Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Agony in Gethsemane: Submission and Vigilance (Matthew 26:39-41)

Transcript

The Agony in Gethsemane: Submission and Vigilance (Matthew 26:39-41) · Reformed Thinking

• 0:00
  Welcome to reformed thinking. Imagine the most crucial moment
• 0:04
  in human history. The fate of the world is hanging
• 0:07
  in the balance and the hero of the story is sweating drops of
• 0:12
  blood into the dirt, facing just an unimaginable horror.
• 0:16
  And then his hand picked inner circle.
• 0:18
  You know the people who just swore they would die for him.
• 0:21
  Well, they are taking a nap. It is crazy to think about.
• 0:24
  It really is. Today we are taking a deep dive
• 0:28
  into a text that completely shatters how we view human
• 0:31
  strength. We are looking at an exhaustive
• 0:33
  stack of notes and historical research concerning Matthew
• 0:36
  26.39 through 41. Yes, we are analyzing the
• 0:40
  agonizing events in the Garden of Gethsemane.
• 0:43
  And usually, you know, when you look at a historical event,
• 0:45
  there is a certain predictable logic to how the heroes and the
• 0:49
  supporting characters behave. Sure, usually.
• 0:51
  But today, the source material forces us to reckon with a
• 0:53
  midnight scene that presents the most severe juxtaposition in all
• 0:57
  in Scripture. It is a staggering contrast,
• 0:59
  honestly. The author of our notes points
• 1:01
  out that you have a scene that forces you to reckon with two
• 1:04
  opposing realities simultaneously.
• 1:06
  We are not looking at a standard historical narrative here.
• 1:10
  We're looking at a theological earthquake occurring in real
• 1:14
  time right outside the walls of ancient Jerusalem.
• 1:17
  I like to think of this text using a split screen analogy.
• 1:20
  So picture a massive television screen divided right down the
• 1:24
  middle. OK, I can picture that.
• 1:26
  On 1/2 of the screen you are watching the climax of a cosmic
• 1:29
  rescue mission. You have the eternal Son of God,
• 1:32
  the Word made flesh, demonstrating flawless,
• 1:35
  agonizing obedience to the Father's absolute decree.
• 1:39
  The fate of the elect hangs entirely in the balance of what
• 1:43
  he is doing in the dirt of that garden.
• 1:45
  He is fully awake, fully aware and fully submitting to a
• 1:48
  terrifying reality. And then, you know, you panic
• 1:51
  camera over to the other side of that split screen, right?
• 1:53
  On the other half, you have the supposed heroes of the story.
• 1:56
  You have the inner circle. The best of the best.
• 1:58
  The best of the best. These are the men handpicked by
• 2:01
  the Messiah, and they are entirely, completely unconscious
• 2:05
  on the job. They are asleep.
• 2:06
  It is almost unbelievable. The source material argues that
• 2:09
  this text strips away all human pride.
• 2:12
  By the time we finish this deep dive today, you are going to be
• 2:15
  left looking exclusively to the Savior's grace.
• 2:19
  Yeah, because the supposed strength of humanity is exposed
• 2:22
  as completely bankrupt in this moment.
• 2:25
  Totally bankrupt. What stands out in the research
• 2:28
  is how the physical location itself dictates the theological
• 2:33
  reality of what is happening on that split screen.
• 2:35
  The geography. Yeah, before we can even analyze
• 2:38
  the actions of Christ of the disciples, we have to establish
• 2:41
  where this takes place, because geography acts as theology in
• 2:44
  the Gospel of Matthew. Right, the physical space
• 2:47
  creates the meaning of the event.
• 2:49
  Let us unpack that. They are in Gethsemane, yes?
• 2:52
  And for the listener who might just think of this as like a
• 2:54
  quiet City Park with some nice trees and walking paths, what is
• 2:58
  the actual reality of this location?
• 3:00
  How does the setting work? Well, gets Emini is located at
• 3:02
  the base of the Mount of Olives, just across the Kidron Valley
• 3:05
  from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
• 3:06
  OK, and the name Gethsemane is Aramaic.
• 3:09
  It literally translates to Olive Press.
• 3:11
  Olive Press. Wow.
• 3:13
  Right, and this is not a random incidental detail in the ancient
• 3:17
  world. And Olive Press was a place of
• 3:18
  severe mechanical crushing. It was a violent process.
• 3:22
  Highly violent. To get the oil, you take the
• 3:24
  harvested olives, place them in a massive stone basin, and then
• 3:28
  use immense heavy stone wheels to mercilessly grind the fruit.
• 3:32
  So you are basically obliterating the olive.
