We are following the steps of Jesus through His last week of mortal life. He came to Bethany where He fellowshipped with Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. Mary poured a box of very precious ointment on Him, much to the dismay of His disciples, especially Judas Iscariot. Judas left Bethany and went to Jerusalem, where he made a deal with the Jewish leaders to betray Jesus to them. Then, on the day before His crucifixion, Jesus left Bethany for nearby Jerusalem, where He was received with a thunderous welcome. Early that evening, Jesus sat down with His apostles, and at the Passover Supper. He took advantage of this occasion to start the Lord's Supper.

On this last dark night before His crucifixion, Jesus rose from the supper, and went out to the Mount of Olives. Matt. 26:30 says, "And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives." The Mount of Olives was right at the edge of Jerusalem, toward Bethany. At this point, the tempo of events stepped up considerably. The drums of deceit and injustice were beating faster and louder. Within twelve hours from this point, Jesus would be hanging on the cross. Within eighteen hours, He'd be dead. The awful day of Christ's anguish and suffering was just beginning.

I. ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES, JESUS PREDICTED THAT HIS DISCIPLES WOULD DESERT HIM:

A. He, being the God of heaven, knew what they would do:

1. Of Him, Heb. 4:13 declared. "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." John 13:1 specifically declares, "Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end." Verse 11 says He also knew exactly who was going to betray Him. Neither of these events came as a shock or surprise to Jesus.

2. He knew that when the trouble really started, Peter would leave. He had changed the life of Matthew the Publican, but Matthew would leave Him. All Andrew was, he was because of what Jesus had done for him; but he, too, would run out on our Lord. And even the beloved John would also go. They'd all desert Him, as though He were a common crook. Matt. 26:31 records His prediction, "Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad." He specifically singled out Simon Peter and said. "I say unto thee, that this night. before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice," Matt. 26:34.

3. Jesus did not predict theft desertion just so He could later say, "I told you so." He was teaching them a lesson about their own weakness, and the depth of their devotion:

a. He was teaching them that their success would depend upon His strength, not theirs. They had to get it through their heads that they were nothing, and He was something. A commitment to devotion, made in the energy of the flesh is doomed to fail. A man can only succeed when he gives up on himself, and lets Jesus be Lord of his life. We can say with Paul "I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me," Phil. 4:13. But, we must admit that "without him I can do nothing."

b. The apostle Paul wrote, "For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith," Rom. 12:3. It seems that these apostles, like many of us, had an over-inflated opinion of their own courage and strength. They didn't realize how much they needed Jesus; how powerless they'd be without Him. Jesus said, "Without me ye can do nothing," John 15:5. Jesus was reaffirming that truth to them when He stopped there on the Mount of Olives and said, "All ye shall be offended because of me this night," Matt. 26:31.

B. The disciples insisted that this would never happen to them:

1. Listen to Peter speak for them in Matt. 26:33-35, "Though all men should be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, that this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I never deny thee. Likewise, also, said all the disciples." Mark 14:31 says they were very vehement about it.

2. Of course, the truth is that our Lord knew more about the disciples than they knew about themselves. And, regardless of what they thought about themselves, what He predicted about them was true. Thus, in little more than three hours from Jesus' prediction, and their vehement denials, they all forsook Him. Matt. 26:56 says when Judas and his bullies came to take Jesus, "Then all the disciples forsook him and fled."

3. It saddens my heart when I think how much like these disciples all of us really are. The old flesh is proud and self-willed; yet it is as fickle as the shifting sands. It is no wonder that I Cot. 10:12 exhorts us, "Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." Gal. 6:1 is also warning of the weakness of the flesh when it says, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness: considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted."

4. What a warning these disciples are to you and to me. Except for the grace of God in our lives, we'd be just like any other miserable, failing man. It is only by God's grace that we are not drunkards, liars, prostitutes, whoremongers, fornicators, drug addicts, shiftless, and hopeless. No wonder the scriptures say "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God," II Cor. 3:5. Paul said, "We had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead," II Cor. 1:9. No wonder the affirmation of every saint of God should be "We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus our Lord," II Cot. 4:5.

C. I want you to think for a moment what a lonely, anguishing time this was for Jesus. The apostles were gathered all around Him, yet He was already alone. They did not grasp the reality of what was happening. They could not share in the work that brought salvation. It was a work for Jesus, and Jesus alone. The high priest alone could go behind the veil into the holy place, Lev. 18:7; and Jesus is our high priest, Heb. 3:1, who alone, with no help from a single soul, "by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us," Heb. 9:12. His disciples didn't help Him in the work that brought salvation. They all deserted Him and fled. The Father didn't help Him, for He is of "purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity," Hab. 1:13; and when Jesus bore our sins on the tree, the Father turned His back on the Son. Oh, dearly beloved, nobody helped Jesus when He suffered and died in our place. He went alone, "despised and rejected of men," Isa. 53:3, and "stricken of God, and afflicted," Isa. 53:4. Oh, how I love Him! He went alone for me, and single handedly paid my debt. Yes, He's my Saviour and Lord. And I love Him. How could I do otherwise?

