2017-08-20 Luke 22:39-46 Valley of Death in Gethsemane (1)

VALLEY OF DEATH IN GETHSEMANE (Luke 22:39-46) August 20, 2017 Read Lu 22:39-46 - A sign in a high school restroom read: "NOTICE! In the event of an atomic attack, the federal ruling against prayer in this school will be temporarily suspended." The disciples needed that sign. Their atomic attack was coming. And they weren’t ready. Thankfully, Jesus was. And good thing, because the pain of His coming temptation was nearly unbearable. Yet even in the midst of the most horrific temptation ever faced by mortal man, Jesus thinks of His followers. He warns: “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” He cares. And He provides a living example of how to meet this Valley of Death. They fail – for now! Thankfully for us, He succeeds. This account shows us submission to God is often painful, but it’s always worth it. The dividends far outweigh the cost. Submission pays. I. The Test of Submission “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” Temptation – πειρασμος. As we’ve seen, the word itself is neutral (test or temptation). It is made good or bad by my choice. Every trial in my life has three players – God, Satan and me. God intends πειρασμος as a test for build me up. Satan intends πειροσμος as a temptation – to bring me down. God promises in I Cor 10:13: “No temptation (πειρασμος) has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” Ultimate control is God’s. He allows Satan to initiate a πειρασμος to bring me down; God intends it as a test to build me up. On my own, I’ll always choose my way (Satan’s intent) as opposed to God’s way. So Jesus says, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” Without prayer, you will turn the next πειρασμος into a temptation and fail. That’s why the Lord’s prayer includes: “Lead us not into temptation” (Lu 11:4) –don’t let us allow the πειρασμος to become a temptation that takes us down; help us to see it as a test to build us up. In this particular case, the disciples are about to be faced with a πειρασμος to run. Jesus wants them to pass that test. But they do not pray; thus they fail the test of submission, and enter temptation. They fail despite the fact that Jesus not only instructs them to pray, He gives them the most excruciating example of prayer ever encountered in human 1 history. Jesus faces His own test of submission – the test of the cross. He knows the intense physical pain of crucifixion, but that pales in comparison to the real test. What was the real test? V. 42: “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.” What cup? Is that not physical death? No, it is not. “Cup” in the OT always speaks of God’s judgment. For example, Psa 11:6: “Let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.” Psa 75:8: “For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.” God told Jeremiah (25:15): “Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations (including Judah) to whom I send you drink it.” That’s the firestorm that Jesus sees coming His way, and the anticipation if crushing. “Cup” to Jesus means God’s holy wrath poured out against sin. To obey the Father’s will is to accept in His own person the punishment due every person who will ever believe. And only He can do it. His is the only perfect life; His the only divine nature can give the sacrifice infinite value. It is Him – or no one. So here is the ultimate test of His earthly existence. Will He or will He not go to the cross? Everything rides on Him. The first Adam, placed in a perfect environment and given the simplest test imaginable, failed. He chose His own will over God’s with devastating effect. Rom 5:12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” The Garden of Eden became the Valley of Death. Now Jesus is in another garden – Gethsemane. And He must choose the Valley of Death if there is ever to be a return to the Garden of Eden for us. He alone can reverse what the first Adam messed up. But the price is ghastly. Satan tempts us to hold onto our sin and reject righteousness; Jesus is tempted to hold His righteousness and not accept our sin! But the Father’s will is for His sinless Son to give up His righteousness, accept our sin, pay its penalty on the cross, so we can have His righteousness. It’s the most incredible test of submission ever. And Jesus passed by accepting the Valley of death for us. We all have tests of submission every day, don’t we? Our valleys of death. Cheat on the test? Rationalize our temper? Refuse to forgive? Hate God for allowing our loved one’s cancer? Turn down the ministry team, mission trip, or mentoring opportunity we know God’s wants for us. I don’t know your trial. But I know Jesus has gone before you. And I know if you ask, He will help you. C. S. Lewis said, “The most impossible thing, is to hand over your whole self – all your wishes and precautions – to Christ…. Until you have 2 given up yourself to Him you will not have a real self." It’s the test of submission that builds us to be like Jesus. II. The Prayer of Submission So why did Jesus succeed and the disciples fail a much smaller temptation? “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” Jesus repeats the instruction in v. 46. The key to submission is prayer. And – listen now, the key to prayer is submission. 