• 3:35
  Yeah, the intense, prolonged pressure was the only way to
• 3:39
  extract the valuable oil. It was a destructive process for
• 3:42
  the olive. So the location is a living
• 3:45
  metaphor for what is happening to Jesus.
• 3:47
  Precisely the environment itself is broadcasting the reality of
• 3:51
  the situation. It is a striking typological
• 3:54
  reality. The source material draws a
• 3:56
  direct parallel here. Let's hear it.
• 3:58
  Just as those heavy stone wheels crush the olives to extract
• 4:01
  their oil, the heavy, unyielding stone of God's holy justice was
• 4:05
  beginning to crush the soul of the Son of Man.
• 4:08
  And why? To extract the precious atoning
• 4:11
  blood of the New Covenant. He is in the olive Press of
• 4:14
  Divine. Wrath that is heavy.
• 4:16
  The environment is a physical manifestation of His internal
• 4:19
  spiritual agony. It really is.
• 4:21
  Here's where the historical context gets fascinating, too.
• 4:24
  Because of the timing, you know this is not happening on a
• 4:28
  random Tuesday in the middle of the summer.
• 4:29
  Right, it is Passover. Exactly.
• 4:31
  Well, yes, it is Passover in Jerusalem.
• 4:33
  The city is packed with pilgrims.
• 4:35
  Historians estimate that the population of Jerusalem would
• 4:38
  swell to massive numbers during this festival.
• 4:41
  Hundreds of thousands of people. Yeah, and what are all those
• 4:44
  people doing? They are remembering the blood
• 4:46
  of the lamb in Egypt, right? They are celebrating deliverance
• 4:50
  from judgment, remembering how the Angel of death passed over
• 4:54
  the houses, marched by the blood of the sacrifice.
• 4:57
  The irony is piercing, honestly. Our notes highlight this
• 5:00
  contrast brilliantly. It is such a stark contrast.
• 5:03
  Inside the city walls, the entire population is celebrating
• 5:06
  that the judgment passed over them.
• 5:08
  They're eating the Passover meal, singing songs of
• 5:11
  Deliverance, feeling safe and secure under the historical
• 5:14
  covering of that first exodus. Well outside the walls.
• 5:17
  Yeah, Meanwhile, just outside the city walls across the
• 5:20
  valley, the true Passover lamb is deliberately moving toward
• 5:24
  the very judgement his people deserve.
• 5:26
  Man. He is preparing to shed the
• 5:29
  blood that will secure the ultimate eternal exodus from sin
• 5:33
  and death. The city is feasting on the
• 5:36
  shadow while the reality is agonizing in the dark.
• 5:40
  The atmosphere must have been incredibly tense, like the
• 5:43
  political situation is thick with anxiety.
• 5:46
  Oh, definitely. The religious leaders want Jesus
• 5:48
  dead, but they are terrified of public unrest during the feast.
• 5:52
  With hundreds of thousands of pilgrims in the city, many of
• 5:56
  whom thought Jesus was a prophet or a political Liberator, the
• 5:59
  Pharisees need a quiet, hidden arrest.
• 6:02
  They cannot risk a riot. Right, That requires A nighttime
• 6:05
  betrayal far away from the crowds in the daylight.
• 6:08
  But you know, this brings up a question for me, and maybe you
• 6:10
  were wondering the same thing as you Listen to this Wait, if
• 6:12
  Jesus is the sovereign King, why does this happen in secret at
• 6:15
  night? That is a great question.
• 6:18
  Why not a public high noon showdown in the temple
• 6:20
  courtyard? Why allow this hidden betrayal
• 6:23
  in the dark? It is a phenomenal point.
• 6:25
  It brings us directly to the doctrine of Providence, which is
• 6:28
  a massive theme in our source texts.
• 6:30
  OK, let us dig into that. The notes reference historical
• 6:33
  Protestant confessions here, which state that God from all
• 6:36
  eternity did freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever
• 6:40
  comes to pass. So God is in control of the
• 6:42
  timing. Complete Control God ordains all
• 6:44
  events, including the malicious wicked actions of Judas and the
• 6:48
  religious leaders, to fulfill His saving purpose.
• 6:51
  But without making them sin. That is right, He does this
• 6:55
  without ever offering their sin or forcing their wills.
• 6:57
  So the bad actors are still completely responsible for their
• 7:00
  bad actions. Absolutely.
• 7:02
  The betrayal at night, the secrecy, the treacherous kiss
• 7:05
  from Judas, the cowardice of the religious leaders sneaking
• 7:08
  around in the dark, all of it is the wicked choice of fallen men.
