If you will open your Bibles
with me to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 26. Matthew chapter 26. Our text will be verse 30 through
verse 45. Let's read our text together,
Matthew 26, verse 30. And when they had sung a hymn,
they went out into the Mount of Olives. Then saith Jesus unto
them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night. For
it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the
flock shall be scattered abroad. But after I am risen again, I
will go before you into Galilee. Peter answered and said unto
him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet
will I never be offended. Jesus said unto him, Verily I
say unto thee, that this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt
deny me thrice. Peter said unto him, Though I
should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also
said all the disciples. Then cometh Jesus with them unto
a place called Gethsemane, and saith 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. Tear ye here, and
watch with me. And he went a little further,
and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my father, If it be
possible, let this cup pass from me. 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
you 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 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." I want to talk to you tonight about rest. Why we can rest. I love what
our Lord said to His disciples there. He said, sleep on now.
Take your rest. Do you need rest? This life is
so weary, is it not? We get so tired. I'm tired right
now. But that's not the kind of rest
we're talking about here. Do you need rest for your soul? We just read about the day of
the Lord is going to come as a thief in the night. And this
whole world says, peace and safety. It's all good over here. We better
be careful because a day is soon coming when many will enter into
the exact opposite of rest, eternal destruction. I need rest. Now here in Matthew 26, our Lord
is about to be betrayed. He's about to be taken away and
led to the cross to be crucified. But before that could happen,
we have this glorious account of what took place in the Garden
of Gethsemane. And here we find hope. Here we
find our reason for rest. As we go through this, I pray
God will enable us to find rest unto our souls. Let's start again
in verse 30. And when they had sung a hymn..."
I love that. My sinner Margen says when they
sung a psalm, all the psalms speak of Christ, don't they?
That's where our rest is, isn't it? "...they sung a hymn. They went out into the Mount
of Olives. Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended
because of me this night." For it is written." You see, what
happened here was no accident. It was written. It is written. I will smite the shepherd and
the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. But after
I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. The first thing I want us to
see is that our reason for rest has nothing to do with us. It
has absolutely nothing to do with us. Our faith, our faithfulness,
is not the cause of our rest. Better yet, our unfaithfulness
is the cause of our unrest. In times of trouble, you'll hear
people say things like, well, he's a man of faith. He has his
faith to lean on. Well, I don't know about you,
but I don't feel that way at all. I don't have my faith to
lean on. I have Christ to lean on. The reason for this is my faith
is weak. I mean that. My faith is so weak. And it saddens me how so many
people boast about their faith and think their faith is so strong.
It's just not so. And we see that here with the
Lord's disciples. We just read all of you. Every
single one of you is going to be offended because of me this
night. All of them. Every single one
of them forsook Him. Our Lord chose them. He called
them by name. They followed Him. He was about
to die for them. And what did their great faith
do? Forsook Him. Not one of them stood with Him.
It's no wonder why the disciples said, Lord, increase our faith.
Lord, increase our faith. And the sad fact of the matter
is, this was true of the disciples, it's true of me, it's true of
all of us. We're all guilty of thinking way too much of our
faith. If you don't think so, just look
at the Apostle Peter. I think the Lord's given us all
these examples of things Peter said to cause us to see ourselves
in Him and how we must not trust in ourselves. Look here in verse
33. Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be
offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. He thought, yeah, everybody else
might offend you, but not me. Let's not be so foolish. We know exactly what we'll do,
don't we? I will be offended. There are
moments where we start to feel strong in the faith, aren't there?
I mean, just take our conferences, for example. We come here, we
hear these eight glorious Christ-exalting messages, and we walk out these
doors, and we're feeling good, aren't we? We're feeling strong
in the faith, and just like that, something happens. There we go. Our faith is weak. Look at verse
34. Jesus said unto him, verily I
say unto thee, that this night before the cock crow thou shalt
deny me thrice. Verse 35, Peter said unto him,
though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. And
likewise said all the disciples. Peter wasn't the only one. All the disciples said, yep,
we're not going to do this. We're not going to be offended
in you. Can we see ourselves, brethren? We must see ourselves. Now, the Lord was about to send
a great trial Peter's way, and we're going to look at it here
in just a second. But before we do, I want us to acknowledge
this fact. God sends our trials for our good. He appoints each
and every one. The purpose of the trial is to
strengthen our faith. And you know how that happens?
By looking to Christ. Look down in verse 69 of our
text. Our Lord had been betrayed. He
was being led away. Verse 69, Now Peter sat without
in the palace, and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast
with Jesus of Galilee. But he denied before them all,
saying, I know not what thou sayest. And when he was gone
out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that
were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth. And again
he denied with an oath, I do not know the man." Verse 73. And after a while came
unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou
also art one of them, for thy speech bereath thee. Then began
he to curse, and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately
the cock crew. And Peter remembered the word
of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow thou shalt
deny me thrice. And he went out and went barely."
God tried his faith, didn't he? Peter thought, I'm not going
to deny you, Lord. He said, Peter, don't think so highly of yourself.
