The Suffering Servant: In Gethsemane
The Reading of the Word of God
Mark 14:32-42
And they went to a place called Gethsemane.
And he said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray." And he took with him Peter and James and
John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them,
"My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and
watch." And going a little farther,
he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass
from him. And he said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for you.
Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." And he came and found them sleeping, and he
said to Peter, "Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into
temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." And again he went away and prayed, saying the
same words. And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very
heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. And he came the third time and
said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough;
the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise,
let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand."
Let’s pray
Father we ask tonight, that your word would pierce our
callous hearts. To have your very words, stir our inner beings. To have your
Spirit bear witness to us the truth of the Gospel message. Let us not grow cold
to the burden you bore, the beating you endured and the surrender you
displayed. I cannot nor do I have the ability to preach with the passion you
displayed that night so long ago. Set this message apart and myself as its
deliverer, so that your work my be glorified… so that you may be exalted. In
your holy name I pray, Amen.
Warm up
You may be seated.
PREACH
In the movie The Passion of the Christ, we see in much
detail what Scripture only mentions
in its accounts.
John 19:16-18
So he [the Roman official Pilate] delivered him over to them
to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and
he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a skull,
which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two
others, one on either side and Jesus between them
The Scriptures say that Christ was
crucified. That’s it. They also say that he was flogged by Roman soldiers. And
within this memorable movie millions of people were exposed to how Jesus died. It was a gruesome death.
We don’t have to say as Christians that he suffered the worst of any body in
all of time itself, for Scripture itself doesn’t say that. Crucifixions were a common death
sentence. Mostly for men. When their
were the rare times a woman was crucified, she was placed on the cross with
their face away from the crowd so they would not see the agony of a woman’s
face.
The images we saw in this movie
moved many to tears. However, images cannot adequately convey the gospel’s
content. They knew How he died, but ultimately not Why He died.
The gospel’s message isn’t visual IT IS TRUTH. TRUTH TO BE BELIEVED, NOT JUST VIEWED.
The gospel’s message isn’t visual IT IS TRUTH. TRUTH TO BE BELIEVED, NOT JUST VIEWED.
To know what the gospel truth is
and the very reason for the Servant Christ’s Suffering, I want us to camp in
the 14th chapter of Mark and
understand what is happening in this
agonizing scene with Christ’s intimate prayer.
Let’s look at The Suffering Servant in Gethsemane. Within
your notes
Introduction
“And they went to a place called Gethsemane.” v32
- The word Gethsemane means “oil press. probably the place where the produce of the mount of Olives was prepared for use.
- John calls this "a garden." Now this garden was on the western side of the Mount of Olives, and a short distance from Jerusalem. This was not a garden for the cultivation of vegetables, but a place planted with the olive and other trees, perhaps with a fountain of water, and with walks and groves; a proper place of refreshment in a hot climate, and of retirement from the noise of the adjacent city.
- Luke had said in his account that it was a common place for Jesus to come and pray. (Luke 21:37; 22:39)
“And he took with him Peter and James and John” v 33.
·
Why, Primarily for their benefit. They were
privileged to be witnesses to Christ’s struggle in the darkest hour of His
earthly life. From his example they would learn how to handle great affliction.
·
How ironic that the All Powerful, Perfect Son of God felt great need to pray
that evening- so vulnerably and honestly and so intimately (note that only here do we see Jesus call the
Father Abba my Father)- yet his weak, imperfect disciples felt no such need in
that hour. They fell asleep.
Now we get into the outline of what Jesus Suffered in
Gethsemane. Within your notes…
Jesus Suffered…
I. Emotional Distress Of Events To Come
“and began to be greatly distressed and troubled” v 33.
- B.B. Warfield wrote a study on The Emotional life of Our Lord. In quoting terms used in the gospels it reveals that…
1.
Luke says “being in agony, he prayed more earnestly” (v
44). That word agony is defined as “consternation (alarmed), appalled (or
horrified) reluctance.
2.
Matthew and Mark’s accounts share the expression of the
Lord being “troubled”. That means their
was a “loathing aversion (or a disgusting hatred) perhaps not unmixed with
despondency. (or misery)”
3.
Jesus’ own description of being “very sorrowful”
expresses a mental pain which is coming at him from all sides and from which there is no escape.
4.
Also in Mark’s account he says the Lord Jesus was
“greatly distressed.” Which is defined as horror struck, not exactly dread ,
yet alarmed dismay,.
5.
Altogether we see that Jesus was feeling an acute
emotional pain, as he looked at the
events to come with uneasiness and
almost in terror.
- Luke reports in his account that Jesus “sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” That describes a rare condition known as hematidrosis. It can occur under heavy emotional distress. What happens is that capillaries under the skin burst under stress and the blood mingles with perspiration and exits through the sweat glands.
Now, let me remind you that Jesus
knew what he was going to face. John
18:4 says he knew all that was going to happen to him.
·
He knew he was going to die : Matt
26:1-2 When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples,
2 "You know that after two days the
Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be
crucified." Note that: He knew the fact that he was
going to die at Passover and how he would die!
·
He knew he was going to be betrayed:
Matt 26:21,25 And as they were eating, he said, "Truly, I say to you, one
of you will betray me." ... " 25 Judas, who would betray him, answered,
"Is it I, Rabbi?" He said to him, "You have said so." Note that: Jesus knew who
·
He knew what Scriptures had said about the
suffering servant. Jesus even said at his arrest Matt 26:56 But all
this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be
fulfilled."
In his divine nature Jesus the Christ understood and knew
what was going to happen. It’s important to remember that
So what was this emotional distress over
the events to come?
Was it
because he was going to face…
The Bias Jewish Court?
Who were trying to strum up charges that were hell bent on condemning him
even though they were false
Or was it
The Beatings the Romans Guards were going
to do?
They were going
to (1) Strip Him naked. (2) Tie his hands to
a post and lift him high enough to be dangling. Then having (3) One or two
scourge bearer skillfully lash his back 39 times with a short wooden handle
with long pieces of leather attached to it. --Each leather strip having sharp
pieces of glass, metal or bone on the end. Causing skin chunks to be torn and
muscles deeply cut.
Or was it
The Brutal hanging on the Cross itself?
Where he would die a death of
suffocation because they fastened His hands and feet to the beams, causing them
to bear the weight of the body… pull his chest cavity upward and outward making
it difficult to exhale and get a fresh breath, causing you chest muscles begin
to paralyze. The only way to breath on the cross would be to lift himself up on
his feet putting the weight on the nail sticking through them Causing
excruciating pain, until he could gather a new breath of air.
Were any of these three reasons the
very distressful and terrorizing focus of Christ's agony in the Garden that
night?
The accounts of the life of Christ show us over and over
again, Christ’s bravery and strength in the face to face conflicts with men. It
would be hard to believe that the Son of God would be so terrorized to the
point of sweating blood at the thought of what man could do to Him. Jesus said,
Matt 10:28
And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the
soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Well if it is not the physical pain and the cruelty of
mankind that he is distressed about, what is the agony in the Garden.
What Christ is praying about gives us some insight.
“And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and
prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said,
"Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me….” V 35,36
The second thing we see in that
Jesus suffered…
II. Conflict With The Cup to Be Given
What is this “cup” Jesus is referring to?
- Jesus is not recoiling from the anticipation of the physical pain associated with crucifixion. It was just hours before when He and his disciples celebrated the Passover, that Christ said
"I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you
before I suffer.” Luke 22:15-16
- He understood that he was going to suffer. He was going to drink of this cup. The ‘cup’ was a well known Old Testament symbol of divine wrath against sin
Note these verses:
“Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you
who have drunk from the hand of the Lord
the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl,
the cup of staggering.” Isa 51:17
“Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: "Take
from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I
send you drink it.” Jer 25:15
Even in the New Testament…
“he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full
strength into the cup of his anger,” Rev 14:10
The Conflict
{preach}
- The cup from which Christ is asking to be delivered from is the outpouring of divine wrath he would have to endure from His Holy Father. Now this prayer is not motivated from a sinful weakness. Rather it is from a normal human frailty. The very conflict Jesus has with the cup, is the same horrific and terror any of us would be feeling if we knew we were going to undergo something extremely painful.
- Nowhere does the Bible ever declare that Jesus deity makes him something more than human or something other than human. Christ was fully man.
“Therefore he had to
be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a
merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation
for the sins of the people.” Heb 2:17
Jesus was not merely playing human, he was in the fullest
sense human! And at this moment in the garden, His humanity manifested itself
as clearly as ever during His ministry. And in this manifestation, Christ’s
conflict was about the fully human
reaction to fully divine understanding of what was to come
In The Murder of Jesus, John MacArthur says:
“We can certainly
understand his emotions: horror at the prospect of what God wanted Him to do;
consternation over the reality of what that would cost Him; and a very real
desire to avoid God’s wrath if there was any possible way. All of that
contributed to the overwhelming sense of sorrow He was feeling as He
anticipated the cross.”
Think about what was going to
happen
- He was going to bear the guilt of sin.
Heb 9:28
so Christ, having been offered
once to bear the sins of many,
1 Peter 2:24
He himself bore our sins in his
body on the tree,
1 Peter 3:18
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the
righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God
2 Cor 5:21
For our sake he made him to be sin
who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Gal 3:13
Christ redeemed us from the curse
of the law by becoming a curse for us
Jesus was
going to bear our sin, even actually become our sin. The man Christ was
approaching the hour this was going to happen. He was beginning to feel the
burden like he had never felt before.
