The Tempted Man

I think we're all familiar with the phrase, feeling like I'm under the weight of the world. Do you ever say something like that? I just feel like I'm under the weight of the world. To carry the weight of the world means to be under pressure, means to feel what you're pressed, that you're crushed under burdens.

Sometimes carrying the weight of the world just boils down to a decision that we have to make, a decision to do what's right, a decision to do what we believe is God's will, but obedience is hard. You ever been there? Would you believe God's calling me to do something and God wants me to do something? I believe that God is asking me to, but what he's asking me to do or go through or bear up under, dog on it, it's going to be hard.

I feel like I'm carrying the weight of the world. Hey, life can be full of moments where obedience to God is not easy. Moments where following his will cost you something. Moments where you're faced with this choice, my will or his will, my will or thy will.

And that's exactly where we find Jesus in our journey with Christ to the cross. He's in the garden to get the semony and he's under a lot of pressure. He might even say that he feels like he's under the weight of the world, but what we're really going to say is, I'm under the weight of the cross and all that it entails. And as he's in the garden of get the semony, he's tempted to not choose to do what God has called him to do.

You know why? Because it's hard. Jesus knows that when we feel like we're under the weight of the world, we feel like God's asking me, God's calling me, God wants me to do, go through or feel that I'm under a weight of trial. He knows, he knows the decision that we have to face to say, not my will, but thy will be done.

I want to appreciate this morning a message entitled, The Tempted Man. If you have your Bible's word in Mark 14, Mark 14, we're going to pick up in verse number 26 if you would stand with him on the reading of God's word. Jesus last week we saw this, that he washed the feet of the disciples. Judas leaves, he institutes the Lord's Supper.

Mark, he's really action oriented. So in the briefest of ways he goes through the Lord's Supper, then he says, and then when they had sung and he went out into the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said unto them, all of you shall be offended because of me this night, for it is written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep will scatter. But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee.

But Peter said unto him, all of these may be offended, yet will I not? And Jesus said unto him, very, very, very, I say unto you that this day, even this very night before the rooster grows twice, you will deny me three times. But he spake them more vehemently. If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise.

Likewise, all the other disciples said that also, and they came to the place which was named at the seminy, and he said unto his disciples, sit ye here while I pray. And he took with him Peter and James and John, and it began to be sore amazed and to be very heavy. And he said unto them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death, tear ye here and watch. And he went forward a little and fell on the ground, and he prayed that if it were possible that the hour, talk about the cross, that the hour might pass from him.

And he said, Abba Father, all things are possible unto thee, take away this cup from me. This is his humanity. In his humanity, he's like, I don't want to die. I don't want to be made a sin offering.

I don't want to suffer the injustice of dying for the sins of the guilty. When I'm innocent, this is humanity. Right, he's being tempted. He said, Abba Father, all of these things are possible.

All things are possible unto thee. Take away this cup from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will. And he came and he found them sleeping.

And he said unto Peter, sing. Are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour, watch ye and pray, lest you, Peter, lest you enter into temptation. The Spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.

And again, he went away and he prayed. He spoke the same words, Father, take this cup from me, and not my will, but I will be done. And he returned and he found them to sleep again, for their eyes were heavy. They didn't know how to answer him.

And he came a third time. That is after he prayed. Father, take this cup from me. Not my will, but I will be done.

He said, I'm asleep on now. Take your rest. It is enough for the hours come, behold, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise up, let us go, lo, he, the betrayeth me is a hand.

Let's pray. Fathers will come to you today, Lord. But we so often think about this. We think about how Jesus can empathize with us.

It can empathize with us in times of our trials. It can empathize with us in terms of our temptations. And this passage shows us why, because he was tempted here, Lord. Not to choose to do wrong, but he was tempted to choose not to surrender, not to follow your will.

God, he knows what it is to be tempted at all points. He even is we are, yet, Lord, he was without sin. God, I pray, for today that you will teach us. Lord, from this passage of scripture, how we too, Lord, when we struggle, and God, we confess to you that we do so often, where we struggle to do the right thing when it's hard.

We struggle sometimes, Lord, to do your will, when we believe that your will is difficult. God, Jesus, shows us here how we too can follow his footsteps, how we can be of people who say yes, even when it's hard. God, I think that Jesus said yes, even when it was hard. He said yes in the garden.

