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Muskegon SDA Church

Jason Sliger

Gethsemane

Our study this morning is entitled Crisis at the Close, Gethsemane.

And we started this study together last week where we began to make the comparisons and the contrasts between the closing scenes of the life of Christ and the closing scenes that you and I are about to go through in the crisis at the close.

And as we look at what it was that Jesus did in those last 48 hours of his life, We will there learn the life lessons that will sustain us when the hour of crisis comes in our life.

So as we continue the narrative, last week we looked at the time when Jesus spent with the disciples in the upper room and also before that time in the upper room, when Jesus warned the disciples repeatedly that this hour of crisis was going to come, that he was gonna be betrayed and given into the hands of sinners, that he was going to die.

But as we found, in each 1 of those occasions when Jesus warned them about this crisis to come, He also gave them the promise that He would what?

On the third day that he would rise again.

And we found that as we looked at that particular admonition that Jesus gave to his disciples, that it largely went unheeded, that they didn't hear what Jesus was saying and their lives were not changed.

And when that hour of crisis came into their lives, they were wholly unprepared.

Now, as we continue the narrative, this morning we're going into the next scene, if you will, and we're gonna go with Jesus and the disciples as they enter into the Garden of Gethsemane and find out what lessons we can learn there.

But before we jump into that, I wanna kind of again give you this broad context of what we are looking at.

Revelation 14, verse 4, we read this in our scripture reading.

This is talking about the 144, 000, those who are alive on earth, right before Jesus comes back to take us home, the Bible tells us a key characteristic of them that they follow the Lamb, what's the word there?

They follow the Lamb withersoever He goes.

Wherever the Lamb leads them, the 144, 000 follow.

They don't follow the Lamb only in the times of good, but they also follow him in the times of distress and trial and difficulty.

They follow the Lamb wherever the Lamb leads them to go, because where the Lamb is, is safety, where the Lamb is, is protection, where the Lamb is, is going to be life eternal.

And as they continue to follow the Lamb wherever He goes, They will naturally follow the Lamb into the kingdom of heaven 1 day is where we're all wanting to be.

Now, notice this statement here from the Review and Herald, April 12th of 1898.

It says, We need not wait till we are translated to follow Christ.

We don't have to wait until we get to the kingdom of heaven to follow Christ, but it goes on and it says, God's people may do this where?

We shall follow the Lamb of God in the courts above only if we what?

Follow Him here, down here on this earth.

So we're given the privilege to not just follow Jesus in the kingdom of heaven.

It'd be great to be able to follow Jesus wherever he leads us to go and we have that to look forward to.

But when we are here on this earth before we go to the kingdom of heaven, we are also given that privilege to be able to follow Jesus and his example that he gives to us.

Now as we go into this time together this morning, I'm gonna ask that you be prayerful about what the Lord would have you to take from our study together this morning.

As we left Jesus and the disciples, they were there in the upper room in our last study together.

And as we look at the Bible in Luke 22 and verse 24, you don't have to turn there, you can just jot it down.

As we look at that passage there, the Bible tells us that as Jesus and the disciples were in the upper room, there were just a couple of hours before the Garden of Gethsemane.

The Bible tells us that they were busy arguing amongst themselves who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

As this hour of crisis was closing in upon them, They were self-reflective.

They were thinking about themselves and how they could achieve a higher position in the earthly kingdom that they thought Jesus was going to set up.

And as they entered into that hour of crisis with a selfish heart, they were completely unprepared.

And the comparison or the application could not be any clearer.

Today we live in a time in Earth's history where selfishness abounds.

Selfishness abounds and in the world, it's almost become natural to think about yourself before others.

And as we find the Bible is in complete contradiction to that concept and unfortunately, it has filtered its way down into the church of God where even people in God's church think that they ought to think about themselves before they think about their fellow brothers and sisters.

And this is not going to prepare us for the crisis at the close.

If we are so concerned about ourselves, we will be found unprepared when that crisis comes.

According to Bible prophecy, which we just read in Revelation 14, verse 4, that when Jesus comes, there will be a group who follows the Lamb wherever he goes.

The question this morning is, am I going to be part of that group?

That's the question we have to ask ourselves.

It's not whether or not that group is going to exist.

That group is going to exist, but the question is, am I going to be part of that group?

That group is going to exist, but the question is am I going to be part of that group?

And the good news this morning is that God is giving you that invitation to follow His Son wherever He leads you to go.

And He is giving you the invitation to be part of this group that follows the Lamb wherever He goes.

I wanna accept that invitation this morning.

So turn with me in your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew chapter 26, and let's continue this story and draw some parallels and applications out of it in our life today.

Matthew 26, verse 36 through 46, is where we're gonna be spending our time together.

The Bible says this, then cometh Jesus with them, that is the disciples, unto the place called Gethsemane.

And he said unto his disciples, sit ye here while I go yonder and pray.

And he took with him Peter and the 2 sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.

And he said unto them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.

And he went a little further and he fell on his face and he prayed saying, oh my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.

Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.

And he cometh unto his disciples, and he findeth them asleep.

And he said unto Peter, what, could you not watch with me 1 hour?

Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation.

The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

And he went away again the second time and prayed saying, Oh my father, if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, thy will be done.

And he came and he found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.

And he left them, and he went away again, and he prayed the third time, saying the same words.

Then cometh he unto his 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.

Behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.

This was about the hours of, between the hours of 09:00 and midnight on Thursday evening.

It was probably a cool night as Jesus entered into the garden place that he had frequented many times.

And as he had those encounters with his father in the Garden of Gethsemane, in this dark hour, he yearned to be in that place where he had had those conversations with his father before.

And as he enters into the garden, the Bible tells us that he tells his disciples to stay there at the entrance to the garden and he takes Peter, James, and John together with him and he goes a little further.

And as he goes into that garden, he asks those 3 disciples of his to watch and pray.

And then he goes and he falls down and he prays to his heavenly father, as we see here, asking that the cup may pass from him that he may not drink it.

Now it's interesting to me that Jesus appeals to his disciples in verse 41, and he tells them why they should be watching and praying.

He says, Watch and pray that you enter not into what?

Do we live in a time in earth's history where temptations abound?

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Gethsemane

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