Watch Ye And Pray

Q: What does the Bible say about watching and praying?

The Bible emphasizes the importance of watching and praying to avoid temptation, as seen in Mark 14:38. In Mark 14:38, Jesus commands His disciples to 'Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.' This exhortation highlights the need for vigilance and the active engagement of prayer as a defensive measure against falling into sin. Watching entails being alert and diligent in our spiritual lives, while prayer is the means by which we communicate with God and seek His strength to resist temptation. Throughout scripture, themes of vigilance appear repeatedly, illustrating how essential it is for believers to stay awake and aware against spiritual dangers.

Q: Why is it important for Christians to watch and pray?

Watching and praying is crucial for Christians to remain vigilant against temptation and to maintain communion with God. The necessity of watching and praying is rooted in the call to remain vigilant against the many temptations that can lead us astray. In His warning, Jesus reminds us that while our salvation is secure through Him, the act of watching and praying helps us maintain our spiritual awareness and strength. In a world filled with distractions and potential pitfalls, active prayer alongside vigilance equips us to resist temptation. It fosters a close relationship with God, enabling us to seek His guidance in every aspect of our lives, sustaining our faith through the challenges we face.

Q: How do we know that salvation is secure?

Salvation is secure through the covenant established by God, the righteousness of Christ, and His ongoing intercession for us. Our assurance of salvation is firmly based on the covenant of grace that God established before the foundation of the world. This covenant was fulfilled in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, whose righteousness is imputed to us. Thus, we are seen as righteous in the eyes of God, accepted in the beloved. Furthermore, we take comfort in knowing that Christ continues to intercede for us as our advocate. As Romans 8:28-30 assures us, all things work together for good to those who love God, affirming the enduring nature of our salvation and the certainty of God's promise to preserve His people.

Q: What does it mean to make your calling and election sure?

'Making your calling and election sure' involves actively confirming your faith and relationship with Christ through a diligent life of prayer and obedience. To make your calling and election sure, as mentioned in 2 Peter 1:10, requires that we actively engage in our spiritual walk by practicing faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. This practice is a means to assure ourselves of our faith in Christ and to foster a deeper relationship with Him. It does not suggest that our salvation is based on works, but rather that our active commitment to following Christ and adhering to His commands will provide evidence of our genuine faith. Thus, through prayer and a life lived in accordance with His word, we can grow in assurance of our salvation.

Q: How does prayer relate to watching in the Christian life?

Prayer is integral to watching, as it empowers believers to remain vigilant against temptation and grow in their relationship with God. In Christian practice, watching and praying are inseparable. Jesus commands His followers to 'Watch ye and pray,' indicating that prayer fortifies our vigilance. When we pray, we align our hearts with God's will, seek His strength, and remain alert to the spiritual battles we face daily. Effective prayer not only helps us resist temptation but also heightens our awareness of spiritual realities and deepens our communion with God. As we cultivate a habit of prayer, we become more sensitive to His leading, and our ability to 'watch' over our spiritual lives increases, helping us avoid spiritual pitfalls.

