The Village Church
Road to Easter: The Last Temptation - Audio
All right last week we started a series called Road to Easter and and basically it's you know It's not going to be looking at everything that Jesus went through before he went to the cross It's just snapshots different things that he went through that I'm just going to talk about know like I started last week this week and of course a couple weeks from now when we have Resurrection Sunday. So if you have your Bibles this morning open them to Matthew chapter 26 One of my favorite verses in the Bible is the words that Joseph spoke to his brothers Years and years after they sold him into slavery. Are you familiar with that story? Can you recall what he said to them? You see Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and through God's providence and in working Joseph eventually rose to second in command in Egypt and his brothers came before him Looking for food because of the great famine that was in the land. They didn't know that was speaking to Joseph. Eventually he revealed himself to them and eventually he got he told them these words he says to his brothers ask for you you meant evil against me but God meant it for good to bring about that many people should be kept alive as they are today Now when you think about Jesus's road to Easter this verse is true of him as well people meant evil against Jesus and things that he went through and things that he suffered that meant evil against Jesus but the father he meant evil against Jesus and the father he meant the things that he suffered that meant evil against Jesus but the father he meant it for good. Why? Because many people, many people were going to be made right with the father because of it. You see the difference in Jesus's finished work. The prophet Isaiah says speaking of Christ it was the will of the Lord to crush him it was the will of the Lord to crush him he has put him to grief the father the Lord and so God said Jesus on this road to Easter he did and last week we started looking at that road we started looking at some of the things he went through last week we saw he dealt with unbelief he dealt with doubt from those who were his enemies even some of his allies has doubts about him. Why? Because they all had Christ's expectations they all had expectations of what they thought the Christ was going to do and what he was going to be and many times as I said last week our expectations don't always line up with this they don't and this week we're going to look at another snapshot on the road and that's what I call the last temptation of Jesus you see before he began his public ministry he went through temptations remember he went to the wilderness to be tempted by the evil one and guess what he didn't give in to those temptations right he stood firm and at the very end of his ministry he's attempted again and yet he is still without sin open your bowels to Matthew chapter 26 we're going to look at verse beginning at verse 36 then Jesus went with them mr. disciples to a place called gas enemy he said to his disciples sit here while I go over there and pray and taken with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee he began to be sorrowful and troubled he said to them my soul is very sorrowful even to death remain here and watch with me and growing a little father he fell on his face and prayed saying my father if it be possible let this cup pass for me nevertheless not as I will but as you will and he came to his disciples and found them sleeping and he said to Peter so you could not watch with me one hour watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation the spirit is indeed willing but the flesh is weak again for a second time he went away and prayed my father if this cup cannot pass unless I drink it your will be done and again he came and found them found them sleeping for their eyes were heavy and so leaving them again he went away and prayed for the third time saying the same words then he came to his disciples and said to them sleep and take your rest later see the hour is at hand the son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners rise and let us be gone see my betrayer is at hand let us pray while as we come before you this morning to hear your word I pray that your spirit again will take what is preached take what is said and apply it to the hearts of your people apply it to my heart and I pray Lord that we will leave here and courage we will leave here empowered by your word and your spirit your gospel that we can go out into the world and apply what we learned today to the very lives that we live in Christ in my prayer amen. Give a little context of what's going on here Jesus and his disciples are planning to celebrate the Passover the Jewish Passover and they do so at some man's house they don't Jesus don't give us his name but just one of his followers and so at this man's house he ends the disciples so they reclining at the table and at this mill at this table Jesus reveals something he reveals that so one of them are going to betray him he reveals that Judas was going to betray him and after that they had what is called the Last Supper after they had the Last Supper they sung a song together then they got up from the table and they made their way out to the Mount of Olives and as they walked Jesus said something else the night was already tense because they found out Judas was going to betray