In his sermon 'Watch and Pray,' Troy Sheppard reflects on a 25-year journey of faith and service, emphasizing the ongoing nature of Christian commitment beyond past milestones. Using Matthew 26 as a framework, Sheppard recounts Jesus' time in Gethsemane, where He instructs His disciples to watch and pray to avoid falling into temptation. Despite knowing His impending crucifixion, Jesus demonstrates deep concern for His disciples, correcting and challenging them, particularly Peter, who is known for his bold declarations but ultimately falls short. The sermon emphasizes the necessity of prayer and vigilance in overcoming temptation, highlighting Jesus' example of consistent prayer and instruction. Sheppard underscores the importance of recognizing human weakness while relying on the Spirit's strength and guidance, both individually and corporately, in the life of the church. He further discusses how Jesus' interactions with His disciples before His crucifixion, including the institution of the Lord's Supper, serve as a preparation for the trials they will face. The sermon calls for a continued focus on Christ, urging believers to maintain a disciplined life of prayer and watchfulness as they navigate life's temptations and trials.

Well, it is good to be here today. We were here 25 years ago, and the church organized. During that week of meeting, Brother Joe Wilson had to fly back to Tulsa for a funeral, I believe. I filled in for him one night of that meeting and anyway it was hot under that tent and we took in plenty of sand naps I'm sure as well but The Lord's blessed the church over the years. What a wonderful privilege it is to serve him these years.

I had just taken the church in Inverness then. I had been there for a year and been there 25 years now. God has richly blessed us. And Sarah and I had just been married six months and didn't have any Children. You know, that kind of puts it into light how God works and he's been faithful.

He has been faithful. All right, I invite your attention this morning to the book of Matthew 26. And again, my, as Brother Pruitt preached this morning, a way of encouragement and challenge to this church. 25 years is just a milestone along the way. It's not the end.

And we look at the past and are thankful for the men of the past and God's working in the past, but the past is not the end all. There's a future. And this church and whatever goes on in her future will be much determined by how she is faithful to her God as a body of Christ. In the book of Matthew 26 let us read God's word and we'll begin reading that verse 36. 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 exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Tear ye here, and watch with me.' And he went a little farther, and fell on his face and prayed, saying, O 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, couldst thou 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." I'm going to look at the subject that is found here very clearly by our Lord, watch and pray. Watch and pray. Jesus is of course in the garden of prayer and he has been preparing his disciples for his crucifixion. You can read much about the details of what goes on in this last hours of the Lord's communion if you will with his people, especially with the church that He had built. Jesus had been preparing them for His crucifixion.

First of all, if you'll just keep your hand here, if you'll go back in Matthew 26 and verse 17, you find that He communes with them in the Lord's Supper. It has always fascinated me for many years about the time that the Lord spent with the church there in the last part of His hours. Even though He has the weight of crucifixion on Him, He's going to die for the sins of his people, yet he takes time with those disciples because he loves them and he's preparing them for the future. And he communes with them as he institutes the Supper, Matthew 26 and verse 17. And it says, They are now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread.

The disciples came to Jesus saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover? And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say of the name the master saith, My time is at hand, I will keep the Passover at thy house with my disciples." And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them, and they made ready the Passover. Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve. And as they did eat, he said, Verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. And as they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one to say unto him, Lord, is it I?

He answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish the same shall betray me. The Son of man goeth as it is written of him, but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed. And it shall be good for that man if he had not been born. Then Judas which betrayed him answered and said, Master it is that I and he said unto him, Thou hast said. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it and broke it and broke it, excuse me, and gave it to the disciples and said, take eat, this is my body.

And he took the cup and gave thanks and gave them say and drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this through the vines of that day, when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." And so he commends with this church around the Lord's table. He instructs them to prepare it. He takes, of course, you know, the Passover, some of the elements of the Passover, and institutes the supper. And he instructs them during this time.

He instructs them about his own death. He instructs them about how that he was going to be betrayed. And all these things are there, as you will, preparing them for this time. But not only does He commune with them, but He comforts and converses with them. If you go back to John, I'll not go there, but in John chapter 14, chapter 15, and chapter 16, you see Jesus Christ comforting the church.

