This is Truth With Grace, the media ministry of Grace Baptist Church. We're so pleased you've joined us today as we continue our exploration of the truth found in God's word and the grace of salvation. Pastor Pierre Rosa is continuing his preaching from the Gospel of Matthew, and today we're in chapter 26. Matthew is describing the last few hours before the crucifixion. After leaving the upper room, Jesus and his disciples go to the Garden of Gethsemane. The name of the garden literally means oil press, which is fitting given that Jesus would show just how much stress he was under at this point. Jesus asked his disciples, his closest friends, to share this time with him. Even now, Jesus has important lessons to teach the future leaders of his church, and while they join him, they do little to comfort him. In fact, they mostly disappoint. He knew that would happen, and still he showed kindness, love, and compassion, just like he does for his followers today. Let's listen to the first part of today's message from Pastor Pierre. So if you have your Bibles with you, we're going to be in chapter 26 of the Gospel of Matthew. We're going to read in verses 36 through 46. A very intimate and very profound scene here. This is the passion narrative and Christ is about to go to the cross for you and for me. So this is a very solemn moment in history here. So let's read together. Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane and said to his disciples, Sit here while I go over there and pray.' And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be grieved and distressed. Then he said to them, My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and keep watch with me.' And he went a little beyond them and fell on his face and prayed, saying, My father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not as I will, but as you will. And he came up to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, So you men could not keep watch with me for one hour? Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, My father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, your will be done. Again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. And he left them again and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more. Then he came to the disciples and said to them, Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going. Behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand." Okay, this is the last scene before the arrest of the suffering Messiah. Scripture shows us then here in this scene three gems of the life of Christ and I hope you pick them on that and we're going to identify them and go over them, three gems of the life of Christ that I hope will draw you near to Him. The first one we're going to call the humanity of Christ, verses 36 through 38. Now, you'd be surprised when you read church history, because when I say the humanity of Christ, you're probably saying, well, I don't doubt that Jesus was fully human. Well, there have been people in the past that wrote that Jesus was not really human. He had the impression of being human. He was really a ghost. Well, no, the Bible says very clearly here that He identified with humanity, very clearly, while He warned the disciples that they would soon deny any identification with Him, we saw that last week, He shows now one way in which He identifies with humanity. So, on the one hand, the disciples would decline any identification with Christ, but here we have Matthew showing us that Jesus identifies with humanity very clearly. He is the man of sorrows, we're told in Isaiah 53 verse 3. And the man of sorrows experienced grief and distress just like you and me. And here he demonstrates how he emptied himself. Now, we are familiar with this expression, the emptying of Christ. Paul talks about this in Philippians 2 verse 7. But what he does, he does not mean that our Savior Jesus ceased to be God even for a second. That could never happen. If that were the case, He would no longer qualify to be your Savior and mine. So Jesus is fully God and at the same time fully man. He is not a hybrid, not 50-50, He is 100 percent human in every sense of the word. He is human now, His body is in heaven. He has a glorified, resurrected body who was taken up to heaven. And He is obviously fully God. So, Jesus put on humanity. We know that He existed prior to His incarnation. He is the Word of God who became flesh and He existed from eternity past. Now, the day of His incarnation, He put on humanity, which means that He volunteered Himself, He subjected Himself to every human limitation, including hunger. The Bible says that Jesus experienced hunger, including fatigue. Pain, physical mortality, we will see that in a few weeks. And emotional as well as spiritual distress, that is exactly what he says here. He says, I am distressed, I am grieved. And the reason, church, that Jesus put on humanity and experienced all of these things, one of the reasons is that He is the High Priest who sympathizes with our weakness, we're told in the book of Hebrews chapter 4 verse 15. And in Gethsemane here, in this garden, his anguish was so intense that it was life-threatening. He says, I am grieved to the point of death. Now, don't miss that part of the scripture here. His grief was so intense, he was about to die, is what he says. And by divine providence, of course, he didn't die because he was scheduled to die on the cross, hours later. Now, a crushed soul, which was the case here of Christ, can weaken a person's immune system. Did you know that? When you are so overwhelmed with grief, your immune system suffers and can even cause vital organs to shut down. Stress-induced cardiomyopathy, also known as broken heart syndrome, can result from overwhelming emotional agony. Stress hormones shoot through the body, causing the left ventricle of the heart to overwork, in some cases are fatal. Perhaps this is what Jesus was talking about here, describing