Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Good morning, everybody.
[00:00:12] All right.
[00:00:13] It's a privilege to be here with you today.
[00:00:16] We're going to be in Matthew chapter six. If you want to go ahead and turn in your Bibles there.
[00:00:22] If you don't have a Bible with you, there are copies from should be in every row. Just look in the seats, the baskets underneath the seats in front of me. We say this every week, but if you don't own a copy of Scripture, we would just encourage you to take one of ours. It is incredibly important for people to be able to regularly access the Bible on their own. And so we really encourage you to take one.
[00:00:49] All right, so Matthew chapter 26. We're going to be in verses 31 through 56 to today.
[00:00:54] We are in this sermon series that is called the Passion of Jesus. And we're going to be today kind of ramping up towards Jesus's arrest, which begins his last few hours.
[00:01:10] Sorry, spoilers.
[00:01:13] If you're a. If you would have been here and coming for a while, you probably remember that Pastor Craig preached through this same story out of the Gospel of Mark on Palm Sunday.
[00:01:25] If you weren't here and didn't get a chance to listen to that, I would encourage you to go back and listen to it. He and I focus on different things and his sermon was excellence.
[00:01:36] Craig tends to be a more comprehensive preacher than I am, so you may want to go back and listen to that to get a fuller picture.
[00:01:44] Anyway, lets go ahead and read our passage together. It's a long passage, so buckle up.
[00:01:52] Says Then Jesus said to them, tonight all of you will fall away because of me. For it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.
[00:02:06] Peter told him, even if everyone falls away because of you, I will never fall away.
[00:02:12] Truly, I tell you, Jesus said to him, tonight before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times, even if I have to die with you. Peter told him, I will never deny thee. And all the disciples said the same thing.
[00:02:26] Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he told the sit here while I go over there and pray.
[00:02:34] Taking along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.
[00:02:40] He said to them, I am deeply grieved to the point of death.
[00:02:44] Remain here and stay awake with me.
[00:02:48] Going a little farther, he fell face down. And my father, if it is possible, let this cup cast from me yet not as I will, but as you will Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeking. He asked Peter so couldn't you stay awake with me one hour?
[00:03:06] Stay awake and pray so that you won't enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
[00:03:13] Again a second time he went away and my Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.
[00:03:22] And he came again and found them sleeping because they could not keep their eyes open.
[00:03:27] After leaving them, he went away again and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more.
[00:03:33] Then he came to the disciples and said to are you still sleeping and resting? See, the time is near. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let's go. See, my betrayer is near.
[00:03:47] While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the 12, suddenly arrived. A large mob with swords and clubs was with him. From the chief priests and elders of the people.
[00:03:58] His betrayer had given them a the one I kiss. He's the one. Arrest him.
[00:04:04] So immediately he went up to Jesus and said, greetings, Rabbi, and kissed him, friend. Jesus asked him, why had you come?
[00:04:12] Then they came up, took hold of Jesus and arrested him.
[00:04:16] At that moment, one of those with Jesus reached out his hand and drew his sword. He struck the high priest servant and cut off his ear.
[00:04:23] Then Jesus told quick, your sword back in its place, because all who take up the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot call on my Father and he will provide me here and now with more than 12 legions of angels?
[00:04:37] How then would the scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?
[00:04:42] At that time, Jesus said to the had you come out with swords and clubs? As if I were a criminal to capture me every day. I used to sit teaching in the temple and you didn't arrest me. But all this has happened so that the writings of the prophets will be fulfilled. Then all the disciples deserted him and ran away.
[00:05:03] That is the word of the Lord bore us today. Let me pray for us and continue.
[00:05:12] Father God, I pray that today you would open up our hearts, that you would speak to us through your word. That you would allow us to see this incredibly intense picture of Jesus humanity. And that we would be able to take it in, be changed by how amazing Jesus love for us is.
[00:05:41] Thank you.
[00:05:43] Amen.
[00:05:45] All right, so we have this long passage of scripture that is very intense. This is a somber scene that we get to take part in.
[00:05:56] We have Jesus and his disciples. They have this last conversation on their way to the Garden of Gethsemane. They Just left the upper room where they shared the Passover meal. And Jesus implemented the First Lord's Supper, or Communion.
[00:06:12] That was where Judas left them.
[00:06:16] So they made their way back to the Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane, which was an olive orchard, which is probably where Jesus and his disciples were staying during this week while they're in Jerusalem.
