Jesus' agony in the Garden of Gethsemane is presented as the ultimate expression of His submission to the Father's will during His final week. The sermon traces Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane, His sorrow, His request for His disciples to watch with Him, and their failure to do so, highlighting the prophetic fulfillment of scripture. The core lesson is the profound obedience of Christ in accepting the "cup" of suffering, even when His human soul was heavy with sorrow, contrasting with the disciples' weakness. The message concludes by urging believers to remain watchful and faithful in their own lives, recognizing that the "hour" for Christ's return is drawing near.
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Now shall we open our Bibles please to the twenty-sixth chapter of Matthew's Gospel. Six and verse thirty. Matthew twenty-six verse thirty. As we said this morning, this is a very long chapter, seventy-five verses in this chapter. So we could be speaking on this chapter for a long time. We've only got one week, and we have to hurry along. For those of you that have been away and those that have come in, I'd like to say that this week we're taking as our theme what we've called the road to the cross, or the way of the cross, if you like, or the via Dala Rosa, the way of sorrows, the road to the cross.
And we have been tracing since Sunday morning when we talked about the triumphal entry, the Palm Sunday event, we've been tracing the footsteps of the Son of God on that memorable week, that sad week, the last week of his short lifetime here, thirty-three years, it would be impossible to touch the fringe of all that happened that week. Such a lot of things. We were tracing over last night the many arguments and the many episodes and things that came up in Matthew's gospel, but then there's Luke's gospel and Mark's gospel and John's gospel, and they're all different.
We were saying last night, I think, that in Luke, in John, we get all the conversation in the upper room. We don't get that in the other. And each gospel has its own aspect, its own, the writer's own viewpoint of things as they took place, and men have been writing about this wonderful week in history for two thousand years, and they haven't finished writing yet. Volumes and volumes and tomes upon tomes about this week. What can we do then in one week to talk about the footsteps of the Master on this deep...
on this sad week, his last week on earth. Matthew, verse thirty. And when they had summoned him, they went out into the Mount of Olives. Now that would probably be equal with the last verse of the fourteen chapter of John, where the Lord says, Arise, let us go hence. I suggest, and others have suggested, that probably John, fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen were written, where our record of what took place on the way from the upper room, down to the brook Tidron, because in John eighteen, verse one it says, when Jesus had said these things, he went over the brook Tidron.
So if you have a scroll through the Bible, you'll note a note there, it says, when you read that verse, When they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives. Then Schofield says, Here read John, fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen. That's what I've just been saying. Now there are some people who say, No, that's not right. All that the Lord said in fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen, including his long prayer in the seventeenth chapter, John, all that took place in the upper room. And then he went over the book, he went. Who can say? Who can say? But he does say in the last verse of John fourteen, Our rise let us go hence.
Verse thirty-one of Matthew twenty-six. Then says Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night. For it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. This is quoting from the Old Testament. I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.
Big words, eh? big words from a man that didn't know what a fool he was and what a weak man he was. Though all men be offended because of ye, yet will I never be offended. But how wonderfully the Lord answered, Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee that this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me right. Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee? Likewise also said all the disciples. A little further down we'll read the disciples forsook him and fled.
For this is what they said. Likewise also said all the disciples. Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane. and says 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 says he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Carry 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? Could he not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that he enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away again the second time, and he prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.
And he came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. And he left them and went away again and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then cometh he to his disciples and says unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest. Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. Behold, he is at hand that does betray me. And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves from the chief priests and the elders of the people.
Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whosoever I shall kiss, that saying that he hold him fast. And forthwith he came to Jesus and said, Hail, Master, and kissed him. And Jesus said unto him, Friend, what a wonderful word, eh? What a word to say, Friend. Wherefore art thou come? In the Psalm he's called, My known familiar friend. My known familiar friend. Jesus stood unto him, friend. Wherefore art thou come?
Then came they and laid hands on Jesus and took him. And behold, one of them which was with Jesus, stretched out his hand and drew his sword. and struck a servant of the high priest and smote off his ear. Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword in its place. For all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels. Now I understand there were six thousand men in a Roman legion. So he could have called more than, more than seventy-two thousand angels.
Thinkest thou not that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he should presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scripture be fulfilled, that thus it must be? In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, How ye come out as against a thief, with swords and staves, for to take me? I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and he laid no hands on me. But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples pursued him, and fled.