Mark chapter 14. I have quoted my pastor many times when he said, The scriptures
are full of promises lest we despair. Promises lest we despair. Blessed promises flow through
and through from God's Word, promises of life, salvation,
peace, providence, God's continued providence in our lives, preservation,
unspeakable blessings. Promise after promise is full
in the Word of God. Scripture is full of promises
to all of God's chosen, all of his people, all he has called
all he has brought to his Son, all who believe and trust and
come to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, full of promises, promises,
innumerable promises, lest we despair. This book is so full
of promises, and I thank God for those promises, blessed,
blessed promises. But, or and, the scripture is
also full of warnings. lest we presume, warnings lest
we presume. And I endeavor in preaching to
give that proper balance in preaching, dwelling mostly on the promises,
but also issuing the warnings. Promises lest we despair, promises
to the chief of sinners of salvation lest they despair, but warnings
lest we all presume. Warnings like, let him that thinketh
he standeth take heed lest he fall. It's a dire warning, isn't
it? A sobering warning. Exhortations and admonitions
such as Give diligence to make your calling and election sure.
Give diligence. Last Sunday, our Lord asked that
sobering question. I hope it was sobering to those
who heard it. He asked that sobering question. He said, When the Son
of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? And he didn't answer it, did
he? He just asked that question. And we need to ask ourselves
that question now. Will he find anyone like that
leper who fell at his feet, came to Christ
and fell at his feet, glorified God with a loud voice, fell at
the feet of Christ and will worship him? Will he find a leper? Right there, will he find a woman?
Will he find a woman like that widow who is continually calling
upon him? Will he find one? Will he? And we need to ask ourselves,
will he find me like that? Will he find me? Don't we? Here in our text, he says in
verse 38, he issues this solemn exhortation, admonition, warning, all three here and more. Verse
38, he says, Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. Watch you. You watch. and pray, lest you enter into
temptation. Watch and pray. Watch and pray. These are two frequently used exhortations in the scriptures,
in God's word. Two very frequently used. Watch is used more than thirty
times in the New Testament alone. Watch The word watch here in our text
means this. It means to, very simply, it
means to keep awake. That's exactly what it means.
Keep awake. Be diligent. That's what it means. The word watch means to keep
awake. Be diligent. A watchman. I'm called a watchman,
but he tells us all to watch here. doesn't it? Watch you. He said in another place, he
said, what I say unto you, I say unto all. Watch. So he tells us all, he calls
us all to the vocation wherein we're called to watch. Be watchmen. Quit ye like men and watch. A watchman, someone who is on
watch, have you ever, did you ever pull guard duty, Henry?
You were a watchman is what you were. You had to be awake, didn't you?
And alert. I don't know if you did it in
enemy territory or not, in a dangerous situation, did you? Pretty important,
wasn't it? A watchman must be awake
and alert in order to stop approaching danger and alert others, lest
they fall into harm's way or fall into enemy hands. And I've looked these up for
you so that you wouldn't have to turn to all these scriptures.
Listen to all these scriptures with me, okay? And these are just a few hand-picked
ones. As I said, thirty times. Watch therefore. These are the
words of Christ, these first few, all of them are. direct
quotations from his lips, Watch therefore, you know not what
hour your Lord cometh. And I already quoted it. He said,
What I say unto you, I say unto all, watch. He said that over
in chapter 13, verse 37. So he's telling us, not just
his immediate disciples there. Blessed are those servants whom
the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. Watch ye, therefore, and pray
always, that ye may be counted worthy to escape all these things
that shall come to pass, and stand before the Son of Man." That's a powerful statement,
isn't it? Listen to the words of the Apostle
Paul. He says, Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit ye like
men, or behave like men. Listen to his last words to Ephesus
when he was leaving, never to see them again. He says, therefore,
watch and remember that by the space of three years I cease
not to warn everyone night and day with tears. Watch. He said to the Colossians. continue
in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving. To the Thessalonians,
let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. To John Timothy, watch thou in
all things, and do afflictions. Do the work of an evangelist.
