There's so much in this passage, and I know that a lot of the attention we'd love to be able to give really on Jesus, but I want us to focus primarily on what Jesus says, pray that you may not fall or may not enter into temptation. And the beauty and the value of prayer as a means to protect us in the midst of temptation. Last week we learned from Jesus' parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge that our God is not like the unjust judge. It was a contrast. Instead, our God is always merciful, He is always righteous, He is always kind, and therefore it pleases Him when His children pour out their heart to Him in prayer. He wants us to pray and never give up. We don't have a God that expects us to beg and plead and wear him out with our requests. But in that passage we were also reminded because it came right after Jesus' warnings about the day that was coming. The last day that was coming when God would send his son as the judge of all mankind and everyone will have to give an account. But we know we don't need to fear that day. Because our God is not like the unjust judge. Our God is steadfast in his love. He loves us because he chose to love us as his children. He is our loving Father who gladly hears us when we pray. Don't quit praying. We should never hesitate to pray, whether we're in a season of peace, or the storms of life are raging around us, keep praying. Or as Paul wrote, and we referred to that, pray without ceasing. And we saw how that was on the tail end of Paul just saying the Lord is near. So because he's near, because the judge is coming, pray without ceasing. He loves to hear you pray. Well today we're going to focus on prayer again. But this time our focus is going to be on prayer as a means of grace that God has given to us to overcome temptation. As we face challenges or difficulties, we know all too well that they are often the result of living in a fallen world that is under the curse of sin. We all have pain. We all face sorrow as long as we live in this fallen world. That's just the hard reality of life in a fallen place. However, we also have to face the reality, the painful reality that sometimes our sorrow and pain is a direct result of our own bad choices. Yes, this world we know is filled with every sin imaginable. It's passed on from one generation to the next. Even from the very beginning. At the first sin in the Garden of Eden, it was passed on from one generation to the next. And by the time you get to the days of Noah, We hear a disturbing description of humanity that when you hear you think that could have been written yesterday about today. The Lord saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. That's the nature of the human heart. And we see it today just as well. We might be tempted to think, After God destroyed the world with a flood in those days, surely man would have learned his lesson. But no. Sin is in the heart. By the time you get to the days of the prophets, Jeremiah understood this all too well. And so he said, the heart is deceitful above all things. Desperately sick. Who can understand it? When we get to the New Testament, we see the same thing. Paul describes man's heart as being dead in trespasses and sins, incapable of pleasing God or earning forgiveness on our own. We are spiritually dead. Our Lord certainly understood the condition of the human heart better than anyone. And so he taught his disciples to pray. And to plead with the Father, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. We pray every week in the Lord's Prayer, but what do we mean by that? What are we praying? Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, or I think better, deliver us from the evil one. Well, in Luke 22, Jesus gives us the perfect example of praying in the midst of painful trials and a difficult temptation. Now, I know it can sound strange, but Jesus was in deep turmoil. Sometimes we emphasize, and I don't think unwisely so, but sometimes we emphasize his deity But we do so so much that we neglect the reality of His humanity. He is fully God and fully man. Listen again to what He said to the disciples in Matthew's version of the garden, in Matthew 26. He said, My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch with me. It's hard, isn't it, to picture Jesus that troubled. It's hard for us to picture the Son of God so deeply sorrowful and troubled. But He was. We're told in Luke that because He was in agony, He prayed more earnestly. In Hebrews 4, it says in verse 15 about Jesus that we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. but one who in every respect has been tempted just as we are, yet without sin. So when Jesus went into the garden of Gethsemane, he was deeply troubled as a man. And yet as he left the garden, he was completely at peace. What was the solution to his agony? How did he go from being deeply sorrowful, even to the point of death, to being at peace with the will of his Father? Well, you know the answer is prayer. Today, through this text, we see that prayer is a means of grace. It's one of the primary instruments that God has graciously provided to His children so that we will be strengthened in His grace. The other primary means or instruments that God gives us are his word and his sacraments. There are various ways that God pours his grace upon us through these means. Prayer today is our focus. A gift from God in order to pour more grace upon us as we face a multitude of temptations. Jesus told Peter, James, and John multiple times, didn't he? Pray that you may not enter into temptation. Watch and pray. We all know each of us that we are tempted in a variety of ways to a variety of sins. But today, I want us to see three ways that prayer is a gracious gift from God to protect us while we are facing temptation. First, prayer is a means of grace that protects us from the temptation to give up. The temptation to give up. Jesus took his disciples into this garden after they shared the Last Supper, or really, it's better, the First Supper. We call it the Last Supper, but on that night, at the Last Supper, he instituted the First Supper for the disciples. For him, it was his Last Supper to share with them, but for them, it was going to be the First Supper of many suppers that they would remember their Savior. So it's both His last and their first. But I could digress on that. Lord willing, on Sunday nights in a few weeks, we'll get to 1 Corinthians 11 and we'll dive into a deep dive into the Lord's Supper. But Jesus knew that someone was going to betray Him. And at that supper, He revealed that truth again, that one of the 12 was going to be the betrayer. He knew what Judas was going to do. Judas knew what he was going to do, but the rest of them all seemed to be completely baffled and could not imagine that any of them would betray him. After Jesus sent Judas to do his task, he set apart this meal as a sacrament for his people to continue until we finally see him in heaven. He also, in the midst of that meal, prepared them for his brutal death. In John 14, we hear Jesus strengthening his disciples as he's preparing them for this hard reality. He said, let not your hearts be troubled. Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. And yet now he tells the disciples, I am deeply troubled. What's the solution for them? Don't give up. Pray. Believe in God. Believe also in me. He told them that one of them was going to betray him. And they would see him get arrested, and they would go through that excruciating pain, and that they would be tempted to give up. In fact, Matthew tells us, Jesus says in verse 31, you will all fall away because of me. This night, For it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. But after I'm raised, I will go before you to Galilee. And so in John 14, Jesus gives them the recipe for strength when they're tempted to give up, when you're tempted to fall away. Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. Pray that you will not enter into temptation. Secondly, prayer is a means of grace that protects us from the temptation to give in, to give in to the temptation. We all know what this looks like when we're tempted to sin. We either resist the temptation and overcome it, or we give in, we enter into it, and we fall into sin. Jesus tells them, pray so they won't even enter into temptation. Now there's an element to this passage that I admit makes it unique and does not apply to our situation. In Matthew 26, when Jesus told them that they would all fall away, he also adds, for it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. And in Luke's account, in verse 37, he says, I tell you that this scripture must be fulfilled in me, and he was numbered with the transgressors, for it was written about me, has its fulfillment. Their failure, his faithfulness, were required to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies regarding the suffering Messiah. God planned and determined that the sacrifice for sin was going to happen in precisely this way. From Judas' betrayal to Peter's denial, from the gambling for his tunic to the spear in his side, it was all determined by God to go down the way that it did. As Jesus said, the scriptures must be fulfilled. So some might be tempted to think that when the disciples gave in to temptation, that it wasn't their fault. God already determined that that was going to happen. And so we have the age-old debate between the sovereignty of God and the free will of man, or the supposed debate, or the supposed discrepancy or contradiction. If God planned or predestined the disciples would all fall away, then how could it be their fault? Does that not make God the author of sin? Why would Jesus even tell them to pray if it was already determined that they were all going to fall away? Why does He tell us to pray if He's already determined the end? I'm not going to stand here and claim to have all the answers to these difficult truths. However, I do see both the sovereignty of God and the will of man are clearly taught in Scripture. But I will not say what I've heard another pastor say was, I don't see how these contradicting truths come together, but they do. They don't contradict. I don't exactly understand how they perfectly dovetail in every situation, but the Word of God never contradicts itself. And you'll see in the scriptures both the clear sovereignty of God that he has determined whatsoever comes to pass, and you see man accountable for the decisions that he makes. God is sovereignly orchestrating his detailed plan to perfection. And man is totally accountable for his every word, action, and thought. Many years ago, a friend told me something that he had learned. I don't remember where he learned it, but I remember what he taught me. And it's helped me understand how these two truths don't contradict, and they coexist. In one sense, it's not hard to believe that God has planned the great conclusion to the final chapter. That's not hard to grasp. It's not hard to believe that God's plan, that he's going to send Jesus back one day, that there's going to be a final day, and that we will be resurrected if we pass away or if we're still living, that we will rise and meet them in the cloud. And we understand that God has determined that day. God has already set that day in place. I think that's pretty easy to grasp, that God has determined a plan. The problem is the details of that plan and how he is going to work that out. God has determined that we are going to be in heaven. And based upon the promises in his word, I have total confidence that God has ordained or planned that there's coming a day in which Jesus will return and if I'm still alive, I will rise in my living state and ascend into the clouds and be with Jesus for all eternity. I will be transformed into a new body. If I'm dead, I will be resurrected and receive my new body and I will raise into the heavens and be with Christ for all eternity as well. I am convinced by the promises of God's word. That that plan of God cannot be defeated. It will happen. Some of the details of how that's going to happen is something that the church has always argued about for centuries. But I think we can all agree that God has determined the end, and he's going to make it happen. God determined the means to get to that end. And that's what my friend had taught me so many years ago. That God has not only ordained the end, but also the means to the end. And not simply the great and final end, but even my own end. Now, even though there are many things that are unclear, I think what was helpful in that is that God is overseeing all things. For example, there was a man named Joseph, who somehow, we don't know the details of this, but somehow he met a young gal named Mary. And they fell in love, and he determined to marry her. It took an angel to convince Joseph to be faithful to that task, but he did so. It took who knows how many hours or days to make the preparations of packing and planning, but they made their way to Bethlehem just as the prophets predicted hundreds of years before. God ordained the means to the end to accomplish our redemption. So when we are tempted to sin, when we are tempted to give in, God has given us prayer as one of the means to fight temptation so that we will not give in. It's one of the ordained means