In this case there is no alternative, no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. It would be cruel otherwise if there were an alternative and God didn't take it. Then God would not be a God of love.
He would be a strange God. But this was the route that salvation came to us through. This is the avenue right here. No way out of this painful life into the painless life. No other way.
No other service. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the Gospel of Mark. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross Reference Radio.
Specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Today Pastor Rick will conclude his study called Agony in Gethsemane as he teaches in Mark chapter 14. He says to them, here in verse 34, then he said to them, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to death and I don't want to watch this alone.
Watch with me. They never saw him in trouble. So they don't understand. They're not getting it. They're missing it. He doesn't want to panic them. What more can he say? This is killing me.
That's what he's saying. I am troubled unto death. Prayer warriors can die on battlefields. That's one of the lessons. We get that not only from the Christ. We get that from Peter. We get it from Paul, these men. James, who is one of the three that are supposed to be witnessing these things, but they're missing it. James, the first apostle, martyred. Not James that wrote the letter to James. Prayer warriors can die on battlefields.
We're not owed survival. It's hard to just take that in mentally. I need more.
I need it emotionally. That's one of the fruits of singing songs to the Lord is that there's that emotional connection that we should have. In the early days of early Christianity after the apostles, let's just say in ancient Turkey, for example, where there were many Christians. Paul did so much work in what's called modern Turkey. Asia Minor, if you will, in the New Testament. A lot of those people were illiterate. They could not read or write. How did they learn these Bible stories? Those who could read and write would tell them, but also the artist would draw pictures on the walls, on the ceilings, anywhere they could that would tell the story. And you could look at a picture of Christ washing the feet of his disciples, and you can understand better. Those pictures became emotional. Of course, in time, Satan got in and abused them.
But early on, they were for illiterate people, much like we do with our children. Unless you become like little children crying out, Abba Father. So, he says, stay here and watch. He is still telling his believers this. Luke 13, so in this parable, he is the master, and they are the servants. And so he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minus, and said to them, do business till I come.
Watch and work until I return, or you come to me, as the case might be. Verse 35, he went a little farther and fell on the ground and prayed, that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. It's something we must realize that there was no way around this for him, and he knew it. He had to go through it, but he's still expressing through his humanity. Who in their right mind would say, oh boy, I'm going to be tortured today, and I'm going to love this.
There would be something very wrong. And so he is identifying with us, making us witnesses of his sufferings, so that we could know how to suffer ourselves. And this is why he told them about what he was going through, to watch, to pray with him.
His going through it, no other. Acts chapter 4, verse 12. And I know I read this verse a lot, but it's worth reading.
It's kind of the thing that if it were a runner on the floor, it would be worn down, because it had so much traffic go over it. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other. So I'll read the verse. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven, given among men, by which we must be saved.
There's no salvation anywhere else, from anywhere else. Again, how do we stand and preach this? Paul said to the Corinthians, not that we are sufficient of ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.
Acts chapter 20, verse 27. He said to the Ephesian elders, I'm not shunned to declare to you the entire counsel of God. Again to the Corinthians, he says, for if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast for.
Necessity is laid upon me. Yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. You come to those times where you feel like you're not worthy to share the gospel.
Well, you're just recognizing truth. You're not worthy, but you're qualified by the blood of the Lamb. He's not entrusted the gospel to sinless angels. He's entrusted the gospel, the good news, preaching it to sinners. And so we go back to Peter. Peter just argued with him.
Peter forgot that whole I'm the slave thing, and he's the master. Yet Christ still takes him, and will still use him, and will rebuild him. We're not to think just because we can read 1 and 2 Peter and his exploits in the book of Acts, that we know all about what he did.
He certainly did more than what anyone could ever write. Jesus did not waste his investment on these men. Even Judas was not a wasted investment, but a redirected investment. God was able to say, you see, and how many lessons we have from Judas. Who wants to be a Judas Iscariot? Incidentally, Mark does not refer to him again as Judas in his gospel. He is now the betrayer.
