Okay, go back, go to Luke chapter
22 with me. Luke's Gospel, chapter 22. And we read that prayer of our
Lord, which He prayed with His disciples
in the upper room. And this is the account of our
Lord praying in the garden, where he sweat blood. Let's read all
of it. Verses 39 through 46, Luke 22. And he came out, that is, of
the upper room, out of Jerusalem. And he went as he was wont to
the Mount of Olives. And his disciples also followed
him. And when he was at the place,
the Garden of Gethsemane, he said unto them, Pray that ye
enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn, withdrew
himself from them about a stone's cast and kneeled down and prayed. saying, Father, if Thou be willing,
remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but
Thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto
him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony, he
prayed more earnestly. And his sweat was, as it were,
great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when
he rose up from prayer and was come to his disciples, he found
them sleeping with sorrow and said unto them, Why sleep ye? Rise and pray, lest ye enter
into temptation. It says in verse 39, He came
out of Jerusalem and Christ came out and he met with his disciples
in a place where he was want or used to meeting with them,
where he went quite often. It's called the Mount of Olives.
And it was a mount, it was a mountain that overlooked Jerusalem. And
that's significant, that's typical, it's a type, it's a picture.
There have been many mounts in the scripture. Mount Sinai, where
Moses, the prophet, went up to receive the law from our Lord. There's Mount Moriah, you remember,
where Abraham took his son, such a picture of Christ, crucified,
took his son up on the mount. And there was a ram caught in
a thicket and sacrificed in the stead of the son of promise. What a picture of pride. Mount
Pisgah, where the Lord took Moses up and showed him the promised
land. All of this can be seen in Christ,
with Christ, in Mount Zion. This is Mount Zion. You know
that, the church? This church, Mount Zion, we've
got a good name, Rocky Mount. We're built on the rock of Christ
Jesus. Mount Zion, that's his church.
Mount Calvary, where our Lord went and put away our sins on
the cross. But it's called the Mount of
Olives. And there's so much in Scripture that speaks of the
olive tree, isn't it? From that olive tree, Zachariah,
I've just been reading Zachariah, through Zachariah, and Zachariah
asked, who are these two olive trees? He said, these are the
anointed ones from whom the oil comes, for light. And that's
the law and the prophets, that's the prophets and the apostles,
that's the Word of God. It all speaks of Christ. So he
went to this mount, Mount of Olives, and there was a garden
in this mount. I want you to turn with me to
Saul of Solomon. Saul of Solomon, as most of you
know well, right after Proverbs. Saul of Solomon, Ecclesiastes.
There was a garden in the mount, and the name of that garden was
Gethsemane. What does that mean? It means
the olive press. There was an olive press in that
garden. And this is where our Lord came,
the tree of life, from whose leaves we are healed, to be pressed
down. And to be sweat. He's going to
sweat great drops of blood for us. talks about his church being
a garden, chapter 4, look at this, Psalm and Solomon chapter
4, verse 8. He says, Come with me from Lebanon,
my spouse, with me from Lebanon. Look from the top of the manna,
from the top of Shinar and Hermon, from the lion's den, from the
mountains. Come with me, let's view something
from the mountains. And in verse 9, he talks about
his love for his sister and his spouse. And down in verse 12,
he calls her a garden. You see that? A garden enclosed
is my sister, my spouse, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. That's his people, his church.
It's right here, this little garden. And I love verse 16,
don't you? Awake, O north wind, and come,
thou shalt blow upon my garden. Let the spices thereof blow at. What spices? Christ. His cheeks were like beds of
spice. Oh, may we see and experience
a sweet-smelling savor that is Christ and his prayer here. Let my beloved come into his
garden and eat his pleasant fruits. Oh, may we sacrifice unto him
the fruit of our lips. And verse one, he says, I am
coming to my garden, my sister, my spouse, I've gathered my myrrh
with my spike. Huh? Let's, let's gather together. It says he was want, go back
to our text now. That's, this is the place that
he was want. to go. It was his habit. It was his
manner. He was used to going there. He always went there.
