In 'The Perfect Obedience of the Suffering Son,' Jim Tsantles delivers an in-depth sermon on Matthew 26:36-46, where Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane before his betrayal. The sermon explores the themes of the overwhelming weight of sin, the obedience of Jesus as the faithful Son, and the importance of humble, intimate, and persevering prayer. Tsantles emphasizes the symbolic significance of Gethsemane, an olive press, as a representation of the crushing weight of sin that Jesus was about to bear. He discusses the human and divine aspects of Jesus, highlighting His perfect obedience despite the intense distress and sorrow he faced. The sermon contrasts Jesus's faithfulness with the disciples' sleepiness and stresses the necessity of divine aid to understand spiritual truths. Through references to Old and New Testament scriptures, Tsantles illustrates the depth of Jesus's sacrifice and calls believers to recognize the severity of sin and the profound love of God in offering redemption through Christ.

Matthew 26, 36-46. Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, Sit here while I go and pray over there. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and he began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then he said to them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to death. Stay here and watch with me.

He went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed, saying, Oh, my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping and said to Peter, what could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Again a second time, he went away and prayed, saying, Oh, my father, if this cup cannot pass away from me unless I drink it, your will be done.' And he came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.

So he left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then he came to his disciples and said to them, Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand." Father, what a weighty text we have before us, God.

What an amazing moment in history when you would cry out to the Father God because you understood what this cup really meant. God I pray that you would open your people's eyes and ears this morning to receive your word. God I pray Your blessing over my dad that You would fill him with Your Spirit, God, that You would help him to be able to communicate what is here. Lord, we thank You for this time. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man and I will question you and you shall answer me. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements?

Surely you know. Or who stretched the line upon it to what were its foundations fashioned? Or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy, or shut in the sea with doors. When it burst forth and issued from the womb, when I made the clouds its garments and thick darkness its swaddling band, when I fixed the limit for it and set bars and doors, and when I said, this far you may come, but no farther. And here your proud waves must stop.

Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and the wicked shaken out of it, It takes on form like clay under a seal, and stands out like a garment. From the wicked their light is withheld, and the upraised arm is broken. Have you Entered the springs of the sea, or have you walked in search of the depths? Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death?

Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell me. Tell me if you know all of this. It's no secret to us brothers and sisters that the great divide in chasm between man's understanding and God's understanding is too wide a chasm and too broad a divide for us to ever bridge that gap. God in times past, as we know, has spoken directly.

He's spoken through prophets. He's given a revealed Word. But the truth of the matter is for all of us, without His Holy Spirit enabling us, without His Holy Spirit filling us, the truth is we are All but blind. We're unable to see. Jesus tried to tell them.

His closest companions on earth, His disciples, He tried to tell them. Let me explain what I mean to you. Turn your Bibles to Matthew 16. We're going to start in verse 21. There's something I think it's critical that we see as it relates to this issue of knowledge.

Man's understanding versus God's understanding. So as you turn to Matthew 16, let your eyes fall upon chapter 16 verse 21. There's a dramatic shift that takes place here in verse 21. And that is of all the teaching that the disciples have had, These words are critical. Look at these words, 1621.

From that time, from that time, Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem. Jesus begins to tell them something completely different in terms of What's going to happen and what's going to take place? This is the point at which Peter wants to argue back. Forbid it, Lord. And Jesus says to him, get ye behind me, Satan.

Turn over to the right to Matthew 17. I just want you to see this sequence before we begin our text. Look at Matthew 17 verse 22. Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men. Again, a second time.

This time in Galilee, Jesus is speaking to them, and at this point they become exceedingly sorrowful. Now turn to Matthew chapter 20. This time we're going to look at verse 17 in Matthew 20. 17 says, now Jesus going up to Jerusalem. This time he takes the disciples along the road and he's going to tell them as he's going up into Jerusalem.

He pulls them aside to say this. Now turn to the chapter of the text that we've been in. Turn to Matthew chapter 26. Here you're going to see the same pattern, however this will be the difference. It's a rapid fire succession.

Listen to this. Start in verse 2. This is Matthew 26, verse 2. You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified. You see the difference?

After two days, I will be delivered up. Look at verse 18. And he says, Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, The teacher says, My time is what? It's at hand. My time is at hand.

Look at verse 20. Let me tell you how at hand it is. It's this at hand. That somebody here, somebody here is going to betray me. Verse 20.

Look at verse 23. Let your eyes see this. Look at verse 23. Let me tell you how specific I'm gonna get for you. It's gonna be so specific that it's the one who dips his hand in the dish with me.

And last week, Jason brought us a series of texts, Matthew 31-35, where we see this. I mean, it's like right upon you now. Look at verse 31. Let your eyes see the text. Then Jesus said to them, all of you will be made to stumble this night, this night, tonight.

You'll be made to stumble. So here's the progression. This is what I want you to see and the reason we walk through this. Here's the progression. It's coming.

It's coming. It's two days away. It's tonight. It's tonight. That's where we left our text last week.

And now, That's where I want to just pick up is this element of you'll all be made to stumble. And Peter, let me just have a word with you for a moment. Peter, let me tell you how much this stumbling will have to get for you. We've had problems in this dialogue before. You haven't understood, Peter.

