We're going to read from verse
36 to verse 46 in Matthew 26. It says, beginning at verse 36,
Now recall what has just happened. The Lord Jesus has with his disciples
been in the upper room. They ate the last Passover. And that was the last one because
he fulfilled the Passover. And then he took, after the end
of that meal, he took the bread and broke it. and he blessed
it and gave thanks for it and gave it to his disciples and
he told them, take, eat. This is my body broken for you. And then also he took the cup
and said, and this cup is the New Testament in my blood which
is shed for you. This do in remembrance of me.
And now we see as the disciples are leaving and it's not written
here but He was on the way to Gethsemane and He spoke the words
that are recorded in John, the book of John, chapters 13 through
the end of chapter 17. Most precious and endearing words
of our Savior. Comforting, describing all that
would come upon the disciples and all that He would do in sending
His Spirit because of His victory at the cross. But here we have
the immediate focus on what happens when He moves from that scene
at the Last Supper. Having spoken to them those words
that are so endearing. This is my body broken for you. And then we see Gethsemane unfolding
before us. We see the fulfillment of what
He told them. In verse 36 we pick it up. Then, he says, then
cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane. Gethsemane
is a word that means the oil press, according to John Gill,
who has knowledge of such things. He says, it says, he came to
a place called Gethsemane, and he saith to his disciples, sit
ye here while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter, And
the two sons of Zebedee," that would be James and John, they
were brothers, "...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,
and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my father, If it be
possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will,
but as thou wilt. And he cometh to his disciples,
and findeth them asleep, and saith to Peter, What? Could you not watch with me one
hour? Watch, and pray, that you enter
not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak. He went away again the second
time and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass
away from me except I drink it, Thy will be done. And He came
and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. And
He left them and went away again and prayed the third time, saying
the same words, Then cometh He to His disciples, and saith to
them, Sleep on now, and take your rest. Behold, the hour is
at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. Behold,
He is at hand that doth betray Me." It seems like, in the Scripture,
it's always amazing to me how little time is spent to describe
so much. In just a few words here we have
the whole ordeal of our Lord's suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane. This oil press, as it is called
by the meaning of the name, but it's metaphorical of what the
Lord experienced there. The oil press. I'm not sure that
this is what that refers to, but I think it certainly has
something to do with this. That the Lord was pressed here
in the Garden. And like a wine press, he was
pressed. And I think the oil press has to do with the fact
that as the Lord Jesus Christ was pressed in his sufferings,
because he was so pressed, because he so suffered, then the Spirit
of God is given to his people. And we can know him. We can know
him in our heart. And we can believe him truly
and have life in believing him. But I was thinking this morning,
because of the recent news, of this thought. It says, it occurs
to me as you hear the threat of war and rumors of wars as
the Lord Jesus described here, what do you think is more dangerous
than thermonuclear war? You know what that is? That's
when there's deadly nuclear bombs dropped by men who hate, as we
used to be, as it says in Titus 3.3, hateful and hating one another. What do you think is more dangerous
than a nuclear bomb? And here we have it unfolded
to us in this text of Scripture. It is God's wrath against sin
in the soul and the body of a man. God's war in the soul of man
is more deadly than nuclear war. Jesus said, "...be not afraid
of them that kill the body, but after that they have no more
that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom
you shall fear. Fear Him, which after he hath
killed hath power to cast into hell, yea, I say unto you, fear
him." That's from Luke chapter 12. If we reverence God and stand
in awe of Him, which is to fear Him, stand in awe of Him who
does all His will, who is holy and just and good in all that
He does, if we're afraid to come to God in any other way but by
Jesus Christ and Him crucified, to trust and love and give glory
to any but Christ, then we have nothing to fear." In Psalm 27,
it says, "...the Lord is my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the light of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?" Now the Lord
Jesus Christ, probably after He spoke to His disciples, probably
less than three hours after He spoke those words, This is my
body broken for you." He enters the garden of Gethsemane and
began to be very sorrowful and very heavy. And then he said
to his disciples in verse 37 and 38, My soul is exceeding
sorrowful even unto death. He was fulfilling his own words
in those words. He was submitting himself to
do the will of God his Father. It says in 1 Peter 2, I know
you are familiar with this verse, but it's worth rehearsing, who
his own self, and I love the way that Peter emphasizes who
did this. So many pronouns in this one
sentence. Who his own self bear our sins
in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sins, should
live unto righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed." Now
that's taken from Isaiah chapter 53. And you know what it says
in Isaiah 53? Let me just read this verse to
you from there. Isaiah 53, 5. Because it's exactly what's happening
here in Matthew chapter 26. Isaiah 53 and verse 5. He says, I'll read verse 4 as well, "...surely
He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows, yet we did
esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." Which
was the truth. He was smitten of God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. And listen to these words. The
chastisement of our peace was upon Him and with His stripes
we are healed. Chastisement. That's what was
coming upon the Lord Jesus Christ here. He was chastised by His
Father, and He was chastised for a good reason, because our
sins were made His. Now, when we read this scripture
in Matthew 26, there are certain things we must keep in mind in
order to understand. It's very clear, it's almost
on the surface, but sometimes we can get lost in the details.
