The Agony of Jesus

[0:00] The following message is given by Walt Alexander, lead pastor of Trinity Grace Church in Athens, Tennessee.! For more information about Trinity Grace, please visit us at TrinityGraceAthens.com.

[0:13] Mark chapter 14 verse 26 says, And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them, You will all fall away.

[0:27] 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.

[0:39] Peter said to him, Even though they all fall away, I will not. Jesus said to Peter, Truly I tell you, this very night before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.

[0:54] But he said emphatically, If I must die with you, I will not deny you. And they all said the same.

[1:07] And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And Jesus said to his disciples, Sit here while I pray. And he took with them Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled.

[1:24] He said to them, My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch. Going a little further, he fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.

[1:42] He said, Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.

[1:57] And Jesus came and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, Simon, are you asleep? Can you not watch one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.

[2:13] The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words.

[2:24] And again he came and found them sleeping. For their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer them. And he came the third time and said to them, Are you still sleeping and taking your rest?

[2:41] It is enough. The hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going.

[2:53] See, my betrayer is at hand. And immediately while he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.

[3:08] Now the betrayer had given to them a sign, saying, This one, the one I will kiss, is the man. Seize him and lead him away under guard. And when he came, he went up to him at once and said, Rabbi.

[3:21] Rabbi, and he kissed him. They laid hands on him and seized him. But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear.

[3:35] And Jesus said to them, Have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me.

[3:47] But let the scriptures be fulfilled. And they all left and fled. And a young man followed him with nothing but a linen cloth about his body.

[4:02] And they seized him. And he left the linen cloth and ran away naked. May God bless the hearing and the preaching of his word.

[4:12] The 20th president of the United States, James Garfield, had the second shortest presidential term of any president to date. He was in the office for 199 days.

[4:26] He wasn't impeached or driven out of office. Unfortunately, three months into his presidency, he was shot. But he didn't die of the gunshot wound.

[4:38] He died of sepsis, an infection to your body, or a response to an infection in your body. Before the days of careful sterilization, the physicians trying to save his life actually spread bacteria into his body through their instruments while trying to remove the bullet from inside or behind his abdomen.

[5:01] The result was brutal. Over a period of months, President Garfield battled infection, fever, sores, massive abscesses throughout his body until he finally died on April 4, 1841.

[5:19] But in and through the brutal pain he endured, President Garfield proved to be a man of exemplary character. It's one of the great what-ifs in the history of the United States. What if he'd continued to be a president for a full term?

[5:33] All those around him marveled at his kindness, patience, cheerfulness, and deep gratefulness as he lay on the bed for months dying.

[5:45] One friend commented, Throughout his long illness, I was most forcibly impressed with the manner in which those traits of his character, which were most winning in health, became most intensified in illness.

[6:03] Now that's a striking phrase. I was most forcibly impressed that the characteristics that were most winning, most present, most positive in health were those that were intensified in illness.

[6:17] Well, this morning we come to the beginning of what biblical scholars call the passion of Jesus Christ. That's where Mel Gibson got the name. The hour dawns in these verses.

[6:29] The darkness is at hand. Jesus, the Son of Man, is delivered into the hands of sinners and must suffer. But as this hour arrives and as these events take place and as all the attention in Mark's gospel focuses upon Jesus and his suffering, one of the things most forcibly impressed upon the careful reader is the exemplary character of Jesus Christ that only excels in these moments.

[6:59] With his back against the wall, Jesus doesn't grumble or complain. With the night, the dark night of the enemy falling upon him, Jesus doesn't become grumpy or grouchy like I do with little sleep.

[7:12] But it's not as though Jesus cruises through these days. Not as though he just sails through his suffering because he's God. No, he suffers in a most pointed way because he is man as well.

[7:25] And these verses take us into that agony that presses in on him. Nevertheless, Jesus carefully continues to prepare his disciples for what will happen to him and humbles himself and prepares to finish what he started.

[7:42] So in a word, where we're going is it is necessary for Jesus to suffer, but let none of us who follow and fall away. It is necessary for Jesus to suffer, but let none of us who follow and fall away.

[7:55] We're going to look at this text. I mean, these are a lot of verses. So even as we're reading it through, I'm aware that I can't kind of uncrack every riddle here. But I just want to look at it through three lenses.

[8:07] The will of God, the agony of Jesus, and the weakness and wickedness of men. The will of God, the agony of Jesus, the wickedness and weakness of men. So we're going to break this out and look at it through those lenses.

