WEBVTT 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:07.440 Our sermon text this morning comes from Mark chapter 14 verses 32 to 52. 00:00:09.119 --> 00:00:12.000 We're coming down to Jesus' final days. 00:00:13.039 --> 00:00:15.759 Let's give our full attention to God's word. 00:00:18.399 --> 00:00:26.079 And they went to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, Sit here while I pray. 00:00:26.399 --> 00:00:32.560 And he took with him Peter and James and John and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:38.159 And he said to them, My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. 00:00:38.719 --> 00:00:40.719 Remain here and watch. 00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:48.320 And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 00:00:49.039 --> 00:00:54.479 And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. 00:00:54.960 --> 00:01:01.039 Remove this cup from me, yet not what I will, but what you will. 00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:07.200 And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, Simon, are you asleep? 00:01:07.519 --> 00:01:09.840 Could you not watch one hour? 00:01:10.239 --> 00:01:13.519 Watch and pray that you may not enter temptation. 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:17.359 The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. 00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:21.200 And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. 00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:25.519 And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy. 00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:28.159 They did not know what to answer him. 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:36.000 And he came the third time and said to them, Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? 00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:37.280 It is enough. 00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:38.879 The hour has come. 00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:42.560 The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:44.640 Rise, let us be going. 00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:47.120 My betrayer is at hand. 00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:58.400 And immediately while he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:04.239 Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, The one I kiss is the man. 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:07.760 Sei him and lead him away under guard. 00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:16.639 And when he came, he went up to him at once and said, Rabbi, and he kissed him, and they laid hands on him and seized him. 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:22.879 But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. 00:02:23.199 --> 00:02:30.960 And Jesus said to them, Have you come out against me as a robber with swords and clubs to capture me? 00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:36.639 Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. 00:02:37.039 --> 00:02:39.439 But let the scriptures be fulfilled. 00:02:39.759 --> 00:02:42.479 And they all left him and fled. 00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:48.000 And a young man followed him with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. 00:02:48.159 --> 00:02:53.280 And they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked. 00:02:55.360 --> 00:03:01.280 This is the reading of God's holy, infallible, inerrant word. 00:03:08.800 --> 00:03:11.840 Father, this is a hard story to take in. 00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:19.039 And nothing inside of us, nothing in our flesh, wants to even do that. 00:03:20.479 --> 00:03:30.400 But your spirit is here to open our minds, to give us faith to believe, and to give us courage to listen, even when we don't want to listen, because it's just too much. 00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:33.360 But it wasn't too much for your son. 00:03:34.080 --> 00:03:37.280 And because your spirit is here, it's not too much for us. 00:03:38.159 --> 00:03:39.439 So help us. 00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:42.479 Help us to understand and believe. 00:03:42.800 --> 00:03:44.719 In Jesus' name, amen. 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:52.479 Last week we saw Jesus and his disciples in the upper room. 00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:54.240 The Last Supper. 00:04:02.479 --> 00:04:07.039 And now they're moving on from the upper room to the place called Gethsemane. 