You see him conversing with them. You see him preaching to them. All of these right in the hours before he's betrayed and ultimately taken and had the mock trial and crucified. And in John 17, he prays for them. They enter, they're in an upper room, and then they leave that upper room and they're still together.

This is the one thing that I want to impress upon your minds as you think about the day. The Lord meets with His people. He met with them bodily and visibly there before His crucifixion. He met with them and communed with them and was with them. And then as they broke up, as it were, that official service and they were going along the way, he still communed with them.

They went from the upper room and then they, and you read this in John 14, it comes to a point there where they leave the upper room after the Lord's Supper, and then he says, I must go. And so they do, and they leave, and they go together, and they're still communing with each other as they walk along the way. And he still is instructing them all along this way. That's where he gives that famous passage there in chapter 15, where he starts talking to them. He already started it when they were together in John 14 in the upper room.

And then from there, he keeps on this thought that don't be troubled. It was a constant thought trying to comfort them about what was going to transpire. Teaching us that we have communion with the Lord together corporately and then all along the way. And then he stops and pauses there in John 17 and prays. He prays for them.

He prays for us in that passage. And then he comes to the Garden of Gethsemane. He comes from Jerusalem across the valley of Kedron, goes to the Garden of Gethsemane, and there he will do what he had done much of his ministry, much of his life, he'd gone to the place of prayer. As a matter of fact, Judas knew where he would be. Judas has already gone out and he has already gathered the men who had paid him off to deliver Jesus then.

So he knows where Jesus is. Jesus is at the place of prayer. Jesus takes that inner circle with him in the text, Peter, James, and John, and they go and they pray together. Of course, he's an earshot of the other disciples that are there, and they are supposed to be watching and praying and doing the same thing that Jesus is doing. But those disciples fail, as disciples often do.

He's preparing himself for his crucifixion and in this hard hour that Jesus must die for his people, he seeks strength through prayer, but in the midst of all of this he in his agony in his time of great agony the Bible speaks of this great agony so much that he sweat as it were great drops of blood he still takes time for his disciples you know a lot of times we go through hard things in life, not like this, but we don't have time for anybody. But Jesus, Jesus has time. He always has time for his people. This really impressed me. So in the midst of his agony he takes time to instruct his disciples and it is vital instruction that he gives to these disciples at this last hour.

That he gives to his church at this last hour. And that is to watch and pray. First of all, I want you to see the Savior's concern. Jesus had great care and concern for His disciples and He shows it. He does not allow them to go unchallenged in their sin.

Jesus corrects them, He cautions them, and He challenges these disciples in this hour. In verse 40 it says, And He cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What? Could you not watch with me one hour? Remember, it was Peter who said, I'll die for you. I will never betray you.

Jesus said, you're going to betray me. You're going to deny me. Not me. Everybody else might do it, but I'm not going to do it. Here's Peter, fast asleep.

Jesus has great concern and care for his disciples and he shows it in the text because Jesus corrects them. You know the loving shepherd, and we're under shepherds, so many of us here today are under shepherds, and the under shepherd, His duty is to follow the steps of the shepherd and do what the shepherd does. It's off time. The sheep need to be corrected in their sin. Jesus does that.

He corrects them here. Jesus gives the disciples a reality check. And this is the hallmark, if you will, of Christ's compassion and concern for the believer. He gives us often throughout the Scriptures, back to back, much of the Scripture is this idea of correction. It's correction for those who need it.

We need it. We need correction. Notice the Savior's concern in action, if you will, in verse 40. He chides them for their weakness, Where he asks the question, what could you not watch with me one hour? It really goes back, I believe, and you notice he dresses, they're all asleep.

But Peter was the spokesman, you know. Peter was always quick to speak. He was the first to say something about something, whether he knew what he was talking about or not. A lot of times disciples are that way. You know, on the Mount of Transfiguration, here it is.

You have Moses, Elijah, you have the Lord Jesus Christ, and Peter doesn't know what to do. I mean, he's filled with the glory of God, and I tell you what, beloved, when God's glory comes and God manifests himself, that's when we need to be extra special, careful not to say anything. To know what we're talking about. And here the glory of God descended and He doesn't know what to do and so what does Peter do? Well, instead of keeping his mouth shut, He said, I'll tell you what we'll do, we'll build, We'll be some tabernacles.

