Let's turn in our Bibles today
to Mark chapter 14. I cannot think of any words better suited to introduce
the passage of Scripture that we're looking at today. Lest
I forget Gethsemane, lest I forget thine agony. Lest I forget thy
love for me, lead me to Calvary. Mark chapter 14 verses 32 through
42. And they came to a place which
was named Gethsemane. And he saith to his disciples,
sit ye here while I shall pray. And he taketh with him Peter,
and James, and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be
very heavy. And 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, 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 he cometh and findeth
them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? Couldest not thou watch one hour? Watch ye and pray, lest you enter
into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but
the flesh is weak. And again he went away and prayed
and spake the same words. And when he returned, he found
them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. Neither wished
they what to answer him, and he cometh a third time and saith
unto them, sleep on now and take your rest. It is enough, the
hour is come. Behold, the Son of Man is betrayed
into the hands of sinners. Rise up, let us go, lo, he that
betrayeth me is at hand. Almost 60 years ago, I was a
student in Bible college and somehow word came among us that
there was a foundation in California that would give out books if
you would write and ask for them, give out Christian books. And
all young preachers or those who want to be preachers are
interested in literature, good books. And so I wrote out to
that foundation and sure enough, they sent me four or five books. And one of those books was written
by a medical doctor, a Christian doctor, And the title was Night
Scenes of Scripture. That was the title of the book,
Night Scenes of Scripture. There's about 15 to 20 chapters
in that book, that many messages which are taken from scenes in
the scripture at night. And I can just imagine if I were
to preach a series of messages on night scenes, I believe I
would begin in the book of Genesis, the book of beginnings, when
God took Abraham out into the night and told him to look up
into the heavens and made a covenant with him and told him, so shall
thy seed be. What an experience at night. Can you imagine the number of
stars that there are? And yet God promised Abraham
that his seed, in Galatians we find out that seed is Christ. But those who are members of
his body, those who are joined to him in an eternal union, election
from before the foundation of the world, a mystical union,
shall be as the number of the stars. You know those who deny
the truth about God's sovereign grace? They like to paint those
of us who believe the Bible And that's it. We believe the Bible.
We believe what God says, that God chose his people from before
the foundation of the world. Very clear. Very clear. The Bible teaches God's sovereign
election. But people who deny this, religious
people at least, who deny the truth of the word of God, they
like to accuse us of teaching that only a very select few,
as they say, are going to be saved. Now we will agree with
the select part, but not the fewness of the number. Because
we know as Abraham looked up into the skies, he saw a great
number of stars. And as John in the book of Revelation
saw a great multitude, he said, which man could not number. We
know that God has a great number of chosen, elect, redeemed sinners
that he calls and saves. Another chapter in that book
was, of course, a night in the den of lions. That was a night
scene from the word of God. When Daniel was cast into the
den of lions for not bowing, not failing to worship his God,
the true God, the living God. He was cast into that den of
lions and spent the night there and came out the next morning
safe and sound, showing God's able to deliver his people. That's
what that king asked, wasn't it? I think his name was Darius.
Oh, Daniel, is your God able? Is your God able? to deliver
you from the lions. There he came out. Is your God, I asked all of us
here this morning, is your God, is the God that you trust in,
the God that you believe in, is he able to save you from all
your sins and to present you without fault before the very
presence of God? God is able. And then, of course,
another night scene is the night in which the Lord Jesus Christ
was born into this world, the night that the angels sang, glory
in excelsis, glory in the heavens, glory in the highest. But I don't think any night scene
can compare to this scene that we've just read about here. In
my mind, I can't think of any night scene in the scripture
that can compare with this scene that we've just read about here
in Mark chapter 14. The night when the Lord Jesus
Christ is on the ground. The night when he said, my soul
