All Things Are Possible

Mark chapter 14.

Mark 14 · chapter mention

Are you uh have you got your Bibles open?

Let me explain to you what we're gonna be doing here in the next few weeks.

This is going to be uh bear with me one second.

We're using a new deal here.

Uh this is going to be our opportunity to worship together.

And I think, yeah, we're trying out some new stuff here.

So, all right, Mark chapter 14.

Mark 14 · chapter mention

What I really want us to get out of this series is a appreciation for the work that God did on the cross.

Specifically, between now and Easter, we're going to be looking at the work of the cross that Jesus did for you and I.

And out of that, my hope for you is that it drives you to a place of incredibly intense worship.

Because we're going to be looking at the cross in such an intricate detail, such a um uh a rich, um, thirst-quenching textual approach that my desire is that you see why it is that Jesus did what he did and what it means for you and I today.

I was thinking this past week that you and I spend a lot of time governing our life and being guided by little icons, uh, trademarks, logos, signs, like our entire world is governed by this.

You control your computer by icons or your tablet by icons.

You uh go shopping and you're looking for logos or brand labels.

And then whenever you're out on the road, like you don't you don't even have to read the word stop on the sign.

You can tell by the shape of the thing what it's telling you to do.

Now, that tells us something about how you and I think that we are masters at taking complex ideas and boiling them down to one single symbol.

Uh a half, a partially bitten apple tells you something.

Uh the uh mermaid's face on a green background tells you something.

A swoosh, right, tells you something, and you know the brand and the identity.

Now, whenever God selected something to image the work that he's doing in creation, he could have chosen anything.

I mean, when God picked a logo for the work that he was doing, his options were infinite because he's sovereign.

And so he could have picked the ichthys, the ancient sign of a fish, to image what you and I are called to do as being fishers of men.

He could have picked the empty tomb.

I mean, after all, the resurrection was a huge defining part of what it meant to be a Christian in the early church.

They talked about the resurrection of Jesus all the time.

I mean, an empty tomb would have made a fine image, but those are not the images God chose.

The image that God chose was the image of a cross.

Now, again, you have to understand that when a business person chooses a logo and or an image, they are limited by what images someone else is already using or what their artist can come up with.

God, by contrast, is not limited at all.

God is sovereign.

And there is, like if you get nothing else out of this morning, I really hope that you and I come to a place where we appreciate the truth that is the power and majesty and sovereignty of God, because He can do anything.

Now, here later this year, some of you are going to be planning vacations.

And your plans are some of you, anyways, like are going to be pretty broad.

Like you can, you know, you can go to Virginia Beach, you can go to Galveston if you want to drive that far, you can go to Charleston, you could go to Myrtle Beach if you're, you know, if you're really desperate, right?

You can you can do a lot of different things, but the one thing that limits you for where you go is your resources.

I mean, like there are some places when I start to plan out our year and you know what trip I'm gonna take Kim on after I get in trouble and like where we're gonna go, like there are some places I'm not going to look.

And the reason I'm not going to look there, the reason I'm not going to make those plans is because I have limitations.

Our limitations drive our decisions.

God is not limited by anything.

He could have set the world in order any way that he chose to.

But because of love and free will, which we've already talked about, you and I exist in a world where because of the choices we have made, God has sovereignly made his own choices to be involved with you and I.

Now, that that's huge.

Because he didn't have to do that.

God could have just left us in the mess that he found us in.

You ever wanted to do that to somebody?

Like, you know, they they made their bed, now they're gonna lie in it.

They've made their choices, they need to suffer the consequences of that.

I'm so grateful that God did not allow me, does not, does not force me to endure the consequences that I deserve.

Instead, he chooses to live with me, he chooses to work with me, he chooses to walk with me because he chooses to walk with sinners.

Now, in Mark chapter 14, this is exactly what Jesus is doing.

Mark 14 · chapter mention

Jesus is walking with sinners, and he's on his way to a place called Gethsemane, and he is there by his choice.

It's where he wants to be.

He is sovereign.

And so he chooses to walk with these guys to a place called Gethsemane.

Look with me down at verse number 32.

Mark tells us that they went to a place called Gethsemane.

Now, Gethsemane, you're aware, was the olive press for Jerusalem.

The name literally means the olive press.

It's the place where a several large round stones were placed on the ground, and then a heavy, another large round stone was placed on top of it like a wheel, and it would be rolled across the foundation stone over and over and over again as it pressed every single drop of moisture out of the olives.

That is a perfect scene for what is about to happen here.

Jesus takes his disciples there and he says to them, I want you to sit here for a while while I'll go pray.

Now that tells us something about the need for us to connect to God during difficult times.

Jesus had a better handle on life than we do.

And yet in his dark hour, where does he go?

He goes to a quiet place and there communes with his father.

