Untitled Sermon (1)
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 2 viewsNotes
Transcript
Matthew 26:36-56
36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” 37 And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch[a] with me.” 39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” 40 And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? 41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 42 Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” 43 And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44 So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. 45 Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on.[b] See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”
In the Third movie of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy… Before the battle between the people and the devilish hordes…. We see on a balcony, two characters watching the violent dark clouds approaching…
the hobbit pippen says “A Storm is coming”
Gandalf replies… This is not the weather of the world… This is a device of Sauron’s making… a boil of fumes he sends ahead of his host….
Pippen replies after a long pause… It’s so quiet…
Gandal replies… its the deep breath before the plunge….
Fear and tension grows in pippen and he finally says… I dont want to be in a battle, but waiting on the edge of one I can’t escape is even worse…..
For Jesus… The garden of Gethsemane is the “deep breath before the plunge.” He can clearly see the violent dark clouds of cavalry gathering and slowly moving towards him… This was the darkest hours of Jesus; life…. It was a battle he had to face… In Gethsemane, he waits on teh edge of a battle he can't escape…this was the most terrifying for Jesus’ soul….
Gethsemane is an olive grove…. The name gethsemane means “oil press…. So there was probably an olive press there… where a heavy beam would be lowered onto a sack of olives and the weight would be increased until the weight would press the oil out of the olives….
As Jesus enters gethsemane… he leaves 8 of the disciples on the outer edge of the garden and takes Peter and James, and John deeper into the garden with him… As they walk deeper… the disciples see that Jesus becomes agitated in a way they never saw him before….
Jesus says… My soul is very sorrowful, even to death….
It is like the weight added to the beam to crush and press the oil out of the olive… the sorrow for what's coming begins to press on Jesus so heavily that the weight of it alone literally threatens to kill him…. “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death…..”
He cries out to God in his prayers…. God! Please take this cup away from me…
He was crying out till the point where his sweat becomes blood…. hemohedrosis
So why was he so scared…. Was it the physical pain he was going to endure?
Lets talk about some of the physical pain he endured….
Quick facts… Jesus was probably ripped~~ he WAs probably buff~~ why? Because he was a carpenter by trade….. He participated in physical labor… plus he walked around everywhere on foot so his stamina was probably well developed also~
Roman law before crucifixion traditionally made the accused stand naked and flogged from the shoulder down to the upper thighs… The whip consisted of several strips of leather… in the middle of the strips were metal balls that hit the skin… causing deep bruising and sheep bone was also attached ot eh tips of each strip…
When the the strip hits Jesus’ skin… it digs into his muscles… tearing out chunks of his flesh and exposing the bone beneaths….
The roman soldiers also put a crown of thorns on Jesus’ head which pushed down and probably damaged the nerves that supplies the face….
Then the soldiers also spat on him…..
Crucifixion on the cross was invented by the persians and adopted by the Romans…. It is probably the most painful death ever invented by humankind….
It was a form of slow… painful suffering….
The accused would be nailed on the cross….. In english.. It says hands… but in greek… the meaning of hands included the wrist….
It is most likely that Jesus was nailed on his wrist… if the nails were driven into the hand… the weight of the body would cause the nail to rip through the hands….
So it was probably nailed right here….
As Jesus dangled on the cross…. Eventually his shoulders and elbows would dislocate…
Jesus’ feet were nailed through the top also….
Normally, to breathe in, the diaphragm (the large muscle that separates the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity) must move down. This enlarges the chest cavity and air automatically moves into the lungs (inhalation). To exhale, the diaphragm rises up, which compresses the air in the lungs and forces the air out (exhalation). As Jesus hangs on the cross, the weight of His body pulls down on the diaphragm and the air moves into His lungs and remains there. Jesus must push up on His nailed feet (causing more pain) to exhale.
The difficulty surrounding exhalation leads to a slow form of suffocation. Carbon dioxide builds up in the blood, resulting in a high level of carbonic acid in the blood. The body responds instinctively, triggering the desire to breathe. At the same time, the heart beats faster to circulate available oxygen. The decreased oxygen (due to the difficulty in exhaling) causes damage to the tissues and the capillaries begin leaking watery fluid from the blood into the tissues. This results in a build-up of fluid around the heart (pericardial effusion) and lungs (pleural effusion). The collapsing lungs, failing heart, dehydration, and the inability to get sufficient oxygen to the tissues essentially suffocate the victim.
Literally… each breath Jesus had to breath…. He was slowly suffocating himself…..
