Turning now back to our study
in Matthew chapter 26, and we see the Lord Jesus Christ as
that God-man mediator going about to establish our salvation. We see Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. We see Him as our advocate and
mediator, intercessor, as our Savior and substitute. praying
unto our Father about our salvation. Father, not my will, Thy will
be done. Thy will be done. I'm entitling
the message, Lessons from Gethsemane. Lessons from Gethsemane. We could title it, nevertheless,
not as I will, but as thou will, the will of God, the will of
God. Now, what can we learn as we read about the Savior's willing
submission to the decrees of Almighty God? He was obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. The willing submission
to the decrees of Almighty God, the tremendous agony Agony that
we know nothing about. Agony he suffers while he's praying
unto his heavenly father about our salvation. Well, there are
many marvelous and wonderful things we can learn, and I trust
that we can absorb from this message, especially if the Lord
would be our teacher. if God the Holy Spirit this morning
would be our teacher. Wouldn't that be something? To
sit at His feet like Mary did. One thing needful, to hear a
word from Him. Now we have before us in these
verses, in Matthew 26 verse 36, down to verse 46, we have in
these verses a most solemn, solemn sight. We see the Lord of glory
in great agony. Great agony. My soul is exceeding
sorrowful unto death. Unto death. Great agony of body. Great agony of soul and spirit. So much so, so much so that he
starts sweating out great drops of blood. Now, we don't have
that here in Matthew 26, but over, we're going to turn in
a few minutes to Luke 24. And there, let me just read this,
Luke 22, 44. 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, why such agony? Why such agony that his body,
his body's just losing blood? I don't know anything about that
kind of agony. I know something about agony
and pain and grief, but nothing like this. What can we fully
comprehend? What are the deep mysteries that
are taking place here between the Father, God the Father, God
the Son, and God the Holy Spirit? What can we learn from the passage
of Scripture in this scene that we have painted for us there
in the garden called Gethsemane? Gethsemane. It's interesting
to note, I thought about this. God created that first garden
and he put Adam in that garden and told him to dress it. Remember?
Don't eat of that tree. Adam sinned against God. Adam
fell in the garden of Eden. Well, think about this. The Lord
Jesus Christ is called the second Adam. And he prayed in the garden
as he assumed our guilt and sin as he began to work out our salvation
for us. Man fell in the garden. And here
we see our restoration taking place again in the garden. No accident, I don't think. We
know it's by the sovereign purpose of God. Remember in Romans chapter
5, by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. Adam
sinned, and Adam all sinned, and Adam all died. By one man's
disobedience, many were made sinners. By the obedience of
another, shall many be made righteous. There's what happened in the
garden and what happened at Calvary. We're made righteous in the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the only way we're made
righteous. Our morality is not righteousness. Our morality is
filthy rags. The best we have, the best we
can do, humanity's best state is altogether vanity. I want
us to consider, and I think we can get to all these points. I've got six of them. Six points. The first one, and most importantly,
the first lesson I want us to see here, what our sin demands. Our sin demands full payment
for sin. Full atonement for sin. It can't
be a partial payment. has to be a full payment, has
to be a full, complete ransom for our sin. And there's no other
way for the Holy God to forgive our sin and justify guilty sinners
like you and me apart from the substitutionary, satisfying sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The only way He can be a just
God and Savior is through the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified
for our sin. The only way that God can be
a just God and Savior, that He might be just and the justifier,
is through the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It's so vital
to our salvation. There is no salvation apart from
Christ and Him crucified. That's why Paul said, I'm determined. I'm determined to know nothing
among you, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Why was there
such agony and sorrow to the point of death? So much so that an angel of God
had to come and minister to him. Turn over to Luke 22. Hold your
place, bookmark Matthew 26, and turn over here to Luke 22. Here
we have Luke's account of this. Luke 22, verse 39, he came out
and went as he want to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples
also followed him, Luke 22, 39. And when he was at a place, he
said unto them, pray that ye enter not into temptation. And
he was withdrawn 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
thy will be done. And there appeared an angel unto
him from heaven, strengthening him, and being in agony, and
agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was, as it were,
great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when
he arose up from prayer and was come to his disciples, he found
them sleeping for sorrow. Why such agony? and pain. It was not the fact that he knew
he was going to die. He knew he was going to die a
horrible death of crucifixion. He knew that he was going to
die and suffer a painful death, but it was not the fear of death
that caused such agony of soul. You remember we studied in Matthew
chapter 16 where he told his disciples that I must go to Jerusalem,
I must be betrayed, he said I must be crucified, I must be raised
up again, and Peter said, oh no, no, let's not go that route.
