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[0:00] If Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass All right.

[0:51] Y'all are so fired up tonight. I love it. That's awesome. I think you just keep singing louder and louder and louder every single week. And I can't tell you how much I appreciate that.

[1:03] It helps when you start with a hoedown, right? So that does kind of boost your energy a little bit. I was visiting my parents in Tennessee, and so I had a little bit of Southern music and figured I'd make you sing Hank Williams.

[1:16] A little gospel. So anyways, if you've got your Bible, turn to Mark 14. Mark 14. Yes, we are continuing in our series called Anxious for Nothing.

[1:28] Anxious for Nothing. That is the series we've been in now for, I believe this is week number eight. And plans are, as of now, that next weekend will be where we wrap this series up.

[1:41] And so I know, I know, there's more we could learn, but we've spent several weeks studying these topics of anxiety and worry and stress and depression.

[1:52] And I trust this has been helpful for you, that has invited you into a conversation. The Bible has invited you in to feel like you're not alone in your struggle with these things.

[2:05] Our theme verse was Philippians 4.6. Do not be anxious about anything. We talked about what Jesus said to His disciples in Luke 12, where He says, I do not want you to be anxious about your life.

[2:19] And so this issue of anxiety and worry is something that the Bible talks a lot about. And one of the things that we've done throughout this series is we've looked at several individuals, men and women, who struggled with anxiety.

[2:35] The Scripture invites us into their story and we're able to see their real struggle with these things. Just even last week as we looked at Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus, and his struggle with fear.

[2:49] Well, I don't think I could conclude this series without looking at the greatest moment of anxiety in all of human history.

[3:01] And that is Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. So if you have your Bibles, please, if you're able to stand, do so as we honor the reading of God's Word. And let's look at Mark 14.

[3:13] We're going to pick up in verse 26. Mark 14 and verse 26. When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives, and Jesus said to them, you will all fall away.

[3:27] For it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee. And Peter said to Him, even though they all fall away, I will not.

[3:42] And Jesus said to him, truly I tell you, this very night before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times. But He said emphatically, if I must die with you, I will not deny you.

[3:55] And they all said the same. And when they came to a place called Gethsemane, He said to the disciples, sit here while I pray. And He took with Him Peter and James and John, and He began to be greatly distressed and troubled.

[4:14] In fact, He said to them, my soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.

[4:28] And going a little farther, He 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 for You. Remove this cup from Me.

[4:43] Yet, not what I will, what You will. And He came and found them sleeping. And He said to Peter, Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour?

[4:55] Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And again, He went and prayed, praying the same words. And again, He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer Him.

[5:10] And He came a third time and said to them, are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Is it enough? The hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

[5:21] Rise, let us be going. The betrayer is at hand. Let's pray. Lord, we do thank You for Your Word. We have been so given the gift of Your grace over these last several weeks to enter into these biblical and real-life stories of men and women that struggled with anxiety, that faced fear and worry, and yet by Your grace, were able to learn how to be anxious for nothing.

[5:52] And tonight, we enter into holy ground. We enter into a moment in Jesus' life, our Savior's life, where He was deeply, deeply troubled, even to death.

[6:11] Give us eyes to see what we can't see on our own. Help us enter into this this evening, that we would find comfort and grace for our souls.

[6:22] In Jesus' name we pray. And God's people said, Amen. Amen. You can be seated. I'd never seen Him that way before.

[6:36] And to be honest, I didn't really know how to handle it. It didn't fit the image that I had of Him all my life. Most of you know, if you've been around me or gotten to know me, you know I had a very, very close relationship growing up with my grandfather.

[6:54] This is actually a picture of little me, little Wes, many Wes, being baptized by my grandfather. I had a very, very close relationship with my grandfather.

[7:05] How many of you, like, growing up had a parent, or maybe it was an aunt or uncle, or a grandparent that you just idolized? Like, they were just larger than life. Yeah, many of you do. Well, that was my grandfather to me.

[7:17] And for good reasons. He was a physically large man, very intimidating to stand next to. He was a very strong man, the kind that would, like, take you to your knees with a handshake.

[7:28] He was always working. Very hardworking man. He served in the war. In fact, was even injured in the war. He was, as many of you know, a pastor for 51 years.

[7:39] I don't know how he made it. 51 years. And when he would preach, he preached with authority and conviction. Like, this was the image that I had of my grandfather all my life growing up.

[7:53] He was larger than life, and there was no one stronger than him. And so you can imagine how difficult it was for me when my grandfather's emphysema became so bad, he couldn't even walk to the mailbox with having to stop and take a breath.