You could find him there. Remember? Judas knew where to
look for him. He's always there. Look at this,
verse 39. His disciples followed him. That's
where they were. Where he was. That's where they
wanted to be. And that's where they were. Didn't
he pray in the garden, I will that they be with me where I
am. They wanted to be. He said he
was leaving, and they said, don't go. So he prayed, I will that
they be with me where I am. So he took them into this garden,
a place where he was want. I thought about this. Right before
this, chapter 21, it says it was daytime. He was teaching
in the temple. He was always found there. You
could find him in his temple like you find him in the garden.
And at nighttime, he went out and he slept in the Mount of
Olives. That's where he slept. Have you
ever thought about that, why he did that? Why did the Lord
not have a place to lay his head? He did, in the garden. Like Jacob,
he laid his head on a pillar, on a rock, stone, but he slept
out under the stars. He's just as comfortable. That's
where Adam slept, wasn't it? Adam didn't need a covering.
He dwelt in God till his sin. But I thought about this, though.
As our captain of our salvation, what does a soldier do? Does
a soldier sleep out on the star, don't they, Brother Ron? And
as our captain, he was, as you're going to see, he was on watch.
Always on watch, on guard. Well, all right, this is the
place, Garden of Gethsemane, Olive Press, and Isaiah 63 says,
Who is this that comes from Edom with garments dyed red? He says, I am mighty to save. Why are your garments bloody? He said, I've trodden the winepress
alone. When Christ leaves this garden,
His clothes are going to be bloody red before He goes to the cross. Have you ever thought about that?
His clothes were drenched in His own blood through sweat before
He went to the cross. Well, all right, verse 40 says,
When he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye
enter not into temptation. Now the time that he was there
was in the evening. They had supper. And after supper,
they walked out. And by the way, he walked through,
out of Jerusalem, through the sheep gate. You have to go through
that gate to go out of Jerusalem, and you have to cross the brook
of Kidron to get into that garden. Well, in a little while, they're
going to take him from there back across that brook, through
that sheep gate, straight to the temple where he'll be tried.
Why? Because he's going to be led.
The sheep gate was where they brought all the sheep in to be
sacrificed. And he's going to be led as a
sheep to the slaughter through the sheep gates. But he went through that gate,
all right? The time of day was in the evening. It was dark. This was between nine and ten
o'clock by this time, just before midnight. It was darkness. Our Lord's going to pray in a
time of darkness. Right before the children of
Israel went out of Egypt, the Scripture says in Exodus 10 that
there was darkness over all the land, darkness so thick that
you could feel it. And these are the very last days.
It's very obvious. You can discern the time, can't
you? It's a day of darkness. Look down at verse 53, and we're
going to look at this Wednesday night. He said, This is your
hour, the power of darkness. But just before the Lord led
the children of Israel out of Egypt, it was a time of great
darkness. But He's bringing them out of
darkness into His marvelous light. They're going to leave Egypt
to go to a place where it says they're going to have a feast.
You know, Moses kept saying that to Pharaoh, let my people go. Why? We're going to have a feast.
He said that over and over again. We're just going out to have
a feast. The Passover. So this was a time of darkness.
And He brought His disciples. He's going to bring His disciples
and us out of darkness into His marvelous light. That's what
time it was. And the time is now. Do you not see this darkness
that's in this world? Well, look at His warning and
His exhortation to the disciples. His disciples followed Him. Verse
40, when He was at the place, He said unto them, Pray. Now we've come to this place
that God's given and put his name there in heaven. We've come
to be with our Lord, have we not? He's promised to be here
where two or three are gathered together. That's where I want
to be, don't you? With him, with his disciples.
If I'm his disciple, I'm going to follow Him. I'm going to be
where His people are. Because I want to hear His voice.
I want to hear this prayer. I need His prayer, don't you?
