Jesus and the Sleeping Disciples #2

Introduction to Gethsemane and the Shift in Emphasis

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, June 25th, 1989, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:13 Now let us turn together in the Word of God to the Gospel according to Mark, Mark's Gospel and the 14th chapter.

0:32 And as we have done for several Lord's Day mornings, I shall read in your hearing the incident of Gethsemane, beginning in verse 32 and concluding with verse 42. Mark 14, verse 32. And they come unto a place which was named Gethsemane. And he saith unto his disciples, Sit ye here while I pray.

1:04 And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly amazed and sore troubled. And he saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. Abide ye here and watch. And he went forward a little and fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass away from him.

1:33 And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee. Remove this cup from me. How be it? Not.

1:44 Not what I will, but what thou wilt. And he cometh and findeth them sleeping. And saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? Couldest thou not watch one hour?

2:01 Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And again he went away and prayed, saying, The same words. And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they knew not what to answer him.

2:27 And he cometh a third time and saith unto them, Sleep on now and take your rest. It is enough. The hour is come. Behold, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

2:44 Arise, let us be going. Behold, he that betrayeth me is at hand.

2:53 In our expositions of the Gospel of Mark, we come again this morning to that moving and mysterious scene in the garden or grove of olive trees called Gethsemane. And in verses 32 through 36 of this passage of the Word of God, the emphasis falls upon our Lord. Mark gives a very graphic description of the amazement and the trouble of soul that gripped our Lord. Amazement and trouble that drove him to his knees, and then literally, according to the witness of Matthew, drove him upon his face. As for the first time he encountered in some new dimension the cup of the Father's wrath. Against the sins of his people, the cup that he would take into his hands, the cup that he must voluntarily drink to the last dark drop. If sinners were to be released righteously from the wrath of God and find salvation and acceptance with the living God.

4:11 And so the emphasis of the first half of this passage is that of our Lord's agony. Our Lord's venting of the agony in prayer. Our Lord's struggle in prayer with this holy aversion to the drinking of the cup. And yet an aversion joined to a holy commitment to do the will of God, no matter what it cost.

4:39 But then in verse 37 to the end of the paragraph, verse 42, the emphasis shifts from this focus upon our Lord. And his sorrow, his agony, his wrestlings in prayer. And the emphasis now falls upon our Lord's dealings with these three slumbering disciples. He interrupts his prayer three times to visit them, and each time finds them either sound asleep or in a sleepy state.

Review of Last Week's Application: Christ's Character

5:15 And in our study last Lord's Day, we examined the content of those. Verses seeking to grasp the essential facts of these three visits of our Lord to the slumbering disciples. And then in our application, we had time to do only one thing, and that was to note what these encounters of our Lord with his slumbering disciples reveals about our Lord himself in relationship to those disciples. And we beheld his selflessness.

5:49 His concern for his own, in the midst of his own intense agony, he does not forget them as stones throw away, but visits them concerned about their coming ordeal and their temptations and their dangers. And then we noted secondly that we behold in this passage our Lord's ability to discern the virtues and graces of his people, even when those graces are buried beneath the rubble. And then we noted thirdly that we behold in this passage our Lord's ability to discern the virtues and graces of his people, even when those graces are buried beneath the rubble of temporary spiritual slumber and dullness. He saw their willing spirit, though all you and I could see if we were hiding in the olive grove that night, and beheld the disciples under the eerie light of a full moon, all we would have seen was the dullness that led them to sleep while their Lord sweat drops of blood. But he had the ability to see the willing spirit. That was temporarily buried under these pressures, but was nonetheless there. And then we beheld in our Lord his determination to go forward willingly with calm resolution to the cross, in spite of the dullness of his disciples.

7:11 For in that last visit he said, The hour is come, and he does not gather his disciples and say, Let's hide. But he says, No, we'll go forth to meet the betrayer and all of his cohorts. I go forth willingly to lay down my life for my own. And so our first line of application was to behold what this passage reveals about the Lord Jesus himself.