his experience. Now, we know that Jesus experienced this level of stress because Luke describes to us what happened. He says in Luke 22 verse 44, he observed that during this event, describing the same scene, Jesus being in agony was praying very fervently and his sweat became like drops of blood falling down upon the ground. So Luke, who was a medical doctor, had an interest in describing these things and he says, well, this is what he was facing, his stress, his agony, his anguish was so intense that he experienced physical symptoms. So much so that the capillaries under his skin burst open and he started to sweat drops of blood because of his agony. Now we know that he had experienced already the grief of articulating that he was going to be betrayed. He knew that from before the foundation of the world, it doesn't hurt any less. to be betrayed and he also told the disciples that all of them would deny him obviously that's grief even though he knew he came for this hour the Bible says he was prepared for it well it doesn't change the fact that he as a human had his heart broken because of the agony of betrayal and denial but most importantly he experienced anguish because of what was going to happen Now while some of us, for example, may face stress because of upcoming elections, because of inflation, or worry about a recent tragedy, for example, or impending doom, what triggered Jesus' indescribable agony here in this scene, let's not miss this, was unique to the Son of God. Only the Son of God could experience this type of agony here, not the intensity, but what caused the intensity of the agony here. Because the thought of drinking the full cup of divine wrath on behalf of sinners crushed his spirit. Now, he knows that he came for this hour, but the prospect of experiencing divine wrath is what caused this agony here. Understandably, therefore, he wanted the company of and the prayers from his best friends. That's what he says. He brought the eleven disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane and took the inner circle with him and left the other disciples there and said, you three come with me, stay right here, a stone's throw, I'm going to pray. Now, being fully human, he would find comfort. in the company of His disciples because God made people for that purpose. You and I are made for fellowship with one another. That is a divine gift that we have. We are able to fellowship. It's more than just socialize, it's fellowship together because we have so many things in common being of one spirit and one mind. In fact, Scripture says that there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother, Proverbs 18 verse 24. And the Lord considered these men His brothers. He says that in Matthew 12, verse 49. These were His brothers in the faith. So therefore, in His darkest hour, His darkest moment, He wanted the company of His friends to pray with Him and to watch with Him, to go through that moment of agony with Him. He took then Peter, James, and John with him to the spot where he usually prayed regularly. We're told in the other gospels, specifically John 18 verse 2, that this was a regular place that Jesus went to pray. But the fact that he took the three there shows more than just his appreciation for these three men. Even though all of them would abandon him and one would verbally deny identification with Christ, he wanted them to witness this solemn moment Hence the command, watch with me. What he's telling these three is, I want you to see what's going to happen here. I want you to be alert. Now, they were tired. They had a busy week. They just ate a big meal. They walked all over the place to get to the Mount of Olives there. And Jesus said, well, stay alert. I want you to see what's going to happen here. I want you to watch with me, because they needed to assimilate. A tremendous lesson here, all from the humanity of Christ. But this lesson that they were about to watch, or that they missed watching because they fell asleep, But later on, Matthew tells us, because someone told Matthew, what they were about to witness would revolutionize their preaching because, remember, these guys were the leaders of the early church. And what better way to call people to repent than to have witnessed the terror of divine judgment from the one who received divine judgment? So it was very important for them to watch and see the agony of the salvation that Jesus was about to accomplish for undeserving sinners like you and me. So they would then preach and say, listen, we're not asking you to come and be a part of our group. We're not asking you to come and join our church or join the crowd or join the following here. We're telling you to run from the wrath of God because we have witnessed the agony in the heart of the Savior because He was about to face divine judgment for you and for me. So that is a gem in the life of Christ here, a precious, precious nugget here for us to assimilate in our hearts and then draw near to Him. That's the humanity of Christ. Secondly, I want you to see the humility of Christ, verses 39 through 44, the humility of Christ. Notice that Matthew describes the position of Christ here, He prostrated Himself, He went on His face before the Father. This was a physical demonstration of complete surrender. This is a man who is going to pray and he's going to pour out his heart to the Father. The attitude of the heart translated to the body and then he went on his face to pray to the Father. Now, the lesson obviously for those of us who are called to be imitators of Christ is clear. In our moments of deep, deep distress, we must have that same attitude in the heart and prostrate ourselves before the Father. Whether you fall on your face or not is up to you. The point is the humility. You humble yourself before the Father and say, Lord, this is beyond my ability to administer. This is beyond my ability to cope. I am distressed. to the point of death whatever is