Blood in the Oil

One year (2018 @ FBCD) our church did a special Easter event called “Stations of the Cross”… explain what it was

I got to be in the Gethsemane scene. I actually played Jesus. I had tell the disciples what to do, then go pray, and then get on to the disciples. Then at the end, I got arrested. Didn’t even do anything wrong! If I remember right, the guy who played Judas (Greg Orman I think) actually kissed me once!

But Parker’s best friend, Hayes Estes, saw me being led off at the end of that scene. Now he’d been in the other scenes before that one. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the first Jesus he saw that night, and I know I wasn’t the last because we had an issue. He goes on the the last stops and he sees Jesus get crucified and he freaked out! He was really worried about Parker’s dad. He thought they actually killed me! We had to send his mom a picture of me giving thumbs up so he could sleep that night!

This is the story of Jesus we are going to look at tonight. It’s in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we’re going to be in Mark.

What we’re going to see in this story is that we have a Savior who loves us so much that He was faithful even though we are weak. Have you ever… give some examples of not doing what we’re supposed to

This can bring doubt, but the story we’re looking at tonight answers those doubts.

Read

Even though we are weak, Jesus was faithful in the face of the greatest trial.

We’re going to work our way through this story and at the end there are three parts I want us to focus on.

Go through the story verse by verse using notes in ESV Journaling Bible.

The disciples were weak

They knew something was going on with Jesus. He told them he was “sorrowful even to death”, so they knew something was wrong, yet they still fell asleep. They were not understanding the importance of being spiritually on guard. Their own physical exhaustion distracted them from being obedient to Jesus.

There’s a mission trip called World Changers...

I love going on World Changers mission trips, but I’ve noticed something about myself. When the day starts I’m ready to go, feeling great, going to do everything as close to perfect as possible, and represent Jesus in everything to everyone. But later in the day, later in the week, I start to see shortcuts I can take. Things I could not do that probably would be noticed. Opportunities to not necessarily be rude to people, but definitely not show them the love of Jesus. My exhaustion makes it difficult. “Do I leave that piece of trash on the ground?” “Do I have to go talk to the loaner kid on my crew?”

As long as we are on this side of Heaven, our flesh is still weak. It still desires sin, and we have to fight against those temptations and be obedient to Jesus.

This is literally right after Jesus has told Peter that he will deny him three times. Jesus tells them to pray so they won’t fall to temptation. Instead they fall asleep.

Our flesh is weak and we must pray to have the strength to over come the desire to sin. The desire to do the easy thing instead of the thing that pleases God.

Whether that’s wake up a few minutes early to read your Bible and pray, or make sure you stay away from something that may cause you to lust, or stay away from a party where all your friends will be at because you can’t keep yourself from boozin.

One of the things you must do to not fall to temptation is pray. Jesus teaches us this in

Matthew 6:13 ESV

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

The disciples were weak, but Jesus was strong and faithful.

Jesus was faithful

Jesus knew what was coming to him. He knew He was headed to the cross. But He was afraid. I’m sure He was afraid of the physical pain, but I think what his real concern was, most people who have written about this think his real concern was the spiritual side of what was coming.

Mark 15:34 ESV

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

This is what was making Him so sorrowful. So stressed that Luke says he was sweating blood. Yet He says that famous phrase, “Not my will, but yours.” So why did He do this?

Hebrews 12:2 ESV

looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

He did it because of the joy He received from it. The joy in honoring and glorifying God through the cross and the joy in rescuing his people from sin!

That cheesy saying, “it wasn’t nails that held Him there, it was love” is absolutely true! But still so cheesy!

We are weak, but Jesus was faithful in our place. In love, He did what we couldn’t. He drank the cup. That’s the last thing I want to look at.

The Cup

God’s wrath against sin. A cup that must be drank until there is nothing left is how Scripture describes it. Not a cup Jesus wants to down.

I had to have a CT Scan with contrast once. I had to drink the contrast a few minutes before and it was disgusting. Syrupy with a flavor that you can’t describe. I had to finish every bit of it. That cup had nothing on this cup.

Jesus asked if the cup could be removed, but He knew it had to happen.

We can get into the theology of that another time if you want.

Sin must be punished. Because of God’s holy character, He has wrath against sin. His wrath must be poured out on sin, it is right that it is poured out on sin.

Jesus drank that cup because of the great love with which He loves us. Sin must be punished, and Jesus stood in for us on the cross.

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

1 Peter 2:24 ESV

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

This healing is offered to us. If you place your faith in Jesus...