The Cross of Christ Pt 2: The Preparation

Good to see everybody. I'll invite you to go ahead and stand with us. We'll pray and we'll get started. We thank you for the day. God, we just thank you for another opportunity to be here in your house, to worship you, to praise you, God, and to spend some time in your word. And I just pray that you would help us to sit everything else aside, all the distractions that are, all the things that are going on in our lives,

and just to focus upon you this morning, God, just to lift praise to you, to lift a joyful noise. Lord, we love you and we praise you in your precious and holy name. Amen.

You guys can go ahead and have a seat if you like, and we'll continue on.

Yes, Lord God, we thank you. Lord, the battle does belong to you, Lord God. Amen.

Never gives up, never runs out on me. Never fails and never gives up, never runs out on me.

Lord God, we just thank you, Lord, that when everything else falls, when everyone else falls away from us, Lord God, you don't. You never fail. You're the one thing that will remain, God, in our lives. And we thank you and we praise you. Amen. God, and just this morning, God, again, we just, we praise you. Lord, we thank you for all the things that you've done.

Lord, we thank you for all the things that you've done for us, Lord, all the ways that you're working in our lives. Lord, we know that you're coming back for your church, for your bride, and soon. And Lord, one day we'll be standing in your presence and singing praises to you for the rest of eternity, God. And God, what an awesome day that's going to be, Lord.

A song that's always a majesty before.

God, we just thank you. God, again, we just give you praise, Lord.

God, just because of who you are and what you've done for us, Lord God.

God, you're worthy of all of the praise, all dominion and power.

God, we just thank you that you are our firm foundation, Lord God. God, that you won't fail when everything and everyone else around us does. You won't. Christ is my firm foundation.

I stand, it's shaking.

Lord God, this morning I just pray that as Pastor Ryan comes, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would just speak mightily through him, God. Lord, pour out your word upon us. Pour out your spirit upon this place, Lord God. Lord, let your word go forth and accomplish the purpose for which it's meant. Let it do its mighty work in our lives. Let it permeate. Let it permeate our hearts, God.

God, let it divide right from wrong in our lives. Let it divide down to the marrow. Lord, let your Holy Spirit, God, come and do a mighty work. Lord, we welcome you this morning. We pray these things in your precious and holy name. Amen. 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. Happy Palm Sunday. A few things to take note of in your bulletin. Over on the left-hand side are the things that go on throughout the week. The only change this week is that we have a night of worship coming up this Wednesday. So plan on joining us for that. Should be a great time of gathering and worshiping together.

And over in the middle section of your bulletin, some things to take note of. Just a reminder about Grief Share. That is still going on. Also, I already said the thing about the night of worship. We have Holy Spirit. Holy Week Community Worship Service is taking place this week. And there's a couple of posters throughout the church where you can see where those are and what the churches are.

Other upcoming... Nope. We pretty well covered all of that. Okay. Very good. We had a great time last night at the fundraiser. And first of all, a huge thank you to everybody that helped out or participated or donated. It was amazing. I think they raised just a shade under $3,000. To go towards the mission strip. So that's a beautiful thing. It's wonderful to know that all of that is going to go straight into the work of the ministry.

So thank you for all those that came out for that. So what a beautiful time. And then just a reminder that the reading plan for the week is on the inside flap of the bulletin. Those are the things that are going on. If you'd make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And for our responsive reading, we are going to be in Psalm 24. Psalm 24. Looking at the New American Standard.

So we sound the same. If you need a copy, should be one in the row around you. And as you are turning to Psalm 24, 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 and the even verses. Psalm 24. A Psalm of David. The earth is the Lord's and all it contains. The world and those who dwell in it.

For he has founded it upon the seas. And established it upon the rivers. Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord. And who may stand in his holy place. He who has clean hands and a pure heart. Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood. And is not sworn deceitfully. He shall receive a blessing from the Lord. And righteousness from the God of his salvation.

This is the generation of those who seek him. Who seek your face. Even Jacob. Say la. Lift up your heads, O gates. And be lifted up, O ancient doors. That the king of glory may come in. Who is the king of glory? The Lord strong and mighty. The Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates. And lift them up, O ancient doors. That the king of glory may come in.

Who is this king of glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the king of glory. Say la. And Father, we do look forward to the day that you come home. And take us to be home with you. And so, Father, I pray that you. That you would continue to do your work in our hearts this morning. I ask that as we spend time in your word. That you would prepare our hearts, Lord. For the work that you will show us in scripture.

