in tonight's service as it is our custom, would you turn in your Bibles to the 40th Psalm. Psalm number 40. And we've read this Psalm to a degree in the last year, at least twice, the first few verses of it. I want to look tonight at some of the verses in the middle there. We're going to begin at verse 4 and go through to verse 11. And tonight our consideration for our text in Matthew 26 will be the Father's will. So join me if you would. Psalm number 40, beginning at verse 4.

Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to usward. They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou opened. burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required then said I lo I come in the volume of the book it is written of me I delight to do thy will and those those are the words that our Lord himself declares I delight to do thy will yea thy law is within my heart I have preached righteousness in the great congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lips. O Lord, Thou knowest. I have not hid Thy righteousness within my heart. I have declared Thy faithfulness and Thy salvation. I have not concealed Thy lovingkindness and Thy truth from the great congregation. Withhold not Thou Thy tender mercies from me. O Lord, let Thy lovingkindness and Thy truth continually preserve me.

We'll begin with our Bibles this evening in the book of Matthew, chapter 26. If you'd like to turn there with me before we go to our handout. Beginning at verse 36. And we read this last week, but there's so much here. I've got to be honest with you, I feel like I've still come up short in bringing what God has for us to see in these words. There's so much here about our Savior and his time in this Garden of Gethsemane.

We read here at the beginning, then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane. And I want to stop there for just a moment. I found out, I was not aware of what this word means. One of the things Norm has blessed me with in his studies on Wednesday night is he goes through and he likes to bring out what the meaning of words are. That's a very important thing, actually. And so I looked up the meaning of this word, Gethsemane. And the word, it comes from two words. The first one is Gath, and I knew I was going to forget the second one, but it's close to Semini. Gath means... crushed fluid, as in an olive press or a grape press of some kind. It means to be crushed. It means to crush something to the point where fluid comes out of it. And then the other word is fragrance. It's a word of fragrance, and if you crush olive oil, olives into oil, apparently, I've never done that, but apparently there's quite a fragrance that comes from it. So we see that this garden This name, Gethsemane, means crushed, fragrant liquid of some sort to that effect.

So we go on, He came unto the place called Gethsemane, and said unto the disciples, Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter, and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.

And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

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. 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 he saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest. Behold, the hour is at hand, and 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.

We'll spend the rest of our time in tonight's handout. If you'd like to begin with me here at the first paragraph of page one, our first consideration of these holy and reverent words was the obedience of one. You recall those of you who were with us last week and for those of you who are just joining us tonight, we went through these very same verses last week and brought out how This is where our trust is.

Folks, we have no confidence in the flesh. That's what the scriptures tell us. There's nothing in this flesh to be any confident about. Everything we do, everything we think, everything about this body and this mind that you see before you is tainted with sin. Most mankind don't believe that. They believe that through religion, they can get better. It's called progressive sanctification. As I go along, I get to be a better person. If I start following the way the Lord has instructed me, I can become a better person.

I'm not telling you that better things won't happen for you in the world because you walk according to God's Word. I'm just telling you it has nothing to do with your salvation, or your performance, or what you are before God. There's only one reason God looks upon his people, and that's because of his son, the Lord Jesus. He is the obedient, the obedient one. It says there, look at what it says there from Romans 5, 19. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, look now, this is important. So by the obedience of One plus yourself, plus what you do? No, that's not what it says at all, is it? By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

Second paragraph, page one. By the obedience of one, all of God's chosen shall be saved. That one has many names. Emmanuel, meaning God with us. Messiah, meaning deliverer. In Isaiah 9, 6, we are told a child is born signifying one who is born differently than anyone else. It also declares a son is given as a great gift for a great benefit. He shall rule over all that is. And then it says this. and his name shall be called wonderful.

Nothing is more wonderful to a poor, dead sinner than the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, my substitute, my deliverer, Emmanuel, God with us. Counselor, I don't want to take anything away from what God has gifted men and women who are counselors of this world. But that's all they are, is counselors of this world. You need a counselor, a spiritual counselor? This is it, right here. And everything in here is about the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything. Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. And then in Matthew 1.21 we read, And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.

Don't you love the word shall and the word of God? Isn't that just the comforting thing of God's Word when He says shall or will. Anything that God says of that, you know it's going to be. Either that or He's not God. And we're wasting our time. I love that. He shall save his people from their sins. By the obedience of this one, many shall be made righteous, signifying that they were not righteous before. Once again, I agree with my brother, and I believe this time in the Garden is when the Lord Jesus, who never sinned, who knew no sin, was made sin, that His people would be made the righteousness of God in Him.

