Series — The Road to the Resurrection — Message 13 — Not My Will But Thine Be Done
The Road to the Resurrection • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
Good morning Church! It’s good to see each and every person who could make it out this morning and all those who may be joining online.
Today, we continue on in our series: The Road to the Resurrection.
Over the last 3 months or so we have been journeying this road getting closer to the end with each and every passing week.
Over the past few weeks we’ve looked at the feast of the Passover and the final meal Jesus had with His disciples.
We’ve seen the humility of Christ in that one of the greatest lessons He gave to His disciples was His last with the attitude of a servant in washing their feet.
We’ve seen His declaration that one of His most trusted followers would eventually desert Him and betray Him to the High Priests.
We’ve seen the declaration of the disciples that they would follow Jesus all the way to the end with the leader, Peter, going as far as saying, “Lord, I will never desert you! I will die for you but I will never leave you!”
Last week, we seen them do the very thing they claimed they would never do!
We seen all of them forsake Jesus and flee! Even Peter, the boldest one of them all!
And today, we’re going to see Jesus face one of the most challenging times in His life and once again, we will also see His most trusted followers fall victim to the circumstances of this world instead of remaining strong and vigilant in the face of adversity!
Today’s message… “Not My Will But Thine Be Done.”
Matthew 26: 36 if you have it would you say, Amen.
The Place of Christ’s Appeal — (Vs. 36)
The Place of Christ’s Appeal — (Vs. 36)
The first thing I want us to see this morning is where this appeal to the Father by the Son takes place.
The Bible tells us here in Verse 36 that it takes place in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Now, the very name Gethsemane speaks of an oil press and it is believed that this was an enclosed garden somewhere near the base of the Mount of Olives and that had in it some olive trees along with a press to make olive oil.
Luke’s gospel tells us that this was apparently a place that Jesus went frequently.
39 Then, accompanied by the disciples, Jesus left the upstairs room and went as usual to the Mount of Olives.
It’s at this place that Jesus would make His final appeal to the Father.
Now that we’ve seen the place of the appeal, let’s look next at the people accompanying Christ at His appeal.
The People Accompanying Christ’s Appeal — (Vs. 36-37)
The People Accompanying Christ’s Appeal — (Vs. 36-37)
The Bible tells us here that Christ took 11 of the disciples with Him to the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas having been absent...off betraying Jesus.
Then, the Bible tells us that Jesus takes three of these men with Him to accompany Him in His appeal.
He takes Peter, James and John the sons of Zebedee.
Now, this wasn’t the first time that Jesus has taken these three men with Him into a private setting.
These three men also accompanied Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration when Jesus met with Moses and Elijah and they got to experience the voice of God the Father as well.
These three men were also with Jesus when He raised Jairus daughter back to life.
And now, Jesus invites them to join Him as He begins to make this final appeal to His Father.
Now, before I move on, I find here a principle that I feel we should all put into practice in our own personal lives.
Jesus had many followers; many who believed He was the Messiah but He only had 12 disciples and out of those twelve, we only ever see Him take three into His most intimate situations.
I feel the lesson that needs to be learned here is this…there are going to be times in each of our lives when we are going to need someone in our inner circle.
Jesus took these three with Him to teach them and to make Himself known more fully yes, but in this specific instance we see Jesus set them apart to watch for Him.
They were to be there for Him.
Jesus knew that Judas was on the way and He asks those in His innermost circle to stay watch and keep a lookout for Him.
Listen Church, God doesn’t want us to do thing we call life alone. That’s why He places certain people in our lives and allows our lives to cross paths.
We need people we can rely on; people we can trust to have our backs when the enemy is on the prowl; people who will stand strong with us when the end is near.
Peter, James and John were those three men for Jesus.
He put His trust in these men that they would carry on His legacy once He was gone; that they would stand strong in the face of adversity; that they would preach the good news unwavering and in this very moment, that they would stand watch while He makes His greatest appeal to His Father.
So, we’ve now set the scene by looking at the place and the people of the final appeal.
Now, let’s get into the precepts of the appeal.
