Jesus and the Sleeping Disciples #1

Introduction to Gethsemane and the Shift in Focus

0:02 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, June 11th, 1989, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:15 Now as we continue our consecutive expositions in the Gospel of Mark, we find ourselves again this morning in the incidents surrounding our Lord's experience in Gethsemane, Mark chapter 14. And I would ask you to follow as I read verses 32 through 42, and then we shall turn over to Hebrews chapter 5 and read just several verses, which are the Holy Spirit's own commentary upon the experience of Gethsemane, Mark 14 and verse 32. And they come unto a place which was named Gethsemane. And he said unto them, 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.

1:25 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 from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee. Remove this cup from me.

1:46 How be it? Not what I will, but what thou wilt. And he cometh and findeth them sleeping. And saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou?

2:00 Couldst thou not watch one hour? Watch and pray that ye, enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words, or the same thing.

2:21 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.

2:46 Arise, let us be going. Behold, he that betrayeth me is at hand. Now over to Hebrews chapter 5.

2:59 Hebrews chapter 5,

3:08 referring to our Lord Jesus Christ, in verse 7 we read, Who in the days of his flesh, having, offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying 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, and having been made perfect, he became unto all them that obey him, the author of eternal salvation, named of God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. Now let us once again seek the face of God in prayer that the Holy Spirit, who delights to fulfill his ministry of taking the things of Christ and revealing them to the hearts of his people, will be present and powerfully active in each of our minds and in each of our hearts that we shall know Christ himself, coming to us in his word. Let us pray. Our Father, we feel again as though you would say to us

4:30 as you said to Moses standing by the bush that burned with fire and yet was not consumed, take the shoes from off your feet for the ground whereon you stand is holy ground. And as we have come to that plot of ground called Gethsemane in recent weeks, surely, holy Lord, we have felt that it is holy ground. And we have wondered at what right we even have to stand on that ground. For we confess our own sinfulness, our own unfitness to look upon our Savior in his moments of intense agony. And yet because you have told us that your word is given to be light and life, we dare not through a false humility avoid the ground of Gethsemane. But coming again to stand within those stone walls of that plot of ground, we plead for the Spirit's ministry to our hearts that we may reverently and yet joyfully behold him whom you have set forth as the only hope of needy sinners.

5:56 Holy Spirit, come with might and power and illuminating grace and take of the things of Christ and reveal them to us with clarity and with life-transforming power. We ask in our Savior's name. Amen.

6:22 Gethsemane,

6:25 a small band of men placed inside the wall which probably marked out the actual boundary of the world. The boundaries of that special garden of olive trees, a smaller group of men penetrating more deeply into that garden, half asleep, fully asleep, periodically awakened by another figure within the walls of that garden. The Lord of glory prostrate on the cold, damp clods in that grove of olive trees. Strong cryings and tears rung from his heart now held in the grip of a tempest of internal commotion and of deepest conflict. An intensity, yes, of vehemency, of prayer produced in a state of agony resulting in sweat mingled with blood clotting and falling to the earth. It is these realities which constitute the profound mysteries of Gethsemane. Mysteries which all have their origin in what it will mean for Jesus to drink the cup, the cup of the Father's own wrath

7:51 against the sins of his people. The cup which when placed before him there in Gethsemane in a way in which he had never encountered the cup before caused him to recoil and to pray if at all possible the cup might be up my pass without his having to drink it. And in a very real sense then for our Lord Gethsemane was Golgotha's shadow etched upon the Savior's heart and impressing itself upon all of the faculties of his mind and of his soul. We have already paid three visits to this solemn scene as depicted by Mark and then with the sidelights of Luke's account in Luke 22 verses 43 and 44. And in these three expositions based primarily upon Mark 14 verses 32 through 36 and also verse 39 our attention has been riveted upon our blessed Lord himself. It has been his amazement his trouble his anger his sorrow unto death his conflict his prayer his resignation to the Father's will and his submission to that will

9:20 which has filled our thoughts as we have followed the track of Mark's own pen as that pen was guided by the Holy Spirit. However, if you have carefully noted the reading over these past weeks you will have noticed that in verse 37 there is a very clear shift in the focal point of interest. The emphasis shifts from an almost exclusive preoccupation with our Lord's inner turmoil and the agonizing prayers which it produced to one in which the disciples are now prominent along with our Lord as he deals with his own in Gethsemane. One commentary has accurately observed that from verse 37 onward there is a clear shift of emphasis from the prayer of Jesus to the failure of the three disciples to maintain their appointed vigil. And as we attempt to grasp the facts of this section bounded by verses 37 to 42 and then to begin to extract their abiding message we will be able to see that this is not a time to be a man. We will be able to see that this is not a time to be a man.

