Abandoned and Betrayed

Pray that you may not enter into temptation. Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.

When you see that kind of repetition and you use highlight or underline, you want to use it right there. That kind of repetition is drawing your attention to something important. And it highlights even more what's in the middle, right? The bookends, what begins, what ends, this teaching, this instruction, and then we have what's in the middle. This is the first time we've seen this language from Jesus. comes from the Lord's Prayer, which we'll recite before the Lord's Supper. Pray that you may not enter into temptation. Lord, as lead us not into temptation. Even more connected might be Jesus, when warning Peter, really is warning all of them. Satan has demanded to sift you, to shake you, to turn you upside down, to tempt you. Jesus is instructing them, pray. That's the power of the Christian over against temptation. Well, let's look at what's in the middle here. Very significant.

And he withdrew from them about a throne stove and knelt and prayed.

He goes a little bit further. He's by himself. And this is his prayer. And I believe it's a summary statement, but what a rich summary statement to unpack

Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.

Well, important, what's the cup? Throughout scripture, the cup is a regular reference to the wrath of God against the sin of those who rebel against him. The cup is the wrath that will be poured out on all sin because God is just. Well, the cup, I think we could go to Romans 3.25.

God in his forbearance had passed over former sins.

We do understand that none of those sacrifices in the Old Testament actually took away sin. It was an offering so that God's judgment would pass over. It was a sacrifice done by faith, that by their faith in God's promise, they were forgiven, but the sin hadn't really been paid for in full. So the cup he's referring to is all the sins that God had previously forgiven, but had not been truly paid for. Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, David, Solomon, so forth. All those who had professed their sin and followed the instruction of God, in his forbearance he had passed over them, but the cup is gonna be poured out upon Jesus and he will pay for them. Not only is the cup referring to all the sins in the past, it's the sins we're reading about right here. The denial of Jesus. The sins of the disciples betraying him. Even if someone were to confess who nailed Jesus to the cross, the sins of man leading up to this day. for that great day. And then all the sins we have committed and will commit. All the sin God has chosen to forgive. That's the cup. The righteous judgment of God is what he's praying about. All right, so what is Jesus communicating with this request or speaking of a removal of the cup. Well, we're gonna have to do a little theological heavy lifting. Let's do a little reminder. All right, in the way we think about the Godhead and we think about the Trinity and Jesus, we're gonna introduce some, or hopefully reintroduce some language. The Trinity, God as Father, Son, Holy Spirit, we talk about one nature of three persons, And we want to put will in the nature. That's significant because we're talking about will. There's one God who has one will, one mission. Three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. We've got to confess that, that there's absolute, clear, defined distinction, but there's perfect unity in the Godhead. And then we talk about Jesus. Well, he's one person, two natures. Trinity. Three persons, one nature. Jesus, one person, two natures. He is the second person of the Trinity, the Son, who always has been fully God, eternally fully God, and then added to himself full humanity. So how many wills does Jesus as one person have after the incarnation? We're going to put will and nature. We're talking about two wills. So the Trinity, Eternal Father, Eternal Son, Eternal Spirit, they always have operated inseparably. There's one God who has one mission, praise God, that He Himself, the one God, promised to save us. And then we see the distinction. The Father doesn't die on the cross, the Son does. The Father sends the Holy Spirit in the name of the Son. There's one united will of God. in three persons who practice, who accomplish that will inseparably. So here's what we can't say, Jesus is saying, that the Son has a different will than the Father. All that to get there. That's out of bounds. There's no confusion. There's no disagreement or need for submission within the Godhead, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. And we praise God for that. Because it reminds us all of God has directed himself fully to save us from beginning to end, Father, Son, and Spirit. Okay, so what is Jesus praying here? And there's two options I'll give you, and y'all can, what a great lunch conversation to have. There's lunch provided. One option, Jesus is speaking of his human nature when he says, not my will be done. This is the more historical prominent position. The human will, the human nature that's going to suffer that judgment, that wrath that we as humans have accumulated, he's feeling the agony. He's sweating blood. He's growing in the experience, I believe here, of understanding more and more just that human judgment. Here, it's