Understand the Price! 3

Understand the price!

Matthew 26:36-46

March 24, 2024

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What are items in your life that are truly sacred? Things that you would leave your children and hopefully to your grandkids. Proverbs 13:22 says “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the.”

I know, these are hard questions because honestly, nothing I own is worth that effort.

You see, nothing in our period is truly sacred. Even if you did leave something to your kids, what guarantee do you have that they view it with the same level of appreciation? I would argue, that in our culture, nothing is special, and everything gives way to something flashier or new. We may have good intentions with some items for the next generation, but is it sacred? It only depends on the person who holds it.

I have come to this sermon with great pressure and prayer as I have never prayed before for any other message. But as I remembered my prayers, “Lord help me know how to present this.” It was like God gave me a weight on my shoulders to share with you all that is sacred. The reason for the difficulty is because this passage is one of the most sacred, Holy, and intimate recorded in the Bible. It is also the most sorrowful passage in all of God’s Word. It comes with great sorrow, great weight, and abandonment.

Charles H. Spurgeon wrote of this passage, “Here we come to the Holy of Holies of our Lord’s life on earth. This is a mystery like that which Moses saw when the bush burned with fire, and was not consumed. No man can rightly expound such a passage as this; it is a subject for prayerful, heart-broken meditation, more than for human language.”

William Barclay said, “Surely this is a passage we must approach upon our knees.”2

D. A. Carson declared, “As his death was unique, so also was his anguish; and our best response to it is hushed worship.”[1]

I would ask, spiritually speaking that we come with our shoes off and our hearts open. That we come, as Carson suggested in “hushed worship” understanding how Holy this is. But to do that we have to lay the groundwork for getting there. It is easy in our minds to say, that was a long time ago and after all, He is God so going to the cross is something He could do.

To do that is missing a MAJOR part of who Jesus was and to think that is blasphemy! Frankly, it is like approaching this passage as we do with reading a common text thread about the weather. To do that is to miss the weight and gravity of the cross altogether.

We must understand that Christ was fully man, completely alone, and finally willing to pay a price too big for our minds to fully understand.

1. He is fully man.

Why is this so important to understand? Many speakers (I won’t use the word pastors) present Christ without recognizing this major part of His identity. Speakers will gloss over this and jump to the fun parts. But, they do this at the cost of the Word of God. Christ, Jesus, the Son of Man, had to be fully man AND fully God. He had to be born of a woman and experience all that a human being does. All of this is foretold in Genesis 3 at the fall.

Gen 3:15

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heal.”

From the start, from the beginning, the payment of sin will and must be a man, but not an ordinary man who is full of sin would do. It had to be Jesus. The second Adam is what we should have been. But through the washing of regeneration, the Father makes a way through the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit.

To see this, we have to see how human He was. Many believe that He came out different and special. Movies would paint Him as a child who didn’t touch the ground when HE walked and healing things as He was a toddler. That is not given to us and we need to understand what He was and what He did.

Luke 2:52

“And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.”

You mean Jesus learned? Yes! He was not born all-knowing. He was not a god genius out of the womb. And His first words were NOT “mine”. He grew in stature. The word increase there is:

Prokopto: to develop further; progress and accomplish

Then the next word is wisdom. It is Sophia: which means to accumulate knowledge or enlightenment.

You see, Christ was 100% a normal human child who had to grow and experience everything that a normal child had to. Even the awkward struggles of adolescence to young adulthood to be a man all the while not sinning. He had to bear the burden of normal human existence complete with all of its bumps, bruises, and drama. The reason I can say this is found in the word “stature.”

Stature: helikia : means lifetime; mature. It was a progression of growth that every child and man goes through. Now, we know that He did it far faster and completely without sin. He never once talked back, never once disobeyed. He completely submitted to His parents and His Father in heaven. But was He fully human? Can we be sure?

