Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. The Garden of Gethsemane is very ancient.
Even today you can see olive trees known to be over a thousand years old. Those trees bore silent witness to the agony of Jesus as He faced His darkest hour. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Wind with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, as we turn to Mark chapter 14, I must say I will never forget hearing you pray in this garden, weeping as you thanked Jesus for remembering each of us who would later believe in Him. And you know, Dave, as I think back to that event, I think my memory is correct when after I prayed I asked everyone else to pray alone. Wherever they were in the garden, they could go under a tree, they could sit in the shade or they could sit in the sunlight, and they themselves were asked to tell Jesus why they loved Him.
It's a great experience. For those of you who have never been to the Holy Land, possibly someday you'll have the privilege of doing that. If not, we can of course tell the Lord Jesus Christ why we love Him no matter where we find ourselves today. Well, I've written a devotional entitled For Us.
It's 30 devotional readings, and I wrote it so that we would linger at Calvary, that we would linger in the garden, that we would think of the events that led up to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ because it is really the centrifugal force of all of history. We're making it available for you for a gift of any amount. Here's what you can do. Go to rtwoffer.com.
That's rtwoffer.com or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. Now I'm going to be giving you that contact info again after this message. I want you to listen carefully, and let's take the time to remember what happened on that fateful day. So much for the sorrow of Jesus. Now what about the plea of Jesus? Notice the text. Your Bible is open.
You need to see this. Verse 36, and he said, Abba, Father. Abba is a term of endearment. Sometimes it's like Daddy. It shows you the intimacy of Jesus and his Father. He says, Abba, Father.
The fellowship is still there. The Father's presence still surrounds him. He still knows and has contact with the Father. And by the way, on the cross, he uses the word Father twice. The very first time when he says, Father, forgive them, and the very last time when he says, Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit. But during those moments when he became sin for us, he did not use the word Father. He cried out and said, oh, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Because the relationship with the Father had now been interrupted when he was made sin for us. But he comes now.
The fellowship is still there. He says, Abba, Father, if it be possible, remove this cup from me. And the Greek text would indicate that Jesus is expecting that if it is possible, the Father would do it. Was it possible?
Well, looked at from the standpoint of power, of course it was possible. Jesus at any point could have called 12 legions of angels and they'd have come to deliver him. The Father could have taken Jesus right out of Gethsemane and taken him straight to heaven. Of course, it was possible in the sense of God's strength. What made it impossible is that if that prayer had been answered in the sense that God says, okay, let's end it here.
You and I would die in our sins and the whole plan of redemption would collapse because this was the only way. Jesus is saying, is there any other way? And the answer is no, there is no other way.
It's not possible. And here you have evangelicals today wondering whether or not there is some other way, wondering whether or not some other teachers, some other guru might be able to save people. When clearly Jesus and the Father answered that question in Gethsemane, when Jesus realized that if it were possible, the Father would do it, but it wasn't possible and have us redeemed. So he said, not my will, but thine be done. And what Jesus was really saying here is that I am willing to submit. And that's the plea that Jesus gives. And now we come to the submission of the Son to the Father.
Here we have a conflict of wills. Here we see Jesus most clearly in his humanity. He was both God and man, but sometimes we see his humanity very clearly.
And this possibly is one of the clearest places in all the Bible where we can see his humanness. You'll notice he says, Father, if it is possible for you, remove this cup from me yet not what I will, but what you will. Father, humanly, humanly, I don't want to do this. Humanly, I cannot even imagine what it is like for my holy nature to be in contact with sin directly and to be accused of having committed all those sins legally.
Humanly, I can't grasp it. If there is some other way, do it, but not my will, but your will. You say, well, how can the will of the Son and the will of the Father be out of harmony? Well, in this particular instance, as you can see, Jesus in his humanness is asking that question, but it is exactly here that the will of the Son and the will of the Father come together in harmony when he says, not my will, but thine be done. My friend, doing the will of God often involves a conflict of desires. We live in a culture today that basically says, you know, you can follow God and kind of do whatever you like. And your desires somehow just fall in line.
No, no, no, no, no. There are times when our desires are in one direction and the euphoria of following that direction is so powerful and overwhelming, but the will of the Father is greater. And what we must do is to be like Jesus who simply said, not my will, but thine be done. And so Jesus goes through with that. What that meant is that once this battle in Gethsemane was over, from now on, everything would follow like dominoes inevitably.
It would all come together. When Jesus came through this experience and he had to wake the disciples because they couldn't even watch with him for an hour, which by the way, was the basis of a message I preached a few years ago, encouraging people to watch one hour a week with God. Isn't it true that we're just like the disciples?