Can I just pause and ask you, where is that place for you?

Where do you go to where there's no noise, where there's no racket, there's nothing to doom scroll, there's right, that there's no one calling your name, there's no one pressing for your time.

It's just you and the moment that you need to spend with the Father.

I'm telling you, if Jesus did it, then you and I also need to do it.

And whenever he gets there, we're told by the gospel writers, not just Mark, but also Matthew and Luke, that he takes, he takes some of the disciples in close to the garden.

And eventually he leaves eight of them behind.

If you watch the latest episode of the chosen, this is the scene where Jesus walks them to the edge of the garden and he tells them to wait, but then he looks at Peter and James and John and he says, You come with me.

And he takes them in with him, and he began, we're told to be greatly distressed and troubled.

Now, so the author is describing what's happening here.

And as he does, I I thought to myself this week, if this were me, I would do my best not to show you my distress and my great trouble.

Like if you catch me on a Sunday morning, and like if you if you know me well enough, you may know, like, okay, he's disheveled, like he's got problems and he's distressed.

But if you ask me how I'm doing, do you know what I'm gonna do?

I'm gonna lie.

Just like you.

I'm gonna look you dead in the eye and I'm gonna tell you, I'm great, I'm ready to go this morning.

In the back of my mind, I'm thinking to myself, if if the presentation software doesn't work this morning, I'm gonna throw something.

Like that's what's going on in the back of my mind.

Because I don't want you to know, I don't want anyone to see me sweat.

Now, if anybody could hide the trouble in their heart, Jesus could do it.

But he didn't.

Mark could tell, and what of course Mark's writing from Peter's vantage point, and Peter could tell that Jesus was troubled.

He was he was struggling.

And he we know that because he goes into the garden, and as he goes in, he says to his disciples, My soul is very sorrowful, even to the point of death.

Remain here and watch for a while.

Now, let me ask you for a second, why is it that Jesus felt the need to say this to his disciples?

I mean, after all, he has been speaking to them for some time about the cross, about his work, the fact that he is going to have to go to Jerusalem and there be turned over to the hands of sinful men and to be crucified.

And we know, right, that that's where our redemption takes place when he dies for our sins.

This conversation right here is not necessary.

Like, he didn't have to do this, he didn't have to be so vulnerable, so transparent.

Why is he revealing this to his disciples?

I promise you, the rabbis of this day were not accustomed to looking to their students, looking at their students and say, I'm worried about this, I'm concerned, my soul is very heavy.

I love this about the God that we serve.

He isn't some distant, unknowable dictator from above, even though he is sovereign, he has come down to you and I and made himself transparent and walked with us through the most difficult parts of life, even until the point of death.

That's what Paul tells us.

This is what the emptying is that Jesus, though he was equal with God, did not think equality with God was something to be clutched.

He let it go, made himself lower than the angels, became like a man, and not just any man, but a servant, and not just a servant, but one that was obedient to the point of death.

And then Paul says, This is the mind that needs to be in you.

This is Jesus, this is the God that we serve, this incredible moment of transparency that he sovereignly allowed you and I to look into.

Now look at verse 35.

After saying this, he goes in a little further and fell on the ground and prayed.

And here, look what Mark does is he gives us the summary of Jesus' prayer.

He prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.

And then in verse number 36, we hear the prayer.

Let me just pause here for a second.

Make sure we're on the same page.

My uh father is with us this morning, uh, with uh um his beautiful, lovely wife.

What a blessing uh she is, and and then my my sister and uh if you know dad, man, I love my dad.

I admire him in so many ways.

Uh, he and I had many conversations growing up, and I would talk to him and ask him questions, and he would come to me and give me guidance even whenever I did not ask.

I I will tell you, though, that I would not want you to know about all of those conversations.

I mean, there are some conversations that I've had with my father that I would not want to share with you.

Conversations that we have with our parents are often intimate and private.

Another form of conversation that's often intimate and quiet are our prayers.

I mean, I would not want for a single moment for God to take my prayers over the last three or four months or last three or four years or at any point and post them on Facebook.

I mean, those are private, those are the points where I'm pouring my heart out to God and showing him the deepest parts of my struggles because he already knows, right?

I mean, that's the nature of prayer.

God already understands where you are.

We are just agreeing with it.

Now, here, even though that's, I'm sure you're probably the same way.

I mean, the conversations you have with your parents, you would not want to share.

Now, the congregation, the conversations that you have as a parent with your children, you may want to tell everybody about.

But when it comes to your conversations you're having with your parent, it's private.

When it comes to your conversations you're having with your God, it's private.

And yet, here in this scene is Jesus talking to his father, talking to God, and intimately saying, Abba.

It's the, as you're aware, it's the Hebrew word for Papa.

It's what a young child just beginning to mutter names would call the the father in his life.