I need His presence. I need His people. I need to
worship. They, in that upper room with
Him, they ate, they fellowshiped, they drank, and they sang a song
before they went out. And above all, they heard Him
pray that great prayer. Did you enjoy that prayer? Aren't
we blessed to just have read that prayer? And now they're going to hear
him pray. Well, he's going to pray alone, but they will record
it. But he tells us to pray. He said,
my house is called a house of prayer. Pray. He says, pray,
verse 40, that you enter not into temptation. Pray. What is prayer? Well, prayer
is many things. Prayer is praise. He said, pray this way. Our Father
which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Holy, holy, holy. That's what the cherubs cry out. Holy, holy, holy. Hallowed be
thy name. Thy kingdom come. All praise,
honor, and glory, and power, and strength, and blessing, and
honor, and salvation be unto our God. It's a time of praise
and prayer. It's praise. Prayer is thanksgiving,
isn't it? Prayer is calling on our Lord.
Prayer is crying unto our Lord, isn't it not? He said, whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. He tells us to call. Call. What a privilege. What a blessing
prayer is. What a privilege. He says, after
this matter pray, Our Father, of His own will, this is what
Gabe preached on Friday night, of His own will begat He us,
that we might be a kind of first fruit, with the Word of Truth,
that we might be a kind of first fruits of His creature. Sons,
behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us,
that we should be called the sons of God, and Christ came
to give birth to a people. And he says, now, you can call
God your Father. You who are of your father the
devil? No. You're up to God your Father. Call Him Father. Call.
Cry. He says, cry unto your Father.
Prayer is crying. Prayer is calling. Did our Lord
not say? Now, when He was going to the
cross, carrying His own cross, burying our griefs and our sorrows,
burying our sins, He said, weep not for me. Didn't he? He said, but weep for yourselves
and for your children. Prayer is crying. Look at Hebrews
3 with me. Prayer is crying unto our God.
It's a cry for help, isn't it? Do you not find that the thing
you pray for more than anything else is help? The woman whose daughter was
vexed, You know, the Syrophoenician woman. And she came to the Lord
and he ignored her, remember? And he said, I'm only for the
elect. She kept crying. And he said,
I'm not going to give the children's bread to dogs. She said, it's
all true. I don't deserve to be heard.
I know it's for your people. I don't know if I'm one. And
I'm just a dog. And then when it was all over,
she worshipped him. And she said, Lord, help me. Three words, that's all she could
pray. Lord, help me. Help me. Will he hear that? Every time. Every time. Look at Hebrews 3. Why? Because
he himself needed help. Right now, in this garden, he
needed help. I remember he came back to his
disciples two or three times, you know, when they were asleep,
and they didn't give him any help. He told them to watch and
pray with me, he said, and they couldn't help him. Who can? Only one. We look at Hebrews 2, verse 14. Hebrews 2, verse 14. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same. That through death he came to
live, he came to die. Why? That through death he might
destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil.
and deliver them who through fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage. I hope we'll see, after this
is over, I hope this will lighten our hearts when we think about
death, because we're going to, everyone in here, unless the
Lord comes first. We're all going to die. But he said, he that
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Do you believe that?
But I hope we'll see that because Christ's heart was heavy in the
garden approaching death, that light in our heart, that because
of what He did, death is not death to us. He died. He tasted
of death. He says we won't even taste it. If He tasted His grace, you won't
taste of death. But look at chapter Chapter 2,
verse 17. In all things it behooved him
to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and
high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation
for the sins of the people. That's why he came. Remember,
he kept praying that they know that I was sent. And we know
why, don't we, Brother John? We know why God sent him. We
do. Our salvation depends on it.
