Pathway to Victory

Speaker 1

Hey, podcast listeners, thanks for streaming today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. Our mission is to pierce the darkness with the light of God's Word through the most effective media available, like this podcast.

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Now here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 2

Hi, this is Robert Jeffress, and I'm glad to study God's Word with you every day. This Bible teaching program on today's edition of Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 3

Jesus the Son and God the Father are one. And yet that night in the garden, there is a struggle between the will of the Son and the will of the Father.

I don't understand it, but I know this. When you and I struggle with doing God's will, God understands that because he's experienced it.

Speaker 1

Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress.

Now, we all know nobody's perfect, and some of the people in our lives will inevitably disappoint us. But perhaps the deepest hurt of all comes when we're betrayed or abandoned by someone we trust.

Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress explores how we should respond when someone we love wounds us deeply.

Now here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message. Dr. Jeffress.

Speaker 2

Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. There's no other week more important to the Christian faith than the one we're experiencing right now. It's known as the Passion Week. Culminating on Easter morning, these seven days of Jesus' life bear proof that our faith is different than any other religion in the world.

And behind the scenes, as we reflected on the Passion Week, our team decided to create a coffee table book that would inspire your worship for many years to come. It's a photo album of sorts. Through pictures and paragraphs, *The Power of the Cross* tells the story of Jesus' life. From his grand entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to his glorious resurrection on Easter morning.

This is a time-limited offer that expires soon. So while there's still time, be sure to get in touch with Pathway to Victory and request your copy. It's yours when you give a generous gift to support the growing ministry of Pathway to Victory.

When you take this step, I'm going to challenge you to become one of our missionaries at Pathway to Victory. By giving a monthly gift of your choosing, you become one of our valued Pathway partners. In this role, you're casting the seed of the gospel far and wide. Your month-to-month partnership takes our message to places we'd never be able to visit on our own, starting right here in our own community, then to our nation, and finally going to the entire world.

Right now, we're asking God to help us add 50 new Pathway partners. When you feel His nudge, please respond to His call by going to ptv.org.

Now, let's give our complete attention to the study of God's Word. I've titled today's message "The Longest Night."

Speaker 3

The psalmist said, sorrow endures the night, but joy comes in the morning. Perhaps you've experienced that yourself. You know what it's like to go through a difficult night that seems like it would never, never end. Perhaps you spent such a night sitting up, waiting for a teenager to come home. Or maybe tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep because of some fear that had gripped your mind. Or maybe the night was spent sitting in a hospital room beside a loved one who was about to enter into heaven. There is something about nighttime, something about the darkness that intensifies whatever struggle we're experiencing.

Today we're going to look at the longest night in Jesus' entire life. A night in which he experienced temptation, betrayal by somebody close to him, and the abandonment by everyone he trusted in. If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn to Luke chapter 22 as we talk about Jesus' longest night. Luke chapter 22. We've come to the final week in Christ's life, and we are now on Thursday night before the crucifixion that would occur just hours later. Remember, Jesus had gathered his disciples in that upper room to celebrate the Passover meal. Millions, perhaps, of Jews had come into Jerusalem for this Passover celebration. For 1300 years, the Passover meal had commemorated that night when God miraculously delivered the Israelites out of Egypt and into physical freedom.

Jesus took that Passover meal that night and changed the meaning of it. From this point on, it would be what we call the Lord's Supper. It would be a meal that would remind people of what Jesus was about to do on the cross. From that point on, we would look at that meal as a remembrance of what Christ did for us—not delivering us from physical bondage, but from spiritual bondage, from the price of sin. He did so with his own blood. They did that during that Passover meal. Remember, that meal was built around those four cups of wine. The Bible says after the final cup, they sang a song and departed. It was that departure from that upper room that set the stage for the first of three trials Jesus would experience that night.