Name is identity. He does not identify with praise. That was a glorious name for the Jews, to name your child Judas, or Judah, or Jude. Very rending of the same Hebrew word, praise. Now, here in verse 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. You read that once, you never forget that kind of a thing. But this informs us of what? Where he says, Abba Father. What is that telling me? Why do I need to hear this? It informs us that he was in emotional agony.
Why is that? Abba. It's an Aramaic word, which is an Aramaic language that was richer than the Hebrew. It has some Hebrew in it, but it was much richer. The Hebrew actually is traced back to the Canaanites.
You get into ancient languages and the impact on modern language in various cultures. It's intense. But it brings you right back, it brings you right back to your translated Bibles.
It is amazing. God knows what he's doing. Only God could overcome such a madness of language.
Only God could rule over what he did at Babel. And anyway, so Abba is our equivalent of Daddy. So he's saying, Dad, Father. He's joined the two together.
Why is that? Well, D.L. Moody in a sermon on Abraham, offering up Isaac. This is amazing what Moody, his conclusion is.
And if you don't know who D.L. Moody was, or I should say is, because Christians don't die. We just relocate. Better neighborhood.
Location, location, location. Anyway, Moody was one of the world's greatest evangelists, but mainly here in America. He says, there was a time when I used to think more of the love of Jesus Christ than of God the Father. I used to think of God as a stern judge on the throne from whose wrath Jesus Christ had saved me. It seems to me now I could not have a falser idea of God than that.
Since I have become a father, I have made this discovery. That it takes more to love and to sacrifice for the Father to give up the Son than it does for the Son to die. It hurts God more. It hurts God the Father more. If we want to put this in emotional language for us and theological truths for us, then we realize it would hurt me more to watch one of my children suffer. I'd rather suffer in their place. Unless it's like, you know, you got to do your homework and your suffering.
Go ahead kid, you're going to have a good time with that one. But we're talking about real pain. And he continues, Moody does, he says, Is a father on earth a true father that would not rather suffer than to see his child suffer? I mean one of the worst parts of parenting is when your child is suffering. And so we consider the Father in heaven.
We see Jesus suffering in agony. It's not by accident he says, Abba Father. He cries out, but he joins the two expressions, not only Dad, but also the formal Father. It is a fuller expression of his relationship.
It is a fuller expression of what the Father is going through. Therefore, Calvary hurt God for us. You brought this on yourself by Eden. And God would say, You really are stupid.
You really, really are. Yes, he brought it on himself. But when we get to heaven, he's going to simply say, You see? And that will satisfy it all. It was an imperative of Jesus Christ with this prayer being made public to these sleeping disciples. He had to have told this to them after his resurrection.
Or else how else would we have this? They were sleeping. They weren't there. And he spent time with them. And he did minister to them. And he did choose what things he wanted preserved on record.
And this Gethsemane agony is high up on that list. He says, All things are possible for you. And he's talking to the Father. Abba Father, you can do anything. You're my Dad.
You can do anything. According to humanity, his humanity, that he has taken on. What would happen if he just dismissed his humanity? Well, he's going to do that on the cross when he gives up his spirit. His humanity is gone forever. No more flesh for him. No more dying for him or suffering.
He then resumes his place in the Godhead in full force. But for now, he's hindered by this flesh. And the flesh, of course, has two meanings depending on the context.
One is the carnal nature. And the other is just flesh and blood. And that's what he is right now. And so he says, All things are possible. But in this case, there is no alternative. No other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. It would be cruel otherwise if there were an alternative and God didn't take it. Then God would not be a God of love.
He would be a strange God. But this was the route that salvation came to us through. This is the avenue right here. No way out of this painful life into the painless life.
