Matthew 26 verse 36 says, Then cometh Jesus with them unto
a place called Gethsemane. We are going to have, Lord willing,
a fellowship dinner after this service. And I thought about
that as I was studying this. The thought went through my mind.
This is the reason for our fellowship. This is the reason for our fellowship. This very
moment is what binds us together. Here we are, all of these different
people from all of these different places. And it's this very moment that
binds us together. We are all here because of this. It's because of this. We have a couple of brethren
here today from Australia. Do you know why they're here
today? Really, we could give a whole bunch of answers to that
question. But if you want to get to the
heart of why did they leave the other side of the world and come
to 2709 Rock Springs Road today? Why? It's because of this. It's because of this right here.
This is the tie that binds us. This right here is what has brought
all of God's people together. This is the reason for our fellowship,
our unity, our love. It's all because our Lord Jesus
Christ went to a place called Gethsemane. I've titled this message, Gethsemane. And I want us to look for a minute
at some facts concerning this place, exactly where it is located, the reality of what it was, what
it symbolized, what actually happened to our Lord entering
into this garden. And I just want to say first
that No man is sufficient for these things. The Apostle Paul
said, who is sufficient for these things? What we are looking at
today, what we're gonna attempt to speak of and understand more
of, no man is sufficient for these things. What happened in
the Garden of Gethsemane was a holy transaction between the
three persons of the Godhead. And we're just blessed to read
about it. We're just blessed to look at
it and just to consider it. But if our Lord would be willing,
maybe He will open up our understanding of this a little bit more. Maybe
He will show us the absolute glory of the gospel a little
bit more. by revealing something of what
happened in this garden and something of what all of this means. This
is the foundation of the gospel. This honestly is the foundation
of the gospel. Let me make a few comments about
this garden. The first one being, this whole
thing started in a garden. Okay, this whole thing. It all started in a garden. Man,
life, spiritual unity with God, every bit of that started in
a garden, the Garden of Eden. Christ placed man in a garden,
therefore Christ came to man, for man, in a garden. This whole
thing started in a garden, therefore Christ finished it in a garden. Man fell in a garden. Therefore,
man was redeemed in a garden. But this was a different garden.
This right here was a different garden. Before sin, the garden
was paradise. After sin, it was a garden of
death. The commentary writers say that
the Jews referred to Gethsemane as the garden of hell, the garden
of death. The name Gethsemane means the
press. It means the oil press, the olive
press. Next to the Mount of Olives,
it was the place of crushing. That's what it was. the place of crushing. For so
many reasons, it was very fitting that our Lord entered into this
place and all of this happened in this place because of everything
that this place represents in exactly where it was located. It was right next to the brook
Kidron, or in the New Testament, it's pronounced Cedron. And there's something that I
want us to see about that. And my prayer is that the Lord will
give us a much greater understanding of this, just a much greater
realization of what happened here. I pray this will be a blessing,
I really do. We're gonna look at this place,
where it was located, this Brook Kedron. Maybe the Lord will help
us here for a minute. Turn with me to 2 Kings 23. 2 Kings 23, the heading at the
top of my page says, Josiah reneweth the covenant,
destroyeth idolatry. This king, Josiah, renewed the
covenant and destroyed idolatry. And this is how he did it. 2
Kings 23 verse 1 says, And the king sent, and they gathered
unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. And the king
went up into the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah
and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and
the prophets and all the people, both small and great. And he
read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which
was found in the house of the Lord. This meeting right here
in the house of the Lord, this represents the prophet, the priest, the
king, the word, they were all represented right here. This
is Christ. This represents the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse two,
the king went up into the house of the Lord, all the men of Judah,
all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him. And the priest and
the prophets and all the people, both small and great, and he
read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which
was found in the house of the Lord. He went up into the holy
place and all of his people went with him. Verse three, and the
king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the Lord to
walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies
and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul to perform
the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And
all the people stood to the covenant. Our Lord said, I did not come
to destroy the law. I came to fulfill it. I came
to fulfill the covenant. Verse four, and the king commanded
Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and
the keepers of the door to bring forth out of the temple of the
Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal, who was an idol,
and for the grove, which was a place of idols, and for all
the hosts of heaven, these idols made to the host of heaven, all
of this false, God-wicked, sinful idolatry. Verse four, the king
commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second
order and the keepers of the door to bring forth out of the
temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal and for
the grove and for all the host of heaven. And he burned them
without Jerusalem, without the camp, in the fields of Kidron." And again, in the New Testament,
it's pronounced Cedron. The meaning is, that word translates
to dark, darkness. Verse 4 goes on to say, and he
carried the ashes of them unto Bethel, the house of God. He
brought the evidence of that destruction before the throne
of God. Verse 5, and he put down, he caused to cease, he ended
the life of the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained
to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah. And in
the places round about Jerusalem, them also that burned incense
unto Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the planets, and to
all the host of heaven. And he brought out of the grove
from the house of the Lord, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron,
and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder,
and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of
the people. And I want to bring notice to
that, the graves of the children of the people, that's what that
place was called. Right there in the eyes of God Almighty,
the king renewed the covenant and destroyed idolatry. And he did all that right there
at the brook Kidron. Now, if you'll give me just a
minute here, I'll show you the significance of this brook. This
brook was actually a valley or a ravine, a big valley. It ran between the outer wall
of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives. It was called a brook, but it
was actually a dry valley. The only time that it had water
running in it was during a rain or right after a rain, water
would run. But other than that, it was very
dry. Very, very dry. Turn with me
to Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31, verse 38. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord from the
tower of Hananiel unto the gate of the corner, and the measuring
line shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gerab,
and shall compass about to Goath, and the whole valley of the dead
bodies and of the ashes And all the fields unto the brook of
Kidron, unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall
be holy unto the Lord. It shall not be plucked up nor
thrown down any more forever." The whole valley of dead bodies
and ashes in the fields of the brook Kidron. Many believe it
was the place of Ezekiel's valley of dead bones. Can these bones
live? It was the place of death. It's
the place that they cast death. We just read that Josiah cast
all the bodies of those false prophet, idolatrous priests in
the brook Kidron. which it was also known as the
graves of the common people. We just read that and took notice
of that. That's what it's called. If they didn't know what to do
with somebody, if they didn't have a place to bury somebody,
they put them in the Brook Key Drone. Turn to Jeremiah 26. Verse 23, And they fetched forth Uriah
out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim the king, who
slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves
of the common people. Which is the Brook Kidron. It
was the place of death, it was the place of pollution, it was
the place of uncleanness. Turn with me to 2 Chronicles
29. 2 Chronicles 29. Verse 16 says, And the priest went into the
inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and brought
out all of the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the
Lord into the court of the house of the Lord. And the Levites
took it to carry it out abroad into the brook Hedron. It was
the place of uncleanness. It was the place of pollution,
vileness, stench. The remnants of all of those
sacrifices that were made. You can only imagine what that
place looked like after sacrifice upon sacrifice. All of the remnants
of that waste. Everything that was rejected
by God in the sacrifice. It was all dumped in the valley
of Kidron to rot and to decay away. Look at the next chapter here,
2 Chronicles 30 verse 14. And they arose and took away
the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense
took they away and cast them into the brook Kidron. There
it is again, it's a place where idolatry was cast to. Everything
vile, everything against God was cast into that place. It
was also a place of sorrow for Israel because it's the place
where David stood in 2 Samuel 15 when he decided to flee because
of the rebellion of his son Absalom. And it says, all the country
wept with a loud voice and passed over the Brook Kedron. A place
of rebellion, a place of abandonment, a place of sorrow, a place of
death, a place of pollution, uncleanness, idolatry, rejection,
sin. That was that place. It was a place of sin. That was
the significance of that place. That's what chedron or cedron
represented, sin, vileness, sin. And in order for our Lord to
enter into the garden of Gethsemane, he had to cross over. He had
to enter into that brook. Turn over to John 18. This is the same moment as our
text in Matthew 26. This is John's account of it. John 18. Verse one says, when Jesus had
spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook
Sidron. Where was a garden? into the
which he entered and his disciples. In order for our Lord to enter
into the garden of Gethsemane, the garden of substitution for
his people. That's what happened in Gethsemane.
Christ was the substitute for his people. He became one with
his people. in order for him to enter into
union with his people, in order for him to enter into the garden
of redemption for his people. He had to enter into the valley
of the shadow of our death and our pollution, our uncleanness,
our wicked idolatry. We were the idol worshipers.
