[0:00] It's such a joy, as always, to be gathered together with you. Take your Bibles and go with me to the Gospel according to Mark.
[0:10] ! Mark chapter 14. Mark chapter 14, we'll pick it up in verse 32. Mark 14, picking up in verse 32. That's where we will be at this morning.
[0:25] Brother, while we're turning there, thank you for slowing us down just a little bit this morning. With the old cowboy country western song, I appreciate that. I grew up watching those old westerns.
[0:38] That was, you know, where the good guys always won. And bad was bad and good was good. And it was just a simpler time. So thank you for that. They were old even when I was watching them, but I enjoyed watching them.
[0:49] So, you know, too many times I sat up on the back of my horse thinking I was Roy Rogers, but I wasn't. You know, it was good. It was good times. But I appreciate that.
[1:00] We're in Mark. Mark chapter 14, starting in verse 32. If you have turned there and you're physically able to do so and would like to join me, would you join with me as we stand together and read the Word of God?
[1:10] We're going to go down to verse 52. Mark 14, picking up in verse 32, reading down to verse 52. This is the night of Christ's betrayal.
[1:22] This is immediately following the Last Supper, which he has just partook, taken of with his disciples. They have sung a hymn, more than likely the Halil, from the book of Psalms.
[1:35] In Psalm 118, they have crossed the Kidron Valley. They have left the city of Jerusalem proper. And the Word of God tells us, And they came to a place named Gethsemane.
[1:46] And he said to his disciples, Sit here until I have prayed. And he took with him Peter and James and John and began to be very distressed and troubled. And he said to them, And he said, Again, he went away and prayed, saying the same words.
[2:35] And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. And he came the third time and said to them, Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough.
[2:46] The hour has come. Behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up. Let us be going. Behold, the one who betrays me is at hand. Immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, came up accompanied by a crowd with swords and clubs, who were from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.
[3:06] Now he who was betraying him had given them a signal, saying, Whomever I kiss, he is the one. Seize him and lead him away under guard. After coming, Judas immediately went to him, saying, Rabbi!
[3:19] And kissed him. And they laid hands on him and seized him. But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. And Jesus said to them, Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as you would against a robber?
[3:35] Every day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But this has taken place to fulfill the scriptures. And they all left him and fled.
[3:47] A young man was following him, wearing nothing but a linen sheet over his naked body. And they seized him. And he pulled free of the linen sheet and escaped naked. Let's pray.
[3:58] Father, we thank you for this day. We praise you that we have had the opportunity of coming together and lifting up our voices in song. We've had the opportunity of fellowshipping and being encouraged by one another's presence.
[4:15] But our hearts cry as, Father, now that we would hear from you. Oh, God, that you would speak to your people. That the word of God, as we have read it, we have heard it, and we see it before us, would be more than just words on a page.
[4:34] But it would be your words to your people for our edification, for our equipping, for our formation, that it would mold us and shape us, conform us to be more and more like you, Lord Jesus.
[4:47] We ask that this would be a divine encounter of the people of God, gathered together to meet with the Lord their God.
[5:00] And may we respond to all that you tell us in loving obedience. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. You may be seated.
[5:10] We have come to this portion of Scripture that is so familiar to us. We sing songs of it.
[5:21] We think of it. It has been portrayed so often in film and in book. It is that moment of Christ in the garden where he is crying out in desperation.
[5:35] His sweat becomes like drops of blood, the other gospel account tells us. It is a time of great grief. He is also strengthened here by the angelic host who come to undergird him and to equip him for what is enduring him.
[5:51] It is the pain and the misery, not just of the suffering on the cross, but of the soon coming separation and isolation from the Father. It is the drinking of the cup that is before him and in his mind.
[6:05] That cup is not just the physical pain, but rather the reality of our sin being laid upon his shoulder as he bore the sin of the world.
[6:16] He does so much more than just carry the weight of all the wrongdoings that we have done, of all the mistakes and all the mess-ups and all of the missteps that we have taken in our life, but rather he carries to the core of our being who we are, the sin nature that holds us captive and leads us to do those very things.
