I invite you to turn this morning in your Bibles to Mark chapter 14, Mark chapter 14. If you're a visitor, we've been working through this book. At night we're going through Revelation. At some point I will probably, I tend to move Revelation to the morning. But we are in such a rich section here of Mark in our study of this book that this morning we're going to consider Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. We'll begin at Mark chapter 14 at verse 27 and read through 50. Beginning at verse 27, Matthew, Mark, this is the word of the Lord. And Jesus said to them, you will all fall away, for it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. But after I'm raised up, I will go before you to Galilee. Peter said to him, even though they all fall away, I will not. 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. And they all said the same. And 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. And he said to them, My soul is very sorrowful 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. 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. And he came and found them sleeping. And he 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, 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 answer him. And he came a third time and said to them, are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is 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. And immediately while he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs, and from the chief priests the scribes and the elders. Now the betrayer had given them a sign saying, 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, and he kissed him. And 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. 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. But let the Scriptures be fulfilled, and they all left him and fled. May the Lord bless the hearing of His Word. One of the things that I have realized for those people who are strong and have done well in life and who are generally good and moral people, who have achieved a lot, overall have maintained a good, upstanding life, the hardest thing for people like this to grasp and accept is the concept of grace. It really is an offense to people who are strong because what you're essentially doing is taking everything away from them, aren't you? It's not any surprise that we all are born from conception on, it shouldn't be, at least biblically speaking, as little Pharisees. That's what we are. we're all pharisees by nature who believe that by our hard work and our good effort i mean we're told this from the beginning work hard and you'll achieve great things in life we're all told this that we will do well in life and that's true generally in the economy of this life but when it comes to the things of the kingdom of god everything is different grace becomes a threat to people like this because now it makes you dependent. We all know that from the earliest of days, we're dependent on our parents and the goal, at least parents too, is to get children out of that situation, isn't it? Dependence. And children are constantly trying to fight to be self-sufficient. Pharisees are despisers of grace. It's a great definition of a Pharisee. despisers of grace but when we understand that grace is is intended to take everything from us to give us everything in Jesus well that changes everything this morning we're going to learn how dependent we are that's the goal of this all of us and you'll see this this morning the disciples here with all of their human power what we have is the disciples trying to stand on their own two feet even to the point of fighting jesus on this and we're going to see in this particular passage that it's ultimately only him that can endure what has to be done to save us that that's that's the message of Christianity. That's the message of the cross. Jesus has to face what he has to face alone. And now he's making a break. You're going to see a break now with his own. And you'll notice that the very last verse there, verse 50, and they all fled, left him and fled. That break had to happen. That's a crucial break in the narrative. Jesus is now to fulfill what the scriptures said he had to do alone nobody else could and it's powerful because interwoven into this narrative is the desire of the disciples the struggle of the disciples doing all they can to try to hold on to jesus doing all they can to try to hold on to their own lives actually trying to what we'll see in the end of this prevent the cross it's remarkable isn't it a passage that shows how weak we all really are and how ignorant at times even in our understandings that the disciples themselves would actually try to prevent their own salvation what we should see here in this passage is jesus relentless pursuit to fulfill the scriptures to die for you nothing's going to stop that that's how great his love is it's going to die for you when you were ignorant when you were blinded when you didn't even ask for it when you fought against it this is what he came to do oh the love by which we are called children of god says john the love of the father i want to uh pick up where we were and uh set the stage a little bit again for you so we understand what's exactly happening here jesus has just instituted the lord's supper we we had the the blessing and privilege to celebrate that last week and it came uh in the midst of something absolutely distressing didn't it it was time now it was time now for jesus to go and die it was time for him to be betrayed the hour uh the divine calendar had been set jesus has been following this divine calendar never missed an appointment yet the scriptures now had to be fulfilled just in the time of the calendar in the midst of of giving them the bread and the wine he looks at them and he says one of you is going to