[00:06:26] Most of the travelers in Jerusalem had to camp outside of the city because there wasn't enough lodging in the city to house how many people would come to Jerusalem. So this was pretty normal.
[00:06:38] Jesus and his disciples have this final conversation where Jesus tells them that they will all fall away from him before the end of the night. And he says it was prophesied that this would happen.
[00:06:50] Peter objects, saying that everybody else might fall away, but he never would.
[00:06:56] Jesus tells Peter that he, in fact, will deny Jesus three times before the rooster crows.
[00:07:01] And Peter says that even if it costs him his life, he would never deny Jesus those bold words from Peter.
[00:07:09] We'll talk about that in a minute. So Jesus and his disciples arrive at the garden, back to their campsite. And Jesus asks Peter, James, and John, his inner circle, his closest friends, to go with him further into the Garden of Frey.
[00:07:23] It's really where the focus of our time will be today. So let's jump ahead a little bit and see that after Jesus finishes praying, Judas arrives with this angry mob, and he betrays Jesus with a kiss.
[00:07:37] Jesus is arrested.
[00:07:39] One of the disciples grabs a sword and attacks one of the people in this mob. Turns out it's the servant to the high priest. And we learn from the Gospel of John that this disciple who attacks the servant is in fact Peter.
[00:07:53] Jesus rebukes Peter. He tells him that the disciples.
[00:07:57] He tells Peter and the disciples that he could stop this at any moment if he wanted to. He could call upon legions of angels if he chose.
[00:08:07] And then he addresses the crowd, and all the disciples run away and abandon her. So that's the narrative here.
[00:08:15] Today. We're going to be spending our time talking about Jesus. I know, Shopper, but specifically what I want to focus on is the humanity of Jesus. I think as Christians, we spend a lot of time focused on Jesus, divinity, that he is God, that all things were created by him through him and for him, that he saves us, that he's going to return at the head of an army of angels and be seated on the throne forever. All of this is right and good, and it's good for us to focus on these things, but it's also important for us to remember that while Jesus is fully God, he is also fully man.
[00:08:52] I don't think that there is a better depiction of the humanity of Jesus than our passage today.
[00:08:58] We get this window into such an intensely vulnerable and human moment in Jesus life.
[00:09:06] I think it can be easy for us to read the Bible and be so familiar with these stories that we almost begin to view them just as stories or even sometimes as a textbook that we need to study and pull the important lessons and moral truths out of. And then we move on.
[00:09:27] Of course, this is the Bible. We know that we were given this book so that we would have the entirety of God's word that we need for salvation, for maturity, and for growing into the people of God that we were meant to be.
[00:09:40] But I think especially when we're presented with a passage like this one, it's more than just a textbook.
[00:09:48] Have you ever encountered or stumbled upon someone who is in one of these intensely vulnerable moments and it makes you feel uncomfortable?
[00:09:59] I think especially sometimes when we are present for an authority figure like a parent or somebody like that, and they are in one of these vulnerable human moments, it can make us sometimes a little uncomfortable.
[00:10:14] It can be uncomfortable to see past people's barriers and strength into their vulnerability, especially when we're not expecting it.
[00:10:23] I think when we see people's humanity on display, sometimes it can make us feel uncomfortable.
[00:10:32] If we only view Jesus as God, as our Lord and King, as the Creator who will sit on the throne of heaven forever, then I think seeing a story like this where he's so intensely human can be kind of shocking and perhaps make us a little uncomfortable. And I think it makes us tend to breeze through the stories.
[00:10:53] We shouldn't do that. God gives us this window in hewn into Jesus humanity for a reason.
[00:10:59] It's important.
[00:11:00] So let's commit to really look at it this long.
[00:11:05] We also see from this story that Jesus's humanity is not the only one on display. We see the disciples humanity pretty clearly as well, focusing mainly on Peter.
[00:11:16] Part of what I want to do today is for us to kind of compare and contrast Jesus and Peter's humanity.
[00:11:24] But before we do any of that, I think we need to make sure that we're on a firm foundation with the humanity of Jesus and the theology of that here.
[00:11:33] Now, I don't trust a pastor to geek out over theology, but I think it's important for us to make sure that we have foundation for this.
[00:11:42] We believe that Jesus is both fully God and fully man.