00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:12.080 It means translated the olive press. 00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:15.680 Isn't that an interesting, appropriate title? 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:18.560 The oil press. 00:04:19.600 --> 00:04:22.000 At the foot of Mount of Olives. 00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:27.839 And so Jesus turns to his disciples and he says, Sit here while I pray. 00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:33.680 And then he takes his inner three, Peter, James, and John, and he says, You come with me. 00:04:34.720 --> 00:04:36.240 We're going to pray. 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:53.759 Jesus, the third time that the Gospel of Mark tells us that Jesus is praying alone, in each of these situations that we've seen through the sermon series, each of these three times, it's a time of crisis in his life. 00:04:55.439 --> 00:05:00.639 And the gospel tells us, in going a little farther, a stone's throw. 00:05:01.839 --> 00:05:03.680 That's kind of interesting, keep that in mind. 00:05:03.839 --> 00:05:09.279 A stone's throw away from his disciples, he prays. 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:15.120 He falls on the ground and he prays, and this is his prayer. 00:05:15.439 --> 00:05:22.800 Father, if it's possible, let this hour pass from me. 00:05:24.720 --> 00:05:31.920 One commentator put it like this: the prayer is, Abba, all Father, all things are possible for you. 00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:34.480 Remove this cup from me. 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:40.800 Papa, Father, you can, can't you? 00:05:41.759 --> 00:05:43.360 Get me out of this. 00:05:44.079 --> 00:05:45.920 Take this cup from me. 00:05:47.439 --> 00:05:51.120 But please, not what I want. 00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:54.079 What do you want? 00:05:56.000 --> 00:06:08.959 The request we're looking at this morning from Jesus on the ground with tears and blood, as Luke tells us, pouring through his pores from the stress. 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:11.759 This is his prayer. 00:06:12.639 --> 00:06:15.839 Father, would you please take this cup from me? 00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:17.839 What was in the cup? 00:06:17.920 --> 00:06:19.680 We looked at that last Sunday. 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:21.199 What was in the cup? 00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:27.120 Psalm 75, verse 8 tells us it was the cup of God's judgment. 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:32.000 The pouring out of God's wrath on sinners like us. 00:06:35.360 --> 00:06:41.279 580 times in the Old Testament we find a reference to God's wrath. 00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:44.560 It's all over the Bible. 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:47.759 And we wonder why, don't we? 00:06:48.879 --> 00:06:52.000 We hardly know about God's wrath. 00:06:53.519 --> 00:06:54.399 Theologian J. 00:06:54.560 --> 00:06:54.639 C. 00:06:54.800 --> 00:07:00.560 Ryle said, how can we account for the deep agony which Jesus underwent in the garden? 00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:18.560 When many, many Christian martyrs have suffered more heroically, who didn't fall apart, who kept their courage as they were being burned to the stake, as they were being slaughtered by animals in the Colosseum. 00:07:19.279 --> 00:07:25.519 How do we explain Jesus falling apart on this occasion? 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:30.560 There is only one satisfactory answer. 00:07:31.519 --> 00:07:41.759 Because unlike anybody else who ever died for their faith, Jesus was carrying the burden of a world's imputed sin. 00:07:42.720 --> 00:08:03.279 Puritan Richard Baxter said it was not the fear of death, but from the deep sense of God's wrath against sin, which he, Jesus as our sacrifice, was about to bear, is greater pain than anyone else, simply dying. 00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:07.360 Listen to the way John Calvin put it. 00:08:08.079 --> 00:08:33.840 Because Jesus had before his eyes the dreadful tribunal of God, and the judge himself armed with inconceivable vengeance, it was our sins, the burden of which he assumed, that pressed him down with their enormous mass and tormented him grievously with fear and anguish. 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:50.399 When we see Jesus kneeling and pouring out his heart and his tears in Gethsemane, we really see how much it would cost him to hang on Calvary. 