Closing in on the Cross of Jesus Christ
Part 4: Wake Up, Christians, Wake Up!
The Gospel of Matthew
Matthew 26:36-46
Sermon by Rick Crandall
(Prepared April 5, 2023)
BACKGROUND:
*Please open your Bibles to Matthew 26. By this time, the Lord and His disciples had finished their last Passover meal together, and Jesus had led them through the very first Lord's Supper. Matthew 26:30 tells us that "when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives." This hill to the east of old Jerusalem overlooked the city from just outside the city walls. In Jesus' day it was covered with olive trees. Today, its slopes facing Jerusalem have been used as a Jewish cemetery for over 3,000 years, and contain about 150,000 graves.
*The Mount of Olives may be a very small mountain, but it is hugely important in God's Word. Jesus made many visits to the Mount of Olives. In fact, it was usual for Him to go there when He was near Jerusalem. Every time Jesus visited Lazarus, Mary, and Martha, He was on the Mount of Olives, for their village of Bethany was on the eastern slope, and the road from Bethany to Jerusalem passed over the Mount of Olives.
*Jesus rode down the Mount of Olives to make His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday. In Matthew 24 and 25, Jesus told all of His end times prophecies and parables while He was seated on the Mount of Olives. After He was raised again from the dead, Jesus ascended into Heaven from the Mount of Olives (Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:9-12). And when Jesus comes back to earth, He is landing on the Mount of Olives! Zechariah 14:4 says, "And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south."
*That is the glorious past and future of this small mountain. But here in Matthew 26, the agony of the cross was still ahead. Jesus and His disciples have come to the Garden of Gethsemane. This word simply means "Oil Press," and that makes sense because it was at the foot of the Mount of Olives. (1)
*In all eternity past, the Lord knew the price He would pay for our sins on the cross of Calvary. And from childhood, Jesus knew that He would be about some very difficult business for His Heavenly Father. But now in the darkness of Gethsemane, the full weight of the cross seemed to fall on the Lord as never before. Please think about this and the Lord's sleepy disciples as we read Matthew 26:36-46.
MESSAGE:
*The only time I hate to drive is when I am sleepy. Oh, what a miserable feeling! And I am almost always more careful now, but more than once, I've had some close calls, because I couldn't wake up.
*The disciples had the same problem in the Garden of Gethsemane. Yes, they were exhausted from grief and stress. But this was a critical time, and they needed to wake up. That's what the word "watch" means in this passage. It means to stay awake physically and spiritually. It means to give strict attention to something. Be vigilant, cautious, active, and watchful.
*This waking up is so important that the Lord mentioned it three times in these few verses. Jesus wanted them to wake up. And He wants us to wake up to the crucial spiritual truth in this Scripture. As Paul also tells us in Romans 13:11, "Now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed."
1. FIRST TODAY: GOD WANTS US TO WAKE UP TO THE SUFFERING OF OUR SAVIOR.
*We begin to get an idea of the Lord's suffering in vs. 36-38:
36. Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, "Sit here while I go and pray over there.''
37. And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.
38. Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.''
*Again, vs. 37 tells us that Jesus "began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed." Then in vs. 38 Jesus said, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death." In other words, "My soul is crushed with grief, and it hurts so badly that I am just about to die." Luke 22:44 tells us that "being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. And His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground."
*Jesus knew everything that was coming, so think of our Savior's suffering on the cross. There was excruciating physical suffering. Jesus was slapped in the face. The crown of thorns was pounded in with a rod. He was beaten and whipped in the cruelest way. Then the nails. Isaiah 52:14 tells us that "His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and His form marred beyond human likeness" The NLT paraphrase says, "But many were amazed when they saw Him. His face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human, and from his appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man."
*Jesus went through excruciating physical suffering, and emotional suffering. Our Lord was hated, mocked, rejected, ridiculed, and spit upon. Jesus also went through spiritual suffering that we can never fully comprehend. But these verses from Psalm 22 can help us understand all that He went through for us.
*Please listen to these prophetic words that God gave to King David a thousand years before Jesus was born:
1. My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?
7. All those who see Me laugh Me to scorn; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8. "He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!''
