimately God is, and he's working out his perfect plan and his perfect purposes. We'll look this morning at people who see Jesus, providentially passable for them. One man will see the power of God and his life and his family's life will be changed forever. It's amazing how you'll see time and time again when God grabs a hold of someone in a family. That whole family is transformed. And then the other is quite sad. We'll look at a group that passes by Jesus and without they see nothing but foolishness. First, I want us to look at Simon from Sireen. If you are a believer this morning, his story is your story. He is described in our passage as a passer buyer. I don't know if that's a word, but we're going to use it this morning. He is a passer buyer. What that means is when Simon woke up that day, he did not think I want to meet Jesus. He didn't wake up thinking I'm going to meet Jesus today, and that's how it happens when he gives us faith, when he gives us new life. It wasn't because we were looking for it. There's a quote that CS Lewis says describing his conversion, and I think it's true of all of us. I was looking for God the way a mouse looks for a cat. It's not one of us that seeks him, but he seeks after us. Here Simon is just a passer buyer. He was just there, probably to celebrate Passover. Scripture tells us that he was from Sireen, which is located in Africa, which is today our modern day Libya. So he's probably a man of color. He didn't pick. He didn't choose his color, but I'm assuming that's what made him stand out. I'm assuming that's what made him stand out in the crowd when they called him to come carry the cross. You see Simon this morning is a perfect case of being at the right place at the right time. How? By the providence of God. I couldn't help but think as we look at this passage together. How many pass by us? How many people do our lives intersect with by the providence of God? Think about it. Think about how many times you have to get gas. Think about how many times you have to go to the hospital. Think about how many times you have to go to the grocery store. Think about when you have a sore tooth. Think about when you have to make a tax appointment. All of these things in our minds are distractions. Our things that we just have to do. What if we began to see them as the providence of God, as the hand of God, as appointments to show the glory of God, as appointments to show people Jesus. Our scriptures tell us that Simon was compelled. Do you see that? This word means that they forced him, that he was pressed into public service. The soldiers didn't ask for a volunteer to carry Jesus's cross because no one and get this no one would have volunteered. No, he was forced. His life was at stake. He had to obey. He was providentially there at that moment and at that time. He was providentially forced by the soldiers to carry the cross. But again, it was the hand of God. Now this could be very controversial. And I preface it before I say it. But I read a really good article that encouraged me about this this week. So here's the question. Should we force our children to go to church? Don't answer it. Don't answer it. Should we force our children to go to church? We've all heard the arguments. If we force them, when they get older, they won't want to go anymore. And I'm stealing some of us from the article. Listen to these questions. How many children don't eat when they get older because their parents forced them to eat when they were younger? How many kids have given the choice wouldn't go to school? What if we never forced our children not to play in the road because we don't want to restrict their imagination and we want to give them freedom to make choices? You see the point this morning is you never know how the providential hand of God will work in people's lives. You never know when he will grant faith. I want to share something that may shock some of you and I apologize ahead of time. I got an email from a student an older an older student who is now praise God walking very close to the Lord. The student was thanking me for being faithful to give the word. And this is what the student said. All those times I was half drunk in Sunday school class. I was listening to get that all those times that my parents forced me to be there even though I didn't want to be there. The word was there and it was being planted. It was being watered. See the student was where they needed to be. I love the way the article put it. The kid who complains about going to church grows up taking his own kids to church. Do you see that? I wonder this morning if I haven't gotten my trouble yet. Maybe with this question I will. How many of you want to be here this morning? I mean really want to be here this morning. How many of you wrestled with just sleeping in? How many of you wrestled with? It's going to be beautiful out. You may not want to be here. I hope you do. But you're here in place that you're supposed to be. This is where the word is and it will strengthen you and encourage you and grow you and mature you. Simon though initially forced I guarantee you he wasn't happy to be carrying that cross. You understand that this put a target on his back. This was not yeah I get to carry the