So we are continuing our series of messages in the gospel according to Matthew, and this morning we are still in Matthew chapter 26. It's one of the longer chapters, as you're beginning to notice, I would assume. We'll be looking particularly at verses 36 to 46 as our text for this morning, which you can find on page 989 of your Pew Bibles, and I would encourage you to use those or your own scriptures in order to follow along, and if you're able, Would you stand with me out of reverence and respect for the reading of God's inerrant, infallible, and inspired word. Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, sit here while I go over there and pray. And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, He began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, my soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch with me. And going a little further, he fell on his face and prayed, saying, my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, so could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, my father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done. And again, he came and found them sleeping for their eyes were heavy. So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. Then he came to the disciples and said to them, sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand and the son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand. This is the reading of God's word. May he bless it to our hearts this morning. Please be seated. So Jesus has eaten his last Passover meal with his disciples. And in doing so, he's announced that one of the 12 are going to betray him. He's instituted the Lord's Supper, that sacramental meal that clearly shows the atoning sacrificial death that he is going to die on behalf of his people, having his body broken and his blood poured out for the remission of the sins of his people. He has, along with that, sung hymns of praise and thanksgiving and trust in God along with them. He's led them in that singing. But he has also just sadly and lovingly warned them that they are all this night going to fall away from him. Because God is about to strike him, the shepherd. And when God does that, it is written that the sheep will be scattered. Now, Peter has insisted that he above all the others, of course, will never fall away. But Jesus has soberly warned Peter of his own Not just falling away, but utter denial on this very night. So think about what the mood must have been like among these men on that dark walk from the upper room in Jerusalem itself out across the Brook Kidron and into this place, this garden of Gethsemane, probably at the foot of the Mount of Olives. Gethsemane is a word that means sort of an olive press. And so likely this was an olive grove and a place where when olives became ripe, they were tramped and the oil was pressed from them. But it seems to have been a place that Jesus and the disciples used frequently as a place to meet together, likely a place for prayer and fellowship. How much troubling news these men have heard just in the last several hours from Jesus' lips. And to put it in our kind of language today, think about how much they had to process, right? Things that they never could have imagined have been told to them, things that they clearly don't believe to be true, but can't believe that their Lord would be incorrect. And so when they come to Gethsemane, we're told that Jesus, there are 11 of them now, it seems that Peter has gone on his way to betray his Lord. And it seems as they come to Gethsemane, Jesus leaves eight of the 11, perhaps at the entrance to the garden, and tells them to stay here, I'm going to go over there and pray. Now, certainly this wouldn't have been an uncommon thing. The disciples have known their Lord to be a man of prayer all through their time with him, frequently going out and praying all night long. But when Jesus leaves those eight, he takes with him three. of the disciples as he goes a bit further into the Garden of Gethsemane. The three that he takes with him are Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, as Matthew says, James and John. Why does he take these three men with him further into the garden? Well, if you think about it, these are the three who were with him on that Mount of Transfiguration when his divine glory was revealed to them, right? And in that time, as his divine glory is shining forth, he meets with and talks to two men, Moses and Elijah. Do you remember what Luke told us that Moses and Elijah talked to Jesus about on that mountain? Luke tells us that what they talked to him about was his exodus his departure, his exodus that he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. That's what's about to happen. These disciples were there to hear that announcement, to hear part of that discussion. And they are now about to be witnesses in the accomplishing of it. They are going to witness not only having seen his divine glory, but now they are about to witness his humiliation. his incredible suffering that will lead up to that exodus. But again, why these three? Well, if you think about it, Peter, good old Peter, I think oftentimes Peter is given to us especially