He was sent into the world to save sinners. That's us. And we know that if we're going
to be saved, He had to do it. And we believe He did. And verse
18, it says, he himself suffered being tempted. He's able to succor. That means help them that are
tempted and tried. The first thing as a man he did
was face Satan. As a grown man, he faced Satan. And every tempted in all points
like as we are. Yet without sin. Chapter 4, look
at this. These are some of my favorite
verses in God's Word. In verse 15, he says, ìWe have
not a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of
our infirmities, but was in all points tempted, like as we are,
yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help.î in time of need. When is that? Every day. Every hour. From the time we
wake up, the time we go to bed. We need help. Because we're helpless
in ourselves. We need help. Now look at that. Keep going. Hebrews 5 verse 7,
who in the days of his flesh When he had offered up prayers
and supplication with strong crying and tears, our Lord sweat
blood in this garden. Was he crying? Yes, he was. Yes,
he was. Did not David say, I've watered
my couch with my tears? All of God's people have cried
themselves to sleep. Have you not? But we have not resisted unto
blood striving against sin. Christ did that though. He did. Right here in the garden. And
it says in verse 7, He offered up prayers and supplication with
strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him
from death. And he was heard in that he feared. And though he was God's son,
yet he learned obedience. Obedient unto death even by the
things which he suffered. So he's the perfect author. He's
the perfect one. Perfect substitute of eternal
salvation. So he tells us to pray. But you
know, we're not saved by our prayers. Our prayers, not mama's
prayers, not going to save us. My prayers don't save us. God,
he tells us to pray. He tells us to cry, but you know
how we're saved? By His prayer, by His intercession. We're not saved because of a
good life we live, but we are saved because of His good life
that He lived. We're not saved by our works,
no ma'am, no sir, but we are saved by His works. We're not saved because we call,
You say you're contradicting yourself. No, I'm not. We're
saved because Christ called. Didn't he say to Simon Peter,
Simon, you're going to fall, you're going to deny me. What
is his hope then? That Christ will not deny him. There are times, if you're honest,
that you will. I was going to say forget to
pray, or you just get so busy and caught up in this world that
you don't really pray. But the effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much. Who is that? Jesus Christ. He ever lives to make intercession
for us. Not that he's praying right now,
but the fact that he's there is intercession. But here in
the garden, didn't you love that prayer of John 17? Oh, my. And
here in the garden, he prays again. This time, he's praying
for himself. Praying for himself. Now, why? Why did he pray? He knew all
things. This is God manifested blessing.
Why did he need to pray? He knew all things from the beginning. before they were going to happen.
He knew what was going to happen. Then why did he need to pray?
Because he's a real man. This is such a mystery that we
can't really understand, but it's true. As a man, he was tempted
and suffered in all points like as we are. It says he feared. He's about to face death. He's about to be made sin. Now, I can't preach this really, but we have experienced something
of the suffering and the pain that sin causes. The shame, the
guilt, a little bit, and it's horrible. And no man has ever been able
to say this, but our Lord was going to be made sin. All that
sin is, it's going to be in him and on him. He who is without
sin and his holy nature. He was sinless, never thought
sin, he hated sin, he loved righteousness. We drink iniquity like the water,
as the scripture says, mankind. And yet this holy man came to
this despicable place to be made sin for his people, to take all
our sins in his body on the tree. His soul will be made an offering
for sin. He's a man living for man. He's
got to feel something of these temptations. He's got to feel
something, and yet he felt more than any man. Didn't the prophet
say, Behold and see if there is any sorrow like unto my sorrow
wherein the Lord hath afflicted me? He said, I'm the man whom
the Lord has appointed His heir. I'm the one. His soul is going
to be made an offering for sin. And here in the garden, Here
in the garden is where he began to think about that, and it caused
him to sweat blood thinking about sin. Isn't that something? What does that say about our lack of true repentance and sin? Now, and he prayed because the
just shall live by faith. We looked at this Wednesday night.
He prayed because the just shall live by faith. He never met his
own needs. He never made food for himself. Satan tempted him with that.
Make this stone bread, you're hungry. No, I'm going to depend
on the Father for my bread. The Father was his shelter. The
Father was his provider. The Father was his Everything. He committed himself unto Him
as a man. He tells us to live by faith.