14. I am poured out like water, And all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It has melted within Me.
15. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death.
16. For dogs have surrounded Me; The assembly of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet;
17. I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me.
18. They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.
*Jesus Christ suffered more than anyone else has ever suffered. So also listen to the words God gave to the prophet Isaiah about 700 years before Jesus was born. In Isaiah 53:3 Jesus was "despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." In Isaiah 53:5, "He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him." Then in Isaiah 53:6 Jesus suffered spiritually, when the LORD "laid on Him the iniquity of us all."
*No one has ever suffered like Jesus suffered for our sins. Tim Zingale once explained, "The cross was real, the pain, the suffering, the agony was real, so real that the earth shook and trembled from the dread and awe of the event.
*Jesus died upon that cross. He suffered, He bore pain, He felt the sting of death, He felt the wrath of God. Jesus wasn't crucified on a beautiful cross between two candles in a church. He was crucified on a cross between two thieves at the town garbage heap. He was crucified at the kind of place were thieves curse, and soldiers gamble. Jesus died in a most painful way, killed by people who mostly felt nothing for Him, no remorse, no pity, no compassion." (2)
*In this world we cannot fully know all that Jesus went through for us. But we do know that He suffered mightily in the Garden of Gethsemane, and on the Cross of Calvary. We also know that on the cross Jesus was forsaken by His Father for a time, and left alone to suffer. Thank God, it was only for a short time. Thank God, it came out of His merciful loving kindness for us! And thank God, it was for a great purpose: Our redemption, forgiveness, salvation, and everlasting life!
*For the past 2,000 years, the Lord's suffering has been transforming the world. And it will transform us, if we receive the risen Christ as our Lord and Savior. But the more we wake up to the Lord's suffering, the more our lives will be transformed to be like Him, so God wants us to wake up to the suffering of our Savior.
2. HE ALSO WANTS US TO WAKE UP TO THE SERIOUSNESS OF OUR SIN.
*Verses 38-39 help us do that:
38. Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.''
39. He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.''
*Why was Jesus face down on the ground in the Garden of Gethsemane? Why was He crying out to His Heavenly Father in agony? It was because of us. It was because of our sin. There would have been no garden without our guilt.
*And think about the cup in Jesus' prayer: "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.''
*What was so repulsive about that cup? -- It was sin. Jesus Christ was about to die for every, awful, evil sin that has been, or ever will be committed. (Not that everyone will be saved, but that anyone can be saved through the cross of our crucified and risen Savior Jesus Christ.) For in 2 Peter 3:9 the Lord "is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." This is why Isaiah 53:6 says, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."
*This is also why John 4:42 tells us that Jesus "is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.'' Jesus Christ is the one and only possible Savior of the world, because He is the only begotten, sinless Son of God, sent to earth to die on the cross for our sins. This is why 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells Christians that "He (God the Father) made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
*But it took the greatest suffering the world will ever see. And we can't begin to comprehend the weight of it all, but think for a moment about the countless lies, blasphemies, murders, kidnappings, rapes, robberies, tortures, and abuses of power that have happened in this sin-poisoned world. Jesus died for them all.
*And we must understand that our sin is ugly too. It is especially repulsive to our spotless, Holy God! There is nothing likeable or lovely about our sin. And Jesus suffered just as much for our sin, as He did for the worst sinners in the world. Alexander Solzhenitsyn once wrote that it would be different, if there were "evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being." So, God wants us to wake up to the serious of our sin. (3)
3. AND HE WANTS US TO WAKE UP TO THE STRENGTH WE NEED FROM OUR SAVIOR.
*We all need spiritual strength from our Savior! Verses 40-41 remind us how weak we really are. Here God's Word says:
40. Then He came to the disciples and found them asleep, and said to Peter, "What, could you not watch with Me one hour?
41. Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.''
*Jesus asked Peter, "Could you not watch with Me one hour?" How about you? How about me? The truth is that we can never last very long in our own strength. We'll never get very far on our own strength. And even when we want to do the right thing, Jesus says, "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.''