Remember what he said to Peter? Get out of my way. You don't
savor the things that be of God. This is of God. It was not a
surprise to him that he must die for his people. For the messenger
from heaven told Joseph to call his name, that infant son of
Mary. When he would be born, call his
name Jesus. He shall save his people from
their sins. The Lord Jesus Christ as the
eternal God. was the lamb slain before the
foundation of the world. He was that surety of that eternal
covenant of grace. The God of our father, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the God of all peace, brought again from the
dead, that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of
the everlasting covenant. This was no surprise thing. He knew what was going to take
place. Him being delivered by the determinant
counsel and foreknowledge of God. It was knowing and realizing
and feeling the total weight of our sin being laid upon Him. And that's what's going on in
the garden there. Peter writes about it in his first epistle.
He said, the Lord Jesus Christ bear our sin in His own body
on the tree. The Holy One, the blessed Holy
Son of God. is going to be made sin for us. Sin for us. Now we don't say
that he was made a sinner. That's not a good statement.
We do say that he was made sin for us, who knew no sin. He never
personally committed any sin. But the Lord laid on him our
iniquity. God made him to be sin for us,
who knew no sin, that we might be made, think of it, the righteousness
of God. You're looking at a guilty, vile,
wretched sinner that's been made the righteousness of God. And
every believer can say that. It was, is what caused his agony. It was experiencing the burden,
not only of our sin, but the guilt of our sin, being charged
and reckoned to him, that pressed upon him, that caused such agony
in his holy soul. We studied about it in Psalm
40, where the Lord said, my iniquities have taken hold upon me. They're
more than the hairs of my head. He calls our iniquity his own. In Psalm 69, he said, the reproach
hath broken my heart. I'm full of heaviness. I look
for some to take pity, and there was none. For comfort, I found
none. Aubrey's friends cut tail and
run, didn't they? Turn over here to Isaiah 53. We see something of the agony
as he was smitten and afflicted of God. We often think about
the cruel deeds of men, but it wasn't what men did at Calvary,
that's our hope. It's what God was doing. You
remember Isaiah 53 verse 10? Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief. Oh, there it is. He put him to
grief. He hath put him to grief, when
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, guilty for sin. He shall
see his seed, his elect. He shall prolong his days, and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall
see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their
iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, or of the great. And he shall divide
the spoil of the strong, because he had poured out his soul unto
death. He was numbered with transgressors. He bared the sin of many and
made intercession for transgressors. That's his agony, the Lord. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. It was the prospect of the holy wrath of God being fully
unleashed upon him, against him without any mixture of mercy. Being forsaken not only of his
apostle, but more importantly, being forsaken of God. Do you
remember he cried from the cross as it's recorded in Psalm 22? My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? S-I-N. Sin. God too holy to look upon sin. As we studied there last week
in verse 31 of Matthew 26, and it's recorded there from Zechariah
13, I will smite the shepherd. Jehovah said, I will smite the
shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered. And
they were. He said, but I'm going to be
risen again, and I'll go before you. I'll gather the sheep. I'll
gather those who were scattered. I love the scriptures. I love
to preach from. And I have many times over in
the weepings of Jeremiah, in the book of Lamentation, Remember,
is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by, behold and see,
the Lord says in Calvary's tree, is it nothing to you, all ye
that pass by, behold and see, if there be any sorrow like unto
my sorrow, which is done unto me wherewith, wherewith, The
Lord hath afflicted me, get hold of this, in the day of his fierce
anger." How can God be angry with his beloved son? He said,
this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. How can he
