Today's message is the second
of a two-part series titled Two Gardens, in which we're considering
two eternally momentous events that took place in those two
gardens. Last week, in part one of this series, we delved into
that which took place in the first garden, the Garden of Eden.
The fall of all mankind and our federal head and representative
Adam. And today, we'll examine that which took place in another
garden, the Garden of Gethsemane, where another representative,
the last Adam, Jesus Christ, entered to begin giving the final
deadly blow to sin and Satan for those he came to save, to
fully recover them from all they lost in the fall of Adam. A few
months back, my brother Jerry and I were talking. He suggested
I consider preparing a sermon on Gethsemane. This year I'm
reading once again through a daily devotional book written by Robert
Hawker and I immediately recognized Jerry must be doing the same
because at that particular time I just read some moving comments
that Hawker made concerning Christ and that which he experienced
in the Garden of Gethsemane." So that's what led to this series,
and as I typically do, I made a lot of use of commentators,
those I consider to be credible, and in particular, Mr. Hawker
in preparing this message. as our pastor used to say, there
should be nothing original in terms of the content or the conclusions
that you hear from any faithful preacher of the gospel because
it all should be derived from God's gospel as he set forth
in his word. So I hope in that sense you don't
hear anything original from me this morning, and if you do,
please discard it. Well, by way of review, let me
remind you of the significance of what took place in that first
garden, the Garden of Eden. And what we refer to as the fall
of mankind, Adam disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit
from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And he did
so, as we saw, in belief of Satan's lie and in unbelief of God. That's the very essence of sin
that ever since has characterized all of fallen sinful humanity,
unbelief. In his disobedience, Adam broke
the covenant of works God had entered into with him. We read
how that affected us all in Romans 5, 12. Wherefore, as by one man,
Adam, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. So in short,
Adam plunged himself and the whole human race into spiritual
death and darkness. When Adam sinned, remember, he
immediately died spiritually. Secondly, his physical death
became a future certainty. As the language there is written
literally, dying, God said, thou shalt die. And thirdly, eternal
death was no longer avoidable by anything that he could do
or refrain from doing by his works. In that covenant of works,
that's what we call that agreement, so to speak. It wasn't an agreement,
it was something God entered into with Adam. We call it a
covenant of works because his continuation in the spiritual
life and the consequent fellowship that Adam and Eve initially enjoyed
with God in the garden, it was always conditioned on Adam's
continued obedience. In other words, his works. And
in that covenant of works, God had told Adam and Eve to obey
him and live and disobey him and die. In unbelief of that,
of God's promise and threat, Adam sided with Satan and he
broke that covenant of works and he and all he represented,
all of future mankind, suffered the sure and certain consequences
from his having done so. So since Adam's fall, eternal
life became unattainable by anything that proceeds from sinners such
as us who fell in Adam. That's the reason, as we reviewed
last week, why God plainly says in Romans 3.20, therefore, by
the deeds of the law, that is, by any obedience or compliance
that you might render to any rule or law, anything that you
do, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. Now, if you persist,
as so many do in our day, to insist that you're saved because
you accepted Jesus or you did that or the other, then akin
to Adam's sin of unbelief, you just must not believe what God
says right here in Romans 3.20. Salvation or recovery from the
fall is not owing to anything that a fallen sinner can do or
refrain from doing. As we saw last week in Genesis
3, there was no provision for mercy or grace in the covenant
God made with Adam. There was no salvation or means
of recovery in that covenant of works. But there's good news. Thank goodness there's another
representative who entered into another garden to execute the
terms of another covenant. Not another covenant of works,
but rather that which is called the everlasting covenant of grace. And as we saw immediately after
the fall, God began to point Adam and Eve to the remedy, to
their ruined condition that would begin to be realized by, in a
second garden, by the fulfillment of the terms of the covenant
of grace that would begin to be realized there. You'll remember
God showed Adam and Eve that the fig leaf coverings of their
own construction, the aprons they sewed together, would not
suffice. As he proceeded to provide them
coats of skin by killing an animal, typifying the necessary shedding
of the blood of the one whose future sacrificial death alone
would take away their guilt and shame and relieve them of that
exposure represented by that. Their exposure to God's just
wrath due unto their sin. Well, in Genesis 3, after the
fall, but before God had replaced their fig leaf aprons with the
skin from a slain animal, we're told that Adam and Eve, they
tried to hide themselves from God in the garden. We read where
God called out to Adam and then he asked him if he had eaten
the forbidden fruit. Adam proceeded to blame it on
the woman you gave me, he said to God, as some say men have
been prone to do ever since. And then he confessed that he
did eat of the fruit. And God asked Eve, then, what
had she done? And she said that the serpent,
Satan in the form of the serpent, had beguiled her or deceived
her, and she did eat. And then picking up with that
in Genesis 315, God tells the serpent, Satan, and I will put
enmity between thee and the woman. Now, as we saw last week by Adam's
fall, he and all mankind became allies with Satan. And not at
enmity with him, but at enmity or enemies with God. That's how
we're born into this world, in spiritual darkness. So if that's
to be reversed, if the sides are to be changed so as to turn
allies of Satan into enemies, as we read from here, that enmity
must be put there. God must put it there. And he
says here that he will. That's covenant language, the
covenant of grace. Not you will, you will, if you
will make up your mind, and take sides with God against Satan.
No, God says, I'll put that enmity there. And so we know by this
that this first mention of the woman is referring to those who
would be redeemed from the fall, so as to change sides. Those
who were at enmity with God becoming at enmity with Satan. He says,
I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy
seed and her seed. Now the woman's seed here refers
to Jesus Christ, the God-man. He would be born of a virgin,
miraculously conceived in the Virgin Mary's womb by God the
Holy Spirit. So he's not the seed of man as
would describe all the rest of humanity. He says he'll put enmity
between thy seed and her seed and it, the promised Messiah,
shall bruise thy head. Now head wounds are fatal, destructive.
And he says to the serpent, and thou shalt bruise his heel. The
bruise of his heel refers to the suffering that Christ would
begin to endure in that second garden at Satan's hand. But that
all see in accordance with God's grand design and purpose as a
necessary condition of Christ's victory over sin and Satan for
all those who are saved. So Genesis 315 is actually the
first proclamation of the gospel. In other words, the good news
of how God saves sinners. So from the fall forward, God
had set forth the only means of recovery from the fall in
the gospel, the gospel of God's grace, where we find the terms
of another covenant, a covenant of grace, it being fulfilled
through the redemptive work of Christ. Well, after Christ had
come on this side of the cross, he'd finished his work of redemption,
Paul wrote this to the believers at Galatians 4.4, but when the
fullness of the time was come, that is at God's appointed time,
God sent forth his son made of a woman, the woman seed, made
under the law to redeem them, to buy them back that were under
the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. Well, let's
consider the second garden now, where that bruising began. Look
with me at our text, Matthew 26. Christ had just finished
the last supper, the Passover meal, with his disciples and
he had informed them that one of the twelve would betray him.
He had told Peter how he would deny him three times before the
cock crowed. Then as they departed that upper
room, beginning in verse 36, we read, then cometh Jesus with
them unto a place called Gethsemane. And saith unto the disciples,
sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him
Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, that's James and John, 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,
praying, 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 unto the disciples,
and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, Could ye not
watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye 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 he 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 unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest. Some
believe he's saying that sarcastically, as we're about to see, because
they wouldn't be able to sleep now. For, as you see, he says,
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. You know, it's interesting. In
one of the gospel accounts, I'm not going to touch on how the
three disciples fell asleep each time, but one of the gospel accounts,
it says they did so because of sorrow. And there's a thought
that they witnessed what part of what Christ was going through
there in the garden and sleep overcame them. I don't know about
that, but it's interesting. You might want to study that
sometimes. Well, after this discourse we just read, even as Christ
spoke, Judas had arrived with the armed multitude to betray
him into their hands as Christ had foretold. Now, Gethsemane
was a garden. It was located at the foot of
the Mount of Olives. And in Luke's version of this
event, he says that Christ came out of the upper room and went
as he was want, W-O-N-T, to the Mount of Olives. That phrase,
as he was want, means as was his custom or as he usually did. In John's gospel, we read in
chapter 18 how Jesus with the disciples crossed over the brook
Cedron to enter the garden. And in verse 2 we're told that
Judas knew the place well because Jesus often went there with his
disciples. So it would appear that the Garden
of Gethsemane was a favorite place for Christ to go. And he
did so on several occasions, both alone and with his disciples.
