Lessons from Gethsemane

Do you have a place that you love to be?

A place that you can be a lone and gather your thoughts, pray or meditate on the Lord and life?

I’ll bet you have a place like that. If you were to think of your last moments, you would probably want them to be in that place.

Perhaps it’s a chair on the porch.

Maybe it’s a recliner in the living room or the kitchen table.

It could even be a spot in the woods or on a lake.

Most of us have a place we love to be when we want to be alone.

Jesus had a place like that. It was a garden called Gethsemane. Gethsemane means “oil press”. This was a private garden that contained an oil press. Someone owned this place and made a living at it separating oil from olives. It would have been a walled garden, secluded and protected. John 18:2 says Jesus went to this place often with His disciples.

Jesus knows Judas knows this place. He knows He will be a siting duck for His enemies here. But He chooses this place anyway. This will be His last moments before He is arrested. He chooses Gethsemane as His last place of solitude.

It was dark. Judas had gone to tell the religious leaders where Jesus was at. Jesus left eight of the disciples at the gate of the Garden. He brings Peter, James, and John with Him a little further into the Garden. Then He makes His way deeper into the garden, Luke says “about a stone’s throw” (Luke 22:41) from the three.

We can learn a lot about Jesus from His time in Gethsemane. More than I can share with you this morning. I want to do my best to share with you some lessons from Gethsemane.

1. Jesus wants His wrestling with the Father witnessed.

I want the door to my prayer closet closed! There are things I say to God I don’t want everyone to hear. But Christ invites us into his prayer closet. Why?

A. That we might understand His humanity.

Two dangers in our understanding of Christ:

Emphasize His humanity to the point that we forget His deity.

We might ask:

How could God wrestle with the will of God?

How could God feel pain?

How could God experience sorrow?

How could God pray?

Some ask questions like this and conclude Jesus is not God.

Others focus on the Deity of Christ to the point they forget His humanity.

He was God, He wasn’t really in pain.

He was God, He wasn’t really experiencing sorrow.

He was God, He wasn’t really in agonizing prayer.

All of that was simply an example for us to follow, some think.

Listen folks, this is the mystery of the incarnation. Fully God and fully man! That is what Scripture teaches. Christ became fully man so He could experience everything humanity experiences except sin.

In the Garden we see the humanity of Jesus. He wants us to see that.

Think about this. There was another time Jesus took Peter, James and John with Him to see something no one else would see. It was the Mount of Transfiguration. When they saw Jesus transfigured in all His glory, they were ready to builds altars and worship Him. They knew He was Divine.

This time He is not showing them His divinity. He is showing them His humanity. They saw His glory now they see His grief.

B. That we might appreciate His willingness.

Jesus’ submission to the Father’s will does not come from obligation. He doesn’t have to go to the cross. It would not be a sin for Him not to go to the cross.

He shows us that in verse 53.

If He asked the Father to deliver Him He would be rescued immediately by a heavenly army.

There is an eternal agreement among the Godhead that humanity will be redeemed through the blood of Jesus. But Jesus enters into this agreement willingly.

C. That we might fear the cup.

The dread comes from the cup. What’s in that cup?

He just drank a cup with them during the Lord’s Supper, now He’s going to drink a cup for them. The cup He drinks for them contains the punishment for the sins of the world.

God’s wrath is described as a cup of suffering many times in the OT. Psalm 75:8 says

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.

Dear friend, do you understand:

1) God became man to purchase our salvation.

2) God was under no obligation to save us.

3) God allowed us to enter the prayer closet of Jesus so we would see how terrible it would be if we had to drink the cup of God’s wrath ourselves.

2. Jesus faced unparalleled grief.

A. The Bible describes this grief.

Matthew says He was exceedingly sorrowful and very heavy.

Luke says He was in agony and sweating profusely. He said His sweat drops were like great drops of blood.

Could mean some of the capillaries in His head had burst and He was sweating a mixture of blood and sweat.

Could be a reference to how thick His sweat was.

Matthew says Jesus said He was sorrowful unto the point of death. That doesn’t mean He was sorry He was going to die. It means His sorrow was so great it was about to kill Him. It would have killed any of us.

You’ve never seen a person this broken hearted.

Why such grief?

Omniscience. Sometimes knowing the future doesn’t ease our pain. Some of us think we’d like to know what will happen in the next six months, but if we did we might experience more grief than we could handle.

Jesus knows what is going to happen to him. He is going to suffer for the sins of the world. That’s why His grief is so great!

The only person who could begin to know the grief Jesus is experiencing is a person in hell. Remember Lazarus and the rich man? The rich man went to hell. He begged Abraham to go and tell his brothers not to come to this place (Luke 16).

Grab a handful of people from hell and tell them what’s about to happen to Jesus. They are the only ones who could begin to understand.

But even they could not fully understand. They are only paying for their own sins. Christ is paying for the sins of the world.

B. Jesus is facing more than death.

This isn’t about the:

Beatings

Crown of thorns

Mockery

Whip

Nails

This is about what happens from 12 PM-3 PM on Friday. We too often focus on the body of Jesus. Isaiah 53:10 says

Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

If all Christ was facing was death, then He wouldn’t seem too brave here. Others have handled death better than He if He’s only dying.

Soldiers- died for their country

Martyrs- died for their cause

Criminals- died for their crimes

Jesus is going to experience the pains of hell for three hours.

This is why He is sweating.

This is why He is in agony.

This is why He is in such sorrow.

He’s not just dying on a cross. The cross is the altar. The Father is going to pour His judgment upon Him at noon on Passover. In His body He will feel the pain of a million hells.

