R538 What Happened When Jesus Prayed, Pt.2

We all could use some encouragement and we'll find it together today in the Bible-based teaching of Dr. Don Wilton here on The Encouraging Word. Today we continue in the study on what happens when Jesus prayed. Jesus is praying for you. You'll discover more as we open God's Word together. You can also discover more on our website at www.tewonline.org.

Now, Dr. Don Wilton. What happened when Jesus prayed before He died? I think sometimes, all too often perhaps, that especially in our modern-day world we have Jesus Christ wrapped in clothing that would somewhat befit our own tastes.

And I think that that's understandable. I think that we struggle somewhat to separate Jesus Christ the Son of God from Jesus Christ the Suffering Servant. I think sometimes in my own life there has been a tendency to reduce God to my own human limitations. And I cannot even begin to imagine what Jesus must have gone through when He contemplated the cross, just the very thought of it. After all, He knew about these things. Jesus understood the end from the beginning. He had already been there. He knew what lay ahead. I think that somewhat within the heart and soul of the Lord Jesus Christ there was beginning to whirl up the same kind of questions that we would have had had these things happened to us. Why me, Lord? And I seem to remember somehow in God's Word that when Jesus hung upon the cross that He did say, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? I don't believe that those words were uttered indicating a severing of the tie between the Sovereign God and His Son, but rather they were uttered because Jesus Christ was paying the full price of humanity He was representing. I think had we been there we would have uttered something far more elaborate perhaps.

Perhaps our questions would have gone on for a far longer time. But I cannot even begin to imagine the agony of this one, the Lord Jesus Christ. Can you?

Just think about it from start to finish. His whole life upon the earth had been agony. God spoke. And the first thing Jesus had to do, the Son of God who was God and was in the beginning with God, this same one had to reduce himself to some small fetal position within the stomach linings of a mere mortal woman. Can you imagine the agony of a God who was the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end being reduced to such a small form, bound up in struggle, a struggle as it were between life and death. Can you imagine the agony of the Son of God being forced down the birth canal of a mere mortal woman and being born in a lowly place called a stable?

I mean this is God we're talking about. Can you imagine the agony of Jesus Christ as God ordered him to begin to grow up to manhood? I cannot even begin to imagine the agony of our Lord Jesus Christ as he took his first steps as a baby and everybody applauded and said look, Jesus is taking his first step. After all, he was the Son of God.

He walked from before the foundation of the world. I cannot even begin to imagine the agony of the Lord Jesus Christ as he approached his tween age years when he was neither here nor there, when people mocked him and reviled him because he was neither big nor small. I cannot imagine the agony of the Son of God as he went through that horrible journey called puberty. I cannot imagine what he must have gone through as he went through his teen years and as he worked in his father's carpenter's shop, a place where he was confined and reduced despite being the Son of Man.

I cannot imagine the pain he must have experienced when he took that hammer in his father's shop and missed the nail like we all do and smashed his finger. The Bible says that he was the God-man, that he suffered in all points just as we suffer, yet without sin. This is the same one who on that incredible day long before the crucifixion found himself in the Garden of Eden contemplating something that was far worse than being reduced to the womb of an expectant mother. I think, don't you suppose that Jesus understood what was going to wait for him? Oh, he knew that the days of roses and trees, he knew that the protection of his disciples who were wont to fall asleep just at a whim and a fancy. He knew that all the things that were at his power and disposal, that the time had come that he was going to be taken and beaten and he was going to have strips torn out of his back and crown of thorns crushed into his brow. He knew that they were going to drive stakes into his hand, that he was going to be pierced in the side and fed vinegar to drink to enhance his thirst rather than to relieve his predicament.

He knew what he was about to go through. I think that Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane could see himself hanging there for the sin of mankind as the viciousness and the anger of God meted out upon all people who have stepped outside of the grace of God because of the fall of Adam. I think that Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, could see the people in the marketplace and the Roman soldiers mocking as they cast lots for the garments that once rested upon his body. And so it was that Jesus came into the garden and he prayed.

