This is the first Sunday of 2007, and it's also the first day that we will be, in a sense, returning to Earth in our exposition of the Gospel of John, so to speak. It's been over over a year. that we have been going through the words of comfort and encouragement that Jesus gives to his own beginning in the Gospel of John, chapter 13. And why don't we start? I'll start back there. Turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 13, which we began over a year ago, which is after Jesus leaving the multitude for one final last call in the end of chapter 12. He then retreats with his disciples and in chapter 13 14 15 16 17 We see him ministering to his own and beginning in 13 verse 1 It says now before the feast of the Passover when Jesus knew that his hour had come That he should depart from this world to the father having loved his own who were in the world. He loved them to the end And we saw how in 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17, just how this was kind of borne out as we saw promise after promise after promise that Jesus gives to his disciples. He demonstrates his love for his own in chapter 13 by washing his disciples feet and thereby a picture of the sanctifying work. And then in the ensuing chapters, it just goes on and on a beautiful one promise layered on top of another promise. encouragement, more encouragement as he's preparing his disciples for his departure, when they would be left alone, but the Holy Spirit was coming. So in 14, he says, let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you." He goes, he says, I go to prepare a place for you. Then he begins promising them that they know the way to heaven. In verse 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. In verse 9, he who has seen me has seen the Father. In verse 12, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also, and greater works than these, because I go to the Father. In verse 13, whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. In verse 16, I pray the Father that He will give you another Helper. that He may abide with you forever. In verse 23, if anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him. And we will come to Him and make our home with Him. In verse 26, the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things. In verse 27, peace I leave you, my peace I give you. And then on into chapter 15 where we learn about the vine and the branches. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. Then the promise in verse 7, if you abide in Me and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. Verse 11, these things I have spoken to you that My joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full. Verse 13, greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. Verse 16, You didn't choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain that whatever you ask in the father, the father in my name, he may give you. Then we went on into chapter 16. We saw how the Holy Spirit would be the one in verse 13. He would be the guide who would guide us into all truth. In verse 22, He says, Therefore you now have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. In verse 24, He says, Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full. In verse 27, He says, The Father Himself loves you. And then in verse 33, he says, you're going to have trouble in this world, tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Then we went on to 17 in the last four months, spending our time enjoying chapter 17, the demonstration of his love for his own in his final prayer for them. And He says that this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God. He promises us that we can know the only true God. You can know God. And then in verse 9, He promises that He prays for us. He says, I pray for them. I don't pray for the world, but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. In verse 10, he says, And all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. In verse 15, he says, I don't pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. In verse 19, he says, For their sakes, I sanctify myself and they also may be sanctified by the truth. In verse 22, he says, the glory which you have given to me, I have given to them. You see how these promises are just layered on top of each other, one after the other. In verse 24, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, they may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. There's the promise of eternity, that we will see the Lord's face for eternity. And then in verse 26, I have declared to them your name and will declare it, that the love which you have loved me, get this, don't miss this, the love which the Father has loved the Son may be in them and I in them. So we have been soaring the heights of heaven with a glimpse of John. It was just a glimpse of this eternal communion that the Father has with the Son in eternity, in eternity past the relationship between the Father and the Son. We get a glimpse of it here in chapter 17. And we're privileged to get a glance at what no eye has seen and no ear has heard. Now, as we turn the chapter to chapter 18, And chapter 19 of John's gospel, where we will be for the next three or four months, we return to a narrative. We return to the historical account of the last earthly, the last hours of Jesus's earthly life. So in every way, we return to earth. every way not only in that it's a narrative but also in the content of this