THE GREATEST BATTLE EVER FOUGHT

FIVE THINGS YOU JUST HAVE TO SEE

THE GREATEST BATTLE EVER FOUGHT-GETHSEMANE

MATTHEW 26: 30-56

WHAT WAS THE GREATEST BATTLE EVER FOUGHT?  I guess it’s really a personal opinion.  According to who you ask you will get a different answer.  Let me give you a few suggestions. 

1.  The Battle of Stalingrad, Russia is considered by many the greatest battle ever fought.  Some say that without a doubt it was the bloodiest battle ever fought, resulting in almost 2 million casualties.  The battle took place between 17 July 1942 and 2 February 1943, almost 7 months. 

The Germans committed over 50 divisions, in excess of 900,000 men, 10,000 artillery pieces, and 2700 tanks.  The Russians threw 100 divisions, 1,300,000 men and 3,500 tanks into the battle.  It took place in an area about ½ the size of the state of Alabama.  It was the turning point in the German’s push to take over Russia and they lost.

2.  The Battle of Gettysburg is considered by some as the greatest battle ever.  It is certainly the largest land battle ever to be fought on the Western hemisphere. 

It was fought July 1-3, 1863 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  The Union army consisted of 93,921 men and the Southern army consisted of 71,699 men. 

The total dead numbered 3,155 Union and 4,708 Confederates, totaling 7,863 men who lost their lives there.  It was without a doubt the most decisive battle of the War Between the States. If the outcome of that battle had been different, the nation we live in today might have been dramatically changed.    

We could go on.  We could mention more familiar battles like: The Battle of Yorktown.( I have been there and walked on that battle fields.) The Battle of Berlin, The Battle of Midway, The Battle of Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima where my uncle fought and Okinawa and the countless little islands of the South Pacific where my Dad fought. All bloody, deadly, tragic places. 

But the battle I want us to consider tonight happened on a little hill less than ½ mile outside the eastern gate of Jerusalem. In our Bible study we traveled there just two weeks ago.  Perhaps you remember some of the facts about this little mountain range. 

·         Three small mountains (or hills) that run north and south along the Eastern aspect of the city of Jerusalem

·         At that time they were covered with olive groves and the olive processing facilities

·         Then and now it was and is used as a burial ground   

It was here among the olive trees, in a little garden that the greatest battle ever fought occurred.  In Matthew 26: 36 it says, “The cometh Jesus with them (His disciples) unto a place called Gethsemane”. 

It was here Satan threw his entire force at our Savior.  It was here the battle for our souls could have been won or lost.  It was here the only man who could save us fought alone for the outcome of mankind.  If Jesus looses here, we all loose.  If Jesus wins here, we win forever.  It is my belief that after this battle, Calvary was a done deal.  After Jesus conquered this battle the torment that He faced on Calvary was not nearly as challenging.  This is where the real battle took place.  This is where Satan could have made him quit.  This is where Jesus could have simply said, “It is enough, take me home”. 

Last week if you will remember we sat with Jesus in the Upper Room.  We celebrated the Passover by eating a meal of roast lamb, bitter herbs and unleavened bread.  From that upper room Jesus used a tiny thread of memory to tie our hearts and minds to what He was about to do for us.   He trusted that tiny thread to hold, down through the centuries.  His prayer was that each time we ate that bread and drank from that cup that we would proclaim to those around us exactly what He had done for us. 

Then the Word tells us that they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.  They crossed over the brook Cedron to a place where there was a garden.

Instead of being a turning point for a war this was a turning point for the souls of all mankind. Oh, what a battle it was for Jesus. 

In that little garden that night there was not so much physical confrontations but the battle consisted of mental and spiritual confrontations.  Mentally and spiritually Jesus was under the guns.  Our success for eternity was dependent on how He fought this battle.   

Most of us will never get into a physical battle. Hopefully we will never have to face people who are trying to do us harm with guns, knives and such.  But if you live another week perhaps another day, you will be faced with mental and spiritual battles and often they are more dangerous and trying than the physical battles. 

Some of you right now may very well be going through a time in your life where you are troubled about what to do or which path to take.  Some of you may be fighting a spiritual battle.  You might be in a situation in which you are being battered by temptations.  These battles are hard, often more difficult than hand to hand combat.  These battles can cause you to loose much more than your physical life. Some of you have already been through battles similar to this.  If I were to ask you how you made it through you would probably say something like, “By the Grace of God”. You may not even realize exactly how you were able to survive.  How do we survive through these times?   How do we make it through?    