To answer that, allow me to ask, what makes a person human?

a. He was born of a woman: Matthew 1:25

b. He hungered: Matthew 21:18

c. He thirsted: John 19:28

d. He was tempted: Matthew 4:1

e. He touched: John 13:2-17

f. He was touched: John 12:1-8

g. He felt pain: Matthew 16:21

h. He died: Matthew 20:28

Was He fully human? YES! His humanity makes Him understandable to us but it makes Him worthy to God. His humanity made His action acceptable to God. His humanity makes what we read today come into our minds as real, possible and heavy. But, what made Him NOT human is something that will make the garden of Gethsemane real.

At that time, rich people owned gardens that were a frequent place of solitude for our Lord. It had to be large because of how Luke describes the distance from His disciples as a “stone’s throw” in Luke 22:39-42. Gethsemane was a large garden in a dark area away from the city by the Mount of Olives. In this garden, we are ushered into, as Spurgeon wrote, the Holy of Holies. Sacred ground. Imagine a garden that was used to grow plants is now the recipient of the blood of life and the intimate pleas of a Son to His Father.

Matthew 26:39

“My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will but as you will.”

Many are confused by this request. Many struggle with understanding how Jesus, if He is God, could be asking such a question. How can He be praying to God if He is God? As He is asking this, we must understand who and what He is asking. As he prays this, we must realize that there was something that He had yet to know. Yes, I said that. Jesus had yet to know something. Was Jesus all-knowing? Well yeah, but there some areas yet to be truly known.

Realize that to this point, Jesus:

a. Never knew sin: 2 Cor 5:21

b. Never knew the penalty of sin towards Him: Ezekiel 7:8

8 Now I will soon pour out my wrath upon you, and spend my anger against you, and judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations[2]

c. Never knew God’s anger towards Him Matthew 3:17

“this is my Son whom I am well pleased”

d. Never knew God’s wrath: Psalm 5:5

e. Never knew God’s abandonment: Matthew 27:46

“Eli, Eli, lema Sabachthani? “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

If He had not prayed this, His identity would be in question. Jesus knew this was coming yet He had yet to feel it’s crushing sting. He knew the weight of this blow from the Father and this realization was so much that it almost killed Him. Vs 38 “…My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.”

Luke 22:44

“And being in agony He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”

Leave it to a doctor to describe such anguish. The condition of the human body being under such stress that it sweats blood is called hematidrosis and it is a real condition. Christ’s understanding of this weight caused such a crushing weight and sorrow that His body was giving under this pressure. The knowledge of what was too come can be summed up in His prayer.

Vs 39: “My Father if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.”

The word “cup” is so important. All throughout the Word of God it is used as an analogy or word picture of a tool to doll out God’s wrath. We find that in Psalm 11, 75; Jerimiah; Lamentations. This cup however is worse than any ever served. There has yet nor will there ever be a cup mixed with such wrath and utter fury. God must pour this wrath, all of it, into this cup. Every drop must be placed into this one object of serving for the Son, HIS Son to drink. Not just a sip, but it all.

Galatians 3:13:

13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”[3]

This is why we hear Him cry out under this weight:

Vs “My Father, if it be possible.”

A man who had never experienced the weight of His own sin is now bearing the weight of all sin. He cries out to His Father if it is possible. Church, this is why this exchange is so intimate, with two words, a Son, asks, “Daddy, please.” My father is “ABBA” or daddy. There is no more intimate, no more special of an ask. And yet, the answer is “no”.

Jesus always submitted to the Father. “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” They were in perfect unison. Christ makes this statement from a position of anguish but never doubts the Father. He would carry out the Father’s will, the Godhead’s decreed plan outside of time and space from eternity past.

Was He trying to get out of it? No! This request was expected. I have built the case for this one request all morning. His perfect humanity had no other possible request. There was no other thing to say. If he had not prayed this, His humanity would be questioned. If He had not prayed this, His deity would be in question. He would not feel the full weight of what was going to happen.

No other human in all history would qualify for this journey He was on. No other human will ever understand this walk. He was utterly alone. Oh, He took His disciples, but they were no help.

2. He was completely alone.

Jesus took His best. He told them to pray with Him and see what happens.

