May 18, 2025 • 27 mins
This week we take a detailed look at the garden of Gethsemane. What it was, what Jesus prayed and why it is such an important part of the Passion of Christ.
Main Scripture:
Matthew 26:36-44
Additional Scripture:
- Luke 22:44
- John 10:18
- Hebrews 4:14-16
- Matthew 20:21-23
- John 17:1-5
- John 17:6-19
- 1 Corinthians 12:12-14
- Hebrews 3:12-15
- John 17:20-26
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
UNKNOWN (00:00):
Bye.
SPEAKER_01 (00:08):
Hello and welcome to A Path to Redemption, the
podcast.
My name is Daniel Arona and justremember this simple truth.
The Father loves you, Jesusloves you, and the Holy Spirit
loves you.
Once again, I hope that you'vehad a good week.
I hope that you've had time tospend with the Lord in prayer.
Also, making sure that you'rebeing as intimate with him as
you possibly can be.
I know I say it every singleweek, but I truly, truly mean
it.
It is imperative, absolutelyimperative, that we are
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fostering our relationship withhim, that we are being intimate
with him.
There's so many things happeningin this world between what
Israel's doing in terms oftaking over Gaza, and you're
going to see them take over partof the southern Lebanon as well.
That was prophesied in Obadiah.
You see what's going on withPresident Trump basically
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embracing the Syrian presidentas well, which he's from an
interesting part of the world interms of being from the Golan
Heights, which means that he istechnically, I guess, Jewish,
not necessarily Jewish from alineage standpoint, but an
Israeli citizen by being born upthere, but is technically Syrian
as well.
So it's an interesting mix therein terms of who he is and
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particularly with his Al Qaedabackground.
But it's just an interestingtime right now with everything
that's going on in this world,all the different things that
are happening.
So it's just important that westay intimate with him.
If we talk about central bankdigital currency, where the
world is at that, Europe'sprobably going to start rolling
it out.
My guess would be probably 2027at this point.
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So we're talking about gettingreally, really close to The
chess pieces are being set upfor that man of sin, for the
Antichrist to come onto thescene, which means that the
rapture could take place at anymoment.
So it's important that we focuson that.
It's important that we focus onour relationship and make sure,
make sure that we are fosteringit to the best of our ability.
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Amen.
So look, last week we talkedabout the denial of Peter, how
he denied Christ in detail, andultimately his restoration by
the sea.
This week we're going to look atChrist in the Garden of
Gethsemane.
There's a lot that kind ofhappens in this small section,
but I want to look at it, notjust from Matthew, but from all
the Gospels and paint the fullpicture of what's going on in
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the Garden of Gethsemane.
But before we get started, justsome housekeeping items.
All of my scripture comes fromthe New King James Bible.
If you'd like a copy of the NewKing James Bible, feel free to
drop me a note atPastorRedemptionOhio at
gmail.com.
More than happy to put one intoyour hands.
Also, my book's out, Grace ofMounds.
If you'd like a copy of that,feel free to drop me a note at
Again, more than happy to getone out to you.
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And then finally, once again,don't take my word for it.
Make sure that you are studyingto show yourself approved unto
God.
Make sure you are putting in thework.
And I know I say that everysingle time as well, but you
have to.
You have to put in the work.
If you don't know scripture,it's going to be very easy to
get tossed about by every singlewind of doctrine.
You've got to take everythingand base it upon scripture and
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prayer that is so incrediblyimportant.
Amen.
So with that, we're going tostart in Matthew 26, 36 through
44.
And this is what the Bible says.
It says, Then Jesus came withthem to a place called
Gethsemane and said to thedisciples, Sit here while I go
and pray over there.
And he took with him Peter andthe two sons of Zebedee, and he
began to be sorrowful and deeplydistressed.
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Then he said to them, My soul isexceedingly sorrowful, even to
death.
Stay here and watch with me.
He went a little farther andfell on his face and prayed,
saying, O my father, if it ispossible, let this Then he said
to Peter, saying the same words.
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See, my betrayer is at hand.
You know, someone asked me alittle bit ago, actually around
Easter, you know, what myfavorite kind of depiction or
what my favorite scene in theBible is.
And they were frankly a littlesurprised when I said Jesus in
the garden.
And we'll get into that why atthe end.
But I need to set the stage herefirst.
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You see, Jesus had finished hislast meal with those closest to
him.
Imagine how you would feelknowing that it was your last
meal with your family or thoseclosest to you, but That it was
what God wanted, that you go andoffer your life for a bunch of
evil, unrighteous people thathave rejected you.
That is exactly what Jesus wasabout to do.
The time had come for him tomake his decision.
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See, he didn't decide on goingto the cross, or he didn't
decide to be the sacrificiallamb for all of us on the cross.
No, no, no, no, no.
He made that decision in thegarden.
The decision to go with God ornot always happens before the
actual event.
You see, that is why Iconstantly tell people, We have
to have our mind made up that weare going to follow him no
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matter what.
If you get in this situation,it's too late to make that
decision.
You've already made the decisionby not making it.
But if you make up your mindnow, if you make up your mind by
whatever God's dealing with youand saying, look, I'm going to
follow you no matter what, Lord,then make up your mind.
It makes going through the act awhole lot easier.
And we have to be the same way.