is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. The night when God
sent an angel to strengthen him. What a night was this night when
the Lord Jesus Christ left eight of his disciples, I assume, at
the very entrance to the garden, and then took three more deeper
into the garden with him, and then he went a little further
and fell upon the ground. And Luke tells us he sweat, as
it were, great drops of blood. What a night scene is this. And I'm convinced, you know there's
a passage in Hebrews chapter five that tells us this about
the Lord. I'm convinced that it's speaking
of this time in the garden because I don't see any other time in
the gospels it could be talking about. But it reads like this,
who in the days of his flesh, speaking of Christ, in the days
of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers That's what he was
doing, wasn't it? On the ground, praying to his
father, Father, Abba, Father, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me, who in the days of his flesh,
when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong
crying and tears unto him, that was able to save him from death,
and was heard in that he feared. Surely that passage in Hebrews
5 is speaking of this time in the Garden of Gethsemane that
night. Well, I have four lessons I want
to bring to us from this passage. I pray God will help us. I pray
God will help me and help all of us to hear these things and
to receive them and believe them. First, and this is such a great,
great lesson, First, should we not learn the great weight of
the sin that Christ had to bear? As we look at this passage of
scripture, should we not learn the great weight of the sin that
Christ had to bear? The weight of that sin, contemplating
the weight of that sin even, crushed him to the ground. My soul is exceeding sorrowful,
even unto death. I want you to notice in verse
36 that he speaks of this suffering as a cup. And he said, Abba,
Father, all things are possible unto thee. Take away this cup
from me. Speaks of his suffering as a
cup. And he asked his father if it'd
be possible to take this cup from him. I looked in the prophecy
of Isaiah and I found there that we read of a cup of trembling,
a cup of trembling. And in the context there, it
is a prophecy of the judgment that God was going to bring upon
Jerusalem for her sin. And it was going to be so great,
so severe, this judgment that God would bring upon Jerusalem
that it's referred to as a cup of trembling. A cup in which
every drop, in which every dreg must be drunk. As one writer
said about that cup, a cup of trembling, that it contained
things that are the most disagreeable. The most disagreeable was in
this cup and that which would cause trembling. What was this
cup that the Lord Jesus Christ prayed if it were possible to
be taken away from him? Well, we know it was a cup of
judgment. It was a cup of condemnation.
It was a cup of separation. It was a cup of suffering. And
yes, my friends, no doubt it was a cup which was filled with
the sins of all of his chosen people. One writer said, he took
the cup here in the garden. He took the cup here in the garden. He drained the cup the next day
upon the cross. Surely this cup that our Lord
speaks of could be called a cup of trembling, that which caused
his soul to be exceeding sorrowful unto death. Now I want you to
think with me for just a few minutes. I'm reminded of the
story, the little boy said, I like to hear Pastor so-and-so preach. He preaches for a while and then
he stops and tells us something. Of course, I would imagine he
meant some illustration. I don't have an illustration,
but I do want all of us to put on our thinking cap and think
about what I'm about to say. I doubt very seriously that it
is possible for any person like you and me Those of us who come
into this world and we are sinful by nature. Scripture describes us as going
astray from the womb, speaking lies. We're sinful by nature. We're sinful by practice. Everything we've ever known,
every day we've ever lived, we have been exposed to sin and
yes we have sinned and literally we are sin. Is it possible that you and I
who are so familiar with sin that we can even begin to understand
and to appreciate what it must have been like for this one the
holy immaculate darling, pure son of God, to contemplate being
made to be sin. Can we even begin to understand
that? We laugh at sin. You say, well,
we don't laugh at sin. Yes, we do. You know we do. You say, how? Well, one way,
our little children. our little children. They'll do something wrong. You
say, well, it's wrong. No, it's sin. They go astray
from the womb, speaking lies. They'll tell a lie. They'll hide
something. And they're innocent in the sense
that you can see the chocolate candy on their mouths. But no,
I didn't eat any of that. And what do we do? We laugh at
it. We think it's funny, it's cute.
What I'm saying is, we are so accustomed to sin, all of us,
by nature, and yes, by practice, but can we imagine what it was
like for this one, the Lord Jesus Christ, to contemplate this cup that he would drink
that was full of sin that would result, and not only full of
sin, but that would result in his father's desertion. He knew
that. It would not take him by surprise
the next day when the father somehow mysteriously deserted
him there on the cross when he was made to be sin for us. He
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. But my lesson for us here, first
of all, is that we, surely we should learn the great weight, the great weight of sin, which
was laid upon Christ. And that's the term that is used
in Isaiah 53, isn't it? The iniquity of us all was made
to meet upon Him, or to be laid upon Him. The second lesson we
should learn, that there's only one way that sin may be removed. There's only one way that sin
could be removed. We live in a time, we live in
a day, and I suppose it's always been like this, but it just seems
like more so in our country in this day. But people want to
believe that there are many roads that all lead to the same father. It's like climbing up a mountain,
they say, and you've got all these different trails up to
the top, but we all get to the same place. And they would tell
us that good works, free will decision, no matter what religion
people believe in and practice, that somehow we're all going
to the same place. That's a lie, and that's exactly
what Satan, the father of lies, would have us believe. When the
Lord Jesus Christ, when he spoke to his father that night, and
he said, Father, all things are possible unto thee. Take away
this cup from me. Nevertheless, not what I will,
but what thou wilt. He prayed and asked his father
to remove that cup if it were possible. Did the father remove
that cup? No. Doesn't that tell us for
all time and yea even into eternity that there's only one way that
sin may be removed? Only one way that you, my friend,
that you may be declared righteous before God, and that is not by
works of righteousness which you do or your church does for
you or anyone else, but through this one sacrifice of Jesus Christ,
God's dear Son. To remove the sins of his people,
it was necessary that the sacrifice be equal to the offense. Let me say that again. To remove sin, to remove the
sins of his people, it was necessary that the sacrifice be equal to
the offense. The offense is against God. God is infinite. Against thee,
David prayed, and thee only have I sinned, which shows us that
all sin ultimately, yes, we sin against our brother, we sin against
our wife, we sin against our husband, we sin against our children,
we sin against our fathers and mothers, but ultimately, all
sin is against God. And because He is the infinite
being that He is, that means that all sin is infinite. And it's going to take a sacrifice
equal to the offense to take it away. What am I saying? I'm saying what the Bible teaches
us, and that is simply only God can satisfy God. Only God can
satisfy God. Don't talk to me about the Lord
Jesus Christ merely being a good man, maybe better than other
men. No, no, my friends. He's more
than a good man. He is a good man, but he's a
God man. He's God manifest in the flesh. And he is the one who would offer
this sacrifice of infinite value. In fact, his blood is called
the blood of God. The blood of God. Do you mean,
preacher, that God has blood? Isn't God a spirit? Absolutely. But you see, because He is both
God and man, His blood is referred to by the Apostle Paul as the
blood of God. The blood with which he has purchased
his church. If you're a part of his church
this morning, You know He purchased you, not with corruptible things
such as silver and gold. No, you could have all the gold
in the world and not redeem your soul. It took the precious blood
of the Lamb of God to redeem sinners. Well, here's a third
lesson. Should we not learn to be always
thankful for His salvation? Shouldn't we learn to always
be thankful for his salvation? You know the psalmist David,
he tells us of another cup, another cup. This cup that the Lord Jesus
Christ was to take and to drink, we've called a cup of trembling
from the book of Isaiah. But the psalmist tells us in
Psalm 116 that there is another cup and it is called the cup
of salvation. The Cup of Salvation. Psalm 116
and verse 13. I will take, the psalmist said,
I will take the cup of salvation. Will you? Will you take the cup
of salvation? I will take the cup of salvation
and call upon the name of the Lord. The cup, if you just imagine
a cup this morning, a coffee cup maybe, and it This cup that
the Lord Jesus Christ saw before him was a cup that was filled
all the way up to the brim. I mean, you could not put another
drop in it. And it was filled with all the
iniquities, all the sins, all the filthiness, all the awfulness
that you can imagine in this cup. in the prophet Ezekiel, he speaks
of sin under the term of a scum, scum. If I remember right, there's
a big iron pot there, and fire's underneath it, and you throw
these bones in there, or flesh, or whatever, and that scum, you
know, you ladies know from cooking, that scum comes up to the top
and settles all around the pot. What a picture of sin. My sin, your sin. The scum that
was in that cup that the Lord Jesus Christ had to take and
to drink, filled to the brim. But now think of this. The cup
of salvation. What a contrast. That cup he
had to drink was filled with all filthiness. But the cup of
salvation, it too is filled up to the brim. David said, my cup
runneth over. It's filled up to the brim, but
with wonderful, glorious, beautiful things, his cup, this cup of
salvation is filled up with. You take this cup to your lips
and you drink, and you drink the water of life. The water
of life. eternal life. And the truth is that millions,
no doubt millions, have come before and they have drunk of
this cup. But do you know something strange?
