Prayer In Time Of Temptation
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Handout
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Introduction
Introduction
The need of every Christian is to be able to resist temptation to sin, or to be able to refuse the flesh its control over you.
But given what the Bible says happens when a person becomes a Christian the presence of sin is still alive and trying to control you.
Let’s review this:
So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,
being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;
and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.
But you did not learn Christ in this way,
if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,
that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,
and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.
Romans 6:12–19 (NASB95): 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,
13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!
16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?
17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,
18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.
I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died;
and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me;
for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.
So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,
because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,
and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;
and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
The reality that we face as those who are regenerate, is that we have a new spirit/soul inside of a body that is still sold into sin.
In other words, our inside is made in the newness of God, but our outside is still the same wicked body that has not been made new.
This is why we find ourselves thinking and doing ungodly things at times.
Sin dwells in us, that is, in our “mortal flesh” to this day.:
I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.
but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.
Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?
However, in our hearts, we agree with the Law of God and the Law of Christ and rejoice in God:
For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,
But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
These are lessons that the church must learn and learn well.
These are the lessons that Peter and his men need to learn, although the Holy Spirit has not come to this point yet.
The spotlight is on Peter:
It was Peter to whom the Lord spoke about the sifting of Satan:
“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat;
It would be Peter who would return and minister to the other apostles for their strengthening:
but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
It was Peter to whom the Lord prophesied of temporary defection:
And He said, “I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me.”
It would be Peter who would draw the sword and cut off the servant’s ear:
And one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear.
It would be Peter who would deny Christ 3 times:
Having arrested Him, they led Him away and brought Him to the house of the high priest; but Peter was following at a distance.
After they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter was sitting among them.
And a servant-girl, seeing him as he sat in the firelight and looking intently at him, said, “This man was with Him too.”
But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know Him.”
A little later, another saw him and said, “You are one of them too!” But Peter said, “Man, I am not!”
After about an hour had passed, another man began to insist, saying, “Certainly this man also was with Him, for he is a Galilean too.”
But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed.
The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.”
And he went out and wept bitterly.
But, it would be Peter to whom all the disciples looked in the upper room after Jesus’ ascension for direction:
At this time Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren (a gathering of about one hundred and twenty persons was there together), and said,
So, you can see the war that rages around Peter, and inside of Peter.
Satan was, indeed sifting him as wheat.
Today....Jesus is praying.
And He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed Him.
Καὶ ἐξελθὼν ἐπορεύθη κατὰ τὸ ἔθος εἰς τὸ Ὄρος τῶν Ἐλαιῶν, ἠκολούθησαν δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ οἱ μαθηταί.
When they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,
They came to a place named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here until I have prayed.”
“He came out”
= out of Jerusalem.
He was already leaving the upper room (John 14:31; 18:1).
Now He is traveling towards the east, up the mountain to the spot that they frequented while in Jerusalem.
“…as was His custom...”
= “according to the habit/custom”
Now during the day He was teaching in the temple, but at evening He would go out and spend the night on the mount that is called Olivet.
The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah Chapter 12: Gethsemane
Passing out by the gate north of the Temple, we descend into a lonely part of the valley of black Kidron, at that season swelled into a winter torrent. Crossing it, we turn somewhat to the left, where the road leads towards Olivet. Not many steps farther (beyond, and on the other side of the present Church of the Sepulchre of the Virgin) we turn aside from the road to the right, and reach what tradition has since earliest times—and probably correctly—pointed out as ‘Gethsemane,’ the ‘Oil-press.’ It was a small property enclosed (χωρίον), ‘a garden’ in the Eastern sense, where probably, amidst a variety of fruit trees and flowering shrubs, was a lowly, quiet summer-retreat, connected with, or near by, the ‘Olive-press.’ The present Gethsemane is only some seventy steps square, and though its old gnarled olives cannot be those (if such there were) of the time of Jesus, since all trees in that valley—those also which stretched their shadows over Jesus—were hewn down in the Roman siege, they may have sprung from the old roots, or from the old kernels. But we love to think of this ‘Garden’ as the place where Jesus ‘often’—not merely on this occasion, but perhaps on previous visits to Jerusalem—gathered with His disciples. It was a quiet resting-place, for retirement, prayer, perhaps sleep, and a trysting-place also where not only the Twelve, but others also, may have been wont to meet the Master. And as such it was known to Judas, and thither he led the armed band, when they found the Upper Chamber no longer occupied by Jesus and His disciples.