him and it gets even more intense why because as they walk through Mount of Olives Jesus told his disciples that tonight you are all going to fall away tonight you are all going to fall away tonight because of me and what this is the cycle say no Jesus that's not going to happen what are you talking about especially Peter they all may fall away Jesus but not me I'm not going to fall away what are you talking about Jesus what are you talking about they all denied it but Jesus knew he knew even though they denied it he knew what was going to happen he knew that was going to scatter the word says I was strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock would be scattered and when you get to verse 26 you see that Jesus and disciples have arrived that the garden got sent to me that's a garden area in the mountain of Olives and what you see here is Jesus very sorrowful he has sorrow they went to the garden to a place called God send me he said to a disciple sit here while go over there and pray and take it with him Peter and two sons of the devotee he began to be sorrowful and troubled he said to them my soul is very sorrowful even today remain here watch with me he goes to the God sending me to pray and he takes Peter and John with him and these okay he takes Peter and John with him and he's looking for a place of solitude a place where he can be alone and pray and the garden got sent him is a place that Jesus went too often it's not he always went there sometimes to pray this time circumstances a little different circumstances are different he has sorrow he's troubled he is going through some emotional distress emotional angle spiritual affliction he has the heavy heart because he knows his time is almost at hand he feels it he feels it the hour is soon approaching you see what takes what takes place here is Jesus final moments when this disciples before he is betrayed before he is arrested before he is crucified final moments before he fulfills the mission the final moments before he fulfills what the father has sent him to do the cross his in view that's what he feels and he tells his disciples my soul is very sorrowful even to death has your soul been like that that sorrowful if it has then guess what Jesus knows what it's like he understands what it's like see unlike the mass of people that surrounded Jesus Jesus was followed by telling the people doing his ministry tons of people flop to him and unlike most of them he knew what kind of Christ he was to be he knew it he wasn't a revolutionary Christ who was going to come and defeat the Romans he wasn't going to be a social activist Christ preaching a non-violence resistance to violence he was more than a copener more than a prophet more than a teacher more than a healer he was going to be a suffering servant a suffering Christ man of sorrows who was acquainted with grief so Jesus had no doubts no misunderstandings and no unbelief about himself and his mission he knew it if you go back a couple of 10 chapters you get to Matthew 16 and in Matthew 16 Jesus asked his disciples who do the people say the Son of Man is that the disciples say some say John the Baptist other say Elijah other say Jeremiah one of the prophets then Jesus asked his disciples who do you say that I am 12 who do you say that I am and Peter of course speaking on behalf of all the disciples say you are the Christ the son of the living God they got it in one perspective yes you are the Christ and then in Matthew's gospel after they made a profession of Christ made a profession that Jesus was a Christ the gospel of Matthew says from that time forward Jesus began to tell them what kind of Christ he came to be four different times after this profession he foretold his death and resurrection to them four times he told them the son of man is going to go to Jerusalem to suffer by the hands of sinners why was he doing that preparing them this is the type of Christ I came to be and is coming and now when you get to the garden it's coming it's almost at hand it's almost at hand he knows Jesus knew his days on earth of number he knew it and it was no surprise to him no surprise to him but yet in the garden of God's enemy we see Jesus in anguish and sorrow even to the point of death can you relate four years ago one of my aunts was killed in a horrible car wreck in Georgia and we were living over a decatur Alabama at the time when I got the phone call from my mother hard huge cloud of sorrow was over my whole family my aunt that's a husband three kids behind and to this day my grandmother has never gotten over that still grieves the loss of my aunt the whole family does all of us do and I don't think any parent gets over that kind of loss seeing death thoughts of death does make you sorrowful and trouble because it hurts it hurts to lose lose love on even if they all believe it still hurts right many of us have experienced this type of grief that comes from death all of us have in Jesus knows what that type of grief is like the father knows what that type of grief is like so you're not alone we all go through it parents have grief when the kids are sick because you can't fix it right children taking care of agent parents and spirit sorrow and grief right you do sorrow for my kids when they make poor choices every parent has sorrow over that bad marriages financial problems for those things called sorrow on grief yes they do grief comes in different shapes and