betray me and that led to a great moment of absolute panic remember they all started going around the table panicked is it i i'm not the one am i lord and jesus comforted them and helped them by giving him them the supper the supper was given in the midst of betrayal to strengthen them to hold them to keep them to give the message of i'm gonna hold you you're not gonna hold me that's the supper hard for us to understand that but that's the message of the supper that's why we need it he wanted them to be able uh wanted them to understand that they identify with him in what he is going to do so he hands them the body and the blood spiritually by faith so now uh they come and they leave uh singing a great song they leave the the mount of olives and jesus now begins uh as he knows the hour has come as he knows the moment of betrayal is is here he looks at them and he makes a painful prediction verse 27 and jesus said to them you will all fall away as it is written i will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered but after i'm raised up i'll go before you into galilee now this is this is nothing new jesus had been uh saying the entire time he was going to do this we know there were four predictions i believe the disciples have never really accepted this the disciples have never really wanted to listen to this. At one point, Peter rebuked him and said, far be it from you that you're going to go do this thing. You're not going to this. Jesus, of course, gave the warning. Remember what he said, get behind me, Satan. You're not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men. But at another point in Mark's gospel in chapter 10, you'll remember that Jesus asked a very important question. Jesus asked a very important question when he said this, are you able to drink the cup that I drink? Remember what they said? Yup. Yeah, we can. Really. Are you able to drink the cup? You know what that meant, right? The cup was symbolic of the wrath of God. Jesus is going to drink the wrath of God for them. And they're saying we can take it. We can do it. They didn't know what they're talking about. Why is he going through all this if they can do it themselves? Right? Why put him through this if they can do it? It's really remarkable. You ask people the all-important question, how are you going to stand before a holy God, a God who can't tolerate sin, a God who hates sin, a God who's perfectly just, perfectly righteous. And it's really remarkable that people are pretty comfortable with that question, looking at their own lives. The strong people, not the weak people, but the strong people, the people who've done well, the people who are successful, the people who've built a good name for themselves. They look at it and they say, well, you know, the good that I've done outweighs the bad. Why would God generally condemn a person who's contributed so much to society and done so many good things and stuck with Jesus. This is Peter. He hears Jesus saying, it's time. And Jesus gives this painful proposition and prediction that he is going to deny. He's going to fall away, actually. And Peter responds, doesn't he? Peter said to them, to him, notice the language here. even though they all fall away even though these other guys the other disciples fall away i will not it's really remarkable isn't it jesus says really well i i'm going to tell you right now that this very night before the rooster crows twice you're going to do it three times three times you're going to deny me i will not three times you'll notice at the end of that that peter says emphatically if we must die with you even if i will not deny you and they all said the same no not going to happen it's really a remarkable moment um when you think about it there's ignorance in the statement there's ignorance in the claim there's pride but here's what i want you to think about for a minute this morning judas is now gone judas has gone out to betray it's treachery betrayal is treachery he has no regard for for jesus doesn't care about jesus has been the whole time stealing off the top of the money purse judas was a thief he had long walked a certain path of unbelief and rejection. But Jesus now offsets the disciples from that behavior. He's been doing this. And He calls it not betrayal, but denial. What's different about denial? Well, you know that denial is often the refusal of something that you desire. That I actually can turn from something that I deep down desire. It's a remarkable moment because we learn a lot about us here. This is what really struck me this week, studying this, thinking about this. There is in these men sincere love for Jesus. And I mean that. It's sincere. And we look at what they've gone through. We look at what they've done so far. They have made a great commitment, haven't they, to Christ. They have followed Him through it all. have they've listened to him they haven't always processed what he's saying but they have they've sat under his teaching they followed him they've done and jesus now says you are going to deny me and they say no way how could i do that you know we we always say this uh and you know this that um people will come and i've heard and i've said it uh if we were ever to face death for our commitment to jesus you know you read about fox's book of martyrs and these people who are burned at the stake and they're bound up we almost universally say when we when we read about these stories you know i hope that i would have what it takes to make it through that don't we say that well I can say emphatically you don't you don't unless it's appointed for you to die that way to the glory of God you'll deny him unless it's appointed for you to die that way for the glory of God you'll deny him now amazingly it would be appointed for Peter to die this way as a martyr but