God in the Garden

 

God in the Garden
Mark 14:32-42
 
I heard about a skeptic who was talking to a little girl who was a Christian. He was trying to shake her faith, and he said, “Now young lady, you realize that Christianity is not the only way to God. There are a lot of religions in the world and there are plenty of Messiahs in the world and there are a number of Christs. Which Christ do you believe in?
 
She thought for a while and then she said I believe in the one that was raised from the dead.
 
That is common belief in our day and age. There are a lot of claims about what is needed to get you to heaven, and the ways that can be accomplished. So I wanted to begin with you today, and leading us up to Easter a study of the God of Easter. After all, there is only One God who has ever made the claim of a resurrection. And it’s either true or it isn’t. Our God is either dead or alive. The tomb is either occupied or empty. So it is a subject of extreme importance. I hope you will make plans to be here every Sunday for the next five as we consider the God of Easter. 
 
We come this morning to one of the most sacred scenes in all the Bible. We come to the place which is called Gethsemane, and there we find God in a Garden. 
 
Gethsemane was located just outside Jerusalem, across from a little brook named Kidron. At this particular time of the year the brook Kidron was a very full stream.
What many don’t realize is that there was a channel that was used to flow all of the things that had been offered at the temple down to the brook Kidron.
 
So all of the blood of the sacrificial animals was poured into that channel and it came down into the
brook Kidron. This night, when Jesus and His disciples cross over that stream, chances are, because it is Passover time, that stream was blood-red.
 
Do you think the Lord Jesus, as He looked at that blood-red stream, realized that in just a few hours His blood would be pouring from His body as He gave himself as a sacrifice for our sins?
 
The Lord Jesus crosses over that stream and comes into a garden which is known as Gethsemane. Gethsemane means oil press. It was here that the olives would be crushed so the oil might be given. So, the Lord Jesus Christ, the great Son of God, the Savior of the world would soon be crushed like an olive in a press. The oil of salvation would begin to flow. There is probably no more sacred scene than is this place of Gethsemane.
 
We get the first glimpse here of just how much Jesus suffered in order to be our Savior. We are, this
morning, indeed on holy ground. There are many lessons which we can learn from this garden of
Gethesame experience.
 
What do you think about when you think of Gethsemane? What comes to your mind when you think about the Lord going into this garden of prayer and there praying, "not my will, but thine be done."
 
Let me share with you several aspects of Gethsemane which come to my mind when I think about it. When I think about Gethsemane first of all I think about-
 
I. The MYSTERY of Gethsemane
 
There is a mystery about this Gethsemane experience. When we are told that it was a place called, Gethsemane, the word place really means an enclosed place.
 
It was a place enclosed by walls. And spiritually speaking, there is a great deal about this Gethsemane which is enclosed and is beyond our ability to understand. In fact, when you begin to come to grips with really what took place in the life of Jesus in this garden, it absolutely defies your ability to understand.
 
The human mind is staggered when it tries to understand what went on there. Language is absolutely bankrupt when you try to describe what Jesus went through in this enclosed place.
 
Many of the writers have referred to Gethsemane as "dark Gethsemane." That is not merely a reference to a night-time experience, but the fact that much of what takes place here is enshrouded with mystery.
 
You would have to be the God-man himself, you would have to be made sin for the sins of the world to really be able to go into Gethsemane and understand all of the mysteries that are involved.
 
 
 
We are told in other places in the Gospels that Jesus often went to this Gethsemane. It was a place where Jesus was accustomed to going. This is why Judas knew where to find Jesus that night when he betrays Him.
 
It may have been a place owned by a friend who let Jesus use it. It seems to have been a place where He would go for rest and refreshment and relaxation. It was not such a place this night when Jesus goes alone to pray.
 
The place of prayer is now also the place of pain. The Bible says that this Gethsemane place was also a garden. I find it very suggestive that Gethsemane was a garden. 
 
Have you ever thought about the fact that Jesus went into a garden and prayed, "Not my will, but thine be done."
 
The first Adam in a garden exerted his will to the ruin of the human race. The last Adam in a garden deserted His will to the redemption of the human race. In that first Garden of Eden the first Adam faced a tree and he yielded to the will of Satan. This Adam, the last Adam, prayed, facing the tree called Calvary and yielded himself to the will of God.
 
