Please open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 26. Matthew chapter 26, beginning at verse 36. This is the word of God. Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Tarry ye here and watch with me. And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What? Could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away again the second time and prayed, saying, O my father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest. Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. Behold, he is at hand that doth betray me. Let us pray. O Lord, our God and our Father, we pray that as we open the dark mysteries of thy word this day, that thou wouldst open our eyes to behold the wonder that is before us that words cannot well express. Pray, Lord, that we may have strength of Thee. Lord, we pray that we may not be as the disciples that we have read of, that their eyes were heavy and fell asleep. Lord, we pray that Thou wouldst awaken us to the truth of Thy Word, the reality of the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hear our prayer, Lord. In all of this, desire in our hearts that our savior would be exalted, that no wrong thing would be said of him, and that we may love him. As we learn of his suffering, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Beloved congregation, this is one of the dark and heavy passages of God's word. Wonderful theologian by the name of Krumacher, a German fellow, wrote a book called The Suffering Savior, a very delightful devotional book about the passion. We often talk about these days of the end of the life of the Lord Jesus as his passion, time of great emotion. And Krumacher says as he comes to this passage on the Garden of Gethsemane that he doesn't even want to enter. He doesn't want to go there. The passage is so deep and dark and mysterious that we sometimes don't even know just what to do with it. We have difficulty relating and we should have difficulty relating to what no man has ever experienced other than the Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot enter into his sufferings on this level. Perhaps the reason that we have so much of the detail of the death of the Lord Jesus is because we are unable to enter into and experience it ourselves. We can't have empathy for the Savior, but we understand that by these sufferings, he has empathy for his church. He has a sympathy of feeling and emotion with us in our weakness. So we see mysteries here that no human mind can fully understand, but which are given to us by the Holy Spirit. They're given to us by God that we may know them. So we can't say, well, it's just too hard to figure out, so we're going to skip over it. It's not just too hard to figure out. If you have any kind of softness of your heart, These are words that are difficult to read. The remaining chapters here of Matthew, at least up until the resurrection, are just difficult to lay hold of with our minds, with our hearts, and often we can't read them without weeping, and that's a good thing. We should be ashamed if we can read these things without weeping and being emotional. All true Christians agree that the Lord Jesus Christ was fully human and fully divine. And in these days we often find ourselves having to defend Christ's divinity. People want to say, well, he's just a man. He was just a moral teacher. He was a very good example to us. And that is sometimes the prevailing view, really, of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we have to convince people, no, he was God. He was fully God. He was entirely God. He wasn't created as a God. He was God from the beginning, eternally generated from the Father. He's always been God. And here we see sometimes because we're busy defending the divinity of the Lord Jesus, we lose sight of his humanity. And that's what we have here in his passion is his humanity set before us. Sometimes we take that for granted, we take his humanity for granted. But it is a deep mystery that the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinitarian God, became man and took upon him the likeness of sinful flesh. And in Gethsemane, we see Christ's humanity in all of its fullness. This is the darkest scene that has ever been visited upon earth. It's far, far darker than the plunge of Adam into the depths of sin when he first sinned in Eden. There is a great heaviness here. This morning we want to look at Christ's suffering, we want to look at his humiliation in suffering, his help in suffering, and his heartache in suffering. We recited together earlier in our service the definition of prayer. This is a This is a place of prayer, Gethsemane for the Lord. Jesus is a place of prayer. Jesus himself, even though he was God himself, delighted to commune with his heavenly father. And he prayed very often. Here we have three of his prayers. Three times he goes to his heavenly father. His first prayer in verse 39. He went a little further and fell on his face and prayed, saying, Oh, my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. So we have Jesus talking about the cup. There's a cup. And he's just spoken about the cup at the institution of the Lord's Supper. It's a cup of wrath. It's a cup of judgment. And that is the way in which that word is used in the Old Testament. In Psalm 11, verse 6, It says, upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest. This shall be the portion of their cup. God's judgment is often spoken of as a cup. Isaiah 51 verse 17, Awake, awake! Stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury. Thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out. Ezekiel 23 verse 33, Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with a cup of astonishment and desolation, with a