No other way. No other service of Savior. Revelation 5, the first nine verses, capture this for us. I'll just take verse 9. And they sing a new song saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals. For you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
That is incredible. The blood of Christ has reached everywhere. We continue here. Verse 36, I better get going. You're slowing me down. We have slow listeners in this church. Take this cup away from me. Again, no one would say, Oh, I can't wait. This is not trivial with him.
This is very serious business. He alone tasted a death unknown to all creation, unable to be understood in its entirety. But we get enough and that's what God wants.
He wants us to get enough and that's what the Holy Spirit helps us do. All die but none like him. It's an interesting thing when Jesus ascends to heaven, it's not as showy as Elijah.
I just thought of that the other day. He just kind of goes up. It's relatively boring relative to Elijah going up in his fiery chariot. Elijah, so we can understand, he's a show-off.
No, he's not. But I would like to top that if I give him the choice. Anyway, multitudes have been crucified and none like this one. Hebrews 2, verse 9. Again, just the part that he, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. He's tasting death unlike any of us could ever do it because of his holiness. So, these words mean that his death was unique and it was bound to him. He could not have died as God. He could not have died for us as an angel. So, he became a man to suffer and die for us. And in his role as Savior, he is the one that willfully took this on under the curse.
Which of you would ask to be born into this life again? I think you live long enough you say, boy, I can't wait to get out of it. He comes into it. We hear about our first responders going into burning buildings when everybody's coming out and that is noble. But this is so far more. This is so far beyond this. He's not going into a burning building.
He's going into a curse. Nevertheless, he says, not what I will, but what you will. To completion, incidentally, not some of what you will. My desk in my office here at church is actually pretty empty. It's nice and clean. My desk at home is a workshop.
There's books and papers and stuff all over it. I'm never finished. I just never am finished. He finished his work. John 4, Jesus said to them, my food, that which sustains me, is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Never in conflict with the Father.
This work is demanding. Luke tells us what happened after he said this. I wish I could stay on this verse longer, but we have to finish up. Luke tells us what happened right after he says this. Luke 22, verse 43. Then an angel appeared to him from heaven, strengthening him.
Because the other guys were asleep. He was that lonely, that much on his own in his flesh, that he had to be reinforced by God directly. His prayer to bypass the cross was declined. And he owned it after that.
And aren't we glad? Because no one would get saved without him going to the cross. Verse 37. Then he came, verse 37, and found them sleeping and said to Peter, Simon, are you sleeping?
Could you not watch one hour? Such a sweet tone, knowing who he is, what he's doing. That supper with the Lord, that last supper, that Passover meal, contributed to their slumber. They must have had a lot of pasta. They're just like, look, I'd love to, Lord.
And just tired. But he did not want to be alone. And other times we read that he went away to get away from these guys so he can pray.
Here he wants them with him. David writes this psalm. It is a tough psalm because he's going through such pain. He says, reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none.
I looked for comforters, but I found none. Now that's the Christ here, and that's us sometimes, too. Sometimes we feel nobody understands. Sometimes I feel like a motherless child.
You know, the only mom would really understand maybe, or nobody understands. Christ says, I know the drill, I know, I've been there. Not that he had to experience it to know, because God cannot learn. Not that he's a stubborn pupil, but he is omniscient. He cannot be improved. Your God is not developing. When he took humanity on, he developed as a human under the Spirit in front of our eyes, and it has worked for him and us. And he said to Peter, Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour? I single out Peter. Well, it underscores his leadership and influence that he had.
And it's sad that Christians will say they love God's word and they can't sit under a sermon more than 20 minutes. It takes work. It takes pain to do things the right way. If you want a standard of excellence, if you want to pursue it, you're going to have to sacrifice. There are no elevators that lead to success.
There are only steps, and sometimes ropes. Verse 38, watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Again, focusing on them with patience and kindness. Already, the forces are afoot that are going to give Peter the worst day of his life, and he doesn't know it. So the Lord comes and says, are you still sleeping? You need to pray, lest you enter into this trial. The Spirit indeed is willing. Now, again, he does not disown them, you miserable weaklings. After all, I mean, the meal was free.