The Focus of Christ's Concern: Temptation

7:39 But now today we return to this latter section not to consider what it reveals about our Lord himself, but what it reveals. It reveals about the duty and responsibility of disciples in the face of present spiritual danger. Now we take up this subject last, not because we are reluctant to focus upon the dangers and the duties of disciples, but rather the major emphasis of the whole Gethsemane experience is upon our Lord's encounter with the cup. It is upon his action.

8:20 His suffering. His willing embrace of the cup and all it will mean for him. And upon his compassionate dealing with his disciples in spite of their dullness. But though we take up the subject last, we do take up the subject of the duties and responsibilities of disciples in the face of spiritual danger simply because the passage, emphasizes that truth and we would not be true to the word of God, did we pass on to the next paragraph without pausing to consider what the Gethsemane incident contains with respect to the duties and dangers of disciples in the face of temptation. And so our subject this morning is our Lord's instruction with respect to, how his followers are to prepare themselves for seasons of unusual testing. And our text is verse 38. Having come and awakened them, he speaks these words, watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation.

9:42 The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Now as we think, our way through the text notice with me first of all the focus of our Lord's concern for his disciples when our Lord returns to his disciples and finds them sleeping and on that occasion speaks these words respecting their duty watch and pray what is the focus of our Lord's concern. All the words of the text, lead to the point of concern, and the latter words of the text, out of that concern. Look at the text in your own Bibles. Watch and pray. Why?

10:36 In order to not temptation. Temptation is the focus of our Lord's concern for his disciples. What he tells them to do, watching and praying, is with reference to his concern. He is concerned that they enter not into temptation.

11:03 Then when he says, for, not for, but the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak, that explanation is to buttress why he was concerned about temptation. He was concerned about their temptation because of the reality of this condition described as willing spirit. Willing spirit. Willing spirit.

11:32 Coupled with weak flesh. The focus of our Lord's concern for his disciples is temptation. The focus of our Lord's concern for his disciples is temptation. Then you ask the question What does temptation mean in this context.

11:47 Well, the word itself is the standard word translated instead of that of temptation. It is because sometimes it means a trial, other times it means a testing, sometimes it means a kind of test. There is no doubt about it, it means a thick enticement to evil. Let no man say, I am tempted of God.

12:10 Let no man say when he is enticed to evil that God himself is the enticer. Well, here in this present context, in the light of Gethsemane, in the light of the coming hours, in the light of what our Lord already graphed when He said, the shepherd will be smitten and the sheep scattered, that all of them would deny Him, I think you can see what temptation is in this context. It was the combination of the pressures of the present and coming hours which would leave the disciples of being unto their Lord and Master. When our Lord expresses the focus of His concern as their temptation, He is concerned not about temptation in general, but this temptation in particular. The pressures are going to be brought to bear on them in conjunction with His going forth to drink the cup of the Father's wrath that will leave the disciples vulnerable to being disloyal to Christ,

13:40 to forsaking Christ. In Peter's case, even to cursing and swearing, that He does not even Christ. You see, the Lord knows that all those connected with His own drinking of the cup of divine wrath would try and tempt and sit their Lord Himself. You remember how He expressed it to Peter in Luke chapter 22 and in verse 31, so that you, I trust, will be convinced with me that this is not a subjective conclusion.

14:19 Notice the words of the Lord, representative of the others. Luke chapter 22 and verse 31. Simon, Simon, behold, Satan, I have you that he might sift you as wheat, but I made supplication for you that your faith fail not, and do thou, when thou hast turned again, establish thy brethren. So you see this temptation of the Lord.

14:52 Was the pressure to be disloyal is the activity of the devil himself. You remember that the Gospel of Mark opens in the first chapter with the account of the Lord Jesus being driven into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil as he was loyal and when he was to move aside he says, No, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the Lord. He says, by every word that proceeds from the Lord. From the mouth of God.

15:38 So in summary we see that the focus of our Lord's concern is this matter of temptation. Temptation not in the general sense of a general trial or a general testing or in its oft-used sense of enticement to any kind of evil. It was the peculiar and enticement agitated by the devil to be disloyal to Jesus Christ himself. That was the focus of our Lord's concern.

Christ's Specific Directives: Watch and Pray

16:16 Now then notice secondly the specific directives of our Lord in the light of that concern. The specific directives of our Lord in the light of that concern.