to encourage us in our own weaknesses and frailties. Peter confidently believes even against the word of Jesus and God himself, that he is going to faithfully stand with Jesus, even if it means his own death. And it's true that all the rest of the disciples eventually agreed with that sentiment. But Peter's the one who boldly claims that even if all the others fall away, I will never. And then do you remember back in chapter 20, in verses 20 to 28, when these two sons of Zebedee, James and John, along with their mother came to Jesus with a request. The mother wanted to know if Jesus would grant her request that when he came into his kingdom, could her two sons, James and John, sit on his right hand and on his left hand. Jesus looked at them and frankly said, you don't know what you're asking for. Are you, Think about this in light of where we're at today in this text. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink? Remember what they said? Yeah, we're able. They're going to begin to see tonight how unable they are and yet how incredibly able their Lord is. Also, it's interesting that up to this point, when Jesus has spoken about his upcoming death, Matthew hasn't really said anything to us about his emotions. Jesus has been presented to us, it would seem at least, as calm and resolute when he announces that I must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the scribes and Pharisees and elders and chief priests and be killed and rise again the third day. He seems to have been very in control. But notice that now as he walks on with these three particular men further into the garden, we're told by Matthew that Jesus began to be sorrowful and troubled. Now, each of those words individually would indicate significant distress on the part of Jesus. But when you put them together, sorrowful and troubled, they pile on top of each other and they indicate very serious, deep distress and internal agitation on the part of Jesus. And he affirms that as he turns to these three men who in a way have been closest to him. And he says to them, my soul, It's very sorrowful, even unto death. What he means by that is that my sorrow is so great that I feel as if I could die. My sorrow is so great, I feel like it's killing me. Jesus is saying that. No wonder that Isaiah tells us that he is going to be a man of sorrows. acquainted with grief. This is something that I think we should look to more often and more confidently than we do. People who struggle with anxiety and depression in this world often get treated Not very carefully and lovingly, especially by Christians. We often tend to tell people, come on, chin up. Remember good promises. Remember Jesus has done everything for you. Do you hear what Jesus just said? My soul is very sorrowful, even unto death. Those of us who struggle with depression, anxiety, should take heart in the fact that your Savior knows your sorrow, your pain, and your depression. He knows what it feels like. He knows what it feels like to be buried underneath the waves of it so that you feel like you are about to die. Like the psalmist said to us in the psalm we read together this morning, I feel like your waves and your breakers are crashing over top of me and overwhelming me. He knows depression. In fact, he was in the deepest pit that any human being has ever been in, even unto death. Why is that comforting? Because he is no longer in the pit. He is on the throne of the right hand of the Father in heaven, and he is reigning and ruling over everything, and he is praying and interceding continually for you, so that when you feel yourself in those situations, you're not alone, as depression wants to tell you you are all the time. You have one with you who knows, and who can strengthen and encourage you as a result of that. We also see in Jesus' actions here, though, I believe, and I think it's important for us to see this as we look at this today, we see a window, a clear window into his true humanity. You see, in one sense, in this time of greatest distress he has ever known, in one sense, he seeks privacy in order to be able to go into this garden and open up his heart, lay his heart bare to his father. And yet, in his deep distress, he also has a real need for close, intimate, human companionship. He takes 11 with him, and although he leaves eight at the entrance, a little ways from him, he takes three more with him and leaves them, but probably not far, probably within earshot of where he finally goes to pray. You see, he seems to need those that he cares about and those who care about him close by. And notice, he doesn't just want them to be there. He wants them to share with him in his watchful, prayerful vigilance. Notice, watch with me, with me. Now Matthew tells us that as he said this, he walked on a bit further. Again, I would tend to think likely within earshot of them. And as he walked on a little bit further, Matthew tells us that he literally fell on his face before God in prayer. This is a posture of earnest, humble supplication. You can't impress Your humility and your need anymore when you're asking somebody for something, then throw yourself on your face before them. Shows the depth of Jesus' need