cup of thy sister Samaria. The Old Testament prophets speak of the cup of God's wrath being filled up against a nation as their sin continues against them. And here the Lord says, the Lord Jesus says, I have a cup that's being handed to me, a cup of judgment, a cup of fury, a cup of punishment for sins. And in his humanity he says, let this cup pass from me. This is very, very hard. He looks at the cup. And he trembles. The Lord Jesus Christ trembles. The cup is a cup of horror to his soul. He looks at a cup that's full of sin and he trembles. You can think of the most horrible thing, the most vile thing that you can imagine, and it does not touch the way in which the Lord Jesus Christ beholds the sin that he's about to bear. And he does that as one who's perfect. He has never sinned. He only knows about sin. He has observed sin in his people. He has never experienced sin. He has no idea what guilt is. But he knows that he's about to experience that. And his heart is filled with horror. He is perfect, he's pure, he's holy, he's undefiled. And here he looks upon sin, and he doesn't, you think of just vile, rubbish things that you just would tremble even to touch. You know, I just don't even want to touch it. And Jesus is going to be immersed in it. And he doesn't want to do that. If you and I, beloved, only if you and I had such a hatred of sin, and despised it so deeply as the Lord Jesus Christ, so as not even wanting to touch it. And here is this cup. He said, let this cup pass from me. I don't want to do this vile thing. I don't want to be involved, and I don't want to touch sin. I don't want sin to touch me. And he's just overwhelmed with the horror of what is before him. He goes and finds his disciples sleeping, and he prays a second time. Verse 42. He went away again the second time and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. Here we have the yielding of the human will to the divine will. And this is, well, there's been a controversy throughout church history, but it has been settled by one of the councils of Constantinople that Christ had two wills. And Christians confess that that's the case, Christ had two wills. And this is really the place where we understand that to be true. How could he wrestle if his will was one with God? It was brought into subjection. But there's a difficulty here that Christ in his humanity says, I find this very, very difficult. And he does all this without sin. He never sins, he never protests, but he sees the difficulty of bringing his human will in line with the divine will. And we know something of that, don't you, beloved? Don't you know something? When you hear God's will, when you know his desire, you know his intent, you know his declaration, you know his law, and you say, I just don't want to do that. I just don't know how I can do that. It just becomes a great difficulty for me. I don't really want to do that. And Jesus says, your will be done. He's brought into submission in his humanity brought into submission to the will of God. That's a process, as it were, for him. He is dealing with this struggle in his humanity. And these are the great mysteries that are before us in this Garden of Gethsemane. Gethsemane, incidentally, means the oil press. A place where olives are pressed into oil. And where there were many olive trees there. And here he is being pressed and the mystery that is before us can be opened only by the Holy Spirit. Beloved, these are great mysterious things but they're factual things. So we always start with what the scriptures say. This is fact. This is the word of God. This is indisputable. This actually happened. These words were said, these incidents occurred, and yet we don't know fully how to receive them or what to do with them. And so this passage, beloved, ought always to be a matter of great awe and amazement to your soul and mine. He prays a third time. In verse 44, Matthew says, he left them and went away again and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Not a vain repetition, but he repeated the same words and earnestly pled for God to help him. Here we see his perfect submission, and he determines to do what needs to be done so that his church beloved will be saved. He has no personal sin, but he is brought into the place of imputed sin. His suffering starts in the Garden of Eden. Not at the cross, his suffering has already begun as he enters into the Garden of Eden. Here we see the reality of Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 5 21, for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin. Christ was made sin for us, even though he knew no sin. And the anxiety, we could use the word anxiety, tension, fear. There's fear, a godly fear. in the Lord Jesus Christ, a fear of sin, a fear of offending, and a fear of just what sin in itself is, that he wants to draw back from it. Think of the horrible things that really frighten you, and you want to draw back. And he says, no, I can't draw back. I have to enter into it. I have to go in and experience this thing. So there is Christ's brought to his knees, falling on his face, sweating as it were great drops of blood, in great anguish for the sins of his people and the difficulty of the task before him. Because we see here in our evening service that we've been talking about Galatians and being free from works as a way of salvation. And here we see works for salvation because only the second Adam could produce those works that would give salvation. Here we have the performance of salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ. The first Adam failed us. The second Adam came and did what the first Adam failed to do. Then we read in Psalm 69, Curious verse, then restored I that which I took not