• 7:13
  They are doing what they want to do.
• 7:14
  Yeah, they're acting out of their own sinful desires to
• 7:17
  murder an innocent man, and simultaneously all of it is the
• 7:21
  precise ordained plan of God to deliver the Lamb to the
• 7:24
  slaughter in the exact manner prophesied centuries early.
• 7:27
  It is amazing how that works. God uses the wicked choices of
• 7:30
  men to accomplish His holy decrees.
• 7:32
  So the darkness of the olive press is the precise place he is
• 7:36
  supposed to be, and that imagery of the olive press leads us
• 7:40
  directly to what is being pressed out of Christ, and more
• 7:44
  crucially, what he is being forced to consume.
• 7:46
  The Cup. Right in his prayer, he talks
• 7:49
  about a cup. He asks if the cup can pass from
• 7:52
  him. Yes, the terrifying mathematics
• 7:53
  of the cup. The source material spends a lot
• 7:55
  of time breaking this down. It is a core part of the passage
• 7:59
  when. Jesus falls on his face and
• 8:00
  prays for this cup to pass from him.
• 8:02
  We cannot interpret this through the lens of modern
• 8:06
  sentimentality. He's not talking about a cup of
• 8:08
  physical martyrdom. Right, because if it were just
• 8:11
  physical death, his reaction seems almost disproportionate
• 8:15
  compared to other historical figures.
• 8:16
  That is a very good point. I mean, many early Christians
• 8:19
  face the Roman executioners, the lions and the crosses with
• 8:22
  literal songs on their lips. They were joyful.
• 8:25
  They were singing while dying. Yeah, so Jesus cannot be
• 8:28
  shrinking back from mere physical pain or Roman nails.
• 8:31
  That just does not make sense. That is a critical observation.
• 8:34
  To understand the cup, we have to look at how the metaphor
• 8:37
  functions through the Old Testament.
• 8:39
  OK. What does the Old Testament say?
• 8:41
  In 1st century Jewish theology, deeply rooted in the prophetic
• 8:45
  writings, the cup was a horrifying metaphor for the
• 8:49
  unadulterated wrath of God poured out upon the wicked.
• 8:52
  So it is a cup of wrath. Yes.
• 8:54
  Our notes point to Isaiah chapter 51, where Jerusalem is
• 8:58
  described as having drunk at the hand of the Lord, the cup of his
• 9:01
  wrath, having drunk to the dregs, the bowl, the cup of
• 9:05
  staggering. Wow.
• 9:06
  It is a picture of divine judgement so severe that it
• 9:08
  makes the recipient stumble and fall like a drunkard.
• 9:11
  That is right, and Jeremiah chapter 25 commands, Take from
• 9:15
  my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations
• 9:18
  to whom I send you drink it. So this cup is not about
• 9:21
  physical suffering. No, the cup is filled with
• 9:23
  eternal damnation. It is the unmitigated holy
• 9:26
  hatred of the Father against sin in the Garden that eternal wrath
• 9:30
  is being condensed into a few hours.
• 9:33
  That is heavy. Jesus, possessing perfect
• 9:35
  omniscience in His divine nature, knew the horrific
• 9:38
  reality of the divine wrath awaiting Him.
• 9:41
  He knew every drop. He knew what that cup tasted
• 9:43
  like, and the source text points out something fascinating about
• 9:46
  the specific word Matthew chose in the original Greek.
• 9:51
  He did not just write cup in a generic sense.
• 9:53
  Right. No, the Greek word Matthew
• 9:54
  chooses for cup is Poturian. Poterian.
• 9:57
  Our notes stress the difference between this word and another
• 10:00
  common word for a bowl or cup, which is fiali.
• 10:04
  What is the difference between Potorian and Fiali?
• 10:07
  Well, a fiali was a broad, shallow bowl.
• 10:09
  It was often used in Pagan libations or vague generalized
• 10:13
  offerings where you just sort of splash the liquid around on an
• 10:16
  altar. Like an unmeasured amount.
• 10:17
  Right, just a splash. Yeah, but Potorian denotes a
• 10:20
  specific measured draft. It is a precise volume of
• 10:23
  liquid. Why does that specific measured
• 10:26
  volume matter so much for understanding the cross?
• 10:29
  Because the theological implication is massive, the
• 10:32
  Father handed the Son a calculated, precise measure of
• 10:36
  holy wrath, mathematically equated to the innumerable sins
• 10:39
  of the elect. Wow.