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You see, he knew he was about togo to the cross and that the
sheep would scatter.
We talked about that last week.
But he knew that he would losehis disciples during this time
as well.
So here we see Jesus in each ofthe Gospels.
He tells his disciples to sitand wait.
But he takes Peter, James, andJohn with him.
And for them, he has a differentcommandment.
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In Matthew 26, 38, he says,outside of the things of Christ,
but also look at what Christsays about himself here.
He says his soul was exceedinglysorrowful.
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These words would be easy tosee, but the stress and pressure
that Jesus was under by bearingthe sins of all mankind, knowing
he would be separated from theFather, and knowing that he was
going to be brutally murdered,he was stressed.
He was down there.
He's talking about it and he'ssaying, Lord, if there's any
way, Father, for this cup topass from me, let it.
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He asked his disciples to Whenwe go through these things, we
have a desire to have thoseclosest with us next to us.
Christ was no different.
He wanted his inner circle topray with him and to watch and
to be with him.
We have to have that.
We need that support.
Jesus needed that support.
They couldn't.
They failed.
They could not even watch withhim for an hour while he was
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about to take the sins of allmankind.
You see, they had to see thestress that he was under.
They had to see it.
They had to see the agony of thespirit, but they still fell
asleep.
And look, I'm not blaming them.
I want to be clear about thatbecause I'm sure they did not
fully understand what was aboutto happen.
But I question that for us.
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Do we love him enough to watchand pray, especially in the hour
of darkness that we're in as weawait his return?
You see, Luke paints thispicture of him.
Luke 22, 44 says, And being inagony, he prayed more earnestly.
Then his sweat became like greatdrops of blood falling down to
the ground.
The agony that he was in causedhim to sweat blood.
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I want you to think about thatfor a second.
Not a single one of us have everendured anything to that extent.
And where would we?
Where could we ever say that?
But it came when it was his timefor him to make his decision.
That was when he started to comeinto this agony.
Do I go to the cross or do Inot?
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You see, Christ was fully Godand fully man here, and he was
human, and he had free will.
He had to willfully lay Andpredicting this, John 10, 18,
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Jesus said, not my will, but yetyour will be done.
In fact, in that book of Lukewhere I read about him sweating
blood, the scripture says thatthe angels had to come down and
strengthen him.
That was the hour here.
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That was the time frame.
This is Christ at his most humanever that we see in scripture is
in this decision right here.
So he had to do whatever hisfather wanted and his will
always had to be yielded to thefather.
And we see this in Matthew 26where it says, You see, I even
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taught at church the other daythat when we get a decree or
direction from the Lord, fromJesus, we need to follow it
because we're getting a decreefrom the king.
We're getting a king's decreethat is being told to us, right?
But, you know, he was fully God,and he's saying, look, not my
will but yours, Father, but hewas fully man, and he faced the
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same challenges that we face.
Hebrews 4, 14 through 16 says,Seeing then that we have a great
high priest who has passedthrough the heavens, Jesus the
Son of Man, You see, and this iswhat separates Christ from all
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other religions and founders.
They expect you to die for them,but instead Christ died for us.
You see, he was tempted in allof these ways.
He walked through this as a man.
Now look, God's not expectingany of us to go through and bear
the sins of all humanity buthe's asking you to tell your
neighbor hey Jesus loves you andto tell him about Jesus but we
get ate up about that we get ateup about talking about anything
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about Jesus instead we want tohide in our little corner and
not talk to anyone about it eventhough we may have the leading
of the spirit on us but yet hereJesus is saying Lord not my will
but your will be done see that'show we have to be Lord not my
will it doesn't matter what Iwant my thoughts my will my
emotions The things that I wantdo not matter.
The only thing that matters iswhat He wants.
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And you see, Jesus would go anddo this two more times.
And the second time, He saidthis.
Again, a second time, He wentaway and prayed saying, Oh my
Father, if this cup cannot passaway from me unless I drink it,
Your will be done.
This cup was the cup of theLord, the agony, the
persecution, even to the death.
And we must also be prepared todrink of it as well.
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Because Jesus said in Matthew20, 21-23, and He said, He said
to her, But to sit on my righthand and on my left is not mine
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to give, but it is for those forwhom it is prepared by my
Father.
Notice that he said, Indeed youwill.
Indeed you will drink from thiscup.
That is our fate as well.
We must all drink from the cupof the Lord and make the same
decision that Christ did.
Whatever the context of ourdecision is, we have to make
that same decision.
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Lord, are we willing to lose ourlife in order for us to gain it,
or will we gain our life That'sthe question that stands before
all of us.
Every single one of us are goingto have to make this decision
and be in the valley ofdecision.
Now, what we do is going to becompletely based upon whether or
not we're willing to give itall, lay it all on the line for
the Lord the way Jesus did, orif we're not.
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That's the question that standsbefore you.
I can't tell you what yourchoice is.
I only know what the choice wasfor me, and I'm working through
that choice right now.
But at the end of the day, wehave to make sure that we are
prepared now.
Then we See, we all have achoice.
The choice is to follow the willof God or not.
Despite drinking from this cup,we must make up our mind and
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decide before the time comes,just as Jesus did.
You see, each time Jesus cameback to check on his disciples,
they were sleeping.
