and consider the closing scene of our Lord Jesus in regard to his prayer life. We have the joy of covering it in the Gospel of Luke from the beginning of his ministry. Now we come to the end of his ministry. But all the way through, Luke particularly as brought before us, the actual occasions recorded when he prayed. I'm sure that we must and do confess, none of us will ever be able to equal the prayer life of the Blessed Lord Jesus. And as in the Gospel of Luke, presented as the Son of Man in total dependence upon God, I believe that all of you may be acquainted with the truth Matthew presents the Lord Jesus, saying, Behold your King. Mark presents him, saying, Behold, as God would speak, my servant. Luke presents him as though to say, Behold, the man, describing him in his perfect humanity. And John presents him, as we well know, very God. the Son of God. Behold your God. But tonight in chapter twenty-two of the Gospel of Luke, I'm very, very sure in my known heart that I'm treading upon very holy ground. And we would like to read, beginning in this chapter of Luke, from verse twenty-nine. where we read of that blessed one in the greatest conflict that he ever faced, in which he prayed. Verse thirty-nine, rather, verse thirty-nine in the Gospel of Luke. And he came out and went, as he was once, to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples also followed him. And when he was at the plate, He said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cap, and kneel down and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will with thine be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose up from prayer and would come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow. And said unto them, Why sleep ye? Rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. May God by his Holy Spirit bless the ringing and hearing of this portion. of God's precious and holy word. And I repeat with emphasis and with deep feeling, we are on very sacred holy ground. I'm sure I am saying truthfully, if you know and I know the Lord Jesus and have embraced him as our Saviour and our Lord, and found in him our perfect redemption, Certainly, we should seek to enter in, in some measure, to the depths of his suffering and of his sorrow to redeem us. Gethsemane, as we have it before us here in the Mount of Olives, a night of his deepest conflict that he ever passed through in his human experience before going to the cross. We sing a dear old hymn when we worship and remember the Lord Jesus. In the breaking of bread and the drinking of the cup the Lord suffered. Gethsemane, can I forget? Or there thy conflict seems, thine agony and blood-like sweat, and not remember thee. My beloved Paul very prayerfully, reverently as we thus meditate upon this scene. Gethsemane. As he went his way from the upper room with his disciples to the Mount of Olives, before being betrayed and taken to crucifixion. The Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane. To the favorite place of the Lord Jesus as we have ran He was accustomed to go there. Very frequently he and his disciples spent time there. And here we have him, as one may have well expressed it in him acknowledging the Garden of Prayer. I remember being in the Garden of Olive and getting them in his garden. upon a certain tour in which I was particularly affiliated and accompanying, to be in the place as we realized the last agony and anguish of our Blessed Lord at the end of His earthly ministry. I recall one particular thing that happened. It came to my memory. when considering this portion of Scripture. There was quite a number of people, a busload of people, probably all professing believers, Christians, seeking to know more about the place where our Lord once walked. And on that occasion, as we were told, though we could not be conformed, accurately, There was the rock upon which our Lord Jesus, at which he knelt and prayed. Nearby was another large rock too. And on that occasion, as we drew near, I noticed there was a lady who went aside to that other rock and knelt at it. To pray. I realized her thoughts were about her Savior. And his experience on her behalf. in Gethsemane. It's a sacred place in the memory of the Blessed Lord. It should be also a sacred place in the mind memory of the believer. As we quoted the hymn Gethsemane, can I forget? And in the hour of his greatest sorrow, for you may read in the context preceding He speaks about the sight of the great sorrow that was upon his heart as he approached Gethsemane. Sorrowful even unto death, he knew the meaning of it. He knew what placed him. And we read in the account. He went aside to pray, apart from Peter, James, and John, whom he left to watch and pray with him that they failed. And so alone he falls upon the ground to pray to his father. And we recognize the purpose of his prayer, as indicated by the words that he spoke and the prayers that he uttered three times according to another account in another Gospel. Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass away from me. What was the cup? My beloved, you and I will never know what he was facing as he knew it. It was the cup of God's wrath. It was the cup of God's judgment upon a sacrifice that was to be made. for the sin of the universe as well as the sin of the world. He knew it. The Father has repented for him. Later on in the Gospel of John he made the statement, the cup which my Father gave me to drink, shall I not drink it? My beloved listen, that cup with its bitterness sorrow, darkness, judgment of an eternal character. Upon all sins, your sins include in the mind and all the sins of the human life. And as we sometimes sing in our worship Him, that bitter cup, love drank it up. I'm left with the love for me. Know something particular about the occasion. Go with me down the portion which we read. And let me read verse forty-three and forty-four, please. Note this. Never happened before in his prayer life. Never will happen again either. As we read verse forty-three, there appeared an angelic unto him, from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Forster just alone. There has never been a physical condition ever known. in the history of any other person in humanity. Where in the anguish and the sorrow and the darkness of its soul, the Lord Jesus faced that bitter cup, which the Father had prepared for him, as you may read in chapter ten of the river of the book of Hebrews, as well as in the fortieth chapter of the Psalm. My beloved, may I raise this question? Do you know anyone from the beginning to the end of human history who could drink that cup to the last drink? And greater still is the fact that he was holy, harmless, undefiled and harmless. sacred from sin. That bitter cup contained the consequences and the judgment of your sins and of mine and the whole world. Would you like to drink it? Would I want to drink it? Never. Why