16:32 Yes, his concern is their temptation. But now, what does he tell them to do in the light of that reality of temptation? As in our mind's eye we stand amidst the olive trees and by the eerie light of that full Passover moon we see our Lord make his way to disciples and awaken them from their slumber and we strain our ears to hear what he says to them. What does he tell them to do in the light of this coming temptation?

17:11 And I want you to consider first of all the directives themselves. What are they to do in the face of temptation? And then we shall consider B, the inseparable relationship of these directives. Why must both directives be obeyed?

17:30 First of all, the directives themselves. Our Lord uses two present imperative verbs and the sense of the present imperative is to begin and to continue a given action. So we could give it the translation be continually watching that you enter not into temptation. Now let's take them as they come in the text.

18:05 Be continually watchful. Now the word translated watch in its most elementary sense means simply to be in a state of wakefulness as opposed to a state of sleeping or drowsiness. For example, in Matthew 24 in verse 43 when our Lord is using the analogy of what happens when a thief breaks into the house he says if the house knows when the thief is coming he wouldn't sleep but he'd be awake to greet him. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief was coming he would have watched that is he would have remained awake and would not have allowed his house to be broken through. Now the word is used that way in 1 Thessalonians 5.10 whether we wake or whether we sleep we shall be gathered together unto Christ. Their sleeping is used to describe the experience of death.

19:20 Now this word that then literally means in its most elementary sense to go off into the opposite of being off in the land of Nod to be awake to be wide awake came figurative sense for a condition of wakefulness and alert to the round to realities.

19:47 You see from the world of reality let me illustrate there is things where our brother Steve labors some of the things that we are not aware of and some of us have seen the crushing poverty of those who live in these little sections of where people have cardboard shacks as their homes and I mean that literally shacks made of cardboard boxes and little children run around naked or just a dirty old cotton shirt coming down to the waist and naked the rest of their bodies and there is a little child a sensitive child who thinks that he is going to die but he is not he is going to die he is going to die and he is going to die and he is going to die and he is going to die and he is going to die and he is going to die and he feels the horrible pressure of that swaller and filth and the open trenches for sewers running by the house and in his weariness he drifts off to sleep and while he is sleeping he dreams he is dressed in satin clothes made by some great leader's personal tailor and he sees himself in his own dress in satin clothing he sees himself eating an ice cream cone his brother is eating an ice cream cone and he is going to die and he is going to die and he is going to die unless he is as big as a baseball bat and his is in kiddy heaven in his dreams for you see under scalp in the state of slinky he cans

21:17 man his own dick queen running by three feet from his head cot's with his vellum ma he te with the squal or and the filth and the crossing with physical sleep as opposed to wakefulness is true of spiritual sleep as opposed to spiritual wakefulness. You see, while our wedding great blood fought against Peter, James, and John and the other disciples out near the entrance to Gethsemane, that was reality. Jesus wasn't sweating great drops of blood for phantoms. He was in touch with reality. When he prayed, touch with the reality

22:41 of the living God who was his Father in a unique sense. And when he was praying, let the cup touch with the reality of the aversion of his holy humanity to that cup which was a legitimate and holy wrath of God into his knee, his face, force from his brow.

23:13 And the disciples fast asleep, a stone's throw away, are complete. Completely out of touch with those realities.

23:24 But you see, not only were they out of touch with those realities that impinged particularly upon their Lord, for they were not called to drink the cup, but to spread the winepress of the wrath of God alone.

23:44 For with him, he is in his ministry. He confesses me before men. Him will I confess before my Father. He that denies me before men, him will I deny before my Father.

23:55 And they were out of touch with the reality of the world. It was a severe trial that was about to face them. Their loyalty to him was to be put to the test. They would be pressured to share in his reproach, in his opposition, and possibly his death.

24:21 But being asleep, they were utterly out of touch with reality. So when our Lord comes to you to be watched, not merely set awake physically, it is you that will constitute your temptation, and for them that meant active resistance to innate tendencies to spiritual drowsiness and sleep. They had made us more comfortable with spiritual slumber, whom he squallered and left to himself for an hour. He wants to be alive and awake and alert to those realities

25:46 every waking moment of every day.

