March 23, 2025 • 32 mins
Jason Sterling March 23, 2025 Faith Presbyterian Church Birmingham, AL Bulletin
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you have a copy of God's Word, look with me to the
Gospel of Luke.
So go to your New Testament.
We're going to be looking atLuke, chapter 22, this morning.
We've been studying the Gospelof Luke this year in our church
and in the past couple of weekswe have been preparing our
hearts for Easter, and so we'rewalking with Jesus through the
(00:23):
last week of His life, lookingat different events of the last
week of his life.
Last week we looked at Passover.
This morning we're going tolook at his prayer in the Garden
of Gethsemane, and that's whatit's referred to in other
Gospels.
Here, you'll notice it's calledthe Mount of Olives.
(00:44):
Same place, the Garden ofGethsemane, is on the Mount of
Olives.
At the base of the Mount ofOlives, it's Thursday night.
Jesus and his disciples havejust celebrated Passover.
Jesus has predicted that hewill be betrayed.
Jesus has told Peter that hewill deny him.
(01:07):
Jesus has told the disciplesthey will abandon him when he
needs them the most.
And now Jesus goes out to theMount of Olives to pray.
Charles Spurgeon said that weshould take our shoes off this
morning, that your shoes shouldcome off when you come to this
(01:32):
scene in the Gospels, becausethis is holy ground and I think
you'll see exactly what he meansas we read this is God's Word
Luke 22, 39 through 46.
It'll be on the screen behindme.
It's also in your bulletin thismorning.
And he came out and went, aswas his custom, to the Mount of
Olives and the disciplesfollowed him.
(01:54):
And when he came to the place,he said to them pray that you
may not enter into temptation.
And he withdrew from them abouta stone's throw and knelt down
and prayed, saying Father, ifyou are willing, remove this cup
from me.
Nevertheless, not my will, butyours be done.
And there appeared to him anangel from heaven, strengthening
(02:23):
him and being in agony.
He prayed more earnestly andhis sweat became like great
drops of blood falling down tothe ground.
And when he rose from prayer,he came to the disciples and
found them sleeping for sorrow.
And he said to them why are yousleeping?
Rise and pray that you may notenter into temptation.
(02:44):
This is God's word.
Let's pray and ask for theSpirit's help this morning.
Please bow with me in prayer.
Father, you brought us herethis morning and some of us have
heard this passage, read thispassage, for many, many years,
growing up, in the church,wherever we're coming from.
(03:07):
This morning, would we not beunmoved by what we learn and see
and read in this passage?
I pray that you would move usall closer to Jesus, that Jesus
would be more beautiful to us asa result of what we see him
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doing in this passage.
Would you do that in Jesus'name, amen.
This is a very intense and avery emotional scene in the
Gospels.
However, please note, the pointhere is not for us to pity
Jesus.
The point is not for us to lookand say poor Jesus, look at how
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sad Jesus is that he had to diefor your sins.
Now you should treat him better, you should go, be more
obedient.
No, the focus of this passageis on what Jesus has done for
you.
Jesus in this passage is takingon something.
Jesus is enacting somethinghere.
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He's accomplishing something,and what Jesus is doing is he is
accomplishing or, I'm sorry,absorbing our greatest fear.
He is accomplishing or, I'msorry, absorbing our greatest
fear abandonment, so that if youare in Christ, you will never
ultimately be abandoned.
God will never leave you norforsake you.
(04:36):
Jesus here in the garden istaking our place and we need to
keep that in mind on theforefront or we miss the point
of the passage this morning.
And so let's look at threethings this morning in this
passage the agony of Jesus,number one.
Secondly, the cup of Jesus.
Lastly, the work of Jesus theagony, the cup, the work.
(05:01):
So let's look at number one inour outline, the agony of Jesus.
Look at verses 39 and 40.
Also, look at verse 46 as well.
We're just going to walkthrough this passage.
We'll make some applicationalong the way.
But Jesus goes to pray at thegarden of Gethsemane with his
disciples and notice what hesays pray that you may not enter
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into temptation.
So let's stop there.
What is he talking about?
What is the temptation?
Well, remember the context.
Jesus has just told hisdisciples that one of them will
betray him.
He's just told Peter that he'sgoing to deny him three times,
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and the others that they willalso abandon him.
And so Jesus is saying herethat the way you stand up under
pressure, the pressure that'sgoing to be coming in on them,
the way you stand up under thetemptation to compromise and to
leave Jesus, to leave him whenthe going gets tough, is to pray
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.
And I love this.
There's some simplicity here.
Obviously, it's very difficultto live out in reality, but I
love the simplicity in whichthis and what we see here, jesus
, he's saying here you don'thave to have a seminary degree,
you don't have to have certainamounts of theological training
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or greater coping skills whenthe going gets tough and the
suffering and hardships of lifecome.
No, rather, you just need tosimply pray.
Because what is prayer?
It's an act of dependence, andwhen we pray, when we don't pray
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, it's depending on self.
And so he says pray and cry outfor God to strengthen you,
strengthen your faith, in themidst of whatever circumstances
and suffering that you areexperiencing or will experience
in the future.
Friends, we live in a worldwhere it is increasingly
difficult to be a Christian, andwe have lots of prayers, don't
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we?
