I invite you this morning to
turn with me to Mark chapter 14. We've been going verse by verse
through the book of Mark and I found Mark to be a surprise because of its size
and I don't know why, I just, John was such a good book to
study, and then I think I went through Matthew next, and then
Luke. And then when I saw Mark and
how brief he was in his statements, I thought, well, this is not
gonna be as good. It's been so much better. Sometimes I think
we as people just get in the way. We say too much. And, but
the Holy Spirit used Mark and he was able to say some things
that are just so good. I'd like for you to read along
with me as I read verses 32 through 42. And they came to a place which
was named Gethsemane. And he saith to his disciples,
sit ye here while I shall pray. And he taketh with him Peter
and James and John and began to be sore amazed and to be very
heavy. That is, he was filled with wonder,
astonished. You know, it's one thing for
me to be astonished. It's another thing for the Son
of God to be astonished. And that statement alone just
amazes me. He was filled with wonder, he
was astonished. And then the word sore means
filled with distress, grieved. This astonishment was not like
seeing something wonderful and good, but something that grieved
him, brought him grief and distress. And he turned and he said unto
them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death. Carry ye here and
watch. He went forward a little, 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 unto thee. Take away this cup from me. Nevertheless,
not what I will, but what thou will. And he cometh, and he findeth
them sleeping. Now, if you read all the accounts,
you'll find that he left Peter, James, and John right at the
edge of the garden. And then he went forward, I think
the scripture said, a stone's throw from them. So he was a
little ways off. And he cometh, and he findeth
them sleeping, and he saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? Couldst not thou watch one hour? Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter
into temptation. The spirit, it truly is ready,
but the flesh is weak. And again he went away, and he
prayed, and he spake the same words. And when he returned,
he found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. Neither
wished they, what to answer him. They didn't know how to answer
him. And he cometh the third time
and he saith unto them, sleep on now and take your rest. It
is enough. The hours come, behold, the son
of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise up, let us go. Lo, he that betrayeth me is at
hand. Now let me say this at the outset. I don't feel adequate. And no
man that I read, they all felt the same way. Very inadequate,
very unable to enter in to the very heart of what's taking place
in this garden. I am absolutely certain that's
why he told Peter, James, and John. They didn't come in and
kneel down and pray with him. He went in alone. He went in
alone, and he prayed that intercessory prayer. If you read the book
of John, he leaves a lot of this out, but he gives us John 17,
that prayer that he prayed. And then afterwards, he just
takes right up where these men left off. And none of them felt,
I mean, I'm looking at this from my perspective. He's about to
be made sin. He's about to be crushed under
the sins of those that he came into this world to represent
and to act as their substitute and their high priest. And he's
just about to be crushed by these things. And I've never known
anything but sin. I was born in sin. I lived all
my days out in sin. I still have that nature of sin. I can cry with Paul. I don't
know about you, but I can cry with Paul, old wretched man that
I am. Not that I used to be, but old
wretched man that I am. So now, If I were to be made
sin, it would not have the impact on me that it does upon him who
knew no sin. You see what I'm saying? I'm
totally inadequate for any of that, and so were they. So were
they. It's utterly impossible for any
natural-born son of Adam to enter into the agonies of this woman
who had never sinned. one whose very soul, Isaiah said,
was made an offering for sin. But there are some things that
surround his agonies in this garden that our Lord would have
us to see. He says to his disciples, tarry
ye here and watch. I can almost hear in my heart
that how he's saying this to them, I know you can't, but there's
some things I want you to see. You tarry here and you watch. Now I've selected five things
that I want to call your attention to that are mentioned in Mark's
gospel account of this garden. And the first thing is this,
the place, the place. He led them to the place, not
a place, the place. This place was chosen of God,
prepared of God, arranged of God from all eternity. This little
garden. They came to the place called
Gethsemane. Gethsemane means the place of
the press. That's what the name means. And
its location was between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives. If you
were looking at Jerusalem, it's kind of a long rectangle. And
then there was a valley here called the Valley of Kidron that
run up on this side of Jerusalem. And then if you look over here,
you see the Mount of Olives and you see Gethsemane down at the
foot of it. And it was more of a place, I
believe, at that time, than it was a village or a town or a
suburb or whatever you might want to call it of Jerusalem.
And there was there an olive press, or perhaps a lot of the
writers felt like there was many presses there. Jerusalem was
no small place. It contained a lot of people.