Abba, father.

Now watch this.

All things are possible for you.

He is appealing to the sovereignty of God, and he is recognizing, Father, there is nothing that is outside of your power.

You are not limited, you are not bound, you are not constrained, you can do anything.

I would say that's an important thing for you and I to be aware of whenever we're approaching God in prayer.

That whenever it comes to his skill, there are no limits.

And so our prayers have nothing to do with his skill, they have everything to do with his will.

And this is what Jesus is pointing to here.

He says, Father, all things are possible before you.

And then he lays out the request.

And I'm telling you, like, as someone who has studied God's word, this really racks my it ra it racks my brain.

Look at what he what he prays.

Father, remove this cup from me.

Now you know what he's talking about.

He's talking about the cross.

He's talking about the beatings and the floggings, and yes, all of that stuff, but that's not all he's talking about.

Martyrs have died heroically for thousands of years.

Jesus is not a martyr.

And he's not praying because he's afraid of the cross.

And he's not praying because he's afraid of the floggings, and he's afraid of the nails in his hands and the crown of thorns on his brow.

That's not what he's praying.

That's not what he's praying for.

He's praying because he knows he's about to be wrapped in your sin and my sin.

He's going to be consumed by that in a way that we cannot possibly understand.

There is going to be a separation within the triune God.

And Jesus is aware of that, and he looks at it and he says, I really would like to find an alternative here.

You see how beautiful that is?

It's beautiful because it shows us the humanity of Jesus whenever he walked here on earth.

And it reminds you and I that even though we know that God is walking us into some difficult seasons, and even though we know that we're told to rejoice always, that doesn't mean we can't have this kind of moment where we look at the Father and say, all things are possible for you.

I really don't want to go through this.

I don't want to do this.

So it tells us something about the humanity of Jesus, but it also tells us something powerful about his love.

As a pastor, I talked to a lot of over the course of the last 30 years, talked to a lot of lovebirds.

Many of them felt like they were fated to be together.

If I had a dollar, I think for every time I heard the word soulmate, I could probably retire a very, very rich man.

Now I appreciate the idea of the idea of soulmates.

I mean, after all, God is sovereign and He He arranges everything.

And so I I know from one standpoint that I'm with Kim because God is sovereign and He places together.

But I I don't think that the idea of soulmates is very romantic.

You know what is romantic?

Choice.

Finding a soulmate is enough to get you through the second, third, or fourth date.

But after that, what makes a relationship work is not fated love, but chosen love.

This is what Mark is portraying here.

This isn't Jesus and his arm being twisted or some fate-driven thing.

Jesus is on his knees talking to the God who could do anything, who love who has loved him for all eternity in the triune Godhead, and he's turning to him and saying, I don't really, really, really, really don't want to do this.

And yet, look at the very next phrase.

He says, Yet, not my will, but yours be done.

Why?

Because of love.

It is the love of Jesus that brought him to the cross, the love of Jesus for you.

Now, why is that important?

That is important because you and I rest on that same love.

I mean, the same love that brought him from heaven to earth and to the cross is the same love that you and I lean on this very moment and this very day.

That's huge.

Because it tells us something about the suffering that we experience.

See, for some of us, we measure God's feelings towards us based on how things are going.

If they're going good, then I must be good with God.

If they're not going good, then God must be mad at me.

He must be angry at me.

I must have done something wrong.

But this moment in the garden where he falls to his knees and confesses with clarity that he does not, like, find another way.

If there's another way that this can be done within your will, let it be so.

I really don't want to drink this cup.

Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done, tells us how much he loves us.

He chose that love.

Think about it like this.

I was trying to think this week, and I'm pretty sure, I'm pretty sure that I never in the course of my ministry heard a mother say, a mother to be say, you know what I'm really looking forward to?

I'm looking forward to 13 hours of labor and delivery.

Never.

Because they know, like, you know, that that's not going to be the most pleasant moment of the child rearing experience.

And we've got three mothers to be here, so I'm, you know, look, I don't want to scare you too much, but you know, the reason that you're doing this, the reason that you are bringing this child into the world is because you love that child.

Why would a person subject themselves to sorrow and struggle and pain?

Like that?

And the answer is love.

This is the same thing for you and me.

The truth is that you and I are loved by God so much that He's willing to endure the birth pains that gives us new life.

Now, what does that teach us?

What does that tell us?

Well, that tells us a couple of things about our struggles.

Let me give them to you very quickly.

Number one, it tells us that because Jesus suffered, you and I will suffer too.

This is why Peter writes in his first epistle, chapter four, he says, whenever trials come your way, you don't need to be surprised about it.

Peter was a man who knew.

He was the one who's who was there that night in the garden and with incredible passion and vigor was so convinced that he would be able to save the Savior.

