Lynn said I did, but I said,
no, I don't. And then she said, she said, wear that brace. I
said, no way. Would you turn to 2 Samuel chapter
15. Now, when you get there, I want
you to turn to John chapter 18. Hold your finger in 2 Samuel
15 and turn to John 18. God the Holy Spirit adds this
detail regarding this passage of Scripture for a reason. Chapter 18, verse 1, When Jesus
had spoken these words, He went forth with his disciples over
the brook Kidron. I wonder how many of us have ever
noticed that. He went over the brook Kidron. It was a creek. Sometimes it
would be running, sometimes it would be dry. And he went over
this brook Kedron in order to enter Gethsemane's garden. When Jesus had spoken these words,
he went forth with his disciples over the brook Kedron, where
was a garden, speaking of the garden of Gethsemane, into the
which he entered and his disciples. And keep that word in mind, the
brook Kedron. Let's pray. Lord, we, by your grace, through
thy son, enter thy courts with thanksgiving and with praise. Lord, how we thank you for our
redeemer, our hope, our righteousness, our peace, our savior, our husband,
our best friend, our all in all. And we ask in his name that we
might be enabled by your grace to worship him, to sit at his
feet and to hear his word. Lord, thank you for all your
blessings. Thank you for the blessing of
being able to meet together with one another and fellowship around
the gospel of your son. Lord, we confess our sins. We
pray for forgiveness and cleansing. Lord, we ask that You would,
by irresistible, invincible grace, cause us to walk in Thy way,
for Your glory and the honor of Thy Son. Be with all Your
people wherever they meet together, in Christ's name we pray. Amen.
2 Samuel 15 Verse 23, 2 Samuel 15, verse
23. And all the country wept with
a loud voice. This is when David and his men
are fleeing from Absalom and all the people passed over. The
king himself also passed over the brook of Kidron, same brook
we just read about. This happened a thousand years
before the Lord passed over the brook to go into Gethsemane's
garden. The king also himself passed
over the brook Kidron and all the people passed over toward
the way of the wilderness. And lo, Zadok also and all the
Levites were with him, bearing the Ark of the Covenant of God.
They decided to take the Ark with them. They thought this
was the thing to do. And they set down the Ark of God, and
Abiathar went up until all the people had done passing out of
the city. And the king said unto Zadok,
Carry back the Ark of God into the city, It doesn't belong following
us. I love the way David does this.
At this time, it seems like it would have been politically advantageous
for him to have the ark following him. The people could see the
ark of God is with him. But he wouldn't have that. He
knew there's only one place for the ark. I admire that so much. There's only one place for the
ark behind the veil. I don't want it to appear that
the ark is following me. God forbid anything like that. Have the ark go back to Jerusalem. Don't you admire David in this? He wasn't going to use divine
things for his own advancement. You send the ark back to Jerusalem. If I shall find favor in the
eyes of the Lord, He will bring me again and show me both it
and his habitation. But if he thus say, I have no
delight in thee, behold, here am I. Let him do to me as seemeth
good unto him. The king said also unto Zadok
the priest, art not thou a seer? Return into the city in peace,
and your two sons with you, Ahimaz the son and Jonathan the son
of Abiathar, see I will tarry in the plain of the wilderness
until there come word from you to certify me. Zadok therefore
and Abiathar carried the ark of God again to Jerusalem, and
they tarried there, and David went up by the ascent of Mount
Olivet. Now, if you read in the New Testament,
when our Lord went to Gethsemane's garden, he went up through Mount
Olivet. Gethsemane was in Mount Olivet.
David is doing the exact same thing. And look how he went up. He wept as he went up and had
his head covered. Now, what does the scripture
say about a man having his head covered? First Corinthians 11
says it's a shame for a man to have his head covered. To have
your head covered is the emblem of shame, of great personal shame. And you know that when David
was doing all this, he felt so ashamed of himself. Because everything
that was happening was his fault and he knew it. Because of his
sin. Because of his sin with Bathsheba.
Because of Uriah. God said all this would take
place. And so as he is leaving Jerusalem, he knows this more
than anything else. This is all my fault. The reason everything that's
taking place is taking place is because of my personal sin. This is all my fault. And he went up barefoot. You
know, when you're barefoot, you can't fight. This was purpose. It's purpose. You can't run.
You're in a state of absolute vulnerability. Sorrow, shame,
and vulnerability. That's how he went and all the
people that were with him covered every man his head and they went
up weeping and they went up weeping as they went up. Now like I said
you can be sure that David as all this was transpiring as he
crossed the brook of Kidron just like our Lord would a thousand
years later he was saying to himself this is all my fault."
He wasn't mad at anybody. He wasn't mad at Absalom. He
wasn't mad at God's providence. All he had to say to himself
is, this is all my fault. And he went up weeping in shame
and barefoot. Look back in 2 Samuel chapter
12 for a moment. Verse 9, this is the words of
Nathan to David after David has been confronted about his sin.
Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to
do evil in his sight? You've killed Uriah the Hittite
with the sword, you've taken his wife to be thy wife, and
you've slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now
think about how David felt when the Lord was confronting him
about this. He knew, this is all true. Everything he's saying,
I have done. In fact, I am guilty of this.
