I invite you to turn with me tonight to Luke chapter 22, Luke 22 as we read and consider together verses 39 through 46 of our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane. Again, this is one of those portions of Scriptures that all three of the Synoptic Gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, all record this episode. And it's kind of interesting if we were to map it out and you take Matthew and then overlap Mark with Matthew and then Luke as well. Mark almost completely, or I should say Matthew almost completely covers the same as Mark does, except for a little bit with regard to the whole Gospel. And then Luke, some of both Matthew and Mark, and then some of its own as well. But again, many of these episodes of our Lord's Passion, they all three cover. Now Luke, compared to Matthew and Mark with regard to this portion, Luke abbreviates somewhat the records of Matthew and Mark. For example, Luke does not mention the eight disciples in a sense that we might say were left probably near the garden gate, and he doesn't specify that the three, Peter, James, and John, went a little bit further with Jesus. As well, Luke does not mention, as the other two as well, Jesus returning each time to the three to find them sleeping. Yet there are a couple of details that I'll mention in the sermon that Luke does record that the other two do not. Yet, though they all emphasize the anguish and the agony of our Lord Jesus Christ, in a sense, Luke more emphatically than Matthew and Mark rivet or focus our attention on the appalling horror to which the Savior was exposed and on the frightful, soul-piercing anguish that He experienced. And that's what we consider together tonight as we consider this portion of the Word of God. Beginning at verse 39 of Luke chapter 22, as we now give our attention to God's holy, inerrant, inspired Word of God. Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives and His disciples followed Him. On reaching the place, He said to them, Pray that you will not fall into temptation. He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done. An angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him. and being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. Why are you sleeping? He asked them. Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. May God add His blessing to the reading and consideration of His Word this evening. Beloved in Christ Jesus, our Lord Jesus had a reason to be troubled, to be in anguish, didn't He? I mean, who wouldn't be? In a matter of hours, Judas and the soldiers would come. He would be arrested even though He was innocent. His disciples would forsake Him. They would all run away for their lives. He would then be put on trial with false witnesses coming to give false testimony against Him. He would be mocked. He would be spit on. He would be severely whipped. he would have that crown of thorns pushed hard down upon his head. In exhaustion, he would carry that cross to which he would be nailed and upon which he would die a cruel death. And he knew it all. He knew it all. No wonder he was in such deep agony and anguish into the Garden of Gethsemane. We too, we can understand that, can't we? Because we too, when we face hardships or difficulties in life, When we know that something bad is going to happen and we're just waiting for it. For example, maybe a punishment that we know is coming. Or we know that we're going to lose our job. Or we know that there is a death of a loved one that is pending. We know it. In those kinds of situations, we too become anxious. We become troubled. We might even become beside ourselves because anticipation of bad things that we know is coming. can be absolute torture. No wonder He was in anguish. But wait a minute. We know that the Bible says He calmly told the soldiers He was the One. He went with them peacefully. He never made a commotion during His trial. He never resisted. He never fought back. He even spoke words of comfort and forgiveness and promise while hanging on the cross. And when it came time to die, He calmly committed His Spirit to His Father's care. You see, all of those experiences that would cause you and me all kinds of anguish and grief if we knew that they were coming, He faced all of those things calmly. And instead, our Lord faced horror and torment beyond compare so that those who believe in Him would never have to. And so that when we do face troubling circumstances of this life, in Him we have hope beyond hope. Because on that night, as we are reminded, Jesus faces the cross with anguish-filled anticipation. And notice, first of all, His posture of anguish, Beginning again at verse 39, Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives and His disciples followed Him. On reaching the place, He said to them, Pray that you will not fall into temptation. Now the place, as Matthew and Mark make clear, is the Garden of Gethsemane. Located in the Mount of Olives. And the Garden of Gethsemane for Jesus was a place of prayer. It says, He went there as usual. As was common. You see, Jesus was indeed a man of prayer in His human nature. Indeed, He is an example of the blessed union with the Father that we have been blessed with at all times, but especially in times of trouble. He went there as usual. But this time for Jesus was different. Adam brought sin into the world in a garden. And now the second Adam suffers anguish-filled anticipation of the weight of that sin in a garden. Sin, not his own. Yes, sin turned his riches to poverty. It turned his peace to