We'll build one for Moses, one for Elijah, and one for Jesus. And the Father corrects him. He says, this is My beloved Son. Hear ye Him. He's the object.

And that was God's way of telling Peter, shut up. Listen to my son. Look at my son. Observe my son. Don't always have the answer because you don't have the answer.

My son has the answer. You know, churches of the Lord Jesus Christ, which we're part of, we need to have this reinforced that we don't have the answer, That the answer doesn't come from us. It comes from God. It comes from the Lord Jesus Christ It comes from the power of the Spirit of God in any answer in our life. However, we're going to deal with any situation in life It must come from him And so in their weakness in their boldness that they thought they had but was really weakness.

You know a man who's quick to speak is not a wise man. Proverbs teaches us that. He must be slow to speak as it's reinforced in the New Testament. Slow to wrath, we're so quick to wrath. So he chives them.

And in that answer, in that question you add, it is a question. The Lord questions us, doesn't He? He says, what? What's wrong, Peter? I thought you were just going to be right on.

You're going to be right on the page, Peter. You're so bold in your declarations, Peter. But you cannot even do an hour. You know, we sing a song about prayer. And it mentions an hour in prayer, doesn't it?

Now, it may be the hour of prayer that it's referring to that it relates to the Tabernacle and Temple. But whether it is that hour of prayer or if it's us an hour in prayer, which may be allusion to this passage of Scripture. What? And we sing that song boldly, don't we? We get it together, we come to the house of God, we don't do what Ecclesiastes says.

We're being careful when we go in the house of God with what we say. We lift that songbook up as if it were, had we done that all week, every week, all week long, we've been an hour in prayer here, an hour in prayer there, an hour in prayer there, and we can't even spend five, ten minutes in prayer. Peter, he says, what? Could you not watch with me one hour? So he'd been in an hour in prayer.

You see, time developed in this text. Jesus, the garden of Gethsemane, we hear just a little bit of what he says. We don't even know all the details and the intricate details of what Jesus was praying. But we know this, that he had prayed for an hour and Peter could not even watch. He could not even pray.

He couldn't even last that long. Peter was going to last right up to no matter who came, no matter what they did. But we know the story of Peter Dover. He didn't last. He doesn't last here.

He doesn't last when the soldiers come. He runs off. He lags behind. He follows afar. But he took a run at the first shot.

And then when he gets there with the sinners, people mark him out by the way he speaks. You're one of those Galileans. Your speech, portray it. You're known by what you're talking. They were from another part of the country and they sounded a little different.

Oh no, not me. You know, you were one of the disciples. I saw you with him. Not me, not me. Jesus chides them.

He does us the same. He chides us for our weakness. You know, I've been among Sovereign Grace Landmark Baptist for, I guess, about 35 years. And I'll tell you what, beloved, we're weaker than you realize. We want to be strong in the faith, which we should be.

It should be a great goal. And I'm afraid that we're far weaker than we're willing to admit. Secondly, as we think about the Savior's concern here in action, He instructs them in two vital things that will empower them to overcome temptation. Watch and pray. Watch and pray.

This is what he says in this text, doesn't he? This command by our Lord Jesus Christ where he says, watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing. You've been renewed by the Spirit of God. You are a new creature in Christ Jesus and because of that you're willing.

But you've got that thing to deal with. The flesh. The flesh is weak. The flesh is weak. He reminds them of their insufficiency in the text.

And our willingness to overcome temptation must be tempered by the reality of our weakness. We are weak people. And we must keep this in view. We must not only keep it in view in systematic theology, But we must keep it in view in our hearts, in our minds, in our lives that we are a weak people, that we carry around with us the body of flesh that makes us weak. Our willingness to overcome temptation must be tempered by that reality.

He reminds them of their strength. We are not helpless people. The Spirit indeed is willing. The blessed Holy Spirit has not left us destitute or helpless. In the book of Romans chapter 8 we find this truth.

But you know we have an access to the Spirit of God. We have the indwelling Spirit of God that has renewed our spirit. I believe in the text, the Spirit indeed is willing. That's a renewed spirit. Because of the Holy Spirit of course.

