Through the previous passage, we learned what the blood of the covenant meant. Now the time of Jesus’ crucifixion was fast approaching. Jesus needed this time to prepare himself for his upcoming suffering on the cross. May God help us go to the Garden of Gethsemane to learn how Jesus prepared himself to obey God’s world salvation plan.

Part I: Jesus predicts Peter's denial (27-31)

After having the Lord’s Supper, Jesus and his disciples went to Gethsemane, all except Judas Iscariot. As soon as they arrived, Jesus told them that they would all fall away. What?! All fall away! Look at verse 27. “'You will all fall away,’ Jesus told them, ‘for it is written, 'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered."'Jesus already mentioned about the betrayal of one of his disciples. Now Jesus said that all of them would fall away and be scattered. Like when you turn over a rock, you see all the bugs scatter. They were shocked and confused.

How did Jesus help them? Jesus gave them the promise of his resurrection. Look at verse 28. "But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee." This promise declares that even though evil men put Jesus to death, he will rise again on the third day. People say you can almost always count on taxes and road construction. But the promise Jesus gave to his disciples was one thing they could definitely count on. Jesus also promised that after his resurrection, he would go ahead of his disciples into Galilee. Even if his disciples fell away, Jesus would not abandon them. Jesus gave them hope by his words. Jesus would indeed meet them in Galilee and reinstate them as witnesses of his death and resurrection to the ends of the earth.

How did they respond? “Peter declared, ‘Even if all fall away, I will not.’" (29) Peter could not believe that he would fall away from Jesus like a coward. Peter’s pride was hurt because Jesus said “all” will fall away including himself. Peter looked at this situation, and boldly declared, “Not me, maybe these guys, I am your man, to the end!” He thought he was better than the rest. He thought he was special, different from other disciples. It’s pretty natural to think well of ourselves and poorly of others. The old saying goes, “If you want something done right, do it yourself.”

In verse 30 Jesus answered Peter, "I tell you the truth ...today--yes, tonight--before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times." In fact, Jesus predicted that Peter would do worse than the other disciples. Even though they would fall away, Peter would deny Jesus “three times” that very night with his own mouth. What a shocking prediction! Peter, the top disciple, would deny Jesus not just one time but two and three times! Immediately Peter defended himself, saying, 'Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you" (31). Many young people make similar promises to their girlfriends or boyfriends, “I will never leave you. I will always love you.” Then 6 months later they move on to someone else. When times are good, it is easy to make bold promises like Peter.

Why did Jesus predict Peter's denial? Was it to offend Peter and to humiliate him in front of the other disciples? No. Jesus knew that as long as Peter depended only on himself, he would never pray and surely fail at the time of his own trials. We too can make bold statements that we are ready to die for Jesus. But are we ready? Who here would go to prison for Jesus? But without depending on God, we are weak and cannot keep our words. We have a hard time just keeping our day to day appointments! Therefore, Jesus wanted Peter to realize how weak he was so that he might depend on God through prayer and join Jesus' spiritual battle at Gethsemane.

Part II: “Yet not what I will but what you will” (32-42)

Look at verse 32. “They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’” How did Jesus prepare himself before his crucifixion? Jesus went with his disciples to Gethsemane to pray as the final preparation for his rejection, suffering and crucifixion. He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled (33).

Look at verse 34. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.” Most people think that Jesus was so extraordinary that it was no big deal for him to die on the cross. But the Bible says it was not so. Jesus was deeply distressed and troubled. His soul was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. This shows that Jesus was also human like us.

No one wants to die. Especially no one wants to die a painful death on the cross. Everyone wants to live happily ever after. Young people want to graduate, get a job, get married, have two cats and one dog, and live happily with their children. But God’s will for Jesus was to die on the cross as the Lamb of God. Being crucified and nailed on the cross is too painful to think about. More than that, on the cross the sinless Son of God had to take all our sins upon himself and be punished and condemned by God. That was unbearable for him even to think about. He was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. At this time of distress and trouble, Jesus came to Gethsemane with his disciples. In Jesus’ ministry he has always prayed for his disciples. This time Jesus needed prayer support from his disciples. That was the reason Jesus said, "Stay here and keep watch."

Look at verse 35. "Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him." Here we learned that Jesus “prayed” at the time of distress and trouble. What do we do in times of distress and trouble? Some people doubt God’s love. Some become anxious and depressed. Others seek sympathy from friends or relatives, sharing all their troubles with them. Still others tried to forget about their troubles or distress by going to see movies or getting drunk or playing video games. Instead, we must come to God in prayer like Jesus. Have you tried this? Have you tried to come to God in prayer during your time of distress? What was Jesus’ prayer? Look at verse 36. "'Abba, Father,' he said, 'everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

First, Jesus began his prayer by calling God “Abba Father.” Abba means “Daddy.” What a sweet love relationship Jesus had with his Father. Today is Mother’s Day. My mom always wants me to live happily. But God wanted his Son Jesus to die on the cross like a condemned criminal. Still Jesus did not doubt God’s love. Jesus called him, “Abba Father.” Jesus had a deep and unshakable assurance of God’s love in his heart. Often we must go through hardships and adversities. At these times, it is easy for us to become slaves to fear. It is easy for us to doubt God’s love, saying, “If God loves me, why am I suffering like this?” Perhaps we have all thought this at one point. But this is nothing but Satan's poisonous lie. In all circumstances, we must call God, “Abba,” like Jesus and have assurance in God’s love.