in this moment. Keep in mind, Jesus had taught his disciples how to pray, right? Remember back in chapter six, he told them that they were to pray in secret. That doesn't rule out public prayers like we do in church together and like Jesus does on occasion. But in general, when you pray, he said to go, not pray in front of other people to get their admiration and their respect, but to go off into your closet, go off by yourself and pray to your father who hears you in secret. And there's a sense in which that's exactly what Jesus does here, right? Yeah, he takes disciples with him, but he goes on a bit further, throws himself on his face before God in prayer. But that's not all Jesus did when he taught them to pray. He also gave them a model prayer, which we use this morning as part of our own prayer and worship before God. Commentator R.T. France points out that in this text that we're looking at today, we actually find what he calls three echoes of that Lord's prayer. evident in Jesus' prayers and in his admonitions, his urgings toward his disciples in between those prayers. First of all, notice how he begins this prayer of his. Jesus often calls God Father, but notice as he throws himself on his face this night, it isn't just Father, it is my Father, my Father. And how did Jesus tell us to begin the prayers when we prayed? Our Father who are in heaven. My Father. Stressing his deeply personal relationship with God. Deeply personal, deeply meaningful and important to him. What's going on here? Why is Jesus so deeply distressed as he says even unto death? What is it that he's being so prayerfully watchful about and vigilant against and even commanding his disciples to be likewise? Watch with me. Once again, I would tell you that here in these prayers, we continue to see a glimpse into the true humanity of our Lord, not our sinful fallen humanity, but perfect humanity. Humanity as God intended humanity to be. See, God is just and God is holy. Just like God is love. God doesn't have parts, by the way. He's simple, theologians would say. That means that he isn't part love and part justice and part holiness. He is love. And he is justice and he is holiness. Those are aspects of who he is. He is not part of anything. He is wholly just, wholly love, wholly holiness. And because of that, sin is intolerable to a God who is holy, who is just. Sin can't be tolerated, and in fact, not only cannot be tolerated, but sin must be punished. The wages of sin is death. What did God tell Adam the penalty would be if he chose to eat of the fruit that he had been forbidden to eat? On the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. We need to understand that as each person lives in this world and sins against God and thought and word and deed, what we are doing is we are storing up for ourselves with God, wrath, judgment that one day is going to come due and will have to be paid. As Adam was a true man back in the Garden of Eden who represented all mankind and by his sin and fall led all mankind into judgment and wrath of God and into sin, in the same way and yet in a quite different way, Jesus is also a true man who is representing all of his elect for salvation. And you see what Jesus, what's going on here, why he's so deeply distressed, even unto death, is that what he is seeing here, what he is facing here on this night, in a very real, personal way that he has known about this, but in a very real and personal way that he has never felt before in this way, is that God has placed before him a cup, if you will. A cup that is filled to the brim with God's wrath and judgment against all the sins of Christ's people. Sin can't be tolerated. Sin must be punished. The wages of sin is death. Someone has to drink that cup. If we drink that cup of our own built up wrath and judgment for our own sins, we would be utterly undone. Utterly undone. But you see, either we must drink that cup individually or Christ must drink that cup collectively for all of his people in order to satisfy God's justice and to redeem us from physical and eternal death. And so you see what is happening now and what is causing such deep distress for Christ is that in his true humanity, Jesus is now looking at that terrible cup and what it is going to mean to him and what it's going to require of him. And everything in his humanity is shrinking in horror at the prospect of what he is going to have to do. He has committed no sin at all. He doesn't deserve any wrath and judgment from God, none. It is true of him what Paul will say later in 2 Corinthians 5.21, that God took him who knew no sin and made him to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. That's what he's facing. on this night. And yet Hebrews 4.15 is true. The author of Hebrews tells us, therefore, we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin. Now some people misunderstand that verse. They read that verse and they know in their own hearts they're often really tempted to sin against God and often do that. And they think, boy, that makes me feel better. Jesus felt the same way as I do. No, no, a thousand times no. Don't misunderstand what this verse is saying. This verse is not telling us that