00:08:52.159 --> 00:09:11.840 Another theologian says it like this how dreadful then must the idea have been to Christ, who had from eternity loved and lived in the most intimate relationship with his father, in unbroken commitment with his father, that he would have to endure all of this. 00:09:13.919 --> 00:09:15.840 You're getting the picture, right? 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:18.480 This is not just another death. 00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:24.320 This was the only death where the one dying was facing what he faced. 00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:38.720 Charles Spurgeon said like this in his sermon since it would not be possible for any believer, however experienced, to know for himself all that our Lord endured and mental suffering and in hellish malice. 00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:47.519 It is clearly far beyond any preacher's capacity to set it forth to you. 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:53.840 Jesus Himself must give you access to the wonders of Gethsemane. 00:09:54.559 --> 00:10:01.840 As for me, said the preacher Spurgeon, I can only invite you to enter the garden. 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:05.360 And that's a good prayer right now. 00:10:06.159 --> 00:10:08.159 The preacher can't do that. 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:12.720 But Jesus by the Holy Spirit can do that. 00:10:13.120 --> 00:10:16.000 He can take you back to that garden right now. 00:10:17.360 --> 00:10:19.919 From the Word of God by the Spirit of God. 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:28.559 Yes, we struggle to understand this, don't we? 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:29.519 Why? 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:34.480 Because nobody here has ever hated sin like God hates sin. 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:42.879 Nobody here has seen the evil consequences that have come because of sin, their sin and our sin. 00:10:44.480 --> 00:10:49.360 And so I want us to consider three reasonable responses to this prayer. 00:10:49.600 --> 00:10:53.519 First of all, the reasonable response from God the Father. 00:10:57.919 --> 00:11:09.600 That was a reasonable response from the Father, because of all that had been written, because of all that had been explained, the purpose of Jesus coming, leaving heaven to come to earth. 00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:11.679 This was his mission. 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:17.919 We could turn to many places in the Word of God to support this. 00:11:18.320 --> 00:11:21.360 Ephesians chapter 2 is one such place. 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:33.600 Chapter 2, verse 1, and you, you, you, me were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. 00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:53.039 Following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our faith, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind. 00:11:53.360 --> 00:11:56.320 We were by nature children of wrath. 00:11:56.960 --> 00:11:59.919 Did you know that you were a child of wrath? 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:04.000 Probably not. 00:12:06.720 --> 00:12:08.879 We were children of wrath. 00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:18.000 God's wrath was aimed and directed at us until one stepped in front of us to take it for us. 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:25.759 Richard Nibor, theologian, put it like this: this is the problem with today. 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:29.360 This is the problem with so many churches why this isn't really hitting home. 00:12:29.519 --> 00:12:30.480 Listen to this. 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:46.480 They see, they think that the Bible presents us with a God without any wrath, who brought men without any sin, any real sin, into a kingdom without any real judgment through the ministry of a Christ without a cross. 00:12:47.440 --> 00:12:55.279 And that, my friends, is why people go to church week after week after week and year after year and year, and they're not ever changed. 00:12:56.639 --> 00:12:58.159 It's religion. 00:12:59.279 --> 00:13:03.120 Go to church, get a little inspiration. 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:05.759 They're not gospel churches. 00:13:09.279 --> 00:13:18.480 Saint Anselm, centuries ago, said, You have not yet considered how great is your sin. 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:25.519 That is what explains why so many people today are underwhelmed by this story. 