*Just like the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, we need the Lord's strength. Verses 42-46 tell us that Jesus:
42. . . went away again a second time and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.''
43. And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.
44. So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.
45. Then He came to His disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.
46. Rise, let us be going. See, he who betrays Me is at hand.''
*The Lord's disciples were not sleeping that night because they didn't care. They weren't sleeping because they were lazy. Luke 22:45 tells us that they were "sleeping from sorrow." They were exhausted by the stress and strain of all that was going on.
*From vs. 41, their spirits indeed were willing, but their flesh was weak, so they needed strength from above. Surely we will too, because temptations will come our way. Roadblocks, setbacks, and disappointments will come our way. Heartaches, trials, and tribulations will come our way.
*Mark 14:40 tells us that when the Lord found Peter, James and John sleeping that second time, "They did not know what to answer Him." Sometimes we don't know what to say to Jesus either, except: "Lord, we need You! We need your strength, and we are trusting in Your cross!"
*The great news for Christians is that we can get all the strength we will ever need from the only man who ever had infinite strength, and that is Jesus Christ! We can, and we must trust the Lord to supply us with His strength. Jesus stressed this truth in John 15:4-5, where He told His disciples:
4. "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; FOR WITHOUT ME YOU CAN DO NOTHING."
*Keep going to Jesus for the strength you need, because He is the Lord God Almighty. He had the power to lay down His life for our sins, and the power to take it up again. Jesus died on the cross for us and three days later He rose again from the dead. And the mighty power of His resurrection is already at work in all who believe.
*That's why in Ephesians 1:19-21, Paul prayed for Christians to know:
19. . . the exceeding greatness of His (the Heavenly Father's) power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power
20. which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
21. far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
*In Ephesians 3:14-16, Paul also said:
14. For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15. from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
16. that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man.
*So Christians, in Ephesians 6:10 we can "Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might." The Lord Himself is our ever present source of strength. This is why in Philippians 4:13, with all of his suffering, hardship and trouble, the Apostle Paul could say, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
*And when Paul wrote his very last letter, in 2 Timothy 4:16-17 he said, "At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion."
*Paul was "strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might." He never could have stood in his own strength, and neither can we. We must look to the Lord.
*Kent Crockett told an old story about a pastor traveling on a bus down a bumpy road. A college student was seated next to the preacher, and he noticed that the pastor was reading his Bible. Almost out of the blue, the preacher asked, "Are you spiritually ready for the temptations that you will face in college?" The young man answered, "I don't have a problem with temptation. I have strong willpower."
*The preacher then took a pencil out of his pocket and said: "I can make this pencil stand up on the cover of this Bible even though the bus ride is bumpy." The young man said, "I'll believe it when I see it. I don't think you can do it."
*"Look, I am doing it," the pastor said. Then the young man said, "Yeah, but you didn't tell me you would hold the pencil up with your hand." "I didn't have to tell you," the pastor replied. "Have you ever seen a pencil stand up on its own without someone holding it?"
*Then the preacher let go of the pencil. Of course, it instantly fell over, and the preacher said, "The only reason you can stand, is because God is holding you up with His hand." (4)
CONCLUSION:
*Thank God for the strength we can find in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! But Christians, we need to wake up to the suffering of our Savior, wake up to the seriousness of our sin, wake up to the strength we need from our Savior.
*But if you have never received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, put your trust in Him today. Call on Jesus to save you as we go back to God in prayer. And ask the Lord to always keep you spiritually awake as you travel through life.
(1) Sources:
-Got Questions.org - "What happened on the Mount of Olives?" - https://www.gotquestions.org/Mount-of-Olives.html
-"Mount of Olives" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_of_Olives
(2) Adapted from SermonCentral sermon "The Blood of Christ for Us" by Tim Zingale - 1 Peter 1:18-20)
(3) Alexander Solzhenitsyn quote from NELSON'S COMPLETE BOOK OF STORIES, ILLUSTRATIONS & QUOTES by Robert J. Morgan - Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers - Copyright 2000.
(4) Adapted from MAKING TODAY COUNT FOR ETERNITY by Kent Crockett, Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 2001, p. 123