Second, Jesus said, “Take this cup from me.” Here the cup means the cup of betrayal, suffering and death on the cross. Drinking a cup of coffee in the morning is very good. I like it. But drinking the cup of death is not joyful at all. In fact, it is terrifying. If possible, Jesus did not want to take the cup of suffering and death. So he prayed to God, “Everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me.” This was what he wanted and desired from his heart. Jesus was not really asking God to change his salvation plan. Jesus was not being rebellious to God. Jesus was expressing his heart honestly before God. But he did not stop here. He went forward.

Third, Jesus prayed to obey God's will. He prayed, “Yet not what I will but what you will.” Even though he was the Son of God, he could not obey the will of God naturally. He needed a fierce battle against his own will. Hebrews 5:8, 9 says, "Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him..." If Jesus did not pray at Gethsemane, he might not accomplish the work of world salvation. The same is true with us. Here we learn that we cannot obey God's will naturally. In order to obey the will of God, we need to pray like Jesus’ prayer of Gethsemane: “Yet not what I will but what you will.”

God’s will for Jesus was that he become the way of salvation for all sinners through his death on the cross. This was Jesus’ holy mission to carry out. What is God’s will for you? Before Bible study, many people would answer this question, saying, “I don’t know!” Some try to make up something and say, “Well, I guess God wants me to be a ‘good’ person to others.” As we study the Bible, we come to know what God’s will is.

From Genesis, we learned that God created man in his image and gave him the holy mission to take care of the world as his steward. In the New Testament, this means that we must grow in the likeness of Jesus and carry out the holy mission of spreading the good news of Jesus’ salvation to the ends of the earth. Later, Jesus specifically told Peter, “If you love me, feed my sheep.” (Jn 21:15)

God not only wants us to know his love but also to share his love to others. God not only wants us to be his loving children but also his coworkers in his world salvation work. There are no spectators; we are all on the field as Christians. God wants us to be his good and faithful servants. In fact, God’s will for each of us is truly great. We cannot carry out God’s great will and purpose for us with our human strength or will power alone. God wants us to carry out His will, co-working with one another with one mind. God wants us to carry out God’s will, depending on God in prayer.

Sinful human beings are self-centered. But we must be God-centered. We are fully aware of what we want. We want to have ease and pleasure. We want worldly recognition. But we must be fully aware of what God wants us to do. “Yet not what I will but what you will” should be our prayer topic. When we deny our petty desires and give up our own comfort zone and submit ourselves to God’s great will, God makes our lives great, fruitful, meaningful, joyful, victorious and truly happy. Perhaps right now some may be thinking of what you want to do after the worship service is over. I ask you to deny yourself and think about ‘What does God want me to do this Sunday? ‘What can I do for his people?’

For the last two years, we have offered 5 am daily bread prayer meeting as our prayer for making DuPage a Bible Believing and missionary sending county and America a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. God has been pleased with this prayer meeting and showed his signs of blessing in many ways such as pioneering Stanford University through Missionary Andrew Hwang’s family and providing visas and a job for Missionary David Lee, etc. We believe that this daily bread prayer meeting is our daily Gethsemane prayer and God will continually bless our ministry.

Before going a litter farther, Jesus had asked his disciples to keep watch and pray. But the disciples did not pray. Probably they took the pose of prayer but soon fell asleep and became totally unconscious. Look at verses 37, 38. “Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. ‘Simon,’ he said to Peter, ‘are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.’" When Jesus came to his disciples the second time, they were still sleeping. This time, Jesus did not wake them up. Perhaps he covered them with a blanket so that they could sleep better. When he returned a third time, he saw that they were sleeping too much. So he said, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough!” (41a)

Unlike his sleepy disciples, Jesus was fully prepared to meet any kind of trial--even crucifixion. Jesus was full of spirit and said, 'The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!" (41b, 42) Through prayer, Jesus received new spiritual strength from God. Before prayer at Gethsemane, Jesus was deeply distressed and troubled. His soul was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. But after prayer, Jesus was full of spirit, ready to meet the betrayer, the trial, the suffering, and even death on the cross. Here we learn that through prayer Jesus won the victory before fighting. May God help us to experience many victories through our own Gethsemane prayer like Jesus.

This year we have the great privilege to host the ‘International Bible Conference’ at Purdue University. Many delegates from 89 nations will gather to hear the word of God and pray together. It is a good chance to know what God’s will is for each of us. It is a good chance to renew the missionary vision. Therefore we must pray for this conference with all our hearts. God will surely answer our prayers and bless us to invite 40 attendants.

* Conclusion: Today we learned that Jesus prayed at Gethsemane before his upcoming suffering and crucifixion. Through prayer, Jesus decided to obey God’s will for himself. Through prayer, Jesus renewed his strength to meet the cross. May God help us to come to God in prayer in all circumstances, especially in times of distress and trouble. May God help us to carry out God’s will for each of us through our own Gethsemane prayer like Jesus. May God bless us to experience God’s victory in our lives during this hot summer through our Gethsemane prayer.