He tells us a key principle thatthe spirit is willing, but the
flesh is weak.
We see this here.
He asked the disciples to watchand pray, yet they couldn't.
Sleep took them in his time ofturmoil.
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Similarly, we are called towatch and pray for the return of
Christ.
We must not be found slumberingand sleeping during that time.
We must be awake.
We must be praying.
We must be watching.
We must be interceding.
We must be doing all of thosethings because it's all a And
having seen the circumstance andeverything that was happening
with Christ in the garden, let'slook at exactly what he prayed.
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Because in the midst of all ofthis agony, in the midst of
everything that was going on,Christ prayed for three specific
types of people.
He prayed for himself.
Then his disciples, then therest of us that would believe on
him.
This truly is the Lord's Prayer,and it's important to recognize
what he was praying for at thetime of his most difficult
torment.
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I say that recognizing that thecross was coming next, but as I
mentioned before, it was herethat the decision for the cross
had to be made.
And once he made up his mind, hewas going.
There was no doubt that he wasgoing.
He was going.
But we have to understand whatexactly it was that Jesus prayed
for.
I want to give you this nuggethere too, because the agony is
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not in the actual act.
The agony is in the decision.
That's what we're shown here.
And why do I say that?
Because once the decision ismade, then there's nothing that
should stop us from going.
We should not change our mind.
Remember what it was the Biblesay, a double-minded man is
unstable in all of his ways.
So we should not bedouble-minded.
We should make our yeses yesesand our nos nos.
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If we're going to do something,we need to be men and women of
our word and go forward and doit.
So here's the thing is that thedecision is the hard part.
Walking through it is not hardwhen you've already made that
decision.
You've decided to go with Godand go and do exactly what he's
asked you to do.
But that's what we're shownhere.
We must make up our minds thatwe are going to follow him.
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That is key.
So let's look at what Jesusactually prayed.
The first person that Jesusprays for is himself.
In John 17, one through five, itsays, Jesus spoke these words,
lifted up his eyes to heaven andsaid, Father, the hour has come.
Glorify your son that your sonalso may glorify you As you have
given him authority over allflesh, that he should give
eternal life to as many as youhave given him.
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And this is eternal life, thatthey may know you, the only true
God in Jesus Christ, whom youhave sent.
I have glorified you on theearth.
I have finished the work forwhich you have given me to do.
And now, O Father, glorify metogether with yourself, with the
glory which I had with youbefore the world was.
At this point, Jesus has made uphis mind to follow the will of
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God and go You see it in thefirst sentence he says in John
17.1.
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But this time, because of thework of the cross, because of
him walking in perfection, henow can make intercession for
all of us that believe.
That was not possible beforebecause the grace and truth had
not come through Jesus Christyet.
But the next thing that he praysfor is in John 17, 6 through 19,
and that's the disciples.
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And this is what he says here.
He says, word now they haveknown all things which you have
given me are from you for I havegiven to them the words which
you have given me and they havereceived them and have known
surely that I came forth fromyou and they have believed that
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you sent me I pray for them I donot pray for the world but for
those whom you have given me forthey are yours and all are mine
are yours and yours are mine andI am glorified in them now I am
no longer in the world but theseare in the world and I come to
you holy father keep throughyour name those whom you have
given me that they may be one aswe are while I was with them in
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the world I kept them in yourname those whom you gave me I
have kept and none of them islost except the son of perdition
that the scripture might befulfilled but now I have come to
you and these things I speak inthe world that they may have my
joy fulfilled in themselves Ihave given them your word and
the world has hated them becausethey are not of the world just
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as I am not of the world I donot pray that you should take
them out Here, Jesus is clearlypraying for his disciples.
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And the first part of this isvery interesting, because Jesus
says clearly that the discipleswere not his, but that they were
God's.
And this back to the weddingceremony in the book of Exodus.
We have covered this before.
Yet here, Jesus says that theFather has given them to him.
The Jewish people, as they are,are gods.
But when we believe in Christ,they are then part of the
church, which is Christ's.
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Christ does not go through thetribulation and the wrath.
While God's does because of therejection of the Son.
We see that parable with theking of the field.
And that's a key distinctionthere.
Because Jesus says clearly,you've given them to me, Father,
because anyone of Jewish descentis the fathers, but anyone that
believes on Jesus Christ isChrist.
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And it's only Christ that willnot have to go through that
tribulation because it isJacob's trouble.
Anyone that does not will haveto go into.
So Jesus even bridges that bysaying that he has given them
the words and they have acceptedthem knowing that they are from
the Father.
Here we see the salvation of theJewish people and the transfer
from the law to grace with thecrucifixion imminent.
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And that's a key point here.
This is what Jesus was praying.
Like, look, it's not just aboutyou giving them to me, Father,
but you've given them to me andI've preserved them because they
were yours.
And that's the whole thing.
We are that wild vine grafted inas Gentiles into the church, but
the Jews have always been gods,so there's a transfer there for
the Son.
See, the next part of thisprayer for the disciples is for
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them in this world.
He prays for them and not theworld.
He knows what the world is goingto do to them.
So why pray for the world whenhe is about to bear He knows
what he is about to send thedisciples out into a
pre-Christian world full offalse religions that would
persecute them by crucifyingthem, cutting them in pieces,
boiling them in oil, among otherthings.