[8:16] You can imagine how difficult it was for me to watch my grandfather lay in a hospital bed, unable to get up as cancer was destroying his body.

[8:28] I couldn't handle it. It was too much for me because it didn't fit at all the image that I'd had of my grandfather all my life. He was a man that was strong, and it was very, very difficult for me to see him be weak.

[8:46] Can you relate to that? Anybody ever have an experience like that in life? Maybe for you it wasn't your grandfather. I know there's some of you dealing with this. You have a parent, and at one point they were so full of life and vibrancy, and now they're fighting Alzheimer's or dementia.

[9:04] A friend that was always full of joy and always in a good mood that now is fighting a deep and dark depression. For some of you, it was a child that was always on the right path, always seemed to be making the right decisions, but now are lost and wayward.

[9:22] For some of you, it was a father that always seemed to have it together, and then one day you saw them broken and weeping with tears. Or maybe it was you.

[9:34] You looked in the mirror, and that person that at one point was able to face anything life brought at them was now anxious and afraid.

[9:46] Be honest with me tonight. That's unsettling. It's a very unsettling emotion to see someone or even see yourself who you perceive to be so strong in a moment of weakness.

[10:03] I say all that because that's the emotion I feel when I read Mark chapter 14. Because in Mark chapter 14, we see a glimpse of our Savior.

[10:16] We see an image of Jesus that we're not used to seeing. Amen? The Gospels present Jesus as a man larger than life.

[10:29] He has the strength to heal the sick. He's got the power to raise the dead. He's got the authority to tell storms to hush. He has a presence that makes demons shudder.

[10:41] He has a teaching that makes the wise stand in awe. That's who we see when we see Jesus in the Gospels. And yet now, the one that has the power to make the lame walk can hardly take a step.

[10:59] The very one who can raise the dead can hardly get up off the ground. This evening, we enter into one of the most intense moments of anxiety and stress and agony that there is in all of the Scripture.

[11:18] And I would argue that there is in all of history. This is the pinnacle of anxiety and agony as we enter into the Garden of Gethsemane.

[11:32] And I'll be honest with you, because that's the case, I feel very inadequate to teach this. And in fact, Spurgeon, my friend Charles Spurgeon, who I can't wait to spend eternity with him, Jesus more, but Spurgeon too, alright?

[11:46] Spurgeon said, it is far beyond a preacher's capacity to set Christ's suffering forth for you. Jesus must give you access to the wonders of Gethsemane.

[11:58] As for me, I can but invite you to enter the Garden. Close quote. Spurgeon is saying, I don't have the ability to make Gethsemane come alive for you.

[12:11] Only Jesus can do that. But I can invite you in with me as we enter into the Garden to find the world's strongest man in his greatest moment of weakness.

[12:24] Verse 32 says this, And they went to a place called, say it, Gethsemane. We're going to stop right there because there is so much packed in that one word.

[12:38] Let me set the context of what's going on here. Jesus has just finished sharing the Passover meal with His disciples. There in the upper room, Jesus does something that is absolutely shocking.

[12:51] I think we forget how shocking it is because we're so used to partaking of the Lord's Supper. We do that every week here at Faith Family. And so we get used to it and we forget that what Jesus did in that upper room was mind-boggling.

[13:06] What He does is He takes this Passover meal rich with history, that which the Jewish people have celebrated for hundreds of years of God's rescue of them from Egypt, and He takes all of that history and all of that tradition and all of that theology and says, it's fulfilled in Me.

[13:29] All of that was getting you ready for this. This moment in human history was foreshadowed through the Exodus.

[13:42] The greater Passover is here and this bread that symbolizes God's provision of you with manna in the wilderness is My body. This wine that symbolizes the blood of the Lamb that you put on the doorpost, this is My blood.

[14:00] All of this was getting you ready for My death. And Jesus brings all of that to a point. And then right after doing that mind-boggling, shocking, history-making statement, He takes them out to the Mount of Olives.

[14:18] There in the Mount of Olives is a place called Gethsemane. Gethsemane, as many of you will know, means the press of oils.

[14:30] And it is jam-packed. It is pun intended dripping with meaning. In fact, I want you to understand the significance and the background of what happens in Gethsemane so that you'll understand what's happening in Mark 14.

[14:46] In biblical times, people would remove the olives by shaking them off the tree and they'd fall on the ground and they would collect them up and they would place them in a basket.

