1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:02,960 This year, our Easter series is entitled 2 00:00:02,960 –> 00:00:04,520 Darkness Before the Dawn. 3 00:00:04,520 –> 00:00:06,720 We’re going to look at three scenes 4 00:00:06,720 –> 00:00:09,720 that took place on the night before 5 00:00:09,720 –> 00:00:12,560 our Lord, Jesus Christ, was crucified. 6 00:00:12,560 –> 00:00:15,580 What an extraordinary night that was. 7 00:00:15,580 –> 00:00:17,360 The three scenes we’re going to look at 8 00:00:17,360 –> 00:00:21,000 are the prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, 9 00:00:21,000 –> 00:00:23,559 then next week, the arrest of Jesus. 10 00:00:23,559 –> 00:00:24,780 And the following week, 11 00:00:24,780 –> 00:00:27,440 the trial of Jesus leading up to Easter 12 00:00:27,459 –> 00:00:28,379 where we will look at, 13 00:00:28,379 –> 00:00:31,600 of course, the triumph of Jesus. 14 00:00:31,600 –> 00:00:34,220 The Garden of Gethsemane 15 00:00:34,220 –> 00:00:38,020 was the place where Jesus said to those who arrested him, 16 00:00:38,020 –> 00:00:42,119 this is your hour where darkness rains. 17 00:00:42,119 –> 00:00:45,560 Well, the light came on Easter morning, 18 00:00:45,560 –> 00:00:49,080 but the night when Jesus was betrayed, arrested, 19 00:00:49,080 –> 00:00:51,439 the night when he prayed in the garden, 20 00:00:51,439 –> 00:00:53,900 and the night during which the multiple trials, 21 00:00:53,900 –> 00:00:56,639 as we will see, took place, 22 00:00:56,639 –> 00:01:01,279 were indeed a time of very great darkness. 23 00:01:01,279 –> 00:01:03,139 So, darkness before the dawn, 24 00:01:03,139 –> 00:01:04,800 I’d like you to have your Bible open 25 00:01:04,800 –> 00:01:07,760 at Matthew and chapter 26. 26 00:01:07,760 –> 00:01:11,160 And we begin at verse 36, 27 00:01:11,160 –> 00:01:13,800 where we’re told that Jesus went with them. 28 00:01:13,800 –> 00:01:15,199 That’s the 11 disciples, 29 00:01:15,199 –> 00:01:18,180 because Judas had already left the group. 30 00:01:18,180 –> 00:01:21,820 He’ll come into the Garden later, as we’ll see next week, 31 00:01:21,820 –> 00:01:23,660 but Jesus went with them, the 11, 32 00:01:23,660 –> 00:01:26,040 to a place called Gethsemane, 33 00:01:26,059 –> 00:01:27,639 a familiar place, a garden, 34 00:01:27,639 –> 00:01:30,680 where Jesus often went to pray and his disciples, 35 00:01:30,680 –> 00:01:33,800 and, of course, Judas too knew it well, 36 00:01:33,800 –> 00:01:35,180 and he said to his disciples, 37 00:01:35,180 –> 00:01:39,879 sit here while I go over there and pray, 38 00:01:41,040 –> 00:01:41,940 and verse 37, 39 00:01:41,940 –> 00:01:46,059 taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, 40 00:01:46,059 –> 00:01:47,800 that’s James and John. 41 00:01:47,800 –> 00:01:49,019 So Peter, James, and John, 42 00:01:49,019 –> 00:01:50,680 the inner circle around Jesus, 43 00:01:50,680 –> 00:01:52,739 the ones who were closest to Him, 44 00:01:52,739 –> 00:01:55,180 the ones who had been given greater privileges 45 00:01:55,180 –> 00:01:56,019 than the others, 46 00:01:56,040 –> 00:01:59,260 seen his glory on the mountain of transfiguration, 47 00:01:59,260 –> 00:02:00,419 for example. 48 00:02:00,419 –> 00:02:03,279 Jesus wanted these three near to Him 49 00:02:03,279 –> 00:02:06,180 as he prepared himself for all that was 50 00:02:06,180 –> 00:02:07,739 about to take place. 51 00:02:07,739 –> 00:02:09,059 Then verse 37. 52 00:02:10,139 –> 00:02:15,139 He began to be sorrowful and troubled. 53 00:02:18,580 –> 00:02:20,380 Then he said to them, 54 00:02:20,380 –> 00:02:24,600 my soul is very sorrowful, 55 00:02:25,119 –> 00:02:30,119 even to death remain here and watch with me. 56 00:02:33,360 –> 00:02:36,100 Now, we sometimes hear about people dying 57 00:02:36,100 –> 00:02:38,100 of a broken heart. 58 00:02:39,880 –> 00:02:42,039 That’s what Jesus is talking about here. 59 00:02:43,039 –> 00:02:46,339 Sorrowful even unto death. 60 00:02:47,520 –> 00:02:51,899 That’s the sheer weight that was on Jesus 61 00:02:51,899 –> 00:02:54,960 in the garden of Gethsemane. 62 00:02:56,320 –> 00:02:57,899 And we read verse 39 63 00:02:57,899 –> 00:03:00,259 that going a little further, 64 00:03:00,259 –> 00:03:04,880 he fell on his face and prayed saying 65 00:03:04,880 –> 00:03:08,559 my father, if it is possible, 66 00:03:09,759 –> 00:03:13,039 let this cup pass from me, 67 00:03:13,039 –> 00:03:15,759 nevertheless not as I will, 68 00:03:15,759 –> 00:03:18,679 but as you will. 69 00:03:19,559 –> 00:03:24,399 A famous scholar by the name of B.B. Warfield 70 00:03:24,399 –> 00:03:26,059 who was the professor of theology 71 00:03:26,059 –> 00:03:30,860 at Princeton from 1887 to 1921, 72 00:03:30,860 –> 00:03:34,240 it was an evangelical institution in those days 73 00:03:34,240 –> 00:03:36,619 upholding the authority of the Bible, 74 00:03:36,619 –> 00:03:39,240 B.B. Warfield was a very famous professor 75 00:03:39,240 –> 00:03:40,619 of theology there at that time. 76 00:03:40,619 –> 00:03:43,660 He wrote a piece entitled 77 00:03:43,660 –> 00:03:47,979 The Emotional Life of our Lord 78 00:03:47,979 –> 00:03:52,000 in which he explored the whole range of emotions 79 00:03:52,000 –> 00:03:54,539 as they’re presented to us in the gospels 80 00:03:54,539 –> 00:03:56,759 from the life of the Lord Jesus. 81 00:03:56,759 –> 00:04:01,759 And in that piece Warfield looked with particular detail 82 00:04:02,039 –> 00:04:06,000 at the words that are used to describe the emotions of Jesus 83 00:04:06,000 –> 00:04:09,179 in the Garden of Gethsemane as recorded 84 00:04:09,179 –> 00:04:11,520 especially by Matthew here 85 00:04:11,520 –> 00:04:14,899 and also in the gospel of Mark. 86 00:04:14,899 –> 00:04:17,059 Let me give to you some of the words 87 00:04:17,059 –> 00:04:20,959 that B.B. Warfield used to translate 88 00:04:20,959 –> 00:04:24,700 the words here that are rendered in our Bibles 89 00:04:24,700 –> 00:04:29,700 the Pew Bible as sorrowful or troubled in verse 37 90 00:04:30,220 –> 00:04:35,000 or very sorrowful, obviously a different word in verse 38. 91 00:04:35,779 –> 00:04:37,559 The New International Version by the way 92 00:04:37,559 –> 00:04:41,019 uses the word overwhelmed with sorrow 93 00:04:41,019 –> 00:04:44,579 for very sorrowful in verse 38. 