a true option and a good one, the more historical, that he's speaking of a human will. The other option is that he could be speaking what we call anthropomorphically. He's speaking in a way that is communicating how he, the son, has two natures, is looking into what's ahead and expressing his anguish in language that's not presenting there's two wills in God, but starting to, Again, understand and see immediately in front of him the agony, the pain, the costly grace that he must give by taking on the costly judgment. He's not communicating a different desire. He's not communicating a different plan. He's not communicating second thoughts. No, here we see the son of God who came to be like us in every way, to die for us. That has been the plan of the mission all along. The father has sent the son eagerly and willingly came. I believe what we're supposed to get from this is the absolute clear agony of the judgment we deserve in his expression to his father. in the midst of him experiencing and anticipating what that's going to be. It's helpful to know we can't say, helpful to know we should say, and there's ways in which we can think about that. But here's some pretty specific conclusions. One, Jesus is the only Savior who can save you. If there's any other way. If there's any other way to be saved, it would be accomplished right here. Now, there's many ways in which God could be just. He could have never promised salvation. He could have smote us. He could have brought judgment. But when He says, I'm going to save you, this, as much as we understand from the will of God as He's revealed it, this is what is now to be accomplished. It must be accomplished only because God has said it will be accomplished. There is no other Savior. Christian. Jesus alone. We sing the song in Christ alone. There is no other hope for us other than His death, His resurrection, His ascension, His return, a belief in Him. That's what it truly means to be evangelical. If we can try to redefine some terms, evangelical, you believe Jesus is the only Savior. Let's, let's, let's, let's, let's, if we're gonna try to save that term, let's define it. You believe Jesus is the only Savior because the only innocent human, he's the only God-man, he's the only one who can take your sin away from you and pay it in full. If you're not a believer, he's your only hope. He's the only one who can take your sin. He's the only one that can restore that heart that's twisted. He's the only one who can wash away and provide the forgiveness you're longing for. He's the only one who can pull you out of shame. He's the only one who can help you out of sin. Here's what he requires of you. Believe. Believe. It can be as simple as, Jesus, I understand sin, kinda, and I understand you're the Savior, kinda. Save me. You don't have to understand it all. But you have to understand, you're a sinner in need of a Savior, and Jesus is the only Savior. You cry out to Him, He saves you. That's how kind and generous and caring God is. It's as simple as looking inward and seeing the sin, looking upward and seeing Jesus as Savior and believing Him. Believers, this is the only Savior for the world. We must proclaim Him. If we really believe He's the only Savior, we must proclaim Him. This is why the mission partnerships and our budget is so important, because we want to make sure we're sharing the gospel here. We want to make sure we're helping those who are sharing the gospel elsewhere, where he's lesser known and available. It is so important for us as a church to understand how we're building up a healthy body here so that we can then send out there. He is the only Savior. It's exclusive. No apologies. It's exclusive. In Christ's name alone. Second thing we wanna see. Jesus suffered. This is where you come to faith with a little bit of understanding of sin and a little bit of understanding of grace And then he started contemplating, the one holy God became like me? The one holy God who is perfect and righteous came to be denied? To be nailed to a cross? To be mocked, spat upon when his rightful place is to be praised and worshipped? He left that for this? Again, it's been determined, as Jesus already said, he must be counted as one of the transgressors, as we read from Isaiah 52 and keep reading there in Isaiah 53. Can we just look back and think about however the religion has a difficult time with one of two concepts? Either God's transcendence or his eminence? Islam cannot accept a Jesus who would die on the cross. They think he's a prophet, but he's such a good prophet, he couldn't possibly have died on the cross. No, this is where they're lacking an understanding of trying to make God so distant. He's separated. He is holy, holy, holy, and he came down to suffer. What a God, who tells us who he is. He's a God who is so great and high to be exalted, and he's condescended to die for us. What great tension to hold. He's holy, great, awesome, and yet so near and loving. We do great damage when we want to exclude or reduce God down to either one of those and not hold them together. He came to truly suffer. He came to truly suffer. The third thing we need to see, he's the only way he truly suffered. And third, he needed prayer and strength. Let's go back and read this entirety. 41,

and he withdrew from about a stone's throw, knelt down and prayed.

But we see there a complete dependence,

saying, Father, if you're willing to remove this cup from me, nevertheless not my will, but yours be done. And there appeared to him an angel from heaven strengthening him. And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. And his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

If you want to know what prayer looks like, you look to our Savior. He taught us the Lord's Prayer, again, which we'll read. Or we could go to John 17 and see his, what we call the great high priestly prayer. And there we see he's held on and kept all who God has given to him, his father has given to him, except for the son of perdition, as we're gonna see in a moment. But here, Jesus, he's a man of prayer. Jesus is the most human, the perfect human, And as a human, he prays. It is not human to sin. That's something that we added to our own destruction. It is not natural for humans to sin, except after Adam's sin, now we're born in sin. But that's not how God designed us. God always designed us to pray. God always designed us to know him, to speak to him, to commune with him, to listen to him. It is human to pray. Jesus, the true human, the perfect human, without sin, he must go and pray. How much more do we as sinners who have a different will than God because of our sinfulness need to pray? He's a model for us. Sin is not part of our design, prayer is. But now that sin is such a part of us, we remove prayer. What a model he is for us. And even this prayer. Not my will, but yours be done. That's a model prayer for you. Jesus is not just a model, but he is a model. There's your model. Not my will be done, but yours be done. Prayer is your power. I want to go back to the powerful Church of Acts. How were they described? They were devoted to the apostles teaching and a fellowship. Which was prayer. And breaking bread together. It's required that we come together and we pray and we learn together. We have to learn how to pray. Not my will. But yours be done. Christian. Do you dare pray this? At what part of your life are you afraid of what might happen if you prayed this? Because this is truly letting God be who He is, as the good, sovereign King. We have a different will than the Son of God. Our will is twisted, it needs to be straightened, and if we were just to come to God and say, not my will be done, but your will be done, what do we think's gonna happen? Well, God's word tells us what'll happen. You'll be sanctified. You'll rejoice. You'll have joy, an abundant joy. That's God's will for your life. God tells us what his will is, to purify us, sanctify us, make us whole. But we want to keep holding on. Twice, Jesus says, pray that you may not be tempted. Seems important. Are we praying? Are we entering into this covenant relationship with the opportunity he gives us in prayer? Do we think things are too difficult that we might pray? Notice he rose from prayer. He came to disciples and he found them sleeping for sorrow. When things get difficult, you take more time to prayer. You don't pray less. Here's the Christian prayer. We come to submit to his will. We desire to deny ourselves. We desire to carry our cross. We desire to follow him. Not my will, but your will be done. I want to put this over against our culture's toxic self-love therapy. All you hear is you need to love yourself, and everyone else needs to embrace whatever you decide to love yourself. As sinners, by definition, whatever your self-love is, it is not helpful. It's destructive. Let me just walk through some self-loves. Drunkenness, pornography. Cutting, over-eating, under-eating, gossip, slander. These are all ways in which we practice self-love. These are ways in which we think we're gonna make ourselves feel better. They don't work. And as soon as you realize they don't work, you can cry out to Jesus. You can call upon him. And he helps you learn how to receive his love. How to love him and then how to actually love yourself as he designed it. Not my will. I, I, I, I, oh man, that just seems so terrifying to lose control. But he has not withheld his own son from you. What good thing do you think he's going to withhold from you? Not my will be done, but yours. He's the giver of every good and perfect gift. He, he, he's the one who keeps his promises. Oh, the more we know him, the more we robustly desire to pray that prayer. Our second section, betrayal.

While he was still speaking, there came a crowd and the man called Judas.

That is Judas Iscariot, the one Satan has already entered into, the one who's already plotted.

One of the 12 was leading them.

That's already supposed to be somewhat confusing, even though we've already talked about it, we've already seen it in Luke. Judas, one of the 12, is leading this crowd.

And he drew near to Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus said to him, Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss? And when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, Lord, shall we strike with a sword? And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said, no more of this. And he touched his ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests and the officers of the temple and elders who had come out against him, have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs? When I was with you day after day in the temple, You do not lay hands on me, but this is your hour and the power of darkness.

" Again, the purpose of Judas is to give the chief priest who'd been plotting against Jesus for some time. They were afraid of the crowds, so they didn't want to arrest him in the temple-wise teaching because they're afraid the crowds would go against them. So they got this plot with Judas to let him know how to find him privately at night in secret. Remember, Jesus goes to the same camp every night? Jesus knows Judas is going to lead these guys to him. He doesn't change his plans. He goes where he know he'll be found. The religious leaders, Judas, other Roman guards, we understand as well, they come out to Jesus. On one side is Satan, who's entered Judas, the religious leaders, the Roman guard, and on this side, Jesus, who's already feeling very alone because his disciples decided to sleep instead of pray. The enmity has been set since Genesis 3.15. Jesus receives Judas. Judas draws near to Jesus to kiss him. Now, at some level, this would be a common greeting, but here we have a student, someone whom Jesus has washed his feet, someone Jesus has taught for three years and cared for and provided for. And he comes to kiss his rabbi, which is a sign of affection and care and embrace. And what Jesus does is amazing. Verse 48, Jesus says to his betrayer, he knows this is coming,

Judas, would you betrayed the Son of Man with a kiss.

Why does he ask that question? My only conclusion is it's kindness. Here we have the Savior in perfect power and strength letting all this happen because he's orchestrated that it would happen just as it is, and here his friend, someone he's cared for for three years, comes to betray him with a sign of affection, and he asks him a question.

Judas, would you portray the Son of Man with a kiss?

What a kind moment of reflection Jesus gives to Judas right here. In the God's sovereignty, we know he's the Son of Destruction, we know he's already entered into by Satan, we know where he's going, we know this is God-ordained, we know it was already prophesied about, but the kindness, and I believe that's the only way we can understand this, To let Judas have one more moment to repent, to reflect, that's our savior. He's sovereign over evil and he's not responsible for it. We're gonna hold all kinds of fun theological tensions here. He's walking right into it. The hour of darkness, the power of darkness, it's here. He is the one orchestrating it. He's the one walking into it. He's not responsible for it. And even here, he says to his betrayer, would you do this? One last opportunity for Judas. Then we see how the disciples respond. Remember, we had the whole, you need some swords They start counting, they don't really understand that he's going to be counted as one of the transgressors. So as these guards are coming, the disciples start to see, all right, here we go. Lord, shall we strike with a sword? Jesus doesn't answer. So one of them does the most Peter thing Peter can do. It's Peter, we know from other gospels, you know, act first, think much later. He strikes him. Jesus says, no more of this. And he heals the man. Put away the sword. He is going with them. This is Paul's era. Imagine you're in the crowd. You're one of the Roman centurions. You've heard of this son of man, son of God, talk of a temple. People like him. These guys seem to hate him. Or better yet, you're part of the temple guard. You're a Jew who's regularly been hearing about Jesus, listening in the temple regularly, and you hear what he's saying as a good teacher, but you're kind of confused. Why do they hate him so much? Or maybe you were there that day, he flipped over the tables you set up for the guys who were selling things illegally, and you're a little, you know, upset about that still. Okay? So you're confused and maybe just still upset or riled up by the chief priest. How do you start thinking differently when he tells his own men to put away the sword? We've come to take this guy with clubs and he's asked a question, or have you really come out this way to fight me? Okay, that's a little confusing. But then, he touches the guy's ear and heals it. All right, you're in the group that's trying to kill this guy. He said don't hurt them, then uses power you don't understand to do the kindest thing possible to his enemies. I think it's probably time to put down your sword and walk away, right? That's reasonable, I'm trying to be reasonable here. He's kind to his enemies, you're startled. He has power to heal? I'm terrified. But it's a moment here to reflect how twisted and hardened our hearts can be. They keep it up. Jesus then asks, why have you come out this way? The last statement is really terrifying that Jesus says.

This is your hour, the power of darkness.

