Luke, The Orderly Account of Truth - Not My Will, But Yours Be Done - Luke 22:35-53

Really grateful you're here. We've been in a series going

through the Gospel of Luke called Luke The Orderly Account

of Truth, or we've been following the carefully investigated account

of the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus. Also

that the reader of this gospel would have certainty concerning

the things they have been taught about Jesus. And we

also get to benefit from this account as we go

verse by verse, getting to know our Lord Jesus better,

as we look at his life and see him interact

with others in what he did in his ministry when

he walked the earth. Now, the section we've kind of

been in for some time now has been the last

week of Jesus's life. As most of the gospels do,

as soon as it gets to that final week of

Jesus's life, it zooms in pretty dramatically and starts giving

you like a lot of play by play moments of

his life. And so we saw him triumph. Then they

enter Jerusalem to the praise and shouts of crowds, while

he himself wept over the city of Jerusalem for the

destruction that was coming upon it. He then went into

the temple and started chasing out the market, the people

who've turned it into a market and started teaching, and

kind of also rebuking those who had been in places

of power and teaching in the temple. And finally we've

been looking at this passover meal that Jesus shares with

his disciples the night before he goes to the cross

to die for our sins. This passover meal that he

desired to share with his disciples where he institutes communion,

where his disciples are to remember his body and blood

that are about to be given for them. At the

end of this meal, Jesus tells his disciples that one

of them is going to betray him, which kind of

erupts this big argument as you can imagine, of who's

that gonna be, which then kind of turns into an

argument how I see it going is like, well, I

wouldn't betray him, I wouldn't betray H. Well, no, I

love Jesus. Well, I love Jesus probably more than you do.

So it turns into this big argument about who is

the greatest. Jesus uses as a teaching opportunity to teach

about the servant, the servant being the greatest among them,

and how he sets them an example for that. And

then last week it takes a turn where Jesus shares

that Satan had demanded to test the disciples, and he

tells Peter that he has prayed that his faith would

not fail, and that when Peter had turned again to

strengthen his brothers. Peter, upon hearing this being, Peter pledges

his undying allegiance that he's willing to go to jail

or even die with Jesus. Jesus gives him the bad

news that by the morning, Peter will have denied him

three times. That's where we get to our text today.

Now I wish I was more cheery. I'm going to

just say that right now before I get less cheery.

And I say that because as we start to interact

with these texts, as we start to go through these

the next several weeks, you should still come back, Okay,

just hear me. You should come back after day today,

But the next couple of weeks we're looking at the

darkest time, the darkest hours, in the final moments of

Jesus's life. So I will try to remember to smile

and I will try to not cry. And the songs

were already priming that. So no guarante, but I do

want that to be said, because there is a tone

that is set in these texts that things are about

to go down. Things are about to get very heavy

and very very serious. So we find ourselves in our

texts today. If you please open with me, we're gonna

be in Luke chapter twenty two, starting in verse thirty five.

If you do not have a Bible, this is a

cheery note. We have some new Bibles. They're awesome. They

kind they kind of look like this one, but they're

all all black. Right, Yeah, they're really cool and they're nice.

If you don't have a Bible, go please take one.

It's yours to keep. It's so important, and we believe

it's important that you have a Bible of your own

to read and study. So they're out on the table

to go grab and you can follow along with us.

Chapter twenty two, starting in verse thirty five, says, and

he said to them, when I sent you out with

no money bag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?

They said nothing. He said to them, But now let

the one who has a money bag take it, and

likewise a knapsack, and let the one who has no sword,

sell his cloak and buy one, For I tell you

that the scripture must be fulfilled in me. And he

was numbered with the transgressors, for what is written about

me has its fulfillment. And they said, look, Lord, here

are two swords. And he said to them, it is enough.

And he came out and went, as was his custom,

to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him.

And when he came to that place, he said to them,

pray that you may not enter into temptation. And he

withdrew from them about a stone's throw and knelt down

and prayed, saying, Father, if you are willing remove this

cup from me, nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.

And there appeared to him an angel from Heaven's strengthening him.