Let me explain how it's going to be for you. This very night, Peter, by the power of my sovereign hand, I'm going to grab one of the creatures that I've created. And each time that you deny me, I'm going to say, with the hand of that creature, Crow, now! Crow, now! And as the third time you deny me, I'm going to say with the hand of that creature, crow, now.

Crow, now. And as the third time you deny me, I'm going to move by the power of my hand and say, crow, now. So you have the confirmation that it is I. It is I who am in control. It is the power of my hand that's activating everything that we're experiencing and seeing.

The reason I started with Job 38 is because brothers and sisters, we simply cannot understand without the light of the Holy Spirit removing the scales from our eyes. The principles and truths in this text of Scripture are divine. They're so divine we can't even comprehend. Put your toes on the edge of the Grand Canyon and do your best to explain without understanding or somebody giving you the measurements ahead of time. Explain to somebody what it is you're experiencing.

This doesn't scratch the surface of what we're gonna touch today. The depths, the heights, the lengths, the width. So without the hand of a sovereign God helping us to understand this, at best we're as Peter, at best we're as Job, limited, clay, feet, ignorant in our flesh. So what do we do? We cry out for divine aid to understand things that we just can't understand.

And so I ask that you join me in prayer as we consider the texts before us. Oh, God help us. God help us, we can't understand these things. There are people in this room who've never been able to hear, they've never been able to see. God I pray that you would open hearts and open eyes.

God I pray that you would touch souls. And more than anything that men would be removed in your holy and divinely inspired word would tear us to pieces as we contemplate a text like this. Oh, what man can understand this God help your people today God help us to understand in Jesus name So let's now take our attention directly to the text at hand. We're in Matthew chapter 26, if you're joining us. We're in a section of Scripture, as I just said, Jason completed the walk from 31 through 35 last week, and we got to the point where Peter was speaking words without knowledge.

Now we're going to go directly into Matthew 26, 36 through 46. Let's begin in 36. Before I begin, let me say this, before we start in the text. I believe that there are some themes that run through this. So I have given the title to this presentation simply this, the perfect obedience of the suffering son.

I'll repeat it. The perfect obedience of the suffering son. This is in the backdrop of some huge doctrinal principles, right? We could really get wrapped around a lot of the axles. We see this all being played out on the grand stage of God's sovereignty.

We see all this playing out in God's sovereign time. We see the principle of God's providence as He's giving Christ. We see the propitiation. These are big words and doctrines that we need to understand. And we see the the model of substitutionary atonement.

These are all on the stage, but what's being presented to us? I think there are three themes in this text. One is it's the indescribable and overwhelming weight of sin. Number one, it's the indescribable and overwhelming weight of sin. Number one, it's the indescribable and overwhelming weight of sin.

Number two, the obedience of a faithful son to his father. The obedience of a faithful son to his father. And number three, the pattern of humble, intimate, and persevering prayer. Humble, intimate, and persevering prayer. There's a subplot that plays out throughout this text.

And that's the subplot I opened the story with. It's that in our flesh we are absolutely pathetic. And we're incapable. A subplot that runs along this journey of these verses. So let's see if you agree with the title and the themes, and we'll talk about this more at the end of our time.

Matthew 26 verse 36. Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane and said to the disciples, sit here while I go pray over there. The fact that Jesus comes to the place means that he came from somewhere. Where did he come from? Well, he had left the upper room.

We don't know the exact location of where the upper room was, but he leaves the upper room and he heads with his disciples, gathers them up, and heads east. Now understanding the Kidron Valley, I never understood it until I had the privilege of going through this, is Kidron Valley is a dividing line, and I'll turn kind of this way for you so you'll understand. There's two valleys that run around Jerusalem. Jerusalem being in the center, there's a valley that comes up to the east called the Kidron Valley. There's another valley that runs to the west, almost kind of like a wad.

That valley is called the Hinnom Valley. Those two valleys divide Jerusalem. Jerusalem and the temple and all of that sits between those two valleys. It's critical we understand some of this. That's the layout.

Gethsemane itself, there's a place there that they call Gethsemane today. There's some argument and debate over whether that's the exact location. But where this place is, is Gethsemane undoubtedly at the foothills of the Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives is on the east side. The Kidron Valley sits at the foot of the Mount of Olives.

Right after you come, if you were to literally walk out of Jerusalem in the temple, you'd come over this Kidron Valley through a bridge or over a bridge and you'd come to the base of the Mount of Olives that goes out to the east. And so understanding that layout is relatively important. You have about a half mile distance, and again, depending on where the upper room was, it's roughly a half mile to three quarters of a mile from that location to where they'll end up in the Garden of Gethsemane. I think it's important that we understand some of what I think is implied by Matthew 21. If you look at Matthew 21, don't turn there, but I'll just tell you, Matthew 21, 16 is this pattern that Jesus was going in and out of.

He comes in through Bethany, and it says in Matthew 21, at night he would lodge in Bethany. So it indicates there's a pattern of traffic. He'd go from Bethany where he was lodging into the temple and he'd go back and forth. I believe the Garden of Gethsemane was a place that was frequented. The text, I think, proves it.