And we have lots of things onour prayer list that we pray for
.
We pray for all sorts of things, but do you pray for God to
strengthen you?
Do you pray that he wouldstrengthen you so that you would
not compromise and enter intotemptation?
Do you pray that he wouldstrengthen your faith so that
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you will be able to stand whenlife and the world presses in on
you?
Do you pray that God would holdyou when you encounter and
embrace the sufferings of thisworld.
Pray that you might not enterinto temptation.
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Jesus says that you'll be ableto stand.
Verse 41,.
He withdrew about a stone'sthrow and knelt down and prayed
On Mark's account of thispassage.
He says that Peter James andJohn are with him.
Remember, peter James and Johnwere with Jesus on the Mount of
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Transfiguration in Mark, chapter9, and they saw Jesus full on
in glory and deity.
And now he's in the garden andJesus is now.
They see Jesus not in fulldeity, in full humanity here,
not in full deity, in fullhumanity here.
And once Jesus gets away withhis closest friends we see in
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this passage he completely fallsapart.
He's undone.
Look at verse 44.
And, being in agony, his sweatbecomes like great drops of
blood.
Jesus is sweating not becauseit's hot outside.
We know in the scene after thisthat Peter will warm himself by
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a fire.
So it's not because of thetemperatures.
Jesus is sweating because he isso distressed.
Up until this point in theGospels you read, jesus is full
of confidence, he's poised.
And now Jesus is undone.
Jesus is coming apart.
Matthew 26, 39,.
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Matthew's account of this saysafter going a little further,
jesus falls on his face.
I have a friend and pastor wholost his nine-year-old daughter
a couple of years ago in a verytragic way.
I'm in a pastor's group withhim and he was sharing about
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this and he said that he and hiswife were so completely undone
they couldn't drive themselveshome from the hospital.
And he said so.
A friend brings them home,pulls up into the front of their
house, lets them out and hesays we're walking up to the
front door of our house and hesays my wife and I just
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completely, we are so overcomewith grief.
We went first to our knees inthe front yard and then we just
fell over on our face, weepingbecause we're so overcome with
the grief of losing our daughter.
That's the picture.
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Jesus is in agony, jesus ishaving a come apart, he is
breaking down and the questionis okay, so what?
What does that have to do withyou sitting here in the pews
right now this morning?
Well, a couple of things.
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One thing I think this shows usand means by way of application
is that this teaches you to prayyour pain, to pray your grief
and your sorrow.
Jesus is in distress, grief andsorrow.
We have these images of Jesus,maybe from movies or from
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pictures, and Jesus is oftenpresented as a robot, often
presented very stoic.
Jesus is not stoic.
The God-man here doesn'tsuppress his most desperate
moments, but he experiences themin a very deep way we see here
and he brings them to God, hisFather.
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When you experience desperatemoments, what do you do with
them?
You experience desperatemoments.
What do you do with them?
Do you take them to God inprayer or do you suppress them
and feel like you have to smileand say the right thing in your
prayers and do the right thingsand immediately respond.
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With God works all thingstogether for good.
With God works all thingstogether for good.
So bring our pain.
I think is one of the thingsthat we see in this passage that
God welcomes that.
And the other thing and it'sobvious, but Jesus knows what
it's like and understands yourdarkest hours.
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Hebrews 4, verse 15,.
We do not have a high priestwho is unable to sympathize with
our weaknesses.
Some of you know these moments.
If you haven't experiencedthese moments, you live long
enough and you will.
But you know the moments whereyou get the phone call and it's
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really late or really early inthe morning and you look at your
phone and you immediately havethis pit in your stomach and
you're thinking this is not good.
Or maybe the doctor walks inafter the round of testing and
he says I got some really badnews about your diagnosis.
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Or maybe it's a knock at thedoor.
Or maybe it's the news, thegut-wrenching news, that's like
a kick in the stomach and it'sthe thing that undoes you on the
spot.
You fall on your face in theliving room floor.
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The trauma, the emotionalbreakdown in your life, the
thing in your life that gets youin the fetal position.
You have a Savior, friends,that knows exactly what that's
like, a Savior who's been there,and in those moments you think
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Jesus is furthest away.
Friends, this scene, this scenein the garden, assures you that
he's actually the closest inthose moments, because he knows
exactly what that's like.
He assures you that you'renever alone in your grief and
your sorrow and that he gets itand he understands.
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And did you catch verse 43?
I thought about this verse allweek and there, in this moment,
appeared to him Jesus.
Appeared to Jesus, an angel ofheaven, strengthening him.
Notice here the strengtheningdoes not bring relief from the
agony.
The strengthening, though,strengthens Jesus to continue
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walking through it.
No doubt this is unique toJesus, but isn't this the
pattern of God's people?
Don't God's people experiencethese kinds of things all the
time?
Ralph Davis, a commentator,listened to this quote how often
do God's people find heaven'sresources suddenly appear for
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earth's emergencies?
Let me read that again howoften do God's people find
heaven's resources suddenlyappear for earth's emergencies?
And you've maybe experiencedthis.
If not, you've seen someone whohas.
But if I've seen it once, I'veseen it a thousand times.
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Someone is going throughsomething grueling, some sort of
suffering.