So, Jesus goes into this mysterious place.
 
The Bible says that he leaves the disciples and goes a little farther. There is a place where Jesus goes alone and only he understood what it was going through in that place.
 
 
It is also a mystery because of the prayer which was prayed there. Many times the disciples had heard Jesus pray. There was such confidence. There was such calm assurance. There was such a spirit of jubilation about the prayers of Jesus.
 
Just think about what they had experienced because Jesus prayed: The feeding of the five thousand; the raising of Lazarus. Many times Jesus would pray and He would just lift his heart up in prayer and say, "Oh, Pather, I thank thee."
 
Sometimes Jesus would pray and there would be a spirit of great victory and great communion in his prayer.
 
But this prayer is an altogether different prayer.
It is not the kind of prayer that Jesus normally would pray. When you listen to this prayer of Jesus Christ you can almost see the tears as they fill his eyes. You can almost feel the pain that comes from the voice as he speaks. His heart seems almost as if it is going to crush. As from the depths of His soul, this prayer comes and fills all of the heavens with grief.
 
Never a prayer was prayed on the earth like this prayer. It's an amazing prayer, a mysterious prayer because of the posture of this prayer.
 
Many times Jesus knelt when He prayed, but here Scripture says that when He falls upon his knees in prayer and ultimately he prostrates himself and on his face. 
 
Have you ever been in such an agony of prayer that you absolutely stretched yourself out before God?
 
Have you ever been under such a great burden and in such terrific need to pray that you could do no more than just place your face on the dirt while you talked to God in prayer?
 
I think about the posture of Jesus in this prayer.
 
Then I think about the things that Jesus prayed. I think about the kind of words that Jesus used here.
 
"If it be possible, let this cup pass from me." "Not my will but thy will be done."
 
Is this the Christ we know in the Bible? Is this the same Jesus we read about? Is this the Christ who can stop the storm and can heal a heartbreak? What kind of prayer is this? What is the meaning of this kind of prayer which Jesus prays?
 
I want to say to you after carefully studying this passage of Scripture this week and after spending many years actually contemplating all that must have taken place when Jesus went into Gethsemane, I am faced with an absolute mystery.
 
We will never fully understand until we get to heaven what Jesus really went through when he went in the garden that night and prayed the Gethsemane prayer. When I think about this Gethsemane I am confronted with the mystery of the place.
 
Secondly when I think about it I think also about-
 
II. The AGONY of Gethsemane.
 
Luke says in his gospel that when Jesus prayed, he was in an agony.
The words which Mark uses here indicate something of the agony he experienced. If you will notice in verse 33 it says that he began to be troubled and deeply distressed. 
 
The word “troubled” means he began to be terrified. It means actually to be horrified at an approaching object. There was something approaching the Lord
Jesus Christ that threatened to rend his nerves and freeze his blood.
 
The Bible also says in this verse that he was deeply distressed. Literally it means “not to be at home“. There was a sense of estrangement. A kind of isolation, a loneliness which Jesus Christ experiences at this time.
 
Then you will notice in verse 34 he said my soul is exceeding sorrowful. The word sorrowful there means to be encircled by sorrow. It's as if a whirlwind of sorrow was coming around him. Jesus is in an agony in this garden of Gethsemane.
 
What does it to say Jesus was in agony? What is the nature of this agony? When you study this passage of Scripture you will notice that the agony Jesus is experiencing has some kind of connection with what Jesus refers to as this cup.
 
You will notice he prays down in verse 36 and he says, "Abba, father." That was the language of his childhood. It's like a little child praying and he says, "Abba, father, all things are possible. Take away this cup from me."
 
 
 
Jesus had already talked about that cup. You remember Jesus said to his disciples earlier, "Are you able to drink of the cup that I drink of?" They foolishly said, "We are able." They didn't know what they were saying.
 
Later on after Gethsemane when he has already prayed and his accusers come to get him, you remember Simon Peter cuts off the ear of the servant. Jesus said, you put your sword up. The cup which my father hath given me, shall I not drink it?
 
So the agony that Jesus Christ was going through was somehow related to this cup to which He refers.
 