sizes it's not just death it can be unemployment it can be whatever it can be now even our little kids can have grief and sorrow particularly if their parents are hard to please yes they experience it too if all the parents is rude with an iron fist and too demanding so we all experience it and where are you going through now where the sorrow that you have in your heart right now the anguish the grief that you're going through and I'm here to tell you not alone you're not alone in it Jesus understands not just intellectually but personally because he went through it as well but you know that did you believe that he's going through in this passage the same type of emotional trauma we go through when we have grief in our life he's feeling it his soul is overwhelmed with despair even to death but what do you do with your sorrows your griefs where do you run what do you run to for comfort to get answers to make you feel better is it healthy places the dangerous places is it addiction is it some type of whatever sin you find pleasure in Jesus runs to the father he turns to the father verse 39 going to the father he fell in his face and prayed my father if it be possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless now that's how I will but as you will again the picture you see of Jesus here is a man with so much distress he can't even walk he falls down on his hands and knees throughout his ministry plenty of people have fallen down and before Jesus the same way and now he's fallen down before the father on his hands and knees father please let this cup pass from me now that's how I will but as you will he prays three agonizing prayers to the father the first one we just read he prays again in verse 42 a second time he went away and prayed my father if this cannot pass unless I drink it your will be done and he prays again for a third time the same prayer using the same words she sometimes we we have a tendency to over romanticize the cross and what Jesus went through I'm here to tell you he ain't going through one fuzzies here he's not picking off lilies talking about how much I love sinners he's feeling great pain sorrow here about what's getting ready to take place in his life what he's getting ready to go through what he's getting ready to suffer it's going to hurt it's going to be painful and he's feeling here if you're ever if you really lose the kind of this Luke says Jesus prayed more earnestly and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling to the ground great drops of blood falling to the ground intense emotional physical trauma and and guess what you don't have to over romanticize your sorrows either you don't you don't have to do that to appear to appear more spiritual that you stand above what you go through if it hurts it hurts over to like it doesn't there's nothing fun about suffering nothing fun about hurting it spreads it let other people in don't have to live in the now about those things even if you're going through sorrow you're going to have these type of reaction sometimes depending upon what it is depending upon if you what kind of lost you suffered but Jesus runs to the Father the question is where you're going to run who you're going to run to lose a kind of also says the Lord an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened Jesus what does that tell you the father comforted the son in the garden of gas in the midst of his sorrow and he does the same for each of you father comforted do you want comfort in your grief and sorrow or do you just you're good or you good I'm good I got it we all want comfort we all want comfort by the father and first how you get there you got to hand it over to the father in prayer you got to hand whatever you had gone through over to him and that's what Jesus does another thing is he comforts us through his word do you ever spend time reading the word meditating upon the word especially the song he comforts us that way he comforts us through other believers the church the church are you connecting with other believers in a deep way or a Sunday morning is the only contact you have other Christians you see the body of Christ any local church we should share one of those burdens and sorrows we shouldn't it's part of being in the body and because when you're going through something some type of emotional trauma or whatever you don't always gonna have rational thoughts you're not gonna always be thinking clearly you're not gonna be we're not gonna sometimes read the word that you're not gonna want to hear the gospel and so you're gonna need other believers brothers and sisters and the Lord to come alongside of you it admits that what you're going through you don't have to walk through your sorrows and grief alone but we always think we do because we don't think anybody else understand let me tell you we all understand the problem is we just wear masks we hide because you don't want to see that we weak and that we struggle that's country club life church is not country club the church gets below the surface we need one another in that way that real Jesus he didn't let all the twelve into this he took three brothers three guys with them and he told them what he was feeling Peter and two sons is every guys my soul is very sorrowful even to the point of death he let them inside what his emotions what he was going through now of course they weren't perfect they let them down right they kept falling