May God bless that solemn, precious portion from his own word. Shall we pray? Blessed God our Father, as tonight we enter the Garden of Gethsemane, and we walk beneath the shades of those olive trees. And we climb up the little hillside there, and we see that little band, the Lord Jesus, thy beloved Son, and his eleven disciples. pass over the brookiedron and disappear into the darkness of that garden.
We pray, Lord, that thou touch our hearts. May we feel the atmosphere of that night, the greatest night in the history of the world, second only to the wonderful night when my beloved Son was born into this world. Touch our hearts tonight, Lord. Melt us in thy presence, and do something in these lives of ours. May we hear thy voice tonight, saying, Can't he watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, unless he enter into temptation.
We pray the Holy Spirit of God might take these words tonight, for we have no words of our own. We cannot. The subject is too great, too vast, too big. But we pray the Holy Spirit of God might apply these wonderful things to our hearts as we gaze upon my beloved Son in his agony and suffering in the garden. We thank you for this week of contemplation. on the footsteps of thy beloved Son in that dark week that led to the place called Calvary. So we seek thy blessing in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Now this morning we were in the upper room.
As I said just now we do not get chapters and chapters like we do in John about what was said in the upper room but we did just go over what it told us in Matthew's Gospel, and there the Lord said to them, My time is at hand. He said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The master said, My time is at hand. I like to trace if I can use a modern term, and I don't like to use modern terms about the things that belong to the Lord, and yet they kind of adequately describe what one wishes to say.
I like to think of the countdown, the countdown of the road to Calvary. We use that term today because we live in Florida, and we've seen and heard and watched on the television so many missiles being launched off into space, And I have been working for years. I worked on the missile program. I worked on the Saturn program for a long time. It's seen years ahead. I remember sometimes I used to go and speak. I remember once going to Toledo to talk to a CBMC group, and they said, you're in the missile business.
Tell us something about missiles. And I used to be, once a week, I used to go to Redstone, Arsenal, it's Huntsville, because I went up there on business on the Saturn Missile, went up there for my company in Birmingham, used to fly in there nearly every week. And, by the way, that's where those people were coming from yesterday in that terrible crash that took place. It's near Robbins Air, not Robbins, near, yeah, Robbins Air Force Base at Marietta, Georgia. And I went to the authorities at Huntsville and asked them if I could borrow a film.
And they gladly let me have the film. The projected launching of a missile on the moon. This is long, years before it took place. And I remember the interest up there to Lido as I talked to that large group of busy men and showed the pictures of what we proposed to do. to put a man on the moon. I would propose to send him a diagram. My brother Tom used to say, remember he was the great, the great missile man. He's the Saturn man. And he used to say this, yes, we'll get a man in on the moon that years before. We'll get him there.
The problem isn't how we'll get him there. The problem's how we're going to get him off. That's what he used to say. So, of course, he's done all that years ago. But what I'm saying is this. We used to talk about it. The project would be nine years ahead, eight years ahead, seven years ahead. But the time came when we listened. And you could hear the man counting down the minute, twenty, nineteen, eighteen, seventeen, sixteen, until the launch came. And I think in this modern way of thinking, We get a countdown here.
You see, when Abraham in chapter twenty-two of Genesis, when Abraham was told by God to take his son and offer him, it says, first of all it says, Take now thy son, thine only son, I whom thou lovest, and get me into the land of Mariah. and off him upon one of the mountains that I will tell thee of. And in the fourth verse it says, Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the plague so far off.
That's like the Missal Countdown, years before. They saw the plague so far off. The three days went by, and verse nine says, And they came to the place. And they came to the place. Now if you turn over in the scripture, it tells us, am we ready tonight? Then cometh Jesus unto our place. A place called Gethsemane. Yes, but go further and go over into the twenty-seventh chapter. And verse thirty-three, and it says, when they were come on to the place called Golgotha.
This is the countdown. They saw the place afar off, and then they came near. And he went into the place called Golgotha. And he went to the place called Golgotha. We started talking on Sunday about the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. And in John chapter twelve it says, Now six days before the Passover, six days before the Passover there was a feast. See six days before the Passover, rather the Lord was in Bethany six days.
Last night in verse two of chapter twenty six it says, After two days, you see the countdown? six days after two days is the feast of the Passover Mark fourteen verse one I think it's the same language it says in Mark fourteen verse one after two days was the feast of the Passover Matthew twenty six verse eighteen he says my time is at hand not two days now We were talking about two days last night, and we were asking ourselves if we were prepared for the little while that's left in our lives, if we're prepared to give that to the Lord.