Our rejection, our rebellion, our sin. He had to enter into
our sin to bring light to his own. He had to enter into that
place of darkness. He had to cross over darkness.
When he crossed over that brook, he crossed over into the condition
of his people. When he crossed over that brook,
he was immediately touched with the feeling of all of our infirmities,
all of the infirmities of his people. When he crossed over
that brook, he was made sin. All of that pollution, all of
that uncleanness, all of that death and idolatry and rebellion
of his people, he felt it. And Luke 22 says, being in absolute
agony, he began to sweat as it were great drops of blood. He
walked through the Brook Kidron. And when he came out on the other
side, he began to sweat as it were great drops of blood. That
word agony means combat. War broke out in him. And Mark 14 says, he began to
be sore amazed and very heavy. And that means, that translates,
utterly frightened, terrified by indescribable horror. And in Matthew 26, he said, my
soul, not my body, when we think of him as being marred more than
any man, we always think of his body. But he said, my soul is
exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, the death of my soul.
So overwhelmed, so overcome, so overtaken by this, it could
separate me from life. Oh, the depth of what happened
in this moment. And here's the thing about it.
It all happened to him alone. It happened to him alone. He
was completely alone. Go back to Matthew 26 with me. Verse 36. Then cometh Jesus with them unto
a place called Gethsemane and said unto the disciples, sit
ye here while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and
the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, my soul
is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Tarry ye here and
watch with me. And he went a little further.
fell on his face, prayed, saying, oh, my father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will,
but as thou wilt. He said, I'm on the verge of
death. I'm on the verge of death. But at this moment, here's the
thing I want us to understand. There were no soldiers yet. We
think of his agony and his torture, and we think of all those moments
before Pilate in the hall. There were no soldiers yet. There
were no whips. There was no torture. There was
no cross. There was no nails. He was completely alone, but
he was in the middle of Great conflict. He was in the middle
of great assault. He was in the middle of an amazing
torture. An amazing torture was taking
place inside of him. He was bearing something inside
of him. In that moment, he was being
made something. And Galatians 3.13 says, in that
moment, he was being made a curse. for his people. That's what happened
in that moment. All through that he was being
made a curse. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says in that
moment he was being made sin for us by God the Father being
completely and totally alone. Why did he have to endure that?
It's because that's what it took to save us from our sins, all
of our sins. We were headed to the brook Kidron. We were destined for the valley
of pollution, uncleanness, and death. So Christ entered that
valley. He crossed over that valley.
It pleased the Father to plunge Him into that valley. in order
to redeem his people out of that valley. And seeing this great
redemption, this indescribable redeeming substitution that he
entered into, that's what gives us hope. That is what gives us
hope. In closing, go with me to Lamentations
chapter one. Just after Jeremiah, Lamentations 1, listen to the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ right here. This is Him speaking, okay? Lamentations
1, verse 12, the Lord says, Is it nothing to you, all ye
that pass by? Behold and see if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the
Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. Does what I entered into for
my people mean nothing? See if any man suffered like
I suffered. Look at chapter three, he said,
I am the man that had seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. He led
me and brought me into darkness, Kedron. but not in delight. Surely against me is he turned. He turneth his hand against me
all the day. My flesh and my skin hath he
made old. He hath broken my bones. He hath
builded against me, encompassed me with gall and travail. He
hath set me in dark places as they that be dead of old. He
put me in the place of death. Verse 18, I said, my strength
and my hope is perished from the Lord. Remembering my affliction
and my misery, the wormwood and the gall, my soul hath them still
in remembrance and is humbled in me. Verse 21 says this, I recall
to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed. Because his compassions fail
not, they are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness. The
Lord is my fortune, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in
him. Because of what he endured for
me, therefore will I hope in him. I will hope in his sufferings
in the stead of mine. I will hope in His death in the
stead of mine. I'll hope in His satisfaction
to God in the stead of mine. His resurrection of worthiness
and righteousness and glory in the stead of mine. And in that
I'll have peace. I will have comfort. I will have
peace. May the Lord give us great comfort
today in the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Honestly,
may the Lord give us great comfort in knowing the sufferings of
the Lord Jesus Christ, our substitute. We have a high priest that was
touched with all the feeling of our infirmities, and we can
run to him for mercy and grace to help in time of need. It's good news, isn't it? That's
the gospel. Amen.