And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his

sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to

the ground. When he arose from prayer, he came to

the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow. He said

to them, why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that

you may not enter into temptation. And while he was

still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas,

one of the twelve, was leading them, and he drew

near to kiss or to Jesus, to kiss him. But

Jesus said to him, Judas, would you betray the son

of man with a kiss. When those who were around

him saw what would follow this, said, Lord, shall we

strike with the sword. And one of them struck the

servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear.

But Jesus said no more of this, and he touched

his ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the

chief priests and officers of the temple and elders who

had come out against him, have you come out as

against a robber with swords and clubs? When I was

with you day after day in the temple, you did

not lay hands on me. But this is your hour

and the power of darkness. Let us pray, Lord God,

we lift up this time to you. We asked that

you would focus our minds, remove distractions, soften our hearts,

give us ears to hear, eyes to see. Help us

not be here on accident. Help us be a timely word,

Lord God, help us walk away glorifying and living better

for you and Jesus name me pray. Everyone said amen.

So every single one of us in this room has

had a time in their life where they've dreaded something

that was coming, or anticipated with great dread, something that

was on its way. It might be going to the doctor,

I know that's that way for me. It might be

that assignment you have to present at school or work.

It might be that hard conversation we need to have

with a loved one. It might be in sharing the gospel,

going to that job interview, or doing the budget with

your wife. But what about the dread of death, the

dread of not only death, but of dying. I believe

that most of us dread those things not because of

really what's on the other side of it, but because

we fear or struggle with what it's actually going to

be like to get on the other side of it,

what it's actually going to be like to get us there,

what we're going to have to endure to get to

the other side. Most of us, I think, if we

were to describe our perfect way to die, it might

be peacefully when I'm in my sleep, or if it's

a freak accident so quick that I don't even know

what happened. But why is that Because none of us

like to suffer. None of us want to suffer. And

we're really not alone with that. If you remember Jesus,

the God man, truly God, truly man, we're going to

see in our texted ags himself is going to wrestle

with the fact that he is about to endure great suffering,

even to the point where he makes his request known

to let the cup pass or to find a different way.

But at the end of the day, Jesus submits his will,

his desires to that of the fathers. So today I

believe that we're going to see that our main point

from today's text is this that obedience to God's will

means laying down my own will. Obedience to God's will

means laying down my own will. And if I smile

and seem cheeri eads God's good. If you're taking notes

that today's message is titled not my will, but Yours

be done. Now, let's be honest. This is a tricky thing,

isn't it. It was already quiet in here and I

could like it. Now there's like a vacuum of an

air being sucked out of this room. I can feel it.

This is a tricky thing, choosing God's will over our own.

This has been a problem. This isn't a new problem.

This has been a problem ever since the fall of mankind,

so practically since the beginning, this has been our problem.

In fact, it's actually what resulted in the fall of mankind.

If you recall, God created man and woman, Adam and

Eve in the garden. It's perfect. It's paradise. It's awesome.

There's animals, they get to name them. It's really cool.

They're naked, they're hanging out, it's awesome. God comes to

them and he tells them his will for their life.

He says, I want you to work this garden, want

you to keep it. I want you to make lots

of babies, and I want you to take dominion over

the earth. It's not a bad gig. Sounds like a

pretty good deal. Finally, that they are not to eat

of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and evil,

or else they would die. It didn't take long for

man and woman, prompted by a lying, deceitful serpent, to

choose to reject God's will for them and instead do

what was right in their own eyes. Thinking that God's

will wasn't the best, thinking that God's will, that God

was actually holding out on them, and so what they

decided to do, that was the lie of the serpent.

That God is holding out on you. His will is

not good, so they reject it. They do what's right

in their own eyes. Instead of following God's will in

the garden, they follow their own will. God commanded them

to live and obey so they would not die, but

they disobeyed and brought death not only on themselves but

upon all mankind. That thing that we dread is the

result of mankind following their own will instead of God's.