I want to offer you four things that Jesus needed to successfully come out on top of this Spiritual and Mental battle.  I truly believe that if we recognize these points and commit them to memory they will help us to succeed when we get into these battles.

PONDER YOUR PRIORITIES:  We understand that Jesus was 100% man and 100% God.  As a man, He felt pain, stress, physical, mental and spiritual fatigue.  And as God he was omniscient, capable of knowing everything that was going to happen to Him.  We have said before that when Jesus was born He could see Calvary from Bethlehem, He could see the cross from the manger.  If Jesus knew anything, He knew how much Calvary was going to hurt.  It would physically be nothing short of torture.  We will study more about that in next week lesson when we visit that spot. 

The God, Jesus, knew the things that were coming.  The man Jesus naturally did not want to face those things.  Was Jesus a coward?  Absolutely not, follow His path, walk in His shoes through those last days and feel yourself tremble down to your soul.  It’s not difficult to see just how tough He was. He was definitely not a coward.

Do you think it was easy just because He was Jesus?  Listen to His prayer in Mark 14:36.  “Abba, Father, all things are possible unto you; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what you will”.

Do you realize what the word “Abba” means?  It is equivalent to our word for “Daddy”.  Jesus, 33 year old man, Son of God, Jesus, was crying out “Daddy, you can do anything.  You are God.  Don’t make me go through this” But then quickly added “...Not what I will but what You will”.

 Tell me how you feel when you have to go to the doctor or the hospital for some procedure or surgery.  You are entering that place with people who want to take care of you.  You go there with people whose job it is to provide for your comfort.  Jesus was entering an environment where everyone meant to hurt Him and cause Him pain, their intent was to take His life in the worst way possible.   He knew once He submitted to this episode of events there would be no backing out.  As God He knew the importance of it, as man He had no desire to do it.

Doctor Luke speaks about His physical response to this mental and spiritual anguish in Luke 22:44 he tells us that “…his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground”.   You and I have not been there.  You and I can not conceive that much pressure.  No matter what you have been through, you haven’t sweated blood.

The garden where this occurred was called the garden of Gethsemane.  That word means the “oil press”.  It was here that the olives were pressed and the oil came out.  I think it is interesting to note that the olive oil was used to put in lamps to give light, in cooking and preparing food and in healing.  As Jesus was crushed or pressed that night, He became the Light, the Bread and the Healing for wounds.      

Jesus Pondered His Priorities.  There in that little garden that night, He fell on His face and made the determination that He would rather go to Hell for you than to go to Heaven without you.  And we know He got it right.  He prayed “Father, not my will, but your will be done”.  Do you want to know how to tell when you have your priorities right?  When you have placed 100% on the altar?  When you are in the center of His will?  It will be when you can pray that prayer and mean it, you’ve arrived. 

ESTABLISH YOUR ENVIRONMENT:  You have heard this from me before.  I believe we need to have a specific place to pray.  Not that you can’t pray anywhere but I believe it is important to establish an altar, a room, a portion of your house, a field or a spot in the woods where you can go and be alone with God.  I have had many.  When I was living at home with Dad and Mom my spot was the old spring house.  In Yorktown, Virginia It was a spot down by the creek.  In Galveston, Texas it was a park bench in the city park.  Where I live now it is a spot in the woods I call “the tabernacle.  It really doesn’t matter where it is but it matters that you make it your place and God’s place.  It will be set aside and made Holy by God’s presence.  It will be your home field.

 

The term “home field advantage” or “home court advantage” is a sports term.  It describes the advantage–usually a psychological advantage–that the home team (you) is said to have over the visiting team (Satan) as a result of playing in familiar places. Does it work?  Many say it does.  When I played ball I was much more comfortable playing in familiar surroundings on my own home field than I was playing on the opponent’s field or court. 

As Christians we need to establish our environment.  We need to have a special place to pray. In the story of Moses and the burning bush, God told Moses to take off his shoes because the place where he was standing was Holy ground.  Why was it Holy?  It was just sand somewhere out on the back side of the desert.  It was Holy because it had been set aside and God was there. 

Set aside some place and invite God to meet you there.  Go back there often.  Claim it as your home field.  If you have to fight, fight there.  If you have to have a battle, you choose the spot.  Jesus did.  He chose a place where we are told in John 18, He and His disciples went often.  He knew it was going to be a tough battle and He wanted the home field advantage. 