And God let it happen. Why? So that he would look at
our Lord and see that look of mercy and grace that saved him
in the first place. Whenever we begin to trust in
ourselves, think highly of ourselves and our faith, let's remember
Peter. Let's learn from Peter. If left to ourself, we will fall. We will fall. Look over in Luke's
account, Luke chapter 22. Luke 22, verse 31. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon,
behold, Satan hath desired to have you. that he may sift you
as wheat." He said, Peter, Satan wants you. He wants to snatch
you out of my hands so bad. Did he tell Peter to do something?
He said, Peter, you better get your act together here. Satan's
going to take you. Satan hath desired to have you
that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that
thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren. If left to his self, Peter would
have fell away. But Christ prayed for him. That's
the only reason he didn't fall away. That's the only reason
Satan couldn't have him. Because Christ prayed for him.
That his faith fail not. Because our faith fails. Our faith fails. The only difference
in Peter and Judas, Christ prayed for Peter. Christ prayed for
Peter. The effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much." I need Him to pray for me. Right now, I need Him to pray
for me, or I'm a goner. If my hope of eternal rest relies
on my faithfulness, my faith, you can write me off right now.
You can write me off. Our hope of finding rest before
God in that day is not because of our faithfulness. Praise God,
it's not because of our faithfulness, but because of His faithfulness. We just read, faithful is he
that calleth you who also do it. He is faithful. The Lord
is faithful. Back in our text, Matthew 26,
look at verse 36. Then cometh Jesus with them unto
a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit
ye here, while I go and pray yonder." Here's what we're to
do. Sit you here. Sit down. The Lord must sit us down. This
is His work. This is His Word. He must do
this alone. Verse 37, And He took with Him
Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and
very heavy. I don't know what all this means,
but I know this. He took our sins and our sorrows,
and He made them His very own. He made them His very own. The sinless One, the spotless
Lamb of God, took the full weight of our sin and our guilt, and
He carried it on His back by Himself. Look at verse 38. Then saith He unto them, My soul
is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Tear ye here, And
watch with me, his soul became exceeding sorrowful unto death. As our substitute, he felt, and
I can't begin to enter into this, but he felt the full weight and
guilt of our sin. He felt it. He felt it. How could he feel such a thing?
I don't know. But he felt it. Turn with me to Psalm 40. Psalm
40. I mentioned all the psalms speak
of Christ. In this psalm, verse 7, he said, Lo, I come in the
volume of the book it is written of me. This is Christ. Well,
look at verse 12. For innumerable evils have come
past me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me so that I am not able to look up. They are more than
the hairs of mine head, therefore my heart faileth me." How in
the world could Christ say such a thing? Because He died as our substitute. God did not merely charge Him
with our sin, He was made sin. Turn over to Lamentations after
Isaiah and Jeremiah. Lamentations chapter 1. If Christ was merely charged
with our sin, but didn't feel anything, These Scriptures would mean nothing.
I just don't understand how these Scriptures could be. Christ was
made sin and He felt our sin. Look here in Lamentations 1 verse
12. Is it nothing to you? Is it nothing to you, all ye
that pass by? Behold and see if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow. which is done unto me, wherewith
the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger."
That's Christ. That's Christ. The Lord afflicted
him in the day of his fierce anger. As he hung there on the
cross, all these people were passing by, and to most of them,
it was nothing to them. Unless God causes us to behold
the glory and the beauty of Christ crucified, it will be nothing
to us. But I'm here to say this is everything
to me. Had Christ not suffered, I must suffer. Is it nothing
to you, all ye that pass by? Look back in our text, verse
39. And he went a little further
and fell on his face and prayed, saying, O my father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will,
but as thou wilt. What did the man of sorrows do?
He prayed to his father. What do we do in time of sorrow,
time of trouble? I feel like the last thing we
do is what we ought to do. Let's go to our Father. He's
given us access to the Father. Christ prayed to the Father.
He fell on His face. Now, I can understand you and
me falling on our faces, but this is glorious to me that Christ,
the Son of God, fell on His face. God fell on His face before God. How much more ought we to fall
on our face before God? He prayed if it be possible.
Now hold on. I thought with God all things
are possible. How is He then praying if it
be possible? Because it was not possible.
It was not possible that this cup could pass from him, because
it is written, it is written, God will provide himself a lamb. Christ is the lamb. As Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up. He must. They shall look upon
me whom they have pierced. This must come to pass. His hour
was come. Though this request was impossible,
I want us to be sure we notice the father still heard his prayer.
The father hears him pray his dear anointed one. He cannot
turn away the presence of his son. The end of verse 39, he
said, nevertheless, Not as I will, but as Thou will."
He prayed, Thy will be done. And what we need to see here
is why He was praying for this. He wasn't praying. He did not
wish that it would not happen. That's why He came into the world.