Two days we took is a very short space of time that we have left to serve him. And we asked ourselves the question, if we would give him that two days. But now he says in verse eighteen of the same chapter, my time is at hand. But look at verse forty-five. Verse forty-five, then cometh he to his disciples and said unto them, Springfong, now take your rest. Behold, the hour is at hand. We had six days. We had two days. He said, my time is at hand. Now he says, the hour is at hand. And in John seventeen verse one, he looks up to his father.
And I suppose by now he's down near the brook, he draws, and he raises his eyes to the father. And he says, Father, the hour has come. The great eternal countdown. It started way, way back in the eternal ages. When the wonderful scene of salvation was worked out in the eternal counsel to God, When the Son said to the Father, my delight, so were the sons of men. And when the throne of God said the sons of men, those wicked sinners could never come to heaven. And God worked out that wonderful scheme, whereby we sinners could get to heaven. And when the Son of God, according to Psalm forty, and Hebrews ten, said, Lo, I come.
In the volume of the book it's written of me, I delight to do thy will. Away back in eternal ages, the countdown started. The countdown. And the years and the centuries and the ages passed by. And all the types and shadows of the Old Testament, all counting down, counting down, to use this modern language, to this hour we come to tonight. The hour was come. And the Lord Jesus is going to enter the Garden of Gethsemane. Look at the verse we read first.
It says, I've got to keep moving my Bible. These two lights here cast a shadow on the Bible here. You've got to keep on going like this because you can't see it. Verse thirty. And when they had summoned him, they went out. under the murder voice. There's been some speculation as to what they sang. They sang certain sounds, but I think we're probably right in saying that one of the things they sang was taken from Psalm, a hundred and eighteen.
We were reading it on Sunday, let's look at it at a moment. Psalm a hundred and eighteen, and it says in verse, which of course we quoted in connection with the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord. God is the Lord which has showed us light. Now listen. Bind the sacrifice with cords even under the horns of the altar. Thou art my God, I will praise thee.
Thou art my God, I will insult thee. They were probably singing this. We love to hear voices. We love to hear a choir. We love to hear a male voice choir in the group. They sang a hymn. I wonder what the voice sounded like. But there was one voice there. one voice singing these things, they sang a hymn, and the Blessed Son of God was singing these words, buying the sacrifice which caused the altar. And he was a sacrifice, going out to the bound of a place called Calv.
How about your word in voice for me? Now one day we're going to hear his voice. Look at Psalm twenty two. In Psalm twenty two we get a wonderful picture of the Lord Jesus. for he's going to sing on the other side of Calvary, on the triumph side he's saying, and we shall hear his voice. Psalm twenty-two and verse... Psalm twenty-two. Verse twenty-two, I will declare thy name unto my brethren.
In the midst of the great congregation will I praise thee. And verse twenty-five, my praise shall be of thee. In the midst of the great congregation I will pay my vows before them that fear him. I am by amid the eternal glories of heaven. I think you and I are going to hear the voice of the Son of God as he sings. He says, I will sing thy praises in the midst of the great congregation. Some of you have heard me say before that I spent some four years in the same meeting as Mr.
Walter Scott, who was a tremendous Bible student, and he's the man who wrote that classic and I've never found a better book yet on the Revelations. It's in our bookstore, Exposition of the Revelation by Walter Scott. When I knew him, he was a very old man. I got a mind when I talk about being saying old, but when I first met him, he was eighty-six. Eighty-six. When I last saw him, I think he was ninety-two. He died at ninety-three. a wonderful old man. Of course, I was about twenty-seven in those days, so to me he was an old man.
But he told us this. He said he was in London, England, preaching, and they were going to sing Hand of Messiah at the Royal Albert Hall. The Royal Albert Hall was built in memory of Prince, Albert, Prince Countess, the wife of Queen Victoria. I've been in Albert Hall and been past it many times, and that's where the great, like the Carnegie Hall, the great orchestras and choirs and all sing there. And he went there. He'd never been to anything like it in his life. And he listened to the wonders.
And he watched the choir master leading this thing. And then he said, silence gave me. And the soloist came out, stood out in the front, and sang the soloist of Handwood and Messiah. And you know, he had an inspiration. And he went back and wrote a lovely tract. I used to have a lot. I gave them all away. I'd look to find them out. I'd get it printed if I could find it. He wrote a tract called The Hallelujah Chorus of Heaven. And he tells us, the Son of God is the great solo singer, singing amid the choirs of heaven.
