This message was given at Grace Community Church in Minden, Nevada. At the end, we will give information about how to contact us to receive a copy of this or other messages. Let's take our Bibles and turn to Luke's Gospel, chapter 22. Luke, chapter 22. We're going to read Verses 39 through 46. So give attention to the reading of God's holy word. And he came out and proceeded as was his custom to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples also followed him. When he arrived at the place, He said to them, pray that you may not enter into temptation. And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and he knelt down and began to pray, saying, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Yet not my will, but yours be done. Now an angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him. Being in agony, he was praying very fervently and his sweat became like drops of blood falling down upon the ground. When he arose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow and said to them, why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not enter into temptation. This is God's holy word. It of course is common and right for us to speak about the love of Christ which was expressed to us and for us on the cross. It's a love that we could very fittingly describe as Calvary love. It's the love that the Apostle Paul describes when he says, the life that I live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. That's Calvary love, a love that was obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. And in fact, this coming Friday, what we call Good Friday, we will celebrate, we will commemorate Christ's love demonstrated for us on Calvary's tree. Every time we partake of communion, every time we eat the Lord's Supper, we remember that love. That love in which the Lord Jesus willingly laid down His life for us. But there was love that was exhibited before the cross. And in fact, there was a love that actually made the cross a reality for us, and that love took place in the garden of Gethsemane. If we can speak of Calvary love, then we must also certainly speak of Gethsemane love. So what we're going to do today as we really prepare for this next week, this next Friday, as we observe Good Friday, and then a week from today, this Lord's Day, as we remember the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, What we're going to do is we're going to look at Jesus in the garden, and we're going to consider first the setting, and then we're going to look at Jesus' distress and his prayer. And in fact, it's that distress and prayer that has oftentimes caused consternation and even confusion among God's people as they wonder, why in the world would Jesus actually pray that the cup be taken from him? And then we will look at the cup itself And then finally, we'll look at our Lord's submission to His Father. Now, we're gonna be primarily in Luke's gospel, but I will be making reference to the other synoptic gospels, Matthew and Mark. And so the setting, of course, is that the Lord's Supper has just been observed, chapter 22, verses 14 to 20. Jesus had actually taken that Passover meal and he had forever transformed it when he said, after taking the bread, this is my body which is given for you Do this in remembrance of me one thing we know for absolute certain and that is for hundreds and hundreds of years of Jewish people Observing the Passover never had a rabbi never had a father or a family leader Taken the bread of the Passover held it up and then turn around and said this is my body never had it even crossed anybody's mind to say, this is my body which is given for you, do this in remembrance of me. In the same way he took the cup And after they had eaten, he took the cup saying, this is the cup which is poured out for you in the new covenant in my blood. Again, in centuries of observing Passover, never had anyone held up one of the cups in the Passover service and say that this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood. Jesus forever transforms the Passover meal into now the Lord's supper for his people. after this, and I've often wondered, we don't have any indication whatsoever from the disciples and what their reaction would have been, but it is fascinating to me to think about what were the disciples thinking as Jesus actually says, this is my body which is given for you, do this in remembrance of me, and this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood. I wonder if Peter looked at John and said, did he forget the words? This is not the typical Jewish liturgy that's used. Jesus then goes from that sober event, which by the way, those disciples would not fully recognize what had just happened until after the resurrection. Then Jesus turns around and predicts that he's going to be betrayed. And in Luke chapter 22 verses 21 to 23, Jesus actually says that he was going to be betrayed. And this is a sobering prediction. And of course, upon such a sobering prediction, the disciples with incredible sensitivity and grace begin discussing who it could be, which then turns into an argument about who's the greatest. I am so thankful