In today’s sermon Pastor Babij teaches from the Gospel of Mark on the incomprehensible agony Jesus endured contemplating both the Father’s imminent wrath against the Son as the sin offering for God’s people and the Son’s separation from the Father. Pastor Babij shows how Jesus, in Jesus’ humanity, asked for a possible way out but ultimately submitted willingly and completely to the Father’s will. Pastor Babij exhorts believers to not trust in their own strength but to practice being totally dependent upon God.
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okay let’s take our Bibles this morning and let’s turn to the gospel of Mark as we continue to move through this great gospel this morning we’re going to learn some things about the Lord and remember that every time we learn something about the Lord thy God it enables us it’s the foundation for authentic worship because we’re gaining an understanding of who God is from the scriptures not making it up ourselves or hoping this is how God is is like and he’s really not like that at all see the scriptures must be adjusting our understanding of who God and so when we come to scripture this morning uh we’re going to see the Lord in a very uh very special way so as you turn there we’re going to be looking at verse number 32 to verse 42 in Mark chapter 14. let’s pray Lord this morning as I do come to this part of scripture and Lord as we begin to see you in your deep passion Lord help us to grasp even as much as we can Lord what is going on here help us to get a greater understanding of who you are and what you have done and what it actually took to give salvation to people I pray Lord that you would help us to have a better understanding of who you are today than we had before we came and I pray this in Christ’s name amen so this morning let me read the passage and then we’ll look at it verse 32 Mark chapter 14.
and they came to a place named Gethsemane and he said to his disciples sit here until I have prayed and he took with him Peter James and John and began to be very distressed and troubled and he said to them my soul is deeply grieved to the point of death remain here and keep watch and you went a little Beyond them and fell on the ground and began to pray that if it were possible the hour might pass him by and he was saying Abba Father all things are possible for you remove this cup from me yet not what I will but what you will and he came and found him sleeping and said to Peter Simon are you asleep could you not keep watch for one hour keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak again he went away and prayed saying the same words and again he came and found them sleeping and their eyes were very heavy and they did not know what to answer him and he came the third time and said to them are you still sleeping and resting it is enough the hour has come behold the son of man is being betrayed into the hand of Sinners get up let us be going behold the one who betrays me is at hand so this morning again we are in this passion week it is very late Thursday into Friday morning uh Jesus unlocked already the meaning of his death by connecting the Feast of unleavened bread and the Feast of Passover transforming it into the Lord’s table and remember at the Lord’s table the main course is no longer uh sacrificial lamb and the reason why is because Jesus is the Lamb of God and he is the sacrificial lamb like no other he’s the one who takes away the sin of the world so Jesus mission was to be a substitute to be a vicarious sacrifice offered to God Jesus understood this and embraced it from the start of his ministry he knew he had come to act as a substitute in behalf of his sheep at the center of his teaching was the assertion that he was doing this not for himself but for us to redeem us to Ransom us to save us because we could never have saved ourselves as Jesus approached the final hour up to this point no one was allowed to harm Jesus because Jesus The Substitute appeared now at a particular time in human history and at the right hour at the hour really appointed by the father himself he would bear the weight and burden of our transgressions in our text this Lord’s Day the passion of Jesus is really raised to the Forefront and shows us the agony our Lord began to experience as the cross Drew near the agony of Jesus suffering was born within the union of Christ’s two natures that is his holy human nature and His holy divine nature in Jesus Human Nature The Sting of death penetrated him with a damnable power if you take away the substitutionary atonement or the shedding of blood or the death of Christ you actually empty the cross of his meaning and you drain all the significance out of the passion of Our Lord himself which is contained in this text again this hour is very late for the disciples it has already been a very active and full day and yet there’s still more to come the disciples were physically emotionally and spiritually exhausted the gospel Luke tells us that they were exhausted for one particular reason specifically from sorrow they began to see the sorrow in the Lord and it was spilling over on them they didn’t necessarily know how to handle it but it was definitely evident in them so Jesus proceeds to the Garden of Gethsemane he takes with him three of his inner of the inner circle of disciples and as it says in verse number 32 and he came to a place named Gethsemane and of course Gethsemane is a Hebrew is Hebrew it means oil press uh and had a considerable considerable Grove of olive trees there uh some say it had a place where the olives were actually pressed where the oil could be extracted from the very olives themselves and the garden of course lay east of the Kidron Brook and at the foot of Mount the Mount of Olives