[6:35] It is for this purpose that he has come, and it is in this moment that the weight of that, that the hour is coming upon him. It is in this moment where we slow down and we see him with the eleven, not the twelve, for Judas has left.
[6:52] By this time they have already eaten the Passover meal. He has already washed the feet of all twelve. He has already commanded that what Judas was to do that he would do quickly, and Judas had been filled with Satan and left the room.
[7:07] He has taught them extensively. We can read that in the Gospel of John, of the benefit that will become to them because he is about to leave. The empowerments.
[7:19] I love the Gospel of John. I love all portions of the Word, but I slow down when I read through John, and we see those few chapters of John that are so unique, starting in John 13, but really focusing in on 14, 15, and 16, and then in 17, that Christ gives them promise after promise after promise.
[7:41] I titled them, at one point when I preached through that, promises of hope, that Christ is giving hope, and a hope, and a hope, knowing that his time has come.
[7:55] But now, that teaching has already been taught, the equipping has already been done, the Lord's Prayer recorded for us, often called the High Priestly Prayer in John 17, has already been prayed, and now he has made his way outside of Jerusalem.
[8:14] The very next time he will enter the holy city, that was to be the city of God, he will be bound, he will be led, he will be carried into the presence of the high priest. But for this moment, he's in the garden.
[8:29] And at this moment, there's a great choice that stands before him, which will determine our eternal destiny. It is indeed a greater trial than that which took place during the wilderness trials, where Satan led him, or the Spirit led him to be tried by Satan for 40 days after his baptism.
[8:50] This is a trial of obedience, and the weight and the pain of our misery, and our rejection of a holy God. It is the culmination of all of history. For it tells us that this is what God had in mind before the foundations of the world were laying.
[9:09] And yet we're so familiar with it, we read it so often, and we see it. We notice, when we come to the passage before us, the reason we are so familiar with it is probably the reason that so many in that time were familiar with it, that this was indeed the normal practice of Christ.
[9:31] It tells us very pointedly, they came to a place called Gethsemane. Now if we were to go read in the Gospel of Luke, now Luke was not among them.
[9:42] Luke is more than likely the traveling companion of Paul. He's the beloved physician. Luke, when he writes his Gospel, is one who did his utmost to investigate thoroughly, he says, all the events that happened.
[9:56] And he gives great detail on matters. And at times, because he was not physically present, he is moved by the Spirit of God to write the Word of God with details that are unique to him and him alone.
[10:10] In the Gospel of Luke, when Luke is addressing this, he tells us that he went to the Mount of Olives as was his custom. As was his custom.
[10:22] That is, this is the normal practice of Christ. To pull away, to separate, and to take a moment to be still and to commune with the Father.
[10:38] We don't have them all recorded for us, but Luke gives time and attention to the reality that when Jesus led them across the Kidron Valley, he wasn't doing something unfamiliar.
[10:50] He wasn't doing something new. He was doing something that was his common practice. Maybe on a nightly basis, he would do that. Maybe it was any time he was in the vicinity, he knew of a great place to go pray.
[11:06] Maybe he was aware that there was a location where one could be alone with a Father and could teach his disciples through practice and through modeling, not just from declaring, this is how you ought to pray, but by showing them and demonstrating for them.
[11:19] He was discipling them. But this was his common practice. And there's a lot of things that we can understand about this. The fact that this is a normal routine of Christ is because we know in hindsight, this is the last time he will have the opportunity to do it for the great crisis of the hour stands before him.
[11:40] But believer, listen to me, we are not prepared for the crisis by doing something new. We are prepared for the crisis by what we have been doing as a normal practice before it.
[11:51] It is the normal habit of preparing the soul and preparing the mind for what lays before it, even though to us, in our humanity, in our fruity, it is unknown.
[12:09] Christ knew the hour. He knew the day. He knew the time. And I cannot help but think for a moment that each and every time that he went to the garden to pray, that he knew there was coming a day that would be a day where this would be my last time coming here.
