[0:00] But it was a good day. And then the doctrines class at night, we had to get out an extra table and had more people here for that than we've ever had. And that was just not just the attendance, but just the attitude and the spirit of everybody.
[0:12] And it's just a blessing to get together with you and to worship the Lord and to open His Word and to glean and to feed out of this book. It's a holy thing. And don't take it for granted.
[0:25] And don't take it lightly. And get as much as you can. Even as we see the day approaching, get as much as you can. And, of course, I made the joke at night for some of you that, of course, I'll tell you this.
[0:37] In the morning before the second service, Robin comes up to me and says, Pastor, this is probably going to look a little bit more like a Silmar church this Sunday. And sure enough, he brought a whole lot of family members and friends.
[0:50] And he was right. And then I made the joke that it looked a little bit more like a Kirara family reunion. But he had a, how many do you know? Family members came. 16 from the both your families came for the baptism.
[1:03] So it was nice to have them all. And I know that they were thrilled. And I'll just put Robin on, not on the spot here, but just say this, that he was sitting in the back there where Rich sits, kind of just, I could see him just kind of glowing a little bit.
[1:17] He may not have known it, but I could see him just looking over his mom, just seeing Genesis sisters, seeing his brother here, and just seeing the family members. And I could just see this kind of grin that he couldn't get rid of, having all the family come to church on Sunday morning.
[1:33] And so praise the Lord for that. Not just for him. I mean, it was, the Solomons had a family here, friends of theirs came. And it was fun to have them back joining us.
[1:44] And so it was a good day. So, all right, would you please turn to Matthew chapter 26? This is a passage that I like to get to.
[2:00] I've made a point, I feel like, on a few different occasions, about prayer, something specific about prayer. And it's not really my intention to harp on that completely, but it's going to come out again.
[2:14] I just can't help to go through this. This is when Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane. And he took his disciples to the Garden the night before he was betrayed, the night maybe of, it was kind of going into the morning hours when the betrayal took place.
[2:32] And then the several, I think, six illegal trials getting sent back and forth from Pilate to Caiaphas and the high priest. And it was a, went for hours and hours until it was the morning and they crucified him in the morning time.
[2:52] And so this is the night prior to that. And the moment is coming. He spent the time in the upper room with his disciples and he instituted or explained the institution of the New Testament with the bread and the cup and discussed those things, discussed a lot of things.
[3:12] We've studied some of this in John 13, 14, 15, 16. Those passages there all dealing with that night and them sitting around and him just strengthening these men. And then they make their way to the Garden, which is a hike itself.
[3:26] It's not terribly far, but it's Jerusalem sits on a hill. And so it's going down into this valley and then back up the other side on which they're called the Mount of Olives. And the garden is situate somewhere, most say it's along the hillside on the way up of the ascent to the mount.
[3:43] And so they've traveled a little bit outside of the city. And then they come to the place. And I'd like to read with you verses 36 through 46 and give Matthew's account of this event here in these couple hours in the garden.
[3:59] So let's begin in Matthew 26, 36 through Matthew 26, 46. Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder.
[4:13] And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. And then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death.
[4:24] Tarry ye here and watch with me. And he went a little further and fell on his face and prayed saying, O my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.
[4:36] Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto the disciples and findeth them asleep and saith unto them, or unto Peter, What, could you not watch with me one hour?
[4:47] Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And he went away again the second time and prayed saying, O my father, If this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, thy will be done.
[5:03] And he came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. And he left them and went away again and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then cometh he to his disciples and saith unto them, Sleep on now and take your rest.
[5:17] Behold, the hour is at hand, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. Behold, he is at hand that doth betray me. You know, there's a particular phrase that stood out to me very much recently in verse 39 when it says, And he went a little further.
[5:36] And initially, it just stood out to me and it just felt like, Man, there's so much you could say about that concept of just, He went a little further. And the challenge to you and I to take a step spiritually, whether it's in your Bible reading or in your faithfulness to the Lord or in witnessing or in giving or in praying or whatever aspect of the Christian life, just to take another step.
[6:01] Let God move you forward and grow. And that seems so obvious of a thought. I don't know if you get those thoughts as you read your Bible. If you're studying it and meditating on it, those thoughts will come to you.