Initial Directives to the Disciples in Gethsemane

10:39 We will be able to see that this is not a time to be a man. We will be able to see that this is not a time to be a man. Let me ask you to follow the text with me as we consider, first of all, the initial directives to the disciples in Gethsemane. Or we might say the initial directives to the disciples upon entering Gethsemane.

10:59 And those directives break down into two very clear categories. There is, first of all, the general directive to all of the disciples and then secondly the specific or exclusive directive to the special three disciples. Note then, under this heading of the initial directives to the disciples upon entering Gethsemane the general directive to all the disciples verse 32 and they come unto a place which was named Gethsemane and he saith unto his disciples and we know from the setting that refers to the eleven apostles who then were with him he saith unto his disciples sit ye here while I pray. So the general directives to all eleven are very simple, straightforward and clear. They are commanded to sit just inside the entrance to Gethsemane. They are informed that Jesus intends to go off to engage in prayer.

12:14 The form of the verb plus a particle with which it is used could be rendered literally sit ye here until I have prayed. Our Lord thus intimating that as he leaves them it is to engage in a specific exercise of concentrated prayer and then at a time subsequent to his having prayed to return to the eleven. And we must note that while Luke's account which is a very loose summary without any attempt at chronological precision Luke's account says that after entering the garden he commanded some disciples upon entering to pray when they came to the place he said sit here and pray. It may be that at this time a general command to pray was given to all the disciples and the focal point of that prayer was pray that you enter not into temptation. In Luke's account there is the fuller admonition at the end of Luke's treatment of the subject the words that are very familiar in Matthew's account verse 41 and here in Mark's account verse 38. So upon entering the garden our Lord speaks

13:42 to all eleven and he says sit here until I have prayed it may be that in addition to the directive for them to sit was also a command that they should pray that they would not enter into temptation. But whether that word from Luke was inserted here this much is clear. There is not a shred of evidence that our Lord asked them to pray for him let alone to pray with him.

14:18 In Matthew and Mark we are simply told that his general directive was sit here while I pray. And at that point he made it evident whether with a nod of the head whether by pointing to them or speaking their names he singles out three of the eleven to the other Peter, James, and John and indicates his desire that they accompany him further into the heart of the garden. So we read in verse 33 and he takes with him Peter and James and John. And you remember that in our previous expositions we noted that at this point our Lord begins to be overwhelmed with the realization of what it will mean for him to be to encounter the cup of the wrath of God unmixed with mercy and that if he is to accomplish the redemption of his people he must drain every last dark drop and drain it all alone. And taking then the three with him that group of three who were with him when he raised Jairus' daughter Mark 537 who were with him as witnesses of the transfiguration Mark 9 and verse 2 to this group of three he gives a

15:47 two-fold command. Notice then the specific directives to the favored three. First of all he tells them to abide here verse 34b abide ye here. What he was telling them was that they were to remain in the precise place in the garden to which he had taken them some distance from the other eight who had been left just inside the outer borders of the garden but not to the point where he himself will go and engage in prayer somewhere in between separated from the eight and yet short of the place to which he himself intends to go and pour out his soul unto the father and his directive to them is abide here remain in this particular place. Then the second thing he charges them to do is that they are to be continually watchful. Again verse 34b abide ye here and be watchful. Now in the light of the frequent years of this verb to watch as our Lord had used it just a couple

17:16 of days before in the Olivet discourse and as he had used it frequently throughout his ministry it means at its most elementary level to stay awake something that is good advice when you're listening to sermons and it indicates that to stay awake is not only a human responsibility in certain circumstances it is a human possibility.

