Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nyberg. I'm reading from Mark chapter
14, beginning in verse 32, and they came to a place which was
named Gethsemane. I've entitled this message, Gethsemane. Now, I've got an unusual way
of introducing this message. I'm going to give a personal
incident. I think you'll see why I give
this. Not long ago, I was having lunch
with a preacher who deems himself to be a theologian. And it was
a discussion about some things with regard to what the scripture
teaches, what I taught, what he taught. And he said something
during the course of this conversation that I just could not agree with.
It was too important to remain silent about it, and I expressed
my disagreement with what he was saying, and he was offended.
And he made this statement to me, you're so obtuse. And I knew
that wasn't good. And I wasn't sure what it meant,
so when I got back to the car, I asked Siri, what does obtuse
mean? And here is Siri's definition,
dull and slow, annoyingly insensitive and slow. slow to understand. Now, that is what this man said
of me. I made the mistake of telling
my wife that he said this, and I've heard, I think, every day
since then, you are obtuse. But dull and insensitive, I certainly
feel that's an accurate description of myself, slow to understand
when we deal with what might be the most amazing passage of
Scripture in all of the Word of God, Gethsemane. Gethsemane. Now, that was the
name of the garden where the Lord sweat great drops of blood,
being sore amazed, the scripture says, and very heavy. Remember, this is the Son of
God, and listen to these words from Mark chapter 14. And he
went forward a little and fell on the ground, the Son of God
falling on his face, prayed that if it were possible that the
hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all
things are possible unto thee. Take away this cup from me, not
what I will, but what thou wilt. The Garden of Gethsemane was
a place that he went to often with his disciples. Gethsemane
means oil press. There was an oil press in this
garden to crush olives to get the precious oil. It was a place,
as I said, he oft resorted, the scripture says, with his disciples.
And it was a very cold night that night because we read of
that very night of men warming themselves by the fire. It was
so cold they felt the need to have a fire going. You see, his
hour had come. Now let me repeat that. His hour
had come. Now this hour was decreed before
time began, before the creation of the world. The world was created
for this hour. His hour had come. Early in his public ministry,
he said to his mother, woman, what have I to do with thee?
Mine hour. has not yet come. They sought to lay hands upon
him, but his hour was not yet come. No man laid hands on him,
for his hour had not yet come." I'm quoting scriptures at this
time. He said in John 12, "'Now is my soul troubled, and what
shall I say? Father, save me from this hour?'
But for this cause, came I in to this hour. Father, he said
in John 17 one, the hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy
son also might glorify thee. This was his reason for coming. this hour." Now, He could have
came in the flesh and kept the law perfectly and gone back to
heaven, and it wouldn't do you and I any good at all. He came
for this hour. He's called in Revelation 13,
8, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Now, at what point
in his humanity was he conscious of this? You know, it's said
the Lord grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men.
He was born a perfect man, but he had the limitations of the
flesh. At what point in his human history was he conscious of this
hour? Well, I know this. When he was
a 12-year-old boy, he must have been, because he said, Wist ye
not that I must be about my father's business? All of his life, he
was conscious that this hour was coming. Now, he said in Luke
chapter 12, verse 50, I have a baptism to be baptized with. He said this during his public
ministry to his disciples. I have a baptism to be baptized
with. Now, he'd already gone through
water baptism. What he was talking about was
being immersed in the wrath of God as the sinner's substitute. I have a baptism to be baptized
with, and how is my soul straightened until it be accomplished? His hour, the hour has come. Now in verse 32 of Mark chapter
14, And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane. And he saith to his disciples,
sit ye here while I shall pray. He was going to Gethsemane to
pray. And he taketh with him Peter
and James and John and began to be sore, amazed, and very Now, remember who this is. This
is the Son of God, and that word, sore amazed, means in a state
of shock. Seized with terror and very heavy. These were the emotions of God
the Son at this time. Now what could bring this on
him who is God in the flesh where he would be sore amazed and very
heavy? Verse 35, and he went forward
a little and fell on the ground. He's by himself at this time. My soulless exceeding sorrowful,
he says, even unto death. Now, the Lord at this time was
saying, I'm at the verge of death. Now he hadn't gone to the cross
yet. Yet he says to his disciples, I am at the verge of death. tarry ye here and watch." And
he went forward a little and fell on the ground and prayed
that if it were possible, this cup might pass from him. Now, Luke says at this time he
was in agony. and prayed more earnestly. And
at this time he sweat was as it were great drops of blood
falling to the ground. Now remember this was a cold
night, but here he is sweating great drops of blood. This is
a real condition called hematidrosis when The capillaries in the sweat
glands burst, and when you sweat, blood comes out with it, and
it's brought on by extreme anguish. Now Luke also tells us that at
this time an angel from heaven came down and strengthened Him,
He was at the point of death. And it didn't have anything to
do at this time with the physical pain. That's so important. He had not been nailed to the
cross as yet. But he was at the point of death. And the Father sent angels to
strengthen him, to cause his humanity to be continued. He fell on his face. Now, what was the subject of
his prayer? And he went forward a little and fell on the ground.
