The Trial Before the Trials

About this sermon

Introduction: We come today to one of the most profound scenes in the entire Bible. What we witness in this scene is the most intense testing and the most intense suffering that Jesus ever endured, other than the cross. More intense, even, than the trials that He will soon endure on this night, and the beatings and mocking associated with those trials. What makes this suffering mysterious and profound — what should make us bow our heads in reverence — is that this battle is one absolutely unique to Christ Himself. No one else has ever faced this temptation. No one else was ever qualified to face it, nor engaged in the work necessary to face it. There’s only one Savior. There’s only one eternal Son who became man to save us from our sins. It is a battle unique to the one who is on His way to serve as our sin sacrifice. ESV 2 Corinthians 5:21 aFor our sake he made him to be sin bwho knew no sin, so that in him we might become cthe righteousness of God. And so, it is a battle greater than our capacity to understand. Christ will soon suffer many things in a way that will be visible to all, understandable to all. He’ll have to endure a series of trials. Trials before the Jews. Trials before the Romans. Trials before men who were wicked, cruel, insincere, murderously self-serving, cowardly, and unbelieving. But before He endures THOSE trials. Before He suffers at the hands of men, He suffers THIS trial all alone. Something we must do if we are to rightly approach a passage like this one, is to discipline ourselves to confine ourselves to what the narrative tells us. Even many faithful Bible teachers, in my view, have speculated far too much when dealing with Christ’s agony in Gethsemane. It is not our task to preach this passage in a way that makes it profound. It is our task to recognize that is ALREADY PROFOUND. We’ll never completely discern all the inner struggle of Christ. We’ll never be able to adequately analyze what was happening with Jesus’ body medically. Nor was the passage given to us for that reason. Even the battle that Jesus had with the powers of darkness in this garden is something we can know only in a general way, because unlike His temptation in the wilderness, we aren’t given insight beyond the knowledge that Christ mentions the power of darkness and warns His men about temptation. ESV Luke 22:52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests and aofficers of the temple and elders, who had come out against him, "Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? 53 When aI was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is byour hour, and cthe power of darkness." Luke 22:40 And when He arrived at the place, He said to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation." ESV Luke 22:46 and he said to them, "Why are you sleeping? Rise and apray that you may not enter into temptation." So, our task is not to try to understand what the passage doesn’t address. Our task is to take what God has revealed and drink in what is unmistakable in this passage. We will look at it under two headings. (1) The Details of Christ’s Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane (2) Eight Words That Describe This Scene of Agony. THE DETAILS OF CHRIST’S AGONY IN THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE Before we look at the details, we at least want to consider why we have them. Why did God see fit to give us what was a very private moment in the life of Christ? This is his own personal struggle. This is an agony that took place in His own human soul. Only three disciples would have witnessed it. That, in itself, is noteworthy. Peter, James, and John were witness to Christ’s glory when He was transfigured, and now they are witness to His agony in the garden. The Holy Spirit could have simply told us that Jesus and His men went to the garden as was their custom, and then taken us immediately to Judas’ betrayal. But He didn’t. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record this great struggle. It is significant.

Topics

• Suffering & Trials