42 “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” Note, first, Jesus asked for His human heart’s desire. Second, He ultimately deferred to the will of the Father. In His human existence Jesus was repelled by what the Father was asking. And He said so! He expressed His agony of spirit. But notice what He did not do. He did not tell the Father what to do. He didn’t try to bend God’s will to His like so many. I saw a TV guy give the most bizarre instruction one night. He told the audience to put the caskets of death loved ones in front of the TV, touch the dead person’s hands to the screen and people, he said, “will be raised from the dead by the thousands.” There was no qualification about God’s will. In fact, the same guy said, “No, no, never ever go to the Lord and say, ‘If it be Your will.’ ” Don’t ever say that. “The acting of the Holy Spirit is dependent on my words. He will not move until I say it.” Really? He truly thinks he can order God around and God will slavishly comply. Not Jesus. He values God’s will above His own despite the cost. Listen, dear friends. Faith doesn’t order God around Faith says, “Here’s what I’d like, but I defer to your greater judgment.” That’s faith. No one ever had more reason to insist on His own will. But look: 42 “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” Twice in the same verse, Jesus carefully submits His human will to the Father’s divine will. Prayer is not me imposing my will on God; it’s me aligning my will with His. The key to submission is prayer. And the key to prayer is submission. God’s will, is the goal of all legitimate prayer. His will superseded the most righteous request ever made – as it must supersede ours, if necessary. Jesus not only modeled this, He taught it in His prayer. Mt 6:10: “your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” We’re not to pray for our will; we are to pray for His will. If they overlap – great! If not, we better want His, not ours. The spirit of every legitimate prayer is “your will be done.” Only fools will tell you differently. Only fools think they know better than God. 3 A couple greeted the pastor: “We listened carefully to every word.” He thanked them and said he looked forward to seeing them next week. “Oh, we won’t be here next week. We’re going to another church next week to get a second opinion.” Lots of people are seeking a 2nd opinion on God’s will. They don’t like some of His commands; they want an opinion that says they no longer apply. They don’t like when He answers prayer differently than they want, so they seek a 2nd opinion. Beloved – He’s God! There is no second opinion. It’s submit or rebel. Think where we’d be if Jesus had disobeyed. III. The Price of Submission Gethsemane was never that picture of Jesus with hands folded I used to see in my Grandmother’s bedroom. Submission costs, and never more than here. 42 “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.” For Jesus to ask for removal of that cup means He knows the cost is high. It weighs on Him so heavily in His humanity He’s looking for any possible alternative. The burden is almost unbearable. Heb 5:7 He prayed “with loud cries and tears.” That’s a different Jesus than we’ve ever seen before. Turn Mark 14:33 And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. The words “greatly distressed” carry an element of astonishment. The KJV translates “sore amazed”. He’s known it was coming, but now, in the Garden, Jesus expresses horrified shock at what’s coming. Mark 14:34 And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.” “I am under such a crushing weight, such a crushing dread right now that I’m not sure I’m going to even make it to the cross. I feel like I’m going to die right here.” Luke says “43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.” He’s just told Peter, “I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?” He never asks for that. He never asks out. But the Father does send one angel – to strengthen Him. Not to remove the test, but to see Him thru. Ever experience that? Often God’s help is not to remove us but to see us thru, and so it is with Jesus. Here the battle worsens: “44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” “Agony” refers to severe mental distress. Lenski translates it “death agony.” Strength from the angel only allowed Him to endure more. He prayed “more earnestly” – literally stretched-outedly. Three times Mark tells us He returned to stretch Himself on the