We have poor faith, don't we? Well, he did. So he cried unto
the Father for everything. And here in the garden, as a
man, real feelings, real temptations, real sin about to be laid on
Him. He cries unto the Father. And
it was so intense that he said, look at verse 44, he was in agony. He was in agony. In Matthew's
Gospel it says, he said to his disciples, he said, now is my
soul exceedingly sorrowful unto death. So he was in agony and sorrow,
his soul sorrow. And he cried no more earnestly,
it says in verse 44. He was in earnest. Why? Why was
he in agony? Why was he in earnest? Why was
he sorrowful? Because this was a pressing matter.
Sin, wrath, death. The disciples were sleeping. They were sleeping. Well, their
salvation depended on Him. He knew that. I don't think they
rightly knew that yet. But He's not going to sleep.
He's not going to sleep. And I look at His prayer. Verse 41, He was withdrawn from
them about a stone's cast, and someone said, you know, prayer
in the church is wonderful. It's wonderful. And we're told
to do so. Meet together and call collectively.
But every child of God must get along with God and cry unto Him. And so he did. Withdrew from
them and prayed unto the Father. And look at the posture he was
in. He kneeled down. He kneeled down. You know, every knee will bow.
He did. In Matthew's Gospel it says he
fell on his face. Everyone will. He did. He fell down. And he prayed saying,
verse 42, Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from me. If Thou
be willing. Our dear brother John Sheasley
Sr., every time he prays, And now his son, I noticed it doesn't.
Not my will, but thy will. When we pray, we say, thy kingdom
come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. You know, if we really believe
God, we don't want our will, do we? Lord, don't let me have
my will. Don't leave me to my way. He'll end in destruction. Don't
leave me. Thy will be done. Reign and rule
over me. Leave me in thy way. Thy will. Let me know thy good and perfect
will. Christ said, this is the will
of the Father that everyone that seeth the Son believeth on him.
He said, Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from me. What he's about to suffer, what
he is suffering. I think he's praying, not that
he's... I know he's praying not to go
to the cross because he said for this purpose he came into
the world, didn't he? He's not praying. He kept saying over
and over again, for this cause I came. I must suffer. He kept reminding them. He's
not praying that there might be some other way than going
to the cross. No, no, no, no. All through the
scriptures tells us there's no other way. Christ crucified. The lamb slain is the way of
eternal life. The blood. God sees the blood. He must shed his blood. But Christ
as a man in the garden, about to be made sin, about to be separated
from God, about to go through hell, literally. Hell is separation
from God. That's the first thing he cried
on the cross, wasn't it? I've been forsaken of God. Hell is where there is no love,
no light, No mercy, no grace, no help. Everybody there is crying,
but nobody's listening. You know that? And our Lord is about to go through
that. And He says, I'm going to die
right here in the garden. Remove this cup from me. And as I said, he prayed as a
man. He prayed as a man for help as
we must. And he knew that he had to go
through much tribulation and heaviness and sorrow. He said
that to us, didn't he? So he must. And yet, he felt
it so keenly that he prayed as we do. Do we not? We go through
things. Lord, please remove this. Please, get me through this. Lord, I don't know. Do we not
say at times, I don't know how I'm going to get through this?
Don't we? Heavy trials, suffering. Many times God's people cry themselves
to sleep. Great sorrow. Not like his sorrow,
but nevertheless, great sorrow. And he had this. And have you
not prayed? He prayed three times the same
thing. Three times he kept praying for
the same thing. If it be possible, remove this. Have you not? Is there any way,
Lord, that this doesn't have to be? He kept praying it three
times. How about you? Have you not prayed
over and over again? Lord, please heal this person. Lord, please remove this. Lord,
please. Lord, please. Lord, please. Paul
said, he said, I have a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan
to buffet me. He said, three times I prayed
for this. Lord, please, if you just take
this away. And what did God answer? My grace is sufficient. So Christ
is here. He's prayed three times to the
Savior. Please, if it be possible. There's some mystery in it. But
then His answer was, and for His own peace and for His comfort
was this, nevertheless, not my will. Not my will. Thy will be done. Thy will be
done. So he tells us to pray. He said,
let this cup, what is this cup? I want you to, you've got to
turn to Isaiah 51. If you've never read this, Isaiah 51. The scripture speaks a great
deal about the cup, doesn't it? The cup, the cup, which my father
gave me to drink. Christ said, shall I not drink
it? He said that before this prayer, shall I not drink it?
He said, are you able to drink the cup? And they said, yes,
Lord. They didn't know what they were
saying. And he said, no, but you will a little bit, but not
the cup that he drank. No, no, no. The scripture speaks
a great deal about the cup of God's wrath. Let me just read. You turn to Isaiah 51. But let me read to you from Psalm
11. Oh, what a psalm this is. Everywhere
I read, I want to preach on this. But it says, If foundations be
destroyed, what can the righteous do? What is the foundation upon
which we are laid? Christ. What He did on the cross. What He prayed in the garden.
The Lord is in His holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven.
His eyes behold. His eyelids try the children
of men. The Lord trieth righteous. The wicked in him that loveth
violence, his soul hated. Upon the wicked he shall reign
snares and fire and brimstone, a horrible temper. That will
be the portion of their cup." That's what it said. But all
of God's people feel at times that they are wicked, that they
are evil, don't they? Huh? It says, The Lord loveth
the righteous. But most of the time, God's people
don't feel righteous at all. They feel like sinners. Well,
what's our hope? I don't want to drink this cup
of wrath. That's what's going to be. What's
my hope? Christ, the righteous. Surely one will say, and the
Lord have I righteousness and strength. He's going to drink. He drank the cup. of God's wrath. Look at Isaiah 51. Oh, this is wonderful. Verse
4. Hearken unto me, my people. Give ear unto me, my nation.
A law shall proceed from me. I will make my judgment to rest
for a light of a people. My righteousness is near. My
salvation has gone forth. Mine arms shall judge the people.
The isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arms shall they trust.
Who's that? Jesus Christ. Verse 7, hearken
unto me, you people that know righteousness, you people in
whose heart is my law. Don't fear the reproach of men,
don't be afraid of their reviling. The moth will eat them up like
a garment, the worm like a wool. My righteousness shall be forever,
my salvation from generation to generation. Who's that? Jesus
Christ. Verse 9, awake, awake. Put on strength, O arm of the
Lord. You see, he was awake, they were asleep. They slept, but he that keepeth
Israel shall not slumber or sleep. Behold, he that keepeth Israel.
He said, couldn't you watch with me for one hour? No, they couldn't.
Oh, he watched over them. Oh, down in verse, oh, there's
so many verses I want to read with you. Verse 17, Awake, awake,
stand up, Jerusalem, which hath drunk at the hand of the Lord
the cup of his fury, that drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling,
and wrung them out. The wrath of God has been revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men from
the beginning of the world. Yes, it has. Not the eternal
wrath of God, but something of the wrath of God. Something of
the displeasure of the Lord. Something of the judgment of
God against sin. Haven't we seen that? Clearly
seen that. God's people have. And we felt it in our own hearts.
Something of the bitterness, the dregs of sin. Haven't we
not? Tasted a little bit of that cup.
But Christ, here in the garden, and when He goes to the cross,
He's going to drink it. Oh, the wrath of God. Go down,
now look down at verse 22. Thus saith the Lord thy God,
the Lord and thy God that pleaded the cause of his people, behold,
I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the
dregs of the cup of my fury. Thou shalt no more drink it again. Why? Because Christ is going
to drink it dry. Who was it? Was it David that
talked about Scott in that book picture? Was it David? This may
seem crude, it may seem gross to some, but nobody will ever
forget it when Scott Richardson preached it. He said, mankind,
to God, It's like a cesspool of iniquity.
It's like a bowl full of warm spit. Does that gross you out? When
Christ came here, this place, that's what it was like to Him.
You know that? It's despicable. That's despicable
to think of it. And then Brother Scott said,
you know what our Lord did when He became sin? We get a little taste, just enough
taste to make it bad to us to sin. Thank God He doesn't give
us a full cup. Aren't you glad? That our Lord,
this is, that's a good way, it's maybe the only way we can enter
into the, ah, just the revulsion. Revulsion is awful to think about.