94 00:04:44,600 –> 00:04:47,059 But Warfield suggested other words 95 00:04:47,059 –> 00:04:50,279 that catch the range of meaning 96 00:04:50,279 –> 00:04:51,820 that were in the original words 97 00:04:51,820 –> 00:04:54,100 that Jesus used as He spoke them 98 00:04:54,100 –> 00:04:56,619 there in the garden of Gethsemane. 99 00:04:56,619 –> 00:04:58,420 Here are the other words. 100 00:04:58,420 –> 00:05:02,100 Anguished, amazed, 101 00:05:04,459 –> 00:05:09,000 astonished, bewildered, 102 00:05:09,559 –> 00:05:13,399 dismayed, horror-struck. 103 00:05:16,179 –> 00:05:18,679 Consternation would be another word 104 00:05:18,679 –> 00:05:20,200 that might be used to capture 105 00:05:20,200 –> 00:05:22,359 what Jesus experienced here. 106 00:05:22,359 –> 00:05:25,399 He is looking into something 107 00:05:25,399 –> 00:05:27,640 that fills Him with such horror 108 00:05:29,279 –> 00:05:32,220 that everything within Him recoils 109 00:05:34,079 –> 00:05:36,079 with a kind of revulsion. 110 00:05:36,079 –> 00:05:38,040 That’s what’s happening here 111 00:05:38,200 –> 00:05:40,359 in the Garden of Gethsemane. 112 00:05:40,359 –> 00:05:42,859 Now what was it that Jesus saw 113 00:05:45,179 –> 00:05:46,459 in the Garden of Gethsemane? 114 00:05:46,459 –> 00:05:48,399 What was it that He looked into 115 00:05:48,399 –> 00:05:50,640 in the garden that caused Him 116 00:05:50,640 –> 00:05:52,980 this level of consternation, 117 00:05:54,100 –> 00:05:55,820 this kind of horror, 118 00:05:55,820 –> 00:05:58,359 this kind of revulsion 119 00:05:58,359 –> 00:06:00,600 that is communicated by the words 120 00:06:00,600 –> 00:06:03,380 that are before us in the scripture here today? 121 00:06:03,380 –> 00:06:04,799 The answer to that question, 122 00:06:04,799 –> 00:06:06,480 what was it that Jesus looked into 123 00:06:06,640 –> 00:06:09,600 and it’s in two words in verse 39, 124 00:06:09,600 –> 00:06:11,260 the words, this cup. 125 00:06:13,320 –> 00:06:15,480 Father, if it be possible, 126 00:06:15,480 –> 00:06:17,640 let this cup pass from me. 127 00:06:21,000 –> 00:06:22,380 The cup, of course, 128 00:06:22,380 –> 00:06:25,000 was much more than the physical 129 00:06:25,000 –> 00:06:27,739 agonies that our Lord Jesus 130 00:06:27,739 –> 00:06:30,160 endured on the cross, 131 00:06:30,160 –> 00:06:32,079 when He was crucified. 132 00:06:32,079 –> 00:06:34,200 He had spoken about that 133 00:06:34,200 –> 00:06:37,779 many times before to His disciples. 134 00:06:37,779 –> 00:06:39,899 Repeatedly, He says to them, 135 00:06:39,899 –> 00:06:42,220 the Son of Man must go to Jerusalem. 136 00:06:42,220 –> 00:06:44,179 He’s going to suffer many things. 137 00:06:44,179 –> 00:06:45,739 He’s going to be killed. 138 00:06:45,739 –> 00:06:49,380 That was very, very clear in anticipation 139 00:06:49,380 –> 00:06:51,420 in the mind and in the heart of Jesus, 140 00:06:51,420 –> 00:06:52,920 and He spoke about it 141 00:06:52,920 –> 00:06:55,799 without any of the intense emotion 142 00:06:55,799 –> 00:06:58,160 that is evident here 143 00:06:58,160 –> 00:07:00,600 when He speaks about the cup. 144 00:07:00,679 –> 00:07:02,679 The cup. 145 00:07:02,679 –> 00:07:06,079 So what was this cup 146 00:07:06,079 –> 00:07:08,920 that was so awful, 147 00:07:08,920 –> 00:07:11,079 so terrifying we might say, 148 00:07:11,079 –> 00:07:17,720 so overwhelming to the Son of God Himself? 149 00:07:17,760 –> 00:07:18,940 I want to suggest to you 150 00:07:18,940 –> 00:07:20,440 from the Scriptures today 151 00:07:20,440 –> 00:07:25,260 that the cup was filled with a cocktail 152 00:07:25,260 –> 00:07:30,700 of three potent ingredients. 153 00:07:30,700 –> 00:07:35,940 First among them was bearing sin. 154 00:07:35,940 –> 00:07:38,820 This is what was happening on the cross 155 00:07:38,820 –> 00:07:41,160 and the Bible, both in Old and New Testament, 156 00:07:41,160 –> 00:07:43,579 bears witness to it. 157 00:07:43,579 –> 00:07:45,160 The apostle puts it this way. 158 00:07:45,160 –> 00:07:47,339 For our sake, He made Him to be sin 159 00:07:47,339 –> 00:07:49,059 who knew no sin 160 00:07:49,059 –> 00:07:51,100 so that in Him we might become 161 00:07:51,100 –> 00:07:52,920 the righteousness of God. 162 00:07:52,920 –> 00:07:53,920 What does that mean? 163 00:07:54,100 –> 00:07:58,600 It is that when Jesus died on the cross, 164 00:07:58,600 –> 00:08:02,760 the sins of all His people, 165 00:08:02,760 –> 00:08:05,119 the sins of all who would believe in Him 166 00:08:05,119 –> 00:08:10,160 were actually laid on Jesus Christ. 167 00:08:10,160 –> 00:08:13,200 Our sins were counted against Jesus 168 00:08:13,200 –> 00:08:15,959 as if they were His own. 169 00:08:15,959 –> 00:08:18,380 He bore the guilt of our sins 170 00:08:18,380 –> 00:08:22,040 as if He was the one who had committed them. 171 00:08:22,040 –> 00:08:23,720 He Himself knew no sin 172 00:08:23,839 –> 00:08:28,040 but He became sin for us. 173 00:08:28,040 –> 00:08:30,700 And memorably in the Old Testament, 174 00:08:30,700 –> 00:08:33,679 Isaiah the prophet says that the Lord, 175 00:08:33,679 –> 00:08:35,520 that is God Himself, the Father, 176 00:08:35,520 –> 00:08:39,000 has laid on Him, on the Messiah, 177 00:08:39,000 –> 00:08:43,880 on Jesus Christ the iniquities of us all. 178 00:08:43,880 –> 00:08:46,619 Now think of what that means. 179 00:08:47,760 –> 00:08:49,359 Brother, sister in Christ, 180 00:08:49,359 –> 00:08:52,719 some of the sins that were laid on Jesus 181 00:08:52,719 –> 00:08:55,940 when He died on the cross were your sins. 182 00:08:58,059 –> 00:09:01,219 The foolish sins of your childhood. 183 00:09:03,440 –> 00:09:05,900 The willful sins of your youth. 184 00:09:07,400 –> 00:09:10,559 The arrogant sins of your college years. 185 00:09:11,679 –> 00:09:15,599 The presumptuous sins of your early adult life. 186 00:09:16,760 –> 00:09:21,000 The selfish sins of your middle years. 187 00:09:21,059 –> 00:09:24,400 The complacent sins of your later years. 188 00:09:26,039 –> 00:09:27,520 Add them all up 189 00:09:27,520 –> 00:09:31,760 and you will see that your sins are many. 190 00:09:33,359 –> 00:09:37,000 But what if you were to add to all of them 191 00:09:37,000 –> 00:09:39,580 the sins of the person sitting next to you? 192 00:09:41,320 –> 00:09:43,760 And what if you were add, to add to that 193 00:09:43,760 –> 00:09:46,599 the sins of everyone here in this service 194 00:09:46,599 –> 00:09:47,979 and the service that was before 195 00:09:47,979 –> 00:09:50,080 and the service that will come afterwards? 