I don't believe that is the Holy Spirit of the text, but it's the outcome of the work of the Holy Spirit. The outcome of the work of the Holy Spirit is that you're willing. If you have never had the work of the Holy Spirit of God in your life, then you're not willing. We preach the doctrine of regeneration, Where the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost comes and He quickens us, He makes us alive, He renews us, He regenerates us, He gives us a new birth, or whatever the Scripture may call it in the text. He gives us new life, he breathes into us new life.

So not only that individually, but even corporately the Holy Spirit was going to be the one that would be there with them and guide them and lead them into all truth. The Spirit indeed is willing. The outcome of that is a willingness to serve God, to be faithful to God. There's something to be overcome. You know, every church problem that any church problem that any church had ever had is always because of the flesh.

It's not because of the Spirit, it's not because of the new man, it's not because of the Holy Spirit of God. It's always and only because of the flesh. Somebody's flesh. The Bible says only by pride cometh contention. Proverbs.

Only. There has never been any contention anywhere in the world, in the home, in the Lord's churches, among the churches themselves, in a New Testament church specifically, there's never been any contention anywhere that doesn't have its source in pride, and pride is because of the weakness of the flesh. Amen. That's right. I've got to have my way.

No, you don't have to have your way your way to stinking way yeah but he wants his way well his way is wrong too You know whose way we're supposed to have? Christ's way. That's what these disciples are going to learn again. I told the church the other week, I believe one reason the Lord has the Lord's Day, One reason, not the only reason, but one reason we have the Lord's Day is because disciples needed to be instructed again and again and a little bit more and a little bit after that and some more here and some time it's the same area over and over and over again, because we just didn't get it the first time. You think Jesus ever taught them to watch and pray before?

I'll tell you, he taught by his example. All through the Scriptures, Jesus as the Son of Man prayed. As God, he has prayed too, but as man, he prayed. He prayed and he prayed some more. He prayed so much that they said, hey Lord, teach us to pray.

Or how to pray. Anyway, he has great concern for them. The Spirit has not left us destitute in the book of Romans. That's where I was going. Romans 8.

In Romans 8. In Romans 8 in verse 12 the Bible says, there therefore brethren we are debtors. You owe God something. We're debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. You don't owe the flesh anything.

Matter of fact, the flesh will rob you of everything. You don't owe the flesh anything. The flesh has never done anything to you or for you in a good way. But if you live after the flesh, well there are consequences, aren't there? You shall die.

The flesh will kill your testimony for Jesus Christ. You'll die. It will kill your effectiveness for the Lord Jesus Christ. You shall die. And I'll tell you what, if you persist in it, the Lord knows how to kill people too.

That's right. He shall die. The flesh. But if you threw the spirit, now there's the Holy Spirit, there's the Holy Ghost. If you threw the spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body.

Well, there's something there for you, too. He shall live. Your testimony will live. There's a person that's really been converted. There's a person that's been touched by the grace of God.

There's a person, they're different from us. They're different from the world. There's the man, he lives. His testimony lives. His influences will live.

Well there's a man that I want to follow. There's somebody I want to be like, you know, Paul said follow me, but he's also follow Christ. There's somebody to mark my life, you know, that area of my life and that area of my life, I have a deficiency in, but There's a man who's got it together, that's the kind of man I want to follow. You shall live. See, if you through the spirit mortify the deeds of the flesh, ye shall live.

So your testimony lives, your influence lives. Well Not only that, you live. You live out the life of Christ. You live the Christ life that you've been called to live. Secondly, there's a common weakness of disciples.

So Christ is concerned for you. You know, this is, I believe, something that we should get, if you will, this morning. I wanted you to get that out of what I just said. That in all that chiding and correcting, it just shows the Savior's concern. Just like when He spent time to say, let not your heart be troubled during John 14, you believe in God, we've also...

Don't be troubled. I'm working to work, and I'm gonna take care of this. You trust in me. Yeah. 14, 15, 16, 17, the prayer of Jesus Christ.

Man, you read John 17, that'll encourage you. Amen. Of what he's doing in relationship to you in prayer. And yes, in chiding, correcting when we don't get it. It's all just concern for us.