narrative because beginning in chapter 18 and on into 19 We find the most difficult days or the most difficult hours the darkest moments of Jesus's life on earth Beginning with what we deal with today the garden of Gethsemane and don't misunderstand what I'm saying I'm not saying that these verses of scripture are of any less value than I'm not saying that the words and events of chapter 18 are less spiritual or less inspiring or less encouraging than the chapters we just read. Not at all. Though these events are hard for us to look at and hard for us to consider as we look at the suffering of our Lord. At the same time, realize that it's these very events, from Gethsemane to Golgotha to the Garden Tomb, that provide the historical and factual basis for everything that we believe. If we take that out, if we take 18 and 19, chapters 18 and 19 out, then we can throw out everything else. We can throw out 17. All of the highest of Christian theology and practice come from the events of 18 and 19. We could not understand anything in the scripture apart from these events. If Jesus didn't suffer, if Jesus didn't die, nothing else makes sense in Christianity. Nothing. A gospel without suffering, a gospel without a cross, is no gospel. All of the beautiful doctrines that we love and cherish, the grace of God, the love of God, expiation, the freedom that we have in Christ, the freedom from sin, glorification, that we will spend eternity with Him in heaven, they mean absolutely nothing outside of the cross. John Piper said the cross casts a long shadow over the entire Gospels Every verse in the Gospels is to be read in view of and under the shadow of the cross Therefore he proposes we should read the Gospels backwards Meaning this that every verse as we read the four Gospels every verse can only be understood in light of The atonement in light of the fact that Jesus died for sinners You can't make sense of the life of Christ. You can't figure out anything in the Word of God apart from that His commandments don't make sense The doctrine of Christianity makes no sense unless we first understand the atonement. And that is that Jesus came as a man, he lived as a man, he suffered as a man so that he would die as a man for men. And his judicial murder, which is what it was from earthly eyes, nothing short of that, murder, was really, from a vertical viewpoint, a saving action. that he was bearing the sin of the world, that he was paying the penalty for many, that he was a ransom for many, the Word of God says. And the basis and reality of this are found, the basis and reality of everything that we believe are found in the historical facts that surround these two chapters, chapter 18 and 19, Jesus's crucifixion. One commentator wrote these words, he said, without these two chapters, 18 and 19. Therefore, none of the precious things that have thrilled the heart in previous chapters would be possible. Name or none of his own assertions as to who he would be and do or the giving of eternal life or having any in the world or coming again for them or sending the Holy Spirit or preparing a place for them of having them in glory with him or having that glory at all. There would be no assembly of God, no restoration of Israel, no gathering of the nations, no millennium, no new heavens and new earth, no display of grace, no salvation, no revelation of the Father, and these, and much more, were contingent on His death and resurrection. Without these, all things in this book drop out and leave a blank. The blackness of darkness. So if you try to pick up your Bible and read it and understand it without first knowing that you are a sinner, that Jesus Christ died for you, for your sin, unless you know that, you're not going to understand anything else. It's going to become a moral book for you. And it's pointless to try to even live it out. All you're going to find out is that you can't. While the hours that lie ahead are Jesus's darkest, at the same time, we realize that without those dark times, we would remain in even greater darkness without that. And if you're here today and you have never heeded the call of Jesus Christ to repent, to repent of your sin and to believe the gospel, then you remain in that darkness. The Bible says you're condemned already. You remain in your sin. You say, what sin? Thou shalt not lie. If you've ever told a lie once in your life, you've broken the commandments of God. And you've certainly not loved the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And you cannot hope to begin to understand anything in the Gospel. The suffering of Christ will be foolishness, or at very best, like our sister was sharing last week, nothing more than a tragedy. You'll feel sorry for Jesus. Nothing more than a tragedy. You'll see the suffering and death of Christ as a terrible thing. Man's inhumanity. Boy, how terrible man is. But, oh, I would have been so different. No, you wouldn't. You'd feel sorry for what happened to Jesus. But, if you're in the light, if you're in the light, that is, if you've heeded God's command to repent, trust Christ, follow Him, then it makes sense. These very same moments that are the darkest to Jesus on earth in his life, to you, become moments of great and glorious light. That though they were the darkest days, these events of Thursday night, we're talking here the final hours, Thursday night on into Good Friday, they provide the basis of your forgiveness, of the love of God, of expiation, of