And he cut it from Psalm twenty-two. But we're not talking about that tonight. We're talking about the Lord leading a hymn. and the hymn was about binding the sacrifice, the cords to the altar. And it was sung on that deep, dark night, the darkest night in this world's history. When they sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives. Now some of you have been there, you know what I'm talking about. On Thursday evening, the Thursday before Easter Sunday in the year nineteen forty three.
I was there, Vera was there with me, and there were lots of friends of ours. I suppose there were about a hundred of us, men and women in the uniforms of all the Allied armies, any that were around Jerusalem at that time anyhow. And we met that night at the room of the Last Supper, and we decided we'd go down to the Garden of Gethsemane. We'd go down a zigzag path, a long way, right underneath the city wall and down, and we made an arrangement that we would go down from the Upper Room, down to the Garden of Gethsemane, in silence. Nobody was to talk.
We just quietly walked down in meditation. I never forget it. A lot of us, but a hundred of us. And we passed over the Rook-Kedron. Now, The Lord went over the brook, he went on, jailed, and went out in exile from Absinthe, and he passed over the brook, he had gone, and up the mount of Abra, waiting as he went. And the Lord followed the same footsteps. And we went into the garden of Gethsemane. Now, we passed by the train sits, railed off, I think now, where the very, very old olives are, and near the Church of All Nations and so on. And we went in at the back near that Russian church there somewhere, and higher up on the side of the slopes of Mount Ali's beneath the heavy, thick olive trees up there.
And we found a spot up there where we could sit around. Oh, so the Jalala was about a hundred people. And we sang some of those lovely hymns that we sing at the Lord's table. I'm forgetting. The moon came up, that beautiful eastern moon. And just across the way, you could see the city wall of the eastern gate and the moon shining there. And we were in the garden. So I got a picture of what happened here. And we sang those hymns. And then I heard a rustling in the tree. And we were on a kind of a high place. And I looked over the winding pathways in the garden there.
And I saw lanterns streaming. and there was a party of Greek Orthodox priests, about a dozen of them, in their black robes and their black hats. Each one had a lantern, and each one had a staff in his hand, you know, coming with lanterns and stars in their hand into the garden, and they were going to another place where they were going to sit down and sing. And then Buddha said to me, listen, can you hear that? And somewhere else in the garden there was a group of Greek is angelical Christians, and they were singing in Greek, some of the hymns we knew about the sufferings of the Lord Jesus.
And what a night it was, I'll never forget it, in all my history, I'll never forget that night in that garden, that the celebrity of it, and yet the reality of it, to see the lanterns and the priests and the men carrying their stays, and the hymns being sung, when they sung a hymn, they went out into the Garden of Gethsemane, Now let's trace it a moment. Jesus said, All ye shall be offended because of me this night. For it is written, I will smite the shepherd and all, and the sheep and the flock shall be scattered abroad. And the old Peter says, Not me, Lord. Though all men shall be offended, not me, Lord.
Just a little bit after the Lord looked for Peter, he sat on the sleeve. Poor Peter didn't save them, foolish things. He didn't know his own weakness. He was sound asleep when he should have been standing by them. Jesus said, Verily, I said with you, This night before the cock crawled, I should deny me thrice. Then cometh Jesus first, thirty-six, with them, unto a place called Death's Sermon. and says unto the disciples, Sit ye here while I go yonder and pray. And he took with him favorite men.
He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, James and John, the same three men whom he took up under the mountain of transfiguration. Oh, Peter put his foot in his mouth up there too. Put his foot in his mouth up there too. when he talked about making tabernacles for Moses and Elias. Who were Moses and Elias compared to the Son of God? No wonder the Lord said, Never mind then, this is my beloved son. Hear him. But Peter took these failing men again and took them into the darkness, and they went further beneath the trees. And he began to be sorrowful and very heavy.
And he saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death, Carrying ye here and watch with me. And he went a little further 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 thine. Who can fathom the depth of the feeling? and the agony of the soul of the Lord Jesus, for he knew what that cup meant. I remember all Walter Scott again used to say that in the garden the Lord took that cup and he looked into it and he measured the then dregs of the cup.
He measured the cost of the cross. He measured what it would mean on the morrow when he stand before Pilate, when he discouraged and bruised and beaten and nailed to a cross. All that was in that cup. And he measured in that cup and he saw in that cup all the eternal wrath of God and the demands of the throne of God on account of your sin and mine. And he saw it in that cup and he said, Oh God, if it's possible, let this cup pass on me. Let this cup pass on me. Nevertheless, not my will. but thine deep begun.