[00:11:47] That truth that we believe has been source of a lot of controversy. And over the ages, there are entire world religions like Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Scientists who claim to be Christians but don't actually believe that Jesus is both fully God and fully man.
[00:12:05] Because these religions deny something so foundational to what we believe. We believe that they are not in fact Christians.
[00:12:15] It's absolutely fundamental to believe that Jesus is fully God and fully mare. In Romans, chapter 10, verse 9, the apostle Paul lays out that we have to believe that Jesus is our Lord God in order to be saved. He says, if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
[00:12:37] In 2 John 1:7, the apostle John says that those who teach that Jesus is not fully man are deceivers. He says, many deceivers have gone out into the world. They do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the Antichrist.
[00:12:53] So we see through scripture from these apostles teaching that both that Jesus is both fully God and fully man, and that this is foundational to what we believe.
[00:13:05] We believe that Jesus has always existed as a full part of the Trinity, fully God the Son, and then he willingly chose to become a human as well.
[00:13:18] In Hebrews, chapter 2, verses 14 through 18, we see the writer tell us why Jesus made this choice.
[00:13:26] It says, now, since the children have flesh and blood in common, Jesus also shared in these, so that through his death he might destroy the one holding the power of death, that is the devil, and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death.
[00:13:43] For it is clear that he does not reach out to help angels, but to help Abraham's offspring.
[00:13:48] Therefore, he had to be like his brothers and sisters in every way so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in matters pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. For since he himself had suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.
[00:14:07] Jesus, knowing that we were enslaved to sin and death, became like us, taking on flesh and blood suffering like we suffer, facing the temptations that we face in order to redeem us, to redeem humanity and to take our place as the sacrifice, to take the death that was the penalty for our sins and give us his reward of eternal life that he won for his righteous life.
[00:14:34] And this was not just some temporary experience for Jesus. He was born as a human, lived a fully human life, died a brutal human death, and was raised back to life as A human, and he will spend the rest of eternity as a human.
[00:14:51] I think sometimes we miss how intense that is. The this choice that he made to become a human for us is permanent, not temporary.
[00:15:00] Jesus currently looks like us, talks like us, thinks like us, feels emotions like us.
[00:15:08] He experiences sadness, anger, joy, compassion, loneliness, and love. Just like us, Jesus is fully a man forever.
[00:15:17] He is also fully God. There are, of course, plenty of theological points that we could make about that, but that's not what our sermon is about today. Today we're focused on Jesus humanity.
[00:15:28] So we have this foundation of theology.
[00:15:31] So let's move back to our text. I want to look at Jesus humanity, but also the humanity of the disciples. I think it's easy for us to judge the disciples as we read through these intense stories, but I think it's harder to admit that we probably wouldn't have done any better.
[00:15:48] Come on. So let's look at Peter for a moment.
[00:15:52] Jesus tells his disciples, the ones who had stuck with him through success, fame, persecution, danger, miracles. He tells them that it was prophesied that they would all abandon them.
[00:16:08] I think the disciples were used to Jesus telling them things that they didn't understand, but this seems pretty clear.
[00:16:16] But Peter still objects. He tells Jesus that even if all the others were to abandon him, that he never would.
[00:16:25] Jesus then doubles down and he tells Peter that before the rooster crows in the morning, that Peter would deny Jesus three times.
[00:16:34] Peter, being who he is, also doubles down.
[00:16:39] I don't know about you, but I find it tough to think that I would ever argue with Jesus like Peter does, much less continue to double down when Jesus tells you something was prophesied and then even gives specific details about how it's going to happen.
[00:16:56] But Peter does.
[00:16:58] He claims that even if he has to die with Jesus, that he would never abandon him.
[00:17:04] It's a bold claim.
[00:17:06] I think it shows that Peter is at least acknowledging the hard things that are happening.
[00:17:13] Jesus had told them multiple times that he was going to die.
[00:17:18] I don't know if Peter actually believes that to be true, but he's at least acknowledging that Jesus has been saying it.
[00:17:26] We see Peter here fighting his own battle of humanity. It's easy to look down on Peter here as kind of being stubborn and dumb, but I think he's really in this David versus Goliath kind of scenario.
[00:17:40] He's trying to be the hero. He's trying to face against his own fear of death.
[00:17:47] We've all seen countless stories and examples of a hero facing off against something incredibly massive. Or difficult.
[00:17:56] And in this case, Peter is standing up against the reality of his humanity, this fear of death that Scripture talked about.