freedom, and of salvation. So now with that introduction in mind, let us turn to John chapter 18. John chapter 18. When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples over the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. And Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place where Jesus often met there with his disciples. The stage. Let's set the stage first. It's Passover. The supper has ended. Jesus has offered his last words to his disciples. He seals that by praying for them in chapter 17. The time had come for what was now perhaps the greatest spiritual warfare that the world has ever witnessed. And it happened in a garden called Gethsemane. Literally, Gethsemane means the place of crushing. Likely, it was the location of an olive press. It was where olives were crushed for the production of olive oil. But that name would take on a deeper meaning this night. John does not report much of the detail, but from the harmony of the Gospels, from taking Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, let me try to paint a picture for you of the events that are going on. This is kind of a harmony of the four Gospels. It's late in the evening, perhaps around 11 o'clock at night. Jesus and his small band of followers leave Jerusalem. They go through the gate of the temple, the north gate of the temple. The Passover moon, full moon, shines brightly above them. They're leaving a busy city, because on Passover Eve there was a sacrifice that was to take place at midnight. So there's bustling and going around. They're leaving a busy city to walk into a dark and lonely valley. Kidron, which literally means dark and gloomy, got its name because it was a dark and gloomy place. It is. a dark and gloomy place. Some even believe that it's what David had in mind when he wrote Psalm 23, and he said, when he talked about the valley of the shadow of death, the valley of darkness, the dark valley, the valley of despair. A short distance away, maybe a half a mile from there is a garden, and nearby an olive press. This was a retreat location, a place of resting, a quiet place of rest for retirement, for prayer, maybe even sleep, a trusted place. At the entrance to the garden, Jesus leaves eight behind, and he enters with Peter, James, and John. In his darkest hours, Jesus wanted those who were closest to him to be with him. As he goes in, it says he prayed and he fell, and the imperfect tense means he continually fell. It gives us the picture of a struggle that's going on here. It was spiritual, it was taking place in the heavenlies, but it was manifesting itself in the physical, in his falling, even to the point where Luke, who is the physician, reports that Jesus was praying so fervently that his sweat became drops of blood. Jesus addresses the father, he says, Abba, he uses the loving personal address of the father, Abba, and he cries Abba, if it's possible. He asks the Father if it's possible that the hour might pass away from Him, that the very cup of judgment itself would pass away. Yet, in the end, He subjects Himself to the Father's will, yet not My will, but Thine be done. And in the end, He submits to the Father's will. While He prays, the disciples sleep. Three times, Jesus leaves praying, comes back, finds them sleeping. In the Gospel of Mark, chapter 14, verses 41 to 42, it says, He came a third time and said to them, Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It's enough. The hour has come. Behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Arise, let us be going. Behold, the one who betrays me is at hand. Jesus was ready to meet what was ahead of Him. He was to be betrayed, but he doesn't run. He knows that his hour has come. He knew that this was the night of his betrayal, yet he still goes to the very place that he knows. He knows Judas is the betrayer, as evidenced at the supper, yet he goes to the very place where Judas could find him easily. He's not retreating. He's not running away. Jesus' words are true. No man takes my life from me. I lay it down on myself. As Jesus is speaking, Hundreds of men charge in with lights and lanterns and torches and weapons and among them there are Roman soldiers John says a cohort a cohort was over 400 perhaps up to 600 soldiers We often think of Gethsemane as this quiet little thing a few men. No, there was a cohort here Temple police and leading the way the trusted friend Judas the one who was in the inner circle Judas This was a major thing, the fact that even to deploy a cohort, Pontius Pilate would have had to approve that. So likely Pilate knew already what was coming the next day. He likely knew there was going to be a trial the next morning. He knew what was ahead. He had to deploy that cohort to go and to arrest Jesus. So likely, Pilate is very aware of the events that are going on that evening. They're beginning to weigh on him at the same time all this is going on. He's trying to get sleep and his wife also is there. She has a dream warning her that Jesus is righteous and she warns her husband not to have Jesus killed. Back in the garden, Judas steps up. He's ahead of this big crowd, and he says, Hail, Rabbi, and he kisses him, and literally the Greek says he covered him with kisses. And Christ submits to the indignity, offering only these words back to him. Friend, why are you here? Judas, with a kiss, you deliver up the Son of Man. He knew what it was to experience His Word, the God's Word. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy." After this, Jesus leaves Judas. He ignores that signal. He just ignores it. And he says, whom do you seek? And they say, Jesus, the Nazarene. And Christ replies with an infinite calmness and majesty, egoi me, in Greek, ani, who, in Hebrew, I am. Am and the power of those words I am causes them to fall backwards It's interesting that although John Was the only of the four gospel writers to be there with Jesus at that moment It was him Peter and James that were there selected by Jesus to go and pray that John is the one who omits the details of this that Matthew Mark and Luke include and And there is a reason for this. Remember, remember, go back to the very beginning of the Gospel of John. Why did John write his gospel? He wrote it for the purpose. And also remember the environment that John is writing. He's writing some 30 years after the accounts of Mark and Matthew and Luke. And these are already disseminated among the churches. They're widely familiar with the accounts of Matthew, Mark and Luke. And John is now writing later. He's also writing amidst the time, a rising tide of Gnosticism, confused thoughts about the deity of Christ. So John sets out to write his gospel from the beginning with those first words, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God, to dispel all matters. He wants to answer the questions. that people have about Jesus. Is he the son of man? Is he the son of God? And he stresses from the beginning the glory and the power of Jesus Christ, rather than what other gospel writers have emphasized, his humanity and his weakness. John certainly knew that Jesus was sorrowful. John is not in denial of Jesus's sorrow. We saw that back in John chapter 12. Actually, John's Gethsemane is back in chapter 12 earlier that day. Actually, it's Jesus says now is my soul troubled. What shall I say? This is John 12, verse 27 and 28. My soul is troubled. What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this purpose, I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name. So John knew of the sorrow of Jesus Christ. John certainly understood the distress and grief that Jesus had in his soul at this time. He understood the temptation that Christ faced. But John, knowing that detail and knowing that it was already covered and written by Matthew, Mark and Luke, now he wants to bring out some points in the Garden of Gethsemane that Matthew, Mark and Luke overlooked. So he chooses rather to emphasize the mastery of Christ over the events in the garden. That this was not Judas doing this, this was Jesus Christ and he was in control the whole time. Let's look at the whole thing back in John chapter 18 verses 1 through 6 and we'll read it. When Jesus had spoken these things, he went out with his disciples over the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, and he and his disciples entered. Now, the entire content of the prayer is skipped. And then he goes right to Judas and Judas who betrayed him. And again, he doesn't mean to introduce Judas. The church is very familiar with who Judas is by this point. Simply to say Judas who betrayed him was enough to distinguish him from the other disciple Judas. Judas who betrayed him. Also knew the place and Jesus often met there with his disciples Then Judas having received the detachment of troops and officers from the chief priests of the Pharisees Came there with lanterns and torches and weapons and Jesus therefore knowing all things See, there is the omniscience showing his deity Jesus knowing all things that were to come upon him went forward and said to him whom are you seeking see this is not at the hands of of Judas this is in the hands of Jesus and Take note, in John's account, Christ is the initiator of the confrontation. John goes on to write something that others do not. In verse 5, he says, They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus said to him, I am he, or really the he is not there, I am. And Judas, who betrayed him, also stood with him. Now, when he said to them, I am, they drew back and fell to the ground. See, the events of Gethsemane are more than just a series of unfortunate events. His arrest was not some meaningless, unanticipated tragedy that kind of took Jesus by surprise. He knew exactly what he was headed into. But yet, this is foreign to many. It seems like he's being taken by surprise. It seems like they're coming in and they're going to, you know, bring this promising ministry that Jesus had. It's going to all come to an end. No, Gethsemane is so misunderstood. It's considered a place of abandonment, a place of weakness. But John's gospel paints a different picture for us. It provides another camera angle, if you will, at the same event. John's account lifts us above the earthly detail, and it provides us with another equally accurate and historical view, but it stresses the glory. It stresses the power of the Son of God in those final hours. It stresses, no man takes my life. I lay it down willingly. Gethsemane was ordered by God, and its events are not by chance. They're fulfilled with great blessing, not only to Christ himself, but also to his followers. In Gethsemane, we learn how to deal with suffering as we see Christ, how he handled suffering. We're all going to experience suffering. Of that, there is no doubt. The scripture makes that implicitly clear. Some of you are going through trials right now. We heard last week from our brother Jay about the crushing