Vs 37 “And taking with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, He began to be sorrowful and troubled.”

Peter, James, and John had one job, pray. Instead, they went to sleep. You can’t really blame them. Think what was happening all around them. Their entire worlds were changing. Things were looking different, and they knew it. The religious leaders wanted Him dead, and they knew it. Jesus had even said, He was going to be killed. The only thing a logical person would do is sleep. Maybe in the morning things will look better.

But, even in their failure, and even in His worst sorrow, Jesus is still looking out over them. He says “So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter temptation.” Even in His sorrow, He is still teaching. Still coaching and still loving those who are not understanding.

In His teaching, he was showing His disciples from their failure and us some very important applications today. In sorrow, His source of help, hope, and connection was on His knees in front of the Father. God had to say no. There was no other way for salvation for humanity. You see, Jesus knew His disciples would have to walk painful journeys as He knew that you and I must as well. We will not have to drink from the cup He did, but by His grace, we too will and do have struggles.

The disciples later learn from their failures in the garden. Their failure can be an instrument for our education. Christ came to them not once, not twice but three times and told them exactly what to do.

Vs 38 “Remain here, and watch with me…40 “So, could you not watch…” 41 “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

There is a repeated word three times in three instructional verses.

Watch: gregoreo “stay awake; be alert; be alive”

Be alert; be alive; stay awake, lest you fall into temptation. Even when the penalty of all sin, from creation to eternity was waiting to rest on His shoulders, He is instructing you and I to stay awake! Be alert! Be alive and pray so that you do not fall into temptation. He knew that that temptation would lead to sin. That sin would lead to the cup He was getting ready to drink. That temptation that leads to sin is why He was having to walk this walk and His own disciples had no clue. How important is that to Him? Now, how important is that to you? It should be HUGE!

But is it? Is it huge to us? We walk right past temptation into sin every day. Every day we do not “stay awake, stay alert, and stay alive” we walk headlong into sin. That sin, that rebellion contributed to that cup He is about to drink. We should and must watch! We must never want to or have a passive approach to “watching”.

While they were sleeping, He was showing us what it takes. If we ever wonder how to keep back from the temptation of sin, He says, Remain, and keep watch.

Vs 38 “remain here, and watch with me.”

The word remain: meno: stay; lodge with

To overcome temptation is to lodge with and stay IN HIM. He is saying and showing us that as He was praying to His Father, we must be in that posture. To overcome temptation and overcome sin, one must remain in HIM. To do so is our only hope for obedience towards a Father who would do such an amazing thing for His children.

You know, Jesus brought His best to pray with and “keep watch” and they were fast asleep. But Satan was NOT! Satan was doing everything possible to keep this from happening! He tempted Christ at the beginning, oppressed and tempted the disciples, used His agents in the Pharisees, and did everything to oppose it.

But, in perfect obedience, Christ was fulfilling the plan set out from the beginning of eternity.

Philippians 2:5-8

“5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptiedhimself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.[4]

I need to make something abundantly clear. Jesus NEVER set down His deity! This text proves it! He never turned a switch off from being God the Son. He emptied (kenosis) Himself to humble Himself to take the form of a servant. That does not mean He sets aside a part of His identity to obey the Father. Rather, He stepped down off His throne, took on human form, walked among men, obeyed the will of the Father, and drank from the cup designed for Him.

To preach a different form of Jesus is heresy, damming and wrong. He is/was always 100% divine. Never created rather always was. Rather, He submits to the will of the Father. Even when the cup is in His perfect innocent hand, He is obeying.

The application is a perfect example for us today. We are not divine, but we sure can submit to the will of the Father. Normally, obedience is a four-letter word for us but through Christ’s perfect example, He makes it attainable. He shows us that we too can “watch” and obey the will of the Father. Even in His sorrow, we see the example to live by!

Three times Jesus shows this but look back at vs 39

“not as I will, but as you will.”