• 10:40
  The wrath was not a generalized, vague anger splashed over the
• 10:43
  world. It was a highly specific,
• 10:45
  targeted judgement. I want to make sure we make this
• 10:47
  crystal clear because the author of our notes argues that this
• 10:51
  changes how you view the entire work of Christ.
• 10:53
  It changes everything. Christ is not dying for a
• 10:55
  theoretical possibility of salvation for all people in
• 10:58
  general. He is drinking a specific cup
• 11:01
  for a specific people. Yes.
• 11:03
  Let me give you an analogy to help visualize this mechanism.
• 11:06
  Imagine an unfathomably massive financial Ledger, like it
• 11:12
  stretches on for miles. Christ is not walking up to the
• 11:15
  bank and paying a generic flat fee to clear general debt,
• 11:18
  hoping some people might take advantage of the payment down
• 11:21
  the road. No, the transaction is far more
• 11:23
  intimate and terrifying than a generic flat fee.
• 11:26
  Right. He is agonizingly reading every
• 11:28
  single line item of every specific sin of his people,
• 11:31
  every lie, every theft, every lustful thought, every moment of
• 11:35
  pride from every single one of the elect throughout all of
• 11:37
  human history. He is overwhelming to think
• 11:39
  about. He is feeling the full weight of
• 11:41
  the precise cost for each one of those specific line items, and
• 11:45
  he is preparing to absorb the exact payment required to clear
• 11:48
  that specific Ledger. That Ledger analogy captures the
• 11:51
  terrifying precision of the atonement perfectly.
• 11:54
  It really makes it personal. It does.
• 11:56
  Under the Old Covenant, on the Day of Atonement, the High
• 11:59
  Priest did not just throw blood generally in the direction of
• 12:02
  the Holy of Holies. Right, it had to be placed
• 12:04
  carefully. The blood was sprinkled
• 12:06
  specifically on the mercy seat to propitiate the wrath of God.
• 12:09
  Jesus understands the exact mathematics of this sacrifice.
• 12:13
  The exact mathematics. Yes, every sin of every elected
• 12:16
  person is about to be imputed to him.
• 12:19
  The Father will treat him as if he had personally committed
• 12:22
  every one of those atrocities. The physical pain is almost
• 12:24
  secondary. Exactly.
• 12:25
  Well, that is spot on. The historical reality of the
• 12:28
  Roman cross is horrific. The scourging, the nails, the
• 12:32
  asphyxiation. But all of that physical trauma
• 12:35
  pales in comparison to the spiritual reality of bearing
• 12:38
  that specific, measured cup of divine hatred against sin.
• 12:42
  Knowing the horrifying specific mathematics of this cup, we have
• 12:46
  to look at how Christ responds. This brings us to the core of
• 12:50
  His active obedience. Yes, his reaction in the garden.
• 12:53
  The physical environment is crumbling him, the psychological
• 12:56
  anticipation of the cup is overwhelming him, and we see his
• 13:00
  response and his prayer. We see the absolute apex of
• 13:03
  submission. He falls on his face.
• 13:04
  That posture alone says so much. It does.
• 13:07
  That is a physical posture of absolute crushing a basement.
• 13:11
  And he says, my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from
• 13:16
  me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but
• 13:19
  as you will. Now I have to stop you there and
• 13:21
  ask a question that I think trips a lot of people up.
• 13:23
  Go ahead. I remember wrestling with this
• 13:25
  myself. Honestly, does Christ asking to
• 13:28
  let this cut pass suggest he had a moment of rebellion?
• 13:32
  Did he have second thoughts about the plan?
• 13:34
  It is a really common question. Because if He is God and He knew
• 13:37
  the plan from eternity past, why is He asking for a way out?
• 13:41
  That question gets to the heart of how the early Church had to
• 13:44
  define the nature of Christ. Our notes explained that this
• 13:47
  text guards US against some very old misunderstandings.
• 13:50
  OK, historically, orthodox Christianity holds to a concept
• 13:53
  that Christ possesses 2 distinct wills. 2 wills.
• 13:56
  Yes. It is called Diothelatism.
• 13:59
  He has a divine will which he shares eternally with the Father
• 14:02
  and the Spirit, and he has a true, complete human will.
• 14:06
  OK, so he has a divine will and a human will.
• 14:09
  Does that mean he was internally conflicted?
• 14:12
  People often assume that. Like are the two wills fighting
• 14:14
  against each other like two people arguing in a car about
• 14:17
  which direction to drive? Not at all.
• 14:19
  There is no discord within the Incarnate Sun.
• 14:21
  His request to let the cup pass demonstrates his true sinless
• 14:26
  humanity. How so?