for the disciples. Our Lord, with patience and grace towards his disciples, uses that as a moment to teach them about servant leadership in his kingdom. And then he turns and he says to Peter, Simon, Simon, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like we, but I've prayed for you that your faith would not fail. When you return, go and strengthen your disciples. He then predicts specifically Simon Peter's betrayal. And of course, Simon Peter doesn't believe it for a second. With unbelievable audacity, Simon Peter turns around and in the face of a prediction made by the Son of God says, Lord, that's not going to happen. Now, I mean, I realize that it's pretty probable with these guys. I mean, they may betray you, but I'm not going to betray you. And then the heaviness of the night begins to reach its peak. And Jesus says to his disciples, 22, 37, I tell you, that this which is written must be fulfilled in me, and he was numbered with transgressors, for that which refers to me has its fulfillment. The disciples, by the way, in Luke's gospel especially, still don't get it. They actually say, well, we've got a couple of swords, and Jesus says it's enough. And Matthew and Mark actually record that after these events, Jesus and the disciples sing a hymn, and then they go to the Mount of Olives. Luke just simply tells us that they proceed to the Mount of Olives, and then Luke adds this little expression, as was his custom. We know that Jesus, especially from John's gospel, the synoptics only record one journey into Jerusalem, but we know from John's gospel that Jesus would have journeyed to Jerusalem a number of times through the course of his ministry, probably about a three-day walk from Galilee to Jerusalem. And there's the Mount of Olives. And it was a place where Jesus, as Luke tells us, according to custom, would go to pray. Matthew and Mark actually tell us the name of the specific spot on the Mount of Olives. And that is, he went to this place, this garden spot called Gethsemane. And what's interesting is that the word Gethsemane itself means oil press, which of course refers to the process of crushing out of the olives, the precious oil, which was really a staple of life in that part of the world. We actually learned while we were in Israel that The best oil is not found in the fleshy part of the olive, but it's found in the pit, which must be utterly crushed. The center must be utterly crushed if it is to yield its most precious oil. Jesus indeed was about to be crushed. The next thing that we see upon Jesus and his disciples going into the garden is Jesus' distress and his prayer. So what's interesting is that the gospel writers actually depict more about the distress of Jesus in the garden than they actually do depicting the agonies of Jesus on Calvary. Think about that for a second. Well, we think, and rightfully so, we make much of Jesus' suffering on Calvary. We think of the crucifixion, we think of everything that leads up to the crucifixion, we think of the tremendous suffering that took place by our Lord Jesus, and yet the gospel writers actually spend quite a bit more time on the suffering of Jesus in the garden than they do the agonies of the cross. Matthew tells us that as he enters into the garden, he says, he began to be grieved and distressed. Mark uses the same word distress, but then he uses a different word that means to be alarmed or astonished, that we would say overwhelmed. And so Jesus enters into the garden with his disciples after observing the Passover meal, which he has transformed, and as he enters into that garden, into that place of prayer, into that place of pressing, what he begins to experience is a grief and a distress, and to be absolutely overwhelmed. Now, Luke does not actually tell us anything about that at the beginning. he actually reserves his depiction of our Lord's anguish until a little later. The next scene is moving. Matthew and Mark actually have Jesus addressing his disciples, actually telling them that, I am grieved, I am excessively sorrowful. And then the texts tell us in Matthew and Mark, where Jesus says, I am sorrowful to the point of death. We become so familiar with these gospel accounts that we move right past these little statements that are so profoundly significant? What is it to be sorrowful to the point of death? As Jesus enters into that place where he's going to engage in prayer with his heavenly Father, he looks at his disciples and he tells them that I am grieved to the point of death. I am so filled with sorrow right now that I could die. And then Jesus goes away from them after he says to his closest friends, watch with me and pray. Our Lord Jesus goes throughout his earthly ministry, and there really is, that I can think of, no explicit, no express time where you see any kind of dependence upon the disciples. In fact, the disciples are always in after-school remedial mode. The disciples are always having to be reprimanded. You of little faith, how long do I need to be with you? Jesus is always having to teach them and then reteach them and then correct them. And yet here in Jesus' deepest need, In the hour of