JESUS’ PRAYER AND VICTORY

Matthew 26:31-75

 Key Verse: 26:39

“Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’”

We thank and praise God for this new year.  Thank God for giving this passage as the first message for the new year as we continue through the book of Matthew.  In this passage we see Jesus who won the spiritual victory, but we also see Peter who lost the spiritual battle.  In this passage we learn why Jesus gained the victory and why Peter failed so miserably.  The key was prayer.  Jesus prayed in His time of need, but Peter trusted his own conviction and resolve.  But also from this passage we see that God’s love never fails.  It was Jesus’ absolute assurance that God loved Him that strengthened Him to drink the cup that God placed before Him, but it was also God’s love that restored Peter’s failure, and helped Peter in the future to boldly proclaim the Gospel despite the threat of death.  May God bless us today to learn how to truly win the spiritual victory this new year.  May God help us to pray and pray, until we submit ourselves to God’s will, beginning by doubling our ministry by the end of the school year.

Part I – For it is written (31-35)

Look at verses 31-35.  “Then Jesus told them, ‘This very night you will all fall away on account of Me, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ Peter replied, ‘Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.’  ‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus answered, ‘this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.’  But Peter declared, ‘Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.’  And all the other disciples said the same.”  Jesus shared these words after eating His last Passover with His disciples.  Jesus dropped this bombshell on them.  It must have been painful for them to hear Jesus say this.  But in reality what Jesus said was for their own good, especially Peter.  Jesus knew that all His disciples were going to fall away, once He was handed over to be crucified.  But Jesus did not get angry with them.  He did not rebuke them.  He did not lecture them.  He knew what they were going to do, because the Word of God said so.  He shared this with them, so that when they did fail, they would remember these words and realize that Jesus had already told them they would.  By telling them in advance the disciples could overcome their failure, their guilt and condemnation.  He wanted them to understand that their falling away fulfilled the Scriptures.

This also reveals how important the Scriptures are to Jesus.  All through this passage we see that Jesus holds up the Scriptures.  To Him the fulfillment of Scriptures must take place.  The Scripture itself is what guided Jesus’ actions and direction of His life.  He lived to fulfill the Scripture down to the minutest detail.  Jesus knew that the Scripture was God’s will revealed

But how about Peter?  What was his view of the Scripture?  Jesus told Peter, “Peter you are going to fall away, God revealed this to the prophet Zechariah about 570 years and it’s going to happen.”  But what does Peter say? “No I’m not.”  So Jesus said, “Yes, you really are.”  And Peter says, “No, I’m really not; I would die before I run away from You.”  Basically, Peter rejected God’s Word, when it did not fit in with his own ideas.  Peter really loved Jesus and this was his real heart.  He wanted to remain loyal to Jesus to the end.  His desire is very noble, but it wasn’t very honest or realistic.  When the Word of God and Peter’s idea did not match, Peter tossed the Word of God and held onto his own idea.

But Jesus didn’t share this to embarrass Peter.  He shared it so that Peter would recognize God’s love for him.  Jesus shared this so that after Peter failed miserably, he could be restored.  Some don’t like to hold onto God’s Word because it reveals who we really are.  Some don’t like to write testimonies, because the Word of God reveals their shortcomings and flaws.  We like to think we are better than that.  But in reality when we humbly come before the Word of God and accept God’s Word, instead of our own idea, we soon find out that it was God’s love to us.  God calls us to repentance to restore us to Him; to make us beautiful and blessed and happy sons and daughters of God.

May God help us to honor God’s Word more than our own ideas, no matter how noble our ideas may be.

Part II – Not as I will, but as You will (36-46)

Look at verses 36-38.  “Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and He said to them, ‘Sit here while I go over there and pray.’  He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with Him, and He began to be sorrowful and troubled.  Then He said to them, ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.  Stay here and keep watch with Me.’”

The time was now fast, fast approaching when Jesus would be arrested by His enemies.  This moment was the most critical time for Jesus; Jesus had been sent for this very moment, to give His life as a ransom for many.  And in this critical moment Jesus took His disciples with Him to Gethsemane.  He shared with them that His soul was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.  Jesus told them to stay with Him and keep watch.  Here we see Jesus in all His humanity.  Jesus shared this with His disciples so that they would understand and support Him.  Many people have the false impression that because Jesus is the Son of God that it was easy for Jesus.  But that was not the case at all.  Jesus laid down His deity when He came as a child in a manger.