Now take note of what it says there in 2 Corinthians 5.21. The righteousness of God. Did you catch that? That means that it's not your righteousness. That means it's something that you cannot attain through anything you do in the flesh. I was telling Brother Norm earlier this afternoon, it bothers me to no end for a man to stand in a pulpit and tell you how much better you can be if you'll just do this. Or if you'll just do that. God's Word says it's completely different. Every man I know that preaches the truth of God's Word never tells a person, you're going to be better. You're going to get to be better in this flesh. I'm here to tell you tonight, you're going to find out you're a bigger sinner than you thought you were. You're going to find out a little bit more of the depth. We'll never see the full depth until the Lord takes us out of this world. But for now, as we look through that glass darkly, we'll see. If we belong to Him, we'll see how much His grace is to this poor sinner who stands before you.

So, folks, God only accepts, this is the second to the last paragraph, page one. God only accepts perfection. He is holy. Nothing less than perfect holiness is acceptable. For any to be in His presence, they must be as holy as He is. That's what this is talking about, the righteousness of God. It's talking about His perfect righteousness that is only found in His Son, the Lord Jesus. So that's what this is talking about here, being as holy as He is. If holiness is defiled, it's no longer holy, is it? Perfection had to be made imperfect. and pay the price of justice. Death.

Page two. God has determined to have a people unto himself and his will, his purpose, was that they would love him with all their heart. love him because he first loved them. When we see the depth of our depravity, our sinfulness, and we'll see the wonder of his grace for loving us. How could God love a sinner such as I? But he does, and he tells us this in his word. He loves us, or we love him because he first loved us. But justice stood in the way. Sin separated them, his people, from him. So God sent his only begotten son to redeem his loved ones unto himself. Christ Jesus, the obedient one, the just, became the justifier of his people. We could go on and on about the obedience of this one and never cover the depth of it.

So let us consider some other lessons that we may see in these words from our text. We are also taught here that holiness of life is no exception from trouble and sorrow. That's what I was talking about a moment ago. They tell you that life will be so much better for you if you'll just start walking holy. If you'll just start doing what God has given you the instructions to do so. Folks, our Lord Jesus Christ was holy. harmless, and undefiled. He never did anything but good. He loved God his Father perfectly. He loved men perfectly. He knew no sin. Yet never was there a human being who suffered like the man of sorrows."

Have you ever stopped to think about that? The majesty. God the Son is one with God the Father. He's just as majestic as God the Father is and God the Holy Spirit. They're equal in all ways. Stop and think about that. Ponder those thoughts for a moment. It'll bring a sinner to tears realizing the death of what He has done for you and I. What He has suffered. humbling himself from the glory that is his, to walk among sinners, to be made sin. We were talking about that last Friday, I think. That would make my mind pop, make my brain just explode and yellow matter be everywhere, gray matter or something.

Folks, Christ was a man of sorrows. He came unto his own. and His own knew Him not. There was nothing about the Lord Jesus that was appealing to any man. Nobody looked at the Lord Jesus like they did the Solomon and said, oh, look at Him. He's a good looking guy. I'm going to listen to what He's saying. No, they rejected Him in every single way.

The fact is, man that is born of a woman is a few days. and full of trouble. That's in Job 14.1. There are no exceptions. While we live in this world, trouble and sorrow will always be the portion of our cup. We are all of us born unto trouble as sparks fly upward. Again, from Job 5.7 this time. No creature in this world is so vulnerable than man. Our bodies, our minds, our families, our jobs, our daily responsibilities, our businesses, our friends, all of these things are doors of trouble and sorrow.

Let us in the midst of sorrow try to remind ourselves that our troubles and sorrows are light in comparison with that with what we deserve, what others have suffered, what our Savior suffered for us, and with the glory that awaits us in heaven. And compared with eternity, they are but for a moment, while we look not on the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, We have a building of God and house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 Corinthians 4, 18-51.

We also may learn from our Savior's conduct here that prayer is the best cure for for care. When Job was troubled, page 3, he fell down and worshipped God, as recorded in Job 1, verse 20. When Hezekiah was faced with a great sorrow and trouble, he spread his matters before the Lord, as it says in 2 Kings 9, verse 14. And when our Lord Jesus was exceeding sorrowful, as we just read in verse 38, He turned to God His Father in prayer.

The first person to whom we should turn with our sorrows and troubles and cares is God our Father. Nothing that concerns us is too trivial for Him. and nothing too great for Him who bids us to cast all of our care upon Him, assuring us that He cares for us. Listen to these words from Hebrews 4.16. Let us therefore come boldly, boldly, unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in a time of need. Or from 1 Peter 5, 7, casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. And then as the Lord spoke to Paul, Paul recorded it for us in 2 Corinthians 12, 9, and he said unto me, My grace, remember Paul had a thorn in his side, and he went to the Lord three times, he prayed to the Lord, and the Lord said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness, Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

Whatever our trouble is, as we can look to the Lord our God for help, He will either remove the trouble or He will give us grace sufficient to bear it for His glory.

Another thing taught in this remarkable passage is the fact that submission to the will of God is one characteristic of true faith. The words of our Savior gives us a marvelous example of faith, a marvelous example of what our attitude ought to be in all things. May God give us grace always to surrender to him and say, not as I will, but as thou wilt, thy will be done.

Someone once said, he who abandons himself to God will never be abandoned by God. We all think we want to have our own way, but we do not know what is best for us. What is best for the glory of God, best for the people of God, or best for the cause of God? Only God knows what is best. We would be wise, like old Eli, ever to say these words, it is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good.

That was what Eli said when, I think it was Samuel, wasn't it? Yeah, Samuel came to him. He had asked Samuel, what did the Lord say to you? Who was calling you last night? What did the Lord say to you? Long story short, Samuel kept coming to him saying, are you calling me? And he said, no. Next time you hear that person call you, listen to him. Probably God's speaking to you. And the next day, he begged him, what did he say? What did he say? And Samuel told Eli, after giving in to him, your sons are going to get killed. God's going to take your sons for being evil in the house of God. And Eli said these words. I couldn't. You know, I've got to tell you something. That would be very, very difficult for me. Maybe some of you could do it easily. Only God's power in my mind could drive anybody to say this, it is the Lord, let him do what seems him good. But that's exactly what God does. He gives us the power. We can do all things through Him.

Abraham, we think of Abraham as this great and wonderful and most powerful man. You forget that Abraham gave in to one of his maids, one of his wife's handmaid. He gave in to her. He didn't wait for what the Lord had promised him. Abraham's just like us. The only reason he had any inkling to take his son up to a mountain and sacrifice him was because he believed God. And that belief is a gift that God gives his people to all of us. So whatever the Lord may have for us, it is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good.

Isaiah 318, page 4. Blessed is that person who is so well taught of God that he has learned to be content with the purpose of God and with the providence of God. Listen to these words from the Philippians chapter 4, 11 through 13. For I have learned, writes Paul, in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased. and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengthen me.

I encourage, there's a lot of stuff going on in our world today. We have this thing we call the internet where we can see things that are going all, you know, I wonder at times, if we weren't better off back in the days when we didn't have so much information. With what we can see that's going on, there's so much trouble in the world. All this hatred we see for one man, that's all because they think they see everything and everything out there is the truth.

Let us ever remember everything, all things. When the Lord said, when he inspired Paul to write in Romans 8, 28, all things are to the good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. It says all things, everything that's going on in the world around us. He's either God or he's not. And if he is God, and I believe he is, This is all under His control. This is plan A. This is not plan B. This is not plan C. This is plan A. And it's a really good plan whether we know it or not. Because everything our Lord does is right and good and righteous. And we can trust that if we believe on Him. Blessed is that person who is well taught of God and that has learned to be content for the purpose of God and the providence of God.

For I have learned in whatsoever state I am. Oh, I've already read all that. Let's go on. Second paragraph, page four.

The Lord Jesus came to do the Father's will. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he sayeth, sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, lo, I come in the volume of the book. See why I said this is what the Lord would be quoted as? I come in the volume of the book as it is written of me to do thy will, O God. Hebrews 10, 5-7.

Listen to these words from John 5, verse 30. I can of my own self do nothing. As I hear, I judge, as my judgment, and my judgment is just, because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. If you have a concordance that you can look up phrases, look up that phrase, sent me. And in John chapter 17, you'll see in the prayer that our Lord prayed to his father over you and I. See how many times it says, and they have known, or I have been sent of thee. Look how many times it says in there about the Lord being sent of his father.

