Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto His disciples, Sit ye here, while I go yonder and pray.
And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and sore troubled.
Then saith He unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: abide ye here, and watch with Me.
And He went forward a little, and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass away from Me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.
And He cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with Me one hour?
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Again a second time He went away, and prayed, saying, My Father, if this cannot pass away, except I drink it, Thy will be done.
And He came again and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.
And He left them again, and went away, and prayed a third time, saying again the same words.
Then cometh He to the disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
Arise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that betrayeth Me.
And they come unto a place which was named Gethsemane: and He saith unto His disciples, Sit ye here, while I pray.
And He taketh with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly amazed, and sore troubled.
And He saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death: abide ye here, and watch.
And He went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass away from Him.
And He said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto Thee; remove this cup from Me: howbeit not what I will, but what Thou wilt.
And He cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest thou not watch one hour?
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
And again He went away, and prayed, saying the same words.
And again He came, and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they knew not what to answer Him.
And He cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough; the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
Arise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that betrayeth Me.
And He came out, and went, as His custom was, unto the mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed Him.
And when He was at the place, He said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.
And He was parted from them about a stone’s cast; and He kneeled down and prayed,
saying, Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless not My will, but Thine, be done.
And there appeared unto Him an angel from heaven, strengthening Him.
And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat became as it were great drops of blood falling down upon the ground.
And when He rose up from His prayer, He came unto the disciples, and found them sleeping for sorrow,
and said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.
Dear Heavenly Father, we do want to thank Thee that, by Thy grace, by the salvation that Thy Son has accomplished for us, we may now be in Thy presence.
Dear Father, we ask Thee that Thou wilt open our eyes, that we may see that which Thou dost desire us to see. Lord, we do sense we are standing on holy ground. We are going to see a scene that is too sacred, too holy; and yet, Lord, we know Thou dost want to reveal Thyself to us.
So do open our eyes. Draw our hearts unto Thyself. Pray that, Lord, we may see Thee. We ask in Thy name. Amen.
We believe it is the unchanging will of God for us to look off unto Jesus. It is God’s will that we focus all our attention upon His beloved Son, because His Son is His will. And it is only by beholding Him that we will be transformed from glory to glory and be conformed to His image.
I think it was three months ago that we considered together the Last Supper: how our Lord Jesus gathered His own around Him during that last supper; how He loved them, and loved them to the uttermost; how He instituted the Lord’s table, that we may remember Him; and how He talked with His disciples for the last time and promised to give them another Comforter.
He showed them a new relationship between Him and them. It would be an inward relationship. He is the vine, and we are the branches. He gave His own name to us. Then He prayed to the Father: for Himself, for the eleven who were with Him that night, and for the whole church throughout the ages.
Now, this morning, we would like to continue in the life of our Lord Jesus: the Garden of Gethsemane.
After the supper, the Lord led His disciples out of the city of Jerusalem, across the brook Kidron, and went to the Mount of Olives. On the way, He told His disciples that the Shepherd would be smitten and the sheep would be scattered; but He would rise again and go before them into Galilee.
He actually quoted Zechariah 13:7:
Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd,
and against the Man that is My Fellow, saith the Lord of hosts:
smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.
Peter immediately came forward and said, “Though all shall be offended in Thee, I will never be offended.” He was willing to die.
And the Lord said, “Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny Me thrice.” “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have you, that he might sift you as wheat: but I made supplication for thee, that thy faith fail not; and do thou, when once thou hast turned again, establish thy brethren.”
The Lord knew what was coming. His disciples also had a sense that some terrible thing was going to happen. It seemed as if all the powers of darkness were closing in upon our Lord.
The Lord sought for a secluded place, a place where He could go and pray. He chose the Garden of Gethsemane.
Brothers and sisters, immediately this reminds us of the first garden. We remember the Garden of Eden, how Satan tempted the first Adam.
Satan won. Man lost—not only Adam himself, but, as a matter of fact, he lost for all mankind.
And now the second, the last Adam, entered into a garden—the Garden of Gethsemane—and there He fought that battle with Satan. And thank God, He won. He won it for mankind.