should he thus pray? Father, if I'll be willing, let this cut, remove this cut from us. Beloved, let me ask you the question. Have we not followed his life through the gospel? Have we not heard him say on one occasion which of you convinces me of sin? Here was the sinless man. In the perfection of his humanity. Being offered. The cup of sin judgment. And he was not guilty. Sin him. No sin. He did no sin. He knew no sin. But as we quoted the words of the hymn. That bitter cup. Loved like it. a lesser velocity. But may I raise this thought? We don't enter into it. How much was this thought then? You know what we have, as we have just read, an angel from heaven straightened me. Now let me raise the question. Ask it. In what way did the angel straighten me? the Son of God? That Holy One? In what way did the angel straighten him? At the beginning of his life, and in his ministry particularly, the angels ministered unto him after the great temptation of forty days and forty nights of the hand of the devil. That was temporary supplying of food. And that's nothing strained back in the Old Testament. Angel had given food to some of God's servants. But here it is. Look, did he need food? Never. Food would not comfort him. Go with me to Psalm one hundred and two very quickly, please. Do you have your Bible? Psalm chapter one hundred and twenty-two, where we have a Messianic Psalm that gives us light as to what the angel must have done. to strengthen that holy one Psalm one hundred and twenty two and I believe it's verse twenty three and twenty four we would like particularly to read and note these words if I may in this hundred and second Psalm begin the verse twenty or verse twenty three please let me just briefly say it is a messianic Psalm it has something to do with the writer of the Psalm in his experience but beyond it the Lord Jesus Christ. Now note these words in verse twenty three. He weakened my strength in the way. He shortened my days. How old was the Blessed Lord Jesus when he was in Gethsemane? I'm sure that we all know that he was in the prime of his life. Not more than thirty-three around that. In the midst of his life, my life is being taken away. He's shortening my days. Beloved, look, don't forget he was there in there. He was fully chastening what he meant to have his life cut off short. And God witnessed and shortening his days. Read out. as we go further here. I said, Oh my God, take me not away in the midst of my day. Stop there. Put a period there at the end of his word. Take me not away in the midst of my day. Please, that holy one realizing, look, in all your prime of life, would you like God to say, I'm going to take you away? And from the human side of that blessed, holy one, it felt. He knew it. And it cried. Is it possible? Take this cup away. Remove it from me. Nevertheless, not my will be done. But how did the angel strengthen him? Well, no. As we read on, I want you to know. When you come to read God's word, at the end of those days, and let me repeat verse twenty-four again, I said, Oh, my God, take me not away in the midst of my days. No, no. The next word was spoken by God. Let me give you the thought, my beloved. Don't you think you can understand the Bible by reading it as any other book? Paul said, Surely to show thyself approved unto God a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. God doesn't write like man does. He breaks up and declares something else. And here at the end of these words, Take me not away in the midst of my day. There's a break. and the voice that follows is the voice of God, through which undoubtedly the angels spoke, saying to him, Thy years are throughout all generations. Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thine hand? They shall perish, but thou shalt endure. Yea, all of them shall wipe gold like a garment, as a vesture, Shall thou change them? They shall be changed, but thou art the same. Thy year shall have no end. Thy beloved. This angel knew he was the eternal Son of God. Determination of his earthly life by crucifixion and death, and the cup that he must drink was not the end. of him. He'll endure for all generations. But may I say in closing, forget not the anguish of that experience that he takes to come. The agony of his prayer, the anguish of his soul, And with sweat of great drops of blood, the tension was so great. It fell to the ground for me to reflect the ground. And after finishing his prayer, as we know from other gospels three times, it was a final submission. Let me give you the thought and close. in chapter ten of the Hebrews, where you find a divine conversation with the Father and the Son before he came to the earth. And the Son saying to the Father, Abode yourself, prepare for me. Lo, I come to do thy will, O God, in the volume of the book it is written of me. Before he came, he said, Father, I'll do your will. Then when in the garden of Gethsemane, in the anguish of that human, all that was his, he cried in agony, if it be possible, if it be thy will, take this cup from me. But finally said, Father, thy will be mine. He prayed, You never have to pray like he, but my fellow believer, you and I need to do more praying in our lives. May I go further to say, one of the great weaknesses of God's people today, and I don't minimize my statement, in the assemblies and churches of God's people, there's a great need and there's a great lack of true prayer. How many of you come to the prayer meeting, Gregor? Why do you come? If he needed it, and you today, you and I needed it. But let me close also with another one more thing. Read it in, you can read it in Luke twenty three, verse forty-six. It's only Luke that says it. From the time he recalled him first praying at his baptism. he closes it by the last breath he brings upon the cross and in Luke twenty three verse forty six when the work of saving your soul and mind was finished he cried father into thy hand I commend my spirit from the beginning to the last breath he prayed. How much do you and I? My beloved Lime again say, I say it lovingly and earnestly, as a group of believers representing his testimony and name. One of the most, and particularly it is in the need of power and power for the assembly, one of the greatest needs is the prayer needs. read the early book of the earth the early church it began in prayer it continued in prayer with one accord they continued sin the apostle doctrine the breaking of bread and fellowship and prayer may god of you and me to be more like the lord jesus and say lord teach us this way shall we Father, we commend thy word. We commend our precious Savior. To each one of us. No brother and sister is our example. Why we should be at the prayer meeting. Why we should give ourselves daily to prayer. The Lord Jesus alone is our example. And we say what the disciples said to thee, Lord Jesus, one, Lord. Teach us to pray. Amen. Thank you.