So there was an olive press there, and thus the name. Historians say that this is where
olive oil was made and stored that was called for in temple
worship or typical worship, called for in the candlestick and called
for in other things. And then this mountain was called
the Mount of Olives because it was just covered with olive trees. And as I read this, and I always
like to go look at the modern site and get some kind of a glimpse
as to what it might have been back in that day. And the modern
scientists say that the olive trees are among some of the oldest
trees in the world. I didn't know that. And in 70
AD, when the conqueror came in and just absolutely destroyed
Jerusalem, he cut all these trees down, but an olive tree comes
back from the root. And those big trees that are
there today are growing out of that same stump, or at least
they believe it to be, out of that same stump that was there
when Christ prayed. Well, what do you see in all
this? Well, I see that the one suffering in this garden is the
Ancient of Days. He was appointed to this, chosen
for this. He's the God-Man Mediator. He's
the Word-Made Flesh, and he was being crushed under the burden
of being made sin. When we were doing our study
in Genesis, we came to the place where God told Abraham to sacrifice
his son. And I won't go through all the
story, I know you're familiar with it, but this is the question
I ask my congregation. Why would God, now keep this
in mind, when you do a sacrifice, you don't just stab it in the
heart and throw it on fire. It had to be cut up. It had to
be laid a certain way. And why would God have Abraham,
lack of a better word, butcher his son? Why would he have him
to do that? Because he would have him to
know that this is more than just a legal transfer of sin. This is the sacrifice of God's
only begotten son, his well-beloved son. He'll have us to know that. And again, why would God have
him to suffer so in this garden? Same reason, same reason. So what does all this have to
do with the suffering of Christ in the garden? Well, this is our Lord, this
is our Savior, this is our substitute. And he's groaning under the burden
of sin. And there's another thing about
this place that people often overlook. There was a little
brook, I told you that that valley was called the Valley of Kidron.
In the New Testament, that little brook is called Cedron. You can
read about it in John 18.1. To get from Jerusalem, where
they had their supper, to the garden, you had to cross Cedron
or Kidron, this little brook. And if you like, you can look
up the various references to this brook in the concordance. But for time's sake, let me just
point out a few of the things. that that brook had to do with
this garden. This is the stream into which
all the ancient idolatrous instruments, tapestries, altars, all of the
things that they used in the worship of Baal and the worship
of these other gods, Moloch and all these other gods, they were
all ground up and thrown into the brook Kidron. This is the same stream into
which all the unused portions of the sacrifice were dumped. They were all emptied into the
brook Kidron. This is the stream which David
crossed and passed over to the foot of Mount Olivet, which is
the Mount of Olives. And very likely he was standing
right in the garden when he looked back at Jerusalem to the one
who had betrayed him. Where's Christ gonna be betrayed?
Where's he gonna see the one? Where's he gonna have us to see
the one who betrayed him? In that garden, in that garden. So David was a wonderful type
of that. And this is the stream up which
Nehemiah rode after dark with a few friends. It's amazing the
details of the Old Testament and how they typify the New. He took a few friends with him.
And he couldn't get on that side of the brook to see Jerusalem
in its ruin, so the Lord arranged it so he rode right up Kidron
and standing in the middle of Kidron, then he could see the
ruin of Jerusalem. And this is the stream our Lord
had to cross to get to the garden. God calls it, in John 18 one,
the Holy Spirit calls it cedron. It means dark, gloomy, polluted. In short, it was a filthy stream.
And the stream, if you follow it down, fittingly emptied into
the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea. But perhaps the
best reference in all the Bible is in Psalm 110. Having clearly stated the priesthood
of the coming Redeemer, a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek,
he then says this, Psalm 110 verse seven, he shall drink of
the brook in the way. Huh? That old polluted stream. Therefore shall he lift up the
head. Here he is in the garden. Now,
whether he actually knelt down and took a drink out of that
stream, I don't know, but spiritually speaking, he was made sin. And
he drank that thing dry to the very dregs. And this is what
the scripture is telling us. And therefore in that garden,
he held up his head and he prayed in agony. This is the place of
the press. And then secondly, let's briefly
look at who he took with him. Now he took all 11 to Gethsemane,
but only three to the garden. And for reasons known only to
himself, he allows these three men, Peter, James, and John,
to view him transfigured on the mount and to tarry there and
watch him in his agonies in the garden. And it's a fact that he did come
back to them twice to reprove them because they went to sleep. But I think I see something more
in this than just some tired men unable to stay awake. I've got a little dog at the
house. I call him Scamp. Very fitting name. He gets into
everything. But he knows when I go in my
study not to bother me. and I have a recliner over in
the corner, and he'll go crawl up in that recliner, and in about
15 minutes, he's on his back with all four feet in the air,
and he's snoring. And I didn't, I mean, it was
cute, and I've taken some pictures of it, but I didn't think too
much about it until one day my wife came in to tell me about
a phone call that I'd gotten. And she looked over, and there
he was, and he was just snoring away. And she said, oh, he feels
so safe in your presence that he just went out like a light.
Wasn't sleeping light like he does out in the room, but he
was out like a light. These men believed in their Savior. and they rested in, I mean, this
is one of the most, other than the cross, this is one of the
most critical parts in the life of Christ in this garden, and
they were able to sleep. You think about that. And I love
what he tells them when he comes back the third time. He said,
it's enough, it's enough. Take your rest, sleep on, sleep
on. Oh, my soul, ain't you glad that
his intercession is enough? It's enough. Now take your rest. Take your rest. Third thing I want us to think
about in this account about the garden, I want us to see first
who it was that was agonizing. This was our savior. Our representative,
the eternal mediator. And if I had no other evidence
that he came to represent his elect in this world, this passage
would be sufficient to me. Because there could be no agonizing
over sins of his own because he had none of his own. So over
whose sins was he agonizing? Over whose sins was he pouring
his heart out to God? Our sins. Our sins. It said, he hath made him sin
for us. Now listen, who knew no sin? Has to be, has to be our substitute,
Tony. No other explanation for it.