EARTHLY ENCOURAGEMENT:  His priorities were set, He chose His spot to fight but Jesus still needed more.  Jesus needed encouragement and support from His closest friends.  He didn’t have many.  If you think you don’t have many friends consider this.  The Son of God only had 12 men, one of them betrayed Him, one denied Him and all of the others ran (Mark 14:50).

We are told that after Judas had left to go and turn Him in to the mob that Jesus took the 11 to the garden.  He left 8 of them at the garden gate or some place away from where He would ultimately fight His battle and took three more; Peter, James and John with Him a little closer to the battle.  You might consider it like this.  The 8 were His friends, His circle of companions but the other 3 were, as computer geeks call it, His BFF. (Best Friends Forever)

He asked them to help Him pray.  Oh folks, if Jesus the Son of God needed friends to help Him pray and to pray with Him…who am I to think I can do it alone?  That really steps on my toes.  I am foolish (and so are you if you think like I do) to think I am big enough, strong enough, tough enough, spiritual enough, to handle my mental and spiritual problems alone.

Read again verse 38 of Matthew chapter 26.  The Son of God needed friends to help Him pray. Wouldn’t it have been an honor to kneel there on that rocky ground, among those olive trees that night and pray with and for Jesus?  Oh, I want to say, “Jesus, I would have been there, holding your hand, putting my hand on your back and supporting you. I would have cried with you, I would have comforted you.  I wouldn’t have let you pray alone”.  The other disciples might have gone to sleep but not me.  The other disciples might have been slack concerning prayer and support, but not me”.  I want to say that.  And I immediately remember the words from Matthew chapter 25 verse 45 where Jesus is talking about separating the “sheep from the goats”. He said,

“Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me”

You and I have “friends” and family members, church family who are mentally and spiritually hurting.  They may be in one of those battles tonight.  They need help fighting their battles.  They are under attack from Satan.  It may well be that tonight they are fighting a battle that will determine their eternal destiny.  Wednesday nights used to be called “Prayer meeting”.  God’s house used to be called “a house of prayer”.  How many times do we truly come to prayer in this place?  How many times do our prayers amount to much more than a “God bless”?  Are you asleep?  Am I asleep?  Do we pray?  Are we allowing them to fight alone because it might be an inconvenience to us or perhaps we just don’t have the time or is it that we don’t care? 

HEAVENLY HELP:   It is obvious that the earthly encouragement that Jesus needed that night did not happen.  His friends slept while He fought alone.  While He fell on His face, they laid on their backs.  While He expressed groans that could not be uttered, the only sound that came from His friends was snoring.   But God sent Heavenly Help, angelic aid, and supernatural support when it was needed. 

Again in his rendition of this story, Luke tells us that “…there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him”.

God will always send the help we need.  It may not be when we think we need it.  It may not be in our time.  But we can be assured of this.  God will not fail us.  He is all powerful and He loves us too much to ever leave us. 

Notice this too in closing.  It was only after all the other options were expended that God sent the angel.  Would the angel have ever heard the dispatch that sent him to the side of Jesus if the other things had not been done? 

If you and I don’t PONDER OUR PRIORITIES, ESTABLISH OUR ENVIRONMENT, ASK FOR EARTHLY ENCOURAGEMENT…dare we expect the HEAVENLY HELP?

I am saddened when I think of how many men have had to fight and died for me and my family in wars past.  I see the young men who have lost arms and legs and eyes serving in my stead in a hostile environment. I see the crisis they go through when they come back. But I am so glad they were willing to pay that price.  I am glad they somehow found it in themselves to do what they had to do to buy my freedom.

I hate that the sweet Son of God had to go through what He went through because of my sin.  He did not deserve any measure or form of suffering.  It should have been me in that garden.  I should have suffered.  But my soul rejoices that He was able to walk off of that battle field the victor.  Oh, His hands were tied.  He was lead away by an angry mob.  But He was the winner.  I’m so glad He didn’t quit.  I’m so glad He was willing to suffer and die for me.  I’m so glad He took my place in the Greatest Battle Ever Fought. 

Well, let’s follow Him.  Next week we will come down from this little hill and ascend another little hill just north of Jerusalem.  This place is not for the weak or faint of heart.  This is not a place to go if you have a weak stomach.  We will view an execution.  We will go to a hill called Mount Calvary.