turmoil. It turned his glory to shame. And this place where he knew such blessed communion with his Father on so many occasions before, on this night was transformed to a place of intense sorrow and suffering. We are told in this passage as well again, looking at Matthew and Mark, that He knelt another place that He fell down. And then He was up again. Then He was down again. Then He went back to the disciples. Then back again. He was clearly agitated. He prayed more earnestly, our text says. More continuously, fervently. His posture of anguish was a posture of prayer. And how we are reminded, beloved, that there is only one place to turn when we are weak and heavy laid, when we are cumbered with that load of care, and that place is indeed to the Lord in prayer. But that garden, that place of prayer was also a place of danger. Again, the text says He went there as usual, or as it's also translated, as was His custom. Now, we know human instinct, don't we? When we are faced with troubles and dangers or situations that we really don't want to face, human instinct is to run. It's to hide. It's to avoid it at all costs. That's human instinct. But Jesus' intention was not to hide Himself. His intention was not to run. But His intention was to go to the Garden of Gethsemane of which John says in John 18, Now Judas, who betrayed Him, knew the place. Because Jesus had often met there with His disciples. He goes intentionally to the place where He knew that Judas would lead His captors. He did what you and I would absolutely never do. but what a beautiful picture for you and me. A beautiful picture of His voluntary sacrifice, of the shepherd laying down His life for His sheep. As Jesus says in John 10, No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. Here in this place of prayer, also on this night, a place of danger, Jesus faces the cross with anguish-filled anticipation. In the second place, with His cry of anguish. Verse 42, Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me, yet not My will, but Yours be done. He asks for the cup to be removed. But why? Well, very simply because of the content of this cup. It was the content of this cup that caused Him such anguish and agony. But the content of this cup, you see, was not His own physical illness. It was not mourning the death of a friend as He did with Lazarus. It was not the horror and the torture of the crucifixion that He knew He was coming. It was not the thought of His own physical death. That was not the horror of the cup that caused Him anguish. After all, Hebrews 12, verse 2 says of Him, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, Scorning at shame. The horror of that cup that gave him anguish was not even the fierce attack of Satan. No, the potion that he was to drink was the sin of the world. That sin which he hated. That sin laid upon him with its curse, with its penalty counted against him. Coming from none other than the hand of his Father. In the Old Testament, Cup normally pointed to the outpouring of God's wrath. In Psalm 75, verse 8, we read, In the hand of the Lord is a cup full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours it out and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to its very dregs. And in Isaiah chapter 51, the Lord speaks of the cup and He calls it the goblet of my wrath. The Savior's anguish is because He knew that the content of that cup meant that he would be the scapegoat with sins laid on him. And at that moment, as the perfect man, he had a terrible and a full sense of the darkness of sin and the desperateness and the hopelessness of his guilt. And he knew that the content of that cup included the penalty that was due. That he would suffer. And I think that might have been his most terrible thought, that that fellowship that He had enjoyed with His Father, which had no beginning, it always was. That that fellowship would be interrupted. That fellowship would come to an end for a time. No doubt He was horrified of knowing that that cup meant that His Father would not be with Him, but that He would be against Him in His wrath of judgment. His anguish-filled anticipation was much more dreadful than anticipating the separation of body and soul through physical death. But it was facing the judgment of God, the Judge Himself, who would be armed with inconceivable vengeance because of our sin. Not only would the love of the Father be cut off and shut off to the son but the full fury of god's anger against our sin would be turned on and poured out against him in all of its fury all of its torture and torment and no wonder we see the character of christ's anguish through the inspired perspectives of the gospel writers as we put them all together matthew says that he was sorrowful and troubled he was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Mark adds that he was deeply distressed and troubled. Luke says he was in anguish. And all kinds of different Greek words used here. But when we put them all together, we see that his entire being, his mind and heart and emotions and thoughts, his entire being was completely overcome by sorrow and grief and pain and the horror of the knowledge of that cup. He was filled with utter hopelessness, which is hell. It is utter hopelessness. He was filled with utter loneliness and desertion and desolation with absolutely no place to turn for relief. There would be none to be found. If he were to face that cup, there would be no rescue if he had to face that cup. He was so overcome like one who doesn't know what to do with himself. And we might