Mixed Group at Golgotha (Luke 23:49a)

Introduction and Prayer: The Cross as a Divider and Revealer

0:02 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, May 27, 1990, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Mountainville, New Jersey.

0:15 Now will you follow with me, please, in your own Bibles as I read again this morning as I did last Lord's Day morning, first of all from Mark's Gospel and then from the Gospel according to Luke, Mark chapter 15. In our consecutive expositions of the Gospel of Mark, we find ourselves in Mark 15, and I shall read in your hearing verses 37 through 41.

0:51 And Jesus uttered a loud voice and expired. The veil of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom. And when the centurion who stood by over against him saw that he so expired, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God. And there were also women beholding from afar, among whom were both Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James the last and of Joses and Salome, who, when he was in Galilee, followed him and ministered unto him.

1:34 And many other women that came up with him unto Jerusalem. And now Luke chapter 23, verses 47 to 49. Luke 23, beginning in verse 47. And when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man.

2:04 And all the multitudes that came together to this sight, when they beheld the things that were done, returned, smiting their breasts. And all his acquaintance and the women that followed with him from Galilee stood afar off, seeing or beholding these things. Now let us pray that the things we have confessed in the hymn. we have just sung, may be true of every one of us, that as again we draw near to the cross of Christ, and the only way we will ever see it, even in heaven, even in heaven, the only way we'll ever see the cross of Christ, is as that cross is set before us in the scriptures. And let us pray that beholding it, our pride will become ugly. Our sins become heinous. And that we shall feel indeed that we can do nothing other than give all that we are to the one who so died for sinners.

3:20 Let us pray to that end.

3:25 Our Father, we confess that it is relatively easy to mouth the words of a familiar hymn joined to a melodic line. But oh Lord, how hard it is. To bring our rock-like hearts to be moved before the sight of Christ crucified. Oh Lord, it is not native to us to abominate our pride and poor contempt upon every last bit of it, as we behold the immolated, forsaken, battered, bruised, mocked, rejected Jesus of Nazareth.

4:09 That we believe but rather worse. The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is the great divider of mankind, as it is also the great revealer of council. All of us now and inthe coming East and in psycho thankfulness. of all men. Speaking to this very fact, the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1, verses 17 and 18, these very pointed words, For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in the wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made void. For the message of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us who are saved it is the power of God.

5:29 These words, These words underscore the dividing power of the message of the cross. They tell us that whenever and wherever the doctrine of Christ crucified as the divinely appointed sin bearer and savior of mankind be declared, it's divided, operative, and manifested. The Apostle said the word, the message, the doctrine of Christ is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us who are saved it is the power of God. For the message of the cross proclaimed is to some foolishness, and when it becomes foolishness to them, they manifest it by an utter indifference to the doctrine of Christ crucified and to the Christ who was crucified. To others, Paul says, it is the power of God unto salvation. And when it becomes that to them, to them in their hearts, they manifest it in a life that regards the truth of Christ crucified and the Christ who was crucified as the heart's most precious possession.

The Three Groups at Golgotha and the Focus on Devout Lingerers

6:51 Now in our studies of the gospel of Mark with sidelights, particularly from Matthew and from Luke, this truth of the cross of Christ as the great divider of mankind, has been, has been evident, particularly as we have been examining the recorded responses of three distinct groups who witness the brutal, the bloody, the shocking events surrounding Golgotha. First, we considered the Roman centurion, and according to Matthew, some of his companions. As the centurion and his companions, witnessed and surveyed the cross of Christ, it drew forth from that centurion the exclamation, truly this was a righteous man, truly this was God's Son. By the operation of the Holy Spirit upon the mind and heart of this pagan Roman soldier, the doctrine of Christ crucified became, his very salvation. Then last Lord's Day, we examined the second group, that group described in Luke 23, 48, as a mixed multitude of curious onlookers.

8:22 The text says they came to behold this spectacle. And the very ones who came out of Jerusalem with the same spirit that produces the kind of gawking and cursing, curiosity-seeking, whenever there is a crowd gathered around a glory scene, those very people, Luke tells us, went back in groups over a period of time, returning to Jerusalem, smiting their breasts. They left shaken, disturbed, gripped with fear, concern, and self-loathing at the sight of the things that were done. As one comments, as one commentator has quaintly expressed it, they came to the cross for a show. What they saw at the cross left them with woe. And now this morning we focus our attention upon the third and final group of the immediate witnesses of the scenes of Golgotha, and the record of their response to what they saw. And I have chosen to describe this third group as the combined group of devout lingerers at Golgotha.

