Gethsemane: The Garden of Grief and Grace

Let's pray together. Lord, we thank you for the opportunity to enter into the Garden of Gethsemane. We cannot ever, ever comprehend what took place that night as your son would pray to you. And the agony that he went through. This thought of eternity that will never be understood. And yet, you have put it in the pages of Scripture. For us to begin to understand the magnitude of that night. And our prayer that some way, somehow, you'd remove all distractions from our minds. And clear our thoughts that we might begin to understand this night what it meant for you, your son.

What it meant for us, and the effects for us today, that we might learn our lesson well. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Our text is Luke chapter 23, excuse me, chapter 22, verse number 39. As we enter into the garden of Gethsemane, I love to preach in the garden of Gethsemane. Whenever we preach there, behind me is the dome of the rock. You can see the dome, and you can see the eastern gate behind me when I'm preaching. I can only imagine what it must have been like. On this night, some 2,000 years ago, when Christ and his men were on the Mount of Olives in the Garden of Gethsemane.

And they would be able to see and understand the magnitude of that temple, that massive structure that would stand there on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. And to be able to watch the eight to nine hundred individuals that would proceed from The temple area with torches and lanterns to come and retrieve Jesus the Nazarene. I can't even begin to imagine the emotion of the evening. But more than that. It's what happens in this text before that event actually takes place in the garden. For our Lord truly, as the Bible prophesied in Isaiah 53, he is a man of sorrows acquainted with grief.

A phrase that we have a hard time digesting. You know, the Bible never said that Jesus was a man of happiness, had lots of joy, although he embodies joy. But he is a man of sorrows. We know that because we read and watched him weep over the city of Jerusalem. He would weep, realizing they had missed the day of their visitation. On the back side of the Mount of Olives is a place called Bethany, and there he would weep at the tomb of Lazarus. Over the effects of sin on the world, and he would weep profuse.

And there are times throughout his ministry where there would be grief in his heart over the condition of man and the condition of the leadership of Israel. In fact, one of the hymn writers, Philip Bissell, or Bliss, wrote these words, Man of Sorrows, what a name. For the Son of God who came, ruins sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah. What a Savior! And why the Bible describes him as a man of sorrows. Nothing is as sorrowful in his life as what happens in this garden. On this night. And I know a lot of you have pictures in your house of Jesus praying on a rock, looking toward heaven.

With some kind of light beam coming down on him. You need to take that off your wall and throw it away. Because that is nothing like it was,000 years ago. In fact, that picture misses the text. That p misrepresents the text. And hopefully, when we're done today, you'll understand why. In our Lord Jesus, on this night, as the writer of Hebrews says, Hebrews 5, verse number 7, in the days of his flesh. He offered up both prayers and supplic, with loud crying and tears, to the one able to save him from death and he was heard because of his piety.

Loud crying, tears, sobbing profusely. something we have no understand of in our own personal lives. That somehow we must come to grips with what it is Jesus went through on that day. Night. This text truly is one of the most incomparable texts in all of Scripture. It's one that's inc in our minds. We are finite. We are sinners. He is infinite. He is pure and holy. In what He went through on that night, we will never. Ever go through? We'll never understand. And after we're done reading, you'll have more questions than answers.

And it won't be till you get to eternity that you'll understand what took place on this night in Gethsemane. Satan had an objective. We've told you this. His objective was to keep Christ off the cross. Satan did not kill Jesus. God killed His own Son. For Jesus is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. And the Lord would use Satan in the whole process. But Satan did not want Jesus to go to the cross. And we have talked to you about this and how many times Satan has tried to thwart the effort.

Of Christ to be on Calvary's cross. He does not want Christ to be offered up as a substitute for sinners. Anything but that. He doesn't want the ransom paid. He doesn't want the wrath of God satisfied. If Jesus dies on Calvary's cross as predetermined, then he loses. But of course, Satan is a loser. So, what's new, right? And the Lord Jesus is in complete control. Those temptations in Matthew 4 and Luke 4 were all about deterring Christ from the cross. They were all about getting Christ to have what is rightfully his without going to the cross, without experiencing the pain.

Without experiencing the agony. Listen, if you want to be the king of the world, I'll give you, Satan says, all the kingdoms of the world. Bypass the cross. You don't need that. I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world. Just bow down to me. Anything to keep Christ. From going to Calvary's mount. And yet, the Bible tells us. In Mark chapter 14, verse number 3, these words it says. My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. What t place on this n?

Almost kills him. And we'll show you that in a moment. Here was a one who came to the garden with his men. He moves further in with those who are intimate with him, Peter, James, and John, and then moves further, deeper into the g. And so we are going where Peter, James, and John did not go, and the other eight did not go as well. Judas is already gone. So we're going to a place where none of the apostles ever went. In Luke, in Matthew, in Mark. John writes about this situation so we can come to understand what exactly took place on this n.

The private struggle truly is all about the power of darkness. For Jesus says in Luke 2, verse number 53, that the power of darkness Has come.

It's here. And this is all about the power of darkness. And yet, listen carefully. And yet, in spite of all the agony and all the grief that Jesus faced, listen carefully. He still had uppermost in his mind his men and how to serve his men, how to teach his men. You see, the remarkable thing about Jesus is that he never ask for pr for him. He never said, would you pray with me? Would you pray about the agony I'm going to go through? Would you sit down and just comfort me a little bit here? He never did.

Because remember. It was in the upper room, just a few hours earlier, that he said, A new commandment that I give unto you. That you love as I have loved you. Because by this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love as I have loved you. And how is that? That amidst all of his pain and adversity, He would take a slave's apron and put all of his attention on his men and not himself. Completely different than you and me. And that's one of the reasons we'll have a hard time understanding Gethsemane.

Because Jesus' attention was completely on his men. We'll see it on the way to the cross. The way of sorrows, the via Dol. We'll see the exact same thing on his way to the cross, and we'll see the exact same thing as he hangs on the cross. It was never about him, although without his sacrifice we would not live. But he completely loved us in a way that we need to somehow come to grips with. Because our love life is truly lacking in the church. It's truly lacking in our marital relationships because we are so self-.

Could you imagine going through the next year, the rest of this year, it's April, going through the rest of this year and never one time going to someone and asking them to pray for you? I bet you couldn't do it. Never one time asking anybody to pray for you because you're so consumed with them. You're so consumed with helping others that you want to. Deflect attention towards you and really reach out to others. In fact, that will be your challenge for the rest of this year, and then it will be the challenge for the rest of your life.

That was Jesus. Did he pray with his men? Yeah. Did he say, pray? He did. Because if you don't pray, you're going to enter into temptation. He wasn't asking them to pray for him. He was asking them to pray lest they enter into t. And so he was still instructing, still teaching, still guiding in the midst of his agony. He was still concerned. That's why he goes back three times and they're asleep. Why were they asleep? Because they were self-absorbed in their own sorrow. That's why they were asleep.

They could not get their eyes off of themselves. They had yet to learn the lesson of the upper room. They had learned the lessons of the night. And so they were so sorrowful for themselves and what they were losing. They couldn't even stay awake to pray for one h. And thus, they fell drastically. But Jesus left and rose triumphantly because of his prayer. Let me read to you the text.

Luke chapter 22, verse number 39, and he came out and proceeded as was his custom to the Mount of Olives. And the disciples also followed him. When he arrived at that at the place, he said to them, Pray that you may not enter into temptation. And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and he knelt down and began to pray. Now I want you to remember something. Nowhere is there a mention of Jesus praying on a stone. So if you got that picture, that's the number one problem right there, the first problem right there.

There is no stone he prayed on. Okay? And then it says, saying, Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me, yet not my will, but thine be done. Now, an angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him. And being in agony, he was praying very fervently. And his sweat became like drops of blood falling down upon the ground. And when he rose, From prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow. He said to them, Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into Temptation.

I want you to see the garden. I want you to see the guidance that the Lord gives to his men. I want you to see his grief. And then I want you to see his grace here in the garden of grief and grace. First of all, the garden.

Remember, they had been in the upper room, right? And we have talked to you about this night, how important this night is to understand for your own personal life. How to come to grips with why this life, why this night is so important for you. And so we talked about this particular night in the upper room. Remember, being a night of predetermination, a night of affection, a night of celebration, a night of transformation, a night of. Pred, predicting the betrayal as well as the denial and the defection of his men.

It would go beyond that to being a knight. Of humiliation, a night of instruction, a night of consolation, a night of declaration. It was a night beyond all nights. It was the most magnificent night. But that night became a night of temptation. And from that you learn how to overcome temptation. And on this night, they experienced severe temptation. And so did our Lord. And so we need to understand what is happening. They would sing Psalm 118, the halal. They would leave the upper room. They would cross over the Kid Brook.

Which is called the Valley of Jehoshaphat or the Valley of Decision. That's important because this night was a night of decision as well. A night of decision. They would cross over the valley of decision, and they would have to make a decision to pray or to sleep. They'd have to make a decision to deny Christ or follow Christ. They would have to make a decision about their allegiance. It became a night of decision. And they would cross over that brook and they would ascend the Mount of Olivet, and there there would be a garden, a garden owned by somebody, we don't know who.

Another nameless man, like the man who carried the picture in Jerusalem, where Peter and John were to follow? Remember that? Or the man who had the house for the large furnished upper room, again a nameless man? Like the man who had the donkey when Christ would ride into Jerusalem, again another nameless man. And so the Bible tells us about these nameless people that were loyal to Jesus Christ. And there was this man, don't know who he was, he had this garden there in Gethsemane, and Jesus would go there often, it says.

We know that because in John 18 it tells us that Judas knew where he would be because that's where they went every night of Passion Week. And he went there often. And that's how Judas would know where to obtain him in the middle of the night. And so they went to this place called Gethsemane, the garden of Gethsemane. What happens here is a super encounter. We're understanding the humanity of deity as we study Luke's gospel. And there is this supernatural. Temptation that takes place because it accentuates the fact that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, as Ephesians 6 says.

but that we wrestle with the principalities and powers of darkness. You see, our enemy truly is not the person sitting across from us, in front of us, behind us, at church, at work, or at play. Our enemy truly is the spiritual forces of darkness and wickedness. And this accentuates that. And that's why prayer is such a vital part of the armor of God that we are to put on every day. It's just not the helmet of salvation. It's just not the shield of faith. It's just not the belt of truth. It truly is everything.

Around prayer and how prayer is interwoven in between each and every part of that armor. And we can't succeed without prayer. And this is an illustration of how that happens in your life and in mine. And so, here we have our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane. To understand his grief and the grace he receives from his father through the angels who minister To him. He tells his men, as he gets there, he says very simply, pr that you may not enter into temptation. Pray. You need to pray. You need to commune with your Father in heaven.

He's already taught them how to pray, right? He's taught them how to pray. They've asked him, he said, when you pray, pray this way, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. He's taught them how to pray. Pray lest you enter into temptation. Pray that you might obey the will of God and follow the direction of God.

Pray. If you don't pray, you'll faint. That's why he says in Luke 18, verse number 1: men ought always to pray. Or faint. They'll faint if they don't pray. If they pray, they won't faint. So be men and women of prayer. So Jesus knew, listen, Jesus knew in his humanity he was temptable. As his men were temptable, he was tempted in all points like we are, yet without sin, because he is the perfect, holy Son of God. He could not sin because of his perfection. He is the true and living God, but he was temptable.

We knew that from Luke 4, Matthew chapter 4, and even from this text. And because He him was temptable. In Matthew's account, in Matthew 26, verse number 38, it says these words. My soul is deeply grieved to the point of de. To the point of death. You see, for us it's hard to imagine the en temptation that came his way, the intensity of his temptation. We can't even begin to fathom the magnitude of what it is he went through on that night in the garden of Gethsemane. And we'll never know, listen, we'll never know the means of Satan's temptation toward the Christ.

The Bible never tells us. We don't know what it was about. We don't know what Satan did. We know nothing of that. It's not for us to know. But what we do know is that in the temptation, it is the complete opposite of how we are tempted. You need to understand this. In his temptation, it was the complete opposite of how we are tempted. We are born sinners. We have an innate tendency to sin. We struggle with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Jesus has no sin nature.

He was not born a sinner, and his struggle was not the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. That was not his struggle. You need to understand that for Jesus to be tempted is the complete opposite of how you and I are tempted. We are sa from the penalty of sin. We are being saved from the power of sin. And we will ultimately be saved from the presence of sin when we're glorified. We're saved from the penalty of sin, thank God. We are pres being saved from the power of sin because we sub so many times.

To the power of sin and temptation and fall prey to it. One day we will be saved from the presence of sin. Because we have glorified, perfect b. And so we struggle because the power of sin is innate to us. We are new creatures, yes. We have a new nature, yes. But like Lazarus, we are still wrapped in our grave cl. And so, behold, you stinketh. Just like Lazarus. And we fall prey to the smell of our lives. But for Jesus, it was different. This was not Christ's struggle. He struggled because he was only devoted to one thing: purity, holiness, righteousness, perfection.

He struggled because the power of holiness is all he knew. He is holy, holy, holy, okay, in his nature. So, having said that, for us, we are tempted to ab Sin and embrace Christ's holiness, and Christ is tempted to abandon his holiness. and embrace sin bearing. The direct opposite of how you and I are affected. You see, sin-bearing is alien to him. Holiness is alien to us. He never knew sin. And yet he was called upon to bear your sin and my sin. And he is the perfect, holy God. Satan, in some way, is tempting Christ to cling to His holiness.

And not be the sin-bearer. And Christ must obey the will of his Father in heaven. You see, the magnitude of this goes beyond anything we can comprehend on the natural level. But somehow, we must begin to come to grips with what was happening with Jesus in the garden on that night. You and I don't need to embrace sin, or Satan is tempting Christ, saying you don't need to. Embrace sin bearing to take your rightful throne. You can bypass all that. That's the temptation. Same temptation in Luke 4 and Matthew 4.

You don't have to go to the cross to be the king of the world. I'll make you the king of the world. And so we have to fight to hold on to God. He has to fight to let go of God. We fight to be joined to God. He fights to be separated. From God. Completely different. And so to understand the enormity of this prayer and what was happening in the garden at night is beyond all human comprehension. And so he says to his men, pray. You got to pray lest enter temptation. Why? Didn he? He already said, Peter, Peter, I for you that your faith would not fail.

I prayed for you. Satan wants to desire you. He wants to sift you like wheat. But I prayed for you that your faith will not fail. So if Jesus has already prayed for him, why does he exhort Peter to pray? Because that's the way it is when you come to understand human responsibility and divine sovereignty. Just because Christ has prayed for him does not mean that Peter can forego his human responsibility to pray. Peter, you still got to pray. I've prayed for you that your faith will not fail. But Peter, you still have responsibility.

You got to pray. James, you to pray. John, you got to pray. Matthew, you got to pray. Simon, you to pray Lest you enter into temptation. So they need to express. Their dependence upon God. That's why Gethsemane is the hallmark of dependence and ob. Because it expresses how our Lord was absolutely dependent upon his Father who is in heaven. And how the disciples lived independently of their Father in heaven. Because you see, whenever you don't pray, you live as if you are in isolation from God. You are independent of God.

You don't need God. That's exactly what they were saying. I need sleep. I don't need God. And Jesus says, no, you need God.

You don't need sleep. And every morning when your alarm goes off, you're saying, Oh, I need sleep. And the Lord says, No, no, you need me. And so, right then, you cross over the Kid Valley, the Valley Decision. You make a decision. Do I need God or do I need a half hour more sleep? An extra hour sleep? What do you need? How many times I've told, sleep's overrated. It's completely overrated. Prayer is underrated. And we need to understand that we need to emphasize prayer. Christ says, Pray lest you enter into tempt.

So now comes the grief. Listen to what it says. He was drew for them, but I stone stra. He knelt down and began to pray. He began to pray. Now, notice the grief.

He knelt down and began to pray. He begins by kneeling down. You got Mark's account, Matthew's account. Okay? Because in Matthew's account, he falls down. In a Mark's account, he's on his face on the ground. Okay? Now, remember, in Jesus' day, kneeling was not the posture for prayer. Stand was the posture for prayer. So, this accentuates the grief of Christ. He goes, He kneels. All right? He kneels, he falls. He falls, he prostrates himself on the ground because of the agony and the grief of what he was experiencing.

That's why Hebrews 5:7, with great loud crying and tears, he was sobbing. And all the while, the men, just a stone's throw away, We were so sleepy they could not even hear the loud crying and tears. How sad! To be so self-absorbed with your own sorrow that you can't even hear the loud crying and tears of the Savior of the universe. Who was going to die for your sins in less than 24 hours? That they could not even get up and go to Him and pray with H. With him, be with him. They could not. And here was our Lord with loud crying and tears.

The coming wr of his father was coming down on him. It was more than he could bear physically. That 's why Mark and Matthew tell us, I am grieved to the point of death. I'm about to die because of this. It is so over en the weight of what I'm experiencing. So he began to groan and to cry. Why? Listen, the thought of sin bearing. Overwhelmed him. Just the thought of sin bearing overwhelmed him. We live in the realm of thinking about how we're going to sin next, and it has no effect upon us. It's no wonder we succumb to temptation because we think about sin and we think, wow, that's a good way to do it.

I can get away with it if I do it that way. But with Jesus, just the thought of burying in his body your sin and mine was so overwhelming, he was about to die because of the grief. And the agony of his soul. See, that's why it's hard for us to even enter the holiest of all holy places, the Garden of Gethsemane, on this night, because we just don't get that. We don't understand it. We think of sin and it doesn't bother us a bit. In fact, we even do sin, and for the most part, it doesn't bother us that much.

But the thought of sin-bearing overwhelmed Christ so much, the grief and the agony overwhelmed him. That's because he loved holiness. He loved it. He lived for holiness. He is a holy, holy, holy God. And he hated sin. And so he prays. He prays, Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup. What's the cup? The cup, by Old Testament design, symbolizes the wrath of Almighty God. It's called the cup of wrath. It's used many times over in the Old Testament. You can go back and research this, about how many times the cup is used to speak of wrath, specifically judgment.

Okay? So Christ says, Father, if you are willing, Mark adds, Abba, Abba. In a real personal, intimate setting, he's praying according to the will of God. Father, if it be your will, remove this cup from me. You say, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. If I read my Bible correctly, isn't Jesus the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world? Doesn't Jesus know this is going to happen? So why would he pray Father, if it be your will, remove this judgment. Remove this wrath that's about to come upon me.

Remove it from me. If it be your will, remove it. If he knew from eternity past that this is what was going to happen, why then would he pray for it to remove? Is Jesus slipping just a little? Oh no. Oh not at all. It is the only way a pure and holy God could respond. If he didn't respond this way, we'd think there's something wrong with his holiness. But because he did respond this way, we know ex. His desire. He is so pure. He is so holy. He is so righteous. He is the ultimate hater of sin. He hates sin so much that to be a sin-bearer, to embrace your sin in his body.

Is so despised by him if there be any other way, let it happen. This is the only way a person of extreme holiness could respond. He is the ultimate hater of all iniquity. Wants no part of iniquity. He has a pure eyes and to behold evil. He doesn't want anything to do with sin. But yet, but yet, he says, never, Not my will, but yours be done. Complete obedience, complete submission to the will of the Father. Listen, the reason we succumb to temptation is because in our prayer, we are not willing to say, Lord, your will be done in my life.

I want your will over my will. I want what you want more than I want what I want. But none of us are really that keen on saying those words. Because we, at the depths of our heart, want our own will met. Jesus did not, he wanted the will of his Father. More than anything else, because he was completely obedient to him. The thought of sin-bearing. Just the thought of it repulsed him. And yet, he would do it because it was the will of his Father in heaven. Absolutely astonishing. He would bear the judgment.

He would bear the wrath. He would bear the separation from his father. He would experience something he had never ever experienced before. He would be abandoned by his Father in heaven while the wrath of God was poured out on him on Calvary's tree. If there be another way, let it happen. If there can be another way, let it happen. Yet, nevertheless, your will, not mine. And that was his ultimate cry. He wanted to do the will of his father in heaven. It's very n for him to feel that sin-bearing and separation from his father.

Was agonizing to him. It was extreme grief to him. The level of agony that he experienced on that night, we will never, never know. Ever. Because we're sinners. And he would bear your sin and mine in his body on the tree and experience, as only an infinite God could, the eternal wrath of God. In those three hours of darkness. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Complete abandonment. As his father would turn his face. From His Son, because He is so pure than to even behold His Son bearing the sins of the world.

So he would bear your penalty and mine and his body. But when it was over, Father. Into thy hands, I can now commend my spirit because it has been finished. It's accomplished, it's done, it happened, it's over. Now note this. Here's the grace. Now an angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthened him. Luke is the only one who records this. Luke is the one who records the angel and records the physical condition of Christ because Luke is a physician. Now, this is where it gets really overwhelming.