He apparently enjoyed a sweet, refreshing communion with his
father there. And perhaps it's because he knew
that he would enter there this one last time to begin the conflict
and endure the agony which would lead to his glorious victory
for which he came. You know, it might seem odd that
he would be fond of a place where he knew his suffering would begin.
Yet it makes sense in light of Hebrews 12, too, where we read
that believers are to live their lives looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God. So while he would
begin a new phase of suffering in the garden, He did so for
the joy of the redemption that he would accomplish, for the
objects of his everlasting love, for the joy of the earned exaltation
to the right hand of the Father that his suffering and death
would earn, and for the joy of so glorifying the Father as we
read in that high priestly prayer of John 17. In Luke 21, we're
told that the week prior to this last visit to Gethsemane that
Christ had taught all day in the temple and then spent the
night in the Mount of Olives, possibly in this very garden
at its base, before then returning to the temple the next day. So
we see it's a place of fondness for him. And as I considered
that, of how he apparently felt about this garden, I'm reminded
of how often those on their deathbeds request to die at home rather
than in an institution. To finish their lives in a place
that's a place of comfort for them. You know, like me, you
might have a favorite room in your house, maybe even a favorite
chair where you spend quiet time, as I pray you do, praying or
studying God's word in fellowship with him. And if so, there's
a sense where you could call that your own little Gethsemane
as you identify that place where you've enjoyed being with God.
You know, some of us will gravitate to such places as that, particularly
in times of distress or need, so we can prayerfully seek God's
grace and His guidance. And, believers, isn't the source
of your comfort and rest ultimately found not in the location, in
the place, but in contemplating the unspeakable eternal blessings
we have in Christ, our representative, who entered the garden of Gethsemane
to begin his final conquest of sin and Satan for our sure and
certain recovery, to give us eternal life in him. His awful
suffering that began in this garden issues forth in the glorious
eternal salvation of all he represented, of all for whom he lived and
suffered and died and rose again. Well, as I mentioned, Gethsemane
was at the foot of the Mount of Olives. The word Gethsemane
means an olive mill or a press, as in a wine press. It's actually,
I read, where It's believed that at or near this place there was
an actual olive press where they squeezed the olives to extract
the oil from the olives that they gathered on the Mount of
Olives. And it's interesting Christ would go there in the
fullness of time when he was about to tread the wine press
of his father's wrath. That's scriptural language used
to describe the suffering Christ endured. And he would do so single-handedly
by himself. As we read in verse 36, he told
his disciples to sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. And
then in Luke, we're told he withdrew himself from the disciples at
a distance, about a stone's throw away, as his soul's suffering
began alone and in earnest. Now, the brook Cedron, which
they crossed to enter Gethsemane, was named after the dark and
gloomy valley. Cedron, it's elsewhere in the
Bible it's called Kedron or Kidron. This valley was situated between
the east side of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives. The word
Cedron itself means dark and it's thought to have been so
named either one because of the darkness of the valley being
situated between high mountains and surrounded by trees. are
two, and I think possibly more likely, because of the blackness
of the water in the brook itself. This brook served as a sewer
into which the Jews cast everything that was considered unclean and
defiling. There was actually a canal that
led from the altar in the temple to this brook by which the blood
and waste from the sacrifices were carried. And this may well
be a representation of the defilements of sin which, being laid on Christ
when he passed over the brook, made him so heavy and sorrowful
in his human nature, so much so as to desire, as he prayed,
that the cup of God's wrath passed from him were it possible. This
is the same valley where the good king Josiah burnt the vessels
used to worship idols, which is why the Jews called it Gehennam,
which means hell. It's the same area called Tophet. I think it was in Jeremiah 7,
we studied that recently, that place. That word Tophet is the
only word the Jews used for hell after their return from the Babylonian
captivity. And I mention this because Christ
would begin here to endure the equivalent of hell and separation
from God that, absent his intervention, all for whom he suffered would
otherwise justly experience for themselves, along with the rest
of fallen humanity, and that for all eternity. See, unlike
his suffering, the suffering of mere sinful men and women
who perish, it's insufficient to ever pay that sin debt. No,
