Cedarville Magazine, Summer 2017

CHAPEL NOTES I want to focus on three aspects of Jesus’ e xpe r i enc e i n Luke 22:39-46: His isolation, His distress, and His faithfulness. J e s u s a n d H i s d i s c i p l e s a r e i n t h e G a r d e n o f Gethsemane. He tells them to pray, but they’re not with Him. Physically Jesus is on His own as He withdraws to pray, but spiritually He’s on His own as well. Jesus is on His own in this mission. What He’s about to do, only He can do. What we most need, only He can provide. Jesus does understand loneliness. Secondly, we see His distress. He came to earth as a real human; He experienced real human feelings. But here we see Him experiencing something we’ve not seen in Him before: deep anguish. Why such distress? The answer comes in verse 42, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.” Each of us spiritually has a cup, a cup of God’s anger at our sin, and it is that cup Jesus is staring into. This is not a cup Jesus has any business taking for Himself, but He’s willing to take it for you, and He’s willing to take it for me. Look at His prayer in verse 42: “Not my will, but yours, be done.” There is something in Jesus even deeper than the distress, and that is His longing for you and me to know His Father. Jesus sets aside His own peace and prays for the Father’s plan to save you and me to be fulfilled. We know from other accounts of this scene that Jesus calls God, “Abba.” It’s not a childish name, but a deeply intimate one. Because of what Jesus is about to do, we get to call God that as well, because Jesus was faithful. Sam Allberry serves as Honorary Minister at St. Mary’s Church in Maidenhead, Berkshire, United Kingdom. In Luke 16, the rich man sees Abraham and Lazarus. He cries out, “Abraham, have mercy on me , a nd s e nd Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water, that he might put it on my tongue.” Then Abraham tells us, “There is between where you are and where we are a great chasm fixed.” The rich man says, “If you can’t send Lazarus to me in hell, then send Lazarus to my brothers on earth, that he might warn them, lest they also come to this place of torment.” Abraham says, “They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them.” The rich man says, “No, Father Abraham! But if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!” What the Bible can’t do, a dead man coming back can do. That makes sense. But it doesn’t to Abraham. “If they will not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.” Jesus is saying to His own disciples, “If they will not hear the Scriptures, then they will not believe, even if someone were to rise from the dead!” When it comes to evangelism, the Scripture is sufficient. We can’t all of a sudden trick ourselves into believing that somehow we can come up with some experience of such explosive power, that we can do what Scripture evidently isn’t powerful enough to do. Jesus was raised from the dead, and the vast majority of those who had denied Him before, denied Him after. If they will not hear Moses and the prophets, then they will not believe. How do we know that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior? The Scripture is sufficient alone. Al Mohler is President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Jesus Is Faithful Scripture Is Sufficient The following is an excerpt from a March 29, 2017, chapel presentation by Sam Allberry. Listen to his full remarks at cedarville.edu/chapel . The following is an excerpt from an April 12, 2017, chapel presentation by Al Mohler. Listen to his full remarks at cedarville.edu/chapel . View, listen to, or download past chapel services from our chapel archive at cedarville.edu/chapelarchive . Cedarville Magazine | 21