do you see what's being shown to you here as i reflected upon this and thought about this i i have no better way to explain the dilemma of this passage than with the common experience that you all know about the christian life which is perplexing and it is absolutely stumbling at points for you so to the point of wanting to give up the the the very struggle that's described in Romans 7 for what I will to do I don't practice but what I hate that I do for the will is present with me but how to perform what is good I do not find for the good that I will to do I do not do but the evil I will not do that I keep finding myself doing. That I practice. For in the inward man I delight in the law of God but I see another law in my body and my members warring against the law of my mind bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. So deep within our hearts is this struggle and desire, and you know it, to lead this really blameless life. Deep within our hearts is this desire in the inward man to please the Lord, to love the Lord. This is a change. This is somebody regenerated. This is somebody who's had a heart change. And you know the sensitivity now that goes on. You know the struggle that now goes on. Here's what I'm constantly facing in life, say the apostles. A warfare between a desire to love the Lord with all my heart and an inability that I often find to do it. I'm constantly fighting. I'm constantly finding myself doing the things to which I now hate. And it's inward turmoil. Let me tell you, it's a battle. I didn't know Christianity would be like this. No one told me when I signed on the dotted line. No one told me when I walked the aisle. It feels at times like I'm two persons. It's as if my heart is being pulled two ways. At the moment I've done well and think I'm doing well, I'm shocked at the wickedness that can follow. It's like a broken record. Lord, will you forgive me again? Again? Notice the desire. Now see it here. i will follow you wherever you go desire jesus says this night all of you will stumble you're going to fall away and then deny peter three times even if all are made to stumble i will not desire it's committed and yet in a few hours the man will be warming himself with the very men who would punch Jesus in the face the soldiers who would ridicule him and mock him he will stand there and warm himself with them and when they say wait a minute weren't you walking with him no cursing as he does it cuss words peter will go away bawling bawling i mean you know the struggle the wretched man that i am i'm unworthy of you i did the very things i said so boldly i would not do jesus at the end of john restores him and says peter do you love me and he can't even use the same word you agape me he can't do it he chooses a different word for love he knows he loves him but he can't use the same love that jesus is asking john newton once said i was ashamed of myself when i came to christ i was more ashamed after isn't that a struggle isn't it it makes you want to give up makes you want to quit and as i reflected on this uh this week the first thing i thought was here's peter this rock this rock and i i drew the conclusion that no matter how much you desire to love jesus and be loyal to him you don't have the power you until you learn that you're in for a roller coaster of disappointment in this christian life a roller coaster of disappointment now if jesus is god which we believe jesus is truly god and truly man you have a display of the reality it's not you're holding on to him that makes the relationship work it's not you're holding it's in fact jesus's holding on to you that makes the relationship work and the minute you think you stand in yourself you fall that's a testimony of the scriptures jesus is holding on to one thing in this passage and what is it the will of god the scriptures i have to fulfill the scriptures for you i have to fulfill and do this have you noticed how much emphasis is given in this passage on the scriptures being fulfilled Judas is doing it as the Scriptures prophesied. Now he's going to be struck and the sheep will be scattered as the Scriptures prophesied and they now need to be fulfilled. And Jesus is saying, I have to remain in absolute perfect obedience to that will. What I desire and what I will to do, Jesus is showing you, He does. That's the beauty of this. You don't do what you will, but He does perfectly the will of God for you. It's such a moving passage, and you see it now all the more gloriously. Jesus now is ready to go alone. The dilemma is further shown to us by a scene now having to do with prayer and watching. Jesus takes His disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane. He makes them sit down, and He takes James and Peter and John farther with Him, heading to a solitary place that he might go to be alone and to pray. And as he's going into the garden, all of the sudden, we have what is described for us in the Scriptures and what we call commonly known as the beginning of the passion of the Christ. What that means is Jesus now enters into this time of intense suffering, Now, being poured upon him the wrath of God on his body and his soul to pay for sin. He's maintained a perfect life and now it's cross time. He's going to pay the penalty for you. So, he now is going into this period of intense suffering and this is what happens. We read that here, that in verse 38, he began to be greatly distressed and troubled. Something different. Something has just happened. The passion has been inaugurated, if you will, in which Jesus is facing the intense wrath of the Father being poured out on him. And he's facing unspeakable anguish, pain, and terror of soul. Now, it's in the midst of this, in verse 34, that he looks at his disciples and he says to them, my soul is very sorrowful, even to