It's still full to the brim. Though millions have come, there's
still room for one. This cup is full. because it
is Christ himself. It'll never be deplenished. It will never grow less. I think
of one of the greatest centers in the Bible, at least that we
read about. He was a king. His name was Manasseh. He had a good father. Hezekiah
was his father, a great king, a godly king. But Manasseh was
a wicked man. In fact, God said he did more
wickedness than all that came before him. He did everything
he could to show his contempt for Almighty God. Even not only worshiping the
stars and the moon and the sun and the planets and things like
that, placing false altars of of false gods in the very temple
area there in Jerusalem, but causing his children to pass
through the fire, that awful, awful thing that heathen would
do to try to pacify and appease their God. Manasseh was guilty
of all of that. And yet, you know, God had him
taken down to, I think it was Damascus. And he was in prison,
he was a captive. And he called on the Lord. He
called on the Lord. And God in mercy forgave him
and even restored him to his kingdom. one of the greatest
sinners that we know about in the scripture. And that just
leads me to say this morning, I don't care what a person's
guilty of. I don't care what he's done or
not done or whatever. The blood of Jesus Christ can
cleanse from all sin, all sin. This cup of salvation is filled
to the brim with such blessings as justification, being declared
God, reconciliation, being reconciled under God, peace with God, being
adopted into the family of God. This cup, almost at the end of
the scriptures, the inspired word of God, The word said, let
him that is a thirst come. Anybody thirsty? Anyone thirsty? Oh, I'm thirsty. I like to have my sins forgiven.
I like to know that my name is written in heaven. Anyone thirsty? Let him come unto me, whosoever
will. Let him take the water of life
freely. Drink, drink, drink, and you'll
never exhaust what's in that cup. There's one last lesson
I want to talk about. Should we not learn the truth
about ourselves? And what is the truth about ourselves?
We are all just like Peter, James, and John. Not any different. Our Lord left eight, as I said,
eight of his apostles one place and took these favorite three,
Peter, James, and John, farther into the garden. And what do
they do? They go to sleep. They go to sleep. What? Peter,
couldn't you watch one hour? The truth about ourselves. This flesh, we live, this new
man lives in this old body, doesn't he? And the flesh is weak, and
the flesh becomes weary, and we become sluggish in the things
of God. We become lethargic in our worship
of God and our service of God. We start off on fire. We can't wait. To be in a worship
service and sing and pray and hear the word of God. We can't
wait to be alone in our closet and fellowship with God. We can't
wait to speak to someone about Christ, about our blessed Savior. But the flesh grows weary, doesn't
it? It really does. Our Lord said,
watch. Watch duty when I was in the
service in the Air Force. Stand guard, that guard duty.
Stand up all night, you have to stay awake on guard. Nothing
worse than going to sleep, right? Watch, be alert. And let me close
with this, reminding us that In Pilgrim's Progress, which
I encourage us to read and to read and to read and to read,
you're never going to outgrow Pilgrim's Progress. And the more
times you go through it, the more you're going to see and
understand how God gifted that man in that allegory to picture
the truth about us and our Christian experience. came to a place eventually called
the Enchanted Ground. And the thing about this Enchanted
Ground is it was almost to the end of his journey. In fact,
I believe he said you could almost see the Celestial City from the
Enchanted Ground. But there was something about
this Enchanted Ground, it seemed like the air that pilgrims breathed
here, it just naturally caused people, pilgrims, believers,
to grow sleepy and lethargic in the things of God. Our Lord said, watch and pray.
And John Bunyan gave these three pieces of advice. And some of
us here today, we're at that place, aren't we? At our time,
in our lives, we can almost see the celestial city. And how many
people have we known as they get closer and closer to eternity,
their love for Christ and their zeal for the things of God wanes
more and more. God help us not to go that route. And John Bunyan gives three pieces
of advice for those of us who are in this enchanted ground. Number one, he says, never walk
alone. Never walk alone. Believers,
we need other believers' fellowship. And this is one reason. 10, where Paul said, let us consider
one another to provoke and to good works. Now listen, not forsaking
the assembling of ourselves together. Not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together. We need not walk alone. And we
have fellowship here when we join together to worship the
Lord. We need that. We need that. Never walk alone. Number two,
the word of God. The Word of God. Do not neglect
the Word of God. You know what the Word of God
is? It's the green pastures. Remember the psalmist said, the
Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie
down in green. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. The green
pastures is the Word of God. And when sheep are laying down,
I think I'm right about this, you might correct me, but when
you see sheep laying down, you know they have three stomachs.
That's usually when they're chewing the cud, when they're laying
down. They've been eating for a while
and now they lay down and they meditate, as we would say. They
regurgitate from one stomach to another. The things we hear
here, the things we read in the Word of God, we should not neglect
meditation, thinking upon these things. And the last thing he
said, we should always be speaking to others about Christ, always. When we meet together, Malachi
3 and verse 16, then they that feared the Lord spoke often one
to another. I trust the Lord would bless
this message to all of us here today, and let us take heed as
our Lord said, watch and pray. I want us to sing this song,
Beulah Land, number 515, Beulah Land.