The Sacrifice of the King Pt 3

And your children, and their children, and their children. May His favor on generations. And your family, and your children, and their children, and their children. Good morning. Would you all stand? We want to welcome you to Calvary Chapel this morning. We also want to welcome all those online that are joining us. Would you join me in prayer? Father, as we've gathered this Lord's Day, really every day is your day.

But that first day of the week, Lord, when the apostles, when they all gathered and acknowledged your resurrection, Lord. We thank you that you rose from the dead, and that you're at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us, Lord. Being He who advocates for us and desires that we not sin, but when we do, when the accuser accuses, we thank you, Jesus, that you paid that price for us. You're worthy of worship this morning, Lord.

We're so unworthy. When I think of my brain and all the things that we face day to day, and how we can fall so short, but yet you love us, and you lift us up as we look to you. So we ask for your blessing on our service this morning, Lord Jesus. Thank you. You may be seated.

Father, we come to you this morning, whether we're tired, or whatever may be going on this time of day. By faith, we look to you. We trust you. We want to worship you and sing to you, Lord.

Merciful as it is, adore thee.

As you step down into darkness, let me see.

All together, we're by sin. We come down to earth to live among us on this earth, as a perfect human being, and to be willing to die for us in our place. Because we can't measure up to your glory, Lord. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death. But God, who is rich in mercy, on the cross for us, and we thank you for that, Lord.

O sovereign God, O matchless King, the saints adore, the angels sing, and fall before, before the throne of grace, the highest praise. These sufferings, this passing time, we shall please the Son. Our praise, would you all stand? In the mercy of your sovereignty, Lord. Thank you for this opportunity to gather as believers, Lord. May we be encouraged and built up in the faith,

and Lord, where we need to be convicted, we just trust that to you. May your word do what it does when it's taught, and when we yield to you, Lord. We praise you in Jesus' name, amen. Let's have a little fellowship, guys. Good morning. Glad you could be here this morning. If you would grab a bulletin as you find your seat, we'll get ready to go over some announcements.

No, don't want to answer your phone for you. Although I would. Over on the left-hand side of your bulletin are the things that are going on throughout the week. Find one of those spots to get plugged into. A few things in the center section of your bulletin. So, Christmas is coming up, and Christmas Eve falls on a Saturday, which means Christmas falls on a Sunday.

So, Christmas Eve, join us here for our typical candlelight service at 6 o'clock p.m. But then for Christmas Day, we're going to do things just a little bit differently. We're only going to have one service Christmas Day. It'll be at 10.30. And it will be a, we're going to call it a family service. So, come bring your family. I know that it's Christmas morning,

and not everybody's going to want to come. But if the kids need to come in the jammies, whatever. But the goal is to have some cookies for the kids, so they can just grab a cookie, come in here to the sanctuary. We'll make it a very short service. Do a few Christmas carols, do the Christmas story, send you on your Christmas Day. So, plan on joining us for that.

There will be no Sunday school or nursery those days, although the nursery will be open if you need to take a baby in there. But that's what's coming up for Christmas Eve and Christmas. A couple of other reminders for this week. Number one is that intercessory prayer is tonight at six in the back room. And then women's breakfast is this coming Saturday, December the 10th at 8 a.m. at Daisy Mae's.

So, those are the things that are going on, the things that are happening. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 120. Psalm 124. Psalm 124. Looking at the new American standards so that we all sound the same. If you need a copy, there should be plenty in rows around you.

And as you are turning to Psalm 124, if you would stand in the honor of the reading of God's word. Ready? Perfect. All right, Psalm 124. I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses. Psalm 124, a song of a sense of David. Had it not been the Lord who was on our side, let Israel now say. Had it not been the Lord who was on our side

when men rose up against us. Then they would have swallowed us alive when their anger was kindled against us. Then the waters would have engulfed us and the streams would have swept over our souls. Then the raging waters would have swept over our soul. Blessed be the Lord who has not given us to be torn by their teeth. Our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of a trapper.

The snare is broken and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. Father, I think we can all testify to the fact that if you had not been on our side, we wouldn't be where we are today. And so Lord, I pray that you would continue to show yourself faithful on our behalf. Lord, lead us and guide us in our time in your word this morning.

And Lord, may you just bless us. And may you just bless as you see fit. Father, teach us what we need to be taught and give us great insights into what your word has to say this morning. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. If you would, open up in your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 26. Matthew, chapter 26. Today we come to part three of our series,

The Sacrifice of the King. The subheading of today's message is Prayer and Betrayal. When last we left Jesus and his disciples, they had been in the upper room. And while in the upper room, Jesus told them that one of them was going to betray him that night. Of course, they all went around saying, surely not me. Lord, is it me? And finally, Jesus identified Judas,

although the rest of the disciples didn't really pick up on it. And he said, you go do what you need to do. And then they celebrated the Lord's Supper together. The first communion, which is what we'll take here again this morning. The first communion was shared together as Jesus broke the bread and took the cup and said, this is my body that's been broken and my blood that's been shed for the new covenant.

Do this in remembrance of me. And then they headed to the Garden of Gethsemane. And on their way to the garden, Jesus had a very candid conversation with his disciples. And he told them, all of you are going to be made to stumble because of me tonight. All of you will flee and you will leave me alone. And of course, Peter was the one that piped up the most and said,

I don't care what the rest of these knuckleheads do. I'm not leaving. And Jesus said, oh, Peter, before the rooster crows, you will have denied that you even know me three times. And Peter, of course, couldn't accept it, but it was left there. And they continued on their path to the Garden of Gethsemane, which is where we come today. Now, again, there's two things that we'll look at.