[14:58] Now, because the olives were very hard, they would then take the olives in a basin and they would use a millstone to watch this, to crush the olives up, to smash them down.

[15:10] Now, then they would take these crushed olives and place them in a basket. And then they would take these baskets once they had collected them and they would stack them one on top of another.

[15:23] Then they would place those baskets under an olive press and then they would squeeze and squeeze and squeeze until all the oil would begin to run out.

[15:35] Do you have that imagery in your mind? And they would do that, listen, three times. Why three times? One, oil for the temple.

[15:47] Two, oil for food and medicine. Three, oil to put in their lamps. How many times does Jesus pray in the Garden of Gethsemane?

[16:00] Three times. Three times. Listen. Jesus is the olive that is about to be pressed. That's what you need to understand.

[16:13] Jesus is the ultimate olive that is about to be crushed. It is about to be pressed down. That's why I'm saying, by the way, can I just tell you, Jesus never does anything on accident.

[16:25] Amen? Like, we're going to go pray. Guess where we're going to go pray? A place rich with meaning. So that the very background of what's happening here is getting you ready for this significant event.

[16:40] And so it's dripping with imagery. So what you need to see here is, one, Jesus has taken the Passover and He's preparing the disciples for His death. Second, He takes them to pray in a place that's very meaning is one of pressure and grinding and crushing.

[16:57] And then the text tells us something very important. Something we're not used to seeing in our Savior. Look at verse 32 again. They went to a place called Gethsemane.

[17:12] And He said to His disciples, sit here while I pray. And He took with Him Peter and James and John, and note this, became greatly distressed and what?

[17:27] Troubled. Greatly distressed and troubled. Now, Luke even gives us a little more detail. Notice here on the screen, this is Luke 22, 41. And it says, He withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed.

[17:45] In other words, here's what the text is telling us here. Whatever Jesus is about to face, we don't fully understand it yet. We know it's serious because He's been getting us ready for His death, and He has specifically gone to a place that has with its very meaning one of pressing and crushing, and whatever He's having to go through, He's got to go through alone.

[18:11] There's something unique here in the life of our Savior that He's going to have to face that the disciples simply cannot and will not understand.

[18:25] And I wonder this evening if any of you have ever been through something, clearly not to this level, but you have been through something that no matter how you tried to explain it, other people simply couldn't understand it.

[18:40] Be honest. There was something that was stressing you, that you were anxious about, that you were hurting over, that you were depressed from, and you did the best you could to use an analogy or to give an illustration or to take some time to talk it through, but you just couldn't explain it.

[19:01] There just wasn't any way that anybody else could relate. The disciples simply are not able to comprehend the magnitude of this moment.

[19:12] It's why they're sleeping. They don't understand all that's going on here. So let me put all this together. Jesus is preparing them for His death by pointing the Passover to Himself.

[19:25] He goes to a place that's very meaning as one of pressure and agony, and then He separates Himself from the disciples. This is serious. This is a big deal.

[19:38] There's something very important going on here. Pick it up now in verse 33. Verse 33. He took with Him Peter and James and John and began to be greatly distressed and troubled.

[19:53] And He said to them, My soul is... Picture your Savior like this. My soul is very sorrowful, and here's how sorrowful.

[20:07] Even to death. Remain here and watch. And going a little farther, He fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him.

[20:26] I don't think I have to tell you the enormous anguish and anxiety that your Savior, that our Savior is in in this moment.

[20:38] Jesus can hardly walk. He falls to the ground. He says, Do you want to know how distressed I am?

[20:49] It's to the point of death. Like... Have you ever thought of this? Jesus almost died before the cross.

[21:02] Praise God He didn't. The Father will protect Him to make sure that the Father's plan is accomplished. I'm just saying that to say, Have you ever thought about it that way? That Jesus is in such anxiety and such agony and such stress, He almost dies before the cross.

[21:21] He's that weighed down. That burdened. In fact, notice this on the screen. This is the highest moment of anxiety in the history of humanity.

[21:33] You think you've gone through times of anxiety? Brother, sister, I don't mean to minimize what you're going through. I would never minimize what you're going through, but let me just tell you, ain't nobody been through this.

[21:45] This is the pinnacle of anxiety and stress that has ever taken place in humanity. The text tells us that He is greatly distressed. The Greek there means a shock of terror.

[21:58] The text says He is sorrowful. That means afflicted beyond measure. The text says that He's troubled. That is, there's this internal conflict that's going on within Him.