That you did for us on the cross. And so, Lord, move in us by the power of the Holy Spirit, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of Matthew chapter 21. Matthew chapter 21.

Last week, we started into a three-week series with Easter coming up. Called the cross of Christ. We've been looking. We said at three things. We wanted to look at the promise. We wanted to look at the preparation. And then we wanted to look at the victory. Last week, we looked at the promise. Specifically, the promise that was made about the cross in Isaiah chapter 53.

The promise that God had begun in the very beginning. After man had sinned and carried through out the Old Testament. With that scarlet thread being. Woven through every sacrifice, every feast, everything. To where in Isaiah 53, he gave such a vivid picture of exactly what Jesus would experience on the cross. Well, now we come to part two, which is the preparation.

And so, as we look at the preparation, there's three things within that subheading of the cross of Christ. The preparation that we want to look at. We're going to look at the presentation. We're going to look at the examination. And then we're going to look at the prayer. And so, we pick up in chapter 21, verse 1. And this is the preparation. And this is the preparation.

And this is what it says. It says, And when they had approached Jerusalem, and had come to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, Go into the village opposite you. And immediately you will find a donkey tied there, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, The Lord has need of them.

And immediately he will send them. This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet. Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you, gentle and mounted on a donkey, even on the colt, the foal of a beast of burden. The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their coats on them.

And he sat on the coats. And most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees, and spreading them in the road. The crowds going ahead of him and those who followed him were shouting, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. And when he had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying,

Who is this? The crowds were saying, This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee. Now, before we get into the story of Palm Sunday, which is exactly what this is, there's a couple of things I want to remind you of. A couple of things to kind of have in the back of your mind as we look at this story of Palm Sunday. The first has to do with the rules of faith.

The first has to do with the rules of faith. The second has to do with Passover. In Exodus chapter 12, I think I had to put that up there. You don't need to turn there, but just reference in the margin of your Bible, Exodus chapter 12, because that's a really important thing for us to pay attention to. Because in Exodus 12 are given the instructions for the Passover lamb.

You see, we're told in Exodus chapter 12, God had told the nation of Israel, as they were being delivered from the hand of Egypt for this tenth plague, he said, This is going to be the beginning of the year for you. This will be a new beginning for you. On the tenth day of this month, you will choose for yourself a lamb. And this lamb will be a male, one year old, and he will be without spot or blemish.

You were to choose this lamb, and you were to do something interesting. You were to bring the lamb into the home. And the lamb would live in your home until the fourteenth day of the month. And on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, they were to sacrifice the lamb. Now, interestingly enough, that lines up with what's going on here on Palm Sunday. That would have been the day that they would have chosen their Passover lamb,

because it was on the tenth of the month, and Jesus, as the Passover lamb, came riding into Jerusalem to be presented and to, if you will, dwell in the home of Israel to be examined for those four days, or for those five days. Now, the other thing for us to pay attention to is a prophecy out of the book of Daniel, chapter 9, verses 24 and 25. Because in Daniel, chapter 9, verses 24 and 25, is given the prophecy of the seventy weeks. God had told Daniel, seventy weeks have been decreed for the nation of Israel.

There will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks until the coming of Messiah, the Prince. From the going forth of the edict, of the declaration to go forth and rebuild the temple, there will be sixty-nine sets of seven years that will take place until Messiah, the Prince, comes. Now, there's a guy who's really, really smart, who did all of the math based on the Jewish year, which is 360 days instead of our 365 days. And from the time of the declaration, when the children of Israel were sent forth to go and rebuild the temple, to the time when Jesus came riding into Jerusalem, on the tenth of Nisan of that year, is exactly sixty-nine sets of seven years.

Exactly 483 years. Isn't that amazing? Isn't it beautiful that God planned that out so perfectly? And so this Palm Sunday has such amazing significance. It has not only religious significance, because it's exactly when the Passover lamb would be chosen, and then to be examined, but it's also exactly when God told Daniel that the Messiah, the Prince, would come riding into Jerusalem.

And so, with that as a backdrop, we come to this triumphal entry, what we know of as Palm Sunday. And so, Jesus and his disciples have been making a journey all the way to Jerusalem, going and doing miracles and working as they went. And it says they came into the village of Bethpage, and they were ready to go in. And so Jesus told his disciples, he gave them instructions.

You need to go into the city, and when you go into the city, what you're going to find is you're going to find a donkey that's tied up, along with its colt, and you are to take those and bring them to me. And if the owner of them gives you any trouble, if the owner of them says, hey, why are you stealing my donkey and the colt? Tell them that Jesus has need of them. Okay, on a comedic side, this is always the most fascinating part of the story to me, because I just can't imagine being told that by Jesus, saying, go steal a donkey.

Basically, that's what he told them to do. Now, I think he had arranged this ahead of time. I don't think he stole anything, or his disciples stole anything. But in their mind, if the only instructions they have is what we're given here, he's like, go there and you're going to find a donkey. Listen, people, it's Jerusalem. You know what there was probably a lot of?

Donkeys, right? But it was a donkey with a colt. And when you find it, you're to bring it to me. And if he gives you any trouble, just tell him, Jesus has need of it. And so from now on, any time I want something, I'm just going to go and take it. And if somebody gives me a problem, I'm going to say, Jesus has need. That's not true. I'm not going to do that at all.

But that part always comes up. It kind of makes me laugh in this story. Now, as he says this, I want you to pay attention to something. In verse 4 it says, This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet. Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you, gentle and mounted on a donkey, even a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.

This is significant for a couple of reasons. Jesus rode on a donkey, first of all, because kings, according to the book of Deuteronomy, were not to ride in on horses. The kings of Israel were always to ride a donkey. And as a matter of fact, if you go back, you'll find that even King David rode a donkey. So it's really important that that's what he was riding.

But the second thing that's really important is that he gives us this prophecy that is fulfilled. And this prophecy actually is a paraphrase out of Zechariah chapter 9, verse 9, which is a messianic prophecy. And so for Jesus to do this was not just some accident. He didn't just need a good ride. He didn't just need something to carry him into Jerusalem. After all,

he'd walked all the way from Galilee down to the region of Judea for several days, pretty sure he could make the rest of the journey himself on foot, right? No, he needed this donkey and the colt of this donkey, because that's exactly what the prophecy said that Jesus would come riding in on, that the Messiah would come riding in on, that the King of Israel would come riding in on, on the colt of a donkey. Gentle. And it's kind of interesting, because he didn't ride on the full-grown donkey.

He rode on the colt. We're told in other gospel accounts, it was a colt that no one had ridden on. It only took the one who was the true King of Kings to ride in on the colt of this donkey. And so the disciples do exactly as Jesus had instructed them. And so they bring the donkey and the colt. And I want you to notice the saddle that they make for Jesus. They take their coats.

They lay it on the back of the colt of this donkey. And that's the saddle for Jesus. And so here comes Jesus. He's going to come riding in, not as the conquering King, but as the humble servant. Not as the conquering King who had just won the great victory, but as the humble servant who was about to face death. The humble servant who is about to be presented

as the Passover lamb, the ultimate sacrifice for the people. Wouldn't it have been wonderful if John was in the background yelling, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And so Jesus begins his journey. And as he begins his journey, he's riding and people start amassing. Notice what it says. It says he sat on the coats in verse eight. It says most of the crowd spread their coats in the road

and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. Again, Matthew didn't answer all of my questions here. I have questions. Do you have questions? I have questions as to why all the people are there. We know all of the people are there because it's the Passover festival. And during the Passover festival is one of the three feasts

that all Jewish males were required to attend. And so some say that the population of Jerusalem swelled to three times its normal size during the time of the Passover. So there were lots of people that were there. But again, what prompted all of these crowds of people to begin doing what they do? Why are they laying out their coats? Why are they laying out palm branches?

Well, the reason why they lay out coats and palm branches is because that spoke of loyalty. It spoke of support. It spoke of victory. And it spoke of success. When a king came riding into town, this is the thing that the people would do. The people would lay down palm branches. They would lay down coats. They would make sure and prepare the way for the king.

And so when Jesus came riding in, that's what they did. It was a sign of loyalty. It was a sign of victory. It was a sign of success for the king. But again, I say to you, why did they do this for Jesus? Because Jesus was just a humble carpenter. Jesus was just an itinerant preacher. Jesus was just a prophet from Nazareth. Why did they do this for Jesus? I would tell you that it's because Jesus came riding in

on the colt of a donkey. And all the people that were there started to pick up on the significance of what was going on. All of the people there started picking up on the significance of the fact that the king had come. Now, they didn't understand why the king had come. They still think that Jesus had come as a king to set them free from the oppression of Rome,

a temporary oppression, not knowing that Jesus did not come to set them free from a temporary oppressor, but from the ultimate oppressor, which is none other than sin, which comes about through Satan himself. They didn't realize that he didn't come to set them free from Caesar. He came to set them free from Satan. He came to be the one whose heel would be bruised so that he could ultimately crush the head of the serpent.

And so as they see the king riding into town, they start throwing out palm branches. They start throwing out coats, and they start laying everything out in front of him. And I want you to notice, as the crowds were following him and doing this in the road, notice what it says in verse 9, and the crowds going ahead of him, and those who followed were shouting, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

You see why it's so important that we knew all of those things about the lineage of Jesus? Because we know that he truly is the son of David. He truly is the son of David. And so he had that lineage. How did the people know that? I have no idea. I don't think anybody saw Jesus' birth certificate. I just think that they picked up on the significance of what was going on at this point in time.

And so they start crying out, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. The word Hosanna is a fascinating word. The word Hosanna means save now. It means save now. And that's what they were crying out for. They were crying out for salvation. The wrong kind of salvation. They were looking for temporary salvation, just like sometimes we're looking for temporary salvation.

Right? Have you ever noticed that in our lives? How many of us, most of the things that we think about the most have nothing to do with eternity and have only to do with the here and the now? It's not that God doesn't care about the here and the now, but remember God has a bigger plan than whether or not you're going to make it through today. God has a plan that springs into eternity

because he doesn't want to just set you free from the issue that you deal with today. He wants to set you free from the sin that will separate you from him for eternity. They weren't thinking that way. They were thinking, save now. And they were crying out, Hosanna. Interestingly enough, the passage that they cry out is Psalm 118 verse 26. Well known as what we call a messianic psalm.

A psalm that they would have cried out for the Messiah. And so all these people are picking up on what's going on. The presentation of Jesus as he comes riding into town and they're crying out, Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna. Hosanna in the highest. And it says, And when he had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying,

Who is this? That word stirred speaks of a violent stirring. In other words, the entire town knew Jesus had shown up. This is different from the other times Jesus had gone to Jerusalem, is it not? Because other times when Jesus had gone to Jerusalem, he'd gone up in secret. He'd gone up somewhat privately because he didn't want this to happen. He didn't want to be viewed as the deliverer of Israel.

But now it was time. As a matter of fact, how many times did they try to crown Jesus King of the Jews so that he would be the one who would set them free? And he said, No, it's not time. My time has not yet come. But now at the exact right time, on the 10th of Nisan in the age of A.D. 32, in rides Jesus. And they cry out, Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Because it was time. It was time. It was time for the king to come riding in. But he didn't come riding in like they wanted him to. Because he didn't ride in as the conquering king on a white horse. That won't come until he returns again. He came in humble, gentle, on the colt of a donkey. Because he came in as the suffering servant. Because while it was not time for him to be crowned king and ruler,

it was time for him to be crowned. Suffering servant. Who would take away the sin of the world. The time of the preparation had come. And so they say, Who is this? I love it. They're all shouting, Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And everyone's going, Who is he? And the crowds were saying, This is the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.

Now that may seem like an interesting statement to you of like, just a prophet. But I want you to think about something. If you've been keeping up with our reading, you know we read this a couple of weeks ago in Deuteronomy. Do you remember what Moses said? God will raise up a prophet who is like me, but him you will listen to. So when they said, He is the prophet from Nazareth,

they didn't realize what they were saying was, He is the fulfillment of what Moses said was to come. And so as we look at this time of preparation, the first thing that we see is the presentation of the Lamb, can you picture it? Can you just kind of allow your mind to flash back and forth between the children of Israel and Egypt picking out a lamb going, Looks pretty good to me. I don't see any spot or blemish.

And so they bring the lamb into the house, pan back to Jesus coming, riding in as the suffering servant into Jerusalem, not as the king, but as the lamb who was without spot and blemish. And the nation of Israel not even realizing that what they did was go, Looks pretty good to me. He'll do. Well, the second thing that we see, and I don't want you to turn anywhere.

I'm just going to go through some things with you is, is the examination, the examination. Now, remember when the Passover lamb was brought into the home, a couple of things began to take place with the Passover lamb. Number one, is they got really close to the lamb. Those of you that have kids and have had pets, how long does it take for your kid to get attached to a pet?

Negative 39 seconds, right? What they have to do is think about the fact that they might have a pet, and they're already attached to whatever pet you have not owned yet, right? They're like, but dad, I already love it. We don't even have it yet. And you, what? Right? You bring that animal into the house. Like, yeah, it's the greatest thing ever. And everybody's snuggling on the thing.

Remember, this is a lamb of one year. It's cute. It's little, right? This is a sweet little lamb, right? And everybody's in the house going, it's the lamb. He's so soft. You know, that's exactly what was supposed to happen, is there was supposed to be that bonding with the lamb. You know why? Because it was a sacrifice. It was a sacrifice. And that's exactly what would take place with the lamb.

But that's not the only thing that would happen with the Passover lamb. You see, the other thing that would happen with the Passover lamb is that every day was to be a day of examination. Every day was to be a day where they looked a little bit more closely to make sure that it truly was a spotless lamb. And so, the days that the lamb dwelt in the home of the ones who would sacrifice it, the lamb would be examined.

And that is exactly what took place with Jesus. You see, Jesus came riding into town on a Sunday. And after he came riding into town, it didn't take him long to get to work because that week that Jesus would have been there, that week that Jesus was in, if you will, the house of Israel, known as Jerusalem, in the temple, his father's house, he did a lot of things to be examined by the people. First of all, he faced a great deal of tests.

He was tested morally and ethically with all kinds of questions by the religious leaders. And he was tested theologically with all kinds of questions by the religious leaders. He was tested by the Pharisees. He was tested by the Sadducees. And he was even tested by the scribes. As a matter of fact, a great deal of time, especially in the Gospel of John, is given to the time of Jesus in Jerusalem being tested by the religious leaders.

They tried to throw everything they could at him to trip him up in his words. As a matter of fact, the commentary in all of the Gospel accounts that each of the Gospel writers gives is they did this so that they could catch him in his words because they wanted to try to prove him wrong. And you know what each of them had to do? They had to walk away and say, we can't do anything.

We can't say anything. That's why they had to make up false charges against him. Because while he was tested morally and ethically and theologically, he passed all of the tests. But he also was examined in the way that he led. You know, the very first thing that Jesus did when he came riding into Jerusalem, all of the kids are praising him. All of the people are praising him.

The kids are singing the praises of Jesus. And the religious leaders say, you need to tell them to stop. You need to tell them to stop singing praises. That's not for you. And he says, listen, I can tell them to stop. But you just need to know the very rocks would cry out. And again, from my perspective, I kind of wish they all would have stopped so that the rocks would have cried out because I kind of want to know what that would be like.

He said, if they stop praising me, then the very rocks themselves will cry out. And then he went into the temple. And the first thing he did when he went into the temple is he saw what was taking place in there. He saw all of the money changers. He saw all of the salesmanship. That was going on. He saw that all they wanted to do was fleece God's people. And as he saw it,

he said, this can't be. And so he took a whip and he created it. He started flipping over tables. He started turning over money boxes and he drove all of the animals and all of the people out of the temple with one cry in his voice. My house shall be called a house of prayer, declares the Lord. And he cleansed the temple showing that in this example, showing that in this examination,

showing that he is the ultimate right of authority when it came to the worship in the temple, because all of the worship in the temple pointed to him. And quite frankly, if cleaning needed to be done, he was absolutely willing to do it. Of course, he taught on the coming kingdom. And as he taught on the coming kingdom, he did so, first of all, through kingdom parables, which is what he spoke to most of the people that listened.

Most of the average person that would listen to Jesus would be taught about the kingdom in parables. The only way that they could know more is if they would dig deeper, if they would ask him themselves. But not only did he teach about the kingdom in the kingdom parables, but he taught his disciples about the kingdom in the Olivet discourse. Remember, as they were standing and looking at this beautiful temple, which from everything that I've read was one of the most amazing structures of its day, the temple that Herod had rebuilt, or had remodeled and restored, and really brought to its glory.

And they were looking at the temple and they looked and they said, would you just look at it? Just look at how beautiful that temple was. Only sidebar, what did the temple speak of? Jesus. Everything that the temple represented was standing right there in front of them, but all they could look at was the structure. Oh Lord, deliver us from our lack of spiritual vision.