and prayed that if it were possible that the hour might pass from
him. You see, the hour had come for
the Lamb who was slain in eternity to be slain in time. This is the purpose for creation,
for this to take place. And when the Lord saw what was
beginning to take place, He began to sweat great drops of blood. In verse 36 of Mark chapter 14,
He said, All things are possible unto
thee. Take away this cup from me. What is the content of this cup
that he asked the father to remove? Peter made the statement who
his own self bear our sins in his own body. Not simply the
guilt of sin, not the punishment of sin, but the sins themselves. who his own self bear our sins
in his own body on the tree, the contents of that cup was
sin. The sins of God's elect, and
that is what made the Son of God sore, amazed, and very heavy. That's what caused him to sweat
great drops of blood. knowing he was to drink the contents
of that cup and be made sin. You who think of sin but lightly,
nor suppose the evil great, here may view its nature rightly,
here its guilt may estimate, Mark the sacrifice appointed. See him bear the awful load. Tis the word, the Lord's anointed,
Son of God and Son of Man. Now, the reason you and I can
hear this and have such little understanding is because we know
sin so well. You see, we were born sinners,
and sin is as natural to us as it is to breathe. The Scripture
says, man drinketh iniquity like water. We don't really much understand
what sin is. That's why we ask questions like,
Why is hell eternal? As if God is too severe in making
hell eternal, the only reason we would ask that question is
because we don't understand the infinite evil of sin. It's against an infinite God,
and what you and I have been guilty of is the murder of His
dear Son. You would have done it, I would
have done it, This was all humanity putting to death the Son of God. Why is hell eternal? Because
the people in hell are never reformed. They're just as bad,
they're just as evil, they have just as much hate for God as
they always did. But this one who drank this cup
is him who is holy. He knew no sin. He saw the evil of sin to be
so great that he would rather die and be forsaken by God than
let one sin go unpunished. But the thought of being made
sin by his Father, II Corinthians 5.21 says, For he hath made him
to be sin. For us who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him, when he saw the
content of this cup that he was called upon to drink, he was
overcome with terror. The thought of being made the
thing that his holy father hates. You see, sin, I repeat, doesn't
bother us much. We're used to it. He's holy,
harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. And the thought
of drinking the cup, he was overcome. And that's why he prayed three
times, Father, if it be your will, let this cup pass from
me. Nevertheless, not what I will,
but what thou be done." Three times he prayed that prayer using
the same words. Now, this hour, drinking this
cup, had been decreed by the Father before time began. When Christ agreed to be the
surety of those the Father gave Him, and take full responsibility
for their salvation, he knew this was the cost. He knew he
was going to have to drink this cup. He knew he was going to
have to be forsaken by his father. And throughout his earthly ministry,
I don't know at what age he became aware of this, But he knew this
was what was coming, him drinking of this cup and being made sin. It wasn't the fear of the physical
pain, and I would not in any way diminish the fear of the
physical pain, the thought of being nailed to a cross. But
when he was sore amazed and in terror, it was before any of
that took place. It was the thought of drinking
the contents of that cup and being made sin. Now, in John chapter 17, verse
1, he said, Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also might glorify thee. You see, he knew this was for
the salvation of his people. John chapter 13 verse 1 says,
Jesus knew or knowing that his hour was come, that he should
depart out of the world into the Father, having loved his
own, which were in the world. He loved them to the end. And with all that in mind, the
thought of drinking the contents of that cup and being made sin
and being forsaken by his father, he was overcome at the horror
of all of that. His human nature was overcome
and he required angels to come and strengthen him to keep him
from dying even then. Now, I've got a question. He said, if it'd be possible,
Let this cup pass from me. Here's my question. Was it possible? Think about that. Was it possible? Well, first, if he's the lamb
slain before the foundation of the world, He must come and be
slain in time. This is the Father's purpose.