And it's our fault, that's on us. But the good news,

as we see in our text today, is the beginning

of the reversal of the curse of death. But here's

the deal. It is a reversal of the curse, but

there's a lot of curse. There's a lot of bad,

there's a lot of darkness. As we see that Jesus

the second atom is in a garden, and instead of

being told to not eat of the tree lest he die,

he is told to go hang on a tree and

surely die so that he could bring life to all

who are in Him, and today, as we descend in

some of the darkest hours of Christ's life, I believe

that we're actually we're going to get a glimpse. This

is a good thing for us to grasp, because we

are going to see the weight that the Lord carried

for us. We're going to come away. I'm praying with

a greater appreciation for our Lord and Savior. But I

believe seeing Jesus submit himself to the Father, even under

such trying circumstances, that it will build up our faith

and embolden us to leave today saying of our own lives,

not my will, but yours be done. And I believe

that ultimately we can do this because our Savior, who

went through this, knows what we went through, and I

had to pull it up and save it with a

receipt the spawn of my Bible. In Hebrews Hebrews four fourteen,

it says, since we have a great high priest who

has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,

let us hold fast our confession, for we do not

have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with

our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been

tempted as we are, yet without sin, let us, then,

with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace, that

we may receive mercy and find grace to help in

time of need. The reason I thought that was important

to pull up is because to say, not my will,

but yours be done. Oh, that creates a lot of

need in my own life. The three examples we're going

to see set in our text today, Jesus submits to scripture,

Jesus submits to the will of the Father, and Jesus

submits to the process. Let's look at the first section.

Jesus submits a scripture Versus thirty five through thirty six,

and says, and he said to them, when I sent

you out with no money bag or knapsack or sandals,

did you lack anything? They said nothing. He said to them,

But now let the one who has a money bag

take it, and likewise a knapsack, and let the one

who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one.

Here Jesus is preparing his disciples for what is to come.

There's about to be a change, because beforehand, Jesus, earlier

in his ministry, had sent out his disciples saying, hey,

I'm sending you on mission, and you're not gonna worry

about any of your needs. You're going to go to

a town and it's all going to be provided for you.

Where you stay, where you sleep, who you're with, who's

up going to provide for your needs, all those things

you don't need to worry about. You don't have to

take a coin purse. I'm gonna send you empty handed,

and I'm gonna fill it. I'm gonna fill it supernaturally

and providentially. But now times are coming, We're instead of

being received by people, things are gonna get hard. He says,

take money with you where you go, and buy a sword. Now.

I was actually very surprising studying this week he's reading

the commentators. They almost all agree that Jesus was being

metaphorical here, which is kind of weird because I'm reading

it and I'm like, that doesn't seem very metaphorical. It

kind of seems like what he told him to do.

But what they were saying is Jesus is trying to

tell his disciples that danger is coming near where they

are gonna have to provide for their own needs. You

might as well carry a sword, Jesus and One of

the reasons that the commentators believe this is because when

the diciples do end abusing swords, Jesus is like, stop,

stop that, right, So you see where the disciples were confused,

and maybe we're maybe I'm just confused. Maybe I'm a

confused disciple as I read this too, and it's potential

the Lord is just trying to say, dangers is on it,

danger is on its way. Regardless of whether he's being

metaphorical or not, he's saying danger is on its way.

There's a change that is coming, and it's going to

get difficult. All in all, Jesus is saying things are

about to go down because look at what he says next.

He says, for I tell you, the scripture must be

fulfilled in me, and he was numbered with the transgressors,

for what is written about me has its fulfillment. Jesus

says that there are things about to happen that are

in accordance with scriptures, that the things about to take

place are a fulfillment of what the scriptures predicted would happen.

And I think, honestly we've gone to see as we

spent this time in Luke, that Jesus always had Scripture

at the tip of his lips. Jesus's life was always

in conformity to scripture. He was perfect and everything that

Scripture said he would do. Jesus made it his mission

to be in alignment with them. Jesus is here quoting

from Isaiah fifty three, where we get one of the

most explicit prophecies about the suffering and dying Messiah. Jesus

says that he must fulfill the scriptures concerning himself, meaning

that not only does Jesus fulfill scripture, but that scripture

points to him, which is actually a point that Luke

is going to show us later in his Gospel when

Jesus has risen from the dead and begins to show

them all the places in scripture that are about him,

showing this is exactly what was supposed to happen. It's

all in the book. Before we get to that joyous day,

we have the dread of what is ahead. Jesus here

is submitted to scripture and the call that it places

on his life. And I think that that should make

us stop and wonder, as Christians, those who follow Jesus,

those who are supposed to be christ Like are we

like Christ in our view of scripture? Do we see

that it points to him? And do we long to

submit to the words written in that place a call

upon our own life. I'm not saying going there and

start looking for all the specific prophecies about you. I'm

pretty sure they're not in there. Lovingly, the Bible's not

about you. It's about Jesus, That's who it points to.