of God's hand, the physical trials that the Lord brought into his life to crush him as that olive crushes and that oil pours forth. As I went home from there, I received this email from the Ministry of Grace Gems, and it was for the first of the year, and I wanted to share the beginning of it. I did send it out, but for those that weren't there, I'll just share the first half of it, and then as I close in prayer, share the other half. It's called The Year Before Our Eyes, J.C. Philpott. It says, The year before our eyes may hold in its bosom events which may deeply concern and affect us. We do not know what is to come, what personal trials, what family trials, what providential trials may await us. We do not know. Sickness may attack our bodies. Death enter our families. Difficulties beset our circumstances. Trials and temptations exercise our minds. Snares entangle our feet. And many dark and gloomy clouds make our path one of heaviness and sorrow. And it goes on. I'll share it at the end. Be assured, brethren, dark days lie ahead. And I don't say this to be intentionally preaching gloom and doom. It's preaching reality. This is not a popular message. You're not going to hear this out of Joel Osteen when you turn on on Sunday morning. It's not popular, but it's true. This life, in many ways, is characteristic of Gethsemane. In this life, there is an order. The cross precedes the crown. Death precedes resurrection. You have to go through Passover to come to Pentecost. The path of life is one of suffering. And Jesus' suffering in Gethsemane, in very practical ways, prepares us for that. What do you think of suffering? When you think of suffering, what do you think of suffering? Some consider suffering as a breach of trust on the part of God, as if God abandoned them. God, how could you allow this in my life? How could you allow me to bear the weight of this suffering? Some reproach God because of suffering. Some turn away from the faith, from their belief, because of suffering. Others grin and bear it, endure suffering grimly, refusing to ask, God, what is your purpose in this? Is this the way we should deal with suffering? What do you think of Gethsemane? When you think of Gethsemane, what do you think of Gethsemane? It was certainly the darkest hours, the darkest moments of Jesus's life on earth, but was it a failure or was it a victory? With your dark days that lie ahead, the bitter days, will it cause you to gripe and complain? Or will they be, as Gethsemane, an ultimate victory? Maybe you deal with trials a bit better than the world does. I kind of just described the way the world deals with it. They curse God. Maybe you're a little better. Perhaps you readily accept that you're going to suffer because you recognize we follow a man of sorrows, acquainted with griefs. So you realize you're going to suffer, and you say, well, God is sovereign, and He's bringing these circumstances into my life. You understand that. Maybe you realize that all grief and disappointment has to first pass through the hand of God. Maybe you realize Romans 8.28 is true, and that God will cause this to work out for your good. But I still ask the same question. What do you think of suffering? Most mature Christians will look at suffering. I'm saying mature now in one or two ways. I've already described the unsaved. Mature Christians will look at suffering in one of two ways, either with as realists, realists or escapists. Some will think of suffering as something to be endured by the Christian until in God's own time he removes the trial for his glory. And that happens to be true. We saw that way back in chapter nine with the man who was born blind and that they asked him, well, who sinned? And he said, this is for the glory of God. So, perhaps in a sickness, perhaps you're bearing through a sickness or a sickness of a loved one, and you're going to realize this is going to end. God's going to change this. He's either going to heal the person or it's going to end in death. Either way, it's for the glory of God that this trial is removed. Other Christians look at suffering in the light of eternity. Again, much truth in it. Be endured something to be endured in this life looking beyond the dark days for the eternal glory and certainly Paul wrote words to Suggest that and also Jesus Christ himself with a joy that lied ahead Some Christians without seeking for the purpose of that trial will will just look beyond it and it's almost like escapism. I ignoring it. It's going to go away. I just got to bear through it in this life until I get to the great by and by and then there's no more suffering and no more pain and no more tears. And again, truth in that, but both are incomplete. Surely some suffering comes upon us to remove that God is going to remove and change for his glory. No question. Also certainly true, Jesus himself looked beyond suffering for the joy that was set before him. So indeed, we need to look beyond the things of this life on into eternity. when there will be no death, no sorrow, no more tears, pain, crying, or sin. But I ask, again, the question, is this the only valid Christian response to suffering? Is the Christian's best hope in suffering that one day he will escape it? I don't think so. Paul was an expert in suffering. He knew what it was to suffer. He knew that his suffering was accomplishing God's will and bringing glory to his name not by Escaping or changing it but in the very manner in which he bore