17:48 We must never talk as though sleep were some great and powerful monster that could consume us some great giant against which we had no strength when God calls us to wakefulness sleeping and slumbering our sin and so though the hour was very late and it had been a long and in many ways an intensely draining day for remember these three one of them had been chosen to go on and prepare for the Passover meal they had relived the exciting history of their own nation in the remembrance of the Passover feast they had been brought into the mystery of the institution of the new supper of remembrance there in the upper room it had been a long and an emotionally as well as physically exhausting day and yet our Lord says keep awake but watchfulness rarely refers to mere physical wakefulness for you know what it is to be fully awake and yet to be day dreaming something you normally do when you're asleep when you're well off into the land of not is when most of us do our dreaming but you see it's possible to be awake and yet for all intents and purposes to be sleeping so we speak of day dreaming

19:17 and this command to watch not only means to keep awake but it means to have all of the faculties of the mind and soul wakeful and alert to the impending spiritual realities and in particular potential spiritual dangers that is the predominant usage of this word in the New Testament now in Matthew 26 38 we read that our Lord added two words watch with me now in verse 35 it says that he went forward a little so having just told them watch with me clearly does not mean watch in the closest company with me for having told them watch with me he then immediately leaves them so the words can only mean one of two or possibly two things you be watchful as I will be watchful as I now leave you having confronted in a degree that I've never confronted before the cup that I must drink all of my faculties are so awake and alive to the realities of my father's

20:44 burning holiness of his inflexible justice of his overwhelming wrath against sin I see these attributes of my father and these commitments of my father for the redemption of a people there in the cup my soul is so alive to them that I am exceeding sorrowful unto death he staggers with this inner commotion of soul and now he says you sit here and you be watchful with me as I in my state of total alertness and awakeness to the realities of the hour go yonder to pray in the light of those very realities so watch with me that is be watchful even as I am watchful and it may mean that our Lord was seeking from them some measure of sympathetic support in his agony be alert and awake and as you are alert and awake and you behold me as I press on a bit deeper what Mark calls a bit further went forward a little Luke says the stones cast beyond them that you will be able as witnesses who are not detached and indifferent but with

22:13 some measure of sympathy behold me as I wrestle with my own father concerning this issue of the cup so it may have been that our Lord was in some measure seeking a degree of sympathy it is clear that he commands them to personal watchfulness even as he was watchful but the more I have studied the passage the less inclined I am to think that there is anything in the text clearly to establish that our Lord was seeking sympathy for himself for as we shall see in our subsequent studies this morning the whole preoccupation of the Lord in his various visits to the slumbering disciples is not with himself or any disappointment to himself it is all concern for his disciples and what their state of non-watchfulness will produce in them well then those are the initial directives to the disciples as they enter Gethsemane the general directive to the eleven the specific directive to the favored three now we come in the second place and this of course is the heart of our study to consider the repeated visits of our Lord to the favored three

The First Visit: Disciples Sleeping and Jesus's Response

23:41 the repeated visits of our Lord to the favored three and I shall simply follow the chronological order in opening up the text we'll consider the first visit to the three the condition in which they were found the response of our Lord the second visit to the three the third visit first of all then the first visit to the three verses thirty-seven and thirty-eight and he cometh and findeth them sleeping and saith unto Peter Simon sleepest thou couldest thou not watch one hour watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak here is the record of our Lord's first visit back from the place where he had wrestled with his father and could well have been visited by the angel and strengthened in his agony and he rises from that place and comes precisely to the place where they had been told to abide and we note the condition of the three when our Lord returns the text says they were all sleeping and he cometh and findeth them he has displayed his deep agitation

25:10 he has engaged in mighty wrestlings with God so intense that apparently as so often happens and those of you who know anything of the agony of deep intense spiritual wrestlings will appreciate this immediately there are times when your mind and spirit as well as your body will be as it were crushed if you don't take a break from that intense concentration and preoccupation with those realities and as our Lord as it were takes that break that he might give himself to further wrestlings he comes to his disciples and he finds them sound asleep and obviously awakening them we now note our Lord's response to their condition having awakened them he singles out Peter from the three he finds them sleeping and saith unto Peter Simon sleepest thou couldest thou not watch one hour he singles out Peter and as it were addresses the three in the person of Peter and very interestingly this is the first time he's called Simon since way back in chapter 3 he had his name changed from Simon

26:39 to Peter a rock but as if to remind him that he was not living up to his name with reference to his function and usefulness in the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ he's addressed by his old surname Simon Simon couldest thou watch with me one hour you see what he was doing here is the man who just a short time before when Jesus had predicted that when the shepherd was smitten all the sheep would be scattered it was Peter in verse 29 who said though all others should be offended yet will not I be offended I can believe that these other fellows might be weak enough cowardly enough might be filled with enough jelly instead of steel in their backbone that under pressure they would turn and run but not me Lord if I must pour out my life's blood in martyrdom Lord I'll never deny you if I must die with you I will never deny you and then the Lord had given his solemn prediction to him before the cock crow twice thou shall deny me thrice and perhaps Peter was still stinging from that prophecy of the Lord and so he singles out Peter and says Simon sleepest thou