They are hanging on by a threadand you're looking at this or
maybe you're feeling thisbecause you're going through it
and you say how in the world doyou make it?
How are you still standingthrough this?
And what does the person say?
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By the grace of God, in a waythat they don't fully even
understand, they say Godsustained me, god is sustaining
me, he's given me strength toput one foot in front of the
other.
For Jesus, it's an angel For us.
(16:37):
Get this for you.
The strengthening comes fromthe risen Jesus himself, who is
with you through his spirit,giving you strength and
endurance to get throughwhatever it is that you're going
through at the moment.
Friends, we live in a hardworld, full of brokenness and
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agony, and oftentimes we don'tget a lot of answers, but we
have a God who has experiencedthe agony for us and with us,
and he gives us resources toendure and he promises to be
with us to the end.
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Secondly, the cup of Jesus.
So why is Jesus so undone?
Why is he sweating drops ofblood?
Well, look at verse 42.
He's afraid of the cup.
Remember, jesus is talking tothe disciples at one point in
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the gospels.
Maybe you remember this storyand they're like Jesus we got it
, we'll drink the cup.
And you remember what Jesussays to them.
He says and you remember whatJesus says to them.
He says you have no idea.
You have no idea what you'reasking, because, you see, jesus
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is not talking about the cup ofblessing, he's talking about the
cup of judgment and wrath.
And the Old Testament prophetstalked a lot about this cup
Isaiah 51, 17,.
Awake, awake, jerusalem.
You have drunk from the hand ofthe Lord the cup of wrath, you
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who have drained it to the dregs.
When you drain it to the dregs,it will make people stagger,
and so the cup that Jesus istalking about is filled to the
brim with God's wrath andjudgment for our sin and
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rebellion.
Drinking this cup meant shameand separation from God, and
please don't miss here who issliding the cup across the table
.
Drinking this cup meant shameand separation from God, and
please don't miss here who issliding the cup across the table
.
It's not the enemy, it's hisFather, and this is at the heart
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of what crushes Jesus.
Every other time Jesus has beenwelcomed in prayer by the most
intimate fellowship of theFather, son and Holy Spirit, but
this time the Father slides acup to him that has the stench
of death and it fills hisnostrils and it makes Jesus
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shudder.
Bill Lane is a commentator and Iwant you to listen closely to
this quote.
He says the dreadful sorrow andanxiety that Jesus Christ
experienced in prayer for thepassing of the cup was not just
an expression of fear before adark destiny, nor a shrinking
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from the prospect of physicalsuffering and death.
It is rather and here's what Iwant you to hear it is rather
the horror of one who had liveda perfect holy life for the
father but then found hellrather than heaven opened before
him and he staggered.
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And it's interesting if youread the stories of the martyrs
throughout church history.
Go read the Fox's book ofchurch martyrs throughout church
history, and one of the thingsthat you'll see if you read
about martyrs is they approachtheir death much more
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courageously than we see Jesusapproaching his death here in
this scene.
And the question is why?
You know why?
Because the martyrs werelooking to the welcome of the
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Father and Jesus is looking atthe wrath of the Father.
The martyrs were looking to thefellowship that they would have
with God.
Jesus is undone because he knowsthat he's about to be separated
from God.
You see the difference?
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And added to that, verse 45 and46, his closest friends can't
even stay awake.
Jesus is utterly alone.
Jesus has no one.
That's the difference.
And so how does he respond tothe sliding of the cup across
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the table?
Verse 42, father, if you'rewilling, please remove this cup
from me.
And then he says I think it'ssignificant, the order.
Then he says yet not my will,but yours be done.
Notice again honesty here.
He doesn't immediately go likewe do.
He doesn't immediately go tonot my will, but yours be done.
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He doesn't start there, he begsGod to remove the cup.
And I think that's significantas we think about our own prayer
life.
It's okay for you to pray, god.
Please take this suffering away.
Please change my circumstances,please remove my hardships.
However, at the same time,jesus shows us that the goal of
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prayer is not to bend God's willto ours, but to conform our
will to his.
Jesus knows the pain ofunanswered prayers.
He asked for the cup to beremoved, but he longed so much
more to be obedient to hisFather.
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And so, in that light, he saysnot my will, father, but yours
be done.
And so Jesus takes the cup anddrinks it to the bottom.
It's interesting just to connectsome dots in the Bible.
In the garden, with the firstadam, the first adam rebels
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against god's commands right,and says no, my will, adam says,
will be done.
And what happened to the world?
It was blown to bits by sin anddeath.
But in this garden, jesus thesecond Adam submits to God and
is obedient to God, and it'sthrough that obedience that life
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and joy come to those who trustin Christ.
And so how is he able to do this?
What enables him to say not mywill, but yours be done?
Well, we get a hint with thefirst word.
Did you notice how he beginshis appeal.
What's he say?
Father?
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Jesus says I trust you, you aremy father, I trust you, even
though I want you to take thiscup away.
I trust you and I know that youlove me, and I think that's
helpful for us.
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Pray, god, take this away,remove my sorrow.
But at the same time, we holdour sorrow and our pain
open-handedly.
But at the same time, we holdour sorrow and our pain
open-handedly and we say, god, Iknow you're a good father who
loves me.