[12:24] So until that time, I will pray and I will make this my normal habit, my normal practice. I will make this something that I do on an ongoing basis.
[12:35] This is why that we try as believers and followers of Christ to build in what we call holy habits, not so that we can put a check mark and say, yes, we've done that or yes, I'm glad we've done that.
[12:46] We can check that off our list. It is because that which we practice is truly that which we are. The individual is not formed in the crisis. The individual is formed in the habits that precede the crisis and the crisis only reveals the formation that has already taken place.
[13:03] If you don't believe me, drop a boulder on your finger and see how you respond because it is what has been habitual prior to the moment of pain that comes out.
[13:16] Now, as encouraging as that is and challenging, we also notice that since this was the normal practice, this probably helps to explain to us how the disciples could all be found asleep.
[13:34] If you wondered how he could just have a meal with them, wash their feet, he could teach them such a great discourse that's recorded for us in the Gospel of John, he could carry them here, he could tell them, watch and wait and pray, he could tell the three that my soul is heavy and laden and burdened to the point of grief and distress, and yet three times he comes back and he finds them sleeping.
[14:03] How could they sleep at a moment like that? Well, it's because of the danger that comes with something being normal. This was not something new to them.
[14:14] This was not something unknown to them. Rather, this is just what they did. And the normalcy of it really created complacency in it. Because it was their habitual practice, they had done the same thing that so many of us are in danger of doing.
[14:32] They have become complacent. How were they to know, even though he had told them multiple times that that very night something tragic would happen? They thought that when Judas left, he was going to get the things necessary for the keeping of the Passover, it tells us in the Gospel of John.
[14:51] They thought that Judas was just out buying what they needed. They didn't know the feeling of the Satan had moved upon his heart and that he was conspiring and getting together all this troop that would come.
[15:03] Jesus had told them repeatedly, but he had been telling them things for three and a half years. And yet this was something they always did. So since it was something they always did, they were comfortable there.
[15:14] They had become complacent there. It was something that was so normal to them there. In our own life, we have to be careful.
[15:27] For it is not just the crises of the moment. It is not just the instantaneous need for something that tragedy often happens.
[15:40] The old saying, there are no atheists and foxholes is formed in the reality that in a foxhole, in a moment of crises, in a moment of desperation, everyone knows they need something. And in that moment, they know they need something greater than them for they are bound and they are held down against their will and they need something to deliver them from the tragedy they're in.
[15:59] And that's not the most dangerous moment. Rather, it is the most dangerous moment of the normal, everyday-to-day thing called living that most people fall.
[16:11] For it is when that moment of desperation passes by and life becomes normal again. As a pastor, I've seen it time and time again.
[16:22] Let a tragedy strike a family or let a tragedy strike an individual or let something that is uncontrollable come upon them and they cry out and they say, I need something greater than me and we pour into them and we reach into them but then let things get normal again.
[16:39] And it is when they get normal that I get concerned. For what about when it's not so crazy or you feel like you have everything under control?
[16:51] Or what about when you don't perceive your need for something greater than you for you can accomplish all that is before you? Well, it is there that we all have a tendency to become complacent.
[17:08] My bride has a great practice that she does. I don't know if she does it intentionally or I don't know if she is moved by the Lord to do it. But our life normally can get kind of busy and hectic on the weekends and at times on Saturdays we can get kind of going crazy and it seems like every Saturday we'll be going down the road and in the midst of all this all the things that are going on in my mind and all the discussions she will look at me and she'll say what are you preaching on tomorrow?
[17:34] Now you would think as a pastor you would be able to respond to that, right? But in the midst of normal everyday today activity when things are going crazy and you got to be 15 places at one time and then she kind of refocuses me she says what are you preaching on tomorrow and I have to go home.
[17:49] I'm just being honest with you. I haven't dwelt on that all day long and this is my job and I love that because it makes me pause and go yes, that's what I it doesn't matter today's problems are there but tomorrow this is where I get to be.