So far as our Lord Himself is concerned, throughout His life Satan had assaulted Him, trying to win Him over. We remember how our Lord Jesus was tempted in the wilderness. Satan exhausted all his temptations upon our Lord Jesus.
Throughout His life, our Lord was tempted in all things, yet without sin. That means that in the life of our Lord Jesus, He won the battle over Satan.
That is the reason why we find that, on the Mount of Transfiguration, so far as He Himself was concerned, He was ready to go, because He had won the victory. He had demonstrated to the world the Man of God’s purpose—the Man that God desired.
But, brothers and sisters, our Lord came into this world not just to demonstrate to the world the Man that God desired. He came into this world to save mankind. For this reason, He had to enter into the Garden of Gethsemane, and He had to fight it out and win that battle—not for Himself, but for men.
He went into that garden. He left eight of His disciples, probably near the entrance, and He took three—Peter, James, and John, the three who were closest to Him. He took the three of them and went further into the garden.
Then something happened. The Bible says that He began to be sorrowful and sore troubled. He told His disciples that His soul was sorrowful, even unto death.
In Mark, it says that He began to be greatly amazed and sore troubled in spirit—very sorrowful.
You know, throughout that night, how calm and composed was our Lord! He knew He was to go back to His Father. He knew that His Father had given everything to Him.
The disciples were sorrowful during that Last Supper, and our Lord Jesus comforted them. He said, “I leave joy with you. I give My joy to you.” In other words, you find that the Lord knew what was going to happen, and He was so calm, so quiet. He knew this was the hour for which He came.
And yet suddenly, at that moment, it seemed as if all the powers of darkness descended upon Him. He entered into a fierce battle.
Did our Lord lose His composure? Did He not know that this was the hour for which He came? Why did He recoil? Did He not know that it was the cup that the Father had given Him to drink? Why did He ask, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from Me”?
Brothers and sisters, throughout His life He mentioned a number of times, “My hour has not yet come.” He was always waiting for that hour. That was the hour for which He came. He was born for that hour, and before that hour came, nothing could happen.
Even in John 12, He said, “The hour is come.” What is that hour? That hour speaks of His glorification. His glorification began at the cross. He was actually looking forward to the hour of His death, because His death is His glory. By His death, He glorified the Father, and the Father glorified Him.
Even in Matthew 20, when the two disciples, James and John, came and asked to sit on His right hand and on His left in His kingdom, our Lord Jesus said, “Are ye able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” He knew He was going to drink a cup.
But why was it that suddenly, at this moment, it seemed that our Lord had lost His calmness?
Brothers and sisters, I feel the scene of Gethsemane is really too sacred to be talked about. It is a scene that perhaps should be hidden.
You know, it is like the seven thunders. After the thunders, John was going to write it down, but he was told to seal it up. In a sense, I do feel the Garden of Gethsemane ought to be sealed up—so sacred, so holy.
And yet it pleased God to reveal that scene to us in order to show us what it cost our Lord Jesus for our salvation.
The conflict and suffering of our Lord’s spirit, soul, and body were under such agony that He sweat, as it were, great drops of blood. An angel had to appear to strengthen Him physically. Why? Because without that strengthening, He might have died in the garden. Such a terrific conflict!
Brothers and sisters, in Philippians 2 we are told that He, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.
Our Lord Jesus was the Son of God. He is one with God. He is God, the eternal Son. He lived in glory with His Father. Yet, because of His love for us, He emptied Himself. He emptied Himself of all the glory, majesty, and honor associated with God, and He took upon Himself the form of a humble man.
But, brothers and sisters, even that did not affect His character. In other words, even though He humbled Himself to become a man, His character was not affected. He is pure. He is holy. He is love. He is everything that God is in nature, and everything that God desires in man.
But here, something terrible occurred: that cup.
A cup in Scripture speaks of one’s portion. In Psalm 16:5, it says:
The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup:
Thou maintainest my lot.
In Psalm 23:5, it says:
My cup runneth over.