[8:20] The first is the will of God. That's the first lens we're going to look through. One of the things Mark has carefully emphasized throughout his gospel is the will of God. All that will happen to Jesus is according to the will of God.

[8:33] We saw that last week in God's sovereignty over Judas' betrayal. Even though he was a willing participant in betraying Jesus Christ, God is sovereign over it.

[8:43] And so Mark carefully emphasizes the plan and purpose of God advancing through the passion of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, in a way, in this passage, maybe even more than before.

[8:53] It's around midnight now. We talked about this last week. The Passover dinner would begin at sunset and continue. Four cups of wine, numerous courses throughout the evening.

[9:04] A ceremony. And the city of Jerusalem is now quiet. Maybe perhaps like Christmas Eve, it's quiet as you walk around the neighborhood or whatever.

[9:17] Jesus and his disciples make their way through the quiet streets of Jerusalem. They cross the Kidron Valley and begin making their way up to the Mount of Olives. You see in verse 26, they sung a hymn.

[9:28] Then they went out of the house, the master of the house that gave them the upper room. And they go out to the Mount of Olives. And as they're walking, Jesus begins to tell the disciples that they will all fall away.

[9:41] Quoting Zechariah 13, 7, Jesus tells them again what will happen to him and what will happen to them afterwards. Verse 27, you will all fall away.

[9:51] It's written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter. Now, that's a metaphor. But quite obviously, Jesus is applying that right now to this moment to say that he is the shepherd who will be struck.

[10:05] And the disciples are the sheep who will be scattered. So Jesus tells them again. This is not new. He tells them again what will happen to him. They will strike him. He tells them again what will happen to them, though, that they will all fall away.

[10:20] And in a way that makes us love Peter perhaps more than any of the other disciples, he immediately says, no way! Even though they all fall away, I will not fall away.

[10:33] Now, Peter's not, I think sometimes we read this like Peter's trying to put everybody else down, you know? Like, they all have about as much resolve as, you know, a little three-year-old kid or something like that.

[10:45] But I got it in mass capacity. But I don't think that's what he means. He's not saying, I don't know about the rest of these guys. I got my act together, even though they don't. I think Peter is just trying to express the devotion to God that all of us feel.

[11:00] He said, Lord, no, I would never deny you. You're everything to me. You have the words of life. There's no way I would turn back to fishing for a living. You're my master.

[11:11] You know, before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and led the United States into World War II, there was quite a bit of, I can't remember the word for it.

[11:23] What was it? There was resistance to isolationism. There was a resistance to getting into the war. The prime minister of England had quite a fight on his hand, Winston Churchill, throughout France.

[11:36] And he repeatedly urged the U.S. to join them in the fight in Germany. And the war continued, and England was hanging by a thread. The Nazis were coming across France, and surely would come across the channel into England.

[11:51] And so FDR sent, Franklin Roosevelt sent Ambassador Henry Hopkins to England to learn more about whether it was necessary for the U.S. to join them in the war.

[12:02] Now, Churchill, he thought it was very necessary and very obvious. But this man, Mr. Hopkins, spent several weeks with Churchill. He thought it was very necessary and very important. He thought it was very necessary and very important. He thought it was very necessary and very important.

[12:13] And after spending several weeks there, Mr. Hopkins was summoned back home to report to the United States, report to the cabinet on what is going on. At their final dinner together, Mr. Hopkins stood and turned to face Churchill.

[12:27] Churchill. He said, I suppose you want to know what I'm going to say to President Roosevelt. Now, that was a massive understatement.

[12:39] Churchill was desperate to know and desperate to figure out whether he was going to recommend they join the war. And Mr. Hopkins said, well, I'll quote to you one verse from that book of books, talking about the Bible.

[12:54] Now, everyone, the person gathered said he dropped his voice to a near whisper and recited a passage from the Bible's book of Ruth. Whether thou goest, I will go. And whither thou lodgest, I will lodge.

[13:07] Thy people be my people. And thy God, my God. And he softly added, even to the end. There was a wave of gratitude and relief that seemed to engulf the room.

[13:22] And Churchill bent down and wept. I think that's Peter's expression of devotion. But though I have no doubt the Savior was moved by his expression of devotion, Jesus doesn't weep.