understand that a little bit if you've ever seen someone receive some absolutely terrible news and their knees give way and they fall down from weakness. They just collapse because of weakness. They're overcome with such horror because of whatever the news is. Again, he knelt, he fell, he was up, he was down. And when we face the difficulties of life, we might be able to find a glimmer of hope in the midst of anguish that maybe it's not as bad as it can be or we know it won't last forever or there are those who have suffered something similar and they understand and they are there to encourage us. But Jesus was to suffer divine punishment. Nothing like it. As bad as it could ever be. From which there would be absolutely no relief during which he would be as alone as alone can be. And therefore, too, we can understand the call of Christ's anguish. Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me. If it is your will, if it is your purpose, take this cup from me. Having been made flesh, he allowed his flesh to experience all these horrors that belong to it. And being true man, he trembled at it. And that's why he had to be true God, as the catechism reminds us, to bear the weight of God's anger in His humanity. Yet notice, he always desired the will of his Father. Yet not my will, he says, but thine be done. Selflessly, the Father's purpose, the Father's intention was the Son's. It was our Savior's. He knew that Isaiah 53, verse 10 said, yet it was the Lord's will to crush Him, to cause Him to suffer. He knew, as the Apostle Paul would say years later in 2 Corinthians 5, God made Him who knew no sin to be sin. He knew that it was the Father's will. That was the Father's will. That was the Father's deliberate purpose to do that for you and me. Do you see how much He loves you and me? And therefore, with unqualified submission, without bargaining, without negotiating, Jesus didn't say, but if you can't, well, I guess I'll go forward if... No. With unqualified submission and knowing that the cost of His rescue from that cup would be our eternal loss, Jesus' only desire was your will be done. Nothing but your will. And he would face every last drop in the cock. Yet notice too in the third place his evidence of anguish. Verse 44, And being in anguish he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. Again, only Luke records this portion about the blood, possibly from a physician's perspective. Luke was a doctor, we know. And from what was reported to him, he wasn't there himself, but what was reported to him. And knowing what he knew as a physician. Maybe this comes from a physician's perspective. As one commentator says, severe mental distress and strain drive out sweat from the body. The fact that this may reach the point where the tiny blood vessels of the skin are ruptured and permit blood to mingle with the sweat is attested medically. Even Aristotle speaks of a case where the similar thing happened. It's possible that from what was reported to Luke, that Luke records that the intensity, the struggle of Christ's agony produced such physical reaction that this happened. And we can understand a little bit in part because we do understand sometimes physical illness that comes from distress and anguish. But this is the ultimate, as if Luke was saying, It was that bad. That is the ultimate in anguish upon someone's soul. It doesn't get any worse. But notice in the fourth place, his comfort in anguish. Verse 3, An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. Now Luke only records the angel's visit as well. But notice his comfort in anguish was not His disciples, His best friends. They were sleeping. The text says they were exhausted from sorrow. No doubt they were filled with sorrow because of what they did observe. They didn't see everything we know because they were sleeping, but they observed what we have recorded for us. Christ's comfort did not come from them. They did not yet understand the weightiness of the cross. They did not yet understand the deadliness of sin. They did not yet understand the torment to come upon the Son of God as they would later when all of this made sense and they were able to write it by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit for you and I. They were not His comfort at that time. Yet Jesus loved them. Warning them, as Luke records twice, warning them to pray. He knew the temptation that would come upon them to fall away when He was arrested, when He would be crucified. the temptation to really question, is He really the Christ, the Son of the living God, as Peter had said? He warns them to stand firm. No, but that night His comfort and anguish came from the angel. The angel sent by the Father. The Father did not forsake His Son in this hour. Indeed, later upon the cross, He would for a time. But not in this hour. Instead, the angel is sent by the Father. He sends the angel to strengthen his Son in his humanity even as the angel was sent at the beginning of his ministry when Jesus faced the temptation of the devil in the wilderness and he was there for 40 days and 40 nights and the angel came to strengthen him then. The angel is sent by the Father but not with the comfort that we might ordinarily expect in response to our Lord's prayer. He was not comforted with the words, yes, the cup will be taken away from you. But the angel was the Father's answer that indeed He willed the Son to drink that cup. That was His purpose. The angel was the Father's answer that it was His intent to save His people. That it was not His intent to