C. How do people face death peacefully?

Some are ignorant. They don’t believe they are lost. Perhaps they don’t even believe in hell.

Some have faith in Christ. Christ has taken our cup. He drank it Himself. The Lord’s Supper should remind us of that.

For the Christian there is the cup Christ drank with us (27-28) and then there is the cup Christ drank for us.

The cup of the New Covenant is full! It is running over!

The cup of God’s wrath is empty!

Thank God for the empty cup!

Thank God for the empty cup!

That is how the believer dies peacefully.

The martyr for Christ who stands strong while his head is on the chopping block doesn’t die a better death than Jesus. The martyr is only able to die with such peace because he/she knows Christ has drunk their cup for them.

3. Jesus prayed with great passion.

A. The disciples were supposed to be praying with Him.

Jesus told them to watch and pray over and over but every time He came back to check on them, they were asleep.

Luke 22 says they were sleeping because they were so sad. Sometimes we can be so depressed all we want to do is sleep. But that’s no excuse. Jesus told them to watch and pray.

It’s clear Jesus cares more for them than they do for Him.

The only disciples that’s awake is Judas. The devil never sleeps. He’s always busy.

Look at verse 40. Jesus calls Peter out. He asks, “You couldn’t stay awake for an hour?”

Peter just told Him he would never deny Him (33).

He just told Him he would die for Him (35).

Now he won’t even pray for Him.

Let’s not be too judgmental. A lot of Baptists can’t stay awake for an hour of preaching, much less an hour of prayer.

Illustration of guy snoring loudly during prayer time at church.

They are not as concerned about Jesus as He is concerned about them. He keeps going back to check on them. Listen to me friend, there has never been a moment God has not thought about us. Even when we are lazy, self-centered, and disobedient Christ thinks of us.

B. Jesus prayed like no other person has ever or will ever.

A Personal prayer- He was by Himself. Not doing this as an example for us. This meant something.

A prostrate prayer- Luke says He started on His knees. Matthew says He ended up on His face.

A pitiful prayer- “If it be possible, let this cup pass!”

If there is another way, let’s do it that way. Imagine the sorrow the Father felt as well.

Jesus prayed basically the same prayer three times. Each time He submitted to the cross. “Thy will be done!”

A passionate prayer- He prayed earnestly. He was sweating profusely.

Hebrews 5:7 says:

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.

When they came to arrest Jesus, He looked like He’d been in a war. He prayed like no other.

He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.

He prayed on the cross of calvary.

He has prayed for us. He is our High Priest. Hebrews 7:25 says He always lives to make intercession for us!

C. Jesus prayer reminds us of some things.

1. Everyone needs to pray. If Jesus needed to pray, then we certainly need to. We all need prayer, but we all need to pray. With anguish.

2. Sometimes we pray the same prayer over and over. Jesus prayed the same prayer three times here.

3. Sometimes our most passionate prayers are answered with “No.” It’s hard to hear that answer.

Sometimes we are called to suffer.

Sometimes our relief will not come until glory.

4. We must watch and protect our prayer time.

4. Jesus marches to his death with great courage (45-46).

A. He tells the disciples His time has come.

He doesn’t tell them to wake up and pray the third time He returns. They’re still asleep. There is no need for Jesus to tell them to pray about this situation anymore. He’s about to be arrested. He is about to be betrayed into the hands of sinners.

They are finally going to get their hands on Him. For three years the religious leaders have dreamed of this moment. I’m sure they think they accomplished something. They think they finally fooled Jesus.

As I said last week,

This isn’t their hour.

This isn’t the Roman governments hour.

This isn’t the devil’s hour.

This is Jesus’ hour.

It happened at the precise time He wanted it to happen.

It happened in the precise manner He wanted it to happen.

B. Jesus meets His enemies.

He tells the disciples to get up and follow Him. He even knows Judas is going to be with them. If you question the courage of Jesus look at verse 46. No doubt He had anxiety when He thought about experiencing the pain of hell. But He isn’t afraid of Judas or the army he brought with him.

Jesus told us not to fear man who can only destroy the body. He said fear God who can destroy both body and soul in hell (10:28). That’s what we see in this text.

C. Christ passed the testing of Satan in the garden of Gethsemane.

When Jesus was in the wilderness he was tested on three occasions by Satan (Matthew 4). He passed all three tests.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, we have three different sessions of prayer. It’s safe to assume there was a temptation from Satan here as well. Satan headed this up by entering into Judas. Jesus passed the test in Garden.

The Bible tells us that Jesus is the second Adam (Romans 5). Adam, as the first representative of mankind failed the test.

He was placed in a beautiful garden by God and given everything he needed.

He was not left alone, he was given a help meet.

He was tempted by Satan one time and failed the test.

He didn’t cry out to God in prayer.

He didn’t encourage Eve to watch and pray.

He left the garden because he was no longer worthy to be in the garden.

Our first representative failed us. We are therefore born sinners.

Christ is the second Adam.

He was in a garden that grew from a ground that was cursed.

He had no help meet.

He was tested by Satan for years and passed every test, even the one in the garden.

He prayed earnestly.

He left the garden not because He was a sinner, He left to atone for the sins of the people.

Because of His obedience we are born again with a new nature and paradise will be restored to us.

Adam left the garden with his head held low in defeat. Jesus left the garden with His head held high in victory.

If Satan thought he would do to the second Adam what he did to the first, he was mistaken.

This Adam will meet him at the door!

This Adam will crush his head!

Thank God for Gethsemane! We learn lessons about ourself and Christ that are greatly needed.