• 14:28
  Think about the mechanics of human nature.
• 14:30
  An aversion to bearing sin, a revulsion of the thought of
• 14:34
  facing a curse and being separated from the favorable
• 14:36
  presence of the Father. That is the morally pure
• 14:39
  response of a perfectly holy human being.
• 14:41
  Right, because it his human nature was eager to become sin.
• 14:44
  That would be a flaw. That would mean he loved the
• 14:47
  idea of being cursed by God. That is right.
• 14:49
  A perfectly righteous human will must recoil the prospect of
• 14:52
  taking on wickedness. The perfection of His obedience
• 14:55
  is found in the word nevertheless.
• 14:57
  Nevertheless, not as I will. Yes, his human will naturally
• 15:01
  and sinlessly recoiled from the abyss of hell.
• 15:04
  He felt the legitimate human terror of the cup.
• 15:07
  Yet he perfectly voluntarily submitted that human will to the
• 15:12
  divine decree. The source material draws a
• 15:15
  brilliant contrast here using the lens of the two gardens.
• 15:18
  Yes, Eden and Gethsemane. You have the first Adam in the
• 15:21
  first garden and the second Adam in the second garden.
• 15:24
  In Eden, the first Adam is surrounded by lush paradise.
• 15:28
  He lacks absolutely nothing. He had everything he could ever
• 15:31
  need. He is completely comfortable,
• 15:33
  completely safe, and enjoys unbroken fellowship with his
• 15:37
  Creator. And what does the first Adam say
• 15:39
  to God? He essentially says, not thy
• 15:41
  will, but mine be done. He reaches for the fruit.
• 15:43
  He reaches for the fruit, and by asserting his own rebellious
• 15:46
  will, he brings a cosmic ruin, Death, and told depravity upon
• 15:50
  the entire human race. And then the narrative forces
• 15:52
  you to look at the second garden, Gethsemane.
• 15:54
  Right. And then Gethsemane, the second
• 15:56
  atom, is in the exact opposite environment.
• 15:58
  He is surrounded by darkness, isolation, and the terrifying
• 16:01
  prospect of impending wrath. He's sweating drops of blood
• 16:05
  under the stress. And in that environment of
• 16:07
  supreme agony, he says, not as I will, but as you will.
• 16:13
  Where the first Adam failed in paradise and destroyed humanity,
• 16:16
  the second Adam succeeds in the olive press and secures
• 16:19
  righteousness for his people. That obedience in the garden is
• 16:23
  the bedrock for everything that happens on the cross.
• 16:25
  It sets the stage for Friday. Our notes highlight that his
• 16:30
  willingness to suffer physical torture and the outpouring of
• 16:33
  wrath on Friday is only effective because it is grounded
• 16:36
  in the perfect act of obedience demonstrated Thursday night in
• 16:39
  the Garden. He had to submit first.
• 16:41
  He aligned his human will entirely with the eternal decree
• 16:46
  of the Triune Godhead. So while the second Adam is
• 16:48
  actively securing salvation, sweating blood, and wrestling
• 16:51
  with the terrifying reality of God's wrath, we have to go back
• 16:55
  to our split screen analogy. Right, let us pan the camera
• 16:57
  back we need. To pan the camera back over to
• 16:59
  the other side of the scene, we need to look at what the
• 17:01
  absolute best of fallen humanity is doing at this exact moment.
• 17:05
  They are completely unconscious, the text tells us.
• 17:08
  Jesus returns to his disciples and finds them sleeping.
• 17:11
  It is the ultimate tragedy of the inner circle, Peter, James
• 17:15
  and John. The three closest to him.
• 17:17
  Our source notes emphasize the massive literary contrast
• 17:20
  Matthew sets up here, just versus Pryor.
• 17:23
  During the Last Supper, Jesus tells all the disciples that
• 17:26
  they will scatter and abandoned him.
• 17:28
  And how did Peter respond? Peter, puffing out his chest,
• 17:32
  boasts. Though they all fall away
• 17:34
  because of you, I will never fall away.
• 17:36
  Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you.
• 17:39
  And all the disciples echoed that same self confident
• 17:42
  sentiment. They really thought they could
• 17:44
  handle. It they were entirely certain of
• 17:46
  their own inherent capacity for loyalty, they believe their
• 17:49
  internal willpower was strong enough to face down execution.
• 17:53
  And now, just a few hours later, Peter cannot stay awake for a
• 17:56
  single hour. He claimed he could handle a
• 17:58
  Roman execution, but he cannot handle missing a nap.
• 18:01
  The irony is heavy. It is so heavy.