The first thing we see here is that everything our Lord Jesus
Christ did He did as, while He was on earth, He did as our mediator,
our surety. And you know what a surety is.
A surety is someone who takes responsibility for someone else. The Lord Jesus Christ took responsibility
for His people. As Judah answered Joseph when
Benjamin was charged with a crime, Judah stepped between Joseph
and Benjamin. And he owned all the responsibility
that Benjamin should have paid to Joseph, who was the governor
in Egypt that day. But Judah answered him, and his
answer was with himself. He said, take me instead of the
lad. That's what the Lord is doing
here. Take me instead of the lad. And as Paul in Philemon
chapter 1 verses 12 and 17 and 18 wrote that letter to Philemon
on the behalf of Onesimus, he says, receive him as myself. If He owes you ought, I will
repay it. Put it on my account, I'll repay
it. So everything the Lord Jesus did, He did as our surety, as
our substitute. He lived a representative life. He didn't have to live on this
earth. He came to this earth and lived his life for his people. He didn't have to die because
he had no sin. Only sinners die. The wages of
sin is death. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. The Lord Jesus had no sin of his own. He was holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners. He knew no sin. never knew the
guilt of sin, because he did no sin, and in him is no sin. And yet the Lord Jesus suffers
here. So why did he suffer? Why did he feel the sorrow that
he describes here, that we can't really describe, really can't
enter into? It was because he was bearing
the sins of his people. He stood for them. He stood as
a surety for God's elect. Those God chose before the foundation
of the world. Those God gave to Him. Those
God viewed in Christ as one with Christ from eternity. That's
what the Lord Jesus Christ is doing here. He's fulfilling the
everlasting covenant of God. The will of God. that was recorded
from eternity in the will in God's heart. It was in His purpose,
in His thoughts, and He does all His thoughts. And it's recorded
in Scripture. And so that's what the Lord Jesus
is doing here. So the first lesson I want you
to see here is that, before we get into the details, is that
God, by His holy and sovereign will, His will is holy. that
God thinks, nothing that God purposes, nothing that God does
at any time is anything but holy. He won't do it unless it's holy.
If He lays the sins of His people on His Son, if He requires from
His Son the full answer to His justice for the sins of His people,
it's a holy requirement. God does it in a holy way, and
He does it in order that he might magnify all of the perfections
of his character and his nature. So it's a holy thing. It's sovereign.
He does it of his own will. No one moved him. But He moved
Himself. It was from eternity that He
did this. There was never a time when the Lord Jesus Christ was
not determined in God's mind and purpose to be given up in
order to save His people from their sins. That's the amazing
thing of God's will. It says in 1 Peter chapter 1,
Verses 18 through 20. I'll just read the last verse
there. It says there that the Lord Jesus Christ were not redeemed
with corruptible things as silver and gold, but with incorruptible
by the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb slain without blemish
and without spot. In verse 20 it says, how long
ago this was determined by God. He says, who verily was foreordained
before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these
last times for you." In other words, what we see in the Garden
is the manifestation of what was already purposed in the will
of God before the foundation of the world. The same thing
is repeated in Revelation 13 and 8. He's the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. There was never a time when God
didn't view Christ with the sins of His people and required Him
to answer justice for those sins in His own person. Never a time.
You can't even speak about time and eternity. It was always in
the heart of God. Always in His purpose. And so
we see this. All that happens is by the will
of God. All God required of Christ has
to do with His will. It's wonderful to think about
this, that it was God's will to show mercy to sinners. God's
will. It wasn't something that we invented. Nothing that a man designed.