We're going to look at Jesus's prayer in the garden. And we're going to look at Judas's betrayal of Jesus and the arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. But first, we pick up with the prayer that starts in verse 36 of chapter 26. It says, Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane and said to his disciples, sit here while I go over there and pray. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee

and began to be grieved and distressed. He said to them, my soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and keep watch with me. And he went a little beyond them and fell on his face and prayed saying, my father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not as I will, but as you will. And he came to the disciples and he found them sleeping.

And he said to Peter, so you men could not keep watch with me for one hour? Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away again a second time and prayed saying, my father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, your will be done. Again, he came and found them sleeping for their eyes were heavy.

He left them again and went away and prayed a third time saying the same thing once more. Then he came to the disciples and said to them, are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand. The son of man is being betrayed. The son of man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going. Behold, the one who betrays me is at hand.

Now, the first thing that we take note of is the location. It says that Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane. Now, there's a couple of interesting things about the garden of Gethsemane. The first is a detail not given to us in Matthew, but given to us in, I believe it's Luke's account, that this was a familiar place. This garden of Gethsemane was not some hidden away place

that Jesus had never been to before. This was a familiar place where Jesus spent time with his disciples. That's important to point out because remember, Judas is the one that is betraying him. And if it's me and I know that somebody's going to betray me to death, I try to go in places where they might not know that I am so that they can't find me in those places and turn me over to the people that want to kill me.

But you see, Jesus was in control of this entire thing because he was a willing sacrifice. And we'll talk about that more as we get into it. We'll get into the prayer. But he went to a place that was very familiar because he wanted to make it as easy as possible on Judas to find him. But the second thing I want you to take note of is this. And that's what the word Gethsemane means.

The word Gethsemane literally means olive press or oil press. You see, where was Gethsemane located? Well, it was located at the foot of the Mount of Olives. Now, you may think this is somewhat clever on my part, but I've learned that the Mount of Olives is where they grow olives. And so at the foot of the mountain is where they would press these olives to get the oil out of them.

That's where their oil press was. And I don't think that we should miss the symbolism here of the fact that this Garden of Gethsemane is called the oil press or the olive press. Because in order to press out the oil from those olives, there was great pressure that was involved. And that's exactly what's going to take place in the life of Jesus right now. You see, what's going to take place

in the Garden is a lot of pressure. We might use the word affliction in the life of Jesus. Because what's going to take place in this Garden is that the battle of the cross is going to be won in the Garden of Gethsemane. Because in that place of affliction, in that place of pressure, in that place of the pressing out of the will of man, comes forth the victory that Jesus will ultimately earn on the cross.

It's kind of interesting because we usually try to avoid the places of pressure. We usually try to avoid the places where there's any kind of pressing in our lives. But may I say, oftentimes the greatest victories that are gained in our lives are in the place of the greatest pressure. But you know, there's probably one more interesting thing that should be pointed out about the Garden.

And that's this. In the Garden, in the book of Genesis, is where man surrendered to his own will and became his own God. And said, I will do what I want to do no matter what God says. But in the Garden of Gethsemane, the man, Jesus Christ, surrendered himself to the will of the Father and obeyed him in everything. It's kind of an interesting correlation that's brought to us there.

Our greatest defeat came in a garden. And our greatest victory came in a garden. He came to a place, called Gethsemane. And while he was in that place, called Gethsemane, he said to his disciples, sit here while I go over there and pray. Now it's just the 11 that are with him right now. Judas is not with him, so his 11 disciples, no one else, that's who's with him.

And he looks at his 11 disciples and says, I need to do something, I need to go over there and pray, so I want you guys to wait right here. He, if you will, sets a guard. Now the guard he's hoping to set is a guard of prayer, not a physical guard, but we're gonna find that they don't do that. They don't do very well with that. But as he tells the 11 that they need to wait there

while he goes and prays, he does something very interesting. He next takes three of the 11 disciples and says, you guys join me. Because it says, he took, verse seven, with him, Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and he began to be grieved and distressed. Now the two sons of Zebedee are James and John. So he brings all 11 to the garden and tells them, you guys wait here.

But then he tells Peter, James, and John, I want you guys to come a little bit closer with me. Now I've always wondered something. I've always wondered how the other eight disciples felt about the fact that Peter, James, and John were always in the inner circle of Jesus. The other question I've always had is, why were Peter, James, and John the ones that were in the inner circle of Jesus that always seemed to be the closest to Jesus?

I'm sure that there's some really good explanations for this. Perhaps the fact that James would be one of the first martyrs of the disciples. John would be the one who would live the longest of the disciples and really write a good portion of scripture. Be the one who saw the revelation of Jesus Christ. Peter would be the one who would really be the guide of the early church.

Maybe that's the reason why Jesus always had these guys the closest to him. Perhaps it was because of the great calling on their lives. Or perhaps it was because of what the dean of men told all of us dorm stewards when he chose us to be the head of the dorm rooms. He said, some of you are here because of how talented you are. Some of you are here because I don't trust you.

And I'm never going to tell you which one's which. And perhaps it was because Jesus didn't trust those three. And he knew they needed to be as close to him as possible in order to keep themselves out of the most trouble. We're going to see that even being close to Jesus didn't save them from all of their trouble in just a moment. But he calls Peter, James, and John to be closer to him.