9:44 The combined group of devout lingerers at Golgotha. And I use the terms, the combined group, because Luke indicates that there were not only devout women who were there, but also those described as all his acquaintances. And so we will focus upon this combined group of devout lingerers, and I could find no better word, using my Rodale synonym finder and my new collegiate dictionary, for a loiterer has no purpose while he fills space in a given place, but one who lingers, lingers with purpose. And I know of no other way to describe this group than that of devout lingerers at Golgotha. And as we contemplate this moving account of this combined group of devout lingerers, we shall do so under the three following headings. First of all, the identity of the devout lingerers.

Identity of the Devout Lingerers: Unnamed Male Acquaintances

11:02 Secondly, the activity of the devout lingerers. And thirdly, the relevancy of the devout lingerers. First of all then, the identity of the devout lingerers. As I've already indicated by comparing and combining the witness of Luke 23, 47 and Mark 15, 40 through 41, we discover two distinct groups.

11:32 Two distinct groups of devout lingerers. Group number one is described in Luke 23 and verse 49a. And all his acquaintance, and then you see Luke goes on in summary fashion to describe the second group and the women that followed him from Galilee. But let us concentrate our attention first of all on the identity of group number one.

12:08 The unnamed intimate male acquaintances of Jesus. Well, you say, Pastor Martin, how in the world do you get unnamed intimate male acquaintances of Jesus from the words and all his acquaintance? Well, if you listen, I'll answer your very legitimate question. These words perhaps could better be rendered and all those known to him or possibly even all those known by him stood afar off seeing or beholding these things. So they were his special acquaintances for they are described as those who were known to him or known by him. The ten disciples had fled. One of them, the eleventh, John, had lingered for a while by the cross, according to John 19, long enough to have our Lord commend his own earthly mother to the care of John.

13:29 And so Luke must use terminology to distinguish those who were devout followers of the Lord Jesus, those who were known to him and by him and yet to distinguish them from that special group of the inner circle of disciples. And so he uses this terminology and any of the words used to describe him that could appear in the masculine, feminine, or neuter form, he, she, or it, masculine, feminine, neuter, three of those words with mathematical consistency and precision occur in the masculine form. So that we are led to understand from the original text that what Luke is describing is all of his special male friends. And then you see it makes sense and the women that followed him. So that not only from the language of the text itself, but from the context, these acquaintances are set off as a separate group from the women who followed him.

14:51 Well, in terms of their relationship to him, they were indeed his intimate acquaintances. They were his friends known to him and known by him. And so Luke in this way is designating the first group within this larger group at Golgotha as these intimate male friends of our Lord Jesus Christ. Since they are described as those who knew him, it is right to regard them as people, as men who had some attachment of heart and affection and faith in the Lord Jesus. But when we ask more specifically, can we with certainty identify any of them as to their names? The answer is no. We can only speculate and it may well be that Saint Joseph of Arimathea is introduced very suddenly in verse 50.

16:03 No sooner does the Lord Jesus Christ die and the mighty miracles of God are accomplished as we have previously seen, but we read, and behold a man named Joseph who was a counselor, a good and righteous man, this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. So Luke's rather indefinite statement, all of his male associates, intimate companions, may have been included including Joseph of Arimathea. He may have been including, according to John 19.39, Nicodemus, the same who came to him by night, for in this very setting Nicodemus also comes forward. But beyond those rather tentative speculations, we can only identify this first segment of this larger group as these unnamed male acquaintances of Jesus, men who were known to him and by him in a special way. Then the second part of this larger group is what I'm describing as the partially named large group of devout women from Galilee. The partially named large group

Identity of the Devout Lingerers: Partially Named Devout Women from Galilee

17:30 of devout women from Galilee. Combining the witness of Luke and of Mark, we see there is a general description of this group in the Gospel according to Luke. They are called the women that followed with him from Galilee. But when we turn to the Gospel of Mark in chapter 15, there is something more than a general description given to us by Luke.

18:03 There is even additional general information, and then the specific designation of three of them. Luke says women from Galilee. Mark tells us in verse 40, Mark 15 and verse 40, and there were also women beholding from afar. Now regard the next part of the verse to the end of verse 40 as a parenthesis and read right on to verse 41.

18:34 There were also women beholding from afar who when he was in Galilee followed him and ministered unto him and many other women that came up with him unto Jerusalem. What is said about this group of devout women in a general descriptive manner? Well, we are told that they are women who followed him. And that form of the verb is used to describe past action that was in a state of continuance.

19:14 Women who were attached to following the Lord Jesus. Furthermore, we are told that they are women who ministered unto him. Now that doesn't mean they sat him down and led him in devotions. When we say so and so ministered to someone, we may use the term in terms of a verbal proclamation of the word, but it's our common word for deacon and deaconing.