But in Hebrews chapter 10, the Lord speaks it like this. He says, It's really quoted from
Psalm chapter 40, but he says this in Hebrews chapter 7, "...the
Lord Jesus, in coming into the world," he says in verse 5, "...wherefore,
when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering
thou wouldest not, but a body." But a body hast thou prepared
me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Not even once did the offering
of animal sacrifices ever take away one sin. Then said I, the
Lord Jesus speaks as he's entering into the world, Lo, I come in
the volume of the book It is written of me to do thy will,
O God. Yea, thy law is within my heart,
it says in Psalm 40. The volume of the book, the book
that is the scroll of God's eternal will, which is revealed in Scripture,
Always in his heart. Always in Christ's heart to do
the will of God. That was his one driving purpose
in all that he did. To do thy will, O God. He came
into the world with that purpose. When he spoke to his disciples
after ministering to the woman at the well. And they asked him,
Master, eat. He said, I have meat to eat that
you know not of. My meat is to do the will of
Him that sent me and to finish His work." To finish it. And
then He cried on the cross, it is finished. That was what He
did here. He's doing the will of God. In all that He did, He
came to do the will of God. It was God's will to save His
people by Christ, save them in Christ from eternity. I always
have mentioned this to you before, but remember what Joseph said
to his brethren after they devised to first kill him, and then they
changed their mind, and they cast him into a pit, and then
they thought, well, let's sell him down to Egypt, and all that,
and all that they did, all their wickedness, their murderous intent,
and their cold-heartedness, while he was in that pit, crying for
mercy, and they turned to him a deaf ear. After they meet with
him finally, Joseph says to his brethren, they're standing there
before him as the governor of Egypt, power over their lives.
And they know it too. They're guilty. They know he
understands. He can see things, understand things that they never
thought possible. And he says, come near to me,
I pray you. And they came near and he said,
I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now, therefore,
be not grieved. nor angry with yourselves that
you sold me hither, for God did send me before you to preserve
life." That's what Christ is doing here. He says later in
Genesis 50, He says, "...you thought evil against me, but
God meant it unto good, to bring to pass as it is this day, to
save much people alive." That was the will of God, to save
much people alive, and He did it. at the hand of His justice
through the instrument of wicked men. They took the Lord Jesus
Christ according to God's will and they hung Him on a tree.
They beat Him, they spit upon Him, they wounded Him, but with
His stripes we were healed. The Lord put Him to death, the
Lord put Him to grief, the Lord caused His affliction. He was
a man of sorrows because He stood for His people as their surety.
It was God's eternal will. And then the other thing I want
you to see here before we get into the details is that the
sufferings of Christ, the death of Christ, were for the glory
of God in the salvation of His elect. Look at John chapter 13,
this verse here in John 13. The same time is spoken of in
John 13 as we have in Matthew 26. And he says in John 13 verse
30, When Judas had received the sop
that Jesus gave to him, he went out immediately and it was night.
Verse 31 says, Therefore when he was gone out, Jesus said this,
Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God
shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify
him. The reason Christ died, the overarching
reason, was to make known God's goodness, God's justice, His
righteousness, His holiness, His mercy, His grace, His wisdom,
His power, His faithfulness. All of the perfections of God
make known to His people and to this universe in the death
of Christ. Hebrews chapter 1-3 says that
the Lord Jesus Christ is the brightness of God's glory. The
brightness of His glory. We think of God's glory as sometimes
as His power, or His power to create the world, or His power
to judge the wicked, or all these things. And that is God's glory.
That is to God's glory. But the glory of God, according
to what we just read here in John 13, is that the Lord Jesus
Christ would take the sins of His people and pay for them too,
and save them from the death they deserved, and magnify the
goodness of God in so doing. And so we see that. And then
we also see here, we don't want to miss this, now why the Lord
Jesus did all this. Remember He spoke in Luke chapter
22, I didn't read that last week, but He said, with desire, I have
desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. And
so He had this intense desire in his
heart. Can you imagine it? In his heart. In the heart of the Son of God,
but in time, from his birth, from eternity, it was in the
heart of God, the Son. And for his entire life, he came
to do the will of God. And remember when he was with
his parents and they asked him after he had stayed behind at
the temple, they came back to him and they said, Son, didn't
you know that we were looking for you, sorrowing? And he said,
don't you know I need to be about my father's business? This was
in his heart from eternity, to do the will of God. But he did
it out of love for his people. The love of the Lord Jesus Christ
for his people. Who can understand this love?
Who can understand the breadth, the length and depth and breadth
and height of the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord? It's
here for us in Matthew 26, the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. He did this not for himself,
but to do the will of God. He loved his father, like it
says in Exodus 21, I love my master, I love my wife, I love
my children, I will not go out free. And he stayed there as
a servant, and he did the will of God. In 1 John chapter 4, John says
that we know the love of God by what we see in Christ. He
says, herein is love, not that we love God, but that He loved
us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself
is the propitiation for our sins. Paul said it this way, I am crucified
with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, But Christ liveth
in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by
the faith of the Son of God. Christ the object of my faith,
Christ the source of my faith, Christ is all that I hold to.
He's my all, my hope, my life, my all. I live by the faith of
the Son of God who loved me. and gave himself for me." Isn't
that the gospel that God writes on the hearts of his people when
he breaks this adamant heart of ours? He says to us, my body
broken for you, Christ crucified for me, he gave himself for me.
The Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins to save us from
this evil world. And so that's the third thing,
the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then you see in these verses
here this three times what the Lord Jesus prayed. He said, Father,
if it be your will, if it be your will, if there's any other
way, He says it this way in verse 39. O my Father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt."
Not only was it God's eternal will, but why was it necessary
that He die? Why was it necessary? Couldn't
He have come and just healed people and just raised people
from the dead? He did that before His death.
Couldn't He have done that? No, because the reason he was
able to heal, the miracles that he performed were based on what
he did here. He never could have done a miracle
of saving sinners from the consequences of their sins if there wasn't
a payment made. And so the fourth thing we see
here in the sufferings of Christ, it was necessary. Because God
must be satisfied in His justice. Christ must suffer. Without the
shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. Remission
means the payment for sins. The payment has to be made in
order for the sins. The counting in God's justice
for sins cannot be cleared unless the payment has been made. Compensation
has to be given. A ransom has to be paid before
liberty can be granted. Christ had to die. Leviticus
17.11 says that the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I
have given you the blood to make atonement for your souls. God
gave Christ a human body and soul to make atonement for His
people. We couldn't make that atonement.
We didn't offer Him. Abel offered a lamb. God accepted
Abel's lamb, and in accepting Abel's lamb, accepted Abel. But
Christ offered Himself. Christ, the Son of God, in human
nature, offered Himself. Not for His people. I mean, not
for Himself, but for His people. And He was accepted. And in Him
being accepted by God in His sacrifice, God accepted all for
whom He offered Himself. The blood had to be shed for
payment to be made to God's justice. Why? was the Lord Jesus Christ,
falling on his face, crying three times, with strong crying and
tears, without any relief. Because justice had to be satisfied. Is it good that justice is satisfied? Without justice, where would
this world be? The problems in this world are
due to the lack of law and justice. You see it, don't you? People
are out of control. In their minds, in their words,
in their actions. Nations against nations. There's
lawlessness. Without justice, the world crumbles. God's throne is established on
justice, and it's upheld in mercy. And the Lord Jesus Christ had
to die. God's throne depends upon it.
God's nature, God Himself, is a God of justice. The Lord Jesus
Christ had to die in order to satisfy justice. If justice for
His people could only be satisfied in the death of a substitute,
then Christ had to be that substitute. The other thing we see here,
and I don't want to spend too much time on these, I'll just
mention them in passing. Something else to think about
is that the Lord Jesus Christ, to Him there was nothing more
important than doing God's will, as I mentioned. And it was worth
all the sufferings. It was worth all the sufferings.
When we think about the will of God, we know His will is good
because God is good. And when we find in our lives
the will of God, afflicting us, or bringing trouble, or whatever
it is, when we submit to God's will, We're acknowledging the
fact that God's will is good and everything is worth the will
of God. It's worth it to have God's will
done. We entrust ourselves to Him.
And that's another thing you see here. Is that in the Lord
Jesus Christ, this is pre-eminently seen here, He is suffering what
no one ever suffered in His soul. There's no question about that.
But here we see something. The Lord Jesus Christ, who is
God the Son, in human nature, what is He doing while He's suffering?
While He's enduring this, the stress in His Holy Soul to both
do the will of God and yet to take the sins of His people and
suffer the punishment for them. What is He doing? He's calling
upon the Lord. He's calling upon His Father.
That's what he does. He's praying to his Father. Psalm
34, 17, it says, the righteous call, the righteous cry. The
righteous cry. That is what the righteous do. Psalm 50, verse 15 says, Call
upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you, and thou
shalt glorify me." That's what Christ is doing here. He's calling
on the Lord. The Lord will deliver him, but
he entrusts himself into the hands of his Father while he's
suffering. Above all things, he trusts his
Father. Job said it. Job 13, 15, "...though
he slay me, yet will I trust him." Prophetically, speaking
of Christ, whose heart could only do that. He trusted His
Father. He knew that even though He experienced
in His soul the forsaking of God, the forsaking of friends,
and His disciples, the betrayal of a friend, and the hateful,
hurtful, cruel treatment at the hands of sinners, and not only
that, the onslaught of Satan, God allowed it. Even though all
this came upon Him, He trusted in the Lord. He trusted in the
Lord. Can we trust God? The Lord Jesus suffered affliction
none of us will ever suffer. None of us can really comprehend
it. Even in hell, men cannot suffer this kind of suffering.