And so you're able to say inthat moment not my will but
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yours, be done.
Because, god, I know you'retender and I know you're good
and you have my best interest inmind.
So it allows us to say theexact same thing best interest
in mind.
So it allows us to say theexact same thing.
Lastly, the work of Jesus.
Why is Jesus going through allthis?
(25:10):
Why is God making him drinkthis cup of wrath in judgment?
Well, simply put, it's part ofthe mission, it's all part of
the rescue plan.
Maybe you're familiar with themovie.
You've seen the Mel Gibson'smovie, the Passion of the Christ
, and if you remember, there'sthe scene when Jesus is praying
in the Garden of Gethsemane andhe resolves to stick to the plan
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and, if you remember this scene, he stands up.
And then what does he do?
He takes his foot and hecrushes the head of the serpent.
That's not actually in theGospels, and so why does Mel
Gibson put it in the movie?
Well, because it's an allusionto the promise made in another
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garden, the Garden of Eden.
In Genesis, chapter 3,humanity's put in the garden to
flourish, to commune with Godforever.
Adam and Eve are tempted by thesnake, by the serpent.
Adam and Eve are tempted by thesnake, by the serpent.
They push God away and commitcosmic treason and sin enters
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into the world.
But here's the amazing thingGod immediately institutes a
rescue plan and a rescue mission.
Genesis, chapter 3, verse 15.
We have the first promise ofthe gospel A redeemer is
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promised, one who would come anddefeat sin once and for all.
Who would come?
And what does it say?
Crush the head of the serpent.
And we know, because we live inthis point in redemptive
history, that promised one whocrushes the head of the serpent
is the Lord Jesus himself.
Jesus here is committed to themission to crushing the enemy,
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sin and death, once and for all.
How did Jesus do it?
By drinking the cup.
Jesus does it by going to across and drinking the full
strength of God's wrath.
He takes the punishment that wedeserve, the wrath that we
deserve.
He gets the cup of judgment andwrath so that you, if you trust
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in Jesus, get the cup of joyand blessing forever.
The cup of joy and blessingforever.
Jesus does that to bring usback to that garden, the garden
of Eden, the place of life wherewe will commune and have peace
with God forever.
That's the plan and that's howthe Bible ends in Revelation 22,
.
The new heavens and new earth,the city of Jerusalem, new
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Jerusalem comes down.
And what's in the middle ofthat city?
A garden.
The Bible begins with a gardenand ends with a garden, and we
are in perfect fellowship withGod.
But here's what I don't wantyou to miss.
Please see this.
This is the point the bridgebetween those two gardens is
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this garden, the garden ofGethsemane, where Jesus resolves
himself to go and die for youand for his family and for his
people.
I'll close with this.
Anne Lamott tells a story aboutan eight-year-old boy who had a
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younger sister who was six, whowas dying of leukemia, and this
little boy was told that withouta blood transfusion that his
sister would die.
But if he, this little boy, waswilling to give his sister a
pint of his own blood, that shemight survive.
And so this boy is being toldthis and you can imagine as an
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eight-year-old boy.
This is really scary, and hedoesn't completely understand
all that's happening and allthat this means in the moment.
And so he looks at his parentsand he says I'm going to need
the night to think this over.
And so the next day he wakes upand he tells his parents I'm
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willing to donate my blood.
And so they take him to thehospital and will him in on a
gurney and he's sitting next tohis sister.
They're both hooked up to IVsand in his IV you see the blood
from his IV dripping down.
And the young boy says in thesilence how long before I start
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to die.
You see he didn't completelyunderstand, but can you imagine?
Can you imagine what was goingon inside of this boy the
previous night as he wasthinking through all of this and
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as he comes to that decision?
I love my sister enough to diefor her.
What is going on inside ofJesus as he is staring death in
the face.
What is Jesus thinking about inthis moment in the garden,
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sweating drops of blood?
Thinking about the cup of wrath?
Thinking about his fatherturning his face away?
What is going on inside ofJesus?
What is he thinking about you?
He's thinking about his familythat he loves enough that he's
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willing to die for.
Hebrews, chapter 12, verse 2,for the joy set before him.
Who's the joy?
You?
For the joy set before him.
Jesus endured the cross,despising its shame.
The phrase God loves you getssaid a lot that might sound
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trite to you this morning orthat might be empty to you this
morning, but this scene in theGarden of Gethsemane says
otherwise.
You think about that.
Let's pray, father.
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Thank you for loving us enoughto drink the cup of wrath so
that we could get the cup ofblessing.
Thank you for the gospel.
Would you forgive us for ourlack of commitment, our lack of
love?
Commitment or lack of love?
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Father, would you help us totrust you and trust your deep
love for us, so that we're ableto say, in the midst of whatever
it is that we're going through,not my will but yours be done.
Only you can do that throughyour Spirit in our hearts.
Would you do that in Jesus'name, amen.
If you have a copy of God's Word, look with me to the
Gospel of Luke.
So go to your New Testament.
We're going to be looking atLuke, chapter 22, this morning.
We've been studying the Gospelof Luke this year in our church
and in the past couple of weekswe have been preparing our
hearts for Easter, and so we'rewalking with Jesus through the
(00:23):
last week of His life, lookingat different events of the last
week of his life.