that God has provided to get us to the place where he wants us to be. So Jesus tells his disciples to pray so they will not fall, they will not enter into temptation. But they gave in. They gave in to temptation and they fell asleep. They failed to pray and they failed to stand. But God was still in control. He was still in charge and He would use their failure to complete His plan for His Son and for them. Prayer is a means of grace that God has provided to protect us from the temptation to give up, to just quit, or to give in and to go on and sin. But then lastly, prayer is also a means of grace that He has provided to protect us from the temptation to give away, to give away our Jesus, to betray Him, to deny Him. He told them during dinner that one of them was going to betray Him. And in the garden, He told them before He went to pray that they would all fall away and be scattered. And remember how Peter and the rest of them responded to Jesus. Remember, Peter said, though they all fall away, meaning the rest of these guys, this rabble that you've chosen, though they all fall away, I will never fall away. And Jesus said, truly this very night, before the rooster crows three times, you will deny, or before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. Jesus knew then in that moment, in just a few more moments, Judas was gonna show up and all of them would scatter like sheep without a shepherd. Pray, Peter. Pray that you will not enter into temptation. But Peter objects to Jesus, makes a bold statement with which they all agree. Remember what verse 35 said, Peter, even though if I must die with you, I will not deny you. And it said all the disciples said the same. And yet they all were scattered. Jesus told them that one of them would betray him. and all of them would give them away. They would not stand up. Here we have a contrast between Jesus and the disciples. In Luke's account, Jesus says, pray that you may not enter into temptation. But Matthew gives us a little more detail, doesn't he? He took Peter, James, and John a little further into the garden and told them to watch with him while he prayed. He literally told them, stay awake and pray. while I spend time in prayer." After an hour, he found him sound asleep. And that's when he rebukes Peter with what we read in Matthew 26, 40. So you could not watch for one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. And he adds something else important. He says, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. And that's when we see the weakness in Peter and James and John. But we also see the human weakness in Jesus. Matthew tells us that Jesus goes back to prayer and they fell asleep again. But this is where Luke tells us how Jesus was in agony as he prayed. In verse 44 it says that because he was in agony, he prayed more earnestly and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. I know this sounds somewhat disgusting and maybe even unlikely to some. But it is actually a very rare medical condition called hematidrosis. I'll have to ask Dr. Stiver if I'm saying that right. It's an actually rare condition in which you ooze or sweat blood as tiny blood vessels in the skin break forth and it comes out with the sweat. normally under tremendously great distress. Again, not everybody experiences this, it is rare, but it is an actual condition. It's a weakness of his humanity. His humanity was displayed when his body demonstrated, responded to the distress of his soul. When faced with the temptation to let this cup pass, Jesus became so distressed that his body broke into a bloody sweat, but he kept praying. He did not give up. He did not give in. He kept praying. When Peter, James, and John were told to stay awake and on guard, they faced the temptation to sleep and they failed the test. They stopped praying and started snoozing. Jesus demonstrated for us that prayer with the Father, communing with the Father, is one of the primary means that He has given us to strengthen us for the task in front of us. Jesus is united with the Father. He proclaimed that often as He wandered throughout the Judean and Galilean countrysides, that He and the Father are one. and he sought strength from the Father. He acknowledged his human frailty, and his prayer was answered. When we face temptation, we must remember that through Christ, we have been united with the Father. Through Christ, we have been united with the Father. We are His children, and we belong to Him through Christ. And yes, there is coming a day very soon when Jesus will come back and He will take us to heaven and present us to the Father as His very own. So even though He is physically absent from us, we are united with Christ by His Spirit. When He saved us, He gave us His Spirit to abide in us. And prayer is one of the means that He has provided for His children, that we can demonstrate our union with the Spirit, our union with the Son, our union with the Father, and stand up against temptation by being granted the strength that He provides through prayer. Last Sunday night, as we're going through 1 Corinthians 6, we're going through some very touchy subjects that was difficult for me to be able to teach in a mixed audience in terms of some of the sexual immorality that's being committed in Corinth. But in the midst of that, Paul challenges them by reminding them that they are the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit abides in you. In other words, how can you use your body in such sin when you are the house of the Holy Spirit? It's one of the means, again, a reminder to us that will help us to resist temptation. How can I possibly use my body to sin knowing that the Holy Spirit is in me? Paul was applying it to sexual immorality in 1 Corinthians 6, but we could apply it to our tongue as well. How can we use our tongue? How can we use this instrument of our body for sin when the Holy Spirit is in us? How can we use our body? How can we take the Spirit into such sin? When tempted, pray. He is abiding within you. He will give you the strength to resist every temptation, especially any temptation that requires a physical response. It's helpful to remember what Jesus said, our flesh is weak. We are weak, but he gives us the strength to resist We cannot use that truth as an excuse, but as a reminder that we need to pray. Prayer is one of the means that God has given to protect us from temptation to give up, just to quit. It's also a means of grace to protect us from the temptation to give in and just sin. But it's also a protection against the temptation to deny Christ and to just go away with the world. Pray that you do not enter into temptation.