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So he prays that the Fatherwould keep them.
He prays that the Father wouldnot take them out of the world,
but to keep them in the worldand to keep them from the evil
one.
They were the foundation of thechurch.
They were the beginning of it.
And they carried the message ofthe gospel of salvation for the
world that they were entering.
For those of us that believe Weare in this world, but not of
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this world.
But unlike the first centurychurch, we don't act like it.
And I believe it was A.W.
Tozer that said this, If youtake the Holy Spirit out of the
church today, 95% of what wewould do would continue.
But if you take it out of thefirst century church, 5% of what
they did would continue, and thepeople would notice that it was
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gone.
See, we have to have the samementality around the works that
we are called to do, but we mustdo them according to the Holy
Spirit.
You cannot separate out the HolySpirit here, and that's what
Jesus is praying for.
Jesus is praying that ultimatelythe Father would keep them.
The only way for the Father tokeep them is to seal them in the
Holy Spirit.
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Jesus also prays that they wouldbe one as Him and the Father are
one.
You see, Paul talks a lot aboutthis in the oneness of the body
of Christ.
1 Corinthians 12, 12-14 says,For as the body is one and has
many members, but all themembers of that body, being
many, are one.
So also is Christ.
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is to spend time and be withyour local body.
We were never meant to come tochurch and just forget about the
people or not spend time withthem.
We need each other.
The writer of Hebrews says inHebrews 3, 12-15, Beware,
brethren, lest there be in anyof you an evil heart of unbelief
and departing from the livingGod.
But exhort one another daily,while it is called today, lest
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any of you be hardened throughthe deceitfulness of sin.
For we have become partakers ofChrist, if we hold the beginning
of our confidence steadfast tothe end.
While Now it is said, The lastgroup that Jesus prays for is
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you and me.
It's us, if you're a believer.
John 17, 20-26 says this, Andthat the world may know that you
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have sent me, and have lovedthem as you have loved me.
Father, I desire that they alsowhom you gave me be with me
where I am, that they may beholdmy glory which you have given
me.
For you loved me before thefoundation of the world.
O righteous Father, the worldhas not known you, but I have
known you.
And these have known that yousent
SPEAKER_00 (23:52):
me.
SPEAKER_01 (23:52):
And I have declared to them your name, and I will
declare it, that the love withwhich you love me may be in
them, and I I want to be clearhere.
He prays for us to be one withHim and the Father.
He wants us to come into thesame glory that He was going to
receive from the Father.
He wants us to be with Him inall of eternity and have
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everlasting life and to be withHim and the Father, to see the
love and to know the Fatherthrough Him.
He wanted us through our faithto come into the measure and the
stature of Christ through thecross.
So even while Jesus was going tothe cross, He was praying for
you and He was praying for me.
That's amazing to me.
That is absolutely amazing to meand this is why it's my favorite
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scene in all of the Bible.
You see because we see thehumanity of Christ.
He struggled.
He really struggled.
And man, did he ever struggle.
He struggled with the decisionto follow the Father just as we
do.
We see him at his lowest point,his most human point.
Yet while he was there, what washe doing?
He was praying for me and he waspraying for you.
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He was praying for hisdisciples.
The decision was made by him andin the most selfless way that he
was, he prayed for you and me.
See, that's the amazing thingabout our Jesus and about our
God.
is because even while he's inthat valley of decision, and
while he's made the decision atthis point, he's about to go to
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the cross, he prays for us.
No other man, no other personwould ever do that when they're
about to be crucified and knowwhat's coming.
But Jesus did.
You see, the garden was not justa place for Jesus to pray or for
him to be betrayed.
It was the place where he madethe decision to be the sacrifice
that was needed.
Just as it was the place whereAdam made his decision to eat of
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the fruit and allow sin into theworld and so it did so in the
midst of every bit of fruittrees you see Christ made his
decision in a garden that didnot bear fruit that he may have
a people that will for thenations a people that will bear
fruit you know we've got tounderstand the love that Jesus
has for us yes he was fully Godbut I cannot stress enough the
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fact that he was fully man hestruggled just the way that we
were and that's what's amazingis that we can open up our
hearts with Jesus.
We can open up our hearts andsay, look, here I am, just
standing here, just bare...
our heart open, heart on mysleeve.
Here's who I am, Lord.
I know I'm a wretch.
I know I'm terrible.
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I know there is no good in meexcept for you.
But Lord, you can make mewhatever you want me to make me.
Take my life and do with it asyou will.
That's the decision that all ofus have to be at.
Because guess what?
Jesus made that same decision.
And if we're to be Christians,which means to be Christ-like,
we have to make that exact samedecision.
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So look, I know that was a lot.
We're going to continue nextweek and look at the actual
betrayal of Jesus in the garden,the process by which it
happened, what happened thenight before.
He went before the Romans, andthen we're going to talk a lot
as we kind of keep going throughthis.
I know we've been in Matthew 26for a little bit, but there's a
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lot to unpack here.
There's a lot to talk about, andit's just important.
I just want to make sure youhave a full understanding of
what Jesus went through and allthe things that he did,
particularly as he went to thecross and as he died.
for our sins to be apropitiation of our sins.
So, um, with that being said,uh, again, I hope you got
something out of it.