Last week we looked at Passover.
This morning we're going tolook at his prayer in the Garden
of Gethsemane, and that's whatit's referred to in other
Gospels.
Here, you'll notice it's calledthe Mount of Olives.
(00:44):
Same place, the Garden ofGethsemane, is on the Mount of
Olives.
At the base of the Mount ofOlives, it's Thursday night.
Jesus and his disciples havejust celebrated Passover.
Jesus has predicted that hewill be betrayed.
Jesus has told Peter that hewill deny him.
(01:07):
Jesus has told the disciplesthey will abandon him when he
needs them the most.
And now Jesus goes out to theMount of Olives to pray.
Charles Spurgeon said that weshould take our shoes off this
morning, that your shoes shouldcome off when you come to this
(01:32):
scene in the Gospels, becausethis is holy ground and I think
you'll see exactly what he meansas we read this is God's Word
Luke 22, 39 through 46.
It'll be on the screen behindme.
It's also in your bulletin thismorning.
And he came out and went, aswas his custom, to the Mount of
Olives and the disciplesfollowed him.
(01:54):
And when he came to the place,he said to them pray that you
may not enter into temptation.
And he withdrew from them abouta stone's throw and knelt down
and prayed, saying Father, ifyou are willing, remove this cup
from me.
Nevertheless, not my will, butyours be done.
And there appeared to him anangel from heaven, strengthening
(02:23):
him and being in agony.
He prayed more earnestly andhis sweat became like great
drops of blood falling down tothe ground.
And when he rose from prayer,he came to the disciples and
found them sleeping for sorrow.
And he said to them why are yousleeping?
Rise and pray that you may notenter into temptation.
(02:44):
This is God's word.
Let's pray and ask for theSpirit's help this morning.
Please bow with me in prayer.
Father, you brought us herethis morning and some of us have
heard this passage, read thispassage, for many, many years,
growing up, in the church,wherever we're coming from.
(03:07):
This morning, would we not beunmoved by what we learn and see
and read in this passage?
I pray that you would move usall closer to Jesus, that Jesus
would be more beautiful to us asa result of what we see him
(03:27):
doing in this passage.
Would you do that in Jesus'name, amen.
This is a very intense and avery emotional scene in the
Gospels.
However, please note, the pointhere is not for us to pity
Jesus.
The point is not for us to lookand say poor Jesus, look at how
(03:52):
sad Jesus is that he had to diefor your sins.
Now you should treat him better, you should go, be more
obedient.
No, the focus of this passageis on what Jesus has done for
you.
Jesus in this passage is takingon something.
Jesus is enacting somethinghere.
(04:15):
He's accomplishing something,and what Jesus is doing is he is
accomplishing or, I'm sorry,absorbing our greatest fear.
He is accomplishing or, I'msorry, absorbing our greatest
fear abandonment, so that if youare in Christ, you will never
ultimately be abandoned.
God will never leave you norforsake you.
(04:36):
Jesus here in the garden istaking our place and we need to
keep that in mind on theforefront or we miss the point
of the passage this morning.
And so let's look at threethings this morning in this
passage the agony of Jesus,number one.
Secondly, the cup of Jesus.
Lastly, the work of Jesus theagony, the cup, the work.
(05:01):
So let's look at number one inour outline, the agony of Jesus.
Look at verses 39 and 40.
Also, look at verse 46 as well.
We're just going to walkthrough this passage.
We'll make some applicationalong the way.
But Jesus goes to pray at thegarden of Gethsemane with his
disciples and notice what hesays pray that you may not enter
(05:24):
into temptation.
So let's stop there.
What is he talking about?
What is the temptation?
Well, remember the context.
Jesus has just told hisdisciples that one of them will
betray him.
He's just told Peter that he'sgoing to deny him three times,
(05:46):
and the others that they willalso abandon him.
And so Jesus is saying herethat the way you stand up under
pressure, the pressure that'sgoing to be coming in on them,
the way you stand up under thetemptation to compromise and to
leave Jesus, to leave him whenthe going gets tough, is to pray
(06:10):
.
And I love this.
There's some simplicity here.
Obviously, it's very difficultto live out in reality, but I
love the simplicity in whichthis and what we see here, jesus
, he's saying here you don'thave to have a seminary degree,
you don't have to have certainamounts of theological training
(06:33):
or greater coping skills whenthe going gets tough and the
suffering and hardships of lifecome.
No, rather, you just need tosimply pray.
Because what is prayer?
It's an act of dependence, andwhen we pray, when we don't pray
(06:57):
, it's depending on self.
And so he says pray and cry outfor God to strengthen you,
strengthen your faith, in themidst of whatever circumstances
and suffering that you areexperiencing or will experience
in the future.
Friends, we live in a worldwhere it is increasingly
difficult to be a Christian, andwe have lots of prayers, don't
(07:19):
we?
And we have lots of things onour prayer list that we pray for
.
We pray for all sorts of things, but do you pray for God to
strengthen you?
Do you pray that he wouldstrengthen you so that you would
not compromise and enter intotemptation?
Do you pray that he wouldstrengthen your faith so that
(07:40):
you will be able to stand whenlife and the world presses in on
you?
Do you pray that God would holdyou when you encounter and
embrace the sufferings of thisworld.