But I think there must have been some sort of pattern. The reason I believe that, I think this text will make clear. Luke's account of this text in chapter 22 says that this was the place that he was accustomed. He was accustomed to going there with his disciples. And John says this when he's accounting for the fact that Judas betrays Jesus at this location is that his quote from John is, and Judas who betrayed him also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples.

So if there wasn't some sort of pattern that was established where Judas knew on that night when that betrayal would take place, somebody would have had to tip Judas off that that night was in fact the night that they were going to go there. So, I think the Scriptures suggest that there was a pattern where Jesus on his way back perhaps would go into the garden as a routine pattern with his disciples. The Mount of Olives where we are, I'm gonna try to go through this a little quickly, but the Mount of Olives has huge historical implications. If you look back in the Old Testament, here's what you'll find. In 2 Samuel chapter 15 verse 30, This is the place where King David is being pursued.

Absalom is after him and he's running from Absalom. He crosses over the Kidron Valley and he's going up the Mount of Olives. And the account in 2 Samuel 15, 30 is that as he's crossing and going up, he's weeping bitterly. David is weeping over the situation that's happened in Jerusalem. And he cries out, he says, oh Lord, I pray that he turns the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness against Absalom.

So there's a pattern of prayer that had been established there on this Mount of Olives years before. This is also the place in 1 Kings chapter 11. It's the scene where the Lord rips out of the hand of Solomon the kingdom. A dramatic event. Here's why.

Solomon had traded in faithfulness to the Lord for a sham. Here's what I mean by sham. Sidonian, Hittite, Ammonite, and Moabite women. God had warned previously, don't embrace these women, they'll turn your heart away. And that sham ultimately becomes a shame as he adds Edomite women to that equation.

His heart turns so wicked against the Lord that he ends up building on the side of the Mount of Olives, Ashereths and the gods of these false gods, the gods of these women that he had fallen in love with. This is the scene on the Mount of Olives that later God in His faithful and provident hand decides, I'm going to raise up a new generation." And he chooses Josiah. And he takes Josiah. And that account is in 2 Kings chapter 23. And by this faithful hand of Josiah, he comes and he knocks down all these false gods.

And he has them roll down to the Kidron Valley at the base of the Mount of Olives. And there they are, burned as they should have been. Never been. But this is the recording in 2 Kings 23. This is the place, as you know, in Matthew 24, They call it the Olivet Discourse because he's on the Mount of Olives.

It's the Olivet Discourse. We don't know exactly where that took place, but this is where Jesus was just a few chapters before. This is also quite interesting. Because of the layout, the topography, the Mount of Olives roughly is 300 feet taller than Jerusalem. And as a result of that, in AD 70, when Titus, who's the commander of the army, is laying siege at AD 70 in the destruction of Jerusalem, he sets up a command post on the top of Mount of Olives so he can see that his siege works are being effective as he hewns down all the trees that are on the side of this Mount of Olives.

There is huge historical significance to this location. And I don't understand the prophecy of Zechariah 14. We don't have time to go into it, but needless to say it's a dramatic event where the picture is God standing on the Mount of Olives. And because of his judgment that initially he brings about a bunch of nations to war against Jerusalem and his people and then he steps in. He steps in and rescues his people and it depicts God himself standing with feet on the Mount of Olives and causing an earthquake that splits it in two from north to south.

So this is Zechariah, the location being chapter 14. We can review that later. And this, brothers and sisters, is the place of our text. This is where we are, the present place where Jesus now having crossed over, goes into the kid, crosses over the Kidron Valley and comes to Gethsemane on the foothills, a relative base of the Mount of Olives. Now why Gethsemane?

If you do any research on Gethsemane, here's what you find. What is it about Gethsemane itself? Gethsemane means oil press. It means oil press. If we lived in the Mediterranean, we'd understand this a whole lot better because the Mediterranean is replete with olive trees.

It's everywhere. It was huge to industry. And if we lived there in the time where the psalmist is writing about the tender shoots, you remember the text? The text is, children around your table like tender shoots that would come up from the olive tree, like olive branches around your table, well we don't really get that unless we know what the olive tree does. It's this big, fat, gnarly tree.

I think they're quite ugly. My family doesn't think they're so ugly. I think they're very ugly. They're these big, gnarly trees that sprout up these little shoots, these tender shoots that come out of the side of the tree. So when the psalmist says in 128, like these tender olive plants that would come up from your table, you really got that if you lived in the Mediterranean because the olive tree is probably in your backyard.

So that's the olive tree. They're abundant in the region. They've lived for thousands of years. They say the ones that are there today, they can date them. I guess carbon dating, they say, is relatively reliable within a few thousand years.

But there they can date the fact that these trees are thousands of years old. They say the only reason some of the ones that perhaps were there when Jesus was there is because Titus cuts them all down. And perhaps these shoots that come up are the ones that are there today. You can go online and look, I meant to bring photos. I've got photos of the Garden of Gethsemane, but there's olive trees, or at least what they're saying is they've built all this stuff around it.

But Anyway, needless to say, the olive industry is a huge industry in that day. Critical and the reason I'm going through this is we understand the symbolism of what's happening. When you go to harvest olives, you would shake the branches. When you shake the branches and they're ripe, what happens? The olives fall to the ground.

