Turn your Bibles to the 26th chapter of Matthew. Matthew 26. And we'll be reading together verses 31 through 46. Verses 31 through 46. We're getting closer and closer to the crucifixion as we go. And now we've come to the Garden of Gethsemane. Matthew 26, 31 through 46. This is the word of the Lord and I charge you to listen accordingly. Then Jesus said to them, all of you will be made to stumble because of me this night. For it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. But after I've been raised, I will go before you to Galilee. Peter answered and said to him, even if all were made to stumble because of you, I will never be made to stumble. Jesus said to him, assuredly, I say to you that this night before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. Peter said to him, even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you. And so said all the disciples. Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane and said to the disciples, sit here while I go and pray over there. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then he said to them, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with me. He went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed, saying, Oh, my father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. Then he came to the disciples and found them asleep and said to Peter, What? Could you not keep watch with me one hour? Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Again, a second time, he went away and prayed, saying, Oh, my father, if this cup cannot pass away from me unless I drink it, your will be done. And he came and found them asleep again for their eyes were heavy. So he left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then he came to his disciples and said to them, Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand." That's the word of the Lord, and we pray that he would bless it to our hearts. Amen. about ten years ago or so, when I was just about graduating college, I remember my dad and I having a conversation. And he was telling me, with his tongue in his cheek, but I could tell there was something to what he was saying. He was saying that if we were like the old days, he wished we were like the old days in the sense that there would still be arranged marriages. And he said, I guarantee you, I could pick someone better for you than you could. Now, he was saying this in jest, but I could tell, my dad had a little bit of the old world still left in him, that this was the case, and he actually thought this. And, of course, he picked his own wife. He was living in a time when they didn't have arranged marriages, and he would have no one else do it for him. But he could see from his own point of view the wisdom in that. And from a certain perspective, I'm not advocating this at all, but from a certain perspective, I can understand it. Think about it. Think about how much your whole life is changed based upon one decision. It determines the rest of your life. It changes everything. Not only does it change everything for you, it determines who your children will be, and in many ways, how they will be as well. It's not often, but it occurs many times in our lives, and marriage is one instance, where one decision can change the whole course, not only of our lives, but of the lives of those who come after us. Another example of this type of decision is what college you choose. That changes everything, often. Or what major you decide on, it often changes. It's not necessary, but it often alters your history, or what you will be and what you will do. One decision determining, or at least altering, the way your life will be in the future. It seems almost unfair, but it's true. It happens so often that just one decision, one choice can change so much of the future. In the scripture, we see these types of decisions being made. I'm going to highlight in this sermon three of these types of decisions. We see, first of all, in the Garden of Eden, we see the decision that Adam makes between, essentially between God and Satan, but it's given concretely between the tree, the knowledge of good and evil, whether you eat it from its fruit or whether you don't. That decision, of course, changed many things. Secondly, and often skipped over, but I think it's very important, given especially Matthew's emphases, The decision which Israel makes between life and death, which was put before them in the last chapters of Deuteronomy. God says to his people, see I set before you life and death, and their decision there. A decision which alters history, not just for themselves, but for many of the people after them. And finally, and this is where we'll go and we'll end up. Today this morning is the choice that Christ makes here in the garden the choice is he going to obey his father? Or is he not going to obey? These are the three decisions in Scripture. I think which have such Implications for how the rest of world history plays out So we're going to do is go over all three of these with of course the focus being on the last one which is Embedded in our passage here this morning beginning with the choice for Adam I think we do well just to refresh ourselves a little bit about what's going on there. In Genesis chapter 2 verses 16 and 17, the very beginning of it all, God creates heaven and earth and he makes Adam, he forms him out of the dust, he breathes life into him and he commands him saying, of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." There it is, quite simply, the decision. Either you don't eat from this tree and be blessed and live, or you do and you die. You surely shall die. That clear, that simple, that's the decision. And what is this life which Adam would have received had he obeyed? Well, we see a glimpse of it in the garden itself before he disobeys. He has communion and fellowship with God. We see this in Genesis chapter 2 when he's naming the animals. God is there bringing forth the animals to him and he, Adam, is