19:41 They fulfilled the role of practical service to our Lord Jesus and his companions. For the inspired account of exactly what they did, turn to the eighth chapter of the Gospel according to Luke. Describing this period of our Lord's Galilean ministry, Luke 8 and verse 1. And it came to pass soon afterward that he went about through cities and villages preaching the good tidings of the kingdom of God and with him the twelve.

20:19 And certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary, Mary that was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Cusas, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, who ministered unto them of their substance. So here's the inspired commentary upon the language of Mark in this general description of this partially named large group of Galilean women. We are told by Mark that they followed him, we are told secondly that they were continually attached to ministering unto him, and Luke tells us precisely what that ministry was. It was caring for the temporal needs of our Lord Jesus and his twelve apostles. And then we are told by Mark that in addition to that distinct group of women, there were many other women that came up with him unto Jerusalem. Remember, no matter what point of the compass you were at, you always went up to Jerusalem.

21:40 Because of its elevation topographically, even though Galilee was up north, and you would go down south to Jerusalem, you always went up to Jerusalem. And that common terminology is incorporated into the text of Holy Scripture, so apparently Mark is informing us that in that final journey, which took our Lord from the upper regions of Palestine in the Galilean area, and down to Jerusalem for his final visit to that city, that in addition to these women who had this holy addiction to following him throughout all of his Galilean ministry, accompanying him and his apostles, ministering to their temporal needs, another group called many other women followed his train in that last journey that he made to Jerusalem, the journey that would ultimately issue in his rejection at the hands of the Sanhedrin, his being handed over to the Roman authorities, his being scourged, his being put to death upon a cross. So there is the general description of what we are led to believe was a considerable number of women,

23:08 this partially named group of devout women from Galilee. But then there is a specific designation of three of them. Verse 40 of Mark 15. Among whom were both Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James the less.

23:31 We'd say James, the little one. His nickname was probably Shorty. That's probably an accurate rendering of his nickname. So that's how that James was distinguished from other James.

23:46 They called this one Shorty Jim. And then also there was Salome. Now who were these three women? Well let me just very quickly read a few lines from a commentary which is very accurately described.

24:04 It's still the answer to that question. Mark mentioned certain Galileean women who had accompanied Jesus and assisted him in a material way. Their active service of love was a mark of devotion to him. The related passage, Luke 8, 1 to 3, states that these women had experienced healing from Jesus and specifies that Mary Magdalene had been released from severe demonic possession.

24:32 She is distinguished from other women named Mary by the surname Magdalene, which designates her birthplace Magdala, a fishing village on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Up in that Galileean region, the Sea of Galilee on the western shore, was a place called Magdala. You can see it if you have a Bible map. Don't look at it now.

24:57 You will see the town of Magdala if it represents the towns existent in our Lord's day. Little is known concerning Mary, the mother of James and Joses, but her sons appear to have been well known in the early church. According to Matthew 27, 56, Salome was the wife of Zebedee and the mother of the disciples James and John. And so these three women are specifically designated Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Shorty James and Joses, and Salome.

Activity of the Devout Lingerers: Standing Afar Off and Beholding

25:37 So that's the identity of the second group, much more detailed than the identity of those devout male companions. But as best I've been able to scour the Scriptures, that's all we can say about the identity of this group as it is set before us in the Scriptures. But now secondly, what does the Holy Spirit tell us? About the activity of these devout lingerers?

26:07 Well, only two things are highlighted in the text of Scripture. Two things. Luke 23, 49 tells us that they stood afar off. They stood afar from these things.

26:33 And then in our text in Mark, we read that there was women beholding from afar. These things are said with reference to their activity as they were gathered about the cross, subsequent to the death of our Lord Jesus, subsequent to the miracles of the earthquake, the sheared rocks, and the open tombs, subsequent to the confession of the centurion, subsequent or at least commensurate with the groups beginning to make their way back to Jerusalem, wailing and beating upon their breasts. It is said of this group of devout lingerers at Golgotha that they stood afar off and they beheld the things which transpired. Now, why did they stand afar off? According to John 19, 25, Mary the mother of Jesus and two others were near the cross of Christ at one point in his horrible ordeal. But apparently what transpired is this.

27:54 After our Lord's mother and two other women and the disciple John had been near to our Lord when he had first been put upon the cross and had been hung up between earth and heaven, the soldiers were guarding him as well as the other criminals crucified with him, that subsequent to that initial nearness seen in John 19, when they backed off and became part of a larger group, there would be no way that they would be permitted to come close to the cross for the soldiers were put there for the express purpose of protecting those men to be certain that they were really dead before anyone came and took them down from their crosses. So if one can relive the scene from that closer proximity, the women retreat into the larger crowd that when all the curiosity seekers have made their way back to Jerusalem, this group of male acquaintances known to him, it says, all his acquaintances, those that were known to him, no doubt in my own mind, those who were found among the hundred and twenty in the upper room on the day of Pentecost,

29:22 now with this considerable number of women from Galilee, they stand afar off. And then we read that they beheld the things that were done. They were beholden from afar. And the word used to describe this activity means to look with interest, with care, and with consideration to details.