He won the victory there, but he went to the cross, and ultimately put a show. He put to show, or principalities and powers, or he triumphed over Satan and sin and death. And because that's true, God, because that's true, we're teachers that we can trust you, Lord, and we can. We can trust you no matter what.

Or even when our faith is under fire, God, you are in control. Or you're working things out. We pray, God, would you help us today? We're to learn from Jesus.

Or how we can surrender. Or how we can follow your will. Even when it's hard. But God, I pray this.

We're safe souls today. Well, perhaps there are those here today who have never put faith trust in you. I pray that that will happen today. I pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen. So Jesus is coming very rapidly to the cross. And because of his knowledge and his humanity, he's being pressed by the temptation to squeeze out from under all that the cross would entail. He knows that he's the Lamb of God.

He knows what he has to endure. But he's thinking about that cross. Listen, it's brutal. It's excruciating.

But the garden is the place where temptation to avoid the cross was at its strongest. We're all familiar with the temptation of Christ. And we think about him being tempted. And we say, hey, at the very beginning of his ministry, he goes out to the wilderness where he passed for 40 days, 49, Satan shows up, and then tempts him.

And he wins the first temptation. He overcomes the second temptation. He overcomes the third temptation. And the Bible says that Satan left him for a season.

And if we're not careful with that, hey, Jesus, he hid it out of the park, hid it out of the park, he didn't have to deal with temptation anymore. Wrong. Hebrews 4, 15. He was tempted in all points like as we are yet without seeing Jesus was tempted continuously.

But his most difficult temptation, the garden, it wasn't his most difficult temptation was not when Satan said, prove your God by turning these rocks into bread. Hey, man, you're hungry anyway. And if you do it, you'll prove your God. Hey, prove your heavenly Father will take care of you.

Because if you jump off the pinnacle, the temple he'll give his angels charge over you so you don't dash your foot against a stone. That was not his most difficult temptation. Nor was it, hey, bow down and worship me. I'll give you all the kingdom of the world.

His most difficult temptation wasn't the temptation to choose to do wrong. It was the temptation to not choose to follow God's will. Right here in the garden were hours to the cross. I know I've talked about this.

Every time I talk about the Passion of the Christ about the movie, I really only reference one scene. But it's the opening scene. It's the one scene in the movie where Mel Gibson takes some liberty. And he does something that you don't see visibly in the scriptures.

But man, I'm telling you, I think what he does is brilliant. In the opening scenes of the movie, and I know that's been a long time ago, by the way, Passion of the Christ too, comes out about a year. So Passion of the Christ. I've talked 20 plus years ago.

In the opening scenes of the movie, Jesus in the Garden of God, right where we are today. He's got his men, he's taking Peter, James, and John. He's going a little further. He's falling down on the ground.

He's praying. He's in agony. He's trembling. And he's cold.

And the breath is coming out of his mouth. It's dark and the moon is shining down. And yet there's also this other thing that's happening in the garden. There's the snake that's slithering.

And then over in the background, you see Satan? And Jesus is praying. He's praying in Aramaic. And Satan, the snake of slithering and Satan, you don't have to do this.

You can save yourself. You don't have to do this. You don't have to die for the sins of people. You don't have to.

And man, he's just in agony. And he's praying. And he's praying. And he's praying.

And then we see him rise up to his feet. And he takes his foot and he stomps the ground. And what he does, he crushes the head of the serpent, right? It's symbolic.

It's pointing to what's about to happen on the cross, where Jesus will fulfill, Genesis 3.15, the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. And you'll bruise his heel. Gives him, put this into the garden scene. And I think it's brilliant because when we read the scriptures, which we just did, none of us were like, I see Satan there.

I see this victory that takes place in the garden. We don't necessarily see it, but it happened. And I can assure you that the devil was there. And surely, as he was out in the wilderness, tempting Satan one, two, three times.

And I'm telling you, all along the way, many times. And we don't see it in the scripture. But Jesus was tempted in all points like as we are. And now this is the most difficult one, because his humanity is saying just what the devil was saying, you don't have to do this.

You don't have to go through this. You can save yourself. You know what's in him? Same thing that's in me and you.

A fight or flight syndrome, right? Man, when danger comes, flee. Save yourself. He's struggling in this moment to follow the will of his heavenly Father.

But he wasn't the only one who's being pressed this night. The disciples are two. Let's take a look at it. Number one, the prediction of temptation.