Our Lord, that's what He did. That's why in the garden He's
sweating. You know, Adam willingly partook
of that fruit in the garden. Not in nobility, but what he
did was he chose Eve over God. That's what he did. He loved
her beauty so much, he said, I'm just going to join her and
it doesn't look like anything bad has happened yet. And he
said, he sold his soul for that woman. And you know what our
Lord did? The second Adam from above? He
willingly became sin for us. He did that out of love to his
bride, and that was a noble thing. Well, look at our text, and I'll
close with it. It says in verse 42, he prayed,
Father, if thou be willing to remove this cup from me, nevertheless,
not my will be done, but thine. And there appeared an angel unto
him from heaven, strengthening him. He needed help. He couldn't find
it with his fellows. They were asleep. They couldn't
watch for him or with him, not for one hour. Well, the Lord
sent an angel. What's this a picture of? Well,
it's the Holy Spirit. You know, the preacher of the
gospel is called an angel. Please, God, by the foolishness
of preaching, an angel to strengthen him. May I try to strengthen
you this morning? May I try to strengthen you by
telling you that your prayers are heard? That your prayers
are heard for his sake? That Christ said, if you ask
anything in My name, the Father hears you? Our Lord prayed, and
it didn't appear He was getting an answer, was it? He was heard.
He was heard. Three times. And may I comfort
you by saying your prayers are heard because His Word, that
the Father will always hear you in Christ's name, though He may
not answer you immediately, though He may not give you relief from
that cup you're asking for relief from. He hears you. Our Lord's
sufferings were going to be over pretty soon, weren't they? He
said, the thing concerning me having And that's why he prayed
for them. He's leaving. He's going back
to the Father. He prayed for them and us. He said, Father,
keep them from the evil. And may I comfort you by saying
that your sins will not damn you because God damned His Son. Did that shock you? That's what he
did. May I say this for your comfort? That your sufferings won't drown
you? That you will not die because of your sufferings and your sorrows?
You know why? Because Christ died. He bore
our griefs and our sorrows. Because Christ suffered. Someday
your sufferings are going to hold me over. I hope that comforts you. So
in agony he went, prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was,
as it were, great drops of blood falling to the ground. You see,
we're saved not by anything we do, but by everything Christ
Everything Christ is, everything Christ did, everything Christ
said, all His prayers, His sweat. He said of Adam in the garden,
He said, by the sweat of your brow you'll earn your bread.
Well, by the sweat of Christ's brow, He earned our salvation. He is our bread. By His blood,
the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. And he rose up, verse 45, and
I close, and he's come to his disciples. He found them sleeping
for sorrow. And we have and we will and we
shall. You know that we shall. We shall
cry ourselves to sleep. It's not over yet, is it? We're
still here. We're still in this veil of sorrow.
And we're going to do it. We're going to cry ourselves
to sleep again. But he said this, weeping may
endure for a night. Oh, the joy that's coming in
the morning. And you may cry for the same things over and
over again, but just a few days, in just a few days, when a few
short days or years have gone by, He's coming back. Didn't
He say that before this? He said, you're going to cry. You're going
to weep. You're going to be sorrowful.
Oh, your sorrow is going to be turned to joy. And I'll come
back. Then the world's going to be
silent. And you'll rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Yes, He giveth His beloved sleep. And He told them in Matthew's
Gospel a third time after He found them asleep, He said, Sleep. Just sleep. Rest. I'm going to
the cross. I'm going to the cross. Oh my, what is all this? What
should all this make us feel? Well, sorrow over our sin, shame
over our sin, and lack of faith, lack of prayer, and lack of feeling
for our sin. gratitude and thanksgiving and
praise and honor and glory and appreciation and worship of our
Lord Jesus Christ, by whose stripes were healed, by whose sweat,
by whose blood, by whose prayers. It's all his prayers, isn't it? It is. Okay. Brother John, you
come and lead us in a closing if you want.