Matt. 26:36-46

THE MOST DIFFICULT PRAYER OF ALL

Intro: Ill. This is the holiest ground in all of Scripture. On the eve of His death on the cross, Jesus spends the last hours of His freedom with His Father. This is a time of difficulty in the Savior’s life. Verses 37-38 tell us that Jesus is operating under and extreme burden. The word “sorrowful” refers to “excessive grief”. The words “very heavy” speak of being “under great distress”. Jesus even tells His disciples that His “soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.” This phrase means that Jesus was under such a burden and in such brokenness of heart, that it was literally about to take His life.

        So, Jesus approaches God with His burden. Here in the place called “Gethsemane”, which means “olive press”, olives were squeezed under great pressure so that they might yield up their oil. Here Jesus releases the oil of sweet surrender as He yields to the Father’s pressure in His soul.

        I want to join Jesus in His time with the Father on that difficult night. I think there is help in His prayer for our own praying. In these verses, we see Jesus praying the most difficult prayer of them all. Jesus prays a prayer of total submission and surrender to the will of His Father.

        That is a difficult prayer for us to pray. We know what we want God to do in a situation, so we go tell Him about it, and then we expect Him to just do it for us. It may come as a shock for you to find out that prayer doesn’t work that way. Genuine, biblical prayer is never about us getting our way with God; it is always about God getting His way with us!

        Let’s join Jesus in Gethsemane for a few minutes as I try to preach on The Most Difficult Prayer Of All. I want you to see that this kind of prayer Involves Supplication; it Involves Surrender; and It Involves Submission. Notice these truths with me.

 

  I.                    THIS PRAYER

              INVOLVES SUPPLICATION

·         Jesus prayed “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me:” What is “the cup”? He is not speaking of the cross; Jesus came for the very purpose of going to the cross – John 18:37; Rev. 13:8. He is not speaking of death; Jesus was born to die for sinners, Phil. 2:5-8; Mark 10:45.

        “The cup” refers to the sins of humanity and the separation it would bring between Jesus and His Father, 2 Cor. 5:21; Isa. 59:2; Matt. 27:46. The thought of being separated from His Father for even a second broke His heart. The thought of becoming sin was repugnant to His sinless Spirit. There is much more to this account, but for the sake of this sermon, I want you to see that our Lord’s prayer contained a request.

·         Prayer is man communicating with God. In prayer, we approach God either in word or in thought. Prayer is man having a conversation with God. In prayer, we approach Him and make our requests known to Him.

·         Prayer gives us the opportunity to talk to God about the things that matter in our lives. We can share our fears, our problems, our struggles, our pain, our heartache, and anything else that troubles us. In prayer we can express our thankful to Him for His blessings. We can praise Him, love Him and glorify Him.

        Most of the time, prayer is about asking God for the things we have need of in our lives. This is what prayer is for - Ill. Phil. 4:6. (Ill. “supplication” – “burdens, needs and problems”; “requests” – “specific issues”; “thanksgiving” – “An attitude of gratitude and worship.”) We should never hesitate to ask!

·         Prayer is a great privilege enjoyed by the people of God.

Ø  God invites us to pray – Phil. 4:6; Matt. 11:28; 1 Pet. 5:7

Ø  God promises to hear our prayers – Jer. 33:3; Psa. 10:17; 65:2

Ø  God promises to answer our prayers – Matt. 7:7-11; Isa. 58:9 (Ill. His answer will not always be “Yes”; sometimes it may be “No” or “Wait”.)

·         Prayer can be hindered: By Sin – Psa. 66:18; By Neglect – James 4:2; By Selfishness – James 4:3; By Doubt – James 1:6-7

·         We should be a people of prayer, because our Father cares about us, Luke 12:32 and our Savior cares too, Heb. 4:15.

 

 II.                       THIS PRAYER

                  INVOLVES SURRENDER

·         Jesus prayed, “not as I will”. Surely the human in Jesus would have liked to avoid the cross with all its pain, suffering and death. Surely the eternal Son in Jesus would have preferred to avoid the cross with all its sin and separation from the Father.

        But, Jesus displays the true heart of biblical prayer when He surrenders His will and places everything at the feet of the Father. Jesus was willing to surrender what He wanted for what the Father knew was best.