And he cometh to the disciples, think on this hour, the great hour in the world's history, the great hour in the history of eternity, when the great plan of the ages that God had planned so long ago was just about to take place. For these men should have been alert and watching every moment how we'd love to watch this thing, not love to, but how we would love. Yes, we'd like to being there to see it all. And what do they do? They went to sleep. Just like ourselves anyhow. They went to sleep. Could he not watch with me one hour?
Why, last night we were talking about two nights. The countdown has come much lower now. One hour, one hour. And as he watched with me one hour, watching, praying, did he enter not into temptation, straight indeed, is willing, but the flesh is weak. And he went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, I will be done. And he came and found them in the sleep again, for their eyes were heavy. And he left them and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same word.
Now it tells us in Luke twenty-two and verse forty-three that there appeared an angel. Luke twenty-two and verse forty-three. There appeared an angel unto him from heaven strengthened. He had just said he was withdrawn from them about a stoke cast and kneeled down and prayed, saying, Father, If thou be willing to remove this cup from me, nevertheless not my will, but thine be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven's strength in him. And being in an agony prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Let's go back to Psalm one hundred and two, shall we, a minute. Psalm one hundred and two. It seems to me that Psalm one hundred and two in some way enters into the details of what took place in that garden that night. James no doubt our prophetic word spoken about the Lord Jesus a thousand years before it took place. He says in verse four, verse three, no, no, let's read. from the beginning.
Hear my prayer. Psalm-hundred-and-two, verse one. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto thee. Hide not thy face from thee in the day when I am in trouble. Do you think this is what he prayed in the garden? No, I do. We don't know the words, except he said, let this cup, if it's possible, let this cup be cast from me. But listen to these words. Hear my prayer, O Lord, let my cry come unto thee. Hath not thy face from me, in the day when I am in trouble, incline thy ear unto me. In the day when I call, answer me, speak thee.
Listen, for my days are consumed like smoke. My bones are burned as an hour. My heart has snitten and willed like grass so that I could get my bread. By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones creed to my skin. This may be more applicable to Calvary itself than to Gethsemane, but it's all in this picture. I am like a pelican of the wilderness. I am like an owl of the desert. I watch and am as a sparrow alone upon the house star. Now let's go over two verses. psalm-a-hundred-and-two, verse twenty-three. He weakened my strength in the way.
He shortened my days. I said, Oh, my God, take me not away in the midst of my days. I suppose that's what he was saying when he said, Take this cup from me. Take me not away in the midst of my days. And it says there appeared an angel from God's strength in him. And I'm going to suggest that the next words are the words that the angel said. The Lord has said, Take me not away in the midst of my days. And listen, I think, to the voice of the angel. Thy years are throughout all generations. Although thou hast laid the foundation of the earth, the heavens are the work of thy hands.
They shall perish. but thou shalt endure. Yea, all of them shall wax gold like a garment, as the vesture shall fail, change them, and they shall be changed, for thou art the same, and thy viewers shall have no end. Their pair appeared an angel from God. Strengthen him. And that God hath sinned. Then cometh he, verse forty-five of chapter twenty-six of Matthew. Then cometh he, to his disciples and said unto them, Sleep on now, take your rest. Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
Rise, let us be going. Behold, he is at hand that doth betray thee. And while he yet spake, behold, Judas, One of the twelve came, and with him a great multitude with sores and staves from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now he betrayed and gave them a sign, and it says in John, Judas knew the place, for Jesus oft times resorted to. And Judas found him in the spot that he loved there. And he came up with his... And the Lord said, Betrayest thou the son of man with a kiss.
Hail now, sir, he said. Jesus said, Friend, wherefore art thou come? He knew why he'd come. And they came and laid hands on Jesus and shook him. In Matthew it's in John it says, There in the garden. They bound him. They bound his hands with him. and they took him. Then we get that little incident about Peter, I suppose, striking off the high priest servants here. And even in that hour, the Lord graciously healed that eager.
You think that man at least would say, well, I'm out of this thing here, the man who's healed me here, but no. They went on with him. Jesus said, put up your sword into the place. I don't need swords. Think thou not. I may not pray, my Father. You send twelve demons of the angels. But how then could the Scripture be fulfilled that thus it must be? And in that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, are ye come out as against the feet with swords and staves for the taking? I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and he laid no hand on me.