His dread and sorrow was welling up and his intense prayer is an
outpouring of these passions.
[slowly]
Now realize, that with Christ bearing our sin He was going
to experience a greater abandonment than just the scattering of the
disciples. He would be facing the
abandonment of the very presence of His Father. As Jesus bore our sins on the
cross and the guilt of millions on him, he was alone without the very source of
strength and joy. Why? Because our holy
Father cannot look upon evil.
The horror
of being without the very grace and mercy of God that we experience everyday,
would cause all of us to be troubled and distressed.
- He was going to take the full weight of the wrath of God
At the
cross the full fury of God’s wrath was going to be unleashed against God’s own
Son. Christ was our Substitution, he took the penalty that we deserved.
In doing that, he satisfied the righteous requirement for
judgment.
“In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he
loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1
John 4:10
“Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood,
much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” Rom
5:9
{preach}Jesus was
going to take the full, righteous anger and hatred of sin from the heavenly
Father. He was going to feel it.
[slowly]It was
going to hurt him, torture him
ultimately it was going to kill Him. Why? Because
God says
“For the wages of sin is death,” Rom 6:23.
[Breath]
{Preach passionately}To
be praying in this Garden with these fully human desires and feelings coming to
the hour in which his burden is growing and knowing that he will be exchanging
the sweet life abiding, love encompassing fellowship of the Godhead Trinity to
bear the very punishment and divine hatred of sin in which he felt in judging
Sodom and Gomorrah, in judging the wicked in times past, even the anger he
displayed in the temple turning over the tables while using a whip.
- Now he was going to be on the receiving end of that judgment.
- He understood the abhorrence, the hatred of sin. And in a few hours, he was going to abhorred, hated by the Father, hated by the Spirit!
- No wonder he was sweating blood, and deeply troubled.
Which takes us to the third thing we see
Jesus suffered…
III. Yet Surrendered and Saved
SURRENDERED
“…Yet not what I will, but what you will” v 36
Even in the midst of battling the frailty of his own
humanity he was able to suppress them to the divine will.
In fact the more he prayed you see this happen, in Matthew’s
account we see him say
"My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your
will be done." Matt 26:42
·
He’s no longer asking. He’s accepting and
embracing it. Let me say for clarity’s sake Of course he knew he was going to
surrender.
·
When he prays this at the end of His petition,
there is not shown here a difference between the will of the Father and the
will of the Son. Instead we see Jesus the Son surrendering deliberately ,
consciously all of His natural human, feelings to the perfect will of the
Father!
·
{PREACH} Now if Christ, who had no sinful
feelings and desires surrendered really, he provides for you and I the example
of how we with sinful feelings and desires are to surrender. HOW DID HE DO
THAT? By precisely submitting in verbal agreement and a humble heart, “not what
I will but what you will.”
As for the cup itself. Jesus understood there was no other
way, even before this. Look at this
verse
Titus 1:1-2
“Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for
the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which
accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies,
promised before the ages began”
·
God promised in eternity past that eternal life
would be given to his elect. He made this
promise “before the ages began.”
·
As God the Father and God the Son covenanted
with God the Spirit to redeem the elect, it was agreed that Christ would become
a man and die to satisfy the wrath of God.
·
For his part, Christ covenanted to die for them,
to be the substitute for them.
But why did Jesus have to go through this?
Ok we see the emotional distress and we understand conflict
he with the cup and the way in which he surrendered to the Father’s will.` But why is all of this and the physical
suffering on the cross necessary?
Pause
SAVED
When Christ institued the Lord’s Supper he said
“for this is my blood of the
covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
Matt. 26; 28
- It was for the forgiveness of our sins.
- DECLARE: Jesus suffered to save us from the consequences of our sin! We deserved the wrath of God and eternal separation. Ye He was our substitute.
PREACH: Only God himself could
save us from His wrath.
Problem of Forgiveness
- Now some people would say “Why does God not simply forgive us without the necessity of the cross? After all nobody’s death is necessary before we humans forgive each other.
Really that question reveals a shallowness because it over looks the
simple fact that we are not God. The truth is, you have not considered the seriousness
of sin, nor the majesty of God.
J I Packer
said, “Men are opposed to God in their sin and God is opposed to men in his
holiness.”
The
seriousness of sin
·
The word sin has fallen out of our
vocabulary. But the word sin means
ultimately, to miss the mark. Either we fail to reach the standard which is
righteous perfection or we deliberately cross a line to break the commands of
God..