The Arabs to this day, the Muslims by the way, they still practice an old pattern of beating them with a rod because they think that's, they need to be faithful to their forefather so they beat it with a rod and ultimately damage the tree. But no, the instruction is shake the tree, the olives fall, you gather the olives. And as you gather the olives, you would take them and you would put them in a, I've got a photo of this, I'll show you, or we can pull it up later. There's a round, in many cases it would be either a round trough or a big stone trough. And they put the olives down in the troughs and then they would take a huge stone, a grinding stone or like a, better that a millstone Jesus says, be hung around it.

It's a millstone, that's what I was searching for, a millstone. So it's this giant millstone and they would run wood through that millstone and they would either put a yoke on an animal or they would have slaves that would then push this huge beam or on the yoke the animal would run this thing around. That's why it was often a circle. The ones that are there that they are saying is what was there. They're circular.

So then you just walk around and you allow this giant stone, this massive stone to crush the olives. And now we can begin to understand some of the symbolism. Here's what I mean. This process of extracting olive oil from the olives was a three-part process. It was, you pick them up, you put them in the trough, and the weight of this massive stone would grind over these olives.

And then you would take them and put them in burlap sacks. You'd take the burlap sacks and then put them on what they called an olive press. I've seen a few. You knew that one. Olive press.

You put them in the press and the weight of the press would come down and condense these bags. And they said the first oil that would come out of this, Scott and I were talking about this the other day, is that the first oil that would come out is the most pure oil. The second level of oil that would come out as you press these burlap sacks is the oil that would be often used for lighting your lamp or use for medicine. The third was for soap. And so to understand this symbolism, let's consider what's going on in the garden.

You study Gethsemane and you wonder why Jesus is here at this place. You study what happens and you consider what's happening in these great massive stones that crush the olives. And you soon realize the text of scripture that comes to life. If the heavens declare the glory of God and the earth confirms his handiwork, if he by the power of his hand at the exact timing of his will, says to the rooster crow now to confirm his words as a result of Peter's denial, I don't think it's a reach at all. I think scriptures confirm it, that the significance of the symbolism is met with the reality of Jesus Christ now being in this very place where this process took place.

Here's why I want you to consider that. Consider the first oil. What did we say the first oil was? It was the most pure oil. An example of this is you see this in Exodus chapter 30 as the commands are given by God on how to handle the sanctuary.

He says this essentially in verses 22-25. Among other things that you were to gather, you were to gather 500 shekels. This is, by the way, Exodus 30, verses 22 through 25. Among the holy items of the sanctuary, you were to then take and mit. There were other things, but I'm starting at this point.

500 shekels of cassia, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, a hen of olive oil. And you shall make from these a holy anointing oil, an ointment compounded according to the art of the perfumer. It shall be a holy anointing oil and with it you shall anoint the tabernacle of meeting in the arc of the testimony, including Aaron and his sons. So as a result of the anointing oil, they could be made holy. What is the first, the most pure?

The only pure and spotless blood is that of the lamb. Who's now beginning to experience the weight of this millstone, essentially the millstone of the weight of the sin of all of mankind, we're going to get to that. But the symbolism, I think, is critical, that only by His pure blood can we be anointed unto salvation and acceptance into His kingdom. The second process, it was for your lamp and for producing medicine. Don't we sing?

What's the song that we sing? We sing, Thou, O Lord, our lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. And we know that he is the only healing medicine for the cancer of sin. And finally, the third process of the oil, the third oil that would come out was made, was used for making soap. To this text, I would turn your attention to Malachi 3, 1 through 2.

You don't have to turn. But Malachi 3, 1 and 2 says, Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. But who can endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and a launderer's soap.

Do you think any of this foreshadowed the coming of a Messiah? Do you think any of this symbolism was relevant? I certainly do. And I believe Christ came to this very place, just like all the other shadows, He came to this place, the garden of suffering, the olive press, to literally begin the process of himself being pressed. That brings us to the end of verse 36 where he says this, look at the end of verse 36.

He says, sit here while I go and pray over there. Here's the setting. The setting is Jesus comes out of the upper room, as I was saying before, crosses the chidron, he says to his disciples, stay here. Luke doesn't record, he separates Peter, James, and John, but the other accounts do. He separates Peter, James, and John.

So he crosses over the bridge, he walks into the garden, he said, sit here while I go pray over there. So when we look at the combination of the gospel accounts, here's what we realize. Jesus takes all of his disciples and they're here as they cross over in the garden. And he walks further. Luke says it's a, depending on, I want to make sure it was Luke, yes, it's Luke who says it's a stone's throw away.

So depending on your arm, that's how far away they are, roughly. And then the account then says, and we're going to get to this in 39, that he goes a little bit further when he falls on his face to pray. So that's the sequence that you understand. Here they are together, all the disciples, Jesus goes a stone throw away with Peter, James, and John. I don't know if we can add tremendous significance, other than this is a pattern, tremendous significance to this pattern that Jesus would often partake in.