First of all, the temptation he would experience. Look at verse 39 of Luke 22. "And he came out, that is, of the upper room, and proceeded, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives. And the disciples also followed him." Remember, it is the Mount of Olives where, in about seven weeks, Jesus would ascend back into heaven. It's that Mount of Olives, the pinnacle where one day Jesus will return. The most exciting experience of my life was preaching about the return of Jesus Christ from the top of the Mount of Olives. He's coming back one day to that very place. But this time, Jesus was coming to the Mount of Olives for a different reason.

It's called the Mount of Olives because as you walk down from the pinnacle of that mountain, just a short distance, there is a grove of olive trees. Now, the garden of olive trees that Jesus and his disciples went to, Matthew and Mark tell us, was called Gethsemane. Gethsemane is a Hebrew word that literally means to press. It refers to the pressing of olives to make olive oil. But it also would refer to the great press that Jesus would feel that night as he struggled with the will of God. Look at verse 40. "And when Jesus arrived at the place, he said to them, 'Pray that you might not enter into temptation' that night." Jesus' disciples were going to be tempted to deny the Lord, and they failed that test. But Jesus was going to face his own temptation, a temptation to disobey the will of his Heavenly Father. Fortunately for us, Jesus passed that test with flying colors.

Now notice this. Verse 41: "And he withdrew from them, i.e., the disciples, about a stone's throw. And he knelt down and began to pray." Now, that's an unfortunate translation—knelt down. We have in our minds, because of an artist's painting, that when Jesus knelt down to pray, it was in a very dignified way. He knelt down, placed his hand on a rock, looked up with that heavenly gaze as the Shekinah fell on his face. Haven't you seen that painting before? That's not what happened. If you want to find out what really happened, go to Matthew 26, verses 38 and 39. This isn't a contradictory account; it is a fuller account of what happened.

Verse 38 of Matthew 26: "Then Jesus said to them, 'My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and keep watch with me.'" Verse 39: "And he went a little beyond them, and he fell on his face." That is, he collapsed. He was so weighed down with a burden that he couldn't walk any further. He fell down on his face and began to pray, saying, "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will, but as thou wilt." What did he mean by that? Most people agree he was praying, "Let this experience pass from me." But what experience? Some say he was praying for deliverance from the physical agony of having to go to the cross. It would be normal to pray, "God, deliver me from that experience. Find another way."

Yet in John 12, the gospel says, on Monday, when Jesus entered into Jerusalem just a few days earlier, look at what he said: "My soul has become troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? No, for this purpose I came to this hour." Jesus said, "Why would I pray for deliverance when this is the reason that I've come to die on a cross?" Other people say, "Well, it wasn't the physical suffering that Jesus wanted to escape; it was the spiritual suffering." That is, having to bear the sins of the world—your sin and my sin.

We have a hard time understanding why that's such a big deal. I mean, you and I sin all the time. What's one or two more sins or a million more sins? It was different for Jesus. He was perfect. He had never sinned. He had never, for one moment, had a degree of separation from his heavenly Father. Now he was experiencing, or going to experience, complete separation. God would turn his back on him. That's why he would pray out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" It's understandable that Jesus would want to be exempted from that. Yet he knew spiritual suffering was the reason he came. Matthew 20:28: "For the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, to give his life as a ransom for all."

So what was Jesus praying for then, when he said, "Let this experience pass from me"? I think he was asking God to exempt him from the physical suffering of the cross and the spiritual suffering of the cross. You say, "Wait a minute, preacher, that doesn't make any sense. You just said Jesus knew. That's why he was coming to suffer physically and spiritually. Why then would he pray to be delivered from that experience if he knew that was God's will?" Let me ask you something. Have you ever known what God wanted you to do in a particular situation and struggled with doing it? How many have had that experience before? You already knew what God's will. You weren't praying for a revelation of God's will; you were praying for the strength to do God's will. You would have loved to have done something else besides God's will. That was Jesus.

You see, Jesus was fully God, but he was also fully man. It was only natural that he would ask for another way to accomplish the Father's will. That's why he said, "Father, if you can find another way for me to accomplish your mission." Notice verses 43 and 44. "Now an angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him, and being in agony, he was praying very fervently. His sweat became like drops of blood falling down upon the ground." I don't understand it. It's a theological conundrum. To me, Jesus the Son and God the Father are one. "I and the Father are one." Yet that night in the garden, there is a struggle between the will of the Son and the will of the Father. I don't understand it, but I know this: when you and I struggle with doing God's will, God understands that because he's experienced it.

