Fruit from the Garden of Prayer, Part 2

A passage that was written hundreds
of years before regarding Christ, Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53 opens in
this fashion, it says, Who has believed our message and to whom
has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before
him like a tender shoot, like a root out of parched ground.
He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him,
nor appearance that we should be attracted to him. He was despised
and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” It is in grief that we find Christ
in this passage. It is in what one of the gospel
writers calls great agony that we find the Lord. And yet, even
in the midst of an agonizing season of life, The Lord Jesus
Christ found time to teach one last lesson. It took it upon
himself to use this this solemn and heavy occasion as an opportunity
to instruct his disciples and thereby us. If you would go to Luke chapter
22 will begin there. Matthew records that they had
gone out of that upper room singing a hymn and out into the night. And Luke picks up there in verse
39. And He came out and proceeded
as was His custom to the Mount of Olives. And the disciples
followed Him. As we read last week in Matthew
26, don’t turn there this morning, There is a lengthy period of
instruction that Luke doesn’t include, and essentially he is
apprising the disciples. Of the surety of their falling
away. Luke picks up in verse 40 when
he says when he arrived at the place. Which we now know is the
Garden of Gethsemane. He said to them, pray that you
may not enter into temptation. And here, if you would turn to
Matthew 26 and just consider verse 37 through 39, where it
records that Jesus took with him Peter and the two sons of
Zebedee, James and John, 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. Mark’s gospel would add here
that Jesus prayed specifically that if it were possible, the
hour might pass him by. Back to Luke’s gospel, if you
would, where Luke records in verse 41 and he withdrew from
them. About a stone’s thrown, he knelt
down and began to pray, saying, Father, if you are willing, remove
this cup from me. Yet not as my will, but yours
be done. Now an angel from heaven appeared
to him, strengthening him. And being in agony, he was praying
very fervently. And his sweat became like drops
of blood falling down upon the ground. When he rose from prayer,
he came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow.
and said to them, why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that
you may not enter into temptation. Matthew and Mark both add a second
and a third episode of prayer and sleeping where Jesus repeatedly
found the disciples sleeping while they should have been praying. As I said, Jesus uses this episode
in his life, which really should have been all about him. He uses
this episode in his life to minister to others by way of instruction. As one said, we enter into the
inner sanctuary of gospel history, the awe inspiring commencement.
of the Lord’s passion, the final drama of His voluntary and complete
self-surrender to God. And as I said, it should have
been all about Christ. The disciples all should have
been praying and ministering to Him. And yet Jesus, even in
that moment, turns to serve His disciples by teaching them one
of the things that we struggle with most, and that is prayer.
We struggle with prayer almost every time I’ve ever preached
about it. People say that that is the most convicting sermon
that they had ever heard. And this message, not unlike
the last. J.C. Ryle said of prayer, let
us take care that we use our master’s remedy. If we want comfort
in affliction, Whatever other means of relief we use, let us
pray. The first friend we should turn
to ought to be God. The first message we should send
ought to be to the throne of grace. No depression of spirits
must prevent us. No crushing weight of sorrow
must make us dumb. It is a prime device of Satan
to supply the afflicted man with false reasons for keeping silence
before God. What’s the use? You’ve already
prayed. Certainly not you to come before
the throne of grace. These are all common devices
that the devil uses to keep you from praying. And yet Jesus,
Not only models, but exhorts. He exhorts his disciples and
therefore. He exhorts us to pray to come
before the throne of grace to make God the first one we call
out to. To pray. As I suggested, as we
began to look last week, I suggested that there are lessons to be
gained here from Christ’s prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Fruit, as I said, from the garden of prayer, the first thing we
began to look at last week is that there should be a regularity
to our prayer. It should be a regular feature
of our lives repeated. Go to verse thirty nine, if you
would, in Luke’s gospel, where Luke records that Jesus came
out as was his custom. Now, what Luke goes on to point
out there is that it was a regular feature of Jesus life when he
was in Jerusalem to go to the Mount of Olives. And many other
occasions were not let in as to why Jesus went to the Mount
of Olives, but on this occasion, it takes us into the inner sanctum,
if you will, of exactly why Jesus went there. There was a little
glade, a little clearing, An area where Jesus would often
go and pray. That was his main purpose. And
we saw that throughout his life, throughout Jesus life, that was
a recurring feature, a recurring desire of Christ to go and to
be with the Father. Jesus gave the Olivet Discourse.