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Um, but if, if you ever needanything or need to have any
questions, feel free to drop mea note at path to redemption,
Ohio at gmail.com.
But until next time, justremember this simple truth.
The father loves you.
Jesus loves you.
And the Holy spirit loves you.
God bless.
Bye.
SPEAKER_01 (00:08):
Hello and welcome to A Path to Redemption, the
podcast.
My name is Daniel Arona and justremember this simple truth.
The Father loves you, Jesusloves you, and the Holy Spirit
loves you.
Once again, I hope that you'vehad a good week.
I hope that you've had time tospend with the Lord in prayer.
Also, making sure that you'rebeing as intimate with him as
you possibly can be.
I know I say it every singleweek, but I truly, truly mean
it.
It is imperative, absolutelyimperative, that we are
(00:30):
fostering our relationship withhim, that we are being intimate
with him.
There's so many things happeningin this world between what
Israel's doing in terms oftaking over Gaza, and you're
going to see them take over partof the southern Lebanon as well.
That was prophesied in Obadiah.
You see what's going on withPresident Trump basically
(00:50):
embracing the Syrian presidentas well, which he's from an
interesting part of the world interms of being from the Golan
Heights, which means that he istechnically, I guess, Jewish,
not necessarily Jewish from alineage standpoint, but an
Israeli citizen by being born upthere, but is technically Syrian
as well.
So it's an interesting mix therein terms of who he is and
(01:13):
particularly with his Al Qaedabackground.
But it's just an interestingtime right now with everything
that's going on in this world,all the different things that
are happening.
So it's just important that westay intimate with him.
If we talk about central bankdigital currency, where the
world is at that, Europe'sprobably going to start rolling
it out.
My guess would be probably 2027at this point.
(01:34):
So we're talking about gettingreally, really close to The
chess pieces are being set upfor that man of sin, for the
Antichrist to come onto thescene, which means that the
rapture could take place at anymoment.
So it's important that we focuson that.
It's important that we focus onour relationship and make sure,
make sure that we are fosteringit to the best of our ability.
(01:55):
Amen.
So look, last week we talkedabout the denial of Peter, how
he denied Christ in detail, andultimately his restoration by
the sea.
This week we're going to look atChrist in the Garden of
Gethsemane.
There's a lot that kind ofhappens in this small section,
but I want to look at it, notjust from Matthew, but from all
the Gospels and paint the fullpicture of what's going on in
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the Garden of Gethsemane.
But before we get started, justsome housekeeping items.
All of my scripture comes fromthe New King James Bible.
If you'd like a copy of the NewKing James Bible, feel free to
drop me a note atPastorRedemptionOhio at
gmail.com.
More than happy to put one intoyour hands.
Also, my book's out, Grace ofMounds.
If you'd like a copy of that,feel free to drop me a note at
Again, more than happy to getone out to you.
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And then finally, once again,don't take my word for it.
Make sure that you are studyingto show yourself approved unto
God.
Make sure you are putting in thework.
And I know I say that everysingle time as well, but you
have to.
You have to put in the work.
If you don't know scripture,it's going to be very easy to
get tossed about by every singlewind of doctrine.
You've got to take everythingand base it upon scripture and
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prayer that is so incrediblyimportant.
Amen.
So with that, we're going tostart in Matthew 26, 36 through
44.
And this is what the Bible says.
It says, Then Jesus came withthem to a place called
Gethsemane and said to thedisciples, Sit here while I go
and pray over there.
And he took with him Peter andthe two sons of Zebedee, and he
began to be sorrowful and deeplydistressed.
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Then he said to them, My soul isexceedingly sorrowful, even to
death.
Stay here and watch with me.
He went a little farther andfell on his face and prayed,
saying, O my father, if it ispossible, let this Then he said
to Peter, saying the same words.
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See, my betrayer is at hand.
You know, someone asked me alittle bit ago, actually around
Easter, you know, what myfavorite kind of depiction or
what my favorite scene in theBible is.
And they were frankly a littlesurprised when I said Jesus in
the garden.
And we'll get into that why atthe end.
But I need to set the stage herefirst.
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You see, Jesus had finished hislast meal with those closest to
him.
Imagine how you would feelknowing that it was your last
meal with your family or thoseclosest to you, but That it was
what God wanted, that you go andoffer your life for a bunch of
evil, unrighteous people thathave rejected you.
That is exactly what Jesus wasabout to do.
The time had come for him tomake his decision.
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See, he didn't decide on goingto the cross, or he didn't
decide to be the sacrificiallamb for all of us on the cross.
No, no, no, no, no.
He made that decision in thegarden.
The decision to go with God ornot always happens before the
actual event.
You see, that is why Iconstantly tell people, We have
to have our mind made up that weare going to follow him no
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matter what.
If you get in this situation,it's too late to make that
decision.
You've already made the decisionby not making it.
But if you make up your mindnow, if you make up your mind by
whatever God's dealing with youand saying, look, I'm going to
follow you no matter what, Lord,then make up your mind.
It makes going through the act awhole lot easier.
And we have to be the same way.
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You see, he knew he was about togo to the cross and that the
sheep would scatter.
We talked about that last week.
But he knew that he would losehis disciples during this time
as well.
So here we see Jesus in each ofthe Gospels.
He tells his disciples to sitand wait.