This is the Father's decree. You see, what He was doing in
this hour is manifesting who God is and all of His attributes.
He was letting us know who man is and all of His sinfulness.
And He was showing us the way of salvation. He is the way of
salvation. It was not possible. This was
God's eternal purpose. The scripture says, him being
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken with wicked hands, have crucified and slain. Now, for God to be glorified
and every attribute of God honored, it wasn't possible. Secondly,
if you and I are to be saved, It was not possible because there
is no other way of salvation. The only way of salvation is
the lamb for sinners slain. He must be forsaken by his father. He must drink the contents of
that cup. And we read in John's account,
in John chapter 18, after he left Gethsemane, right before
his arrest, when Judas and the band came to arrest him, you'll
remember that Peter took a sword and tried to cut off a man's
head. The man ducked and he cut off his ear. And the Lord healed
that man. He told Peter to put your sword
into your sheath. And then he made this statement,
the cup which my father hath given me to drink, shall I not
drink it? Yes. He shall. And he drank the content of that
cup. He drank the dregs of the content
of that cup completely dry. And he bowed his mighty head
and said, it is finished. You know what was finished? Now, the first sin came in a
garden, Adam and Eve, and in Gethsemane's
garden, this is where sin began to be put away. He drank the contents of that
cup. He was made sin. When he died on Calvary's tree,
he did not die as an innocent victim. You see, those sins became
his sins. When he bore those sins in his
own body on the tree, and God forsook him because that is exactly
what he deserved. Now, there's something totally
different, though, about this man. Remember, he's the man who
knew no sin. And the moment he died, all that
sin was put away. It was made not to be. He was delivered for our offenses.
He was raised again for our justification. Everybody he died for, the moment
he died, they were justified in God's sight, without guilt,
sinless, perfect. That's what he did in drinking
that wine. the content of that cup, the
sin, he put it away. Listen to this scripture, for
he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. You see, just as truly as he
took my sin and my sorrow and made it his very own, He takes
his righteousness and he makes it my very own. So I stand before
God without guilt. Now I would like to close by
reading the writer to the Hebrews account of what took place in
Hebrews chapter five, beginning in verse seven. And this is speaking
of Gethsemane. who in the days of his flesh,
speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, when he had offered up prayers
and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that
was able to save him from death, he was heard in that he feared. Oh, how he feared his father,
a fear of perfect reverence. Though he were a son, Yet learned
he obedience by the things that he suffered." Now, here is how
he trusted his father. His father said, go drink that
cup and be nailed to a cross and die. And his answer was,
yes, father. He became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Verse nine, and being made Perfect. You see, when he was raised from
the dead, He was raised with all that sin having been put
away. He was made perfect. And everybody in Him was made
perfect because Hebrews 10, 14 says, by one offering, by His
death on Calvary's tree, when He drank that cup and was made
sin and was nailed to that cross, by one offering, He hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. And being made perfect, he became
the author of eternal salvation. Now this is a salvation that's
eternal. It never had a beginning. It
took place before time began and it will never have an ending
because it is eternal. He became the author, the cause
of eternal salvation to all them that obey Him, who obey the command. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. If you look to him only as all
in your salvation and rest in him, you've obeyed the gospel. Now we have this message on DVD
and CD. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Nyberg praying that
God will be pleased to make himself known to you. That's our prayer.
Amen. To receive a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to todd.neidert at gmail.com
or you may write or call the church at the information provided
on the screen.