his deepest need, he looks to those three friends, Peter, James, and John. All the disciples are in the garden with him. He takes the three with him a little farther, looks at them, and he simply asks them the most basic, simple favor as a friend, and that is, watch with me and pray. Luke's gospel then tells us that Jesus went a stone's throw away. which is a metaphor actually for just a few yards. And what we see next is Jesus goes off by himself, is described for the gospel writers in such moving terms. Matthew says, he went away and he fell on his face. Mark tells us that as he went, he was repeatedly falling upon the ground. Luke tells us that he kneeled down, going to his knees. It's very possible that what's being described by the gospel writers would have been something that was common in Jewish tradition, and that is to take some steps to kneel down and to pray and to get up and then do it again. But there's also a sense where Jesus' distress and anguish is, as it were, just pressing down upon him so that the weight of what is happening to him begins to make him, as it were, stumble to the ground and fall to the ground. And he gets up and goes a little farther, and he begins to pray. And his prayer is actually simple, but it is filled with absolute, utter earnestness. He says, Father, Abba Father, If it is possible, if you are willing. So one gospel says, if it's possible, the other gospel, if you're willing, actually both of those make sense. It is only possible if God is indeed willing. If it is possible, take this cup from me. This is his prayer. He has gone to His knees, literally the weight of the world is upon His shoulders, and He is being pressed down upon in such a way that He is in agony of soul and utter grief, and He is engaging with His Father, the one whom He had engaged in perfect holy communion, all the entirety of His human existence. Our Lord Jesus knew exactly what it was to walk in perfect communion, perfect fellowship with His Heavenly Father, we see actually in all Gospels Luke most pronouncingly, and that is our Lord Jesus continually going away, taking time to pray privately with the Father. Our Lord Jesus was a man of prayer, and He knew what it was to commune, and I would dare say that no one in this world has ever prayed like the Lord Jesus prayed. Nobody had ever talked to God in the way that the Lord Jesus talked to God. Nobody had ever communed with the Father as the Lord Jesus, the Son, communed with the Father. And here in this dark and deep place, Jesus is laying hold using the most earnest, the most compassionate, the most tender words possible. Father, Abba Father, if it's possible, if you're willing, take this cup from me. And then he ends the prayer with this simple statement, but not my will, but yours be done." All three synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, reveal that when Jesus returned, He found His disciples sleeping. Matthew and Mark tell us their eyes were heavy. They've just eaten The Passover meal. You know what happens. Try to pray after you've eaten. Try to listen to a sermon after you've eaten. I know exactly what that's like. Trying to preach to you after you've eaten is not an easy task. But Luke actually tells us something different. Matthew and Mark say they were sleeping because their eyes were heavy. Luke actually tells us in a sense why their eyes were heavy. And it wasn't just that they had actually just eaten supper, that may be a part of it, but they were sleeping actually from sorrow or from grief. Those of you who know what it is to have deep sorrow, those of you who know what it is to experience deep grief know that there's a time where you come and you just fall dead asleep. It is an emotional and physical relief to get sleep. And so here's our Lord agonizing in prayer, Father, if it's possible, take this cup from me. And there are the disciples whom he has simply requested of them, stay here, watch and pray. And he returns to find them sleeping. Both Matthew and Mark tell us that Jesus prayed this prayer three times. Luke only explicitly records for us once, but we know that there was more because of the way he describes it. But Luke actually gives us a unique detail in the Garden of Gethsemane that none of the other gospel writers give to us. And we see that in verse 43, after he had prayed, Father, if you're willing to remove this cup from me, yet not my will, but yours be done. Verse 43 says, an angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him. And so here our Lord is, completely spent, as it were, having poured out His heart and His soul in prayer, and an angel from heaven comes and strengthens Him. I take that to mean strengthens Him physically, emotionally, spiritually, for Him to do what? For Him to keep on praying! And in fact, He was strengthened in such a way that we then read in verse 44, and being in agony, He was praying very fervently. You see the way that these words come together to depict what our Lord is doing in the garden. Here He is agonizing in prayer, fervently praying, and so intense and so fervent was His praying that the text says His sweat became like drops