Good afternoon to you all. Please take your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 22. Luke chapter 22. I'll read verse 39 through 46 in your hearing. Coming out, he went to the Mount of Olives as he was accustomed, and his disciples also followed him. When he came to the place, he said to them, Pray that you may not enter into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and he knelt down and prayed, saying, Father, if it is your will, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. Then an angel appeared to him from heaven, strengthening him. Being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. Then his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. When he rose up from prayer and had come to his disciples, he found them sleeping from sorrow. Then he said to them, Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation. Amen. We trust that God will add his blessing to the reading of his word. Let's pray. Our Father, these are very sobering words that we have read. And if it's not for your spirit, they are just mere words. We thank you that you've given us your word. This is your infallible word. But we are in need of your spirit that we might understand your word. Please help us, Father, as we comprehend the truth that is set before us, that you would be glorified and your people would be helped. Please do indeed open your hand up, Father, from on high. and give us bread from heaven. For we pray in Jesus Christ's holy name. Amen. Well, this is that time of year when many remember the birth of our Lord. And it is good and necessary for us to remember God's truth, especially in the area of Christ being virgin born. But many times during this time of year, many people do not go far enough and they just stop and they keep Jesus as a little baby. They keep him as an infant. and to get caught up in a romantic view of this time of year. And never go beyond that, and don't even consider the fact that that is not the whole picture, that is not the whole story. In fact, the reason that Christ came into the world was to save sinners through an agonizing death. Our Lord was aware of this, too. If you just read your Bible through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you see that he is continually speaking about his death throughout his ministry. Even when our Lord was transfigured on the mountain, Moses and Elijah appeared to him. What did they speak to him about? Spoke to him about his death. And it's important for us as Christians, especially during this time of year, that we remember why it was that he came into this world. Not that we might have a tree in the house and give presents one to another. There's nothing intrinsically evil with that. But there's more to this time of year than just that. And as we consider these elements set before us, I want you to think of six things as we look at this particular passage. Now, two of them will be very familiar because it's restated in Matthew as well as in Mark. Matthew, Mark and Luke have the similar passages. John is different, the way that John approaches this particular passage with regards to his prayer in the garden, commonly known as his prayer in the garden. There's two of them that are very familiar, but four of them here that are unique in Luke. Now, just because something is unique doesn't make it better. It's the truth that Luke has brought out. I have two sons. They're unique. It doesn't mean one's better than the other. They're just unique. And that's what we'll find. We'll find four things that are unique and two things here that are also in the other Gospels. And so when we take a look at what's going to happen from thirty nine to forty six point important for us to realize that this is the last night that our Lord is going to spend with his disciples. This is going to be the night of his arrest. This is the night when Peter would deny him that he even knew him. This is the night when our Lord is betrayed by one of his own by Judas. This is the night when all of his disciples, all of his apostles, these twelve, are going to forsake him. All of them. This is the night as well before his death. He doesn't die this night. He dies the following night, dies the following afternoon, if you will, between twelve and three the following day. Now, earlier, our Lord ate his supper with his followers, the Institute of the Lord's Supper, which we're going to remember here in a few moments. And he gave last minute instructions before he goes out to the Mount of Olives or Gethsemane. And we see in verse thirty nine. that he goes out with the eleven, Jesus is already gone, Satan has already entered into Judas, and he's going over to conspire with the Romans and have him arrested. And so, the other accounts show that eleven go with our Lord, and then he takes three of them with him, much closer, Peter, James, and John, to come with him while he prays. So, you have eight that are out further away, and three that are closer with him. We come to our first point in verse 40. And we see when he came to the place, he said to them, pray that you may not enter into temptation. I just want us to consider that our Lord had a big heart. We use the term big. We mean that he has room enough in his heart for others. When you consider the fact that what he had set before him. Was. A night. Of betrayal, a night of arrest. with the possibility that he was going to be facing the wrath of God. Not the possibility, it was really going to happen. He was going to encounter the wrath of God. But his heart was big enough, it was room enough for others, while he had this agonizing task set before him. He had a lot of things on his mind. And he was selfless. He did not consider himself first, but he considered others ahead of him. And you could probably say this was a night of woes, with the betrayal, with an arrest, being forsaken and with hell set before him. Yet he still had concern for his followers. And he gives this