of course Jesus really went there because it was a secluded place it was a quiet place and it was a place for him to pray that’s why he went there and I must admit though that the contents in this passage cannot be fully explained the only thing I can do is try to make a feeble attempt at unpacking some of the details that are related to the horrible Agony our Lord wrestled with that night in the garden now all the gospels record this event in the garden so that means it is an important event it is an event that is really comes at a strategic point in all the Gospels it is a passage in which we get a glimpse of the struggle our Lord wrestled with in other words the cosmic battle that was going on that we cannot necessarily see with our eyes but see in the demeanor of Jesus Christ in his holy human nature he wrestled with some something no one ever wrestled with and no one could have wrestled with and won so there’s actually this morning four observations in our Lord’s Cosmic Warfare in order to redeem us and Ransom us and save us so we’re part of this equation that’s going on here in the garden and so let’s look quickly at the first observation of Jesus Christ and it’s found in verse number 32 to 34 and notice verse 32 the beginning of the verse and the first observation is this that Jesus contemplates the prospect of his death Jesus went to the garden for a specific reason and it says in verse 32 and he said to his disciples sit here until I have prayed so Jesus prayers in Mark are all said in times of important decisions and crisis of course Jesus is approaching this very hour for which he came to this earth in the first place and he instructs his disciples to sit at the entrance of the garden until he made a definite prayer now the way the Bible is written there that means that Jesus wasn’t going there to keep on praying he was going there with a specific focus a specific request all right and so his prayer would have the focus of one thing and that would be this his soon approaching death and and some of the things that we can see that brought him to this place verse number 33 it says and he took with him Peter James and John and began to be very distressed and troubled now he takes of course his inner core of disciples this has been the inner core from the beginning when Jesus picked them all right and the reason some of the reasons he could have brought them with them with him is that they were to be witnesses to his agony uh they were they were to see be eyewitnesses to the struggle that he had in the garden and of course they’re going to be the writers of some gospels and Epistles so they’re going to be the witnesses of what took place all right so Peter definitely remember Mark wasn’t there when he wrote this epistle Mark is using Peter’s material to write the Gospel so who’s the eyewitness Peter’s the eyewitness in this particular case a second reason could be he brought them for companionship a source of comfort during his time of trial but we’ll see how that works out but the thing is that Jesus was going to be at a very low moment in his life and so he wanted companionship with him in verse number 34 it says that he said to them again my soul is deeply grieved to the point of death remain here and keep watch so right before their eyes the disciples witnessed Jesus as at a very low point at a point they never saw him before in which his power and strength have just seemed to leave him he was visibly beaten down and the only weapon left is prayer so Jesus was clearly under strong agitation and had become completely distressed and troubled with sorrow see his Spirit was visibly overtaken by uneasiness and Dread now one thing that we can learn from this at least on the surface is how keenly our Lord felt the burden of the world sin you can feel it oozing out of the passage in language that cannot express fully what was happening it only gave me it only can stack up some adjectives to help us to understand listen the Lord was really in a place he never was before he was facing something that no one would could have faced before no and he is the only one to face it and so he is definitely keenly uh feels a weight and a burden of the world sin aren’t you glad he did that aren’t you glad that he came to this place this is not a passage of scripture you just read through and not look at the defects this is a passage of scripture that we are definitely connected to those who know Christ is Lord and Savior you should be very very glad that someone undertook this battle for you and of course it was the Lord himself and he felt this burden a second observation in Jesus Cosmic battle is this is this that Jesus actually collapses under the prospect of his death now if you notice in verse number 35 it says and he went a little Beyond them and fell to the ground he collapses right before them now you would have to ask the question why did Jesus get so disturbed by the prospect of death and he loses his composure he’s the God man why doesn’t he use the the deity part of him to deal with this because the deity part of him doesn’t die the human part of him of him died he is dying in behalf of sinners in which he is not a sinner and so why did he quail at the expectation of his death well let me just say first Jesus does not lose his composure and courage at the thought of death itself he loses his composure and collapses at the prospect of his death the different that’s a really a large distinction between death itself and the death of Jesus Christ when you read about how others thought of or how they face death they seem to have done it with a greater composure in fact one example is Socrates greeted death as a friend and a liberator to a better life even Hitler was attracted by death and thought it