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Well, this morning and really
for the next few weeks, I would like us to be thinking about
the cost of your sins being forgiven. I'm sure we're all familiar with
Romans chapter 6, verse 23, where it says, for the wages of sin
is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ
Jesus our Lord. We know from scripture, from
that verse especially, that salvation and the forgiveness of your sins
is given to you as a free gift. And yet that salvation, the forgiveness
of your sin, came at an extremely high cost to God. The wages of
sin had to be paid. And if you have received salvation
from God, you didn't pay it. Jesus paid it for you. Now as we think about the cost
of our sins being forgiven, and the very high price that was
paid for you, if we can even begin to understand this correctly,
we cannot take our sin lightly. We have, but we can no longer. We cannot think little of the
death that Jesus died on the cross. We probably have. We should no longer. This is
not about merely the physical death of Jesus. Lots of people
have died on crosses. Lots of religious people have
been tortured and killed for things they believe in. This
was much worse. Much more severe. If you were to die with your
sin still on you, all of the agony of an eternity in hell
will not be sufficient to pay for your sins against a holy
God. The fact that that payment for
sin in hell goes on forever shows that it will never be enough.
You will never suffer enough to pay for your sin. You will
never get to the point where you are out of debt to where
God will say, okay, that's enough. You're free to go from there.
Welcome to heaven. It'll never happen. And yet the
payment Jesus made through the cross was sufficient to pay for
your sin so that you could be forgiven and set free and have
eternal life with God. How costly that must have been. How awful must that death have
been for Jesus on that cross. This was not just the death of
a man. It was not just an unfortunate
event that happened to a nice guy. Or merely a ritual performed
on someone who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. or just
a Sunday school story that gives us something to talk about on
Easter. For your sin to be forgiven,
it required the all-powerful, sovereign, and perfectly holy
God to suffer in ways that we never could suffer. We cannot
even come close to completely comprehending the magnitude of
that suffering of Jesus on the cross. But the level of Jesus' suffering
begins to get a little more clear on that night before Jesus went
to the cross. We've been seeing some different
details about that Thursday night in the Gospel of Mark, in chapter
14, for some weeks now. We saw a little about the severity
of suffering in that upper room, some of the things that Jesus
taught his disciples. One specific teaching from Jesus that Mark
recorded was about communion. How Jesus instituted that with
his disciples. We get somewhat of a picture
through that of Jesus' suffering in communion. As we're reminded
of his body, the flesh that he took on that could suffer and
die, and his blood that was shed for us. But it was really after Jesus
and the 11 disciples left that upper room. And Judas was already
gone, going to round up the people that would arrest Jesus. But
Jesus and the other 11 disciples, they left that room. They made
their way back to the Mount of Olives. And then they go to a
specific location on that mountain, a garden named Gethsemane. That's
where we begin to see how much Jesus was affected by what he
knew was coming the next morning. We just read the whole passage
together that we're going to look at this morning, Mark 14,
verses 32 to 42. We've seen the overall picture.
Now let's focus in on some of the details that we find about
how that next day affected Jesus what he knew was coming Mark
14 verse 32 says they came to a place named Gethsemane and
he said to his disciples Sit here until I have prayed The name of this garden and Mark
doesn't say it's a garden John tells us it's a garden the name
of a Gethsemane means olive press and There must have been some
type of equipment there in that garden that was used to crush
olives to make olive oil. It's a fitting backdrop for the
state of Jesus' soul that night. Other things were going to be
crushed in that garden that night. John also tells us in the Gospel
of John in chapter 18 that this was a place that Jesus and His
disciples came to often. It was well known by all of them,
including Judas. So Jesus didn't come here to
this garden to hide from Judas, to escape his soon-to-be captors. He knew they were coming. He
knew they would find him there. And it was for this purpose that
Jesus was on this earth. He was not hiding. But until
Judas came, this was a good place. for Jesus to get away from the
noise, the crowds, even though they had been in a private upper
room earlier that night. There was a lot going on in Jerusalem.
A lot of noise. This is a good place to get away
and pray. Because of what Jesus knew was
coming, it was very important for Him to be able to get away
and have some time to pray. Verse 33, And he took with him
Peter and James and John, and began to be very distressed and
troubled. So because Jesus knew what was
coming, he needed to pray, and he could really use the support
of his friends. At a time like this, he needed
his friends. And one of the twelve, as I had
said, had left. One of the 12 who Jesus had cared
for and treated as a friend, he has gone out to betray him
to those who will put him to death. The 11 friends that he
has left, they're there with him, but he has just told them
that all of them are going to forsake him. They're going to deny him. And
it's going to come at the worst possible time. He left eight
of them near the entrance of the garden. He took his three
closest friends, Peter, James, and John, to go with him as he
went in further to the garden to pray. Now remember I pointed
out last time something else Jesus said to his disciples on
their way to the garden. In John chapter 15, verses 13
through 15, Jesus told them Greater love has no one than
this, that one lay down his life for his friends. He was speaking
these words to these 11 men. You're my friends. I love you. Verse 14 of John
15 says, you are my friends if you do what I command you. No
longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what
his master is doing. But I have called you friends.