Pray that you might not enterinto temptation.
(08:01):
Jesus says that you'll be ableto stand.
Verse 41,.
He withdrew about a stone'sthrow and knelt down and prayed
On Mark's account of thispassage.
He says that Peter James andJohn are with him.
Remember, peter James and Johnwere with Jesus on the Mount of
(08:24):
Transfiguration in Mark, chapter9, and they saw Jesus full on
in glory and deity.
And now he's in the garden andJesus is now.
They see Jesus not in fulldeity, in full humanity here,
not in full deity, in fullhumanity here.
And once Jesus gets away withhis closest friends we see in
(08:50):
this passage he completely fallsapart.
He's undone.
Look at verse 44.
And, being in agony, his sweatbecomes like great drops of
blood.
Jesus is sweating not becauseit's hot outside.
We know in the scene after thisthat Peter will warm himself by
(09:19):
a fire.
So it's not because of thetemperatures.
Jesus is sweating because he isso distressed.
Up until this point in theGospels you read, jesus is full
of confidence, he's poised.
And now Jesus is undone.
Jesus is coming apart.
Matthew 26, 39,.
(09:41):
Matthew's account of this saysafter going a little further,
jesus falls on his face.
I have a friend and pastor wholost his nine-year-old daughter
a couple of years ago in a verytragic way.
I'm in a pastor's group withhim and he was sharing about
(10:04):
this and he said that he and hiswife were so completely undone
they couldn't drive themselveshome from the hospital.
And he said so.
A friend brings them home,pulls up into the front of their
house, lets them out and hesays we're walking up to the
front door of our house and hesays my wife and I just
(10:28):
completely, we are so overcomewith grief.
We went first to our knees inthe front yard and then we just
fell over on our face, weepingbecause we're so overcome with
the grief of losing our daughter.
That's the picture.
(10:50):
Jesus is in agony, jesus ishaving a come apart, he is
breaking down and the questionis okay, so what?
What does that have to do withyou sitting here in the pews
right now this morning?
Well, a couple of things.
(11:11):
One thing I think this shows usand means by way of application
is that this teaches you to prayyour pain, to pray your grief
and your sorrow.
Jesus is in distress, grief andsorrow.
We have these images of Jesus,maybe from movies or from
(11:34):
pictures, and Jesus is oftenpresented as a robot, often
presented very stoic.
Jesus is not stoic.
The God-man here doesn'tsuppress his most desperate
moments, but he experiences themin a very deep way we see here
and he brings them to God, hisFather.
(11:57):
When you experience desperatemoments, what do you do with
them?
You experience desperatemoments.
What do you do with them?
Do you take them to God inprayer or do you suppress them
and feel like you have to smileand say the right thing in your
prayers and do the right thingsand immediately respond.
(12:20):
With God works all thingstogether for good.
With God works all thingstogether for good.
So bring our pain.
I think is one of the thingsthat we see in this passage that
God welcomes that.
And the other thing and it'sobvious, but Jesus knows what
it's like and understands yourdarkest hours.
(12:44):
Hebrews 4, verse 15,.
We do not have a high priestwho is unable to sympathize with
our weaknesses.
Some of you know these moments.
If you haven't experiencedthese moments, you live long
enough and you will.
But you know the moments whereyou get the phone call and it's
(13:05):
really late or really early inthe morning and you look at your
phone and you immediately havethis pit in your stomach and
you're thinking this is not good.
Or maybe the doctor walks inafter the round of testing and
he says I got some really badnews about your diagnosis.
(13:29):
Or maybe it's a knock at thedoor.
Or maybe it's the news, thegut-wrenching news, that's like
a kick in the stomach and it'sthe thing that undoes you on the
spot.
You fall on your face in theliving room floor.
(13:51):
The trauma, the emotionalbreakdown in your life, the
thing in your life that gets youin the fetal position.
You have a Savior, friends,that knows exactly what that's
like, a Savior who's been there,and in those moments you think
(14:14):
Jesus is furthest away.
Friends, this scene, this scenein the garden, assures you that
he's actually the closest inthose moments, because he knows
exactly what that's like.
He assures you that you'renever alone in your grief and
your sorrow and that he gets itand he understands.
(14:37):
And did you catch verse 43?
I thought about this verse allweek and there, in this moment,
appeared to him Jesus.
Appeared to Jesus, an angel ofheaven, strengthening him.
Notice here the strengtheningdoes not bring relief from the
agony.
The strengthening, though,strengthens Jesus to continue
(15:05):
walking through it.
No doubt this is unique toJesus, but isn't this the
pattern of God's people?
Don't God's people experiencethese kinds of things all the
time?
Ralph Davis, a commentator,listened to this quote how often
do God's people find heaven'sresources suddenly appear for
(15:29):
earth's emergencies?
Let me read that again howoften do God's people find
heaven's resources suddenlyappear for earth's emergencies?
And you've maybe experiencedthis.
If not, you've seen someone whohas.
But if I've seen it once, I'veseen it a thousand times.
(15:52):
Someone is going throughsomething grueling, some sort of
suffering.
They are hanging on by a threadand you're looking at this or
maybe you're feeling thisbecause you're going through it
and you say how in the world doyou make it?
How are you still standingthrough this?