Because His suffering satisfied God, but the suffering of sinners
in hell will never satisfy God. Then can we not go to Him who
suffered this affliction, and know that He can be touched with
the feeling of our infirmities? We can. Isn't this what Hebrews
chapter 4 exhorts us to do? Let me read it to you from Hebrews
chapter 4. We have such a high priest. This
is our Lord Jesus. He says in Hebrews chapter 4
verse 14. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that is passed into the heavens, having done the
will of God, having obtained eternal salvation for his people.
Suffering all that he did, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast
our profession. Don't waver. For we have not
an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities. In other words, we do have a high priest who
can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. But he was
in all points tempted, like as we are, yet without sin. And here's the conclusion. Let
us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, because
our high priest has offered himself, because he has obtained favor,
and acceptance, and justification, and sanctification, and redemption,
and all the blessings that God promised in the new covenant,
on the condition of his own blood being shed. Therefore, given
the fact that he has obtained our redemption, offered himself,
our high priest who suffered so, then we know we can find
an ear of sympathy, an ear of empathy from Him, that we may
obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. His throne
is a throne of grace because His soul was made the seat of
God's judgment. A hymn writer writes this, Did
justice smite with iron rod in sad Gethsemane, thy spotless
soul? Then, O my God, my God, remember
me." That's what we pray, Lord. Just like the thief on the cross,
here he hangs. The same writer said this, the
gall and wormwood mixed by God in sad Gethsemane he drank when
he, the wine-press, trod. For thee, my soul, for thee,
Isn't this what the gospel teaches us? It preaches it to us. Time
after time, we're told this. He was a man of sorrows, acquainted
with grief, and he did it for our sakes, to the glory of God,
to fulfill his will, because of his love. And in doing so,
he was willing to suffer all to have his people. For the joy
that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame,
and is set down at the right hand of God. Now, in Matthew
26, He says here that He came to
a place in verse 36 called Gethsemane. I already told you that's the
oil press. The word means He was pressed out of measure. The
cup of blessing which we bless is Christ's blood shed under
this press. because he was pressed and three
times prayed that this cup might pass from him. That cup is a
blessing to us." And so he says, and he goes on in verse 36, he
said to his disciples, sit ye here. He left eight disciples
in one place, and then he took the remaining three, there were
eleven now because Judas had left, but the remaining three,
Peter, James, and John, He took them, these three, went with
Him, had gone into Him, remember, to the house of Jairus, whose
daughter had died, and then Jesus went in and raised her from the
dead. And these three men saw Him do that. They saw His power
and His glory, even over death. These were the same three that
went up to that high mountain, the mountain of transfiguration,
and saw His glory. And now these three men see why
God glorified Him. This is why. Because the Lord
Jesus Christ began to be very sorrowful. Verse 37. He says,
He came to Gethsemane. He said to His disciples, Sit
ye here while I go and pray yonder. And He took with Him Peter and
the two sons of Zebedee. And He said, He began to be sorrowful
and very heavy. Isaiah 53.3 is where it says
he's a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. He was a man of sorrows
in his entire life. Men were persecuting him. His
entire ministry, men were persecuting him. He had to grow up as a boy. He had to live. He had to learn.
And he had to grow in favor and stature before men and God. The Lord Jesus Christ, He had
to do those things. He had to experience all of the things
that we as fallen sinful men in our bodies experience. The
weakness of hunger and sleep, all those things. He felt those
in His own body because He carried. He carried in His own body the
consequences of our sin because He stood as our substitute. But
he was persecuted without cause. But now, his father chastises
him. His father chastises him for
the sins of his people. Before any man touched him, here
the Lord Jesus Christ began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Isn't that amazing? I suppose
that's one of the most amazing things. Why was the Lord Jesus
so sorrowful and heavy? In the next part he says, he
began to be very heavy. I think there's really three
reasons why the Lord felt this at this time. And really, in
saying this, we have to rely on the rest of Scripture. But
we can also understand it somewhat, as men, because when we put these
things together, It teaches us that the Lord Jesus Christ suffered
so terribly here. The first reason I see that the
Lord Jesus Christ suffered like this is that He Himself bore
our sins in His own body. He bore those sins. He bore them
up to the tree. He carried them up to the tree
in His own body and He bore them there on the tree. But here He's
burying them in His soul. He was anticipating being made
sin. His soul, it says in Isaiah 53.10,
was made an offering for sin. The sins of God's people became
His. And we can read about this in
Scripture, and I want to read about it. Look at Psalm chapter
31. We're going to go through a couple
of Psalms just to see this. Psalm chapter 31. The Lord Jesus
Christ. Because really it's in the Psalms
that we see any detail in this. And when we read the Psalms,
and I've read commentators on the Psalms, and they avoid this.