·
Every sin fails to love God with all our being,
Yet when we sin we are refusing to acknowledge Him as Creator and Lord. We
reject the position of dependence in which we are created to be in and strive
to make a run at independence. Sin is a hostility to the Lord. It is a defiance
and an arrogance of man that tries to replace man with God.
·
When we realize the seriousness of sin to our
holy Creator. We have to wonder how God puts up with us at all in our sin
The Majesty
of God
[PREACH]
·
The Bible says God is holy. That means he is
separated from sin and evil. Because of that holiness, sin is incompatible with
it. Habakkuk 1:13 describes God as one “who is of purer eyes than to see evil
and cannot look at wrong,”
·
God himself is the maker of the laws we break!
He is not suffering just personal injury.
Sin is not just a misdemeanor. It is rebellion.
HE ISN’T INDIFFERENT TO IT. HE IS RIGHTEOUSLY FURIOUSLY OPPOSED TO EVERY
BIT OF IT.
·
The Word of God says:
“For you are not
a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. The boastful
shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who
speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.” Ps 5:4-6
·
In light of his holiness and justice, He has no
alternative but to punish sin and punish the sinner. God is a God of love. But
He is also God who is Just and Holy.
·
Illus:
In our court
system a judge who simply overlooked people’s offenses and ‘just forgave’ them
would quickly be kicked off the bench.
·
God is righteous and must do what is right in
punishing sin. That punishment of sin is called the wrath of God. God’s wrath
means that he intensely hates all sin. In fact his wrath is his holy reaction
to sin.
·
Considering how our sin must appear in the pure
sight of the righteous and holy God who created us, why are we still here,
alive and breathing!. Praise God
for His mercy!!!
In God’s love,
he desires to save but how can he truly rescue anyone? He’s righteously opposed
to sin, yet sin encompasses every human heart.
THIS IS THE VERY REASON JESUS
CAME.
“For
the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." Luke 19:10
Preach:
Christ came to save us. He came to show God’s love for his people. He
came to show the world God’s glory. It has been expressed this way:
“Divine love triumphed over
divine wrath by divine sacrifice”- John Stott
Conclusion
Turn with me to John18
John 18:1-5
When Jesus had spoken these
words, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley, where there was
a garden, which he and his disciples entered.
Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met
there with his disciples. So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some
officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and
torches and weapons. Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came
forward and said to them, "Whom do you seek?" They answered him, "Jesus of
Nazareth." Jesus said to them, "I am he."
·
Knowing all these things Christ suffered to save
us.
·
He was forsaken so that we might be forgiven.
·
He received what you and I should be
receiving—his Father’s full and furious wrath.
All so that we might gain favor because of His Grace.
·
What is God’s Grace? It’s His favor that we
can’t earn from being good people or even being good Christians. We can’t earn
this salvation because of our intellect, looks or bank account. We can’t even
earn it because we are victims of bad tidings and luck and impossible
situations. Or even because we are the worst of all sinners.
·
It’s God favor to give. It’s our gift to receive
Eph 2:1-9
And you were dead in the
trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this
world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at
work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions
of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by
nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4But God, being rich in
mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead
in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been
saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places
in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable
riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you
have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift
of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
·
If you realize that God is calling you to
Himself at this moment and yet your sins have gone on and you have not asked
Him to forgive you and you stand guilty before him… today is the day for your
salvation. He is making a personal invitation for you to come and to personally trust Him to save you.
Agreeing and acknowledging the fact that you are a sinner is the start. But
then you need to depend on and declare
that personal trust in Him to forgive you and save you.
·
If you are a believer, this message should cause
you to rejoice in His mercy and worship Him for his holiness. Your delight in
worshipping Christ in a few minutes with the Lord’s table, should be one of
humbled gratefulness. That as we have
sung What a Savior! We rejoice in Christ alone for our salvation!
Let’s pray as we closes.
Take a moment and say something
from your heart to God.
If
God’s calling you to himself, admit you’re a sinner. Ask Him to forgive your sins Tell Him that you receive His gift of salvation and
trust Him to save you from your sins. Make
a commitment to turn away from sinfulness in your life and to begin walking in
obedience to Christ.
If
you’ve already done that in your life, then tell him how much you love Him. Not
just his word or songs about Him, tell Him you love Him, God himself. For God is the gospel, the good news for us
who believe. It isn’t the cross we love, its Christ Himself. Declare that.
Heavenly Father, you sent your
Son, the Suffering Servant, to die on our behalf. And we are forever grateful.
On this night we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we remember he was our ransom,
our substitute, the lamb that was slain.
We remember he is our Deliverer, Redeemer, and Savior. May we embrace him to be our Delight, Desire
our Joy and our All in All. Thank you Father for saving us, for
it was only you who could do it. And all god’s people aid Amen.
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