The next thing we take note of though is really the mental state of Jesus. Notice what it says in the verse 37.

As we look at this mental state of Jesus, Matthew gives us a little commentary on how Jesus felt at this point in time. He uses two words. He uses the words grieved and distressed. We'll talk about the word grieved in just a moment because that's the same word Jesus will use of himself as he addresses his disciples. The word I want to talk to you about though

is the word distressed. Because that word distressed is one of three Greek words that are used to speak of depression. And it is the strongest of the three Greek words used in the New Testament to speak of depression. If you will, Matthew gives a little commentary on Jesus. He says Jesus was first of all grieved, but he was also as depressed as he had ever been.

Can I just go ahead and say something here that I feel like needs to be stated? Jesus understood depression. Jesus understood what it was like to be in that place of being depressed. Why was Jesus depressed? Because he knew what he was about to face. Because remember, and we'll address this again momentarily, Jesus is facing this not only as being fully God,

but what he's facing he's facing also being fully man. That means he is subject to all of the weaknesses that we are subject to. And yet he did so without sin. And so Jesus knew what it was to face some of the greatest depression because he knew what he was going to face. I think that really speaks volumes to us in a world right now that is battling depression greatly.

That while sometimes in the midst of our greatest depression, the one thing that we will say is nobody understands what I'm going through. You know, you may be right. On topside of planet Earth, in humanity today, no one may understand what you're going through. But Jesus does. As a matter of fact, he understands it more deeply than we can even fathom, than we can even grasp.

The depression and I believe anxiety that Jesus was going through right now was so deep that as he begins to pray, the pressure will be so great upon him that it will actually burst capillaries according to other gospel accounts that will release great drops of blood and as he sweat, blood was mixed with his sweat because of the great pressure, because of the great anxiety, because of the depression that he was in the midst of right now. And may I say, Jesus is going to win this battle of depression on his knees in prayer. That's where he's going to win this battle because ultimately he's going to surrender himself to the Lord. But you see, Jesus also speaks of his mental state because he goes on to address his disciples and say to them in verse 34,

or excuse me, in verse 38, my soul is deeply grieved, even to the point of death. Now that word grieved with the adverb of deeply next to it literally means sorrowful to the point of death. If you will, he's as close to dying of a broken heart as anyone can possibly be. That is actually a real issue that people face. Oftentimes, those that are very elderly that lose a spouse,

they don't last very much longer after and oftentimes the reason why is simply that they died of a broken heart. And essentially that's what Jesus says he's at the place of right now. His heart is so heavy, his heart is so grieved that he's nearly at the point of death. In other words, he's dealing with heart issues because of the great grief that he's experiencing.

Why is he experiencing such grief? Is it because of the physical death that he's about to face? I think that that's part of it. I think that's where some of his depression is coming from because when we know we're about to face something physically difficult like that, it does cause a certain amount of depression. But we have to remember what Jesus faced on the cross

was so much deeper than a physical punishment. Because you see what Jesus is about to have to face is wearing the sin of the world all over him and having the Father turn his back on him. He's about to face separation from his Father for the first time ever. And it's causing his heart to be broken. You know what's kind of interesting, if you were to skip forward,

and I'm going two or three weeks ahead here, but you'll find that when Jesus was on the cross he had already given up the ghost, it says. He had already given up his spirit. But in order to ensure that he was dead, the soldiers did something to him. The soldiers took a spear, and they pierced his heart up through the side, just underneath of the ribs, and it pierced his heart, and it says the blood and water flowed.

The blood and water flowed out. Chuck Smith always had a very interesting commentary on this. He says if an autopsy were to have been performed upon Jesus, they would say that he died of a broken heart. He died of a burst heart. Isn't it kind of interesting that Jesus says that he's in this place of being so deeply grieved right now, sorrowful to the point of death,

and ultimately that burst heart, is what we could say, actually killed him? And so here's Jesus in the midst of the garden, eight of his disciples sitting a little further away, his three closest disciples sitting right here with him, and he says something as he tells them, my soul, verse 38, is deeply grieved to the point of death. He says, remain here and keep watch with me. He's going to go on a little further ahead, but he says I need you to do one thing.

Just one thing. I just need you to stay here and labor in prayer with me. And labor in prayer with me for a while, because what I'm about to face is the deepest, darkest hour I'm ever going to face. And I just need you to do this one thing. I just need you to labor in prayer with me as I go a little further ahead and labor in prayer on my own. So he leaves them with those words.

He leaves them with those instructions. And then we see that Jesus prays. It says in verse 39, He went a little beyond them, and he fell on his face and prayed, saying, My Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not as I will, but as you will. Now, it's interesting. We're given one little line that Jesus prayed here. One small line. But in just a moment, we're going to see that he'd been praying

for almost an hour. It makes you wonder something. How many times did he say this exact same thing? How many times? How much labor was put into this one statement that he made? Have you ever had something so deep going on in your life that for the first 15 or 20 minutes of praying, you can't even come up with any words? You're just kind of there. You start to say something, but you don't know what to say.

You don't know how to pray. You don't know how to get the words out. You try to get your heart in the right place. You try to get your mind in the right place. But you've got so many thoughts going through your mind. You've got so much going on in your head that you're like, I don't even know where to start with this. And then finally, you feel like you can get to the heart

of what you really have to say. And when you get to the heart of what you really have to say, it really wasn't that much. Because those are the only words you can muster up. I think that's where Jesus is right now. I think he has so much going on physically, mentally, emotionally right now that he can't even hardly form a whole lot of words until finally he knows what he wants to pray.

And this is what he prays. And it's an interesting prayer. And I want to remind you again, in his humanity, this is what he prays. My Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me. I heard several commentators try to explain this away and be like, Jesus wasn't really hoping that the cup would pass. This was. And then they would give some lame explanation.

I'm like, no. That's what he said. I think that's what he meant. Because he knew what he was about to have to face. And he prays this very short prayer. Father. I love that that's how he adjoins. He addresses him. He says, my Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass. Then ultimately he comes to a place, a place that you and I all have to come to. Not as I will, but as you will.

Four things I want to point out to you about this very first prayer of Jesus. Four things about all of this aspect of prayer that I think are important for us to pay attention to. Number one, Jesus is all alone. Do you notice that? Let me read it to you again. It says in verse 39, and he went a little beyond. He left the eight. And then he left the three. And then he went a little beyond.

Jesus is all alone at this point in time. I think there's two interesting things about that. I didn't write those down. Just listen. The first interesting thing is. That all alone is what we're going to find Jesus through this entire thing. We find Jesus all alone in prayer. Pretty soon we're going to see Jesus all alone being arrested. Later we're going to see Jesus all alone on trial.

We're going to see Jesus all alone on the cross. We're going to see Jesus all alone in the tomb. From this point up until the resurrection of Christ, he's going to be all alone. I tell you that because I know that there are some people that are facing things. And while you may be surrounded by people, you still feel all alone. You feel all alone in the battle that you're fighting right now.

You feel all alone in the things that you're facing right now. And I just want to tell you. If anybody understands what it's like to be all alone. It's Jesus. But as Jesus knows what it's like to feel all alone. May I remind you. Though you may feel alone. You are never alone. Because Jesus Christ through that presence of the Holy Spirit is always with you.

And my prayer for everybody that feels like you're fighting a battle where you're all alone. My prayer is that you will know and understand the presence of God with you. That even though it feels like nobody else is around. Even though you're surrounded by people. That you will sense that overwhelming presence. The presence of God. Who knows exactly what it's like to be all alone.

But you know there's a second interesting thing I think to pay attention to. About Jesus being all alone. Sometimes we fear being all alone in prayer. I think. Because when we're all alone. You feel so isolated. And the only one that's there is Jesus. And sometimes we fight against that. And sometimes the best thing that you can do. Is to shut off everything else in the world.

To shut off everything else that's going on in the world. I was talking to one of the other guys on the worship team. And I say I never bring my phone up here on stage. Because I always start getting messages and that just distracts me. And the other guy goes. Man I don't take my phone up there either. And it's the most freeing feeling in the world. Sometimes getting off by ourselves with Jesus.

Is one of the best things that we can do. It's what Jesus knew he needed to do. In order to be ready for what he needed to face. Jesus was all alone. Second thing I want to point out to you is. The humanity of Jesus. The humanity of Jesus. Man I know he is 100% God. But he was also 100% man. It's interesting that in the gospel that points him out. As the king.

We see him right now as so weak. We see him as so dependent. Because as he prays to the father he says. If there's any way that this cup can pass. Why? Because in his humanity he knew what he was going to have to face. That's why he found himself so distressed. That's why he found himself so deeply grieved. So sorrowful to the point of death. It's because in his humanity.

He knew what he was facing. And I think that one of the things that allows us to realize. The greatness of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. Is that it was a sacrifice that literally cost him. Everything in his humanity. And it was a sacrifice that while he went to willingly. He had to surrender to it. As a matter of fact we're told in the book of Hebrews.

That he learned obedience through his sacrifice. He had to come to a place in his humanity. Where he was completely surrendered. To the will of the father. Again it gives us a little bit of hope. Why? Because once again we're told in the book of Hebrews. That he was tempted in every way as we are. And yet without sin. I started thinking about this yesterday as I was studying.

I started thinking about the fact that the first time that Jesus was tempted. He was in the wilderness. Remember? He faced those temptations. And as he faced those temptations. He overcame them all through the word of God. And as he overcame them all through the word of God. He overcame them all through the word of God. It says that the enemy fled. The enemy left.

And waited for. Do you remember the words that are used? A more opportune time. Do you know what I think the garden of Gethsemane is? A more opportune time. I think he was facing temptation from the enemy right here. This was the more opportune time that the enemy was looking for. He was facing it in his humanity. The third thing I take note of is this. The importance of surrender.

Because I want you to notice what he says. Right there he says it. Yet not as I will. But as you will. It is so important for us as human beings to be surrendered to the will of God. Jesus in his humanity had to be surrendered to the will of God. If Jesus had not been surrendered to the will of God. Man are we in trouble. Right? Like this is a bad day. If we realize that Jesus was not here.

If we realize that Jesus was not surrendered to the will of God. But he was. He was surrendered to the will of his father. And you and I have something valuable to learn from this. And the valuable thing that we have to learn from this. Is that each of us faces difficulties in our lives on a continual basis. Often times the will of God means something a little bit difficult in our lives.

After all fighting sin is not a fun thing to do. And yet we have to constantly be surrendered to the will of the father. Because as I come to God and say Lord this is what I desire in this situation. This is what I want in this situation. Nevertheless not your will. Not my will. But your will be done. Let it be as you will in my life. It can be a hard thing to do.

And we don't always understand what it means to surrender to the will of God. We don't always understand why God allows certain things to happen. The important thing is that we live surrendered to what he wants. The fourth thing that I take note of is this. There is no other way to salvation. For anyone to say that there is any other way other than coming through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.

Is such a slap in the face to Jesus right here. Because he just said Lord if there's father if there's any other way. If there's any other way for this salvation thing to take place. Let's go with that one. Right? I'm open for options right now. Nevertheless Lord your will be done. Why? Because there was no other way. All of the other religions are not actually a way to salvation.

Coming through Mary is not actually a way of salvation. Being a good person is not actually a way to salvation. Because there's only one way. And Jesus showed it right here. Well as Jesus spends time praying. He comes to his disciples. I wonder if he knew they were sleeping. Probably not. He was probably too focused on what he had going on right now. Verse 40.

He came to the disciples. And he found them sleeping. And he said to Peter. Did you all take note of the fact of who Jesus talked to here? How many guys are sitting there? There's three of them there. And yet it says who did he talk to? He talked to Peter. Why? Who was the boldest about saying I will always stand with you. They can do what they want to. I'll die with you.

Jesus is like die with me? You can't even stay awake with me. What are you talking about? Peter. You men could not watch with me for one hour. All right. Full disclosure here. If I want to fall asleep the best I've ever slept in my entire life. It will always start with me saying dear God. Right? Because the moment I do that my eyes get as heavy as they can possibly be.

Now sometimes it's a very spiritual thing. Because I'm holding on to things I don't need to hold on to that are keeping me from sleeping. And I start saying Lord take it. It's yours. And he gives his beloved rest. Generally though it's just because I'm really fleshly. And sleep is more important to me than anything. I can relate to the disciples here. Right?

Perhaps you can too. As a matter of fact I was reading John Corson on this. And I thought it was funny because I feel the exact same way. It's like man if I'm really, really like okay it's late at night and I just I got to go to sleep. But for some reason I can't get my mind to shut off. You know what I do? I start reading the Bible. Within two minutes I'm gone.

Right? Why is that? I think because there's some sort of a spiritual attack that goes on. I'm not trying to be overly anything here. It just seems like that's always the case. Satan's like oh great. All right. Put him to sleep. He says you couldn't watch with me for one hour. He has to wake them up. He says you men couldn't watch. He says in verse 41 keep watching and praying.

Why? That you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing. But the flesh is weak. Now I think that there's not only a physical thing that we see going on here with the fact that the disciples are asleep. But I think there's a spiritual aspect to this too. Perhaps a little spiritual symbolism that goes into this too because the disciples are asleep.

You see I think if they fully understood what was really going on. I think if they fully understood what was just about to face Jesus. If they fully grasped what was about to take place. I don't think they'd be asleep. I think that they really would be watching and praying with Jesus. But you see spiritually speaking they were asleep. They were asleep because they failed to recognize the gravity of the moment.

And you know what? I think sometimes for us as believers in Jesus Christ. As we are going through our day. As we are living our spiritual life. Knowing that the best thing that I can do to be prepared for the things that face me today. To be prepared for the things that are happening in our world. To be prepared for the temptations. And for the opportunities that I'm going to have.

The opportunities that I'm going to have to share. The opportunities I'm going to have to minister. If I was fully aware of the gravity of the things that are going on. I too would not be falling asleep in prayer. I too would not be sleepwalking as I am so prone to do in life. But I fear that we like the disciples are sleepwalking through life. Because we fail to recognize the gravity of the moment.

And so Jesus comes to them and says. You couldn't keep watch with me for one hour? Again full disclosure. I barely have the attention span to pray for half an hour. Fifteen minutes is usually about max for me. Before I have to get up and do something and then come back to it. I can't imagine doing this for an hour. We used to have a guy that would come and speak at the Bible college.

And he was like. We labored my wife and I in prayer for you all five hours last night. And I was like five hours? I don't even know if I slept for five hours last night. That is so long. I remember coming up to one of the Bible college teachers. Brad Lambert. He was the guy that ran the Bible college when I was there. And I was like. How did he do that? He is like.

I can give you some practical tips. I don't know how he did it for five hours. I felt pretty good about that at that point. I was like. Thank God. He is a very spiritual man. And he feels the exact same way. He says. You couldn't labor with me for one hour? And he goes on to say. Keep watching and praying. Wake up. Keep watching. That phrase means to stay alert.

Keep watching and praying. Lest you enter into temptation. I think from this we gain a very important aspect to our spiritual warfare that we find. If we want our greatest weapon in facing temptation. It starts on our knees in prayer. It starts on constantly being watchful and praying. So that we will not enter into temptation. Ryan I can't spend my whole day in prayer.

Sure you can. You maybe can't have your eyes closed like me for an hour. Because you will be asleep. Or your mind will drift off all kinds of places. But you can remain in an attitude of prayer all day long. Now I don't want to diminish the importance of you getting alone with Jesus and praying. Because that is an important thing for us to do. And a discipline that I need to continue to grow in in my life personally.

But remaining in an attitude of prayer all day long. Which is what Paul tells us to do. And he says. Pray without ceasing. Is one of the greatest things that you can do. I have said it before. And I will say it again. I believe that as many people as we can. As many people as we can. As many people as we can. As many people as we can. As many people as we can.

As many people as we can. As many people as we can. As many people as we can. You can stay in an attitude of prayer all day long. Which is what Paul tells us to do. And he says. Pray without ceasing is one of the greatest things that you can do. I've said it before. I'll say it again. I believe that as as believers in Jesus Christ. As disciples of Christ. Our day should start off with dear Lord.

And our day should end with amen. And the entire day we are in communion with our Father. The entire day we are in communion with the creator of the heavens and the earth. Let's things come up. And we seek him for wisdom. We seek him for grace. We seek him for strength. We seek him for understanding. We seek him for that intimacy that we need with our Savior.

Spend time in prayer. Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. And why does he tell them to do that? Because the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Man, if we could just really begin to understand that, if we could really understand that as willing as our spirit is, our flesh is so weak, and our greatest place of strength is when we are dependent on our Savior through prayer,

it just might change the way we approach things. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Well, he goes on again. It says in verse 42, we come to the second prayer. It says he went away again a second time and prayed, saying, My father. If this cannot pass away unless I drink it, your will be done. I find his surrender to be easier this time. And isn't that always how it works?

Once we take that first step in surrender, surrender becomes more natural to us. They say that your brain forms what they call neural pathways, that as you make decisions, you form neural pathways in your brain. That makes it easier to make that decision the next time. That is true in both a negative and a positive way. It's true in a negative way because when I make a decision towards sin,

or when I make a decision towards rebellion against the will of God, I begin to form a small neural pathway in my mind so that the next time that that comes up, my default will go much more towards rebellion because that's a natural place for me to go. The word of God, it says, is like water that washes our minds and can take away those old neural pathways to form new ones. But you see, it's also true in a very positive way. That as I take steps towards obedience to Christ, as I take steps towards surrender to his will, I also form a very positive neural pathway.

And the next time, my default begins to lean much more towards obedience, much more towards surrender because I've seen what he's done for me in the past and I have seen how he has confirmed my decision with the power of the Holy Spirit in the past. And I begin to form a positive neural pathway and that's exactly what we see Jesus do here because in his will, I also form a very positive neural pathway. In his humanity, he says, my father, if this can't pass away unless I drink it, your will be done. Of course, he comes again a second time.

Verse 43, again, he came and found them sleeping for their eyes were heavy. And he left them again and went away. And he now prays a third time, saying the same thing once more. And so three times we see that Jesus goes away and prays this prayer, but now it's time to do business. It says in verse 45, I find the statement of Jesus here to be pretty interesting

because what I see personally in the statement of Jesus here is a settled focus. Do you see that too? Notice what he says. Are you still sleeping and resting? He doesn't need to go back and pray again because now his mind is set. In his humanity, he is focused and settled. The battle has been won. There's a stirring scene in the passion of the Christ. Now, I don't agree with everything in the passion of the Christ

with the whole 12 stations of the cross and everything that takes place in there, but it is still a great movie. And in the very beginning of that movie, it shows Jesus in the garden. Do you remember this scene? He takes a little artistic liberty, but I think it's artistic liberty that absolutely declares, the symbolism of what takes place in the garden. And as he is praying in the garden,

slowly but surely, you see a snake slither up. Y'all know how I handle that. I don't handle it well, right? I was going, oh. So the snake is slithering up. And as the snake is slithering up to him, he goes back and he's praying great drops of blood coming from his forehead. Lord, not my will, but your will be done. And he stands up and says, the time has come.

Do you remember what happens next? The snake is right next to him and he raises his heel and he crushes the head. The head of the serpent. That is the most powerful scene in that movie, I think. I remember that just sending chills down my spine when I watched it in the theater. Because his focus was settled because the battle of the cross was won in the garden.

And so right here, what we see is, he says, are you still sleeping and resting? The hour is at hand. The son of man is being betrayed in the hands of sinners. Get up, let's go. The one who betrays me is at hand. The time has come. The battle has been won. Now he can go in with great confidence because there is great confidence in surrender. Well, now it's time for the betrayal.

The sad part. Verse 47, it says, while he was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the 12, came up and accompanied, came up accompanied by a large crowd with swords and clubs who came from the chief priests and the elders of the people Now he who was betraying him gave them a sign saying, whomever I kiss, he is the one. Seize him. Immediately, Judas went to Jesus and said, hail, rabbi, and he kissed him.

And Jesus said to him, friend, do what you've come for. Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and seized him. Behold, one of those who were with Jesus reached, drew out his sword, struck the slave of the high priest, and cut off. His right ear. Jesus said to him, put your sword back into its place for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.

Or do you think that I cannot appeal to my father and he will at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels? How then will the scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way? At that time, Jesus said to the crowds, have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as you would against a robber? Every day I used to sit in the temple teaching and you did not seize me.

All this has taken place to fulfill the scriptures of the prophets. Then all the disciples left him. So while he was still speaking, looking at his disciples and saying, the time has come. It says, behold, Judas. I love how Matthew refers to him. He refers to him simply as one of the 12. Judas, one of the 12, comes up to him. And notice who he's accompanied by.

He is accompanied by a large multitude of people, a large crowd with swords and clubs who came from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Let me tell you about how many people most feel like this is. I believe it's either in Luke's or John's account. It says that he came with a detachment of Roman soldiers. When the priests, when the heads of the temple

needed to handle business, they weren't allowed to handle it themselves. So they had to request a detachment of soldiers. So that's exactly what they did. They requested a detachment of Roman soldiers. Some of the translations call them a cohort. That's about 600 soldiers. 600 armed Roman soldiers to come and get Jesus. Why did they need 600 soldiers to come and get Jesus?

Every time they've tried to arrest Jesus, what has happened? In their minds, he's performed some sort of voodoo and he's gotten away from them. They haven't been able to arrest him. And this time, they weren't taking any chances. So they brought 600 soldiers with them, which is why Judas was going to lead them to the place and why Judas would betray him with a kiss.

Perhaps you have found yourself asking at times, these are all the chief priests and elders. They should know who Jesus is. They hate him. Jesus isn't trying to hide himself. Why does he have to betray him with a kiss? Because the guys that were there, were going to do the arresting were Roman soldiers who had no idea who this Jesus of Nazareth was. They had no idea who this insurrectionist was.

And so he said, the guy that I go up to and kiss, he's the one. Now, before we think something funky is going on here, just remember, this is how they greeted each other in ancient times. They would have come up and given a kiss on the cheek. We might call it a holy high five, a handshake or a bro hug today, right? That's exactly what took place. And so he goes up and he kisses him on the cheek.

And in the new American standard, it translates it like this. Friend, do what you have come for. They came and laid hands on him and seized him. And the new King James translates this just a little bit differently. And I kind of like the way the new King James translates it because it's an interesting thought that they give. In the new King James, it says, friend, what are you doing here?

Now, I think that that's kind of interesting because it reminds me, of something else that took place in a garden. Do you remember after Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, God came to walk with them in the cool of the day. Adam had made the worst clothes known to man and was hiding from God. God came to walk with them in the cool of the day and they were nowhere to be found, at least as far as humanity was concerned.

And God asked a question. Do you remember the question God asked? He said, Adam, where are you? Not because God didn't know where he was, but because he needed Adam to think about where he was. It was a question to cause Adam to search his heart. Now, there's every indication that potentially the way that that should be translated is, friend, do what you've come to do.

But wouldn't it be kind of interesting if when Judas came up and kissed Jesus on the cheek, he said, what are you doing here? Because he was giving Judas that one last chance, perhaps causing Judas to think, just to ask, what am I doing here? What am I doing right now? Sometimes the greatest question we can be asked in the midst of about to fail is, what am I doing here?

What is this all about? However it's translated, I found it kind of interesting. It says, friend, do what you've come to do. I missed pointing out one thing in verse 49, something that needs to be pointed out, something that no matter how you translate it is true. It says, immediately, Judas went to Jesus and said, hail rabbi, and he kissed him. That word hail means a cheerful greeting.

In other words, he was like, hey man, hey friend, hey teacher. There was nothing sad about his approach. There was nothing menacing about his approach. As a matter of fact, he did everything he could to make it seem like this was just a normal, cheerful exchange that he's making with Jesus. He's being deceptive about the way he's doing things. So he approaches him, says, hail rabbi,

kisses him on the cheek. They laid hands on Jesus and they seized him. This next section I've just simply entitled, The Incident with the Ear. It says, behold, one of those who were with Jesus, from other gospel accounts we know that it was Peter, reached, drew out his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest, and he cut off his ear. I just love Peter.

I can't help it. Right? He sees these guys coming. He's like, I said I would die with Jesus, and I'll die with Jesus. Take that. You know, of course, he just woke up from sleep. And if Peter, anything like me, his aim was terrible if he just woke up from sleep. I don't know my name when I first wake up from sleep. And if I start whacking a sword around, I'm gonna kill a bunch of people, right?

Well, luckily, Peter was a little sleepy, and so we only cut off his ear. And so as he cuts off his ear, we're told in another gospel account that Jesus picks up the ear and heals him. Okay, follow me on this. If Peter hadn't been sleepy, I bet he was aiming for his head. I bet he was trying to cut his head off. If Peter had been awake, and Peter had cut the head of Malchus,

the high priest's servant off, we know that Jesus heals his ear. Does Jesus put his head back on and heal him? That would have been the coolest story in the world, right? Then Peter arose, and from his sleep, he cut off Malchus' head, and Jesus picked up his head and put it back on his body and healed him and said, Peter, that's not what we're here for. That would have been the coolest story ever, right?

That's not what happened. He cut off his ear. And this says he healed him, according to other gospel accounts. But Jesus has something very interesting to say to Peter. He says, Peter, put your sword back into its place. All those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. Peter was well-meaning in what he did. He wanted to defend his savior. He wanted to defend his friend.

But, though he was well-meaning, he was wrong. You see, the kingdom of God is not a kingdom that is spread through violence. The kingdom of God is not a kingdom that's spread through aggression. The kingdom of God is a kingdom that's spread through the message of the gospel, by the power of the Holy Spirit, accompanied by the love of Jesus. And I do fear sometimes

that in the church today, we wield swords a little too easily. We've gotten a little too angry about the things that are going on. And we've started wielding our swords around. And I fear that there's a lot of ears that have been cut off. Now, Jesus is always faithful to his word. And when used properly, he's able to heal a lot of ears. But we need to remember,

the kingdom of God is not spread through violence. The kingdom of God is spread through the gospel. We must be careful with these swords that God has given us to use them wisely. So those who live by the sword, they'll die by the sword. The last thing I want to point out to us is this. Jesus was the sovereign sacrifice. I want you to notice what he says next

after he says those who live by the sword shall die by the sword. He says, or do you not think that I can appeal to my father? And he will at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels? He says, do you think I'm really in trouble right now? Do you think I'm not in control of this entire thing right now? Anytime I want to, I just say the word and I call down 12 legions of angels.