The Precepts and Pain Before the Appeal — (Vs. 37-38)
The Precepts and Pain Before the Appeal — (Vs. 37-38)
After taking Peter, James and John, the men who made up Jesus inner circle, a little further, Jesus begins to explain to them what’s going on.
“My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here and watch with me.”
Watch — (grēgoreō) — stay awake, to keep watch, to be alert, be vigilant.
Jesus knew His hour was at hand but needed these men, His most trusted followers, to keep an eye out as He makes His final appeal to His father.
John G Butler — First, the pain was distressful. “Sorrowful and very heavy” (Matthew 26:37). The word translated “sorrowful” means “to affect with sadness, cause grief” (Thayer). The words “very heavy” are from one Greek word which means “to be troubled, much distressed” (Vine). The pain was very distressing, very upsetting.
Second, the pain was disabling. “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful” (Matthew 26:38). The word translated “exceedingly sorrowful” means “surrounded with grief” (Zodhiates). The idea of disabling comes from the fact that surrounded with grief means the grieving one is hemmed in with sorrow. Every escape route from sorrow is blocked. Thus he is disabled by sorrow.
Third, the pain was deadly. “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death” (Matthew 26:38). The pain of sorrow was so great it could kill.
Jesus was in pure agony at this moment. Agony from what though we ask?
Was it the thought of dying that was causing the agony?
Was it the thought of the cross that caused this massive grief?
I mean, no one wants to die at the age of 33 and these could have very well been part of the grief but I truly believe the depth of the grief goes much deeper than this.
Jesus knew His mission was to come and die for the sins of the world but I believe it wasn’t the dying that had Him in such distress and grief but rather the thought of the wrath that was about to be poured out upon Him by the Father for the sins of the world.
Jesus had never sinned. As the one and only Son of God, as God Himself, all He ever knew was righteousness. He was righteous. The Bible says He knew no sin nor was any guile found in His mouth.
But Jesus knew the effects of sin upon mankind. He had seen it first hand from the very beginning. He knew what life was like before sin and He knew what it was like afterwards and now, in just a few hours, all the sins of mankind would be poured out upon Him and the only thing I think He could think of was the consequences of that sin being placed upon Him.
He thought of the grief that it would cause His Father. He thought of the consequences it was about to bring. And all of this pain and suffering that was about to take place was grieving our Lord’s soul to His core!
24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
This is what Jesus feared the most! The rejection of His own Father because of the sin that would be poured out upon Him on the cross!
So He tells Peter, James and John to wait and watch and then in Verse 39 we see the...
The Privacy and the Posture of the Appeal — (Vs. 39a)
The Privacy and the Posture of the Appeal — (Vs. 39a)
The Bible tells us that Jesus went a little further and fell on His face and prayed!
This appeal was one that could only be done in private and He performed it in the most humble of positions with His face on the ground.
We often see pictures and paintings of Jesus in the garden with His head looking up but that is not scriptural. The Bible tells us here that Christ was face down as meek and low as He could get as He made this final appeal.
John Phillips — We need to think how far He had already come. He had come all the way from glory to Galilee—by way of a virgin’s womb; by way of Bethlehem, Egypt, Nazareth; by way of a manger; by way of a carpenter’s bench. He had come all the way from Galilee to Gethsemane—by way of Jordan; by way of Capernaum; by way of many a long mile, as a man on many a mission of mercy and miracle. Now He would go from Gethsemane to Gabbatha, from Gabbatha to the grave, and from the grave back to glory.
Then, we see the petition itself and the priority of the appeal.
The Petition and the Priority of the Appeal — (Vs. 39b)
The Petition and the Priority of the Appeal — (Vs. 39b)
Jesus asks the Father if there’s any other way to accomplish these plans... “please let this cup pass from me…nevertheless, Father let your will be accomplished if there’s no other way!”
42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
You see Church, the only thing that pleased Jesus was pleasing the Father.
If you look in...
38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
Jesus main priority was to please the Father and going all the way back to Isaiah we can see this is exactly what His sacrifice did!
