Gethsemane: Shadow of Golgotha #1

Introduction and Prayer for Divine Help

0:04 Now let us turn together in our Bibles to the 14th chapter of the Gospel according to Mark, Mark chapter 14, and I shall read in your hearing verses 32 through 42, and then we shall turn over to the book of Hebrews and read just several verses from the 5th chapter of Hebrews. Mark chapter 14 and verse 32, and you will notice that there are a number of these present tense verbs describing the action as though it were happening before our eyes. They are called grammatically historical presence, and there are nine of them in this paragraph, the Holy Spirit signifying with unusual intensity that God wants us.

1:04 To exercise all of the faculties of imagination and seek to project ourselves into the very scene that is here described by Mark under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Verse 32, and they come unto a place which was named Gethsemane, and he saith unto his disciples, Sit ye here while I pray. And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly amazed and sore troubled. And he saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. Abide ye here and watch. And he went forward a little and fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible the hour might pass away from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee. Remove this cup from me, howbeit not what I will, but what thou wilt.

2:22 And he cometh and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? Couldest thou not watch one hour? Watch and pray. And he cometh and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

2:46 And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they knew not what to answer him. And he cometh the third time and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest. It is enough. The hour is come. Behold, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

3:20 Arise, let us be going. Behold, he that betrayeth me is at hand. Now Hebrews chapter 5, in the section in which the writer to the Hebrews is demonstrating that Jesus Christ is a priest, after the order of Melchizedek, and in the midst of that development of argument, we read in Hebrews 5, 5, So Christ also glorified not himself to be made a high priest, but he that spake unto him, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee, as he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Who in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and supplications, with strong cryings and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and having been heard for his godly fear, though he was a son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered. Now let us again seek the face of God.

4:43 Now let us again seek the face of God in prayer, and may I plead with you, children, young people and adults, if ever you really pray before the preaching of the word, will you pray this morning, that God will help me somehow to deliver my soul of things that have so pressed in upon them that I frankly feel that I am on the edge of losing control of my own emotions before the weight of them,

5:14 things which are so pressing upon them that I frankly feel that I am on the edge of losing control of my own emotions before the weight of them, things which are so pressing upon them that I frankly feel that I am on the edge of losing control of my own emotions before the weight of them, things which are so pressing upon them that I frankly feel that I am on the edge of losing control of my own emotions before the weight of them, things which are so central to the redemption of needy sinners, that if we can sit through a message like this morning, if God enables me to articulate it, with indifference and callousness, it would not surprise me for God to kill us and cut us off in our high-handed indifference to the horrible, to the abysmal depths of agony to which our Lord was plunged. Because of your sin, and because of mine, let us pray.

6:01 Our Father, we read in your word that you know our frame. You remember that we are dust,

6:12 and you know that we can bear so little of any concentrated attention to the great and profound mysteries of the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot begin to fathom what it meant for him, to stagger and fall upon the ground like a drunken man, drunken not with excessive imbibing of wine, but knowing that he must tread the winepress of your wrath all alone, that he must expose himself to your fiery indignation and be consumed by that furnace of your fury. O Lord, take the dust, the wellness from our hearts, the blindness from our eyes, the slowness from all that we are, both to receive and to respond as we ought to that which you have written concerning your beloved Son. Send your Spirit to help your servant. Send your Spirit to instruct everyone gathered under your word.

7:28 We plead in Jesus' name. Amen.

Reluctance and Encouragement in Preaching Gethsemane

7:41 In our consecutive and systematic expositions of the Gospel of Mark, we arrive this morning at that portion which depicts our Lord's mysterious agony and his mighty wrestlings in a place called Gethsemane. And as we come to this portion of the Word of God, I confess unashamedly that I do so with great reluctance, a reluctance born of the sense of how little I have personally penetrated the dark cloud of mystery which surrounds this incident, and a reluctance intensified by the felt frustration of trying to structure into preachable form things which in one sense can no more be structured into preachable form than someone could say, the cries and the tears and the groans of a widow standing by the graveside of her departed beloved. It would almost be a high insult to such a widow if one listening to her sighs and groans and words

9:06 were to record them and then to submit them to analytical scrutiny. And I feel something of that reluctance. I have felt it knowing sooner or later we would come to the portion and my expectations, rather than being disappointed, have only been intensified.