no finite man, sinful man, can do what it took the God-man to
do. So see, the suffering of hell
for fallen humanity is forever. So let's look at the suffering
that began to take place in Gethsemane. Now remember from Genesis, God
told Satan that Christ, the woman seed, would bruise his head in
destroying him. But that in the process, Satan
would bruise his heel referring to the suffering that Satan would
inflict, a suffering that Christ must endure to satisfy the justice
of God the Father. God's just wrath was poured out
upon the sinless Christ in full payment of the penalty due unto
the sins of others, of those for whom he came to suffer and
die as their surety, as their substitute, as their representative. After Judas appeared in Gethsemane
and betrayed Christ by identifying him with a kiss so that he could
be taken captive, Luke records that Christ said unto the chief
priests and captains of the temple and the elders which were come
to him, they had been brought there by Judas, be ye come out
as against a thief with swords and staves. When I was daily
with you in the temple, you stretched forth no hands against me. But
look at this, this is your hour and the power of darkness. Clearly
a new phase had begun as Jesus called this the hour of the enemy's
triumph and the power of darkness. You know from last week we saw
that by Adam's one sin he brought himself, Eve, and the whole of
humanity into a state whereby they were now alienated from
God, enemies of God, allied with Satan under his influence and
power, under the powers of darkness. That's the very spiritual blindness,
that darkness that the scripture says we're all born into this
world in. And now this power of darkness
would be unleashed against our Savior. In the Garden of Eden,
Satan could be said to have won a battle in instigating the fall
of Adam and all he represented, all of mankind. But now in another
garden, the Garden of Gethsemane, the seed of woman and the serpent
would engage in combat that would result in the destruction of
Satan and the recovery from the fall of all those Christ represented,
his elect. Some of you will remember when
Christ began his public ministry, after he was baptized, were told
he was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted
of the devil. And when the devil had ended
those temptations, we're told he departed him, quote, for a
season, end quote. And now at the close of his earthly
ministry, Satan came again in his fury with all the power of
darkness he could bring to bear. Now that's mind-boggling to me.
how an infinitely wise and all-powerful God achieves his purpose and
will. I'm sure that's way above my
pay level here. It's often accomplished for him,
and this is what's amazing, through the means of sinners whose intent
at the time is anything but to promote the achievement of God's
purpose and will. In betraying Christ, Judas did
just what God had foreordained would take place, but Judas was
motivated by the evil of his own heart. Judas meant it for
evil, God meant it for good. The same applies to the crucifixion
of our Lord. He was crucified by evil hands
that put him on that cross. We read in the Bible, Paul writes
of the necessity that Christ suffer, bleed, die, and be raised
again from the dead. So likewise, Satan here in the
Garden of Gethsemane begins to do battle with Christ. And it's
a battle that must take place in order that God's justice against
the sins of his dear children would be satisfied. So Satan
meant to destroy Christ, but in his attempts, he was unwittingly
used as an instrument to achieve God's grand design of salvation
and ultimate victory over sin and Satan himself. Now I'm telling
you, we worship a big God. As we consider the Savior's agony
that began in Gethsemane, know that the temptations to the humanity
of Christ that were unleashed from Satan, the powers of darkness,
those don't scratch the surface. as to the cause of the depth
of suffering which Christ is enduring as the surety of his
people. A suffering he had to encounter.
See, that which brought Christ to the ground in sorrow, agony,
and prayer in Gethsemane was due to the curse he was made
and the Father's judgment due to the sins he bore. Jesus spoke prophetically in
Psalm 69 20 saying this, God's reproach hath broken my heart
and I am full of heaviness. Christ actually experienced the
wrath of God being poured out upon him as it's described so
vividly in the prophecies of the Old Testament of the suffering
that he would endure. As we read in the Psalms, God's
wrath was poured out like fire upon him. as we see in Psalm
89. And then in Psalm 22, which is
referred to as the Psalm of the Cross, we're told his heart melted
like wax within him under this wrath. In Psalm 18, it tells
us the sorrows of hell compassed him about. And in Psalm 40, 12,
Christ says prophetically, for innumerable evils have compassed
me about. Mine iniquities. He calls them
his. This is the one that the Bible says is holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners who knew no sin. The iniquities,
see, of those he would say were imputed are charged to him. And
so real is that imputation that he calls them mine iniquities.