00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:28.879 Are you underwhelmed by this story? 00:13:29.120 --> 00:13:31.039 Does it just seem confusing to you? 00:13:31.200 --> 00:13:33.440 Does it just seem disarming to you? 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:36.000 Does it seem I don't know what to do with that. 00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:39.279 So I don't think I really am going to engage with the story. 00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:40.799 Don't be that person. 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:52.080 The reasonable response from God the Father to his Son was, Son, there is no other way. 00:13:53.679 --> 00:13:55.759 You must drink the cup. 00:13:57.039 --> 00:14:00.799 Secondly, let's look at the reasonable response from Jesus Himself. 00:14:00.960 --> 00:14:02.879 We find in verse 36. 00:14:04.799 --> 00:14:16.720 Jesus, in the midst of the pain and the agony, the pain and the agony, it says that he was greatly distressed and troubled. 00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:20.320 That word troubled means overcome with horror. 00:14:21.279 --> 00:14:24.159 Have you ever been overcome with horror? 00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:35.360 Anybody here who would say, yeah, there was a time, or there have been some times when I was overcome with horror. 00:14:35.919 --> 00:14:37.840 I promise you, not like his. 00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:43.600 Because the horror that you saw was nothing compared to the horror that he saw. 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:48.799 The judgment and the wrath and the punishment of God that was going to be poured out on him. 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:54.879 The reasonable response from Jesus. 00:14:55.360 --> 00:14:56.080 Abba. 00:14:57.840 --> 00:15:01.840 Father, please take this cup from me. 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:07.759 Yet not what I will, but what you will. 00:15:09.759 --> 00:15:15.919 Abba, this is a term that nobody in their right mind used to pray to God in the Old Testament. 00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:17.600 It was forbidden. 00:15:20.799 --> 00:15:22.480 He was Yahweh. 00:15:22.879 --> 00:15:24.480 I am who I am. 00:15:25.519 --> 00:15:26.960 Don't come close. 00:15:27.759 --> 00:15:29.039 It'll kill you. 00:15:29.360 --> 00:15:30.799 My holiness. 00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:42.480 But here's the one who came closer than anyone who cries out, Abba, this term of intimacy, trust, affection, yet boldness. 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:52.720 Like a little child who sees the love of a parent and doesn't know enough to not ask for whatever they want. 00:15:55.120 --> 00:16:04.240 Somebody said this presents us with a uniquely human interplay between the heart of the Son and the will of the Father. 00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:07.200 Indeed it does. 00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:14.000 Indeed it does, the one who would be pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:21.360 It's been said it's one thing, fearful as it will be to answer for our own sins one day before a holy and almighty God. 00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:35.519 But who can imagine what it would be like to stand before God to answer for all the sins and crimes, all the acts of malice and injury and cowardice and evil in the world that would be directed to God's redeemed people? 00:16:36.799 --> 00:16:46.799 In acquiescing to the Father's will, Jesus necessarily experiences an abandonment and darkness of cosmic proportions. 00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:55.919 The worst prospect of becoming the sin bearer for humanity is that it spells complete alienation from God. 00:16:57.120 --> 00:17:05.599 An alienation that will shortly echo on the cross, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:15.359 Not his own mortality, but the specter of identifying with sinners so fully as to become the object of God's wrath against sin. 00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:21.839 It is this that overwhelms Jesus' soul to the point of death. 00:17:23.519 --> 00:17:26.000 Jesus is no dispassionate actor. 00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:27.920 He's not playing a role. 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:29.920 He is all in. 