[13:40] Jesus knows the intensity of Peter's devotion will not be enough to keep him in this hour. Jesus continues and tells him specifically when he will fall away.

[13:53] Look in verse 30. He narrows more specifically and says, I'll tell you, this very night before the rooster crows twice, so after you hear it once, you will deny me three times.

[14:08] Still, Peter's, he's not deterred. He said, if I must die with you, I will not deny you. And they all said the same. So all this is very, it should be shocking to read.

[14:20] It's shocking to them. I mean, we learned at last supper, Jesus will be betrayed by Judas. But now we learn that all his disciples will fall away. All will deny him. All will turn from him in his darkest hour.

[14:34] But the most shocking aspect of this prophecy is the details. If you look down again with me in Zechariah 13, 7, he says, and actually I have a quote from Zechariah directly from there.

[14:48] He says, Now this appears to be just another example of where Mark emphasizes that it is necessary for the Son of Man to suffer.

[15:05] It appears to be just another example that it's necessary. It's according to the plan of God for the Son of Man to suffer. It's according to the purpose of God. It's according to the scriptures that God has written.

[15:16] But the will of God in the suffering of Jesus is placed in a more provoking way here. When Jesus quotes Zechariah 13, 7, he emphasizes the subject.

[15:28] I will strike my shepherd and the sheep will scatter. What is going on here is he's announcing to his disciples that God is not just behind the scenes arranging the details.

[15:40] God is not just working these things out. God is the one who will strike the shepherd. God will cause him to suffer. Isaiah 53, 10 says, It is the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer.

[15:57] And so Mark tells us now the time is arriving, not merely for the plan and purpose of God to take place, but for God to crush his Son.

[16:10] So verse 27 says, It is written. Verse 41 says, The hour has come. Verse 49 says, The scriptures will be fulfilled.

[16:22] What's going on is mysteriously, even though Judas betrays Jesus, even though the disciples scatter from Jesus, even though the Jews condemn Jesus, even though the Romans crucified Jesus, beneath them all is the Father striking Jesus to ransom sinners.

[16:41] Octavius Winslow said, Who delivered up Jesus to die? Not Judas for money, not Pilate for fear, not the Jews for envy, but the Father for love.

[16:57] This next point, this next lens, if you will, takes us further into the mystery of this transaction.

[17:09] Point two, the agony of Jesus. the agony of Jesus. I want us to look through this passage through this lens.

[17:22] So as they're making their way up to the Mount of Olives, Jesus turns into an olive orchard, into the garden of Gethsemane.

[17:33] John tells us in 18.2, John 18.2, that it's a familiar place to disciples, a place where Jesus often went to teach them. It's one of Jesus' favorite places to pull away to pray, and that's what he does here.

[17:46] They go to this place, and he says to his disciples, Sit here while I pray. But on this night, Jesus is not merely pulling away to pray. Jesus is driven there by the agony of what he's facing.

[18:00] This passage is littered with descriptions of the agony Jesus is experiencing. Look at verse 33. He says, He began to be greatly distressed and troubled.

[18:13] He began to be emotionally overwhelmed. Those are two words rare to the Gospels. Greatly distressed has been translated to horror struck. Though he does not seem to be overtaken by horror, Jesus is overtaken by what one author says is alarm, dismay.

[18:32] The same word is translated in Mark's Gospel for amazed. So Jesus is amazed, not with joy at something wonderful, but with alarm at something horrible.

[18:45] So the context determines how to interpret this. So Jesus is experiencing in this moment the intense emotional pain you feel when you receive a sudden phone call that someone you love is on the way to the hospital.

[18:56] in the ambulance. Jesus is experiencing the emotional pain of a sudden phone call that someone you love has been in an accident. A sudden alarm. A sudden alarm at something horrible.

[19:12] Jesus is so emotionally overwhelmed. He says, My soul is sorrowful even to death. Disciples have seen the Savior's joy and the Savior's compassion and the Savior's righteous anger.

[19:27] But now Jesus pulls back the veil to see his agony and deep sorrow. Mark continues and describes this agony. Look down there in 35 and 36.

[19:38] Going a little further, he fell to 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.

[19:49] Remove this cup from me, yet not what I will, but what you will. So Jesus, we get this window into this scene in the Garden of Gethsemane.

[20:03] Mark includes more details than any of the other Gospels into this scene. Jesus falls down on the ground. Luke tells us that his sweat was like beads of blood dropping to the ground for the agony he was in.