Verse 27, 28, Jesus said, all of you will be offended because of me this night. So Jesus makes a prediction. And then he ties to his prediction, a prophecy. He goes back to Zechariah, chapter 13.

He says, smite the shepherd. He says, for it is written, smite the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. And then he makes another prediction. But after I am risen, a little foreshadowing, I'm going to die.

But I'm going to be raised from the grave. And after I'm risen, I will go before you unto Galilee. Now, so what's he doing? He's preparing his disciples for what's coming.

He says, you're all going to fall away. The word here, when he says, all of you will be offended. That's the word he uses. It's the Greek word, scandaliso.

It's the word we get the word, scandal from. But here, it means to fall into a trap or to come to one's end. He's predicting. He backs it up with the prophecy, the same prophet who said that the king will come right again on the coat of all of a donkey, Zechariah, also says that smite the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.

So here's what he's saying, through his men. Men, I'm telling you, some bad stuff's about to come. And it's coming quick. So bad stuff is coming.

It's coming quickly. And the shepherd, me, I'm going to be struck. You, the sheep, you're going to scatter. You're going to flee from me.

And then comes the proclamation. Peter's like, oh, wait a minute. I hear what you're saying. But not me.

All these other cats, they might be offended. They might fall away. They might be, not me. Matter of fact, if I have to die with you, I will not leave you.

I'm going all the way with you. To which Jesus says, Peter, this very day. No, no, not even this day. This very night before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.

Peter is like, no way. I mean, if I have to die, I'm going all the way. So Peter implies here that he loves Jesus more than all these other disciples. So the Curtis just preached through the restoration of Peter a few weeks ago.

You let me, do you let me, do you let me, you know why? Because Peter implied here, I love you so much. I would never deny you how many times did he deny him? Three times.

Jesus knew Peter was simply being impulsive. He's being arrogant. And he informed me the timing of his denial and how it's going to happen right before the sun comes up. Three times.

And then all the other disciples join in two. No, no, no, no. Don't let that guy fool you. He says that he will follow you to the next.

I would do it too, right? All of them, the remaining disciples will never be offended because of you. We'll follow you all the way, even if all of us have to die. But these guys have no idea what they're about to face.

Listen, it's not that they're going to face an army. Because that's what you're probably thinking. Because there's a little band of soldiers who show up. That's not it.

It's the temptation that shows up in the garden. It's the pressing that shows up in the garden. Let's talk about it. The pressing of temptation.

The gardener gets simmied. He's located on the Mount of Olives. And if you take time to read through the gospel, you'll come to this conclusion that where Jesus comes to, with this man, is a place that he's been to before. Like this is not a one-off situation.

Like, hey, let's just walk across the key-drawn valley. We'll go up the side of the Mount of Olives and wherever we land is where we land. Like when he left the upper room, cross the key-drawn valley and went to the Mount of Olives, he's going to a familiar place. We call it the gardener gets simony.

Getsimony means olive press. The owner probably pressed olives here to get olive oil. If you've ever seen these olive presses, that's where they put the olives in. They screw it down and it presses the olive.

So it's fitting that Jesus is in the olive press, the garden of the olive press. And he's being pressed by temptation. But it's not just him, right? He's his manor here too.

And Satan is going to seek to crush Jesus under the weight of all that the cross entail. What I'm telling you is that he attacks his humanity. It's not tempting him to sin per se. He's tempting him to choose not to follow the will of God.

Which tongue be wrong? It would be sinful. But there's a difference between us being tempted to do something wrong and us being tempted to not choose to do what we believe God is calling us to do. And so think about Jesus.

He's a hundred percent God. We have no problem with that. We're like, man, he's the son of God. He's also a hundred percent man.

There's the hypostatic union. He's incarnate. This is God robed in flesh, but I'm telling you something. Everything that you are as a man, a person, a human, Jesus is two except one thing.

He had no seal, right? He tempted in all points even as we are yet without saying. But everything that you are, body, soul, spirit, everything that you are, Jesus is as a man. And so he is here in the garden.

Watch this, he doesn't go alone. He takes his men with him. And then he takes his three closest friends with him a little further and he asks them, on one occasion to watch and he asks them to watch and pray. And this is an interesting point that I want to make here is that Jesus as a man, right?