196 00:09:51,500 –> 00:09:53,159 And what if you were to add to that 197 00:09:53,159 –> 00:09:55,460 the sins of every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ 198 00:09:55,460 –> 00:09:57,640 in the greater Chicago area? 199 00:09:59,900 –> 00:10:02,140 And then add all of the sins of everyone 200 00:10:02,140 –> 00:10:04,719 who’s in Christ in the United States of America 201 00:10:06,099 –> 00:10:07,880 and then add to that 202 00:10:08,780 –> 00:10:12,460 the sins of every believer across the world 203 00:10:13,520 –> 00:10:15,640 and then add to that 204 00:10:15,640 –> 00:10:18,179 the sins of every believer 205 00:10:18,179 –> 00:10:20,119 in every generation of history. 206 00:10:21,880 –> 00:10:26,880 All of this was laid on Jesus. 207 00:10:28,960 –> 00:10:31,280 He bore our sins 208 00:10:31,280 –> 00:10:33,460 in His body on the tree. 209 00:10:33,460 –> 00:10:36,320 That’s first Peter chapter two and verse 24. 210 00:10:37,440 –> 00:10:39,679 And if the thought of it 211 00:10:39,679 –> 00:10:40,979 made the Son of God 212 00:10:40,979 –> 00:10:43,700 stagger in the garden of Gethsemane, 213 00:10:43,700 –> 00:10:46,440 what must the reality of it have been 214 00:10:46,440 –> 00:10:48,960 when he actually endured it on the cross? 215 00:10:51,200 –> 00:10:53,679 But friends, there was more in the cup than that, 216 00:10:54,679 –> 00:10:56,559 as if that were not enough, 217 00:10:56,559 –> 00:11:00,440 mixed in in this lethal cocktail 218 00:11:00,440 –> 00:11:05,119 that Christ, in the cup, was presented with 219 00:11:05,119 –> 00:11:06,739 was not only bearing sin, 220 00:11:06,739 –> 00:11:10,460 but also being forsaken by the Father. 221 00:11:11,400 –> 00:11:13,119 You notice how in verse 39, 222 00:11:13,119 –> 00:11:14,059 Jesus says, 223 00:11:14,059 –> 00:11:19,059 my Father, my Father, 224 00:11:20,340 –> 00:11:24,020 if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. 225 00:11:26,500 –> 00:11:28,900 Jesus had always lived 226 00:11:29,780 –> 00:11:33,140 in the joy and in the knowledge 227 00:11:33,140 –> 00:11:36,200 of this unique and glorious relationship 228 00:11:36,200 –> 00:11:38,619 in which he and the Father were one, 229 00:11:38,619 –> 00:11:39,979 him loving the Father, 230 00:11:39,979 –> 00:11:42,760 the Father loving him from before time began. 231 00:11:43,080 –> 00:11:45,960 There was never a time where it was not so, 232 00:11:45,960 –> 00:11:47,479 the Father loving me, 233 00:11:47,479 –> 00:11:49,219 me loving the Father. 234 00:11:51,280 –> 00:11:53,880 But you know that when he hung on the cross 235 00:11:53,880 –> 00:11:56,960 there came a time where he no longer 236 00:11:56,960 –> 00:12:00,400 was able to address the almighty as Father. 237 00:12:01,500 –> 00:12:05,700 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 238 00:12:05,700 –> 00:12:07,479 Now notice it’s still my God, 239 00:12:08,460 –> 00:12:09,640 but what has changed? 240 00:12:09,640 –> 00:12:11,619 He no longer has the comfort 241 00:12:12,000 –> 00:12:14,359 that he has always enjoyed 242 00:12:14,359 –> 00:12:16,099 for eternity past in heaven 243 00:12:16,099 –> 00:12:18,239 and throughout the 33 years or so 244 00:12:18,239 –> 00:12:19,719 of his incarnate life. 245 00:12:19,719 –> 00:12:21,900 He no longer has the comfort 246 00:12:21,900 –> 00:12:24,479 of the knowledge of the Father’s love. 247 00:12:24,479 –> 00:12:25,760 He is no longer able to say, 248 00:12:25,760 –> 00:12:27,960 My Father, as he is bearing sin. 249 00:12:27,960 –> 00:12:29,039 He says, My God, 250 00:12:30,440 –> 00:12:33,979 why have you forsaken me? 251 00:12:37,719 –> 00:12:41,200 This lethal cocktail that was in this cup. 252 00:12:41,200 –> 00:12:42,559 It was bearing sin. 253 00:12:42,559 –> 00:12:44,539 It was being forsaken 254 00:12:44,539 –> 00:12:46,280 and it was something else too. 255 00:12:46,280 –> 00:12:48,359 It was enduring wrath. 256 00:12:49,840 –> 00:12:52,020 Now, anyone who has studied the Bible 257 00:12:52,020 –> 00:12:55,979 will know that the image of the cup 258 00:12:55,979 –> 00:12:59,140 is very often used in Scripture 259 00:12:59,140 –> 00:13:01,700 to represent divine wrath. 260 00:13:01,700 –> 00:13:04,380 That is the fearful judgment of God 261 00:13:04,380 –> 00:13:07,380 when it is pored out on account of human sin. 262 00:13:07,380 –> 00:13:08,960 I’ll give you just one example of that 263 00:13:08,960 –> 00:13:10,239 from the Old Testament, 264 00:13:10,299 –> 00:13:14,239 Isaiah chapter 51, and verse 17, 265 00:13:14,239 –> 00:13:15,080 says this, 266 00:13:15,080 –> 00:13:16,960 wake yourself, 267 00:13:16,960 –> 00:13:20,559 wake yourself, stand up O Jerusalem, 268 00:13:20,559 –> 00:13:23,619 you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord 269 00:13:23,619 –> 00:13:24,460 Here, it is. 270 00:13:24,460 –> 00:13:26,739 the cup off His wrath. 271 00:13:28,719 –> 00:13:32,099 who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, 272 00:13:32,099 –> 00:13:35,440 the cup of staggering. 273 00:13:35,940 –> 00:13:39,460 Now, notice that the Cup 274 00:13:39,460 –> 00:13:41,479 is referred to here and in many other places 275 00:13:41,479 –> 00:13:42,419 in the Old Testament, 276 00:13:42,419 –> 00:13:44,640 as the cup of God’s wrath. 277 00:13:46,219 –> 00:13:49,179 And so potent is this 278 00:13:49,179 –> 00:13:50,919 that a person who drinks this cup 279 00:13:50,919 –> 00:13:54,780 is pictured as no longer able to walk in a straight line. 280 00:13:54,780 –> 00:13:56,859 They stagger. 281 00:13:56,859 –> 00:14:00,700 They cannot hold up their physical frame. 282 00:14:00,700 –> 00:14:02,539 So great is the weight 283 00:14:02,559 –> 00:14:07,559 of what it is to endure the wrath of God. 284 00:14:08,460 –> 00:14:11,419 Now, we know famously 285 00:14:11,419 –> 00:14:14,700 that our Lord Jesus stumbled 286 00:14:15,580 –> 00:14:18,020 under the weight of the wooden beam 287 00:14:18,020 –> 00:14:20,979 when he carried the cross outside of Jerusalem 288 00:14:20,979 –> 00:14:23,299 to the place where he was crucified. 