Well, let us turn to God's Word and turning to this short portion
that we've just read in Luke 22 and directing you for a while
to the words that we have in verses 43 and 44. Luke 22, 43
and 44, And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him and being in
an agony he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was as it were
great drops of blood falling down to the ground familiar portion I'm sure Christ's
prayers there in the garden of Gethsemane anticipating that
that lay before him when he must make that one sacrifice for sins
forever. The Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, from what God had ever purposed about to be accomplished,
and the burden that lies upon this blessed man, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we see something of that,
surely in what is transpiring now in the very depths of his
soul, how we read of him really in agony in prayer and needing
to be ministered to by the angels. And I want to try to say something
concerning this bloody sweat, a bloody sweat that's very much
associated with the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course
we read of him in that portion in Hebrews 5, in the days of
his flesh, offering up supplication with
strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him
from death and how he was heard in that he feared and then we're
told though he were a son yet learned the obedience by the
things that he suffered he was never anything less than the
son of God the eternal son of the eternal father but he was
also a real man the mystery of his person. And here we see him,
the God-man, in prayer to his fathers. And the place, the significance
of the place, of course, Gethsemane. God says, Gethsemane, the Olympus,
and why so called, let Christians guess, fit name, fit place, where
vengeance strove and griped and grappled hard with love there
was something transpiring here in the soul of our Lord Jesus
Christ that surely is a great mystery and I want us then to
consider these two verses as we come to this prayer meeting
tonight and to say two things really to say something with
regards to the humility of the Lord Jesus Christ and then to
say something with regards to his agonies First of all, the
humility. And we see it in a number of
ways. The significance of the ministry
of the angel that he's spoken of. In verse 43, there appeared
an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. Here we see
him as one who is truly just like his people. is people are those who are ministered
to by angels. Are they not all ministering
spirits, says the Apostle in Hebrews chapter 1? Are they not
all ministering spirits sent to minister unto them who shall
be the heirs of salvation? Do his people lead the ministry
of angels? Well, the Lord Jesus Christ is
one with his people. As a man, he must know that ministry.
Maybe some of us have known what the ministry of angels is. I
believe that there is a ministry of angels, but how do they appear
to us? Well, we learn something surely
from the experience of Abraham, the father of all that believe,
when he was in the tent door and he sees three men. We know
that one was the angel of the Lord. It's the Lord Jesus Christ
himself appearing as a man. but there were two others and
they eventually move on and they go to Sodom to deliver Lot and
his family from that awful destruction that the Lord God is about to
visit upon those wicked cities of the plague but we're told,
aren't we, how believers would entertain strangers and in that
they are entertaining the angels. There is a ministry of angels
and I can say I believe there have been times in my own experience
when I have wondered, well, was that the ministry of an angel?
It was an individual, it was a certain person, I didn't necessarily
know that person, didn't know him at all. But someone does
something and you think, well, is this the Lord ministering
to us by and through his angels? Well, the Lord knew the ministry
of angels. He took not on Him the nature of angels, but He
took upon Him the seed of Abraham, and wherefore in all things it behold Him to
be made like unto His brethren. He is like us, very much like
us, identifies with us and needs the angels. We're told again
in the psalm how the angel of the Lord encampeth round about
them that fear him. And the Lord Jesus Christ certainly
knew something of that fear of God in his heart as a man. He
was hurt in that he feared. That feared indicates something
of his real piety, his sense of awe. in the presence of God
in prayers. Though himself God, yet he is
a man. And we see his humiliation not only in that he is altogether
identified with men who need the ministry of angels, but as
we've already intimated, he's lower than the angels. Paul says
we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the
suffering of death, although majesty a little lower than the
angels. Says the Apostle. Dispatched
from heaven an angel stood, amazed to find him bathed in blood,
adored by angels and obeyed, but lower now than angels made. Again we have those words in
the language of the hymn. What an angel is this? Oh, what
an angel is this! There are many angels spoken
of in Scripture. We read of the Seraphim, the
burning ones about the throne of God. Those that Isaiah sees
in that remarkable vision when he receives his call and his
commission. And there are Cherubim. And the Cherubim are the strong
ones. And those angels, bright, pure creatures, mighty creatures,
powerful. And some of them are named, Gabriel
and Michael. We have these various names.