[20:16] He prays, If it's possible, and I know all things are possible with you, remove this cup from me. Jesus then repeats this prayer three times.

[20:28] If it's possible, remove this cup. Remove this cup from me. Now, it begs the question, what are we to make of this dark scene?

[20:42] Why does Mark devote so much attention to the agony of Jesus? With the hour of his death approaching, are we to conclude that Jesus is suddenly scared of the cross?

[20:56] Are we to conclude that Jesus is suddenly lacking courage? You know, after all, many of the followers of Christ, we've told their stories, have faced death without fear.

[21:07] The first martyr, Stephen, faced it courageously. Remember, he said he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God as they stoned him to death. In the second century, when the church father, Ignatius, was facing execution in Rome, he appealed for everyone gathered to not try to release him.

[21:26] He said, let the fire and the cross, let the companies of wild beasts, let the breaking of bones and the tearing of limbs, let the grinding of the whole body and all the malice of the devil come upon me.

[21:38] Be it so, if only I may gain Christ. And so those stories, we hear so many of those stories. So what are we to make of this lonely figure in the garden? Like, what are we to make of this scene?

[21:54] They were all so joyful, but he is sorrowful. They were all so eager, but he is reluctant. They were all so courageous, but he appears to be fearful.

[22:08] What are we to make of the lonely figure in the garden on this night? And the key to understanding the agony of the garden, why Mark devotes so much attention to it, is the cup. Three times, Jesus says, remove this cup.

[22:23] Remove this cup for me. And so we ask, what is this cup? Is the cup a metaphor for the cross? Surely that's what it means. That's what he's talking about. That's what the disciples, I'm sure, thought he was talking about. Remove this cup as a metaphor.

[22:35] Remove the pain, the suffering, the mental duress of the cross. But the Old Testament tells us the cup is the wrath of God for sin.

[22:48] Throughout the Old Testament, God promises to pour out wrath on those who sin against him, on the wicked and the ungodly. Jesus says the wicked will drink up his wrath.

[23:00] Job says that. Ezekiel prophesies that this cup will be filled with ruin and desolation. The psalmist declares that this cup is the cup of his judgment and wrath.

[23:11] In Revelation, John sees, and in the final judgment, the seven bowls of God's wrath will be poured out like wine from a cup on the earth, on the wickedness of the earth.

[23:23] And so, John Stott says, in that case, the cup from which Jesus shrank is neither the physical pain of being flogged and crucified, nor the mental distress of being despised and rejected even by his own people, but rather the spiritual agony of bearing the sins of the world, in other words, of enduring the divine judgment which those sins deserved.

[23:46] And so, so it helps us. Jesus is not shrinking back from physical pain. It helps us understand that the agony of the cross is not physical pain.

[23:57] For Jesus, he's not shrinking back from mental distress of being despised and rejected, being betrayed by his disciples. He's shrinking back from the spiritual agony of bearing the sins of the world and the divine judgment due for those sins.

[24:12] Now, now none of this, still we would ask, none of this should be a surprise. It's not a surprise to Jesus. Jesus said, he knew why he came in the world. He came to give his life as a ransom for many. Mark 10, 45.

[24:23] Jesus came to the world to bear the sins of the world. So, so why still does Jesus recoil? Why does he appeal for a way out? Because Jesus, even though this is planned and orchestrated by the sovereign God over all, Jesus is a man.

[24:40] Jesus must experience this as a man in his body. So Jesus realizes this cup will leave him completely disoriented and confused like being drunk.

[24:51] Jesus realizes this cup will leave him helpless and alone. Jesus realizes that this cup will mean that for three hours the Father will not look on him with delight, but with disgust for sins he did not commit.

[25:04] Jesus realizes that this cup will leave him condemned and crushed, not in the human courtrooms of the Sanhedrin or of Pilate. Jesus realizes this cup will leave him condemned and crushed under divine judgment of Almighty God.

[25:20] Jesus realizes as he looks into this cup by prayer that this cup will mean the Father will not say to him, this is my son with whom I'm well pleased, but the Father will say to him, you wicked man, you have an appearance of godliness, but you deny its power.

[25:39] You don't love me with all your heart. You don't love your neighbor. You ignore the poor, blaspheme my name, abused children. You cheat. You thief. You ungrateful grumbler.