Was this physical suffering what JEsus was terrified of? I would be terrified by this…. Wouldn't we all? Was this the weight of the beam that was crushing Jesus’ soul like the heavy beams that crush the olives?
No… I dont think so….
Then was it the emotional suffering?
Jesus suffered emotional… We all hate being betrayed by our friends…
Jesus was praying at the garden of gethsemane…. The worst night of his life… he was terrified… he was stressed…. He literally asks God to take this cup away from him…..
But his disciples sleep on him….. Wont you feel so betrayed??
When you share you struggle with someone that you have never shared before…. Wont you feel so offended if that person falls asleep on you?
Thats not even the case…. When Jesus gets captured… all his disciples disperse… they scatter like they dont know Jesus…. Even peter denies him three times…
As Jesus walked to the calvary….. All the people were yelling crucify him… and they were mocking him…
These were the same people who were praising him yelling hosanna!
Laying their cloaks down and waving the palm branch last week…..
Jesus was suffering emotionaly… everyone leaves him….
Was this the weight of the beam that was crushing Jesus’ soul?
If it wasnt the physical suffering… was it the emotional suffering???
Was it too heavy to bear/?
No…. It wasnt the emotional or physical suffering that was crushing his soul…. It would definitely crush our soul if we had to endure all that….. But for JEsus…. These sufferings were nothing compared to the suffering he was about to endure….
The weight of the beam that crushed his soul was not the physical… or the emotional….
It was the spiritual….
It was God….
It was God’s wrath that was about to be poured on Jesus….
The cup that Jesus is terrified to drink from….. So his body is shaking….
So how great was this spiritual suffering….
Ill tell you a little analogy… i love this anology and i used it alot….
Love
Stranger
Friend
Best friend
Paretns/ significant other….
Greater the love… the more pain it will inflict…
Lets look at JEsus…. And God…
Their love for each other is infinite…. It is sooooo big….
But God Tells Jesus on the cross…. Get out of my life….. I never want to see you again…. Imagine that pain…. The infinite pain that JEsus had to endure from God…
This was the weight of the beam that was about to crush Jesus’ soul….
Not the physical… or the emotional….. It was the spiritual suffering…..
Jesus soul was being crushed on the cross….. This was God’s will for Jesus…..
Why was that God’s will for Jesus…. Why did Jesus have to die on the cross?? Isn’t he God? Couldn’t he have done it a simpler way?
The answer to this question lies in genesis 15
Summarize
7 And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” 8 But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” 9 He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. 11 And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away
17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.
Imagine a king…. And a slave….
God’s love is unconditional… but it is also conditional….
We did not keep our end of the promise….
We loved the pleasures of the world… We loved sinned… We love to be in control of our own lives and do whatever pleases us….
We forget who God is daily…
We try to live for ourselves daily
We only go to God when we need him….
We go to church and sing Lead me to the cross…. But after sunday… we go back to our regular selves…. Who loves the pleasure of the world….
Lying
Stealing
Holding grudges
Leaving people out
Disrespecting leaders
Breaking rules
Swearing
Not helping those in need….
I can go on with the list….. But whenever we continue to do this… it breaks God’s heart…
It tears his heart apart…
this what Got Jesus nailed on the cross…. Because we could not keep ourselves holy… we could not keep ourselves clean….Because we love sin soo much…
I hear this phrase alot… its ok.. We can just ask for forgiveness….
Are you serious? You are going to nail Jesus on the cross and just ask for forgiveness…. ?
Jesus lived a perfect life… he was the only man on earth to live a perfect life… remember God’s promise? If you live a perfect life according to God’s laws.. you will be blessed….
Well jesus was the only person to do that… but instead of blessing.. He received the full wrath of God….
2 corinthians 5:21
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us… so that in him we might become the righteousness of God…..
God separates himself from Jesus because he cant be with sin….. He made Jesus take all the sins of the world… and die with him….
The weight of all the sins that poured out as the wrath of God was the beam that crushed JEsus…..
This is the good news of the gospel….….
God loves us soooo much… that he sends his one and only son…. To take on the full wrath of God. for us… so that we might become righteous….. So that we can fight sin and overcome it…. So that we wont choose to love the pleasures of the world but to choose the pleasures of God…
So the next time you are facing temptation…. Remember Jesus on the cross… remember how much suffering he had to endure because of your sins…..
And pray to God to give you strength to overcome…..
At this time lets have a time of reflection… take couple minutes thinking about JEsus and how much suffering he had to go through because of us….
Imagine Jesus on the cross…… imagine our sins that nailed him on the cross…..
Cry out to him… repent to him…. Maybe have a time to recommit your lives to JEsus….