Why was Jesus sorrowful?  Because it was the time for Jesus to give up His life; but unlike us who are afraid to die, Jesus was not afraid to die.  What made Jesus so sorrowful was that in order to redeem sinful man, Jesus had to take all our sins upon Himself and with that He would be cut off from God.

II Cor. 5:21 says, “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”  Jesus had to endure God’s wrath against sin in our place.  To do so, He would be cut off from God and treated like a sinner.  This was unbearable for Jesus.  Until this time, Jesus enjoyed a sweet and joyful love relationship with God.  But on the cross, He would feel forsaken by God, utterly alone.  This broke Jesus’ heart like nothing else could.  When Jesus thought of this He was overwhelmed with sorrow.

Look at verse 39.  “Going a little farther, He fell with His face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from Me.  Yet not as I will, but as You will.’”  In the most critical time of Jesus’ life, Jesus prayed.  Jesus did not want to be separated from His Father.  He knew the Father loved Him.  He cried out, “My Father” never doubting God’s love for Him.  But still it was too painful for even Jesus to easily submit Himself to God’s will.  He never wanted for even one moment to be separated from God’s love.

In Jesus’ prayer we see how honest Jesus was.  He was much more honest than Peter.  Jesus honestly confessed, “May this cup be taken from Me.”  Jesus’ will and desire was not to drink the cup.  Having His own desire and will was not a sin.  Sin is when our will is set over God’s will.  Jesus came and prayed so that His will would submit to God’s will.  Jesus prayed to receive God’s help and strength to overcome Himself.  Jesus prayed that God’s will be done.  Jesus during His whole life lived with the purpose God’s will.  That was why the Scripture was so important to Jesus and why He obeyed the Scripture concerning His life perfectly.  And this is why Jesus now in the one time when His will did not fully match with God’s cried out to God in prayer, “Yet not as I will, but as You will.”

What were the disciples doing at this critically important time?  Look at verses 40-41.  ^“Then He returned to His disciples and found them sleeping.  ‘Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?’ He asked Peter.  ‘Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.  The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.’”  Jesus found them asleep.  In Jesus’ time of sorrow, Jesus prayed.  But the disciples when they were in sorrow, fell into a deep depression, then they went to the refrigerator got out a half-gallon of ice cream, got out a large spoon, went to the couch turned on the TV and proceeded to eat the whole carton of ice cream and finally fell asleep on the couch.

Jesus taught them that even though the spirit is willing the body is weak.  In spite of Peter’s bold proclamation, “I will die with You,” Peter could not even keep watch with Jesus for one hour.  Temptation is stronger than our good intention and desire.

Look at verses 42-44.  “He went away a second time and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may Your will be done.  When He came back, He again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy.  So He left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.”  Here we see that even with Jesus His body was weak.  Jesus did not just pray one time.  Jesus did not pray just two times; Jesus prayed until the matter was settled in His heart.  He prayed until He could finally submit Himself fully to God’s will.  We can learn that when we pray we should not just pray once or even twice, we need to pray until the matter is settled in our own hearts, until we can truly submit ourselves to the will of God.  For Jesus it took three times, perhaps with us we need to pray one hundred and thirty three times.  We need to pray until the matter is settled within us.

What was the result of Jesus’ prayer?  Look at verses 45-46.  “Then He returned to the disciples and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and resting?  Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.  Rise, let us go!  Here comes My betrayer!’”  After Jesus prayed, God gave Him courage and strength and Jesus could boldly rise and face His enemies.  He was ready to do what He came to this earth to do.  Jesus was ready to drink the cup the Father had placed before Him and do so with courage and determination.  The disciples on the other hand were still overwhelmed with sorrow and could do nothing but wipe the sleep out of their eyes.  They were not ready or prepared and we soon see the result when they did not keep watch and pray.

Part III – Friend, do what you came for (47-55)

Look at verses 47-55.  “While He was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived.  With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people.  Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: ‘The one I kiss is the man; arrest Him.  “Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, ‘Greetings, Rabbi!’ and kissed Him.  Jesus replied, ‘Friend, do what you came for.’  Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested Him.  With that, one of Jesus' companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.  ‘Put your sword back in its place,’ Jesus said to him, ‘for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.  Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?  But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?’  At that time Jesus said to the crowd, ‘Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture Me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me.  But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.’ Then all the disciples deserted Him and fled.”