death, remain here and watch. Luke describes this period as great drops of blood. His sweat became like great drops of blood falling to the ground. this extreme anguish and physical strain. His blood vessels begin to dilate and burst, mixing sweat and blood. And the Scriptures are communicating to us, letting us understand that this terror has fallen on his soul. In the midst of this, what does Jesus say? Watch. Well, that should mean something by now. Wasn't that the end of the Olivet Discourse? that was his whole application at the end of the Olivet Discourse. You see how I said that at the end of the Olivet Discourse, what we're going to see is all of these events in Jesus' own death here show us the very end of the world. The clouds and the rocks were split open and graves, people came out of the graves. This was a whole foreshadowing even of the end. And here Jesus gives them a call to watch. Well, he goes farther now. and he falls on his face and he begins to pray verse 36 and said abba father all things are possible for you remove this cup from me yet here it is not what i will but what you will fulfilling the will of god it's on his mind it's on his heart the cup he is drinking now is the full and intense wrath and Jesus is facing the horror of it. It's really, how do you explain this really? That at this moment, He's thinking about you. He's thinking about all those sins you do. Knowing they have to have payment. And He's beginning to drink it for you. Right now. I mean, and he's letting us have insight here onto how awful this really is. This is an eternity's worth of hell he's facing in his soul. May the cup be removed. Not my will. It's yours. This is what the Scripture said. This is what the covenant we call redemption had planned. I'm doing it. Complete submission to the will of God. He goes. I was thinking, what did he pray? Ever thought about what he's praying at this moment? How about this? We're going to sing this after the sermon here in a few minutes. Hear my prayer, O Lord. Let my cry come to You. Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline Your ear to me. Answer me speedily in the day when I call. For my days pass away like smoke. My bones are burned like a furnace. my heart is struck down like grass and is withered i forget to eat my bread because of my loud groaning my bones cling to my flesh i am like a desert owl of the wilderness like an owl of the waste places i lie awake i am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop all the day my enemies taunt me those who deride me use my name for a curse for i eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink because of your indignation and anger, which you have taken me up and thrown me down. Psalm 102. Or Psalm 22. Be not far from me, for trouble is near. There's none to help. Many bulls have surrounded me. Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. They gape at me with their mouths like a raging and roaring lion. I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a pot shirt. My tongue clings to my jaws. You've brought me to the dust of death. Now you know how to read the Psalms and why they're there. Here's what gets is really moving that he wants his friends in view. Why? I can't help but think that in his humanity he needed to look upon what he's doing and see his reward. His sorrow and grief was so bad it's killing him. But now think of what's revealed about them. Two times he comes back and goes back and goes back. And what are they doing? He knows that he's going to be crucified. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? In the midst of this, he returns. All he asked them to do was watch and pray for their sakes. And what are they doing? Sleeping. Jesus, it's Peter. And you know why? Peter just said, I'll never deny you. You can't even watch. You can't even pray for one hour. Can you pray for one hour? I'm not talking about Peter now. Most people in this room would fall asleep. You can't do it for one hour? You can't watch for one hour? In the midst of my afflictions when I'm doing this for you, You don't have that much strength to watch for one hour. The wrath is being poured out upon him and his disciples are sleeping. And Jesus is doing the what? The praying and the watching. All three times he comes back and in the midst of this is making the point, saying, pray, watch. And that doesn't undo the responsibility because of our failure. He says, the spirit indeed is willing, but your flesh is incredibly weak. Who's willing? The Spirit. Jesus in these words is speaking to His church. It's just such a moment here. And I'm sure if I went around today and said how much guilt. If I go through this as a pastor, you must. That I don't pray enough. That I'm not on my knees enough. That I'm not watching like I want to watch. Pretty pathetic, isn't it? And yet, in their sleep, in their lack of watching, he's praying. In the heart of his afflictions, when the wrath of God is pouring out upon him, what's he doing? I'm thinking, what did he pray? Probably a lot like John 17. Lord, I pray for them that you would keep them from the evil one. Because, remember what he said to Peter? Peter, Peter, Satan's asked to sift you as wheat, but I've prayed for you that your faith should not fail. I've done it. And now he's praying because he's about to take the wrath of God for them. Coming back a third time, he says, are you still sleeping? Are you still? He's still not awake? He's still not comprehending this? Get up. It's time. Let's go. The betrayer's at hand. Here's the hour. What failure in the midst of this? They're about ready to go deny. They think they can stand on their own feet. They can't even watch and pray for one hour. And all of a sudden they look up. Here comes the betrayer with all of the authorities of the day, a Roman cohort