I wonder what happened on that day. I thought about this one whom Peter turned to and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. This is the same one who looked at Lazarus and said, Lazarus, come forth. This is the same one who said, listen, I'll feed the five thousand with the mere mortals of food. This is the same one who walked on the water and command the winds and the waves to obey his voice.

This is the same one, the Son of the Living God. And here in John chapter 17, we find the Lord Jesus Christ stopped and prayed. Turn with me in your Bibles this morning to the Lord's Prayer, John chapter 17 and verse 1. The Bible says after Jesus said this, may I submit to you today that I believe it was not just following the things that he had said, but it was following the things that he had done. I think it was after Jesus had done everything that God had told him to do. I think it was now that the time was drawing that this man's assignment was complete as a man, that he was standing on the threshold of being translated into the very glory and presence of a righteous king, of a holy God.

After this, Jesus Christ, the one who had endured and traveled and who had gone through all of these things in order to pay the price for people like you and me. After this, Jesus looked up to heaven and he prayed, Father, the time has come. Glorify your son that your son may glorify you. For you, my Father, granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given to him. Now this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the same glory I had with you before the world began. Last week we introduced the subject, what was Jesus saying, the agony of the cross, what happened when Jesus prayed before he died, what was he reminding himself of? Number one, he was reminding himself that God's timing is perfect.

Jesus had been bound by human limitation. I can only just imagine how the disciples had come to him more often than not in the early hours of the morning and had awakened him and had said to him, Lord, Master, we've got to be in Galilee and we have a two-hour walk and it's time for us to get up. And if we don't get up now, we're going to miss breakfast in Nazareth. And you know that the cafeteria is only open certain hours and then we've got to get down there all the way down the hill to Capernaum and if we don't leave now, time will restrict us and you won't have any time to preach to the crowds.

I can just imagine the numbers of times that Jesus stood in front of crowds and as he was getting toward the end of his message, people stood up right when he was about to give the invitation and said, it's time, it's 12 o'clock, church is over. I've given enough time to this God. I'm off to the restaurant. I don't need to stay any longer.

I'm out of here. I've done my duty. I don't know how many times Jesus stood and preached and taught and saw people governed by time because of their human limitation. And yet here in verse one of chapter 17, Jesus upon his knees, looking up toward heaven reminds himself and ourselves that God's timing is absolutely perfect and there is a real sense in which God in Christ Jesus is saying, this is the moment we've all been waiting for. But there was a second thing that Jesus reminded himself and all of us in this most marvelous expression prior to the resurrection and that is simply that God's glory is ultimate.

Look at verse one. Father, the time has come, glorify your son so that your son may glorify you. The agony and the ecstasy of being the son of God. I cannot even begin to imagine as Jesus began to sweat great drops of blood, as he began to agonize in his heart and soul and come to grips with the fact that God the father was about to turn his back on God the son because of the sin of mankind. So great was his love and right there in that moment upon his knees as he contemplated the Via della Rosso, Jesus Christ remind himself that all of this is to the glory of God.

Why? Because this is the climax of the incarnation. What was he demonstrating?

We looked at this last week. Three things. He demonstrated the sovereignty of God over evil through the cross and resurrection. He demonstrated the compassion of God for all people through the cross and his glorious resurrection. He demonstrated the finality of the cross for all believers through his death and resurrection.

Jesus came to grips that the glory of God is ultimate and there is a sense in which God the son falls upon his face and he says, Oh God, Oh God, don't forsake me. But I want you to know that all I do is only for your glory. You're listening to Dr. Don Wilton, our teacher here on The Encouraging Word. Don't worry, he'll be back to complete today's message in just a minute, but he wants me to remind you we're here to pray for you 24 hours a day at this number, 866-899-WORD. Take a moment, jot it down, store it in your cell and know that it would be our joy to pray with you and for you.