29:52 It's the same word found in Mark 15, 47. And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid. In other words, when our Lord was placed in Joseph's tomb, they did not just merely give a passing glance at the tomb, they noted carefully, they looked with attention and consideration to the place where our Lord had been buried. And this is not an artificial distinction.

30:26 Sometimes preachers of the word in their desire to be true to every word which is God breathed stretch the differences between synonyms, but there's a present danger in our day and it's the danger of overreaction as though the distinctive words used in given settings have really no significance. Well, let me illustrate how foolish this is. If I say of a certain man he went out on a beautifully clear night and he stared up into the sky, is that any different from saying he scrutinized the stars? A man who's simply staring into the sky can have a blank look and have his mind on going fishing tomorrow. It's just telling you that he's looking in a given direction. He's staring up into the sky. But when you say that a man was scrutinizing the stars, you know that he was fixing the attention of his eye upon the particular constellations and nova and the rest and he was intelligently, cognitively responding to what his eyes were beholding.

31:39 Furthermore, if I were to say he glanced at the sky, that just means he took a quick look. So you see, those synonyms do have significance that reveal much about the person's interest in the stars if we're describing how a man looked up into the heavens on a clear night in which the stars were bright in their appearance. Well, Mark, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, describes what these women did and Luke uses a word that's the closest synonym to the word used by Mark to describe what these devout male acquaintances did and Luke and Mark is careful to use a present participle. They were beholding with scrutiny. They were careful the things which transpired. Notice the language in Luke's account of this same incident.

32:40 They stood afar off seeing these things. Now, what did this mean for the devout male unnamed acquaintances? What did it mean for the devout women from Galilee? Well, it probably meant for these devout men they could not stand to look upon the sight that passed before their eyes upon the object of their love and affection, the shame, the indignity, the suffering and the abuse. They could not get near as the mere curiosity seekers who somehow have a perverted taste for blood and gore and brutality even as in our own day. Nor could they turn their backs upon the one whom they loved and leave the scene entirely. So while their sense of modesty perhaps mingled with indignity keeps them off at a distance, their love and their attachment, their devotion keeps them at a distance

34:03 beholding everything that transpires with respect to their Lord. And for the devout women from Galilee as the weaker, as the weaker vessels, more tender, more sensitive to indignities, perhaps they stood afar off out of respect for their own femininity and could it be out of a sense of not wanting to intensify the shame of our Lord who hung naked upon that cross. Be that as it may, we read that they stood afar off beholding these things. O let your faculties of reflection, of sanctified imagination be awakened by the word of God. What must it have meant to these devout men and these devout women on the one hand to be repulsed by the cruelty, by the horrible indignities heaped upon our Lord. The shame, the agony, the gruesomeness of it all.

35:21 And yet to be so drawn to him whom they had come to know and to love, whom these women had served with joy to themselves and self-denial and sacrifice. And in the midst of it they are confused for they do not yet know the meaning of the cross. There is an internal action of all their messianic hope. They were convinced he was the Son of God.

35:50 And God's Messiah. And they relinquish that conviction even though the present appearance all points to the contrary. And so while they are driven back to stand afar because of the shame, the indignity, the confusion which the wholesome brings. Yet they stand afar off beholding with care and with undivided attention everything that transpires because he is still the object of their love and of their devotion.

Relevancy: True Followers are Often Unknown Until Crisis

36:27 Well we've considered the identity of the devout lingerers. Secondly, the activity of the devout lingerers. Now thirdly, consider with me the relevancy of the devout lingerers. Why did the Holy Ghost record this?

36:45 And I confess I've wrestled with this for weeks. Not as intensely as I have in my final preparation, but that question has haunted me. Of all the things that could have been described, of all the things that happened, why should God conclude the scene of the cross with a description of this unnamed group of male Lord Jesus and this par-described group of devout women who came down from Galilee among whom were these three women whose names are set before us? Well may I suggest first of all that they teach us, that is this group of devout men and women, they teach us some vital lessons concerning the identity of true followers of Jesus. They teach us something about the identity of the true followers of Jesus. There are two things under this heading that I want to underscore. They teach us first of all that the true followers of Jesus are often unknown until a crisis of loyalty

38:13 is sovereignly precipitated. The true followers of Jesus are often unknown until a crisis of loyalty is precipitated. Who were these devout male acquaintances? When were they listed in any of the previous Gospel history?