[22:10] And you know, because I know this is not the first time you've ever studied this moment in the life of Christ, but remember what Luke tells us happens here as well? Look at Luke 22, verse 43. And there appeared to Him an angel from heaven strengthening Him and being in agony.

[22:29] He prayed more earnestly to the point of what? You know this. His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

[22:47] Does that sound like your Savior? Does that sound like the man that could make the lame walk, that could raise the dead, that could say, peace be still, that literally just a few moments ago was celebrating the Passover?

[23:03] And now He is overcome with sorrow and agony to the point that just like there's sweat coming from my forehead right now, there is blood beginning to come down His brow.

[23:19] This is our Savior in great anxiety and stress, which would raise the question, what is He so anxious about? What is going on here that would make our Savior respond this way?

[23:36] And the answer is, and I've referenced it before, but maybe some of you have never fully studied this passage, and you might conclude the wrong thing.

[23:47] You might conclude the wrong thing. Look at verse 36 again, and let's look at specifically what is on Jesus' mind. And He said, Abba, Father, all things are possible for You.

[24:01] Now say this with me. Remove this cup from Me, yet not what I will, but what You will.

[24:12] So, Jesus specifically requests what to be removed? The cup. That is, Jesus is not in agony because He's afraid to die or face crucifixion.

[24:23] He's already talked about His death in the upper room. Notice this here on the screen. This is really important. Jesus is not anxious about the cross. Jesus is anxious about the cup.

[24:37] He's anxious about the cup. He wants the cup to be removed, not the cross to be removed. He's not saying, is there a way out of death?

[24:47] He's saying, do I have to drink the cup? So what's the cup? Our Old Testament would help inform us in one reference to the New Testament.

[25:01] Look at Isaiah 51, verse 17. Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord, say this with me, the cup of His wrath.

[25:18] Jeremiah 25, 15. Jeremiah 25, 15. Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me, take from my hand this cup of the wine of what?

[25:30] Wrath. And make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. Now one from Revelation 14, verse 10. He will drink the wine of what?

[25:42] God's wrath poured full strength into the cup of His anger. In other words, the cup is the wrath of God.

[25:57] Listen. In this moment, in the moment of the garden, Jesus begins to realize what's about to happen.

[26:08] He's already known it to be the case, but have you ever, as you've gotten closer to something, and the reality of the moment hits you? And it's real?

[26:20] And what hits Jesus in this moment is that in just a few short hours, it's not that He's just going to face death. That's awful. It's not that He's going to be physically beaten how anybody could bear that.

[26:33] It's not that He's just going to be betrayed by His very own disciples. It's that He will be made to drink the all-consuming wrath of His Father. The Bible puts it this way, that He, God, made Him, God's Son, to be sin.

[26:52] He made Him who knew no sin to be sin. That is, Jesus becomes sin for us, for us, thereby making Him the target of God's righteous vindication.

[27:08] Romans 3 said that God put Christ forth as a propitiation, that is, a sacrifice for our sins to demonstrate that He is just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Christ.

[27:22] and the very idea that Christ would drink that cup almost kills Him in the garden. The anxiety and stress of that moment, the moment of thinking about the fact that He will have to drink the cup of the Father's wrath, in fact, were it not for the Father sending an angel to strengthen the Son, He dies there on the ground.

[27:52] That is the agony of Gethsemane. Keep in mind, this is the Father that the Son has been in perfect union with for all of eternity.

[28:03] And Jesus is asking this, notice it on the screen, Father, is there a way to accomplish the cross without the cup? Let me be clear, and I think I'm on biblical grounds to say this, I don't think Jesus is asking out of the cross.

[28:21] I think He's asking out of the cup. But not my will. Your will.

[28:34] What I'm asking you to do, Faith family, worship, worship, worship tonight. Feel the agony of your Savior.

[28:45] Savior. Feel the anxiety of this moment. Here's what I want you to picture. I want you to picture the olive that is your Savior being crushed to the point that He bleeds out of His pores.

[29:04] Think of your Savior being crushed like an olive because He's in such agony for what He's about to face. And as I said a moment ago, let me be clear, listen, no one in this room, none of us has ever faced this level of anxiety.

[29:21] Can I just get an amen? No one, don't ever come up to me and say, oh, I've gone through something worse than Mark 14. Listen, Jesus went through Mark 14, so you won't have to go through Mark 14.

[29:33] Right? So the whole good news of the Gospels, you don't have to go through this anxiety. Jesus went through it for you. None of us will ever face this level of anxiety, period.