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:40.799 Gethsemane rather presents us with a uniquely scene of what he's fully facing when he says, take this cup from me. 00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:48.960 The plea of Jesus suggests that he is genuinely tempted to forsake the role of the suffering servant. 00:17:49.039 --> 00:17:50.319 Did you hear that? 00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:53.440 And we think, Jesus? 00:17:53.680 --> 00:17:55.039 No, not Jesus. 00:17:55.279 --> 00:17:57.200 Do you know he has two natures? 00:17:58.000 --> 00:17:59.759 This was the human nature. 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:04.559 The human nature of Jesus was crying out, get me out of this. 00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:12.000 Because he looked into the cup and he knew the torture that was awaiting him. 00:18:12.559 --> 00:18:16.640 The human nature of Christ was tortured. 00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:39.519 Throughout his ministry, he has disavowed every exit ramp from the pathway of being a servant. 00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:47.599 This is the reasonable response from Jesus, as hard as it was. 00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:53.119 This was the plan that he and the Father had agreed upon from eternity. 00:18:54.319 --> 00:18:58.799 Knowing it in your head is one thing. 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:04.640 Experiencing it in your heart existentially is a different thing. 00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:12.960 Jerry Bridges put it like this Jesus exhausted the wrath of God. 00:19:13.200 --> 00:19:22.720 It was not merely deflected and prevented from reaching us, it was exhausted so that it could not reach us. 00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:26.400 God held nothing back. 00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:33.599 During those hours when Jesus hung on the cross, the cup of God's wrath was completely turned upside down. 00:19:33.759 --> 00:19:38.240 So there was not one drop of God's wrath that remained for his people. 00:19:39.200 --> 00:19:43.440 For all who trust in Jesus, there is nothing more in the cup. 00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:46.480 The cup is empty. 00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:49.279 The wrath is satisfied. 00:19:51.039 --> 00:19:53.359 This is what he does for his people. 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:56.400 This is what he did for his people. 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:10.319 What a profound irony Gethsemane conceals, for when Jesus feels most excluded from God's presence, he is in fact closest to God's will. 00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:11.839 Did you hear that? 00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:26.400 When he feels most excluded from God's presence, when he feels most excluded from God's heart, he is in fact closest to God's will. 00:20:29.519 --> 00:20:31.119 How do you do that? 00:20:33.039 --> 00:20:34.640 How did he do that? 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:38.319 Out of love. 00:20:40.240 --> 00:20:46.240 Yes, out of obedience to his father, but out of love for his brothers and sisters, he did that. 00:20:50.559 --> 00:20:59.440 In fact, at Gethsemane this night, the night before his death, it's the prelude to the next day at Calvary on the cross. 00:20:59.759 --> 00:21:11.920 As it's been said, for in a valley beneath the city of Jerusalem, Jesus allows his soul to be crucified first before his body will be crucified the next day. 00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:20.720 He is willing to take on death in his soul. 00:21:21.519 --> 00:21:27.119 Otherwise, it would never have happened to his body the next day on Calvary. 00:21:30.160 --> 00:21:39.359 Donald McLeod put it like this: it's not that Jesus faced death without fear, but that for our sake he faced it terrified. 00:21:39.839 --> 00:21:50.079 Terrified by what he knew and terrified by what he did not know, he took damnation lovingly into his own heart. 00:21:53.200 --> 00:21:56.400 I don't think many churches talk about this today. 00:21:57.759 --> 00:21:59.359 Because they don't believe it. 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:02.240 They don't take their sin seriously enough. 00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:06.640 And if you don't take your sin seriously enough, you're never going to take the love of God seriously enough. 00:22:06.799 --> 00:22:09.039 You're going to be underwhelmed by it all. 00:22:09.200 --> 00:22:11.200 Are you underwhelmed by all this? 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:18.079 Is your life changing? 