28:08 all I asked you to do in this place of security in this place of absolute retreat and quiet from all the bustle of the multitudes much more from overt enemies who would destroy you and lay hold of you all I've asked you to do is in this place to be watchful to be wakeful that's all I've asked Simon couldest thou not watch one hour you say you have spiritual strength and that you have internal grace to go even to martyrdom I've not asked you to shed a drop of blood I've not asked you to prick a finger I've simply said stay awake and be alert to the realities of the hour Simon sleepest thou couldest thou not watch not through the whole night not for three days and nights but one hour basic unit of time that they would use to speak of a time that was longer than a moment but shorter than any extended period and we we should not press it into an exact sixty minute time frame but Simon could you not watch for this one relatively brief period of time that's his question and then our Lord moves from the singular to the plural and addressing the three patently

29:38 and clearly verse thirty eight he says watch and pray that ye and now we're in the second person plural that ye enter not into temptation the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak and here our Lord gives two parallel imperatives be watchful and be praying to the three he says having awakened them from their slumber repeats the first command given to them before he engaged in his first season of wrestlings with his father be alert be awake be watchful and to that he now adds without any question that he did so here be continually watchful and be continually praying and in this context to what purpose are they to engage in watchful prayer and in prayerful watching look at the text watch and pray in order that this is the specific intention I have in commanding you to be continually watchful and prayerful in order that you enter not into temptation that is that you not merely be tempted by the pressures of the coming

31:07 ordeal but so to enter temptation as to be ensnared and overcome and defeated by that temptation and so our Lord's command is very clear with the two imperatives be continually watchful and prayerful you must engage in watchfulness unto prayer and prayer that will sustain watchfulness and then he gives the rationale for this look at the text again why is this necessary in the light of the coming ordeal here is the reason the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak now with no desire to enter the very vexing question of the precise nature of the meaning of the word spirit and flesh and I have spent hours tracking some of these things down and I do not believe it would be unto edification at least today this much is clear whether spirit here refers to their renewed human spirits which as regenerate men were willing that is delightfully committed to doing the will of God or whether it is speaking of the Holy Spirit who in some measure

32:36 as Old Testament believers dwelt in them it was not the spirit of the ascended Christ who would be given on the day of Pentecost but surely the personal Holy Spirit who alone had regenerated these men and made them what they are this much is clear there is a contrast between a willing spirit the inward basic disposition and prevailing bent of the soul and this weak flesh and whether the word flesh here is used to refer to human nature in its present fallen condition or whether it's used in the Pauline sense of depraved polluted remains of corruption the mind of the flesh is death the flesh lusteth against the spirit Galatians 5.17 it seems that there is only one place in the gospels where our Lord uses the word in that sense in his discourse with Nicodemus that which is born of the flesh is flesh but one thing is clear the reason for which he commands them to be watchful and to be prayerful is that they might not so enter temptation as to be ensnared and overcome and the reason why that is attained is because

34:05 though they have a spirit that is willing to please and follow and obey their master they have flesh that is weak that is sick they have either weak human nature which quails before suffering and opposition and hardship or added to that they have the remnants of sin within that are in opposition to all that is pleasing to God but they are , but whichever it be in any combination it was the reality of this true biblical dualism that regenerate men in the language of Galatians 5, 17 have this constant conflict between what they are as new men in Christ and what they are in terms of the remnants of what they once were. Now notice I did not say two natures. I've chosen my words very carefully. Don't anyone go out and say Pastor Martin taught the two nature theory of the Christian life.

35:12 That will be breaking the ninth commandment. I've chosen my words with precision and carefulness. You listen with precision. It's vital.

35:23 Though the two are set as though they might be equal and opposing forces, we know from our study of the scripture that in every regenerate man that which he is as a spiritual man will ultimately prevail and will be dominant in his life. But no matter how much the spirit dominates, flesh is always present until we join the spirits of just men made perfect and are glorified at the day of resurrection.

36:00 Well that's what our Lord says after that first visit. It's clear that when he took this brief reprieve from his own wrestlings that his primary concern is not that his disciples disappointed him and left him down. Rather it is clear they have left themselves vulnerable and unprepared for the coming conflict. You see that in the text?

The Second Visit: Heavy Eyes and Speechless Guilt

36:29 All right now then the second visit to the three verse 40 and again he came and found themselves sleeping for their eyes were very heavy and he knew not what to answer them. Again we look at the condition of the three. Our Lord obviously goes away to pray a second time and Matthew records that explicitly for us and after this second season of prayer he comes back and he finds them again in a state of slumber and it is Mark who alone in conjunction with the second visit to the slumbering three says for their eyes were very heavy. It's a compound word meaning were exceedingly weighed down.