away. I didn't take away perfection. I didn't take away Eden. I didn't take away paradise from Adam. He took it away. He lost it. He gave it all away, but I restored it. We don't like to take responsibility for the actions of others, but Jesus does. Jesus says, he observes, Adam failed. I must restore that which I took not. It was not my fault. Not my fault that all of these people are bound for hell. It's not my fault, but I'm going to restore. I'm going to make perfect what was defiled by Adam. So there's Christ's humiliation and suffering. And then we have Christ's help in suffering. This is, again, absolutely remarkable. Where does the Lord Jesus Christ get his help? Where does he desire his help? It's in his apostles, in his disciples. Come and pray with me. He said he needs that social company. He needs these men to pray for him. He wants that. He desires that. And these men are no great examples of faith, are they? Peter has just said, though all should be offended with thee, Yet will not I, though I should die with thee. It was in the hymn that we just sang, "'Tis midnight and on Olive's brow." There's the one who's professed all his love for him, and Jesus said, you're going to deny me, but I want you to pray for me. I want you to come and pray with me. And there's that beloved disciple, John, who lay on his breast at the supper just a few hours ago, He says, I want you to come and pray with me. And the James, also James and John, whom he said, can you drink of the cup which I shall drink and be baptized with a baptism wherewith I am baptized? They said, oh, we can. We can do that, they said very boldly, trusting in their flesh. And here he says, he knows that they're going to run away. I want you to come and pray with me. I want you to pray for me. I want you to pray that you enter not into temptation. Beloved, what an admonition that is for you and I to seek the help of other Christians. How difficult it is in our great pride to say to somebody, pray for me. Will you pray for me? I'm having trouble. I'm going through spiritual affliction. Here's Christ. You say, well, those people don't know how to pray for me. I'm going through great turmoil. I can't even explain the hardships that I'm going through. I can't put it into words. Why should I pray? Why should I ask them for their prayers? But isn't that just what Jesus has done? He has no way to explain what he's about to do. He's made allusions to it all through the three years of his ministry. He can't explain to them exactly what's going to happen, but he says, I want you to pray for me. What a good admonition that is for you and I to ask one another to pray. Pray that the Lord would give strength and give perseverance. The Lord also gives spiritual help. He desired the prayerful support of his disciples. Luke says that he also sent an angel to strengthen him. Again, this angel must be there to strengthen him in his humanity, not his divinity. His divinity has no need of strength. The angel is sent to strengthen him in his humanity. Here's the Lord Jesus Christ's help in suffering. He seeks the social comfort, the interaction, the spiritual help of the prayers of his disciples. He receives the help of his angels, but he receives no help from God. Can you imagine such a thing, beloved? No help from God. He says in verse 37, He began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Sorrowful and very heavy. So here again, emotions are not sinful. It's good to remember that emotions are not sinful. He was sad, extremely sad. And there was a heaviness in that sadness. There's nothing wrong with being sad. Nothing wrong with feeling the heaviness of sadness. It's not sinful. And the Lord often sends that heaviness to bring you to a better relationship with him, to purge your sin. He has his own reasons for it. He's sorrowful and very heavy. He says in verse 38, my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. Isaiah 53 says that he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. This is a picture that we don't often hear about the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a picture that we don't necessarily feel like we want to be too acquainted with. It's so negative, it's so heavy, it brings you down so much. but he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." That's the description of Isaiah, and that's the description of Matthew, who writes in the Gospels. And for this, he had no help from God. He goes to prayer. He's on his knees. He's on his face. He bangs on the door of heaven. And it's as if it not only slams shut but bolts several times. The door of heaven is closed to the Lord Jesus Christ in his humanity. The one place where he needs the help, he gets none. Isn't that remarkable? Doesn't that stir your heart? He has nothing here. Psalm 22, verse 11, another Messianic Psalm. Be not far from me, he says, for trouble is near, for there is none to help. So his disciples aren't really a help. He's asked for their help, but they're not really providing help, and God doesn't hear his prayer. Have you ever been in that position where God hasn't heard your prayer? The Lord Jesus has. And it only seems like he hasn't heard your prayers. Because he does. For Jesus' sake, he always does. He always hears your prayer. He doesn't answer the way you prescribe him to answer, but he does hear and he does answer in his appointed way. Jesus didn't have that. And he endured that so that you could be assured that your prayers are heard, so that you could be assured so that God does hear you and that the windows of heaven, the gates of heaven, the doors of heaven will never ever be closed to you. And Christ not only hears your prayers, but he's mindful of them and he hears them with