Secondly, I want you to know the common weakness of disciples. Don't underestimate your weakness, nor the reasons for commands and demands in Scripture that are directed specifically to disciples. When Jesus says watch and pray, He's not talking to the drunkard on the bar stool, He's not talking to the unregenerate, He's not talking to the lost man somewhere, he's talking to disciples, he's talking, and specifically he's talking to a church of Jesus Christ, and then even more particular than that, he's talking to the, if you will, the leaders of that assembly. We know the church was already established, we know they already had 120 members, and then he takes not only from those men, but he takes a choice few of those men. So we might even say the cream of the crop or the bottom of the barrel.

I've never figured that one quite out yet. These men had a good confession of faith. These were real, genuine, Holy Spirit-regenerated men of God. They needed this correction. You know how it is.

Boy, I wish Brother So-and-so were here tonight and he had his clock clean. I mean that preacher laid him up one side and down the other and he's not even here and I can hear it and it wasn't meant for him anyway it is meant for you But you didn't get it. John 6, we'll come right back in John 6. He was for him. He was for Peter the bold, Peter the ready to fight, Peter the Peter who had a confession, I'll never deny you, Lord.

Which really was in direct contradiction to the Word of God, both in the Old Testament and the New, by the way. Because Jesus said, you will deny me. And it was a prophecy of the Old Testament that he was talking about. The shepherd will be smitten and the sheep will be scattered. So Peter denied both the living Word that was before him and the Old Testament living Word.

You know, we must be careful how we deal with Scripture. But in John 6, Let me get back to the point. In John 6, these were real disciples. Don't lose sight of this point. In John 6, in verse 16, Many therefore of his disciples when they heard this said this is an hard saying who can hear it.

When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it he said in them does this offend you? A lot of things Jesus says at the end. What and if you shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before? It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.

But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. And he said, Therefore I said unto you, that no man can come unto me except the Father which had given him, excuse me, except that were given unto him of my Father. And from that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, and this is the reason I read this passage, because there were disciples in name only, and there were the real guys.

And the real guy said, then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast words of eternal life. And we believe. There's a contrast in that text about those that don't believe in who He is and those that did. That's a real disciple.

We believe, He says in this text, and are sure. That's blessed assurance. And by the way, those things are different. We believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve?

That is to the apostleship in the context and one of you as a devil. But I want you to know that these men, these men in the text, they're real deal disciples. They are Holy Spirit drawn converted disciples. They confess the person of Christ and their dependence on him in this text. And that leads us to this thought, beloved, that the most faithful, the most spiritual, the most zealous Christians, The most dedicated, the most consecrated, the most set apart will face temptation.

You don't have to be a weak Christian to be confronted by temptations. As a matter of fact, even the strongest, most dedicated Christians are weak when it comes to the flesh. They face temptations and they fail the test. Now when we think of temptations, often people think of evil solicitations. If you go to the book of James, I'm not going to go there for time, but you take your time to carefully analyze James chapter 1, and what you'll find is that there are trials which are temptations.

The words are used interchangeably in the Scriptures, both in the Greek and in our New Testament. There are trials like cancer, that's a trial, I'll tell you that one, it's a real trial. Some economic calamity, some governmental calamity, the pandemic or plamdemic or whatever you want to call the thing, the fact is it was a big trial. Someone dies that you love dear. That's a trial.

That is a temptation. So there is the temptations, the trials of this life, And then there are the evil solicitations. God's not involved in the evil solicitations, but He is involved in the other kind of temptations. Job is case in point. But the fact is, when Jesus speaks about this entering into temptation, He's using the broadest sense of the term.

Whatever that trial or temptation may be, whether it is the trials of this life or it is an evil solicitation, you've got to watch and pray that you enter into them. That is your overcome Bible. Temptation. Don't be so bold to think that you'll not enter into temptation. Now, in the text, he doesn't say, watch and pray, that you be not tempted.

Doesn't say that. He says, let's read it back again. Matthew 26, Verse 41, this command from our Lord, watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. You're going to have temptations. The question is, is if you're going to enter into them.

And I believe the idea that the Lord is giving to us in this text is such a degree that you become part or you fail in the temptation, you become part of that. So when there is a little laugh saying, well Peter, you were one of those guys and he says I don't know the man or curses or swears to reinforce he entered into the temptation you see had outside forces and then you had a so unwilling participant and he entered into the temptation. And that can be with evil solicitation, I believe as in that case, or it can be just a general trial in your life you may be overcome by the trials of your faith matter of fact you probably have been. Knowing Christians like I do, especially this one, it's far easier to enter into the Temple. Case in point, how many times have you murmured or complained or chided with the Lord because of some providence that He has either brought or allowed to come in your pathway of life.