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
3 For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Jesus appealed to the Father in the most sincere and earnest way that He could but deep down, He knew that there was no other way and because of that, the priority of His appeal is not to get His will accomplished but the Father’s.
I wonder how many times each of us goes to God in prayer just like this except the last thing on our mind is asking for God’s will to be done.
All we’re worried about is asking God to accomplish our will never giving His will a second thought.
And then the thing we pray for never comes to fruition or the healing we were praying for never comes and we get upset with God because He didn’t answer our prayers.
The reality is that it was never about our will but God’s that would be done in the first place.
And if we’d just simply understand that and go to God as the Bible says we should in 1st John we’d be so much better off!
14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
According to His will!
Did you hear that?
If so, say amen.
We can have confidence in knowing that if we ask anything according to His will, he heareth us and if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions we desired of him.
And some of you are sitting here and saying to yourselves in this very moment…but He didn’t answer His own Son’s prayer!
And the reason He didn’t is because it wasn’t according to His will!
So the next time you get upset with God because He didn’t answer the prayer you were praying, instead of getting upset remember, if He didn’t answer the petition of His own Son, who are we to get upset when He doesn’t answer ours?
At the end of the day we have to come to the point where our mentality is the same as Jesus’.
“Not my will but thine be done!”
Now, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pray.
Some might get the idea that God’s will is going to be done no matter what and therefore they don’t need to pray.
I would say that’s counter intuitive to the scripture.
How many times did Jesus tell His disciples to pray?
He gave an entire dialogue on praying in Sermon on the Mount if you will remember.
We spent about 6 weeks going over how Jesus taught us to pray!
So to get the idea that we don’t need to pray at all is pure foolishness.
If you never ask how will you ever know if it’s God’s will or not?
But if you ask and it doesn’t come to pass, you can know for sure that it wasn’t part of God’s plan and you can rest assured that you weren’t the first person who’s prayers weren’t part of God’s will.
If He spared not His own Son who are we to get upset when He doesn’t grant the petitions we ask of Him?
Now, to my Wednesday night class.
Does anyone remember what I asked you to remember?
What was the petition of Paul’s appeal to Philemon?
Anyone remember?
He told Philemon to prepare him a place for lodging remember?
Did Paul’s request get granted?
No it did not.
Paul died by the hand of Roman Emperor Nero while still being imprisoned at Rome.
He would never make it back to the Church at Colossae.
And all you can say is it simply wasn’t God’s will.
But I’ll tell you one thing that is God’s will for certain and that is this...
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Have you trusted in the Lord God almighty today to save your soul from a devil’s hell?
If not, what are you waiting on?
Some people get this hairbrained idea that God sends some people to hell just because He wants to and that they have no choice in the matter.
This verses says otherwise.
It’s not God’s will that any should perish…that any is talking about you this morning friend!
It’s not God’s will that any person should die and God to hell!
If a person dies and goes to hell this morning it’s because they have desired to go to hell!
You say preacher, I don’t think anyone desires to go there.
Well if you choose not to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ then you have in turn chosen hell over heaven, eternal death over eternal life, eternity separated from God instead of an eternity with God.
Those are choices each and every person who ends up in hell has to make.
You literally have to crawl over the cross of Christ to end up in hell and sadly many do it every single day!
Don’t make that same mistake this morning!
If you are here and lost dear friend you are in need of being saved and the only way you can be saved is by repenting of your sins and putting your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work at Calvary for the forgiveness of your sins!
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
If you have never trusted in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, this verse here tells us that you are on a one way street headed straight for hell where you will be condemned for all eternity!
Is that really what you want?
If so, know this…God will give you what you want but it will be against His will!
His will is that you will be gloriously saved but if you choose to remain lost…He’ll give you what you want.
I can assure you though this morning that there isn’t a single person in hell who wouldn’t give anything to trade places with you!
Just one more chance and I guarantee every single person in hell would choose Jesus!
Won’t you do the same this morning?
Choose Jesus before it’s too late!
It will be the best decision you will ever make I promise you!
Next, I want you to see the Proclamation in Jesus Appeal.
