Welcome to another message from the Gospel of Luke. We're going to talk about the temptation of Jesus on the Mount of Olives and the Gethsemane. As far as I can tell, this was one of the hardest times that Jesus ever had before the cross of Calvary and before being beaten and tried in an illegal trial by criminals. The cross-reference to this And this subject goes from 22-39-46 is Matthew 26-36-46 and Mark 14-32-42. Gen John 18 and verse 1. As I read these words of Jesus, It should touch all of our hearts, it touches mine greatly. My sins were upon Him there, and yours were sins were upon Him there. And having gone forth He went according to the habit, His habitual doings, ethos. I have walked this path on the Mount of Olives. I have stood under the trees where Jesus and those disciples were. In my heart, I've heard his words. I heard the roar of the crowd. If you are saved and you have the opportunity to go to these places, or have you been there, if you have been there, as you look on the very ground that our Savior walked on and bled on, it is quite an experience. It's not an emotional trip, but it's a spiritual trip. Sometimes our spirits cause emotions in us. Our sins were upon our Savior here. The weight of those sins almost crushed Him. They followed Him, the ones His disciples, His habitual learners. 2240, genomenos de epe tu topu, epen atois pros eukeste, me eis elthein, eis perosmon. And having come upon the place, he said to them, ye pray, And it's in the middle voice, you pray for yourselves. Now we're coming to a whole new world that they have not known before. They have not known the time ever before when Jesus laid down His powers and surrendered to the devil's men, to the dark forces of evil. He surrendered for a time. that he might show great victory over their evil plans. Ye pray not to enter into temptation. Our last message was temptation shall come. Temptation shall come. Peter was going to be sifted by Satan. And Jesus prayed and petitioned that he would stand And when he finally went through that temptation that he would strengthen his brethren. 2241 Kai altos apeis phason. Apostate. Ap alton Hosei lithu bolain. Kai theis ta gonota pros eucateo. Pros eucateo. and he was withdrawn from them. He went away from them. About a stone's throw, and having placed the knees, got down on his knees, he got down on his knees, and he kept on praying for himself, the middle boys. 2242, Legom Potater, e bule paryuke tuto to paterion ahimo plenme to thelama mu ala to su, sun, that is, ganesteo. Saying and continue to say, Father, Father, Father, Father, Father, If you wish to take away this, the cup, from me, can you do this? Can you take away this cup, Father? We all have to face death. But we pray that we won't face a death like this. We pray that you won't die of some tremendous disease that just hounds you and chews on you like a wolf, like it's eating you alive. Some people die in great agony. They have agony for a long, long, long time. I had a friend that had a wife. She had a terrible heart condition. And I was talking to one the other day and he said the last time I saw her, she was begging God to take her home. She couldn't stand it anymore. She couldn't stand this. She couldn't take it any longer. She wasn't getting the kind of medical treatment she needed. And she was dying a horrible death, eating away at her. Death would be mercy. Nevertheless, not the will of me, but the will of you, let it become. Now the will of you, let it become. The will there is not there, but it is practical substance. It is there, even though it's not written. Let not my will be done, but Yours. Let Your will be done. Can we pray this kind of prayer? Can we pray this kind of prayer every day? We ought to. Whatever we do, wherever we go, whatever obstacles we meet, small or big or indifferent, God wants to hear you. God wants to hear you call him father, if you're his child. I remember my sons and my daughter saying dad or dad-aw. Dakota called me dad-aw, dad-aw. That was sweet music to my ears. My other boys, dad, dad. with a love in their voices. That is the sweetest sound on earth. The sound of love. Dad. Try to be the kind of dad that they need if you're out there. Mothers and fathers, you have a great task ahead of you. God allows you to have children in this world. And when they're infants and when they're babes, they ought to see God holding them. You ought to be that representative of God on earth to show them that they can trust you. They should love you in every way. My wife did not have that gift. She did not have that gift from her mother and father. Abused all of her life. We went to school with our daughter Dakota. And Marilyn's her stepmother. And Dakota had a hard time. Had a mother that didn't love her. We would go to school. And Marilyn would see parents come in. We would be the parent teachers of the room mothers and fathers of the class. And we'd go there. I would teach the first six years of Dakota's life, first sixth grade. She would not go to school without me being with her. They wouldn't let her go to kindergarten unless I was there in the class with her. She was so insecure. I tried. my best to show her the love of God for her that I had in my life. Hard, hard what we went through. Finally, when Marilyn and I got married, Marilyn went to school with me. Dakota was still young. We went there and we were room mothers and fathers and she saw mothers and fathers love their children. She stood there with tears streaming down her face. She said, I never knew this. I never knew this. I never knew children were loved by their parents like this. I never knew this. Tears would stream down her face and she would cry later at night. The trauma she went through when we got married was horrible nightmares, screaming in the night, crying. She doesn't