But as Christians, as the Church, there are clear commands

and directions given in scripture for us that place a

call on our life of what we should do, how

we should live should be. So do you recognize the

authority of scripture with the same zeal that your Lord does?

Or do you put your own will ahead of scripture

or other people's desires for you, above what God has

called you two and revealed to you in his word?

Or maybe just honestly, this is where it gets really

difficult talking about reading the Bible. You say it's all

in there, but it doesn't matter if you don't read it.

It's all in there. So do you even know what

his word says? Because if you're not reading, studying, meditating

on it, you can't even know what the will of

God is. It's not something you're going to find necessarily

on a mountain by yourself alone in a quiet time.

He's given it to you in his word. We must

know our Bible. Not only do we need to know

what it says, we need to learn to read and

understand in such a way that we can obey it,

meaning conform our life to its words. But after Jesus

speaks of fulfilling the scripture, the disciples chime in and say, look,

here are two swords, and he said to them, it

is enough. Now this is really interesting because the commentators

here say that this Greek phrase that says it is

enough or that's sufficient is actually saying enough of that

talk like enough of that, which is why they kind

of think that Jesus was being metaphorical about the swords.

It's weird, I don't know, kind of interesting, but either way,

Jesus is saying hard times are coming and it's all

according to God's plan. So we move on to the

next section. Jesus submits to the will of the Father,

and he came out and went and as was his custom,

to the amount of olives, and the disciples followed him.

And when he came to the place he said to them,

pray that you may not enter into temptation. Jesus now

leads them out to a place that they often went

to pray, and before he steps away to go pray

on his own, he tells his disciples to pray that

they may not enter temptation. Not only is this how

Jesus had instructed them to pray, where at the end

of the Lord's prayer says, lead us not into temptation,

But now the time was drawing near for hard times,

not only for Jesus but also for his disciples. Their leader,

their teacher, their rabbi is going to be taken from

them publicly, humiliated, mocked, beaten, tortured and killed. That's what

they're doing to the leader. It's going to be hard

for those who want to follow him. The temptations me

many to deny him, to not associate with him, to

lose faith in the truth, to maybe wonder if you

were duped, because this isn't what you expected. So Jesus

tells his disciples to pray. And when we face hard times,

how much do we need this reminder? I know, literally,

just a couple of weeks ago, kids are down talking

to my wife about things that are stressing me out.

And I'm kind of basically out loud processing while she

cleans the kitchen and just to paint a picture. I'm

sitting there talking through what's going on, what's on my mind,

and all these things. And she stopped and asked me,

towards the end of me info vomiting, She said, have

you prayed about that? I was like, no, it's a

reasonable question. I was like, all right, well, well, yeah, I

needed to do that. Well, a couple hours later, a

completely different topic, I'm doing the same exact thing. At

the end of the conversation, she hits me with the

same exact question, have you prayed about that? The answer

is no, I hadn't done that. I had literally hadn't

learned from a couple couple hours prior. She is a

great wife, but I am a bad prayer. Jesus tells

his disciples to pray, and we as his disciples, need

to hear this also when we're going into hard times.

Whether we're in hard times maybe we're doing just fine,

we need to remember to pray. We need this constant

prayer that we may not fall into temptation because we

fall so easily, no matter who you are, even the

most loyal disciple, like we're going to see next week,

we too can fall into temptation. As the hymn goes,

Oh what peace we often fit, Oh, what needless pain

we bear, all because we do not carry everything to

God and prayer. We need prayer and prayer, So we

should pray. And Jesus was not only giving this advice.

He then turns around and puts the same exact advice

into practice himself by bringing his prayers to the Father.

Verse forty one, it says, and he withdrew from them

about a stone's throw and knelt down and pray. It's saying, Father,

if you were willing remove this cup from me, nevertheless,

not my will, but yours be done. And this is powerful.

