Not My Will...
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Not My Will
Not My Will
For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
This weekend we remember the great exchange that Him who know no sin for those who knew sin but did not know him!
The reality was that we were enemies of the cross!
Lost in our sin and self, we were destined for the final judgement and penalty
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Following supper, Jesus and his disciples left the upper room and headed out to a garden. None of them realized that this would be the last time they would be together with the Master at the lead!
Then they came to a place which was named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here while I pray.”
And He took Peter, James, and John with Him, and He began to be troubled and deeply distressed.
Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch.”
He went a little farther, and fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him.
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.”
We know that from the Scriptures the place they went was named “The Garden of Gethsemane” or Garden of the Olive Press!
The olive press was an instrument of destruction that when applied produced a substance of great value!
Jesus was about to enter the halls of death itself, the most destructive force in the life of man and strip it bear of its power!
It was a fitting name for that place for these would be moments of great trial and determination
The future was filled with pain, loneliness, suffering and agony
knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
Look at the submission of the Son to the Father:
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.”
That is demonstration of tru love we will never comprehend until the day we seem Him fully!
A garden though is generally a place of solitude, peace and comfort!
What a juxtaposing scene - The first man Adam’s garden was beauty and peace
The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.
And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads.
The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there.
The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush.
The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
The garden was full of life and beauty! Everything they needed was provided. ll they needed to do was obey a simple command!
It was clear enough, “Don’t eat the fruit of that tree” the result of their actions was sin and death having full reign on the earth and in their lives
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
There was no escaping the consequence of their actions!
Even in the midst of the darkness there was a glimmer of hope!
For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)
Adam’s failure would be a reflection of Jesus victory!
The garden that Adam entered was full of life and provision…the garden Jesus entered into was full of death and destruction.
Just as Adam’s actions would have eternal ramifications, so would be the finished work of Jesus Christ!
Adam’s action was passed to all and death was the gift! Jesus action would be passed to all and life would be His gift!
so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
The good news today is that you can leave the garden of death and enter the garden of life!
You see my friends, the great exchange in the history of man was enacted by God Himself! His righteousness for our unrighteousness
Paul told the church
For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
Today we remember the suffering and the great cost that Jesus paid for the treasure of His heart…us
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
I have no greater news for you today that Jesus is alive!
We have seen the a garden of life, a garden of death, and now let me show you the future garden!
And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.
We now come full circle back to the tree of life! The great promise that God will restore that which was lost!!! But sadly, there will be those who miss out!
There will be those who choose to ignore the reality of their condition and plunge headlong in to the fires of God’s eternal judgement!
What about you?
Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Will you come today to the seat of mercy or find your self before the seat of judgement? The choice is yours!