[6:13] And so while I pondered that and dwelt on the passage a little while longer, that initial concept kind of faded into something, a little different look as I was really just staring at the pages and looking at the, considering and kind of, I guess meditating might be the right word, just kind of putting myself into that scene that night and seeing it through His eyes or through the disciples' eyes or trying to picture the area.
[6:41] You know, this is a rather famous, I think it's a rather famous passage and scene of Gethsemane. I think you're all familiar with it. If you've read through your Bible at least once, you've come across this one a few times.
[6:53] And this is something I think for most of you is very familiar. And if it's not, well, you just read it. So, now you know. But this event here, I want to zoom in on it and try to imagine this very place, this garden.
[7:08] It's called a garden elsewhere. This place called Gethsemane. And I want to just zoom in and try to put us there and find that this passage, it spans several hours of time.
[7:23] And it's not a daytime. It's a nighttime. And I want to see the dark sky above our heads and see the field of stars that are no doubt shining and gleaming in that night.
[7:34] And be able to look across that ridge and see down the valley below, but across is the city all lit up of Jerusalem. Jerusalem at this time, he's about to be crucified. And so this is Passover.
[7:46] And so this place is packed. Travelers are all over that city. Every inn is filled up. Every hotel and place like that. Families staying with family.
[7:57] The city is bustling. But it's very late at night. And so most of that is probably settled down. But surely, you could look across the mountain and see just the glow and the lights of the city.
[8:08] And now these men are in a different place. And as we read this passage and study it, I want to feel the tension. I want to feel the emotion that's going on this night and experience all of it if we could.
[8:22] And still, though, we're surrounded by quietness and surrounded by trees, vegetation. Perhaps this is the kind of place we could be familiar with in this area where you want to get away from the neighborhoods and you go to a park.
[8:39] And you can walk trails through the park and you can enjoy just being kind of just that quickly being away from all the streets and the fences and the gates and the cars. And that's what I see here this night.
[8:51] It's a quiet place and it's a calm place. It's a place where these disciples were familiar with. Jesus has taken them many times. Elsewhere, I think it might be Luke, it says where he was wont to go to pray.
[9:04] They were familiar with him taking them there. And as we consider this scene and as I really was parked on the passage, maybe I'm just strange like this, but a series of threes, the number three, he kept coming out at me and kept seeing it and considering that in this night.
[9:23] And it was just emerging from the narrative and I started to scribble them down. I had no intention of going this way, but as I scribbled the threes, the little trios down, I just began to develop into something that I want to look at with you tonight and hope that we can make some application where it can help us.
[9:43] And so the first three that I notice in this passage, maybe you could pick it out too, is that there's three parties. Meaning, they entered as twelve, a group of twelve, Jesus and the eleven disciples.
[9:55] Judas is already off and he's betraying, he's cut a deal, he's getting the money and he's going to lead those men to Jesus that night, just hours from that. But there's a party of twelve that traveled from Jerusalem to the Garden of Gethsemane and this very same twelve then was quickly broken up into parties of three.
[10:18] And we read at the very beginning that he comes to this place and in verse 36, in the middle he saith to his disciples, sit ye here while I go and pray yonder.
[10:30] And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee. So he's leaving eight men behind. And I'm just imagining that they are, they're probably just inside this area that's called this area of Gethsemane.
[10:45] I don't imagine that they went terribly far, they could have gone somewhere, but in my mind I can just see them in kind of the, if there were gates at the entrance to the park or the garden.
[10:57] And there might be benches there, there's probably places they say sit, tells them sit here, sit ye here. I wouldn't be surprised, it's a public place, it's a place that gets used surely during the day and times like that.
[11:11] And there very well may be benches. If not, we can imagine it to match the life we live today. Benches in a park, pretty common. But there's eight men. The men are Matthew, Thomas, Philip, Andrew, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, Simon the Canaanite, and Bartholomew.
[11:32] Well, those are the eight men that Jesus told, sit ye here. Now, that's a great number to be around, eight guys. It's a good number, it's a healthy number.
[11:44] Eight men that knew each other very well, they had each other's backs, they'd spent years together following Christ, done some wonderful works, and they've seen some amazing things. And for those eight men to be together in this quiet, dark, and still place, that's a pretty good little crowd.
[12:00] And so those eight men are there, and it's a good vibe between these men. In other words, it's great company, and here's why. Because Simon Peter, if you know anything about Simon Peter, that guy shoots his mouth off pretty quickly.
[12:15] He's very opinionated. He talks before he thinks. It's all over the Gospels. He was an opinionated, loud man. He's very outspoken, very reactionary.
[12:27] You know what? Jesus took Simon with him, took Peter with him. Peter's gone. The guy that's just the first one to blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. He's gone. You know how that is when that guy's not in the room?
[12:39] Things just kind of relax a little bit. You know who else is gone? James and John. Do you know who James and John are? Those guys stir some stuff up. Those are the two guys that said to Jesus Christ, they didn't care what the other ten disciples thought.
[12:55] They said, Lord, we want to sit by your right hand and by your left hand in the kingdom. I don't care about Peter and Andrew or any of those boys. I want to sit by your right hand. And they thought themselves worthy of having a position above their own discipled brothers, Jewish brethren.
[13:13] Talk about, they stirred it up that day. Do you remember the indignation the others had for them because of that? They didn't care. They were just looking out for themselves. You know those guys, Jesus gave them a nickname. Does anybody remember what their nickname was?
[13:26] The Sons of Thunder. I thought somebody might say the actual word. You have to go look that one up. Boangernes, I think. The Sons of Thunder. Yeah, you know why when he said that? Because there was some folks that were not receiving them and they said, Lord, should we command fire to come down out of heaven and devour these villages, these people that wouldn't receive us?
[13:47] And Christ said, you fellas don't know what spirit you're of. I didn't come to destroy men's lives. I came to save them. They're like, should we do it just like Elijah did it?
[14:00] Those are the Sons of Thunder. You know what? They're not there. Christ said, Peter, James, John, you come with me. And those are the guys that stir stuff up. Those are the guys that are outspoken and very reactionary.
[14:12] And this group here is a little smaller. It's a little calmer. It's eight of them. And there's no drama going on. They're just kind of chill.
[14:25] They're sitting there. They weren't told to do anything. They're just sitting there. Just waiting. Passing time. Enjoying each other's fellowship. Maybe they're telling stories. But they're out there at dark.
[14:36] It's late. It's dark. It's not where they're used to being at this time of night. But they felt safe. They felt secure. I mean, there's eight of them. So they were fine.
[14:48] But then there's the second party. We see three parties. The second party is those three men that Jesus Christ took with them. And he took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee. And so they go for a distance beyond the eight.
[15:01] It doesn't say how far. There's no indication of how far he took them. But he took them. And they parted from the other eight. And then the Lord Jesus Christ parted from them and went a little further.
[15:14] And so he left the three alone at some place in between him. And the other eight. And so it's interesting that when we study this passage we see three parties. And Jesus Christ that night spent most of the night agonizing alone in prayer.
[15:31] The other three he parted from and left alone as well. So there's three parties. Now, before we talk about that anymore, let's consider that these three parties are all at their own place.
[15:44] So let's see there's three places here. There's three places. And each party is stationed at a distinct location in the Garden of Gethsemane. If you're visualizing this from overhead, then you can see that party of eight.
[15:59] And wherever exactly they were as they came into the garden, there they sat. Christ said, sit ye here. And so those eight sat there. And I said already, I imagine there's benches and it's a familiar place.
[16:10] And if we could see this, I think it's kind of a place where the trails of the garden would all filter out. And so they're kind of in a hub there maybe.
[16:22] It's a comfortable place. Again, there's no red flags going up for these men. There's no fear that's present with them. Their only command was to sit. So they have it easy.
[16:35] These eight men have a place to sit. And all they're told to do is just sit and be there and just wait. And then the other three that Christ takes with him a little further, it says, it says in, at the end of 38, it says, tarry ye here and watch with me.
[16:55] And so there's a separate place for these three from the other eight. And these three are closer to where Jesus Christ is agonizing that night. And they're going to have a different experience that night than the other eight.
[17:09] They're a little closer to Christ. They went a little further with him than the other eight did. And as a matter of fact, they're a little deeper into the garden to this place that he told them to tarry.
[17:23] And then he instructed them to tarry and to watch with me. Later on, he tells them in verse 41, watch and pray. And so they had some instructions.
[17:35] Christ brought these three men to this specific place for a purpose. He gave them different instructions than the first eight. And then the third party, which was Jesus Christ alone, had his own place, a solitude place, a private place where he goes to pray.
[17:56] Nobody gets invited to that place. Others never saw where he went. The men, if they went back later that night or the next day, they couldn't go and find the place where Jesus prayed.
[18:09] Not necessarily. They never saw it. They don't know how far he went. The Bible says he went about a stone's throw. I think that's in Luke. So he didn't go very far. But he got far enough away.
[18:20] Likely they couldn't hear him. They couldn't see him. They didn't know where he went. He just disappeared. And so these three have their own place. So there's three parties.
[18:31] There's three places. Now before we zoom in any further into this evening and into the night, let's consider a little bit the parties. Of the three parties that we've studied and see, which one would you prefer to be in?
[18:47] If you had your choice, would you want Jesus to call your name? Come with me. Would you want him to say you, you, and you? I want you three. Would you think, yeah, I want to be special.
[18:59] I want him to call me. I want to get recognition. I don't want to be like the rest of them. Would you want to be part of the eight? Would you want to be part of the three? Would you prefer to just be in safety and to wait and just sit?
[19:14] The expectations there are pretty low. The command to do anything wasn't there. Just sit. Just stay right there. And so there's no big expectations for them, but I'm not putting these guys down.
[19:29] They're present. They're the disciples of the Lord. They've forsaken things and left things behind to follow him and following him led them to Gethsemane. And so they're right where they're supposed to be.
[19:40] Don't think I'm knocking them. Is that where you would want to be? Where you'd want to stay? Or would you prefer he call your name and bring you forward? But before you get too excited about that, I'm just putting that in front of you.
[19:53] We're going to mention some things about those three men that were called forth. There's different places. I wonder which of the places you'd like to be. Would you like to be closer to Jesus Christ in that night?
[20:05] Would you like to be them where you're going to see some things that the others never saw? You'd see the concern on his face. Would you look back at verse 37?
[20:17] He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee. And so after he leaves the eight behind and this three with him the group of four that are moving down some trail deeper into the garden.
[20:28] Then it says and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. His visage changed. The concern started to show on his face.
[20:39] It wasn't there back there when they got there. The other eight never saw this look on Jesus' face. They've only ever seen the master. They've only ever seen the son of God and his strength and his confidence.
[20:51] He didn't back down to anybody. He preached with authority. And now he's talking like I'm sorrowful. I'm very heavy. And he says my soul's exceeding sorrowful.
[21:06] These three men are seeing something that the others never saw. A different glimpse, a different side of Jesus Christ. It could be one that would have them a little bit concerned. We've never seen him in this state.
[21:18] So do you still want to be with them? Where would you like to be? Well, we see three parties and three places. And now let's zoom in on, we saw that he took three.
[21:32] So that was an obvious three or trio in this. And would you notice that there's three partners? Peter, James and John. He picked them out of the eleven and brought them along and gave them something to do.
[21:47] They went a little further with Jesus Christ. These three are often called the inner circle. We see that Jesus does other things. I want you to turn back to Matthew 17 and get a glimpse back here at another time that he called these three apart from the rest.
[22:08] Peter, James and John experienced some things that none of the others experienced. they have all cast out devils. They have all performed miracles and healings and signs.
[22:20] They were given power. They have seen some things but these three saw some special things. In chapter 17 in the first couple verses it says after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James and John his brother and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart and was transfigured before them and his face did shine as the sun and his raiment was white as the light and behold there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
[22:55] Judas never saw Moses and Elijah. These other fellas didn't even know about this thing. As a matter of fact they weren't supposed to know about it.
[23:06] In verse 9 when they came down from the mountain Jesus charged them saying tell the vision to no man. And so at this moment in the garden they don't even the rest of the eight don't even know what Peter, James and John have seen already.
[23:19] They don't know the confidence and faith they have in their Savior. But look now back in Matthew 26 because he's choosing them again to accompany him on a special trip, a place deeper into the garden.
[23:37] And it probably when he calls those three guys I'm just thinking this just further once again affirms something that they all knew. It was common knowledge among the disciples.
[23:47] It's Peter, James, and John because he's taken them separately before and you don't live with somebody and follow somebody Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and month and years without the dynamics of the group being revealed.
[24:03] And there's no question they all weren't shocked when he called those three to go further with him. But it wasn't about preferential treatment because Jesus Christ had real expectations for these men when he called them forward.
[24:21] He said to watch with me in verse 38. These are the partners, the three partners, watch with me. And then in verse 41, watch and pray.
[24:32] their closeness to Jesus Christ came with an expectancy that they would be there for him, that they would help him.
[24:47] He was sorrowful. He was very heavy. And he rebukes them when he comes back as we read. He rebukes them for sleeping and he woke them up more than one time.
[25:01] they're not sharing the load. They're not sharing in the concern. They can't feel what he's feeling and they can only feel sleep, the heaviness of their eyes.
[25:14] And they failed him. And I think that's evident by his words in verse 45 and 6 when he comes that final time and he says sleep on now and take your rest.
[25:26] He's not telling them to go back to sleep. He's not telling them that at all. He's sarcastically saying go ahead now and sleep if you want to. I wanted you to be praying with me but the hour is at hand now.
[25:40] The time for prayer, the time for you to be behind me, have my back and help me is gone. Go ahead and sleep now. It's no sense trying to stay up and pray now. Rise, let us be going.
[25:51] So the time was spent and he was at hand. And so there's the three partners. And we learned something here that I want us to consider and try to spell out here if it helps you.
[26:03] We learned that Christ brings some individuals a little closer to himself. And he does it on purpose. And he's God. He has the right to do it.
[26:14] He knows why he's doing it. Maybe you don't know why. Maybe you don't see it or understand it. And it doesn't make sense to you. But Jesus Christ brings some people closer for a purpose.
[26:25] purpose. And the privilege comes with expectation. That's something you should know right now. Some think, well, I want to be in the ministry and I want to be used of Christ and I just see these guys and all what's going on and they're growing their ministries or it's just such a great thing to be able to preach and I want to be that guy on YouTube that everybody's watching.
[26:46] I want to be doing that stuff and you don't probably realize while you may in your heart desire some of that thing and think I want to go a little further, you better understand that down that path. The other eight never got to go.
[27:00] And the path that you may want, there's higher expectations down that path. And down that path there's stressful experiences and you're going to see Christ a little bit differently if he calls you down that path.
[27:17] Maybe one time you'll behold the glory of God and be so thrilled and excited and you can't tell people they wouldn't understand the things that God does. But then others like this passage here, being the three partners brought down a little further, you get to see the earnestness on his face and you get to see what the others didn't, the sorrow, you hear the sorrow in his voice that when he would come back and wake him up you'd see the smeared blood on his brow as he sweat as it were great drops of blood and the earnestness and sorrow.
[27:51] You're going to realize something very different about Christ in this moment, there's no healing going on, there's no multitudes getting fed, there's no wonderful preaching going on and crowds rejoicing, no, what's happening here is Christ is agonizing and he's suffering and he expects me to participate, he expects me to fight my flesh and go to battle for him and the partners failed him, they were supposed to pray, they were supposed to watch and when those partners didn't help him Christ came and he rebuked him, he let him know and he woke him up and he shows up several times, wakes him back up and I think the others, the other eight, they're completely oblivious to any of this interaction that's going on back there further in Gethsemane.
[28:55] They never experienced this part of being with Jesus Christ, it's not for them because these three, these partners were called to go further and so we see three partners and now let's zoom in a little bit further and a little bit closer now to that one.
[29:13] To the Lord Jesus Christ and I want to notice a few more trios here from this passage yet, there's three passages meaning there's three trips that he takes here.
[29:23] You can't help but notice three times, I'll just highlight it in verse 39, he went a little further so he left the partners and then in verse 40, he cometh unto the disciples.
[29:37] In 42, he went away again the second time. In 43, he came and found them. In 44, he left them and went away again. 45, then cometh he to his disciples.
[29:48] The narrative, it gives us very explicitly these three passages or trips that Jesus Christ going back and forth from his prayer partners to a place of private prayer.
[30:00] prayer. It makes me consider and focus in on him and try to be there beside him and see the agony and see the shaking. The Bible says in Mark that he went a little further and he fell to the ground.
[30:18] Like, the man became heavy as he's walking with those three and as he said, I think he's feeling so weak that he just says, all right guys, stop.
[30:29] You stay here. Watch with me. And it gets a little further, out of sight, out of your shot and just collapses. Because the weight of it is coming and coming and waves.
[30:43] And the Lord Jesus Christ bows before the Father and prays. And as he's praying, I just wonder if he felt like he's alone in prayer because he gets up and he makes his way back to the men and they're sleeping.
[30:57] And he didn't leave them sleeping. He wanted them to pray. So he woke them up and rebuked them and said, come on, pray, the flesh is weak. And he goes back. And he comes back and again, in each trip he took, every time he turned to go back to prayer, they were awake, they said, we're going to pray, we're going to pray, we're going to watch with you, Lord, we're going to, sorry, we're okay now.
[31:19] And he had that hope, that anticipation, they're going to be with me, but it wasn't long. I'm sure he could feel it just drained and empty and alone again, disappointed.
[31:32] It makes me consider just a side note here, consideration when somebody asks in need of prayer, when somebody raises their hand and tells a story of something in their life or something real.
[31:44] I mentioned this Sunday, a woman, a member of our church's mother is not saved and close to eternity, like very close to hell, as she testifies.
[31:56] I wonder how many people took that as she needs prayer. Prayed for her on Sunday, mentioned it to you, her name was Sally. I wonder if Jesus Christ came back to you about that if you were sleeping.
[32:14] What if Lisa came back and asked individually, did you pray for my mom? She asked you, did you pray for my mom? You were here, did you pray for my mom? She's on her way to hell.
[32:25] She's almost there now. Did you pray for her? Will you pray for her? If she asked you, would you say, oh, I totally forgot. I slept on that one. I fell asleep on that one.
[32:38] Well, Christ was disappointed and he was hurt instead of helped. And he felt like he was alone because he was alone. And so there was those three passages back and forth to his disciples to spur them back to prayer.
[32:54] And then another trio is there's three prayers. There's three periods of prayer that night. It's very evident in the Bible. Just look at verse 44. It says, and he left them and went away again and prayed the third time.
[33:10] The third time. So these are separate, distinct times that he prayed that night in the garden. We don't know how long it was individually. He did mention to Peter, what could you not watch with me?
[33:22] One hour. And so it doesn't seem unlikely that that first period was an hour's time. It's not just those few words that he recorded written in verse 39.
[33:32] That was the only prayer or 42. But he spent time in prayer that night. Three periods of prayer. It was three separate times. It wasn't just one and done.
[33:45] It wasn't just, I got to go pray. Okay, I'm good. Okay, everybody pray. Do we pray? And then go back on with life. Because once wasn't enough. This was something so real and so urgent.
[33:57] And it took time. And it teaches us you can't rush prayer. You can't rush calling out to God in these times when you need Him.
[34:10] These situations. You can't throw one up and just move on. You need more. He needed more. And so he spent time in prayer.
[34:22] A second time. Not enough. A third time. And if he would have kept going back, it wasn't the time. It was that, well, the reason he stopped because the hour's at hand.
[34:34] He prayed all the way through. Until there was no more time to pray. This is evident. It was something's evident that he needed more prayer because one more trio here.
[34:49] When we look at the next three, is that there's still zoomed in on Jesus Christ. There's three postures. And we recognize this by his words and by his demeanor.
[35:01] And so in verse 37, I drew this out, how he began to be sorrowful and very heavy. And he's looking for a way out. It was, I have it here in Mark 14 where it says that he fell on the ground.
[35:15] Here his flesh is weak. And I can't help but suppose that his disciples noticed that. They had to have noticed the change as they began walking further into the garden.
[35:27] I don't see how they could have missed it. He was exceeding, sorrowful, even unto death. And he goes and prays in verse 39. He says these words, Oh my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.
[35:45] That's a request. That's a prayer. If it be possible, let this cup pass. And there's Jesus Christ in his first posture. Very weak, very heavy, very sorrowful.
[35:59] And he's looking for a way out. A way around the wrath of God that night. But then there's a second prayer.
[36:09] And I have to point this out. Verse 42, he went away again the second time and prayed saying, Oh my Father. That's exactly how he started the other one. But he changes his tune a little bit.
