What to do when all hope is gone
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning! Please open your Bibles with me to Mark 14, Mark 14.
In our passage today, we see something we don’t see in any other time throughout the entirety of the scriptures. With the exception of parallel passages recording these events found in Matthew and Luke, nowhere in scripture do we see Christ, God in the flesh, the God Man, experience emotional anguish and agony. It is hard to study this passage because witnessing the agony of another person is not what we were designed for - let alone when the person going through it is Jesus Christ, Himself.
However, as we go through this passage, a passage that is often described as the final temptation of Christ, I want us to see that Christ left an example for us that is timely in our world today; By going through tremendous stress because of what was awaiting Him, He answers the question, “What should we do when all hope seems to be gone?” I want us to see that when we think we are in a place of unbridled, unparalleled anguish, that the Lord Himself has shown us what to do in those moments. And we can take comfort knowing that God is in control.
Please read with me in
32 Then they came to a place named Gethsemane, and he told his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.”
33 He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled.
34 He said to them, “I am deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake.”
35 He went a little farther, fell to the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.
36 And he said, “Abba, Father! All things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will.”
37 Then he came and found them sleeping. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you sleeping? Couldn’t you stay awake one hour?
38 Stay awake and pray so that you won’t enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
39 Once again he went away and prayed, saying the same thing.
40 And again he came and found them sleeping, because they could not keep their eyes open. They did not know what to say to him.
41 Then he came a third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The time has come. See, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
42 Get up; let’s go. See, my betrayer is near.”
It was no doubt somewhat unnerving when studying for today’s sermon that many commentators and theologians expressed just how difficult it can be to preach from this passage. It is difficult because it focuses on such a grim topic: what some have worded as the supposed ‘weakness’ of Christ. But for us to rightly understand and apply this passage, we have to have an understanding of what exactly is going on here, otherwise we might buy into this idea that there is some sort of weakness on display. When we see and understand the true gravity of this situation, we can then see it clearly enough to apply it and appreciate what is being communicated. So let’s do that together. We are going to examine the passage to see what’s really happening and then see what model Christ left for us through Mark’s writings. For us to understand our passage today, I think it is important that we ask:
Three really important questions:
Who is Jesus?
What is really causing His agony?
Why did He go through with it?
Who is Jesus?
Who is Jesus?
To understand this passage, we need to understand the identity of Christ in contrast to what is happening. Please turn in your bibles with me to Colossians 1, Colossians 1.
So who is Jesus? To answer this question, I’d like us to turn our attention to what Paul says in Colossians 1. Please read with me starting in verse 15.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
16 For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through him and for him.
17 He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.
18 He is also the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.
19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
20 and through him to reconcile everything to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
There are a few aspects of Jesus’ identity that we understand from this passage.
First, He is the image of the invisible God.
Second, He is the firstborn of all creation.
Third, He is the one through whom all things were made.
He is the image of the invisible God.
He is the image of the invisible God.
The word “image” refers to an exact physical representation of someone. Jesus is the exact physical representation of God - He represents, exactly, the God of the Old Testament. In theological history, Jesus is referred to widely as, the God-Man. We understand that the Father and the Son are unique persons, but they are both united with the Holy Spirit to make up what we call the Trinity. All the persons are God - God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
It can be easy for us, when we read the narrative accounts of Christ’s life, we can sometimes forget the weight that His person carries. But when we consider the agony Jesus was experiencing, it sheds a different light on how appalling notion it was for God Himself to suffer, doesn’t it?
34 He said to them, “I am deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake.”
God Himself, deeply grieved to the point of death.
He is the firstborn of all creation.
He is the firstborn of all creation.
This phrase, that He is the firstborn of all creation, is one that some Christian-like cults have taken to mean that Christ is a created being. That somehow, He is created like you and I are created; that He has a beginning. According to an article published by the Gospel Coalition, the position of the Jehovah’s Witness cult is that Jesus was created by Jehovah as the archangel Michael before the physical world existed, and is a lesser, though mighty, god.
So the Jehovah’s witnesses, for example, mask the veneration and worship of angels, the non-eternality of Christ and polytheism under the guise of Christianity by having a Jesus of their own invention serving as it’s figurehead.
“The firstborn of all creation” refers to His status - not birth order. He is the heir of God - the one who has the birthright. His position is first and supreme above all of the created order though He, Himself, is an uncreated being. He is first, and yet we see Him in Mark 14 in agony over what was about to happen. Hopefully we can all recognize that there is something seemingly wrong with this picture. That shouldn’t be Jesus writhing in agony, it should be us.
He is the one through whom all things were made.
He is the one through whom all things were made.
16 For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through him and for him.
Creation itself is sourced in Christ. Everything made belongs to its maker - thats why we are held accountable by God for our sin - we belong to Him. This is one of the reasons why Paul talks in 1 Corinthians about how the wisdom of God seems foolish to man: the creator taking the punishment of the created. When we see Jesus’ agony in our passage from Mark, we are seeing someone who doesn’t deserve to be suffering this kind of anguish. It is truly the kindness and grace of our Lord on display. And the agony He is experiencing isn’t just a moment of inexplicable emotional burden, but it is a preparation for what is to come.