[18:12] Some of you got up this morning and you read the word of God and praise God you read the word of God. What did you learn this morning? What stuck out to you?
[18:23] What truth came? You know why it's so hard to call that back is because so much life has happened since then. So much normal activity has taken place. Friend, listen to me do not let familiarity with the routine lead to complacency in our practice.
[18:41] or we too will be found asleep. Notice here the normal practice. But yet for Christ this was not normal for that night was the time of final preparation.
[19:00] It tells us that when Christ called them there he encouraged them to pray sit here until I have prayed. He takes the three Peter, James and John who not too long prior to this had been with him on the Mount of Transfiguration.
[19:14] They had seen this heavenly encounter as they were speaking with Christ about his soon coming departure. So don't lose sight of that. As they were speaking with Christ about his soon coming departure they were talking about the cross they were talking about the resurrection.
[19:30] They were there they were witnesses to that. They should have known. But he tells them my soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and keep watch.
[19:43] And it says that if he left there he fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible the hour might pass him by. Here comes this time this moment of final preparation for he is crying out in desperation to the Father.
[19:59] It tells us in the book of Hebrews it kind of leads us to question a little bit because we have to balance the humanity of Christ and the deity of Christ and we have to try to reconcile the two that he is fully man and he's fully God at the same time.
[20:15] But it tells us in the book of Hebrews that he learned obedience through his suffering. And you're like what do you mean he learned obedience through his suffering? That in his humanity there is this moment here in the garden that in his humanity he feels the weight of it and in his humanity his humanity is saying Father if there's any other way let it happen.
[20:34] And in humanity he understood the suffering that was going to come and in his humanity he understood the pain he was enduring and in his humanity he's crying out in his deity he knows there's no other way.
[20:51] Because his very next words are Abba Father all things are possible through you. And he's just cried out if it is possible but all things are possible so I know it can't.
[21:05] And he is prepared for the unbearable weight of our sin through this surrender to the will of the Father and this further affirmation that there's no other way.
[21:21] The lamb must be slain. The sin must be born. Isaiah has to be fulfilled. And who for the joy set before him it tells us in the book of Hebrews he endured the cross.
[21:33] It is not the joy of the cross. It is the joy that's set before him. And the joy set before him is not just to return and be back with the Father for at any moment he could have done that. The joy set before him what does it tell us?
[21:45] It tells us in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah 53 when it speaks of the suffering servant and the suffering Savior. And it tells us that the Father is pleased to crush his son and we're just man our minds wrap around that. The Father is pleased to crush his son.
[21:57] Why is he pleased to crush his son? And why is Jesus with such joy enduring the cross? And it tells us in Isaiah it says for he knows that he will lead many to righteousness.
[22:09] The joy that sets before him is the reality that because of the price he's paying that we will experience salvation. We will know redemption. We will get to be with him in eternity forever.
[22:22] We are the joy that is set before him. It is not just that he gets to go back to the Father. At any moment he could have went back to the Father. At any moment he could have ascended.
[22:33] He didn't have to there was another way for him to be with the Father. At any moment he could have called twelve legions of angels down. He has a kingdom that is not of this world and he could have went at any time but he could not do it and bring us with him in any way.
[22:49] We are the joy. It is a final preparation for the reality that for us to be there for the saints to call on a holy Father to be reconciled is he has to endure it.
[23:03] He's not saying Father if there's any other way that I can come be with you he says Father if there's any other way for their redemption. If there's any other way for their reconciliation. Father if there be another way friend there's no other way.
[23:17] There's no other way. And he finally after three times in the fullness of that he's settled in the reality for in his humanity now his deity and his humanity have been loved and he knows that this is what happens.
[23:30] And he gets up and he says it is enough. It's enough rest. And notice notice here the Savior his intentional surrender.
[23:44] Do you notice it? We don't see it as clear in this passage but look at the intentional surrender. He goes and on the third time he says are you still sleeping? It is enough. Get up. And notice what he says for the hour of my betrayal is at hand and the one who betrays me is near.