And what does the person say?
(16:15):
By the grace of God, in a waythat they don't fully even
understand, they say Godsustained me, god is sustaining
me, he's given me strength toput one foot in front of the
other.
For Jesus, it's an angel For us.
(16:37):
Get this for you.
The strengthening comes fromthe risen Jesus himself, who is
with you through his spirit,giving you strength and
endurance to get throughwhatever it is that you're going
through at the moment.
Friends, we live in a hardworld, full of brokenness and
(17:00):
agony, and oftentimes we don'tget a lot of answers, but we
have a God who has experiencedthe agony for us and with us,
and he gives us resources toendure and he promises to be
with us to the end.
(17:21):
Secondly, the cup of Jesus.
So why is Jesus so undone?
Why is he sweating drops ofblood?
Well, look at verse 42.
He's afraid of the cup.
Remember, jesus is talking tothe disciples at one point in
(17:43):
the gospels.
Maybe you remember this storyand they're like Jesus we got it
, we'll drink the cup.
And you remember what Jesussays to them.
He says and you remember whatJesus says to them.
He says you have no idea.
You have no idea what you'reasking, because, you see, jesus
(18:06):
is not talking about the cup ofblessing, he's talking about the
cup of judgment and wrath.
And the Old Testament prophetstalked a lot about this cup
Isaiah 51, 17,.
Awake, awake, jerusalem.
You have drunk from the hand ofthe Lord the cup of wrath, you
(18:28):
who have drained it to the dregs.
When you drain it to the dregs,it will make people stagger,
and so the cup that Jesus istalking about is filled to the
brim with God's wrath andjudgment for our sin and
(18:50):
rebellion.
Drinking this cup meant shameand separation from God, and
please don't miss here who issliding the cup across the table
.
Drinking this cup meant shameand separation from God, and
please don't miss here who issliding the cup across the table
.
It's not the enemy, it's hisFather, and this is at the heart
(19:14):
of what crushes Jesus.
Every other time Jesus has beenwelcomed in prayer by the most
intimate fellowship of theFather, son and Holy Spirit, but
this time the Father slides acup to him that has the stench
of death and it fills hisnostrils and it makes Jesus
(19:36):
shudder.
Bill Lane is a commentator and Iwant you to listen closely to
this quote.
He says the dreadful sorrow andanxiety that Jesus Christ
experienced in prayer for thepassing of the cup was not just
an expression of fear before adark destiny, nor a shrinking
(19:59):
from the prospect of physicalsuffering and death.
It is rather and here's what Iwant you to hear it is rather
the horror of one who had liveda perfect holy life for the
father but then found hellrather than heaven opened before
him and he staggered.
(20:21):
And it's interesting if youread the stories of the martyrs
throughout church history.
Go read the Fox's book ofchurch martyrs throughout church
history, and one of the thingsthat you'll see if you read
about martyrs is they approachtheir death much more
(20:42):
courageously than we see Jesusapproaching his death here in
this scene.
And the question is why?
You know why?
Because the martyrs werelooking to the welcome of the
(21:03):
Father and Jesus is looking atthe wrath of the Father.
The martyrs were looking to thefellowship that they would have
with God.
Jesus is undone because he knowsthat he's about to be separated
from God.
You see the difference?
(21:25):
And added to that, verse 45 and46, his closest friends can't
even stay awake.
Jesus is utterly alone.
Jesus has no one.
That's the difference.
And so how does he respond tothe sliding of the cup across
(21:48):
the table?
Verse 42, father, if you'rewilling, please remove this cup
from me.
And then he says I think it'ssignificant, the order.
Then he says yet not my will,but yours be done.
Notice again honesty here.
He doesn't immediately go likewe do.
He doesn't immediately go tonot my will, but yours be done.
(22:11):
He doesn't start there, he begsGod to remove the cup.
And I think that's significantas we think about our own prayer
life.
It's okay for you to pray, god.
Please take this suffering away.
Please change my circumstances,please remove my hardships.
However, at the same time,jesus shows us that the goal of
(22:35):
prayer is not to bend God's willto ours, but to conform our
will to his.
Jesus knows the pain ofunanswered prayers.
He asked for the cup to beremoved, but he longed so much
more to be obedient to hisFather.
(22:57):
And so, in that light, he saysnot my will, father, but yours
be done.
And so Jesus takes the cup anddrinks it to the bottom.
It's interesting just to connectsome dots in the Bible.
In the garden, with the firstadam, the first adam rebels
(23:18):
against god's commands right,and says no, my will, adam says,
will be done.
And what happened to the world?
It was blown to bits by sin anddeath.
But in this garden, jesus thesecond Adam submits to God and
is obedient to God, and it'sthrough that obedience that life
(23:41):
and joy come to those who trustin Christ.
And so how is he able to do this?
What enables him to say not mywill, but yours be done?
Well, we get a hint with thefirst word.
Did you notice how he beginshis appeal.
What's he say?
Father?
(24:02):
Jesus says I trust you, you aremy father, I trust you, even
though I want you to take thiscup away.
I trust you and I know that youlove me, and I think that's
helpful for us.
(24:23):
Pray, god, take this away,remove my sorrow.
But at the same time, we holdour sorrow and our pain
open-handedly.