Verse 10, now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine
house because thou has despised me. Now that's what's behind
every sin. And that's why sin is so bad. It's against the Lord. And he
says, you have despised me. and has taken the wife of Uriah
the Hittite to be thy wife, thus saith the Lord, behold, I'll
raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I'll
take thy wives before thine eyes and give them unto thy neighbor,
and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of the sun, for
thou didst it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel.
and before the son, and look what David had seen at this time.
Since then, he'd seen his firstborn son murdered by Absalom. He'd seen his daughter raped
by his firstborn son. He'd seen Absalom develop a coup
and develop all of Israel turning away from David because of his
sin. He had all of Israel reject him.
His own people, they rejected him. And he knew in his heart,
this is all my fault. Now, this is a very important
point. This is all my fault. Verse 30 of 2 Samuel 15, David
went up by the ascent of Mount Olivet and wept as he went, notice
by the ascent of Mount Olivet, and wept as he went up. Turn
with me for a moment to Mark chapter 14. Now what this is
about is Gethsemane. Mark chapter 14. Verse 26. And when they had sung a hymn,
this is after he had given the disciples all those instructions
that you can read about from John 13 through 17. And when
they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives. And as you go on reading, that's
where Gethsemane was. Now, in this passage of Scripture
with David, when he was weeping, When he
was feeling this shame, when he was barefoot, when his
head was covered, he knew everything that took place was 100% all
his fault. Now, have you and I ever looked
at our sin in that light? My sin, is all my fault. This mess I've gotten myself
into and everybody else into as a result of my sin is all
my fault. And he was so ashamed. And David knew his sin brought
all of this on him. And he comes across the brook
of Kidron. Kidron, I'm not sure how to pronounce
it. It seems one way in the New Testament
and another way in the Old Testament. But he felt ashamed. That's what's
pointed out with his head covered. He felt ashamed. Now, when our
Lord went into Gethsemane's garden, the scripture points out that
he felt ashamed. ashamed. Now, if you do something
wrong, you're ashamed, aren't you? If people could look into
your hearts and see what's going on right now, what really is
going on right now, you'd be ashamed, wouldn't you? You'd
be ashamed. But one thing you can't be, you
can't be ashamed for something you did not do, can you? Our Lord didn't go into Gethsemane's
garden thinking, I'm bearing the sins of my people. I didn't
do these things, but I don't need to feel any shame for them
because they're not really mine. No, the sins of God's people
became his to this extent. He felt the personal guilt and
shame of those sins. And we see this so clearly in
Gethsemane's garden. Now this is something that you
and I can't much understand because we're sinners. We're sinners. We're used to sin. Sin doesn't shock us. We sin and Well, we're used to
it. We're born that way. But realize
the Lord Jesus Christ, as he became the sin bearer, had never
experienced sin. He knew no sin. He had never committed a sin. He knew nothing but perfect communion
with His Father. He didn't know anything about
the shame or the guilt experienced with sin. Now this, I want to
say this reverently and carefully, but the closest illustration
I can think of is you take a six or seven year old little Innocent
girl. Now, I realize that there's no
such thing as an innocent child. We're born into this world in
sin, aren't we? We're born sinners. But still, you think of a little
girl who didn't know anything about sin, didn't know anything
about sexual sin, didn't even know what it was, and put her
in a room with a bunch of sexual predators and rapists, and pedophiles,
wicked, evil men. And she wouldn't... I hate to bring something like
that up to somebody's thought, but that doesn't even compare
what it was like for the Lord to be made sin. He knew no sin. And now, all of a sudden, as
the sin bearer, He's made to experience the horror of sin. The shame, the guilt of sin. The horror of being separated
from His Father. That's why He conducted Himself
the way He did in Gethsemane's garden. While He never committed a sin
at any time, something worse took place. Turn to 2 Corinthians 5, a very
familiar passage of scripture, but I want you to look at it
again. I remember back in preacher's
class at 13th Street Baptist Church, the first outline Henry
Mahan ever asked us to prepare was an outline on 2 Corinthians
5, 21. He said, if you're ever going
to preach the gospel, this is the verse you're going to preach
it from. 2nd Corinthians chapter 5, verse 21. For He, God the Father, the absolute
sovereign of the universe, the one who can do this, the one
who can do this, He's God. He can do this. For He hath made
Him And I think it's interesting
that to be is in italics. It is supplied by the translators
to make things clearer, but if anything it clouds things up.
He hath made him what? Sin. Sin. And you know when I look at that
passage of scripture, I read it, I believe it, Do I know what all that means?
Not even close. Not even close. For someone to
even give a explanation of this seems absurd. It's just to be
believed, to wonder that, to be amazed by. For he hath made
him sin for us. their substitution for us. Who
knew no sin. He didn't know what it's like
to commit a sin. He didn't know anything but perfect
communion with His Father. He never felt shame. He never
felt guilt. He never felt a wicked desire.