What's happening with you? He doesn't do anything like that. Here's something for those of you and those of us who can sometimes be harder on weaklings. Now, granted, sometimes weaklings want to be weak. They enjoy it.
They've learned that's their new identity. They're lonely without their weakness, and it's really hard to minister to them because you don't want to enable them to be weaker still because they begin to drain resources. But on the other hand, you don't want to bludgeon them either. All of us are weak somewhere.
Me, of course, in hair treatment, I'd fail there, and I admit it freely. Galatians 6, brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Well, at one point, Paul told Galatians, you wait till I get there, so he balanced it. Verse 39, again, he went away and prayed and spoke the same words.
Now, this is critical. He's not trying to be creative. He goes back to the battlefield. He doesn't say, okay, let me try another formula of prayer. He repeats himself, but here's the key. It's not a vain repetition.
It is a repetition, but it is not a vain one. Luke 22, 44 then rings in on this moment, and being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. Then his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. I didn't have a hard time imagining praying with that intensity. You know, you pray hard, you end up praying yourself out. You're out of ammo.
You just, you can't. I got to get up, but that can take a while, but to sweat like great drops of blood, I'd then have another prayer request. It would be about stopping the blood.
All right, you don't mind bleeding. Verse 40, and when he returned, he found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. You know what gets me about verse 40 is that one word, again.
This encourages me because he finds me again, not as I should be doing, and he doesn't hurt me. I mean, sometimes he has to. The rod, you got to whack the kid, and the kid's got to feel it. Some kids, other kids, you know, a good horse knows the shadow of a whip kind of a thing. For their eyes were heavy, drugged with sleep, and they did not know what to answer him. I hope there are none of you right now that your eyes are heavy.
It's so goofy this life. None of this stuff's going to be in heaven. You won't ever have to say to someone in heaven, oh, I shouldn't have said that. If you do, they pull a lever, and a trap door opens, and you're gone. Verse 40, and they did not know what to answer him. Good, they didn't.
Just say something dumb. Verse 41, then he came the third time and said to them, are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough.
The hour has come. Behold, the son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. From Gethsemane, from the slope on the Mount of Olives in Israel, you would be able to hear. At night, you'd be able to see the lanterns coming and hear the clanging of their gear, and he could tell they were coming. When he was still praying, he would have been able to hear them. It's not that far.
The Kidron Valley is not a few hundred feet, I would guess. I haven't been there with a tape measure, but anyway, he would have known they were coming. Verse 40, they would have, too, if they were awake, rise, let us be going, see, my betrayer is at hand. So he's going forward to face those who are coming to arrest and hurt him. He says, my betrayer, and I'll close with this. There is an eternal distance between an act of sin and an act of no longer wanting Jesus to be your savior. Peter fell down. Judas walked away.
Infinite distance. Peter failed. He denied the Lord. Again, his confusion. He didn't know what to do. Everything was a mess in his head. There was fear, uncertainty, which causes fear. Judas was totally in control of his intellect, and he said, you know what?
I'm going to turn him over. And who cares what his motives were? He never came back.
He walked away and stayed away. And so I close with Hebrews 12, verse 25. See that you do not refuse him who speaks, for if they did not escape who refused him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from him who speaks from heaven.
And so this turning away from Jesus is referred to as something that will ruin a soul. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio for this study in the Book of Mark. Cross Reference Radio is the teaching ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. To learn more information about this ministry, visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. Once you're there, you'll find additional teachings from Pastor Rick. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe, you'll be notified of each new edition of Cross Reference Radio. You can search for Cross Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app. That's all we have time for today, but we hope you'll join us next time as Pastor Rick continues to teach through the Book of Mark, just like here on Cross Reference Radio.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-07-21 22:22:08 / 2023-07-21 22:32:10 / 10