But this particular angel that he's spoken of here in the 43rd
verse, there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening
him. And dear Rabbi Duncan, that great
Scots divine, often referred to as Rabbi Duncan, not because
he was ever a Jew, he was a Gentile of course, John Duncan, but he
had a great love for God's ancient covenant people at one stage.
He was ministering amongst the Jews in Budapest and then later
because of his great learning and he was a great Hebraist and
he was appointed to a chair in the Free Church of Scotland in
Edinburgh and he taught Hebrew to the students there but they
often refer to him as Rabbi Duncan and he said of this angel that
of all the angels he loved this angel or this was his favorite
angel that one who comes and ministers to our Lord Jesus Christ
in the hour of his great need here in the agonies of the Garden
of Gethsemane. Now we see angels ministering
time and again with regards to the Lord Jesus. Of course, it
was Gabriel who came to his human mother, Mary, to announce that
she would be with child of the Holy Ghost, that she would conceive
in a womb that holy thing, that human nature. that body, that
soul that was to be united to the eternal Son of God his name
shall be called the Son of God and the same angel appears to
Joseph to whom she's betrothed to assure him he must take her
to him for wife she's with child of the Holy Ghost and he's to
call that child Jesus for he shall save his people from their
sins and then we have the great heavenly host of the actual birth
of the child, appearing to the shepherds, recorded here in Chapter
2 of this Gospel. Glory to God in the highest,
on earth peace. Goodwill toward men is their
song. Here is God now manifest in the
flesh, not for angels lower than the angels, but come to be the
saviour of sinners but angels ministered to him on other occasions
after his temptations in the wilderness in Matthew 4 we are
told how the devil leaves him for a season only for a season
and then behold angels came and ministered unto him or they ministered
unto him thereafter he had resisted all the temptations of the devil.
And now an angel comes and ministers to him before the crucifixion,
the greatest of all his trials. For he must be obedient to this
accursed death of the cross. Oh, he's like his people. He's
lower than the angels. And here we see also that as
a man he prays and his prayers are heard. or the Father in heaven
hears his prayer. We're told verse 41, and we've
withdrawn from his disciples about the stones cast and kneel
down and prayed saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this
cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thine, be done. And then immediately there appeared
an angel unto him from heaven. Surely his prayer was heard.
and answers. Before they call, I will answer.
Whilst they are yet speaking, God says, I will hear. And Christ
is heard. He had a real prayer life, the
Lord Jesus Christ. He would spend whole nights in
prayers to his Father. And here he prays and the Father
hears and the Father answers. and sends an angel down before
the throne of God and they worship Him, don't they? In His temple
they're there really to do all His bidding, we see that so clearly
with regards to those Seraphim in Isaiah 6, they have six wings. Why six wings? Well, they're
on holy ground, with two they cover their feet, it says. Just
like Moses at the burning bush, the ground was holy, he must
remove his shoes from his feet, and so These pure spirits, these
angels, they have to cover their feet, the ground is holy, they
have to cover their eyes with two wings. They are in the presence
of God, and they cannot bear the glory that belongs to God,
though they be sinless creatures. But then they have another two
wings, and with two they fly, it seems. And how they fly at
God's bidding, how they do all His commandments, Psalm 103 and
verse 20, His angels at excelling strength that do His commandments,
hearkening unto the voice of His Word. The angel is sent from
heaven, why? Because the Lord Jesus Christ
has prayed and His prayer has penetrated the heavenly courts. He says on another occasion to
the Father, I know that thou hearest me always All this man research. He lives
by faith. He prays to his father time and
again. He was heard, it says there in
Hebrews 5, in that he feared. Remarkable statement. The fear
of God is in him. There's real piety. A real life
of faith being lived. Complete and utter dependence.