Jesus makes his plea to the Father to remove this

cup from him. But before we ever get to the

last part, we need to understand what the cup is.

It is the cup of God's wrath towards sin. It

is the cup that was to be poured out fully

on Jesus, that the sin, the savior. Jesus was going

to bear the punishment for sin in himself. This first

tewond Corinthian says, didn't take that. I'm sorry for our sake.

He made him to be sin, who knew no sin,

so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Do you understand how big of a deal that is.

Jesus never sinned. Jesus was perfect, He kept the law

perfectly and was in perfect union with the Father. Jesus

is holy, unblemished, the spotless lamb. He's perfect. He loves

righteousness and only is righteous. Jesus is holy, and he's

about to be treated as if he's unholy. Jesus is perfect,

and he's about to be treated as if he is imperfect.

He is righteous, but he is about to receive the

wages of sin, that is death. And why did he

do this? He did this for us so that not

only would he bear the wrath through our sin, but

also that Jesus would give us his perfect righteousness, so

that when God the Father looks at us, he doesn't

see our sin stained lives, but he sees us clothed

in Christ's righteousness. And this is for anyone who would

believe and put their faith in Jesus because of his

finished work on the cross. But Jesus here is speaking

of the cup of God's wrath. And I think that

the only way we can truly get an idea of

the picture of what Jesus is anticipating is to bring

to mind the scripture that Jesus himself has already quoted

Isaiah fifty three. We're actually going to start just a

couple of verses before that, and we're going to read

the whole darn thing. We're going to read it. But

listen to this language. Listen to what is described says. Behold,

my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and

lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished

at you. His appearance was so marred beyond human semblance,

and his form beyond that of the children of mankind.

I can stop right there. So marred, he's unrecognizable as

a human. So shall he sprinkle Many nations kings shall

shut their mouths because of him. For that which has

not been told them they see, and that which they

have not heard they understand. Who has believed what he

has heard from us? And to whom has the arm

of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before

him like a young plant, and like a root out

of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that

we should look at him, or no beauty, or and

no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised

and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted

with grief, and as one from whom men hid their

faith or hide their faces. He was despised, and we

esteemed him not surely he has borne our griefs and

carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God,

and afflicted, because because he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the

chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds we

are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We

have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord

has laid on him the iniquity of us. All he

was oppressed, he was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth,

like a lamb that has led to the slaughter, and

like a sheep that is or that before its shearers

is silent, So he opened not his mouth. By oppression

and judgment, he was taken away. And for his generation,

now as for his generation who considered that he was

cut off out of the land of the living, stricken

for the transgressions of my people. And they made his

grave with the wicked and with a rich man, and

his death. Although he had done no violence, and there

was no deceit in his mouth, Yet it was the

will of the Lord to crush him. He has put

him to grief. When his soul makes an offering for guilt,

he shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days.

The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Out of the anguish of his soul. He shall see

and be satisfied by his knowledge. Shall the righteous one,

my servant make many to be accounted righteous, he shall

bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion

with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with

the strong. Because he has poured out his soul to

death and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he bore

the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Jesus knows his Bible. Jesus knows these verses. He knows

what he is going to go through, and so he

makes a plead to God the Father that if there's

any way, if the cup of wrath could be removed,

to please, let it be so. But Jesus then lays

down his life and submits himself to the will of

the Father, saying, Father, if you are willing remove this

cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.

And what was the will of the father? What is

the will that Jesus just submitted himself to do Verse

ten Isaiah fifty three. Yet it was the will of

the Lord to crush him, crush him. It was the

will of the Lord to crush him. And that is

what Jesus is saying, not my will, but your will.

Why I think this is so important to point out

is because we this verse and we use it correctly

as an example of submitting to the will of the Father.

But I think we forget the gravity of the situation here.