But at the same time, we holdour sorrow and our pain
open-handedly and we say, god, Iknow you're a good father who
loves me.
And so you're able to say inthat moment not my will but
(24:46):
yours, be done.
Because, god, I know you'retender and I know you're good
and you have my best interest inmind.
So it allows us to say theexact same thing best interest
in mind.
So it allows us to say theexact same thing.
Lastly, the work of Jesus.
Why is Jesus going through allthis?
(25:10):
Why is God making him drinkthis cup of wrath in judgment?
Well, simply put, it's part ofthe mission, it's all part of
the rescue plan.
Maybe you're familiar with themovie.
You've seen the Mel Gibson'smovie, the Passion of the Christ
, and if you remember, there'sthe scene when Jesus is praying
in the Garden of Gethsemane andhe resolves to stick to the plan
(25:31):
and, if you remember this scene, he stands up.
And then what does he do?
He takes his foot and hecrushes the head of the serpent.
That's not actually in theGospels, and so why does Mel
Gibson put it in the movie?
Well, because it's an allusionto the promise made in another
(25:56):
garden, the Garden of Eden.
In Genesis, chapter 3,humanity's put in the garden to
flourish, to commune with Godforever.
Adam and Eve are tempted by thesnake, by the serpent.
Adam and Eve are tempted by thesnake, by the serpent.
They push God away and commitcosmic treason and sin enters
(26:17):
into the world.
But here's the amazing thingGod immediately institutes a
rescue plan and a rescue mission.
Genesis, chapter 3, verse 15.
We have the first promise ofthe gospel A redeemer is
(26:38):
promised, one who would come anddefeat sin once and for all.
Who would come?
And what does it say?
Crush the head of the serpent.
And we know, because we live inthis point in redemptive
history, that promised one whocrushes the head of the serpent
is the Lord Jesus himself.
Jesus here is committed to themission to crushing the enemy,
(27:03):
sin and death, once and for all.
How did Jesus do it?
By drinking the cup.
Jesus does it by going to across and drinking the full
strength of God's wrath.
He takes the punishment that wedeserve, the wrath that we
deserve.
He gets the cup of judgment andwrath so that you, if you trust
(27:27):
in Jesus, get the cup of joyand blessing forever.
The cup of joy and blessingforever.
Jesus does that to bring usback to that garden, the garden
of Eden, the place of life wherewe will commune and have peace
with God forever.
That's the plan and that's howthe Bible ends in Revelation 22,
.
The new heavens and new earth,the city of Jerusalem, new
(27:50):
Jerusalem comes down.
And what's in the middle ofthat city?
A garden.
The Bible begins with a gardenand ends with a garden, and we
are in perfect fellowship withGod.
But here's what I don't wantyou to miss.
Please see this.
This is the point the bridgebetween those two gardens is
(28:12):
this garden, the garden ofGethsemane, where Jesus resolves
himself to go and die for youand for his family and for his
people.
I'll close with this.
Anne Lamott tells a story aboutan eight-year-old boy who had a
(28:35):
younger sister who was six, whowas dying of leukemia, and this
little boy was told that withouta blood transfusion that his
sister would die.
But if he, this little boy, waswilling to give his sister a
pint of his own blood, that shemight survive.
And so this boy is being toldthis and you can imagine as an
(29:00):
eight-year-old boy.
This is really scary, and hedoesn't completely understand
all that's happening and allthat this means in the moment.
And so he looks at his parentsand he says I'm going to need
the night to think this over.
And so the next day he wakes upand he tells his parents I'm
(29:23):
willing to donate my blood.
And so they take him to thehospital and will him in on a
gurney and he's sitting next tohis sister.
They're both hooked up to IVsand in his IV you see the blood
from his IV dripping down.
And the young boy says in thesilence how long before I start
(29:49):
to die.
You see he didn't completelyunderstand, but can you imagine?
Can you imagine what was goingon inside of this boy the
previous night as he wasthinking through all of this and
(30:09):
as he comes to that decision?
I love my sister enough to diefor her.
What is going on inside ofJesus as he is staring death in
the face.
What is Jesus thinking about inthis moment in the garden,
(30:35):
sweating drops of blood?
Thinking about the cup of wrath?
Thinking about his fatherturning his face away?
What is going on inside ofJesus?
What is he thinking about you?
He's thinking about his familythat he loves enough that he's
(31:02):
willing to die for.
Hebrews, chapter 12, verse 2,for the joy set before him.
Who's the joy?
You?
For the joy set before him.
Jesus endured the cross,despising its shame.
The phrase God loves you getssaid a lot that might sound
(31:31):
trite to you this morning orthat might be empty to you this
morning, but this scene in theGarden of Gethsemane says
otherwise.
You think about that.
Let's pray, father.
(31:51):
Thank you for loving us enoughto drink the cup of wrath so
that we could get the cup ofblessing.
Thank you for the gospel.
Would you forgive us for ourlack of commitment, our lack of
love?
Commitment or lack of love?
(32:19):
Father, would you help us totrust you and trust your deep
love for us, so that we're ableto say, in the midst of whatever
it is that we're going through,not my will but yours be done.
Only you can do that throughyour Spirit in our hearts.
Would you do that in Jesus'name, amen.
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