We forget and we sleep. But once Jesus made the decision, once this huge battle was over, once he heard from the Father, there is no other way. From now on, everything followed inevitably. Judas would betray him. He would have kangaroo courts, sham trials. He would be crucified. He would drink the cup.
And it would all be accomplished as God willed. Like the words of the poet said, death and the curse were in our cup. Oh, Christ is true for thee, but thou has drained the last dark drop, tis empty now for me. Jesus said, I'll drink the cup and I won't drink half of it. I won't drink three quarters of it.
I won't drink 95% of it. I will turn the cup upside down and I shall drink every drop so that sinners who deserve the judgment that I am experiencing can walk free because of what I have done. Redemption will be accomplished. Sinners will be redeemed. The purpose of God from all of eternity will not be thwarted, but will march forward to its triumphant conclusion. We look at this text and we say to ourselves, why should we be changed because of it?
A couple of reasons. First of all, sometimes we have to do the will of God, whether we feel like it or not. I've already implied that, haven't I? The fact is that the will of God isn't often the easiest path. We live in a society where, you know, you make the easy decision to take out all of the pain. If Jesus had done that, you and I would still be in our sins and we'd be in our sins forever.
There are times when you have to say no to your emotions. Let me ask the question differently. Was Jesus Christ filled with the Holy Spirit in Gethsemane? We know that the Holy Spirit of God came upon him when he was, of course they're being baptized and the spirit was with him and the spirit did miracles. Did the spirit leave him in Gethsemane?
No, no, no, no, not in Gethsemane. The spirit was there. He was still spirit filled. Did that mean that he was happy, happy, happy, happy, happy all the time?
No, no, no. You can be filled with the spirit and you can be walking through a dark tunnel of bewilderment and pain and anxiety and dread. Jesus proves that we don't always have to feel right to do the will of God. See, you and I live in a culture in which the great sin is to feel bad.
That's really a sin. You should never, especially you should never feel bad about yourself. And if you feel bad, there are pills that you can take and there's this to take. And I'm not knocking medicine as such, but what I'm saying is there are times when you don't feel good, but you can be filled with the spirit and do the right thing. Now to add to this, we always think to ourselves that if I obey, I want to obey because I feel like it. So if I get the right feeling, I will obey when actually the opposite is true.
There are times when we have to obey even when we don't feel like it. And then eventually we find that the feelings follow and what we sought becomes ours. That was true also in the case of Jesus, because this is what Hebrews says, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, the joy set before him. Jesus knew that having gone through drinking that terrible cup, Jesus knew that after he drank it on the other side, there was going to be a resurrection. On the other side, there was going to be joy. On the other side, there was going to be a group of redeemed people with whom he would be forever.
And on the other side, he would be hailed as King of Kings and Lord of Lords because he is, but also because of his obedience and he'd be, he'd be magnified throughout the whole earth. But you don't see that when you're going through Gethsemane, do you? Can't predict the outcome. Jesus knew the outcome, but we don't. But sometimes you just need to make a hard choice. There may be some of you here who are in a sinful relationship and you say, pastor Luther, I just can't tear myself away from it.
Oh yes, you can. You can do the right thing no matter how you feel as you call on the Holy Spirit to help you. There's a second lesson and that is that it's very obvious that our own suffering, even when it is inflicted by evil people, ultimately comes to us from God. Jesus knew that wicked hands were going to crucify him and those wicked hands who spat on him and humiliated him. Jesus knew that that was part of the divine plan.
It was part of the cup. It was part of what God willed for him. And that's why he said, if I be lifted up, I shall draw all men to me. What he was saying is, is that this is part of God's will and I will accept the nails and I'll accept the insults because they mean it for evil. There's no doubt about it. I mean, you can imagine the glee of Satan and the glee of those who hated Jesus to see him nailed there.
I'm sure that many people walk by, oh, it was just so great to see him up there because he was such an irritant. They meant it for evil. God comes along and turns it all around and means it for good. Many years ago, I was preaching at a church in the suburbs and the pastor handed me a poem.
I don't know the author of the poem, but here it is. I will not take that bitter thrust which rent my heart today as coming from an earthly soul, though it was meant that way. But I will look beyond the tool because my life is planned. I take the cup my father gives. I take it from his hand. He knows and even thus allows these terrible things that irk. I trust his wisdom and his love.
Let patients have her work. Though human means have brought the sting, I firmly take this stand. My loving father holds the cup. I take it from his hand.