Make full proof of thy ministry. To the Hebrews, obey them that
have the rule over you, and submit yourselves. They watch for your
souls. Peter, significantly. Peter said, The end of all things
is at hand. Do you, therefore, sober and
watch? Peter understood the importance
of this by first-hand experience. Do you, therefore, sober and
watch and unto prayer? Watch, watch, watch, watch, watch. Keep away. Be diligent. Now, let me ask you a question. Does our salvation depend upon our watching over ourselves? No. Don't be afraid to shake
your head. No, thank God, it does not, for
none of us would be saved. Right? Ask Peter. Ask the apostles, the rest of
the apostles. Our salvation doesn't depend upon us watching over
ourselves. Thank God. Our salvation depends upon a
covenant, a covenant between God the Father
God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. And we're bystanders, watching from the
sidelines as they fulfill and carry out this covenant. Our
salvation is dependent upon a covenant that's ordered in all things
and sure, and our salvation is sure. Our salvation is dependent
upon a righteousness established. by the Lord Jesus Christ and
imputed to our account, and therefore God sees us as righteous as his
Son, accepted in the beloved. Our salvation depends upon that,
doesn't it? It certainly does. Our salvation
depends upon a bloody sacrifice that made atonement for our souls.
Our salvation depends upon that. Thank God. Our salvation depends upon an
ever-living, faithful intercessor who constantly intercedes on
our behalf and mediates for sinners such as we. That's who our salvation depends
upon. One who watches over us and keeps
us by his power. Turn over to Psalm 121, Psalm
121, a blessed psalm. Psalm 121. Our salvation depends
upon him who watches over us. Look at Psalm 121, verse 4. Look unto me, behold, he that
keepeth," the word keepeth there is the same as the word watcheth,
watching over, keepeth. He that keepeth or watcheth over
Israel never sleeps. He'll never fall asleep in his
watch. The Lord, verse 5, is thy keeper. the Lord is thy keeper." Thank
God our salvation is of the Lord. Right? It is he that keepeth
us and not we ourselves. Now, that's good news, isn't
it? That's the gospel. I've just
stated the gospel in a few short, concise terms. Our salvation
is not dependent upon us watching over ourselves. Our salvation
is not dependent upon us watching over ourselves. But the scriptures have much to say
about us watching, watching out or staying alert
unto danger in order to keep ourselves from trouble. Right? That's what it's all about.
In order to keep ourselves from trouble. When you were driving
your automobile, do you close your eyes? How far would you
get? We've done that before. Maybe
someone in here has fallen asleep at the wheel and had a crash,
not an accident, but a crash. Maybe you have. I've come close. We all have, haven't we? driving
in the wee hours of the night, get real sleepy, close your eyes
and the next minute you know you're swerving. You wouldn't
get very far, would you? Who would want to? Who would
want to fall asleep at the wheel? Why? Danger. Trouble. Who would want to go
through that? Well, this is the same sense here that he's telling
us to watch. Our salvation is not dependent
He does say, get diligence, make your calling and election sure,
make certain you're trusting Christ, make certain that you
know him, you're found in him, and so forth. But the watching
here is in order to keep ourselves from danger and multitude of
pitfalls and troubles that we don't have to fall into. Listen to these verses. I've
looked these up for you, OK? And as I said, the word keepeth
is the same as watcheth. It's an Old Testament word. It's
also used in the New. It's the same word. He is in
the way of life that keepeth instruction. He that refuseth reproof erreth. You know this one, well, don't
you? He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life. Another one says, he that keepeth
his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from many troubles. How often have you got, has your
mouth got you in trouble? Huh? And you say, I wish I'd
have never said that. Huh? That's what that's saying. The highway of the upright is
to depart from evil. He that keepeth his way preserveth
his soul. He that getteth wisdom loveth
his own soul. He that keepeth understanding
shall find good. He that keepeth the commandment
keepeth his own soul. That's what our Lord said in
John 14. He said, He that hath my commandments and keepeth them,
he that is that loveth me," and listen to the promise, "...he
that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love
him, and we will manifest ourselves to him. He that keepeth my commandment
will manifest ourselves to him." There is a special sense there of communion conditioned
upon disobedience to the Lord's commandments. I'm not talking
about salvation in my head. I'm not doing it. I already told you what that's