38:45 They were probably lost in the mixed multitudes that followed Jesus throughout His popular ministry up in Galilee. They may have been part of the mixed multitudes that came out to greet Him from Jerusalem at that very Passover feast and joined the groups following our Lord coming down from Galilee as He enters Jerusalem. But there was nothing to mark them out so as to describe them in Luke's words. And all known to Him they were simply indistinct, nondescript men blended into the millings which represented the broadest spectrum of varying relationships to the Lord Jesus. But then God sovereignly precipitates the crisis of the cross and surely when the mob is stirred up by the Sanhedrin to cry out in response to the cry Who shall I release unto you Jesus or Barabbas? When they cry out Barabbas! One thing is sure their voice did not add to the decibels.

40:07 When God sovereignly precipitates the crisis in which out of the vast mixed multitude a cry comes forth for the blood of God. These who have been devoted to Him are marked out by their silence. And when the crowds join in the taunting and the jeers and when the crowd makes its way out through the city gates to go to Golgotha to simply see a spectacle these are not following with this sick and perverted preoccupation with gore and with blood but with the growing realization that their attachment to Him was deeper than they realized. For now when they see His life in jeopardy they find rising up within them a sense of loyalty and attachment that must vent itself and find an expression. And then the hour of truth comes when the bloodthirsty mob that simply wants to see a show has all dispersed and the only ones left are the groups of soldiers guarding the crosses. Here are these devout men standing with these devout women

41:35 beholding the things that transpire. And what's happened? The sovereignly precipitated crisis in conjunction with the cross has marked them out as devoted followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I say that contains a very relevant principle.

42:03 The principle that the true followers of Jesus are often unknown and unseen until a crisis of loyalty is sovereignly precipitated and then the true state of the heart is revealed. You say, how does that work out, Pastor? Well, let me give you two or three illustrations. Here's the young person reared in a Christian home.

42:28 Never known a time when he hadn't heard about Jesus Christ. Can never remember a time when he didn't know that Christ died for sinners. Cannot remember a time when he or she did not consciously believe everything the Bible teaches about Christ. But that young person is even in doubt as to where his or her true devotion and loyalty is.

42:50 And others around him just say, well, he's a kind of upright religious kid or she's a kind of straight gal and she doesn't do what the other gals do. But that there is any known to Christ, known by Christ, any real attachment to the person of Christ in spirit-wrought discipleship. There's a question as to whether or not that young man or young woman is a true follower of Christ. But you let God sovereignly precipitate a crisis in which Christ is going to be crucified before them.

43:26 And you know what happens? Suddenly they are prepared to be marked out as followers of the Lamb. The suave, smooth, slick, charismatic personality teacher stands up in a biology classroom and starts taunting and mocking the idea of special creation by divine fiat. God sings and it is done.

43:55 God opens and by the word of his mouth fills out billions of stars in unnamed galaxies. And the suave, smooth, clever, charismatic, not speaking religiously now, but in terms of attractive personality is swaying the whole crowd. Jesus who says, in the beginning, God made them. Special, unique is being impelled upon the cross of this smart aleck's mouth against special creation because he's bought into the evolutionary lie. And that young woman suddenly becomes bold as a lion and raises her hand and says, Mr. Jones, you are mocking truths which my Lord Jesus Christ affirmed as true. And in mocking those truths you mock me.

45:00 And she sits down trembling, saying, did that come out of my mouth? What's happened? A sovereignly precipitated crisis has unveiled the true state of that girl's heart. There's a young man.

45:19 He sort of blends in with the crowd. He's come to Trinity Church. Maybe he's gone to Trinity Christian School, or Parsippany Christian, or Brookdale Eastern Christian. Not living a wild life.

45:31 Certain things about him, you say, must be a Christian, but the matter of attachment to Christ is not clear and evident in what happens. A young woman sets her eyes upon him, gets the hots for him. And she does everything, not only to get him to look at her, but to bed down with her. And the day comes when out in the schoolyard, she propositions, says, she propositions him in plain, no-nonsense terms.

45:59 And before he knows what has happened, he's looked her straight in the eye and said to her, Jane, look, you've never heard it plainly from my mouth before, but I am the purchased property of my Lord Jesus Christ, and my body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, and I will not commit fornication with the purchased property of my Lord. I will not be crucified upon the cross of a half an hour in bed with you. And the divinely precipitated crisis of temptation becomes the occasion when the young man declares he's known to Christ and known by Christ. It happens in the office, it happens on the playground, it happens in the corporate structures when God creates the crisis in which the unknown and the unseen, but true devotee of Christ is put to the test. Shall I have my Lord crucified and immolated while He continues? Or shall I be identified with those who linger by Golgotha, bound to behold by cords of love and devotion?

