Persisting In The Garden

[0:00] Well, we've seen here in this reading that the scene is shifted once again in Mark's record of the final days of our Lord. And each step along the way takes Jesus closer and closer to the cross.

[0:15] If you'll remember, the chapter began after Jesus's Olivet Discourse. The chapter began in Bethany. It wasn't actually in Jerusalem. They're outside of Jerusalem, about two miles.

[0:26] They're in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper. And that's when Mary takes the alabaster flask of ointment and worships and anoints Jesus there.

[0:39] The next passage, Jesus and the disciples move into the city of Jerusalem. New scene is set up for us. This time it's in the upper room in Jerusalem where John and Peter have prepared the Passover meal.

[0:53] Jesus leads that amazing final Passover and institutes the Lord's Supper for us that we still observe and will observe even this morning. Last week we saw the scene change once again.

[1:06] This time they're on a midnight stroll moving from the upper room in Jerusalem out to the Mount of Olives where Jesus tries to prepare his disciples for what lay ahead of them later in the evening.

[1:19] It's like flipping through a picture book. Each page, each turn of the page reveals a new, vivid, colorful picture and scene following Jesus in these snapshots along the way in these final hours of his life as he moves towards the cross and providing our redemption.

[1:44] And verses 32 and 33 are what provide the background for this particular portrait in Mark chapter 14.

[1:54] Look at verse 32 with me again. They went to a place called Gethsemane and he said to his disciples, Sit here while I pray. And he took with him Peter and James and John and began to be greatly distressed and troubled.

[2:10] So if we were looking at each scene in this chapter as a new page in the picture book, the flip book, so to speak, of Jesus' final hours, what sets the scene here for us is these three elements given to us here in verses 32 and 33.

[2:28] The first one being the place. It was a place called Gethsemane, a garden near the Mount of Olives. It was probably an olive tree garden, probably was surrounded by some sort of wall that paired it off.

[2:45] In fact, you can go to the Garden of Gethsemane today. I actually think I have a picture. Becky, you want to throw this up? This is the Garden of Gethsemane today. This is where it is today. Since the times of Jesus and even before, from what we understand historically, the Garden of Gethsemane was privately owned.

[3:01] Luke says Jesus and his disciples frequented the Garden of Gethsemane often, which tells us why it was so easy for Judas and the soldiers to find Jesus later this night.

[3:13] He already knows where Jesus is going to be. They would often meet there and convene there, Luke says. It was a place of prayer for Jesus. No doubt Jesus being familiar with the owner of the garden, who would allow him a quiet place of solitude to go with his disciples, to teach them and to pray with them and to spend time with them.

[3:33] That's where he's moved once again. You can imagine under the cover of night, the middle of the night, in a small garden like this, Jesus leaves ten of the disciples, or excuse me, about eight of the disciples at the gate keeping guard.

[3:50] Then he takes Peter and James and John, who are the participants here, and he drops them off. Perhaps, let's just say, perhaps he drops them off right here where this plaque is on the bottom part of the screen.

[4:03] And then he goes a stone's throw away, Luke says, just a little further, maybe to that furthest tree out there. And under the blackness of night, with no electricity, nothing but the stars and the moon that would be shining down on them, our Savior gets down and he begins to pray, which was the purpose in this.

[4:18] The place is Gethsemane. The participants is Peter and James and John. But why Peter and James and John? Why take the three of them further into the garden in this moment?

[4:33] Well, one easy answer is, well, he needed to take somebody, otherwise we wouldn't have had the record of what happened in the garden that night. So we're reminded then that the Gospels that we read here are not stories that we think might have happened.

[4:46] These are actually the eyewitness accounts of Peter and James and John. But it's more than that. They're also leaders among the disciples, aren't they?

[4:57] Peter especially being the primary leader and will continue to be the primary leader of the apostolic band as they move past the ascension of Jesus and begin the mission that Jesus had called them to.

[5:11] We continually in the book of Acts see them coming back to Peter, asking Peter, following Peter. He was their leader. Jesus had prepared him for that.

[5:23] So we would think these three are major leaders among the disciples, but I think it's more than that as well. These three needed to learn a particular lesson from Jesus on this night, a lesson that because of their role in leadership among the other disciples would be necessary for them to teach the others.

[5:41] Remember we quoted or we looked just briefly last week at John chapter 21. Remember Peter says to some of the disciples as they wait for Jesus in Galilee, I'm going fishing.

[5:52] This is a sign of his leadership, isn't it? He says I'm going fishing. A few of them say, okay, we'll go with you. Because Peter is a leader and leaders have followers and they're following him on the way.

[6:03] And remember what Jesus had already told Peter. When you finally are restored, strengthen the brothers. This is going to be necessary for you.

[6:15] And Jesus restores Peter. And then what do we find Peter doing moving on from them? Really becoming the rock that Jesus had named him to be. That's what we see. Strengthening the brothers.

[6:26] He needed to learn a lesson in the garden that night. James and John needed to learn a lesson in the garden that night. But why them? Do you remember in chapter 10 as Jesus and the disciples and the huge crowd of people are leaving Jericho and they're headed to Jerusalem?

[6:44] Remember it was James and John who brought their mother to ask the Lord for a favor. Do you remember the favor? Lord, will you let us sit one on your right hand, one on your left hand in the kingdom?

[6:59] Will you give us the place of position? Will you give us the place of superiority over the others? We want that. And do you remember what Jesus said? Can you drink the cup that I'm going to drink?

[7:12] And they said, yeah, we can drink it. They had no idea what they were agreeing to in that moment. Jesus says, you will drink the cup, but to give you that, that's not for me.

[7:25] The Father has determined that. You need to stop worrying about that. I'm not concerned about that, men. Do you see? There's some spiritual pride here. They don't even know what they're agreeing to as far as the cup is concerned, but they're saying, we can do it.

[7:39] We can do it. Rather than desiring to follow Jesus on the path of suffering, which is what the call to discipleship is, they only want to follow Jesus on the path to the throne and on the path to ruling and pride and power.

[7:59] And we just saw it last week in Peter, didn't we? Jesus tells the disciples, you're all going to forsake me. Peter says, no, I'm not.

[8:12] And he says, he says, all of these other guys, I can, I can see them doing that, Lord. I won't do it. I'll follow you to the death. Jesus says, to be honest with you, Peter, before the rooster crows in the morning, you're not only going to forsake me, you're going to outright deny me three different times, something that the rest of them won't do.

[8:30] You're going to do that. You're going to deny me before other people. Peter says, no way. And now Jesus takes these three men, whom Mark has been determined to show us exactly the extent of their spiritual pride.

[8:45] And he begins to show them what it actually means to understand your own condition, to understand the weakness of the flesh, how to overcome temptation in your life.

[8:59] It's a lesson that they needed. And the purpose is prayer. Jesus leaves eight of the disciples at the gate. He takes three of them inside with them as eyewitnesses that needed to learn the lesson.

[9:11] And then his purpose was to go there because he needed to pray. And the context of this prayer is extreme. He becomes greatly distressed, we're told. Troubled in this moment.

[9:27] He was under intense mental and emotional stress, which gives us the critical context for this particular passage. This was Jesus' final and greatest experience experience with temptation.

[9:44] And he knew that prayer was essential in persisting through such spiritual distress. Which brings an interesting question to our minds, doesn't it?

[9:56] How is that even possible? How is it that Jesus, our Savior, our resolute Lord and determined Savior who has been on this path to the cross knowingly for so long now, how is it that in this moment he seems so weak?

[10:11] How is it now that in this moment he seems to be so distraught over what is about to happen? How is that possible? We spend a lot of time contemplating and convincing others of the fact that Jesus is a man who was also truly God.

[10:34] That sometimes we forget that the opposite perspective is also true. that Jesus is the eternal God who also became truly man.

[10:47] And in becoming truly man he took on every dynamic of humanity aside from our sinful nature. Which means that he understood weakness, he understood temptation, he understood emotion, he understood trouble and hurt.

[11:11] And it's this dynamic of Jesus' being that makes this text, at least for me, maybe you haven't thought of it this way and I don't mean to put questions in your mind intentionally.

[11:21] this is just what comes to my mind every time I come to this passage. It's so difficult for me to comprehend. Because I can't fully comprehend the compatibility of Jesus' humanity and his divinity and his deity, I find it really difficult to understand his emotional distress in the garden.

[11:46] It makes me wonder was Jesus actually willing to go to the cross. Did his will differ from the Father's will?

[12:00] And if his will differed from the Father's will, does that affect his position as the divine Son of God? Was his distress here related to the physical suffering of the crucifixion or was there something else that troubled him in these moments?

[12:19] These are the kind of questions that come to my mind as I read this text. Perhaps some of those or maybe one of them at least has come to your mind and we can't ignore those things. And here's the thing.

[12:32] This event uniquely reveals Jesus' true humanity which ultimately points us to and highlights his true deity and the extent to which he was willing to go to save us.

[12:49] That's what comes glowing off of the page as we read this text. And tucked in underneath that amazing picture of grace we find this example of faithfulness and what it means to be a true disciple following the Lord on the path of suffering.

[13:09] And those are the things that I hope that you will see as we go through this study this morning. Three things I'd like to point out. The first thing is this. I want you to see his agony. I want you to see his agony. Verse 34.

[13:22] He said to them, my soul is very sorrowful even to death. Remain here and watch. This is what he said to the three disciples that he has taken further into the garden.

[13:37] I'm very sorrowful even to the point of death he says. Now that's pretty extreme. We've already noted that he was facing considerable mental and emotional distress but his words here reveal exactly how extreme his distress was.

[13:56] His mental condition here was not good. It's the kind of despair that we see in the Psalms of Lament. Jesus indicates that his sorrow is so deeply felt in this moment that there is a physical expression that brings himself to the near point of death as a result.

[14:16] He is so sorrowful in this moment so distressed in this moment that physically his body is about to give in to death before he even gets to the cross.

[14:28] Those are Jesus' words. Now remember Luke in his gospel. Remember who Luke was. Luke was a Greek physician. He was a doctor. This is something that he adds in his account in Luke chapter 22 he says being in agony he prayed more earnestly and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

[14:56] You're probably familiar with that imagery. Jesus praying in the garden and his sweat literally becoming blood as he is in so much distress and agony in this moment Luke says.

[15:07] Now it's possible that Luke meant that metaphorically just to give us a visual of the deep distress that Jesus is experiencing in that moment but it's still worth noting that there is an actual medical condition whereby a person's sweat is mingled with blood.

[15:27] It's called hematohydrosis and according to the National Library of Medicine though it can be the result of a blood disorder it's most often associated with someone under intense emotional distress.

[15:44] This is a quote from this medical journal this National Medical Journal fear and intense mental contemplation are the most frequent causes.

[15:56] That's intense. Have you ever been that sorrowful? Have you ever been under that much distress? Maybe you have.

[16:07] Probably not. Whether we're to understand this metaphorically or literally the fact is that Jesus encountered an emotional agony that few of us will ever really be able to understand.

[16:24] The question is what exactly is it that caused this level of stress in our Lord? Was it the prospect of crucifixion?

[16:37] Something Jesus undoubtedly from being a very little boy had witnessed probably on many occasions in his life? He knew what that would be like. He had seen mutilated bodies crucified in this way before.

[16:51] He understood that. Is it the prospect of crucifixion that leads him to this moment of trouble? Was there something else to his anguish? look at verse 35.

[17:04] Going a little farther he fell on the ground and he prayed that if it were possible the hour might pass from him and he said Abba Father all things are possible for you remove this cup from me yet not what I will but what you will.

[17:27] So Jesus tells the three disciples to wait and to watch then he goes just a little bit further and he cries out to the Father two words he uses here one is from Mark and one is from Jesus Mark's word is hour that this hour might pass from him Jesus' words in his prayer is cup that this cup would be removed from him hour and cup are synonymous expressions of what Jesus is about to endure in his arrest and trial and crucifixion resurrection the cup in particular is an image used regularly in the Old Testament to refer to God's judgment against sin it's a picture of God's wrath being poured out against sin and against sinners and I'm not suggesting that the physical suffering of the cross was meaningless to Jesus but his agony in this prayer is about much more than pain death it's about the judgment of God when Jesus anticipated this hour when he looked into this cup he saw

[18:41] God's plan for redeeming sinners which meant that someone must face God's wrath and when he asked for the possibility of it being removed it wasn't that he was pushing against the father's plan here's what he was saying if there is another way for sinners to be redeemed let's go with that way if there's another way for salvation to be provided let's take that route instead but of course even in this prayer Jesus knows there is no other way so I have two questions to consider the first one is this what was in the cup what was in the cup first it was a cup of sin was full of sin when he looked into the cup he saw every kind of rebellion against

[19:49] God every idolatry every immorality every act of violence through history filled this cup and when he anticipated the coming hour he the perfectly sinless son of God knew that he must become the sin bearer when he looks into the cup he sees the thing that he dreads the most he sees our sin the sin of the world and we're reminded of Paul's words in 2nd Corinthians 5 for our sake Paul says God made him to be sin who knew no sin why so that in him we might become the righteousness of God it is this dynamic that theologically we call it imputation where Jesus as he looks into the cup the sinless son of

[20:50] God sees our sin being imputed onto him so that his righteousness which we do not know may then be imputed into us and when Jesus looks into the cup that's what he sees he sees our sin but it's also a cup of wrath it's a cup of wrath for sinners to be saved the sinless one must suffer in our place for us to be received the son must be rejected for sinners to be forgiven he must be forsaken now think about this who will be forsaking him the father who will be rejecting him God the father whose wrath will he then have to endure and absorb his fathers which reminds us again of

[22:01] Paul's words to the Galatians this time Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us do you see what Jesus saw when he looked into the cup he saw your sin not only did he see your sin when he looked into the cup he saw the divine wrath of God meant for you and your sin being poured out not on you but being poured out on him the sinless son of God and in his humanity he looks into the cup and he awaits the hour that is to come and he recoils in that moment not because he's afraid of death not because he's afraid of pain but because he understands that the cup and the hour are much more than that it is being abandoned by the father and he shrinks from it bearing shame and scoffing rude in my place condemned he stood sealed my pardon with his blood hallelujah what a savior when Jesus looked into the cup he saw the judgment of

[23:27] God meant for sinners being poured out on him instead and he agonized over the thought of being alienated from the father something we've known from birth he never knew Sinclair Ferguson said Jesus was about to be exposed to the one thing in life he really feared not the cruel death which would end it because he knew he would rise again but the indescribable experience of feeling himself to be God forsaken that's what was in the cup that's what Jesus asked if there's another way let this cup pass which brings another question to my mind I teased it in the introduction but it's a serious question when we look at this prayer of the Lord does that mean that his will differed from the father's will is there disunity then in the trinity that's an important question we have to answer isn't it

[24:38] I've spoken so often about Jesus his willingness and desire to make an atonement for our sin but on the surface this prayer seems to indicate that he wasn't so willing here's what we need to remember what awaited Jesus in his death was always known to him and he routinely spoke of his unity with the plan of the father let me give you just a few quotes Jesus' quotes John 4 34 Jesus said to them my food the thing that gives me life my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work does that mean that Jesus had a will that was different than the father's no it means that he was actually working and acting in perfect unity with the will of the father the thing that gives me life my food is to do the will of him who sent me to accomplish his work and what is the work that he was sent to accomplish our redemption john 6 38 i have come down from heaven not to do my own will but to do the will of him who sent me john 10 18 no one takes my life from me i lay it down of my own accord of my own will i have authority to lay it down i have authority to take it up again this charge i have received from my father again unity in the trinity not division the agony of the garden is not suggestive of an opposing will but of wholehearted commitment to the will of the father even amid extreme temptation jesus always willingly and joyfully moved toward the cross but he also faced the temptation to avoid it let me explain think of all the times that mark as we've worked through if you can remember them from the last six or seven years that we've been here if you if you can remember all the times that mark has specifically noted jesus's private prayers the first one is in chapter one it's when jesus spends 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness do you remember what was happening in the wilderness in those 40 days and 40 nights he's being tempted of the devil what was the purpose of those temptations as summed up in the three that are given it was it was continuous temptation three of them are actually listed for us the purpose of that was to get jesus to circumvent the cross to act in a will that is different from the fathers and in each of those temptations he resistes he resists and it's connected to his prayer life we get to the end of chapter one remember jesus had just had these amazing few days of ministries healing all these people and all these people are now demanding his attention and his time even the disciples themselves are trying to get jesus to do what they want it's a temptation to fame and to glory and perhaps kingship apart from the cross and what does jesus do he gets up a great while before day and he goes out to a solitary place and he doesn't tell anybody where he's going and what does he do he prays why well it's connected to a temptation in that moment fast forward a few more chapters is it chapter eight maybe it's chapter six i can't remember remember the feeding of the five thousand when they're leaving john's gospel tells us that jesus had to escape because the zealots in that area were trying to make him a king by force temptation he could become the king without the cross and what