causing you that distress and we already know that you will never be distressed if you're a believer in Christ you will never be worried about receiving divine wrath but life in the world in this world in a fallen world here will cause us from time to time to experience this type of grief remember Jesus said to the disciples woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks. So we live in a world filled with stumbling blocks that will cause grief, and part of that grief is our own sin. In some cases it's not related to our own sin. We experience grief just because we live in a fallen world. So we will experience, if you haven't already, this type of agony. Those of you who have lost spouses or have lost children, or a loved one, or experienced betrayal. You will experience this level of agony here. And when that happens, instead of resorting to unhealthy coping mechanisms, for example, hitting the bottle, or running for substances, or self-gratifying behavior, what do we do, church? We fall on our faces before the Father and we say, Lord, please, I need You to rescue me, this is beyond my ability to manage. I can't manage my emotions, I am grieved beyond description. I am experiencing distress beyond description. But I want you to see something here, church. The prospect of physical pain here is not the issue for Jesus Christ. It paled in comparison with the temporary separation from the Father that He knew He was going to experience hours later, and that He articulated on the cross by saying, My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me? Matthew 27, verse 16. Now, Jesus obviously knew the answer to that question when He cried out from the cross. He was expressing His grief, expressing His agony of being separated from the Father momentarily because at that time He was receiving God's punishment because the sins of the world were upon Him. The Father then had to turn His face away from the Son temporarily so that He will not turn His face away from us eternally, for those of us who placed our faith in Christ. But check this out, church, Jesus considered the will of God more important than even His relief, His own needs. Fulfilling the will of God was more important than experiencing comfort for Jesus Christ at that moment. And that is the lesson here for us. His closest friends failed Him. by succumbing to exhaustion and fear. Luke tells us in Luke 22 verse 45 that another reason they fell asleep is because they were afraid. Now, that's not me. If I'm afraid, I can't fall asleep. Maybe you've shared this. Some of you perhaps can do that. I want to learn from you. But if I'm anxious, if I'm experiencing grief, I cannot go to sleep. Well, these guys obviously could. They were so exhausted and so emotionally drained that they fell asleep. But I want you to see here, again, Luke tells us this, that Jesus experienced divine comfort. See, He wasn't looking for comfort. He was looking to fulfill the will of God. He was expressing His anguish of heart, knowing that soon He was going to have to face temporary separation from the Father. He was crying out to God. If it's possible, but if not, let your will be done," and this and that. And what does the Father do? Luke tells us that He sent an angel to comfort Christ. So He was looking to fulfill the will of God and God did more than Jesus was asking and sent an angel to comfort Him, to strengthen Him, we're told. And He wanted the inner circle disciples to hear that prayer. to report to the others so that you and I can read about it and study it today even. Because they would lead the church and they had to learn true humility. Remember, the context here, let's not forget the context. These guys were struggling with humility. Even in the upper room, they were arguing to see who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom. And Jesus washed their feet there, and now moments later in Gethsemane, they are witnessing the Son of God prostrate Himself face down, praying to the Father, agonizing because of His anguish, and crying out for strength to God. They needed to understand that because they were to model Christ, and how else would they teach the early church? But let's look at what the Bible teaches us concerning prayer, because that's the theme of this part of the scene here. And following the example of Christ, because we are called upon to be imitators of Christ, and that is the reason why Matthew records this to us here. Somebody was within earshot and heard the prayer reported to Matthew, and obviously the Holy Spirit inspired Matthew to record these things for us. First of all, according to verse 39, we must pray to express submission. Very simple. We must pray, obviously, to God, to the Father, to express submission. By the way, it's okay to pray to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. You can pray to any one of the three persons of the Holy Trinity. But in this case here, even though Jesus was one with the Father, remember, He had claimed that I and the Father are one. He was one with the Father. He demonstrates complete surrender to the first person of the Trinity here. You already saw that. But the question here, when we read the prayer, again, in verse 39, at least I had that question in my mind, and the question is, did Christ really think He could accomplish redemption without suffering the wrath of God as a substitute for sinners? Is that why He's praying here when He says, Lord, if it's possible, let this cup pass from Me? And I don't think so. I don't think he had any doubt in his mind. I don't think Jesus did not know. I don't think he thought that there was any alternative. And the reason for that, church, according to his own words elsewhere, he says, my soul has become troubled. And what will I say? Father, save me from this hour? But for this purpose I came to this hour, he says in John 12 verse 27. So there is no doubt that Jesus knew that there was no alternative to the cross. You