Relevancy: True Followers are Often Devoted Women

47:24 I say this incident teaches us a vital lesson concerning the true followers of Jesus. The first is that the true followers of Jesus are often unknown and unseen until a crisis of loyalty is sovereignly precipitated. But there's a second lesson under this heading and it's this, that the true followers of Jesus are often women who manifest a devotion and loyalty beyond what we would naturally expect. The true followers of Jesus are often women who manifest a devotion and loyalty beyond what we would naturally expect. God has so made women that they are more averse to brutality, cruelty, and even what we might call legitimate controlled violence. My wife never had any trouble with me playing on the floor when my son and my daughters were smaller. And I used to do things where I would pick them up when I'd be lying flat on my back and they'd put their feet in my hands and stiffen their knees and I'd lift them straight up and hold them in the air and let them drop down on my chest, go out in the yard and just throw them up a bit and catch them.

48:50 She had no problem with that. But when my son got big enough to have to start putting bone and muscle against my bone and muscle to wrestle, she couldn't stand it. She'd run out of the room when we got wrestling in the living room. And it's interesting.

49:04 I've talked to many others in this congregation where the mothers have the same reaction when the boy gets big enough to really wrestle with Dad. They don't want to be around. There is an aversion to even that controlled, disciplined, quote, violence. What is there in a man that makes the average man enjoy a good, clean prize fight?

49:24 And I think Paul did. That's why he could use the illustration, I so...

49:29 Ron, I buffet my body. I don't shadow box. I beat it until I am black and blue. I believe Paul enjoyed a good, clean, controlled boxing match.

49:44 And most men do. But I found very few women who do. It's something embedded in the whole psyche of the way God has made a man and a woman. And while God has prepared her to go down into the throne and agony and childbirth and that is the one who turns white when Junior comes in with his knees all skinned.

50:12 It's the daddies that faint in the delivery room, not the mamas. It's the daddies who faint when Johnny's got to get 17 stitches on his knee, not the mamas. You see, when it's a maternal concern to care for their children, they seem to be less averse to blood than the man does. Why?

50:32 God has sued them for their tasks. They are going to be around most of the time when Johnny skins the knee. Daddy ain't. But oh, when it comes to the kinds of things that we've looked upon at Golgotha, the kinds of things I found out in some of my research, apparently there was no attempt in the whole field of so-called produce any for at least 200 years after the death of Christ.

51:03 One of the reasons was the people who lived through Roman executions and saw it, no painter would dare to pick up his palette and his brush and paint something so ugly, so gross, that it would compete with modern nihilistic art for its ugliness. Now how could these women stand and behold that? The contused face of our Lord, the blood mingled with the spittle, the body turned blue in death. Need I go on?

51:41 And yet there they were, the ten hot shots apostles. They had split. They all were these devout women from Galilee who had ministered to Him and an unnamed number of other devout women. And where were they?

52:03 They ministered to Him while alive. They manifested their devotion while He was crucified. And they maintained the expression of their devotion after He is dead by lingering and looking upon that scene. And as it was then, so it is now.

52:26 One of the greatest griefs to me, and I've talked about it with many other preachers. I've tried to analyze it. I've discussed it with others. Why do you have more situations where you have a converted wife with a converted husband than vice versa?

52:42 That's just a fact. Why? Why, moors of the land, in divided households, why more followers of the Lamb among the female sex than among the male? Why, in coming into womanhood and manhood, does one find far more mature convictions by the time they're 18 than one finds men at that age mature and settled in their convictions?

53:19 I don't know. But I wonder if God has not given us this incident. To underscore that there's no new thing under the sun. They teach us a vital lesson concerning the true followers of Jesus.

53:38 That the true followers of Jesus are often women who manifest a devotion and loyalty beyond our natural expectation. Listen to Bishop Ryle. After I had already decided to amplify this point, I said, let me turn to Ryle. Surely if it's valid, he would have caught it.

53:57 Let us notice for one thing in this passage what honorable mention is made of women. We are told that when our Lord expired, there were women looking on afar off. The names of some of them are recorded. We're also told that they were the same who had followed our Lord in Galilee and ministered to Him.

54:18 And that there were many other women which came up with Him to Jerusalem. We would hardly have expected to read such things. We might well have supported that when all the disciples but one had forsaken our Lord and fled, the weaker and more timid sex would not have dared to show themselves the friends of Christ. It only shows us what grace can do.

54:42 God sometimes chooses the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty. The last are sometimes first and the first last. The faith of women sometimes stands upright when the faith of men fails and gives way. But it is interesting, Ryle goes on to say, to remark throughout the New Testament how often we find the grace of God glorified in women and how much benefit God has been pleased to confer through them on the church and on the world.

55:14 In the Old Testament the emphasis falls upon sin and death brought in by the woman's transgression. In the New Testament we see Jesus born of a woman, life and death and immortality brought to light by that miraculous birth. In the Old Testament we have many records of women who proved a hindrance and a snare to men. The women before the flood, the histories of Rebecca, Rachel, Delilah, Bathsheba, Jezebel, are all painful examples.

55:46 But in the New Testament we generally see women mentioned as a help and an assistance to the cause of true religion. Elizabeth, Mary, Martha, Dorcas, Lydia, and the women named by St. Paul in his epistle to the Romans are all cases in point. The contrast is striking and we need not doubt it is intentional.

56:08 It is one of the many proofs that grace is more abundant under the gospel than under the dispensation of the law. It seems meant to teach us that women have an important place in the church of Christ and that one ought to be assigned to them and that one that they ought to fill. There is a great work that women can do for God's glory without being public teachers and leaders. Happy is the congregation in which women know this and act upon it.

Relevancy: Nature and Actings of True Devotion to Jesus

56:41 And to those words I say an unashamed Amen. What do we learn from this passage about the whole matter of who are the true followers of Christ? Well, we learn this vital lesson that women are often numbered amongst them where men are not. But then, secondly, the relevancy of this passage is seen in that it teaches us a vital lesson concerning the nature and the actings of devotion to Jesus.

57:18 And if there is anything that I would call the central burden of my heart this morning and I must seek to be spartan in my choice of words but nonetheless attempt to convey it, this is the central burden of my heart this morning. I say this incident of this mixed group of unnamed male devotees and these partially named women from Galilee is intended to teach us a vital lesson concerning both the nature and the actings of true devotion to Jesus, particularly in the case of the women because more is said to us about them. This is what it teaches us. Number one, it is rooted, the it meaning devotion to Jesus, is rooted in mercies received and in His identity perceived. It is rooted in mercies received from Christ and in a spirit standing of the identity of Christ. Do you remember what we read in Luke chapter 8?

58:34 This same Mary who stands afar off and looks with intent gaze upon these scenes is the Mary who at one time was possessed of seven devils. Others of these women are described by Luke as those whom He had healed. In other words, their appeal to Christ was the response of devotion and gratitude for Christ for mercies received from the hand of Christ. And in the midst of the reception of those mercies, they eventually came to a perception of His identity as Son of God and the Messiah of God. And their attachment to Him was that of faith and of submission. But you see, that devotion was rooted not in something they conjured up, sin and self-perpetuating, but it began when mercies were received from His hand. When the seven demons were cast out of Mary, she was attached in gratitude to the One whose power had cast out the demons.

60:02 And as then, so now, if we would know any true devotion to Jesus, we must first of all come as Mary to the devil and to the world and our hell-servingness and receive freely from the hand and grace of Christ pardoning, liberating mercy. And only then will your heart be devoted to Him. It teaches us something about the nature and actings of true devotion to Christ. It's rooted in mercies received and in His identity perceived.

60:47 But then secondly, it is manifested in ways appropriate to divine providence. Devotion to Christ is manifested in ways appropriate to divine providence. These very women who are described in Mark 15, 40 and 41 as standing and looking, they're the ones described in Luke 8, 1 to 3 as being very busy. They are following the Lord Jesus throughout all the cities of Galilee.

61:20 They're ministering to Him. They're fixing meals. They're cooking bread. They're filleting fish.

61:26 They're making up beds. They're caring for houses and homes and places to sleep and eat. Oh, how providence opened a wide door to express their devotion. And while that door was open, they joyfully, sacrificially, assiduously, tirelessly But now what had providence done?

61:52 Providence had locked up every avenue of devotion except fastening their eyes upon the object of their devotion. They couldn't go in and take on the soldiers single-handedly. They had to stand by where the word was placed on that crossbeam. They could not break through the soldiers and take Him off.

62:20 They had to stand and watch while they saw His body heaving and the blood dripping to the ground and the heavens shrouded in darkness and the cry and the piercing, agonizing, shrill, and the You see, providence had locked them up to where the only thing they could do was look. My friend, hear me this morning. There are some of you that desperately need this lesson. At one point were busy beavers for Jesus. Now we're locked up to doing nothing but looking.