What is the will of the Father, you might ask? We've read these words now that He's come to do His Father's will. The only logical question next is, well, what is that will? There's no need to wonder. Third paragraph, page four. No need to guess. Listen to these words from John chapter 6, 37 through 40.

All that the Father giveth me Here's that word, shall come to me. And him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will. Here it comes, clear as can be. You cannot misinterpret this. You cannot change this around. It's just as clear as anything. And this is the Father's will, which has sent me that of all which He hath given me. I want that to sink in. I'm pausing. I'm allowing that to just chew it around. It's a good dessert. Oh, love chocolate. All that the Father hath given me, I should lose nothing. If Christ Jesus died for somebody's sins and lost one, You couldn't call him God. And his blood would be worthless. But he is God. And his blood is precious in the sight of his people. We were talking about the sorrow that it brings to our hearts that Christ went through what he went through for me. We were talking about in this world, God's people admit that we crucified the Lord. We cried out, crucify Him, crucify Him, because we would not have Him to rule over us. Yet on the other side, once the Lord shines His light in the new heart, we cry out, crucify Him, crucify Him, because that's the only way. It's the only way that He could save me.

That's deep. That's not just flapping around on the pond there, Mike Loveless. That's going deep, brother. What is the will of the Father? That He should lose nothing, but should raise it up again the last day. And this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life. And I will raise Him up the last day.

Folks, this is our focus. for tonight, the Father's will. And I know there's so many different things we could look at in this, but this is just as important as the obedient one, the one who did the Father's will. We've spoken much over the past months about what is the difference of a believer now compared to before we were given the gift of faith, the gift to believe. And one difference is we are brought to bow to His will. That's what it means to know God, know Him in your heart. It's to bow to Him as Lord. He's my Lord. He wasn't before, even though He was Lord of all things. I didn't know Him as Lord. Now I do. Because of the preaching of His Word, because of His Word that He has given to us to see Him in all the Scriptures, He brings us through that preaching to believe Him as who He is. God in the flesh. To trust in what He's done. He shed His own blood for us. and to understand that God the Father has accepted that sacrifice on our behalf, raising his son from the dead and placing him at the right hand of God the Father.

You know, every time Christ spoke of his death, he also spoke of his resurrection, every single time. Why? Because it was gonna be, plain and simple. There's no question about God's will. If there is, He's not God to you. This is our focus tonight.

Thy people. The fourth paragraph there on page four. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. Psalms 110 verse 3. For thy people Israel didst thou make thine own people forever, and thou Lord becamest. Did you catch that? Thou, Lord, becamest their God. Page five. He had to become our God. Folks, God has always been God, we just didn't know it. We came into this world knowing good and evil, making ourselves, now notice what it says there, a little G, making ourselves God, as the devil said to Eve. What? What are you talking about, John? Genesis 3-5, for God doth know, and he's speaking to Eve here, he says, for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

That's what this free willism is that everybody teaches. Oh, if you'll just make a decision, if you'll just do this, if you'll just exercise your free will, you can be a Christian too. That is all about mankind making themselves to be gods. That's saying this, that it's my free will that's going to save me. If I don't make a decision, I'm going to hell. And I'm telling you, the scriptures tell us that we would never make the decision if God does not intervene on our behalf. I know that. I know I wouldn't have. I was really perfectly happy with going down that road of John as his own boss all those years. Wouldn't have bothered me one bit if I had never come to know God. But he did. He revealed himself through the preaching of his word. If God hadn't have done something about it, I'd have still been John Reeves. And now, I'm a child of God because He did something about it. Not me, not anything of me, but Him. He had become our God.

Now, I've already read that. From the moment Adam... Okay, this is right after the quote from Genesis 3, 5. First paragraph, page 5. From the moment Adam ate of that fruit, All mankind have looked to themselves for their salvation. What was the first thing he did, speaking of Adam, in the garden? He tried to cover his nakedness by his own hands. They sewed leaves together to cover up their nakedness. It wasn't good enough. It was tainted with their sin, and it didn't cover anything. There's only one thing that covers the sins of God's people, and that is the blood of Christ. That's what the picture of the shed, the animal clothing was. They had to kill the animal to strip him of his skin to get to make clothing of it.

For God's will to be done, second paragraph, page five, justice had to be satisfied. Blood had to be shed. Do not the Scriptures tell us, and without shedding of blood is no remission? Isn't that what Hebrews 22 tells us? And God cannot unjustly punish one who is righteous. Therefore, in this garden, Christ the Lord humbled Himself and was made sin that we would be made the righteousness of God in Him. The Son's will was in complete agreement and perfectly aligned with the Father's will. Oh, my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. Verse 39, and again, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, thy will be done. Verse 42, in Isaiah 53, we are told, he saw the travail of his soul and was satisfied. God has accepted his son's sacrifice. Justice has been satisfied.

Third paragraph, page five. Our Lord also shows us here that the strongest and most faithful believers are best, at best, I should have said, weak in this world and always need to watch and pray. Here are Peter, James, and John, chosen apostles, three of the strongest, most exemplary believers ever to walk upon the earth, yet here they are with the Son of God in Gethsemane, fast asleep, unable to stay awake even for just a moment. Folks, that's my obedience. You may be able to walk with God in a certain way, but I'm telling you, I can't. I'm not saying I don't try. I'm not saying it's not something I desire. I'm saying I can't. There's nothing in this flesh for me to have any confidence in. I'm just like these guys. Fast asleep. Reach over and shake me, Norm. Wake me up. I'll fall back asleep. I'm sorry, but I just do. It's just the way this flesh is. They couldn't even stay awake for a moment. When they ought to have been watching and praying, they were sleeping. The sad fact is, this is the common sin of all of God's elect in this world.

Listen to these words from Song of Solomon, chapter 5, verses 2 and 3.

I sleep, but my heart waketh.
It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh,
saying, open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled.
For my head is filled with dew,
and my locks with the drops of the night.
I have put off my coat, how shall I put it on?
I have washed my feet, how shall I defile them? Wake, wake my heart. I sleep. Page six. We are a people with two distinct opposing natures, flesh and spirit. You wonder what I'm talking about? Paul explains it best here in Romans chapter 4, verses 14 through 23, where he says, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more that I do it, but sin dwelleth in me. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing."

This is Paul. This is the Apostle Paul. The very one who God blinded. Covered his eyes with the shells there. Scales. Scales. That's what it is. Scales of a fish. Covered his eyes to where he couldn't see. I'm just going to give you, I believe that the Lord blinded him with his right. I believe he was blinded by the brightness of Jesus Christ himself and that Jesus Christ, after he had risen from the dead, even though he didn't have his body yet, was standing right there in front of Paul. All of the other apostles were in the presence of Jesus Christ under their training. I believe that's when the Lord Jesus trained Paul.

Now I could be wrong. Better men than I may know better than I do, but this is what Paul is talking about here. He's saying, He's saying, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would, not that I do. Now, if I do that, I would not. It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law that when I would do good." Now, catch this. Don't read past this quickly. Grab a hold of this. He says, when I would do good, evil. is present with me. I've read that for many years, and it wasn't until five or six years ago when the Lord said, whoa, wait a minute, John, check this out. Even when I do good, there is evil present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members.

That's the two distinct natures right there. That's the nature of our flesh and the nature of our spirit all wrapped up into a simple three or four verses there. Yet our weakness is never to be looked upon as an excuse for sin. Those who think that we use this, they call us antinomian, lawless, like okay, you're one of those who you believe you don't have to live by the law, you can just go out and do whatever you willingly want to. That's a bunch of hogwash. God's people, if we could do what we really want to, we wouldn't fit what Paul has written right here in these words. If I could be righteous, For my Lord's sake, the very One who gave Himself for me, I would be. But I can't. That's what Paul is telling us. Even the good that we think we're doing is filled. Folks, we're filled with sin from the top of our head to the bottom of our toes. Every bit of it. I used to think, Pastor Gene, you're going a little bit too far. No! This is what Paul is telling us. That matches who John Rhys is right there.

Our weakness is never to be looked upon as an excuse for sin, but it is always a reason for us to be watchful and full of prayer. Do you ever find yourself, Lord, keep me from my sin today? Lord, give me an out. Help me to walk in a way that is pleasing to You. Our Savior walked perfectly for our sakes. Every step He took pleases the Father. When the Father looks upon His people, guess what He sees? The blood of His Son. He sees us in Him. You go back to that John chapter 17 again and look at how many times it says, in Him. Just read that chapter over and over again. That's a love chapter to God's people right there. Lord, help us.

Back in our handout again, mid-page six. Lord, help us to always live like soldiers in enemy territory, watchful, alert, and on guard. We can never be too careful. We cannot be too jealous of our souls. This world is cunning. The devil is a master of deceit, and our flesh is weak. In such a condition, it is utterly foolish for us not to watch and to pray that we enter not into temptation.