Here we can see that Jesus not only could rise up and boldly face His enemies, but also when Jesus prayed and could fully accept God’s love even through having to go through such a terrible matter, Jesus could also love Judas to the very end.  It would have been understandable if Jesus had been bitter with Judas, whom Jesus loved and cared for like a mother her precious child over the last three years.  But when Judas came to betray Jesus, Jesus told him, “Friend, do what you came to for.”  Not only could Jesus accept what was going to take place, He revealed that He still loved Judas.  When Jesus accepted God’s love fully even if it meant taking up the cup, He in turn could love even someone as despicable as Judas.  He did not resist Judas, nor retaliate against him.

It is not always easy to love others especially those who betray our love and service to them.  It is so easy to become bitter towards them, at least to become resentful and to not want to have anything to do with them.  But when we pray and submit ourselves to God’s will to make disciples of all nations; and accept newly God’s great love for us, we can overcome our own bitter hearts and even love unlovable people who may betray us.  The Bible says, “Love never fails.”  Jesus even won the victory over hatred.  Peter on the other hand because he had not prayed could only take up the sword.  

We also again see in this part of the passage that Jesus really lived to fulfill the Scripture.  Even though Jesus could have called down legions of angels to protect Himself, did not do so, because Scripture could not have been fulfilled if He had done so.  To Jesus the fulfillment of Scripture was everything.  In the same way God has appointed us and sends us out to “Go and make disciples of all nations to the very ends of the earth.”  Scripture says that Jesus will not return until the Gospel is preached to all people.  As disciples of Jesus it should be our chief aim to fulfill this Scripture.  This is God’s will.  We may have desire to do this, but without prayer and gaining God’s strength and settling the matter in our own hearts we are only setting ourselves up to fail.   May God help us to submit ourselves completely to God’s will, fulfilling God’s Word to preach the Gospel to all people.

Part IV - In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven. (57-68)

Look at verses 57-68.  “Those who had arrested Jesus took Him to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the teachers of the law and the elders had assembled.  But Peter followed Him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest.  He entered and sat down with the guards to see the outcome.  The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put Him to death.  But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward.  Finally two came forward and declared, ‘This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’’  Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, ‘Are You not going to answer?  What is this testimony that these men are bringing against You?’ But Jesus remained silent.  The high priest said to Him, ‘I charge You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God.’  ‘Yes, it is as you say,’ Jesus replied. ‘But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.’  Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, ‘He has spoken blasphemy!  Why do we need any more witnesses?  Look, now you have heard the blasphemy.  What do you think?’  ‘He is worthy of death,’ they answered.  Then they spit in His face and struck Him with their fists.  Others slapped Him and said, "Prophesy to us, Christ. Who hit you?"

This was the last round of this heavy weight fight between satan and Jesus.  When we look at this passage it looks as though Jesus had lost.  His enemies had bound Him up and He was at their mercy.  He was like a fly in a spider web, with the spider bearing down on Him.  They had already decided that He should die.

At this terrible time Peter was slinking quietly out in the courtyard trying to keep from being noticed.  Fear gripped and overwhelmed Peter and for good reason.  Jesus’ enemies looked to powerful.  The religious leaders were bombarding Jesus with one false accusation after another, but Jesus did not respond at all.  Finally, the high priest had had enough, so he straightly asked Jesus, “I charge You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God.”  He got right to the heart of the matter.  He wanted to silence or kill Jesus once and for all.

His answer to this question was the focal point; if Jesus said ‘Yes’, He was sealing His fate.  By answering this question Jesus was picking up the cup that the Father had placed before Him.  Jesus could have said, “No” and avoided what was awaiting Him.  His enemies were ready to pounce on Him.  So what did Jesus do?  He said, “Yes, it is as you say.”  But this is not all Jesus said.  He told them, “But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”  It appeared that Jesus’ enemies were on the verge of victory.  It appeared that Jesus had miscalculated and was now going to lose His life.  But in reality, Jesus shared with them, what the true reality was.  Jesus was not the loser and they were not the victors.

Jesus shared with them what the future would hold.  Jesus would surely die, but three days later He would rise again from the dead conquering the power of sin and death once and for all and with it redeeming mankind with His innocent shed blood.  So that all who put their faith and trust in Him would not perish, but have eternal life.

It was not Jesus’ enemies who would be the victors, but Jesus who would come back in power and glory.  When Jesus prayed His prayer in Gethsemane, God planted the Kingdom of God in His heart.  God reassured Jesus that even though this terrible crime would be committed against Jesus, Jesus would not lose.  Jesus would win the victory.  Jesus could taste this victory when He prayed at Gethsemane.