it Paul knew that in order to experience great comfort He needed to experience great suffering He wrote this to the Corinthians in 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 verse 5 You can turn there For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. Just as, see those words? Just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. Comfort comes in the proportion of suffering, the same proportion. Paul also knew that to know Christ required suffering. That's what he wrote to the Philippians, that I might know him in the power of his resurrection. Philippians chapter 3, verse 10. And the fellowship of his suffering being conformed to his death in order that I might attain to the resurrection from the dead. Paul knew that a resurrected life required conformity to death, and conformity to death requires suffering. In order to emphasize the joy that is independent of circumstances in suffering. He tells the Colossians in Colossians 1 verse 24. He says, I'm suffering for your sake. He says, Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, that in my flesh I do share on behalf of his body, which is the church. He's saying he's saying that he's bearing affliction here. Through the power and strength of the Holy Spirit, it's not his self, but through the power and strength of the Holy Spirit, he's bearing that affliction, affliction which is going to be a powerful witness and encouragement to his brothers, to the church. He didn't look at how his affliction was causing him pain, but rather how his affliction was being a blessing to others. He was being used to encourage others that the grace of Jesus Christ is all sufficient. You see, wasn't trying to escape it. Wasn't, yes, eyes on eternity, yes, but it's being used here now. Let me give you an illustration from the life of British doctor Helen Rosevere, who served in the Congo for over 20 years. She was a doctor, in fact, the only doctor in an area of more than half a million people. And this is her experience. In 1964, there was a revolution that overwhelmed the country, and she and her co-workers were thrown into five and a half months of almost unbelievable brutality and torture. But there was torture, beatings, misery, wretched misery of seeing others mutilated and destroyed, and fear, a bone-crushing, overwhelming fear. On one occasion, When she was on the verge of being executed, a 17-year-old student came to her defense and was savagely beaten as a result. For a moment, she thought God had forsaken her, even though she did not doubt his reality. But God stepped in and overwhelmed her with the sense of his own presence and his triumphant bigness and asked something like this. Twenty years ago, you asked me for the privilege of being a missionary. the privilege of being identified with me. This is it. This is what it means. These are not your sufferings, but they are my sufferings. And all I ask is that you love the loan of your body. As the force of that hit home, the doctor said that she was overcome with a great sense of privilege. She rejoiced to be able to serve her Lord in this or whatever other circumstances might order for her. God did not stop the suffering. He didn't stop the wickedness, the cruelty, the humiliation or anything. It was all there. The pain was just as bad. The fear was just as bad, but it was now altogether different. It was in Jesus for him, with him. That's her testimony. I'd ask you, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, are you aware of the privilege, the privilege of being just where you are? Perhaps you're suffering. Perhaps you're suffering the trial of your life. But are you aware of the privilege of that? Being just where you are, who you are, right where you are. Jesus has placed you right where you are, in your circumstances, whatever they may be. Praise Him for that. Allow the very circumstances that He brings you to, to be the grounds of His triumph through you. Are you going to be that way or are you going to be like the world and cry out against God? And say, what did I do to deserve this? Oh, we did a lot to deserve a lot more. It's the one who has no idea of who God is. No idea who could ever say, God, you can't do this to me. Think about that. God, you can't do something. The Christian's response to pain and sufferings is, God, you can do whatever you wish to me. You bought me. You redeemed me. I am owned by you. I know that you can only have my good in mind, so do what you need to do to conform me to your image, to glorify yourself. Whether I understand it or not, whether I get why this is happening or not, turn to Psalm 73. Psalm 73 is a beautiful psalm, which in its entirety testifies of the sovereignty of I believe the psalmist had a taste of Gethsemane when he's writing, particularly two verses that I want to bring out here this morning. You can hear the despondency at this point in Psalm 73, verse 25 and 26. And you can hear him crying out, Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none on earth I desire besides thee. My flesh and my heart faileth. And by the way, not may fail. That may is not in there. If your version has may, cross it out. I don't like telling people to do that, but that is not there. My flesh and my heart fail. Period. I'm discouraged. I'm despondent. I'm at my wits end. This is Jesus in Gethsemane. But then, the spiritual counter-attack. But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. But God. Thank God for all of the but Gods of scripture. Type it in one day into your computer, but God, and see what comes out. But God remembered Noah. Joseph says, as you, you meant it evil for me, but God meant it for good. David of Saul, Saul sought every day, but God did not deliver him into his hands. Acts 13, 29 in the New Testament, they took him down from the cross, they laid him in the tomb, but God raised him from the dead. Romans 5, 8, but God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us. 1 Corinthians 3, 7, So then, whether the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything but God who causes the growth. 