Jesus had a desire in his heart to disobey God, but somehow managed to struggle and overcome that desire and obeyed God instead. That is not what it's telling us. To have had such a desire to disobey God would have been a sin in and of itself. That's what James tells us, right? That sin first starts out as a desire in our hearts. That desire is sin. You see, Jesus not only didn't sin, Jesus had no sin in him to incline him to sin. There was no desire on his part to disobey God, and you can see that in his prayers here, right? See, he's known all along there is no other way. That's why he's been telling his disciples, I must, not I might have to, I must go to Jerusalem and be killed He's known that here and even here. But in this terrible moment, it's becoming very real. In this terrible moment, the cup is being held out to him and he's going to have to take it in his own hand and begin to drink it to the very bottom. The dregs, as they say. And in that terrible moment, I want you to notice that Jesus in his humanity has no problem at all with asking, my father, is there any other way? Notice how he puts it. If it is possible, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me. I don't want to drink this. Everything in my humanity is shrinking away from it. And so if it is possible, Let it go away. Let's do it some other way. Perhaps in his humanity, he's thinking about Abraham on the mountain as he had been commanded to take his son, his only son, Isaac, and offer him as a sacrifice to God. And at the moment when Abraham is ready to plunge the knife into the heart of his son and commit that sacrifice, God tells him, wait. And provides what? A substitute. a ram to take the place of the sun. Perhaps that echo is in his mind somewhere, but you see, the problem is Jesus is that substitute. There is no substitute for him. And so he says to his father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me, but notice he doesn't stop there. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. Here's the second echo of that Lord's prayer. Remember the refrain, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus means what he says and says what he means and he lives it out in his own distress. Matthew tells us that after this first season of prayer, however long it was, Jesus returned to the disciples and found them not watching with him, but sleeping. And the you that he uses here is plural. He's talking to all three men, but notice he addresses it to Peter in particular. Peter, the one who had declared that he would stand with Jesus, even if everybody else didn't. So could you not watch with me just one hour? Just one? Watch for what? Stay awake for what? Be vigilant against what? What is it that Jesus is so vigilant against and is calling on his disciples to be so vigilant against? Notice what he tells them. Watch and pray that you may not fall into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh, your humanity, is weak. He doesn't mean necessarily sinful flesh here. He just means your humanness is weak. In other words, I've warned you all, and you especially, Peter, what you're all going to do this night. I've warned you you're all going to fall away, and you especially are going to deny me utterly three times. Do you really want that to happen? Do you have any concern about that happening? You should be vigilant against that by praying earnestly that you might not yield to that temptation, just as I've been doing. See, Jesus has that temptation. If it's possible, let this cup pass from me. It's not a desire on his part. It's not a sinful desire, but he recognized the human urge not to go through what he has to go through. And he is spending his time in prayer before his father, vigilant against that temptation and praying for help from God to withstand it. Now Luke actually tells us in chapter 22 and verse 43, that in answer to that prayer, God literally sent an angel to him who came and strengthened him. Watch and pray that you may not fall into temptation. This is the third echo of the Lord's prayer. Remember the other petition and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Jesus says the Spirit indeed is willing. The Spirit has been renewed by the Holy Spirit and there is an earnest, sincere desire to be godly and to stand with Christ and to resist temptation, but the humanity wars against that. It's weak. Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. It's true for us. We need to remember that. We need to remember that our spirit may be willing, but our flesh, our humanity is weak as well. We need to be watching and praying that we may not fall into temptation. Now, Matthew doesn't give us a response from the disciples, but we're told that for a second time now, Jesus went away and prayed. And it would seem that in that first season of prayer, he had received affirmation from his father that it wasn't possible for that cup to pass from him without him drinking it. Because notice his prayer now. My father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done. Now after praying this prayer, and again, we don't know how long, we're given a summary of the prayer here. We don't know how long Jesus spent in