9:29 And my comfort and my encouragement in at least seeking to make an attempt to penetrate into this cloud of mystery, dark and foreboding with the agony and the bloody sweat of Jesus, and yet bright and inviting with its beautiful description of our Lord's joyful submissiveness to the Father and His resolute commitment to our salvation, I say my encouragement is twofold. First of all, I'm encouraged that others have felt the same reluctance and yet in overcoming that reluctance and in preaching and writing upon this very scene have left a legacy that is tremendously helpful. As Ryle takes up this paragraph in his expository thoughts on the Gospels, his opening words are these, The history of our Lord's agony in the Garden of Gethsemane is a deep and mysterious passage of Scripture. It contains things which the wisest theologians cannot fully explain, yet it has upon its surface plain truths of momentous importance.

10:53 And then he proceeds to take up that which he knows to be deep and mysterious. Chadwick, a lesser-known commentator, writes, In the same vein, all Scripture given by inspiration, liberation of God is profitable, yet must we approach with reverence and solemn shrinking the story of our Savior's anguish. It is a subject for caution and reticence, putting away all over curious surmise and all too subtle theorizing and choosing to say too little rather than too much. And in what I regard to be the classic work on the whole event of Gethsemane, Hugh Martin's book entitled The Shadow of Calvary, Hugh Martin felt that reluctance, for he wrote, The transaction of which this ever-memorable garden now becomes the scene is, with the exception of our Lord's actual crucifixion, perhaps the most awesome and solemnizing which even the saints of the world have ever seen. The scriptures of God contain.

12:13 How can we approach the consideration of it with sufficient reverence? How can we be deeply enough affected with the insight which it gives us into the sorrow of our blessed Redeemer's soul? Shall we not feel and own our utter helplessness to speak or think of this scene in a manner befitting its amazing and affecting purpose? The Lord give us the spirit of grace and supplications that we may look on Him whom we have pierced.

12:52 And I say my encouragement in approaching the passage and daring to attempt to expound at least the edges of its truth is one that comes from the fact that others have gone before me feeling that same reticence and reluctance and yet plowing through that sanctified reticence and reluctance they have left a legacy that is helpful to the church. And my second body of encouragement comes from the fact that the Spirit has been given and He has been given to testify to Christ, to take of the things of Christ and to reveal them to our hearts with power. And surely if the suffering, the sufferings of Jesus Christ are the central issue of His redemptive work, never is the Holy Spirit more ready to help us than when we come to contemplate those central acts by which our redemption was purchased. And therefore I am emboldened to make the effort not only because others have gone before to encourage me, but because the Spirit has been given and He is present. And so God, helping us today and in the subsequent two Lord's Days, we will be contemplating this scene of Gethsemane, which, taking a clue from Hugh Martin,

14:21 I would like to entitle Gethsemane not the shadow of Calvary. For as one has pointed out, the Latin calvary is soft and poetic upon the ear, and the word calvary is the word of the Lord. And so God, helping us today, and in the subsequent two Lord's Days, will be more ready to help us than we have ever been. But rather, Gethsemane, the shadow of Golgotha.

The Place: Gethsemane, the Oil Press

14:46 Golgotha, the place of a skull, the place of death, of execution, of blood, of gore, of a shrouded heavens, the place that witnessed the piercing cry, My God, my God, why have You abased me? Abandoned me? And what we have in Gethsemane is indeed a shadow cast backwards, proleptically, that is, before the event, but in anticipation of the event, we have in Gethsemane the shadow of Golgotha. And now as we come to the passage this morning, God helping us, we shall seek to open up the passage through verse 34, and that under four headings that come to us very naturally out of the text. And first of all, our attention is directed to the place. The place. And they come unto a place which was named Gethsemane.