[00:18:05] I think most of us here in this room are probably mature Christians. And I think we would easily admit that humans are sinful, that we're prone to abandon the things that we love, that we are prone to do just about anything to try to save ourselves.
[00:18:20] But we are on the other side of salvation. We know this to be true about humans. But Peter doesn't want to admit this about himself. So instead he's speaking loudly, boldly into his fear, making the bold claims.
[00:18:33] He's almost spinning in the face of sin and death, in the face of his own fear and cowardice.
[00:18:40] In many ways, Peter is fighting against the exact same thing that Jesus does in our passage, that we're going to be talking about. The fear of death, the weakness of his own flesh, if he can stand up to his own claims.
[00:18:54] Obviously, we see throughout the rest of the story that Peter fails Jesus multiple times.
[00:19:00] He falls asleep several times when he's asked to stay up and pray. He reacts with violence to try to stop Jesus from being arrested. But as soon as Jesus stops him, he runs away.
[00:19:10] Peter fails in his fight in the end, he's weak, he's cowardly. He runs away to save himself from death.
[00:19:18] We can judge Peter if we want to, but I think if we're being honest with ourselves, we probably wouldn't have done any better. None of the other disciples did. They all fled.
[00:19:30] What Peter and the rest of the disciples represent here is humanity, pre salvation humanity. People who are enslaved to their own sin, who have no choice except to run and try to avoid their death.
[00:19:47] These are the consequences that sin has brought pause.
[00:19:53] I think all of us, or most of us I know I love stories. I like to read fiction, I like to watch TV shows, I like to watch movies. And one of the large categories of fiction is fantasy. And one of the main story tropes of fantasy is this hero's journey that you get this person who seems unlikely, but through their experiences and their journey, they grow into this hero that saves everybody.
[00:20:24] This is a common story and it's meant to encourage us, to make us feel like we could stand up to something. And I think many of us believe that, that if something happened, if it came down to it, we would stand up and we would face our foes and we would stand against it.
[00:20:45] I think the danger of that type of story is that we already want to view ourselves as the hero of the story.
[00:20:53] And those types of stories, I think, make us put ourselves in the shoes of the hero, when in reality we are not the heroes of the story.
[00:21:04] Jesus is the hero of the story.
[00:21:06] So let's turn and look at Jesus.
[00:21:09] Look again with me at verses 36 to 46.
[00:21:13] Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane. And he told the disciples, sit here while I go over there and pray.
[00:21:21] Taking long Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.
[00:21:26] He said to them, I am deeply grieved to the point of death.
[00:21:30] Remain here and stay awake with me.
[00:21:33] Going a little farther, he fell face down and prayed, my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me yet not as I will, but as you will.
[00:21:42] Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. He asked Peter, so couldn't you stay awake with me one hour? Stay awake and pray so that you won't enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
[00:21:55] Again, a second time, he went away and prayed, my Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.
[00:22:02] And he came again and found them sleeping because they could not keep their eyes open.
[00:22:06] After leaving them, he went away again and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more.
[00:22:12] Then he came to the disciples and said to them, are you still sleeping, resting? See, the time is near. Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up. Let's go see. My betrayer is near.
[00:22:26] I want us to take a moment to do our best, to really take in Jesus humanity in this situation, even if it makes us uncomfortable to think of our king and his Savior as a vulnerable human.
[00:22:41] We talked about Peter's boldness, His standing up against his fear of death. But isn't Jesus really doing the same thing here?
[00:22:49] Judas left after the dinner. Jesus could have gone somewhere else. He could have taken his disciples somewhere else, avoided what he knew was coming. But he doesn't.
[00:23:01] He chooses to not run away from his fate. He goes to the expected place and he waits for it.
[00:23:07] But even in that waiting, this isn't just some calm, peaceful scene for Jesus. As he waits. It says he's deeply grieved to the point of death. It says he's sorrowful and troubled. He's sad, he's in anguish, he's distressed. And we see that he is incredibly lonely in this moment.
[00:23:30] I think it's worth us highlighting this. Jesus is upset, and he doesn't want to be alone at this time of his need. His time is growing shorter. He wants to spend these last moments he has with his closest friends and with his father. So he asks them to please stay up and pray with me.
[00:23:52] We see. He doesn't get that they all fall asleep even after he wakes them back up.
