In Peter Allison's sermon 'What did Jesus Pray in the Garden?' the focus is on Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, highlighting the significance of his posture, attitude, and the fervency of his prayer. The sermon draws contrasts between the Gospel of Luke and other gospels, emphasizing Luke's attention to Jesus' prayer life. Jesus' prayer in the garden reflects humility, submission to God's will, and a need for heavenly strength. The 'cup' represents the immense burden of God's wrath that Jesus was to bear. The sermon elucidates the covenant of works and the covenant of grace, explaining Jesus' role as the last Adam who fulfills the covenant of works by bearing the punishment for sin and earning eternal life through perfect obedience. The importance of fervent and repetitive prayer is underscored, as is the necessity for Christians to pray to avoid entering into temptation, recognizing that desire is the root of sin. The sermon concludes with a call for believers to pray with humility, fervency, and submission to God's will.

Luke chapter 22. We'll look at the passage we looked at last week, 22 verses 39. Hear God's word. Coming out, he went to the Mount of Olives as he was accustomed, and his disciples also followed him. And when he came to the place, he said to them, pray that you may not enter temptation.

And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw and he knelt down and prayed saying, Father if it is your will take this cup from me. Nevertheless not my will, but yours be done." Then an angel appeared to him from heaven, strengthening him, and being in agony he prayed more earnestly, then his sweat became like great drops of blood falling upon the ground. When he arose from prayer and had come to his disciples, he found them sleeping from sorrow. And he said to them, Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation.

You enter into temptation. And I'd also like to read Matthew 26, this parallel passage beginning at verse 36. Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane and said to the disciples, sit here while I go and pray over there. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and he began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. And then he said to them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to death, stay here and watch with me.

He went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed saying, Oh my father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping and said to Peter, What? Could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.

The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Again a second time He went away and prayed saying, Oh my Father, if this cup cannot pass away from me unless I drink it, your will be done. And he came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then He came to His disciples and said to them, Are you still sleeping and resting?

Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners rise let us be going see my betrayer is at hand may Jehovah grant his grace that we do not turn aside from His law in the face of the derision of the proud. Heavenly Father, we ask that You would speak to us. May Open your word to our understanding. Cause us to see, to know, and to love this light. And sanctify my sinful lips to proclaim what is true.

Lord, preserve me from error. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Well, one of the focuses, one of the differences that differentiates the gospel of Luke from the other three gospel accounts. You know, they're all the life of Christ, but they each have a different focus, a different audience, a different purpose for which they were written. And one of the focuses that differentiates Luke from the others is his focus on the prayer life of Jesus.

Luke records more instances of Jesus praying than any of the other gospels. He doesn't record the prayers themselves necessarily, but he records the fact that Jesus prayed, the circumstances in which he prayed. Matthew records one time where Jesus went to pray, in Matthew 14, in addition to the prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Mark records two instances where Jesus prayed in addition to the prayer in the garden And John records only one instance in his high priestly prayer where he actually records the words of the prayer as well. Or at least a very lengthy summary of it.

But he doesn't mention Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. So John, in one sense, mentions Jesus' prayer life the least. He was writing so that they might know that he was God, divine. But Luke records six instances of in Jesus prayer life, and they're usually connected with significant events or occasions. In Luke three, he prays at his baptism.

In chapter 5, Luke relates how he often went to the wilderness to pray. And in chapter 6, he records how Jesus went up on a mountain to pray all night before he chose the twelve disciples. In chapter 9, he was alone praying and his disciples came to him. And eight days later, still in Luke 9, he went up on a mountain to pray. And it was as he was praying that he was transfigured.

And then in chapter 11, it records another instance of where Jesus was praying. And that was where one of his disciples heard him apparently and after the prayer he said, teach us how to pray. And of course Luke records his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus is in the garden about to face one of the most difficult, certainly the most difficult burden of his entire ministry. A burden that's infinitely more difficult and terrifying than any burden any other person would ever or could ever face.