[23:59] Now I just want to ask you something and I want you to understand this. No one caught Jesus off guard. Judas didn't leave to go do what he did until Jesus gave him permission to do it.
[24:15] The reason Judas knew where he could lead the mob to is because Jesus went to where he always went. It was his normal practice. And so Judas was familiar with the place.
[24:26] It's a place away from the crowds, a place away from the multitude, a place of weakness and isolation. It's a place where Jesus goes and I know it so I'll take you there. Jesus knows these matters are going on and in his deity he understands the reality of everything that is before him.
[24:42] he tells the disciples get up those who are betraying me the one betraying me is at hand he's here. Now here's the question if you and I were such aware of the events that were going on what direction would you walk?
[25:02] I would dare say that most of us knowing that a multitude and a crowd was coming against us would walk away from them for we would be concerned about life preservation because the ones coming against us I mean we've got Peter with the sword but Peter with the sword is about as reliable as a net with holes in it right?
[25:21] I mean Peter's kind of hasty we understand it I can say that because I have a little bit of a Peter spirit inside of me. Peter's cutting people's ears off which means his aim is not real good he was shooting for the neck and he missed and got the ear okay that's Peter.
[25:35] So we got Peter with the sword and we got a guy with a sheet that's about it. Jesus knew his betrayer was coming and the multitude that was with him and yet what we notice is Jesus goes towards them.
[25:54] As a matter of fact it tells us in the other gospel accounts that they didn't approach Jesus Jesus approached them. Sure Judas betrayed him with a kiss gave him the kiss of greeting on each cheek but Jesus was the one who drew near to Judas for Jesus came up to them and I love this and says whom do you seek?
[26:14] It's dark by the way and they said Jesus of Nazarene he says I am I know when you read John it says I am he but in the word in the original language he says I am now that ought to stick out to you like a sore thumb because I am is the name of a holy God right?
[26:29] He says I am it's one of the seven I am statements in the gospel of John and in case you didn't think he carried weight what is so amazing in the gospel of John is that when Jesus walks up to them and says whom do you seek and they said Jesus of Nazarene and Jesus says I am it tells us in the gospel of John that they all fell to the ground so those with the torches and the clubs and the swords and the spears they all fell down and they all fell to the ground and then Jesus had to give them permission to get up and arrest him he says I told you that I am get up right?
[27:02] so what we notice is this is an intentional surrender of Christ don't let anyone ever tell you that they led Jesus away from the garden he went away with him don't let them tell you that they caught him and captured him he surrendered to them why?
[27:20] because if he was caught and captured and led away then he lost but when he gave himself up for you he won and you are the crown and the victory that he won he gave himself it was an intentional surrender he had to give them permission to carry them away he had to command them to get up so that he could be captured by them the intentionality of Jesus here because he's been prepared for this moment the agonizing is over now is the moment of surrender and he walks up to them and says I'm the one you're looking for it is intentional he puts himself in our place no one caught him off guard no one got him in the moment of weakness and unpreparedness no for the one who betrays me is at hand Jesus allowed it permitted it and willingly went towards it why for there's no other way there's no other way I remember when I was a young believer it's one of the things I look back in the past with shame
[28:28] I was a very young believer and I knew what Christ had done for me and I had an awareness of it the gospel but I had just a base level awareness I was a youth leader so we were teaching the youth and the church had bought an old school bus many of you know I drove a school bus for school for 10 years I still got my bus license and all that stuff but I drove a school bus before that too the church bought an old school bus coolest thing ever old five speed school bus and if you shift it just right you can shoot a flame out the tailpipe no lie it was awesome we let the youth group spray paint it it was really cool your ticket to ride the bus is you had to have a Bible if you didn't have a Bible we didn't let you ride the bus that's just the way it worked and you had to have deodorant if you were a guy so we smelt you and looked at you before you got on but it was cool so the church had bought this old bus we don't have anybody license to drive it Billy Joe go get your license I had my CDL but I didn't have a bus endorsement I didn't have a passenger endorsement so at that only time to do that I had to go to