In the Bible when you talk about drinking from a cup it is a symbolic way of saying you are going to experience something to the fullest. It means you are going to totally experience a matter. The agony of Jesus was related to the cup.
 
Did you ever look in that cup? What did Jesus see when He looked in that cup? What kind of agony did this cup represent?
 
I think first of all it represents physical agony. It  think it means that his humanity recoils from the suffering. I think the fact that Jesus Christ was a man made in human flesh mean there was some physical recoil from the suffering He was going to experience at Calvary.
 
There is something about our humanness that makes us recoil from suffering. None of us invites suffering. We will do everything we can to spare ourselves physical pain.
 
I think it's a wonderful day we live in, in that God has made it possible for men to compound medicines which can alleviate human suffering. If you have ever been in a hospital room as I have been and seen people suffering excruciating pains you thank God for those medicines which can somehow dull human pain and ease the misery and agony of human pain.
 
Jesus Christ is going through physical agony here. It's just like He's in an oil press. One more turn of the screw and he will be absolutely crushed. In fact, Luke says about this experience that while Jesus was praying that great drops of blood came from his pores. His sweat became great drops of blood.
 
I have only read of one other time in history when that occurred. Charles the Ninth of France who massacred the Protestants on St. Bartholomew's Day came to his death bed. He was under such conviction of conscious for the murders which he had perpetrated that on his deathbed he literally oozed blood and died in a pool of blood.
 
Here is an altogether difference experience. Here's the Son of God. The Bible says that His perspiration, his sweat becomes as great drops of blood and Luke goes on to say that an angel from heaven came to strengthen him.
 
Jesus said, "I am sorrowful even unto death. That simply means that if were it not for the heavenly strength provided from the angel he might have died right there in the garden of Gethsemane.
 
Can you imagine what Jesus must have looked like when the soldiers came for him that night?
Can you imagine how he looked when he stood before them with his clothes soaked in blood, his hands covered in blood, his head covered with blood, his beard soaked with blood?
 
Jesus Christ recoils from the physical suffering. I don't think this means Jesus was afraid to die. I don't this means that our Lord was shrinking from the death aspect of it.
 
There have been martyrs of the Lord who have faced death bravely. God has given supernatural strength and has given dying grace to many of his children in the hour of death and they have died and not been afraid of death.
 
In fact, I'll tell you what I believe. I believe God can give to his children in the moment of death a dying grace that will enable them to face death without fear. So, Jesus was not afraid to die.
 
In fact, there have been criminals who have faced death unflinchingly. Down in the history of the South, one of the most famous murder trials of all was the trial of a man named Wallace. Wallace had killed a man, burned his body, thrown the ashes in the creek. They sentenced him to the electric chair. When he went to the electric chair, he got on his knees in front of the chair, clearly guilty, no question about it.
 
He prayed, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." That murderer put himself in the electric chair and they blew him out into eternity. He
didn't flinch. Even criminals have been able to face death without flinching.
 
Murderous Muslims will blow themselves and their enemies into eternity, believing the reward of God is awaiting, and not flinch. 
 
This is not saying that Jesus Christ is flinching from death. It is just simply saying that Jesus Christ had a human nature. He knows what is ahead. He knows what his physical nature is going to have to endure. That's just natural to us.
 
I test my blood sugar as a diabetic, and I will confess to you there are times I hold that lancing device, and just dread the prick of that lancet. 
 
I don't know why we can't devise something to get us around that. We can do everything else but we can't get around that little pin right on the top of your finger. Every time I know it's coming, and without fail, I jerk back from that experience. 
 
Why? Because our physical nature doesn't want to suffer. The Lord Jesus Christ says, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me." Jesus knew that in just a few moments there would be the thorns around his brow that would puncture his skin and His blood would flow. He knew that it would not be long until he would be going through a physical scourging that would carry him to within one inch of his life.
 
Jesus knew it would not be long until the nails would be- driven in his hand and the spike would be driven into his feet and the sword would be thrust into the side of his body. Jesus Christ looked at that cup and saw the mental agony and his physical nature, his humanity shrinks from the suffering.
 
 
There is something else Jesus saw when he looked
in that cup. I think there was also emotional agony when he looked in that cup. I think his personality shrinks from the separation. Jesus loved people.
 