And this morning I'd like to focus our attention on Jesus' prayer, how he prayed, why he prayed, what he prayed for, and why we also ought to pray. This occasion that Jesus faced was not an exception. It was the purpose, the moment for which he was made incarnate, God in the flesh. And like he faced every other situation he prayed he depended upon the strength of heaven so that he could live here on earth as a man. So we see first how he prayed in this garden of Gethsemane, and that is He prayed with a posture of humility.

The posture of Jesus' prayer. He kneeled down. And Matthew adds that he fell on his face. He was prostrate in prayer. He was of stones thrown away from his disciples.

He was praying where only the Father could hear the words that he spoke. It's a posture of humility. What we do with our bodies matters. It matters. It matters in worship.

And the very common posture of God's saints in the scriptures is this posture of humility. Bowing down, kneeling down, falling on their face. Just imagine coming up to somebody. You can stand eye to eye and look at them and ask them for something. Or you could get down on your knees and ask them for something.

Now that would be different wouldn't it? That would be very different. It would communicate volumes to get down on your knees to ask somebody something or to fall on your face. Yet that's what we see in the Scriptures when people come to pray to the Father. In fact, we even sometimes see it when people are entreating God's ministers.

They have kneeled down, bowed down before kings, before prophets, not to worship them, but to humbly entreat them. Jesus' posture is one of humility. His attitude is one of submission. His first and primary desire in His prayer is submission to the will of God. Complete submission to the will of God.

Jesus always does what is pleasing to the Father, what is in accordance with His will. And that is His attitude in prayer. He's not coming primarily to get what He wants. Yes, He has a request. But overriding that request of even greater concern is that the will of God be done in his life.

The will of God. That was his attitude. Not my will, but your will. He states his request. He brings it to the Father.

That is what prayer is. The offering up of the desires of our heart. But the primary desire of our heart must be, ought to be, that the will of God is done in our life, that we do the will of God, that God have his way, not ours. Thirdly, his strength was heaven, it was from heaven, it was heavenly. He needed strength from heaven as a human, as a man.

He was the God-man, yes, but he was fully man. He was human and in his human nature, as a human, he needed strength from heaven And he sought it in prayer. An angel came to minister to him from heaven, strengthening him. An angel was sent, remember, when he was battling Satan in his temptation in the wilderness. Angels came and ministered to him after that.

The Spirit is sent to help us pray. Angels are God's ministering spirits sent out to do His will. We need heavenly strength in order to pray. As he told the disciples, the flesh, the spirit is willing, But the flesh is weak. We need a heavenly strength to pray.

His demeanor in this prayer is one of great fervency. One of great fervency. Fervent prayer is focused prayer. There's nothing else that comes into our mind. Oh, isn't it so easy for other things to crowd in on our mind when we pray.

I know it is for me. Fervent prayer is focused. It's the only thing that we're thinking about. We need heavenly strengths for that. Fervent prayer is forceful prayer.

It's passionate prayer. It's heartfelt prayer. It's with a sense of urgency arising from the deepest need and desire of our heart. That's fervency. Christ prays fervently.

He's in agony. Fervently. He's in agony. So as he prayed more earnestly, more earnestly, The sweat became like great drops of blood falling to the ground. Such was his agony and his fervency in his prayer.

The effect of fervent prayer, James says, of a righteous avails much. Of a righteous man. Christ prayed fervently. He also prayed repetitively. In Matthew 26, Matthew brings out the three times that Jesus prayed.

The first time he prayed, he went away, came back, having left the three disciples, he came back and said, Could you not watch with me one hour? Presumption there is that he was praying for an hour that first time. Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. And again, the second time he went away and he prayed. And he came back and found their eyes heavy.

And then it says that he doesn't record him saying anything. We don't know If he said anything, if he woke him up or just let him sleep. And he prayed a third time, Matthew says, saying, in verse 44, saying the same words. He didn't try to invent something new. He knew he wasn't being heard because of the eloquence of his speech.