[29:28] Nashville so I drove first bus I'd ever driven just full confession the first bus I'd ever driven was an old five speed conventional bus and I drove that thing to Nashville to go take my test in makes a lot of sense right I said I got this I can do it I was like 22 I was young probably 23 so I drove it to Nashville and I was in the midst of taking my CDL passenger endorsement test you have to parallel park those things you have to do all that real cool stuff and I was a nervous wreck the instructor was with me and this is where it's not funny anymore this is where I should have said something but out of fear of his position I remained silent I was I passed that test really just by breath I mean if I'd pulled up one more time on my parallel park I would have failed he told me that as I was going down the road he realized I was taking it for a church he said well don't worry about your mess ups even Jesus lost once and that's where I should have said something because he didn't lose you only lose if somebody takes it from you you don't lose if you give it he didn't lose it was a moment of intentional surrender for me and for you he didn't lose don't mess that up and we notice here at the end of this the total isolation
[30:57] Peter pulls the sword and cuts the ear of Malkus off we get that from Luke Jesus heals the ear but that's not going to do much Jesus doesn't want to fight with swords it tells us in the account before us so they all left him and fled they all left him and fled it's a fulfillment of scripture it had to happen it was going to happen that way we don't doubt Peter Peter's spirit was willing his flesh was weak Jesus himself testifies to that I think Peter had the best of intention he said Lord I will die with you on the inside he meant it but listen in the flesh it was not his to bear nor was it any others so they all left him and they all fled and then we reached this encounter this odd encounter the last two verses there it's not recorded anywhere else for us only
[32:01] Mark records it it's unique to Mark which leads many people and I'm one of them to think that this is probably John Mark the one who wrote the book because he put this kind of personal note present there too you say why would John Mark be there well John Mark lived in Jerusalem at his mother's house you might know that and the disciples used to gather John Mark's house so what the line of thought is is that as Judas is looking for Jesus he probably went to John Mark's mother's house which was inside the proper city of Jerusalem realized he wasn't there he was already back at the garden and went so John Mark we know he was Mark probably followed behind them saying oh they're going to get him we don't know why I'm not even going to guess why he didn't take time to fully clothe himself I don't know why he was hanging out at home naked I don't know why all I know is that he said hey I'm going to get this sheet and he wrapped it up and he went and he!
[32:54] behind him but all we know is this one of the most humiliating accounts in all of scripture right there's a young man that's there wearing nothing but a linen sheet and they grab him and he pulls away from them and he flees there naked and runs all the way back home and we have to ask ourselves why is that even in there the reason is to show us the total abandonment of Christ by everybody near him!
[33:21] people were willing to run away naked to get away from him he's on his own why because friend listen to me and this is important too he's the only one who can do it he's the only one he is the lamb slain before the foundation of the world Peter can't die for you James and John their death means nothing for you if this is Mark his death means nothing for they would die for their own sins but not Christ he has no sin he has no guilt he dies for us he alone he has to be isolated for he is the only perfect lamb that is fit to die the atoning death so we dare not shake our heads and say oh if I was there I wouldn't have left them yes you would because you can't pay that price someone has to pay it for you and he is willing he had settled it it was his death to die so that it would be our life to live notice
[34:41] Christ in the garden when he leave the garden they all went their varying ways but Christ he went to what was before him and what was before him was our trial our condemnation and our suffering let's pray father we thank you for the day we are so mindful of the events of the garden and Lord Jesus while I know in my heart that it should have been me that has led away to that trial you did it for me for each and every one of us who have put our faith and hope in you and in you alone for it is our death that you died so that it may be your life that we can live Lord may we have that as a settled reality in our hearts there be any here today who have never made that profession may today be the day where they come to a full understanding of the gospel and may it be for the glory and honor of you and you alone we ask it all in
[36:06] Jesus name amen amen!