upon his God. This is the man. This is the
man Christ Jesus and yet we're not to divide the natures are
we? In everything he does he is God
and man at one and the same time. That's the mystery. Well that's
the mystery. Even when he's a little helpless
babe put to his mother's breast, he's God. He's God manifest in
the flesh at all times. And as he has that fear of God
in his heart, what is it? Well, he is concerned to be doing
the will of God. He doesn't fear death. He makes
his request to the Father in his prayer, if they be willing,
remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, he says, not my
will but thine be done. It's not that he fears death
itself, but he is fearful of any deflection from the divine
will. Remember when he's tempted in
the wilderness. At one point he's tempted to
presumption. The devil will take him to a
pinnacle of the temple and tempt him to cast himself there
from, and he quotes scripture. He quotes the words of Psalm
91. But he doesn't quote the word
of God exactly. He omits what is significant. If you compare Matthew 4, 5 and
6 with Psalm 91, 11 and 12, you'll see that there's certain words
omitted in the temptation that's recorded in the Gospel. And he
says the words, to keep thee in all thy ways. That was the
promise that God had given to him in the covenant, that he
would be kept in all his ways. And what is the way? The way
is the way of faith. But the devil is tempting you
to do something that is not faith, but presumption. And the Lord
is aware he must walk in the way of God. And so the prayer
you see, always subject to the Father's will if thou be willing
he says I came down from heaven not to do mine own will but the
will of him that sent me and to finish his work and we
read of him don't we in that great passage in Philippians
2 who in the day who being in the form of God He thought it
not rightly to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of man. And being found in fashion as
a man, he became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. Obedience, obedience. Submission, submission to God's
will in all his life. This is his burden. It's God's will, he prays. And
he teaches his disciples to pray. And when he teaches the disciples
to pray, what are they to say? Thy will be done. Thy will be
done as in heaven so on earth. That's how the Lord himself prays.
Oh, he's a praying man. What humility we see then in
the Lord Jesus Christ. In what prayers There's a connection
between his humility, surely, and his agony here. It says in the 44th verse, being
in an agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was, as it were,
great drops of blood falling down to the ground. He is made lower than the angels
for a purpose, That's how it's stated there in Hebrews 2.9,
made a little lower than the angels it says, for the suffering
of death. He must die. All being found in fashion as
a man, he humbles himself and becomes obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. What remarkable humility is this
in the Lord Jesus Christ and yet how in his submission to
the divine will there's a tremendous struggle in the depths of his
soul. There's real soul agonies here in what Christ is saying in his prayer. When another Scot Martin writes
on Christ in Gethsemane, he calls that book the shadow of Calvary.
The shadow of Calvary. He's scorched, as it were, here
in the garden. And then, of course, on the cross,
that's where he makes a sacrifice. He's consumed there by the wrath
of God. That is the difference. Here,
there is something some scorching in his soul, in the depths of
his being, but it's there on the cross that he makes the great
sacrifice. We're not to lose sight of that
simple fact. In his sufferings on the cross,
we see him, as it were, on the brazen altar. It's the burnt
offering. He's consumed. But there are some interesting
aspects, aren't there, when we consider the sufferings of Christ. There's all that he had to endure
in the trial that follows. We read further on in this portion,
we read it through where they come to the garden to arrest
him, to take him away and then they take him before the Jewish
council, before before Caiaphas, the high priest, but the Jews
have no authority to sentence a man to death and so they deliver
him over to the Roman governor to punch his pilot and we have that place called
the Pavement or Gabbatha and we have the record of that mockery
of a trial but how necessary it was because his death is a
judicial death and his human judge declares he is without
sin, he is faultless. I find in him no fault at all. We read there at the end of John
18. And then at the beginning of chapter 19, twice it's repeated. I find no fault in him. I find
no fault in him. And yet, that weak-minded man,
he gives in to the braying of the mob, away with him, crucify
him. And yet, he's declared him an
innocent man. He is an innocent man. They bring
forward false witnesses, but their witness doesn't agree.