289 00:14:24,520 –> 00:14:27,260 But I want you to notice that here in the Garden 290 00:14:27,260 –> 00:14:31,239 he is staggering under the emotional weight, 291 00:14:31,260 –> 00:14:32,840 not the physical weight of the beam. 292 00:14:32,840 –> 00:14:36,320 Here he’s staggering under the sheer emotional weight 293 00:14:37,419 –> 00:14:40,440 of what it will mean for him 294 00:14:40,440 –> 00:14:43,880 to bear the curse 295 00:14:43,880 –> 00:14:47,679 of the divine wrath and judgment of human sin. 296 00:14:49,640 –> 00:14:51,200 Now friends, please understand this 297 00:14:51,200 –> 00:14:53,640 that at each of these three points, 298 00:14:53,640 –> 00:14:56,859 in each of these as it where horrors 299 00:14:56,859 –> 00:14:59,320 that are mixed into the cup, 300 00:14:59,320 –> 00:15:03,400 bearing sin, being forsaken, and enduring wrath, 301 00:15:03,400 –> 00:15:07,599 Jesus Christ was going into the unknown. 302 00:15:08,679 –> 00:15:10,239 He was going into something 303 00:15:10,239 –> 00:15:12,179 he had never experienced before. 304 00:15:12,179 –> 00:15:14,479 He knew no sin. 305 00:15:14,479 –> 00:15:15,520 We all know what it’s like 306 00:15:15,520 –> 00:15:18,679 to have the guilt of sin and the shame of sin. 307 00:15:18,679 –> 00:15:21,640 He knew nothing of that. 308 00:15:21,640 –> 00:15:23,679 What was it going to be like for him 309 00:15:23,679 –> 00:15:26,719 to become the bearer, not only of a few sins, 310 00:15:26,739 –> 00:15:29,440 but of the sins of all of his people at all time? 311 00:15:31,080 –> 00:15:33,400 He had only ever known this wonderful, 312 00:15:33,400 –> 00:15:35,940 unique, and glorious relationship of love with the Father, 313 00:15:35,940 –> 00:15:38,820 what was it going to be like for him to be so forsaken 314 00:15:38,820 –> 00:15:40,840 that he’s no longer able to say Father? 315 00:15:43,500 –> 00:15:47,400 He’s always and only ever known the Father’s smile. 316 00:15:48,859 –> 00:15:53,359 What will it be like for him to endure the curse? 317 00:15:54,299 –> 00:15:58,059 So in Gethsemane our Lord Jesus 318 00:15:58,059 –> 00:16:02,020 is staring into a dark abyss. 319 00:16:02,960 –> 00:16:07,960 Staggered, bewildered, astonished, filled with horror. 320 00:16:09,419 –> 00:16:12,739 And when he sees all of what it is going to involve 321 00:16:12,739 –> 00:16:16,239 laid out before him in the Garden of Gethsemane, 322 00:16:17,219 –> 00:16:19,080 he says Father if it be possible, 323 00:16:19,080 –> 00:16:24,080 let this cup bearing sin, being forsaken, 324 00:16:26,000 –> 00:16:30,900 enduring the divine wrath, let this cup pass from me. 325 00:16:33,179 –> 00:16:38,179 Now I want to make two applications for us at this point. 326 00:16:38,520 –> 00:16:42,479 You say okay this is what Jesus experienced in the garden. 327 00:16:42,479 –> 00:16:46,159 How does this speak into my life today? 328 00:16:46,159 –> 00:16:49,559 Let me suggest two very powerful and very wonderful ways. 329 00:16:49,559 –> 00:16:54,559 Number one, our Savior knows what it is to be troubled. 330 00:16:56,380 –> 00:17:00,880 Our Savior knows what it is to be troubled. 331 00:17:00,880 –> 00:17:02,880 And here’s what that means for us today. 332 00:17:04,119 –> 00:17:08,599 When you face a journey into the unknown, 333 00:17:10,280 –> 00:17:13,719 when you face a challenge that’s going to take you 334 00:17:13,719 –> 00:17:16,900 someplace you have never been before, 335 00:17:18,800 –> 00:17:23,300 your Savior has been there and he will walk with you. 336 00:17:25,079 –> 00:17:27,079 If you should come at some point in your life 337 00:17:27,079 –> 00:17:30,359 to a place where your mind is tormented, 338 00:17:31,780 –> 00:17:34,479 where the very thought of what you see 339 00:17:35,640 –> 00:17:37,739 causes you to stagger, 340 00:17:38,619 –> 00:17:42,500 your Savior has been there and he will walk with you. 341 00:17:45,859 –> 00:17:48,099 If you should come to a place in your life 342 00:17:48,099 –> 00:17:51,819 where the sheer weight of responsibility that you carry 343 00:17:51,819 –> 00:17:54,160 seems overwhelming to you, 344 00:17:55,099 –> 00:17:56,880 that perhaps the lives for others in some way 345 00:17:56,880 –> 00:18:01,239 are dependent upon your leadership in one way or another 346 00:18:01,239 –> 00:18:02,900 and you feel the weight of that, 347 00:18:02,900 –> 00:18:06,140 you think about the weight of what was on Jesus’ shoulders 348 00:18:06,140 –> 00:18:07,939 in the Garden of Gethsemane. 349 00:18:07,939 –> 00:18:10,479 The salvation of the world rests on him. 350 00:18:12,099 –> 00:18:13,619 He’s been there and when you feel 351 00:18:13,619 –> 00:18:18,619 the weight of responsibility he will walk with you. 352 00:18:20,099 –> 00:18:22,339 And if you should come to a place in your life 353 00:18:22,339 –> 00:18:23,739 where you look into the future 354 00:18:23,739 –> 00:18:25,180 with a sense of dread, 355 00:18:26,719 –> 00:18:28,520 the future is not bright. 356 00:18:28,520 –> 00:18:31,719 What you looking at as you look into the coming weeks 357 00:18:31,719 –> 00:18:35,839 and months makes you say how am I going to cope with this? 358 00:18:38,439 –> 00:18:39,780 Well, that’s the time when you come 359 00:18:39,780 –> 00:18:41,319 to the Garden of Gethsemane and you say, 360 00:18:41,319 –> 00:18:44,839 now my savior has been there. 361 00:18:44,839 –> 00:18:48,020 And he will walk with me. 362 00:18:49,219 –> 00:18:51,800 And if you should find yourself in a place 363 00:18:51,800 –> 00:18:54,319 where you are let down, disappointed by others 364 00:18:54,319 –> 00:18:57,739 in whom you have invested very deeply in your life, 365 00:18:57,739 –> 00:18:59,800 you’ve poured into the lives of other people 366 00:18:59,800 –> 00:19:01,319 and you thought that when your own time 367 00:19:01,319 –> 00:19:03,140 of need came they would be there for you 368 00:19:03,140 –> 00:19:04,300 but you were disappointed. 369 00:19:04,300 –> 00:19:06,859 They seemed unable when that time came 370 00:19:06,859 –> 00:19:09,359 to even grasp what you were facing. 371 00:19:09,359 –> 00:19:11,939 They were like the disciples asleep in the garden. 