The father's will is to crush the son, pour out

the cup of wrath against sin on his son for

our sake. That is the father's will. And Jesus says,

even through dreadful anticipation of what that means, that he

is willing, that he's willing. Now, how much more gravity

should that add to our view of what it means

to submit to God. Everyone is happy to submit to

God when they believe that the will for their life

from God is to be blessed and rich and happy

and healthy and everything's gonna be great rainbows and sunshine's

and awesome. I'll sign up for that. You could sign

me up for I don't have to be willing. You

could just give that to me. But what if it's

to be crushed? What if his call is for you

to give your life for him? Will you submit? Will

you yield? Are you willing? In one sense, we don't

know what God's ultimate purpose is, like, we don't know

what the end of our life is, each one of

us our own life, And honestly, that's probably God's grace

not really letting us know what the ending is so

we're not constantly trying to run in the opposite direction

of what He has for us. But God does give

us direction of how we can live faithful life. It's

unto Him, submitted to him no matter what we face,

and it's found in his word. He tells us what

his will is. That we believe in Him and that

we are to be sanctified, that we are to grow

to look like him and be holy like he is.

Jesus here is also showing us a good way of

still being able to bring our requests to God. He

doesn't say I'll just do whatever you want God. Now

that would be a right response, there's nothing wrong with that.

But he says, here's my desire, but I will do

what pleases you, ultimately leaving the decision to the Lord, saying,

not my will, but yours be done. This has been

and is Jesus's mission to live in perfect obedience to

the Father, and what comes next will be the hardest

thing he ever has to go through. While he's praying,

an angel shows up and strengthens him. But interesting enough,

you see really how much anguish he's truly in, because

even after the angel, even after an angel strengthens him,

his mental state is so distraught that it starts to

take a physical toll Verses forty three, forty four, And

there appeared to him an angel from heaven strengthening him,

and being in agony, he prayed more urginously, and his

sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to

the ground. And I hope you're seeing just exactly what

our savior went through. On your behalf, and also his

willingness to do so. This should magnify Christ in our

hearts with the deepest gratitude. When Jesus comes back to

his disciples, he finds a disappointing but not surprising sight

Verse forty five. And when he rose from prayer, he

came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow.

And he said to them, why are you sleeping? Rise

and pray that you may not enter into temptation. They

were asleep, and it says they were asleep for sorrow.

They themselves had this terrible sense of what was coming,

and it was exhausting. I don't know if you've ever

anticipated something so dreadful coming that are like, I'm exhausted,

and I know I'm not even to the thing yet.

Jesus once again reminds him to pray, but just as

he's speaking, the betrayer and the mob arrives. For the

last section you can write, Jesus submits to the process,

and I need the band to come up please. While

he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the

man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them.

He drew near to Jesus to kiss him. Judas, one

of the twelve disciples who has been with Jesus, is

now leading this mob. He's seen miracles, he's been under

Jesus's teaching, and he's betrayed Jesus. He sold him out

and brought the crowd to arrest Jesus. And he goes

to greet Jesus with a kiss, which was like a

normal and also like familial intimate greeting. This was also

the sign that Judas had told the guards, when I

give the specific man this greeting, that means this is

the man you want. But it's crazy that he uses

this intimate greeting as his sign of betrayal, and Jesus

calls him on it. Look at this verse forty eight.

But Jesus said to him, Judas, would you betray the

son of Man with a kiss? And this is heartbreaking,

But how many of us would speak highly, induce, speak

highly of Christ on our lips, but betray him with

our actions. At this the guards move into arrest Jesus,

and so the disciples carrying swords ask a very reasonable question.

And when those who were around him saw what would follow,

they said, Lord, shall we drake with the sword. But

before Jesus could even get out and answer, he says,

in one of them struck the servant of the high

priest and cut off his right ear. You guys have

a guess of who that is. Peter. Once again, good

old Peter, always quick to act, slow to think. Also,

no one aims for an ear. He was going for

a headshot. But Jesus said, no more of this, and

he touched his ear and healed him. Jesus then puts

a stop to it all before it escalates, and heals

the servant's ear. He heals the servant of the one

who is there to arrest him, and that entire mob

is there to kill the servant of the god they

claim to follow. But finally we see Jesus submits to

the plan. He submits to the process of being arrested,

which was now going to begin his long night and

early morning of terrible, terrible suffering. But Jesus chose this.

Jesus chose to lay down his life and ultimately made

his will to be the will of the fathers by

being obedient to that which scripture and God the Father

had called him. Where's fifty two? Then Jesus said to

the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders

who had come out against him. Have you come out

as against a robber with swords and clubs? When I

was with you day after day in the temple, you

did not lay hands on me. But this is your

hour and the power of darkness. Jesus calls them out

for only arresting him under the cover of darkness, which,

like many of us, is when we find to be

the opportune time to sin also, isn't it. But Jesus

yields and knows that this is the hour of darkness.