The cup speaks of God’s portion. It is God’s will for His Son; and at this very moment, God’s will for His Son was to make Him sin.
In other words, you find that throughout the life of our Lord Jesus—not to say from eternity—He and the Father were one. There was such harmony, such oneness, such love, such purity. Never a cloud, never a shadow.
Even when our Lord Jesus came to be a man, you find that for thirty-three years of His life on earth there was no shadow, no distance, between Him and the Father, because He pleased God in all things. He always did the Father’s will, and the Father was always with Him.
He said, “I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.” There was no separation—perfect harmony and oneness.
But in that garden, the cup that the Father delivered to Him was the bitter cup of curse. In other words, He who knew no sin was to be made sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God.
Brothers and sisters, just think of it. We are not as pure, far from it, as our Lord Jesus. Yet even with us, when some terrible sin is mentioned, we shrink from it. We say, “This is too bad, too defiling.”
Think of our Lord Jesus. He knew no sin. He had never sinned. He always pleased the Father. Yet, at that moment, the cup delivered to Him was to make Him sin.
It is more than just having all the sins of the world laid upon Him—your sins, my sins, all the sins that have been committed. He bore in His body the sins of the world. It is more than that. He was to be made sin.
No wonder He was oppressed. No wonder He was sorrowful, even unto death. How could He, who was sinless, become sin itself? How could He bear it? He would be completely defiled.
That pure human will abhorred sin. Yet it was the Father’s will to make Him sin. That was the cup He was to drink.
So here you find the powers of darkness came upon Him and pressed upon His pure human will: “Save Yourself. Do not be defiled. You are holy. You are altogether pure. Keep Yourself whole. Be intact. Do not be defiled.”
God opened up, as it were, a glimpse into something more. He who pleased the Father all His life—there had never been a separation from eternity; there had always been sweet communion. Yet, if He should drink that cup, He would be separated from His Father.
That is eternal death. That is hell.
Oh, the love of the Son! Here we see, from this very Lord, that He did not want to be separated. Yet it was the Father’s will that He should drink that cup.
So, brothers and sisters, you find the battle in the Garden of Gethsemane was over this matter. From the pure human will came the cry, “Let this cup pass from Me.” Do not let Me be defiled. Do not let Me be separated. That was the cry of the heart of Jesus.
And yet He said, “Not My will, but Thy will be done. If it is Thy will that I must drink it, so be it.” He yielded His perfect human will to the Father, and the battle was won.
Brothers and sisters, sometimes, because salvation came to us freely, we have the impression that salvation is cheap. We did not pay anything. It is given to us.
But God desires us to know how much it cost—how much it cost His beloved Son.
Lest we forget Gethsemane; lest we forget Calvary; lest we forget how much He loves us. So, brothers and sisters, I do believe that the reason why this almost unspeakable scene is revealed to us is to show us the love, the deep love of God—the love of our Lord Jesus for us.
May we never forget how much it cost. This is the foundation of our salvation.
In Hebrews 5, we are told that, in the days of His flesh, He offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him out of death, and having been heard for His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which He suffered.
And having been made perfect, He became unto all them that obey Him the Author of eternal salvation.
You know, Gethsemane means “oil press.” We do not really know who owned that garden. It must have been owned by a friend of our Lord Jesus, because He had free access to it. Some people think that perhaps Mark’s father owned that place. It was a place to which our Lord often went.
Our Lord is like an olive: born of the Spirit, filled with the Spirit, anointed with the Spirit. Throughout His life, He was so perfect, so complete, so beautiful.
And yet that olive must be pressed, must be broken, so that oil may flow forth for healing. There in the garden, our Lord Jesus was crushed.
His outward man—even that perfect human man—was broken so that life might flow from Him for the healing of the nations.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, Gethsemane is more than just history. Gethsemane is a principle.
You remember our Lord Jesus said to the two sons of Zebedee, “Are ye able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said, “We are able.” They really did not know what that meant. The Lord said, “Ye shall indeed drink of My cup.”