be angry with his beloved son? Made sin for us. Made sin for
us. Wherewith the Lord hath afflicted
me, is of the Lord. His affliction, spit and afflicted
of God, and wounded for our transgression, bruised for our iniquity. And
notice also carefully, all for whom the Lord Jesus Christ paid
their sin debt, shall be redeemed by His blood, and shall be eternally
saved, shall be eternally saved from all sin. As it says there
in verse 32 of Matthew 26, after I'm risen, I'll go before you
into Galilee. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again because he justified us. He justified us. None for
whom the Lord Jesus Christ as our great high priest He didn't
bring the typical animal sacrifice. He brought his own blood. And
what did he do for us? He obtained for us eternal redemption. Not temporary amnesty. He obtained
for us eternal redemption with his own blood. He said, my sheep,
they hear my voice, I know them, and I give unto them eternal
life. He saves us people with an everlasting
salvation. He said, all that the Father
hath given to me, they'll come to me. And those that come to
me, I'll never cast them out. All God's elect shall in due
time be brought to Christ. in true saving faith and true
repentance, acknowledging that salvation is of the Lord. Salvation
is of the Lord. Well, have you got the first
lesson? You ready for five more? Okay. Okay. We're also taught here that no
man, I won't be as long on these next ones. We're also taught
here that no man, no person is exempt from sorrow and heartache
in this life. Not even the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ lived a
life with no sin. Such a high priest became us
who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sin, yet he
suffers like no other. In Isaiah 53, as I've mentioned
a couple times, he's called a man of sorrows and acquainted with
grief. The truth is, man that's born
of woman is few days and full of trouble. There are no exemptions
to this rule and this decree of God. You're going to have trouble.
You're either in trouble, coming out of trouble, or headed for
trouble. In this life you shall have tribulation, the Lord said.
He said to those apostles on the eve of being arrested and
crucified, he said, these words have I spoken unto you that in
me you might have peace. In this world you're going to
have tribulation. Ah, but be of good cheer. I have
overcome. I've overcome. We don't overcome. He does. Paul writes about our
light affliction. Here was a man, the apostle Paul.
Godly man, a sincere man, an apostle, a preacher of the gospel. Yet he's beaten, jailed, stoned,
whipped. Why all these sorrows? They come
from the hand of our father. They come from our loving hand
of our father. And then he writes about it.
The apostle Paul says, our light affliction, which are but for
a moment, they worketh for us a far more and exceeding and
eternal weight of glory. Things which we see are temporary. The things which we don't see
are eternal. They're working together to those
who love God. All these things are working
together for our eternal good, to those who love God, to them
who are called according to His eternal purpose. Well, that's
lesson number two. That was quick, wasn't it? Ready for number three? The best
cure and help in trouble is what the Lord told these men to do.
Watch and pray. Watch and pray. There's a hymn
in our book. We don't sing it because we don't
have the music to it. Take your burdens to the Lord
and leave them there. We studied in 1 Peter 5, verse
7, where Peter says, Casting all your care upon him, for he
careth for you. Peter knew something about grief
and sorrow, didn't he? Peter wrote about the precious
trials that God would send our way. But he said, Casting all
your care upon him, he careth for you. Casting, casting, casting,
coming, looking, believing. When Job was greatly troubled,
he fell down and did what? Worshiped the Lord. The Lord took all of his substance,
all of his money, all of his income, killed his ten children.
All at once, he said, the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken
away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. When Job was greatly troubled,
he fell down and worshiped the Lord. When Hannah was heartbroken,
Hannah, that's Samuel's mother. When Hannah was heartbroken about
being a barren woman, she cried to the Lord for a son And the
Lord gave her that prophet Samuel. She prayed, I rejoice in thy
salvation. There's none holy as the Lord.