asleep they wouldn't keep watch and so even even when we reach out and serve one that's not gonna be perfect we're gonna let each other down the church is missed we are a messy bride but we are loved and taken care of and we still need one another right do you agree we are messy but we still need one another and as I was preparing the sermon this week and I was looking at what Jesus was going through and you know it's not like you know someone slipped him a note the last separate said tonight you're gonna die you know he already knew what was gonna happen he already always knew that this moment was coming and so I'm asking myself but why all this emotional distress if he knew it was coming he is God in man I mean what's going on why this scene if for all of his life he knew this day was coming he wasn't sorrow for it in pointing his ministry but now he is why I believe it's because it's the last temptation of Christ live last temptation he faced before he went to the cross see here's the thing the source of the distress is the cup he is going to drink the cup he is going to drink let this cup pass for me father what is the cup the suffering is going to endure Jesus is going to drink the cup of God's wrath towards sin he is going to empty that cup with his life he bears the sins of the world in his own body that's your sins and my sins he gave his life as we just saw about as a ransom for many that's the cup and one commentator that says that in this prayer Jesus is asking the father can you do it without striking the shepherd can you do it without striking the shepherd I think this is Jesus being tempted not to be a surfing servant a temptation not to be what Isaiah 53 talks about the surfing servant who is despised and rejected by men a man of sorrows acquainted with grief the one who who bore our griefs carried out sorrows the surfer and servant who was spitting by God afflicted by God the surfing servant who was wounded for your transgressions crushed for our iniquities upon this servant was the chest diamond that brought all of us peace with the father and by what his stripes every single one of them we are healed he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressions on our behalf he bore the sins of many mind and yours that is Jesus he fills the weight of being the sin bear for humanity he fills it it meant great pain great suffering he know what else it meant you know what helps it meant that you know we didn't realize for all eternity the father and the son have been like this all eternity and you know when he bore ourselves on the cross the father and the son the father was going to turn his face away from the son that's what happened because the father God cannot look at sin and so that when he died the father did that to the son as a sin bear the sin pavement for us would you don't think that would cause grief for Jesus he was getting ready to experience him he hadn't experienced an all eternity alienation from the father and that's what happened on the cross for you and me and for you and for you and for you and for you and for you so that we may have life so that we may know him so Jesus praise father that this cut past for me but not my will be done but your will that Jesus given to the temptation praise God he didn't because he wouldn't be here if he did no he did not he knew that the cup could not be emptied unless he drank unless he drank it with his life so in the end Jesus freely submits to the father will hear he freely submits to it not my will Lord not my will father but your will for me he voluntarily lays down his life no one took it from him no one made him do it he voluntarily and freely did it he volunteered his life to be a sin payment a payment for our sin debt that's what he did Philippians 2 says Jesus Christ who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped he made himself nothing taking the form of a serving been born in the likeness of man and been found in human form he humbled himself by by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on the cross that's Jesus that's Jesus do you know do you know God made Jesus who knew no sin no sin to be sin or our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God that's what he did on the cross that's what he accomplished for us and that is why he resisted the temptation not to be the suffering sermon because he knew what his life was going to accomplish no one else could accomplish by giving their life it had to be his life it had to be him couldn't have been Peter, couldn't have been John the Baptist, couldn't have been Moses, couldn't have been Abraham it had to be Jesus's life and he had to drink it but if he didn't drink it this is nothing this is nothing if he did not die why am I here why am I here preaching this why are you here if it ain't true it's true it's true do we believe it what has the father called you to that you attempted to give up he ain't calling us to be a sin bearer but he does call us to submit and follow his will how you find his will is his word if you don't read his wording I don't know his will again it all goes back spend time in his word gotta spend time in the word what are the things in your life that you simply refuse to give over to the father the things you are attempted to hold on to it could be your life live in my life the way I want to live my life money drugs sex pride reputation glory what what is it what is it remember what Jesus