Because he could use big words or great words, eloquent words. He prayed the same words that he had prayed before. With a posture of humility, with an attitude of submission, with heavenly strength and fervent demeanor, he simply prayed the same words again he prays three times and he uses the same words See the Lord looks upon the heart and he sees the fervency and the frequency of our prayer. This is what it means to be praying with perseverance. In the examples that Jesus gave of prayer, it is to pray with perseverance.

It was that widow who's seeking something from the judge. She comes again and again and again, And she gets what she wants. She seeks because of her importunity. She came again and again and again, praying for the same thing. Of course, our prayers always need to be according to the will of God.

Sometimes saints have asked for things multiple times and God has become upset with them for asking like Moses. Because Moses was asking to go into the promised land. And God has said, you may not go. Because of your error, you may not go. And Moses kept asking when God had answered that that was not not his will for Moses to go God scripture say that God became angry with Moses and said, stop asking.

Stop asking. That's not God's will. Moses apparently, Moses was a righteous man. He was faithful in obeying God in everything God had commanded, but he was a human and he failed at a couple of points. He didn't circumcise his sons and he struck the rock when he was commanded to speak to it.

So he must have in this prayer not been praying according to the will of God. According to what his prayer his his desire must have been his own will in that point. And the Lord said, no, stop praying. But when we're asking for what is according to the will of God, then we ought to pray repetitively with fervency again and again. We can pray and people have prayed all their lives for the salvation of loved ones.

It is God's will that as long as that they are alive, whoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved. So Jesus prays, Jesus prays repetitively. Now Jesus asks that this cup, that the Father would take the cup away from him. That was the heart of his prayer. What is he praying for?

Well, God made a gracious covenant with Adam, promising him life on the condition of perfect obedience. God was in no way obligated to make this covenant with Adam. He could have had some other purpose or plan for Adam's life and the lives of all of his descendants if he even chose to give Adam any descendants. But That was not his plan. This was his plan.

To promise Adam life, everlasting life upon the condition of perfect obedience. This is the arrangement or the covenant that he imposed on Adam and his descendants as the sovereign We call this the covenant of works If Adam had obeyed God he would have earned eternal life according to God's eternal decree under the terms of the covenant of works. Eternal life is the wages of perfect obedience. That was God's promise. Was God obligated to set that up?

Certainly not. And so there was, that's why it was gracious of God to do so. But when God obligates himself, he's obligated. Had Adam obeyed, he would have merited eternal life. Merited eternal life.

It would have been owed to him. You see grace is something that is not owed. It is unmerited favor. Unmerited means it's not owed. Wages on the other hand are what is owed.

See this is how the Bible defines grace and work. Paul told the Romans, Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt. The wages are not counted as great. Grace is something that's not earned. But if you work, your wages are not grace.

They're not unearned. They are earned. A debt is something that is owed. If wages are counted as a debt, then wages are owed, they're earned. Grace, on the other hand, is not owed.

It's given apart from any merit. It's given in spite of any merit. You see, these are opposites. They are mutually exclusive. Paul told the Romans, and if by grace, then it's no longer of works.

Otherwise, grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace. Otherwise work is no longer work. They're mutually exclusive. They are opposites.

They are polar opposites of each other. Notice that grace is the opposite of work. It's not the opposite of law. Many times people talk about grace and law as being somehow being opposite. They aren't.

They aren't opposite at all. Grace is opposite work. Not law. Grace is favor that is not earned work generates wages that are owed to the person who does the work. So Adam didn't obey God.

He disobeyed God and he died that very same day that he disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit. He died because he lost communion with God and came under his wrath and his condemnation. And because Adam was the federal head of the whole human race, All people descending from Adam by ordinary generation That of course excludes Christ who did not descend from Adam by ordinary generation all People descending from Adam who is our federal head in the covenant of works are also sinners and under God's wrath and condemnation. Yes, that includes you and me. But God did not leave all mankind to perish under His wrath and condemnation.