25:51 You see, there is an innate tendency to spiritual slumber, where you envision yourself dressed in satin, half-dressed, half-dressed, way to heaven. You can toy with sin. You can cut corners on your devotional life. You can play head games with your own conscience. You can play because you're in the never-never land of spiritual sleepfulness. And when our Lord, He was telling them, actively resist the innate tendency to spiritual drowsiness and sleep that puts you out of touch with reality. Furthermore, it meant they must actively resist external influences which would produce a state of drowsiness and sleep. For not only are there internal pressures from our own remaining sin, but there was the external influence of the devil and of the world. For

26:52 the world had its opinion of Christ then as it has its opinion of Christ now. Some of you aren't old enough to remember when Ether. Ether was the standard way of putting someone under for minor surgery and even major surgery, but some of us are old enough to remember when it was used for minor surgery. And some of us can remember fighting, having a cloth soaked with Ether put over our nose. Maybe you've seen in an old, innocent movie, there are a few of them left around, some murderer or some thief who was trying to capture someone and he came with a handkerchief soaked in Ether and tried to clasp it over a man's mouth. And oh, how he fought and fought and resisted. Why? He says, if I breathe in those vapors, I'm off into the realm of sleep and I'm helpless. Well, you see, there are influences like Ether's soaked rags constantly seeking

27:55 to clasp themselves over our mouths and our noses. The influence of us in a weak moment to the Christ. And when our Lord says to those disciples and says to all disciples in all ages, continue what he's saying is remain and watchfulness to the end of our days. Until we die, Jesus takes us at his return. But not only does he command continual watchfulness, but look at the text. He joins with a coordinating conjunction.

29:04 Now, our Lord uses the general word for prayer, the most general word. But in the context, he shows its meaning. Look back at verse 32b. He said unto his disciples, sit here while off to pray. What did he do? Did he go find a rock, as you see in some pictures?

29:48 Goods would not pick up its stones from the rocks. Just wait here about a minute and say when you become weary you'll frozen. Jennifer's going to be missed it. Little Do not say another word. OK, I don't know about that.

31:03 No, actually don't say it. of hell that will assail and demons and the devil that will seek to swallow me up. And he says, I pray and pray. Not the mouthing of words, not the mumbling through a ritual while he held some beads in his hands. It was the no-nonsense, honest, transparent, pouring Father's ear with every soul and his mind and his body in that deep intercourse with God. That's what prayer was for him. Now he says, you be watchful and you pray. My temptation is before me. My hour of

31:53 trial is watchful and to pray in a condition of spirit to all of the spiritual dangers that surround you and for which you are no match. And for those sleepy disciples, what would that have meant? Well, as watchfulness would have meant actively resisting innate tendencies to drowsiness, active resistance to external influences that would produce a state of drowsiness, so to be prayerful would mean actively resisting the innate tendency to self-confidence. Look at verse 31. But he, Peter, spake exceeding self-confidence. That's why he was praying. I

33:07 mean, sleeping while his Lord was sleeping. The Lord was praying. Confidence. But he wasn't the only one. See what it says. And in like manner of maintaining. See what our Lord comes and says. You're totally out of touch with reality, the realities that would draw you away from me. And furthermore, you're out of touch with the means by which your own vulnerability and weakness can be replaced by divine strength and enablement.

33:53 You're sleeping when you should be praying. You've got to actively resist the innate tendency to self-confidence. And secondly, you've got to actively resist the innate tendency to self-confidence. It meant for them and for us actively resisting the external influences that would deceive us as to our true state. They did not see themselves as vulnerable. They did not see themselves as just a few hours from running from their Lord. They had no idea. The very one would not follow him for a time. And so our Lord said to them, knowing what they really were, for he knew what was in man, begin and continue to begin.