37:27 Now here I can give an illustration to which you can all relate. Do you know those times when you're in a given company of people and alas often it's in a church that a preacher can see it and someone is fighting sleep and that's noble to fight sleep. The person who doesn't fight it, the first wave of it he feels coming over just folds his hands and do you ever see someone fighting it? Fighting their lip, shifting around in the pew and changing their posture tape and you see their eyes beginning to flutter and then they jerk their heads and they hold up their eyes and then after a while the eyes begin to, just like someone is tied little fish sinkers right to their eyelids and they are way down until after a while they give up and give in and usually you know because then the head will give one little jerk and they're gone. Well that's the picture here. If you were talking about a slave or a beast of burden that was excessively weighed down with goods and commodities upon its or his back, this is the verb you would use. Their eyes were exceedingly weighty, so weighty that they finally came down and stayed there.

38:45 Luke adds a very touching stroke that they were sleeping for sorrow. You see it was a state of the heart that was affecting the condition of the eyelids as it began to dawn upon them to some degree that as they beheld their Lord in his wrestlings before they nodded off to sleep the first time and as they beheld him in his wrestlings before they nodded off to sleep the second time that something foreboding, something frightening, something like a gathering storm of fury was about to break upon them and to some degree their hearts entered in to the sorrow of that hour and in their sorrow rather than doing as our Lord who was exceeding sorrowful even to the point of death and had his sorrow cut a conduit in mighty wrestling with God they retreated from their sorrow as men do either by blowing their brains with alcohol or drugs or going off to sleep there's many a person who's never used alcohol as a crutch to run from problems who becomes a sleepaholic because while sleeping one can have dreams that all is well and his world is a paradise but when he

40:14 wakes and the real world scares him in the face the world of doing what watching being wakeful and alert to reality it's too ugly it's too sorrowful it's too much laced with black it's funereal in its holy thoughts and so they drift back off into sleep and have had pleasant dreams that they're running over a hill spotted with daisies and they're seven years old and they're barefooted and the sky is blue and puffy cumulus and the sky and the clouds float by and it's just so wonderful now that's the picture of the disciples and apparently our Lord awakened them because Mark says and they knew not what to answer him it could be at this point according to Luke 22 46 that he may have asked the question why are you sleeping for Luke tells us that somewhere in this whole Gethsemane complex of incidents he asked the question of the three why are you sleeping it could well be at this point and Mark says with stark honesty they knew not what to answer they had nothing that would stand up as even a plausible excuse they couldn't say Lord the hour is late and it's been a busy day for the Lord could say did I

The Third Visit: Ironic Rebuke and Sober Announcement

41:44 not precede the dawn with you have I not been with you in all the activities of the day have I not borne burdens of which you know nothing am I not even now pressed down with cares that drain the strength from my own holy humanity they knew not what to answer they couldn't say well we weren't told to be kept awake for his command twice repeated was still ringing in their ears as soon as they woke up be awake keep alert be wakeful and be praying so in self-confessed guilt they say nothing they knew not what to answer him and again it is clear that amidst his own mighty wrestlings our Lord does not forget his own equally clear no word of personal disappointment Jesus then obviously goes a distance away to pray again and Matthew 26 44 states that very clearly and now we have the third visit verse 41 the third visit to the three verses 41 and 42 and he cometh the third time and set 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 arise let us be going behold he that betrayeth me is at

43:13 hand now I confess dear people that when I began my study of this passage I did not realize what a mine field of exegetical problems I was walking into there is a sense in which ignorance is bliss when you are trying to be a responsible expositor of the scriptures but when I opened my Greek text and began to examine the passage carefully I found I could hardly take a half of an exegetical step without gingerly feeling to see if my foot were on another mine or to change the imagery what I thought would be a clear path of exegetical study and this is perhaps a better imagery became a veritable maze you kids know what a maze is sometimes you have them in your little workbooks and coloring books where they have a whole bunch of lines and you gotta say start here and then it shows something in the middle and you gotta have a line and it doesn't cross any of the other lines and you gotta make your way right into the middle and find which are dead ends well I confess that I spent hours in the maze of exegetical work and it would not be unto edification to trace you to every single wrong path that I took or the possible paths that may be right and so in opening up these verses I want to just suggest along the way what may be the possibilities because in terms of the vital applications