In Matthew 5.34, And this pattern I'm referring to is where he would take Peter, James, and John, these three in particular. There's three times this occurred. I thought there was only two until I found another in Mark chapter five verse 34 when there you have a situation, it's kind of ministries going on and in comes a synagogue official whose daughter had died. Whoever they were in the text in Matthew 534, they are, whoever they is, are saying to the synagogue official, leave Jesus alone, she's already dead. Jesus then overhears the conversation and says, Peter, James, John, let's go.

Takes those three and it says specifically, those three only. And he goes to the synagogue official's home and there revives his daughter. That's Mark 534. Again, we know this pattern occurred where? We just saw it nine chapters ago in Matthew 17 at the Mount of Transfiguration.

That's exactly right, where they see the glory of what's going on there. It's Peter, James, and John. The scripture doesn't say exactly why. So, you know, we don't want to speculate as to exactly why, but I think there's principles here, right? Proverb 332 says, "'The perverse person is an abomination to the Lord, "'but the Lord reveals his secret counsel to the upright.

I'm not saying the other disciples were perverse, or that's not what I'm arguing here. I think I'm arguing that there's a principle in scripture that says those who are walking uprightly often are blessed by the benefit of getting the secret counsel of God. I think the pattern plays out in cases of Noah and Moses, Abraham, when the angels are saying, should we reveal to him what we're about to do? Right? And so, and I think it plays out even as we see Paul with Titus, Paul with Timothy, this inner circle, this principle that's played out here.

And I think it's true to what we experience in life. When we have a deathbed experience, not everybody who's loved is there at the inner moments when that person's taking their last breath. As the mother is in her birth pangs and is delivering a child, not everyone who's loved is right there at that moment. They're not less loved because they're in the other room. And so I just think it's a principle that we see played out here, and I think it's safe for us to leave it at that.

Just concluding that point is to simply say, the man who has the great privilege like Jason does week in and week out, I think this applies here too. To wrestle with these words of God is something that you just can't explain. And the secret counsel that God would give for those who wrestle with His Scripture. It's just such a blessing. So, enough said there.

Let's go to Matthew 37 and 38. And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. He said to them, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to death. Stay here and watch with me. 37 ends with Matthew giving the account of what's happening to Jesus, deeply sorrowful and distressed.

Himself, Jesus, Himself, in verse 38, describes what he's feeling. You see the difference between the two? Matthew is accounting, now Jesus is saying in verse 38, Jesus says, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to death. Stay here and watch with me. Gil's commentary points out, as it should, the great humanity of our Savior.

Here Christ experiencing this great weight, and in Matthew as we go back and consider what we've read in Matthew is all the full range of the true humanity of our Savior, he being completely God was also completely man. What did we see in Matthew? We saw joy at the wedding feast. We saw weeping for the multitudes. We saw tenderness at the well.

We saw anger in the temple. And we just watched in our last text, loving service to his inner group of his 12 disciples, even one who would betray him. So we see all of this happening, and I think it points to what Hebrews 4.15 tells us that we love, the text that's so beautiful. For we do not have a high priest. We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with us and our weaknesses, but in all ways we're tempted as we are yet without sin.

Praise God for this high priest for us who is also completely man. So here is now the epitome of all of history is meeting at this moment where Jesus is so full of distress and sorrow in Gethsemane. This word distress is the Greek word Adam and Nao. Adam and Nao is only used three times in Scripture. Adam and Nao is a word that we don't even begin to understand.

Here's what it essentially entails. That you're under such a heavy weight of distress that it is a torture of your soul. I think it's what Isaiah 53 v. 12 points to. 53-12 says, "'Therefore, I will divide him, a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoiled with the strong, because He poured out His soul to death.

And He was numbered with who? He was numbered with transgressors. Jesus Himself numbered with transgressors. Oh, brothers and sisters, do we even try to comprehend what that would mean? The holy and perfect and righteous one being numbered with transgressors?

Do you ever stop and think when you read the account of them saying, give us Barabbas! Give us Barabbas! Give us Barabbas! What happens inside of your soul? How unrighteous, how horrible.

You could release that guy and hang him? Do we understand this? The holy and perfect one of God would hang between two criminals as Barabbas skips off into the distance. Brothers and sisters, you are you are Barabbas. I'm Barabbas.

You're the criminals and so am I. Do we really consider these things? Luke records being a doctor, of course. He records the physical state of what's happening to Jesus at this moment. The torture of his soul being so great.

There's a medical condition. I'm not convinced this is what Jesus had. I think it's good as a parallel for us to understand. Only 76 cases ever reported of this medical condition. It's caused by a variety of things that can happen, but it's usually in conjunction with such severe anxiety that literally the vessels, the blood vessels in your sweat glands, the smallest vessels, the capillaries, burst.

They burst, and as a result of that bursting, they literally come out with the sweat as you sweat. You can wipe your face or you can wipe your body, the blood off of it and it reappears. This is what's happening and Luke records this. That medical state is called hematidrosis or hematohydrosis. Again, we can't say for sure because we weren't there and we can't go back and diagnose what Jesus had.

Clearly no human being has ever experienced this. Clearly we know that. So this is such an extreme condition that none of us can understand by mixing the blood with the sweat. As Jesus now is considering the crushing weight of the millstone and its heavy load that's bearing on him. It causes this experience.