But all this was done, that the Scriptures were promised might be fulfilled, and all the disciples were so humanly. That was the singing in Gethsemane. I suppose we could spend hours and hours thinking about it. But to those of us that have been out there and been into that garden, And as I said, I will never forget that night, just before Easter, when I was there, how real it all seemed. The Lord Jesus at the praise call. Yes, Heavenly. Now, what is there outstanding?
I feel, I felt that last night, as we spoke, the message was, Knowing not that after today the Feast of the Passover. And Mary knew that. In that house at Bethany, Mary broke the alabaster box of ointment. Suppose she put it off two days. As we said last night, she knew she couldn't get through the Roman guard and anointing when he was on the cross. She did it then when she had the opportunity. And we asked ourselves the question last night, in the little while of life that she didn't find here by just two days, we asked ourselves why we shouldn't give her all we have for the Lord.
She gave everything. The alabaster box of wine was the most precious thing she had. She laid it at his feet. But tonight the two days have changed to one hour. And the Lord says, Kanachi, watch with me one hour. I tell you, beloved, time is running out. Church history is now reaching two thousand years. He can't go on Muslims. The signs of the times deep.
means of the fig tree we talked about last night, everything tells us that the coming of the Lord is near. And I find that I can hear the voice of the Lord saying to you and to me tonight, and as he watched with me one hour. I'm talking relatively, I don't mean just one hour, but I mean compared to two thousand years of history, what's a little bit of time that's left for you and me? One hour? And the Lord says, can't you watch with me one hour? Are you going to go to sleep now? You and I have spent most of our life and most of us have been active in the Lord's service from our early days when God saved us.
And now we're getting older. I don't know what's left. Two days, one hour, I don't know. These are all significant times to tell us that he... Our glass is running up. Everything around us tell us that the Lord's coming is at hand. And if ever the Lord needed his servants to watch with, he needs him today. Christianity has become so carnal. I don't mean Christianity among Christendom. Christendom has become so carnal. So mixed up with the world you can't tell where you are.
And the Lord speaks to you and to me. He says, Come out from among them and be separate. And watch with me till the end. Can that be watched one hour? Oh, beloved, it's not the time for us to be going to sleep. There's too much to be done. There's soul sinking, perishing all around. I was talking to John Myers this week and he was telling me, Of the great joy he's getting up there at Bethany in Indiana, as week after week he sees souls saved. And he said, I baptized three, and I baptized three, and I baptized that one. And in all the years here at Park of the Ponds, yeah, I remember a wonderful Sunday afternoon when we baptized fifteen in the lake.
It was a wonderful afternoon. I never forget it. For those were not people that knew one at Park of the Ponds. Those were people that were one elsewhere and they came here. Oh, would it be wonderful if in the little while this left we should have people here, and we could see men and women being one to the Lord Jesus in this job. That's what we build it for. Sure we have a different service here. We have here a service amongst God's older people, those who are I've raised the golden years of life, and I want it for to serve one another.
How wonderful that is. But our wonderful it would be if we could do a little bit more of that so with him. They wouldn't watch for him in one hour. Let's keep together, beloved. Don't let this thing fall to pieces. Let's keep together and watch. There's only a little time there. I was looking for him tonight, but it's not in any of our books you remember it. One little hour. one little hour of watching for the Master. One little hour to carry heavy crosses. You remember the booklet, the hymn. One little hour of watching for the Master. Eternal years to spend with him in light.
May God give us the grace to watch with him one little hour. Now, tomorrow morning, We'll be going on, God willing, with the Lord standing before the chiropractors and the high priests and so on. And tomorrow night, the evening before Pilate, then Friday morning, I dare say, we'll get to the place called Glagopper. And Friday evening, probably get to the burial. So that on Sunday morning, we'll be ready for that wonderful resurrection Easter Sunday. Pray about these evenings. Come back and be with us.
And let's pray that this final week of our conference, that God will do something in our hearts for His glory. Amen. Blessed God, our Father, we thank thee for taking us into the garden of Gethsemane, these solemn, solemn scenes beneath the shades of the trees there. And we hear the voice of thy son saying, Cannot be washed with me one hour. O Lord, time is running out. Soon we shall hear the voice, thy voice calling us to be with thyself. We ask thee, Lord, that in the final hours of our lives here we might spend for thee.
Kill us to see eternal fruit. Keep us here at the park of the pond. We need to shadow thy hand, and are within thy will, to see thy will performed here, Lord, as we have seen in the past, to seek thy blessings, and ask thee to lead us on, and that we might watch with thee whatever might come. We ask it in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ.