The Greatest Display of Courage in History // Mark 14:32-42

Let me tell you, it's a joy to be with you today. I've been so excited to see God's grace at work in two cities now for 10 years, hard for me to believe. This morning, we're going to be looking at Mark chapter 14, verses 32 to 42, so turn there if you would. We're going to talk about Gethsemane, the greatest display of courage in history. Now one sacred day centuries ago, God spoke to Moses from the flames of the burning bush and he said, take off your shoes for the ground on which you're standing is holy ground. What does this mean, holy ground? Since God is omnipresent, he's everywhere all at once, holy ground means that that's a place where God is going to specifically be revealing himself in an extraordinary and powerful way. And that Moses' knowledge of God was going to be greatly increased by this encounter. Drawn near to listen, drawn near to fall on the ground in fear and wonder and worship and adoration. Well friends, if that's true of the burning bush that called Moses to Egypt, how much infinitely more true is it when we come to Gethsemane? Gethsemane is the greatest display of the perfect humanity of Jesus Christ in the Bible. It contains almost incomprehensible mysteries, but also tremendous opportunities to ponder the glories and the excellence of Christ. The perfection of his character, his courage, his obedience, his trust in his father, his willingness to suffer for us, his love for us, his reversal of the disobedience of Adam, his frailty and weakness, his mortality, his emotions. We will spend, I believe in heaven, eternity pondering these themes and others that flow from this account. But this morning, we just have a little time, a scant 40 minutes to meditate on them. My goals are this. Number one, to exalt Christ our Savior based on this account that we may worship him with all of our hearts, minds, souls, strength for what he did for us at the cross. To understand, secondly, more accurately, the full humanity of Jesus.

Thirdly, to understand the power of prayer in facing temptation. Fourth, to motivate us to trust in Christ's finished work on the cross more than ever before. And finally, to understand properly the role of our will that we might say, as Jesus did, not my will but yours be done. So to do all that, we're going to walk through this account. We're going to look first at the facts of Gethsemane. Secondly, the mysteries of Gethsemane. Thirdly, the glories of Gethsemane. And finally, applications or lessons from Gethsemane. So let's start with the facts of Gethsemane. Now all his life, Jesus lived under the shadow of the cross. Theologian B.B. Warfield said the prospect of his suffering was a perpetual Gethsemane to him. He said in Luke chapter 12 and verse 50, I have a baptism to undergo and how distressed I am until it is completed. Every day of his life, he knew what was going to happen. And there's clear evidence in the gospels. Jesus knew exactly in great detail what was going to happen to him before it happened. He told his disciples progressively clearer and clearer what was going to happen. In Mark 9 31, he said, the son of man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him. And after three days, he will rise. Now as Jesus comes to Gethsemane on that fateful night, the time has come for him to make his final choice, to face the cross straight on and make a final decision about what he will do. So what was Gethsemane? Well, it was a private garden on the Mount of Olives, probably walled off, owned by some wealthy friend of Jesus. And he allowed Jesus and his disciples to frequent the place.

It was outside Jerusalem, away from the maddening crush of the crowds. The word itself, Gethsemane, means oil press. It probably included a press for making olive oil from the olives on the Mount of Olives. The crushing of those olives allowed a reddish, viscous, precious fluid, olive oil, to flow into containers for sale. And that gives a metaphor, a picture of the crushing spiritual pressure that would be on Jesus at that time. So intense that by the end of that time, his sweat was flowing like great drops of blood, as we're going to discuss. Now, why did Jesus go that night to Gethsemane? Well, first of all, it was a place of refuge and prayer where he could be renewed. But especially it was important that he went there regularly. I would say nightly, constantly. And so the disciples all knew that this was his regular pattern. And especially Judas the traitor knew. knew that it was his regular pattern. And so when he left the upper room and went off to betray Jesus, he knew exactly where Jesus would be that night. For Jesus to choose to go to Gethsemane means he's choosing to die on the cross. He was willingly making that choice just to go there. We need to understand about the cross. Jesus was never a victim. He was never tracked by forces beyond his control. He says very plainly in John 10 and verse 18, no one takes my life from me. But I lay it down freely of myself. Jesus gave his life freely. So let's look at the accounts.

Look at verse 32 and 33, Mark 14, 32, 33. Jesus said to his disciples, sit here while I pray. And he took Peter, James, and John along with him. Now, little by little, Jesus has been leaving disciples behind. We knew there were 120 in the upper room on the day of Pentecost. Then he's got his 12 apostles, by that time 11, because Judas the traitor had left. And so it's down to the 11. And so little by little, then, he leaves behind most of them. And he's got just Peter, James, and John with him. These were his inner circle. And so there's a sense of kind of a graduated approach to Gethsemane. We could be way on the outside. We're not even there. Or we're in the garden, but are we close? Do we understand that which has gone on in Jesus's life? And so we're almost like invited by the scripture to be with Peter, James, and John and get close to Gethsemane. Now, I find it amazing. Peter, James, and John were the inner circle. And they saw Jesus in his earthly ministry at his most glorious. They saw him on the Mount of Transfiguration when he was shining radiantly with the glory of heaven. But they would also see him groveling on the ground here at his most abased. So it's remarkable.

But even they were about a stone's throw away, Luke tells us from him, about 100 feet or more away, Jesus was on his own. He tread the winepress alone. He went by himself to face what he was facing there in Gethsemane. And he went there for prayer. Jesus understood better than any of us how vital prayer is for our spiritual vitality and strength. He needed to pray to his Father to get the strength for the cross. And as we come to this, we see the awesome, overwhelming emotional distress of Jesus. Look at verse 33 in the account. It says, he began to be deeply distressed. That's a word I'm going to circle back on later. And troubled. Then Jesus himself says it plainly to his disciples. He says, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. So something's going on in Jesus. Overwhelming emotions. He says he's sorrowful. The text says he's sorrowful. The Greek word has to do with grief, frequently connected with death. He says he's troubled. The word usually refers to a distracted and anxious state, like someone consumed with anxiety over an impending event.

And he says, actually, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow. So it's like he's surrounded like a besieging army with this grief and the sorrow. Like there's no escape for him. And he says, to the point of death. I believe that Jesus was literally physically close to death in Gethsemane. It says in Luke 22, 43, an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him. But what an amazing picture that is of the frailty of Jesus in his incarnation. Jesus is the creator of all things visible and invisible, including all angels, and sustains them. He's infinitely more powerful than any angel. But at that moment, you see in the incarnation, it's reversed. And Jesus is extremely weak and needs an angel to come and sustain him and strengthen him. And it tells us in Luke 22, 44, which I already mentioned, and being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly. And his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. The internal pressure inside Jesus was so intense. You can imagine, like that, and his face getting red. But it went far beyond that. Blood pressure spiking. So much so, I think, that the capillaries burst right under his skin. And the blood came out of his pores and was falling like great drops on the ground. And as I said, I think it's quite likely that if the angel had not been dispatched,

Jesus might well have died there in the Garden of Gethsemane, which he could not do. Now look at Jesus' prayer itself, verse 35, 36. Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that, if possible, the hour might pass from him. Abba, Father, he said, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will. So look at his physical position. He's fallen on his face, totally prostrate. totally weak, helpless, submissive to God, lowly, and then makes this request, if it is possible, Abba, Father, everything is possible for you, take this cup from me. This prayer may be one of the most heart-wrenching moments in the life of Jesus. I myself am a father, I've got five kids, they're grown now, but I can well imagine if my little boy or little girl cried out to me, and Abba means daddy, and had this kind of anguish, whatever I could do to alleviate that suffering, I would do. I can hardly imagine what this did to the heart of his heavenly father. We know that twice, both at Jesus' baptism and at the Mount of Transfiguration, God the Father spoke from heaven, telling the world what he thought about Jesus. This is my son whom I love, with him I am well pleased. He dearly loved his perfect son. And so, Jesus is crying out, Abba, Daddy, you can do anything, please take this cup from me. Now, in this, Jesus is probing the limits of divine sovereignty. You're the king of the universe, you can do anything. You rule on a throne of glory, whatever you want to do, you can do. Now, later in the accounts, Jesus makes it plain there is no other way. He says in Matthew 26, remember how Peter drew his sword to protect Jesus from being arrested? He said, how then would the scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way? Once it is written in the prophets, and once his death has been written in the blood of millions of animal sacrifices over centuries, and once the promises have been made that Jesus would die, lifted up and pierced, there would be no other way. And yet, there is Jesus saying, Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Take this cup from me. Now, what is that cup? In the scripture, the cup is frequently associated with God's wrath and judgment

against wicked people and nations for their sins. This image is used again and again in the prophets. Jeremiah has it. Probably the most poignant example of this cup is in Revelation 14 and verse 10 and 11, where it says of the damned, he too will drink the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of God's holy angels and of the Lamb, and the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who are consigned to hell. God has an active, aggressive, energetic wrath against human sin. Sin has destroyed the beautiful world that God made, and he hates it with a perfect hatred. The key to this idea of the cup and the prophetic cup is that he doesn't pour out the wrath right away, but through his patience and mercy, defers it. But we're told in Romans chapter 2 that the unsaved, the unredeemed, are storing up God's wrath every day. Romans chapter 2, it says in Ephesians 2 that we were by nature objects of wrath, like we were lightning rods ready to attract the lightning strike of God's anger against sin. This is the wrath of God, the cup of God's wrath. It is a terrifying thing. The omnipotence of God and the omniscience of God focus like a laser beam on the destruction of his enemies. It is a terrifying thing, and we can't see it. We just live our lives, and we're not aware of what danger that we're in if we're apart from Christ, and how every day storing up wrath so that's worse for the day, as Romans said, of God's wrath when his righteous judgment will be revealed. That is the cup that Jesus was staring into. We could also imagine the cup represented the defilement and the pollution that was going to come on Jesus as our sin bearer. God made him the only perfect man that ever lived to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God, 2 Corinthians 5. Or it says in Isaiah 53, all we like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. We're so used to sin. We're just surrounded by it, and we sin ourselves. We're just accustomed to it. Jesus was perfectly pure, and it was like 100 tons of raw sewage poured on him spiritually. He would be defiled by it. So we could also see that in terms of the cup. Now we see the submission of Jesus, verse 36, yet not what I will, but what you will. This is the centerpiece of this magnificent moment. This is, I believe, the greatest act of submission and courage and love there has ever been in history, as we'll talk about more in a moment. Then Jesus admonishes His sleeping disciples.

Look at verse 37, 38. Then He returned to His disciples and found them sleeping. Simon, He said to Peter, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch with me for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak. So by contrast with Jesus, who is focused powerfully in prayer, they, in their weakness and in their exhaustion, are asleep. Jesus warns them of falling into temptation, not merely being tempted, but falling into the pit that Satan has prepared. And the remedy is to watch and pray. I could easily preach a whole sermon on this topic, how we need to watch and pray that we not fall into temptation. Very important. But He marvels with them in a very negative way that they can't even stay awake for one hour. And He focuses especially on Peter, who is about to go through the worst night of his life, denying Jesus three times. And Jesus is saying, you need to get ready for what's about to happen to you. Jesus' statement here is timeless and famous. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Then Jesus prays a second time. Verse 39, once more, He went away and prayed the same thing. Or in Matthew 26, it says, my father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done. Then we have the disciples' second failure, verse 40, when He came back, He again found them sleeping because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to Him. Luke tells us they were exhausted from sorrow. I mean, they're bewildered.

They don't know what's happening. They don't understand Jesus acting like this. They think this is supposed to be His triumphal time of taking the throne. Instead, there's all this sorrow and talk of death. And they're just overwhelmed with sorrow. And so, Jesus' final prayer, it's assumed in Mark, but it's stated in Matthew, He left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing. Now, in verse 41 through 43, we have the end of the account, Jesus' arrest is at hand. Returning the third time, He said to them, are you still sleeping and resting? Enough, the hour has come. Behold, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us go. Here comes my betrayer. And just as He was speaking, Judas, one of the 12, appeared, and with him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs sent from the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders. So, Jesus has finished His final temptation in the garden and has conquered it. Now, He rises from His moment of greatest weakness and goes forth mightily to conquer sin and death with unflinching courage. He's made His decision what He's going to do. All right, friends, these are the facts of Gethsemane. We just walked through the account and looked at it. Now, let's talk about some of the mysteries of Gethsemane. As I was driving here today, I had more and more and more ideas. And I don't think that's allowed here because we have a limited time. But if anyone wants to come after me and say, what are some of the mysteries you pitched in order to fit into the 40-minute time, I would be delighted to share with you.

But I want to focus on a few of the mysteries that we need to meditate on. A.W. Tozer said this, if you have never faced mystery in your study of God, I doubt whether you have ever heard a single word from God at all. The mystery of the Incarnation, I believe, is the greatest and deepest and most complex mystery there is in the Christian faith. I think it's greater than the mystery of the Trinity. We wouldn't even know about the Trinity if we didn't start with the deity of Christ. And so the mystery of the Incarnation is that how can the God who rules and created and rules the universe be this man walking down the street? How can, as his enemy said, you, a mere man, claim to be God? The greatest mystery, most profound mystery in the Bible, how can Jesus be fully God and fully man? Now, many heretics have questioned both sides of that equation. Some have espoused the deity of Christ, but say he wasn't truly human. He only seemed to be human. The Docetists and the Gnostics taught that. That's a heresy. Gethsemane is a powerful antidote to that. He's not seeming human here. He is human, and that's what's going on. We're seeing his humanity, his weakness, his frailty, his fear, his shrinking back. Jesus' emotional life is real and full and perfect, and he fully displays the reality. of the title, Man of Sorrows and Familiar with Suffering. So how can we get our mind around this? Jesus didn't stop being God when he came to earth. He left aside his open display and his glory, but he's every bit as much God as he ever was and ever will be. The universe depends on him being God always, and he always is.

And yet here he is in this display in Gethsemane. And we look at the fear that he has of death, and it's almost incomprehensible to us. Martin Luther said, no man ever feared death like this man. We know stories of soldiers that unflinchingly faced death, knew they would die and gave their lives to save their buddies, their comrades. Or even the pagan philosopher Socrates unflinchingly drank the cup of hemlock and went to his death. But here's Jesus showing a level of fear unmatched. So how could the infinite creator of all things, visible and invisible, need help from an angel? How can the omnipotent God need strengthening? And how can he show this level of fear? Now I wanna get into the mystery of Jesus' reaction as stated in verse 33. Now if you look at verse 33, you're like, well, my translation says he was deeply troubled or something like that. Most of the translations say that. Only one does an accurate job coming over from the Greek, and that's the King James Version. William Tyndale, one of the great Greek scholars of all times, accurately gets the Greek word, ekthambeomai, over into the English. And he does that by translating Mark 14, 33 with these words. And he taketh with him Peter and James and John and began to be, listen, sore amazed

and to be very heavy. Sore amazed, sore means extremely. Jesus is amazed. Now the word amazed stops us in our tracks here. In some sense, when Jesus came to Gethsemane, he was amazed or astonished or simply surprised. The same word ekthambeomai is used of a crowd reaction to Jesus' ministry in Mark 9, 15, or the apostles healing a lame beggar. The crowd is astonished, amazed, Acts 3, 11. It implies a sense of wonder, seeing something you didn't expect. But how in the world does that apply to Jesus in Gethsemane? Especially because it was already made plain. He knew exactly in detail things that would happen. He'd be spat upon and flogged. He knew details. So what is there to be amazed? Well, I think this, when Christ began to pray, I believe his heavenly father revealed to him at a deeper way than ever before what it would actually be like to drink the cup of his wrath on the cross. And it knocked him to the ground. Now this kind of showing or display or demonstration, Jesus openly says his father did with him all the time, John 5, 20. For the father loves the son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement, he will show him even greater things than these.

Also supernatural, spiritual vision is often essential to the prophetic role in the Old Testament. Ezekiel was taken on a spirit vision of the temple and all of its corruptions. The prophets were frequently shown very powerful visions. The apostle Paul had a vision of heaven that was so real, he didn't know whether it was in the body or out of the body. That's how powerful a prophetic vision can be. And Jesus is not just a prophet, but the final perfect prophet. So could it be that the amazement, the wonder that hits Jesus is the father revealing to Jesus what it would actually be like to be the sin bearer for the sins of the world? And he responded with astonishment. So yes, Jesus factually knew what it would be like to die on the cross. He's not surprised about that, but this is what it's going to be like. Imagine the difference between seeing an old black and white photo of the Grand Canyon and taking a virtual reality experience, full immersion of a helicopter ride through the canyon. It's just very, very different sense of revelation of the truth. And this would be greater than that. Remember Paul said he didn't know whether he was in the body or out of the body. And it knocked him to the ground,

caused his blood pressure to spike so that blood was pouring out of his pores and he almost died. Now let's imagine that that's what the father did. I believe you look at it, well, why would he do that? I believe he did it to give Christ the ability to make a more informed decision about the cross, whether he would go through with their plan or not. God refrained from doing that. I believe he did it to give Christ the ability to make a more informed decision about the cross. it earlier because look what it did to him. Couldn't have borne it. It was enough just to know it was going to happen. So I believe then if you accept this, there is an infinitely mysterious conversation going on between the father and the son in Gethsemane. God shows it to him, this is what it'll be like to drink the cup, knocks him to the ground. With it, the father effectively asked the son a question. He said, son, this is what the cup of my wrath looks like. Jesus answered, father, is it possible for me to save my people without drinking that terrifying cup? The father then says, no, my son, there is no other way. Will you do it anyway? And now comes, as I said, the most heroic moment in history. Seeing that, knowing what it would entail, being asked by the father effectively, will you go through with it, and what is his answer? His answer, I will do it. At that moment, Christ put his own will completely under the will of his father.

At that moment, he overturned the wretched choice that Adam made in the Garden of Eden and the wretched choices God's people have made in their willful sinning and rebellion since Adam's first sin. Here, Christ showed, he displayed the proper use of human free will, and that is to do the will of the father. Bow your head and worship all Christians. This is the single most courageous thing that any human being has ever done. It is also the most loving and the most submissive to the father. So, those are just some of the mysteries of Gethsemane. What about the glories of Gethsemane? Well, glories are a radiant display of the attributes of God and of Christ, putting Jesus on display. So, we see, as I just mentioned a moment ago, the free will of Jesus properly on display. Jesus went to the cross of his own free will. He was not coerced. He was not forced. He used his free will perfectly and properly because the father has a will too. We have a will because we're created in the image of God. He has a will, we have a will. And we are created to be servants, and so he is the servant, the perfect servant who says, not my will but yours be done. This is the perfection of choice. Secondly, we have the choice of Jesus and the depth of Romans 3.26. Some, and I hesitate to even say these words, but some have blasphemously called the cross heavenly child abuse because the father poured out his wrath on the son. Terrible thing. But rather, in Gethsemane, we have God the father revealing to his son ahead of time what it would be like, asking the son, are you willing to do it? And the son freely choosing, knowing what he was going to do to go through with it,

saying, not my will but yours be done. So this removes any charge of injustice against the father concerning the son. Now, why is that important for us? Well, Romans 3.25 says that God put Jesus forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. Propitiation is the removal of the wrath of God by a sacrifice. That's what the word means in the Greek. The removal of the wrath of God. Do you realize, brothers and sisters in Christ, what that means? Jesus, having drunk that cup, drank it to the dregs. There's none left for us. There will be no experience of any child of God of the wrath of God. Oh, he'll discipline us for our sin, but that's not wrath, that's loving chastisement. We will never experience the wrath of God. And why? Because of this choice Jesus made. And he did it freely, knowing what he would do. And in that way, Romans 3.26, it says, he did it to demonstrate his justice because at the present time, so as to be just in the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. So no, it's not heavenly child abuse, that would be injustice. Instead, it was a perfect display of the justice of God. And why? Because the victim, Christ, willingly, knowingly chose to do it in submission to his father. We see also the obedience of Jesus versus the disobedience of Adam. There's a clear parallel set up between Christ and Adam in Romans 5.19, for justice through the disobedience of the one man, the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man, the many are made righteous.

Where is that obedience? Here in Gethsemane. He obeyed his father and made us righteous. Again, I want to say this to you, children of God, you Christians, do you realize what Romans 5.19 is teaching? Because Jesus obeyed and removed the wrath and the penalty of sin away from you and drew... threw you into that, God sees you in Christ as obedient as his own Son. That's the imputed righteousness of Christ. He sees you as if you were perfectly obedient. That's the positional righteousness of Christ. That's what Jesus did for us. As it says in Philippians 2 and verse 8, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. We also see the perfect love of Jesus. You know the two great commandments. We should be living our whole lives in light of the two great commandments. First and greatest commandment is this, to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, and with all of your strength. There is no commandment greater than that. The second commandment is like it, love your neighbors yourself. Do you not see in Jesus's decision in Gethsemane the perfect display of love vertically and horizontally, love for God, and love for us

that has ever been in history? Jesus loved his Father by obeying him. This is what he says to us. He's our Savior, he's our Lord. If you love me, you'll obey me. Father's saying that to the entire human race, including to his own Son incarnate. And so Jesus said in John 14 and verse 31, the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me. You hear that? The world must learn that. Why? Because we're rebels. We're not used to expressing our love for God by obeying everything he's told us to do. And so Jesus is the perfect display of love for God by obeying what God told him to do. And then horizontally, love for us. He says in John 15, 13 and 14, greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends. And so we see in Gethsemane, Jesus drinking your cup and my cup for us. And then finally, we see the courage of Jesus. Perfect love drove out fear. Human history is filled with tales of courage. As I've mentioned, many have laid down their lives for others.

We have the Congressional Medal of Honor and we have, you gotta go online and read some of the accounts of what some of these recipients have done. And the level of courage and valor they showed on the battlefield, and generally it's risking your life or even giving your life to save others. But none of them even comes close to the infinite and perfect courage of Jesus displayed here. Jesus looked down into the cup of the wrath of God, saw what it was all about and willingly drank it. It's the greatest display of courage there's ever been in history. All right, how do we apply all of this? Well, first and foremost, I just wanna appeal to any of you that walked in here today, knowing you are not a Christian, you were invited maybe by a friend or just came here, found out about Two Cities Church and wanted to be in church, or however you got here, you're not yet a Christian, you walked in, you're not yet a Christian. There are a lot of different ways I could make this appeal. But I want you to understand what kind of danger you're in apart from Christ. The wrath of God is a real thing, whether you see it now or know it, it's real.

And Romans 2 says that every day that a sinner lives outside of the grace of God, all they are doing every day is storing up wrath, storing up, storing up, storing up wrath, day after day, every additional day you live, more wrath. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it's not so. The prophets are there to tell us what God is going to do. And the apostles are there to tell us where we're going. We're going to a day of God's wrath when his righteous judgment will be revealed. And on that day, there will be no refuge on that day. The refuge is now, it's faith in Jesus Christ, faith in an invisible Savior, faith in the one who drank that invisible cup for us. Only by faith and trust in Christ will you escape the wrath of God. And so I would just say, as the scripture says, flee the wrath to come. And there is one and only one refuge, and it's Jesus, flee the wrath to come. Now, if you are a Christian, I would urge you to meditate on Gethsemane and realize how God sees sin, that we would learn to hate it like God does, that we would learn to fight it, even though we've been completely forgiven and we'll never experience the wrath of God, that we would hate it as much as God does. We can see that aggressive, energetic wrath of God is righteous and just,

that we would have it in our hearts too, that we would be like Jesus, loving righteousness and hating wickedness. And so that we would understand. and hate sin, we should also realize what God has done for us and rejoice, praising and thanking God for sending Jesus to drink that cup for us. A number of years ago, I wrote a book on Christian contentment, and a number of people have come back to me, and they said they found the book very strengthening and helpful, but also very convicting. Paul talks about contentment. I've learned the secret of being content in any and every situation. And so I kind of looked at that. I can do all things through him who strengthens me and try to understand contentment. And I don't want to get into all of that in depth, but the statement that I made that many of the readers of that book said was the most convicting is this. Has Christ, crucified and resurrected, done enough for you to be happy today, or does he need to do a little more? So you can imagine a laundry list of things you're asking God to do, and they're valid. It could be healing. It could be getting a job. It could be finding a spouse. It could be a childless couple who would love to have a child. It could be all of those.

They're all valid things. But people then are tempted to get frustrated with God if they don't get those things. I want you to picture Jesus getting up off the ground, Gethsemane, that blood still on his face, and you make that appeal, I want this, I want that. And he says, I'm going to stop you right there. How about if I drink your cup for you? Is that enough? Dear friends, it should be. Jesus drinking that cup to the bottom means you'll never experience it. That should be enough, that and his resurrection, for you to be happy today. Finally, I want to urge you to imitate Christ in the submission of your will to that of the Father. We are willful beings. Americans are like choice-aholics. I remember a long time ago when I would go on a transatlantic flight and there was an in-flight movie. That's right, an in-flight movie. Have you noticed the number of choices there are now? And I've seen people thumbing through the pages and they're just not finding anything that they like. I'm amazed. I remember after my first mission trip to Kenya, I came back and I just marveled at the cereal aisle, cold cereal aisle. How many choices are there? 150, 200 choices.

We're choice-aholics. Jesus here in Gethsemane shows us what to do with your choice. Say day after day to God, not my will, but yours be done. So I'm going to close in prayer. And then after I pray, I'm going to invite you. If God has been speaking to you to come forward, there's a place for you to kneel and pray. And so we're going to close our service in prayer. And then after I'm done, please, please come. Father, we thank you for the joy of the word of God and the depth of it. We thank you for the things that we've learned today about Gethsemane, things we never knew before. And Lord, I pray that as we've meditated on what Jesus did for us and how he drank the cup of God's wrath to the bottom, to the dregs for us, that we would be filled with wonder and awe and amazement, that we would worship Jesus for his substitutionary atonement on the cross, and that we would trust in him like we have never trusted before. Lord, I look forward when we get to heaven for us to express our thankfulness and our praise and worship to you for all eternity. In the meantime, oh Lord, please help us. Help us, oh Lord, to submit to your will and to do what you've commanded us to do. And now I want to finish by praying

for any that walked in here today. A day after day, they didn't even know it maybe, storing up wrath by the bad choices that they're making, that they would flee the wrath to come by trusting in Christ and realize that Christ is a sure and certain refuge by faith in his name. We pray all of these things in your name and for your glory, amen. Amen.