16:03 Now the word for place means more than just some indefinite piece of real estate or general geographical location. But as you see in the 1901 rendering, the marginal reading has an enclosed piece of ground. That is, they came to an enclosed parcel of land which had a specific name given to it, and the name was Gethsemane. Now the word Gethsemane comes from taking two Greek, two Hebrew words, and just transferring the Hebrew letters into Greek. We came up with the word, or we come up with the word Gethsemane, and it literally means oil press. And therefore, by comparing the hints that are given to us from the name itself, and from the circumstances which are described with reference to this particular place, we are quite safe in saying that Gethsemane was most likely a walled olive grove

17:27 within which there would have been a press for the pressing of the olives into olive oil, a precious commodity in those days in the Middle East, in Palestine, even as it is today. And this place would be marked in the evenings especially for its quietness and for its seclusion. And we read in Luke chapter 22 and verse 39 these very helpful words of insight with reference to this place called Gethsemane. We read in Luke 22 and verse 39, And he came out and went as his custom was unto the Mount of Olives, and the disciples also followed him. Luke tells us that there was a custom that our Lord had established when he was in the area of Jerusalem of resorting to the Mount of Olives as his place of retreat. And comparing this with John 18 verses 1 and 2, we are warranted to assume that it was not just every and any place in the Mount of Olives

18:51 which was our Lord's place of favorite retreat, but it was nothing other than this specific spot, Gethsemane. And when Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Kidron, where was a garden, where was a specific, identifiable, enclosed plot of land into which he entered himself and his disciples. Now Judas also who betrayed him knew the place, for Jesus oft times resorted thither with his disciples. Now putting all of that data together, it becomes clear that when Mark tells us that our Lord in the company of the eleven went out and entered into a place called Gethsemane, he was entering into this grove of olive trees, into a place that was very familiar to him and to all of the disciples, so familiar, that when Judas has secured the cooperation of the chief priest

20:13 and they of the Roman authorities, they know precisely where they will find Jesus and his disciples because he had often resorted to that place with his own. And if you ask the question why on this particular occasion did he choose this place, a familiar retreat, it seems to me the answer is clear that he did so for two very simple and obvious reasons. First of all it was congenial to his present need for a season of intense communion with his heavenly Father in preparation for the awful baptism of Golgotha. Our Lord regarded those climactic sufferings of the cross as his baptism. He said, I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I compressed or straightened until it be accomplished? And now that he has exposed the betrayer, and now that he has said to the betrayer, that which you do, do quickly, he knows that very shortly he will enter into the actual jaws of that horrible idea, that horrible ordeal,

21:37 that he will be plunged into the deep murky waters of his baptism of suffering. And therefore as his soul sought a place where he could pour out his innermost sense of need into the ears of his Father, what more likely place than Gethsemane, the place that had been witnessed to many hours of his wrestlings with his Father, many hours perhaps of rejoicing, many hours of praying and instructing his disciples. And so he went to a place congenial to the present need of his distressed soul. But then secondly he went there because it would be the most convenient place for Judas to find him and to hand him over to the Lord. And so he went over to the authorities. Our Lord has said to Judas, what you do, do quickly.

22:41 Judas has left. And he is certain that if he goes to Gethsemane, when Judas comes with the religious and with the civil authorities, he will immediately go to the place of Jesus' most favored intercourse with his heavenly Father. And in that sense, our Lord makes it abundantly clear that he will go to his death freely, uncoerced and utterly in a voluntary spirit. And so seek to picture with me the disciples leaving the upper room, making their way out of the city walls of Jerusalem, down the eastern slope that is that part of the topography, and over the brook Kidron, and then into the Mount of Olives and to that special place where under the soft and eerie light of the full Passover moon, our Lord and his band of eleven disciples make their way into the garden where our Lord will have his final wrestlings before the great, great ordeal. That's the place. Now then notice, secondly,

The People: Disciples and the Inner Circle

24:06 the people. What people are witness to this scene? We read, They come, referring to Jesus in the eleven, and he saith unto his disciples, Sit here while I pray. And he takes with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly amazed and sore troubled.