From this mountain, and if that’s all we knew of, Jesus habits,
that would be enough. But God is faithful to let us
in and to let us into this most delicate of moments. It wasn’t
just a retreat center, as we saw last week. It wasn’t just
a an olive grove. It wasn’t just a little farm,
an orchard, if you will, that it was a place where Jesus retired. To get away from the noise, to
get away from the hassle, but more than anything, to get with
his heavenly father. Luke goes on in verse 40 to point
out, as I already read, that this little favorite spot of
Christ Luke just merely refers to as the place. It was the place,
it was Gethsemane. We don’t know exactly what the
accoutrements were there. Was there a bench? Was there?
We certainly can surmise there wasn’t a chapel. And yet there
was a garden, a place. Or perhaps a well was dug for
weary travelers, and it says that Jesus often went there.
Maybe even the vineyard owner was a lover of God. A Jew who truly loved and served
God and created this place for just such a purpose. Whatever
means, Jesus found it. However rude and however plain
the furnishings were there for him. Was it merely a clearing
in this orchard? We don’t know. Conjecture here isn’t helpful. We find places like that helpful
from time to time, places that are designed as places of prayer.
Sometimes people get in a rut where they can’t pray unless
they go to those kinds of places, little prayer gardens, parks,
a walk in the mountains. Jesus sought it and found it
and made regular use of it, it says. And prayer and prayer to
God time with his heavenly father, as we saw last week, was a regular
feature of Christ’s life. Matthew 14, 23, he went up on
the mountain by himself to pray. Mark 135 in the early morning,
while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went
away to a secluded place and was praying Luke 5, 15 and 16. Because of the crowds, Jesus
himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray before
naming the twelve apostles before the Mount of Transfiguration.
It seems that every juncture of Christ’s ministry, he would
pull aside to pray. And if Jesus, as we said last
week, if Jesus needed that time in prayer, that time spent with
the heavenly father, how much more do we? How much more do
we need to pull away for those seasons of prayer? One writer
said, occasional seasons of retirement for long continued prayer, whether
to a private room or the solitude of nature, are much needed in
this hurried age. There is something very impressive
in the depths of the forest or the recesses of a mountain as
a scene of solitary prayer. The forest groves were God’s
first temples and the noblest houses of worship cannot so powerfully
appeal to our feelings of devotion. The wilderness is the mother
of quiet. It is a calm and a harbor delivering
us from all turmoil. It ought to be for the Christian
a regular feature to get with the father and to pray. Secondly,
we. So last week that not only should
there be a regularity to our prayer, there should be an intentionality
to our prayer, not just prayer and not just words rolling off
seemingly out of our mind, but rather mindless. We have to admit
from time to time we are just going through the motions, we’re
just talking, we’re just kind of almost mumbling and murmuring
before God. But if you go back to the passage
in verse 40, It says that when Jesus arrived at the place, he
said to them, pray that you not be pray that you may not enter
into temptation. There was an intentional request
that Jesus put before them. There was a purpose to it. Jesus
knew what the evening held. Jesus knew what the next thousand
years held. Jesus knows what’s ahead in your
life. And Jesus advice would be no different today than it
was that night. Pray that you may not enter into temptation. We don’t know how many of the
apostles Jesus said that to. Some have said that it was to
all eleven. Some say it was just to the eighth that would remain
behind. Some say that it was just the three that Jesus pulled
off with him. Peter and James and John. As I said last week, I take it
to be a universal appeal. Were there any of them that didn’t
need to watch and pray and pray that they would not specifically
enter into temptation? Are there any of us? No. And that’s why I believe that
Jesus, when he said, pray that you not enter into temptation,
he was speaking to all 11. He was giving them all a command
to pray specifically. The point that we looked at last
week is oftentimes we don’t pray with great specificity. We don’t
pray particulars. We don’t pray that God would
prevent us from falling into temptation. We don’t pray for
specific prayer requests. We just pray general blessings.