Brothers and sisters, we should be the ones with this medical condition. We should be the one with the weight of the stone bearing upon us that literally would squeeze the blood out of our capillaries. Look at verse 39. We're going to come back to 38 in the context of watching. Be here and watch with me.

But we'll pick that up with some other verses shortly. Verse 39. He went a little farther and fell on his face and he prayed saying, Oh my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will. Isaiah 51, 17 says this. Awake!

Awake! Stand up, O Jerusalem! You who have drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury, You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling and drained it out. Psalm 75, verse 7 and 8 says this, but God is the judge. He puts down one and exalts another, For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup.

And the wine in the cup is red. It is fully mixed. He pours it out. Surely its dregs shall all the wicked of the earth drain and drink down. The cup of the fury, wrath, and judgment of God against sin.

The fierce and mighty and powerful anger of God against sin. Does that make you uncomfortable? Do you get uncomfortable when you think of God this way? You know, these words are intended to make us tremble. That's what they should do.

They should make us tremble. If you believe in the God of the Bible that tolerates your sin and doesn't make you tremble, You're not believing in the God of the Bible. If you believe in the One who sees all that you think is so good in you, you're just so good. You don't understand what He says about your goodness. It's like filthy rags.

You don't have any idea. He cannot. His holiness demands that. He deals with your sin. He's the Holy and Righteous One.

He can't even look upon your sin. And if that's you who believes that He's just going to look past all your sin and how good you think you are, and the scales will be weighed in my favor, oh, wake up! Listen to the text in Isaiah. Awake! Awake is what it says.

You, my friend, my brother, are Not a brother. You're believing a lie. You're worshiping a God. A false God. It's not the God of the Bible at all.

It's a God you've made up in your own sensibilities, your own heart. It's not the God of the Bible. But This is the day that we live in, is it not? Is it not the day that we live in? Right?

It's the day, the generation that caused evil, good, and good, evil. It's the generation that says, oh, come on, sin isn't really sin. It's the generation. It's the generation, Taylor, that says, I got 200 bucks, you got 100 bucks? We can roll right up to the Preferred Health Center and take care of this group of cells.

Just cells. Let's just get rid of this problem. Our pulpits are filled with this ridiculous notion. We've got preachers that are preaching blasphemy, the raw bells of our world that would say, hey man, love wins, dude, Lighten up. Lighten up.

Love takes care of it all at the end. It's all good. No, brothers and sisters, Sin is so extremely sinful. Sin is so incredibly sinful that the weight of which is being compared to this millstone that crushes and demolishes. Sin is that sinful.

It is a death sentence. Listen, did you hear that? Children in this room, Sin is a death sentence. Man or woman who does not have the forgiving and healing balm of Jesus Christ, sin is a death sentence to you. Or do you have a Rob Bell, modern day view of sin?

Not really sin. If you have a small view of sin, if only Uzzah could speak to you today. If only Uzzah, as he thought he was doing such a right thing by grabbing the ark on its fall. I'm doing what's right and right. Just watch me!

And God kills him immediately. Because God said, don't you dare touch my ark. Oh, if Uzza could speak to you. If you could hear, children, we don't want to talk about these things, it makes us uncomfortable, but this is true. If you could hear the screams as the fire rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah, If you could hear those screams, we read these stories as if they're abstract.

If you could hear the screams of those whose flesh is burning in Sodom and Gomorrah. If you watched, If you were there the day, the day when everybody's gathered around, and Korah who's convinced he's so right, that he gets all these to agree with him and they all stand out with their censors thinking they're so right, and God opens the earth in His wrath and His fury against this wicked rebellion and literally opens the earth and closes it back on top of Korah. In front of everybody who was there, What kind of response would you have had? I pray that it makes you tremble. It should make us tremble.

It's intended to. This is the weight of sin. This is the gravity of sin. Or how about standing at that moment in the New Testament? Yeah, that's the Old Testament God.

Yeah, that wrath and fury God of the Old Testament. Wish you could have been there. Wish you could have been there in the moment where at the door are the feet of the ones that are about to carry out Sapphira as they did her husband. And you could have seen the last second look on her face. And that look would scare you to death as it caused her death.

Now, right now, New Testament God, this is the God of the Bible who doesn't play games with sin. I wish you could have had a conversation with Sapphira. God's holiness demands it. He cannot look upon it. He hates it.

But while we walk around as men who say, oh man, I just called it an accident, God says it's an abomination. Man calls it a blunder. God calls it a blight. Man calls it a defect. God calls it a disease.

Man calls it a chance. God calls it a choice. Man calls it an error. God calls it enmity. Man calls it fascination.

God calls it iniquity. Man calls it a luxury. God calls it leprosy. Man calls it liberty. God calls it lawlessness.

Man calls it a trifle. God calls it a tragedy. Man calls it a mistake. God calls it madness. Man calls it just a weakness.

God calls it willful rebellion. Man says, big guy and I, we're cool, it's all good. God says you are condemned to eternal hell Fire. Man says, back off, fella. Man, I grew up in the church.

Baptized, saved, I've done all that. I wrote it in the front of my Bible. Back off, fella. Jesus says, depart from me, for I never knew you, you who practice lawlessness. Brothers and sisters, sin is this exceedingly sinful.