Do you remember when Jesus came on the scene they said about him the opposite of what they said about John the Baptist. They didn't like John the Baptist either. They said he was a recluse. John won't have anything to do with anybody. He just stays to himself. So they criticize John for that.
 
They criticize Jesus for the exact opposite. They say this man comes and he enjoys life. The Pharisees were unhappy because Jesus was happy. Why is it bothers somebody when you are happy? Why is it some folks get upset with happiness? Why can't some people be happy when you are happy? Jesus enjoyed people.
 
The night before his death he went to a party if you will study the scriptures. They had a celebration time. They had a wonderful time. I think Jesus must   have enjoyed life. Jesus liked to be around people.
 
One of the ways you know that is that little children were always around Jesus. If you will notice when they had a wedding in Cana the Bible said Jesus and his disciples were called. You don't invite a sad-sack and a dead-beat to come to a wedding celebration.
Jesus liked to be around folks.
 
And as Jesus Christ is approaching the cross, he is going to suffer more and more separation from people. Crowds would follow Jesus until He begins to teach about his cross and the commitment that would be required on their part. 
The Bible says that the masses of the people went away and they followed him no more. Jesus said to Simon and the rest of the disciples, "Will you also go away?" They said, "Lord, where are we going to go? You have the words of eternal life."
 
But the crowds left, and many of the disciples left, and now we’re down to twelve. 
 
And Judas Iscariot betrays the Lord Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. And then there were eleven. Then they come that night to the gate of the garden of Gethsemane and he says to his disciples, "You stay here. Peter, James, John you go with me a little further."
 
Now we are down to three. And when Jesus goes into the depths of the darkness of Gethsemane, He leaves Peter, James and John there.
 
And then there were none. The Lord Jesus Christ is taking the first steps now that will lead Him into a place of isolation where no one else will ever go.
 
In just a few hours on the cross, Jesus Christ willlook into a blank heaven and will say, "My God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
 
Jesus knew what it was to be isolated. Jesus knew what it was to be separated.
 
And when our Savior died at Calvary's cross the Scripture says He died all alone. He was by himself. That tells me today that Jesus understands what loneliness is. There are some lonely people in this world.
 
There are some people who leave their job every day and go home to a lonely apartment right by themselves.
 
There are some widows who get up every morning and they are all alone in their home and they live that day all alone and probably no one ever even comes to see them in a day or in a week or in a month. They are alone. Jesus understands what it is to be alone. Jesus understands human loneliness.
 
Alone, Jesus Christ went into Gethsemane. Alone,
He faces this cup. Alone, Jesus Christ prays, "Father, remove this cup from me."
 
His personality recoils from the separation.
 
But you’ve got to keep looking in that cup if you are going to really get into the depths of what Jesus faced that night.
 
Not only do I see physical agony in that cup. Not only do I see emotional agony in that cup.
 
I see spiritual agony in that cup as His deity recoils from the sin. When you look at this cup of the Lord Jesus, you must keep in mind that Jesus Christ was the only sinless individual who ever walked on this earth. Jesus Christ never thought a wrong thought in His mind. Jesus Christ never allowed a polluted word to proceed from His lips. Jesus never let a lewd stare issue from his eyes. He was the absolutely sinless, holy one.
 
 
 
 
And when you really get to the depths of what Gethsemane is all about you must interpret it by the Scripture which Paul gives us when He says,
 
"God hath made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us."
 
Jesus Christ was facing the sins of the world in that cup. That's why He recoils as He does. We don't understand sin. We don't know the true nature of sin. We don't know how sin can ruin a life. We have fallen for the lies of the devil.
 
Watch the beer commercials on TV and you’ll see beautiful people having the time of their lives. But their best customers live in places like the apartments to the south of us. And they never make it to the TV commercials. 
 
There are literally thousands and even millions of people in this world who have fallen for the lies of the devil. They’ve been led to believe that is beautiful and lucrative and fun. Sin is the in thing.
 
Why do we fall for that? Because we don't  see sin the way Jesus saw sin when He looked in that cup in Gethsemane. If we ever understood sin the way Jesus understood sin, then we would hate sin the way Jesus hates sin. Jesus knew what sin is. Jesus saw sin turn angels into demons. Jesus saw sin upset the creation He had established. Jesus saw sin destroy the life He had created. Jesus saw sin attack the first family on earth. 
 