If you haven't been overwhelmed yet, hang on. And being in agony, he was praying fervently, and his sweat became like drops of blood falling down upon the ground. We can't even begin to understand the agony of hematid. It's a medical term that describes how the How sweat is mixed with blood because, in the depths of your being, the agony is so overwhelming and the physicality is so great, you can't even begin. It almost kills you. Meaning that the blood would come out of his pores, meaning that it was mixed with sweat, meaning this, that everything about his garment was stained with blood.

That's why you got throw that picture you have with you all the way. Because that's not the way it was. His whole body was drenched with sweat. Remember, he was lying face down on the ground. Crying with loud tears. And as he began to sweat, great drops of blood, his facial hair. His hair, his clothes would be drenched not just with sweat, but with bl sweat. Say, well, how come the disciples didn't recognize that and say something about it? They were too self-absorbed to see Jesus. All they could see were themselves.

They were sleeping. Plus, the garden is completely dark. They would not see how bl-stained his garments were. And yet, that's exactly what happened. So, what is the grace? An angel comes, appears to him, and ministers to him. What does the angel do? Have no idea. Bab didn't tell us. What was the context of the ministry of the angel? All I know is that he, Jesus, was made a little lower than the angels in his incarnation. He put him below the angels. And now the angels come to minister to him, to strengthen him.

Because without the strengthening process, He was so grieved, he was grieved unto death, he could have died in the garden. But the angels came and strengthened him. See, this is an enormous text for us to understand as he would agonize over the whole realm of sin bearing. He would agonize over the fact that he would have to ab, abandon his holiness and embrace sin and embrace the sin-bearing process. And that's exactly what he was going through. So much so. He came to the garden, he knelt. He couldn't even stand to pray.

Then he fell, and then he prostrated himself on the ground. And through the whole process, he would get up, go back to his men, say, Hey, guys, could you not pray with me just for one hour? Wake up, pray, watch, pray, lest you enter into temptation. He would go a little further into the garden and pray and fall down. He'd get up, go back to them. Three times, the Bible tells us, he'd go back to them and say, Could you not pray? For one hour? Watch, be vigilant, pray, lest you enter into temptation.

And he would go back, fall flat on his face, and blood would seep from his pores, and he would pray with great loud crying and grief and agony because of the temptation. that Satan put upon him, but when it was all said and done, he arises victorious. Victorious. Yes, his garment is bloodstained. Yes, he is soaked with sweat. Yes, it has been an excruciating battle. He has been in the highest level of combat you and I can, you can even begin to fathom or imagine. But he was in great combat with the spiritual forces of wickedness.

And he arises the victor. He says to his men, Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into tempt. Remember Hebrews 12, verse number 3? For cons him who has endured such hostility by sin against him, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart. You have not res to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin. What does that refer to? The garden. It's the example of the garden. It's not the cross. It's not the crucifixion. It is the shedding of blood in his combat against sin.

That's exactly what he's talking about. And that's why the writer of people says, You're growing weary? Are you kidding me? How can you grow weary unless you don't consider him? Who endured such hostility, who went through all that he went through, and even to the point of shedding blood in that combat with Satan. Consider him and get back on your knees again. Consider him and fall on your face again. Consider him and pray lest you enter into temptation. He prayed. He won the victory. He would go right to the entrance of the garden.

He would meet his captors. He'd go to trial. He'd go to the cross, he'd be crucified, he'd die, he'd rise again the third day victorious, and he is seated at the throne of his Father in heaven as King of kings and Lord of Lords.

Why? Because he prayed. He prayed. And the disciples they didn't pray. And they went down to extreme defeat on that night and that next day and all throughout the week because they didn't pray. So the exhortation comes to you and me. Do we pray? And how do we pray? Do we pray as Jesus did? Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. Do we live a life of dependence upon God so that we don't need sleep? We need to commune with our Father in heaven lest we fall into temptation. Let me pray with you.

Father, we thank you for today and the words of Scripture that really are inc when it comes to our understanding. And yet, Lord, you did this for us out of obedience to your Father in heaven. You lived a life of complete dependence and obedience that supersedes anything we can imagine. And our desire, Father, is that we would learn from your example. And follow you, that we might learn to live a victorious Christian life, overcoming temptation, the wiles of the devil, who so easily wants to distract us from accomplishing the mission of God before us.

For those who are here today that might not know you, we pray that today would be the day of their salvation. They would give their life to Christ. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.