dependent upon. Communion, fellowship, keeping yourself from many troubles.
This is what we're talking about here. Whatsoever we ask, John
said, we receive of him because we keep his commandment. Listen to this. who so keepeth
his word, in him barely is the love of God perfected." You remember
what we studied Sunday morning. Love is the bond of perfection,
or the seal of maturity. Remember that? He that keepeth
God's word, in him is the love of God perfected. You want the
love of God shared abroad in your heart? You want it to manifest
itself through you? He that keepeth his word. Listen
to this. He who is begotten of God keepeth
himself." And Paul said that himself, I
keep my body in subjection lest in preaching to others I myself
become a castaway. Now, here in Mark chapter 14
is a commandment of our Lord Jesus Christ which, if we keep,
it would keep us from many sore troubles. If we would keep it, it would
keep us from any sore troubles. Look at it again, verse 38. Watch
ye and pray. Watch ye. Who? You. Yeah, you. Yeah, you. Charles Ross. You. This is talking to you. The Lord
is speaking to you directly. Not a group. You. You. It's personal. Watch ye. Everyone take this
quite personally. woman said to me Sunday morning,
she said, did you prepare that whole message for me? I said,
no, I didn't. But if it fits, wear it. Wear
it. If it fits, if it touched your
heart, if it fits your state, then perhaps the Lord was the
one that prepared it for you. Watch you and pray. lest you
enter into temptation." Not fall from salvation, but enter into temptation. See the difference? The difference
is life and death. Lest you enter into temptation.
Ask Peter, whom the Lord told that Satan desired him. What
was Peter's hope? What was Peter's strength? What
was Peter's When the Lord said, Satan has desired you to sift
you, and he did, didn't he? He sifted him. What was Peter's
hope? That Peter would watch? Didn't
do a very good job of it, did he? Peter, I prayed for you. Peter, I prayed for you. And
he says to old sinners like us who aren't much good at watching,
he says, watch, but be of good cheer. Fear not. I watch over you. I ever live
to pray and make intercession for you. But Peter sure could
have or would have spared himself some great, maybe his greatest
sorrow and trouble if he had heeded the Lord's warning here,
hadn't he? It says that after he denied
the Lord, he went out and wept. Let's look at the story here
again. Verse 27 says, Jesus said unto them, All of
you shall be offended because of me this night. All of you
shall be offended. Have you been offended? Anyone
in here been offended because of the Lord? Sure you have. Sure we have. Everybody in here
has. All ye have been offended. All of us have been cowards,
haven't we? Stumble. The word offend means stumble.
Behold, I lay in Zion a rock of offense. A stumbling stone. All of us, this profession has
gotten in our way at times. Huh? Sure it is. That's shameful enough, isn't
it, to be offended or cowardly? Stumble in our profession is
shameful enough. It's worse to be an offense.
But Peter did both, and so have we. Boy, I quoted it in Proverbs
21. He that keepeth his mouth and
his tongue keepeth his soul from any trouble. The Lord said, Oh,
you should be offended because of me. Peter, verse 29, Peter
spoke up. He had to open his big mouth.
Oh, not me, Lord. Maybe, just maybe, if Peter hadn't
said that, he might not have done it. Right? But he was the
first to speak out. So he was the last one the Lord
told about his return. Go tell the disciples and Peter. The first to speak, not me, you're
going to be the first to do it. Right? Ah, he that keepeth
his mouth. You see where the tongue, you
know, it's a little member in it. Oh, my. Peter said, not me,
Lord. Not me. Everybody here may be,
but not me. You know, we can count on it
that the thing we pride ourselves in is, we're going to fall in
it. The thing we pride ourselves
in or are taken up with, we're going to stumble in that way.
Or the one we pride ourselves in, or whatever it may be, it's
going to be a stumbling block to us. It's going to be an offense. Our strength will be brought
to weakness. Our wisdom, we will be exposed
as fools. Our beauty, we will show ourselves
as that. Our riches, they'll be a burden
to us. And so on and so forth. Peter
thought he was courageous, didn't he? You know where this came
from, don't you, Rick? You know where this came from,
this brashness? Old fisherman? Not me. I ain't scared of nobody. Boy, I'll take them all on single-handedly. I'll call the house. Not me. Here comes a little maiden stand,
a little girl, a big old restless Peter. You're one of his disciples,
I know you. A little girl had him running
scared. The Lord will bring us down our
strong points won't We think. Verse 30, Christ said unto him,
Verily, truly I say unto thee, truly I say unto thee, that this
day, yet tonight, Peter, before the cock crow two times, you
will deny me three times. Three times you'll deny me, Peter,