The Inseparable Relationship of Watching and Praying

34:44 And continue to be watchful. Well, those are the two directives. What they were to do in the face of temptation. But now a large letter B. Notice the inseparable relationship between these two directives. Or, why must they both be obeyed? The Lord joins them by a coordinated function. Begin and end with the temptation. We've seen the meaning of the two imperatives. Now, the inseparable relationship between the two directives. It is only by spiritual wakefulness and watchfulness that we can be kept in touch with our real in the face of temptation. Then real dangers are seen for what they are. Then, as we know are, what will we do? We'll be driven to pray. You see, wakefulness is the condition essential to

35:55 create a climate of real prayer. Without B, I could say here right now, somebody, help me. There's a murderer trying to blow my head out with a .44 Magnum. Come and help me. You're not very convinced. Why? The way in which I say it, and you don't see anyone here. But let some madman come charging through the side door up on this platform and hold a nickel-plated .44 Magnum to my head. And with a wild look in his eyes, say, I'm going to blow this preacher's brains out. If I then say, somebody help! Because you would see me in touch with the realities of what really is.

36:47 You see, The watchfulness alone that keeps us in touch with the 44 magnums that are at our heads, no.

37:13 And only the watchful Christian is aware of that and therefore is driven to pray. You hear the overtones of the Lord's prayer? Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Lord, if temptation assaults me, I know my tendency and the fee for evil.

37:39 Oh God, watchfulness is the mother of real prayer. Why didn't those disciples pray? Because they weren't watchful. And because they weren't watchful, that's why they fell asleep.

37:56 You see, it was not their physical sleep that produced their lack of watchfulness. It was their lack of watchfulness that produced their physical sleep.

38:06 This is why people in times of emergency, we've heard about it, some of you have experienced it. Some of you mothers, you've remained awake for 24 hours straight in the midst of pre and mid and then the real final labor pains. And the emergency has kept you very much awake. And people in times of emergency, soldiers will go to their companions.

38:42 It's when the disciples got out of touch with the realities that were around them that then they slept. If only they had been wakeful. Their wakefulness would have driven them to prayer. And their prayer would have strengthened them to be more wakeful.

38:57 And their greater wakefulness would have driven them to prayer. And their prayer would have granted more strength. For they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles.

39:08 They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. So it is only by spiritual wakefulness and watchfulness that we are kept in touch with those realities in conjunction with temptation that will drive us to the right path. That will drive us to the right path.

39:21 That will drive us to pray. But now it's only by prayer that we can secure the grace and strength needed to face our temptations. You see, watchfulness without prayer will lead either to presumption or to despair. If you're awake to spiritual dangers and you don't pray,

39:48 I'd never go out and plunk down 50 bucks and end up and spend a night with a hooker. I can afford the luxury of letting my eye look twice at stuff on the TV it shouldn't, look three times in magazines at things that it shouldn't. I can let a woman in a magazine seduce my eye for a moment's lust. I can let a woman on a TV screen seduce my mind.

40:13 I can go deliberately and pay money to see movies in which I say, quote, well, it was only two sex scenes. And I can watch a man and a woman tumble in bed and say to myself, but I'd never tumble in an illicit relationship. You see what you're saying? Oh, yes, I'm alert that that's a danger.

40:32 Oh, yes, I'm very much. Not me. Oh, the presumption. If you're a warranty of the sin of presumption, and you know what God does to presumptuous people?

40:48 He lets them do exactly what these disciples did, and especially Peter. He ended up cursing and swearing, took his old sailor's language and brought it out of the halls of memory, and he swore like a sailor, that he never, never knew him. Presumption. So if you're wakeful and don't pray, you'll be guilty of presumption, or if you're wakeful to spiritual realities and don't pray, you'll be guilty of despair.

41:17 You say, you mean this day, Pastor Martin, left to myself? I could throw over everything limping as a man.

41:49 You read your Bible and you see the dangers we are beset with, and if you're awake and alert and you don't presume, you'll despair. You'll despair. You say, Lord, who can stand? I can fall.

42:09 If even Peter, as a mature apostle, can get carried away with the Judaizers and become a racist again and not eat with the Gentiles,

42:33 hope is there for me. Oh, but you see, if you're awake and you pray, you will neither presume nor despair. You'll come out with all the realities of your danger, and you'll spread it before him. You'll say, oh God, this heart is like a tinderbox full of dry leaves, and the world, and the world, in which I move on for grace and a passion and evil desire that will consume me and all my testimony and all that I've built in the way of character and influence.