It's like they steer away from it. They can't accept the fact
that this is speaking here about the Lord Jesus Christ. Many commentators,
sometimes they'll give you an exposition of a psalm, and then
when it gets to this part, they say, well, now this part talks
about the Lord Jesus, but this part talks about David. But it's
not so. It's all talking about him. He
says in Psalm 31, listen at verse 5, Into thine hand I commit my
spirit. Psalm 31 verse 5. Into thine
hand I commit my spirit. Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord
God of truth. But now look at verse 10. And
verse 9 of Psalm 31, Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in
trouble. Mine eye is consumed with grief,
yea, my soul and my belly. For my life is spent with grief
and my years with sighing. My strength faileth. because
of mine iniquity and my bones are consumed." Remember, look
at our chapter 32, verse 3. This is what the chastisement
of God does in the soul and the conscience of a man. He says
in Psalm 32, 3, "...when I kept silence..." This is David speaking.
"...when I kept silence..." covering his sins. My bones waxed old
through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand
was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the
drought of summer." Isn't that describing what our Lord said?
My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. He began to
be very heavy. Look at Psalm 38. Psalm 38 is another psalm. He says this in verse 11. He says, My lovers and my friends
stand aloof from my sore, and my kinsmen stand afar off. That
describes our Lord Jesus. But look at verse 1. O Lord,
rebuke me not in thy wrath, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure,
for thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me
sore. He was pressed, that's what Gethsemane
means, the oil press. There is no soundness in my flesh
because of thine anger. Neither is there any rest in
my bones because of my sin. For mine iniquities are gone
over mine head. As a heavy burden they are too
heavy for me. My wounds stink and are corrupt
because of my foolishness. I am troubled. I am bowed down
greatly. I go mourning all the day long. For my loins are filled with
a loathsome disease. There is no soundness in my flesh.
I am feeble and sore broken. I have roared by reason of the
disquietness of my heart." You see this? David wrote this psalm,
but David wrote as a prophet. If David felt this as a prophet,
you know how God spoke through the prophets, through their words,
and through their experiences. David was one. In his life, he
lived a life and his experiences spoke of what Christ would experience. He was cursed by Shimei, remember? King David, when he was fleeing
from Absalom, he was cursed by Saul's descendant Shimei. And David says to Abishai, when
Abishai wanted to go take off his head, he says, no, the Lord
sent him to curse. Let him curse. Who can tell if
God will turn his curse into a blessing? David experienced
it. David experienced the betrayal
of Ahithophel, his counselor, just like Jesus experienced the
betrayal of Judas. And David experienced a sorrow
in his heart that's so mournful in 2 Samuel 18 when he cries
out, O Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, would to God I had died
instead of thee, O Absalom, my son, my son. And the Lord Jesus
Christ fulfills David's experience because David was a prophet.
And he speaks this way in this psalm. And he speaks of his own
pain in his soul, in his body, all throughout him because of
the iniquities made his by God's imputation. Felt. Guilt felt. Shame felt in his soul. Look
at Psalm 40. Chapter 40. He says in verse 6, "...sacrifice
and offering thou didst not desire. Mine ears hast thou opened. Burnt
offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said
I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O God.
Yea, thy law is within my heart." Here he speaks of his holy soul.
And yet, look at this in verse 12. For innumerable evils have
compassed me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me, so that I am not able to look up. They are more than
the hairs of mine head." And I wanted to read this verse,
and I failed to do so back in Psalm 38. He says in verse 17
of Psalm 38, Listen to what he says there,
"...for I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before
me." To halt means to stumble. He says, "...for I will declare
mine iniquity." And listen to this, "...I will be sorry." for
my sin." Can you understand something about this? Have you felt in
your conscience the weight that guilt causes before God? We're
so used to sinning that our conscience becomes numb to our sin. We don't even recognize sin.
We sin so much we don't even know how much we sin. We can't.
Our conscience is so callous to sin. But here the Holy Soul
of the Son of God who could see sin In the thoughts of others. Now feels that sin in his own
soul. He feels that guilt before God.
He who knew no sin... was made sin for us, who knew
no righteousness, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him." So that's the first reason I see. The reason for
his sorrow was that he felt the guilt and the shame of filthy
sin in his own soul. God did this. God laid it on
him. He laid upon him the iniquity
of us all. He made his soul an offering
for sin. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. It pleased him because it satisfied
God. It's incredible to think about,
isn't it? And every time you feel that guilt before God and
that shame, which we only feel in such small amounts, but guilt
drives men to do the worst kinds of things. We separate from others
because of guilt. We can't stand to show our face.