372 00:19:13,339 –> 00:19:15,420 Well, if you should come to such a place in your life, 373 00:19:15,420 –> 00:19:16,520 you will remember this. 374 00:19:16,520 –> 00:19:19,380 That your savior has been there, 375 00:19:19,380 –> 00:19:21,180 and he knows what that is. 376 00:19:21,180 –> 00:19:24,140 And he will walk with you. 377 00:19:25,420 –> 00:19:30,099 Jesus Christ will walk with you in the darkest place 378 00:19:30,260 –> 00:19:31,540 in the way that no one else can 379 00:19:31,540 –> 00:19:34,119 because he has been to the darkest place 380 00:19:34,119 –> 00:19:36,339 in the way that no one else has. 381 00:19:37,599 –> 00:19:41,459 Troubled, overwhelmed, 382 00:19:42,459 –> 00:19:46,079 bewildered, dismayed, 383 00:19:46,079 –> 00:19:50,880 horror struck, Jesus has been there. 384 00:19:50,880 –> 00:19:52,579 And therefore he is able to give you 385 00:19:52,579 –> 00:19:54,900 uniquely the strength that you need. 386 00:19:54,900 –> 00:19:56,180 This is the whole point, isn’t it, 387 00:19:56,180 –> 00:19:57,520 of Hebrews in Chapter 4 388 00:19:57,579 –> 00:20:00,959 that says our Savior’s not away and aloof from us 389 00:20:00,959 –> 00:20:02,060 and remote from us. 390 00:20:02,060 –> 00:20:03,979 He’s been tested as we are 391 00:20:03,979 –> 00:20:06,739 and therefore we can come to him, 392 00:20:06,739 –> 00:20:07,859 to his throne of grace. 393 00:20:07,859 –> 00:20:09,839 And we will find that from him 394 00:20:09,839 –> 00:20:13,900 we receive the help that we need in our time of need. 395 00:20:13,900 –> 00:20:18,040 It is so good to know that our Savior has been troubled 396 00:20:18,040 –> 00:20:21,260 and therefore is able to stand with us 397 00:20:21,260 –> 00:20:23,060 when we are troubled too. 398 00:20:23,060 –> 00:20:26,739 Second, this story from Gethsemane 399 00:20:26,739 –> 00:20:28,420 helps us in a very profound way 400 00:20:28,420 –> 00:20:30,660 by reminding us that our Savior knows 401 00:20:30,660 –> 00:20:31,920 what it is to be torn. 402 00:20:35,140 –> 00:20:38,140 Now, Jesus was holy. 403 00:20:38,140 –> 00:20:40,280 He was holy in nature. 404 00:20:41,579 –> 00:20:44,500 There was no sin in him. 405 00:20:46,140 –> 00:20:47,599 So, you may wonder, 406 00:20:47,599 –> 00:20:49,400 because, sin of course, 407 00:20:49,400 –> 00:20:53,420 has its in habitation in us right from birth 408 00:20:53,420 –> 00:20:54,859 and even as Christian believers, 409 00:20:55,540 –> 00:20:56,819 James the apostle says 410 00:20:56,819 –> 00:20:59,699 we are tempted when we are enticed 411 00:20:59,699 –> 00:21:01,920 by our own evil desire. 412 00:21:01,920 –> 00:21:05,500 There’s that within us that is drawn to sin. 413 00:21:05,500 –> 00:21:08,719 There was nothing in Jesus that was drawn to sin. 414 00:21:08,719 –> 00:21:10,660 His experience of temptation 415 00:21:10,660 –> 00:21:13,660 was all the devil throwing stuff from outside. 416 00:21:13,660 –> 00:21:16,500 There was nothing that was coming from within him 417 00:21:16,500 –> 00:21:19,479 in the way that it comes from within us. 418 00:21:19,479 –> 00:21:21,420 So, what does he really know 419 00:21:21,420 –> 00:21:23,579 about what it’s like for us to struggle? 420 00:21:24,319 –> 00:21:29,000 See really, Jesus never struggled with an addiction. 421 00:21:30,119 –> 00:21:32,579 There’s no history of sin with him 422 00:21:32,579 –> 00:21:35,319 that some old sin comes back to haunt 423 00:21:35,319 –> 00:21:37,760 in the way that for us our experience is 424 00:21:37,760 –> 00:21:39,920 when we gave way to something in the past 425 00:21:39,920 –> 00:21:41,920 it often comes back and our defenses 426 00:21:41,920 –> 00:21:43,660 are weakened against it in the future. 427 00:21:43,660 –> 00:21:47,959 He knew nothing of that because there was no sin in him. 428 00:21:49,219 –> 00:21:51,760 So there is I think, amongst many Christian people 429 00:21:51,760 –> 00:21:53,420 a lurking suspicion 430 00:21:53,839 –> 00:21:56,540 whatever is said about the temptations in the wilderness 431 00:21:56,540 –> 00:22:00,099 that Jesus can’t really know what it is like 432 00:22:01,540 –> 00:22:06,540 for a person to be torn inside 433 00:22:06,660 –> 00:22:11,660 in regards to a decision to move in one direction 434 00:22:11,780 –> 00:22:15,020 or to move in another direction in which one is pulled. 435 00:22:15,020 –> 00:22:17,020 Well if you have that question 436 00:22:17,020 –> 00:22:19,319 this is where you should come for the answer. 437 00:22:20,300 –> 00:22:23,060 Look at what Jesus says here in verse 39. 438 00:22:24,239 –> 00:22:29,239 If it be possible let this cup pass from me. 439 00:22:30,500 –> 00:22:35,500 Nevertheless, not as I will but as you will. 440 00:22:40,599 –> 00:22:43,780 Being human of course involves making choices all the time 441 00:22:43,780 –> 00:22:48,099 and that was true for our Lord Jesus Christ 442 00:22:48,099 –> 00:22:49,420 as it is true for us. 443 00:22:49,420 –> 00:22:53,160 Throughout His life the Lord Jesus 444 00:22:53,199 –> 00:22:57,339 aligned His will with the will of the Father 445 00:22:57,339 –> 00:23:00,719 and throughout His life, it is very clear from the gospels 446 00:23:00,719 –> 00:23:04,939 that it was His joy and it was His delight to do so. 447 00:23:05,959 –> 00:23:07,160 When you have this in the gospels 448 00:23:07,160 –> 00:23:10,520 we’ve seen it just the other week in John chapter 5 449 00:23:10,520 –> 00:23:15,140 where Jesus says, I seek not my own will 450 00:23:15,140 –> 00:23:17,719 but the will of Him who sent me. 451 00:23:17,719 –> 00:23:19,560 Or John chapter 6 and verse 38, 452 00:23:19,680 –> 00:23:23,719 I’ve come down from heaven not to do my own will 453 00:23:23,719 –> 00:23:26,119 but the will of Him who sent me. 454 00:23:26,119 –> 00:23:29,459 And this was not difficult for Jesus. 455 00:23:30,400 –> 00:23:32,660 He says, we saw this in John in chapter 4, 456 00:23:32,660 –> 00:23:37,660 my food is to do the will of Him who sent me 457 00:23:38,040 –> 00:23:40,359 and to accomplish His work. 458 00:23:40,359 –> 00:23:42,439 In other words, my food is this, 459 00:23:42,439 –> 00:23:45,599 it’s nourishing for me to do the will of the Father. 460 00:23:45,599 –> 00:23:48,040 When I align my will with the will of the Father 461 00:23:48,040 –> 00:23:50,800 that replenishes me, it strengthens me, 462 00:23:50,800 –> 00:23:54,359 it is my delight and it is my joy, it’s my food. 463 00:23:56,560 –> 00:24:00,020 But not always, but not always. 