was a way to Peaceful bliss now don’t get me wrong because no person can make a correct assessment as to what happens in the moment of death or afterward for a part from belief in Christ as Lord and Savior the altar ultimate conqueror of death all comments of death are actually mistaken and even delusional like Socrates or Hitler to without Christ to look at death as something pleasant you don’t know anything about it because you don’t know what’s on the other side you don’t know that judgment is coming you did these things in your life you will be responsible for that see people if there’s no God in your system you don’t have to worry about that but it doesn’t mean that you’re not wrong because you will face everyone will face God in judgment no matter how they look at life or whatever worldview they have or however they Define death in their own selves it doesn’t matter what matters is what is really true and the only place that you can find what is really true about death is in scripture is in God’s word so see Jesus doesn’t lose his composure merely at the thought of death but at his death and the reason why is here Jesus soul is one that is downcast it is dejected because he was able to grasp comprehensively the meaning and implications of his death his soul it says in verse 34 was is deeply grieved to the point of death that Jesus deep in his inner man was exceedingly sad at the prospect of what will what was going to take place that Jesus was walking at the very edge of death and therefore his sorrow reached deep within his soul just like when the psalmists uh said in the Old Testament when he was consumed with a weighty situation it’s recorded in Psalm 42 om it says oh my God my soul is in despair within me why are you in despair O my soul and why have you become Disturbed with him have you ever been in the place where your soul I’m talking about something deep inside of you was Disturbed and the only thing you could think about was that disturbance you couldn’t even entertain another thought because you were deeply grieved and taken in by a particular circumstance that was going on in your life so what is also going on here is that as I said Jesus is seeing into what’s going to take place in a way that we couldn’t even imagine and of course part of that is that Jesus must fight the battle alone completely alone it becomes apparently clear that Jesus alone must will to lay down his life for the Sheep as a good shepherd He must will to do that as it says in John chapter 10 verse 17 and 18 for this reason the father loves me because I laid down my life so that I may take it up again no one has taken it away from me but I lay it down on my own initiative see the Lord was coming to that place where now as a human being and remember the humanity is is bleeding out of this passage of scripture right Jesus dealing with something very very very heavy and he’s making he’s it’s it’s moving towards his will his his volition to do something so he’s struggling in his Humanity to not only will the lay down his life as a Good Shepherd but to will to give his life a ransom for many as it says remember the main text of Mark is Mark 10 45 for even the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many now it’s becoming a reality and of course you had to will to be made sin on behalf of Sinners and why is that second Corinthians 5 tells us he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God and then he willed that he may be a curse on behalf of Sinners if you remember back in Isaiah 53 what does it say about Christ when he would come to be sacrificed instead he would be stricken he would be smitten of God he would be afflicted he would be pierced through for our transgression he would be crushed for our iniquities and he poured himself out it says in Isaiah 53 to death and was numbered with the transgressors yet he himself bore the sin of many and of course Galatians picks that up and says this to us Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law because cursed is everyone who hangs on the tree so Jesus was considering all these things as he’s approaching what needed to take place to accomplish Redemption for us salvation for us but maybe this last one was the most difficult that Jesus had to will to abandon himself to a darkness of cosmic proportions by being completely alienated from his father that had to take place on the cross Jesus had to die alone who can conceive the horror of becoming these things see Jesus coming under the curse of the law and the wrath of his father Jesus being completely alienated from his father the light of the world must experience the thickest darkness and ultimately separation from his father’s companionship you had to do that see and you know the thing about when people talk about hell the thing about hell is not that God’s not going to be there but that God is there and he’s there in his Wrath and he’s there where you are completely separated from anything that’s good the goodness that comes from God that’s the terror and horror of hell and so here Jesus now is understanding that fully and notice the weight of this unspeakable ordeal this awful moment in time is right at the doorstep of our Lord and so Jesus mold over his death and it caused him to fall to the ground Jesus prayer that he Muses in his mind is is in the form of a question is there a way out of this as he thinks about it is there a way out so this is the third observation that we come and we see in the Lord It’s the observation of the Lord in this comic Cosmic Warfare is that Jesus prays a conditional prayer at the prospect of comprehensively understanding his death see Jesus Lives prone on the ground in intense prayer and he offers up a conditional prayer look what it says in verse 35.