Everything that you are, Jesus was, as a man. And the way that Jesus lived on this earth, he lived as a man, by the way. He didn't do what he did as, he did what he did as humanity. That's the example that we can follow.

We can follow the example of deity. We can follow the example of humanity. And watch this, Jesus needed companionship. That's what God created us for, right?

Again, by the courage of a few weeks ago, we were made for more. We were made for more than this. We were made for more than a vertical relationship. We were made for horizontal relationships.

Jesus needed his friends to be in prayer with him this night. So he takes his disciples, he goes to the garden and gets him. He's going there to pray. Then he goes a little further and he takes Peter, James, and John.

He's in his inner circle. And then he says, and he began to be sore amazed and to be heavy. And he said unto them, Peter, James, and John, my soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death, Terry, he here, and watch. So I like he goes a mile away, leaves him.

He just goes over a little ways. So he's going over to pray. He tells Peter, James, and John, dudes, I need you. Watch, watch.

Now, Mark describes Jesus as being sore amazed. I mean, it's just he's distressed. And then he says he began to be very heavy. That is troubled.

So think about it. Jesus, he's in the garden. He's distressed and he's troubled. The word, this translated sore amazed means to be moved to an intense emotional state because something causing great surprise or perplexity has come about.

I want you to get this. Jesus shows up in the garden and then something happens. And then Jesus gets to the garden. Something happens that wasn't happening in the upper room when he's washing feet.

When Jesus gets to the garden, something happens that wasn't happening when he was singing and they're leaving. And then he's given the parable of the instructions of the divine. He's walking down through the Kiddron Valley. He comes up the other side.

But when he comes to the garden, something sudden, something perplexing, all of a sudden came upon Jesus. And in this moment, he says, my soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death. This is different. This is not John 14, 1 in the upper room.

Hey, let not your hearts be troubled. Where he's talking to his men. Hey, guys, take it easy. Let not your hearts be troubled.

Now, Jesus is in the garden and he's troubled. He says, my soul is troubled. It is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. He tells his men.

He tells them how he feels. And then he says, man, I need you to watch. You watch. The word, watch your means to be on alert.

You be ready for the inevitable. What's that? He's like, oh, you got your going to be offended. You got your fall away.

Look at the smite, the shepherd's sheep are going to scare. I'm telling you, you better be watching. Be ready for the inevitable. Verse 35 says, he went a little way.

He fell on the ground. He prayed, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. He said, I'll have a father. All things are possible unto you.

Take this cup from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what thou will. This is the only time in scripture where the sons will struggle with the will of the Father. It's the only time.

When I say this question, do you see it? I don't mean do you see the struggle, but do you see the humanity of Jesus? This is his humanity on display. Because so often we read the scriptures and we see Jesus performing miracles and doing his name.

I go, yeah, that's the son of God. He's God. And he is. But everything that he did, he did, is a man depending on the Holy Spirit.

And so now we see him here. It's woo-hoo. Man, I see his humanity on full display. Because in this moment, his humanity is desiring and bagging God the Father to avoid the cross.

Hey, listen, I get it. We're like, man, Jesus willingly went to the cross. He does. Don't think for a moment he didn't struggle with it in his humanity.

In this moment, the humanity of Jesus is desiring that God the Father would allow him to avoid the cross. He says, if this cup can pass from me, let it be. He doesn't want to bear the cup of God's wrath against the sin of men. He's struggling with the temptation to avoid the personal injustice of bearing God's wrath.

Think about it. He doesn't deserve the cross. Why should he die? Why should he go to the cross?

Why should he be made sin? The one who knew no sin became sin that we might be made the right to God in Christ. Why should he become a sin offering? Why should the innocent die for the guilty?

So what's the temptation here? Well, Satan is offering Jesus an alternative to obedience. He made self-service and self-preservation appear to be more attractive. So in this moment, Jesus has two options.

He can obey God, or he can be loyal to himself. And unlike the first Adam in the first garden of Eton, Jesus cries out to his Father in the garden against Semeny, and he acknowledges the temptation. Not only does he acknowledge the temptation, but he acknowledges his need for the Father's strength. So he prays, but if it's possible, let this cup pass from me, not my will, but I will be done.

I want you to know two things here. Number one, Jesus being honest. When you think about prayer, you think about life, you think about following God, you think about what he's called us to, and sometimes it can be hard. Let me tell you the first thing we need to be is just what Jesus being.