ground with “loud cries and tears” . No human has ever suffered the mental anguish that Jesus did in Gethsemane. And this time, the Father could offer no relief. Was there another way? No, there was not. 4 So what prompted this severe reaction of Jesus? The cup! He’s known it was coming, but now He feels what obedience to the Father’s will means. He sees God’s judgment against all the world’s sin rushing toward Him. He feels the billion hells He’ll experience – one for every person who will ever come to faith in Christ. He is now face-to-face with the unspeakable reality of what redemption will cost. He is looking into hell itself and it staggers Him. Two unthinkable realities face Him. First, the sinlessly perfect Lamb is about to take upon absorb the sin of everyone who will believe -- every murder, every rape, every hatred, every child molestation, every idle word, every betrayal – it’s all coming His way like Joe Lewis thundering left and it staggers Him. Bad enough, but the second reality is worse. He begins to feel the penalty. He sees the Father, whom He has always pleased with His obedience, unleashing all the forces of hell itself against Him and then turning His back on Him as He bears in a moment of time the infinite penalty for sins. Always before, obedience has included God’s comforting presence. This time obedience means just the opposite -- the withdrawal of His presence. I was sitting in my office in Irvine, CA one morning when I got a call. A guy who worked for me – ex-cop, tough guy, man’s man -- was on the line – crying like a baby. His wife, a lovely woman – had just announced she’d been involved with another man and had decided to leave. They’d always been loving in our presence, no warning, no signs, no complaints. But she was leaving. Can you imagine the pain? Can you feel the surprise, the shock, the intense suffering of that betrayal? Multiply that by a billion times and you just begin to understand what it meant for Jesus to know that He was about to experience, not the Father’s love, but the Father’s rejection – not because of anything He had done, but because of all that we have done. Do you see? Jesus was willing to be abandoned by the Father – so we need never be. This was the price of submission for Jesus – what he suffered for us before He ever got to the cross. Think of the implications of that fact. Sin Matters. All of them. Big or little. Every sin violates God’s character – rapes Him.. And redemption costs. Father and Son did not go thru this hell for nothing. We may think a little naughtiness is nice. Gethsemane proves it’s fatal. Sin matters. Second, God’s Love is Infinite. There’s never been love like this. No other religion ever conceived a God who would deny Himself for the love of you. God knew perfect love within the Trinity love before you and I arrived on the 5 scene. But in Gethsemane Jesus saw Father and Son torn apart for love you us. Gethsemane proves God’s love is infinite. Third, We’re Not Good Enough. Would God have put Himself and His Son thru this agony and it were not necessary? If even one person could be “good enough”, the cross would have been unnecessary. Gethsemane proves no one is good enough. Fourth, There’s Only One Way. Jesus asked Mt 26:39b: “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” “Isn’t there another way? If there, let this cup pass over.” But in order for God to pass over you and me, He had to refuse to pass over His own Son. There is no other way. Only a perfect person could and did die to pay our penalty. There was no other way for Him; there is no other way for us. Gethsemane proves, Jesus is the only way. IV. The Reward of Submission So how did Jesus overcome this worst of all temptations? He prayed, and Heb 12:2 answers: “2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.” The Father pointed Him beyond the terror of the cross to the infinite worth it would provide. He saw two things: He saw the Father would be glorified, and He saw the unnumbered multitudes of people from every tribe and language and nation who would one day surround the throne of God – their standing secured by the sacrifice He was about to make. Submission to the Father is always the best way, Beloved. It may not look like it at the time; it didn’t to Jesus in that Valley of Death called Gethsemane – but in the end, the reward was worth the cost. Conc – A couple was having a house built and experiencing the usual raft of unforeseen challenges. But one day the husband said, “Just think, Honey, someday we’ll look back on all this and not remember it.” His point wasn’t that they’d actually forget, of course. But just that it the pain would be worth it. It’s the same with submitting to God’s greater wisdom and loving Him enough to obey His commands – whatever the pain. We’ll not actually forget. But we’ll know it was worth it. Look to the joy to come. Let’s pray. 6