it says 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 now we’re talking about the Lord praying a conditional prayer that if there is a possibility at all for this event to pass him by then please Lord let it be father let it be however God had no plan B if such a possibility existed the father would use it there is a prayer this is a prayer of the father to strike the shepherd remember back in verse number 27 of chapter 14 it says because it is written I will strike down the shepherd and the Sheep shall be scattered so the father already and Jesus Knows by scripture by that it is already ordained in God’s plan in God’s uh for ordination of his passion and death that there’s no other way so this is the reason that Jesus can actually make such a request because the resources of the father all things are possible if you look at verse number 36 it says this and he was saying Abba Father all things are possible with you So based on that Jesus prayer is justifiable remove this cup from me he begins to he continues to pray the total Humanity of Jesus is evident in this prayer so what can we learn here I think what we learn here is what an example our Lord gives us of the importance of prayer in the time of trouble even playing praying things that are completely impossible and for us on we couldn’t even understand it if we tried see in other words prayer is the best weapon not only at all times but in times of trouble to pray when you are in trouble to pray even in the psalm that we read this morning when David was in trouble the only way Lord how can I get out of this before abimelech he’s going to strike me dead what does David come up with drool and act crazy and he did and he got out of it so that was the answer to the prayer the Lord delivered him from trouble by giving giving him the ability to be able to act like a nut and drool in front of the king and the King said this guy’s crazy get him up all you got you rescued him so God rescues us in a very strange way but for Jesus there is no rescue there could be no rescue if this prayer was answered there maybe the possibility that we could never be saved so Jesus in other words must die a death like no other it is a death unspeakably terrible because Jesus becomes sin which incurred the full Justice and the full wrath of God I don’t understand that I don’t understand that when the judge tells a criminal that you have a life sentence in prison you think how horrible that would be to be confined in a place like that in a terrible place for the other very criminal minded people and then maybe even be on death row where you’re looking forward to a lethal injection or whatever they do today the the electric chair and you think wow uh you know you can get some comprehension on on what uh justice a full load of Justice can be as as a human being but the full Justice and wrath of God we see glimpses of it in Scripture we see that God does not fool around when it comes to his Justice he cannot fudge on his justice justice because he is God he can’t change his character for us he is he is God so see God the father is going to pour out his wrath against the unredeemed the ungodly and the unrepentant Sinners and the only hope of escape from the outpouring of Wrath is to be covered with the blood of Jesus Christ to be covered with the death of Christ that means if Christ did not die on the cross the wrath of God would not be turned away and would we would still his wrath would still burn against us however Christ’s Supreme achievement on the cross is that he placated the wrath of God he turns the Wrath away from us so the Wrath could never come upon us but is going to be fully poured about Upon Jesus for your sin and for the sin of all those who would be redeemed if that didn’t happen God’s Wrath would burn against us because we were not covered by the sacrifice of Christ so this conditional prayer shows us as Humanity his deep humanity and the struggle that he had within his own soul for what was coming and you and I cannot comprehensively think through what was going to take place but Jesus could see Jesus Took the full brunt of what that is he he took he died an eternal death how do you even Define that how do you describe that Eternal death that’s a conscious death that for ever he took all that on the cross because he was the only one who could do it so this all brings Jesus to a fourth condition or observation and it’s the observation of of the Lord’s battle in that Jesus surrenders and submits to the father’s will notice in verse number 36 it says and he was saying Abba Father all things are possible for you remove this cup from me yet here it is not what I will but what you will how you would all along the way Jesus definitely submitted to the father’s will he always delighted to do the father’s will but it’s almost like Jesus being you human saying to the father father but this this there’s got to be another way there’s got to be some something else but Jesus comes to the place of course and says no Lord Jesus loved to be obedient to the father and he right here remains steadfast to that obedience because the deeper desire for Jesus in his soul was to have God’s will done right that’s the Deep desire of the soul in fact that should be the