Pray general confessions. General prayers. And Jesus says, I want you to
pray with particularity. I want you to pray with specificity.
I want you to come before God and ask him for what it is you
really and deeply need. There is to be an intentionality
to our prayer, there is to be a clarity and a focus. Thirdly,
and this is where we pick up from last week. And considering
the fruit from the garden of prayer, the lessons that we gain
from Christ In the garden, not only should there be a regularity
and an intentionality to our prayer, there should be a yieldedness
to our prayer. We should pray specifically.
We should ask God for exactly what it is we need. Yet, when
it’s all said and done. We should open our hands and
release those prayer requests to God. And to wait. for a gift from his hand. Matthew
records that Jesus went a little beyond them. And he fell down
on his face and he prayed. Luke records even more clearly
that he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw. And it’s an amazing word, as
we began to see last week. that Jesus was literally torn
away from his disciples or literally he tore himself away. Which points
to the fact that Jesus was reluctant to pull away from his disciples
on this particular occasion. He wanted to be with his father.
Yet he wanted to be with his disciples. As one said, he was drawn away
by the violence of his emotion. which was too strong to tolerate
the sympathy of even his closest friends, too strong a word to
use of mere separation. Jesus tore himself away to go
and cleave to the father. Matthew and Mark are far less
colorful in describing the scene. Both of them simply indicate
that Jesus went a little beyond the disciples. Those final three, Peter, James
and John, and he knelt down and began to pray. There have been
debates, even fights throughout church history, church splits,
denominations built up all around the position of prayer. And some
have used this very argument that Jesus knelt down to pray,
and yet the standard position for prayer was standing. The
standard position for prayer, typically, certainly in the temple,
was standing with uplifted arms, palms heavenward. There’s an
interesting difference here in what the gospel writers record.
Matthew says that Jesus fell on his face to pray. Mark says
that Jesus fell to the ground to pray. And as I pointed out
last week, there are some people that have Lost faith in the Gospels
and the diversity of the Gospels, because they are seemingly contradictory
on this point. There’s no inaccuracy here. The Gospel writers merely record
different moments of this scene communicated to them by the Holy
Spirit. Perhaps some of it was observed,
but the prayer perhaps wasn’t or wasn’t heard. What Mark says,
all Jesus or what Mark records is that Jesus just fell to the
ground, just omitting the fact that he fell to the ground on
his knees. And as Jesus prayer intensifies,
ultimately he falls prostrate on his face as Matthew records. But as I said, standing was the
typical posture of prayer. Luke 11, the Pharisees stood
Pardon me, Luke 18, 11, the Pharisees stood and was praying to himself.
Remember that scene? Matthew 6, 5, when you pray,
you’re not to be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray.
It wasn’t the standing that Jesus was rebuking. It was the fact
that they did it in such a public fashion. First Kings Solomon,
when he had finished praying the entire prayer and the supplication
to the Lord, he rose before the altar of the Lord from kneeling
on his knees with his hands spread toward heaven. There’s nothing
wrong with kneeling. But as we said last week, God
is far more concerned with the attitude, the position of your
heart than the position of your body in prayer. Jesus fell on his knees And he
was praying before the father, verse 42. Father, if you are
willing. Remove this cup from me. Mark
points out the fact that Jesus knowingly admitted all things
are possible for you. Jesus wasn’t asking, is there
maybe a chance that you could do this, God? Jesus knew it. God, the father was capable of.
He’s not asking about his ability, he’s asking about his willingness.