43:17 Oh, God, have mercy. Have mercy. And as you come in spiritual watchfulness and pray, then the Lord's wonderful promise is come. My strength is made perfect in weakness.

43:31 My grace is sufficient for thee. Greater is he. He that is in you than he that is in the world. No temptation take in you, but such as man can bear.

43:45 God is faithful to provide a way of escape. And as you pray,

44:03 so you don't presume, you pray, and you don't despair. You say, look at others who had all the same liabilities, but they triumphed by grace. And you look at those recorded in the Bible in the annals of church history, and you say, say, if God's grace got them safely through, then I can sing as well through many dangers, toils, and snares. I have already come.

44:30 His grace has brought me safe thus far. And grace will let me down? That's not the way John Newton wrote it. The old slave trader, the lecherous slave trader said, His grace has brought me safe thus far.

44:47 And what? Grace will lead me home.

44:56 That's why the Lord joined them. Do you see it? Why?

45:15 Have your conscience, but you're spiritually asleep. And that's why your prayers bring down no vigor. That's why there's no evident growth in Christ's likeness. That's why you're not conquering sins that have beset you for years.

45:28 Your spirit is spiritual reality.

45:41 And alas, I fear some of you are awake, but you're not praying. And so you go forth in presumption, and you fall on your nose, again and again, and again and again and again. Or you're filled with despair. Filled with despair.

45:54 Filled with despair. Oh, I hope the Lord will take me. Hope the Lord will take me before I deny it. And your brand of Christianity wouldn't get anybody excited.

46:05 Except maybe a funeral director thinking maybe he's got a customer soon.

46:11 The scripture says the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking.

46:16 Jesus, please. You've got a director's calling card strapped to your forehead.

46:34 You don't come out of the prayer closet that way. Jesus came out of his prayer closet facing the cup.

46:51 That's what true prayer does.

46:56 Takes little weaklings like me. Most of you think God made me with a belligerent streak. You couldn't be more wrong. God knit me in my mother's womb, a very sensitive, tipped little boy.

47:10 And I could give you proofs of that and bring my own parents and siblings in to testify to that. And there's only one thing that's made me bold. It's the things I get when I'm spiritually awake and on my knees. And I say, oh God, in the light of the day of judgment.

47:40 And I can stand with a manly courage and tell it like it is. Not because that's native to my personality. It's one at the throne of grace. Watch.

The Abiding Condition: Willing Spirit and Weak Flesh

47:55 You see the two duties and why they're inseparable? Now very quickly, our third heading. We've noted together the focus of our Lord's concern temptation. The directives.

48:10 To his disciples in the light of that concern. Watch and pray. Now thirdly, the abiding condition which undergirds and necessitates this concern of our Lord.

48:24 The abiding condition which undergirds and necessitates this concern of our Lord.

48:33 ...concerned about their temptation.

48:36 Why was he concerned to call them to watch and pray? Well, look at the words of the text. The spirit...

48:46 But the flesh...

48:52 Now... ...but the flesh...

48:53 Now if I were to give a very wooden translation of the text, it would be this.

48:58 Indeed, willing, already, the flesh. Verbs in the original. No verbs. And in that kind of construction, you have the emphasis, you see, is to fall upon these.

49:20 The commodities that are described in our Lord is the presence of these.

49:37 Which necessitate constant watching and constant praying. It's the reality. He is weak flesh. Now let's take just a couple of moments to open up both.

49:57 First of all, he is ready or willing spirit. Apart from the use of this exact word in Matthew's parallel record, the only other place in the New Testament, Romans 1.15, where Paul says, I am ready, I am eager, I am askable to you that are at Rome.

50:19 ...at the bit to go to Rome, of the Roman Empire, and there be a senate.

50:25 He would have a sensitive...

50:35 ...procosm.

50:36 And he said, I'm eager. Shrining at the bit. Remember that Paul who, when they were holding him back, saying, you go in there, there's going to be a riot, you'll be torn to pieces. They had to hold him back physically.