[25:51] And so no wonder. And then the Father will crush him after all this. That's what Jesus is seeing. So no wonder Jesus pleads. Father, if there's any way to save sinners apart from this, do it now.

[26:07] But Jesus knows there's no other possible way to save sinners. Sin has been committed by man and only man can atone for his sin.

[26:20] But all mankind, no matter how hard they try, cannot make themselves right before God or obtain the obedience he requires. In fact, all humankind, all mankind, are captive to sin, slaves of sin, and unable to set themselves free from sin.

[26:38] Therefore, all people on earth are guilty before God, deserving of his just and furious wrath. The only way for God to be gracious to man is for someone to stand in the gap.

[26:51] We need someone who is like us, tempted in the same ways that we are, yet unlike us, though tempted in those ways, never sinning, sinless in every way.

[27:03] The only man, the only way for man to be made righteous before God and right with God is for someone to stand in the gap before God, to bear our sin and divine judgment for those sins in our place.

[27:17] And the only someone who could do this is Jesus, who fully represents God, being perfect, the fullness of deity in bodily form. Colossians 2 tells us, and yet truly man, born of a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem us under the law.

[27:35] So Jesus humbly submits. Wonderfully, he humbly submits. Look in verse 41. He says, are you still sleeping?

[27:52] It's enough. The hour has come. Really, he just shouts enough. Didn't capture the tense of that. my betrayer is at hand.

[28:08] Point three, the wickedness and weakness of men. The last lens that I think is helpful for seeing here is the wickedness and weakness of men.

[28:26] after Jesus finishes praying, while he's still speaking, Judas arrives to betray him.

[28:43] Verse 43, Jesus came, one of the twelve, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. He'd given to them this sign, verse 45, and when he came, he went up to him at once and said, Rabbi, and he kissed him.

[29:04] Mark is telling us the chief priests, scribes, and the elders are all there. That's the whole ruling party among the Jews, the Sanhedrin. Judas approaches Jesus and gives him a kiss.

[29:19] the most intimate expression of love is used by Judas as a sign for who the crowd must seize.

[29:35] And they seize him three times. Mark makes very clear. Jesus is now handed over to sinners.

[29:49] But it's not just Judas who betrays him. Look in verse 50. It says, And they all left him and fled.

[30:05] If you remember, last week, all drank of the cup on the night of the Passover. All pledged to die with him. Verse 31, Yet as he promised, all fall away.

[30:20] Even this anonymous naked man. Now, Mark is the only person that includes those 51 and 52. A man with a linen cloth that somehow gets pulled off and he runs away.

[30:32] The best plausible answer in case you're wondering is that this is probably Mark. A case of him placing himself in there and incriminating himself as one who left.

[30:44] I think that's the best case. But the fact is, he's anonymous for a reason and we don't know. But the point is, they all leave him. Jesus is right.

[30:56] No one stands by him in his defense. No one stands out. No one throws a flag. So why do the disciples leave?

[31:10] Why do the disciples forsake him? And the best answer is they weren't alert. Three times he tells them watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.

[31:28] Three times after he returns from praying, they're asleep. Now, you've got to remember just days ago was the discourse on the Mount of Olives.

[31:41] It was the big warning and he just said, stay awake, stay awake, stay awake. You know, keep your lamp burning, stay awake. And yet, here we see the disciples, they cannot even keep their eyes open.

[31:51] They're so heavy upon them. They all fall away. Literally, the word is, they stumble. They trip. it's supposed to emphasize how easily they fell from him.

[32:10] So you've got to notice it's not pride or selfish ambition. It's not envy or greed. It's not grasping for power that causes the disciples to fall away.

[32:21] it's sleepiness. And this is, this is where Mark has us in his crosshairs. It's inattention, neglect, distraction that caused the other eleven disciples to fall away.

[32:37] James Edwards says, Jesus warns the disciples to guard against the kind of sinfulness of which most of us are most guilty. Sins of weakness and irresoluteness rather than sins of intention.

[32:54] Jesus warns the disciples to guard against the kind of sinfulness of which most of us are most guilty. Weakness and irresoluteness. Years ago, when I was 20 or so, I grew up in South Carolina, so I've probably driven from South Carolina to Tennessee like a hundred times and driven on I-40 and I was driving back from South Carolina after an all-night party with some friends.

[33:19] This was before I was converted, even though I may do an all-nighter from time to time, but driving back and I was, fell asleep at the wheel and as I was driving and falling asleep, going through the smoky mountains, it was quite a treacherous area to fall asleep, my car veered, drifted over to the concrete median while I was asleep.