And yet when the time came, he found out he couldn't even stay awake for an hour and pray, let alone be the savior of the Savior.

And if the Savior suffers, if the master suffers, then you and I know that in this world we are going to have trouble.

Because a servant, which we are, is not greater than the master, which he is.

But the suffering of Jesus tells us something else about our suffering.

It tells us that because Jesus suffered, you and I will not suffer alone.

We will suffer.

That's going to happen.

There's going to be sorrow, there's going to be struggle.

There are going to be days where life is rich and flourishing, and you forget for a moment that heartache is coming, but you know it's coming.

But you know, whenever it comes, there is going to be someone there with you who sticks closer than a brother.

Someone who is committed to you.

Someone who loved you so much that he gave his own life for you.

And if he was willing to give his life for our sin, then he's willing to help us through anything that we face on Monday.

He's willing to fail to walk with us through if he's willing to walk into that garden and fall on his knees and pray as he did, there is no place that Jesus would not go to pursue your soul.

Now that's a tremendous message for some of you here this morning.

Perhaps some of you who have never trusted Jesus fully for your salvation.

And you're wondering how he feels about you, and you're trying to work into a corner of the room, into some space that's clean enough in your world where you can fall on your knees and pray and know that he's going to hear you because you've somehow earned it.

And I'm here to tell you that is not what has drawn the love of God to you.

The love of God isn't given to us because we've earned it.

The love of God is given to us because he wills it.

And so if you've never accepted the love of God, I'm here to tell you like that is the thing that you've been missing.

Um yesterday we got together with um about a little over a dozen guys uh hanging out in the Family Life Center, and we enjoyed chili and we played cornho.

Now, you wouldn't know that we played cornho if you watch me play, because I am um, well, I I have problems seeing a a little bitty, a little bitty spot on a board 27 feet away.

It's not my thing.

That's not my spirit, that's not my spiritual gift, right?

This is an image of uh four of the guys who were here, and you can you can tell who that is.

So there's Carrie and uh me and then uh Lynn and Don on the side over there.

Don is supervising.

You could tell that by how he has his hands on his soldiers.

Yeah, so that's what he's doing.

And uh, but I want what I want you to do, I want you to take a look at that picture of Lynn, and you see there in the top right-hand corner the bag that's kind of hovering in midair.

It's sort of there.

Now you think you know where that bag's heading to, but you don't.

I mean, for me, whenever I look at that bag, it looks like it's actually going to miss the board by like 30 feet or something.

It actually only missed the board by like three feet, but some of you don't play cornho, apparently.

Anyways, so you think you know where that bag's going to, but but you don't.

I mean, maybe the bag's heading towards Lynn and he's just going to catch it because whenever Phil threw it, it was so awful that he was gonna catch it.

You don't know.

That's just a snapshot, you see.

And and and so you think you have clues about what is happening there, but you don't really know.

To know what's happening in that scene, you have to look at the images before it.

Now, some of you, you're you're having the same problem with your life.

Like you're examining some struggle in your life, and it's just a it's just a snapshot.

And you think you can look at it and tell like exactly where things are heading to and where your life is being pitched to, and and what's going on just from the image, just from the snapshot.

But the reality is you can't know from a snapshot.

You have to know where, in this case, where the bag was before.

You have to know what happened just before.

Like you have to know what what's the angle?

Where's the bag coming from?

In our life, if we're going to examine the struggles, the trials that we're going through, we can't just look at them as though it's a snapshot.

We have to know where we're coming from.

And I'm not talking about the day you were born.

I'm talking about going way back before you were born, just like your mother who loved you and willed you into existence because of that love, the same love, that same type of experience.

We have to go all the way back to the cross.

And when we look at the cross and then look at where we are right now, we can see that our life is on a trajectory, that we aren't going to miss the mark by 30 feet.

We're not going to miss it by three feet, that the one who has cast us into anything that we are being cast into has done so sovereignly and lovingly and graciously.

And I understand for some of us, that is going to raise some very big questions.

And we're not always going to know the answer, but we are always going to know the truth.

That the one who is sovereign, who can do all things, the one who was sovereign enough to walk right up to that cross, is sovereign enough to guide us to and through anything in life.

See, that's what the cross tells us, amongst many other things that we're going to examine in the coming weeks, as we look at who was there that day, at the place that it occurred, at the criminals that hung with him, at the instrument that he chose to die by.

As we examine all of those elements, what we are going to be reminded of is that the love of Christ, the love of God flows like a river wide.

And the mercies that he shows to us every single day are an echo of what he did on the cross and the spirit of this prayer that he prayed this night.

I don't want to do this, but I'm going to do it anyways because it's the will of God.

And you know what the will of God is?

We're told over and over again what the will of God is in the New Testament.

It always sounds something like this this is the will of God for your life, it is your salvation.