But out of his mere love and his good pleasure He delivers or saves his people From the wrath and condemnation and he brings us into a condition of life under a second covenant. We call the covenant of grace. It's a covenant of grace because we receive in that covenant, man receives in that covenant what was not earned by man. When Adam was the federal head of the first covenant, or where Adam was, Christ is the federal head of the covenant of grace. See, Romans 5 tells us that Adam was a type of Christ.

Adam, who is a type of him who was to come. Romans 5, 4 says, 14. And 1 Corinthians 15 calls Christ the last Adam. And so it is written, the first man Adam became a living being, the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. By the first Adam, many were brought into death.

By the second Adam, the last Adam, many were made alive. And so as the federal head of the covenant of grace, Jesus as the last Adam undertakes to fulfill the terms of the covenant of works. Jesus Christ in the covenant of grace undertakes to fulfill The terms of the covenant of works specify the wages of obedience and the wages of disobedience. The wages of disobedience or sin is death. The wages of obedience, perfect obedience, is life.

Those are wages. They're what's owed. In death, Jesus received the wages of sin, which is everlasting death. But by His perfect obedience, he earns the wages of obedience, which is everlasting life. The wages of Sin is everlasting death.

The wages of perfect obedience is everlasting life. You see, Jesus voluntarily undertook this arrangement. He voluntarily agreed to receive the wages of sin, everlasting death. He said, I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself.

See, Jesus knew that He was coming to earth to die. He knew that it was the will of the Father and he, as the second person of the Trinity, as the God-man, was in perfect agreement with it. He said, I come to do the will of the Father. I can do nothing of myself. As I hear and judge, my judgment is righteous, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me.

So if Jesus voluntarily undertook to die on the cross as the last Adam. Why would he then pray to ask that the cup would pass from him? Was he asking that he may not go to the cross? I don't think Jesus was asking to escape from the cross and asking for the cup to pass from him. The cross was necessary.

The cross was the very reason that He came in the flesh, that He was made incarnate, that He was born and lived on earth. He came to do the will of the Father, and escaping the cross was not the will of the Father. If Jesus' prayer was asking God to escape the cross, then he didn't get what he asked, did he? Because he didn't escape the cross. He was crucified dead and buried.

But Hebrews tells us that his prayer was heard and he was delivered. His prayer was heard so he couldn't have been praying to escape the cross. Hebrews 5 tells us that in the days of his flesh when he'd offered up prayers and supplications with vehement cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death and was heard because of his godly fear. Though he was a son, yet He learned obedience by the things which he suffered. And having been perfected, having been completed, he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him.

He was heard. The Lord answered his prayer because the Lord always answers the prayer of Jesus Christ, his Son. He was heard because of his godly fear. Yes, That's what the Bible tells us. Jesus' prayer was heard because of His godly fear.

He was in agony, sweating drops of blood. His soul was troubled. He was deeply distressed because he faced the unmitigated wrath of God. A wrath that humans would need to bear for all eternity. See, no mere man can bear the wrath of God.

Who can stand before His indignation? Who can endure the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire and the rocks are thrown down by him. No man, no mere man can endure the unmitigated wrath of God. No mere man can endure the eternal wrath of God.

The Heidelberg Catechism explains that Jesus Christ must be God so that He might, by the power of the Godhead, sustain in his human nature the burden of God's wrath. Jesus Christ had to be man so that he could bear God's wrath in our place. We sinned as humans, body and soul. He had to bear God's wrath as a human in his body and soul. But he had to also be God so that he might by the power of his Godhead sustain in his human nature the burden of God's wrath.

We don't understand this hypostatic union, this God-man, this Jesus, one person in two natures. But it is our salvation. He is our salvation. Without it we couldn't be saved. Calvin says that Those persons who believe he didn't feel temptations foolishly imagine that he was victorious without fighting.

There isn't any hypocrisy when the Gospel writers speak of the mortal sadness of his soul, of exceedingly being exceedingly sorrowful and trembling. Hebrews says he was heard because of his godly fear. Such a terror, such a fear, such a mortal sweat, sweating blood could have only proceeded from an unusual and terrible horror. If any person today were to fear like that, mere death, we would say he was a coward. Those men therefore who deny that Christ prayed that the Father would rescue him from the gulf of death ascribe to Christ a cowardice that would be disgraceful even in an ordinary man.