This is where it seems like Satan has the upper hand,

the hour where the power of darkness was going to prevail.

And though it seems though it seems that way, we

know that all of this was according to God's plan.

Even this dark moment, filled with betrayal, evil, isolation, and

the anticipation of the suffering to come, God was still

in control, and Jesus had submitted himself to that. Jesus

not only shows us his willingness to go to the

cross for I behalf, but Jesus here has shown his

ultimate allegiance. It wasn't to his own desires or his

own will. He laid down his will in order to

be obedient to the Father's will. He submitted his will

to the Lord. He ultimately said, here are my desires,

but I live for you, not myself. Believers, do you

live for your own will or for the Lord's? If

you live for yourself, then really, what's the difference from

being an unbeliever living as our own god ruling, or

acting like we rule our own life. The remedy is

the same for the unbeliever, the backslider, and the hypocrite.

Until you lay down your own will and submit it

to the Lord, how can you call him lord of

your life if you're the one who has the final say.

Jesus in our text flips that on its head and

shows us true humility, true submission to the Lord God.

And this by submitting his own will, even his own

life and its end, to the will of the Father.

Obedience to God's will means laying down my own will.

So have you laid it down? Or are you still

wrestling like Jesus in the garden? Have you yet to surrender?

Have you fallen asleep like the disciples when you should

have been saying alert have you drifted and strayed, going

with the mob, turning your back on Jesus? Who are

you living for? Is Jesus your lord or is he not?

Would you say that your life is all about Jesus?

But live like it's all about you? And I ask

these questions because it's important that we answer it. We

answer whose will? Do we submit to our own or

the Lord's? Because it won't matter if I tell you

to love your wife. It won't matter. If I tell

you to lead your family, submit to your husband, obey

your parents, work a job, not lust, do not commit adultery,

to be honest in your financial dealings, to give to

the church, to serve in the church, to preach the

gospel to a dying world. It won't matter, because if

you are not submitted to the will of the Father,

you won't do any of it. You'll say, I'll do

what I want to do, and if I do decide

to obey the Lord, I'm going to do it for me.

You must surrender fully to the Lord. Jesus doesn't want

some of you. He wants all of you, and you

are either for him or against him. You will either

leave here today saying I will live for my own

will or not my will, Lord, but yours be done.

Can you stand it? Can you stand it any longer

to live half hearted about your faith? Jesus willingly laid

down his life not only to the will of the Father,

but also for your benefit. He gave everything so that

those who put faith in him could be saved and

reconciled to the Father and given real, true, eternal life,

life that takes deep root and starts to kill your sin,

bear fruit for the Lord and his kingdom, a life

that actually starts to live for him. And I believe

right now that the Lord is calling you. He's telling

you to wake up. No longer are you to live

half hearted. No longer are you to live for yourself.

But the King of the Kings, the Lord of Lords,

who is laid his life for you, is calling you

to lay down your life and follow him, so that

you can lay down this thing that you call a

life and find true life in him. Obedience to God's

will means laying down my own will. And you will

never live for God until you stop living for yourself.

And I pray that the Lord is convicting you, maybe

even reinvigorating your faith I know even writing this message

he was working on my heart. He still is to

live unapologetically for him to say, not my will, but

yours be done. And I'm praying, and I'm hoping that

you will answer this call. You repent of your wicked,

selfish ways that you've been living, Turn to Him for

true life. Live, live in life, Live in the life,

live in the joy and the glory of being submitted

to His will. This is Romans eight eighteen says, for

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are

not worthy or worth comparing with the glory that is

to be revealed in us First Corinthians two nine. But

as it is written, what no eye has seen, nor

ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God

has prepared for those who love him Romans eight twenty eight.

And we know that for those who love God, all

things work together for good for those who are called

according to His purpose. These kinds of promises, no matter

what we have to anticipate or endure in this life,

I believe all the more should ignite our faith to

live in such a way that our life says, not

my will, but yours be done. Amen, Would you please

stand