But he takes Peter, James, andJohn with him.
And for them, he has a differentcommandment.
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In Matthew 26, 38, he says,outside of the things of Christ,
but also look at what Christsays about himself here.
He says his soul was exceedinglysorrowful.
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These words would be easy tosee, but the stress and pressure
that Jesus was under by bearingthe sins of all mankind, knowing
he would be separated from theFather, and knowing that he was
going to be brutally murdered,he was stressed.
He was down there.
He's talking about it and he'ssaying, Lord, if there's any
way, Father, for this cup topass from me, let it.
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He asked his disciples to Whenwe go through these things, we
have a desire to have thoseclosest with us next to us.
Christ was no different.
He wanted his inner circle topray with him and to watch and
to be with him.
We have to have that.
We need that support.
Jesus needed that support.
They couldn't.
They failed.
They could not even watch withhim for an hour while he was
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about to take the sins of allmankind.
You see, they had to see thestress that he was under.
They had to see it.
They had to see the agony of thespirit, but they still fell
asleep.
And look, I'm not blaming them.
I want to be clear about thatbecause I'm sure they did not
fully understand what was aboutto happen.
But I question that for us.
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Do we love him enough to watchand pray, especially in the hour
of darkness that we're in as weawait his return?
You see, Luke paints thispicture of him.
Luke 22, 44 says, And being inagony, he prayed more earnestly.
Then his sweat became like greatdrops of blood falling down to
the ground.
The agony that he was in causedhim to sweat blood.
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I want you to think about thatfor a second.
Not a single one of us have everendured anything to that extent.
And where would we?
Where could we ever say that?
But it came when it was his timefor him to make his decision.
That was when he started to comeinto this agony.
Do I go to the cross or do Inot?
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You see, Christ was fully Godand fully man here, and he was
human, and he had free will.
He had to willfully lay Andpredicting this, John 10, 18,
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Jesus said, not my will, but yetyour will be done.
In fact, in that book of Lukewhere I read about him sweating
blood, the scripture says thatthe angels had to come down and
strengthen him.
That was the hour here.
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That was the time frame.
This is Christ at his most humanever that we see in scripture is
in this decision right here.
So he had to do whatever hisfather wanted and his will
always had to be yielded to thefather.
And we see this in Matthew 26where it says, You see, I even
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taught at church the other daythat when we get a decree or
direction from the Lord, fromJesus, we need to follow it
because we're getting a decreefrom the king.
We're getting a king's decreethat is being told to us, right?
But, you know, he was fully God,and he's saying, look, not my
will but yours, Father, but hewas fully man, and he faced the
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same challenges that we face.
Hebrews 4, 14 through 16 says,Seeing then that we have a great
high priest who has passedthrough the heavens, Jesus the
Son of Man, You see, and this iswhat separates Christ from all
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other religions and founders.
They expect you to die for them,but instead Christ died for us.
You see, he was tempted in allof these ways.
He walked through this as a man.
Now look, God's not expectingany of us to go through and bear
the sins of all humanity buthe's asking you to tell your
neighbor hey Jesus loves you andto tell him about Jesus but we
get ate up about that we get ateup about talking about anything
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about Jesus instead we want tohide in our little corner and
not talk to anyone about it eventhough we may have the leading
of the spirit on us but yet hereJesus is saying Lord not my will
but your will be done see that'show we have to be Lord not my
will it doesn't matter what Iwant my thoughts my will my
emotions The things that I wantdo not matter.
The only thing that matters iswhat He wants.
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And you see, Jesus would go anddo this two more times.
And the second time, He saidthis.
Again, a second time, He wentaway and prayed saying, Oh my
Father, if this cup cannot passaway from me unless I drink it,
Your will be done.
This cup was the cup of theLord, the agony, the
persecution, even to the death.
And we must also be prepared todrink of it as well.
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Because Jesus said in Matthew20, 21-23, and He said, He said
to her, But to sit on my righthand and on my left is not mine
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to give, but it is for those forwhom it is prepared by my
Father.
Notice that he said, Indeed youwill.
Indeed you will drink from thiscup.
That is our fate as well.
We must all drink from the cupof the Lord and make the same
decision that Christ did.
Whatever the context of ourdecision is, we have to make
that same decision.
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Lord, are we willing to lose ourlife in order for us to gain it,
or will we gain our life That'sthe question that stands before
all of us.
Every single one of us are goingto have to make this decision
and be in the valley ofdecision.
Now, what we do is going to becompletely based upon whether or
not we're willing to give itall, lay it all on the line for
the Lord the way Jesus did, orif we're not.
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That's the question that standsbefore you.
I can't tell you what yourchoice is.
I only know what the choice wasfor me, and I'm working through
that choice right now.
But at the end of the day, wehave to make sure that we are
prepared now.
Then we See, we all have achoice.
The choice is to follow the willof God or not.
Despite drinking from this cup,we must make up our mind and
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decide before the time comes,just as Jesus did.
You see, each time Jesus cameback to check on his disciples,
they were sleeping.
He tells us a key principle thatthe spirit is willing, but the
flesh is weak.
We see this here.
He asked the disciples to watchand pray, yet they couldn't.
Sleep took them in his time ofturmoil.
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Similarly, we are called towatch and pray for the return of
Christ.