Deep desire of all Christians when we pray we should always be praying that God’s will would be done now whose job was it in the Old Testament for the will of God to be done especially in the area of atonement it was of course the high priest see the high priest was to make atonement for sin in behalf of the people before God and he was someone who in the end could deeply or could really actually deal gently with the sinner directing them back to the way of God helping them to be right with God and to stay right with God that was the ultimate test of the priest the high priest and so we see here that Jesus humanity and deity and his dignity and humility come together and Jesus submits himself entirely to the father in order to achieve his complete Union with his redeemed children that this must take place if I am going to buy back from the slave market of sin my children and so just take your Bibles for a moment and turn to the book of Hebrews because Hebrews gives us several things that that show us that Jesus was fully qualified to hold this office of high priests and it says in Hebrews chapter 5 verse number 7 I direct you there first because In this passage of scripture we see that Jesus is displayed as being human and he is displayed as someone who prays it says in Hebrews 5 7 verse chapter five or seven it says in the days of his flesh he offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to to the one able to save him from death now it says something different here the days of his flesh includes more than the hour of Agony In The Garden of Gethsemane or and the hour of torture on the cross the whole of his life is is brought in here his learning his limitations his humiliation as the Son of God so Jesus is under the full pressure of humanity as a man so therefore became a man of sorrow as acquainted with grief he also became a man of prayer for it says in the scripture there that he offered up prayers and supplications with loud crying in tears that’s someone who is praying from the depth of his soul understanding what is happening and where he is fully engaged so he knelt In the Garden that night the night of his arrest because he was faced with such a humanly terrifying death and such a divinely necessary sacrifice that only the father could come to his Aid and save him from Death now foreign able to save him from death seemed a little different than what I just said in the gospel it doesn’t mean though Jesus was saved from dying because he was crucified and died what it means is that Jesus was delivered out of the state or the realm of death or better the power of death in other words death could not keep Jesus Christ there’s nothing that could have held him in that place of death so God the Father answered Jesus Prayer by resurrecting the son and exalting him to the right his right hand in glory so you see Jesus of course there displayed was was depending it showed first that him as a high priest was depending in all his humanness his Human Experience on the aid of the father so now he surrenders his will and then also in Hebrews 5 7 it says and he was heard because of his piety right that he displayed as a high priest deep reverence to the father that Jesus rendered appropriate all before the father and the father fully answers his prayer and then also in Hebrews 5 8 that he of course obeys the father’s will although he was the son he learned obedience from the things which he suffered see Jesus became EX he became experimentally acquainted with obedience it does not say that he learned to obey but he learned obedience he learned from the things that he suffered that is his obedience and surrender to the will of the father The Obedience referred to here is obedience in the character of the high Priestly office and that was this to do all the will of God to do all that God appointed you to do and of course to do that so in order to gain the end of your office and what was the end of the office of the high priest well it was to expiate guilt and to save Humanity to forgive sin cover sin that was his job he had to make sure that everything was done so that could happen if it didn’t happen then the people themselves were in great danger of having the wrath of God poured out upon them so no matter how severe the sufferings that would be required of Jesus to obey the father and to secure our Salvation he did not shrink back from but submitted to all of them so a true man in perfect submission to his father’s will and whose only desire was that will for it tells us in Hebrews 10.
verse number nine behold I have come to do your will the Commandment the high priest received of the father was that he should lay down his life for his people in whose place he stood and for whose benefit he acted like it says in the gospel of or the Epistle of the Philippians he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on the cross so the Great ACT of obedience for this unique high priest Jesus Christ was that he should offer himself for us a sacrificial offering before God so what we learned really here in this section is what a striking example our Lord gives us of submission of will to the will of God right that when we give ourselves over a living as a Living Sacrifice to God in Romans 12.
why are we to do that so we are not conformed to the world but we’re transformed by the renewing of our minds so we know we know the good and the acceptable and the perfect will of God so in other words for all believers we must all come to the place where we not only learn to pray in time of trouble not only do we learn as a Believer to keenly aware of what our Lord went through to for us to be saved but also the example of us submitting our will to God’s will see it’s not about us praying for things that we want it’s for us to pray for things that God wants is we’re praying for God’s will to be done on earth that is done in heaven we’re not praying for our will but see as we grow in scripture God conforms our will to want to do and pray for his will that’s where we’re all heading in our life and so Jesus here gives that a striking example of how what he went through he was able to submit himself to the will of the father so Jesus contrasts to the ironic priesthood Jesus is greater than all other priests he is not from the line of Aaron who died Jesus is related to the priesthood of Melchizedek if you ever read in scripture about Melchizedek he’s a very very unusual character he has no lineage you have a beginning or an end and he he has an eternal priesthood see Melchizedek which has an eternal aspect to it meaning that Jesus is a priest of God eternally so that means now Jesus Christ who is perfectly qualified as high priest from an eternal order can and will provide salvation to all who ask making Jesus ministry different in that unlike all those who have gone before his ministry is eternally effective that means that when Christ gives himself as a propitiatory sacrifice that means he satisfy what God requires because God requires the death penalty for sin and his Justice demands that the life is poured out that means that when a repentant sinner obeys Jesus the source of Eternal salvation that God’s Wrath and Justice toward that person is satisfied that means that Christ’s sacrifice then sets aside sin purifies his people delivers men and women from judgment and averts the wrath of God so Jesus as the great and eternal high priest takes care of everything that pertains to our relationship with God and we should all be glad that he did that and he took all these things upon himself for our Salvation no do we are we excited about that amen are we excited about that or not I mean come on are we thinking about what really is taking place here or are we just like the disciples and falling asleep not watching not taking things seriously so this last section I want you to all look there in Mark chapter 14.
because there’s a danger a spiritual Danger in this hour that extends to the disciples and that danger extends to us as well and what is that Danger that even the strongest disciples fail they fail so that in other words meanwhile back in the garden the apostles Frailty becomes apparent three times Jesus warns his disciples to watch lest you being you be caught sleeping three times he finds them to asleep look at verse 34.
and he said to them my soul is deeply grieved to the point of death remain here and keep watch what are they watching for they’re watching for the enemy none of the not only the enemy to come with the Army who’s going to betray Jesus to come at a time uh there to watch for that but they’re also to watch spiritually right for the spiritual attacks that come during times like this and then look at verse number 37 and he came and found them sleeping and said to Peter Simon are you asleep could you not watch for one hour and it means one out and if did you notice in the text in verse number 37 he does not call Peter Peter he calls Peter what five minutes you know why he does that well remember um Peter’s name means Little Rock well Peter wasn’t acting much like a rock there in fact the this this disciple who was willing to give up his life for Jesus in his boasts with strength enough to die for him at this critical moment in the Lord’s life he can’t even gather enough strength to stay awake and alert for one hour oh how are we just like them just like Peter all right we fall asleep we’re not really watching spiritually we think everything’s fine well in Dandy remember when everybody around says peace peace the Lord says there’s no peace there is no peace should we have to be spiritually aware of what’s going on in our life all around us all the time as his disciples we have a Target on us we’re children of Jesus Christ right we’re to have the whole armor of God on that we may stand up against what the trip wires and traps of Satan himself so in other words we are to be soldiers in this Journey called the Christian Life and soon as you think you’re not a soldier you’re going to get shot at I don’t know any Soldier who’s in a fire fight who decides I think I’m just going to take my armor off lay down my weapon and you know have a nice iced tea you don’t do that that’s always on oh no the Lord is not a killjoy he wants us to enjoy our life but he wants us to do it with sobriety with spiritual strength with realizing life is short and you you may not have tomorrow so live your life for the Lord today do what you can today for the Lord see all these things come into place when we think about watching and praying that’s what he keeps saying to his disciples Watch and Pray Watch and Pray Watch and Pray so you know what for us today you know it’s important let’s watch and let’s pray that we would be delivered from these times and verse number 38 why should the Disciples of Christ Watch and Pray look what it says in verse 38 keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation some translations say enter into temptation why because the spirit is willing and the flesh is weak right why should I pray why should you pray because we are praying against falling into temptation we are against falling away from Christ getting off on things that we shouldn’t be spending time with by order right ordering and prior to prioritizing in our life in a way that pleases God’s will and then why do the disciples not watch and pray well look at verse 38.
because the spirit is willing and the flesh is weak now the spirit here is not the Holy Spirit the spirit here is the human spirit the weakness of the human spirit with its tendency to sin and has no vigilance to watch and pray the flesh is the old sinful nature that is controlled by our passions and our desires in in strong Temptation the human Spirit wants to overcome the temptation but the flesh is weak in the Temptation unable to put up a fight against the Temptation and of course it doesn’t really have a desire to do so in the end for that conversion when we become to Christ the believer now is regenerated and given new Divine Life the old sinful nature is still there it’s still found in our being after we’re converted to Christ so Christians now have two Natures the Flesh and the spirit the flesh is opposed to the new nature that wants to obey Christ at all costs so the flesh doesn’t want to obey Christ at all they want to do what the passion Desires in the world and Satan wants them to do so see Christians now have a ready Spirit inclined to do good that is the spirit of God living in them but they also have a weak flesh inclined to do evil so if we do not rule over the flesh as a Believer it will rule over us and drag us into sin now just look again back at verse number 39 in our text it says again he went away and prayed the same words meaning Jesus remember he had one thing on his mind he was praying for one specific thing right his his death and then it says in verse 40. again he came and found them sleeping or their eyes were very heavy and then notice it says and they did not know what to answer him you know what that means they were speechless in other words they were guilty guilty of what not watching and praying so his disciples fully yielded to the flesh but for this reason that Jesus must suffer alone even his close disciples could be no Comfort to him at this time in his life at this point in his journey before the cross not even his inner core of disciples could support Jesus in Time of his act in time of Agony the burden of their circumstances and their weakness of the flesh caused them to abandon any resistance you know how it is to fight sleep right try fighting sleep it’s hard to fight sleep it’s hard to fight so they found themselves guilty they have slept through the Lord’s agony and they were speechless and they felt it but a third time in verse 41 became a third time and said to them are you still sleeping and resting it is enough the hour has come in other words Jesus says it’s time your sleeping is enough the hour and power of Darkness has come and of course they didn’t realize that something Dreadful is about to happen and what’s about to happen in verse 41 behold the son of man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners that’s what’s about to happen what’s interesting one person brought this comment out up I thought it was very interesting to think about that Jesus is feels when Jesus feels the most excluded from God’s presence he is in fact closest to God’s will that when Jesus is separated and alienated from the companionship of the father he’s closest to the will of God so Jesus is handed over two sinners in order to redeem sins and then he says in verse 42 get up let us be going behold the one who betrays me is that hand and that ends that section of scripture so a lot of a lot of drama there in that Passage so I think our place is to be spiritually vigilant that really Christian as Christians we must stay alert and keep our souls awake that we must watch like soldiers because we are in enemy territory that we must stay on guard and fight the deadly fight and the daily Warfare that we must know our weaknesses as well as our strengths remember the spirit must be strengthened and the flesh must be weakened we must pray regularly consistently and carefully and we must practice being dependent dependent on God and not self-dependent we must surrender to God’s will so that God’s will will be our highest desire in fact that God’s will will be our only desire and then we must turn our situations over to the Lord in prayer and trust him to work out his will so that he receives the glory and the honor by his people you know God works everything together for the good for those who love God right to those who are called according to his purpose God takes situations and molds them and shapes them to accomplish what he wants to we don’t always know what that is but we know that God is a good God and he loves his children he’s going to do the best for us so whatever situation do we ever find ourselves in no matter how complicated and and twisted it may seem you’re a Believer God has his hand in it and he wants to bring it to the end for good for you and for his glory right and he does he does and he will so I prayed this morning that this scripture this morning may be a source of encouragement for us as we walk through this world on our Christian pilgrimage on our way to the celestial City let’s pray Lord thank you this morning for the word of God thank you Lord for the battle that you fought on our behalf Lord we know because we have the rest of scripture that you’ve won the battle that you accomplished everything that needed to be accomplished for our salvation for our Redemption for us to be made right with you and and Lord let your children be forever thankful for that Lord but make us people who are watching who are spiritually alert who are growing in our theological understanding who are submitting to your will who also want to walk in the spirit so we don’t fulfill the lust and the flesh people Lord make us people who want to see the gospel go out so others can hear it so they can be saved Lord please do not let us get so wrapped up in ourselves that we forget your work Lord help us to always be praying pouring pouring out our heart to you praying things that are impossible but within the realm of your will so I pray Lord this morning that you would just keep us mindful of these things during our weeks and months and years ahead so Lord we can be disciples not disciples that fall asleep the disciples that are alert and awake and ready to do your will and I pray this in your name amen