of blood falling down upon the ground. This fervent, intense wrestling with God led to his profuse perspiration. Whether Luke is speaking metaphorically, notice this, his sweat became like drops of blood, or whether Luke is actually telling us that in our Lord's intensity, he actually broke capillaries, and those broken capillaries mingled blood with his own sweat. The fact still remains and the point is still the same. Here is our Lord Jesus agonizing in the garden, praying fervently in the garden, and in fact wrestling with God as no man had ever wrestled with God. And here's the question. This is Jesus. This is the Son of God! This is the Word that became flesh! This is the one that faced off against Satan in the wilderness. This is Jesus who confronted Jewish leaders of His day without flinching. This is Jesus who encountered the demonically possessed, who encountered opposition, who encountered angry crowds. This is Jesus who always seemed so resolute, always seemed so determined, always seemed so mission-minded, always seemed so composed. Why? Why in this hour, in this moment in the garden, does our Lord recoil from what is before Him? Why does He pray, if it's possible, God, let there be another way? Think about it. This is the hour for which He came. This is the purpose for which he entered into this world. The Son of Man came into this world for this hour, and hence throughout the Gospel of John, his hour had not yet come, his hour had not yet come, his hour had not yet come. And so, as he is there in the garden, agonizing with his father, he asks his father, if it's possible, can you take this cup from me? Luther was absolutely right. No man ever feared death like this man. Let me say it again. No man ever feared death like this man. Why? The answer is found explicitly in what he is praying for. He is praying for the removal of the cup. And so, as we think about why does our Lord Jesus so fervently, so intensely agonize with the Father, asking him to take the cup away, the answer to this prayer is actually found in the cup. And now, you read the commentators and those who write about the gospel events, and many will say, now the cup is a symbol of suffering and maybe even death. And I would say, well that's true, but it's only true as far as it goes. It's only true as far as it goes. And let me just put it to you plainly, Jesus is not agonizing in the garden because he knows death by crucifixion is so painful. I don't imagine he was looking forward to the suffering, to the beating, to the absolute, utter suffering, and then to a horrific, barbaric, inhumane death. But I will tell you that the Romans crucified thousands and thousands and thousands of people. What our Lord Jesus is shrinking back from is the cup, and that cup is not just suffering and death, that cup is the cup of God's wrath. That cup, which in that hour, it is as if, as the Lord Jesus got closer and closer to Calvary, it is as if the Father Himself lifted that cup of wrath up and was putting it closer and closer to our Lord's lips. And as our Lord Jesus contemplated having to drink that cup, and to drink it all the way down, to drink its dregs, as He thought about that, He recoiled from it. Why? Because Psalm 75 verse 8, a cup is in the hand of the Lord, and the wine foams, it's well mixed. He pours out of it this, surely all the wicked of the earth must drink down its dregs. The cup is the cup of God's justice and God's anger, which is reserved for the wicked in judgment. Isaiah 51.17, the cup of His wrath, the cup of God's wrath, the goblet that makes men stagger. Some translations talk about the chalice of reeling, and that is so overwhelming is the wrath and the just anger of God seen in this cup that it causes men to stagger and to fall. Revelation 14.10, the wine of God's fury which has been poured out full strength into the cup his wrath. So do you see what's in the cup? When he says, take this cup from me, it's not just simply the cup of suffering, it's not just simply the cup of death, it is the cup of God's holy just wrath. It's the cup of God's anger, it's the cup of God's righteous fury against our sins. And it's all of this white-hot wrath of God Almighty that has been poured into this cup, and as God Almighty has poured His wrath into this cup, wrath that you deserved and I deserved, that wrath is poured in, and it's poured in, and it is not mixed with one drop of mercy. As that cup is poured, it's not mixed with even a half a drop of divine love. There's absolutely nothing in that cup but the just, holy wrath of an offended God. And as Jesus thinks about having to drink it, The very one who had lived in perfect communion with his father recoils from this. And so we sing, death and the curse were in our cup. O Christ, t'was full for thee, but thou hast drained the last dark drop. Tis empty now for me. That bitter cup, love, drank it up, thy bruising healeth me. And so Isaiah the prophet could say, all of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. Who causes the iniquity of us all to fall on Him? The Lord causes the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. Isaiah 53.10, it