And it will break your heart when you realize that your sins nailed Jesus to the cross of Calvary. It will absolutely break your heart.
The Lord Jesus Christ looks in that cup. And in that cup He sees the sins of the whole world.
 
His deity recoils from the sin. There is spiritual agony
in that cup.
 
So when I think about God being there in Gethsemane I think about the mystery of it. I think about the agony of it, and I think also of-
 
III. The VICTORY of Gethsemane.
 
Gethsemane was one of the greatest victories our Lord Jesus Christ ever experienced. In what Jesus experienced at Gethsemane you and I can learn what the secret of victory is in life.
 
There is a two-fold secret if you want to nave victory in your life as an individual.
 
Secret number one is that there must be a renunciation of your will.
 
Jesus, in Gethsemane, prayed, "Father, if it be possible let this cup pass, nevertheless not my
will." Jesus had a perfect will. Jesus had a will that was absolutely perfect. Yet, in Gethsemane, Jesus Christ made the sacrifice of his will.
 
Because he sacrificed His will in Gethsemane he would now be ready to sacrifice his life at Calvary. The basis essence of sin is the assertion of our own will. Satan fell from heaven because he asserted his own will. He said, "I will. I will."
 
 
 
Simon Peter denied the Lord Jesus Christ because he had a problem of his own will. He said to Jesus, "I never will. Others may deny you. I will not." He didn't understand the depravity of his own will.
 
When you and I come to the point that we are willing to deny our will we are on the path that leads to victory.
 
I heard about a man who was praying for God to fill him. In the course of his prayer, he prayed this kind of prayer. He said, "Oh, God fill me or kill me."
 
I've got news for you. God will do the latter in order to do the former. You have got to get to the point that you are willing to allow God to kill your will in order that he might fill you with his will. Can you pray, "Father not my will be done." Are you willing to take all your selfish desires, all your hopes, all your aspirations of your life and say no to them? Then you are on the way that leads to victory.
 
Not only must there be a renunciation of your will, there must be a resignation to God's will. "Not my will," said Jesus, "but thy will be done."
 
He is saying that God, the Father, had a plan for his life. In the saying of that we have the truth that God has a purpose and plan for every life. God has a plan for your life today.
 
The best decision you will ever make is to come to the Lord and say, "Lord, I take hands-off of my life. I remove my plans and I'll just do what you want me to do for you. I'll just do your will. Your will be done
in my life."
 
The key to victory, the secret of the happy, victorious life is to come to the Lord and say, "Lord your will be done in my life."
 
It’s interesting, isn’t it, that about the time Jesus prayed that prayer we hear the clanking of the swords. We see the reflection of the torches in the night. In a moment, the Lord Jesus says, "Arise, let us be going." Where is he going? Is he going to flee from his accusers? No. He is going to meet them. He is going on to the cross because in spite of the suffering, in spite of the separation, in spite of the agony that He shall endure the will of God was that which was best for his life.
 
I heard about a poor man who couldn't read and he wanted to pray and didn't know how. So, he just got the letters of the alphabet and laid them all on the table. He said, "Lord, I don't know what I ought to pray. Lord, take these letters of the alphabet and you just make the prayer I ought to pray.
 
Would you just take the letters of the alphabet today and say, "God, I don't know what's best in my life, but you do. You just take these letters and make the prayer I ought to pray and give me that."
 
That's victory. They tell me that in the days of the Roman wrestlers that the day before the wrestling match, those Roman wrestlers would go into the stadium. They would look around on the scene of battle. They would look up into the seats of the spectators, they would look up to the throne of the Caesar, they would look at the iron gate through which their enemy would come.
 
 
The day before these wrestlers would go through the motions of the battle. Mentally and emotionally, they would go through that battle. Many a Roman wrestler walked away from the stadium that day with the battle already won.
 
The battle is already won when you as a believer can come to the place that you will pray in your life, "Father, no longer what I want, what you will for me be done."
 
Have you had a Gethsemane? Have you had that experience when you came into the place of darkness and you really didn't know what the future had for you? Have you come to that place when you can say to the Lord, "Lord, your will be done."