We need to be honest with God. He didn't pretend. He expresses his real desire and talk about the desire of his humanity. He's like, if there is another way, let's do that.

Well, because his humanity doesn't want to die anymore, the worse humanity wants to die. All right, so this is humanity. And here's what I want you to know. There's nothing wrong with bringing your honest struggles to God.

As a matter of fact, we need to do that. But you've got to be honest with yourself. Because until we're honest with us, we're not going to be honest with God. And I'm just telling you, the first person we lie to is us.

We do this. The first person that we're dishonest with is us. And his family says that we need to ask the question, am I being honest? And when he says this, he says, am I being honest with myself?

Really? He's like, we've got to ask for that question. Am I being honest with myself? Really?

And he says this, and say it was a matter to you. Am I really being honest with me? I'm not being honest with God. Jesus was honest.

Come up prayer. When we come to God in prayer, we've got to be honest. But watch what happens here. Two things that happen.

I don't use Jesus honest in terms of his prayer, but he is surrendered. Mark is very action-oriented. He gets right to it, right to it. And he gives really a very quick summary.

Because we just read through Mark. And you're probably like, Mark left some stuff out. Like he just skipped some stuff. Like he skipped the second prayer of the third prayer.

I mean, he got what was on the back side of the second prayer. He got what was on the back side of the third prayer. But he totally skipped the second and the third prayer. And he just like, get to the point, get to the point, get to the point.

And we might miss something because he didn't talk about the agony. He didn't talk about the great sweat drops of blood. He doesn't necessarily even tell us, man, that he is struggling. I mean, he says he's perplexed.

He's got anxiety that's come over him. He's got something pressing on him. But I'm telling you what, he's going through is difficult. And that this did not happen quickly.

The garden scene is not a scene where it's like, hey, I went and prayed. And I prayed, Father, this can pass for me. Let it be, but not my will, that will be done. And then you go back, Father, those are like, what, estimating here, 20 word sentences for his prayers.

No, no, no, he prayed for hours. So he went and prayed for like an hour. And then he came back and they were asleep. Then he went and he prayed for like an hour.

And then he came back and they were asleep again. And then he went and prayed for like another hour. And then he came back and said, you can get up now. My betrayer is at hand.

So I mean, this was hard. It was difficult. It was laborious. I mean, this was hard praying.

This is not some short, rinky-dink little prayer where he just said, not my will, that will be done. But that's the point of the prayer, not my will, that I will be done. And so he's praying. And his disciples are asleep.

Maybe good intentions. They make it there. You ever been there? You ever expressed your good intentions to God?

Man, I want to stay strong. I want to stay committed. And I'm going to be faithful. Or maybe you told someone, I'm going to pray for you.

Good intentions. But it didn't happen. You didn't stay strong. You didn't stay faithful.

You didn't continue to pray for someone. That's exactly where the disciples are. They're weak. Matter of fact, Jesus will say, your spirit is willing.

Mark said, ready? Your flesh is weak. That's us. We're weak.

That's another thing where we've got to be honest with ourselves. I was a lot of ourselves. I'm like, man, I'm just tough, man. I'm strong.

No, you're humanity is weak. Therefore, we need God's strength. See, until we get that lesson, I'm weak. I need God's strength.

We're going to try to do this Christian life, all in our own strength. We'll fail over and over and over again. I'm weak. He's strong.

I need his strength. Jesus understood this. He's expressing his humanity, his vulnerability, even his weakness as a human. And while he did not have a sin, sick nature, enslaved to selfishness, he felt the powerful lure of self-preservation.

I've already mentioned it. All of us understand the fight or flight syndrome. And most of the time, it's flight. There's a danger.

There's a perceived danger. And what do we do? We run. There's a danger.

There's a perceived danger. We avoid. Why do we run? Why do we avoid?

We protect ourselves. This is what Jesus is struggling with in this moment. Because death is looming. The cross is in front of him.

It's more than just death. It's the death for every man. It's God pouring out his wrath. He says, this cup can pass for me.

Let it be. Not my will, thy will be done. So here's Jesus being honest. And he's praying.

And he's expressing honestly his weakness and his humanity. Talking about who he is, the man. And then he says, but not my will, thy will be done. So here's the thing.

We all need to understand something. We're weak. Don't let your weakness drive you away from God. Because in this moment, Jesus is expressing.