The Proclamation in the Appeal — (Vs. 40-41)
The Proclamation in the Appeal — (Vs. 40-41)
37 And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour?
I find it interesting that Jesus addresses Peter specifically here in Mark’s gospel and I find it even more interesting that Jesus addresses Peter as Simon instead of Peter.
Simon — Hebrew name means to hear; to be heard; speaks of reputation.
I think He addresses Peter specifically due to a couple reasons.
Just a few hours ago Peter said He’d die for Jesus if need be but He’s not disciplined enough to even stay awake and keep a watch for his Lord.
At the first sign of opportunity, Peter decides taking a nap is more beneficial that keeping watch for his Lord!
The second thing that comes to mind here is the very name of Peter. His name means to hear, to be heard, and reputation, right?
“Peter, what kind of reputation are you trying to earn seeing as you can’t even obey the simplest of tasks?
“If you want to be heard, if you want a good reputation, then you need to learn to be obedient!”
“Watch and pray lest you fall into temptation Peter! The spirit is willing (Mark says “ready”) but the flesh is weak!”
As I began to think about what Jesus is saying to Peter here this week I couldn’t help but to think of how true a statement that really is!
Our spirit is ready but our flesh is weak and if we aren’t spending enough time in prayer, then temptation comes and we aren’t prepared to face it and it overcomes us!
Just a few hours ago Peter stood up as the outspoken leader of the disciples and swore his allegiance to Christ and to the extent that he would even die for Jesus and now here he is and he can’t even stay away long enough for his Lord to make His final appeal.
His spirit was willing but his flesh was weak and Jesus said to stay awake and pray in order that they might not fall into temptation!
Maybe you’re sitting here this morning and your spirit is willing but your flesh is weak!
You keep giving in to those temptations and desires that would knock you off course from the path God has planned for you.
Maybe it’s drugs, maybe it’s alcohol, maybe it’s something totally different.
Whatever the case may be, know this…the Bible says in...
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Our weapons are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds!
And you know how?
Through prayer! That’s how!
Watch and pray!
The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak!
There’s the proclamation in the appeal and then we see Jesus persistence in the appeal!
The Persistence in the Appeal — (Vs. 42-44)
The Persistence in the Appeal — (Vs. 42-44)
Three times in total Jesus appealed to the Father for another way but in each, He reiterated the priority in the appeal...
Not my will, but thine be done!
Then, the Book of Luke tells us in...
43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
There is an actual condition known as Hematidrosis also known as Hematohidrosis and hemidrosis. It is a very rare condition in which an individual sweats blood. It may occur in an individual who is suffering from extreme levels of stress. Fear and intense mental contemplation are the most frequent causes.
Jesus prayed so fervently and He endured such grief and agony over what was coming that the very sweat from His brow turned as it were to blood the Bible says!
One thing I don’t want you to miss in this though is this…even though escaping the upcoming death of the cross was inevitable, God didn’t leave Him alone!
Do you see that?
In His greatest hour of need, when the world had turned it’s back on Him and even His own disciples were of no help, God sent His Son some help in the form of an angel!
This angel strengthened Jesus the Bible says!
No doubt he was there to encourage our Lord.
He brought news from the other side probably some news that Jesus needed in His greatest hour of need!
What once seemed an impossible task now could be accomplished from some help from above!
There is a sweet picture of promise I see here in this scripture.
In Hebrews 13:5 the Bible says that God will never leave us nor forsake us and then in...
14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
Isn’t it good to know this morning that if you are a born again child of God that you’ree never alone?
God sends us help in our greatest hour of need…help to strengthen us for the next leg of the journey!
Jesus received some help from above and I believe God provides this same help for all His saints!
Jesus was persistent in His appeal and lastly this morning I want you to see...
The Pronouncement After the Appeal — (Vs. 45-46)
The Pronouncement After the Appeal — (Vs. 45-46)
William Barclay — Jesus rose from his knees to go out to the battle of life. That is what prayer is for. In prayer, we kneel before God that we may stand erect before the world. In prayer, we enter heaven that we may face the battles of earth.