464 00:24:01,239 –> 00:24:06,239 Here in the garden Jesus experiences what it is 465 00:24:08,739 –> 00:24:13,739 to have all the inclinations of His sinless humanity 466 00:24:14,180 –> 00:24:18,400 pull in one direction and the will 467 00:24:18,400 –> 00:24:21,020 of the Father pull in another. 468 00:24:22,579 –> 00:24:25,660 Now let me just say this, that if you are a Christian 469 00:24:25,660 –> 00:24:30,219 your experience will mirror the experience of Jesus. 470 00:24:30,219 –> 00:24:33,500 In other words, when God’s spirit lives within you 471 00:24:33,500 –> 00:24:37,660 you will find that much of the time what God wants you 472 00:24:37,660 –> 00:24:40,540 to do and what you yourself want to do are wonderfully, 473 00:24:40,540 –> 00:24:43,780 joyfully, and freely aligned and that doing his will 474 00:24:43,780 –> 00:24:46,219 is just a joy and the delight for you. 475 00:24:46,219 –> 00:24:48,040 It is not difficult at all. 476 00:24:49,300 –> 00:24:52,579 But you will come to places in your life 477 00:24:52,579 –> 00:24:55,859 when everything in your humanity pulls 478 00:24:55,859 –> 00:24:58,920 in one direction and the will of God pulls in another. 479 00:24:59,859 –> 00:25:01,500 That’s what Jesus surely is referring to 480 00:25:01,500 –> 00:25:03,420 when he says to his disciples you also are going 481 00:25:03,420 –> 00:25:05,099 to have to take up your cross. 482 00:25:05,099 –> 00:25:06,819 Nobody wants to do that. 483 00:25:06,819 –> 00:25:11,459 And when that happens, you will have to make a decision 484 00:25:11,459 –> 00:25:14,339 and that’s what Jesus is doing right here. 485 00:25:14,339 –> 00:25:18,500 And when you find everything in your humanity 486 00:25:18,500 –> 00:25:20,300 pulling in one direction and the will of God 487 00:25:20,300 –> 00:25:23,020 is revealed in scripture pulling in another direction, 488 00:25:23,020 –> 00:25:27,739 the culture will say to you, you must be true to yourself. 489 00:25:27,739 –> 00:25:32,739 You must go with the flow of what you find within yourself, 490 00:25:33,660 –> 00:25:37,839 but here we find Jesus choosing the will of the Father 491 00:25:37,839 –> 00:25:42,839 over his own not my will, but yours be done. 492 00:25:46,900 –> 00:25:49,199 Now, how did he do that? 493 00:25:49,199 –> 00:25:54,199 He chose not the inclinations of his sinless humanity, 494 00:25:54,339 –> 00:25:55,579 but the will of the Father. 495 00:25:55,579 –> 00:25:57,979 How could you come to the place of choosing 496 00:25:57,979 –> 00:26:01,380 not the inclinations of your sinful humanity, 497 00:26:01,459 –> 00:26:03,979 but rather the will of the Father? 498 00:26:03,979 –> 00:26:06,199 There’s only one way in which that is going to happen, 499 00:26:06,199 –> 00:26:09,760 and that would be this, that your love of the Father 500 00:26:09,760 –> 00:26:12,739 is greater than your love for your own inclinations. 501 00:26:14,900 –> 00:26:19,900 Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given to me? 502 00:26:23,459 –> 00:26:24,660 John Calvin has a comment on this 503 00:26:24,660 –> 00:26:27,660 that I found fresh, helpful, well-stated, 504 00:26:27,660 –> 00:26:29,099 and so I share it with you today. 505 00:26:29,119 –> 00:26:32,319 He says this, the modesty of faith 506 00:26:33,180 –> 00:26:36,900 consists in permitting God to appoint differently 507 00:26:37,819 –> 00:26:39,760 from what we desire. 508 00:26:39,760 –> 00:26:42,380 I love the phrase the modesty of faith. 509 00:26:43,400 –> 00:26:46,380 You see, there can be a certain kind of fake faith 510 00:26:46,380 –> 00:26:49,739 that is just full of pride, 511 00:26:49,739 –> 00:26:52,180 and just assumes that everything that I want 512 00:26:52,180 –> 00:26:54,079 must therefore be what God wants. 513 00:26:54,079 –> 00:26:56,619 What is that to do but to assume that I’m actually God 514 00:26:56,619 –> 00:26:58,119 and that he’s a mirror of me? 515 00:26:59,459 –> 00:27:02,540 But genuine faith, Calvin says, has a certain modesty, 516 00:27:02,540 –> 00:27:04,339 it has a certain humility about it 517 00:27:04,339 –> 00:27:07,800 that permits God to appoint differently from what we desire. 518 00:27:09,979 –> 00:27:11,400 And he goes on to say from that, 519 00:27:11,400 –> 00:27:14,180 you know, by all means, when God has made a clear promise, 520 00:27:14,180 –> 00:27:18,500 claim the promise, and do that with a boldness of faith, 521 00:27:19,959 –> 00:27:21,979 but where you’re in a situation 522 00:27:21,979 –> 00:27:24,339 where there is no direct promise from God 523 00:27:24,339 –> 00:27:27,280 that reveals his will in a particular situation, 524 00:27:28,099 –> 00:27:32,839 then is the time for you to exercise the modesty of faith, 525 00:27:32,839 –> 00:27:36,880 the humility of faith that allows that what you want 526 00:27:36,880 –> 00:27:38,920 and what God has appointed may not actually 527 00:27:38,920 –> 00:27:41,680 be the same thing, and therefore, 528 00:27:41,680 –> 00:27:44,300 you bring your prayer to God as Jesus did. 529 00:27:44,300 –> 00:27:47,359 If it be possible, here’s what I ask, 530 00:27:47,359 –> 00:27:52,359 but nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. 531 00:27:53,119 –> 00:27:58,119 Friends, that is so radically countercultural. 532 00:27:58,219 –> 00:28:02,359 I mean, our culture cannot imagine anything greater 533 00:28:02,359 –> 00:28:04,640 than our own desires. 534 00:28:04,640 –> 00:28:06,800 Our own desires have become supreme. 535 00:28:06,800 –> 00:28:08,400 They’ve taken the place of God. 536 00:28:08,400 –> 00:28:10,660 That’s the blasphemy of our time, 537 00:28:10,660 –> 00:28:14,040 and so we are constantly fed with this assumption 538 00:28:14,040 –> 00:28:15,800 that whatever an individual desires 539 00:28:15,800 –> 00:28:19,880 must therefore de facto be that individual’s highest good, 540 00:28:20,319 –> 00:28:25,319 but for Jesus, the sinless Jesus, 541 00:28:27,040 –> 00:28:32,040 the will of the Father is greater to Him 542 00:28:32,540 –> 00:28:36,439 than every impulse of His sinless humanity. 543 00:28:37,979 –> 00:28:40,119 How much more, therefore, will it be the case 544 00:28:40,119 –> 00:28:42,280 that we will find ourselves looking at the will 545 00:28:42,280 –> 00:28:44,479 of the Father and saying that is bigger 546 00:28:44,479 –> 00:28:49,660 than every impulse of my sinful humanity. 