Remove this cup from me, let this cup pass from me, as Matthew
inserts. Mark says that even with a little
bit different wording, if it were possible, the hour, not
the cup, would pass him by. As one points out, that little
phrase, if possible. proceeds the substance of the
prayer and makes clear that Jesus was not pressing for anything
that was against the Father’s will. The question at issue was
not whether Jesus should do the Father’s will, but whether that
necessarily included the way of the cross. Now, Jesus knows
that this is the mission for which he has come, but it was
the kind of death that he faced. That was the ordeal. And as one writer points out,
that’s the ordeal that from which human nature naturally sinks.
The natural human desire to avoid that kind of scene, the cup,
when Jesus points to the cup. It’s an Old Testament metaphor,
isn’t it? And a familiar one for us. It’s a person’s fortune,
it’s how the writers would often speak of a person’s lot or fortune
in life, whether it was good or bad. Psalm 116 says it this
way, upon the wicked, he will rain snares, fire and brimstone,
burning wind will be the portion of their cup. Their lot in life
is to gain the retribution of God. Speaking there of the wicked. Psalm 16, 5. The Lord is the
portion of my inheritance and my cup. They’re speaking of the
blessings or the glories of following the Lord. Psalm 23, a familiar
passage. You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies. You have anointed my head with
oil. My cup overflows. And by that he speaks of the
blessings that are so abundant in his life. Psalm 75, verse
eight, a cup is in the hand of the Lord and the wine foams.
It is well mixed. He pours it out of this. Surely
all of the wicked of the earth must drink down its dregs. They’re pointing to. A cup of
cursing. But in the New Testament. This
cup that is spoken of is often or typically of the sufferings
of Christ. That’s what’s pointed to in Mark
14. That he was saying, Abba, Father,
all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. It is the cup of suffering, the
cup of. Agony from which Christ must
drink, that’s the context. That is also present in John’s
Gospel, John 18, 11, when Jesus said to Peter, put the sword
into the sheath. The cup which the father has
given me, shall I not drink it? This cup of suffering, this cup
of death. In Matthew chapter 20. Jesus
said, you do not know what you are asking when they were basically
seeking positions of authority and privilege. He said, you do
not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup
that I’m about to drink this cup of suffering, this cup of
death? You say, well, how is it that Jesus was seeking to
avoid that? Everything from the very beginning
points to the fact that this is exactly why Jesus came. One writer summarized it well
when he said in every normal person. There exists the urge
to continue to live accompanied by an aversion from suffering
and death. Jesus, completely man and not
subject to any blunting of his emotions, infinitely more sensitive
in his feeling of repugnance to unnatural things, and death
is unnatural. It is impossible in his perfect
humanity not to experience a feeling of opposition to the idea of
impending humiliation, suffering and death. And all this is made
the more intense through his knowledge that he is not only
going to suffer and die. But that he will have to undergo
this as the expiatory sacrifice for the sin of guilty humanity. The holy and just wrath of God
against sin fall upon him in full measure because he is not
because he has put himself unreservedly in the place of guilty mankind.
The judgment pronounced on sin is death spiritual as well as
physical and as spiritual death. It means being utterly forsaken
by God. That’s what Jesus disdained. That’s what Jesus could hardly
bear in this moment. With the seemingly broken fellowship
with God, how dreadful then. Must the idea have been to Christ,
who had from eternity lived in the most intimate and unbroken
communion with his father, that he would have to endure all this?