Now those who watch may wonder why these things do not disturb. I look right past the instrument and see my Lord superb. The trial which would lay me low must pass through his command. He holds the outstretched cup to me.
I take it from his hand. If you, my dear Christian friend to see only your trials, whether it's physical difficulties or people inflicting harm on you, if you see that only as coming from the devil, you will become cynical and bitter. But when you see it as part of God's plan that you receive it from his hand, you can walk through whatever lies on your path. There's a final lesson. Sin, you know, is the most expensive thing in the universe.
You know that nothing, nothing comes close to it. That's why redemption was so costly is because sin is so costly. Someone made a very interesting observation about obedience. The first Adam in the garden, he said, God, my will and not thine and he turned paradise into a desert.
The second Adam, Jesus Christ comes along and says, not my will, but thine and he's the one who takes the deserts of life and turns them into paradise. It is always best to be obedient to God. It is never wise to fight God. Well, the message is almost over, so I want to have a personal talk with you.
It's just between us now and wherever you may be seated or wherever you may be listening to this message. At what point are you fighting God? Some of you know that you need to receive Jesus as your savior. God has worked in your life and he's brought to you and you've heard messages and, and you've read the word and you've met other believers and you know it in your heart, but there's something that stands between you and God. At what point are you going to say, I'm going to obey because this business of cutting God out of my life is a bad idea.
Some of you are believers, but you're walking distantly from God and issues have piled up in your life that you haven't been willing to deal with. And you know that if you are absolutely fully right with God, if you are actually able to say, as we sang together, all that I am, I give into your hand, you know right well that on the computer of your solar crop up all kinds of issues. Yeah, but what about this? What about this?
What about this? Why don't we just take our, what about this is and give them to God. Why don't we just say, not my will, but thine be done. Why don't we just lay down the weapons of a rebel and say, Jesus in Gethsemane is our model, not my will, but thine be done. It's not what I would choose, but hey, I'm not God. And because of Jesus Christ's obedience, you and I today can walk away free, guilty, but acquitted, separated from God, brought near, ousted from the family of God, now a son, now a daughter.
All because our hero, Jesus, our savior said, not my will, but thine be done. Could I ask you something? Can you and I say any less than that? Let's pray. We ask now, Father, that you will give us such a sense of being willing to say your will be done.
May it overcome all the barriers, all the excuses, all of the rationalizations, just come into our lives and may all that end. And before I close this message, are there those of you who are here today who say, Pastor Lutzer, today, despite the battle, I'm saying thy will be done. Would you raise your hands, please? Do you raise your hands? You're willing to say, despite the battle, God has talked to me, your will be done. I see many people in the lower auditorium.
I haven't had a chance to look at the balcony. Would you raise your hand? Say, thy will be done. Father, work in our lives, we pray, until there is no daylight between your will and ours.
It's all one and the same. And thank you for our Redeemer who modeled that kind of obedience. We love him and we love you.
Amen. Well, my friend, this is Pastor Lutzer. And of course, I want to speak directly to those of you who are hurting today.
Perhaps you've been the victim of injustice. Well, Jesus also experienced that. He was innocent and yet he was crucified. But don't we delight in the fact that he was crucified because it was after all for us? Today, I want you to pause and see God in your struggles, to see God in your hurt, and to be reminded that Jesus in his humanity reminds us that this world is full of struggles.
It is full of pain. But at the end of the day, we should live our lives in such a way that we say not my will, but thine be done. I've written a 30-day devotional entitled For Us. And I wrote this because I want all of us to be reminded of what Jesus Christ did for us every single day.
We should begin that day with our minds on God. And when you read a devotional, you should always say to yourself, what have I read that I can take with me the rest of the day? As a matter of fact, this devotional also includes a prayer at the end, a suggested prayer. You can pray your own prayer, of course, but it's a reminder that we should always begin with Jesus on our mind. Well, for a gift of any amount, we're making this devotional available for you.
Here's what you do, and I hope that you have time to get a pen or a pencil and write this down. You can go to RTWOffer.com. Now, RTWOffer is all one word. RTWOffer.com or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. Isn't it wonderful that even though we are separated by many miles, we can hold hands together, so to speak, and run all the way to the finish line? Once again, go to RTWOffer.com.
You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, and 4. Running to Win is all about helping you find God's roadmap for your race of life. Erwin Lutzer wrapping up Jesus is in Agony, the first message in a series he's calling For Us. Next time, we meet Judas as we see Jesus betrayed for us. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