For all things that I have heard from my Father, I have made known
to you." These are his friends. He cares about them. He loves
them with the greatest kind of love. He is about to lay down
his life for them. And now he could really use his
closest friends to pray with him. Because as we are told here in
Mark chapter 14 verse 33, Jesus began to be very distressed and
troubled. And when we read these words,
he was distressed, that could also be translated as amazed
as the King James does, or alarmed. He was distressed, amazed, alarmed. The word translated as troubled
can have the idea of anxiety. The Christian standard Bible
translates it as horrified. I have a picture in my mind of
the kind of distress, the anxiety, the fear that's just weighing
so heavy on Jesus. That's also the way that King
James translates that last part. says, he began to be sore amazed
and to be very heavy. This may be that it was getting
hard for Jesus to breathe because he was so tense about the fear
of knowing what was coming. Verse 34, and he said to them,
my soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here
and keep watch. These are some very personal
details that Jesus shared with his friends. That he wanted to
be recorded for all future generations to know this about Jesus on that
night. These are real emotions that Jesus was experiencing in
that garden. Jesus, even Jesus, had an intense
fear that was not an irrational fear. Sometimes we can have some
strong fears about things that haven't happened and probably
never will happen. We can have some fears about
wanting to please men. But Jesus' fears were about things
that He knew were coming. His fears were based in reality. He says His soul was so deeply
grieved about what He knew that it almost killed Him. He's deeply
grieved to the point of death. Even before Jesus went to the
cross, just knowing what was coming, the sadness that that
brought to Him almost killed Him. Just think about that. Jesus knowing what was required
for your sin to be forgiven. What was required of Him was
so severe that just the thought of it almost killed Him before
He went to the cross. We cannot treat that lightly.
We cannot minimize our sin and treat our sin like it's no big
deal. We cannot treat the suffering that Jesus endured for our sin
as though it was no big deal. And one of the ways that we might
minimize the suffering that Jesus endured for our sin is to either
overemphasize his humanity or overemphasize his deity to the
exclusion of the other. To see Jesus' death as it really
was, we need to try to maintain the right balance in our thinking
about the humanity and the deity of Jesus Christ. That Jesus was
fully God and fully man. Now we may think, as we're meditating
on Jesus and our thoughts of who Jesus is, and as we think
about the cross, we may think, yeah, this would be really hard
stuff for any person to go through. But this is Jesus. This is a
little different. Yes, he took on human flesh,
but he is still fully God. Now being fully God, Jesus knew
what was coming, but he also knew what the outcome would be.
Jesus knew that his death would not be the end. Jesus knew that
he would be victorious and rise again. Jesus made prophecies
that that would be the case. He knew that he would rise from
the dead. Knowing that he's eternal God,
how bad could this death really be? We might think. He's God. He knew the outcome. He knew
what was coming, but also that he was going to rise. How bad
was it really? We may think. But remember, knowing that it
was coming almost killed him. It was that bad. We should try to think of it
more in this way. That because Jesus is God, His
suffering was even worse than if He had just been man. Because
He had no limits on what He could endure. So what we really should
be saying is that, yes, Jesus is fully God, but he is also
fully man. And in his humanity, Jesus was
weak in the kinds of ways that we are weak, and yet without
sin. He identifies with us in our
human flesh. He knows what it is to be man
because he became man, fully man. In all these ways that Jesus
was suffering as deity without limits. He's also suffering in
his humanity. So Jesus is fully man. Suffering to the extent that
only someone who is also fully God can suffer. We could never
suffer to the extent that Jesus did. Because we are just men
and women. Jesus being fully God and fully
man, He could and did suffer more than we ever could. And
He did that to pay for your sins. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, it
says, He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf,
so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. This eternally and infinitely
holy God was about to take our sin on Himself. I can't even comprehend that.
Holy God was about to take our sin on Himself. And somehow,
in some way, without Him becoming a sinner, He became identified
with our sin. And somehow, in some way, that
was going to create a separation between the Father and the Son.