change His mind. And this was the way it would be done. the angel was sent to strengthen Him in order to enable Jesus in His body and His human nature to go forward and to do its hard part for the glory of God. And the incarnate Son of God, as the end of the text makes it clear and as Matthew and Mark make it clear, the incarnate Son of God was fully prepared with absolute courage. That is utterly beyond our comprehension. He was fully prepared with certainty of victory and triumph to go forward. Fully prepared to face the depth of the judgment of God for sin and its curse. And then too, fully prepared to face the judgment of man. As again, the Bible reminds us that He calmly faced the hatred of men from this point out. Now beloved, what a warning for mankind though. What a warning of the never-ending judgment of God, of the cup of His wrath, which is so terrible that even before experiencing it, the very thought of it caused our perfect Savior to tremble. It caused Him unbelievable and unbearable anguish. And apart from Him, one will face that cup. One can only face the wrath of God. And those who face that wrath will be forever trying to claw their way out of the torment of hell, but they will never be able to do it. Not even a little bit. But Jesus Christ drank that cup. He drank every last drop for those who would believe in Him. For those who forsake themselves and look to the Lord Jesus Christ alone and trust in His saving work to be right with God. He has drank every last bit and therefore now those who believe will never drink of the wrath of God that they deserve, that we deserve. As David says in Psalm 103, He does not treat us as our sins deserve. He does not repay us according to our iniquities. In and through the suffering of Jesus Christ, beloved, we have already undergone the judgment of God. We have already faced that cup and now He nourishes us with the cup of blessing. with the cup of the new covenant in His blood signified and sealed at the Lord's table. Indeed, Satan's temptation is indeed very real, just as it was for the disciples. He would have us look at Christ who died and say, a dead Savior? No way! That's utter foolishness. A dead Savior? There's no proof of victory in Him. But we would answer, we have all the proof that we need in the inspired Word of God which He has given to us by His very own witnesses. And Satan's temptation is very real as well to you and me through the difficulties, the hardships of this life. And we tend to question, why would God allow that? And Satan would have us believe that the hardships and the difficulties of life are proof that, number one, God doesn't care, or number two, that they are proof that we deserve to die eternally to which we can only answer, yes, that's true. That's what we deserve. But yet in confidence, we can answer the devil, Jesus Christ has died for us. And therefore, our difficulties and our troubles and our anguish, He uses to bring us to our knees in dependence upon God. Our beloved, we do face anxiety and heartache and worry and downcast spirits, we face these things for a multitude of reasons. But the anguish that we may face does not even begin to compare to that which Jesus faced. Yet He understands all that we face. He sympathizes with us with every bit of it, as Hebrews 5 says. He faced every single temptation that you or I might face. And yet He was without sin. And because of Him, God comforts us by His Holy Spirit. Not that He will always take away the trouble that we face, but He promises to be with us. He promises to get us through us. And the cross of Jesus is proof of that because Jesus has suffered the most intense and terrible anguish that has ever existed. So that you and I might not have to. And as we do face the troubles of this life, He promises that His grace is sufficient. He promises that even though weeping may endure for the night, joy comes in the morning. He promises, as Paul says in Romans 8, verse 18, that the sufferings that we might face in this life do not even begin to compare with the glory to be revealed in us one day. Dear people of God, Jesus suffered intense, anguish-filled anticipation of God's wrath against sin. He suffered it to its fullest for you and for me. Do you see the matchless love of Jesus? This man of sorrows, hallelujah, what a Savior. Amen. Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, how else can we respond but to say Alleluia for the Savior? We thank You, Lord, that we will not ever have to understand or experience, even in part, the torment that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ suffered at Your hand for us. we thank You for delivering us from that, for sparing us, O Lord, and for giving to us such great joy, joy that is ours even today, a joy inexpressible that we look forward to in the glory of heaven. When Satan and all of his hosts and all that is wicked will be put away forever and ever, never again, to touch us, to affect us, when we too, Father, never again will sin against You but will enjoy You in perfection and in righteousness in all of Your glory. Oh, Father, may we look forward to that day. And may the thought and the anticipation of that day fill us with such great joy. A joy that we cannot hide as we walk through this life. A joy that we might be able to share and might be asked to share with those with whom we have contact. That we might indeed express that joy to all with whom we have contact. We thank You and praise You for that great sacrifice for our salvation. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.