told his disciples when he when they went out to the Mount of Orleans he told them this night you're going to fall away from me you're going to fall away from me and they all denied it they all denied it and in the garden Jesus tells them watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation what do you think temptations he talking about I believe what he just told them was going to happen they didn't believe it was going to happen so they didn't pray about it no Jesus we got you boy I'm not going to turn my back on you that we all know when the cops come your boys and your boys no more it's first one who can rat one out they all fled they all fled the scene Jesus knows that there will be things in your life if you didn't want to give over he knows it will be times in your life when you flee to the far country and that's why he tells you watch and pray that you may not fall into temptation the spirit is willing the flesh is weak do you pray or do you think you're better than a twelve these are men who live with Jesus these are the men that Jesus watched these men's feet if you think you're better than them we're not we do all face temptation we are tempted to run to flee the scene because if you're not ever going to pray about these things you can never ever say what Jesus says your will be done not mine if you don't bend the knee you won't ever do it you won't ever do it you've got to pray spirit to give you the strength to say yes father your will for my life whatever it may be even in the things that I suffer even in the hardships to come because they're going to come even if you try to hide from it can't hide from suffering can't hide from hardships you can't have enough money you can't live in the bigger community and escape the reality of suffering it's going to come it's going to come not just down here in the village over in south Huntsville to it comes in many different forms and shapes inside how are you going to deal with it if you're not praying the word connecting with the body then you're not going to deal with it well you're not going to deal with it well at the last supper you know Jesus took the bread and after he blessed that he broke it he gave it to his disciples and he said to them take this is my body and he took the cup and we had given thanks to it to it to it and he gave it to them saying drink of it all of you for this is the blood of my covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sin do you notice something interesting about that in the prayer that Jesus prayed what's interesting about that his prayer and what he said at the last supper the cuffs the cuffs who drank in what cup he prayed that he would not he did his prayer he was going to drink a cup of God's wrath so that we don't have to he was going to empty that cup out with his own life and because he did that because he did that you don't ever have to drink it you don't ever have to sit you don't ever have to think about it you don't ever have to touch that cup but he gives you a new cup a cup of forgiveness a cup of forgiveness of his blood poured out for your sin and I asked you are you happy drunk of that cup or do you say not today Alex I pass it by I don't want to drink of it today because I'm not thirsty I don't need that cup do you want forgiveness do you want forgiveness for everything you've ever done do you want it well y'all do you want forgiveness do you need it do you want peace do you want freedom then you got a drink of the cup how do you drink of it if you never done this ask Jesus to your heart is your Lord and safety ask if you don't know it ask him and he gives you the cup you ain't got to pay for the cup take it and receive it and if you already know Jesus ask you are you still drinking are you still drinking from that cup Jesus emptied his life Jesus emptied the cup of wrath I laid down his life and you empty the cup of forgiveness by resting and depend upon Jesus saving faith that's how you empty the cup resting receiving and depend upon Jesus saving faith and you do that for the rest of your life you don't ever stop depending upon you you don't ever stop resting in him you drink of this cup all the days of your life where you drink amen pray with me Father God thank you that because of Christ Lord we have a different cup I thank you because of him that we no longer have to even think about the cup of your wrath you don't have to see it touch it smell of it at all we have the cup of forgiveness presented to us and I thank you for that father I thank you that Jesus Lord he he was struggling here in the garden but Lord he did not give into his temptation he was assisted he laid down his life for all of our sins thank you for that father and we look forward Lord couple weeks long we get to Easter and we see that he conquered sin and death while in the resurrection so father as we go out this week and we go through the things we're going to go through the sorrows that we have the temptations that we're going to face let us know that we have a Savior who understands who comforts us who empowers us you know he will give us a way out so help us father to pray about what we go through help us to to go to your word not just for a checklist but Lord for life for life and help us to connect in a deeper way to one another because we need the body of Christ as we live this life and Christ in my prayer amen. 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