How terrible the knowledge that he, who himself was without sin,
would be on the accursed tree, sentenced like a condemned criminal
to be laden with the sin of mankind as the willing and sacrificial
lamb of God. when we hear His words on the
cross, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? And yet, it
is in that same context, even within that same breath, that
Jesus says, yet not My will, but Yours be done. And if Jesus
can pray, capping His prayer with that phrase, How much more
are you and I? If Jesus facing that kind of
agony. Bearing the sin of the world,
forsaken of the father, can pray yet not my will, but yours be
done, can you and I not submit our grandiose plans before God
and say, here is my request, God. But not my will. that yours be done. Jesus sacrifice of his own principle. Or his own will, rather, was
the principle that carried him throughout his whole life of
suffering and obedience. John 530 I can do nothing on
my own initiative as I hear I judge my judgment is just because I
do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
That was how Jesus lived. John 6, 38, I’ve come down from
heaven not to do my own will. But the will of Him who sent
me. As one said, and this regarding
not the will of Christ so much as our will, he said, a will
unsanctified and uncontrolled is one of the great causes of
unhappiness in life. It may be seen in little infants
because it is born with us. We all like our own way. Isn’t that true? That our wills
are not yet sanctified. We want what we want when we
want it. He goes on to say we wish and we
want many things and we forget that we are entirely ignorant
of what is for our good. Is it possible that God might
know better than us what is good and right and wholesome for us? That is what. The yieldedness
of our prayer. Is about that’s why we offer
our prayers up to God and we kept them with the prayer, yet
not my will, but dying be done. We are entirely unfit. He goes
on to say to choose for ourselves Would we know whether we are
born again? He says, do this test. You want to know whether
you’re truly saved and growing in grace, he says, let us see
how it is in the matter of our wills. Can we bear disappointment
when we bring prayer up to God and God answers differently than
what we’re expecting? How do we handle that? Can we
put up patiently with unexpected trials? Maybe God didn’t forecast
for us exactly how things were going to go and they come in
suddenly like a storm into our lives. How do we bear up when
it doesn’t square with our will? Can we see our favorite plans
and schemes crossed without murmuring and complaint? We knew what we
wanted to accomplish. We knew what we wanted to do.
We know what we desired. We know how we wanted to accomplish
it. And suddenly everything is turned upside down. And how do
we respond? Do we yield our will to God,
our Father? Or do we pout and murmur and
complain? Can we sit still, He asks finally,
and suffer calmly? God doesn’t ask us to enjoy those
moments. He does ask us to yield our will
to His And so often the source of our trouble, so often the
source of our discontentment is the fact that God didn’t perform
like we wanted him to. Closes with this little phrase.
These things are the things that prove whether we have the mind
of Christ, warm feelings and joyful frames are not the truest
evidences of grace. A mortified will is far more
valuable a possession. Point for. The fourth lesson
on prayer to be gained from Christ in the garden, not only should
there be a regularity to our prayer and an intentionality
to our prayer and a yieldedness to our prayer where we yield
our wills to God. But fourthly, there should be
a fervency to our prayer, a fervency to our prayer. Now, verse 43
says an angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him. This is a fascinating study,
totally unaware of this, but. For hundreds of years, these
verses were kicked out of the Bible, redacted as scholars talk
about it in the early history of the church, they were taken
out because it made Jesus look too weak. Which is unfortunate
because they are God given words. They are spirit inspired words. They’re in every early manuscript
of the scriptures. And the problem is that what
people didn’t grasp is that those were precisely the purpose of
these words to focus on to highlight Jesus humaneness. There was another occasion where
Jesus was ministered to in such a fashion by angels. Matthew
chapter four records that it’s the temptation by the devil,
and it says that no longer and no sooner the devil depart, the
devil left him and behold, angels came and began to minister to
him. Jesus was fully God. But Jesus came and took on human
flesh and was fully man. And it is in that capacity that
on two, at least two occasions. Jesus was ministered to by angels
in his humanity. Look at verse 44. Where it says,
and being in agony, he was praying very fervently. And his sweat
became like drops of blood falling down upon the ground, That word
agony here is a word that occurs only here in the New Testament,
although there is a parallel word, agonizomai, that means
an intense struggle, a frequent word in scripture, meaning pressure
of spirit. Well, just utter stress. Strain. That particular word is used
throughout scripture. Matthew and Mark both use different
words to describe the same scene. Matthew 26 says it this way.
He took with him Peter, the two sons of Zebedee and began to
be grieved and distressed, torn literally inside out. Mark says
it this way, he took with him Peter, James and John began to
be very distressed and troubled. Pressure, overwhelming pressure
is crushed between literally a rock and a hard place. One
said it this way, the horror that Jesus experienced in Gethsemane
was a preview of the agonies of the fast approaching crucifixion. Jesus knew what the hour held.