00:22:18.400 --> 00:22:21.440 Are you being transformed by this powerful truth? 00:22:22.640 --> 00:22:26.079 Or is this just something you got to kind of keep at bay? 00:22:28.079 --> 00:22:34.640 As Spurgeon said, no preacher can take you to the garden, but the Holy Spirit can take you to that garden. 00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:40.480 The Holy Spirit can take you back to that garden right now to see what was really going on. 00:22:41.440 --> 00:22:46.400 And to say, Jesus, give me faith to believe. 00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:51.519 Give me faith to believe that this was the cost for my redemption. 00:22:51.759 --> 00:22:54.240 This was the cost for my salvation. 00:22:54.640 --> 00:22:57.039 This was the demonstration of your love. 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:02.079 Why would you hold that off? 00:23:05.759 --> 00:23:16.960 This good news is good news for all who have faith to believe and will receive that this is what Jesus has done for his people. 00:23:18.640 --> 00:23:24.319 Thirdly, in closing, what's the reasonable response from sinners like us? 00:23:27.359 --> 00:23:33.680 Well, as I've already suggested, an unreasonable response would be to be lukewarm. 00:23:35.200 --> 00:23:38.960 That's a very, very unreasonable response. 00:23:39.279 --> 00:23:42.000 To be lukewarm about your faith. 00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:45.680 Are you lukewarm about your faith? 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:50.640 Does it grab you at your soul? 00:23:51.839 --> 00:23:54.319 Are you being changed by this gospel? 00:23:55.359 --> 00:24:05.200 This gospel is powerful when it's presented and received in the center of our soul, and we don't just kind of keep it out there. 00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:08.240 Are you being changed from the inside out? 00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:10.160 This is why Jesus came. 00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:15.519 Jesus didn't come just to give us a little inspiration, to give us a little religious lift. 00:24:15.839 --> 00:24:16.960 Are you kidding? 00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:19.680 You think he went through all that for this? 00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:26.720 He went through all that to give us new life. 00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:31.920 Lori Ann, thank you for reminding us of that this morning. 00:24:32.240 --> 00:24:34.400 You are a changed woman. 00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:39.119 Because you have the new birth and you have new life. 00:24:39.359 --> 00:24:43.200 Thank you for reminding us all of that this morning. 00:24:46.079 --> 00:24:50.000 An unreasonable response would be a lukewarm thanks. 00:24:50.880 --> 00:24:52.880 A lukewarm gratitude. 00:24:52.960 --> 00:24:56.240 And oh yes, lukewarm worship. 00:24:59.279 --> 00:25:02.400 There's no place for lukewarm worship. 00:25:04.480 --> 00:25:17.039 Paul says in Romans chapter 2, verse 4, or do you show contempt for the riches of God's kindness and tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance. 00:25:19.839 --> 00:25:24.640 God has been very, very kind, and God has been very, very patient with some of us. 00:25:26.799 --> 00:25:29.359 But don't play it and don't play him. 00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:32.319 It's not going to last forever. 00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:35.039 You must respond. 00:25:36.880 --> 00:25:42.559 You must respond to his gracious, generous offer. 00:25:46.000 --> 00:26:00.160 Come to the one who wrestled on the ground with loud cries and tears so that you could know Jesus and you could come to Jesus and you could be saved by Jesus. 00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:01.680 You come to him. 00:26:09.359 --> 00:26:11.200 A repenting heart? 00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:17.039 I've had to sit in this passage all week. 00:26:18.799 --> 00:26:20.319 I've had to prepare all week. 00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:22.160 It's been good for my soul. 00:26:22.400 --> 00:26:24.240 And I have had to repent. 00:26:25.680 --> 00:26:31.039 Because there's too many times when it just doesn't reach my heart. 00:26:33.119 --> 00:26:34.720 I've had to repent. 00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:37.279 Sometimes my lukewarmness. 00:26:37.759 --> 00:26:38.880 How about you? 00:26:41.200 --> 00:26:44.960 An appropriate response is a repenting heart. 00:26:45.279 --> 00:26:48.799 An appropriate response is a rejoicing heart. 