What is really causing His agony?
What is really causing His agony?
There is a common misconception many believers have had throughout history: to think that Jesus was in agony over the physical suffering He would endure - that His agony was focused on His physical body going to the cross and every other disgusting form of torment inflicted on Him on His way there. And that would be a great reason to experience stress and grief, no question. However, we see an interesting detail in Luke’s parallel account we should pay attention to. So please turn in your Bibles with me to Luke 22. Luke 22, and read with me starting in verse 39.
39 He went out and made his way as usual to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him.
40 When he reached the place, he told them, “Pray that you may not fall into temptation.”
41 Then he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and began to pray,
42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me—nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
43 Then an angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him.
44 Being in anguish, he prayed more fervently, and his sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.
45 When he got up from prayer and came to the disciples, he found them sleeping, exhausted from their grief.
46 “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray, so that you won’t fall into temptation.”
Jesus prays, an angel comes, and He is strengthened. We can imagine though that it wasn’t only an angel that was talking to Jesus that night. Satan’s entire strategy for derailing God’s plan to defeat sin once and for all hinged on what would happen that night. There is something of cosmic spiritual significance happening and it is all centered on Jesus. Even though the angel comes and strengthens Him, Jesus is still in anguish! In v.44, Luke tells how Jesus was under so much anguish that He began to sweat blood. Perhaps it is fitting that Luke, the physician, would be the only one to include that detail in his account.
Physicians and medical scientists not only affirm the possibility of someone sweating blood, but it has actually been a well observed and well documented phenomena. It is a condition called Hematidrosis. According to a popular journal of dermatology, it is a condition in which capillary blood vessels that feed the sweat glands rupture, causing them to exude blood, occurring under conditions of extreme physical or emotional stress. There is a level of stress here that far exceeds what we have ever seen in the overwhelming majority of humanity.
For example, it is not a common thing for victims preparing for execution or believers preparing for martyrdom to experience this level of anguish though the physical torment is the same. Physically speaking, many people died in a similar way that Jesus did and we don’t see the same level of anguish that He endured. There is something deeper going on, something beyond the physicality of the cross that we need to see and understand.
Jesus was preparing to take the full-measure of the supernatural wrath of God for every sin of everyone who would ever be saved - whether Old Testament era saints or New Testament Era saints. That’s what caused Jesus so much anguish, His relationship with the Father went from being in perfect unity to punisher and punished. The weight of our sin, the broken bonds of fellowship between Christ and the Father was enough to make His sweat be filled with blood.
6 We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all.
We know the torment that Jesus was about to experience as He cried to His Father,
33 When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.
34 And at three Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lemá sabachtháni?” which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
For three hours, Jesus endured this wrath on His spirit. The comfort he had in his closeness with God was removed and He was abandoned by God as He paid the penalty for our sins.
This is what really caused Jesus’ agony - He knew this was coming and His perfection had never experienced anything like this. But since Jesus is not only perfect, but God Himself, co-equal in glory and majesty with the Father and the Holy Spirit, why was He going though it?
35 He went a little farther, fell to the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.
36 And he said, “Abba, Father! All things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will.”
This cup, this hour, this coming wrath He would take from the Father was assigned to Him by the Father Himself. Jesus never sinned, therefore had no wrath stored up for Him. Jesus proceeded from the Father in perfect submission to take the wrath stored up for us so that we could enjoy the benefits of Jesus’ perfect, holy, sinless life. Make no mistake, God was on a mission to eradicate the debt of sin from the elect, and He was going to use Jesus to do it.
Jesus, the one and only Son of God, the firstborn of all creation, the one for whom and through whom all things were made, was suffering unspeakable agony over what was going to happen. He was going to take the wrath of God - wrath for all the sins the elect ever did or would commit. Those are a lot of sins. That is a lot of wrath. Imagine how much it would be if it were just my sins. I know I deserve so much for the ways I have sinned against God. Now imagine that Jesus was preparing for the wrath of sins past, the sins of those in His generation, and the sins of all of us who came after. That is a lot. The Father had assigned this task to Jesus and Jesus alone could do it.
10 For in bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was entirely appropriate that God—for whom and through whom all things exist—should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
But Jesus is the Son, the firstborn. Surely He had the right to kill anyone who would try and touch Him because of His sheer sovereignty alone. So why would Jesus willingly go?
Why did He go through with it?
Why did He go through with it?
In our world today, we have a very misconstrued idea of not only who God is, not only of who we are, but also what the driving motivation for God’s decision to send His Son to die is: what’s driving the motivation for the Son to be obedient to not only death on a cross but also taking the wrath upon Himself? It’s God’s own glory. What’s driving the motivation for the Son to be obedient to not only death on a cross but also taking the wrath upon Himself? It’s God’s own glory. We don’t get that because we have this idea embedded into our culture that God is some kind of genie and that it is His job to keep us happy, healthy and wealthy. We want to believe that His objective is orchestrating things for us so that we would be more comfortable, when nothing could be further from the truth. The best way we can describe this is that it’s not about us.