Numerous times he's refused,

my hour has not yet come.

There's a way in which he realized he'll be thrust into being the king who will be sacrificed early. He is perfectly sovereign as to when he's going to Jerusalem for that last time. Now the power, the hour of darkness has come. The hour for him to rule as king in death over death. The hour of evil. There's a significant warning here. We see Jesus offering kindness to his disciples. We see Jesus offering kindness to Judas. We see Jesus healing one of the men who's coming to take him into jail and to falsely accuse him. We even see him warning the chief priest, is this really what you're gonna do? I think a passage that helps us understand what's happening is the end of Romans 10.

holds out his hands all day long to an obstinate and stiff-necked people.

It's an opportunity to reflect upon how kind God is and how hardened we can be, how much we refuse him. He's powerful to save. He shows His power in His kindness and His grace. And yet, still we see these men refuse Him. This is where I want to go back to what we talked about last week with the theologian of the cross. We too often want to see God in the way He blesses us here on this earth, but no, we see God perfectly in His justice and His mercy because Christ down on the cross We see God most clearly in the midst of suffering, in the midst of repentance, in the midst of feeling sorrow, that we might feel his grace. The third section. He's abandoned, praying by himself, helping them learn how to pray, helping us learn how to pray. He's betrayed by one of his own, and then there's a great warning and even kindness shown. Then 54. Through 62, he's denied.

Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest's house, and Peter was following at a distance. When they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, the man also was with him, but he denied it, saying, woman, I do not know him. And a little later, someone else saw him and said, you said, You also are one of them. Peter said, man, I am not. And after an interval of about an hour, still another insisted, saying, certainly this man also was with him, for he too was a Galilean. But Peter said, man, I do not know what you are talking about.

Let's pause there and remember, Peter's significant in the Gospels. The disciples have an ordering to them, and there seems to be three that's regularly with Jesus doing certain things that others aren't doing, and Peter is always in that group of three, and he's regularly speaking on behalf of the disciples, sometimes helpfully, sometimes unhelpfully. Remember back in Matthew 16, Jesus asked,

who do you say that I am?

And blessed by the Father to see who he is, he says,

you are the Christ

, and Jesus blesses that. Then we fast forward a little bit later, and Jesus warns them of what kind of Christ he's going to be. He's going to suffer for them, and Peter says, may it never be so. And what does Jesus then tell Peter?

Get behind me, Satan.

Peter's tempting him to think there's a way to do this that doesn't require suffering. Most recently, Jesus had warned Peter, Satan has demanded you to sift you. What did Peter do in response? Nah, not me, Jesus. Remember that, that's important for us to really embrace. Jesus warned him, the prince of darkness, the ancient foe, he's demanded you to sift you. Yeah, but Jesus, not me. I will never deny you. And then Jesus tells him specifically, no, you'll deny me three times before the rooster crows. Here we see it play out just as Jesus said. The warning is only helpful if we heed it. The warning that we're sinners who can deny Christ is only helpful if we'll actually heed it. And the language here is so absolute. No, I do not know him. I'm not one of them. Over and over again, there's a fear of man and not a reverence for God. We see it happen just as Jesus warned him. And then that second half of verse 60,

and immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.

At the moment he denies him the third time, it's been an all night affair, the rooster is now crowing, the morning is gonna begin, there's a rooster crow and he remembers. as God planned, as God prepared for him, a moment of reflection. And just in case Peter misses it all the more, verse 61,

immediately he heard the rooster crow and the Lord himself turned and looked at Peter.

It's one of those looks you never wanna get. We know for certain it's an absolute reminder. Peter, I warned you. Peter, I told you this was coming. Jesus turns to see Peter. And I want you to understand, everything that's happened is sweet mercy for Peter. How does Peter respond?

And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord and how he had said to him, before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times. And so he went out and wept bitterly.