00:26:50.720 --> 00:26:59.279 Because when you see the cost and the price of your redemption, that's how much he loves you. 00:27:01.839 --> 00:27:05.680 I don't know if anybody else is going to tell you that this week, but I'm going to tell you now. 00:27:05.839 --> 00:27:07.759 That's how much he loves you. 00:27:09.599 --> 00:27:11.440 Why would you run from that? 00:27:12.720 --> 00:27:18.880 An appropriate response is to sense the love of God in new ways into your heart. 00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:23.440 Oh, I know that. 00:27:23.920 --> 00:27:25.039 I know that. 00:27:25.359 --> 00:27:26.240 Do you? 00:27:28.640 --> 00:27:34.000 Thirdly, a response of a reasonable, a reasonable response would be a grateful heart. 00:27:34.799 --> 00:27:36.400 Lord, thank you. 00:27:38.319 --> 00:27:45.839 We ought never to stop thanking him for what he has given us. 00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:47.519 It is a gift. 00:27:49.680 --> 00:27:56.000 Is there a day in your life where you don't thank him for your salvation? 00:27:58.000 --> 00:28:00.079 I try, I try not. 00:28:00.799 --> 00:28:05.119 I try not that there's not a day in my life when I don't thank him again. 00:28:06.640 --> 00:28:09.759 Fourthly, a reasonable response. 00:28:11.440 --> 00:28:13.200 And this might be the hardest. 00:28:13.359 --> 00:28:14.000 I don't know. 00:28:14.240 --> 00:28:15.599 Might be the hardest. 00:28:15.920 --> 00:28:17.519 A surrendered will. 00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:22.960 Jesus surrendered his will. 00:28:23.440 --> 00:28:25.200 Can you surrender your will? 00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:30.880 Are you still just holding on like you're the owner? 00:28:34.720 --> 00:28:52.079 Mark's intention in writing this gospel was to strengthen and prepare Christians at Rome and beyond under great persecution to give us a sober warning to watch and pray, just like he told the disciples at that night. 00:28:52.400 --> 00:28:53.279 Stay awake. 00:28:53.359 --> 00:28:58.559 You know what he was saying was, he wasn't saying, hey, I need you to pray for me. 00:28:59.680 --> 00:29:02.720 He was saying you need to be praying for yourself. 00:29:05.039 --> 00:29:10.400 How much do you pray for yourself against temptation like this? 00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:15.839 He was saying you need to pray for your soul. 00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:24.079 So that you don't lose hope, that you don't lose faith, that you don't cave. 00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:33.279 We cave far too much, don't we, friends? 00:29:34.799 --> 00:29:36.319 With hardship. 00:29:37.599 --> 00:29:38.799 With hardship. 00:29:39.039 --> 00:29:41.119 And it's not that it's not hard. 00:29:41.359 --> 00:29:42.640 I'm looking at you people. 00:29:42.799 --> 00:29:43.519 I know you. 00:29:43.759 --> 00:29:45.839 It's not that you're it's not that it's not hard. 00:29:46.160 --> 00:29:47.839 I get it, it's hard. 00:29:48.960 --> 00:29:50.640 But do you have to cave? 00:29:53.519 --> 00:29:54.960 Do I have to cave? 00:29:56.880 --> 00:29:58.720 You know the only time we cave? 00:29:59.519 --> 00:30:02.160 When we're looking at ourselves and we're not looking at him. 00:30:03.440 --> 00:30:05.039 That's the only time we cave. 00:30:07.279 --> 00:30:09.599 He says, stop looking at yourself. 00:30:11.519 --> 00:30:13.599 Stop looking at your problems. 00:30:14.799 --> 00:30:16.559 Like they're insolvable. 00:30:16.960 --> 00:30:20.400 Stop looking at your problems in life like it's all on you. 00:30:20.559 --> 00:30:21.680 No, it's not. 00:30:23.519 --> 00:30:26.559 He's in you, Christ in you, the hope of glory. 00:30:27.839 --> 00:30:28.799 Look up. 00:30:30.400 --> 00:30:31.359 Look at him. 00:30:31.920 --> 00:30:35.359 Look what he did to demonstrate his love for you. 00:30:35.759 --> 00:30:37.920 And he'll get you through. 00:30:39.599 --> 00:30:40.559 Anything. 00:30:41.599 --> 00:30:44.319 And I'm looking at people I know from being a pastor. 00:30:44.400 --> 00:30:47.279 I'm looking at people I've seen him get you through a lot. 00:30:50.640 --> 00:30:54.079 You look at him and he'll get you through. 00:30:54.319 --> 00:30:57.680 And you'll learn how to surrender your will in a new way. 00:30:58.400 --> 00:31:01.519 When you stop looking at yourself and you start looking at him. 00:31:04.880 --> 00:31:07.440 I'm going to close with a true story. 00:31:12.000 --> 00:31:12.400 Dr. 00:31:12.559 --> 00:31:16.319 Jim Boyce, pastor at 10th Presbyterian Church for many years. 00:31:18.799 --> 00:31:24.559 Got diagnosed in the year 2020 with inoperable liver cancer. 