44:42 whichever course is the right one exegetically the application is essentially the same now notice the condition of the three when he comes back the third time and he cometh the third time and saith unto them sleep on now the indication is that they were again fast asleep or they were in such a state of semi sleep and stupor that they may as well have been asleep that was the condition for the third time when our Lord returns to them now what was our response or what was the response of our Lord and here is where you have great difficulty and the difficulty arises first of all from the fact that in the Greek certain forms of certain verbs in the indicative that is a simple statement he is here and the imperative be here are exactly the same and context has to help one in determining is this an indicative or is it an imperative sometimes certain indicatives are questions he is here he is a question isn't it he is here he is here in indicative he is here in interrogative but you say it the same way just as I did and just by my paralinguistics and the use of my

46:11 voice you know if I say he is here it is a question he is here it is a statement now that is part of the problem then there is also the problem of this little word it is enough a peke and pages and pages and in footnotes I found whole treatises have been written on trying to ascertain what that one word means in some places in the New Testament it means as it is translated here it is enough in other context it means he is afar off it is used in conjunction with the prodigal son he saw him afar off it is used several times that way and some commentators make a whole case for certain interpretation very difficult well as I say I am not going to weary you with all the possibilities of the labyrinth for I have come to a tentative conviction that the way in which it is translated in the old 1901 is probably the proper understanding and that is as far as I will go when our Lord comes he says and then he speaks an imperative sleep on now for this period of time and take your rest continue sleeping still continue resting it is enough

47:37 in which case our Lord would have awakened them sufficiently to say in a sanctified irony which would constitute a mild rebuke sleep on now take your rest grab whatever few winks you can it is enough it is enough why the hour is coming the hour is coming I will not call you again to wakefulness and prayerfulness I call you ironically if sleep means so much to you in this context sleep on take your rest for you've just about completed all the rest you're going to get why and then he makes after that ironic rebuke this sober announcement that has two parts look at it the hour is come behold the son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners so the response of our lord which begins with what I judge in terms of my present light to be a gracious but ironic rebuke then issues in a sober announcement with two parts the hour is come you remember how many times in his earthly ministry he said my hour

49:07 is not yet come my hour is not yet come but now he says the hour is come the hour is come the time appointed by the father when all of the promises concerning the work of redemption in my own person in my own suffering in my own pouring out of my life unto death that hour has arrived he could see it off in the distance in perhaps the very beginning of the emergence of the lights and lanterns of the multitudes making their way out of Jerusalem the arresting party was on its way and perhaps our lord looked beyond the disciples whom he just had wakened out of sleep and seeing off in the distance saw them coming and he says the hour is come that's the first part of the sober announcement and then he defines what that hour is, so none need mistake it. The Son of Man, and he uses a present tense, is already being betrayed. And he's being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Up until now, every word about betrayal was always future.

50:32 We go to Jerusalem, remember chapter 10? There the Son of Man shall be betrayed, shall be handed over to the Gentiles. He shall be scourged and crucified, and he shall rise from the dead on the third day. But now it is no longer future, but present.

50:50 The hour is come. Behold, consider, fix your mind upon this reality, my disciples. If my command to be awake and alert and watchful did not break through to you, perhaps this announcement, will the Son of Man is already in the present moment being betrayed. And he's being betrayed into the hands,

51:19 not just of sinners generically, but the definite article is used, into the hands of these sinners.

51:27 And as one commentator has very, very accurately opened up the significance of that, and I quote him, the one perfect flower of humanity, referring to the Lord Jesus, is thrown by treachery into the polluted and polluting grass of wickedness in its many forms. The traitor delivers him by his hands to hirelings. The hirelings by their hands to hypocrites. The hypocrites by their hands to an unjust and skeptical pagan judge.

52:03 The judge by his hands to his brutal soldiers who expose him to all that malice can wreak, upon the most sensitive human being, or in gratitude upon the most tender heart. At every stage, it is an outrage. Every outrage and appeal to the indignation of the God who held them in the hollow of his hand. Surely it may well be said, consider him who endured such contradiction and endured it from sinners against himself.

52:40 Very interesting. That our Lord does not shrink back from identifying the religious leaders as these sinners, along with the Roman cohorts and all others who will conspire to lead him to death. And then after the ironic rebuke and the sober announcement, then we have what I have chosen to call his regal command. And I wrestled with what to call it, and I said, no, nothing less than, and those words will do justice to the whole spirit.