Amen. And so they said, just look at the temple. And Jesus said, you need to know something about that building right there. There's going to come a time when not one stone will be left upon another. And his disciples were somewhat stunned in silence. And so as they walked back out of the city, out to the Mount of Olives, they said, we don't get it. That's not exactly what they said,

but that's what they meant. When, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? And then he started into this Olivet discourse where he took them from the time of his resurrection and ascension onto the time of not only the second coming, but the establishing of a brand new kingdom. And he laid it all out in a two and a half chapter panorama of what history would look like,

showing that he is not only the author of creation, he is not only the author of faith, but he is the finisher of faith. He passed the examination. Of course, he also went on to pronounce woes upon the religious system, the religious system that was built upon tradition, not truth. Oh, it had a form of truth in it. It had a form of biblical knowledge in it.

It had a form of the Old Testament in it, but they had taken all of those Old Testament things and put right alongside it all of the traditions. And they said, while the word is good, the tradition is equally as good. And so they, they held tradition up as the same place as the truth of the word of God. And he pronounced upon them woes because they were so worked up with their tradition that they had missed everything that scripture had pointed to.

And they were so wrapped up in their tradition. Self-righteousness, that true righteousness was standing right in front of them, and they missed it. And not only did they miss it, but now they were holding other people back from knowing the truth. Because when you hold tradition and the place where God's word is supposed to be, it holds other people back from the truth.

And so he said, woe unto them because they are like whitewashed tombs on the outside. They look beautiful, but on the inside, they're full of death. He would go on from there to simply weep over Jerusalem. As he pronounced those woes, he went on to weep and say, Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets. Oh, how I'd love to gather you. Because as much as he was upset at the way that they had handled the truth,

it still broke his heart because they were his people. And from there, he would go on to share that last meal with his disciples. And during that last meal, he would show them what servanthood really looked like. I don't know what's playing in the background, right? Something's playing in the background. Okay. He would go on to celebrate the last supper with his disciples.

And as he celebrated that last supper with his disciples, two incredibly significant things took place. Number one, he taught them what servanthood really looked like. Because as Jesus was there at the supper, we're told that he laid aside his outer garment and he girded himself with a towel. And as he girded himself with the towel and he filled a basin with water, he went around and he washed each of the disciples feet.

And he said, as I have done for you, so now you go and do for others. If I, as your master can stoop to this level of being a servant, how much more should you? He taught them what servanthood really looked like as he washed their feet. And then of course he instituted that last supper. He instituted the Lord's supper for us as he took the bread. And he said,

this has always been the bread of the Passover, but I tell you, there's something different. Now, this is now my body. This is the picture of my body that is being broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Every time you take this in, it is a reminder of the sacrifice that I will make for you. A reminder of my body that is broken and see this cup. This cup is the cup of the new life.

This cup of the new covenant in my blood that is shed for you. And as often as you drink it, you will declare my death to the world. And he institutes that Lord's supper for them. And as he does all of those things, as he goes all the way through that week, and at the end of that supper, after he had said, one of you is going to betray me. And Judas says, Lord,

is it me? He says, what you need to do, go do quickly. And Judas leaves. And then Jesus says, it's time that we go now. He headed out that night. He prays for all of his disciples that a great high priestly prayer from John chapter 17. And then he arrives in the garden. And that brings us to the last thing that we're going to talk about this morning, because we've seen the presentation of the sacrifice

on the, on Palm Sunday. We've seen the examination of the sacrifice, but now we see the prayer. Go over to Matthew chapter 26. And I want you to look at verse 36, Matthew 26, verse 36. It starts like this. Then Jesus came with him 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, the two sons of Zebedee.

And he began to be grieved and distressed. And then he said to them, my soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here, keep watch with me. And he went a little while 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 his disciples and he found them sleeping

and said to Peter, so you men could not keep watch with me 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 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 very heavy.

And he left them again and went away and prayed a third time saying the same thing once more. 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 be going. Behold, the one who betrays me is at hand. Now this last scene that we see is the last part of what I would call the preparation

of the sacrifice. And it's the prayer of Jesus in the garden, because I believe that apart from this prayer in the garden, in his humanity, he would not have been ready to face the cross. Because remember, while he's 100% God, he's also 100% man and man. And in his humanity, he faced the reality of the death that he was about to undergo. And so they come to this place called Gethsemane.

The word Gethsemane is interesting. The word Gethsemane literally means olive press or oil press. And that's what took place there. But isn't it kind of interesting that that's the place that he went to because it would be in the garden of Gethsemane that Jesus would face the great cross. Jesus would face the greatest pressure, the greatest pressing together of his soul that he had experienced in his time on earth.

And I took note of the state of mind of Jesus. Perhaps you did as well. There was a handful of words that were used. He was grieved. He was distressed. He was grieved to the point of death. The words that Matthew uses are some of the strongest words for one who is depressed that you can use in all of the Greek language. In other words, his soul was so heavy.

It was so pressed down because of what he was about to face that he was distressed and grieved even to the point of death. In other words, he was brought to the very brink of anything that he could handle on his own. And so all he knew to do was to carry it to his father in prayer. Of course, the second thing that I take note of about Jesus in his prayer is that he was all alone.

He was all alone. And he knew that going into it. He had told his disciples, all of you are going to be made to stumble because of me tonight. All of you will flee from me. Peter, you're even going to deny that you even know me tonight. So Jesus was all alone. But not only was he all alone because everybody fled from him. He was all alone because there was no one else that could help in the work of redemption that he was about to do.

He faced it. He faced it all alone. And as he was there, he gave some instructions, simple instructions to his disciples. The first thing he said was keep watch with me. I don't even think he needed them to do very much just to support him. Just just keep watch with me. And of course, one thing led to another and he came back and the only thing they were watching was the backside of their eyelids.

Surely praying in the spirit as they breathe deeply and snored a little bit. So he gave him a second set of instructions, one that I think we should pay attention to. And I will draw a small point out of watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. But the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Can I draw a quick personal application out of that?

That really has nothing to do with the whole preparation of Jesus for the sacrifice. And that's that if we really want success in our spiritual lives, if we really want victory over the flesh, if we really want victory over temptation, Jesus just gave us the key to it right there. Watch and pray. Watch what's going on around you, the temptations that you face, the things that you face, the things that are going on in the world.

Watch and then pray. Keep your heart in tune constantly with the Holy Spirit because the spirit is willing. You want to do the right thing, but your flesh is weak. You tend to get torn down and poor. You tend to get torn down and pulled back. And the only way that you can strengthen that spirit is if you watch. Pray. And so Jesus gives his disciples these instructions.

But next we see the prayer that Jesus offers. Remember, his soul is distressed, grieved to the point of death. It says in verse 39, he went a little beyond them and he fell on his face and prayed saying, Father, it is impossible. Let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will. Now we're given one small line that Jesus uses there in his prayer.

But how long did Jesus say he'd been gone while he was praying that prayer? Do you remember? One hour. One hour. And Jesus had one prayer. At least it's recorded for us. I find that kind of interesting because I think we oftentimes think we have to come up with all kinds of words. I think we oftentimes think we have to come up with all kinds of words. Sometimes it's just that one prayer,

but we labor over it for a really, really, really long time. And Jesus labored over it so intensely that remember what happened to Jesus? Those capillaries began to burst and he began to sweat great drops of blood. Now I want you to think about what this would have been like for Jesus as he's praying this. Let's look just at the physical aspect of some things alone,

shall we? First of all, he's incredibly grieved. And we all, if you've been through it before, maybe you haven't. If you've been through that kind of depression before, it exhausts you because your mind is so caught up with what has it so preoccupied that your body literally is exhausted from just constantly thinking about that one thing. And he is stressing and he is distressed and he's pouring out his heart to the Lord in the only way that he can.

The only words that come out are, Lord, let this cup pass. The great drops of blood start coming from his brow. And where's his face at this point in time? His face is down in the dirt because he's face down before the father. So with his head covered with blood and sweat and now mud, he cries out, Lord, if there is any other way, Lord, if you've come up with a plan B,

now's a great time for you to bring that up. Lord, if there's any other way for these people to be saved, if there's any other way for salvation to be achieved other than the cross, if there's any other way for salvation to be achieved other than the suffering I'm about to go through, if there's any other way for them to be set free other than to have you turn your back on me as I bear the sin of the world, then Lord, let this cup pass from me. And then he says those difficult words. Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done.

And as he gets up from this moment, expecting to find his disciples, truthfully, probably wasn't expecting to find his disciples watching and praying with him. He comes back face covered with mud and sweat and blood. He looks at him and says, not even one hour. Watch and pray. Lest you enter into temptation. And then he goes back and does it a second time. He goes back and says,

Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, your will be done. I find it interesting what Matthew records there, because this time the prayer is a little bit more surrender. Did you notice that? Lord, if it's true that there's no other way for this to be done, then let your will be done. Of course, he comes again and he finds that their eyes were very heavy.

