Crushing the Serpents, Part 1: The Battle

All right. Good morning. Glad to see you guys. I'm glad you're all here. Welcome you. Welcome to everybody watching online and invite you to stand with us. We'll pray and we'll get started. Oh, God, we thank you for the day. And Lord, we just thank you for another opportunity to or just to be here, Lord, to spend some time in worship and to spend some time in your word.

Lord God is as we're coming into the Easter season. Lord God's pray that you'd speak mightily and move mightily this morning, Lord. And just overflow Pastor Ryan with your with your Holy Spirit, Lord. And just give us soft and receptive hearts to receive that word, Lord God. We love you and we praise you in your precious name. Amen. Yes, Lord God, we give you praise and we give you thanks, Lord.

And one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that you are Lord. Amen. Amen. You guys can go and have a seat if you like.

Because I know, Lord God, again, we just want to take a moment. And just. Just thank you, Lord God, for what you've done for us. Lord, you you sent your one and only son to pay the price for my sin, for our sin. To hang on a cross that we rightfully deserve, Lord God. And Lord, there's no way. No way that we could ever pay you back for that, Lord God. But Lord, we thank you that you did it.

We thank you that you loved us that much. And so, Lord, this morning, we just. We cast our mind to that this morning. We cast our mind to Calvary.

Oh, God, we just thank you. Lord, we have so many reasons to praise you, Father. Or for what you've done for us, Lord, for for sending your son, Jesus, Lord, for the new life that you give us in him. Or for just for fixing all the brokenness, Lord, in there and our lives, Lord, and just for what you're doing. And what you're going to do, Lord, God, there's so many reasons to praise you, Lord.

We have no reason to not praise you. Most like no of your goodness, oh, God, oh, God, we just thank you for how good you are to us and how faithful you are. Even when we're not, Lord God, you are still good and we just thank you, Lord God, we just we again, we can't help but praise you, Lord. Our king of kings. You are the king of kings and you are Lord of lords.

Lord, we know that you're coming back. You're coming back again soon. And Lord, you're worthy of all glory and honor and praise. Because you are the king of kings and the Lord of lords, because of what you've done for us, because of what you're going to do.

Oh, God, like I said, we have so many reasons to praise you and we have no reason to not praise you.

Lord, you are worthy. You're worthy of everything. You're worthy of everything. You're worthy of all honor and glory. Lord, you are. You're worthy.

I'm going to sing a song, just a quick one. And you guys can follow along if you can. You are worthy of it all. The voices.

Oh, God, again, you are worthy of it all. Lord, we just praise you and we thank you for who you are, for how good you are and for how faithful you are to us. Lord God, in spite of it all, in spite of ourselves, in spite of our sin and our rebellion, Lord God, you are still good. You are still. You are faithful.

And Lord, this morning, I just pray that as Pastor Ryan comes, Lord, that you would overflow him with your Holy Spirit, Lord God. Give him the words to speak and give us soft and receptive hearts to hear it and receive it. And we love you, Father, and we praise you in Jesus' name. All God's people said? Amen. Amen. Let's have some fellowship.

Good morning. Good morning. If you could begin to locate your seats, grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements. Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us this morning. A handful of things to take note of. As always, on the left-hand side, the studies that go on throughout the week, places to be plugged into so that you can continue to grow in your walk.

Over in the middle section of your bulletin, first of all, just a reminder that Mowing Ministry sign-up ends this week. So that sheet's still out there. If you'd like to get involved in that ministry, take note of that. It's out there in the lobby. There are Holy Week services coming up. We're getting really close to it. It's Easter and Holy Week. And so those services will be April 14th through the 18th.

And what it is is we choose churches throughout the community and then a different pastor besides whoever is the pastor of that church teaches there. They take place from noon to 1 that week of Holy Week. And I will have the listing of all the churches in here next Sunday. But you're going to want to take note of that. Also, there's a Proclaiming the Gospel conference April 12th and 13th at the First Baptist Church in Burden.

All of the information on that is on a poster. So if you're hanging out there in the hallway, it should be a good one to be involved in. And then also we have two or three missions opportunities. And I've already forgotten what they are. But you should talk to Ross and Jana afterwards, the people waiting right now that have tried to text me and give me all the information that are coming up.

Go talk to them. I think one of them is in Stillwater, some in Missouri, and then one in Guatemala. So if you're interested in being involved in any of those, go see Ross and Jana after the service. So those are the things that are going on. If you'd make sure that your mobile device is set up. Okay. Okay. If you'd make sure that your mobile device is set up.

And for our responsive reading this morning, we're going to be in Psalm 30. Psalm 30. Look at the New American Standard for this part so that hopefully we all sound the same. If you need a copy, there should be one in a row around you. And as you are turning to Psalm 30, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word.

I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor Allen in the even verses. Psalm 30, a psalm, a song at the dedication of the house, a psalm of David. I will extol you, O Lord, for you have lifted me up. lifted me up and have not let my enemies rejoice over me oh Lord my God I cried to you for help and you healed me oh Lord you have brought up my soul from Sheol you have kept me alive that I would not go down to the pit sing praise to the Lord you his godly ones and give thanks to his holy name for his anger is but for a moment his favor is for a lifetime weeping may last for the night but a shout of joy comes in the morning now as for me I said in my prosperity I will never be

moved O Lord by your favor you have made my mountain to stand strong you hid your face I was dismayed to you O Lord I called and to the Lord I made supplication what profit is there in my blood if I go down to the pit will the dust praise you will it declare your faithfulness here O Lord and be gracious to me O Lord be my helper you have turned for me my morning into dancing you have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness that my soul may sing praise to you and not be silent O Lord my God I will give thanks to you forever and Father we do praise you for the work that you do in us Lord that you have turned for those of us that have surrendered all of our things to you Lord you have turned our morning

into dancing and so Father I pray that as we look at your word this morning that you would speak to us by the power of your Holy Spirit move as you see fit through this congregation in Jesus name amen you may be seated and before we get into the word this morning um I have a friend that's come to visit with us yeah you want to set that one down there his name is Jim Butler there's a ministry that we support called the Gideons and they go around and distribute Bibles uh really just about everywhere and so about once a year Jim comes and shares with us a little bit about what God's been doing with the ministry of the Gideon so Jim would you like to come up and share yeah the reason I'm down here

instead of up there is because I was afraid I'd make a splash trying to come down the stairs I have a back out and uh so boy what a good crowd wonderful wonderful well I have trouble every year trying to find something new to explain something old the ministry is 125 years old and we've pretty much done the same thing we are interested in getting God's word out that's what we do uh and we believe that God's word is the most important thing there is in the world uh it's the only way if people can go to heaven is to hear the gospel message of Christ and his great sacrifice and so um uh Gideons are I guess you'd say dedicated to that proposition all men are created equal no that's a different different one but we're dedicated to the

fact that since God's word is the most important thing we want to get out as much as we can to as many people so I I couldn't come up with anything particularly new but there are a few things that I'll talk about the organization itself and then a few little personal testimonies that I'd like to share with you uh one thing is um uh we don't speak in the lbgt q rs tv churches we decided that there's no uh comfort in joining hands with people who do not believe as we believe that uh marriage is man and a woman for life and then uh I want to tell you about the blitzes that's in World War II they bombed England the Germans did it and so we go to a different major city every week and we bomb them with Bibles and so we just

had a I think it was 800 000 distribution in the Philippines a couple of weeks ago and so on so that I think speaks and and now we've I think I mentioned it last time but we hit the two and a half billion mark which stacked end to end would go all the way to the moon and um or eight and a half times around the world at the equator if you could stack them that way I don't know quite how you do that but um anyway it's exciting when we have good news to share we we have um a revelation to me that we go to the most dangerous places in the world that churches admire the voice of the martyrs because they do that and and they're a great organization but it just hit me we have all these camps thousands of Gideon camps we're the Cali

County camp and and uh they're all over the world and they get in places that churches can't go uh different denominations can't have any effect there and so uh it's encouraging when I was reading how many dangerous camps There are speaking of camps as the last time I saw statistics, the Cali County camp has more churches participate than any camp in the world, including there's four camps in Wichita, and we have more people participate here in Cali County than than all of Wichita and so that to me that speaks of the heart of of the people, your heart, that you believe in the Bible, and I'm going to I'm going to try to make a plea here for you in just a little while, but I want to talk about individually, locally.

We do the colleges, you know, and and we go to, I don't know, Bible schools, Awanas, we go to the doctor's office or the hospital or the nursing office. and anywhere we can go to pass out scriptures when it's important. I just heard on Dr. Dobson's program on the radio Friday that this man who was incarcerated for various crimes and had just been diagnosed with HIV positive and he was in his cell and the trash can was out there and he reached out and on top of that trash was a Gideon Bible. It's nice to hear that

from another source than me telling you about this and so that was encouraging and I I wanted to share some things from the pastors of our County. One just left not too long ago and he would stand up and he would stand up and he would stand up and he would stand up and he would stand up and he would stand up and he would stand up and he would stand up before I got a chance to speak and he'd hold up that red testament that they used to pass out we used to pass out to the schools and he had it all crushed up and it was pretty gnarly and he said I wouldn't be a pastor today if it weren't for the Gideon Bible that somebody gave me in the fifth grade and he said my my kids wouldn't either and they're both pastors as well. So God's Word works

it's not returning void and and we come here asking for donations so that we can get more Bibles out and this sort of thing. It's it's a clean ministry nobody gets paid it's all goes for Bibles and the distribution of Bibles. Anything you might choose to put in my Bible as you leave. I want to tell you about I got a call from the pastor and he said I want to tell you about I got a call from the pastor at at Cedarvale and he's they're part of our Cali camp but in Chautauqua County and he said we've given out your scriptures to the Bible school to Awana's every year and they're pretty saturated so the kids have all gotten together and said we're going to take those scriptures and give them to the

other kids at school and that's encouraging because there's nothing more exciting than to see someone turn to Christ especially if you've been given the opportunity to explain the gospel to them and it's just a thrill I first time I ever experienced that I got arrested I got stopped for speeding I was so excited I couldn't believe it's that exciting and the officer said well you know you were going back to!" blah, blah. And I, yeah. And he said, I said, but I know you're a minister of God. He said, how much have you been drinking? And he let me go because he thought I was crazy or something.

But it's an exciting thing. And that's why I wanted to emphasize that we have a program called Friends of the Gideons. And I'd like each one of you to ask me for one of these brochures. And it explains how that anyone at any age can become a friend of the Gideons. And then you can purchase our Bibles with have the, which has the plan of salvation and different things like that.

And you can purchase at our price. I was talking about chiropractors, uh, Dr. Sellers. And, uh, but I got my first box of Bibles from, uh, Dr. Sellers. And, uh, but I got my first box of Bibles from, uh, Dr. Sellers. And, uh, but I got my first box of Bibles from, uh, Dr. Sellers. And I had people come home for 85 cents a piece from dr. Myers, who was a chiropractor here. a piece from dr. Myers, who was a chiropractor here.

And, so now they've, you know, how inflation is. I was sitting behind this lady here using a donut. She told me it cost her 50 cents. Well, my folks donut shop, we sold two dozen for 50 cents the first day. So things go up so the Gideon New Testament. New Testaments, if you'd want to buy them, are now up to $1.35. From $0.85 to $1.35 in 45 years. So we hold the line, and then you can use those to evangelize people, and you can come to our

meetings, and anyone can join, even a pastor. And we've kept them out for a long time, but they can now join. And so that's exciting news to me. I wanted to tell you about, well, you mentioned the Burden Baptist Church. Mike over there was wanting to know if we had any Bibles for in the Bhutan language. And I said, no, not that I know of. But we have an app that has 1,200 or 2,200

different Bibles. And we have an app that has 1,200 or 2,200 different Bibles. And we have an Bibles for in the Bhutan language. And I said, no, not that I know of. But we have an app that has 1,200 or 2,200 different Bibles in different languages, complete Bibles in audio. And you can get that on the app from the Gideon site. And so anytime you were talking to somebody from, you

know, Japan, Germany, or Cedarvale, there's one for you there. And it's very encouraging. We have a 1,200 or 2,200 different Bibles for in the Bhutan language. And so anytime you were talking to somebody from, you know, Japan, Germany, or Cedarvale, there's one for you there. And it's very encouraging. We have a 1,200 or 2,200 different Bibles for in the Bhutan language. And you can get that on the app from the

Micronesian Church up on Fifth Street. And they had the Chuukese language there. And it's nice to say, we'll give you this New Testament, but if you want a complete Bible in your language, even English, that you can get that on that site. And so that's exciting to me. The Bible is so important. I always would like to, I'd like to have John Warrick from Udall come down

and tell this story. But I'm going to share it with you. His, he had, they had foster kids. And the woman who gave up her kids was a cult leader of some kind. I don't know which one. And, but she got sobered up or whatever. And she wanted her kids back. And they had to surrender those kids back to her. And so they did. And on the way home, wherever they were going, they had to stop at a motel. And the cult leader lady began to try to convince the children that Jesus is not God. And the little girl remembered there was a Gideon Bible there. And she went to the drawer and pulled it out and opened the scriptures at nine years old and refuted her mother. Well, I was up there a couple of weeks ago and found out that

the mother had decided to let them, John and his wife, adopt those kids and so their most wonderful children. And to hear him tell that story with all of the feeling that he had when he lost them. Now he has them. They're adopted, and he has, and they're just great kids. Anyway, these are the kind of things that excite me. One of the lowest Gideons got a call this last, I guess it was last month. He had witnessed to a

nurse or an aide out at the hospital here in our city and so he had given the plan of salvation through the Gideon Bible and so that was all a story. Her husband had contracted lung, throat cancer and that was nine years ago. Well he got a call two or three weeks ago and they had remembered that message. So they called and said could you come and explain how to go to heaven to us? So he

went and they both, he and his wife accepted Christ and he died the next day. But God's Word is faithful you know and that's why if nothing else I would I would enjoy just standing here and reading how important God's Word is to you but I think you already know that. I thank you brother for the privilege of coming and I I hope I can come again and and I can walk the stairs. Okay thank you.

All right. Man I love hearing all those stories about what God's Word is able to do and since God's Word is able to do that let's get into it for ourselves. So open up in your Bibles to the book of Matthew chapter 26. Matthew chapter 26. Today we will begin our resurrection series. We're just a handful of weeks away from from Easter and so it felt like a really good time to just go and get going with that.

I'm gonna be missing one of the Sundays between now and Easter so I thought let's get this thing started. It's gonna be a three-part series. I've entitled it Crushing Serpents. Crushing Serpents. My daughter is actually the one that designed that for me. I'm really proud of her. It's a good thing she's good at what she does and but but there's three things that we're gonna look at in this aspect of crushing

serpents. We're gonna look at the battle of the cross. We are gonna look at the sacrifice of the cross and we are gonna look at the victory over the cross. Today we will look at the first one of those. We will look at the battle of the cross. And so I would like to read to you verses 36 and 37. 6 through 46 of Matthew chapter 26 and then we'll get started into some introductory statements as well as the message for

today. And so Matthew chapter 26 verse 36 says this, Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane. He said to his disciples sit here while I go over there and pray. And he took with him Peter 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

he fell on his face and he prayed saying my father if it is possible let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will but as you will. He came to the disciples and he found them sleeping and 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.

And he went away again a second time and he 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. And he left them again and went away and prayed a third time saying the same once more. Then he came and 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 into the hands of sinners. Get up. Let us go. Let us be going. Behold the one who betrays me is at hand. In Genesis chapter 3 Adam and Eve fell into sin and as the consequences for sin were laid out they were told the consequences were laid out to the woman she was told there will always be enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the man or the

seed of the serpent. I will put enmity between you. The seed of the serpent will will bruise the heel of the seed of the serpent. I will put enmity between you. The seed of the woman will fall and have wings and she will be your knowledgel. This galah bomb will break God's había but the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. That's the very first message of the gospel that's given to us.

That is the very first statement of the Messiah given to us. And all throughout the Old Testament we followed the promise of the Messiah that would one day culminate in Jesus being born as a man fully got a fully made a dwell among us and so as we of Christ changed the course of eternity. Well, to arrive where we are here at Gethsemane, we need to build a little bit of background. Of course, Jesus was born and raised and lived 30 years on earth. And after 30 years of living on earth, he began a ministry that would encapsulate three

years. And in those three years, he would teach, he would heal, he would preach, but he always had one focus. And the one focus that he always had was the cross. It was something that he brought up multiple times to his disciples. And the closer he got to the cross, the closer he got to the end, the more he brought it up. The closer he came to the cross, the more he said, guys, you need to

understand something. You need to understand that the son of man, referring to himself, will be betrayed into the hands of sinful men. And when he is betrayed into the hands of sinful men, they will put him to death, but I will rise again the third day. And the closer you get to the crucifixion, the more he told his disciples about that. And then you come into the very last week of the life

of Jesus. And the last week, the life of Jesus starts with what we call the triumphal entry or Palm Sunday. And as he rode into Jerusalem to the praises of the people, he then was put to test, but put to the test by the religious leaders, put to the test with the questions that they had. They examined his life. They tried to find anything that they could against him. Finally, they realized that the

only way that they could put him to death was to plot something that could not be foiled. And they found the right guy to do it. And it was one of his disciples named Judas. And so throughout the week, all of those things took place. And then you come to the last night of the life of Jesus. And in that last night of the life of Jesus, several important things took place. He first of all

experienced the Passover supper with his disciples. They met in that upper room. And while he was in that upper room, they, they took, they took part in that Passover meal together. But not only did they take part in the Passover meal together, he taught them what it looked like to be a servant because he laid aside his outer garments and he girded himself, put the towel, and he began to wash the feet of the disciples, something that none of them were willing to do for each other. He began to wash their feet and show them what it looked like to

be a servant. And then, of course, he said, one of you is going to betray me tonight. And they all kind of went, well, is it going to be me? Who's going to, who's going to be the one that does this? And finally, Judas, in that last moment, sort of looks and says, is it me? And Jesus says, what you need to do, go do quickly. And Judas left. And no one thought anything about it because the guys

weren't paying that close of attention. And honestly, they never suspected him. And so Judas left. And after Judas left, Jesus established what we call the Lord's Supper. We also refer to it as communion. He established that communion meal with his followers. And after he established that communion meal, they took off and they walked to the Garden of Gethsemane.

And on the way, he gave them what we call the discourse on abiding. He said, I am the vine and you are the branches. And if you really want to live in me, you'll have an active and living relationship with me. Because if you abide in me and my words abide in you, then you are my disciples indeed. That way to Gethsemane after he gave them that teaching in John chapter 17, it tells us that he

prayed for his disciples. And when he prayed for his disciples, he said, God, I pray that they would be one as you and I are one. I pray that you would sustain them, keep them together. And whether it be these disciples or future disciples, Lord, may they be one. And he prayed for them. But while he was doing all of those things, he also had one really sad statement to make. He said, all of you

are going to be caused to flee because of me tonight. You'll all scatter and you'll all run away from me. Peter looked at him. He said, listen, I don't know what these other knuckleheads are going to do, but I'm not leaving. I will die with you. And Jesus goes, oh, Peter, you have no idea what's really on the inside. You have really no idea who you are. Before tonight is over, you will have denied that you even know me

three times. He goes, that's never going to happen. Well, now we arrive at the garden of Gethsemane. It says in verse 36, then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane. It was a garden of Gethsemane. It was a garden of Gethsemane. It was a garden of Gethsemane. It was a garden of Gethsemane that sat at the foot of the Mount of Olives. And there's a couple of fascinating, maybe

three fascinating things I think we really need to pay attention to about Gethsemane. The first is the name, because the name means olive press or oil press. And that's kind of interesting, isn't it? Because of what Jesus is about to go through. Because what will take place in the garden of Gethsemane is what I have titled the battle of the cross. Because for him to go to the cross, there's

going to be a battle that he will fight ahead of time in order to make that sacrifice. And that battle is going to take place in the garden of Gethsemane. And that battle is going to take place in this garden. And that battle will take place in prayer. And that battle will involve surrender. And so in the garden of Gethsemane, in the oil press, in the olive press, it won't be the pressing

of an olive to release some sort of an oil that can be used for later in cooking. It will be the pressing of Jesus and his humanity to release anything that will be, that would keep him from surrendering to the will of the Father. And so as he is in this place of pressure, as he is in this oil press, this garden of Gethsemane, this battle is going to take place. But there's a second fascinating thing about the garden of Gethsemane. It was a familiar place. One

of the other gospel accounts refers to it as the place that they went to often. Why is that important? Well, because Judas is about to betray him. And because Jesus is in charge, because Jesus was not a martyr, because Jesus was not a victim, but Jesus was a sacrifice that was willing, he chose a place that Judas would know exactly where to find him. And so he chose the garden

of Gethsemane because it was familiar and Judas would have known exactly where to find him. But there's a third really interesting thing to take note of about a garden. Because if you remember correctly in Genesis chapter 3, when Adam and Eve sinned, where were they? They were in a garden. And in a garden, Adam and Eve decided to choose their will over the Father's.

And in a garden, Jesus, the second Adam, will decide to choose the Father's will over his own. You see, what was a place of defeat will become a place of victory. They all went to the place called the garden of Gethsemane. And he says to his disciples, he says 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 he began to be grieved and distressed. So Jesus arrives at this

garden of Gethsemane, and they reach the entrance, maybe just inside of the entrance. And when they get just inside of the entrance, he speaks to his 11 disciples, because one of them's become a betrayer. He speaks to his 11 disciples, because one of them's become a betrayer. And he speaks to his 11 disciples, because one of them's become a betrayer. And he speaks to his 11 disciples, because

he looks at eight of them and says, I want you guys to hang out right here. And I want you just to watch with me. I want you to pray for me. I just want you to be here with me. But then he looks at three other disciples, Peter, and this gospel account refers to them as the sons of Zebedee, but we know that that's James and John. He takes Peter, James, and John. He says, why don't you

guys go just a little deeper in with me, and we need to pray together. Now, I hope you ask yourself a question. Why did Jesus choose Peter, James, and John? I always wonder that. Why on earth, did he always kind of single them out and act like, hey, there's just something about these guys that's important. There's something about these guys that makes Jesus choose them out of

everybody else. Now, there's one really good reason, possibly why Jesus always chose Peter, James, and John, and it's because of the positions they would have in the future in the church. Peter would be the one who gave the message on the day of Pentecost, and thousands of people get saved. And then he'll give another message where thousands of more people get saved, and he'll become a pillar of the early church that will be the first one to take the gospel to the Gentiles, right? John was known as the beloved disciple, and he would go on to write

the gospel of John, which would be the latest of the gospel accounts. He would go on to write the books of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, and then he would go on to write the revelation of Jesus Christ, and he would be the longest living of all of the apostles. And then, of course, James. James was the first of the apostles to be martyred, and perhaps Jesus chose them because of the great position that they would hold within the church. Or maybe,

maybe it's because of this. When I was in Bible college, I was a dorm steward. I was a dorm dork, right? I was part of a leadership team. You were in charge of your room, and you had to make sure everybody followed all the rules. And we'd have these dorm steward meetings about once a week or so, and we'd get together with the scariest man I'd ever seen in my life at that point in time.

His name was Mark Schwartz, the dean of men. And he looked at all of us, and he said, men, some of you are here because of your giftings and talents, and we know that you're going to be strong leaders one day, and we want to see that developed. Some of you are here because I don't trust you, and I want to keep a closer eye on you, and I will never tell you which one you are. It could be that he didn't trust him, right? Peter's the guy that stuck his foot in

his mouth all the time and was forever doing something stupid. James and John were known as the sons of thunder because they wanted to call down fire on a city that didn't believe in Jesus. Maybe it's because of the great guys they were. Maybe it's because he didn't trust them. I don't know. Either way, he brings Peter, James, and John a little bit closer, and he says, here's

what I need you guys to do. I want you to watch and pray, but I want you to take note of one thing, before he says that, because he says, he took with him Peter, verse 37, Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and he began to be grieved and distressed. And he said to them, my soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. Those are some really strong words in the Greek language that he uses there. When he uses the word distressed, that's the strongest word in the

Greek language for depression. There's three words in the Greek language. This is the strongest. In other words, when Matthew gives commentary on how Jesus felt at this point in time, depression was what he felt. And then Jesus says of himself, I am grieved to the point of death, or I am sorrowful to the point of death. And I think that this is an interesting thing for

us to pay attention to for a couple of reasons. Why was Jesus so grieved? Why was Jesus battling depression to the point that he was battling it at that point in time? Well, because of everything that was about to happen in the next 24 hours in Jesus's life. He was about to deal with some of the most physical abuse that any human being could go through up to that point in time. He was about to face the cross. And if you know anything about

the cross, Roman citizens were not allowed to be crucified. And we'll go into it more next week. Roman citizens weren't allowed to be crucified because it was such a horrific form of capital punishment. And so as he thought forward for the next 24 hours, he thought, I'm pretty depressed because I know the physical pain that I'm about to go through. But not only was he depressed

because of the physical pain that he was about to go through, he was about to endure emotional abuse like he'd never heard before, like he'd never been through before. He was going to be rejected by everyone. He was going to be accused falsely by anyone that he thought would have been a good person. He was going to be spit upon. And the emotional abuse that he was about

to go through was intense. And so he says, my soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. But it wasn't just the physical abuse he was about to endure. It wasn't just the emotional abuse that he was about to endure. It was a spiritual abuse he was about to endure. He was about to take upon himself for the next 24 hours, the guilt of humanity for all of history.

Now, depression is one of the leading mental illnesses in our nation today. And one of the greatest causes of depression is guilt. Because you know what it's like to sin and feel the guilt of the sin and have that bear you down and have that weigh you down. Quite frankly, when you came to Jesus, that was what you felt so much release from, right? Was the guilt of your sin. Now,

imagine, if you will, the guilt of all of humanity for all of history being placed upon one person who had never experienced guilt in his entire life, who is going to experience separation from God for us. Yeah, he was a little depressed. He was grieved in his soul. But I bring that up because I want us to understand something. I can about guarantee somebody in this room is battling depression right now. I can about guarantee somebody

watching online is battling depression right now, and you feel alone. And you don't feel like anybody else understands. You don't even feel like you know how to articulate it because you just feel so down. And you could put on a good face in front of everybody, maybe. You could put on a good face in front of people, but quite frankly, you're feeling that depression, and nobody else understands. And you try to tell them about it,

and they're like, I just don't get it. I've never been through it before. And you're like, nobody really gets how I feel. Jesus does. Because the physical, emotional, and spiritual things that he was about to be going through caused him an intense depression that was really misunderstood by his disciples at that point in time. I need you to know something. If that's you this morning, if you're battling that this morning, I want you to know that you're

not alone. I want you to know that Jesus understands 100% what you're going through, and you can go to him with no words and just say, and he'll say, I get it. I get it. And he'll work you through it. Well, so Jesus, we're told, was grieved and distressed. He says, my soul is deeply grieved. And I want you to notice what he tells his disciples. He says, remain here and keep watch

with me. Just be vigilant here with me. Just give strict attention to some prayer. Basically, he just said, could you guys just pray for me for a little while? Because what I'm about to go through is really hard, and I just need somebody praying with me. And you can imagine how they're like, yes, we got you. We move into the prayer of Jesus. I want you to notice what he says.

It says in verse 39, I'm always fascinated by a couple of things about this prayer of Jesus. I'm fascinated by its brevity. Maybe there were more words that Jesus prayed at this point in time. Maybe there's just a lot more that he said that is not required. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Maybe there was a lot more that he said that is not required. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

Maybe there was a lot more that he said that is not required. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Because quite frankly, this had to have been autobiographical in nature. Like Matthew wasn't there. He would have been one of the eight that was as far away as possible from Jesus at that point in time. And yet Matthew records the words of Jesus. They had to have either come directly

from Jesus or God gave him direct revelation of what Jesus said. But the only thing that's recorded for us is this really short prayer. And yet we're going to find that it was about an hour that he was praying. And all he said was those words. And you find yourself going, you mean in an hour, Jesus only came up with those words? Yeah, because sometimes when you're in those situations,

it doesn't matter how many words you say. It matters whether or not you bear your heart. It matters whether or not you just poured it all out to God. And he prays this really simple prayer. My father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from you. Now, I don't know how you picture this, but it says right here that he fell on his face. So either one, he's on his knees with his

face in the ground or two, he's literally just laid out flat on the ground and he is pouring his heart out to the father. Well, there's about four things. But I want you to take note of from this prayer. And I've had him put it up here. Number one, Jesus is all alone. Jesus is all alone. Again, a couple of things that I think are important to take note of about that. The first has to do with our own personal prayer lives. I came across a

great quote in a commentary that I read by a guy named Matthew Poole. And it says this, it's short, but it's powerful. It says, fervent prayer loves privacy. Fervent prayer, loves privacy. Listen, it's wonderful to gather with other believers in Jesus Christ and pray with them. I highly recommend you do that. It's wonderful to have public prayer times. I highly

recommend you do that. But there are times where for you to really get into prayer, you got to get all by your onesies. You got to get all by yourself because that's where fervent prayer can take place because sometimes fervent prayer requires waiting on the Lord. Sometimes fervent prayer requires no words. It requires you just bearing your heart to the Lord. And sometimes that takes time.

And so it, so it requires privacy, privacy. It requires you being all by yourself to where no one else is there to where all of the noise of the world, all of the distractions of the world, all of the temptations of the world, they're gone. And it's just you and God dealing with the business of your heart. But the other end of it is this. Jesus was all alone. None of his disciples were around him. They were all asleep. Nobody was near him. It was just Jesus. And I think in this instance, because this is a

this is what you'll find throughout the entire crucifixion is that Jesus is all alone. And I say that because I know that there are people who feel all alone. You could be sitting in a crowd. You could be sitting around a bunch of people. Maybe it's even you sitting here this morning and you're like, I'm surrounded by a lot of people, but I still feel all alone. Jesus understands that. He's been there before. He knows what it's like to face life and feel a little bit alone in the way that you're facing life. And he gets that.

So when you say, Lord, I'm all alone and no one understands, he says, I get you. Because I've been there. I've had to face it all alone before. Jesus was all alone. Number two, we see the humanity of Jesus. We see the humanity of Jesus. I read one commentary that tried to excuse the fact that Jesus says, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me. They tried to over-spiritualize and act like Jesus wasn't saying, is there a plan B?

Have we come up with anything else yet? I think that's genuinely what Jesus is saying. I think he's like, if there's another option, if we've come up with another option in the meantime that I have missed out on, then now would be a good time to speak. Because I think he was a little stressed in his humanity to deal with this. Because while Jesus was 100% God, he was also 100% man when he walked on topside of planet Earth.

And because he was 100% man in his humanity, he went, this is going to suck. This is going to be really hard. And I don't know. I don't know if I've got what it takes in my humanity to do this. You can't say that about Jesus. It's what he said. He said, if there's any other way, then let this cup pass from me. What cup is he talking about? Well, the cup always in Scripture refers to God's wrath in this particular instance, in this particular situation.

He's like, I know I'm about to endure your wrath upon sin. So if there's any other way, then let this pass from me. So number one, he's all alone. Number two, we see the humanity of Jesus. But number three, we see the importance of surrender, the importance of surrender. Do you notice what he said right there? Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. Not my will be done, but your will be done.

We're not good at surrendering as human beings. Have you noticed that? If you don't believe me, go to the toddler room right now. If you went down to the toddler room right now, what you would see is a bunch of small children who do not want to surrender their will. They want what they want, and they want it now. They want it all, and they want it now. Right?

Like that song is playing down there right now because that's what all of the toddlers are doing. And you grow up hopefully learning to surrender your will. And while you learn to surrender it because you have to, you don't surrender it because you want to. Until you come to Jesus. And that first time that you come to Jesus, you probably came to him with your guilt and with your shame.

And you pretty well screwed up your life as good as you possibly could have by insisting. On your own will. And you finally said, I give up. I'm coming to you, Jesus, because I've screwed it all up. And I surrender to you. That was the first step in you surrendering your will to Jesus. But you know what the funny thing is? You'll spend the rest of your life doing it.

You'll spend the rest of your life going, okay, Lord, not my will, but your will be done. Not my will, but your will be done. It's a continual process of surrender. It's a continual process of giving over of myself to Jesus and saying, Lord, this is what I want. If it would be your will, do this. Nevertheless, not what I want, but what you want. And brothers and sisters, there is a necessity of surrender in our lives.

As a matter of fact, I would go so far as to say this. Listen close. You will never find joy in life until you begin to surrender to God. And I don't know if that's word in here for somebody that's never come to Jesus before or a word for somebody that's been walking with Jesus for the last 10 years. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. The last 50 years, and you're still living a miserable life because you still are insisting on your own will. You will never know joy in your life until you really start to surrender to Jesus. And when you start to surrender, you find it was the best thing you could have ever done all along. I read this great quote from Rick Barnes the other day.

Rick Barnes, the coach of Tennessee, used to coach down, used to be the basketball coach down in Texas. He said, you know, when I got fired from Texas, I didn't know what I was going to do. And then I got the job at Tennessee. and I realized Texas didn't fire me, God fired me because I found everything that I wanted right where I am here, coaching basketball in Tennessee. I'm like, that's a guy that surrendered to God's

will. He's finding joy in his life because he surrendered to God's will and because he's not in Texas anymore, but that's not the point. He surrendered to God's will because that's where joy is. Number four, there's no other way to salvation. I don't know how else to say that. There's no other way to salvation. Listen, if anybody tries to tell you there's another way,

that is a slap in the face of Jesus, and it's a slap in the face of God because what did he say? If there's any other way, I'm up for options. Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. There was no other way. So listen, we need to know something. Being a good person is not going to get you to salvation. Attending church is not going to get you to salvation. Taking communion is not

going to get you to salvation. Being baptized as an infant is not going to get you to salvation. Doing any amount of good works is not going to get you to salvation. Why? Because there's only one way and it's through Jesus. There's only one way and it's through 100% dependence upon the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and anything added to it is a slap in the face of Jesus

because there's no other way to salvation. And brothers and sisters, I praise God for that because I could never be good enough. I can never be strong enough. God knows I can't be smart enough. I needed Jesus. And I praise God that he provided the only way to salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. Well, after this amazing prayer of Jesus just pouring his heart out, sweating great drops of blood, he comes back to his disciples

and I just love the disciples. He came to the disciples, verse 40, and he found them sleeping and he said to Peter, Peter, you men could not 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. Okay, first of all, that first verse is one of the funniest ones in all of this account. Okay, follow me on this. Read it again. And he came

to the disciples and found them sleeping and he said to Peter, can you imagine being Peter in that instance? Right? All the disciples are sleeping. Everybody is sawing logs, gentle drool, you know, snoring a little bit. And Jesus, Jesus comes to the three big guys and he says, Peter, why are you sleeping? You know, Peter's going, there are three of us here. Why do I get, I get called out in a gospel account that's going

to be read for all of history? Why is my name said? James and John were sleeping too. The guy writing this account sleeping too. Why is my name the one that gets said? You know, I think he said, Peter, are you sleeping? Because what did Peter tell him? Dude, I don't care what these other knuckleheads do. I am with you. He goes, Peter, you can't die for me. You can't even stay awake for me. How are you going to die

for me? But I think that there's something much deeper that we do need to pay attention to here. He comes to and he finds them asleep and they were both physically sleeping. But I think there's something deeper that we need to pay attention to here. They were spiritually sleeping. You see, spiritually speaking, they failed to grasp the gravity of the world.

They failed to grasp the moment. They failed to grasp the gravity of what was about to take place in the next 24 hours. You know how I know that? Because if they did, they would have been awake. If they had grasped the gravity of what was about to take place, they would have been awake. You know, I always think about the fact that I get, I'm not an early morning person. As a matter of

fact, it goes against everything I believe in both religiously and philosophically to get up early in the morning. And any other day, my alarm goes off and I set like 15 of them. That's not true. It's eight. I set eight different alarms because I just, I don't get up very well in the mornings. But on Sunday mornings, Sunday mornings, man, I roll like 445. I'm in. Now I'm a little

confused still. I mean, nothing's changed about my nature. I'm still, I don't know my name for the first 20 minutes of the morning, but I have no problem getting out of bed. You know why? Because I understand the gravity of the situation. I understand that I've got work to do and I've got to get myself both mentally, emotionally, and spiritually prepared for what I'm about to do.

This morning. It's one of the only times I'm awake, but I'm awake. But Jesus' disciples failed to understand the gravity of the moment. And because they failed to understand the gravity of the moment, they were spiritually asleep. And you know what I get concerned about with the Western culture church right now? We fail to understand the gravity of the moment. And so we

stay asleep. And spiritually speaking, we're snoring and there's a little gentle drool coming down our mouth, right? Because we fail to grasp the gravity of the moment.

Do you realize what's happening in our culture? I try to bring this up every single week, but do you realize what's happening in our culture right now? Do you realize what's happening? And if we as the church don't wake up and start grabbing hold of it with both hands, we're going to miss the boat. We're watching a revival take place right now. I know I talk a lot about athletes, but quite frankly, I work with Fellowship of Christian Athletes. There's not much else you can expect. I watched an interview with Baker Mayfield. Now, I remember watching Baker Mayfield when he played at OU and he was the player that you love to hate, right? He's super good, but he was an avid player. He was an avid player. He was an avid player. He was an avid player. He was an avid player. He was an avid player. He was an avid player. He was an avid player. He was an avid player. He was an avid player

that guy, right? And so I watched this interview with him and he's talking about when he surrendered his life to Jesus. And he's talking about what God did to cause him to surrender his life to Jesus. And I'm going, is that the same guy? Is that really what's happening right there? I watch a player that's playing down for TCU right now. Her name is Paige Van Lith and she helps her team reach the Sweet 16. And in the post-game interview, she is sitting there praising God for what he has healed her from, from what he has restored her from, from what he has done for her.

What he has done in her life. On a national TV press conference, she is preaching the gospel. I watched a little bit of the NCAA wrestling championships the other day and I was fascinated to watch Wyatt Hendrickson absolutely destroy another wrestler who was an Olympic champion. And you know what he did afterwards? He praised God for what God had done. I watched a young man named AJ Ferrari who took third place, has only lost the entire year, was in the semifinals and he had to wrestle back for third place. And you know what they asked him?

When he missed out on his opportunity to win a national championship when he'd gone undefeated all year. Do you know what he said? Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths. And he says this. And the reporter just kept trying to pull the microphone away from him. And he kept being like, oh, and also, and he's just preaching the gospel. He goes, he goes, I got to die to my flesh. I got to give up my flesh because my flesh can't go into heaven. Jesus is coming back soon and we got to be ready for it. And the reporter just kept trying to get him to quit. He went

and quit. And it was amazing. If we don't understand the gravity of the situation right now, we're going to miss it. God's pouring out his spirit, brothers and sisters. Don't be asleep. Wake up. Jesus tells his disciples, he says, 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, verse 42, and he prayed saying, my father, if

this cannot pass away unless I drink it, your will be done. I want to point one thing out about this prayer. I know I'm running out of time. Bear with me. Okay. This prayer was a little shorter than the last one. Did you know that? Did you notice that? It's a little more pointed than the last one. Did you notice that? Why? Because the process of surrender adds to itself, right? Like, like it

just keeps building. Like the first time it was a real battle and he surrendered. And after he surrendered, it was like, nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. Now this time he comes in and he prays and he says, if there's no other way, then let your will be done because he's a little closer to surrender because the more that you surrender, the easier it is to do the second time around. And so he goes and he finds this disciple sleeping again. Again, he came and

he found them sleeping for their eyes were heavy. And then in verse 44, it says, and he left them again and he went away and he prayed a third time saying the same thing once more. And he came to his disciples and he said to them, are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand. The son of man is being betrayed in the hands of sinners. Get up. Let us be going. Behold, the one who betrays me

is at hand. So he comes that second time and they're still sleeping. He just kind of deals with it, rolls on, goes back and prays. We're not told what he says in the third prayer other than he prayed the same thing. Again, it was a prayer of surrender to God's will. And then he comes back to them again and finds them sleeping. I love this because he says, are you, are you still sleeping?

Are you still not picking up what I'm putting down here? But then he says, my betrayer is at hand. Behold, get up. Let's go. Now I love this because what I sense in Jesus is a settled determination at this point in time. Let me read it to you again. Verse 46, get up. Let's be going. The one who betrays me is at hand. There is a, there is a settled determination about the way that Jesus

says that. And that settled determination came from the fact that he just won the battle of the cross in prayer. He just won the battle of the garden in prayer. He just crushed the head of the serpent in prayer. There's a, there's a really stirring scene at the very beginning of Mel Gibson's, the passion of the Christ. If you've seen this movie before, I don't love everything about this

movie, but I love this part because at the very beginning it depicts Jesus in the garden. They're praying. And the entire time that Jesus is praying and sweating those great drops of blood, it keeps panning to a serpent coming to Jesus, right? Scariest scene in the whole movie, as far as I was concerned. Serpent is on its way to Jesus. And, and he continues praying. And

finally, when he, when he says amen and says, let's go, he crushes the head of the serpent. And it's like, you just kind of go, yeah, that's exactly what happens, right? Because the battle of the cross was one in prayer. The battle of the cross was one through surrender. And he could face everything else that he was about to face. the physical, the emotional, the spiritual that he was about to face in the next 24 hours,

and he could face it with confidence. Why? Because he just won the battle of the cross in prayer. Brothers and sisters, Jesus crushed the head of the serpent. But for him to crush the head of the serpent, it started with a surrendered prayer to the Father. It was an amazing battle, and I love that he came out victorious. Amen? Let's all stand. And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come to you now, praising you for who you are. Lord, I can't come to this

account of the cross. I can't come to this account of your prayer in the garden without being stirred emotionally. The book of Hebrews says that for the joy set before you, you endured the cross, despising the shame. And Lord, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that what that means is that we were the joy that was set before you. The only way that you could have the bride was to purchase the field. And so you purchased

it with your blood. And so, Lord, for every person that's in here this morning, may they begin to know and understand that deep love of Jesus Christ that goes beyond anything that we can ask or think. Father, as Paul prayed in the book of Ephesians, that we would know the height and the depth and the width and the length of your love, that we may know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge. Father, may every person in here come to know that love in that intimate and personal way. And may we never doubt who you are. And may

we never doubt how much you love us, because every time we do, we can say, but because of the cross of Jesus, I know that I am loved. And so, Father, we praise you for who you are. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.

Thank you for the new life that we have in you, Lord Jesus. And if there are any here today, Lord, that have never placed their trust in you, that have never come to that point of realizing who they are and who you are in relation, I pray that today would be that day. Lord, your mighty God, let your Holy Spirit do its mighty work in our lives, Lord God. We love you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. You guys have a wonderful week. God

bless you.