[33:50] Mercifully, as soon as I hit the concrete median, I can't remember all the sensations, but just the crashing of my hubcap on the concrete and the feeling of hitting it woke me up.

[34:05] I was able to steer away from the median carefully and thankfully, nothing else happened to me. And having had that experience, when we're on a car trip and it's late at night, I'll do literally anything to stay awake.

[34:24] I'll pound coffee, that's not, I'm going to have to twist my arm to do that, but I'll pound coffee, I'll roll down the windows in winter, eat sunflower seeds, turn up the AC, crank music, slap my face, that's actually my wife's favorite move, but she slaps her face, she doesn't slap mine, but she keeps herself awake and that frightening, the point is, that frightening experience has stayed with me as long as I'm behind the wheel, sleep is not an option.

[34:52] I'm sure you feel the same way, but sadly, sleep is an option at many times when it should not be. Jesus calls us in these verses to watch out, to stay awake, to not fall asleep.

[35:13] And I think what he's saying to guard against the kind of sinfulness we're most guilty of sinning in is Jesus is alerting us that our greatest danger is not diving into sin and temptation.

[35:26] Our greatest danger is not adultery or drunkenness or cheating the IRS or something like that. Our greatest danger is not suddenly turning from the Lord and chasing the desires of our heart.

[35:40] Our greatest danger is drifting. Our greatest danger is like my little Toyota Camry drifting from the lane across the white line into the concrete median.

[35:52] Our greatest danger is becoming okay with little compromises. Our greatest danger is distraction. our greatest danger is being lulled to sleep and drifting away.

[36:05] Sinclair Ferguson says there's nothing so easy as drifting. What do you need to do to slow down and go backwards in the Christian life? Hebrews answer, nothing.

[36:18] Drifting is the easiest thing in the world. It's swimming against the tide that takes the effort. And the Christian life is against the tide the whole way. So we watch.

[36:32] That's the main takeaway here. We watch. Not merely so that we don't fall asleep but so that we stay alert to the enemy. We watch because our enemy is watching us.

[36:48] Like John Owen said, be killing sin or sin will be killing you. So we're trying to stay alert to the enemy of our souls, Satan himself, to the remaining sin in our hearts, to the temptation this world has to offer so that we don't stumble and fall away like the other eleven disciples.

[37:06] So it is necessary for Jesus to suffer but let none of us who follow him fall away. Now, I want you to imagine with me reading this full story or this full picture in AD 64.

[37:23] We know the background of this gospel. Mark wrote it with Peter from Rome in AD 64 right before the suffering of Nero clamped down on the church. Imagine reading this as you began to hear of rumors of arrest and persecution.

[37:39] Imagine reading this knowing that your life would soon be threatened, that your family would soon be killed. what would encourage you from this passage? I think it would be encouraging that here's a Savior who didn't sail through it but who faced it down humbly, tempted in every way, submitting himself to the Lord.

[38:10] That's exactly the way Peter tells us, verse Peter 2. For what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it you endure?

[38:20] What credit is it if you just endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing inside of God. For to this you've been called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his footsteps.

[38:37] So he's giving these guys a window into what this passage is supposed to mean. But even more than that, what would bolster the faith of these disciples is about reading about a Savior who promised he'd rise again.

[38:51] Look at verse 28. All the Gospels include this. He says, I'll strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered but after I'm raised up I'll go before you to Galilee.

[39:05] I'll go back to where we began. I'll go back to where I called you. and he did. And it's precious to them as it should be to us because it reminds us persecution is not the end.

[39:22] Temptation is not the end. Suffering is not the end. Even death is not the end for Jesus will raise up all those who die and the Lord on the last day.

[39:32] So stay awake. Don't be afraid. Father in heaven we cast ourselves onto you. Confess our need for you and hide in you.

[39:45] We offer ourselves to you sincerely and completely. We want to stay awake God and guard against the temptations to fall asleep and to grow comfortable and to drift making shipwreck of our faith.

[40:07] So keep us we pray in the steadfast love of God keep us in your favor. In Christ's name. Amen. You've been listening to a message given by Walt Alexander lead pastor of Trinity Grace Church in Athens, Tennessee.

[40:25] For more information about Trinity Grace please visit us at and to to to to to!

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