That place contained a garden, a place someone would sow seed and harvest for a crop.
κῆπος, -ου, ὁ, [in LXX for גַּן, גִּנָּה, גַּנָּה, De 11:10, Ca 4:12, al.;] a garden: Lk 13:19, Jo 18:1, 26; 19:41.†
It might be that it was Mark’s family garden.
When He arrived at the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
γενόμενος δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ τόπου εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, Προσεύχεσθε μὴ εἰσελθεῖν εἰς πειρασμόν.
“…coming upon that place...”
Jesus knew that this was the “place.”
It would be where He would be betrayed by His companion.
This “place” was predetermined by God.
In a sense, it is holy ground.
Here, the Son of God would pray/worship, and be betrayed into the hands of godless men.
The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah Chapter 12: Gethsemane
Whether it had been intended that He should spend part of the night there, before returning to the Temple, and whose that enclosed garden was—the other Eden, in which the Second Adam, the Lord from heaven, bore the penalty of the first, and in obeying gained life—we know not, and perhaps ought not to inquire
When He arrived at the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
Luke Luke 22:40
22:40 On reaching the place, he said to them. Although Luke did not mention the garden of Gethsemane, his readers may be aware of “the place” where Jesus was betrayed. Compare John 18:2.
Pray that you will not. As in Luke 14:7; 18:1, 9; 19:11 the theme of what follows is made clear at the beginning. Its repetition in 22:46 forms an inclusio. For similar teachings cf. 1 Cor 16:13; Eph 6:18; 1 Thess 5:6; 1 Pet 5:8.
Fall into temptation. Literally enter not into temptation. For the meaning of this phrase, see comments on 11:4. As in 11:4 the lack of the article before “temptation” should be noted. The prayer involves not so much a concern not to fall in the time of “The Temptation” at the end of history (cf. Matt 24:15–31; Rev 3:10) but rather not to fall in the daily encounters with temptation. This is made even clearer by the context, for Luke had in mind Peter’s temptation in the immediate future (22:31–34, 54–62).
A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research robertsongram XVIII.II.1(c)(δ)
But, as a rule, it is the ingressive aorist subj. used in prohibitions to forbid a thing not yet done or the durative present imper. to forbid the continuance of an act.
A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research robertsongram XVIII.II.1(a)(β)
(β) Ingressive Aorist. This is the inceptive or inchoative aorist. It is not, however, like the “constative” idea, a tensenotion at all. It is purely a matter with the individual verb.1 Thus ἐπτώχευσεν, 2 Cor. 8:9, is ‘became poor’; ἔζησεν, Ro. 14:9, is ‘became alive’ (cf. ἀπέθανεν just before).2 Perhaps in Jo. 16:3, οὐκ ἔγνωσαν, the meaning is ‘did not recognise.’3 But this could be constative. But it is clear in Jo. 1:10. So in ἕσοι ἔλαβον αὐτόν (Jo. 1:12) the ingressive idea occurs, as in οὐ παρέλαβον in verse 11. Cf. ἔκλαυσεν (Lu. 19:41)=‘burst into tears’ and ἔγνως (vs. 42)=‘camest to know.’ So ἐδάκρυσεν (Jo. 11:35). In Mt. 22:7 ὠργίσθη=‘became angry.’ Cf. also μὴ δόξητε (Mt. 3:9), ἀφύπνωσεν (Lu. 8:23), ἐθυμώθη (Mt. 2:16). In Lu. 15:32 ἔζησεν is ingressive, as is ἐκοιμήθη (Ac. 7:60), ἰσχύσαμεν μόλις (Ac. 27:16), μισήσωσιν (Lu. 6:22), ἠγάπησεν (Mk. 10:21), ἐλυπήθητε (2 Cor. 7:9), πλουτήσητε (2 Cor. 8:9). The notion is common with verbs expressing state or condition (Goodwin, Moods and Tenses, p. 16). Moulton quotes βασιλεύσας ἀναπαήσεται, ‘having come to his throne he shall rest,’ Agraphon, O.P. 654. See also ἔλαβα βιάτικον παρὰ Καίσαρος, B.G.U. 423 (ii/A.D.). Moulton (Prol., p. 248) cites Jo. 4:52, κομψότερον ἔσχεν, ‘got better,’ and compares it with ἐὰν κομψῶς σχῶ, Tb.P. 414 (ii/A.D.). Another instance is ἤγγισαν Mt. 21:1.4 Cf. ἐκτήσατο (Ac. 1:18).