II. LET US NO W CONSIDER THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE WHERE JESUS WENT TO PRAY JUST BEFORE JUDAS AND THE SOLDIERS CAME TO TAKE HIM CAPTIVE:

A. The account of what happened here is made very vivid by the scriptures:

1. Gethsemane was an arid rock garden east of Jerusalem right at the foot of the Mount of Olives. It was just beyond the brook Kidron, and was noted for it's olive trees in John 18:1. Gethsemane literally means "an oil press." Our Lord often went there, Luke 22:39, and John 18:2.

2. The account of what happened in the garden on this night is given four times in the scriptures: Matt. 26:36-40, Mark 14:32-42, Luke 22:40-46, and John 18:1-12. All except John describe what happened before the soldiers arrived. Let us read the account of Matthew. "Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful, and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death: Tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, 0 my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, 0 my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy. And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on, now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand, that doth betray me." He left the group of disciples, and took only Peter, James, and John a little farther. Then he left them to go "a stone's cast" to pray, Luke 22:41. Then here in this lonely rock garden, the Lord of glory fell down on His knees in complete submission to the Father, and prayed. Mark said He did that three times, Mark 14:41, and each time He found the disciples sleeping. Sweat rolled from Him, Luke 22:44, and "There appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him," Luke 22:43.

B. There are three prominent considerations in this agonizing story, which particularly stand out:

1. The agony which Jesus felt stands out with heart-breaking clarity:

a. Jesus knew what was coming; and as He anticipated the events, He said to the disciples, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death," Matt. 26:38. Verse  37 of the same chapter says, He "began to be sorrowful and very heavy." Matthew said in Verse 39 that He "fell on his face, and prayed, saying, 0 my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." This He did three times. Verse 44, and Luke 22:44 says, "And being in agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." The phrase, "as it were great drops of blood," in the Greek is "Hosei thromboi haimatos," and according to A. T. Robertson, literally means. "thick, clotted blood."

b. Isaiah the prophet prophetically spoke of Him as "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief," Isa. 53:3. Mister, on the night Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, His sorrow was more than any other has ever known.

c. Some have misunderstood the cause of Jesus' sorrow, thinking He was afraid to die, and wanted to get out of going to the cross. But such was not the basis of Jesus' sorrow. It may be true that the prospect of suffering the cruel beating and gruesome death on the cross was not a pleasant prospect. After all, Jesus was in a mortal, fleshly body, Heb. 10:5; and "the flesh is weak," Mark 14:38. On a first-hand basis, because He has been here. Jesus knows the weaknesses and sufferings of mortal flesh, Heb.4:15. But, fellow saints, it was not merely the sufferings of the body in death that caused Jesus agony in the garden.

d. In all of time and eternity, Jesus the Son had known nothing but perfect fellowship with God the Father. He prayed in John 17:21-22 about how He was in the Father, and the Father was in Him; and about how they were "one." In His greatest hours of trial on earth, Jesus could always, in referring to His Father, say, "I have meat to eat that ye know not of, "John 4:32. But, now in His death, Jesus was going to temporarily lose that fellowship with His Father. He was about to bear the sins of the world in His own body, I Pet. 2:24, and the Father cannot fellowship with sin, Hab. 1:13. That would mean that while Jesus was paying for our sins on that cross, He could have no fellowship with the Father. When Jesus prayed for that "cup" to pass from Him, He was not seeking to avoid the cross, but rather to avoid the temporary loss of fellowship with the Father. Loss of fellowship with His Father was the supreme sacrifice for Jesus Christ.

2. Yet, in spite of this ultimate loss for Him, Jesus was completely yielded to the will of the Father:

a. You heard His words, "Nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done," Luke 22:42.

b. Oh, what total submission our example has left for us. Here is the Lord of glory, yet He said, "I can of my own self do nothing .... I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me," John 5:30. Again, in John 6:38, He said, "I came down from heaven, not to do mine own own will, but the will of him that sent me." And, this one, who could have called ten thousand angels, Matt. 26:53, could say in truth, "I do always those things that please him," John 8:29.

c. Now fellow laborers, if the Lord of glory totally submitted Himself to the will of God, how much more should we mortals do so! Jesus taught us to pray, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, in earth, as it is in heaven," Matt. 6:10. Self is a great enemy, and so very often, it stands squarely in the way of our usefulness to God. Oh, how much happier, how much more useful our lives would be, if we were more like Jesus, who prayed in the garden, "not my will but thine be done."

3. There is one other thing that I want you to see in this garden scene. I want you to get a picture of the sleeping disciples:

a. After Jesus prayed, Matt. 26:40 says, "And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep." Our Lord was in agony. The soldiers were already on the way. His hour was at hand, yet the disciples were sleeping.

b. Oh, what a painful picture they are. They look too much like us. Here we are, and the harvest all around us is white, falling into ruin, and the laborers are so few, John 4:35, and Matt. 9:36-38. Rom. 13:12 warns, "The night is far spent, the visit is at hand, let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light."

c. Yet, rarely, if ever, has there been a time in the history of Christianity when more disciples were asleep than there are right now. We are in the Laedicean church age, when whole churches are saying with their apathy and unconcern, "I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing." Rev. 3:17. It's so hard these days to wake people up to soul winning, giving, missions, and any other form of true dedication. Like the disciples in Gethsemane, Christians today are sleeping in spite of the fact that the end is at hand.

d. God warns, "Now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed," Rev. 13:11. Yes, fellow Christians, it is time for us to awake; not a time for sleeping. God forbid that we would be sleeping when Jesus comes.