[28:39] does jesus do he sends the disciples out on the sea of galilee in the boat and he goes up into the mountains by himself to pray the next time we see his prayer is here what's happening in the garden this is the pinnacle of temptation one final assault and final effort on the part of the evil one to get jesus to circumvent the cross to get jesus to go against the will of the father it is stronger than it's ever been before and in this moment jesus faces temptation and he perseveres through this temptation once again he never sinned that's what's happening here it's not that he wanted something different from the father of course he didn't remember he was a man who was subjected to the same temptation we are subjected to philippians 2 and verse 8 being found in human form he humbled himself how paul says by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross what does obedience indicate submission to the will of the father again sinclair ferguson everything in jesus longed to escape this terrible experience seen in its own light yet everything in jesus also longed to be obedient to the father so he took the cup never in the gospels does the humanity of jesus shine through more clearly never in the gospels does his holiness appear more forcibly and the apostles picked up on this let me remind you of hebrews chapter 4 in verse 15 we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses that's not who jesus is he knows our weaknesses because he's experienced our weaknesses the writer goes on to say one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin what is this scene in the garden about jesus conquering sin for us for us he remains steadfast and true and perfect and holy yet at the same time he endures the things that we can endure so that we can now look to him who fulfilled the law perfectly his obedience and submission to the father are clear even in his prayer that amazing phrase yet not what I will but what you will again that's not meant to be suggestive of a different will but it's meant to highlight his submission to the father's plan he remains our perfect example of humble obedience to god his humanity means that his temptation was real but because of his deity he was able to show us how to defeat temptation in suffering notice the three parts of his prayer first power is acknowledged look at his prayer all things are possible for you the request is made remove this cup from me the will is submitted yet not what I will but you will now remember the context this prayer is in the context of temptation that comes in the face of suffering when we are indeed like

[32:35] Jesus in the face of suffering he gives us the pattern to follow God all things are possible for you because you alone are God please let this cup pass from me but not what I will what you will is that not the pattern we are to follow our prayer loved ones if we are to endure this life as faithful followers of Jesus we must learn to take the Lord's posture in this prayer we have to acknowledge the power of God to do anything that we ask and we must be willing to make our request known to him he invites us to do that Isn't that amazing that knowing that our request may not be in line with his will he invites us to make it anyways that's amazing but we must never seek our will above his even if his plan is painful and difficult how in the garden he persisted

[33:45] I may never truly know the fearful weight of true obedience it was held by him alone what wondrous faith to bear that cross to bear my sin what wondrous love my hope was sure when there my savior prayed father not my will but yours be done that's his agony that's a lot longer than the rest okay number two his pattern look at his pattern verse 37 and he came and found them sleeping and said to Peter Simon are you asleep could you not watch one hour watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak and again he went away and prayed!

[34:41] saying the same words and again he came and found them sleeping for their eyes were very heavy and they did not know what to so as he's done so often in this gospel Mark brings together again the reality of Jesus' messiahship with the instruction of faithful discipleship and at this point in the passage he turns the focus away from the agony of Jesus in the garden representative of his messiahship and he turns now the attention over to these disciples the rest of the text here is about them it's about how they begin to fail in the garden and there's a lesson here of spiritual vigilance prayerfulness for those who follow Christ we learn here that apparently Jesus' first prayer lasted about an hour and when he returns he finds the three that he had instructed to watch actually sleeping instead so he corrects and he instructs them but before it's all over he returns twice more to find them still sleeping before we crack down too hard on them let's remember it's the middle of the night and this has come at the end of a long day where at least two of them have been responsible for the preparations of

[36:03] Passover then they gone through a Passover meal that would have taken hours if you've ever been under just intense mental and emotional stress even for a short amount of time you know it can wipe you out right now imagine you're with these men and you're at the Passover meal and in the midst of this you have this stress and emotion laid on you when it's revealed that one of you is going to betray the Lord and then beyond that you're told that all of you are going to forsake him this would be emotionally charged this evening and now when they get to a dark quiet place in the night the flesh is weak they're told to watch but they fall asleep they shouldn't have fallen asleep but let's not act like we would have stayed awake!

[36:56] Because every one of us would have fallen asleep that night Jesus goes a little further and he begins to pray and when he comes back he finds them sleeping it's not that they didn't want to obey Jesus they did but in the weakness of their flesh they failed to do as they were told the three disciples who were most vocal about their commitment were sleeping at the moment they should have been most watchful and it's a warning to us about spiritual pride and complacency that is produced by it if the men had stayed awake they would have witnessed the premier example of how to endure temptation but they only got snippets of it where Jesus prayed was far enough to be private but close enough to still be heard that's what

[37:57] Luke tells us Luke says he was a stone's throw away given the intensity of Jesus emotional state we can easily discern that his prayer was not a quiet whisper!