praying these things, but he comes to his disciples again, and again, he finds them still sleeping because their eyes are heavy. They just can't stay awake. By the way, this is one of the things that unbelievers, will often use to try to discredit the scriptures. Well, let me see, if all the disciples are sound asleep, including Matthew, all this whole time, how is it that they know that Jesus went somewhere and fell on his face? And how do they know what he prayed? And how do they know what he said when he came back? Because they're all sleeping. It's a made up story. But once again, it's people who deny the supernatural nature of the scriptures, who deny just plain common sense even. Have you ever been in a state where you were mostly asleep and yet still sort of something was trying to rouse you and you could sort of hear but you really couldn't respond? Is it possible they heard these things in that kind of state? It's possible. But guess what? When Jesus dies and is raised again, he's going to spend time with them again in Galilee. Do you think it's possible that the Lord shared with them what happened on that night in the garden? Shared his heart with them so that they would be able to share it with us? And even if that didn't happen, you remember, he told them that he was going to send his spirit who would bring to remembrance everything he has said and would lead them into truth. You think the Holy Spirit is not capable of letting them know about what happened in the garden on that night? At any rate, in verse 44, Matthew tells us that Jesus, finding them asleep again, left them again and went away once more, the third time now. in order to pray to his father. And what Matthew tells us is that he essentially prayed the same prayer again that he had uttered in his second session. My father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done. Now again, another lesson for us, by the way, when you go to prayer to God, it is not a problem to repeat the prayers you've just made. Earnest prayers sometimes just need to be repeated over and over. Sometimes there aren't enough words to say it differently and God doesn't need it said differently. You pour out your heart and that's what Jesus is doing. And since he does it that way, we can feel confident in praying that way as well. But notice once again, it seems that that answer had been affirmed. He was going to have to drink this terrible cup of his father's wrath and judgment. It is Jesus the only way. So yes, in this time of prayerful struggle, it is true that Jesus' humanity asked, pleaded with his father that there might yet be a different, a less terrifying and horrible way for him to achieve the father's will in all of these things. But make no mistake here. The will of Jesus Christ was never opposed to his father's will. Ultimately, his father's will was always and continued to be his will. I have come to do the will of him who sent me. And as we look at this, we're supposed to look at this example of Christ, his threefold earnestness and diligence and going before his father in prayer, faithfully submitting to the father's will. And we're to compare and contrast that with the disciples' complete inability to even stay awake, let alone show the faithfulness they had said that they would all show for him. You see already, Already they are failing and falling away and they're not even awake yet. But here's another connection with the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter five and verse eight. The author of Hebrews tells us in that verse that even though Jesus was a son, he learned obedience through the things that he suffered. Again, we have to be careful how we understand that. Jesus was never disobedient from the time he was born. Never sinned once against his parents, his father, anyone. What does it mean that he learned obedience to the things he suffered? It is one thing to read the scriptures and constantly be informed in your spirit by God that you're the Messiah and you are going to be the lamb who has to be slain to put away the sins of the world. It is another thing to walk the road and to do it. He learned the cost. obedience to God through the things that he suffered and yet even learning the cost he remained obedient. Again a lesson that we all need to learn. Obedience is not always going to be painless. So now Matthew tells us that Jesus returned to the disciples for the third and last time. And the translations, I think, actually try to capture the apparent note of irony that must be in Jesus' voice, because basically in the original language, he basically just says, sleep and rest. Go ahead. But then immediately says, get up. So that would not make any sense. The point here is that Jesus is speaking in irony. You can't possibly sleep and rest anymore. You can do that later on. There'll be a time for sleeping and resting. There's no time for that now. Arise. By the way, there's also no time for something else now anymore. There is no time for you to wake up and begin to pray earnestly for strengthening against your temptations. Your opportunity for that has passed in your sleep. Arise. Let's go. The hour has come. It's at hand. Let's go. Jesus