[29:46] Because no one has ever been in a situation like this. So please, please, please, I preface this by saying do not think for a moment that I am suggesting that our struggles are anywhere to the level of Mark 14.

[29:59] But that said, what I want to ask you is this, can you relate to facing a situation that brought you so much anxiety that it brought you to your knees? That is, that you felt like this.

[30:11] You felt like the olive that was being crushed under the weight of your situation. And you were agonized to your very core. Okay?

[30:22] So it wasn't what Jesus went through. It's not on that level. But it was still very significant for you. Very agonizing. Very paralyzing for you.

[30:33] And the question we would ask is, how did Jesus find His way through the intensity of this anxiety? How did Jesus find His way through the intensity of this anxiety?

[30:45] Because I think that gives us the answer for how we in our moment of great agony can be anxious for nothing. Verse 36. And He said, Abba, Father, all things are possible for you.

[31:00] You remove this cup. And here it is. Yet not what I will but what you will.

[31:14] Here's what I believe. I believe Jesus knew the only way through this situation of great agony and anxiety was surrendering His life to the Father's will.

[31:32] The only way, I wouldn't say the only way out of it, the only way through it to get to the other side of this anxiety is to say this isn't about me. This is about Your will and I submit to Your plan.

[31:53] And faith family, this is not some kind of empty rhetoric or some kind of Christian cliche that you just stick at the end of your prayers. you know, well, if it's the Lord's will, brother.

[32:05] Listen, listen, listen. Our Savior is really hurting. The taste of the cup is already forming on the inside of His mouth.

[32:20] And He is terrified and He is weak and yet surrenders to His Father's way, to His Father's will.

[32:35] And we often forget this because again, and I did a whole book on this because I think we forget about the humanity of Jesus. We focus so much on the divinity of Jesus that we forget that when it comes to this moment, Jesus as a human being, listen, because last time I checked, everybody here is a human being.

[32:58] We're humans, Jesus is fully human, and Jesus has to learn obedience. That's what the book of Hebrews says.

[33:08] I didn't make that up. Jesus as the ultimate human has to learn obedience in all things so that He can be the obedient life that becomes our righteousness.

[33:20] You see? Here's how the writer of Hebrews puts it. This is Hebrews chapter 5, verse 7. In the days of His flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears.

[33:33] Anybody relate to that? Anybody prayed or come to God with loud cries and tears? Your Savior knows what that's like. To Him who was able to save Him from death.

[33:45] And He was heard because of His reverence although He was a son. And He learned obedience through what He suffered. Don't you see?

[33:56] Jesus, fully human, learns the way through His greatest moment of agony and anxiety. What did He learn?

[34:07] Surrender. Submission to the Father's plan. Not my will but yours. And I think that scene more clearly when you contrast Jesus' response to the Father to the disciples.

[34:26] The disciples think they're strong enough they don't need to pray. It's why they're asleep. Somebody just say preach preacher. There's a sermon here. Jesus has to come back multiple times and say what is with you people?

[34:41] You just sleep instead of pray. Don't you understand the way to strength is weakness. Are you getting what I'm saying?

[34:54] The way to strength is not you know what I got this all together I think I'll take a nap. The way to strength is the submission of not my will but yours.

[35:06] It is prayer in the garden with loud cries and tears. That's what the Son is doing. He is learning obedience by being submissive to the Father.

[35:19] What is the lesson for us? It's this. The position of strength in our anxiety is one of surrender. If you want to know what the position of strength in a moment of anxiety and agony looks like it looks like that.

[35:37] It's not a more organized calendar. And it's not more money or anything else. that's what strength looks like in anxiety.

[35:51] Jesus submitting to the Father is what gets him through the garden. What would I say to this by way of application to us?

[36:05] Just a few things and then I'll finish. First, what I want to say by way of application is this. I want to emphasize his ministry to us in our anxiety.

[36:16] This is so good. This is one of the reasons why I love the gospel. It's why I love Jesus and it's why I would put the gospel up against any, any, any, any religion or worldview anywhere in the history of humanity.

[36:34] And here's why. Here's why I would do that. Because, and I think Gethsemane shows us this, is that we truly have a Savior who sympathizes with our weakness.

[36:46] People will ask me this. I've been asked this question so many times. With God's a loving God, why is there so much suffering in the world? You heard that one? Well, listen, here's my response.

[36:57] I can't explain all the suffering in the world. Here's what I do know. God is the only one, the only God, who's actually entered into our suffering.

[37:08] So while I can't answer the reason for suffering, I can tell you who entered into our suffering and therefore provides a way through it.