And the third time, Matthew just simply records, and he left them again and went away. And prayed a third time saying the same thing once more. I think somehow a mixture of those two lines are what are used again in this last time of prayer. And as he pours out his heart before the Lord, as he seeks the Lord, as he prays to the Lord, he comes back and he finds them again sleeping.

And he came to his disciples and said, are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand. And 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, I find this last part kind of fascinating because Jesus comes back a third time and he finds his disciples in that familiar place.

He finds them curled up in a sleeping position and he looks at him and says, are you still sleeping? Are you still resting? Don't you realize what's going on? The hour is at hand. The son of man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. And then he says something really interesting. And I don't know how you read this, but I'm gonna tell you how I read it.

He says, get up, let us be going for the one who betrays me is at hand. Now, Jesus went into the garden a particular way. We're told exactly how he went into it, exactly what his mental state was like going into it, that he was grieved, that he was distressed, and that he was grieved even to the point of death. His prayers revealed exactly what was in his heart and his humanity.

Lord, I don't wanna do this. If there's any other way, if there's any other way for them to be saved, then let that be done. Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. And as he goes those three times, then he pours out his heart to the Lord and he prays to the Lord and he seeks another way. And he surrenders to the will of God. Each time he gets a little bit stronger in his resolve and his humanity.

The resolve gets a little bit stronger every time until the last time he comes and he finds his disciples. And he says, are you still sleeping? The hours come. The son of man is about to be betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up. Let's be going because the one who betrayed me is at hand. If he went into the garden with his head low because he was distressed and grieved to the point of death,

he went out with his head held high, ready to face his accuser because he knew his time, his time had come. You see, I think he went in distressed and he left victorious. I think he went in grieved and he left determined because he had won the battle of the cross in prayer. He had won the battle of the cross in the garden because in the garden, he surrendered to the will of the father in the garden.

He learned that there was no other way in the garden. He gained all of the strength that he needed to face all of the things that he was about to face. So that when he stood before pilot pilot said, do you answer nothing? Don't you know that I have the power of life and death over you? And Jesus looked at him and said one simple thing. You would have no power unless it had been given to you from above.

Isn't that great? You know why Jesus could stand there with all of that resolve and say that? Because he went through a time of preparation. And the time of preparation took place in the garden as he went before the father and said, Lord, if there's any other way, then let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. See in the garden is where his heart was prepared for what he would have to face in the cross.

Brothers and sisters, we have before us here a beautiful section of scripture because we have never seen more clear. The heart of the savior in both his humanity and his divinity than we have given to us right there. Because Jesus looked at his heart, his disciples, and he said, get up. It's time. Because he was ready. Because he was prepared to face the cross.

Amen. Brothers and sisters, let's all stand. I don't want to give some sort of a word of exhortation about how you need to be prepared or any of those kinds of things, because I don't think that that's what this is about. I think what this is about is you understanding that Jesus was that perfect sacrifice for us. Because there is nothing that paints more clearly

the picture of the love of Jesus Christ for us than for him to say, nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. And as I ended last week, I want to end this week the exact same way. I want you to understand beyond a shadow of a doubt the great love that God has for you. Love that he did not demonstrate simply with his words, but love that he demonstrated with his actions when he spread out his arms on a cross and with three nails and a spear made the perfect heart to show just how much he loves you.

Because the love of God is beyond our understanding. And my prayer is that as you read these things and as you go through this Holy Week, God will make that more clear than anything you've ever known in your entire life. Amen. Father, we come to you now, and Lord, I praise you for who you are. Lord, I praise you for the great love that you have for us. And Father, I praise you that you have declared it so clearly,

not only in your word, but Lord, with your actions. And so, Father, may we take the truth of your love and let it change who we are. Lord, may we begin to rest in the love that you have for us. May we begin to understand the grace that you show to us. And Lord, may the cross become more real to us than it ever has before, as we go through this week. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Be blessed.

God, we just thank you, God, for what you've done for us on the cross, Lord. But for the debt that you paid for us, Lord God, we thank you. And that's not even close to beginning to really just expressing the gratitude that we have for what you've done for us, Lord God. But God, we love you and we praise you, and we thank you for what you have done for the new life that we have in you, through your death and resurrection, Lord.

We know that you are alive today, God, and that you are coming again soon to take us home to be with you. And Lord, we look forward to that day, and we are anxious and excited to be with you, Lord God. We love you and we praise you, and we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. You guys have a wonderful week, and God bless you, and we'll see you on Easter.