Why was Jesus obedient to God in this way?
John’s account of Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane reveal some of the other aspects of what Jesus prayed.
Look at what He says in
1 Jesus spoke these things, looked up to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you,
4 I have glorified you on the earth by completing the work you gave me to do.
We know from His own words to Peter later that night that if, at any point, He wanted the protection of legions upon legions of heavenly angels that he could have called on them easily. He tells the disciples that no one takes His life from Him but he, rather, lays it down freely of His own accord. Jesus’ single mission was to bring glory to the Father. In His death, Jesus secured the exhibition of God’s grace to the elect for all time - thus bringing Him glory so rightly due to His name.
18 For since he himself has suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.
We could not earn or make our own way back to God by ourselves because of the sin living in us. There is a doctrine called total depravity that describes how our wills are broken and irreparably tarnished by sin - it is only by a work of God that we can do anything, like have faith, to repent, to seek God. He is our perfect high priest because He not only experienced temptation but also defeated it. Only Jesus can bring us to the Father, and the agony He experienced in the Garden was in preparation for that. But He was faithful to the work God called Him to and would go on, as we will see in the next few weeks, to endure the wrath of God and be slain to satisfy the wrath of God on our accounts. Isn’t that something?
Conclusion
Conclusion
So what do we learn from Jesus’ anguish and agony in the garden? How does His agony and obedience show us how to walk through our own times of struggle? What did Jesus do? He petitioned the Lord with His request - that the cup would pass from Him and that He would be spared from drinking the wrath of God, and then submitted to God’s assignment for Him. We should do the same thing! We should be honest with God about what our hearts desire. After all, He promises to us in His Word that He will give us the desires of our hearts, right?
4 Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.
Is that what scripture is saying? Sort of. What does it mean to take delight in the Lord? Is it to enjoy Him while you go off unaffected, insisting to remain in sin? No! Taking delight in the Lord is drawing close to Him! The purpose of this psalm is to shows a difference between God’s attitude towards the wicked and the faithful.
We cannot say that God will simply give us the desires of our hearts - that’s what the prosperity gospel is, which is why anyone with a vested interest in the truth of scripture (point at your neighbor as they point back at you because that should be everyone is this room) everyone with a vested interest in God’s truth and glory should be praying for His sovereign intervention against false, prosperity preachers like Joel Olsteen, Joseph Prince, Kenneth Copeland, Joyce Meyers, Benny Hinn and others. If we delight in God - that is, if we take His Word to heart and seek after His righteousness, He will change our desires so that they glorify him, and he will satisfy those desires. Jesus’ desire was that if God were willing that the cup of His wrath would pass, but Jesus’ delight was in God. Jesus wanted to glorify God.
Paul also reminds us what it means to bring our requests to God:
6 Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Notice here how it is the same pattern? Make your request known to God. Communicate what is on your heart! God already knows, but don’t let that get you into the habit of passively keeping a secret! God wants us to come to Him! He wants us to submit our desires to Him so that our most fervent desire is always Him.
But what did Jesus do after asking that the cup would pass? He said one of the most prolific things ever uttered in human history: nevertheless, not my will, buy your will be done. He had the desire to see the cup pass, but His ultimate desire was to glorify God through His obedience, so He submitted to the task God had assigned for Him. In everything, Jesus submitted to the will of God, and that is what we should do too.
When we face hardships and trials, we have an example here for us in the perfection of Jesus that we should strive to follow. When we have our own agony and feel like “trusting God” is just some kind of platitude that doesn’t mean anything or that couldn’t actually help us in our situations, that is when we cling most tightly to the Words and promises of God. His goal is our maturity in Him - that we would grow more and more into the likeness of Christ. We make our requests known and submit the outcome to God’s will with the trust that He is good and that He will be glorified through our obedience.
Can we think of something that has cause us anguish? Perhaps the current political state of affairs, or the social turmoil in our country? Perhaps something even closer, like a wayward child who has wondered from the faith? Or the death of a loved one? Or a health diagnosis we weren’t expecting, or financial strain and the stress that goes along with it? We are all facing things we need God to handle, but - like Christ - we should be willing to talk to God openly about it. That’s what relationship is. We should be willing to admit that God is smarter than us and that He will work things out for the best. And we need to walk with Him in trust, even when we can’t see, we trust because God has never failed us and never will.
28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
29 For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
As a church, we can rally behind one another as we beseech God with what our hearts desires are. Pray for healing! Pray for reconciliation, with reverence, pray for finances and other material needs! And together, we trust God for the outcome and look to see what He doe sin our lives through the trials, knowing His faithfulness and goodness knows no end.
Let’s pray