and the elders and the chief priests. We read in verse 45 that as they had come, immediately Judas walks up, giving them this sign by which he was going to be betrayed When I kiss him, you'll know it's the man. And he walks up and he grabs him and kisses him. Rabbi. And they all grabbed him. The imagery of grabbing him, laying hands on him. This is God. He had just become visibly their substitute. The Lamb of God had just stepped into their place vicariously and was now to be hauled off to the place of judgment and condemnation called Golgotha, the place of the skull, to pay for their sins and for yours. Jesus turns around, looks at them all with billy clubs in their hands. What's this? What have I done? We know he'd been healing and helping, done nothing but care for people like the shepherds of Israel wouldn't do, teaching the gospel of the kingdom. And they've come out like this. In the next breath, he says, but the scriptures have to be fulfilled. And here's the last failure just for one minute here. Someone takes out their sword. Kind of interesting, it's not named, isn't it? He's not named. Someone pulls out the sword. Now he's awake, I guess. He's ready to fight. Grabs his sword, wham, knocks off Malchus' ear. What a bold guy. Just rose for the occasion. Ready now to fight for the kingdom, ready to fight for Jesus. Hasn't been listening the whole time. And even, you know, if I have to die for you, says Peter, see the sincerity in this, I will. I'll go die. No understanding of what's going on. No understanding of the substitute. He's actually trying to prevent his own deliverance. He's trying to fight Jesus on this. He's standing in the way. Jesus will have nothing of it. We know from the other passages he grabs the ear and you'd think all the people with billy clubs would drop at this point. Grabs the ear and puts it back on. But they don't because the scriptures have to be fulfilled. Here's the imagery. They gave all they could not to deny. They gave all they could to watch and pray their sleep. And now it ends with them actually in total misunderstanding trying to prevent the cross. But Jesus, remaining loyal to the will of God, willingly allowing himself to be taken in judgment for them, and now they are all scattered as it was prophesied because He is now going to do this alone to pay for their sins. It's the message of Christianity, brothers and sisters, this is the message that it's all put on display here. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He loved us. And it's the greatest encouragement to you and to me in our struggle, isn't it? This should be. I know you're discouraged. I know you're often, you feel depressed and on the brink of giving up. I know, I know. We all feel this. I know you're watching and praying feels pathetically weak and you wonder you're probably not a Christian because it's so pathetic. I know your understandings are often very muddled. This is why we have to preach the Gospel all the time. Doesn't this make a good case for it? But Jesus is saying, this is why I came for you. I came to step into your place. I came to fulfill the law for you. I'm not the one that's going to deny. And when he faces that, notice he is the one praying. He's the one watching. He's the one taking the arrest in your place. He's the one with hands being put on him. He's the one with people holding the billy clubs. He's the one about ready to take the blows on the cross for you. And that should give you all the hope in the world this morning. Why do we confess He descended into hell? It's kind of a difficult article for people. And we've always believed the descent into hell took place in the garden and on the cross in those hours. He went to hell for you. Listen to what our confession says. Why do we say he descended into hell? In my greatest sorrows and temptations, I may be assured and comforted that my Lord Jesus Christ, by unspeakable anguish, pain, terror, and agony, which he endured throughout all his sufferings, but especially on the cross, has delivered me from the anguish and torment of hell. He's doing it for you. So you never have to go there. We believe in hell. We believe it's a place people will go. But if you have Jesus, you don't go there. And that's why He's doing this. That's why we preach grace. That's why we preach the cross. He made Him who knew no sin to become sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. When you understand who you are today, how easily you stumble, what you carry around in your human nature. You see how wonderful it is that God would say, for God, and this is the Father's love, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Hear it, hear it, hear it. That whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. That's a message to be believed. and then to go and live in the joy of this unspeakable comfort. Let's thank Him. Gracious Heavenly Father, we don't deserve this at all. That's an understatement. Our little puny minds can hardly grasp it. But today, you've proclaimed such wonderful things to us by your Spirit's power. I pray that every heart would embrace Christ here and trust the Gospel promises and in all the weakness and frailty because of the sinful human nature would turn our eyes in faith to the righteous One who endured all this so that we might be justified freely by His blood through the redemption that comes in Christ Jesus. And would this message of grace then inspire us to remain awake, to watch and pray because the Spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak. We're so thankful for the Spirit and how wonderful it is that the Spirit has come so that we can make this now the priority of our life. Thank you for full salvation in Jesus and thank you for the love with which you've loved us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.