In my humanity, there's a weakness here. And he could say no to the cross and actually walk away from the Father. What we have to do is say, no, no, no. I'm weak.

I need to run to my Heavenly Father. Because when I run to my Heavenly Father, I find strength. And so here's Jesus, right? Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.

And in this moment, Jesus is surrendering. He's surrendering. Surrendering is not pretending that something's easy. He's not like, oh, hey, everything's going to be all right.

I found out it's going to be easy. No, God confirms everything that you're praying about, everything you're concerned about, it's going to be just like that. But he's surrenders, not because he's pretending it's easy. He's surrendering because he's choosing God's will even when it's hard.

And that's what surrender is. Total surrender is choosing God's will even when it's hard to obey. Jesus is honest. Jesus surrenders and he prevails over temptation.

Know what happens? Verse 41. Verse 33. He says unto them, sleep on now.

Take your rest. It is enough. The hour's come. Behold, the Son of Man is betrayed to the hands of sin.

Let us go. Lo, he, that betrayed me, is at hand. So this is interesting. Again, Mark just breezes through it so quickly.

But honestly, I mean, Jesus is pressed, and he's pressed, and he's pressed. He prays once. He prays twice. He prays three times.

And again, these were not short, sweet, simple prayers. But the gist was, let this come pass from me. But not my will, thy will be done. And Jesus prayed.

And then he overcame the temptation to avoid the cross. I want you to see this. Every time he prayed, he became more deeply surrendered to the Father's will. Let this come pass from me.

Not my will, but thy will be done. Surrendered, goes back to his disciples. Could you not watch? He goes back, he prays.

Praise, praise, praise, praise, praise. Not my will, thy will be done. More deeply surrendered. Goes back to his disciples.

They're all asleep. What, boys? Could you not? He goes back.

Third time. Praise, praise, praise. Not my will, thy will be done. Deeply surrendered.

Watch this. Something's changed. When he got to the garden, all of a sudden, he's so amazed. He's perplexed.

My soul is in anguish. I'm in deep sorrow, even unto death. He gets up the third time. He comes back, his voice, or his sleep.

He says, get up, man. Let's go. My betrayer is here. You see it?

His face is set like a flint for the cross. He's no longer struggling with it. It's done. It's finished.

I'm telling you something. The victory was won in the garden before it was displayed on the cross. And surrender comes before sacrifice. Listen, we'll never sacrifice what God says to sacrifice until we surrender.

It's not going to happen, right? So we got to surrender. Jesus surrendered, and then he's ready for the sacrifice. It's important to know this, that it's in the garden where Jesus struggled not on the cross.

When Jesus went to the cross, his father together, and they don't know what they do. When Jesus went to the cross, he's not like, what am I doing here? Like I could have saved myself. I could have fled from this.

I'm struggling. No, no, no, no. For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame. He struggled in the garden.

And I'm telling you, this is not something to be like. I'm disappointed in Jesus. No, no. We have a Savior who's a high priest who understands everything that we struggle with, everything that we go through.

Praise God, that we have a Savior who was a man who depended on the Spirit of God to go to the cross. He gave us an example that we can follow. We can surrender our lives too. You talk to these professional athletes who go on to do big things, win gold medals, and championships, and so forth.

Here's what they'll tell you. Really, it was one on the practice court. It was every day, man. We were practicing, practicing, practicing, practicing, practicing, right?

It was the preparation that got us ready for the victory. In the same way Jesus' victory, the cross was prepared in the garden. Evil lost the battle of temptation in the garden, and then Jesus dealt the death blow to Satan on the cross. Colossians 2.15 says, Jesus made an open show, our principalities and powers triumphing over them in the cross.

I'm telling you something, he was tempted. He was tempted. And he prayed, and he overcame. And what we don't see, visibly, I think what Gibson put into the opening scene of the Passion of the Christ happened invisibly.

He did stand up, and he did crush the head of the serpent. I mean, he's ready. His face is set for the flint, or set like a flint for the cross. He moves forward.

Watch this. He just simply steps up and says, my betrayer is a hand. He doesn't flee from it. He doesn't run from it.

He doesn't quibble over it. He's like, boys, get up. The betrayer is here. It's as if he goes out to open the door and say, welcome.

I've been waiting for you. Here comes Judas. Up to him. Kisses him.

It's all friend. Betrayous, thou me, with a kiss. He's arrested. The shepherd is smitten.