thrice. And oh, how our Lord teaches
us our folly in his faithfulness. Look back at chapter 13. Look
back there. How the Lord teaches us our folly
over and over again, and we come crawling back. And then he teaches
us his faithfulness. Look at chapter 13, verse 33. He had already said this. Take ye heed and watch and pray.
you know not when the time is." Verse 35, "...watch ye therefore,
you know not when the master of the house cometh." Verse 37,
"...what I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch!" Three times. Set it down. Watch. Three times before he told them
to watch. Three times before that, he told
them that he was going to Jerusalem to be killed. And Terry, they never did understand
it. They never did ask him about
it. Do you remember that? Three times. Before this, he
said, now the Son of Man birthed at Jerusalem is to be betrayed
in the wicked hands and be crucified, and the third day will rise again.
And immediately after, James and John got in an argument about
who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Watch. They weren't watching.
Lord, watch, we're going to look at it in a moment. He said, listen
now, listen. Watch with your ears. What did
you do with your own God, did you? You watched with your whole
person, didn't you? Your senses, your ears, your
eyes. Three times he told them of his
coming death. Three times he came and found
them sleeping. Three times Peter denied him.
Three times the Lord appeared after his death. Three times
he asked Peter if he loved him. Oh, how the Lord over and over
and over reveals our folly, and over and over and over reveals
His faithfulness. Doesn't He? It was Peter in 2 Peter 3, verse
15, he said, We need to account that the longsuffering of the
Lord is salvation. It was Peter that said that.
We need to account people. God is not willing. Our salvation
depends upon God being not willing that any of us should perish.
We need to account that the long-suffering of the Lord is salvation. Three
times. The poor, pitiable Peter, simple
Simon. Simple Simon kept talking, didn't
he? He kept talking. Look at it. Verse 31, back in
the text. Verse 31, "...he spake the more
vehemently. Now the Lord of glory, who cannot
lie, said, Now I say unto you, Peter..." Now, He already said,
"...all of you shall be offended with me." Peter said, "...not
me." The boy said, "...verily, I say unto you, Peter, today,
tonight, before the cockcrow tries you to lie to me three
times..." "...not me!" Not me. I'd never do that. Oh, if only Peter would have
said, Lord, don't let it happen. Huh? Let it happen. If you say I'm going to do it,
it must be so. Don't let it. You don't want
to stop it. Verse 32, And they came to a
place which was named Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples,
now you sit here and watch, and sit here while I pray. You know,
it was one of the only times our Lord spoke about himself
praying. One of the only times. He said, I'm going to go pray.
And that was for the comfort of the disciples. That was between
the disciples in private. You know, I hear so-called Christians all
the time talking about their prayer life. That's an abomination to God.
I have to say those prayers did not get God's ear since they
said that. But our Lord said this for His
disciples' benefit. For our benefit, I'm going to
pray. Verse 33 and 34, He taketh with Him Peter and James and
John. to sit on the Lord of Glory praying
to his Father. Does that remind you of another
time when he took Peter and James and John somewhere with him?
I'm going to let you in on something. Watch. You're going to see something. Watch. Just watch. You're going
to see me transfigured. They fell asleep that night. Come on. We're going in. the
Holy of Holies. Your great high priest is going
to pray for you. I'm going to pray to the Father.
Come on, you three. I've chosen you three. Peter,
James, and John. We've got a little group here
tonight. I'm going to get in on the inner. Watch now. Watch. Listen. Be alert. Verse 34, and he said unto them,
My soul with the God that our hearts
would be more heavy than our eyes. And he says the same thing to
us, doesn't he? Tarry ye here. Here we are. Here
we sit. We tarry and tarry. We tarry
and tarry while the Lord waits to come. He says you tarry and
you watch. Be alert. Watch. We're told to
watch, be attentive, ears to hear, over and over again, so
ears to hear, let him hear. Eyes to see, got your eyes open. If you didn't have your eyes
open, looking right at me, like somebody is right now, who's
looking right through me, they're not listening with their eyes,
their ear. You've seen that blank stare,
haven't you, when somebody's staring at you? You're talking to them, and you
think, they haven't heard a word I've said. Right? The light is on. Nobody's home. That's what the word watch means,
be attentive. You either have ears to hear. Everybody here
has ears. Some have some ample ears, physically. You either have eyes to see. either have the heart to receive.