There is none beside thee. Neither is there any rock like
our rock. She prayed to the Lord and resting
in the good providence of the Lord. And God gave her that special
son, Samuel. When David was charged, King
David, the king of Israel, the man after God's own heart, when
he was charged with murder and adultery, Wow, that's trouble
and sorrow, isn't it? He called upon the Lord for mercy,
said, according to thy loving kindness, according to the multitude
of thy tender mercies, blot out my iniquities. And the Lord did. Many other examples we have in
the word of the Lord. where believers were in trouble
and they cried to the Lord when the Apostle Paul was greatly
burdened with that thorn in the flesh. And he cried to the Lord
three times, Lord, remove this thorn, remove this thorn, remove
this thorn. And the Lord said, my grace is
sufficient. It'll be OK. The very first place
we should go when we're in trouble, we should go to the Lord Jesus
Christ as mercy beggars. The publican did in the temple,
you remember? He smote upon his breast, said,
God, be merciful to me, thee sinner. The publican did, and
the Lord said he went down to his house justified, blind Bartimaeus. Calling upon the Lord Jesus Christ,
Thou Son of David, have mercy upon me. And the scripture said
the Lord stood still. A cry of mercy stopped the Lord
Jesus Christ in his tracks. He said, what do you need? Bartimaeus,
I'm blind. I need my sight. He said, be
it unto you, receive your sight. And he did. And he went away
rejoicing. How about the leper? Let's turn
and read that. Turn back to Matthew chapter
8. This has been my constant prayer unto the Lord. Look at
Matthew chapter 8. The leper who came to the Lord,
full of leprosy, and everybody around him told him to get away
from us, and he was to cover his mouth, and he was to cry,
I'm a leper, I'm a leper, I'm a leper. Look at Matthew 8 verse
1, when he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes,
when the Lord came down, great multitudes followed him. Matthew
8 verse 2, and behold, there came a leper and worshipped him,
saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. That's been
my prayer through this ordeal of cancer. Lord, if you will,
you can make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand
and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately
his leprosy was cleansed. You're in trouble? Look to the
Lord. Anything too hard for the Lord?
With God, all things are possible. Our Lord will either give grace
for the trial, as he did with the Apostle Paul, or he will
remove the trial after the Lord's purpose has been accomplished
in sending the trial. That's why Peter called them
precious trials. Listen to him, he said, The trial
of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that tried,
though it be tried with fire, might be found unto the praise
and honor and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're precious
trials, more precious than gold. Our Lord said in that same book
of Hebrews, chapter four, he said, let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in our time of need. Now here's the next thing I want
us to look at. We see submission to the will
of God is one of the shining characteristics of true saving
faith. Look at verse 36. Excuse me, verse 39. And he went
a little further and fell on his face and prayed, saying,
Oh, my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless,
not as I will, but as you will. Again, he says the same thing
down here in verse 42. And he went away again the second
time and prayed. And he went away the third time
and prayed the same, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away
from me, except I drink it, I drink it, Thy will be done. Thy will be done. Our Lord taught
us to pray. Turn over here to Matthew 6.
You remember how He taught us to pray? I think it's Matthew
6. Let's see here if I'm right.
Yes, turn over here to Matthew chapter 6 verse 9. Matthew 6
verse 9. In this matter of prayer, after this manner, therefore,
pray ye, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. The Lord pray exactly as he instructed
his apostles to pray. Thy will be done. One preacher
of the past said, he who abandons himself to God will never be
abandoned by God. He said, I'll never leave you,
I'll never forsake you. Blessed is that believer who
can face trouble, heartache, and sorrow and know that it comes
from the loving hand of our Heavenly Father by His good and sovereign
providence. whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth,
and scourgeth every son whom he received." Listen to these
words of David, and think about this next time you're going through
a little bit of trouble, a little bit of heartache, maybe sickness,
maybe other kind of trouble. David writes, it's good for me
to be afflicted that I might learn thy statutes. And then
again, he writes in Psalm 119, in thy faithfulness, Thou has
afflicted me. In your faithfulness, God gives
us and he sends our way exactly what we need. What should be
our attitude? In 1 Samuel chapter 3, there
was a priest. His name was Eli. And he was
a priest of God, but he had two sons who were also priests and
they were rebels. They were doing things totally
wrong. And God told young Samuel, to
go tell Eli the priest that God's gonna kill both of your rebel
sons. And Eli, when he heard the message
of Samuel, he said, it's the Lord. Let him do what seemeth
good in his sight. The apostle Paul prayed this,
Lord, I've learned, and I trust we're learning this, I've learned
in whatsoever state I'm in, to be content, to be content. Here's the fifth lesson, and
this is a good one we need to learn. In verse 40 and verse
41, he cometh unto his disciples and he finds them asleep. and
said to Peter, what, what? Couldn't you watch with me for
one hour? Watch and pray, therefore, that you enter not in temptation.