·         That is a lesson many have yet to learn. Prayer is never about the person doing the praying; prayer is always about the God being prayed to! What I want is never the issue! I may certainly pray to God about my desires and my opinions, but God is never obligated to answer my prayers in my way. Prayer is not about dictating to God what He will and will not do! Genuine prayer is always about aligning the will of Man with the will of God in every situation. In true prayer, my will dies at His feet.

·         Until we can come to the place where we can pray “Not my will but Thine be done”, we are not really talking to God! We may be sharing our opinions and making our demands, but we are not praying! Real prayer is always about total surrender of our will to His.

·         Prayer is not a blank check. Just because I want something, or think that a certain thing is best, does not mean that God will do it. Many of the great promises related to prayer are wretched from their context and twisted into something God never said.

Ø  Matt. 18:19 – The context is about church discipline, not prayer in general. When the church agrees that a person has or has not repented, they are agreeing with what has already been decided in Heaven.

          However, when we do agree about a matter in prayer, all of our prayers are subject to the revealed will of God, 1 John 5:14-15; Rom. 10:17; Rom. 14:23. All of the agreement in the world will not override the will of God in any matter.

Ø  John 14:13-14; 16:26-28 – When we pray “in Jesus’ name” we are not using a magic formula that guarantees God has to do what we ask Him to. We are not just to close our prayers by saying “in Jesus’ name” and then believe that God has to do what we tell Him to do.

          To use Jesus name is to prayer for the things He would ask for. It is to pray for His purposes and will to be fulfilled, and not for our own selfish reasons. It is to petition God on the basis of Christ’s righteousness and not our own. It is to pray for His glory alone. (Ill. Matt. 6:9-10.)

          (Ill. It is like a “power of attorney” When you are given “power of attorney” over someone’s affairs, you are given the right to make decisions on their behalf. It does not mean that you can do anything you want with their resources. It means that you act in their best interest, always remembering that their name and reputation are at stake.)

 

III.                      THIS PRAYER

                 INVOLVES SUBMISSION

·         Jesus prayed “…Thine be done”. The Lord Jesus submitted Himself to the Father’s answer, even if it was not what the answer He wanted.

·         The hardest part of real prayer is learning to accept God’s will in every matter. We want what we want and when He gives us a different answer, it can cause us problems. The secret to a happy and fulfilled prayer life is learning to pray according to God’s will and to praise Him for the answer He gives, regardless of what it may be!

·         Some of God’s choice saints received answers that were opposed to their requests. Their response in these instances is worthy of note.

Ø  David – 2 Sam. 12:14-23 – David prayed outside the will of God, v. 14.

Ø  Paul – 2 Cor. 12:1-10.

Ø  Paul – Rom. 15:19-33 (v. 29); Acts 21:30-34; 23:11; Phil. 1:13-14.

·         This is not an easy place to come to. It means turning away from everything we want, think or feel in any given situation. It means that we accept God’s plan, and even long for God’s plan, in every situation, knowing that God will always do right! (Ill. Gen. 18:25)

·         Ill. Vance Havner said “God wants us to trust Him, no matter what He does. There is a heavenly carelessness that leaves it all with Jesus and doesn’t become upset when He does things contrary to what we expected.”

        Havner was merely expressing the thought the Psalmist shared in Psalm 18:30, when he said, “As for God, his way is perfect…” It is up to man to learn to trust the Lord to do right!

 

Conc: Ill. Augustine, referring to his mother Monica’s prayer said, “But Thou, taking Thy own secret counsel and noting the real point of her desire, didst not grant what she was then asking in order to grant to her the thing which she had always been asking.” His mother had earnestly prayed that God would stop her son from going to Italy. Despite her prayers, Augustine did go to Italy, and it was there he met Jesus. And, this was what his mother had always prayed for her son.

        Thank God, He does not always give us what we ask for, but He always gives us what is right and best. Ill. The Spirit in us knows what to prayer for, Rom. 8:26-27.

        What about you? Have you reached a place of total surrender in your prayer life? Have you come to the place where you can trust God to do the right thing? Have you come to a place where you can make your request and then leave the answers in the Lord’s hands? Have you reached the place of submission and surrender?

        It may be that you have been praying about things selfishly. You have asked for what you wanted and you have been expecting God to do things your way. I would suggest that you come to Him today, place the matter in His hands and ask for His will to be done.

        Has He spoken to you about your prayer life? Bring it to Him and let Him have it all!