So real is that imputation that he died for imputed sin. He says, mine iniquities have
taken hold upon me so that I'm not able to look up. They are
more than the hairs of mine head. Therefore, my heart faileth me. Yes, Satan was in full attack
mode, but his arrows were nothing compared to that which Christ
suffered under the wrath of God. Look at this prophecy of how
Christ would suffer from Isaiah 53. In verse 10 it reads, Yet
it pleased the Lord to bruise him. Satan is bruising away,
but the results of it all are determined in accordance with
this eternal purpose and design of the Lord. It pleased him to
bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his
soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall
prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall
be satisfied by his knowledge, that is Christ's knowledge, what
Christ actually knew and experienced, and enduring the wrath of God
against all the sins for which he was offered. By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their
iniquities. Remember from last week in Genesis
1, one of the curses mentioned by God due to Adam's sin was
that women would travail or suffer in giving birth. This travail
of Christ's soul speaks of his suffering that would ensure the
new birth of all his dear children, he having been made a curse for
them. Just as believers are told in
Galatians 3.13, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law
being made a curse for us. Back there in Isaiah it says
his soul was made an offering for sin. Now consider how this
was equivalent to an eternal death or the sufferings in hell
that all would experience if he had not died for some. Consider these two aspects of
the horror of eternal death. One is the punishment of being
eternally separated from and deprived of the presence of God.
Remember on the cross, Christ cried out, my God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? The other aspect of the punishment
of eternal death is the everlasting sense or experience of the wrath
of God. It's expressed in the scripture
by the phrase everlasting fire. We'll consider that as the suffering
substitute for God's elect, Christ actually experienced that. The
wrath of God being poured out upon himself. And that according
to those vivid descriptions I just quoted from the Old Testament.
The reproach of God had broken his heart. His heart melted like
wax within him. The sorrows of hell compassed
him about. Christ was both truly God and
truly man, body and soul. And he suffered body and soul
in the weakness of human flesh. Just as believers are told in
Hebrews 4.15, for we have not an high priest which cannot be
touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points
tempted like as we are, yet without sin. So with that, consider these
descriptions of the suffering from the accounts of this Christ's
last visit to the Garden of Gethsemane. Even before he reached Gethsemane
in John 12, after his entry into Jerusalem and just prior to the
Last Supper, our Lord's soul suffering had already begun because
he said this in John 12, 27, now my soul is trouble, or now
is my soul trouble. And what shall I say? Father,
save me from this hour, but for this cause came I unto this hour."
That's similar to his prayer in the garden, isn't it? To let
this cup, the cup of God's wrath pass from him if it were possible.
But even so, he says, not my will but yours be done. So he
knew it was for this cause he came, yet he still anguished
in agony over it. His soul was already troubled.
And that Greek word there, I read this, that the word translated
trouble is the same word from which the Latin language derives
their word for hell. You know, folks in our day will
occasionally complain about their difficulties by saying something
like this, man, I'm going through hell right now. That's essentially
what Christ is saying for he truly was experiencing the equivalent
of hell. An experience that makes any
of our suffering during this lifetime pale by comparison. Well, in the garden, in our text,
Matthew 26, Jesus said, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even
unto death. These were the sorrows of hell
we read about from the Psalms. Mark describes how Christ in
the garden began to be sore amazed and to be very heavy. And Christ
saith unto them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful again unto death. This
expresses the dread and the horror of mind that Christ felt as the
sorrow he was experiencing would not be removed until after he
died. And finally, in Luke 22, 44,
it's said of Christ as he was praying alone in the garden.