The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh, the flesh is just
what it is, flesh. Weak, weak, frail. The best of
men are only men at best. The best of men. Peter, James,
and John were the inner circle. chosen and blessed of God to
be the Lord's choice apostle. But instead of watching and praying
as the Lord told them, they soon fell weary and fell asleep. I'm
sure they started to pray. They were sleeping on the job.
Some places that'll get you fired. You better not sleep on the job.
They were sleeping on the job. You see the weakness and the
Lord said, either spirit is willing, but the flesh. How sinful is
this flesh? How sinful? Every believer's
been made willing in the day of the Lord's power
to believe and repent. When Peter said, I'll never be
offended, I'll never deny these, the very thing he said he would
not do is what he did. We're made willing to serve the
Lord out of love and devotion, and that's the only thing that
motivates us. But oftentimes, we're so greatly
hindered by the infirmities of our flesh, are we not? Paul writes about it, when I
would do good, evil's present with me. Things that I would
not, that's what I do. That's what I do. And then he
comes to this conclusion, oh, wretched man that I am, who shall
deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus
Christ, our Lord. There's a constant warfare in
a believer's heart between the flesh and spirit, contrary one
to another. When I would do good, evil is
present with me, Paul said. In my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. What is the remedy for chronic, sinful weakness? You want a remedy? I have it.
The Lord said here, watch and pray. Watch and pray. What is the remedy for our chronic
sinful weakness? Watch and pray. Looking to the
Lord Jesus Christ, who's the author and finisher of our faith,
coming to the Lord Jesus Christ, desiring the sincere milk of
the Lord, trusting him for all salvation. That's the remedy.
Christ himself is the remedy. Watch and pray. Number six. You didn't think
I'd get there, did you? Number six. Our Lord willingly marches toward
the hour of his crucifixion with a most firm resolve in his heart
to give his life a ransom for many. Look what he says there
in verse 45. Then cometh he to his disciples
and saith unto them, sleep on, sleep on now. Take your rest. Rest in me. Behold, the hour
is coming. The hour is coming. Many times
he said, my hour has not yet come. But he said, the hour is
here. The hour is at hand. The Son
of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Let us rise and flee
away. That's not what he said. Rise, let us be going. Behold,
he's at hand that doth betray me. The Lord Jesus Christ, with
his face set like a flint, marches toward Calvary's tree and he
doesn't flinch. Does not flinch. He marches toward
the hour of his crucifixion with the most firm resolve in his
heart to give his life a ransom for many. He said, I must go
to Jerusalem. I must die. In Matthew 20, 28,
it says there, he gave his life for ransom for many, for many,
for the remission of sins. You remember back in verse 28,
Matthew 26, verse 28, where this is my blood of the New Testament,
which is shed for many for the remission of sins. He knows exactly
what he's doing and where he's going and what he's going to
accomplish. And he's known this from all
eternity. He said, no man takes my life
from me. He said, I have power to lay
it down. I have power to take it again. This commandment have
I received in my father. Arise and let us be going. Our
Lord's in full control of what happens. He's not a helpless
victim of godless men. He's appointed sacrifice of a
holy God. We're going to read next week,
from this next portion here, in John chapter 18, when Judas
and those men come to arrest the Lord Jesus Christ. And the
Lord stood forth and said, whom do you seek? And they said, Jesus
of Nazareth. And he said, I am. Remember what happened? They
all fell backward. They all fell backward. He could
have simply walked away. But he gave himself to the smiters. He gave himself to the justice
of God. They did what they wanted to
do. They did only what God determined before to be done. Our Lord died
vicariously. That means He died in the room
instead of His people. He suffered once for our sin,
the just for the unjust, that He may bring us to God. The Lord
died vicariously as a substitute. He died voluntarily. He laid
down His life for us. And He died victoriously. The
death of the Lord Jesus Christ was not a defeat. Victory. He said, I am He that liveth
and was dead. Behold, I'm alive forevermore. I have the keys
of hell and death. And we have the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Because He wins when
He by Himself purged our sin. He's seated at the right hand
of God right now. We're seated in Him already in
the heavenlies right now. Right now in Him. We're seated
in the heavenlies. Everybody wants to be on the
winning team, right? In Christ, we're winners because
He is, because He is. He wins. We win because He won
the victory over sin, death, hell, and the grave for us.