Let him hear what the Spirit says to the church. What's he
saying? Over, over, over. Watch. Watch. And pray. And pray lest
you enter into temptation. Watch verse thirty-five. It says,
He went forward a little, fell on the ground, and prayed that
if it were possible the hour might pass from him. And oh,
there's so much here. He said, all things are possible
unto thee. Take away this cup from me, nevertheless
not what I will, but what thou wilt." We can't really enter
into this. I've heard men preach on this.
But this is the time we believe that the Lord is becoming sin
for us, that he is being made sin for us. Yeah, us, our despicable
Our wickedness, our vileness, our desert, our hell, he was being
made it at this time. It was coming upon him. He was
being made that sacrifice for us, and that's the reason he
sweat, as it were, great drops of blood at this time. And that's
the reason he prayed. He said, My soul is exceedingly
sorrowful unto death. It doesn't say it here. Yeah,
it does. exceedingly sorrowful unto death.
That's the reason he said this, and you know this. The reason
he said, if it be possible, take this cup from me. What he was
saying is not keep him from going to the cross. That's not what
he was saying. He said, I'm going to die right here in the garden
at the thoughts of being made sin. And he swept great drops of blood,
it says, sweating blood, thinking about what he was going to do
for us, be made for us. And that's what he was praying,
my father, Lord, take this away from me, if you can, if you will,
I know you can, if you will, take it away, nevertheless, not
my will, but thou, thy will be done. And verse 37, and he cometh,
and now he'd just been He was being made sin for these guys. And I'm talking about it for
you. I'm talking about your sin being laid on Him. God has laid
on Him your iniquity, your filthiness, your hell. Mine. What I deserve has been laid
upon Him at this time. He is sore heavy of burden with
my sin. That Paul Mahan sin at this time.
Sweat and blood. sweating blood, thinking about
what he's going to do for you. And he comes back, and what are
they doing? Verse 37, sleeping. Maybe they had such confidence
in their Lord, they were resting in Him. That sounds like a hundred
cabinets, doesn't it? Sleeping. And he said to Peter. You know who he said it to, Stan?
He found them all sleeping. Who did he talk to? Simon. Peter. And what does he call him? Simon. Not Peter. Before he said, you're
Peter. And you're going to be called
Peter now. Rock. Little rock. Grounded and settled in the truth.
You're going to be a leader. What does he call him now? Barbara. Simon. Calls him by his old man. The
name of his old man. You poor, pitiable Simon. Simple, simple Simon. Are you sleeping, Peter? Where's
that big talker I heard a while ago? Where's that big talker? Oh,
I've heard your doctrine, Peter. I've heard your doctrine. I've
heard your profession. I heard you talking. It's not
like what the Lord—the same one said this to Job one time when
he heard Job talking. The same one said it to Job. The same one said, Who is this
that darkened up the council by words without knowledge? Who's
doing all this talking? Gird your loins up, Job. I'm
going to demand something of you. Just who is this doing all
the talking? Maybe if we did less talking
and did more watching, we'd be in better shape. I said to Peter, Simon, couldn't
you watch? Oh, you're not going to deny
me. You already have. Isn't it the denial of the gospel
to sit while it's being proclaimed, the word of God is being opened,
the words of God, the words of life being preached, the word
of God himself. Isn't it the denial of it to
sit unmoved and callous and indifferent and cold and hard and asleep? Isn't it a denial? Oh, how I
love Jesus. He just sang a song. He sang
no song. It's a denial. Couldn't you watch one hour?
One hour? We've been here one hour. Exactly. One hour. I haven't been praising
that long. I still got about ten more minutes.
According to the 45-minute allotment, now I've got more than that.
But one hour. One hour. One hour. One hour. You better be glad
I'm not John Gill or the Apostle Paul. Maybe it'd
be better that I preach the same message. Paul said it over and
over again. His last message to the Ephesians
was this. Watch. Wasn't it? His last words to the Ephesians
were, Watch. Be alert. Listen. Watch. Verse 38, Watch ye and pray. Watch ye and pray. Watch and pray. Watch and pray. Lest ye enter into temptation.
How we watch? How do we watch? We watch by
being attentive to the Word. What Word are you going to go home
with tonight? What Word are you going to... What Word? Have you
heard a Word tonight? Is there any Word that stands
out in your mind tonight? They say repeating something
over and over again is the best way to impart a lesson. What have I been saying tonight?
What have I said more than I quoted If that gets home to us, if that