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. Now this agony denotes not only
his combat that he was engaged in with Satan in this Satan's
hour, but it also denotes the heat of the wrath of God against
sin, so much so that he sweated in his agony, as it were, great
drops of blood. Consider, he went into this garden
to put himself into this agony before his enemies had given
him any physical trouble, before Judas had shown up with the crowd
to take him. So this shows how he gave himself,
as he said, of his own life in John 10, 18. No man taketh it
from me, but I lay it down of myself. Now, as for his sweating
drops of blood, I read different commentators and opinions on
this. Some who claim that there are
certain physical conditions where blood could actually come forth
through the pores of the skin. They cited case histories of
that. And I'm not certain if it's to
be taken literally here or not, because it reads, as it were,
great drops of blood. But I lean toward what John Gill
had to say about this, and I'll just read it to you. He said,
some think the words do not necessarily imply that this sweat was blood
or that there was blood in it, but only that his sweat as it
came out of his body and fell on the ground was so large and
thick and viscous that it looked like drops or clots of blood. But he goes on to say, but the
case rather seems to be this, that the pores of Christ's body
were so open that along with sweat came out blood which flowed
from him very largely. And as it fell on the ground,
remember he was falling on his face to the earth, he said it
was so congealed by the cold in the night season that it became
really, as the word signifies, clots of blood upon the earth.
It's interesting to read in John 18. how after they took Jesus
from Gethsemane to the palace of the high priest that the servants
and the officers there had made a fire because it was cold outside. Remember, it was by that fire
that Peter came in to warn himself when he denied our Lord three
times as Christ had said he would. But the main point I want you
to take away from that description in Luke is His description that
his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to
the ground, the takeaway is the depth of the inward suffering
over the sorrows of hell that would manifest itself in such
a sweat, whatever it was, on this cold night. Yeah, I think
it's impossible for us to fully appreciate the depth of this
suffering apart from the awful experience of it. Well, as we
saw last week in the Garden of Eden, Adam broke the covenant
of works that God had entered into with him, and thereby it
made it impossible for Adam, and look, all of mankind that
fell in him, to attain or regain spiritual life and eternal life
by anything he or she does or doesn't do by his or her own
works. but in the Garden of Gethsemane,
the last Adam. He entered as a far better representative. To begin fulfilling the terms
of another covenant, a far better covenant. See, not one condition
on mutable, finite, now fallen humanity, but one condition solely
on the performance of one who was immutable, infinite, and
without sin. One who could not and did not
fail God Himself manifested in the flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to look with me at
God's gospel call that's made through the prophet in Isaiah
55. He says, Ho, everyone that thirsteth. Do you hunger and thirst after
righteousness, as Christ put it in the Sermon on the Mount?
Ho, everyone that thirsteth. If you do, He says, Come ye to
the waters. This is a command of God. And he that hath no money,
Those who see in themselves what they became by the fall, spiritually
bankrupt with nothing to offer. He says, he that hath no money,
come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price. That is, obtain that which you
cannot earn and which you can't pay for. That's free grace. Come ye, buy,
eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk without
money and without price. Wherefore do you spend your money
for that which is not bread? And you labor for that which
satisfieth not. Why do you insist that you are
saved or that God will save you if you'll do your part? That
won't satisfy. He saw the travail of his soul
and was satisfied. Hearken diligently unto me and
eat ye that which is good and let your soul delight itself
in fatness. incline your ear and come unto
me, hear, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David." You see, this
is speaking of the everlasting covenant of grace. Now God doesn't
make that covenant with you and me. That's a covenant that was
entered into from eternity, passed by God the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. There's a good article on that in this week's bulletin.
You see, He says He will make a covenant with you is it will
be manifested your interest in that covenant that was made between
the Father, Son, and Spirit. This is not a covenant of works
such as was made with Adam. And this covenant is everlasting,
for you see, its conditions were filled by the everlasting blood
and righteousness of Jesus Christ, not by a mutable, finite creature
such as Adam, not conditioned at all upon any now fallen sinner
such as you and me." Well, here's the question. How do you know
if that covenant is made with you in the sense that he said
it was made with David? In Isaiah 55, he called that
everlasting covenant the sure mercies of David. Well, look
with me at that in 2 Samuel 23 5. And we'll see how David knew
that God had so entered into covenant with him in the sense
that he had an interest in that everlasting covenant. David said,
although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me
an everlasting covenant. ordered in all things and sure.
This covenant was ordered from eternity past by God and therefore
it is sure and certain to be fulfilled so as to provide everlasting
life for those for whom the terms have been fulfilled." So they
are called the sure mercies. But how did David know them to
be his sure mercies? He says, for, or because, this
is all my salvation and all my desire, although he make it not
to grow. As some of you know, I believe
that last phrase is referring to the fact that the promised
Messiah's kingdom had not begun to grow. Others think he's referring
to his family, but regardless, the Messiah had not arrived on
the scene yet. However, by faith, David placed
all his hope and desire for salvation in that which Christ would accomplish.