Another consideration for us here is that our Lord Jesus Christ is a very gracious and tender and forgiving God and Savior. It says in Matthew 26, 45-46, Then cometh He to His disciples, and He saith unto them, Sleep on now. and take your rest. I can picture, he's got a second wind. He's ready to go to that cross. He's cried unto the Father, be with me as I go through this. Nevertheless, not my will but yours. And he's ready to go forward. And he says to his people once again, sleep on and take your rest. Behold, the hour is at hand. and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners."

I do not believe our Lord spoke those words in sarcasm. He simply told Peter, James, and John to rest while he kept watch. He saw the glare of the torches approaching. He saw the stillness of the night was broken by the trampling of the feet of the betrayer and the bloodthirsty mob He was leading. But the Lord Jesus speaks to these sleeping disciples, not for their sake, remember they were asleep, but for ours. For you and I. He's teaching us something here, folks.

Remember when He said, to those men who cried out, don't you care about us? The sea is billowing over our little ship. We're going to sink. We're going to die. And he got up and he said, oh, ye of little faith. I got this. This is my world. This is my universe. And he said, be calm. That's what he's telling you and I right now. This world has got us so upset and so scared of what's going to happen next, and it shouldn't. It's all His. Nothing can happen outside of what our God has control of, and as He has control over it, He's told us all things are for our good.

You know if the Lord takes me from this world tonight, it's for my good. I should be okay with that. I'm not afraid of it. I wasn't afraid of it when I laid there in that road that day. I shared that with you when I was laying in the road that day, and I didn't know how bad I was broken. I just knew that I had hit something going kind of fast, and I flew and hit something kind of solid, the ground. And, you know, all these guys are around me. They've got ambulances coming in. I didn't know what was the problem, but I had peace that day. Lord, your will. I see you didn't take my life today. because I was still breathing, I knew I was still alive. That's our thoughts. That should be our thoughts in all things. God helped me to have those thoughts in all things.

It's as easy, or it's as if he was trying to, as if he was saying this, there's no need for you to be disturbed. I'll take care of this. Page 7. May God the Holy Spirit graciously and constantly teach us to look to Christ in faith, confident that He is watching for us and over us that we might take our rest in Him.

Now lastly, and I'll make this kind of quick, we should take notice of this passage of Scripture once again that the Lord Jesus Willingly laid down his life for his people. He died as a willing sacrifice for our sins He said to his beloved servants there in Matthew 26 46 rise Let us be going. It's almost like he got up from that and Okay, here they come and went head-on to meet him let us never forget our Redeemer did not die as a helpless victim of circumstances beyond his control and He had come into the world to this hour that he might die in our place as his sin-atoning substitute. This is how Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures. He died in the place of his elect, as it says in John 10-11. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

He died voluntarily by His own will, as it talks about in John 10, verse 17 through 18. Therefore doth the Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have the power to lay it down. I have the power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. And he died a victoriously triumphant over death, hell, and the grave, having accomplished eternal redemption for us. When Jesus, therefore, had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. John 19, verse 30.

Folks, substitutionary death of God's only begotten Son satisfied His justice. God's wrath that you and I deserved was laid upon Him, and because of His righteousness, God accepted His sacrifice. Listen to these words from Acts 5, 30-31. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with His right hand. to a Prince and a Savior for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

Page 8. We closed with this last week, but there could be no better way to close And I meant to put in there any message. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name, which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow with things in heaven and things in the earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2, verse 5-11.

Listen to these words. Matthew 23, 12. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. 1 Peter 5, verse 6-7 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you.

O Gethsemane, sacred, hallowed spot, did Jesus oft times resort thither with his disciples? And wilt thou now, O Lord, by thy sweet Spirit, aid my meditations, that I may take the wing of faith, and often transverse over the solemn ground? It was a garden in which the first Adam began to break through the fence of God's holy plantation. And in a garden, the second Adam, so called, shall begin the sole travail of sorrow, to do away the effects of it. And oh, what humiliation, what agonies, what conflicts in this arduous work. Oh, how vast the glory when smiting to the earth his enemies, the Lord Jesus proved His Godhead by the breath of His mouth.

Sweetly do I see Thee, Lord, by faith going forth a willing sacrifice. Lo, I come, said Jesus. So come, Lord, now by grace. Now, I don't know who wrote that, but that was so pretty. The words of that were so Such a blessing, I had to put it in there tonight. So I just wrote in there, copied.