naming them. We see God walking around in the cool of the day. Clearly there's this communion and fellowship with God. There is a good relationship with his wife who will be created soon in Genesis 2 after that. There's no sin in the world. There's a beautiful garden. All these are the great benefits if Adam obeys. But of course if he disobeys, We learn that death is the ultimate punishment. In the day you eat of it, you shall surely die. Now, of course, we know what happens. Eve eats it and gives it to Adam, and Adam says, this looks good enough, and he eats it. And, of course, sin is brought into the world. One decision which had implications not only for Adam and Eve themselves, but for their children. We see that with Cain and Abel and their children's children and so on and so forth to we who are sitting here this day. That decision brought sin and death into the world as God promised. And the death came in the form, not of immediate death or immediate loss of life, but it came in the form, first of all, of strife in relationships. This is part of Eve's curse. You know, your husband, your desire will be to rule your husband, but he will rule over you. And of course, and then that was part of the death involved. Another one would be strife or difficulty at work, thorns and thistles coming up out of the ground, part of God's curse. Instead of having the fruit yield in a very, very easy and nice way, now thorns and thistles are going to have to be dealt with. And any of you who have dealt with thorns and thistles know that is not very pleasant. And of course, the ultimate death, which was loss of communion with God. We read in Genesis chapter three, after Adam and Eve sin against God, we read this and the Lord God commanded the man saying, excuse me, here's Genesis chapter three. Therefore, the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So he drove out the man and placed cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden and a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life." That is death. That is being expelled from God's presence, and we know that because the cherubim are there. And later in scripture, we learned the cherubim are there with God's presence on the Ark of the Covenant, the cherubim are there in the Ark, of course, symbolized God's presence. Adam and Eve were no longer able to have that blessed communion with God that they had at the beginning. That was what life was essentially living with God in the garden. But the garden was blocked off and the cherubim blocked it off and therefore they were expelled as if they were exiled. And they were. They were taken out of the Garden of Eden. Taken out of their land. Expelled from God's presence. This is death. And ultimately it meant death in the sense we talk about it and then eternal death eternal separation from God's blessing and His mercy and this decision was not just for Adam and Eve They weren't acting only for themselves Adam was acting for the race that followed him and we see this clearly in Genesis right Cain and Abel following the footsteps of their parents and especially what Cain does, and he murders his brother. And this is the sin that God brings into the world and the punishment, and it brings death upon an innocent man, Abel. At the time of Noah, we see that every thought and every imagination of all human beings was only evil all the time. Extremely emphatic language about the sinfulness of human beings at the time of the flood, and then God's just punishment of that, death. And it's as if the whole world died at that point, covered again by water like it was in the beginning. And we see the results of sin, not only affecting Adam and Eve, but all of their, the theological term is posterity, but that just means their progeny or their descendants, all of them are affected by this decision that they made. Next, we move to another decision that was made in scripture. And this is the choice for Israel, a choice for Israel. God wasn't done with his creation at that point. God created his creatures and therefore he was somewhat responsible for them. It might seem, since they are basically sticking up their fist at him and sinning against him, that God might just destroy them completely and start again, right? That seems logical. But God doesn't do that. He remains committed to his creation even if they are not committed to him. And so he calls Abraham out of the land of Babylon, Ur of the Chaldees, and he brings him into a new land, him and his family, and he makes him a very important promise. And that promise is that through his seed, or through his descendant, all nations of the earth would be blessed. And God gives Abraham this promise. Abraham believes this promise, and it shows that God is going to reverse the curse that he brought upon the earth. The curse was given in Genesis 3. The promise of blessing comes in Genesis chapter 12, and then again repeated in chapter 15, chapter 17, and finally in chapter 22. This promise of blessing. to reverse the curse. And God sets up the children of Abraham, who become the nation of Israel. And they go into slavery into Egypt. You know the story. And God, through a mighty hand and outstretched arm, brings them out over across the Red Sea to new life. And just like Adam, he brings them to new life and gives them a law to follow. And tells them, there is life if you obey. And there is death if you disobey. Now, if you want to read the whole account of this, you should read Deuteronomy chapter 27 through 30. Now, those are long chapters too, so that gives a detailed account of what that life looks like and a detailed account of what that death might look like also if they disobey. But it's succinctly given to us, it's in a very short form, in Deuteronomy chapter 11 verses 13 through 17. So let me read that to you to give you an idea of the same choice that Israel had as Adam did. And it shall be that if you earnestly obey my commandments, God speaking, of