warning as he is looking out for their good. He says to them, pray that you may not enter into temptation. I want you to notice that he doesn't say pray for me. That's what we would do whenever we encounter something very difficult. And I'm not saying we're not supposed to do that. I just find it interesting here that our Lord has this incredible task set before him. And he doesn't even say to his followers, pray for me. I told you I'm going to die. I'm going to be handed over to the Gentiles. Pray for me. He doesn't put that on them at all. Now, a rabbit trail here needs to be brought in. And I'm mindful of the Apostle Paul. I find it very interesting that while he was in jail, he wrote a couple of letters to churches and not one time did he ever ask for them to pray for him for his release. He never says Oh, by the way, pray for me that I might have freedom. I might be able to be a better testimony than and go out into the world. He doesn't he doesn't send anything to the churches about praying for his release. He doesn't complain. He does say, pray for the success of the gospel, pray that the word might go forth, pray for us that we might be faithful in preaching. The only thing he says closely related to maybe his release at the end of Colossians, he says, Remember my chains. He doesn't say pray to God to take these chains away. He learned contentment. But I think Paul learned contentment and he learned to think about others and really wasn't too concerned about himself from the master himself, Jesus Christ. Christ doesn't even ask. Remember me, please pray for me. He doesn't do that. I'm not saying that we're not to make our requests made known to God or not to share with one another with regards to the difficulties that we may have. But it's good for us to know the difficulties that people have before we lay a burden on them. And our Lord was very much aware of that, because we're going to see later on that these followers had quite a burden on them. Our Lord is not going to put that on them. He was going to go and pray himself. It's good for us sometimes to pray first before we make requests of others. So the Lord Jesus, though he's taking care of them and he tells them to pray for themselves, they would not enter into temptation. Our second point is found in verse 41 and 42. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and he knelt down and prayed, saying, Father, if it is your will, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. Our Lord is in distress. And what does he do? He prays. In fact, he prays the way that he taught his disciples. Remember how he taught our disciples, how he teaches us how to pray? your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That's what he prayed here. Not my will. Now, we have the great mystery. Of Christ being God and man. Now, Christ is God, his will is the same as the father's will, but when he says not my will, he's talking about his humanity. I cannot even begin to scratch the surface with regards to what that means. It's a great mystery that Christ is God and man. and yet he prays not for his own will to be done. He takes a humble posture. He became like us. He made his request known to the Father in a posture of submission. He says, Your will be done, not my will be done. Your will be done. In essence, what our Lord was saying was that if sinners can be saved, If you, O Father in Heaven, can be praised and glorified apart from me going through this sacrifice of being forsaken by you. If this could be done, great, but if not, your will be done, not my will be done. And here we see the captain of our salvation made perfect through suffering. Not his will to be done, the Father's will must be done. Now, these next four points are the unique things or qualities here in Luke's account, and we find that in verse 43. It's not found in Matthew remark, and here we see in verse 43, then an angel appeared to him from heaven, strengthening him, an angel from heaven sent by God. It appears that the Lord in heaven heard his son's prayer and he sent an angel to strengthen him. He was comforted by an angel. Now, remember, the Lord Jesus, like us, he was made a little lower than the angels. Christ could have comforted himself just by going to his very own deity, but it's almost as if he ignores his deity here. He could have been comforted by his very own deity, but he didn't. He humbled himself. He could have been comforted by God the Father. The Father could have split the heavens, couldn't he, and said, You are my son in whom I am well pleased. He could have done that, couldn't he? But he didn't. He did that when he was baptized. He did that when he was transferred on that great mount. But the father did not do that. It's almost as if Christ was saying, I am not worthy to have a face to face conference with you, father, but only send the word. That's all I need. So he did. Now, what did the angel say? What could the angel have done to comfort our Lord? I can't exegete between black and white. That much I do know. I can't say thus sayeth the Lord. I'm not going to be like some of those guys who seem to know these great mysteries and know what Christ was writing when he was on the sand when it doesn't even say in the word of God. But I think we can use a little sanctified common sense to see how our Lord was comforted. And I'm open for any other suggestions, too, as well. But how did the angel comfort our Lord? I would suggest to you a couple of things. The angel probably said You will not be forever forsaken. He's going to be forsaken by the father, but the angel may have reminded him it was not going to be forever. He may have reminded him that he would indeed succeed. The angel may have reminded him that he was doing the father's will by suffering horribly at the hands of men and then eventually by the hands of a righteous judge. He may have comforted him. was saying that his suffering was to secure the salvation for those that the Father had given him. He was going to be doing the will of the Father. And it appears that he was strengthened by this. Now, what happens when you and I get strengthened? We usually stop praying. Did our Lord stop praying here? He was strengthened. It says that he was strengthened by the angel. I got the answer what I needed. Why should I pray anymore? But the Lord doesn't stop there. He continues to pray. He keeps praying. And the other unique part here, the second unique part here of Luke. It's found in the first part of verse 44, where he says in being in agony, he prayed more earnestly and Matthew and Mark, it just says that he used the same words. He fell down and prayed three times. But in here, Luke says that being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. There was more earnest prayer. It would appear that the answer came from the angel to strengthen him. But that didn't stop him from his praying. Why? Because he still had to go through the trial. And so if you get the answer and the answer is you have to go through the trial, then you say, OK, let's go through the trial. No, our Lord is going to pray even more earnestly with regards to this trial. He may have used the same words, but he prayed with more effort, with more heart. Here he is viewed with more earnestness. Hebrews 5, 7 says that he offered up prayers and supplications with vehement cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death and was heard because of a godly fear. So he was heard. But he still died. God's answer to him was, no, my will be done, not yours. You will indeed have to die. He got the word from the father that he was going to have to die. He was still heard. Remember, three days later, he was raised from the dead. He was heard. But I want you to notice that our Lord here, being God and yet man, knowing all things, still prayed earnestly. We already know the application, brethren. I don't even have to say it. You already know it, so I'm not going to. You read my mind. If you're sleeping and you just woke up just now, let me help you here. For those of you that weren't sleeping, you know what I'm going to say. We need to pray more earnestly. Even when the answer comes, we need to pray more earnestly. Jesus Christ is our example in that. point here with regards to Luke is found in the second part of verse 44. With Luke being a physician, we can take his word for this. And he says, Then his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Here we have our Lord's sweats and his blood mingled because of this great anguish that he's going through. This anguish, this agony was so intense that his entire human nature recoiled at the terror that was awaiting him. And it happened in such a way that his sweat and his blood became mingled and it hit the ground that sound. You can almost hear the sound hitting, looking down and you see the sweat with the blood. Our Lord, if I could just be directed to the point, he was being torn apart by agony. His spirit was broken, his body was broken. Some of my commentators that I read told me that herein is part of the battle that our Lord had even with Satan. Even with Satan. In John 14, the Lord said that the deceiver is coming, but he has nothing in me. He is coming. He may have used the same temptation he used when he was in the wilderness. See, you're forsaken by your father. Because we must see during this time was being placed on the Lord, that the Father was withdrawing his presence from him, more and more away from him, to where he's coming to that point of being utterly forsaken. And can it be that the devil may have been tempting him? See, you're not loved by the Father. If you're the Son of God, arise up from all of this. It may have tempted him to do something else. Regardless of what was happening, In terms of the devil is there tempting him or not, it's just that the struggle with sin, the struggle with the very fact that he's going to be separated from the father. There are many things that were going on here. The bottom line is. He was being torn apart by agony and was manifested by his sweat and his blood being mingled together. I don't think there's anyone here in this place that has had that type of a struggle to where you sweat. And your blood is mingled with sweat. It was an intensity that just cannot be measured. Cannot be measured. Because he was going to have to go through it. Just the mere report of the wrath of the judge caused him to sweat and to bleed. Just the mere report. Now imagine him having to go through it. He knew he was going to have to go through it. That's why he would pray three times, Father, that your will make this cup, this cup of wrath pass from me. But nevertheless, not your will, not my will be done, but your will be done. And then the fourth unique thing that we find here is that our Lord arises, as he does in Matthew and Mark. He comes to his disciples and he found them sleeping in verse 45. The last part of 45 tells us the reason why they were sleeping. They were sleeping from sorrow. The other passages don't mention that at all. They were sleeping from sorrow. They had an intense night as well. They were told that their master was going to die. They were told that one of them would betray him. Remember, they said, is it I? Is it I? They were even told that one of them would deny that one of them was Peter. And that all would forsake him. There's got to be some amount of sorrow. They've never had a night like this before. where our Lord is saying, this is it. This is my last supper. I will not drink of this cup or eat of this bread again until I drink it anew with you and you're in my father's kingdom. But all they heard is death. And sometimes we escape from great sorrow and the intensity level is turned up so high that the only thing we can do sometimes is our eyes get heavy and we sleep. And that's what they did. They slept from sorrow. Notice our Lord doesn't really bust their chops too tough. He really