00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:30.960 Two weeks later, he stood in front of his congregation that he had served many years. 00:31:31.519 --> 00:31:33.359 In his remarks that morning, Dr. 00:31:33.440 --> 00:31:39.920 Boyce looked at the face of death, but he followed his example, his Savior had set before him. 00:31:41.119 --> 00:31:44.240 This is what he said to his congregation that day. 00:31:44.720 --> 00:31:49.440 You have been praying, certainly, and I've been assured of that by many people. 00:31:49.839 --> 00:31:55.599 A relevant question, I guess, when you pray is, what should I pray for for you? 00:31:56.240 --> 00:31:58.319 Should you pray for a miracle? 00:31:58.720 --> 00:32:02.319 Above all, I would pray for the glory of God in my life. 00:32:04.079 --> 00:32:11.440 If you think of God glorifying himself in history, and you say, where in all of history has God been most glorified? 00:32:11.759 --> 00:32:14.799 He was most glorified in the death of his son. 00:32:20.799 --> 00:32:23.519 And it wasn't by delivering him from the cross. 00:32:23.759 --> 00:32:26.960 It was by being with him to the cross. 00:32:27.440 --> 00:32:34.079 Jesus said, Don't you think I could call down from my father twelve legions of angels for my defense? 00:32:34.160 --> 00:32:35.839 But he did not do that. 00:32:36.079 --> 00:32:38.799 And yet that is where God is most glorified. 00:32:39.839 --> 00:32:40.480 Then Dr. 00:32:40.640 --> 00:32:45.599 Boy spoke about submitting to the will of God as we prayed. 00:32:46.319 --> 00:32:50.480 Never one to miss an opportunity, he told the congregation this. 00:32:50.720 --> 00:32:56.319 If I were to reflect on what goes on theologically here in our church, there are two things I would stress. 00:32:56.480 --> 00:32:58.319 One is the sovereignty of God. 00:32:58.559 --> 00:33:09.119 We believe in this church that God is sovereign over all things, over all details, over all circumstances, in all of our lives. 00:33:11.359 --> 00:33:14.319 We've talked about the sovereignty of God here forever. 00:33:14.559 --> 00:33:15.519 God is in charge. 00:33:15.680 --> 00:33:19.440 When things like this come into our lives, they're not accidents. 00:33:19.920 --> 00:33:24.799 It's not as if God somehow forgot what was going on and something slipped by him. 00:33:25.599 --> 00:33:28.480 God does everything according to his will. 00:33:28.720 --> 00:33:30.160 We've always said that. 00:33:43.599 --> 00:33:47.680 That yes, God is in charge, but he doesn't seem to really care about me. 00:33:48.880 --> 00:33:50.319 But it's not that. 00:33:56.960 --> 00:33:59.200 Everything he does is good. 00:33:59.680 --> 00:34:04.160 If God does something in your life, would you change it? 00:34:04.960 --> 00:34:07.920 If you would change it, you would make it worse. 00:34:08.400 --> 00:34:10.159 It wouldn't be as good. 00:34:11.119 --> 00:34:15.760 So that's the way we want to accept this news and move forward. 00:34:16.239 --> 00:34:19.760 And yet, who knows what God will do. 00:34:27.119 --> 00:34:28.719 I'm a Father. 00:34:30.559 --> 00:34:31.679 Not my will. 00:34:32.880 --> 00:34:36.400 But your will be done in my life. 00:34:37.519 --> 00:34:40.559 Because my life and your life is about his glory. 00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:46.079 I think we need to pray this in. 00:34:46.639 --> 00:34:47.840 Let's pray. 00:34:54.880 --> 00:34:57.119 Lord Jesus, we hardly know. 00:34:57.920 --> 00:35:02.800 We still hardly know what you experienced that night and the next day. 00:35:03.360 --> 00:35:09.039 But what we do know with confidence, it was the Father's will. 00:35:09.760 --> 00:35:15.199 And what we do know with certainty is that you submitted to your Father's will. 00:35:16.559 --> 00:35:23.920 You took on the greatest evil ever perpetrated in this world to accomplish the greatest good that's ever been seen. 00:35:25.599 --> 00:35:27.199 Thank you, Jesus. 00:35:27.519 --> 00:35:33.519 This morning again, we just want to thank you that you submitted to your Father's will. 00:35:34.400 --> 00:35:42.719 And thereby you saved and redeemed a host of people, including us. 00:35:43.760 --> 00:35:46.239 And we're going to be together forever and ever. 00:35:47.199 --> 00:35:48.320 Because you did. 00:35:49.920 --> 00:35:51.199 We thank you. 00:35:51.679 --> 00:35:52.639 We love you. 00:35:53.440 --> 00:35:57.440 Give us faith to live for you. 00:35:59.519 --> 00:36:04.000 Oh, keep us from looking for the easy exit ramp in our lives. 00:36:07.679 --> 00:36:09.280 Thank you, Jesus. 00:36:10.800 --> 00:36:12.559 We can't wait to see you. 00:36:14.800 --> 00:36:16.400 Thank you, Jesus. 00:36:17.039 --> 00:36:17.679 Amen.