We must not be found slumberingand sleeping during that time.
We must be awake.
We must be praying.
We must be watching.
We must be interceding.
We must be doing all of thosethings because it's all a And
having seen the circumstance andeverything that was happening
with Christ in the garden, let'slook at exactly what he prayed.
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Because in the midst of all ofthis agony, in the midst of
everything that was going on,Christ prayed for three specific
types of people.
He prayed for himself.
Then his disciples, then therest of us that would believe on
him.
This truly is the Lord's Prayer,and it's important to recognize
what he was praying for at thetime of his most difficult
torment.
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I say that recognizing that thecross was coming next, but as I
mentioned before, it was herethat the decision for the cross
had to be made.
And once he made up his mind, hewas going.
There was no doubt that he wasgoing.
He was going.
But we have to understand whatexactly it was that Jesus prayed
for.
I want to give you this nuggethere too, because the agony is
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not in the actual act.
The agony is in the decision.
That's what we're shown here.
And why do I say that?
Because once the decision ismade, then there's nothing that
should stop us from going.
We should not change our mind.
Remember what it was the Biblesay, a double-minded man is
unstable in all of his ways.
So we should not bedouble-minded.
We should make our yeses yesesand our nos nos.
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If we're going to do something,we need to be men and women of
our word and go forward and doit.
So here's the thing is that thedecision is the hard part.
Walking through it is not hardwhen you've already made that
decision.
You've decided to go with Godand go and do exactly what he's
asked you to do.
But that's what we're shownhere.
We must make up our minds thatwe are going to follow him.
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That is key.
So let's look at what Jesusactually prayed.
The first person that Jesusprays for is himself.
In John 17, one through five, itsays, Jesus spoke these words,
lifted up his eyes to heaven andsaid, Father, the hour has come.
Glorify your son that your sonalso may glorify you As you have
given him authority over allflesh, that he should give
eternal life to as many as youhave given him.
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And this is eternal life, thatthey may know you, the only true
God in Jesus Christ, whom youhave sent.
I have glorified you on theearth.
I have finished the work forwhich you have given me to do.
And now, O Father, glorify metogether with yourself, with the
glory which I had with youbefore the world was.
At this point, Jesus has made uphis mind to follow the will of
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God and go You see it in thefirst sentence he says in John
17.1.
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But this time, because of thework of the cross, because of
him walking in perfection, henow can make intercession for
all of us that believe.
That was not possible beforebecause the grace and truth had
not come through Jesus Christyet.
But the next thing that he praysfor is in John 17, 6 through 19,
and that's the disciples.
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And this is what he says here.
He says, word now they haveknown all things which you have
given me are from you for I havegiven to them the words which
you have given me and they havereceived them and have known
surely that I came forth fromyou and they have believed that
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you sent me I pray for them I donot pray for the world but for
those whom you have given me forthey are yours and all are mine
are yours and yours are mine andI am glorified in them now I am
no longer in the world but theseare in the world and I come to
you holy father keep throughyour name those whom you have
given me that they may be one aswe are while I was with them in
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the world I kept them in yourname those whom you gave me I
have kept and none of them islost except the son of perdition
that the scripture might befulfilled but now I have come to
you and these things I speak inthe world that they may have my
joy fulfilled in themselves Ihave given them your word and
the world has hated them becausethey are not of the world just
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as I am not of the world I donot pray that you should take
them out Here, Jesus is clearlypraying for his disciples.
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And the first part of this isvery interesting, because Jesus
says clearly that the discipleswere not his, but that they were
God's.
And this back to the weddingceremony in the book of Exodus.
We have covered this before.
Yet here, Jesus says that theFather has given them to him.
The Jewish people, as they are,are gods.
But when we believe in Christ,they are then part of the
church, which is Christ's.
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Christ does not go through thetribulation and the wrath.
While God's does because of therejection of the Son.
We see that parable with theking of the field.
And that's a key distinctionthere.
Because Jesus says clearly,you've given them to me, Father,
because anyone of Jewish descentis the fathers, but anyone that
believes on Jesus Christ isChrist.
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And it's only Christ that willnot have to go through that
tribulation because it isJacob's trouble.
Anyone that does not will haveto go into.
So Jesus even bridges that bysaying that he has given them
the words and they have acceptedthem knowing that they are from
the Father.
Here we see the salvation of theJewish people and the transfer
from the law to grace with thecrucifixion imminent.
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And that's a key point here.
This is what Jesus was praying.
Like, look, it's not just aboutyou giving them to me, Father,
but you've given them to me andI've preserved them because they
were yours.
And that's the whole thing.
We are that wild vine grafted inas Gentiles into the church, but
the Jews have always been gods,so there's a transfer there for
the Son.
See, the next part of thisprayer for the disciples is for
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them in this world.
He prays for them and not theworld.
He knows what the world is goingto do to them.
So why pray for the world whenhe is about to bear He knows
what he is about to send thedisciples out into a
pre-Christian world full offalse religions that would
persecute them by crucifyingthem, cutting them in pieces,
boiling them in oil, among otherthings.
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So he prays that the Fatherwould keep them.
He prays that the Father wouldnot take them out of the world,
but to keep them in the worldand to keep them from the evil
one.
They were the foundation of thechurch.
They were the beginning of it.