In other words, the cup that our Lord Jesus drank is also a cup that we must drink. Now, why is it a cup? At that moment in the Garden of Gethsemane, there was a cup of curse for Christ Jesus. Because our Lord Jesus drank that bitter cup of curse, He has left us with a cup of blessing.
When we remember the Lord at His table, it is the cup of blessing that we bless. The reason is because our Lord drank the cup of curse, and so we now have the cup of blessing.
But so far as the cup is concerned, it is the Father’s will. The Father’s will is God’s portion for Him. And we who believe in the Lord Jesus also have a portion from the Father.
Brothers and sisters, when we first believe in the Lord Jesus, we are united to God in life. In other words, we receive a new life—the life of the Son, God’s own life—and we are united with God in life. We become children of God.
But that is just the beginning. Spiritual growth is growing into union with God in will—not only in life, but in will. In other words, our will is being brought into oneness with God’s will.
That is the highest union that man can ever have with God: union of wills.
It is not God’s will that we should have no will. God is the supreme Will, and He created man with a will. But it is the will of God that our human will should be so subjected to the divine will that there will be a union of wills.
That is the highest Christian experience. In a sense, throughout our Christian life and Christian growth, this is what it means: “Not my will, but Thy will be done.”
It is extremely difficult for us to yield our will to God’s will. Our natural will is not pure as the human will of our Lord Jesus was.
Our Lord Jesus was perfect. His human will was pure. Yet even with that pure will, there was such a tremendous battle to yield His will to the Father’s will—to be able to say, “Not My will, but Thy will be done.”
Now, how much more do we need to yield our will to God’s will? Our will is so selfish, so self-centered, so self-interested, so protective of ourselves. We want to keep ourselves intact and whole.
Even our best will cannot substitute for God’s will. Oftentimes, we think our good will is God’s will. We think God ought to be pleased with our will. But, to our surprise, we find that even our good will, our best will, cannot substitute for God’s will.
Oftentimes, you will find that our best will, our good will, is an enemy of God’s will. We have to come to the place to say, “Not my will, but Thy will be done”—not even my best will, not even my good will.
Look at Peter. He had just received a great revelation. He confessed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. The Lord said, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father who is in heaven.”
Then He said, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
Then the Lord began to reveal to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, that He would be rejected, that He would be sentenced to death, but that on the third day He would rise again.
Peter was so elated with that tremendous revelation, and with the praise from our Lord Jesus, that he lost his head. He took hold of our Lord Jesus and said, “Not so, Lord. Be good to Thyself. This shall never be unto Thee.”
Good will—but the Lord said, “Get thee behind Me, Satan.” Oh, how often our good will is Satan’s suggestion!
Again, during the Last Supper, when our Lord Jesus rose up and began to wash the disciples’ feet, most likely Peter was the first one to be washed. Peter said, “Oh, no, no, no! Thou art the Lord. How couldst Thou do that?”
Very reasonable: “Thou shalt never wash my feet.” But the Lord said, “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me.” Peter said, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.” The Lord said, “He that is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet.”
Good will is not God’s will.
Again, you find Peter on the housetop in Joppa. He was in a trance and saw a sheet coming down full of unclean animals. The voice said, “Peter, rise, kill and eat.” Peter said, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything unclean.”
He refused to do it: “Not so, Lord.” What a contradiction! Brothers and sisters, this is what we are. We have been doing that all the time.
This is a great temptation—perhaps the greatest temptation: “My will, not Your will. Your will must be my will,” instead of, “Not my will, but Your will.”
Brothers and sisters, this is a principle. It is a principle for our life that we need to learn. We need always to learn to say, “Not my will, but Thy will be done.” Only thus do we grow spiritually.
Furthermore, Gethsemane is the olive press. Unless the olive is pressed, no oil will come forth for healing.
With our Lord Jesus, He was crushed, and life flowed out from Him for our redemption. In that, He is alone.
But, brothers and sisters, it is the will of God that we do not just grow into a beautiful, perfect, complete olive. It is true that we need to grow. We need to be filled with the Spirit—not just having the Spirit of God dwelling within us, which we all have, but allowing the Holy Spirit to fill us.
We should be like olive trees. You remember in Zechariah, in the vision he saw two olive trees, two sons of oil, supplying oil to the lamp. This is the will of God: that we should be olive trees, that we should be full of the Holy Spirit.
But it is not just to be olive trees. Why are we olive trees? Why should we grow olives? It is to be crushed, that the oil may come forth.
Brothers and sisters, this is 2 Corinthians 4. God’s will is not just for us to receive, and receive, and receive.
Thank God, He has put us in the land. As we have been meditating during the Lord’s table, our land is a good land, flowing with milk and honey. Our Lord Jesus is the riches of Christ, all that we are enjoying. Thank God for that.
But, brothers and sisters, that is not the end. He wants us, who have received such riches from Him, to give out—to give to others what we have received for the healing of the nations.
But how can we give out unless we are put in that olive press? That is the cross. That is the reason why our Lord said, “Deny thyself, take up thy cross, and follow Me.” This is the sign of discipleship.
Are we willing to deny ourselves? That is a matter of will. If we are willing to deny ourselves—that is, deny our will: “Not my will, but Thy will be done”—then the Holy Spirit will arrange our circumstances.
People, events, and things may not be according to our will, but according to His wisdom. He will arrange our circumstances to crush us, to break our outward man.
“Pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair.” You may think that if you are pressed, you are finished. No: pressed, but not crushed, because there is an outward way you still can go.
“At your wit’s end, but not at life’s end.” Yes, you may have come to the end of your wisdom. You may have planned and plotted like Jacob, but now you are facing your brother, and he comes with four hundred men. You are at your wit’s end, but the Lord says it is the beginning of life.
You may be crippled, yes, but that is the beginning of resurrection life.
“Persecuted, but not forsaken.” You may be persecuted by everybody, but you are not forsaken by God. He is still with you.
“Cast down, but not destroyed.” You may be knocked down, yes, but will you get up? You are not knocked out yet. That is really the translation, by the way.
The Holy Spirit will discipline us, using our environment—unexpected, unwelcome, strange, unthinkable. But the Holy Spirit knows what He is doing. He knows there is oil there that needs to be released.
Brothers and sisters, if there is no oil there, there is no need for crushing. Some people have never been crushed because they are empty. But if there is oil there, the Father’s will is that the olive needs to be crushed.
This is the slaying of Jesus that Paul talked about:
Always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus,
that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body.
Our outward man is decaying, but our inward man is renewed day by day. This is the secret of ministry.
So, brothers and sisters, Gethsemane is more than history. It is a foundation. Gethsemane is a principle, a principle that our Lord Jesus has demonstrated to us, and He is calling us to watch with Him for one hour.
“Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.” The only way that we can overcome our will and realize God’s will is to watch and pray.
If we do not watch, the enemy is trying very hard to tempt us to exert our will, to have our own will. Unless we watch and pray, we ourselves are unable to overcome.
We have to look to the Lord. If we obey Him, He is the Author of our eternal salvation. You find that He supplies what is needed to us because He has overcome. Therefore, His victory is ours. We too may overcome.
We will not fall into temptation, but we will be able to drink the Father’s cup, whether it is sweet or bitter. Let God choose for us, and let us not choose for ourselves.
On that night, even the three closest to the Lord were so overwhelmed with sorrow that they fell asleep. That is the reason why they fell into temptation. They all scattered. Peter denied the Lord.
So, brothers and sisters, the word of the Lord to us today is: “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.” And the temptation is my will, not God’s will. That is the temptation.
Shall we pray?
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for opening to us a window into that sacred scene. Lord, here in the garden, oh, how we thank Thee for loving us so much that Thou wast willing to be defiled, to be separated from Thy Father.
Lord, may the agony of Gethsemane be always with us, that we never forget. And, Lord, Thou hast caused Thy Son to drink the cup which Thou gavest Him to drink.
We pray that we too may really desire the Father’s will and not our own will. Oh, that our will may be in subjection to Thy will. Thy will be done.
Keep us to watch and pray, lest we fall into temptation. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.