Guilt causes men to take their own lives. Guilt is a horrible
thing. We know what guilt is. Therefore,
we can understand something, just a scant amount, of what
the Lord Jesus Christ must have felt in His own soul. My soul
is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." Now look at a couple
of other things. The second reason the Lord felt
this in His soul was because God's hand, the punishment of
God's hand was on His soul before man touched Him. Look at Psalm
Chapter 69. I'll just read a couple of verses
here in the other Psalms. Psalm 69. No doubt this is a
Psalm of David. Again, speaking of our Lord Jesus
Christ. To show you that that is the
case, look at verse 9. He says, "...for the zeal of
thine house hath eaten me up." Isn't that a quote that the Lord
Jesus Christ spoke in John? Chapter 2, I believe it is. And
look it down further. He says in In verse 21, they
gave me also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me
vinegar to drink. So this is a psalm of David,
but it's a psalm prophetic of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so
he says in verse 1, listen to this mournful cry, Save me, O
God, for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep
mire. where there is no standing. I
am coming to deep waters where the floods overflow me. I am
weary of my crying. My throat is dried. My eyes fail
while I wait for my God. They that hate me without cause
are more than the hairs of my head. They that would destroy
me, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. Then I restored that
which I took not away. O God, Thou knowest my foolishness,
and my sins are not hid from Thee. Let not them that wait
on thee, O Lord of God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake. Let not
those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel,
because for thy sake I have borne reproach. Shame hath covered
my face. That's the words of our Lord
Jesus Christ, spoken in prophecy. We never read them in the New
Testament quite in that way, but we know He prayed. We know
He prayed. It says in Hebrews chapter 5
that with strong crying and tears He prayed to Him that was able
to save Him from death. And He was heard because He feared. Look at Psalm 88. Psalm 88 is
the same thing. I just want you to read these
psalms so that you have the words of our Lord in your mind when
you read through Matthew 26 and how we see the Lord suffering.
Psalm 88, he says in verse 1, I have cried day and night before
thee. Let my prayer come before thee. Incline thine ear unto my cry. Now if the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the Son of God in our nature, so depended and so trusted
and so cried to his Father, how much more should we, who are
so weak and helpless and full of sin and in need of strength,
so cry? No wonder he told his disciples,
watch and pray that ye might not enter into temptation. But
he goes on, verse 3, "...for my soul is full of troubles,
and my life draweth nigh unto the grave. I am counted with
them that go down into the pit. I am as a man that hath no strength."
When he was praying, it says an angel came and strengthened
him in Luke chapter 22. An angel of God! He's the son
of God. He could have strengthened himself,
but no, he depended on God so that he was made lower than the
angels and he had to receive the strength of an angel to come
and strengthen him. So he says, I'm a man that hath
no strength, free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the
grave, whom thou rememberest no more. That's what the grave
is. It's the place where God remembers no more. And because
it's a place of no more memory, then God has put our sins on
Christ and buried them there, so that He remembers our sins
no more. And He says, "...whom thou rememberest no more, and
they are cut off from thy hand. Thou hast laid me in the lowest
pit, in darkness, in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me,
and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves." Thou hast put
away mine acquaintance far from me. Thou hast made me an abomination
to them. I am shut up. I cannot come forth."
And we could go on and on. This is speaking of our Lord
Jesus Christ. The same thing is said of Jonah
when he prayed. And I'll just read this just
quickly to you. Let me see if I can find Jonah.
These little books are always hiding when you most need them
to show up. Jonah chapter 2, verse 2. I cried
by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me. Out of the belly of hell, cried
I, and thou heardst my voice. But thou hast cast me into the
deep, in the midst of the seas, and the floods compassed me about,
all thy billows and thy waves passed over me." You see that? The Lord Jesus Christ suffered.
These were all prophetic of what we cannot really comprehend. The sufferings of our Lord in
His soul and in His body. So that's the second reason He
suffered. First, because He was made sin. Second, because it
was God's own hand. Can you imagine that? The chastisement
of his own father? He only knew his father's pleasure. He only knew his father's love.
But now he experiences in his soul his father's chastisement. You can take a beating on the
playground, or in the streets, and you can take it. But when
your father or someone you love chastises you, doesn't it have
a much deeper effect? Someone you love? All those that
he loved forsook him. It says in Matthew 26, He says
he took Peter and John and James with him and then he told them
his soul was very heavy. Then it says he went a little
further and fell on his face. It says in Luke that he was about
a stone's cast from them. He removed himself after he left
the eight brought the three with him, he went further himself.