This is to show us that He really suffered. He really felt it all. He really
was made sin. All of this really happened to
Him. Nevertheless, Nevertheless, thy will be done. 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. That is so true. Oh, that's so
true. Our flesh is so weak. You remember
what Paul said after the Lord saved him in Romans 7 when he
talked about, to will is present with me, but how to perform that
which is good, I find not. That I would, I do not. That
I would not, that I do. This flesh is so weak. And it's
good for us to be reminded of that. The disciples had one command. Sit and watch. How hard is that?
How weak are we? Sit and watch. Sit and watch. Without Christ, brethren, we
can do nothing. I mean nothing. If we can't sit
and watch, what in the world can we do? We can do nothing. That's why we sing this song,
My Faith Looks Up to Thee. Doesn't look at herself. My Faith
Looks Up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary, Savior Divine. One of
my favorite songs, Great Is Thy Faithfulness. Great Is Thy Faithfulness. People might as well sing Great
Is My Faithfulness, mightn't they? Great Is Thy Faithfulness. Verse 42. 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. He prayed again the second time,
knowing, he knew, this cup is not going to pass from me. It's
not going to happen. Turn over to Luke again, Luke
22. Luke 22, verse 41. And he was withdrawn 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 agony, he prayed
more earnestly, and his sweat was, as it were, great drops
of blood falling down to the ground." What's the significance
of this? What Christ endured was so, he
said, my soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death. The things which
he suffered, did this to Him. Being made sin for us, being
made a curse for us, becoming us, He sweat, as it were, great
drops of blood. And that was not just any blood
that was fallen to the ground. That's the precious blood of
Christ. The price of our redemption.
The weight of our sin did that to Him. And I'm amazed that we're told
an angel appeared from heaven, strengthening Him. You know,
Christ is referred to as the angel of the Lord. He's the arm
of the Lord. He's the strength of the Lord.
And yet here, an angel appeared to Him, strengthening Him. Oh, how He suffered. Oh, how
He suffered. Look back at our text, verse
43. 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." The disciples
fell asleep again. Again. Their eyes were heavy. Again, we see their weakness,
don't we? Our sin is heavy. It easily besets us. But moments
ago we read that Christ, that His soul was becoming heavy because
He took that sin from us and put it on Himself. Here He kept
on praying. He prayed the third time. But
I want to make sure we see this. Christ was not praying for Himself.
You know that? From what we've read, it appears
that He's praying for Himself, doesn't He? He wasn't praying
for Himself. He was praying for His people. He was praying for
his people. John 17, 9, I pray for them which
thou hast given me. Shortly after this, Peter, they
would take the Lord, and Peter would take out his sword and
try to cut off a man's head. He got his ear, and this is what
our Lord said to him. He said, Put up thy sword into
the sheath. The cup which my Father hath
given me, shall I not drink it? He wasn't trying to get out of
this. Shall I not drink it?" Soon thereafter, he would pray,
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Does that give you hope? Father, forgive them. Not long
after that, he prayed, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? We must see that the only way
we could possibly be forgiven is by the Lord Jesus Christ being
forsaken. It's the only way. It's the only way a sinner can
be forgiven by Holy God. Look with me in Psalm 16. Psalm 16, verse 9. Again, this is Christ. Therefore
my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth. My flesh also shall
rest in hope, for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither
wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt
show me the path of life. In Thy presence is fullness of
joy. At Thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. Thou wilt not leave my soul in
hell." Christ suffered a hell for His people, but He didn't
stay there. He did not stay there. He rose
again, and that's where we find rest in what Christ accomplished. Look back at our text one more
time. The disciples had fallen asleep
again. The Lord went and prayed a third time. Verse 45, Then
cometh He to His disciples and saith unto them, Sleep on now. I've got this. I've got this. Sleep on. And take your rest. Behold, the hour is at hand,
and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners." What
a gracious command. Rest. You know what the Gospel
declares? Rest. Rest. There remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God. Praise God. We can rest. His
commandments are not grievous, are they? We're the dead bones. He commands us to live and we
live. He commands us to rest and we rest. What a gracious
God we have. Turn over back a few pages to
Matthew 11. A familiar verse. Matthew 11, 28. Christ said, come unto me, all
ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take
my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in
heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke
is easy and my burden is light. Do you need rest? There's no other rest. There's
no other rest. You know what we'd be wise to
do? Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on
thee. I pray God would stay our minds on Christ and the things
that he accomplished. Here's a few reasons we can rest.
His faithfulness. Not ours. His works. His wonderful works. Not ours. Christ came into the world to
save sinners, and I'm the chief. Rest. He washed us from our sins
in His own blood. We are forgiven. You know what
we can do? Rest. Rest. They're all taken
away. Rest. He cried, it is finished. If that don't make you rest,
I don't know what will. It is finished. The battle is over.
It is finished. There'll be no more war. The battle's not ours. It's the
Lord's, and it's finished. When he rose the third day from
the grave, you know what that said? God is satisfied. God is well pleased with the
sacrifice of His Son and He's well pleased with us in Him.
It is finished. If that does not give you peace
and rest, nothing will. Nothing will. Christ is all. Jesus paid it all. All to Him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain.
Praise God He washed it white as snow. Amen.