53:16 Look at verse 42. In the light of this, what does he say? Let us now quickly retreat into some secret place in the garden. The hour is come.

53:29 The Son of Man is being betrayed, and that into the hands of the most outrageous sinners. Let us run. Let us retreat. No.

53:38 What does he say? With regal dignity and authority, he says, and let us be going. With two terse verbs which could be rendered, be roused from your sleep. Let us advance to meet them.

53:59 And the reason, behold, he that is betraying me, and now he singles it down to Judas, is at hand. There will be no hide and seek, no search and destroy, or search and apprehend operation by the soldiers. He will go forth willingly, don't you sense this, almost anxiously, to meet the betrayer. He sees the betrayer and all of his crowd coming before they see him.

54:37 He doesn't even wait till they come to find him. He says, rise, let us speak. And in company with the three, he goes to the other eight, and the action, the evil sign of betrayal takes place with Jesus, having advanced to meet these sinners who will apprehend him and then subsequently put him to death.

Jesus as a Convicted Criminal and His Willingness

55:07 And from this point onward, and we'll have occasion to allude to it again and again, and if you read ahead in the Gospel of Mark, note this, from this point onward, Jesus appears publicly in one place, in one position, in one light only, that of a convicted criminal.

55:31 He is apprehended, he is indicted, he is tried, he is condemned, he's executed, and he's buried.

55:42 Everything in the out theater that human eyes can see identifies him as a convicted felon. And he goes to that, set of circumstances, voluntarily, I say it reverently, anxiously. Rise up! Let us be going!

56:06 And we shall meet the betrayer at our own initiative.

Application: Selfless Concern for His People

56:13 Well, that is our Lord's encounter three times with the sleeping disciples. Now, what I hope to do in the remaining few moments this morning is simply to bring a couple of words of application that focus upon the Lord Himself and, God willing, two weeks from today, I shall be gone, God willing, next week. But coming back that following week, we will open up other lines of application that are vital. But I would leave you this morning with the applications that focus upon this very simple principle.

56:49 What does this section of Gethsemane and its record of Jesus dealing with himself, his disciples, reveal about our Lord Himself? And I say, first of all, behold in these dealings of our Lord with his sleeping disciples, his selfless concern for those whom he came to save.

57:15 Few passages in Mark have moved me as this has with the revelation of the selfless concern of Jesus with respect to those whom he came to save. Remember the circumstances. From the time he entered the outer regions of the garden Gethsemane to the place where he left the three and went on to wrestle with his Father, our Lord encountered that which he had never known and in his entire life history as the incarnate eternal Word. There was something in the nearness of that cup as we've seen in previous studies that he could smell it and taste it.

57:59 He could feel it. His teeth set on edge by its bitterness and all within him recoiled and his soul was in such an agony that the capillaries burst and blood mingled with his sweat. And yet in the midst of bearing in his own soul an agony that would have killed him there in the garden had not an angel come in answer to his prayers and strengthened him.

58:27 It's as though he can only leave his disciples alone for a few minutes at a time and he finds his respite from his wrestlings about the cup not in going out and diverting his mind by looking up at the full moon at that Passover time and causing his mind to run over the wonders of his own created handiwork. He finds his relief in ministering to sleeping, slumbering, half-awake disciples. If ever the words find expression in concrete incidents he loved the church and gave himself for it. He nourishes and cherishes the church as a man does his own body. Surely here amidst his own agony his troubled soul and his bloody sweat he comes to disciples who are overcome with the shame of their own weakness and lack of resolve. And what does he do?

59:38 Apart from a mild ironic rebuke he pours out his heart of concern to let them know that in the midst of his most intense wrestlings for the salvation of all of his elect he has not lost sight of every single last one of his elect even sleeping, slumbering unsympathetic and in that sense backbiting and in that sense backslidden disciples totally unprepared for the coming ordeal. One of those very three in a few hours will go back to his old sandwich and swear I don't But Jesus is saying as he comes back three times I know you and I've known you from eternity and my love is set upon you and I'm committed to keep you in the way even when it appears you're doing everything to prepare yourself to be driven out of the way. My friends when the scripture says Christ saves his people that's what it's about. He saves them by the continuous ministry of his own grace his nurture to his church and surely this passage sets before us that wonderful dimension of the love and compassion of Jesus to his people and Hebrews 13.8 says Jesus Christ

61:07 the same yesterday today and forever one of the greatest tricks of the devil is this to tell you well it doesn't matter if you're sleeping spiritually when you should be awake it doesn't matter if you're doing something else when you ought to be praying and you come into a state where you're overcome by temptation because you did not watch and pray in obedience to the word of Christ and then the devil comes and says aha you knew you should have been watching you knew you should have been praying your sin was willful and wide-eyed you can't go and seek forgiveness from the Lord that's to make a cheap thing of the blood of Christ I mean if you had been surprised and overcome and it was a stumbling where you just hadn't looked down but with eyes wide open you walked into the path of spiritual prousiness and prayerlessness and now you're overcome surely you're not going to go running to Christ stinking and reeking with the smell of your sin it's to make the blood of Christ cheap ever hear that stuff before?