course, which I command you today to love the Lord, your God, and serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, actually Moses, if he's speaking on God's behalf, then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain, the latter rain that you may gather in your grain, your new wine and your oil. And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock that you may eat and be filled. Take heed to yourselves. Lest your heart be deceived and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them. Lest the Lord's anger be aroused against you and he shut up the heavens so that there be no rain and the land yield no produce and you perish quickly. You perish or die quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you. Again, we see the choice. If you obey God, God will give you life. He'll give you prosperity. He'll give you life in the land which he promised. But if you disobey, These bad things will happen, which ultimately is death. You perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you. Now, in Deuteronomy chapter 30 or chapter 29, which is where, again, these curses are in detail given to us, we see that the worst curse that God threatens Israel with for disobedience is exile. They will be scattered and go to a foreign land that knows not God and that worships other gods. This is what Israel was threatened with. And that, of course, is the same thing that happened to Adam and Eve. After they sinned against God, what happened? They were forced to be removed from God's presence to a land east of Eden, away from the special land God had promised, and they were exiled away from God's presence. So what does Israel do? Well, Israel's decision is not quite as simple as Adam's, either eat or don't eat, but it is in a sense. It's either you follow God or you don't. And we read over and over and over again in the Old Testament, it's almost Incredible when my wife and I are reading the minor prophets now and it's amazing how many times God warned his people Don't do this. Don't do this disaster is coming if you do this yet They did it over and over and over and over again until finally God had enough. He took away the northern kingdom and then After years of struggle after years of going up and down with good King and then a bad King Judah rebelled finally And we read in 2 Kings, chapter 24, the accounts of what happened. Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful man in the world at that time, came to Jerusalem, he and his commanders, and they sieged the city, and they broke through, and they destroyed the whole city. They set it to fire. And they even destroyed the temple where God himself dwelled. In the times of Solomon, God came down to that temple so that the priest couldn't even do the work. His glory, his presence was there. But that very temple where God dwelled was destroyed. And the writer of Kings, whoever he may be, puts it this way. Israel rebelled against the Lord their God, and in the end, He cast them from His presence. He removed them from His presence. He thrust them from His presence. A very similar punishment as Adam and Eve. Removed from God's presence, receiving God's curse. This is death. This is disobedience and the result of it. They were removed from His presence. Adam chose to follow Satan, to follow his own. He wanted to be master of his own destiny. And so God punished him with removal from his presence, his curse and ultimately death. Israel chose to follow other gods and not follow the Lord, their God. And so God punished them and removed them from his presence. And these choices not only affected themselves, but all of us. Why? Because, like I said earlier, when Adam sinned, he brought sin and death into the world and he was acting not just for himself, but all of his descendants. In a similar way, Israel is called the kingdom of priests. They're called the nation, the nation which basically is seen as the light of the world, the nation which all the other nations turn to for guidance, but also in a sense they are a priest. They represent the other nations of the world, and in their failure also is the nation's failure. And so God's promises to Abraham that he would bless the whole world through the descendants of Abraham seem to be in the balance or they seem to be threatened by this. Now, that is just background to our passage here this morning. Why? Because Jesus here finds himself in a garden. I don't think that we are meant that's meant to be lost on us. He finds himself here in a garden with a decision to make. Adam was in the garden and he chose the wrong decision. Jesus is now faced with a decision in the garden. And the gospel of Matthew has in many ways prepared us for this moment. Jesus throughout the Gospel is seen as a new Adam, and I think even more importantly, or more clearly, a new Israel. In the beginning of the Gospel, we read that this is the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham, clearly putting Jesus as the fulfillment of the promises given to Israel, and as the Gospel unfolds, we see that Jesus replays the life of Israel. He's born miraculously, as Israel was. Remember, Sarah had Isaac when she was 90. And Jesus is born even more miraculously from the womb of a virgin. Both go to Egypt, right? Jesus goes to Egypt and then is brought back. And the people of Israel go to Egypt and are brought back. And just like Israel passed through the waters to new life on the other side, Jesus passes through the waters of baptism, receives the commission from God, and goes right to there to give the new law from the Sermon on the Mount, like Moses did. Jesus is here seen as a new Israel. And he, of course, picks 12 disciples to symbolize of being that new Israel. And there were, of course, 12 tribes of Israel. And he does this on purpose. So the Gospel of Matthew has portrayed Jesus in this light for a reason, because he is seen as the new Israel. And as such, he too, like Israel, has this decision to make. Is he