• 18:04
  Jesus finds him sleeping and asked Peter a very specific
• 18:07
  question. He says So could you not watch
• 18:09
  with me one hour? Could you not?
• 18:11
  The notes breakdown the Greek verb used for could.
• 18:14
  In that sentence it is the word ish.
• 18:17
  Is she? What does that mean?
• 18:19
  It is a word that means to possess inherent strength,
• 18:23
  might, or innate ability to accomplish a task.
• 18:26
  Oh, so Jesus is not just asking, hey, why didn't you do this?
• 18:28
  He is making a point about their internal capacity.
• 18:31
  Yes, he is exposing their absolute lack of internal
• 18:35
  ability. Their failure proves they
• 18:38
  possessed 0 inherent spiritual capacity to persevere when
• 18:43
  relying on themselves. It makes me think of an analogy.
• 18:46
  Imagine a novice marathon runner bragging to everyone that they
• 18:49
  are going to win the race. OK, I have met people like that.
• 18:52
  Right, but they refuse to train, they refuse to drink any water,
• 18:56
  and they completely rely on their own natural, untrained
• 18:58
  athleticism. Will not end well.
• 19:00
  And then they pass out from exhaustion while tying their
• 19:03
  shoes at the starting line. Their willing spirit is just a
• 19:06
  sincere intention trapped inside a completely incapable vehicle.
• 19:11
  That is a brutally accurate illustration of what is
• 19:13
  happening in the garden, and Christ gives the theological
• 19:16
  diagnosis for why that vehicle's incapable.
• 19:18
  What does he tell them? He says the Spirit indeed is
• 19:22
  willing, but the flesh is weak. We need to define that word
• 19:26
  flesh. Because it does not just mean
• 19:28
  skin and bones. Right.
• 19:29
  In ancient literature, the Greek word sarks often simply denoted
• 19:33
  physical meat, skin, or muscle tissue.
• 19:35
  But under the direction of the Holy Spirit, the biblical
• 19:38
  authors elevate this term to denote the corrupted, fallen,
• 19:42
  rebellious nature inherited from our first Father, Adam.
• 19:46
  So he isn't just saying you guys had a big dinner, the Passover
• 19:49
  lamb was heavy and your eyelids are drooping.
• 19:52
  Not at all. When Christ declares the flesh
• 19:54
  is weak, he means it is morally paralyzed.
• 19:57
  The word implies being destitute of spiritual capability.
• 20:00
  It cannot do anything good. It cannot produce anything
• 20:03
  pleasing to God on its own. Our notes argue that this scene
• 20:06
  permanently dismantles the idea of human free will or inherent
• 20:10
  merit. It shatters it.
• 20:11
  The best of the best. The men who walked on water.
• 20:14
  The men who saw the transfiguration on the mountain
• 20:16
  had zero spiritual capacity when relying on their own fallen
• 20:20
  nature. If the flesh is entirely
• 20:21
  bankrupt and incapable, how are the disciples supposed to
• 20:24
  survive the encroaching darkness?
• 20:26
  That is the big question. And taking it a step further,
• 20:29
  how are you, the listener, supposed to survive the
• 20:32
  temptations in your own life? If my flesh is as weak as
• 20:35
  Peter's, what am I supposed to do?
• 20:38
  Christ provides A strict prescription right there in the
• 20:41
  garden. He provides the indispensable
• 20:44
  weapons for spiritual warfare. The twin commands.
• 20:47
  Yes, he gives the twin commands to watch and pray.
• 20:51
  Let us break down the grammar there because the source
• 20:53
  material makes a point that this is not just a casual suggestion.
• 20:56
  No, it is not. It is not Jesus saying try to
• 20:59
  keep your eyes open and shoot up a quick prayer.
• 21:01
  Far from it. These are present active
• 21:03
  imperatives in Greek, Probrite and Prosuchus.
• 21:08
  Meaning they are commands. Commands requiring continuous,
• 21:11
  ongoing, habitual action. Jesus is commanding an
• 21:14
  unceasing, relentless posture. So, watchfulness and prayer.
• 21:17
  What does watchfulness actually entail?
• 21:19
  Watchfulness means keeping your eyes open to the reality of the
• 21:22
  danger around you. It means being so really aware
• 21:25
  of your surroundings and your own.
• 21:27
  Weaknesses. But watchfulness alone is not
• 21:29
  enough. Right prayer is the vocalized
• 21:32
  confession that seeing the danger is insufficient, you
• 21:35
  desperately need divine assistance to survive it.
• 21:38
  Let me push back on that, or at least ask the question I think a
• 21:41
  lot of people wonder when they hear this.