62:09 every day in my own heart

Application: Discerning Grace and Holy Resolution

62:13 go to Gethsemane go to Gethsemane and see Jesus coming not once not twice but three times to nurture slumbering and he's here this morning to do that for you child of God who by a combination of neglect and indifference is found this morning spiritually sleeping out of touch with the world of heaven and communion with Christ and the glory of the world to come the world is enthrosed upon you and you're spiritually asleep oh that you might hear your Savior saying why sleepest thou? not to then beat you with a club but to nurture you back into spiritual wakefulness to nurture you back into prayerfulness but then secondly behold in these dealings of our Lord with his disciples in Gethsemane his ability to discern the graces of God his people even when they are buried out of sight to others by spiritual dullness you see the Lord could discern the graces of these three when those graces were buried out of sight to anyone else when he came and found them sleeping it appeared that there was nothing

63:42 but spiritual dullness but he saw what others could not see he said the spirit is willing and the only other place that word willing is used in the New Testament apart from Matthew's use of it in the parallel passage is in Romans 1.15 where Paul says as much as in me is I'm ready I'm willing to preach the gospel to you who are at Rome as Paul's heart was anxious bursting as it were to preach our Lord says the spirit indeed is willing our Lord saw that the true state of those men was not to be read in their slumbering when they had been commanded to be wakeful in their prayerlessness when they had been commanded to pray he saw that those things were not the true index of their true state he saw beneath the temporary lapse in the weakness of the flesh and he said the spirit indeed is willing and oh what a consolation it should be to us to know that our Savior still sees the graces those things that are the evidence of his own mighty work according to the tenor and terms of the new covenant he can see his own law written on our hearts when in a period of spiritual lapse and dullness someone would wonder if we were indeed evangelical law keepers but he can see his own work

65:10 and in such times we need when emerging out of sleep by the gentle rebukes of Jesus to say oh Lord Jesus behold the transcript of your own work in me and you take this dimly burning flack which you said you would not quench and you make it burn brightly again Lord take this bruised reed and don't snap it but Lord you put splints on it and nurture it until it becomes a strong reed once again that's our Savior and finally because time has gone from us behold in these dealings of our Lord with his disciples his holy resolution to go forward to the cross with calm commitment to the will of God you see there's a marvelous transition something happened after that last mighty wrestling no longer did he see does he come out distracted full of turmoil he comes out with the calmness of a prince on his coronation let us be going he that betrays me is at hand I have a baptism to be baptized with how am I pressed until it be accomplished let us go forth to what to my suffering to my agony to my death which will be the redemption

66:38 of my people though they will not stay awake and pray for their own good he agonizes and sweats blood that he might do the will of God and in so doing it might bring us that salvation which he alone could bring it was in a garden that our first father disobeyed and brought wrath upon us it was in another garden that the second Adam prayed and secured salvation for us for as through the one man's disobedience the many were constituted sinners so by the obedience of the one shall the many be constituted righteous hallelujah what a savior let us pray oh our father is again we have sought to draw near to this sacred plot of ground we confess that we are in one sense driven back by its light and glory and yet drawn by its beauty may the holy spirit write the truth upon our hearts and for any sitting here this morning who do not know so gracious a savior

68:05 foolishly trying to weave upon the loom of their own efforts a cloak for their own sins God help them to smash the loom in true repentance from dead works and throw the weight of their souls upon the perfect obedience of Jesus obedience even unto death a righteousness made upon the loom of his perfect life and his death oh may they have no rest till they know they are clothed with that righteousness we pray for any of your disciples who came this morning spiritually slumbering prayerless careless vulnerable to temptation oh Lord Jesus come and succor them bring them back to wakefulness and prayerfulness and to whole soul allegiance to yourself we thank you our Lord for your grace we thank you for your pity for your love we marvel at your patience receive our praise and seal the word to our hearts for our good and for your glory Amen