50:45 He was just, he was like a wild horse, and there's people in that area. I said, that's the way I was with regard to preaching at Rome. Jesus said, in every true disciple, there's an eager, a willing, a ready spirit. And what is that eager, ready, willing spirit?

51:03 It is what we are as new men and women in Christ that positively, imminently is committed to do the will of God. This context caused them to say, everyone else would deny you if we must die.

51:29 Hypocrites, when they said that, that was the true disposition of their hearts. That was their willing spirit, their ready spirit. That was the spirit of a regenerate man. That way, by nature, for the Bible says the carnal mind is enmity against God.

51:44 It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. The spirit of an ordinary man who has never been born from above is the Lord that I should and to reign over me in the spirit, if so be that. ...the spirit of an ordinary man who has never been born from above is the Lord that I should ...the spirit of God dwell in you.

52:05 So this ready or willing spirit, however we may precisely define it, is in the category of the dominant position of a true disciple, which is to please his Lord at all times, in all places, and in all relationships. But you see, we're not simple personalities as believers. We are complex because there is also the presence of weak flesh. Weak flesh.

52:34 Watch. ...that you enter not...

52:35 ...into temptation, for indeed, willing flesh is the other part of what you are.

52:45 And whether the flesh here means, in the Pauline sense, as so often it does in Paul's writing, unblessed, damning humanity, or the remains of that in the spirit of a regenerate, or whether the Lord is talking of human nature in general, in its present state of weakness, it's immaterial to discern with precision. Exactly what it is, this much is clear. Whatever the willing spirit is, the opposite is weak flesh. That much is clear.

53:20 Now it's much more clear when Paul says in Galatians 5.17, The flesh lusts against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh, and these two are contrary, the one to the other, so that you may not do the things that you would. Now listen carefully. Our Lord is not saying that every disciple has two equal and opposite, but dispositions, and they stand at the same height, weight, shoulder breadth, and girth, and they fight it out, and whichever one you've been feeding will win.

53:51 That's the so-called two-nature theory of the Christian life. You've heard people talk about, it's like having two dogs and a pen. They were twins, born of the same mother, same size, nursed at the same nipples of their mother and all the rest, but the one you feed meat and the other you just feed sawdust, and after three months they have a fight with the one that got the meat is going to beat the one that got the sawdust, so you have two natures, the old nature, the new nature. If you feed the old, he'll conquer and you become a carnal Christian.

54:18 If he keeps on conquering, you become a real bad carnal Christian. And if you let him continue to conquer, why, you really are a big bad backslidden carnal Christian, but you're still a Christian. No, no, the Bible doesn't teach that anywhere. The Bible teaches when we are regenerate, the spirit dominates.

54:34 You are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if the spirit of God dwell in you. Romans 8, 9. Is that even obvious?

54:45 Nature, a perfect new creation. He has remaining sin, and remaining sin in this passage is weak flesh. Weak flesh. And it was weak flesh that would cause these disciples to cringe at the thought of martyrdom.

55:04 It was weak flesh that would cause them to spatter and to flee. It was weak flesh that would cause Peter to curse and to deny.

55:15 And so our Lord says, The abiding condition which undergirds. The necessity of this concern for continual watchfulness in prayer. Lest they enter in and be overcome with temptation. For that's the sense of the tense of that verb.

55:31 Enter temptation. He says you must never forget that you are not only willing spirit as my true disciple. You are also weak flesh. Now then, as we try to bring this to a conclusion.

Application to Suffering Saints and Modern Temptations

55:49 What does all of this mean? To say to us, I've tried to apply along the way. But in four minutes, let me bring it to a conclusion. To you, God's people.

55:59 Think of the application of this to the saints at Rome. The book of Mark originally was targeted for the people of God at Rome. Under the shadow of the reign of Nero. Christians were losing their life for the sake of Christ.

56:15 Imagine what it meant when they received this wonderful account. Of the suffering. Of the sufferings of their Lord. Who through wrestlings with God.

56:29 But the substitutionary curse bearing on behalf of his people. Worse than a billion martyrdoms. They would derive strength from beholding their Lord wrestle. They would say, oh God, the thought of being burned.