[00:24:00] Take note of his words to Peter. He says, so couldn't you stay awake with me even one hour? Stay awake and pray so that you won't enter into temptation. The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
[00:24:11] Even in the midst of his loneliness, his suffering, his anguish, Jesus is still so merciful and loving toward his friends, toward Peter. He even offers Peter the way out of his temptation here.
[00:24:26] And a lot of you are in the discipleship groups. This sum we've been memorizing. 1 Corinthians 10:13.
[00:24:32] I don't know if you want to try to say it with me. Yeah.
[00:24:37] 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, no temptation has come upon thee except what is common to humanity. Enemy. But God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able.
[00:24:50] But with that temptation, he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear a God is faithful.
[00:25:00] When we are tempted, he will provide a way out. And Jesus is a perfect example of that. Here he provides the way out to Peter. Even despite the fact that he says it's prophesied and that he says Peter will fall away, he still provides Peter the way out. He says, if you'll just stay up and pray with me, you can avoid the temptation.
[00:25:22] Of course, we see that it doesn't happen. Peter falls asleep anyway. Jesus is lonely. He's alone here. His friends sleep. So he turns to his Father.
[00:25:36] Throughout Jesus life, his relationship with his Father has been a defining feature of his life.
[00:25:43] Even as a child, he made his way to the temple so he could be in his Father's house.
[00:25:48] Each time he faces hardship or temptation, he turns to his Father.
[00:25:54] And now we begin to get to the heart of Jesus humanity. Here.
[00:25:59] I know lots of sermons have been given about Jesus, words to the Father here. I don't think we necessarily need to try to analyze them, but I just want us to try to see the humanity in those words.
[00:26:11] He says, my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me yet not as I will, but as you will.
[00:26:18] Jesus is genuinely asking God for another way.
[00:26:22] He says he's grieved to the point of death. He knows what's coming. He chose this. He chose to become a human. He chose that this would be the way that we are saved. He knew that this defining moment was coming, that it would define his entire life. But he still, in this moment, asks God for another way.
[00:26:45] He asks for a way to avoid the cup again. I'm sure that many of you have heard sermons about this cup. I don't think we necessarily need to talk a lot about it, the cup of God's righteous wrath and judgment. But we see the humanity in Jesus in this moment.
[00:27:02] I don't know about you guys, but when I'm faced with something scary, with a hard moment, with something that I know is coming that I don't like, I start running through scenarios in my head, looking for ways to avoid it, looking for ways that I can handle it in the best way that I can come out of it looking the best.
[00:27:23] I think Jesus is in this same moment.
[00:27:27] He knows something hard is coming and he's looking for the scenarios. He's asking his Father to please find another way.
[00:27:38] But in all of that, he submits himself to the Father.
[00:27:43] This is one of the defining characteristics that we see of Jesus humanity. He always submits himself to the Father and this becomes his righteousness.
[00:27:56] Don't forget, this is a man, but not just a man. He's also fully God.
[00:28:01] Scripture tells us that everything exists by the will of Jesus and by his power, that he holds it all together.
[00:28:10] Just minutes later, he tells Peter that he could call upon legions of angels to show up and save him out of this situation.
[00:28:18] This isn't some situation where. Where Jesus is powerless and left with no choice. He could save himself, he could.
[00:28:27] But he does not.
[00:28:28] He submits himself to God the Father.
[00:28:32] This whole situation is the mirror of Abraham taking his son Isaac up on the mountain. And Jesus is Isaac in this moment. Just like Isaac, he asks his Father what's going to happen. But then he submits himself to the will of his Father.
[00:28:50] But unlike that story, Jesus knows that God is not going to provide another lamb in place of him. He is the lamb. He is the sacrificial lamb that has to be sacrificed for us.
[00:29:05] Then we see Jesus give his second prayer to his Father and it's different.
[00:29:11] Says again a second time he went away. And my Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.
[00:29:19] There are key differences between these two prayers. In the first, he's asking for another way. And the second, he's acknowledging that there is no other way and that he will accept it.
[00:29:33] Just like Peter was fighting against his fear of death, I think Jesus is fighting against his fear of death. In this moment, Jesus is tempted Just like Peter was.
[00:29:45] We see Jesus being tempted at key moments in his life. One of the primary ones we see is Jesus at the beginning of his ministry in the desert. He's tempted by Satan.
[00:29:56] What Satan tempts Jesus with in that story is the temptation to stop being humorous.