do that anymore. She feels loved. Love your children. Love them with correction sometimes. Sometimes you have to love them tough. But love them. Make them see in you a foundation of the love of God. Here we have a person, if it be lawful to call him that, he is God the Son. John 3.16 says, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God so loved the world, that He sacrificed His Son, that whosoever believes Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Ophthai de alto anglos. Ath uranu aniskun auton. Now this is in brackets, it's not in the older text, from 43 and 44. It appeared to him an angel from heaven strengthened in him. Now this is a parenthetical statement, probably for a later explanation. Now let's go on, and remembering this, this is not in the oldest text, okay? Now you know what family of manuscripts some of these different, diverse readings came from. Kai genomenos en agonia. Acta nesteron prosuceto kai, againeto ho hedros auto hoce thromboi hematos carabinontas. Epi-te-gain. Epi-te-gain. Now, I will tell you this. Now, this isn't in the original language, okay? This was added later. Somebody, whether they knew this or whatever, I do not know. But there is a medical term called Hematohydrosis. And I have seen this. in a little boy one time that his mother beat him so bad that around his face, not from blows, and around his eyes, literally, blood was seeping out of his pores. And that's what it's talking about here. And having become in agony, more earnestly, he kept on praying, and it became the sweat of him as drops of blood falling down upon the earth. Aristotle mentions a bloody sweat. Theostas also mentions a bloody sweat. Under great stress, human beings can get to the point where they are sweating bullets, so to speak, where around their eyes, blood vessels will rupture and they will begin to bleed. I've seen this. I have seen this. This is a horrible thing. Now, remember, this is in brackets, but this may have happened to our Lord and Savior. It may have happened. These words were added later. But just because they're not there, it doesn't mean it could not have happened. Aristotle wrote about this. Maybe later on somebody wrote in the margins here. You have to realize, those old hand-copied texts, sometimes they would write an explanation in it, and the next time they wrote it, it would be copied in as text. This may have been what happened here. Kionostas apotes prosuches. Elton pros tos mathetes, urane coe mem menus, altos apotes lipes. And having risen up from the prayer, having come toward the disciples, he found them sleeping from grief. His disciples could not stay awake to help Him and pray for Him. Yet, His enemies were up all night trying to kill Him. Satan's people are a whole lot more energetic than God sometimes. Verse number 46, Kai epein autois ti katheidete. Adastantes. And he said to them, Why do you sleep? Having stood up, you pray, nor that not ye may enter into temptation. You pray that you may not enter in temptation. Temptation is coming. He told them in the last message. Temptation is coming. Now temptation is here. Now. It's here. They didn't know it. Jesus knew what was coming. They did not know it. They didn't know how much they would be tempted that very night to fail. Eti auto lalontes et du oclos. Cai ho legomenos. Udes eston dudeka. Proseketo. Altus cai ingesen to esul. Filesa auto. And yet while he's still speaking, behold a crowd, a great crowd. This is five to 10,000 people. This crowd is so close. There was at least 600 to 900 temple guards there or more. And Jesus makes a comment about this. There were at least 600 to 900 trained soldiers. The whole Herodian Guard was here, along accompanied with all of the malefactors called high priests and the Sadducees. And the scribes and the Pharisees were all on the spot. They're all up all night long. All up all night long to murder, to perjure themselves. Thou shalt not keep on perjuring yourself, but they were doing it. Thou shalt not keep on murdering, but they were doing it. Thou shalt not keep on lying, but they were doing it. And here were the religious leaders of the day. Thou shalt not. And yet they were doing it all. And the one being called Judas, by the way that's a beautiful name, not Judah. Praise Jehovah. He was one of the twelve and he kept on creeping toward him. He kept on creeping toward him. Creeping. And as he draw near to Jesus, to kiss him. Filese. First there's infinity back to kiss him. That's infinity. He kept on kissing him. The word file here means to like a lot. Filio. And he runs up to him and he grabs ahold of him and begins to kiss him in the mouth. And he keeps on kissing him, kissing him, and kissing him. He won't turn him loose. There's money in the back. Bounty hunter. bounty hunter. That's all Judas was, a bounty hunter. The bounty hunter had showed up. The bounty was 30 pieces of silver, the price of a slave. And Jesus said to him, With a kiss? Instrumental singular? With a kiss? The son of the man you continue to betray? You continue to betray? He had not begun to betray him here. He betrayed him all his life. He was a robber. He was a thief. He was an apostle. He was a treasure. And yet he robbed and robbed and robbed and robbed. He was greedy. Thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt not, and yet they broke them all. Thou shalt not. 2249, idontes dei hoi peri auto to, eis omenon, eipon curiae pates zalmon en machere. And having seen the ones around him, the things about to become, just about to happen, he said, Lord, since we shall strike with a sword, we shall strike by the sword, we shall do it, shall we pull our swords out and get to work? Shall we pull our swords out and get to work? Shall we fight now? Now this is Peter, by the way. This is Peter. Lord, look at our circumstances. We