24:36 The eight disciples are commanded to sit probably just inside the perimeter of the parcel of ground marked out by the stone wall and called Gethsemane the oil press. And while there is no clear reason given as to why he marked out the eight and told them to sit at that precise place, there does seem to be a strong suggestion that he desired the solitude of a season of pouring out his heart with the kind of liberty with which a man or woman can only pour out his heart in the most intimate struggles of the soul if he knows that no other voice or she knows that no other voice but God's ear, no other ear but God's will hear that voice. And our Lord appears to desire that solitude and so he leaves the eight just inside the enclosure of that plot of ground. And then it could well be that he is deliberately placing the eight where they will more readily see the approach,

26:01 the approach of the soldiers, the chief priests, Judas, that they will be less likely to be apprehended immediately for he had already foretold that when the shepherd was smitten the sheep would be scattered and it could well have been our Lord's tender care for their preservation that moved him to place them there at the very entrance of the garden. But then the text says he takes that elect of his elect, Peter, James, and John, and in company with them goes further into the heart of the grove of olive trees. And we ask the question very naturally, why did he single out Peter, James, and John and take them with him further into the heart of the garden of Gethsemane? Well, we know from previous records that they were singled out on other occasions. They were singled out as recorded in Mark 5 and verse 37 to witness the miraculous power of Christ in raising one from the dead. They were singled out to be with him in the mount of transfiguration when for a short time God allowed the inherent glory of the deity of the Son of God to burst through as it were

27:29 that shell of his humanity until they were staggered by the brightness of his countenance and of his very clothes. Because they were being prepared for unique service, our Lord brought them in to unique privileges. And because they were being prepared for unique service, our Lord had to take them into deeper disclosures not only of himself, but also of themselves. For remember, it was two of these who said in chapter 10 when asked the question, Are you able to drink the cup that I drink and to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? They said in their ignorance, Yea, Lord, we are able. And then it was the third of them, Peter, who had just said a few minutes before, Though all others forsake you, I will never forsake you. And so in that disclosure of the depths of their own hearts, our Lord brings them into a place of greater privilege.

28:43 And yet in spite of that greater privilege, Peter, James, and John will be part of the sheep that are scattered when the shepherd is stricken. And then there is a hint, and only a hint, that our Lord may have brought that inner circle with him, believing that on the basis of their privileges there may have been at least a little more insight into his true purpose in coming, in the way in which he would secure the redemption of men. And he longed in his sanctified humanity for the sympathy and support of like-minded men. And I say that suggestion is at least hinted in the parallel passage in Matthew 26, 38, in which we have the words, Watch with me. And it could be that our Lord was saying, Not only watch as I now watch with me, that is, watchfulness in the same place and in the same circumstances and at the same time, but watch with me, that is, as my companions

30:10 and confidants, as sharers of my agony and of my burden and of my seeking grace from my heavenly Father. Now in summarizing what we are told about the people, we must note that it is Jesus, and not the eleven, who determines what position they shall occupy as the dark hour approaches. The eight did not decide among themselves who would be placed inside the perimeter of the garden and told to watch. The three did not select themselves to go with him further into the garden. And surely we have underscored in this action of our Lord that he is utterly sovereign with reference to the positions he assigns to his servants, and that there is absolutely no grounds for restlessness, discontent or envy on the part of the eight as they see the three in company with their Lord going deeper into the garden, being made privy to scenes, being made privy to words that they will not hear directly we see no indication that they sit there stewing with restlessness, discontent or envy.