And they carried the message ofthe gospel of salvation for the
world that they were entering.
For those of us that believe Weare in this world, but not of
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this world.
But unlike the first centurychurch, we don't act like it.
And I believe it was A.W.
Tozer that said this, If youtake the Holy Spirit out of the
church today, 95% of what wewould do would continue.
But if you take it out of thefirst century church, 5% of what
they did would continue, and thepeople would notice that it was
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gone.
See, we have to have the samementality around the works that
we are called to do, but we mustdo them according to the Holy
Spirit.
You cannot separate out the HolySpirit here, and that's what
Jesus is praying for.
Jesus is praying that ultimatelythe Father would keep them.
The only way for the Father tokeep them is to seal them in the
Holy Spirit.
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Jesus also prays that they wouldbe one as Him and the Father are
one.
You see, Paul talks a lot aboutthis in the oneness of the body
of Christ.
1 Corinthians 12, 12-14 says,For as the body is one and has
many members, but all themembers of that body, being
many, are one.
So also is Christ.
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is to spend time and be withyour local body.
We were never meant to come tochurch and just forget about the
people or not spend time withthem.
We need each other.
The writer of Hebrews says inHebrews 3, 12-15, Beware,
brethren, lest there be in anyof you an evil heart of unbelief
and departing from the livingGod.
But exhort one another daily,while it is called today, lest
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any of you be hardened throughthe deceitfulness of sin.
For we have become partakers ofChrist, if we hold the beginning
of our confidence steadfast tothe end.
While Now it is said, The lastgroup that Jesus prays for is
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you and me.
It's us, if you're a believer.
John 17, 20-26 says this, Andthat the world may know that you
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have sent me, and have lovedthem as you have loved me.
Father, I desire that they alsowhom you gave me be with me
where I am, that they may beholdmy glory which you have given
me.
For you loved me before thefoundation of the world.
O righteous Father, the worldhas not known you, but I have
known you.
And these have known that yousent
SPEAKER_00 (23:52):
me.
SPEAKER_01 (23:52):
And I have declared to them your name, and I will
declare it, that the love withwhich you love me may be in
them, and I I want to be clearhere.
He prays for us to be one withHim and the Father.
He wants us to come into thesame glory that He was going to
receive from the Father.
He wants us to be with Him inall of eternity and have
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everlasting life and to be withHim and the Father, to see the
love and to know the Fatherthrough Him.
He wanted us through our faithto come into the measure and the
stature of Christ through thecross.
So even while Jesus was going tothe cross, He was praying for
you and He was praying for me.
That's amazing to me.
That is absolutely amazing to meand this is why it's my favorite
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scene in all of the Bible.
You see because we see thehumanity of Christ.
He struggled.
He really struggled.
And man, did he ever struggle.
He struggled with the decisionto follow the Father just as we
do.
We see him at his lowest point,his most human point.
Yet while he was there, what washe doing?
He was praying for me and he waspraying for you.
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He was praying for hisdisciples.
The decision was made by him andin the most selfless way that he
was, he prayed for you and me.
See, that's the amazing thingabout our Jesus and about our
God.
is because even while he's inthat valley of decision, and
while he's made the decision atthis point, he's about to go to
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the cross, he prays for us.
No other man, no other personwould ever do that when they're
about to be crucified and knowwhat's coming.
But Jesus did.
You see, the garden was not justa place for Jesus to pray or for
him to be betrayed.
It was the place where he madethe decision to be the sacrifice
that was needed.
Just as it was the place whereAdam made his decision to eat of
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the fruit and allow sin into theworld and so it did so in the
midst of every bit of fruittrees you see Christ made his
decision in a garden that didnot bear fruit that he may have
a people that will for thenations a people that will bear
fruit you know we've got tounderstand the love that Jesus
has for us yes he was fully Godbut I cannot stress enough the
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fact that he was fully man hestruggled just the way that we
were and that's what's amazingis that we can open up our
hearts with Jesus.
We can open up our hearts andsay, look, here I am, just
standing here, just bare...
our heart open, heart on mysleeve.
Here's who I am, Lord.
I know I'm a wretch.
I know I'm terrible.
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I know there is no good in meexcept for you.
But Lord, you can make mewhatever you want me to make me.
Take my life and do with it asyou will.
That's the decision that all ofus have to be at.
Because guess what?
Jesus made that same decision.
And if we're to be Christians,which means to be Christ-like,
we have to make that exact samedecision.
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So look, I know that was a lot.
We're going to continue nextweek and look at the actual
betrayal of Jesus in the garden,the process by which it
happened, what happened thenight before.
He went before the Romans, andthen we're going to talk a lot
as we kind of keep going throughthis.
I know we've been in Matthew 26for a little bit, but there's a
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lot to unpack here.
There's a lot to talk about, andit's just important.
I just want to make sure youhave a full understanding of
what Jesus went through and allthe things that he did,
particularly as he went to thecross and as he died.
for our sins to be apropitiation of our sins.
So, um, with that being said,uh, again, I hope you got
something out of it.
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Um, but if, if you ever needanything or need to have any
questions, feel free to drop mea note at path to redemption,
Ohio at gmail.com.
But until next time, justremember this simple truth.
The father loves you.
Jesus loves you.
And the Holy spirit loves you.
God bless.
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