is instilled upon us, if that, if we learn that one word and
what it means, this will be a profitable time. Watch. Watch. Be alert,
be attentive to the Word. And our watching requires us
to pray. Watch ye and pray. They go together. Watch ye and pray. And this is what we're to pray.
What are we to pray? Watch ye and pray. What are we to pray?
We're to pray this, Lord let me watch. Huh? Right now, I beg you, all
the time, every time I stand up to preach, I beg you, pray
for me, please. Fine, pray for me. If you're
praying for me, you're going to watch. I can count on it. I can see it in the men that
lead in prayer. At times, not without fail, but at times when
the men lead in prayer, they are blessed. I see it. I see
them blessed. They are the recipients of the
blessing through the preaching. Do you ever experience that,
Henry? Yeah, I've seen it. You lead in prayer down there,
and the Lord gives you a spirit of prayer, and you receive a
blessing from the message. I've seen it all over your face.
Watch unto prayer. Watch and pray. Pray, Lord, let
us watch. Pray, Lord, let me hear the message
tonight. Pray, Lord, let him speak to me. Lord, you speak
to me through him. Let me watch. Watch unto prayer. Watch unto prayer. Watch out.
Watch out. There's an old preacher that
I love to hear preach. I have a lot of tapes about him,
and he says it all through his preaching. He'll be preaching,
saying, watch it now. Watch it now. Have you ever heard
somebody say, had somebody say that to you? Watch out! What
does that mean? Watch it now. Watch, look, they're
right here. Look what it says here. Watch, watch,
watch and pray. Pray. Watch and pray. Watch it,
pray. Watch out, he's coming. This
or that is coming. What is the watchman? I preached
on that before out of Habakkuk. It says the watchman. I'll stand
upon the watch and see what the Lord saith unto me. And watch,
watch, the watchman. Isaiah talks about his watchman,
or these false prophets are asleep. They're not watching. But a watchman, me, a watchman,
I am to tell you, watch out, there's a wolf, a wolf. Watchman doesn't cry, peace,
peace. When there is peace, you don't have to cry, peace. Do
you? You don't cry, peace, when there's
peace. Peace, peace, when there's peace. Oh, when the wolf come,
I know you cry, wolf. Trouble and troubles come. Fire,
fire, fire. You call that out, don't you?
Wolf is coming, ditch, ditch. Gonna fall in a ditch, don't
you? Trouble. I see a problem. Problem
here this way. Watch out. Watch out. Watch and
pray. Watch to pray. Pray to watch.
Watch and pray. You got that? It's simple, isn't
it? Follow. Watch. Be alert. Fortune will say something. Is that right? And this is Israel,
isn't it? I didn't write this, did I? Huh? Am I, is Paul Mayhem the one
doing the talking here tonight? What am I doing? I'm just repeating
what the Lord Jesus Christ said. Watch. If he were standing here,
would we hear him? He is. Watch. But I'm sure glad he included
these next few words. And you better be glad, too.
Because some have failed to watch, even now, throughout this message. But I'm sure glad he said this,
the Spirit is ready for women. Aren't you glad he said that? Spirit is ready. Spirit is willing.
Why is it willing? Because it's made willing. Why is it willing? Because it's
God that worketh in us both the will to do. Feels good, doesn't
it? The new man created in Christ
has the will and the mind of Christ and is led by the Spirit
and is willing. But the flesh is so weak. It's called the body
of death and it's so weak, so weak. I'm glad the Lord remembers
our friend, aren't you? This was such a blessing to me
in studying this, when I came to those words, and that's the
title of this message. The spirit is ready, but the
flesh is weak. And he knows our friend, he remembers
that we're what? Flesh. Dust. That which is flesh is but dust
thou art, and to dust thou shalt return. That's the one thing
that keeps me from becoming at times concerning my own daughter. The
one thing that keeps me at times from really, really getting upset
with her when she doesn't learn a lesson, when she continually
repeats the same mistakes over and over again, continually makes
the same. I think she's getting old enough
now. that she ought not do that, right? Surely she's learned that by
now. You know what keeps me from just
lashing out at times and getting overly upset with her, is I remember,
she's just a child. She's just a child. And our Lord
remembers our friend. She's fresh. She's flesh. He took flesh. He knew that he
was weary. He got sleepy. He that never slumbered—we're
talking about a paradox. He that never slumbers or sleeps
got sleepy. He was sleeping in the ship,
Barbara. That's when he found his repose,
is when the waves—when the trouble was sinking it. Boy, that's faith,
isn't it? When he found time to sleep,
his body was trembling awake. I'll get some sleep there, I'm
bothering me. They're just enough to tend to it, the masks and
the sails. Nothing to worry about. I'll