31:37 The eight could have reasoned why do these three always get the extra goodies? For you see to reason that way is ultimately to slap the hand of Christ and say why have you placed your hand in a distinct and unique way upon these three to give them distinct privileges? And my friend listen when you complain and stew in envy and jealousy when Jesus Christ is pleased by his sovereign hand to draw some of his children and some of his servants into circles of communion and usefulness that you do not know you're not really complaining against your fellow believers. You are slapping the hand of a sovereign Christ. And that's why ministerial envy and jealousy is an abomination in the sight of Almighty God. Do you see it?

32:48 You men preparing for the ministry if you cannot sit just are taken into more in preparation for greater usefulness in the cause of Christ and rejoice in the will of Christ and devilish and devilish unmortified in your heart for remember it was Lucifer's spirit that said I will ascend the place assigned to me the devil himself. You are not called to any special service you see the Lord drawing some of your brothers and sisters into more intimate contact with the Savior and into wider spheres of usefulness and rather than rejoice you seek to find fault pick at them. What a wicked thing. The people involved

34:15 at least at this point had learned their lesson from the upper room where they had been squabbling about who's going to be number one. And Jesus washes their feet and Jesus gives them some vital lessons as recorded in Luke chapter 22 and apparently at least for a few moments we see them content to let Christ apportion the places of privilege and usefulness for his people. Well we move now from the place and the people to note thirdly the purpose. The purpose.

The Purpose: To Pray for Strength

34:53 What was the purpose of Gethsemane? And here the purpose is very clearly set before us. Verse 32b And he said unto his disciples sit here while I pray. Sit here while pray.

35:18 Matthew 26 and verse 36 gives some additional light on the purpose. Matthew 26 and verse 36 Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane and he saith unto his disciples sit here while I go yonder and pray even more definite more and coming with you into the garden you sit while I for this express purpose am to give myself to a season of prayer. Now remember the path by which he has come to this place with a felt need to pray. According to Luke 9.51 he had set his face to go to Jerusalem. According to Mark 10.32

36:21 that determination so from every poor of his being disciples were amazed as they saw constantly going out ahead of them at a pace that was unnatural as it were to Jerusalem for the last time. He has orchestrated his own entrance as the Messianic King on what we call Palm Sunday the beginning of the Passion Week. For several days he has openly shamed and condemned and argued down religious leaders on their own turf in the temple. He has gathered with his own for the final Passover meal.

37:02 He has exposed the betrayer. He has told him what you do do quickly. He has indicated in the institution of the supper that he is going to die a violent death. This is my body which is for you.

37:15 This is my blood which is poured out for many. He knows that within a few short hours all that he has come to Jerusalem to accomplish will indeed have come to pass for he said to Peter this night this day this night before the cock crow twice you will deny me the awareness that the hour he had come into the world was about to break upon him. He goes to seek help at his father's throne as he has found throughout all when he needed strength for the labor of the masses pressing in upon him Mark described him in chapter 1 in verse 35 a great while before day going out when he needed wisdom in the selection of the twelve he went up into a mountain and continued all night in prayer and of prayer and in the crises of his ministry there were extended concentrated seasons of prayer and he had known what it was that he needed to do to know

38:45 and so that he could say that Lazarus will indeed be raised from the dead he was living out the terms of Psalm 2 in which Jehovah says to Messiah his son he was continually asking and the father was continually giving and so the purpose for which he goes into the garden now is that he might by intimate encounter all of the strength and grace needed for the coming ordeal may I say it reverently he goes into the garden expecting that heaven will come down his soul and glory the mercies it would be on the very verge greatest need support and upholding and one can only imagine something

The Profound Shock and Sorrow of Christ

40:14 of the keen and the of the to and just taste and the sweet of the blood and so what I can do to love God is to put his soul and to cloud the earth and Look at the language of verse 33b. And he began to be greatly troubled. He saith unto them, My soul is sorrowful, and to expiate of mine, and so's which are all relatable into English.

41:39 He began, began to talk down with nothing less than a profile to his entire humanity. And marked it with two words, and then our Lord. And so is to begin to penetrate the edges of the mystery of Gethsemane. Consider Mark's description of the profound shock, and then our Lord's description of it. Mark's description is this. He began to be greatly amazed.

42:33 Now the word without the preposition that intensifies it is the word used in Acts 3.10. People were amazed.

42:47 Mark 1.27. People were amazed. The demon from the man in the synagogue, from Bethlehem.

42:59 But in this case, the preposition placed in front, Acts, which intensifies it, and hence our translation, he began to be greatly amazed. It's the word used in chapter 9 and verse 15 of the gospel according to Mark. And straightway, when they saw him, were greatly amazed.

43:43 Great.

43:51 I'm sorry. In running to him, saluted him, and he asked them, what question ye with them? The people here are amazed. Sight of the Lord as he returns from the mount of transfiguration.

44:06 We would say in contemporary parlance, something blew my mind. It's what happens when a reality dawns on cognitive faculties that is utterly the expectation or utterly strange to our previous experience. We see something we've never saw. We've never seen before.

44:31 And the moment we see a shock effect, the sense of the word, it has to do with whether the shock is to joy, whether it leads to grief. The concentration is upon that immediate sense of the shock to one's consciousness. But then it says he was sore. A word used in Matthew 26.37.

44:59 And then in Philippians 2.26, we're speaking of one of the servants of God. That he was...

45:06 Sore, troubled, but the basic concept of the word speaks and most intense.

45:20 And you see the progression between the two is to be this. There is...

45:33 Is all... And becomes, as it were, the subject of what shocked him.

45:42 Now... Grief...

45:50 To the day be... Place of this...

45:54 And a lawyer... His credentials and proves...

45:59 Someone there on a... Demons discovered a deed that's...

46:06 Adornment for years... Particular person...

46:08 Particular person... In his air...

46:10 Several million... First response would be one of shock.

46:16 And then there would be ambulance and joy.

46:30 And remember having the... To someone's place of work and having to tell them that their husband, with no previous record of heart problems, no previous record of hospitalization for heart disease, dropped dead at his job that day.

46:53 And as I sought to ease the news, once the cognitive faculties dawned upon that woman, she was shocked. And then the shock became the substratum over which was laid the deepest grief. Now that's what Mark is describing for us here. A profound shock overcame our Lord which issued in an abiding grief.

47:21 And two present infinitives are used to show that these were not momentary dispositions of the soul. They became for a while...

47:31 Active dispositions of the soul. Now look at our Lord's description of this profound shock. How does he describe it? His words are these.

47:47 My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto... It's the word you...

48:06 In Mark 6 and verse 26. Mark chapter 6 and verse 26. The king had sworn that was asked of that woman who...

48:27 Up to the half of his kingdom. And she asked for the head of John the Baptist. And the king was...

48:41 In his lifestyle, his he respected and admired. He was exceeding sorrowful. It's the word you...

48:51 Regarding the rich young ruler. But when he was told he had to part with all his goods if he would have Christ in heaven, it says he was exceeding sorrowful. Now our Lord says, My soul is exceeding sorrowful. And now notice this phrase.

49:09 My soul... Even...

49:13 Unto... Hebrews 5.

49:36 In your hearing, I believe it is the spirit-inspired interpretation of our Lord's words. Who in the days...

49:45 Cries unto him that was able to save him from death.

50:01 From death was praying to... From the death of the cross.

50:05 He was not... Would have premature...

50:18 Our Lord was her. He was sustained to go through agony and all of the shame and humiliation. That all...

50:28 Ultimately resulted... In the death of the cross.

The Encounter: The Cup of God's Wrath

50:32 Well, as we break off the exposition at this point this morning, I hope there is one burning, haunting, inescapable question that has forced itself upon your mind. I hope it has. And that question, which I trust is pressed in upon you, is this. What was it that our Lord encountered in that place, Gethsemane, with the...

50:59 Those people surrounding him, the eight at some distance, the three... While...

51:09 To pray... What...

51:19 He felt... Would...

51:22 Before he even got to the cross. Well, verses 35 and 36 give the answer. He prayed that if it were possible, the hour...