And what Jesus is about to endure is the cup of all the anger and fury of a holy God poured out upon the head of the Savior. I want you to look again at 39. I want you to look at 39 where He says this caused a lot of confusion. Oh, my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.

The atheists of our day and the God-haters of our day would love to say, look at this weakness. He's just a man. Look how weak he is. How ludicrous a notion. How ludicrous when simply those filled, not simply, but amazingly, those filled with his spirit are dancing.

The martyrs of our past, Stephen, as he's being stoned, he's praying, he's crying out. He's not in a moment of weakness Stephen. The martyrs that are dancing to the fiery grave as they set the flames at their feet, they're singing hymns to God. How is this possible? This is not a weak and trembling Jesus who's begging that God would remove His wrath from him.

No, no, no, brothers and sisters, not at all. Here's what I think he's asking. It's this. The idea that holiness itself, holiness, Jesus Christ, purely holy, Himself, would have to be made unholy. That the one who'd never transgressed would now be numbered with transgressors.

Unthinkable. It's unthinkable. Number two, I believe, so that's number one, I believe it was the fact that the idea of holiness could become unholiness. Number two, His love for His Father being so immense that even a moment of it being broken, even a moment of the brokenness between Father and Son who were there at the beginning of all creation, that as His Father turns His face away and crushes His own Son, the thought of the broken unity between God the Father and God the Son, but for a second. We don't understand that.

We can carry on in our flesh for quite some time, Can't we? But no, the idea to Jesus that if this could be broken, this fellowship could be broken for even but a moment. And I believe finally that it's just the sheer weight of His full understanding of the weight of this cup of fury and what it meant. This cup of fury of God the Father that he would have to consume. Jesus is about to drink it down to the dregs.

Do you know what the word dregs means? You know what it means? It means even that junk that's at the bottom that you don't want to drink, the coffee grinds at the bottom of your coffee cup that you don't want, terrible analogy. Because what we're talking about here is something completely different than coffee grinds. We're talking about the fury of a holy God being poured out to the very bottom that dregs every single ounce of fury, every single ounce of wrath.

This, brothers and sisters, is indeed, is indeed the most scandalous gospel. It's scandalous. It's a scandal. We don't deserve this. He shouldn't be the one in the middle between those two criminals.

He shouldn't be the one crushed. It, brothers and sisters, is a scandal. And he concludes in verse 39 by saying, oh, nevertheless, not my will but thine be done. Is this not the fulfillment of the picture of a faithful son like Abraham and Isaac? Here's the picture of Isaac carrying the wood.

He's got the wood strapped on his back and there he goes with Papa, a faithful father who for 90 something years has waited for this son and the son who's carrying the very wood with which will destroy him. And he gets all the way there to the altar and Abraham goes to deliver the blow and God stops him. You ever stop and consider the knife plunges forward in this story? The knife plunges forward. The fulfillment was greater than the shadow.

The knife plunges forward as God the Father turns His face and destroys His own Son. And so this is not a weak and trembling Jesus at the idea of taking on the sin of man. Because we know what the Scripture says, oh, but for the joy set before Him. He knew what was coming, brothers and sisters. This is not a trembling Jesus as our atheist friends would like to have you believe.

No, not at all. Verses 40 and 41. Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping and said to Peter, What could you not watch with me for one hour? Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Are you sleeping?

Are you asleep? Are you asleep like the disciples here? Are you asleep spiritually? Jesus gives positive commands in 38 that I mentioned I'd come back to. Stay here and watch with me.

And now in 40, he follows up with, not even a single hour? Not even a single hour? Here's the perfect and spotless son obeying his father unto death. What a contrast. Disciples are sleeping.

He's taking on all the weight of all of our sin and he's sweating drops of blood Over here. Here's the truth that I said runs parallel to our text. Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Apart from Christ, we are nothing, brothers, sisters, we're nothing. And aren't you so grateful?

Aren't you so thankful that his faithfulness to us doesn't depend on our faithfulness to him? Doesn't it just make you breathe a sigh of tremendous relief? Praise you God, because there's no way. There's no way. Yes, I am the sleepy one.

Yes, you are the sleepy one. This comes about in many ways for us. So he says, not thy will, not my will, but thy will be done. Time doesn't permit us to go into a deep exegesis of it, but suffice it to say this for the moment. Young man, young man, look at me.

Young man, you ever have a hard time even honoring your dad to take out the trash? Fathers, you have a hard time loving that wife God gave you? This is true of all of us, is it not? Young lady, you have a hard time when your mother asks you to simply do the dishes? Let's consider our text.

Let's consider the weight of this text in light of the foolishness of our flesh and in light of the weakness of our flesh as experienced here. So there's some there's some things I want to point out in the following verses that I want to get to chapter or rather verses 42 43 and 44. And he came and found them asleep again. Excuse me, we're going to start in 42, that was 43. 42.

Again, a second time he went away and prayed, saying, Oh, my Father, if this cup cannot pass away from me unless I drink it, your will be done. And he came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. And so he left them and went away again and prayed the third time, saying the same words. I think here's what we see in these texts, among other things. Central, it's this.