Uncontrollable sorrow, what we would call today ugly crying. Judas was on trial a little while ago. Are you really gonna betray the son of man with a kiss? Now Peter has been on trial three times. He's been on trial and he has now failed. He was warned ahead of time. And now his only response is a sorrow. And I believe these are tears of penance, of healing. When Jesus is saying that Satan demands you, he says, when you fail, when you fall away, turn again. Repentance. Repentance is the remedy for this kind of failure. Repentance is the remedy for this kind of denial. And it's terrifying if we do not repent. This kind of sorrow can be a gift of God. God blesses us with real moments of absolute sorrow and despair so that we might turn away from sin and see him as the healer. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 7,

there's a sorrow that does not lead to repentance, it leads to death.

That's the sorrow of just self-pity. Here, I believe, Peter, he's blessed to see how he failed so that Christ might then restore him when he turns again. Two things to consider here. Have we actively denied Christ without realizing it? Three times after being told this is how you're gonna deny me, he does it without realizing it until the third time when the rooster crows and Jesus looks at him. It might be a good opportunity right now to think, I need to ask God as he instructs in Psalm 19, show me my hidden sin, because this is terrifying. I could be denying Christ without even realizing it. Am I actively denying Christ without even realizing it? Or are there ways in which I need to look up and see your glory, look into your word and see your grace, and confess sin and come out of it? The second thing. We don't know exactly where Peter went at this second, but there's a sorrow that leads to just self-pity, that distances us from others, that does not want restoration. That is not what Jesus permits here. No, this is a sorrow that he will use to turn him again so that he would strengthen his brothers, as he said. God does not protect us from failures. No, he actually helps us come out of them so that we know his forgiveness and faithfulness. I kind of wonder, think about Peter a couple years later, He heard a rooster crow probably every day, didn't he? How many mornings do you think he woke up and heard the rooster crow and remembered this moment? Every morning, he heard the rooster crow. And I think he'd have to remember his lowest moment. And what an opportunity from God to remember His mercies in that moment. What an opportunity from God to not try to forget everything, but to know every morning, wrestle in His own conscience. I can't believe I denied my Savior, and I can't believe He brought me back. Praise God for reminders like this. Every morning, I believe Peter hears that rooster crow, and he's restored as he has to remember and wrestle with. I failed miserably. I went into a darkness, and God's mercies were new then, and God's mercies are new every morning. We have to understand, God does not want us God is not going to use Peter because of his natural talent, his education, his ability to think on his feet. No, God used Peter because he turned back. That's what's helped us grow up into Christ and be used by Christ. He repented. He turned back. Christian leadership is the ability to look and say, follow me as I follow Christ. But you first have to come to Christ out of sin before you can say that, right? We come to Christ asking for forgiveness. We come to Christ repenting. And then we can say, follow me as I follow Christ. Follow me as I repent of my sin. Three final applications. We must first see our sin. We do not pray as we ought. Our hearts are full of this wickedness and hardness that we see portrayed in these men in the story. We didn't have a right fear of God. We didn't have a right respect for man. We come with repentance. And then the second thing we see is we see the power of Christ to save us while we're sinners. And praise God, we can see that he came to save Peter who denied him. He has planned this, he has promised this, he is going to overcome this darkness with his great light. He will go further in the darkness by dying on the cross and then he will rise again to bring absolute hope. Thirdly, in the midst of darkness, you're not alone like Jesus. We don't look at this and say, wow, how can I relate to Jesus? No, you look at this and know he knows me. He can sympathize with me. He's suffered more than me, but in ways similar enough to you that he can come and bring about the balm that truly brings healing. Friends, we have to know how to meditate upon the gospel to go through the trials and difficulties of this life. The gospel is the bomb and here we know how Christ came down into the darkness and he then brings joy in the morning. Oh, how the gospel is so helpful for us. To know he relates and knows and sees us. And he came to suffer these things. To help us. To heal us. to save us. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that you are the one true great God. Father, we praise you and your Son and your Holy Spirit. We thank you that you've not without even your Son. We thank you that we can now rejoice in that great condescension coming down to us. to suffer even at our own hands. We thank you that we can trust you because you keep your word. We thank you that we can trust you because you use all your power to bring light in our darkness, to bring hope in our despair. Jesus, let me pray. Amen. Let's stand and sing our song of response, Man of Sorrow.