crosses. No he did not want to be there but exactly where he needed to be. He was forced to be there and it turned out to be the greatest blessing for him and his family because what else we know about him is this. I remember who Mark is writing to. He's writing from Rome. And he does notice how he just mentions. Okay you've got Simon. You know the father of Alexander and Rufus. There is no reason for him to mention them if the people he's writing to don't know him. You see that. He's not just mentioning names just to mention names. He's mentioning names because that's people who they would know. It'd be like us just throwing out names that you guys know. Like oh okay helping them to make the connections. Well here's the connection. Listen to Paul feels in the details for us. Writing to the Romans because at this point when Paul's writing the book of Romans. Simon at this. He's older and more mature. Okay but his two sons are at that prime age and they're active in the church. Listen to what it says. Greet Rufus. Chosen in the Lord and also his mother who's been a mother to me as well. You see what I'm saying and I'm not reading in to the scriptures here. Something happened to Simon that day when he was forced when he was compelled to carry the cross of Jesus. Something happened that transformed him, that transformed his family. That made up. His mother was like was like a mother to me to Paul. Greet Rufus. These boys are strong in the face. How? Because God grabbed a hold of Simon and transformed that family. What does Simon see? What changed Simon? Turn with me if you will to Mark chapter six. I think this helps fill in some details for us. I think this gives us a better understanding of what did Simon see? What changed Simon's life? Mark chapter six. Beginning in verse 45 and think about those questions at the beginning. Think about God being in control of everything. Think about the providence of God. It says immediately he made. He forced his disciples. Jesus is saying this is what you're doing. Go do it. He forces his disciples to get into the boat and go before him to the other side of Bethesda. While he dismissed the crowd after that. So he's talking. He dismisses the crowd. He makes the, makes the disciples get in the boat. Do you see the providence of God here? After he'd taken leave of them, he went to the mountain to pray and one evening came the boat was out in the sea and he was alone on the land and he saw that they were making headway painfully. They're not doing anything. They're not getting anywhere. Jesus is seeing this. He's watching this but the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night, he came by them walking on the sea. This is where I want to get to. He meant to pass by them. Do you hear that? He meant to pass by them. Now when we read that, we think, what? Jesus is kind of sneaking by on. He doesn't want him to see him. It's not what this passage is saying at all. This passage is saying that he desires to pass in front of them. That he desires for them to see him. Put your finger. No, let me go there. Don't you go there? Because this is what he's saying. This is going to help us to understand what Jesus is doing here. Listen to this. Same words. Moses, please show me your glory. I will. I'll make all my goodness pass before you. I'll have my glory. I'll have my goodness pass before you. So when Jesus says I desire to pass by them, it wasn't going to sneak by so they don't see me. It was I want them to see my glory. I want them to see my goodness. I want them to see that I am divine. I am walking on water. Only God can do that. Do you see how beautiful? When God passes by, God's passing by, Simon here. God's glory is passing by. That's what Simon seen. That's what the disciples even didn't get. That's what he wants us to see now when we look at the cross. You see, Simon is walking with Jesus. He's listening to Jesus's words from the cross and something is revealed to him. Glory of God. The goodness of God. Only God himself can treat people like that with the way that he's been treated. Only God himself could pray for people on that cross. Only God himself could assure that other thief that you'll be in paradise with me. Do you see what happened? He sees the goodness of God is revealed to him. See when your eyes are open to his glory, when God gives you the gift of faith to see, to really see the unmistakable glory of God, you tell people. Think about this insurion. Scripture says he saw the glory of God. What's he say? Truly this man was the son of God. His eyes were open. The glory of God passed by. And he got it when you look at the cross this morning. What do you see? Only eyes of faith see his glory. Only eyes of faith see the goodness of God. So often when the hand of God is disguised by bad circumstances or hard circumstances, we need eyes of faith to see his goodness. This week, as most of you know, my wife's cousin, age 23, got in a motorcycle accident. How did you deal with that? It's a goodness in that. How do you wrestle with that? Let me share it with you one verse. I love how God does this. This was in my daily reading. This was this game this morning. The works of his hands. His providential works of his hands are faithful and just