are going to need the use of these swords now. Jesus had told them that they were going to be in danger and they were going to be in temptation. And Peter deduced that the time to use that sword was now. But unknowingly, the time was not at hand yet. For Christ made sure that they were safe before he allowed himself to be arrested. He made sure the church was okay. Jesus Christ died for the church. John Behan at the OK Corral was a scoundrel in league with with the cowboys, the mafia of that time, so to speak. And Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and his brothers had had the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. And after that gunfight, that scoundrel Behan came up to him and said, I'm putting you under arrest, Wyatt, you and your brothers. And Wyatt looked back at him and he said, I don't think so. I don't think that I will let you arrest me today. Now Jesus could have done that very same thing. He said, I don't think I'll let you arrest me today. But he made sure that those disciples were safe. His church was okay. Now Peter, now actually Luke, the 22nd chapter and verse number 50 now, when this was written, Peter was still alive. When this gospel was written, Peter was still alive. Peter was crucified upside down and died a martyr's death. But at the writing of this gospel, Peter was still alive. Now later on in John's gospel, that's the last gospel, when John wrote his gospel, Peter had already been crucified and murdered. So he writes down Peter's cut off one of the high priest's ear. Here it doesn't say that, because this would have been a legal document to arrest Peter for what he did. So it just says someone did it. Kai epatoxin, hes tis ex auton, to akarios, ton dulon, kai afilain, to us autoto dexion. And he struck one, a certain one, out of the high priest, the servant. And he cut off his ear. He cut off his right ear. Now, he wasn't aiming for his ear. He was aiming for his neck. And the guy ducked, yet he lost his ear. He was going to kill him. This was attempted murder. And this manuscript could have been used as a confession that Peter did it. Now this is the last miracle of Christ's ministry, the last miracle of Christ's ministry. Apokrytheis Dei Hoisous, Apen aete hos tuto, kai opsaminos, tu otio ias sato, And having answered the Jesus, he said, you permit, you allow this until this is over. And having touched the ear, he cured him. The God of the universe allowed himself to be arrested by wicked men. He did not allow Herod to kill him in Bethlehem. or the crowds at the synagogue in Nazareth to kill him, or all the roaring crowds of the Pharisees to kill him, or the roaring crowds of the scribes at different times, nor the roaring, vicious crowds of the high priests. Now the mission was complete and the time was right for the offering of the Passover Ependesus Prostus Parogomenos Ephauton Archibis Cai Strategus Tu Eron Cai Prosbuteros Hos Epi Leistei Ex Elphate Mera Macairo Cai Zilon And he said, Jesus, to the ones having come alongside upon him, the chief priest. He talks, he gives them a little pep talk here. And the temple guards. Hundreds of temple guards. Hundreds. They went out there like they were going to conquer an opposing nation. Yet it was one man. But this one man is the Son of God. And they knew that he had walked away from them so many times before. They could not kill him. So they went out there and they said, the bounty hunter, Judas, get him. Hold on to him. Don't turn him loose. And the temple guards of the temple and the elders. And upon, against a robber, you come out with swords and clubs. with swords, machairon, these are the swords, the steel swords, and wooden clubs. That's what it is, wooden clubs, zilon, wooden clubs. Verse number 53 now, Kath hemeron, ontos mumeth himon, ento eron, ero, that is, uk exalteinate, tas keras epime, According to the day of being me with you in the temple, not you stretch out your hands upon me, but this is belonging to the hour and the authority of darkness. Genesis 1 and 1 says, In one of the beginnings, God, He had created the heavens, the universe, and He placed the earth in the right place. And then in verse number 2 it says, and the earth she had become formless and void, and darkness, Skotia." Merrick Cheth was over the face of the deep. It hoovered over the face of the deep. Darkness. Darkness became. The world was light, but darkness it became. And now we have the Prince of Darkness and his armies. against the Son of God. Against the Son of God. Yes, we all had part in this, didn't we? We all had part in the betrayal. We all had part in the false incriminating charges of Jesus because our sins were upon Him. Jesus died so that we might have eternal life. Without Him, there's nothing you can do to go to heaven, people. Jesus died for you. If you hear this message and you don't know the Lord is your Savior, I pray that you'll do it now. Jesus died for you. You won't go to hell because of your sin. You'll go to hell because of rejecting Jesus Christ. And Father, I thank You so much for this message that will touch our hearts and guide us and carry us above temptation, and carry us through our lives, long lives or short lives or whatever we have. Father, I pray for all those out there in rest homes, in hard labor jobs, in danger, and in their homes, say, I pray that you will lead them above temptation. as we see how our Savior was tempted and how he withstood it. Father, I thank you for our Savior, and I praise your holy name and your perfect righteousness that what you did, you did for us. We know you loved your Son so much that you loved us more, that you gave that Son to be a sacrifice for us. Thank You for that. Help us to glorify You with our lives. Forgive me why I fail You, please. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.