547 00:28:50,819 –> 00:28:54,859 Those who love the Father know what it is 548 00:28:54,859 –> 00:28:59,859 to say not my will but yours be done. 549 00:29:02,239 –> 00:29:04,660 Now, I want just briefly in these last moments 550 00:29:04,660 –> 00:29:06,859 to make two conclusions. 551 00:29:06,859 –> 00:29:08,300 We made two applications 552 00:29:08,300 –> 00:29:13,000 and so let me now press these two further things 553 00:29:13,000 –> 00:29:15,319 before us in these last minutes. 554 00:29:15,319 –> 00:29:18,680 I think that there is here a wonderful 555 00:29:18,839 –> 00:29:22,000 assurance, a joyful assurance, 556 00:29:22,000 –> 00:29:25,579 and there also is a very, very serious warning. 557 00:29:25,579 –> 00:29:27,239 Let’s take the second one first. 558 00:29:28,459 –> 00:29:31,920 Jesus said on one ocasion that’s very relevant 559 00:29:31,920 –> 00:29:34,219 to what we’re looking at here, 560 00:29:34,219 –> 00:29:35,959 he was speaking to some people 561 00:29:35,959 –> 00:29:38,760 who refused to believe in him. 562 00:29:38,760 –> 00:29:40,540 It’s amazing how someone 563 00:29:40,540 –> 00:29:43,680 can be very determined not to believe. 564 00:29:44,959 –> 00:29:46,420 And Jesus said to some people 565 00:29:46,439 –> 00:29:48,339 who refused to believe in him, 566 00:29:49,219 –> 00:29:53,560 he said, unless you believe that I am he, 567 00:29:53,560 –> 00:29:57,060 you will die in your sins. 568 00:29:57,060 –> 00:30:00,739 Unless you believe that I am he, 569 00:30:00,739 –> 00:30:04,900 you will die in your sins. 570 00:30:07,300 –> 00:30:12,300 Now there’s a poem that’s often quoted on bereavement cards. 571 00:30:13,020 –> 00:30:14,459 I’ve seen it very often 572 00:30:14,500 –> 00:30:17,819 and I expect that many of you will have seen it as well. 573 00:30:17,819 –> 00:30:21,540 It actually was not originally written as a poem, 574 00:30:21,540 –> 00:30:24,939 it was part of a sermon by a minister, 575 00:30:24,939 –> 00:30:29,280 an English minister by the name of Henry Scott Collins. 576 00:30:29,280 –> 00:30:32,859 And it begins like this, death is nothing at all. 577 00:30:32,859 –> 00:30:34,540 Have you seen this poem? 578 00:30:34,540 –> 00:30:36,099 Death is nothing at all. 579 00:30:37,500 –> 00:30:39,140 It does not count. 580 00:30:40,140 –> 00:30:44,280 I have only slipped away into the next room. 581 00:30:45,619 –> 00:30:47,000 Nothing has happened. 582 00:30:48,459 –> 00:30:50,579 Death is nothing at all. 583 00:30:53,319 –> 00:30:56,119 Now these are beautiful words, 584 00:30:56,119 –> 00:30:59,800 and they will sell a whole lot of cards for Hallmark. 585 00:31:03,219 –> 00:31:05,420 But I’m asking you to consider this. 586 00:31:05,420 –> 00:31:07,699 If a person dies in their sins, 587 00:31:07,699 –> 00:31:10,560 how in the world can death be nothing at all? 588 00:31:12,739 –> 00:31:17,739 What would it be to go into death, bearing your sins, 589 00:31:19,459 –> 00:31:23,640 being forsaken by God, and facing the divine wrath? 590 00:31:25,420 –> 00:31:30,420 And Jesus says, unless you believe that I am he, 591 00:31:30,540 –> 00:31:32,300 this is what’s gonna happen to you. 592 00:31:33,939 –> 00:31:36,099 You’re gonna die in your sins. 593 00:31:38,660 –> 00:31:42,219 We live in a world, friends, where millions 594 00:31:42,219 –> 00:31:45,699 are quite convinced that faith in Jesus Christ 595 00:31:45,699 –> 00:31:48,020 is a grand thing if it works for you 596 00:31:48,020 –> 00:31:50,619 and if you happen to feel the need of it. 597 00:31:50,619 –> 00:31:53,199 But they see no need of a savior for themselves 598 00:31:53,199 –> 00:31:55,900 and Gethsemane surely screams out 599 00:31:55,900 –> 00:32:00,680 to every person on the planet, you need a savior. 600 00:32:02,780 –> 00:32:07,060 And if even the anticipation, not the reality, 601 00:32:07,099 –> 00:32:11,660 but just the anticipation of all that it would mean 602 00:32:13,160 –> 00:32:17,739 to bear sin and to be forsaken by the father 603 00:32:17,739 –> 00:32:20,180 and to endure the divine wrath, 604 00:32:20,180 –> 00:32:25,180 if the very anticipation of it made the Son of God stagger, 605 00:32:26,339 –> 00:32:28,859 what would the reality of it be? 606 00:32:29,760 –> 00:32:31,540 For someone who dies in their sins 607 00:32:31,540 –> 00:32:34,140 and takes that into the presence of God 608 00:32:34,140 –> 00:32:36,540 only to find themselves forsaken by the father 609 00:32:36,640 –> 00:32:38,079 and facing the divine wrath. 610 00:32:40,699 –> 00:32:44,640 Well, the world may laugh at these things, 611 00:32:44,640 –> 00:32:47,239 but that is because the world is like the disciples 612 00:32:47,239 –> 00:32:50,020 asleep in the garden with absolutely no clue 613 00:32:50,020 –> 00:32:51,859 as to the eternal realities 614 00:32:51,859 –> 00:32:54,319 that are being transacted right there and then. 615 00:32:56,439 –> 00:33:01,439 Jesus said if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. 616 00:33:02,079 –> 00:33:05,219 If it had passed from him, who would it have passed to? 617 00:33:05,219 –> 00:33:07,119 It would have passed to us 618 00:33:07,119 –> 00:33:09,280 because it was filled with our sins. 619 00:33:12,400 –> 00:33:14,599 My friend, today, let me say this to you, 620 00:33:14,599 –> 00:33:18,760 Jesus Christ did not pass on the cup, he drank the cup. 621 00:33:18,760 –> 00:33:21,260 And since he drank it, why should you? 622 00:33:23,160 –> 00:33:25,560 Why should you take your sins into your death 623 00:33:25,560 –> 00:33:28,260 when he has taken sins into his? 624 00:33:30,160 –> 00:33:34,119 Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ 625 00:33:35,300 –> 00:33:37,859 and you will be saved. 626 00:33:37,859 –> 00:33:38,699 Why? 627 00:33:38,699 –> 00:33:40,319 Because he bore the wrath, 628 00:33:40,319 –> 00:33:43,020 because he was forsaken by the father, 629 00:33:43,020 –> 00:33:48,020 and because he took our sins there on the cross. 630 00:33:51,040 –> 00:33:53,020 And then, just turning it the other way, 631 00:33:53,020 –> 00:33:55,680 there is not only an appeal to a person 632 00:33:55,680 –> 00:33:58,099 who has not yet believed to do so today 633 00:33:58,099 –> 00:34:00,699 and a warning about the importance of that, 634 00:34:00,699 –> 00:34:03,180 there’s also the most marvelous assurance here 635 00:34:03,180 –> 00:34:04,979 for all who are in Christ. 