51:33 Might pass. Remove...

51:41 Entered him... And a rise of prayer...

52:02 The encounter... In a manner...

52:07 In that realm... From eternity in the councils of the triune...

52:41 Triune... He had...

52:44 Incarnation... Tism...

52:48 He had viewed it in his temptations... With the devil...

52:54 Out his entire... But now...

53:04 Was brought... Smell its content...

53:09 Nearer... The felt...

53:34 The viking... Bearer...

53:36 It undid him... When...

53:43 Had never... Faced before...

53:46 That he... With the...

53:50 People were to be... No...

54:17 And being... People be received...

54:23 And welcomed... It was the...

54:26 Of that... Overcame...

54:32 And he felt... Would kill him...

54:35 As one author put it... And I trust I never forget the words...

54:40 He went to pray... Expecting heaven...

54:43 To come down... To comfort him...

54:46 Instead... Hell came forth...

54:50 And almost overcame him... He went for...

54:58 Into the hymn... Come down...

55:27 He said my... Even...

55:33 To the point of death... Now having answered that question...

Application for Unbelievers: Confront God's Wrath

55:37 I have... But one point of application...

55:40 This morning... And it is this...

55:43 If there is no righteous God in heaven... Who really exists...

55:54 Creatures to perfect... Perpetual...

55:57 Obedience... If there is no need...

56:00 For God's law... To be satisfied...

56:03 In the venting of his wrath... Upon law-breaking...

56:07 And law-breakers... If there is no righteous anger in God...

56:18 Of the worst kind... There's no other conclusion...

56:25 That's warranted... One moment Jesus...

56:29 Is in a state of calm... Repose...

56:33 He says to the eight... Sit here...

56:36 He says to... James and John...

56:38 Come with me... And now...

57:04 Son of God...

57:49 Savior... Was not demented...

57:54 My sin... Knew...

57:59 That the Father... Was indeed his...

58:02 Holy Father... But that's how he had prayed to him...

58:07 In his last formal prayer... Prior to this prayer...

58:12 Holy... Right...

58:19 Knew that that God had a law... And had said the soul...

58:24 That law... The soul...

58:25 That all things shall die... And he knew...

58:30 That though that God was love... He was not this mushy...

58:35 Unprincipled love... As the surety and the substitute...

59:05 Of his people... If there is no agony of hell...

59:09 If there are no ends for the... Killed him in the garden...

59:30 No... These are the realities...

59:35 That confronted our Lord... And my sinner friend...

59:37 Listen to me... You better confront them as really as he did...

59:42 Because there is a real God... He made you...

59:47 He's got absolute claims over you... And he has said...

59:52 If you break his law... You don't repent and find forgiveness...

59:56 In the bloodletting... In the substitutionary death of his son...

60:00 He will vent the fury of his wrath upon you... And cast you into hell...

60:06 And he'll do it with dignity... You better not act as though these things we preach about...

60:16 Are mere religious mirages... You better not act as though these things we preach about...

60:19 Mere gods love you... So such a Jesus never existed...

60:35 But in the mind of unconverted people...

60:39 And if that's your Jesus... Go to hell...

61:03 Then your Jesus is not the Jesus of the Bible... My friend...

61:12 Without an appreciation of what sin is... All your professed love to Jesus...

61:20 Is mushy sentiment that'll land you in hell...

61:23 No one ever went to heaven... Attached to Jesus with mushy sentiment...

61:28 You'll be attached to him in faith... Wonder of what...

61:45 Poor... And in his bloodletting...

61:50 In his... In Gethsemane...

62:04 Golgotha... Ism of blood and gore...

62:15 Old... Inanimalated...

62:19 Crucified... Resurrected...

62:21 Savior... Who bore you...

62:24 For sinners like me... That's saving faith, friend...

62:29 It's the flight of a guilty... Consciously held...

62:33 Deserving sinner... The wrath of God... Where it'll kill...