That's why the writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 4:15 and 16: "For we do not have a high priest talking about Jesus who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who was tempted in all things as we are, and yet without sin. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we might receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need." Listen to me. When you know what God wants you to do, but you're struggling with it, you can talk to Jesus about it. He understands. He's been there. He's not judgmental toward you. He is sympathetic. He's that sympathetic high priest. Jesus went through a real struggle in the garden that night in doing the will of God.

My former seminary professor, Haddon Robinson, offers some great insight into this experience in Gethsemane. In fact, I want you to listen carefully to it. It's worth the price of the sermon. He said, "In the life of Jesus, prayer was the work, and ministry was the prize. For me, prayer serves as preparation for the battle. But for Jesus, prayer was the battle itself. Having prayed, he went about his ministry as an honor student might go to receive a reward, or as a marathon runner, having run the race, might accept the gold medal. Where was it that Jesus sweat great drops of blood? Not in Pilate's hall, nor on his way to Golgotha; it was in the garden of Gethsemane. It was there that he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death."

Hebrews 5:7: "Had I been there in the garden and witnessed Jesus' struggle, I would have worried about the future. If he's so broken up when all he's doing is praying, I might have said, 'What will he do when he faces a real crisis? Why can't he approach this ordeal with the calm confidence of his three sleeping friends?'" Yet when the test came, Jesus walked to the cross with courage, and his three friends fell apart and fell away. You see, prayer ultimately is not trying to align God's will with your will. Prayer is aligning your will with God's will. That's the struggle. "Not my will, Father, but your will." Jesus struggled with that, but God's will ultimately won. When Jesus settled that matter in his own heart, he got up with confidence to face the cross.

That set the stage for the greatest betrayal he would ever experience. Look at verse 47 of Luke 22. "While Jesus was still speaking, behold, a multitude came. And the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was preceding them. He approached Jesus to kiss him. But Jesus said to him, 'Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?'" Remember, Jesus had left the Last Supper early in the upper room. Once he knew the game plan for the rest of the evening and where Jesus was going, he went off to tell the Jewish officials so that they could come and arrest him by night.

Now, why is it that Judas kissed Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane? It seems a little strange. Remember, it was dark—very dark. Judas wanted to be sure that they got the right person in the darkness so he could get his money. In the darkness, he said, "I'll signify Jesus by kissing him." They also probably wanted to prevent the disciples from hatching a plot in which one of them would pretend to be Jesus while they secretly carried off Jesus to another place. It was a sign of identification.

Verse 49: "And when those who were around Jesus saw what was going to happen, they said, 'Lord, shall we strike with the sword?'" There was one who didn't wait for the answer. Look at verse 50. "And a certain one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear." That certain one, John 18 tells us, was Peter. Don't you love Peter? I mean, he was ready to do whatever it took to stand with the Lord, at least at this point. He took the sword, and he wasn't aiming for the ear. Trust me, nobody would aim for the ear. He was aiming for the throat. This slave probably ducked and ended up losing an ear. The slave was a slave of the high priest, Malchus.

Now to see what Jesus' response to that was, hold your place here and turn over to the parallel passage, Matthew 26:52 to 56. "Then Jesus said to Peter, 'Put your sword back into its place, for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.'" Now, don't read into that more than ought to be read into it. Those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. Some people use this to justify not doing anything to protect yourself. That's not what Jesus is talking about. There's nothing wrong and everything right with protecting your own life and the life of those around you.

You know, we believe in the sanctity of human life. The sanctity of life doesn't apply just to life inside the womb; it refers to lives outside of the womb. All human life is sacred to God, and that's why it's right to defend and protect the lives of those around you, to protect your own life as well. So he's not arguing against self-defense, nor is he arguing against capital punishment. We've talked about this before. Romans 13:4 says, "God has given government the power of the sword to take the lives of those who take the lives of others." That's a principle back from Genesis: "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall also be shed." God has given government the right to do that.