2 Corinthians 7 verse 5, we're afflicted on every side, conflicts without, fears within, but God who comforts the depressed comforted us. Galatians 3, 18, for if an inheritance is based on the law, it's no longer based on promise. But God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise. Ephesians 2, we too were all formerly, we all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging in the desire of our flesh and of the mind. And we're by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, made us alive together with Christ. Yes, my heart, my strength, my flesh fail. But God is the strength. He's my rock. He's the strength of my weak, failing life and my portion forever. Our lesson our application. Now, what application can we pull out of the events of Gethsemane? The application in one, two words is, but God. That we would say and believe, but God. Wherever this despondency may come from, whatever the source of it, no matter how bad the circumstances would be, that we would say, but God. It's unbelief that doesn't say, but God, it's unbelief that puts up no resistance that says that doesn't say that says, I have a sword here in a shield, but I'm not going to take it up. I'm going to put it down. That's unbelief. Take up the sword of the spirit, the shield of faith and fight. That's what Gethsemane teaches us. Probably the greatest spiritual warfare ever experienced. All the hosts of Satan's army are gathered together, and the flaming darts are coming at Jesus Christ, hurled at the Son of God, and he's wrestling with this. And he says, my soul is sorrowful, even unto death. Satan is attacking his mind, one after another, with darts. Give it up. Give it up. Why are you going there? For these people? You're going to save these wretches? Calvary's going to hurt. These people are not worth saving? What do you hope to accomplish by dying? One after the other after the other. Insult and dart. Jesus, what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? For this purpose I came to this hour. Now realize something here. Jesus was a sinless man. We know that. According to Hebrews 4.15, he was without sin. He knew no sin. He never sinned in thought or in deed. He never sinned in his thought, which tells us something. The emotional turmoil that he was going through at this point, that Jesus was experiencing, was not sinful. It was appropriate considering the attack that was upon him. This is one of the many ways that Jesus was just tempted, just like us, just like you and I. This is one of the many ways that he was tempted, just like you and I. And just like Jesus, Satan drops bombs in our lives. In our otherwise peaceful lives, he drops these bombs. And at times, the bombs set off a shockwave that knocks us over. It knocks us down. It brings our soul into trouble and anguish. And we think about it and we meditate on the anguish. And we have a troubled soul. The troubled soul is not sinful in and of itself. Look back to chapter 14 of John. First verse, chapter 14. Jesus knew trouble. He knew what it was to be in anguish. Yet nevertheless, he tells his disciples this. Let not your heart be troubled. And by the way, that's the same word that is used later on where Jesus said his soul is troubled. Same word. Let not your soul be troubled, he tells the disciples. And then he gives him the antidote to trouble. He knows that they're going to be troubled, but here it is. Well, what's the next word? Believe. Let not your heart be troubled. Believe. Believe in God. Believe also in me. So when the bomb drops in your life, don't yield to unbelief. Belief is your counterattack. Belief is the weapon that's been given to you. He's not saying that the first shockwave won't be there, but he's saying counterattack with belief. Brothers and sisters, no one knew better what it was to suffer and how to respond to suffering than Jesus Christ. So let's look in closing, let's look at how Jesus responded. Let's look at how he responded to his own troubled soul. Consider Jesus. Let's consider it so that we might be able to know when the trials come, when adversity strikes, when temptation comes, when bombs drop into our lives. As we look at this, I want you to think about something. What is it that threatens your peace? What's the bomb that Satan is dropping most frequently in your thoughts, in your thought life, or in the experiences around you? What's the bomb that keeps coming up and keeps causing a lack of peace in your life? What causes the disheartening feelings most in your life? What temptation brings you the most anguish to your soul? What trial do you dread? Think about those things. What I'm asking is this, basically, what is your Gethsemane? What is it? Well, let's look at how Jesus handled anguish and translate these things into our lives. Jesus chose some close friends to be with him. Remember, Peter, James and