And then if he come as our representative, here's the next question, why
is he pleading with God for the cup to be taken away? Have you
been puzzled with that? I've always been puzzled with
that. I was puzzled with that for years. I'd look at that,
it just did not make sense to me. And then Brother Henry brought
a message on it and it cleared things up. Why is he pleading
with God for the cup to be taken away? Three times he prayed in
this garden for this cup to be taken away, why? Did he fear
being our substitute? He didn't fear anything. He feared nothing. Was he trying
to back out of it? God forbid. He did this thing
voluntarily. Not only has God chosen him,
but he volunteered to be our substitute. And he purposed this
from the foundation of the world. Then why did he plead with the
father to take away the cup? I'm telling you, I wrestled with
this. It just did not make sense to me. And finally, I heard that
message by Henry and I started looking into it. He was not asking
for his substitutionary work to be taken away, but that he might live long enough
to be our substitute. He tells us in Mark 14, 34 and
Matthew 26, 38. My soul is exceeding sorrowful. Now listen, unto death. This
was not just a burden on him, it was crushing him. And he thought he was gonna die
as a man, as our representative, the man, Christ Jesus, thought
he was gonna die in the garden. And that's what I believe he
was praying, that the sin that he must bear would not crush
him before he could get to the cross. Now, turn with me to Hebrews
chapter five, and let me see if I can make good on that. Again, this is the same as Psalm
110, and Paul is telling us in Hebrews chapter five about Christ,
our high priest. This is our high priest in the
garden praying. He tells us that he's a priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. Same thing I read to you out
of Psalm 110. Now look here at verse seven.
Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers
and supplications with strong crying and tears. Now listen to this. Unto him
that was able to keep him from what? Death. and was heard in that he feared. Now, a lot of the writers said,
he's talking about the death of the cross. No, the Lord heard
him and delivered him. He's not talking about his death
on the cross, he's talking about his death in the garden. And
he was heard in that he feared. And though he were a son, yet
learned he obedience by the things that he suffered. And being made
perfect, that is a perfect high priest. He became the author
of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. And then
fourthly, and I'll try to hurry, I want you to see his enemies as
he comes forth from this garden. He tells them he's already been
betrayed into the hands of sinners, and these sinners are on their
way to the garden even as he pray. And the first of these
enemies is Judas Iscariot. Now, why am I telling you about
these enemies? Because his enemies are our enemies. We have same
enemies. Same enemies. And here's Judas
Iscariot. Well, what's so special about
him? He obtained part of their ministry.
He was brother Judas. When the Lord said, one of you
is gonna betray me, they all looked at each other and then
looked at him and said, is it I? Is it I? Finally, because
they'd all asked the question, Judas answered last and said,
is it I? Sometimes our enemies are so
close that you can't recognize them. None of these disciples
knew Judas was the betrayer. None of them even suspected him.
They trusted him with the person. And I've seen this very thing
several times in my lifetime. People so close to me that I
fellowship with, cared for, called me on the phone, heard messages
that I preached and commented favorably on. We were close,
sold out for whatever reason, unless the gospel minister. And then notice this, the chief
priests and scribes, they were among his enemies. This is one of the first things
I come to see when the Lord saved me out of religion. I still wanted
to make a place for him somehow, some way, and there was no place.
It was a hard lesson for me to learn. These are not my friends. These people are preaching a
false gospel to me. They'd made a proselyte out of
me. These people are my enemies.
They're my enemies. And then the world. Now, this
has to do with your own children, your own mother, your own father,
the world. All who are unconverted out there,
the world. And the world always favors false
religion. Isn't that something? In my family
alone, we probably got 20 different kinds of religion that different
ones believe. Of course, they're all the same.
They're all works religion, free will religion. But even the ones
who don't go to church will side with them against me if I say
anything. I just find that amazing. But
here they are. Here they are. The Romans didn't
like the Jews. They just didn't know what to
do with it. But they're gonna side with the Jews because it's
good politics. And they're gonna come out there
with them with staves and spears and take him prisoner and take
him back and judge him. These are the enemies. And I love what he said. That
awful lynch mob approached him with clubs and staves and spears
and all these things. And he said, whom seek ye? And
they said, Jesus of Nazareth. And he said, I am. And that whole
outfit went backward on the ground. And they just sat there, had
to sat there in amazement looking at him. And he said, who seek
ye? They said, Jesus of Nazareth. And this is my fifth and final
point. Here's the gist of his ministry. He said, I told you, John 18,
eight, Jesus answered and said, I've told you that I am. If therefore you seek me, you
let these go. You can have me, but you can't
have them. And they took him. They took
him. Ain't you glad they took him?
They took him that we might feel. All right, thank you.