[38:19] days of his flesh Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death now think about this Jesus is just a little ways away and his prayers are cries to the father his emotional state in this moment has brought him near to death itself by his own words and here he cries out to the father he's not saying oh lord please let this cup pass from me no he's crying out lord please if there's another way if there's another way he's crying to his father in this moment the disciples could hear this agony they could witness the agony with their own eyes and yet they fall asleep when Jesus tells them to watch in verse 34 he wasn't asking them to stand guard he was inviting them to observe his struggle he says watch me he was teaching them how to prayerfully persevere through the weakness of the flesh and this comes through most clearly in verse 38 look at it with me again watch and pray watch me men watch and pray that you may not enter temptation in and here's the ground for that statement the spirit is willing the flesh is weak they knew that because their spirits were willing

[40:00] James and John without even knowing what was in the cup said I'll drink it for you Lord Peter said everyone else will will abandon you I will go to the death with you the spirit is willing the flesh is weak and in the moment of temptation Peter and James and John flee for Jesus the spirit is willing over and over he's come to do the will of the father in the moment of temptation the flesh is weak and the perfect son of God shows them a pattern of how to endure to be mindful of your weakness and persevere in prayer and he does it without sin watch is observe me pray is mimic me not into temptation is the result which is following him they'd already proven their spiritual willing they just didn't account for the weakness of their flesh and their sleepiness illustrates a complacency in us that prevents us from watching him and from praying as he prayed and being faithful as we follow him number three we see his resolve we see his agony his pattern finally his resolve verse 41 and he came the third time and said to them are you still sleeping and taking your rest it's enough the hour has come the son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners rise let us be going see my betrayer is at hand so we begin this section looking at

[42:05] Jesus emotional agony we end it by observing his absolute resolve resolve notice his words here are you still sleeping and taking your rest it's enough it's enough you know what does this mean I think there's a few possibilities I'm going to give you what the possibilities are and then I'm going to tell you what I think it is you can make up your own mind it's possible that he's just referring to their sleepiness you've slept enough it's time to get up maybe that's what he means it could be that it is enough as a reference to his prayerful struggle that there has come a point where Jesus there is a final moment of submission he said his prayer he knows the father's plan and he resolves to no longer tarry in that prayer but accept the plan of the father that could be what it is I think it's probably a little bit of both to be honest with you what I think it is is a final statement similar to what

[43:11] Jesus says on the cross when he says it is finished but not that complex yet remember when Jesus comes into Galilee what is it that he's preaching repent and believe the kingdom of heaven is at hand the kingdom of God is at hand I think probably what he means here is everything that leads up to my cross has been accomplished it's all done all that's left is for me to drink the cup so get up men it's time to go and notice where he leads them not to the back alley behind the garden he goes to the front gate of the garden and why does he go there because he knows when he gets there Judas and the band of the soldiers will be there he doesn't run from the father's plan he runs to the father's plan and again he becomes our perfect example of resolve every one of his disciples in just a matter of moments now are going to run away

[44:26] Jesus doesn't run away Jesus runs to what does this show us his resolve his resolve and temptation was not to give in but to obey to submit to make a redemption and atonement for me and you are you not thankful for that resolve that in his greatest temptation he persevered because if he had not persevered you and I would be lost we'd be lost forever in the greatest display of obedience says Kent Hughes that will ever be known Jesus took the full chalice of man's sin and God's wrath looked shuddering deep into its depth and in a still act of his will drank it all every drop of the cup he drank he left nothing behind he resolved in unity with the father on the basis of his own joyful will to drink up every bit of wrath that

[45:44] God had reserved for you and he remained faithful to the death and it's with this same resolve that he calls us to follow him even on the path of suffering to stay faithful to stay prayerful engaged in watching him and mimicking him let me close it this way Hebrews 12 and verse 2 says that it was for the joy that was before him that he endured this temptation and submitted to the father's plan it was for joy that he drank the cup we don't find much joy in this passage but the writer of Hebrews said it was indeed for joy that he did this do you know what the joy is what was the joy that was before him what moved him to do this our redemption our forgiveness our reconciliation our peace our salvation our sin made the cross of

[47:13] Christ necessary his love drove him to endure it with joy for God so loved that he gave that whosoever will be saved you can fill in those gaps he took our place so that we may know his peace he procured our salvation and he offers it freely to all who will believe and follow him and the question is will you repent and believe and follow him Sinclair Ferguson said he has drawn the sting from our darkest hour for he has entered our God forsaken God forsaken!

[48:04] God condition so that we might share his God accepted relationship to the Father and just as a final point of application for those of us who are believers indeed our spirits are willing to follow Christ no matter what we face but don't forget your flesh is weak my flesh is weak the only answer for persevering is to follow the Lord's pattern watch and pray that you enter not into temptation