going to follow God or is he going to go the way of Israel and the way of Adam and follow the other gods or Satan or their own desires? Remember, if Israel obeyed, what would they get? Life, prosperity, and all these good things. If Adam obeyed, what would he get? Life. Beautiful relationship with God in the garden. But now Jesus is faced with an interesting decision. Instead of being obedient and therefore receiving life, at least at first, being obedient for him means going to death. We see this here. in verses 31 through 35. Then Jesus said to them, all of you will be made to stumble because of me this night, for it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. I will strike them. Jesus' obedience for him means going to his death. Furthermore, en route to that death, we see that, first of all, all of his friends would desert him. Verses 32 through 35 read but after I have been raised I will go before you to Galilee and then Peter answers Even if all were made to stumble because of you I will never be made to stumble and Jesus said to him assuredly I say to you that this night Before the rooster crows you will deny me three times and Peter said to him even if I have to die with you I will not deny you And so said all the disciples, but Jesus knew what was going to happen. He knew that they would all desert him. He knew the prophecy, strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. He knew that they would desert him. It not only means that he'd be going to his death, it means that he would be going to his death alone, by himself, without his friends around him. Obedience to God not only meant going to death, not only meant going to death alone, it meant being betrayed by one of his close friends. Verses 45 and 46. Jesus says at the end of 45, Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hand of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand. Not just desertion, but betrayal. Jesus, of course, knew this right when he was instituting the Lord's Supper. In the previous passage, he saw and he knew that Judas would betray him for 30 pieces of silver, no less. And ultimately, it didn't just mean simply death or desertion or betrayal. It meant that like Adam, like Israel, but in an escalated fashion, he would have to be abandoned by his father. Verse 31, I will strike the shepherd. And of course, as I said earlier, this is clearly God speaking, this echoes an earlier prophecy from Isaiah, chapter 53, verse 10, which reads, for it was the Lord's will to crush him. And Isaiah 53, of course, is talking about Christ, that great passage, which says he was wounded for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. And in verse 10, it says it was the Lord's will to do this. For Adam, obedience meant blessing. For Israel, obedience meant blessing. For Christ, obedience means bearing the curse, not because he did anything wrong himself and therefore deserves it. Because he was bearing it for those who failed, for you and for me, for all of us who have sinned and have fallen short of God's glory. So obedience doesn't look so good for Jesus as it did for Israel and as it did for Adam. And so we see in the guarding, what I'm going to call an agonizing decision with what Jesus here is dealing with in verses 36. Let me read them to you again. And Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane and said to the disciples, sit here while I go and pray over there. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and he began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. And he said to them, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to death. Stay here and watch with me. He went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed, saying, Oh, my father, if it is possible, let this cup pass for me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. Then he came to the disciples and found them asleep and said to Peter, What could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Continuing to verse 42, again a second time he went away and prayed, saying, O my father, if this cup cannot pass away from me unless I drink it, your will be done. I'm going to stop it right there. The disciples obviously don't get the magnitude of what's going on here. Have you ever tried to fall asleep when something extremely important is going to happen? It's very difficult to do, even if it's late. It's just very difficult to do. And this is, of course, so extremely important and life changing and I think world altering what's going to happen within the next couple of days here. And the disciples are falling asleep. So they don't get exactly how important this is. And the decision that Jesus is making here, they're not quite getting it. But Jesus understands. We see in verse thirty nine, oh, my father, if it is possible, let this cup pass for me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. Jesus is asking God to let this cup pass. He's agonizing over this decision and he's praying that there is any way possible to take this away from me. Do it. He uses the metaphor of a cup. which is used often times metaphorically in Scripture as one's lot or one's experience. We often times use in our day, we use, we say like play the hand you're dealt or something like that. It's the same type of idea. Drink the cup you're given would be the idea in the Scripture in that time. And so he's praying to God If there's any other possible way that this could happen, please let it fall on me because this is the worst way possible to get this done. I think there's even more here to the cup metaphor than simply what is your experience or what is your lot. Just previous to this, in Matthew chapter 26, when he's instituting a Lord's Supper, Jesus talked about a cup. We call it the cup of blessing. communion cup. We call it the cup of blessing because that's what Paul calls it in 1 Corinthians 10. Indeed, it is the cup of blessing because it brings blessing to us. But what else is it? It's the cup