pleased who? It pleased the Lord to crush Him, putting Him to grief. Jesus understands that what He is facing is He is about to face the white holy wrath of God against the wicked, unmixed with love, unmixed with mercy, as he is going to be crucified on Calvary, he will be there and God Almighty will be causing the iniquities of us all to be heaped on him. And so Paul says Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, How? By having become a curse for us. This is why Luther said, no man ever feared death like this man. Death was the consummation of what it was to drink the cup of God's just wrath down to its last drop, down to where there was nothing left, and it culminates in God pouring out His judgment on the cross. So although we could say, and certainly should, no man ever feared death like this, We can also equally say no man ever prayed like this. The old Scottish theologian and pastor Hugh Martin of 150 years ago, in his marvelous little book called The Shadow of Calvary, wrote these words, he says, could he have had a true body and a reasonable soul and not sensitively shrunk from undergoing the terrors of the Lord? Could his soul have been holy? Could he have truly feared God and not trembled in sorrow and in anguish in the prospect of God's anger or the presence of his wrath? Hugh Martin goes on to say that his holy human nature, considering the matter solely in itself, could not but desire to be exempt from such woe. considered simply in itself to desire exemption from the wrath of God was the dictate of His holy human nature, considered as at once sensitive and reasonable and holy. Hugh Martin's point is well worth considering when you stop and think about the perfection and the sinlessness and the absolute holiness of our Lord Jesus, a holiness and purity of soul, the very idea of him actually then taking upon himself the wrath of God which is reserved for the wicked, what else would you expect him to do but to recoil from it and to shrink from it and to ask if there could be another way? If our Lord had asked for anything else, It would not have reflected a purity and holiness of soul as he faced the hell of Golgotha. The quote that I put in the bulletin for you is by an old Dutch theologian named Claus Skilder who says something to the effect that you'd have to be in hell for some time to understand what's tearing Jesus apart in the garden. The father does not give him another way. And yet. And yet. This is next Sunday. The writer of the Hebrew says. God heard his prayer. God heard his prayer. That's next Sunday. The father doesn't give him another way. The father doesn't say, well, you know, son, I realized that the heaviness of this burden is so unbelievable to you. And now that you're actually right up to that moment where it is so close, I think that we can figure out a plan B. That was not in the father's plan or purpose. And here's the amazing thing about the obedience of the Lord Jesus. The writer to the Hebrews talks about Jesus having learned obedience through the things that he suffered. Stop and think. We sometimes think, oh, learn obedience. Well, that means he must have been disobedient. That's not the point that the writer to the Hebrews is making. What the writer to the Hebrews is telling us is Jesus has always been sinless, Jesus has always been perfect, but Jesus actually learned obedience at every stage and every step of life. And so every stage and every step presented the Lord Jesus with new challenges and new obstacles. And in fact, think of it this way, new opportunities to disobey. And here it reaches its climax in the garden. And our Lord Jesus now is faced with either submitting to the father's will in perfect obedience. Or resisting. And in that moment. Jesus learns obedience. Through what he is suffering. And so says. But not my will, but yours be done. The father strengthens the son to submit to his perfect will, and Jesus says three times, punctuating this petition with, not my will, but yours be done, which, by the way, is the most explicit expression of trust and dependence that any of us could ever pray. I have absolutely nothing but disdain in my heart for those so-called faith teachers that say, don't pray, not my will but yours be done, because it's a lack of faith. I say that to conclude your prayer with the Father, not my will but yours be done, is the fullest expression of utter dependence upon our God possible. And so Jesus says, not my will but yours be done. Why does he pray that? Because there was something more that Jesus wanted than simply to avoid Golgotha, and that something more was to do the will of the Father. Oh, there's nothing in Golgotha that attracts the Lord Jesus, only that which repels him, only that which repulses him, only that which causes his holy soul to recoil. But there was something more that Jesus wanted than for that cup to be taken away from him, and that was to do the will of the one who sent him. And so he submits to the Father's will with an obedience that absolutely none of us could have ever given. And with resolution, he gets up in Matthew and Mark's gospel. Let us be going from here in which