isn't saying, hurry up, get up and let's run out the back gate and get away from this. Jesus came into this garden filled with severe internal agitation and distress over what he had to face. But through his prayer to his father repeatedly, consistently, earnestly, he has now found strength and resolve. Arise, let's go and meet my betrayer. My betrayer's coming. Let's go and face my destiny together now. And yours, by the way. Now when we look at this, a few points as we close, don't misunderstand Jesus' insistent pleading with the father and his great distress here. Some people look at this and they look at the great martyrs of the faith over the years, those who have been arrested for their faith and have been taken to the burning stake or taken and thrown into the arena with animals who tore them apart or whatever the fate would have been, and who went there, it seems, willingly, singing hymns and so on as they went often. There could be a temptation to look at this and say, is Jesus less brave than those many martyrs? who went to their deaths for their faith in him? And the answer, of course, has to be a resounding no. Those martyrs never faced what Jesus is facing on this night. He is facing something far worse than they ever would or than they ever could. Because what he is facing is the wrath and judgment of God that is hell itself. the very thing that in doing this he is sparing them from ever having to face. They could go to their deaths confident that all that was going to happen to them was pain and physical death, but they would be with him in glory. We can never plumb the depths of the courage it took for our Lord to pray, your will be done. And also, I want you to be sure that you see here that Jesus wasn't pleading with his disciples to be vigilant in prayer for him in his distress. I'm sure he would have appreciated that as he brought them along with them, as they had been the closest to him and his heart had gone out to them all through his ministry, and particularly now. But that's not what he urges them to do. Watch and pray. Why? that you may not fall into temptation because your spirit is indeed willing, but your flesh is weak. He's urging them to be vigilant and praying for their own strength against the temptation they're going to face. He knows how painful this falling away is going to be for all of them. We also need to be actively praying that God would not allow us to fall into temptations and yield to them. That he would keep us and preserve us from the evil one. How many times do we find ourselves falling into sin and wondering, why do I do this? Why does this happen to me? James tells us the answer. You have not because you ask not. Do we go to God seriously in prayer as His Lord's Prayer tells us to do and pray, lead us not into temptation, deliver us from the evil one today and every day, all day? Have you ever found, do you find yourself even now facing something so awful you don't know how to face it? Know that your Savior, your High Priest, knows your human weakness. And he is praying for you and he has already overcome it for you. He will preserve you. Now it's been noted that in the garden of Eden, when Adam faced his temptation, a temptation that was far less terrifying. Don't eat that fruit. Far less terrifying. but still a temptation to turn away from obedience to the father. And when the eternal consequences for the people Adam represented were no less consequential, it's been noticed that his response to God was essentially not your will, but mine be done. And yet here in the garden, another garden, We see Jesus in the darkness and the gloom and the terror of the Garden of Gethsemane facing his temptation to turn away from obedience to my Father and his response earnestly, consistently, heartfelt. Not my will, but your will be done. There is our salvation. Not that we've done the Father's will, but that he's done it in our behalf. See, Jesus entered this very sorrowful, even unto death, but because of his earnest and diligent watching and praying to his father, he is now strengthened and prepared to face that terrible destiny that is his and his alone. His disciples, on the other hand, because of their complete lack of any watching and praying, are set to painfully fulfill what has been written. They will be scattered. They will all fall away. Even utterly deny him in the case of Peter. Hear Jesus' words and let's heed them where they wouldn't. Watch and pray with me that you may not enter into temptation. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the goodness and grace that you have shown to us in Christ. Thank you for the example that he sets before us, but more than an example, thank you for the sacrifice that he willingly became so that we would not have to ever drink that cup. We pray, oh God, that you would stir our hearts earnestly by his example to be people of prayer. People who turn to you and earnestly lay out our hearts before you, submitting to your will even when it hurts. Learning obedience through our suffering as he did, walking in the footsteps of our Savior, We pray that you would do this for his sake and for ours. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.