He never done anything. He knew no sin. That we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. The events of Gethsemane, that
word means oil press, used to crush, gives us some little glimpse
of what was taking place in the substitutionary death of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, when we're talking about
his death and what he actually accomplished in his resurrection,
we're talking about something which we ought to be talking
about every time we preach the gospel. Amen? Should a message ever be preached
that leaves out some aspect of his glorious achievements on
Calvary Street, I love that passage of Scripture in Luke chapter
9, verse 31, when Moses and Elijah appeared to the Lord when He
was transfigured. And the Scripture says they spake,
Moses and Elijah and the Lord Jesus Christ, they spake of the
decease which He should accomplish. You know, that's... There's no
subject like that, is there? The deceased, the death which
he should accomplish, what he would accomplish by his death. Turn to Mark or Matthew chapter
26. Now we're going to read the three
different accounts of Gethsemane. And that's what this is about.
You know the word Kidron means darkness. He passed over darkness. And here, once again, I'm talking
about something that I can use words, and I feel like an idiot
trying to talk about it, knowing I don't really know what I'm
talking about. But at this time, the Lord experienced
darkness. He was cut off from His Father.
He didn't have any communication from His Father. He experienced
the full equivalent of an eternal hell at this time. So folks like
me and you wouldn't have to. For the glory of His Father,
but this darkness He experienced. Now look here in Matthew chapter
26. Like I said, we're going to read
all three accounts of Gethsemane. Beginning in verse 36. Then cometh
Jesus with them into 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 and began
to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, my soul
is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. This is going to kill
me. 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." Now the Son of God was beginning to experience
hell. Complete separation from God. He wasn't able to think. And like I said, I feel so stupid
saying this because I don't even know what I'm talking about,
but he couldn't think, well, this will be over in 24 hours, or this
will be over Three days later, when I'm raised from the dead,
he was experiencing complete separation from God, where he
had absolutely no communication from God. He was left to himself. And he says, if it be possible,
let this cup, this cup of your wrath, of being made sin, if
it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Was it possible?
No! No. If there's any other way
God could have saved sinners, He would have done it. But this
was His purpose. And it was not possible, and
yet our Lord, even knowing it was not possible, was so overwhelmed
with the thought of this. He said, if it be possible, let
this cup pass from Me. Now turn with me to Isaiah 53
for a moment. Hold your finger there. And turn to Isaiah 53.
Verse 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. There's another verse of scripture
that I'll never understand. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. What in the world am I going
to say about that other than read it? It pleased the Lord
to bruise him. And He hath put him to grief,
when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. Now that is one Hebrew word.
When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. And it's
actually translated in the Hebrew, in the King James Version, by
three other words. When thou shalt make his soul
guiltiness. When thou shalt make his soul
a trespass. When thou shalt make his soul
sin. Same thing as 2 Corinthians 5.21. Same exact message. When thou
shalt make his soul 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 the travail of his soul, which was what was
taking place in Gethsemane, and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their
iniquities." Now what does that word bear mean? Look it up for yourself. In the
Hebrew concordance, in stroms, it means to be gravid. What does
gravid mean? It means pregnant. When a woman bears her child. Cami's bearing a child right
now. And what is the closest relationship
there is. A woman bearing a child. There is no relationship that
can be compared as far as closeness as this. And this is how he bore
our own sins in his body on the tree. Turn to Mark's account. Mark
14, verse 33, And he taketh with him Peter
and James and John, and began to be sore amazed and to be very
heavy. And he saith unto them, My soul,
is exceeding sorrowful unto death, tarry ye here and watch. 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.
And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee.
Take away this cup from me. Nevertheless, not what I will,
but what thou wilt. And I'm so thankful for this.
And he cometh and findeth them sleeping. That's me and you. All this is going on and we're
asleep. I think it's wonderful the way
the Lord said to them, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is
weak. That was His response to seeing
them asleep. Now turn to Luke chapter 22. beginning in verse 44. Well, let's begin reading in verse
41. And he was drawn from them about
a stone's cast, and kneeled down and prayed, saying, Father, if
Thou be willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not
my will, but Thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto
him from heaven, strengthening him. 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, I felt stress
before, and you have too. But could it be in any way compared
to this? The stress of being made sin
made blood spurt out of his pores. Verse 45, and when he rose up
from prayer, he was come to his disciples and he found them sleeping
for sorrow. Now, what this reminds me of
is me and you didn't have anything to do with this. All we were
doing was sleeping. while He was going through this
great transaction for His people. But let me close with this thought.
I'm going to quote 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21 once again. For He,
the Sovereign, God the Father, the One who can do this, hath
made Him, the Lord Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin. You know, I preached a couple
of months ago on what is sin. And I gave eight biblical definitions
of sin. But you know, and I've certainly
brought this out to some extent, but I wish I would have given
this ninth. What is sin? You look right here. That's what
sin is. He hath made him who knew no
sin to be sin, that we might be made, what? The righteousness of God. Every believer is made just as
truly as he was made sin. Every believer is made the righteousness
of God in him. Every believer that I'm looking
at right now, I'm looking at the righteousness of God. I don't know what else to say,
so we'll close it at that.