then the soldiers come and meet him in that moment. But there he is. He was willing. He submits to the father and he drank the cup, which would have cost you and me an eternity in hell. Friday night, we're going to explore more of this Calvary love, but make no mistake about it, as our Lord Jesus is in the garden and as he's wrestling, as he arises resolutely from his knees after having prayed, not my will, but yours be done, he has just, as it were, sealed our eternal redemption. Marvel at the love of Christ in the garden. Marvel at what Jesus agonizes through in the garden of Gethsemane. The garden is a grand expositor, as it were. Gethsemane love actually reveals, on the one hand, the magnitude of our sin. Understand, that's what Jesus is recoiling from, is actually being judged for our sin. If you and I were just guilty of a few little piccadillos here and there, there would have been no reason for Jesus to recoil. But as Jesus considers the magnitude of our sin and the horror of God's wrath, Gethsemane love says, Jesus looks at the magnitude of our sin, the horrors of God's wrath, and says, Father, not my will, but yours be done. Gethsemane love also reveals to us the loving purpose of the father. The father sends the son into the world to do this very thing for us. It was the father's purpose. It was the father's intent that the good shepherd would come into this world and willingly lay down his life for his sheep. Gethsemane love also shows us our Savior's loving submission for the glory of God and for the good of His people. I understand the glory of God. There's something that registers, that makes sense in my mind as Jesus submits to the will of God and does so ultimately for the glory of God, because there's no higher purpose. There's nothing infinitely greater than the glory of God. That is the infinite good in all of creation, all of the cosmos, all of everything that we don't even know about, untold galaxies and universes. The greatest thing is the glory of God. And so for Jesus to say, not my will, but yours be done, and to lovingly submit to the plan of the Father for the glory of God makes tremendous sense to me. But here's what boggles my mind. Is that not the only reason he did it? He did it. For love. For you. And for me. Does not the apostle tell us. That every once in a while. You might find someone. who would die for a righteous man. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this, and that while we were yet enemies, while we were yet sinners, while we were yet the godless, Christ came and died for us. In Gethsemane, he's not wrestling with whether he should do a good deed for nice people. In Gethsemane, he's wrestling with whether or not he could drink the wrath that rebels deserved. He's wrestling with whether or not he could drink the wrath that God's enemies deserved. Beloved, understand this, you will never appreciate Gethsemane love, let alone Calvary love, until you realize that that cup is rightfully yours. and that you justly deserve eternal condemnation. You justly deserve to be an object of God's wrath, not for a decade, not for a lifetime, but forever. That's what we justly deserve. And as our Lord Jesus contemplated drinking that cup, he was thinking about you and me loving us while we were enemies. Thanks be to God for not only the mighty sufferer of Calvary, but thanks be to God for the mighty wrestler of Gethsemane who wrestled with the Father and submitted to the Father for His glory and for our everlasting salvation. Have you trusted in this one? who said, not my will, but yours be done. If you have not, think of the tremendous insult to the father. To send his son into the world to go through that, to endure that, to drink that cup, to agonize in the garden, and then to turn around and say, I don't need him, Oh, may God have mercy on you if you think you don't need them. But maybe today you realize you do. Run to him by faith, without hesitation. Embrace him as your all in all. Be able to say, even as we sung earlier, hallelujah, all I have is Christ. Hallelujah, Jesus is my life. What he did in the garden, he did to the great purpose of securing the forgiveness of your sins. and your everlasting happiness. Embrace Him. Trust Him. Can you trust someone that would do this for you? Can you trust one that would go to Calvary for you? I don't know anybody that would go to Calvary for you. I don't know anybody that would go to Calvary for me, except one. Trust Him. Bank your hope on Him. Embrace Him. Make Him your own. Be able to leave here today being able to say, Jesus Christ is mine and I am His. Hallelujah. What a Savior. Let's pray. Father, we pray. that the great prayer of our Lord Jesus in the garden would bear the fruit of salvation in the hearts of many today. Holy Spirit, open blind eyes and do what you do best. Make men and women and boys and girls born from above. We ask this in the name of the One who died for us, Jesus Christ. Amen. We hope you've enjoyed this message from Grace Community Church in Minden, Nevada. To receive a copy of this or other messages, call us at area code 775-782-6516 or visit our website gracenevada.com.