see, he's saying, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me. I don't think he thought this was possible. What I'm saying is, he probably prayed this prayer for the benefit of the believers. He probably prayed this prayer as a way to show them how to pray in alignment with God. Why? Because he knows, better than anybody else, that we are constantly tempted to seek an alternative to the will of God. And when you and I pray to God, we never pray, Lord, let me go through this suffering. No, I don't know anybody who prays like that. We always pray, Lord, please remove this situation from me. Get me out of this situation. I've heard people tell me many times before, I prayed that God would get me out of my marriage. And I would tell them, that's not a prayer in accordance to the will of God, so don't pray that. Or, you know, we constantly pray for God to get us out of trouble. And rightfully so, we are commanded to do that. Remember, in Matthew 6 verse 13, Jesus himself teaches us to pray in his model prayer. He says, God, deliver me from evil. So yes, we want to pray to God to deliver us from evil, of course. But in his character-shaping ministry, God ordains adversity sometimes in your life and in my life. We can't escape that. The good news is that when we experience divinely appointed suffering, We have the comfort of knowing from Scripture that all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord. Romans 8 verse 28. So we know by faith, even though it doesn't look like it, it doesn't feel certainly like it, by faith we know that all things work together for our good. So whatever it is that we're experiencing, even today, if you are experiencing some type of agony or doubts or adversity or suffering, physical or emotional, today even, You can rest assured that God has a plan that He began in your life, according to Philippians 1, and that suffering has a purifying effect in your life. God wants to purify our affections. He wants to purify our lives. And furthermore, we must consider it all joy, we're told in the Bible, to encounter trials. Because of this, according to James 1, verses 3 through 4, the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. So we know that the goal of God is to continually shape our hearts and mold our characters so that we can be more like Christ. So that's the reason why I believe here Jesus had no doubt that this was His plan. His plan was to come and suffer the wrath of God on the cross, and He is saying, if possible, but He knew that it wasn't possible, He is modeling the type of prayer that God expects from you and from me. But unlike Christ, we do not have perfect knowledge of the Father's will. That's the difference. As a result, we don't always pray in accordance with His desires. All the time we pray in accordance with our own desires and we pray for things, some silly prayers. Again, we keep seeking alternatives to suffering but God may use temporary affliction to conform our lives to His standard of holiness. Therefore, we should pray, Lord, if possible, remove this situation from me or remove me from this situation. However, your will be done, not mine. Your will be done. Lord, what do you want to accomplish in my life through this? Lord, however long this is going to take, Lord, give me strength to endure and the peace of mind to make the right decisions. Remember, God has given you the ability to reason, to weigh consequences, so that you can honor Him in the decisions you make. So Jesus' faith wasn't being tested here in this scene, in case you thought this was the case. No, His faith wasn't being tested, the disciples were. Which leads us to the next lesson from the humility of Christ here. We are to pray to express submission. Verses 40 to 41, we are to pray to defeat temptation. We pray to defeat temptation. Now there's no question that Jesus was being tempted here. We know that even though the Bible doesn't say Satan was there. But here's what I think may have prompted Christ's prayer. Luke reports that after Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, this is way back in Luke chapter 4, the devil left him until an opportune time. Was this not the perfect opportunity for Satan to tempt Christ? Well, he is suffering agony. This is my chance to try to get him to bypass the cross. Now remember, Satan had already used the mouth of Peter to try to dissuade Christ from going to the cross, which prompted Christ to rebuke Peter and say, get thee behind me, Satan. This is in Matthew 16, verse 23. So that was an opportune time. Here's another opportune time, and it's not a coincidence, church, that Jesus prayed three times. You can match that with the temptation in the wilderness. It's not a coincidence. So even though Satan is not described here, we know that he's involved. But thankfully, the Lord did not fall into temptation. The disciples did. They disobeyed Christ. He had been very clear with them in verse 38. This is what I want you to do. I want you to stay alert. Watch with me. Be a part of this with me here. Evidently, his first round of prayers here lasted approximately one hour, give or take. That's why he came to Peter as a representative of the other disciples. You couldn't watch with me for one hour? Was that too much to ask? Well, apparently that one hour was enough time for them to let their guards down. And again, nothing here is by coincidence. I hope you see that. Jesus addressed Peter specifically here, as a representative of the 11 disciples here, because Peter swore allegiance to Christ. I will go to my death before I deny you. And moments later, he couldn't even stay awake. And the same is true for us, church. We'd like to think we'd give our lives for Christ if need be, and that's all good, that's all noble, but how about the simplest things? How about the simple commands from Christ? If you have questions or comments, we'd love to hear from you. 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