866-899-9673 or online at www.tewonline.org. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. Father, please glorify your son. There was a third thing that I think Jesus reminded himself of and that is that God's authority is granted. God's authority is granted. In verse 2 he says, For you granted him authority. There is a real sense here, my beloved friends, if you will beg my pardon.

There is a real sense here that we find in our hearts God standing up before all the ages and saying man has sinned and in Adam all die. I need one who will represent the sin of mankind, one who by my very authority will demonstrate my love in such a way that it will provide irrefutable undeniable evidence of the vastness and of the greatness and of the height and the depth of the love of God for all people because it is the love of God that constrains me and I can see the son standing up in heaven and say, I'll do it, Father. I'll do it, Father. I'll go. I'll be born in the womb of a mortal mother.

I'll be born in a lowly stable even though I'm a king and a prince. I'll go and go through all the trappings of human torture and existence. I'll go to the cross. I'll let them slap me in the face. I'll let them beat me up.

I'll let them do whatever they want me to do. I'll do it, Father. I'll do it, Father. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, his only unique one of a kind son, there is none like unto him. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and full of truth. This is the Jesus whom we worship. This is the one who came down from heaven in order that we might have life. This is what Easter Sunday is all about. Hallelujah. What a savior. What an incredible thing to think about. I believe with all my heart that when Jesus knelt and prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, he was reminding himself that God's authority had been granted in the giving of it.

Why? Because it was granted by the King of Kings and the Lord of Lord. In the extent of it, because his authority was granted to all people by his son. And in the scope of it, because it extended to all time and all eternity. This is eternal life through the indelible stamp and authority of Almighty God, who is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And there is none like unto him. What was Jesus doing when he prayed before he died?

Do you suppose? Perhaps it's time, beloved friends, that we brush off our beautiful little pictures of Jesus hanging upon a cross. Perhaps it's time that we fall upon our knees and understand the enormity of the agony upon the cross. For the Son of God hung there and suffered for people like you and for people like me. But there was a fourth thing that he reminded himself of, and to which we are also reminded, and that is simple, that God's position is absolute. Look down there in verse three, the Bible says that Jesus prayed, now this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Here Jesus was upon his knees looking up to heaven, talking to God the Father within the context of the agony of the cross that was about to be lowered upon his life. And God the Father reminds God the Son, as the Son and the Father communicate and dialogue the one with the other, that Jesus' death and resurrection literally is a timeless, eternal, spiritual seal of God's position for all time and for all eternity. What the cross and the empty tomb was about to do, beloved friend, it was about to seal the absoluteness of everything that God is. How? And who?

And why? Because God is creator. God created the heavens and the earth, everything that we have. There is not a thing that stands outside of God's holy hand.

There is nothing that has ever existed that does not come by the touch of the hand of Almighty God. Jesus' death sealed God's position as creator. Jesus' death was about to seal God's position as sustainer. The Bible says he not only created everything we have, but he sustains the world by the might and power of his Spirit. He hung the stars in place and he keeps them exactly where he wants to be. He made everything revolve and turn and the sun and the moon and he keeps them exactly where they're supposed to be.

He created man in his own image and he has put man for the sole purpose of glorifying his wonderful name and providing for him. Yes, Jesus' death. Jesus' death solidifies God's position as absolute for all time and for all eternity as creator, as sustainer, as provider in Jesus Christ. Here in verse 3, Jesus is reminded that I am the Son. You are the provider and I am the one who through obedience upon the cross, I am bringing about your position as provider for all people for all time and for all eternity. He is sustained as creator, sustainer, provider and of course as redeemer of the world.

Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. God's position is absolute. God's position is absolute. And here in verse 3, Jesus said you are the only true God. Can you just imagine as he knelt down in the Garden of Gethsemane what might have been going through his mind? Some people ask me one time, did Jesus ever get distracted when he prayed?