The Scripture says, rejoice in the Lord all the way. That means in every way. Whatever situation, whatever road you're on, rejoice in the Lord all the way. And again I say rejoice Philippians chapter 4. But we murmured, don't we?

We complained and we chided. In our heart we say, the Lord doesn't know what He's doing right now. We talk sovereign grace, God's on the throne, and He sits there and He does what He wants to, and how He wants to, and to whom He wants to. And then we say, but he's not doing it right this time. And that's in our heart.

Now you might not believe that's what you're saying, but whenever you complain and chide about what he's doing in your life, you've entered into the temptation. That's right. And so you must, you must watch and pray. You may be overcome by evil solicitations. Ephesians 425.

Ephesians 4.25 Ephesians 4.25 O Church, members of this body and those represented in other places, be careful that the trials and the evil solicitations that come your way, that you resist them, that you don't become part of them. But you can. Don't be so bold to think. Maybe Peter was living on that confession that he made a long time ago. Thou art the Christ.

You're the one. I've made a great confession for 25 years. We've stood for the truth. Great. How well have you stood in your life?

Ephesians 4, 25, wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be ye angry and sin not, let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil, let him that stole steal no more." And you know, this is not a list written to lost people. It's written to saved people. And I don't believe just professed saved people. You know, some Calvinists take that position, I don't believe that.

It's written to saved people. The good guys who may have been made new by the Spirit of God, but rather let him labor working with his hands a thing which is good that he may have to give to him that need it. Let No corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that you may minister grace to the hearers and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed to the day of redemption." Giving place to the devil. How many times have you yielded to temptation, entered into temptation? Think about it now with me.

As we must move on hurriedly, how many times have you lied to wiggle out of a situation or gossiped or been disobedient had sinful labor anger give place to the devil let things fester Langsfester. Right. It's easier, isn't it, to say, I won't deny your argument. Peter, James, and John were bold in their talk, but weak also in their actions. They forsook him in the hour of great trial.

They should have been there for the Lord, but they weren't. Thank God He was there for them and us. Peter denied the Lord. We must learn our propensity to enter into temptation. It is great and ever-present.

And we must see our weakness and do something. Well, that's the last thing and that is the availability of our resource. I'll just leave this with you. The resources in the text. Watch watching pray.

They were to watch. Jesus said in Matthew 26, 40, watch with me. Jesus would be their guide on how to overcome temptation. He did it when he left baptism and was taken off by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. He used the Word of God in prayer.

How he dealt with the tempter and how he deals with God's tribes. The tempter was coming. He said he has no part in me. But oh, the son of man would be put through the middle, would he not? How would he answer the call?

Jesus was there on the cross dying, but before he was there he was surrendered. All his life was surrendered and we see a climax here in this text. Not my will, but thine be done. The availability of our resource is the example of the Lord Jesus Christ and the empowerment of the Spirit of God. I leave you with this.

It is God's revealed will. You know what God's revealed will is? It's the Bible. God does some things secretly that we don't know anything about. And that's His business.

Our business is what is revealed to us. And so it is God's will to reveal what He does not want you to fail in temptation. He wants you to trust Him, confessing, believing. He doesn't want you to yield to sin and never tries to get you to yield to sin. James takes care of that in James 1.

The greater part of God's Word is how to avoid temptation and the sad consequences of it. Look to Him, the author and finisher of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ. Keep your eyes on Him individually, corporately. You keep your eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to His word.

Be obedient. You have a resource that's in you, the Holy Spirit of God, that's in you individually, that's in this church corporately, that you don't have to yield to temptation. You don't have to. What do you say? You know the deficiency don't you?

The flesh and we don't watch and pray and therefore we get engaged. The flesh gets engaged and fed. May God bless you with that for whatever it is that He wanted for you today. The Sovereign Grace Baptist Church, I would encourage you to watch your Lord Jesus Christ and pray. The Lord will bless you in the coming years, far better even than he has in this land.