Word Pictures in the New Testament Luke 22:40
Pray that ye enter not into temptation (προσευχεσθε μη εἰσελθειν εἰς πειρασμον [proseuchesthe mē eiselthein eis peirasmon]). “Keep on praying not to enter (ingressive aorist infinitive, not even once) into temptation.”
“…pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
“…pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
Jesus had been quiet to this point (John 18:1).
Now, the silence is broken and all Jesus says to the men is, “Pray that you may not neter into temptation.”
Pray that ye enter not into temptation (προσευχεσθε μη εἰσελθειν εἰς πειρασμον [proseuchesthe mē eiselthein eis peirasmon]). “Keep on praying not to enter (ingressive aorist infinitive, not even once) into temptation.”1
1 A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1933), Lk 22:40.
“But, as a rule, it is the ingressive aorist subj. used in prohibitions to forbid a thing not yet done or the durative present imper. to forbid the continuance of an act.”1
1 A. T. Robertson, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research (Logos Bible Software, 2006), 852.
This must refer to a temptation to sin, not the testing of our faith. God wants to do that and allows for that. However, God does not want us to enter into a temptation to sin so that we remain there and call it home.
†πειρασμός, -οῦ, ὁ (< πειράζω), [in LXX for מַסָּה, עִנְיָן;] 1. = πεῖρα, an experiment (Diosc.). 2. a trial, of ethical purpose and effect, whether good or evil (v. Hort on Ja 1:13); (a) in good or neutral sense: Ga 4:14, Ja 1:12, 1 Pe 4:12; esp. of afflictions sent by God (De 7:19, Si 2:1, al.): 2 Pe 2:9, Re 3:10; pl., Lk 22:28, Ac 20:19, Ja 1:2, 1 Pe 1:6; (b) of trial regarded as leading to sin, temptation: Lk 8:13, 1 Co 10:13, 1 Ti 6:9; of the temptation of Jesus by the devil, Lk 4:13; εἰσφέρειν (ἔρχεσθαι, εἰσέρχ-) εἰς π., Mt 6:13; 26:41, Mk 14:38, Lk 11:4; 22:40, 46; (c) of the testing or challenge of God by man (v.s. πειράζω, 3, c.): He 3:8 (LXX: Ps 94 (95):9, where κατὰ τ. ἡμέραν πειρασμοῦ = כְּיוֹם מַסָּה, as the day of Massah).†1
1 G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1922), 351–352.
See Luke 4:13
When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.
The key here is “enter into.” Jesus is saying that He does not want the disciples to go into temptation and participate it.
NIGNTC-Matthew; Noland
It would appear that, just as with the English word ‘trial’, πειρασμός has developed a usage that emphasizes the pressure and difficulty of trial but has lost the element of something to be determined by the trial. Various NT texts fit best here,338 and there is wider support for such a meaning.339 The prayer is to be spared times of great pressure, times which would prove very trying. The prayer reflects a sense of one’s own frailty and limitation, one’s vulnerability to situations in which one ‘is placed’.340 This sort of thinking would apply to the turmoil of the eschatological period but is here quite general in scope.
Assurance that such prayer is answered is expressed in the confident words of 2 Tim. 4:18: ‘The Lord will rescue me from every evil act (ἔργου πονηροῦ)’.
Jesus implies that a “trial” is about to happen.
It is imminent.
They must pray in order to stay out of the trial and its darkness.
Now, what Jesus commands them to do, He Himself does within their view, but out of their hearing.
And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray,
καὶ αὐτὸς ἀπεσπάσθη ἀπʼ αὐτῶν ὡσεὶ λίθου βολὴν καὶ θεὶς τὰ γόνατα προσηύχετο
“…a stone’s throw”
= Luke’s eyewitness account.
Indicates that Luke probably relied on the record of an eyewitness.
Luke does this.
And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by.
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.”
saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”
λέγων, Πάτερ, εἰ βούλει παρένεγκε τοῦτο τὸ ποτήριον ἀπʼ ἐμοῦ· πλὴν μὴ τὸ θέλημά μου ἀλλὰ τὸ σὸν γινέσθω. ⟦
Jesus spent all of John 17 praying to the Father.
Now, He prays for complete submission to the will of the Father, as hard as it is.
Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him.
ὤφθη δὲ αὐτῷ ἄγγελος ἀπʼ οὐρανοῦ ἐνισχύων αὐτόν.
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Luke 22:43–44
43 1Now an aangel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him.
44 And abeing in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.
A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, Second Edition (Luke 22:31–44)
22:43–44 [omit verses] {A}The absence of these verses in such ancient and widely diversified witnesses as 𝔓(69vid), 75 אa A B T W syrs copsa, bo armmss geo Marcion Clement Origen al, as well as their being marked with asterisks or obeli (signifying spuriousness) in other witnesses (Δc Πc 892c mg 1079 1195 1216 copbo mss) and their transferral to Matthew’s Gospel (after 26:39) by family 13 and several lectionaries (the latter also transfer ver. 45a), strongly suggests that they are no part of the original text of Luke. Their presence in many manuscripts, some ancient, as well as their citation by Justin, Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Eusebius, and many other Fathers, is proof of the antiquity of the account. On grounds of transcriptional probability it is less likely that the verses were deleted in several different areas of the church by those who felt that the account of Jesus being overwhelmed with human weakness was incompatible with his sharing the divine omnipotence of the Father, than that they were added from an early source, oral or written, of extra-canonical traditions concerning the life and passion of Jesus. Nevertheless, while acknowledging that the passage is a later addition to the text, in view of its evident antiquity and its importance in the textual tradition, a majority of the Committee decided to retain the words in the text but to enclose them within double square brackets.1
1 Bruce Manning Metzger, United Bible Societies, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, Second Edition a Companion Volume to the United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament (4th Rev. Ed.) (London; New York: United Bible Societies, 1994), 151.
And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.
καὶ γενόμενος ἐν ἀγωνίᾳ ἐκτενέστερον προσηύχετο· καὶ ἐγένετο ὁ ἱδρὼς αὐτοῦ ὡσεὶ θρόμβοι αἵματος καταβαίνοντες ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν.⟧
When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow,
καὶ ἀναστὰς ἀπὸ τῆς προσευχῆς ἐλθὼν πρὸς τοὺς μαθητὰς εὗρεν κοιμωμένους αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς λύπης,
Luke’s version lacks the threefold return of Jesus to the sleeping disciples, so that the emphasis is much more on the prayer of Jesus than the failure of the disciples. This omission and the fact that Luke attributes their sleep to ‘grief’ (λύπη*; for the use of ἀπό cf. 19:3; 24:41) have been thought to be attempts to exonerate the disciples, as compared with the Marcan picture. The thought of sleep as a result of grief has also been thought to be psychologically unlikely (Ps. 6:6; La. 1:2; Danker, 227). For the motif, however, see Jn. 16:6, 20–22; Mk. 14:19. Grief is psychologically comprehensible in the situation of leave-taking; whether it would lead to sleep is more debatable, but the NEB translation (‘worn out by grief’) points in this direction. Luke may be based on tradition here. I Howard Marshall, NIGNTC
“sleeping from sorrow”
“sleeping from sorrow”
They either were asleep because they were exhausted by their sorrow for Jesus and themselves.
Or,
They were asleep from a lack of sorrow (preposition ἀπὸ).
I take the former.
Sorrow made them exhausted.
Jesus had predicted that His blood would be poured out - Luke 22:19-20
And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.
Jesus told them one of them would betray them - Luke 22:21-23
“But behold, the hand of the one betraying Me is with Mine on the table.
“For indeed, the Son of Man is going as it has been determined; but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!”
And they began to discuss among themselves which one of them it might be who was going to do this thing.
The disciples were arguing - Luke 22:24
And there arose also a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest.
Peter had anticipated a sword battle - Luke 22:36-38
And He said to them, “But now, whoever has a money belt is to take it along, likewise also a bag, and whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one.
“For I tell you that this which is written must be fulfilled in Me, ‘And He was numbered with transgressors’; for that which refers to Me has its fulfillment.”
They said, “Lord, look, here are two swords.” And He said to them, “It is enough.”
Jesus told Peter that he could not join Him where He was going - John 13:36-38
Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered, “Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later.”
Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.”
Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times.
Conclusion
“But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”