which was for the remission of sins. It contained in it that which symbolized or was symbolic of Christ's own shed blood for the remission of sins. For Christ, it was not the cup of blessing. It was the cup of God's curse. It was the cup of God's wrath, which would fall upon him in place of his people so that they might be saved. It's this cup. that Jesus is asking God to take away, God the Father, to take away. What did it mean? It meant that he would receive God's curse in place of others. It meant that what Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, he who knew no sin would become sin for us. It meant that Christ would bear our curse in order that the blessing of Abraham might go to the Gentiles. And so he prayed that it would be taken away. But more importantly, he says, not as I will, but as you will. In other words, I am resigned to do your will. And Jesus knows by the end of this that there is no other way that he's going to accomplish his father's will, being obedient than to go straight for the curse. straight for the cross. And the cross meant utter shame. It meant dishonor. Not only meant death, it meant being exposed at the hands of the Gentiles, the enemies of God. It meant not only being exposed, but being hung on a tree, which in the Old Testament law was a sign of God's curse. All for crimes which he did not commit, but ultimately, It meant removal from God's presence. Jesus from the cross cries out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? When the psalmist wrote that, Psalm 22, which he's quoting, he only felt forsaken by God. In a real sense, he was not forsaken. But Jesus was actually forsaken of his father as he bore the sins of the world in his body. This is what it meant for him to take the curse. like Adam and like Israel, but only in a more escalated fashion, in a greater way, Jesus bore the curse. He chooses, unlike Adam and unlike Israel, to obey God. As we come here to a conclusion, I want to ask a few questions about this. I want to ask how Jesus knew or what kept him? How could he possibly do this when he knew he had to go to his own death? What was clear from this passage and in earlier passages, Jesus knew that he would be raised. He knew that he would have to die, but he also knew that there would be life. He knew his own father. He knew his own father to the point that, yes, Jesus would have to bear and exhaust the curse, but at the same time, God blesses obedience and therefore would reward him with life. He knows this because we read in verse 32, but after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee. Even in the midst of his agonizing suffering here in the garden, Jesus knew that God would raise him from the dead, that the Father would raise him, and that he would go see his disciples again in Galilee. He knew this because he knew the scripture, and he knew this because he knew his Father. And so, it allows him to continue. and receive the blessings which God promised after his death, after his bearing the curse. So how should we as Christians think about this? As we think about what Christ did, this sermon is not necessarily, it's difficult to apply. Many Christians talk about their Gethsemanes. And one has to understand what they're saying. We all go through difficult times and we feel that God is away from us. In another sense, it's ridiculous to even speak about our Gethsemane. Only Christ had to go through this. He is unique in this. And all the suffering that we do, yes, we do follow Christ in his pattern of suffering and then exaltation and his pattern of first humiliation and then glory. But we do so with him by our side and our father there with us. We do not have to experience the abandonment that Christ did when he was forsaken of his father. So, the first application is quite clear. Give praise and glory to Christ. He is the only one who has done this for us, and He is the only one that could do this. Let's not speak of our own Gethsemanes. Yes, we do follow in Christ's footsteps, but this is unique. Our problems are nothing compared to this. Secondly, Many times in this world we feel abandoned by God. I know I've been there. We've had that feeling before but remember this Christ went through actual abandonment by God in order that we would never Be abandoned by him We never have to scream out my God my God. Why have you forsaken me even if we feel like it? I Because through Christ, we have immediate access to God's presence. Always. Even on through death itself, the Lord is there with us. And he is faithful, and he will raise us at the last day. And the dwelling of God will be with man forever and evermore. And he himself will wipe away all tears from our eyes. And it's because of Christ's being abandoned that we no longer have to experience that. So, as difficult as life seems, often, and it does, it is, I don't want to belittle problems here, we never have to be abandoned by God, we never are abandoned by God, and He will be with us forevermore, all because Christ was abandoned by our Father, by His Father even. And so that just should cause us to praise Him and to serve Him in ways that we haven't before, because He's done this for us. He bore the curse we deserved so that we would not have to bear it ourselves. Let's pray. Father in heaven, I oftentimes it's difficult even to speak about what Christ did on our behalf because words cannot fully comprehend it. And yet, It's there right there in the scriptures for us. He prayed if there was any other way that you would take it from him, and obviously there was no other way, so he set his face toward Jerusalem to suffer and to die, to be resurrected for us. And Father, we thank you for that. We know that in his death and resurrection is our death, but also resurrection. And so we pray as we live in your presence and as we need not fear your presence because of Christ, that we would be thankful and grateful for what Christ has done for us. In this we pray in his name. Amen.