3 times in our passage He says this. Three times He is submitting to the will of Him who sent Him. All through the gospels, we see Him say, “I have come to do the will of He who sent me.” It is because He knows that this is the plan. This statement “not as I will, but as you will…” and it ends the idea that He was trying to get out of it. Rather, He was feeling the weight of it. It is not a conflict of interests, it was showing His humanity. He obediently gave up His complete humanity to the will of the Father.

Can we not see the application church? Some may say, Man pastor, this is a dark sermon. I’ll admit, this is a heavy message. It was intended to be. As I said in my introduction, this is serious. It is not designed to be flippant and light because to make it that way is to make light of the cup that Jesus had to drink. How dare we not recognize what Christ had to do for us? But there is light in this dark situation.

In response to the teaching of Matthew 14:25; 1650, English Theologian Thomas Fuller coined the phrase “the darkest hour is just before the dawn”. Or in other words, even in the worst of circumstances, there is hope."

3. Understand the price.

It is my intent that we leave here today and this week counting the price and understanding the price paid. As believers, we should never walk from here thinking less of the garden account. We must approach this with the understanding that it cost Him everything. It cost a Loving Father everything. Imagine being the daddy who had to tell His Son, “No Son, it will cost you everything.”

I can hear some say if that is a “loving father” I want nothing to do with him. Oh please listen to what I am going to say, there is good news in this story! There is hope and there is a reason. You may say that that is a cruel horrible father to do that! But did you know that in order to pay for your rebellion, it was 100% necessary to pour that cup and hand it to His Son? You could never drink it! He did not want you to drink it! He gave it to the only one who could drink it so that you do not have to!

Many people struggle with both God’s goodness and His severity, but it must be reconciled in our hearts as believers. We must accept and even rejoice in both. If you look at the cross with only God’s goodness, then you only have half of it. His severity is how he deals with sin, with evil, and with the punishment we deserve. That is what He accomplished at Calvary that day. He poured out His wrath on His only son for the unrighteous.

But, Easter is coming! When the good news is proclaimed that his cup of fury is paid in full! For you, Christ did this! For the sinner who is supposed to take this cup justifiably, Christ humbled Himself unto death so that sinners like you an me may be free.

My main point today is to get all of us, believers, and non-believer to recognize this price paid. For the believer, recognize that price that was paid for your freedom! We should be the humblest, the most amazed, and most impacted by this event. We should be on our knees, with shoes off standing on this holy ground as we read this passage. We should understand the gravity, the overwhelming strain, and sorrow our Lord endured for that white lie, that covetous spirit, that lustful look, that theft from our neighbor. Every sin, every hurt every “mess up” was in that cup! It should wreck us, but never disable us.

Knowing this should give us believers great boldness to never run from what life has to throw at us. We should boldly proclaim this news and boldly go into a world full of suffering proclaiming this good news to sinners. We should be so bold to partake in His suffering for His glory and our good.

It is a concern of mine that we believers do not follow Christ’s example of how to do this well. Just as he said three times: “Not my will, but your will be done.” It seems like we Christians would rather say my will be done Lord and you help me accomplish my will. Church, that is never taught and is idolatry. We must follow our Lord’s example.

PLEASE TURN TO JOHN 16:33

33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”[5]

Key takeaway: 1. We (believers will have tribulation 2. Take heart 3. I have overcome the world.

Believer, yes we will have suffering BUT take heart He overcame it. The source of our trials has been already defeated. My concern is that we believers like to compromise in the face of suffering or trials when we should be taking heart that all of this (trials) is done and taken care of!

ANALOGY Fire team:

Conclusion:

Believer, I never want you to read this passage the same way again. I want you and me to approach it as sacred, on our knees with our shoes off. I want us to remember that He was 100% human and felt every betrayal, every sin, and every fault of man from eternity past to eternity future and yet, He still drank from that cup ALONE. No one else helped Him and nothing was held back.

It was an act by the Father, the Ancient of Days, The Father of Lights in Heaven to offer you and me freedom from sin. Now, believer, understand this price and live boldly under it!