doesn't. When you take a look at the last part of 46, he says, why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation. Temptation is right around the corner from them. He's going to be arrested and they are all going to forsake him. He says, rise up and pray. In other words, rise up within your spirit, not stand up and pray, but rise up within your spirit and pray, lest you enter into temptation. In spite of his difficulty, our Lord was going to go through the agony that he had already experienced. He still had time to take care of his sleep of disciples. for their temptation was right around the corner. So those are the six things for us to consider as we partake of the table, and I have a couple of applications here. As one of the elders will come and take this bread and break it, it symbolizes our Lord's body as well as his spirit. We never think sometimes of his spirit being broken, but his spirit was broken as well. His body and spirit was indeed broken. That which makes up a man, his spirit was there. the anguish, the agony that he had. It was not only the physical abuse he was going to encounter, but it was also the spiritual, the part of him that's unseen, but is manifested in physical ways. The agony, the sweat, the blood, the forsaking. So when we partake of this table, and we normally take up the bread and we break it so you all can see that, is to show you of the brokenness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are to do this in remembrance of Him. Secondly, it seems I always come to the second point. I've checked some of my messages over the last couple of years whenever doing a community meditation, it's always in my list of application. But a view of this will keep us from taking sin lightly. It needs repeating. One of our hymns, illustrates this beautifully in hymn 192, Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted. You probably know it. Do not worry, I'm not going to sing it for you. It says in the second stanza, tell me you who, I'll 21st centuryize it, tell me you who hear him groaning, let me find it here, the third stanza, You who think of sin but lightly, nor suppose the evil great." It's not that big of a deal, sin. That's what your flesh will tell you. And that's what many will say. The sin's not that big of a deal. It's only a little one, isn't it? He says, You who think of sin but lightly, nor suppose the evil great. Here may view its nature rightly. What's the here? The death of our Lord, the agony that he went through. Here may view its nature rightly. Here its guilt may estimate. The guilt of all of his people were placed on Christ. I can't even imagine that the guilt of myself is enough as it is, but the guilt of all this people being placed on him. Incredible to bear, but here a view of this, even a view of this ordinance will keep us from taking our sin lightly. We may take other people's sins pretty serious, but it's for us right here where we take personal responsibility for our sin, whatever sin it is that we have played around with this week, whatever we have done that has been wrong. and sin in the sight of God, don't play games with it right now. Confess it to God, whatever it may be, the smallest one as well as the largest one. When you get down to it, sin is still rebelling against God. There's no such thing as a white sin or a white lie. A lie is a lie and a sin is sin. And a view of this will keep us from taking sin lightly. Thirdly, this should encourage us during our times of temptation. We are not to enter into temptation. as part of the Lord's Prayer, is it not? Lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil. We should be able to have some discernment that if we were to go into a certain place or be with certain people, we're entering into temptation. I'll use the gross illustration of the man who was a drunk and now he's been converted and he's going back to the bar. No, he's entering into temptation there. That's what he is doing. But if he's there and someone comes and offers him a drink and he can't drink, he says, no, I will not drink. I'm afraid I might get drunk. The temptation has come to him, but he's prayed and he's not entering into that temptation. We need to do that in a lot of different ways with some of the things that we watch, the company we may keep. But this should encourage us with regards to our temptation not to enter into temptation, but rather enter into praying. Pray every day that God will keep you from temptation. And then, fourthly, a view of this will keep us from taking this ordinance lightly, or a view of this should help us to gladly partake of these elements, considering the great price that was paid. The agony that our Lord went through, thankfully, those of us that are in Christ will never have to go through that, ever. Never, ever have to do that. And those that are not in Christ, what has been described here is nothing in comparison to the hell that awaits you if you do not repent. and believe upon the Savior. So hopefully this will be of help to us as we partake of this ordinance. Let's pray. Our Father and our God, You've seen fit to display to us Your Word. You've seen fit to give us Your Word. And we thank You that You've seen fit to give Your Son to exchange our sin for his righteousness. We thank you, our Father, for our holy Lord Jesus, for the great pains that he went through to secure our salvation. We worship you, we praise you, and we ask now as we partake of these elements that you would use this ordinance, this institution that your Son has ordained for the benefit of your people's souls. Please help us, Father, as we consider these truths, as we meditate upon the things that our Lord and Savior has accomplished on our behalf. We thank you, Father. We praise you. We long for the day to be with you for all eternity, to continue to praise you with an unsinning heart. Hear and answer our requests, Father, for we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.