[37:23] And I mean that. So when you say, there's just so many things in life causing me anxiety and stress and worry and why would a loving God allow life to be that way and I don't understand?

[37:37] Well, Jesus knows exactly what that's like because he entered into it. And so maybe I can't explain all the reason for it, but I can give you hope in it.

[37:50] And his name is Jesus. God in the person of Jesus Christ is entering into our anxiety and agony. We talk about going to the cross. I say that frequently like go to the cross, go to the cross, go to the cross.

[38:04] Maybe we should also add to that frequently, go to the garden. Go to the garden. Yes, go to the cross. Yes, go to the empty tomb. Yes, go to the fully obedient life of Jesus.

[38:15] Yes, go to the manger. Yes, all those things in the life of Jesus. But maybe we would do well to include in that list, often saying, go to the garden. Go to the garden and see your Savior in his greatest moment of anxiety and agony, submitting and surrendering to his Father's will.

[38:39] Here's the second application I would make of this. And that is the role of surrender in our time of stress. The role of surrender in our time of stress.

[38:51] How was Jesus anxious for nothing? Well, I would say this way, notice it on the screen, Jesus didn't remain stuck in his anxiety because he was surrendered to the Father.

[39:06] He didn't remain stuck in his anxiety because he was surrendered to the Father. In other words, Jesus models for us the very thing that I shouldn't say I've been teaching because I've hopefully just been teaching the Bible.

[39:24] So the better way of saying it is he's modeling for us what the Bible frequently teaches us, which is this, anxiety is the warning light telling you to stop and spend time with God.

[39:38] Like, do you need any more proof that this is how you should respond in anxiety than watching your Savior respond the same way? When Jesus felt the agony, when the taste of the cup started forming on the inside of his mouth and he knew this time had now come, what was his response in that moment of agony and anxiety?

[40:00] I'm going to be alone with dad. I'm going to spend time with dad. I'm going to submit myself to my father.

[40:15] I'm going to remind myself it's not my will, it's his will. Don't you see? Jesus is doing for us the very thing Paul says in Philippians 4, which is how we started this series.

[40:29] Look at it. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by what? Prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, presenting your request to God.

[40:43] What will happen? The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and minds in Christ Jesus. That is exactly what you see in Gethsemane.

[40:55] Amen? Jesus feels the agony and anxiety of the cup, and what does he do? He prays to the father and makes his request known.

[41:08] What's the request? Can we do the cross without the cup? But not my will. Yours. grace. And the peace of his father gets him to the cross and to the empty grave.

[41:26] I hope you entered tonight the garden. I hope you have beheld and worshipped your savior.

[41:38] I hope you have seen him in his real, real, this is not fake, this isn't Jesus putting on a show, this is real agony, real suffering to the point of sweating blood.

[41:53] And today if you find yourself in a place of weakness, weakness, in a moment of anxiety, if you're conflicted over something that you're facing, here is my call to you.

[42:05] Are you listening? Go to the garden. Go to the garden. Enter into the garden and see your savior facing the greatest moment of anxiety in the history of humanity.

[42:18] Why? So that you could forever know the peace of God. find your strength in a man who unlike my grandfather actually was and is larger than life.

[42:35] He's a man who faced the very cup of God's wrath for our sin and he drank every drop.

[42:46] and our strength will be found in his weakness of Gethsemane and by him we will be made strong.

[43:00] Let's pray. Let's pray. Lord, I certainly feel the words of Spurgeon that I am inadequate to do this. No preacher could possibly give access to the garden.

[43:13] It's not my right. But God, I trust that you have allowed us tonight to enter into the greatest moment of anxiety in human history that we have seen our savior in his suffering.

[43:27] And we have seen his submission to the father's will. And I pray, I don't, I don't know all the ways that applies to everybody in this room, but I know Holy Spirit you do.

[43:46] And I'm trusting Holy Spirit of God that you are speaking to hearts and lives right now in what the garden means for us and whatever it is we're going through.

[44:00] Thank you by your grace of letting us enter into the garden tonight and to see our savior, to see his surrender, to see his obedience, and to see the fact that he didn't die there, but you gave him the strength to carry on.

[44:22] And we trust you will do the same for us as well. Now help us as we enter into a time of remembrance where yes, we're going to think about the cross, but let's also, Lord, help us think about the cup that Jesus is struggling with in the garden that he would drink on the cross.

[44:50] So let our worship not stop. Help us to continue to enter in these moments together in Jesus' name. Amen.

[45:00]  Amen. Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass