Just Like Jesus Bowed to the Father

[0:00] Matthew 26, 36-46. We read, and we'll dive in. Then Jesus, coming with them to a place called Gethsemane, he said to his disciples, sit here, while going over there, I will pray.

[0:22] And taking with them Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be extremely grieved and enormously distressed. Then he said to them, my soul is extremely sorrowful to the point of death.

[0:40] Remain here and stay alert with me. We're going a little beyond. He fell on his face, praying and saying, my father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.

[1:00] Yet not as I want, but as you want. And coming to the disciples, he found them sleeping and said to Peter, So you could not stay alert with me one hour.

[1:14] Stay alert and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is eager, but the flesh weak. And going away a second time, he prayed saying, My father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, thine will be done.

[1:36] And again, he came, he found them sleeping, for their eyes were weighed down. And leaving them again, he went away.

[1:48] He prayed a third time, saying the same word again. Then coming to the disciples, he said to them, Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Look, the hour is near and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.

[2:04] Arise, let's go. Look, the one who betrays me is near. The article said that, quote, Wisconsin protesters are accused of assaulting a Democratic state senator on video at the state capitol Tuesday night after day-long protests turned violent.

[2:34] The violence began after a group of 200 to 300 protesters marched through downtown Madison, initially blocking intersections and obstructing driveways.

[2:45] They reached the state capitol, and then this happened. Quote, State Senator Tim Carpenter, Democratic state senator in Milwaukee, he encountered the protesters and began recording them.

[3:00] And Carpenter said that he was, quote, assaulted and beat up by 8 to 10 people as he took the video. He tweeted this, quote, Punched and kicked in the head.

[3:15] Might have concussion. Left eye a little blurry. Cheek swollen. I think it's swollen. Sore neck and ribs. This has to stop before some innocent person gets killed.

[3:26] I locked up in the capitol until it's safe, end quote. Those who should be defending the weak are bowing to these senseless, asinine rioters and looters, allowing them to take advantage of the helpless, the weak, and just assemble bystandard.

[3:46] This whole shenanigan that we see in our nation broods hatred, violence, extortion, and lawless behavior.

[4:09] They will make you bow to them. They will make you bow to their will. If you don't, well, you'll get attacked.

[4:30] What a contrast to today's passage. You see these people forcing other people to bow to them, and then you look at the intimate, loving relationship that the Father has with the Son and the Son has with the Father, and where the Son says, I willingly bow to you.

[4:52] I bow to your will. What a contrast. Loving submission to the will of the Father. And here you see Jesus presenting to us an example of the very thing he commands us to do.

[5:15] Matthew's Gospel. Bow down and worship Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God, the King of Israel, the Judge of the world. And as Jesus commends us to do this to himself, we do it just like Jesus did to the Father.

[5:30] Just like Jesus bowed to the Father. Jesus displays us. What an example he shows to us of how we bow to the Father willingly, joyfully.

[5:49] Just like Jesus bowed to the Father. Statement for you. Jesus bowed down to his Father and his will, even as he aversely anticipated facing the cup of the Father's just wrath, which was his primary mission.

[6:10] A mission that would cost him his life. Jesus knew it. He knew why he was here. This was the climax of his mission.

[6:21] He would die for sinners and he would drink this cup. He would be bruised for our transgressions.

[6:33] As Michael read a few moments ago. So here's Jesus bowing to his Father, bowing to the Father's will, and yet aversely anticipating this cup that he would drink.

[6:46] And as we get a glimpse into Jesus' intimate relationship with his Father, we also see the huge failure and blunder of Christ's disciples.

[7:08] When he needed them most, they were clueless to his demise. You know, there's so many lessons that we can take away from this, from this passage.

[7:27] Just these ten verses. I listed four down for you, and there's probably more, but here's four of them for you that we'll be able to take away from this morning.

[7:40] A lesson. What our relationship with the Father should look like, should be like. We need to submit to his will and to the plans he brings into our lives.

[8:00] Another lesson. How prayer prepares us in so many ways. Prayer prepares us. And then another lesson.

[8:12] Our need to be alert to our physical weaknesses and not driven by our feelings. Jesus prepared himself.

[8:28] Jesus was preparing himself right here in these ten verses. He was preparing himself for his future suffering, and he did that by praying. Praying and petitioning.

[8:44] The disciples, on the other hand, did not prepare themselves. Instead, they slept. I'll have those lessons up there again, if you didn't get those.

[9:00] I'm going to look through them later on as well. Jesus was dedicated to the Father's will as he wrestled with the truth that he was about to drink the cup of the Father's wrath.

[9:12] The wrath that comes upon sinners, which is equivalent to hell. So either Jesus faces God's wrath on your behalf, or you face eternity in hell.

[9:27] There's no in-betweens. It's either or. So when Jesus was on the cross, he was taking the just wrath of God, what's equivalent to what we would face in hell forever.

[9:43] That's what he faced. That's why it's called a vicarious substitutionary atonement in our place. And at the same time, as he's wrestling with this, he's about to, the cup he's about to drink, we see the disciples' myopic inability to see or grasp the gravity of the situation or the distress of their master.

[10:16] Is this not us? Ah, yes. It is. This is me. This is you.

[10:29] You are reading about yourself. I am reading about me. Which is why Jesus had to die for us, right?

[10:42] Amen. Because we are myopic. We are dull. And we just don't grasp things. Which is why Jesus had to die.

[10:54] Praise his name. Amen. Praise his name. He died for my dullness and my inability to really say what ere my God ordains is right.

[11:06] Right? What a contrast. You see in this passage, Jesus' prayerful, heartfelt obedience.

[11:19] And the disciples, one might put it like this, drowsy oblivion. Jesus said to himself to the Father's command and will, the disciples didn't listen to Jesus.

[11:41] Jesus' whole action and attitude is juxtaposed with the disciples' action and attitude. Jesus' prayer, alert, submission, obedience, the disciples, sleepy, uncaring, prideful, arrogant.

[12:02] You see it juxtaposed within the passage. And I agree, one writer said this, I think he's right. This is probably one of the saddest stories in the whole Bible.

[12:18] as we observe the disciples. And yet, it's like looking in a mirror for us. This is why we needed Jesus to die for us.

[12:32] So, we are bowing now just like Jesus bowed down to the Father. Notice how it begins first with Jesus' great distress, verse 36 to 38. Jesus coming with them to a place called Gethsemane.

[12:47] It was a garden, a well-meaning spot with his disciples. He said to them, sit here while going over there, I will pray. So notice, it already begins the separation between Jesus and his disciples.

[13:02] In verse 37, take him with him, Peter, the two sons of Zebedee, Peter, James, and John 3, inner circle. Notice it says, he began to be grieved and distressed.

[13:15] Really, it's extremely crushed, overwhelming sorrow. I have it appear on the screen now. He was crushed, completely overwhelmed, overcome with major grief to the point of death.

[13:31] Which is why he said this in verse 38, my soul is deeply, extremely, enormously grieving, sorrowful, profound inner agony as one writer put it.

[13:46] His heart was ready to break with grief. And not because of being crucified. Now, mind you, crucifixion was no fun way to die.

[13:59] I mean, nobody wanted to die by being crucified. Who wants to suffocate to death on a cross, naked? That doesn't sound like a lot of fun. Nobody wants to die like that.

[14:11] But it wasn't so much the pain of crucifixion as depicted in The Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson's movie It's not so much that. But the kind of death that he would die.

[14:27] God's justice upon him. God would unleash his just wrath upon his son. The death that we deserve as sinners, which is complete and total separation from God and hell would be Jesus' experience.

[14:51] He would be one with sinners on the cross. God's wrath would be exhausted upon him. Which is why it's so vital for you if you don't know Jesus today that you would trust Christ.

[15:11] That you would come to a place where you would say Jesus I believe that when you were on Christ you died for my sins on my behalf. I repent I turn from my sin I put all my trust in you.

[15:28] Save me. And he will. He will. And the reason why he can is because he paid the debt for sinners. He paid the debt for sinners.

[15:43] Where's my mom when I need her? Mom, where are you? There she is. Amen. Jim, I can't find Facebook. That's what he did on our behalf.

[15:57] Jesus paid the debt for us. Come. Respond to Jesus. Trust him. Notice what Jesus says here to his disciples after he talks about how he's so extremely enormously grieving to the point of death.

[16:19] Newmark Alexander says remain here literally stay alert. The same word that's used in chapter 24 verse 42. Stay alert. Or be alert.

[16:32] 24 42 same word. Be alert. Be alert with me. Remain here.

[16:42] Stay here and be alert. He would pray alone because he would be left alone. The disciples lack of prayer and the grasp of what their master would face was vividly displayed at the separation.

[16:59] Stay here. Be alert. Be alert. Be alert. Be alert. Be alert. And then he went away from them because he would be alone throughout this whole ordeal.

[17:15] And then starting in verse 39 and verse 45 how I will describe it to you and I have it on the screen. I put it like this that juxtaposed positions of Jesus heartfelt prayer alertness and obedience versus the disciples heartless pitilessness sleepiness disobedience see that juxtaposed you see the contrasting positions the contrasting attitudes and action begins here in verse 39 going a little beyond he fell on his face praying and saying my father if it is possible let this cup pass from me you see

[18:15] Jesus prayed three times and there is good reason to believe he prayed for at least three hours we will look at that in a moment he was praying alone falling on his face the lowest posture in prayer and his prayer was stunning because you see intimacy you see desire and yet you also see obedience you see all three known as my father the personal intimate relationship with his father only in Matthew do we see him used to pronounce my father father you see the distinct persons of the godhead two distinct persons the spirit as well so there is only one god throughout the whole universe but three distinct persons

[19:17] Jesus was god yet separate from the father there is no different manifestations here there is two distinct persons my father if there is any possibility for me not to drink this cup of your wrath please does your will necessitate for me to go to the cross and drink this cup cup in the old testament was associated with suffering and judgment psalm 11 is ezekiel 23 god would give the people the cup of his wrath they would drink this cup this is what jesus was referring to he desired to avoid the crushing agonies of the cross again not simply because something would be horrible even though the covenant of the crucifixion was truly horrible but because of the cup of wrath he would have to drink and yet what god required jesus fulfilled we are justified by his blood romans 5 9 therefore having justified by his blood we shall be saved from the wrath of god through him this is what jesus is talking about this is what jesus would face this is the cup he would drink notice the last part of verse 39 yet not as i want but as you want notice how he resolutely embraced the father's will not his own he wanted the father's will to take priority over his own desire the father's will must be done in jesus do it you see this amazing truth between jesus divine nature and his human nature you see this wrestling you get a window into what's going on within the son of god the god man there's a little window to this prayerful heartfelt obedience there's devotion there's intimacy the disciples verse 40 tell me to the disciples he found them sleeping and said to peter saw you could not be alert with me for one hour there is so it seems like jesus was away from them for an hour but instead of staying allergic he found them sleeping he pointed out their insensitive oblivion not just for one hour peter and pointed out peter or peter was the one he was the strong spokesman right oh

[23:01] I never know you not me it's so sad in jesus most critical time when he was extremely distressed and disturbed because of what he was in face and we appealed to them to stay alert they displayed total oblivion and went to sleep there i am you could not be alert for one hour jim notice the exhortation he gives he gives an exhortation there verse 41 keep watching or literally stay alert pray that you may not enter into temptation stay alert and pray so that they would not be tempted tempted to sleep he says the spirit is willing or eager you can translate that word eager the flesh is weak which tells us spiritual alertness is able to overcome physical weakness spiritual alertness is able to overcome your feelings it is we need god's grace to do it the fact of the matter is their inability to stay alert showed their weak flesh it's so easy to allow our physical situation or our feelings to take over and rule it's easy to let that happen that's why we must fight to think truth and pray fight for it and prayer prepares us prayer prepares us for future suffering and testing

[25:10] I brought this up really a prayer it prepares us in so many different ways it prepares us for future suffering and testing they were about to face great suffering and testing so they should have been praying and they failed to prepare themselves for the coming test they were left defenseless and friends we wonder why we're spiritually weak because we're not prepared we're not preparing ourselves and remember because you begin to feel the weight of guilt upon your soul for not preparing yourself remember this is why Jesus had to die for us don't forget that because we're filled we failed in these ways and that's why Jesus had to die that's why he's so gracious and kind and merciful prayer shows our dependence upon the father it's the means of grace by which we pour out our hearts to the lord with our pleas and petitions but also as a way to gain strength for future tests here I go preparing myself my heart so notice verse 42 go back to

[26:58] Jesus disciples go back to Jesus verse 42 go right a second time he prayed saying my father if this cannot pass away unless I drink it thy will be done again he resolutely resigns to obey the father's will he agreed must drink the cup for it to pass the only way for it to pass is for him to drink it there was no way around it to drink the cup of God's wrath was God's will what an amazing scene with Jesus wrestling through this act that he must do he really truly was human who can sympathize with our weaknesses he truly can he knows what it's like as he's wrestling through this he must do obey that Jesus would do the father's will no matter the cost to him you see that heartfelt prayer obedience intimate submission to the father you see that with

[28:30] Jesus friends even when we don't feel like it even when our bodies seem to be screaming at us we by the spirit's power must resolutely obey God or give ourselves over to his will for us thy will be done and then the contrast verse 43 again coming to them he found them sleeping for their eyes the word means weighed down you know that feeling when I'm preaching you just can't keep your eyes open oh killing me killing me small I remember being in seminary class wake all night doing a paper and Johnny and I we used to call them this guy's bombing he's bombing and then we'd be doing it and Johnny makes fun of me he's like you're bopping