• 21:42
  First, sure, Jesus says watch and pray that you may not enter
• 21:45
  into temptation. Is Jesus guaranteeing that if we
• 21:49
  pray hard enough we will never face trials?
• 21:52
  Will life just be smooth sailing if I follow these two commands?
• 21:55
  That is a crucial distinction made in the research.
• 21:58
  We have a look at the purpose clause.
• 21:59
  OK, let us look at it. The commands are connected by
• 22:01
  the conjunction hyna meaning in order that to the phrase that
• 22:06
  you may not enter into temptation.
• 22:08
  Enter into temptation. Yes, Perezman, Scripture plainly
• 22:11
  teaches that believers will face trials.
• 22:14
  The fire will come. Hard times are guaranteed in the
• 22:17
  fallen world. So we cannot pray away trials,
• 22:19
  no. The difference Jesus highlights
• 22:22
  is between facing a trial and entering into temptation.
• 22:25
  To enter into it means to be overwhelmed by it, captured by
• 22:28
  it, and conquered by it. So entering temptation is like
• 22:31
  stepping into an animal trap that snaps closed around your
• 22:34
  leg. Precisely.
• 22:36
  Jesus isn't promising a life free from assault.
• 22:39
  He is saying that prayer is the confession, that watchfulness
• 22:41
  alone is insufficient. Because you can see the trap.
• 22:44
  You can see the trap clearly, you can know it is there, but
• 22:47
  because your flesh is inherently weak and drawn to the bait, you
• 22:51
  might still walk right into it, unless you have intervening
• 22:54
  divine help pulling you back. Wow, that makes a lot of sense.
• 22:57
  Watchfulness without prayer becomes anxious self management.
• 23:02
  You're just nervously trying to control your own behavior.
• 23:04
  And prayer without watchfulness. Prayer without watchfulness
• 23:07
  becomes pious passivity. You're just asking God to do
• 23:10
  everything while you walk blindly through a minefield.
• 23:13
  Jesus binds them together as the only posture for survival.
• 23:17
  This brings us to a massively consequential application.
• 23:20
  From our notes, the stark reality of human weakness and
• 23:23
  the absolute necessity of agonizing prayer stands in
• 23:26
  direct, aggressive contrast to how modern religion operates
• 23:30
  today. It really does.
• 23:32
  The author of our source material argues that if we take
• 23:34
  Gethsemane seriously, it starts smashing some of the most
• 23:37
  popular idols of the current religious landscape.
• 23:40
  The author makes a very forceful case here.
• 23:43
  They argue that this text utterly refutes synergism.
• 23:46
  Synergism. Let us define that for the
• 23:48
  listener. Synergism is the theological
• 23:50
  concept found in systems like Arminianism and Roman
• 23:53
  Catholicism, which claim man cooperates in his own salvation.
• 23:57
  Are working together with God. Right.
• 23:59
  Rome teaches a system of cooperative grace where man must
• 24:03
  assist in his justification through human merit.
• 24:07
  Arminianism claims fallen man retains enough free will to
• 24:10
  inherently choose righteousness and cooperate with God's grace.
• 24:14
  But the author points right back to the split screen in the
• 24:17
  garden, yes. Back to the sleeping disciples.
• 24:19
  If Peter, the lead apostle, could not stay awake for 60
• 24:22
  minutes in the physical presence of the agonizing Savior, the
• 24:26
  idea that fallen man can cooperate in the monumental work
• 24:29
  of his own eternal salvation is impossible.
• 24:31
  It is absurd. The source argues that salvation
• 24:34
  has to be monarchistic. God must do the entirety of the
• 24:37
  saving work from start to finish because the flesh is completely
• 24:40
  paralyzed and asleep on the job. That is the the author's primary
• 24:43
  theological deduction from the disciples failure.
• 24:46
  Furthermore, the notes argue, this passage forcefully refutes
• 24:50
  mysticism. Mysticism.
• 24:52
  Yes, mysticism is the pursuit of an inner light or a subjective
• 24:56
  emotional high. It tells people to look inward
• 24:59
  to find God. But the author asks, what did
• 25:02
  looking inward produce for the disciples?
• 25:05
  It produced slumber. It produced failure.
• 25:08
  Christ directs his disciples away from their internal
• 25:11
  feelings to objective external prayer, grounded in the concrete
• 25:15
  reality of the impending cross and the external enemy of
• 25:18
  temptation. I think the sharpest critique in
• 25:20
  the notes is aimed directly at modern evangelicalism.