It's the principles of prayer. I've listed six principles of prayer that I want to share with you. Number one, in verse 39, we saw that Jesus, what did he do as he left Peter, James, and John? He's so carried with pain and agony, he falls on his face in verse 39. Consider first the posture of prayer.

The posture of prayer. Notice again as Jesus cries out, oh, my Father! The deep personal affection in prayer. The deep personal affection in prayer, number two. As he cries this out, oh Abba, oh Abba, oh my Father.

Number three, the humility, deference, and obedience in prayer. Again, the humility, deference, and obedience in prayer, where he says, as we all should, not my will, but thine be done. Not my will, but thine be done. Number four, the purpose of prayer, purposeful prayer, Purposeful. We saw Jesus states to them, lest you fall into temptation, He gives them a purpose.

Do this. Watch and pray lest you fall into temptation. How many temptations are you falling victim to because you're not watchful enough to even be praying? You're not even putting the guard gates around your home in prayer and watchful prayer. I am so shamefully guilty of this.

Number five, the passion and intensity of prayer. Again, five, the passion and intensity of prayer as Jesus is crying out with every ounce of his being. And finally, number six, it's the persevering nature of prayer. It's persevering. How many times are you tending to give up after that first prayer or two.

Here, Jesus knowing the predetermined will of God is yet willing to persevere in prayer. I think Taylor mentioned this, we were talking about this. I think it's interesting what you find in Matthew four, as the ministering angels come back to Jesus in Matthew four. Right? That sequence that goes on there where Jesus answers with the word and the ministering angels come to him.

Luke records that as Jesus cries out in praise to his father, in Luke's account he records that after this happened, Jesus' first prayer, in verse 43, he says that an angel appeared from heaven, strengthening him. Pray until the angels show up is the point. Pray. Pray, call heaven down with your prayers. That's what you're doing.

Call heaven down with your prayers. Heaven's already in our midst. Call out to God for his help in times of need. The question is, do we pray like this? Do we really pray with this kind of prayer?

The truth is so often I don't, brothers and sisters, I'm ashamed to say. Verses 45 and 46. Just a note before I give you these last two verses, Do you realize? Do you realize this is the last conversation? In fact, they're not even going to have a chance to respond.

These are the last words Jesus is going to speak to them collectively. And here they are. Then He came to His disciples and said to them, are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going.

See, my betrayer is at hand. And Judas comes as Jesus is speaking. Jason will touch on that when we pick up this text. That's it. That's it, Three years of life.

Three years of ministry. The last words that He will speak to them on this earth. Aren't you glad the story isn't over? Aren't you so thankful, brothers and sisters, that Jesus will indeed speak again. And this is really where I want to leave us.

In spite of our sleepiness, in spite of our grogginess, in spite of all the things that beset us, Jesus is faithful. He is faithful. He will come again. And here's what I want to leave us with is considering, finally, we've talked about His wrath and His fierce anger. Yes, there is.

There is something that's dramatically wonderful. And that's His amazing love. What kind of love is this, brothers and sisters? What kind of love is this that the Father has bestowed upon us? How do we begin to explain this kind of love for those of you who have been set free?

For those of you in this room who haven't had your sins removed? I want you to consider briefly the text of John chapter 3 verse 36 that says this, listen. John chapter 3, 36, Jesus says this, that cup, the cup, abides on you. If you are unsaved, if you've never met Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, John 3.36 compels you to consider this. The weight of the fury and anger and wrath of God yet abides on you.

Show up on your deathbed today and stand before a holy God. All of His wrath and his fury and anger that we talked about. You're holding that cup. You're holding it. And God and His righteousness cannot permit that cup of yours full of its wickedness to enter into eternity of sinlessness.

And He must judge you. His righteousness demands it. So we compel you and urge you in light of what we've learned today about the nature of sin, be freed! What do you do? You repent right where you are.

Do you hear me? You repent right where you are. Salvation is at hand for those who call out to God, that He would reveal His truths. Don't harden your heart as in the day of rebellion. But for you, if you're saved today, if Jesus Christ has come and He's filled you, Oh, all of this weight that we're having to digest now and trying to understand the depth of it, brothers and sisters, I commend you.

Be done with the feeble, silly things. Be done with it. Be freed of whatever it is you might be holding onto, brothers and sisters, because Romans 8, 31-39 would compel us to consider this as we close. Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Who can separate us?

Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? As it is written, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter, yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, neither height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Jesus our Lord. Our Lord, so though you may be as the disciple asleep, let's awaken, brothers and sisters.

Let's be set free from Whatever it is that you're holding onto. And again, we compel you, if you've never put your faith in Christ, consider the weight of this sin. Consider that God the Father was willing to nail His only Son to a wooden beam in your place. In your place. Would you pray with me?

It is true, it is true, Lord. You have the words of eternal life. Where else can we go Lord? Where else can we go? These are the words of eternal life.

God we can't possibly understand Unless you come and enlighten us as we started in Job 38, God, we speak words without knowledge we don't understand. God, I pray that right now that you would allow the person in this room or the people in this room who've never understood, who've been speaking words without knowledge, to have the scales removed? God, would you save souls today? Would you allow those whom you have saved to mourn as we should when we consider this weight, and then rejoice together as we consider we're free. We're free.

We're free. God, thank you for this freedom. In Jesus' name. Amen.