He removed himself from Peter and James and John to be alone. To be alone. And he experienced
these things alone. He was withdrawn from them, a
stone's cast, and he kneeled down and prayed. He was alone
because he alone. must suffer. It was the will
of God that by Himself He purged our sin. He alone was worthy
to take the book out of God's hand, that volume of the book
of His eternal will, His everlasting covenant, and fulfill every condition
in it. He alone, because none but He
was worthy. He alone, because only He was
willing. He alone, because only He could
accomplish the work He alone, because He alone did accomplish
that work, the Lord Jesus Christ alone, from His disciples, under
the hand of His Father, in the garden, before any man laid hands
on Him. He alone, because as our High
Priest, He had to enter Heaven itself, and enter the Holy Place
in Heaven with His own blood alone. He offered Himself in
sacrifice to God for our sins. He was alone because He took
our sins and bore them by Himself. He was alone because God's wrath
was only poured out on Him. As our substitute, He took it
all from us. If He is our substitute, there's
nothing left. Christ has died. Therefore, there's
no condemnation. He took it all and He fully paid
the price. Therefore, we are justified. no man cared for his soul he
was alone the Lord it says in Zechariah 13 7 awake oh sword
against my shepherd and against the man that is my fellow saith
the Lord of hosts smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered
Christ suffered before any man laid hands on him because God
poured his wrath into his soul that's what's spoken up here
the Lord Jesus Christ what a what a what a An endearing part of Scripture
this is. This is our salvation, isn't
it? That the Lord Jesus Christ prayed. He prayed three times.
He wouldn't find a way. He says in John chapter 12, what
shall I pray? Father, save me from this hour?
No. This is the very cause I came
to this hour. And then lastly, I want to just
point out this thing where he speaks to his disciples. We don't
have time to get into all the details here, but just this last
thing. When he speaks to his disciples, who were they? Peter,
James, and John. What did the disciples learn
from this? They couldn't help it. They were asleep. Jesus said
to them, He says, the flesh is weak. It's weak. The spirit is
willing, but the flesh is weak. What did Peter, James, and John
learn out of all these things? So many things. But one of the
things they learned is that we, we ourselves, under affliction,
must go to God in prayer. Look at what Peter, James, and
John said about this. In the book of 1 Peter, chapter
5, he says in verse 7, verse 6, he says, Humble yourselves,
therefore, unto the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you
in due time. This is under the In our life,
through the experiences of our life, casting all your care upon
Him, for He careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant, because
your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about
seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist? How? How do we resist
the devil? The Lord Jesus Christ in the
garden was afflicted. And by the hand of God, by Satan,
he says, "...whom resist steadfast in the faith." How do we resist
the devil? In the faith. He says, "...knowing
that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren
that are in the world." In the faith means looking to
Christ, looking to Him only. How do we overcome? In the faith. We resist the devil in the faith.
Look at Revelation chapter 12. This is what John said. Revelation. He was there. Revelation chapter
12. Satan was cast out of heaven
when Christ went to the cross. And he says here in verse 10,
I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now is come salvation
and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his
Christ. For the accuser of our brethren
is cast down which accused them before God day and night. Christ has suffered, Christ has
died. Who is he that condemneth? Cast
the accuser out. Verse 11, And they overcame him
on the earth. They overcame him by the blood
of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony. That's the gospel.
The gospel made ours by God-given faith. And they loved not their
lives unto death. Paul says, I live by the faith
of the Son of God. How do we resist the devil? How
do we overcome? By faith in Christ. 1 John says
the same thing, 1 John 5, he says, verse 4, Whosoever is born
of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that overcomes
the world, even our faith. So Peter and John, they understood,
we must be humbled. In the circumstances of our life,
humbled, look to God, looking to Christ, and going to Him,
and looking to Christ only, we find victory over the world,
and over Satan, and over all things. James said this, in James
chapter 4, he says, Submit yourselves therefore to
God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh
to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, you
sinners, purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be afflicted
and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to
mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. The Lord Jesus Christ
was humbled by this chastisement from God. Peter, James, and John
were quiet. They couldn't do anything to
help him. He had to do it alone. But one thing we learned through
all this is that we need to go to God in all of our trouble,
trusting Him. The disciples learned it. We can only overcome this world
and Satan looking to Christ. Call upon the Lord in your trouble.
He will deliver you, and we shall be the objects of His saving
grace, and He will glorify Himself in our salvation. Let's pray.
Father, we pray, dear Lord, that You would give us meditation
in our heart on what Christ has done. And we would see, in all
of the shame of our own sin and the guilt of it too, our Lord
Jesus actually confessing our sins as His very own. taking them and bearing them
and suffering for them too, answering God in every part so that we
are free. Lord, we pray that in our conscience
you would sprinkle your blood, give us this faith that we might
see Christ as our all and come to you, knowing that if he died
for us, all barriers have been removed and we have free access
Lord, let us not hold back in our coming because of indifference
or because of guilt we think we must somehow atone for, tears
that we must shed, but come freely and boldly through the blood
of Christ. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.