[29:54] I know I'm so tired you just can't do it your eyes are weighed down no exhortation at this point it's unfortunate that they really had no clue back to Jesus verse 44 leaving them again he went away and prayed a third time saying the same word again only you see this in Matthew saying this same word and can't be a good reason to believe he was gone for another hour so you're talking about three hours and he would return came to the disciples found him sleeping again we'll look at that in a moment verse 45 this anticipated the three times that Peter would deny Jesus instead of confessing Jesus now 45 come into them he said to them are you still sleeping and taking your rest for some translation you see this as a statement you guys better take it as a question are you guys still sleeping they were not prepared for what was about to happen next with

[31:14] Judas and he again back to the disciples a third time heartlessness pitilessness disobedience he didn't listen so then you can come to this part verse 45 and 46 his time had come behold look the hour is near and the son of man is being betrayed or delivered into the hands of sinners the time of his betrayal really his suffering had come verse 46 arise let's go look the one who betrays me is near he knew Jesus was on his way towards him Jesus was ready he was ready having prepared himself by prayer he was ready for what he was about to face he was ready he was going to face this cup he was ready what's going to happen and it would begin really with the betrayal of one who was closest to him one of his own disciples

[32:31] Jesus desired to avoid the cup of the father's wrath yet he decidedly and resolutely submitted himself to the father and his will Jesus was the perfect model of what it looks like to pray he bowed down and as the writer of hebrews says for the joy set before him he endured the cross despising and shame Jesus his whole mindset was set on God and he was lived by God's word doing God's will even if it meant unbelievable suffering and death and it's this wrestling that enabled him to be our sympathetic high priest so the writer of hebrews says in hebrews chapter 5 or 7 through 10 he understood suffering he understood what it was like learning this wrestling through these things so he can sympathize with you when you're tired when you don't feel like reading your bible don't feel like praying you feel lost that's the time where we should pray we should and say

[33:51] God I cry out to you help me I am so weak and he does he's gracious he can sympathize with you because he's the God man Jesus knows that our flesh is weak so we need to be exhorted to stay alert to be spiritually alert be encouraged in that to pray against temptation the back of the disciples you know it's sad we juxtapose Jesus and the disciples you can also juxtapose the disciples attitude their cluelessness oblivion myopic dull thinking versus their firm arrogance unteachable spirit and really just downright sinful self confidence just a few verses ago remember we'll never deny you what if we were going to die for you notice that arrogance is juxtaposed with their cluelessness interesting the whole attitude and action of Jesus you see prayer alert submission intimacy devotion i told you earlier in the message so many lessons that we can learn from this and i'll put them up on the screen for you again what our relation with the father should look like an intimate relation with the father that you have for Jesus you can say my father you can say my daddy i need you in this i need you grace that's what your relation with the father should look like to our need to submit to his will and the plans he brings into our lives you didn't plan on this shutdown you didn't plan on this virus i didn't plan on it god did he knows exactly what he's doing he knows exactly what he's doing our need to submit to his will and the plans he brings into our lives how prayer prepares us in so many ways encourage you let this be a gracious exhortation to you oh christian that you're taking time to pray and also our need to be alert to our physical weaknesses and not be driven by our feelings it's easy for us remember remember

[36:43] Jesus knows this no doubt he was tired you know he got tired you know he got tired different times you know he got hungry at different times it's stated in other places in the gospels it's our need to be alert to our physical weaknesses and not allow our feelings to drive our lives when god brings trials into our lives trials come no longer fear that is the time where we need to be spiritually alert listen to his word i will be done i encourage you you bow to jesus just like jesus love and they bow to the father i was reminded in my study from the song by hillary scott thy will be done or she sings that thy will be done thy will be done like a child on my knees all that comes to me is thy will be done thy will be done thy will i know you see me i know you hear me lord your plans are for me goodness you have in store i know you hear me i know you see me lord thy will be done father thank you that jesus died for all those times where we did not pray that we did not do that we had our will be done thank you jesus he died for that thank you father that you showed us grace god bless us your people give us grace to be alert to utilize the means of grace of prayer to come to you father with such openness boldness because you intimately know us we can say my father who is in heaven hallowed be your name let your kingdom come let your will be done and that be the attitude and the action of your church today help us be alert keep us praying driven by feelings physical weakness help us we we we we we we see ourselves in the disciples and yet as you restore the disciples so you restore us and renew us we praise you we thank you there's no

[39:49] God like you we bow our wills to you we bow our hearts to you and of loving devotion to you thank you in Jesus name amen amen how amen man wh you