The power of the sword includes the right to wage a just war, as some theologians call it—not any war, but a war for a just cause. What Jesus is simply saying here is you're not going to advance the kingdom of God by physical force. There is no justification for a Christian jihad, okay? There are other faiths that say we're going to use the power of the sword to convert people to our way of thinking—not Christianity. It is the power of the Holy Spirit of God that changes people's lives, not physical force. He's simply saying, "My purpose is not going to be fulfilled through the use of the sword."

He goes on to say, "For do you not think that I could appeal to my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels?" One legion, a Roman legion, was 6,000 troops. So 12 legions would be 12 times 6, 72,000 angels. Jesus said, "I could snap my fingers, and my Father would send 72,000 angels to take care of these Jewish officials." Do you remember in the Old Testament, just one angel slew 185,000 Assyrian soldiers? Imagine what 72,000 angels could do. But then he goes on to say, "But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled that it must happen this way?"

Jesus said, "Peter, put the sword away. This is part of God's plan for my life." You know, Judas' betrayal had to have been very painful for the Lord to experience. Have you ever been betrayed by somebody very close to you? It's one thing to have a stranger slander you or do something against you. You can rationalize that, saying, "Well, they don't really know me." But it hurts when it's somebody you've trusted, somebody close to you. You begin to think, "What's wrong with me that somebody could know me that well and still do such a thing to me?" That was Jesus.

I mean, the disciples—these 12 men had become like his family. For three years, he'd eaten almost every meal with them. He had laughed with them, cried with them, shared his innermost thoughts. Then to have one sell him out for 30 pieces of silver. As we've said before, Jesus could have been consumed with bitterness if he had focused on that offense. But Jesus was saying to Peter, "Leave him alone. Leave these people alone. They are simply pawns on God's chessboard to accomplish his ultimate plan." I know I've said it before; I'll say it again. The way to keep from being bitter against those who have hurt you is to remember: God is bigger than they are.

Speaker 2

Are you glad that we serve a living God who is acquainted with human emotions like persecution, indignity, and the awful feeling that comes with betrayal? Through this real-life story, we learn volumes about how to respond when someone treats us unfairly. We set aside tomorrow's pathway to victory to continue this study from Luke 22.

And before we move ahead, I want to remind you about one of the most important and attractive offers we've extended to our audience. I'm referring to the exclusive coffee table book called the Power of the Cross. It's a travel guide of sorts that walks you through seven days of Jesus' ministry from his triumphal entry to his glorious resurrection. So before the day is out, please go online at ptv.org or give us a call and request my book, the Power of the Cross. It's yours when you include a generous gift to support the growing ministry of Pathway to Victory.

In closing, I'd like to give a word of thanks to all those who support Pathway to Victory. God is using this ministry to reach a growing audience with the good news of the Resurrection. In fact, because of the groundswell of support, we've stepped out in faith and taken on new opportunities to reach an even broader audience. And people are responding positively when they hear about the Power of the Cross. So even while our country has never been more divided, God is drawing us together under the banner of his love.

Speaker 3

David.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. To sign up as a Pathway Partner, just follow the very easy steps online at ptv.org. When you give your first gift as a Pathway Partner or when you give a one-time generous gift, we'll say thanks by sending you the Power of the Cross. It's a 96-page coffee table style book filled with stunning pictures, some beautiful illustrations, and Bible-based teaching from Dr. Robert Jeffress.

Request the Power of the Cross when you call 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org. When your gift is $75 or more, you'll also receive an eight-message teaching series called Live from Israel. Dr. Jeffress preached these messages himself on location in Israel in the very places where Biblical history unfolded, and they come on both DVD and MP3 format audio disc.

Again, call 866-999-2965 or visit our website at ptv.org. If you'd prefer to get in touch with us by mail, write to P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222. That's P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, TX 75222.

I'm David J. Mullins. Join us again Thursday for the conclusion of this message titled The Longest Night here on Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas.

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