That had never happened before. The Father would somehow forsake
or turn his back on the Son. Now how that can happen within
the Trinity, I don't know. That's beyond my ability to comprehend. But the thought of it almost
killed Jesus. And he did that to pay for your
sins. Now this was something that Jesus
needed to pray to his father about. In verse 35 it says, and
he went a little beyond them and fell to the ground and began
to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass him by. And
we know that Jesus came willingly to this earth born as a baby
to live as a man for this purpose. This is why he came. And yet,
knowing what was coming, if it would be possible, if there's
any other way, Jesus would prefer to not have to go through this.
It would be his preference to skip the cross, if that was at
all possible. Notice that that's what he's
praying to the Father. If it were possible, the hour might
pass him by. And when he asks if there's any
way that the hour might pass him by, he's not talking about
the time on a clock. It's getting kind of late here.
Can we just hurry this along? Can we move this along so I can
hurry up and get to the cross? That's not what he's talking about.
He's not talking about what hour of that night it was. The hour
he's referring to is the time period of his suffering when
God's wrath for our sin is poured out on him. And we know that Jesus had read
Isaiah 53. He knew that passage well. He
knew it was talking about him, that he was the man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief. That's Jesus, and Jesus knew
that. He knew it was talking about Him when it says, Surely
our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried. Yet we
ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed
for our iniquities. the chastening for our well-being
fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed." Jesus knew that verse 10 of Isaiah
53 was speaking of God the Father when it says, but Yahweh was
pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief if He would render
Himself as a guilt offering. This is what Jesus was facing,
what He knew was coming the very next morning. The Father was
going to crush Him, put Him to grief, to be a sin offering. There had never been a problem
or a separation for all of eternity past with the Father and the
Son. there had been a perfect relationship
between the Father and the Son, until your sin was put on the
Son. So verse 36 says, And He was
saying, Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Remove
this cup from Me, yet not what I will, but what You will. The
cost of your sin to be forgiven was so high that Jesus, though
He is fully God, eternal, holy, all-powerful, He pleaded with
the Father. If there is any other way to
carry out your plan, if there is any other way to save these
sinners and you still get glory, then please, Abba, Father. This is how A human son would
address his human father. Abba. Abba, Father. We get a sense of the relationship
here between God the Father and God the Son. It's kind of like
Jesus is saying, Dad, please. This is going to be awful. You
can do anything. If there is any other way any
way other than me taking their sin and being separated from
you and enduring an eternity's worth of your wrath on the cross.
If there's any other way than that, then Dad, please, let's
do it that way. You think of earthly fathers?
It's Father's Day. We've got to talk about that
a little bit in here somewhere, don't we? An earthly father,
if he loves his children, he loves them imperfectly and yet
he wants what's best for his sons and daughters. An earthly father isn't always
going to know what is best. He may not always follow through.
We may get it wrong sometimes. But a loving, yet imperfect,
earthly father will want to do what is best for his son. God
is love. God the perfect father loves
God the son perfectly. You better believe the father
wants what is best for his son. You better believe that if there
was any other way, the father would have granted the request
of the son. The fact that he didn't. is one of the strongest
proofs there is that there is no other way. If there would
have been any other way, the Father would have given it to
the Son. Just think about that as you consider the cost of the
forgiveness of your sin. There's no other way. Look at verse 37. He came and
found them sleeping and said to Peter, Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for
one hour? Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation.
The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." Even though this was a time of
such great distress for Jesus, and though it would have been
really nice at a time like this that Jesus' friends would spend
some time praying with Him and praying for Him, Notice that
Jesus' concern about them sleeping was not primarily about him.
I remember some of the things that
Jesus has told these disciples that night. Greater love has
no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
You are my friends. He's been telling them he's going
to lay down his life for them. And he was just about to do that,
to lay down his life for them. and yet they were not willing
to lay down their naps for Him. They couldn't just stay awake
for Jesus. Isn't that pathetic? It wasn't very kind of them when
Jesus was in such distress, just go to sleep. It's sad to think
of all that Jesus was going through and He was doing it alone. He was suffering alone that night
in that garden because his friends were sleeping. But notice how unselfish Jesus'
response was to his sleepy disciples. His concern was still for them. It was for their benefit that
they should be watching and praying. It would be good for them if
they would stay awake and pray because Jesus knew that they
were about to enter into a time of testing and strong temptation
that they'd never seen before. Jesus had just warned them that
they all were going to fall away, that Peter would deny him three
times before morning. They needed to pray. Peter and the other disciples
insisted, we will not fall away. We will not deny you. Their spirits
were willing, but their flesh was weak. They should have been
awake. They should have been praying.