You know, as you heard in our 10 o'clock hour, it speaks of
that everlasting covenant in Jeremiah 31. And there, as he's
talking about the terms of the covenant, it's God saying, I
will and I shall. And he says, and they, my people,
shall know me from the least to the greatest. So is Christ
and him alone all your salvation and all your desire? In John
10, Jesus has said, I'm the good shepherd and the good shepherd
giveth his life for the sheep. That is those chosen unto him
in salvation from before the world began. The Jews, then,
who were gathered around Christ at that time, they asked him,
well, would you speak plainly if you're the Christ or not?
Look at his response in verse 25. Jesus answered them, I told
you, and ye believed not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me, but ye believe not. Why? Because ye are not of my sheep,
those who ye just told them, the ones he came to lay down
his life for. He says, as I said unto you,
my sheep hear my voice, they hear the gospel of God's grace.
Salvation condition on Christ alone, the singularity of Christ
as we looked at last week. Not on any work of man, and they
do so with the blood-bought, God-given ears of faith. And he says, and I know them,
and they follow me. See, like David, they follow
him. He's all their salvation and all their desire. And I give
unto them eternal life. See, that's according to a covenant
of grace. It's a gift of eternal life from
God. And they shall never perish.
It's everlasting. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. As we saw last week, the essence
of Adam's sin was unbelief of what God told him. Thereby, when
he sided with Satan, he broke the covenant of works that God
had made with him. And he did so as a representative
of all mankind. But thank goodness there's another
covenant, covenant of grace. Thank goodness there's another
representative, the eternal, immutable, infallible, sinless
God and man, Jesus Christ the Savior. Two gardens. You know, Romans 5 speaks of
the eternal impact of the events associated with both of these
two gardens. Look with me at that in Romans
5, 18. Therefore as by the offense of one, or by one offense, one
sin, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, that's all that
were represented by Adam, even so, or in the same manner, by
the righteousness of one, that is by one righteousness, nothing
added to it. The free gift, you can't earn
this, it's free, the free gift came upon all men, all who were
represented by the Lord our righteousness, the last Adam, those Christ called
his sheep who would for whom he would lay down his life, and
he said, who would come unto him, who know him. He says, the free gift came upon
all men unto justification of life. They were recovered from
the sentence of condemnation that would be theirs if Adam
had been their only representative. And as such, they're sentenced
to a life of just standing and acceptance before God. For as
by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the
obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover, the
law entered that the offense might abound. It proves to us
our total inability to meet the conditions of our own salvation,
but where sin abounded, Grace did much more abound. That is,
sin hath reigned unto death. Even so, in the same manner,
through another, an infinitely far better representative. Might
grace reign, how? Through righteousness. That's
the entire merit of what Christ accomplished for them. Through
righteousness unto eternal life. Whose righteousness? Jesus Christ,
our Lord. Sin demands death. Righteousness
demands life. We need a righteousness. We cannot
produce the imputed righteousness of Christ. In the first garden,
the Garden of Eden, the first Adam lost himself in all his
posterity. In a second garden, the Garden
of Gethsemane, the last Adam, Jesus Christ, he would enter
on behalf of his sheep to face the final stage of the recovery
of the inheritance that was forfeited in that first garden. In the
first garden, Satan did bind and carry captive the first Adam
and those he represented. And you know, in the second garden,
you could say Satan was instrumental in causing the second Adam to
be bound and carried away to the cross. He did bruise his
heel, but listen, he did so that as we read in Hebrews 2.14, that
through death he might destroy him, bruise his head, that had
the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them his sheep,
who through fear of death were all their lifetimes subject to
bondage." Now, what a recovery. Two gardens. You know, if God
hasn't done so already, I pray that even today that God might
grant someone you the faith to see the vital significance of
what took place in these two gardens. so that you, like David
of Olm, may know of your interest in that everlasting covenant
of grace that you too see, by God-given faith, might embrace
Christ as all your salvation and all your desire. Amen.