passion and interest, a keen interest in your prayers. Beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ did not have that. He did not have the help of God. It's amazing. I don't even know how to speak about these things. It's just very, very remarkable. We read that three times he earnestly prayed. Does that remind you about the Apostle Paul? The Apostle Paul said, I had a thorn in the flesh. He's a Christian man. This is not when he's unsaved. He's a Christian man. I had a thorn in the flesh. We don't know what it is. He said, I felt that it hindered my working for Christ in his kingdom. Three times I prayed that it would be removed from me. And the Lord finally came back, and what did he say? So you're not gonna have that thorn removed. My grace is sufficient for thee. I'm gonna give you grace to deal with that thorn in the flesh. Not every thorn is removed. Not every difficulty or trial is removed immediately. My grace is sufficient for thee. I know about that thorn. I know what you're going through. I've experienced that without sin, but I've experienced it. And I'm going to provide, I'm promising you grace to serve me with that thorn in your flesh. And you're gonna serve me better with that thorn in your flesh than you would if I took it away. That's the promise of God. Seek my face, seek my help, seek my grace. It will be there for you. My grace is sufficient for thee. Jesus didn't have that. Jesus had no grace from the Heavenly Father. He didn't have any word from heaven saying, my grace is sufficient for thee. He had nothing. He had a perfect humanity, a sinless perfection. But in this place, he had no grace. And it reminds us, as we say in the apostles' creed, he descended into hell, that Jesus is beginning that descent into hell. There's no grace there. There's no help. You have either the justice of God or the grace of God. They don't come together. Justice of God or the grace of God. And beloved, you are this day either under the wrath of God His justice, or you're abiding in His grace for salvation. And why? Because that justice has been served and met and punished in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why we gather to worship the Lord Jesus, because He has endured the cup. He has suffered the wrath. He has been visited by the wrath of God for your sin. It's remarkable. And he willingly received that. We see he has trouble with his will, but he willingly received the punishment of God for what? Not for his sin, for your sin, beloved. I didn't do this thing, but I'm willing to be punished for it so that they can have eternal life. Beloved, this is the gospel. This is the gospel that Christ died in my place. Christ suffered the punishment of sin in my place. A word that you should be aware with, vicarious atonement. That's what that means, vicarious atonement or substitutionary atonement. He suffered, he died in my room instead, in my place. Krumacher says, the cup of horror does not pass from the trembling sufferer. On the contrary, its contents become every moment more bitter. Louder sound the cries of the agonizing savior. More urgent becomes his prayer. But the lofty one is silent, and heaven seems barred as with a thousand bolts. There's no response. And here's the heaviness. You can begin to see the heaviness of the Lord Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. So beloved, think about whether this is your Savior. Is this the one that you worship and adore? Did he die for your sins? Was he mindful of your sins as he went to the cross? Did he know all the things that you would do against him and yet be willing to suffer for them in your place? It should bring us to deep, deep humility, brothers and sisters, deep humility. make you aware of the great pride of your heart, how lifted up we are so easily, self-confidence, boasting, pride, how much we think we can do without the help of the Lord. Here is the Lord Jesus, who could do nothing without the help of His Father, and you of His great dependence upon Him. These are very dark, dark verses in your Bibles. And they touch emotions that, to a depth that none of us have ever experienced, but that Christ truly did. And what a blessed thing then. It is that Christ should purchase redemption for sinners. so that you could go freely to the throne of grace, so that you could freely go and seek the remission of your sins, the forgiveness of your sins, and so that you too could learn to hate sin. You would despise the evil that brought Christ to the cross. We need to learn the evil of our own sinful hearts, beloved. in order to appreciate the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ. The greatness of your sin requires an immense greatness of suffering and atonement and forgiveness on that account. Beloved, will you serve the Lord Jesus Christ by departing from iniquity, leaving the sins that crucified the Lord Jesus, and delighting in the work that He alone could do? Let us pray. O Lord, we have been unable to capture with human words what Christ endured in these hours in Gethsemane. We thank Thee, Lord, for Thy grace in relating this incident unto us. We pray that we may not shrink back from it, that we may, in fact, read it again and again that we may desire to have a deep love for the Lord Jesus Christ who endured these things for our sin. We thank Thee for so great a gift. We thank Thee for the love of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. We pray, O Lord, that we also may love Thee. Grant us repentance, O Lord. Pray that we may turn from the world unto the Lord Jesus. That we may turn from our own selves unto the Lord Jesus. Teach us to love him with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. We pray thee in Jesus' name, amen.