John, he was troubled. His soul was on to death. But rather than withdrawing, he took his most precious and trusted friends to be with him. So likewise, when Satan drops the bombs, don't retreat from people. Don't isolate. Find a couple of good, close brothers and sisters with whom you can unburden your soul. In Gethsemane, we see just how Jesus trusts these men. He opens up to them. He confesses they're closest to Him. They're mere men. But He says, He tells them, I'm disheartened even unto death. Imagine what that must have sounded like to the disciples. Here's their Lord and their Master saying, confessing to them, I'm so disheartened even unto death. Next, he asked for their help in spiritual warfare. He says, Remain here and watch with me. Stay here and fight with me. Now, we know that this cup of Jesus was unique. This suffering went beyond all the suffering that any suffering that we will experience. We know that. And we know also that he had to bear this cup alone. We knew we know that, but nevertheless, it's an example to us that we need to enlist the prayers of others. Don't we don't need to fight alone. We're not called to battle Satan ourselves, but in the time of testing, get a hold of someone who, you know, is going to pray. Don't do the battle alone. Next, we find Jesus pours out his heart to the father, Abba. Daddy, Abba, Daddy, all things are possible for Thee. Remove this cup from me. Think about that for a moment. There's nothing wrong with asking that the cup be removed, that the bombs in our lives be taken away. There's nothing wrong with that. Your father, God, your daddy, is stronger than your enemy. And he's stronger than any trial. There's nothing wrong with asking that the temptation, the testing, be removed. That he remove the pain, the heartache, the torture, the sorrow, the anguish. Ask him. You know, many times we receive not because we ask not. And Jesus' words are the cry of a child, Abba. There's no theological sophistication in that word. Abba. Dada. Dada, please. You can do anything. Can't you do this? The faith of a child. But, lastly, and most importantly, if that trial not be removed, for the glory of God, Christ rests His soul in the sovereign wisdom of His Father. And there is the victory won. He says, yes, not what I will, but thou will be done. When Satan drops a bomb in your life that brings shockwaves of anguish, disheartening you, sends you into despair at times, It's not sin until you say, I'm not employing the means of grace which Christ employed in Gethsemane. It is sin yielding to the depression. It is sin saying, I'm going it alone. I'm not asking others to pray for me. It's sin to not take up the armor of God. It is sin to refuse to wage the spiritual warfare. It's sin to refuse to believe. But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. So let the lesson of Gethsemane be this. This I draw from John Piper. The lesson of Gethsemane. that every dark cavern that you find yourself in is a tunnel that opens into His glory. Every dark cavern that you find yourself in is a tunnel that opens into His glory if you don't sit down in the cave and blow out the candle of faith. That is, If you'll believe that his grace is sufficient for you. That's what it comes down to. If you're in a dark cavern. Just a tunnel to glory. Don't sit down in there. Just keep on going. Don't blow out the candle of faith. His grace is sufficient. Amen. I'm going to close in prayer using the words of the second half of the devotional that was sent out and offer these up as a prayer to the Lord for the year ahead. Lord, whatever your trials may be, may your grace be ever sufficient for us. You have delivered and you can and will deliver us again. You've brought us thus far on the road. You've borne our crooked ways. and have never yet forsaken us. But we have so often forsaken you. Still, lead us along, guide and guard us still. Be our God, our Father, and our friend, not only to the end of the next year, if we be spared to see it, but to the end of our life. Bless us with your presence, and we need fear no evil. Favor us with your smile, and we dread no foe. Uphold us by your power, and we need shrink back from no trial. Strengthen us by your grace, and we need panic at no suffering. Lord, we know that what we are when left to ourselves, the slips that we've made, the snares that we've become entangled in, the shame and the sorrow that we have brought upon ourselves, we know that. Lord, and if we don't know it as Pastor Bill prayed in the beginning, may we know. The shame of sin in our lives that we not play with it. That we not be bold with it, Lord. May we know the slips that we've made, the snares that we have become entangled in the shame and the sorrow And we have brought upon ourselves. So that we pray, if your presence does not go with us, don't send us up from here. Lord, we can identify with the psalmist who said, my heart and my flesh fell. Be the strength of our hearts, Lord, and our portion forever be the strength of my heart, Lord, and my portion forever. Lord, I pray that you would grant us the faith to believe this and to say it and to believe it with all of our hearts. Grant us the faith, Lord, to believe your word, to believe. But God grant us the faith, Lord, as the just shall live by faith. And Lord, your word says you take no pleasure in us shrinking back. So may we be counted among those who do not shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. Amen.