all his precepts are trustworthy. There's comfort. Does it have to make sense? It doesn't. It's not always going to make sense. There's going to be things that happen in your life that don't make sense. It caused doubt. It caused fear. It caused questions. Then you fall to the scriptures and it says the works of his hands are faithful and just as providence. That doesn't surprise him. That didn't surprise him. Whatever you're going through right now. That doesn't surprise him. It's saying my hand is working. I don't know. Maybe this side of heaven, I'll never know the answer. But I know there's a bunch of young kids that eyes are like this now that are asking questions of eternal value that are looking at their own lives to see where they're at to see where they stand. I wish I had the answer this morning that would make the pain go away and make the hurt go away when something happens that we don't understand but we run back to the scriptures. Say he can be can can be what is so interesting. The passage that I read from Exodus right after the passage is when Moses comes down from the mountain and he's glowing. He's glowing. Why? Because the glory of God passed in front of him. Do you see that? People are going to come in and out of our lives purposely. Are they going to see the glory of God? Are they going to see his presence at work in our lives? Unfortunately and I hate to read this but we need to and I will do it quickly. I promise there are those at the cross who miss the glory of God. We go back to our passage and it says this in verse 29 and those who pass by derided him wagging their heads and saying you see they're passing by too. They're live intersects here too. They didn't come to meet Jesus. They can't get the hurt all this noise. They wanted to see what's going on. Let's see what scripture says, wagging their heads saying you who would just the poke fun that Jesus their eyes haven't been open. They don't get it. They look at the cross and they just see a mistake. They don't see the glory of God. They don't see the goodness of God. They see can't even can't even save yourself. What kind of what kind of savior are you? They didn't get it. I know I've asked a lot of questions this morning but here's one more. Why are you here this morning? Why did God providentially put you in that view? Maybe you need faith. Maybe you need to see the glory of God. Maybe God has been passing by you. Maybe he's been putting people in your path and you've just ignored it. You've just shaken your heads. It wouldn't be going on. This wouldn't be happening in my life if God was real. I wouldn't feel like this if God was real. Maybe you just need to submit to him. Maybe you just need to cry out and say I need you. Don't miss it this morning. Don't let him pass by and not be changed. Maybe you're here this morning because you need reminded to look again to the cross and see his glory. Because what happens when we look to him our faces should shine. Do you see why though? It's not so that we can walk around with these shiny faces. Right? It's not just so we can walk away and around with shiny right faces. It's so we could tell people about Jesus because you don't know who God will providentially have passed before you this week. Think about providentially the family that God has put you in. Providentially the neighborhood that God has put you in. Providentially that trip to the grocery store to get your car fixed. The list goes on and on. Do you see if we look to the cross, if we look to the scriptures, if we spend time with him, it will have an effect on us. And then we have something to share. We have something to give. We have something to review. I'm afraid all too often we miss it. I don't want us to miss it. Because if we miss it, those people that God have put in our path are missing it. Father God, thank you that we can cling to you, that we can trust in your providence, that we can trust in your hand, that we can trust in your goodness. Father, help us not to miss it. Help us not to get lazy in our walk with you. Help us not to forget about you until you bring something into our life that wakes us up. Help us to get serious about our time with you, to spend that time with you, to desire, to long, to have that time with you, to put your glory before us. To see how amazing your scriptures are, allow them to transform us and change us, and grow us, and mold us and shape us so that we would shine. And then people would ask why we shine. Father, bless this congregation with your presence. Help them to see your hand and all those that you've put into their path. Father, I thank you. I thank you so much for your faithfulness. That is so evident in everyone being here this morning. That is so evident in the way that you have grabbed the hold of grandparents and great grandparents and started generations upon generations to give faith, to be passed down and to be passed down. Thank you for those that are starting that anew that may not have that godly heritage, but you grabbed a hold of them so that they can start that. May you bless their training of their children, their grandchildren, and their great grandchildren. Father, we love you so much. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.