Part V – I don’t know the man (69-75)

While Jesus was winning the spiritual victory against His strong enemies, what was happening with Peter?  Peter also was going through his own trial, but instead of before the intimidating religious leaders, Peter’s accusers were two girls and those standing in the courtyard of the high priest.  Jesus was bound and slapped and spit in the face, while Peter on the other hand was free to go when ever he wanted.  Peter’s trial doesn’t even begin to measure up to Jesus’, but strangely Peter couldn’t even stand up for Jesus in this situation.  Peter buckled like a house of cards.  Earlier Peter boldly proclaimed that he would never deny Jesus and yet, that is exactly what he did.  When Peter did not pray, but instead relied on his own good intentions and noble desire he could not even stand up to the slightest threat he felt.  Fear had gripped him and defeated him.  Even though these two girls and the crowd could do nothing to him, he could not stand firm to the end, just as Jesus told him.

When Peter was approached by the servant girl and she told him, “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” Peter denied it.  Maybe when Peter said this, he thought to himself, “It’s ok if I deny knowing Jesus to this servant girl, Jesus did not hear it, and I am still here in the courtyard.  I have not really denied Jesus.”  There is no harm in it.  But in reality, this was only the beginning.  Once Peter denied Jesus this first time, he did it again and again, until he swore an oath and even called down curses upon himself to reassure those who were asking him that he did not know Jesus.  He even said, “I don’t know the man!”  “Even if all fall away on account of You, I never will.”  “Even if I have to die with You, I will never disown You.”  In Peter’s time of temptation, his bold words did not help him at all, no matter how much he meant them or not.

This new year we have been given the direction to devote ourselves to prayer and also we are reminded that we have been called and appointed to make disciples of all nations.  Our prayer topic is to double our ministry by the end of the school year.  But so far we have not accomplished this prayer topic.  It is not because God does not answer our prayer, the real problem is that we haven’t devoted ourselves to prayer and overcome our own will fully.  We all still have our own strong will to live as part time Gospel workers, we have not fully submitted ourselves fully.  We have not prayed until the matter is fully settled in our own hearts, praying again and again until we have received God’s strength so that we would fulfill the Scriptures in our life to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth, beginning in Downey and going on to the rest of Southern California and America and finally even to the true ends of the earth, including all Muslim nations.

Like Peter, we have desire to live as disciples of Jesus and live as shepherds, but human desire and good intentions are not good enough, we must pray until it is fully settled in us and we can fully submit ourselves to Jesus.  Also, like Peter we think that one small denial of serving God’s purpose is not such a big deal, it’s ok I can go to the campus another day.  I can share the Gospel some other time.  I’m tired and I worked hard today at work.  I’ll go tomorrow.   But this is temptation trying to defeat us.  The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.

May God help each of us this year to devote ourselves to prayer and overcome all our temptations and to win the spiritual victory and double our ministry by the end of the school year.  My prayer this year is to be a reliable man and to go to campus and study the Bible with one faithful student, even though I am busy.  In the past I had such desire, but I always failed.  When I talked to the students of UCLA, they all looked so intimidating to me.  I am not as smart and quick as they are.  I really felt intimidated and fearful.  So I had a real hard time to do something as simple as invite students to Bible study.  

Last year, I began to come and pray early in the morning and God gave me new strength.  So I have vision that the most unreliable person like me could be changed and become useful to God and His Kingdom work.  I can see that God gave me this passage so that I would understand just how essential prayer is for me.  Desire is not enough.  I need to pray as a matter of life and death.  God has helped me in my personal life and given me living muscle and tendon on my dry bone life.  I pray that God would help me to pray and pray until I truly will go to campus and serve one student faithfully.  I pray God would help each of us to win the spiritual victory this year.

After Peter denied Jesus three times, the rooster crowed and Peter remembered Jesus’ Words.  Peter went outside and wept bitterly.  It was painful for Peter to find out about himself.  It was humiliating and a great shame and he was filled with great guilt.  But thank God that Jesus had warned him prior so that Peter could remember Jesus’ Words.  Peter learned through this just how much God loved him and how much Jesus loved him.  Peter could be recovered from this terrible mistake he made.  

It was painful for Peter to learn the truth about himself, but it also was the beginning for him to grow and mature to be a powerful servant and witness of our Lord Jesus.  Peter soon learned the importance of God’s word and not to trust in himself, but pray until he could overcome himself and take up God’s calling on His life and live a truly victorious life.

One Word: Not my will, but Your will be done.