56:46 Being sewed up in the skins of an animal and thrown to the lions. Lord, it's abhorrent to me. If it be possible, let this come back. Nevertheless.

56:56 As my Lord embraced the will of his Father. As he through prayer. That's how the martyrs went forth triumphantly. To the lions.

57:11 To become human torches. How did they do it? They watched. They prayed.

57:18 They acknowledged that willing spirit. Was coupled with weak flesh. And needed the intervention of God. Oh, how it would have ministered to the suffering church at Rome.

57:30 To whom it was. Targeted. But oh, it comes over the ages and speaks to us. We may not be tempted to avoid martyrdom.

57:39 But what about the opposition at work? What about that seduction from that individual? That pressure to compromise your ethical standard at work? Our aspects of denial of Christ.

57:55 And how in the world are we going to resist and overcome? How are we going to make sure that the cloth soaked with the ether. Of this world's spirit. With its preoccupation with the body.

58:08 This body worship. Is a cremated place. In mind.

58:15 This worship of clothes.

58:20 Some of you are being sucked into it. Ether rag is on your face. Almost, almost gone.

58:31 What?

58:36 Take you to reality. And God doesn't give a hoot. Whether you've got the latest style clothes on. And designer jeans.

58:44 Man looks on the outward appearance. God looks upon the heart.

59:01 Or is flirting with the world. And the Bible says the friendship of the world is enmity with God. It's a form of spiritual harlotry. So James says you adulterers and adulteresses.

59:16 Know ye not that the friendship of the world. Is enmity with God.

59:22 Oh dear Christians. Hear me.

59:26 Watch. Keep in touch with reality. And you won't do it. Spending more time in front of the television.

59:33 And reading your newspaper. Than reading your Bible. Those things are calculated. To put you in the never know.

59:44 Think you're dressed in the satin clothes of spiritual safety. And eating ice cream cones the size of baseball bats. When all the while you're spiritually impoverished and weakened. And a sitting duck for the first real assault from the devil.

59:57 And down you're gonna go. You fell asleep. Even after hearing this sermon. Even as I've seen some of you.

60:06 Falling asleep while I've preached it. My children. Talking about adults. God have mercy on some.

Application to Unbelievers: The Need for a Willing Spirit

60:19 God have mercy. And I say to you who are sinners. You don't have a willing spirit. If all you've got is what you took have with you from your mama's womb.

60:29 You don't have a willing spirit. That willing spirit in weak flesh is only true of people. Who've come within the orbit of the saving power of Jesus. And if you only got what your mother gave you.

60:43 Only got what the priest or the preacher could do for you. When you were christened. Or dedicated. You don't have enough.

60:48 You see you only have a willing spirit when God by his holy spirit makes you a new creature in Christ. And you'll only have that if you go to Christ. Get it from him. And my sinner friend hear me.

61:02 You're no match for the devil and for sin. You are the devil's lackey. And you are sin's slave. That's what the Bible teaches.

61:10 But Jesus is the great liberator. And you go to that Jesus who came out of Gethsemane. And with principles. And with princely dignity march to the cross.

61:21 And you ask him to give you what he died to give poor sinners like you. And he delights to give. He said him that comes to me I'll in no wise. Oh dear people watch that ye enter not into temptation.

Prayer of Confession and Supplication

61:44 Indeed the spirit will bless you and thank you for your dear son. And for his faithfulness to the spirit. And for his faithfulness to the souls of his immediate disciples. And subsequently to us by inspiring the gospel writer to leave a record of his words.

62:20 We confess with shame so often we've slept spiritually. We've been out of touch with reality. We disowned and denied and dishonored our savior through our lack of watchfulness and through our prayerlessness. Take your word this morning Lord.

62:39 Lord Jesus and make it an effective means to call many a Christian back to new levels of watchfulness and prayerfulness and for those who have no willing spirit because they are still slaves of the devil and of sin oh Lord lead them to the Lord Jesus that they might find the opening of the prison of their bondage and come into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Thank you for your presence with us. Again we praise you for your word. Your word and your spirit send us on our way conscious of your dealings with us as we ask these mercies through the Lord Jesus Christ.

63:19 Amen.