[00:30:03] He gives him these scenarios that give Jesus the opportunity to lean into his divinity, to lean into his divine power, to. To call upon angels to save him. But Jesus each time, decides to stay human. He decides to be fully human because he knows that that's what we have to do here. In this passage, I think we see this culmination, this final temptation for Jesus. He has the opportunity to stop being human, to run away from this, to turn away from his course of being fully human, to tap into his divinity and save himself. But he chooses not to. He resists the temptation. He stays a human.
[00:30:54] In Hebrews 5, 7, 9, we see that the author has this to say about Jesus. It says, during his earthly life, he offered prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death. And he was heard because of his reverence.
[00:31:11] Although he was the Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered. After he was perfected, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.
[00:31:22] Jesus was obedient. He chose obedience. He chose submission to his Father all the way to the point of death.
[00:31:30] From this moment, Jesus allows himself to be led like a lamb to the slaughter. And. And he's saved from death because of it. He's not saved from a physical death. Who takes that on? He takes our suffering and death that we've earned through our sin, but the fear of death, he defeats that. And in that defeat, he eventually defeats death completely, coming back to life and winning eternal life and salvation for himself and for all of us who choose to obey him.
[00:32:02] Jesus is the ultimate, perfect example of humanity.
[00:32:07] Throughout the Bible, we see these examples of humanity facing temptation and failing, whether that's Adam in the Garden of Eden or David on the roof of his palace, or even Peter here in this garden. And each time we see that humanity cannot save itself. We are just not enough. We cannot stand up against our fear of death because it is our master.
[00:32:33] But Jesus comes to show us a better way. He comes to make that better way for us, to transform us so that we can stand with him.
[00:32:45] All right, we need to wrap this up and you can go ahead and come back up.
[00:32:50] I want to talk for a minute about application.
[00:32:54] What are we actually supposed to do with this incredibly vulnerable moment? Of Jesus humanity.
[00:33:01] I'm sure there's lots of different ways that this could be applied. Seeing Jesus humanity, his vulnerability, being reminded of all that he went through for us, seeing him conquer death, seeing him be tempted and yet not fall to temptation. These are all things that probably should inspire us and encourage us to model ourselves after Jesus.
[00:33:22] That is one of the reasons he became a human, to provide the model for us of what a human is supposed to be.
[00:33:28] But at least for me, I don't think that's the application this morning.
[00:33:33] Maybe for you, this is a stark reminder that you're tired of fighting against your own sin, against the fear of death.
[00:33:41] Maybe you've not accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Maybe this is the reminder you need that you don't have to be alone, that Jesus is there for you. Jesus went through all of this to save you, to allow you to not have to face what he faced so that you could be saved. If that's true of you, then I would encourage you to respond to that this morning. See Jesus as a human. See him how much he loves you, what he was willing to do for you, and respond to Him.
[00:34:12] I think for the rest of us, those of us who already believe in Jesus, who've probably been saved for a while, most of us in this room have probably heard this story a million times. I actually think the application is pretty simple.
[00:34:24] Look at the disciples in the story.
[00:34:27] Jesus just wanted them to be with Him.
[00:34:31] They couldn't do it. They were tired, they fell asleep. Their flesh won.
[00:34:36] But Jesus, listen to this church. Jesus did all of this. He. He went through all of this. He became a human, took our punishment, faced sin and death for us so that we could just be with him, so that we could make the choice the disciples couldn't and actually be with Him.
[00:34:57] Jesus became this ultimate example of humanity for that simple reason, so that we could join him and just be with Him.
[00:35:06] It wasn't an accident that Jesus wanted the disciples to be with him in this moment. He created them. He created each of us because he likes us, because he wants us to be with Him.
[00:35:19] I think that's the application here. I think that's the absolute basic core of what we believe. Jesus wants you.
[00:35:28] He created you because he wants to be with you. Can we just take a moment and sit with that?
[00:35:34] Jesus is God, but He became a human so that we could be with Him. Jesus went through all of this temptation and suffering and death so that we could be with Him.
[00:35:48] That's the application. I think for us today. Let me just spend a couple of minutes thanking Jesus for what he's done for us and then just be with them.
[00:36:01] How convicting. That's so convicting for me.
[00:36:04] I don't spend anywhere near enough time just being with Jesus. And that's what he wants. He just wants us to be with him. So, church, let's spend a couple of minutes in reflection and just be with Jesus and then we will continue.
