Four Men Who Got Close to the Cross and Were Changed Forever
Chuck Sligh
March 23, 1997
(I believe the source of the skeleton of this outline came from one of the Preach for a Year sermon outline books but am not certain. If anyone knows the source so I can properly attribute, please contact me at chucksligh@hotmail.com. The “meat on the skeleton” is original to me and should not be held against the author of the outline. :-)
TEXT: First passage: Mark 15
INTRODUCTION
History records many incredible conversion experiences of Christians. I have known personally of many unusual and unique testimonies of conversion.
Illus. One of the most remarkable conversion experiences I ever heard was that of a Korean evangelist named Kim Lee Dad knew in on his tour in Vietnam. His parents were executed by the North Koreans when he was six years old. With no relatives in North Korea, he and his 9-year-old sister headed to Seoul, South Korea. On the trek to Seoul, he got separated from his sister, whom he never saw again. Almost starving, he came upon a pile of food trash, mostly potato peels. Having not eaten for days, he ate to his heart’s content, and fell asleep on the pile of potato peels.
He was awakened by an American GI who took pity on him and took him into the their camp where they adopted him to do chores for them for food. This saved his life, but had a down side. He picked up all the bad traits of the GIs, learning to curse like the best of them.
After the war, he went to school, and learned to read, but dropped out of high school and fell into a bad crowd, eventually becoming a professional criminal. His career in crime was cut short when he murdered a bank teller in a bank robbery and was apprehended before getting out of the bank. He was sentenced to life in prison.
While he was in prison, he discovered that the chaplain gave out free New Testaments, coveted because their thin pages just happened to be perfect for rolling cigarettes. He would have to listen to the chaplains Gospel pitch, which he became more and more interested in, but he just couldn’t understand it, mostly because he just wanted the New Testaments for rolling cigarettes.
One night in prison he was caught rolling a cigarette after allowed hours by a prison guard. “No, no,” said Kim, “I was reading my Bible.”
“You’re lying, Kim. You can’t even read,” said the guard, threatening to turn him in.
“Yes I can,” said Kim.
“Prove it,” replied the guard. “Read it to me.”
So he picked up the a New Testament and opened to a random page and just happened to read at John 3:16 and read, “For God so loved the world he have his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
So the guard left him alone. But then everything the chaplain had been saying to Kim suddenly made sense to him. He instantly believed in the message of John 2:16 and was gloriously converted.
He was discipled by his chaplain and became a flaming evangelist for the Gospel. He was so zealous that he was sent for a psychiatric evaluation. The prison psychiatrist concluded that he had gone crazy, but was no longer a danger to society and recommended he be released from prison.
That’s a pretty remarkable conversion story isn’t it?
After his release from prison, he won many people to Christ, and ended up in Vietnam ministering to Korean soldiers in Vietnam.
Illus. – My own parents have a wonderful testimony. (GIVE THEIR TESTIMONY)
But perhaps some of the most remarkable conversion experiences occurred in and around the time of the crucifixion of Jesus. Let’s look at four that are recorded for us in the annals of Scripture:
I. SIMON THE CYRENIAN (Cyrene in Egypt) – Mark 15:20-21 – “And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him. 21 And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.”
Simon was an innocent bystander. He was reached at random by the soldiers and compelled to go to the cross. Nothing more is recorded about Simon the Cyrenian in Scripture, but curiously, the passage makes mention of his sons. This would have been unusual unless the readers of this passage knew who Alexander and Rufus were.
His two sons are mentioned in verse 21 – Alexander and Rufus
Compare Acts 19:33 – “And they drew ALEXANDER out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander beckoned with the hand, and would have made his defense unto the people.”
Compare also Romans 16:13 – “Salute RUFUS chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.”
APPLICATION: There may be someone here who really didn’t want to come to church today, but someone compelled you to come. Many have come to Christ by unusual circumstances or the compelling of others. Why don’t you get “close to the cross” today?
II. THE ROMAN CENTURION – Luke 23:44-47 – “And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. 45 And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. 46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. 47 Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man.”
Compare also Mark 15:39 – “And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.”
He was just a man on the job—just fulfilling his rightful tasks for his employer—the Roman government. But through it, he “got close to the cross” and it changed his life forever. You may have come to Christ on the job—or anywhere. You don’t have to come to Christ in a church.
III. THE THIEF ON THE CROSS – Luke 23:39-43 – “And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. 40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. 42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. 43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”
He came to Christ through an undesirable problem, crisis, trial or difficulty.
BOTH thieves heard and saw the same things. BOTH thieves began to mock Christ – Mark 15:32 says that “…they that were crucified with him reviled him.”
But somewhere between 9:00 AM, when they first crucified them and the final death of the thieves, one of them changed his mind about Christ. When HE got “close to the cross” of Christ, it changed his life for eternity!
We note four things he did in this passage:
1. He recognized that they were getting what they justly deserved – Luke 23:41a – “And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds…” (EXPAND)
2. He recognized Jesus’ holiness – Luke 23:41b – “…this man hath done nothing amiss.” (EXPAND)
3. He recognized Jesus as “Lord” in verse 42. (EXPAND)
4. He exercised faith – Luke 23:42 – “And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” (EXPAND)
IV. JOSEPH OF ARIMATHAEA – John 19:38-40 – “And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. 39 And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. 40 Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.”
Joseph unashamedly took the body of Jesus and laid it in HIS own tomb. By burying the body of Jesus, Joseph put his life in jeopardy. He could have left the body of Jesus to rot and to be eaten by the vultures, as was the custom of the day of crucifixion victims.
Tradition has it that Philip the Evangelist, in 61 AD, sent Joseph of Arimathaea to preach the Gospel in England. The tradition also says that Joseph took with him the cup that Jesus used at the Last Supper and that this was the grail around which King Arthur gathered his court. I don’t know about all that, but these are intriguing things, aren’t they? But verse 38 tells us that Joseph had been at first only a “secret disciple” of the Lord Jesus. However, once he “got close to the cross,” he openly took his stand for Christ. (EXPAND)
APPLICATION
1. To the lost
These were four men who got “close to the cross,” and their lives were forever altered. Have you gotten “close to the cross?” If not, why don’t you come to the cross—come to Jesus and be saved.
2. To the saved
After having been saved by coming close to the cross, have you moved away? Is there some sin that has altered your relationship with Jesus Christ? Why don’t you just confess and forsake it today—right now?
Or how about this: Are you a secret or open disciple? If we were under persecution right now and you were called before the magistrates to answer the accusation of being a Christian and they called in as witnesses your neighbors and your family and your co-workers, would there BE ENOUGH EVIDENCE TO CONVICT YOU? Why not become an open disciple of the Lord? (EXPAND)