It's a fabrication. And even the centurion at the
cross says, surely this was a righteous man. as he makes that great sacrifice
in pouring out his soul. But all his sufferings there in the judgment that he's made,
he's passed from Caiaphas to Pontius Pilate, Herod's there
and Pilate hearing that he's from Galilee will pass him over
to Herod and he's mocked ridiculed by Herod's soldiers and then
they pass him back to Pontius Pilate from pillar to post all
part of his sufferings and then of course Golgotha itself that
judicial death that he dies, crucifixion and how his sufferings
were were physical and mental in many ways, we know that. His
back is lacerated, is scourged and whipped, the crown of thorns
is pressed about his head, his bleeding temples, his hands,
his feet nailed to the cross, smear thrust into his side, his
whole body bathed in blood there upon the cross. Physical sufferings,
but we know that The real soul of his suffering there was the
suffering of his soul when he makes that great cry. It's not
so much what men are doing, it's what God is doing. And so he
cries out in the language of faith, my God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? And the mystery of the death.
He is man, yes, but He is God, and there can be no division
in the Godhead. Hero Israel, the Lord our God
is one Lord. One Lord, yes, but three persons.
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, they
are co-eternal, they are co-equal, and there can be no division.
And yet, the reality of the agonizing cry of the Lord Jesus as he makes
the sacrifice? Or there's appropriation, it's
my God. He still has faith in his God,
and yet he feels so utterly forsaken. Or he is made in the likeness
of sinful man and for sin. So there's Gabbatha, there's
Golgotha, but here of course we have Gethsemane. I think in
some ways the significant thing with Gethsemane is that all the
sufferings here are inward sufferings. That all the sufferings of his
soul are spiritual sufferings. What dreadful conflict raged
within when flesh and blood falls through, when sweat and blood
falls through the skin. This blood is wet. He sweats. Was, as it were, great drops
of blood falling down to the ground. What is he enduring? Surely there's something of the
curse of sin. Remember the curse that comes
upon man. After Adam transgresses the commandment
of God There in Genesis 3, cursed is the ground for thy sake. In
the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread. And Christ is the
one who has redeemed us from that curse of the law, being
made a curse for us, says the Apostle. And I like the little comment
that Matthew Henry makes. He says, Christ made sin and the curse, that in the sweat
of his face we might eat the bread of life. Christ was made sin and the curse,
that in the sweat of his face we might eat the bread of life.
Adam was told, in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,
but in Christ we eat the bread of life. I am the bread of life,
he says. and somewhere in Isaiah it says
bread corn is bruised and now the Lord Jesus Christ is here
so bruised in the depths of his soul as he enters into all the
agony of what prayer is. Prayer is no easy thing. Prayer
is no easy thing. In many ways I suppose the hardest
of all the various aspects of ministry is to have to stand
before a congregation week in week out and engage in public
prayer and be in that the voice of the people and to pray and
so often one feels so hypocritical what does one really know of
prayer in the secret place and yet you have to make prayer in
the public place and those who are caught aren't just speaking
prayer now no easy matter to pray That's why we need God the
Holy Ghost to help our infirmities, that He makes intercession for
us with those groanings that cannot be uttered. But here is
the Lord, here He is, the real man, and all the agonies that
are transpiring now in the depths of His being, the soul of the
Lord Jesus Christ, His body bathed in a bloody sweat, all that we
might draw some encouragement from his blessed example how
he prays if thou be willing always subject
to the will of God if thou be willing remove this cup from
me nevertheless not my will his human will is always subject
to the divine will not my will but thine be done and he said
there appeared an angel unto him from heaven strengthening
him, and being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his
sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood, falling down
to the ground. May the Lord be pleased then
to bless the word to us. Amen. I'm going to sing a part
of hymn 802. I don't think I've ever chosen
any of this hymn before, but I'd like us to sing from 802
singing verses 9 and 10, and then singing from verse 20 through
to the end, verse 23. The tune is Norwood, 505. Came at length the dreadful night,
vengeance with its iron rod stood, and with collected might bruised
the harmless Lamb of God. See my soul, The Saviour, see,
groveling in Gethsemane, will sing verses 9 and 10 and then
sing from verse 20 through to the end. And as I said, the tune
is 505.