63:22 And if your devotion to Christ is dependent on any form of service you render to Christ, it is suspect. Want me to give that to you again? If your devotion to Christ is suspect, it is prepared to submit to the sovereign will of Christ no matter how you will express it. I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. You see, if Paul's devotion to Christ expressed by going on and see as a mighty general in the army of Christ conquering one Roman city after another in the name of Christ, and his gospel, if that devotion to Christ were not real, what would he have done when all that service came to a grinding halt and he shut up in a Roman prison? He'd have been frustrated, ugly, sour, impossible to live with,

64:47 because he would have this identity of himself in all of that world activity. And it would lay to that activity a big question mark as to what its real intention was. Dear man, dear woman, hear me this morning. Learn from these devout women.

65:12 Their love and devotion was real. It wasn't dependent. When all they do was stand and look, they stood and looked. And God may reduce some of us to the place where the only thing we can do is lie upon a bed and with the eyes of the soul look upon our beloved and praise him for who he is, praise him for what he's done, pour out our devotion to him, our longings to be with him, and we will not chafe, we will not question the goodness of God, the wisdom of God, the power of God, the rights of God. We'll just stand and look. And then the third thing it teaches us about the nature and actings of true devotion to Christ is this. True devotion can cling to the person of Jesus even when one's understanding of the ways of Jesus are shrouded in ignorance.

66:27 True devotion can cling to the person of Jesus even when one's understanding of the ways of Jesus are shrouded in darkness. At this point, they didn't understand the significance of the cross. A few hours later, a couple of these ladies are in the very garden from which our Lord came. And what are they doing?

66:54 They're not dancing a holy jig. They're crying. Go away, my Lord. Don't know where they're laying to.

67:08 Lifeless body. All messed up in their understanding about the cross and the resurrection. But though their understanding was shrouded in darkness as to the ways of Jesus, their hearts were still fixed in devotion upon the person of Jesus. When they saw him there, they didn't say, He can't be.

67:33 Nothing to do with him. My disillusioned. Let's go ahead and eat and drink for tomorrow we die. There's nothing real.

67:43 Oh, no. The minds were shrouded in a darkness the likes of which you and I probably will never know anything about because we have the accomplished record. But in the midst of that mind shrouded in darkness, there was a heart devoted to his person. And they teach us that we can cling to the person of Jesus in true devotion even when our understanding of the ways of Jesus are shrouded in ignorance.

68:16 And tragedies may come upon us that though not as great in magnitude are the same in kind. All we've expected would be the natural fruition of the ways of Christ with us have come to something so radically different and shattering as the cross was to their expectations. Yet they stood and they looked upon him. Oh, child of God, will you learn that lesson?

Relevancy: Validity of the Gospel and Call to Self-Examination

68:50 And I confess I tremble in my own heart as I preach it wondering where God will make me prove it next to cling to his person. Even when our understanding of his ways are shrouded in ignorance. While our time is gone I'd hope to open up the fact that these events teach us a vital lesson concerning the validity of the gospel of Jesus. But that will wait when we come to the resurrection because these three same gals are there to witness the resurrection.

69:27 It isn't interesting that the intimate details surrounding Golgotha and the first details of the resurrection are revealed to women. And they are eyewitnesses along with those unnamed devout men who stood there and beheld. You see Christianity is not a set of ideas dropped down from somewhere by someone who concocted them. It's embedded in the stuff of real history, real events, real people with real eyes and retinas and real optic nerves and real auditory nerves.

70:01 And they heard the cry and they saw the body and they saw the blood and they saw the spittle and they saw the darkened heavens and they saw the spear thrust into his side. Those are the people that a few weeks later are willing to die for the truth of the gospel. Why? Because they knew it was not a cunningly devised fable.

70:26 It was embedded of historical reality. Blessed be God for such a gospel. Well, God doesn't waste words, does he? Little did I know when I began to study this passage and how much has been overlooked.

70:50 We'll only know when we get to heaven but surely we see in that group that stands and lingers the unnamed male devotees, the partially named female followers of the Lord Jesus. Marvelous lessons for you and for me. I ask you this question in closing. Had you been alive then, would you have been one of them?

71:22 Standing there bound to the Lord Jesus in faith and love? Or would you have been with those who left the show, perhaps disturbed, upset, but not believing? Or would you have been part of the crowd that taunted and mocked and thirsted for his blood? The cross is the great divider.

71:51 Then and now, on which side of it are you? Is it foolishness? Or is it the power of God unto your salvation? Let us pray.

72:09 Our Father, we thank you for your holy word. We thank you for your beloved Son. We thank you for the grace worked in the hearts of these unnamed male associates of our Lord Jesus, and for these partially named devout women from Galilee. And, O Lord, how they have spoken to our hearts this morning.

72:34 May we not despise their message to us, but may we embrace it and live in the light of it to your glory and for our good. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.