Jesus knew what lie ahead. It was a foretaste of what it
meant to be forsaken by his heavenly father. It is not unreasonable
to assume that during these dreadful periods of anguish, Satan and
his demons also assaulted him. Now, that’s not recorded, but
it certainly is to be expected. What is this anguish, as one
described it, it is anguish that threatens life itself. In Gethsemane,
Jesus underwent a most unusual sense of being troubled, not
only with the fact that he would die, but the kind of death that
he would bear. Jesus would be one with sinners. And his death, a death that was
really not even his. It was due us. It was anguish that Jesus was
in. It was an anguish of humanity. It wasn’t just that Jesus was
afraid to die or afraid to suffer or unwilling. There have been
saints, there have been martyrs that went boldly even to a burning
stake It wasn’t that that Jesus was in agony over, but it was
the burden of the whole world’s guilt. As one called it, the
shrinking of the sinless one from the depths of satanic hate
and horror through which he was to pass. This past week, we studied
in the Institute, the book of Hebrews, rich time. During which
we read Hebrews five, seven and eight. Which records that in
the days of his flesh. He offered up both prayers and
supplications with loud crying and tears. Speaking of this exact
scene. Loud crying and tears to the
one who was able to save him from death. And he was heard
because of his piety. Although he was a son, he learned
obedience from the things which he suffered. One Puritan pointed to the only
reasonable explanation of why Jesus was in such agony in this
moment. So the only satisfactory explanation
of Christ’s intense agony is the old doctrine of imputed sin. He had engaged to die for our
sins. His death was a vicarious death
as our substitute. He was about to bear our iniquities
to suffer for us. To pay our debts to God with
his own blood, he was about to be counted a sinner and to be
punished that we might be counted righteous and delivered up from
punishment. The world began to be laid on
him in the garden. And it is recorded in verse 44
again being in agony. He was praying very fervently. If there’s anything that is characteristic
of the great majority of Christians prayers that I know they are
anything but fervent, right? We go through. We’re very careful
to choose our words. We want to look good, sound good
in our prayer. We even might have a little instruction
in there thrown out for whoever might be listening in. But our
prayers are far from fervent, but not Christ. Not Christ said
his sweat became like drops of blood, and this is almost become
characteristic in describing that scene. And I don’t I don’t I don’t want
to ruin your image of that scene. I just am not entirely convinced
that it was literal blood pouring out in his sweat. It doesn’t
say that. And when push comes to shove, I’ve got to go with
what the word says. His sweat became like drops of
blood, like in the sense that they were falling, dripping off
of his forehead, yet. There certainly is a phenomenon. Such a thing as one records as
bloody sweat does not seem to be wholly unknown. Under abnormal
pathological situations, Luke, it can occur. Luke does not,
however, use the term bloody sweat, but he says that dense
sweat of agony fell from him like blood drops. There is good
medical evidence that suggests such a mixture of blood and sweat
that are here recorded can take place. and has taken place in
cases of great mental and bodily distress. It can happen. I’m
not saying that it didn’t. I’m just saying the text isn’t
explicit. Says that his sweat became as
drops of blood falling from him. The words don’t necessarily mean
that drops of sweat in some way were blood. But by their size
and their frequency, the way that they were pouring off of
him, Are you wrong if you believe that it was blood? No. Are you
saved by that blood? Are you saved by the sweaty drops
of blood that fell from his forehead? I don’t think that’s what it
says. What it points to. What it points
to is an intensity of prayer. That we are almost completely
oblivious to as Christians. There’s a number of different
ways that you can look at with regards to intensity and prayer.
It can be measured in all kinds of different ways. The length
of our prayer could be intense by the mere fact that we prayed
for a long time. Jesus prayed intensively over
the whole course of an evening. The fervency of our prayer, the
focus, the intensity with which we grasp at the throne. The frequency,
how often do we return Jesus in intensity returned three times
that night, repeated attempts to plead his case before the
father. It is absolutely necessary to note of the Lord Jesus that
when he prayed, he prayed intensely almost every time he ever prayed
passionately. He held overnight prayer vigils
And often before some of the most intense times of ministry
before his baptism, he prayed when his fame began to increase. Before he chose his 12 apostles,
before he asked his disciples who they thought he was. Before
the transfiguration. Before he taught him ever thought
about teaching his disciples to pray. And then finally, here
in Gethsemane, prior to his arrest, he prayed intensively. It is what Spurgeon called a
liquid petition where your tears flowing and your sweat flows. Spurgeon said it this way, no
prayer will ever prevail with God more surely than a liquid
petition. which being distilled from the
heart trickles from the eye and waters the cheek. Then it is
God. Then is God one when he hears
the voice of your weeping. If you want him to win, if you
want to win in prayer, you must weep in prayer. Let your soul
arouse itself to eager desire and trouble itself to anguish,
and then you will prevail. Think not that your prayer, however
weak or trembling, will be unrecognized. We are to go and to grab hold
of the throne of grace with great intensity, great fervency, great
passion, and to call out to Christ in that intensity to hear our
prayer. It says that when Jesus rose from
prayer, rose from that intense, passionate prayer, He came to the disciples and
he found them much like you and I. Not only once, but three times
sleeping. Luke is the only one that points
out that he found them sleeping from sorrow. They were so caught
up in the moment, so distraught from everything that had happened
and everything that Jesus had already done and taught. Everything
that the evening pointed to, they were absolutely wrung out. And Jesus says, why are you sleeping?
Get up and pray that you may not enter into temptation. Jesus
observed, he saw that their physical bodies had let them down and let them
down again. Both Matthew and Mark record
that famous little phrase, the spirit is willing, but the flesh
is weak. And Jesus and his merciful heart looked at them and acknowledged
the same. That they had the right heart,
they had the right spirit, but their flesh was incredibly weak.
And what he prays is that they would rise up and watch. Watch over sinful tendencies. Watch over their own feeble hearts. and pray. We are urged to pray by God. We are urged and modeled here
by Christ to pray with regularity, to go to have a regular season
of prayer, to pray intentionally, to go before him with specifics.
Ultimately, though, to lay our particulars before him. In all
yieldedness to a sovereign God, But when we go and when we pray,
we are to pray with fervency. One pastor said that cold prayers
ask for denial. The lips may move, yet the heart
remains silent. When we ask the Lord coolly and
not fervently, we do it as it were. To stop his hand, to restrain
him from giving us the very blessing we pretend that we are seeking.
Oh, these cold hearted prayers that die upon the lips, those
frozen supplications. How can they move God’s heart?
They do not come from our own souls. They do not well up from
the deep secret springs of our innermost heart, and therefore
they cannot rise up to him who only hears the cry of the soul
before whom hypocrisy will weave no veil. No formality practice
any disguise. We must be earnest. Otherwise,
we have no right to hope that the Lord will hear our prayer.
Let’s go before. Our merciful God, we thank you
and praise you for our Lord Jesus. That so carefully and so thoroughly
modeled. Real prayer. To make a regular
course of coming before you and to pray just as he did with great
clarity. And precision. In what he requested. And yet father of Jesus Christ
could finish his prayer with not my will, but thine be done.
We have again a model for us. How much more do we need to do
that? To yield ourselves to you and
to your sovereign will. And yet, Father, when we come
and when we pray, when we come before you to request, we are
to do so with great fervency, pleading as it were before the
very throne of grace. Lord God, we pray that you would
reshape. Remake our prayer. There likely
are some in our midst who do not even know you. And think
that. Mere mumbling upon their knees
goes to heaven. Lord, we pray that you would
draw even these to Christ. And that as you reshape and reform
and intensify our own prayer. And prayer lives that you would
give them a relationship of their own with the Lord Jesus. Father,
we thank you for these words to us. We thank You for modeling
to Your disciples. And we thank You for the lesson
that is captured there for us as well. We ask Your blessing
on the remainder of our day. Be glorified in it. It’s in Jesus’
name that we pray, Amen.