Struck. And you know what happens to all those people who say, oh, not me. I'll be with you to the very end. Everyone of them, please.

They awfully, including Peter. They all hit the road. You know what they were not, surrendered. You know what they were not prepared for?

The temptation that would happen in that garden. To choose to follow Christ all the way to the cross. No, not only to not choose to follow Jesus, always to the cross. But Peter said, I don't know the man.

I don't know the man. I don't know the blankity blank man. Pressed. Crushed.

Not honest. Not surrendered. We talk about surrendering. That can kind of be a negative word.

We think about wars and raising white flags and laying down arms. And if I surrender, then that's how I defeat people who surrender are humiliated. But when God calls us to surrender, He's not calling us to raise a white flag or to live with a sense of defeat or humiliation. Perhaps a better illustration is what happens in a wedding.

We had a wedding here yesterday. A Caleb Cassie. Let's see what happened to this wedding after yesterday. You had two people who surrendered.

They surrender their heart to one another. I can say that's the idea of when God says, how will you surrender to me? This is the idea. Because of white flags, surrender says, I'm losing something.

A wedding surrender. That's Caleb. You lose your gain. Caleb.

Oh, I gained. Hey Cassie, yesterday you surrendered your heart. And a wedding. Did you lose or did you gain?

Oh, I gained. See, when you surrender to God, you don't lose, you gain. And this is what God's calling us to. Surrender is about trusting God.

It's about trusting His heart for you and entrusting your heart to Him. That's why surrender is more like a wedding surrender, not a white flag surrender. But let me give you three things about surrender that have to happen for truly going to surrender. Number one, surrender begins in prayer.

Think about this. Jesus didn't face the cross without first going to his father. He didn't go to the cross bypassing the garden. I don't need the garden.

I don't need that. No, no. He had to have the garden. But in the garden, he went to his Heavenly Father in prayer.

If we're going to obey God in hard moments, it begins in prayer. We are fooling ourselves. If we think I'm going to follow God in all the hard stuff he calls me to, but I'm not going to spend time with him in prayer. I'm telling you, you're setting yourself up for some defeat, for getting crushed, for running off, for being offended, scandalizo, falling into a trap.

We must go to our Heavenly Father in prayer. I have a whole message about the garden depressing. Appreciate a few years ago. Five things about Jesus' prayer.

I'm not going to preach that all over again. You can find the lesson. I did this lesson though just a few months ago. It's on our Wednesday night.

Bible study app. You can go back. You can read over that. Listen to the lesson.

Those five things that Jesus' garden prayer teaches us about prayer. I just simply wanted to see this. They're ever going to experience a victory over temptation. And here's the temptation to not choose to trust and obey God when it's hard.

I'm telling you, we're tempted all the time to not trust God, to not surrender to God, especially when it's hard. And when it's easy, it's not a temptation. It's easy to come to church. I don't want to hear anybody talk about.

I always tempted not to come to church. But that may be true, but that wasn't. This is easy. But when God's calling you to something, it's hard.

Man, it can be a temptation to say yes. Or actually a temptation to say no to what God wants you to say yes to. We got to pray. And here it is.

Not my will. Thy will be done. Prayer leads us to a place of surrender. Number two, surrender requires trust.

You will not surrender to God unless you trust Him. I'm talking about when you trust God even when you don't understand. Trusting God even when it hurts. Trusting to God's way is good when it doesn't feel good.

We're kind of back to the mercy of me song, even if. When he says, but even if you don't, my hope is you alone. Think back to Daniel. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, the Daniel series.

When my faith is under fire, God's in control. Why was Daniel able to do what he did? Trust God even when it was hard? I believe God's in control.

I'm trusting God's in control. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, standing there at the fiery furnace. Be it known unto thee, O Nebuchadnezzar, we will not bow down in worship for you. And our God is able to deliver us, and he will.

But even if he doesn't, we still will not bow down in worship. You're golden image. Why? We trust God.

Daniel's surrender. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, surrender. We've come through the Elijah series. We saw Elijah in much the same way.

Surrender to God because he believed that God was in control. Surrender begins in prayer. Surrender requires trust. And number three, surrender is a daily choice.

Jesus prayed this prayer multiple times. It wasn't like one and done, a little short thing, right? Can I tell you this? When you surrender to God, it won't be a one and done either.