sleep. And they woke him up, don't you care? That's when they should have
been sleeping, sleeping with Him. They couldn't be there against
the wind anyway. Well, the Spirit is willing,
the flesh is so weak. And verse 39, and I'll quit.
And He came again. Again He went away and prayed
and spake the same words. Oh, this was such a sobering
time, what the Lord was doing here in the garden. Verse 20,
And when He returned, He found them asleep again. Their eyes
were heavy, his heart was heavy, their eyes were heavy. Found
them asleep again, and he went away and prayed again, our faithful
watchman." Do you know that our Lord hadn't
slept by this time for about three days? If you want to do
a little study, look it up. Go back through this gospel here,
it's either this one or Matthew, and you'll find that the Lord
had not been asleep. Well, from this point, a little
on before this, a day before this, until the time he was crucified,
he went about four days without sleeping. Have you ever been through a
long period of time without sleeping? working the job I did I've gone
about 40 hours without sleeping and there's nothing more miserable
there's nothing there's nothing that's more painful your eyes
literally are hurting painful you're a zombie not the lord
of glory he had control over that even but he was weary weary
weary And that faithful watchman went on watching, and our faithful
high priest went on praying, and our faithful intercessor
went on interceding for us. Verse 40, when he returned again,
he found them asleep again, and evidently he woke them, or they
woke when he came, and they didn't know. Are you sleeping again? He didn't say anything this time.
I bet he just went over where Peter was and looked at him. That's what he did when Peter
denied him, he just looked at him. Just a look. And Peter,
I know Peter woke up. He didn't know what, he wasn't
going to say anything now. He didn't have anything to say now. Have
I caught you at it again? Again? Are you in this, are you
doing it again? Peter, are you sleeping again? How many times does he say that
to us in whatever? Again? Yeah. And look at what he says. Verse 41. He comes a third time
and says, Are you sleep on? Go to sleep. then go to sleep. If that's what you want to do,
go to sleep. Take your rest. I'll watch over you. But the commandment is still
to watch. Because, you know, Peter, like
I said, Peter, after this, Peter didn't hear what the Lord said,
did he? He didn't fall into temptation. Why? He didn't hear it, did he? He didn't eat him then. And he
took his biggest fall yet. His greatest fall ever. Right
after this story. Just right after it. Fell miserably
then. It was probably the worst time
of his life. Probably never got over it. Probably never got over
it. He knew he was forgiven. Denying
the Lord like he did. Paul, you know, Paul's He never
got over that. Watching hailing people to jail
and having people killed, he never got over that. Never did.
That's the reason he's now the chief of sinners. And Peter,
he never got over this. And he didn't have to go through
that, did he? Humanly speaking. If he'd have
heeded what the Lord said, did he? Watch and pray unless you
enter into temptation. And what I say unto you, And
the Lord said, I say unto you all, watch. He says it unto us.
Watch and pray. Watch through the Word and pray. Pray to watch. Watch to pray.
All right. Stand with me. Our Heavenly Father, we ask that
you would give us eyes. wide open, spiritual eyes that
are wide open to your word, to see things, wondrous things from
your law. God knows, you know, we are so
attentive to so many foolish and trivial things that our eyes
are wide open to so much carnality and so much foolishness. We're so attentive to things
that we need to turn an eye, a blind eye to. Lord, let us watch your word
as it's being, as we read it, as we hear it. Let us hear, Lord. Have ears to hear, spiritual
ears to hear. Let's have a heart to receive
it, Lord. Enter into the eye gate and the ear gate for your
word. Speak, Lord. Set up residence in the heart.
Hide thy word in our hearts. that we might not sin against
thee. Enter into temptation. Lord,
keep us from temptation. Enable us to watch, we pray in
Christ's name. Amen.

Watch Ye And Pray

What does the Bible say about watching and praying?

Why is it important for Christians to watch and pray?

How do we know that salvation is secure?

What does it mean to make your calling and election sure?

How does prayer relate to watching in the Christian life?

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Watch Ye And Pray

What does the Bible say about watching and praying?

Why is it important for Christians to watch and pray?

How do we know that salvation is secure?

What does it mean to make your calling and election sure?

How does prayer relate to watching in the Christian life?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

Comments

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