They should have cared enough about Jesus and what he was going
through that night to stay awake and pray for him. Verse 39, again,
he went away and prayed saying the same words. Now in case you
don't think that Jesus was serious about not really wanting to go
through with the cross, because it was going to be so bad, He
prays about it a second time. If it's possible, Dad, please
let this cup pass from me. And yet He was willing. If that's
what the Father wanted Him to do, He would do it. In verse
40, and again, He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes
were very heavy and they did not know what to answer him.
Jesus came back to check on his disciples to see if they were
awake and watching and praying so they would not fall into temptation. They were asleep. They should
have cared. They should have cared enough
about Jesus and what he was going through to stay awake and pray
with him. But he finds them again sleeping. Why was it so hard
for them to stay awake? at a time like this? Well, it
was late. By the middle of the night, by
this time, they had just eaten a big meal. Then they went on
a long walk. It had been a busy week. And
when you think about those details, it's kind of understandable.
They were really tired. But haven't we all been in situations
where we're so concerned about someone that we can't sleep no
matter how bad we want to sleep, how tired we are. Sometimes you
care so much about someone, you just can't sleep. The disciples though, they just
weren't all that concerned. They still had this expectation
that everything's going to turn out alright. Jesus is the Messiah. and they're gonna be reigning
with him sometime soon. So whatever Jesus is concerned
about, it couldn't really be that big of a deal, he's a Messiah.
Luke tells us that they were sleeping from sorrow. From the
evidence that I see as I read through these passages, I don't
think it was sorrow that Jesus would soon be going to the cross.
because I don't think they really believed that would happen. I think it was sorrow that they
had just had a big argument with Jesus because he didn't trust
them. They had all kinds of confidence
in their faith, but Jesus didn't. Jesus said they were going to
deny him, desert him. They didn't think that would
ever happen. They argued with him about it. They were sure
they would not forsake Jesus. And that argument wore them out. Jesus didn't trust them. They
were tired. They went to sleep. Everything will probably turn
out fine. And so Jesus suffered and prayed alone. Verse 41, he
came the third time and said to them, are you still sleeping
and resting? It is enough. The hour has come. Behold, the son of man is being
betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up. Let us be going. Behold,
the one who betrays me is at hand. Now coming the third time
and finding them sleeping implies a third time of Jesus praying.
And we don't have to just assume that that's the case because
Matthew tells us that actually was the case. Jesus went and
prayed the third time. If there's any other way to save
these sinners and still glorify you, please, Dad, let's do it
that other way. Yet not what I will, but what
you will. Three times. Jesus' closest friends
slept and let Jesus suffer alone. Not yet taking seriously the
cost required to pay for their sin. Not taking seriously Jesus'
warnings about their weak flesh and the severity of the temptations
that was about to come on them. Things they had never seen before. Well, the time for warnings came
to an end. No more time for sleeping. The hour that Jesus dreaded so
much had come. It was time for all of it to
begin. Jesus' betrayer was coming. Now Jesus getting his disciples
up from their naps was not so that they all could run away.
Jesus had no intentions of running from this. He had gotten His answer from
His Father. The answer was no. There is no other way. Jesus
got up. He walked toward His captors.
He got His answer from His Father. There is no other way. And Jesus
would obey. He would be willing to suffer
God's wrath for our sins. He was willing to suffer this
separation from the Father in whatever form that was. And the
fact that we can't really comprehend how that could be, I think, highlights
just how bad it was. As you look on what happened
in that garden that night, we should see the grace of Jesus
as he walked toward his captors. How much it terrified him, knowing
what was coming, and yet he walked right toward them. Consider the
love of Jesus, who is concerned for his friend's well-being,
even while he was grieved nearly to death. Think about how selfless
Jesus was, knowing what was coming, and yet still shepherding his
disciples. Consider the mercy of Jesus, who took God's wrath
so you wouldn't have to. As you're thinking about Jesus
that night in that garden, consider the sins that you have committed
against God that made this necessary. This was our fault that Jesus
suffered that. That He was grieved nearly to
death. We did that to Him. It should cause us to grieve and rejoice. It should cause us to grieve
that we could be so selfish that we could sin against God's holiness,
cause so much suffering for our Savior, and yet so often take
it so lightly. We just don't care. We sin again,
and sin again, and sin again. How could we do that to Jesus? But we should also rejoice that
Jesus was so selfless. That He paid the price of sin. so that we could receive the
free gift of eternal life. Think about the price that was
paid for your forgiveness. It was so high we can't even
begin to comprehend. Think about what Jesus suffered
that night in that garden. Because He did know. He did understand. The cost was so high. We ought to grieve. and we ought
to rejoice.
The Cost of Forgiveness (Mark 14:32-42)
Series Mark
| Sermon ID | 61725216113537 |
| Duration | 37:27 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Mark 14:32-42 |
| Language | English |
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