[36:23] If this cup may not pass away from me. The first time he said, If it be possible, let it pass. Now he's saying, If it may not pass from me, away from me, except I drink it.
[36:37] The first time he acknowledged, except I drink it. I go forward through this thing. Thy will be done. It's not exactly surrender.
[36:50] But it's not trying to get out of it either. He's warming up. His posture is changing. He's getting stronger. And then finally in verse 46, we see a different Christ completely.
[37:07] The night is past and in 46, rise, let us be going. Behold, he is at hand that doth betray me. He's not saying, let's get out of here.
[37:18] He's going to meet this thing head on. And the verses below that show, he met it head on. What's the difference? Well, now he's ready. The first posture was sorrowful.
[37:30] The second one was strengthening and prayer was having an effect on him. The third one was that he was set. He was fixed. The complete transformation is obvious.
[37:43] It's very clear to see this in this passage. And I think perhaps the greatest lesson or example that we have in surrendering to the will of God is coming right out of this passage and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
[37:58] If you know God's putting something on your heart or dealing with you and you just feel like, oh man, I can't do that. Then what you need to do to get your confidence and to get your preparation and to get your heart fixed is to get on your face and spend time with God.
[38:18] It's not going to be go counsel with the pastor and go make sure that people have my back because people won't have your back. They'll say they do but down the road they won't and you're going to need to know that you can do whatever God's calling you to do.
[38:34] This posture was one that was set. When you consider the three postures, the distress and the agony and the sorrow was very real.
[38:51] So much more than it's ever been. But the confidence and the preparation and the readiness and the willingness was all the better.
[39:06] And he went a little further. I wonder if you desire to go further with Jesus Christ.
[39:16] If you do, it's a great blessing and it is a great privilege to be called of those three or to even be called and sent out alone to do something for God.
[39:30] It's a great thing but understand it comes with expectation and it comes with cost. Going further is different.
[39:44] It's different than the other eight. Going further is different for Christ than the other three. There's expectation, there's disappointment, there's stress, there's suffering.
[39:58] And one last three, this is not even worth not just mentioning it, just throwing it out, there's three accounts. Matthew, Mark and Luke.
[40:10] Three accounts of these events, the prayer in the garden that night. Three times God recorded this transformation. The transformation of his son from sorrowful to surrendered to giving his life for us.
[40:30] He surrendered to suffering and to drinking the cup of the wrath of God. There's certainly some things we can take from this scene tonight.
[40:42] And whether it's the place or the parties or the place and all those things I gave you, may God enable us, each of us, to go a little further in our walk with him.
[40:58] And understand that going further may not be pretty, but it's closer to him, it's worth it, and if he's calling you, then say yes. Yeah, it's more comfortable back with the eight, and the eight are, they're coming to church Wednesday nights too.
[41:15] They're with the Lord. But sometimes he calls another one to come a little closer. And if and when God does that, it may not be today, it may have already happened, it may be five years out in the future, but when God calls, just be prepared and understand this may not be pretty, but it's the best thing I could ever do in my life is say yes to Jesus Christ.
[41:39] If he calls you to go further, brothers, sisters, go. Go. Don't think twice about it. And in this passage, the theme of it, the emphasis of it, is prayer.
[41:54] You're not going to get far further if you're not in prayer. That's where the strength came to Jesus Christ. That was the command from Jesus Christ. That's what needs to be in your life. You're not going to go far without prayer.
[42:07] So, enough of those thoughts. You saw all those little threes I pointed out. I'm weird like that. I guess a little mathematical. Sometimes can't get away from it. But I enjoy it, and I hope you, like I said at the very beginning with those little phrases, let it come out, let it speak to you, and then sit on it, and study it, and get something out of your Bible reading that can be a blessing to you and a help.
[42:29] And one day you'll be able to put it together and get up here and dish it out. So, all right. Before we dismiss, I want to say thanks to everybody that brought something, that helped out.
[42:41] The food was excellent. I hope there's leftovers because I want to eat some of that tomorrow. At lunch and breakfast. But praise the Lord for you all. It's good to have you here tonight.
[42:51] Let's be dismissed in prayer. And so, let me ask Brother Dave here, would you close us in prayer, please? Thank you. Thank you.