Now, a legion at that point in time was somewhere in the range of about 6,826 soldiers, if I remember correctly. 6,100 foot soldiers, 726 mounted soldiers on horseback, at least as far as a Roman legion was concerned. Jesus said, I can call down 12 legions of angels, I can call down 12 legions of those right now if I wanted to. Now, just so you know how powerful that is, there's an amazing story in the book of 2 Kings that involves, if I remember correctly, it's Hezekiah.

Hezekiah and the children of Israel in Jerusalem were surrounded by the Assyrian army. It says that in one night, God sent one angel and it killed 185,000 of the Assyrian army. One angel. Jesus says, anytime I wanted to, I could call down 12 legions of them. Peter, I'm not in trouble right now. This wasn't an accident. I'm not a martyr. I'm in control of this whole thing.

And I think that's an important thing for us to pay attention to, that Jesus is in control of this whole thing. He goes on to say, how then will the scriptures be fulfilled, which say it must happen this way? You see, if I do that now, the scriptures will never be fulfilled. He goes on at that point in time to address the crowds. Notice what he says. At that time, Jesus said to the crowds,

have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as you would against a robber? Did you really come heavily armed? Did you really come in the dead of night with a tactical team to arrest me? He said, every day I used to sit with you in the temple teaching, and yet you never seized me. Why does he say that? Because he wants to point out the fact that they're not in control of this whole thing.

They are puppets in the hands of God, fulfilling the prophecies that God had laid out so long before. He said, you could have arrested me any time you wanted to, but you didn't, because you couldn't. But all this has taken place to fulfill the scriptures of the prophets. Again, because of things that are said in religious circles today, I want to point something out.

Jesus was not a martyr. Jesus was not a victim. Jesus was a sacrifice. He was a sacrifice. He wasn't taken without his knowledge. He wasn't taken without his will. He was not taken because it was an accident. He was in control of the entire thing, and it was being orchestrated exactly as it was supposed to. I point that out because I want to remind us all, in the minds of the disciples,

they didn't see how this was all gonna work out. In the minds of the disciples, it looked like everything was out of control, but while in their minds, it looked like everything was out of control, Jesus was very much in control. I point that out because for the past two years, and as it continues to go, everything feels like it's out of control. You know? You can't even keep up with all the things

that are going on in the world right now that feel very out of control. And yet we're reminded that while it may look very out of control, Jesus is very in control. He was in control the first time that he came. He'll be in control the next time that he comes. And we can rest on that. Because it had to happen the way the scriptures say. Because he had to win our salvation.

And of course it closes, this section closes with one lonely line. Then all the disciples left him. Fled. They all fled. Even Peter. Peter probably dropped a blood-stained sword. Just ran off. All ran away from Jesus. And he's left, listen, all alone. But though he felt alone, he was not alone. We're gonna see what God's gonna do with him next time as we begin looking at the trials

that Jesus will go through. But as of now, today is Communion Sunday. And as we mentioned, we talked a couple of weeks ago about that first communion that Jesus went through with his disciples. And as he went through that first communion with his disciples, he did the same thing that we're gonna do right now. He took the bread and he broke it. And he said, this is my body

that is broken for you. Take and eat. The reason why we take that bread and we take and eat is because it is symbolic of the fact that by faith, I made that sacrifice of Jesus something that's a part of me. I made that sacrifice of Jesus something that is my own. It's not just something he did for someone 2,000 years ago. It's something that he did for me today.

And then he took the cup and he said, this is the blood of the new covenant which was shed for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And that blood of Jesus Christ that we are going to see in the next couple of weeks that was spilled in so many different ways is the hope that we have as believers in Jesus Christ. Because his blood has never failed us yet. So every time we partake of this,

we're told that we declare the death of Jesus. We declare that it was his death that made us one with him. And we declare that it was his death that makes us one with each other. It's the death of Jesus Christ that makes us all family. And so we're told to do so in a worthy manner. To do so with a heart that is pure before him. And so as the worship team comes up,

and I'm going to ask them to come on up,

they're going to play one last song for us as the ushers hand out the elements. And as they do so, I would just ask you to allow the Lord to search your heart. Allow him to see if there's anything in you that needs to be dealt with. And deal with the things that would keep us from knowing him. And celebrate the fact that Jesus died for you. Amen.

Wait a minute, something's weird here.

Would you bow with me? Father, we come to you. And Lord, I just want to thank you so much for your body that was broken for us. And Lord, that you were willing to endure in your own body on the tree all of the physical suffering as well as the bearing of our sin in your own body. And Lord, we just thank you for that body that was broken. Father, I thank you for your blood that was shed.

Lord, your blood that is enough to cover all of our sins. Your blood that makes us brand new. Father, I thank you for the sacrifice that you made for us. And Lord, would you keep us ever in mind of who you are and the unity that we have through you. We just thank you and praise you, Father. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's partake.

Would you bow with me one more time? Lord, thank you. Thank you for the time that we've had in your word this morning. I just ask that you would continue to minister to us by the power of your Holy Spirit. Lord, as we enter this Christmas season, Lord, may the truth of you coming to the earth to live and to die for us be the thing that we celebrate the most.

Father, we thank you. In Jesus' name, amen. Be blessed.