• 25:23
  Oh, without a doubt. We are talking about the seeker
• 25:25
  sensitive movements, the models of church that rely on carnal
• 25:28
  pragmatism. Catering to the flesh.
• 25:30
  Exactly. Well, yes.
• 25:31
  They try to manufacture spiritual results using the
• 25:33
  tools of the flesh. Entertainment, massive light
• 25:36
  shows, concert atmospheres, smoke machines.
• 25:38
  They want to make the flesh comfortable.
• 25:40
  The author issues a devastating indictment of this approach.
• 25:43
  Modern churches build their entire operational structure
• 25:46
  around keeping the flesh entertained.
• 25:48
  And what does the data say? The notes point out a
• 25:51
  statistical reality. If you call a corporate prayer
• 25:54
  meeting in a typical Western church, you will likely see less
• 25:59
  than 5% of the congregation attend.
• 26:02
  Less than 5%. That is heartbreaking.
• 26:05
  We schedule massive events, but we cancel prayer.
• 26:08
  The author argues that we are relying on the exact flesh that
• 26:12
  Jesus diagnosed as fundamentally weak.
• 26:14
  It makes me think of another analogy.
• 26:16
  The modern church operates like a luxury cruise ship.
• 26:19
  A luxury cruise ship. Yeah, the entire focus of the
• 26:22
  crew is on keeping the passengers entertained.
• 26:25
  They are making sure the buffet is fully stocked, the pool water
• 26:28
  is warm and the music is upbeat. Everyone is relaxed.
• 26:31
  Everyone is comfortable. The reality of Gethsemane
• 26:33
  demands we operate like a battleship.
• 26:36
  We are in an active war zone, right?
• 26:38
  Every sailor should be at their station, desperately radioing
• 26:41
  command for coordinates and air support because the enemy is
• 26:44
  literally at the gates. You do not take a nap on a
• 26:47
  battleship when the torpedoes are in the water.
• 26:49
  That visual captures the urgency of the author's point perfectly.
• 26:53
  To neglect prayer is an act of supreme arrogance.
• 26:57
  Arrogance. Yes, it is a functional
• 26:59
  declaration that you believe your flesh is strong enough to
• 27:02
  survive the assaults of the world, the flesh and the devil
• 27:05
  without any divine aid. Which we just learned from
• 27:08
  Peter, is a lie. The garden scene demands that
• 27:11
  believers abandoned frivolous, entertainment driven pragmatism
• 27:15
  and return to the agonizing holy work of intercession.
• 27:19
  So as we wrap up this deep dive into the source material, where
• 27:23
  does this leave us? We have seen the cosmic
• 27:26
  obedience of the Sun in the olive press, we have seen the
• 27:29
  miserable failure of the disciples, and we have heard the
• 27:32
  command to watch and pray. The notes conclude with a
• 27:35
  summary of absolute dependence. Even as we strive to obey the
• 27:39
  command to watch and pray, our confidence can never reside in
• 27:42
  our own vigilance. Because our vigilance will fail.
• 27:45
  Our vigilance will inevitably falter.
• 27:47
  Our flesh will fail, just like Peters did.
• 27:49
  If our salvation depended on our ability to perfectly stay awake
• 27:53
  and pray, we would all be lost. Thank God it does not.
• 27:56
  Right. Our hope rests entirely,
• 27:59
  exclusively, and forever in the flawless obedience of the one
• 28:02
  who stayed awake. The great High Priest.
• 28:04
  Our hope is in the great High Priest who submitted his human
• 28:08
  will perfectly to the Father, who drank the specific measured
• 28:12
  cup of wrath down to the dregs, and who secured redemption when
• 28:16
  we could do absolutely nothing to assist Him.
• 28:19
  I want to leave you with a final thought to Mull over as you go
• 28:23
  about your week. It is a thought that builds on
• 28:25
  everything we have discussed today.
• 28:26
  OK, let's hear it. The disciples failed
• 28:29
  spectacularly in the garden. They collapsed under the weight
• 28:32
  of their own weak flesh. Yet Jesus still went to the
• 28:35
  cross for them just a few hours later.
• 28:38
  He did not abandon them. No, He didn't.
• 28:40
  When you face your own catastrophic failures in your
• 28:43
  private Gethsemane moments, when your flesh wins, when your
• 28:46
  vigilance drops, when you sin grievously, consider this
• 28:49
  reality. Christ's perfect obedience has
• 28:51
  already absorbed the exact failure you're experiencing
• 28:54
  right now. He drank the cup for that
• 28:57
  specific failure. He really did.
• 28:59
  How should that truth alter the way you approach him in
• 29:01
  repentance tomorrow morning?