63:22 Who think of sin but lightly... Look at Jesus...

63:40 With expect... Sinner friend...

64:07 To take seriously... What Jesus was forced to do...

64:10 Was to take seriously... You'll take it seriously now...

64:14 Or in the day of judgment... But take it seriously...

64:18 You will... You can go out of here and say...

64:21 That preacher... He amazes me...

64:23 You know... Just when I think maybe he's getting...

64:25 Nice and polite... And a little bit of dignity...

64:27 He goes ranting and raving... My friend...

64:29 Listen to me... I'm not playing games...

64:32 I believe... If I drink it...

64:44 I'll spend all eternity... And I'll never empty it...

64:51 You better take seriously... The God who made you...

64:54 The God who's your judge... The God who's your judge...

64:57 The God who's bound you to keep his law... The God who says repent...

Application for Believers: Mortify Sin in Light of Gethsemane

65:02 And flee to my son... And dear Christians...

65:07 How can we play with our sins... In the light of Gethsemane...

65:14 Are you saying it's a little sin... It was in the cup...

65:17 Just a little bit of... Oh yeah...

65:24 I know... If I were really walking close to the Lord...

65:26 I wouldn't watch those particular movies... But they've only had a few hells...

65:29 And a few dams... And two sex scenes...

65:32 I'm amazed when I hear what some of you people watch on television... And with your VCRs...

65:38 You mean you can look on a little bit of adultery without shock? Jesus saw the penalty for all...

65:48 Doesn't even make you twitch... You're so used to it...

65:51 That's not a sign of Christian maturity... That's a sign of a hard heart...

65:58 I was just irritated with my wife a little bit... Oh, just a little white lie at business...

66:02 Just a little telling of how... My friends...

66:05 My friends... My Christian brothers and sisters...

66:08 How can you come in to get... About little sins...

66:13 A little bit of lust... A little bit of lie...

66:18 A little bit of self-will... A little bit of self-love...

66:20 Selfishness... A little bit of insensitivity...

66:23 Will kill it... We better linger...

66:51 Until our sins are seen... In the light of the garden...

66:56 It's when we see them in that light... That we will come...

67:00 And there will always be... As the surgeon said...

67:03 Repentance is the tear in faith's eye... And we will look to this Christ...

67:08 For continued cleansing... But it won't be with a cavalier attitude...

67:12 Oh yeah, I sinned... I goofed...

67:14 Oh Lord, forgive me... Thank you, it's all done...

67:15 On my way... We'll pause long...

67:19 Enough to say that sin... Was there in what my Savior...

67:24 Confronted in Gethsemane... How can I have any indifference to it...

67:29 Any love to it... As he fell toward it...

67:41 When he, the sinless one... Voluntarily took the guilt...

67:46 Of all my sin... Upon himself...

67:52 That's the first great lesson of Gethsemane... May God write it...

67:57 Upon all of our hearts... Let us pray...

Concluding Prayer

68:08 We pray that once again... The Spirit will come...

68:12 And take of the things of Christ... And write them upon our hearts...

68:17 Lord, you know our concern... For those who sit week after week...

68:22 With some sympathy to Christ... In his word...

68:26 Or they'd not be here... But oh Lord, we fear...

68:29 That they have no true... Saving attachment to him...

68:33 Will you not plow up their hearts... Give them such a sight of their sin...

68:39 In the light of his agony... That their eyes will be opened...

68:43 And they will flee to him... Forgive us as your people...

68:46 That we become so hardened to our sins... So cavalier about our sins...

68:51 So careless... Oh Lord, have mercy upon us...

68:55 And when we are tempted... Bring near the garden...

68:59 Bring near the Lord's amazement... Bring near his sorrow...

69:04 Bring near... And oh, in the sight of what he bore...

69:09 May our sins appear odious... And vile...

69:12 And filthy in our eyes... Even as they are in you...

69:17 Seal then your word to our hearts... For the glory of Christ...

69:23 And the good of our souls... Amen...