See Christ was struck with the horror at the divine curse, the prospect of suffering everlasting death. But His faith remained firm and unshakable. He knew that God would never depart from him. And so he was praying that as he bore the unmitigated wrath of God, the power of God would sustain him, and that he would not sink into oblivion. He was praying that having borne the full wrath of God, he would emerge victorious over death, and that the cup would pass from him.

And God did answer this prayer. God did not leave his soul in Hades. His body did not see corruption, not one bone was broken. And this was the message of Peter's sermon in Acts 2 where he said, Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through him in your midst as you yourselves know Him, this one, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death, whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death.

Jesus defeated death because it was not possible that he should be held by it. It wasn't possible because he was perfectly obedient. And he was sustained by his Godhead in his human nature to bear the unmitigated, everlasting wrath of God in our place. But even in this, he was submitted to the will of God. Not his will, but God's will.

Jesus' prayer was granted. And we say this morning, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. He rose from the dead. This cup has passed from Him. Jesus had a need to pray.

He had a need to be strengthened by angels as he prayed. He needed prayer to see him through the greatest burden that any man ever faced or ever would face and that no mirror man could ever bear. Hence Jesus instructions to his disciples. Something we need to remember. Pray.

Watch and pray that you do not enter into temptation. We need to pray. If Christ needed to pray in his temptation, How much more? How much more do we need to pray that we do not enter into temptation? To enter into temptation is to desire to take part in sin.

The desire is the root of all sinful words and actions. But that desire is itself sin. That's what lust is. Desire. Desire a wrong desire.

John Desire a wrong desire. John Owen said that no man pretend to fear sin that does not fear temptation also. These two are too closely united to be separated. He does not truly hate the fruit who delights in the root. The root of sin is the desire.

We can't delight in the desire and say we hate the fruit. See, when we are tempted by desire. That no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil nor does he himself tempt anyone but each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed and of course that goes on to bring forth to give birth to sin and sin brings forth death. We need to pray. Brothers and sisters, we need to pray that we not enter into temptation.

That was what Jesus taught us to pray in the Lord's Prayer, when He says, Be delivered from temptation. We need to pray that. I'm afraid I don't pray that enough. We think about asking forgiveness for our sins. We think about praying for His kingdom and for His glory.

We praise Him. We pray for the advancement of His Kingdom and for our needs, our daily bread, but do we pray that we would not enter into temptation? See, our strength, our strength is utterly insufficient to withstand temptation. We need strength from heaven. Jesus did.

Certainly we do too. Pray. Jesus told his disciples that you enter not into temptation. See a lack of prayer. A lack of prayer that we not enter into temptation may often indicate, may often reveal a pride of self-sufficiency that we don't really think we need to pray.

That we think that in our own strength we can somehow make it through these temptations, be delivered from it. That is, Peter and the disciples are about to find out, they couldn't, and we can't either. Pray, brothers and sisters, pray. Let us be careful and be diligent to pray that we do not enter into temptation. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the scriptures, for the depth of your love for us that are revealed in them.

A love that you had before the foundation of the world, before we existed. While we were just a future purpose of your plan. We thank you that you loved us to die for us. We thank you that you loved us to become incarnate. That you might die in your flesh for us.

We thank you for the throne of grace and for the access that you have given to us. We thank you that you are a great high priest who understands our weaknesses and infirmities and can sympathize with us. Lord, may we come boldly to your throne of grace to obtain mercy and to find grace to help in our time of need. And Lord, we need your grace to be sustained and kept from temptation. We need your grace and your strength to do anything at all.

So Lord we ask that you would deliver us from pride and from prayerlessness. May we pray without ceasing. May we pray with fervency. May we pray repetitively. May we pray with humility.

May we pray with humility. May we pray desiring first and above all that your will be done and not ours. In Jesus name we ask, Amen.