636 00:34:05,260 –> 00:34:10,060 Jesus says, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. 637 00:34:10,060 –> 00:34:12,139 If there’s any other way, 638 00:34:13,919 –> 00:34:15,659 let’s go with the other way. 639 00:34:17,100 –> 00:34:18,699 If there’s any other way for men and women 640 00:34:18,699 –> 00:34:21,379 to be reconciled to God and to be saved for all eternity 641 00:34:21,379 –> 00:34:23,979 other than me drinking all that’s in this cup, 642 00:34:23,979 –> 00:34:27,459 then let’s go with that and Gethsemane makes it clear 643 00:34:27,459 –> 00:34:31,800 that there was and is no other way. 644 00:34:32,580 –> 00:34:34,520 It’s the whole point of this story. 645 00:34:34,520 –> 00:34:37,879 Why did Jesus have to go to the cross? 646 00:34:37,879 –> 00:34:42,419 Friends, if the world’s religions 647 00:34:42,419 –> 00:34:45,020 all equally were able to offer a way 648 00:34:45,020 –> 00:34:46,320 to be right with God, 649 00:34:46,320 –> 00:34:48,600 Jesus would never have gone to the cross. 650 00:34:48,600 –> 00:34:51,020 The answer to the question, if it’s possible, 651 00:34:51,020 –> 00:34:52,939 let this cup pass from me would be, 652 00:34:52,939 –> 00:34:54,959 sure it’s possible, all the other religions 653 00:34:54,959 –> 00:34:57,560 that already exist in the world of alternative ways. 654 00:34:57,560 –> 00:35:00,120 Fine, no reason to go to the cross. 655 00:35:02,479 –> 00:35:06,560 If it was that living a dutiful Christian life 656 00:35:06,560 –> 00:35:10,020 was the way into which a person was reconciled to God 657 00:35:10,020 –> 00:35:12,239 and brought into everlasting life, 658 00:35:12,239 –> 00:35:14,939 then when you come to Gethsemane the answer, 659 00:35:14,939 –> 00:35:18,020 if it’s possible, let this cup be taken from me, 660 00:35:18,020 –> 00:35:20,080 the answer would be, yeah sure, it’s possible, 661 00:35:20,080 –> 00:35:22,800 all we need to do is leave the teaching of Jesus 662 00:35:22,800 –> 00:35:23,699 and let them get on with it 663 00:35:23,699 –> 00:35:27,080 and the ones who score pretty well in measuring up to it, 664 00:35:27,080 –> 00:35:28,679 they’ll be okay, but no. 665 00:35:29,639 –> 00:35:32,219 Gethsemane proclaims to us 666 00:35:32,219 –> 00:35:35,000 that there is only one way 667 00:35:35,000 –> 00:35:38,000 in which sinners can be reconciled to God 668 00:35:38,000 –> 00:35:40,500 and it is through Jesus drinking the cup 669 00:35:40,500 –> 00:35:43,120 because there is no other way in which sin is born 670 00:35:43,120 –> 00:35:45,919 and the forsaking of the father is done with 671 00:35:45,919 –> 00:35:48,260 and the curse is removed. 672 00:35:50,159 –> 00:35:52,379 That’s the whole point of Gethsemane. 673 00:35:53,959 –> 00:35:55,719 Now, take this into your heart 674 00:35:55,719 –> 00:35:57,419 because it’s very, very wonderful. 675 00:35:59,120 –> 00:36:00,659 There is no other way 676 00:36:02,340 –> 00:36:05,300 except that Jesus drank the cup 677 00:36:07,120 –> 00:36:08,100 and he drank it 678 00:36:09,439 –> 00:36:10,399 and he drank it. 679 00:36:11,760 –> 00:36:15,679 In other words, all that is needed 680 00:36:15,679 –> 00:36:20,120 for the salvation forever of every person 681 00:36:20,120 –> 00:36:24,360 who trusts in Jesus Christ has already been accomplished 682 00:36:24,439 –> 00:36:28,939 by what he has done and endured there on the cross 683 00:36:29,739 –> 00:36:31,199 and this is your assurance. 684 00:36:31,199 –> 00:36:33,120 This is how you can have peace this week. 685 00:36:33,120 –> 00:36:34,820 This is how you can have confidence 686 00:36:34,820 –> 00:36:37,719 and freedom before God and to even joy 687 00:36:37,719 –> 00:36:39,840 and especially when you are faced 688 00:36:39,840 –> 00:36:42,360 with the many, many failures and compromises 689 00:36:42,360 –> 00:36:45,679 of your own life, here’s the assurance that you have. 690 00:36:45,679 –> 00:36:48,360 Your sins, brother and sister in Christ 691 00:36:48,360 –> 00:36:52,159 have been laid on Jesus 692 00:36:52,199 –> 00:36:56,060 and Jesus Christ took them into his own death 693 00:36:56,060 –> 00:36:58,060 so that whenever your death comes, 694 00:36:58,060 –> 00:36:59,879 whether it be this week or 25 or 50 695 00:36:59,879 –> 00:37:01,419 or a hundred years from now, 696 00:37:03,139 –> 00:37:05,199 you’re not gonna take your sins into your death 697 00:37:05,199 –> 00:37:07,780 because he already took them on your behalf into his 698 00:37:08,959 –> 00:37:11,280 and he really was forsaken by the father 699 00:37:11,280 –> 00:37:13,399 and for that reason the father says to you, 700 00:37:13,399 –> 00:37:16,439 his child, I will never leave you 701 00:37:16,439 –> 00:37:18,719 and I will never forsake you 702 00:37:19,500 –> 00:37:22,520 and he really has endured the divine wrath. 703 00:37:22,520 –> 00:37:26,699 It has been spent on him, it has been exhausted on him. 704 00:37:26,699 –> 00:37:29,159 It has been poured out so that none of it remains 705 00:37:29,159 –> 00:37:32,879 in regards to you and you will therefore never, 706 00:37:32,879 –> 00:37:37,879 never, never, never to all eternity know what this is like. 707 00:37:39,300 –> 00:37:44,300 Therefore there is now no condemnation 708 00:37:45,020 –> 00:37:50,020 no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 709 00:37:50,100 –> 00:37:52,659 Isn’t that the greatest good news you’ve ever heard? 710 00:37:53,699 –> 00:37:55,100 He drank the cup for you. 711 00:37:56,580 –> 00:38:01,580 Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift. 712 00:38:02,260 –> 00:38:07,260 Father, as we’ve considered the burden 713 00:38:07,260 –> 00:38:10,479 that weighed on Jesus’ shoulder somehow in our own souls 714 00:38:10,520 –> 00:38:14,000 we’re just filled with a sense of wonder 715 00:38:14,000 –> 00:38:17,459 and praise at what our Savior has done for us 716 00:38:17,459 –> 00:38:19,520 and all that is ours in him. 717 00:38:20,699 –> 00:38:22,760 And so we ask that you will help us then 718 00:38:22,760 –> 00:38:25,060 to live in the good of all that is ours 719 00:38:25,840 –> 00:38:29,500 through Jesus Christ, in whose wonderful name we pray, 720 00:38:29,500 –> 00:38:32,699 and all of God’s people together said, amen.