I should imagine so because the Bible says that he became man for us. I think that Jesus became distracted. He suffered in all points just as we do yet without sin. I think there's every possibility that even within the context of the agony upon the cross that the Lord Jesus knelt and I think that he remembered quite well all the persecution, the blasphemers, the zealots, the Sadducees and the Pharisees, all the false gods that were everywhere. I think there is a real sense that when Jesus went to his knees and prayed before he died that he was almost overwhelmed by those who would want a pound of his flesh. Jesus knew that he was being harassed. He knew that he was about to be beaten.

He knew that the world didn't like him, that the world didn't want to have anything to do with him. I would pray with all my heart that there is not one person worshipping today who would be saying I wish this thing would be over. I've done my duty. I've come to church.

It's Easter. I've listened to my friends and my family. I've sat down at my living room chair and I'm behaving myself. I haven't said anything. I'm doing my duty but I don't want anything to do with it. That's offensive.

It's ridiculous. How can you talk about a Saviour who does something like that? What kind of Saviour would let that sort of thing happen to himself? And what was Jesus saying when he went to his knees? Jesus was in a sense overwhelmed by all the pundits and the skeptics and all those who had their treasury threatened by the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and he said, listen, I want you to know that God's position is absolute. He is absolutely true.

There is no one else like him. I am the way, the truth and the life and no man can come unto the Father but by me. Listen to what he says in verse three. Now this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

What a Saviour. I wonder what happened when Jesus knelt and prayed before he died. I think he reminded himself that God's timing is perfect and we are reminded of that too. I think Jesus reminded himself that God's glory is ultimate and we are reminded of that too. I think he reminded himself that God's authority is granted and we are reminded of that too. I think he reminded himself that God's position is absolute and we are reminded of that too. But there was a fifth thing, Jesus was reminded that God's work is complete because of the cross and the empty tomb and we are reminded of that too. Look down there in verse four, the Word of God says, I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. Did you notice that?

Did you notice that? What was Jesus doing when he prayed before he died? Oh yes, he was reminding himself that God's timing is perfect and God's glory is ultimate and God's authority is granted and God's position is absolute. But he was reminding himself that God's work is completely complete. John 19 says it is finished. What work had been completed on the cross?

What work exactly? Number one, his work of obedience to the Father was complete. This was the end of the road. This was the ultimate act of obedience that Jesus Christ demands of all disciples.

That is why we are a disciple making church because that is the demand of Jesus Christ. His work of obedience to the Father was complete. It is finished. Number two, his work of channeling glory to the Father was completely complete. Everything he did was designed to glorify the Father. Number three, his work of offering man's redemption to the Father was completely complete. There was nothing more to be done.

There was nothing more to be said. There is now, therefore, no condemnation to those who are in union with Christ Jesus, the cross of Christ once and for all. I am the way, the truth and the life and no man can come to the Father but by me. You can be saved by grace through faith.

This is the empty tomb. This is the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. But I believe before he stood to his feet, he reminded himself and ourselves of one more thing and that is that the son's return home is guaranteed. Right here in verse 5 he says, and now, did you notice that having said all of these things, having done all of this and now Father, would you glorify me in your presence? Now listen to this, with the glory I had with you before the world began.

Here the son's return home is guaranteed. Just picture this, would you, for a moment. Jesus looking to the cross, all the agony of the cross of which he had no doubt whatsoever. But you know something? Because he is God, he saw beyond the cross, he saw beyond the resurrection and he saw the guarantee of the Father that the son would be reunited with him in glory forever. What was he saying?

Two things. Number one, he was confirming his pre-existence but the second thing he was confirming was his equality with the Father and God speaks. You've heard from Dr. Wilton from the pulpit.

Now as he steps into the studio, open your heart to what he wants to share next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today, I repent of my sin and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. If you just gave your life to Christ, won't you let us know? Call 866-899-WORD. If you prayed with Dr. Wilton and he has resources he wants you to have for free, call us now. 866-899-9673 or online at www.tewonline.org.

And before we get away, a closing thought from Dr. Don. You know I'd love to be a part of your daily devotional. Love to be able to send you the encouraging word daily devotional and be a part of what God says to each one of us through his word every day. You can become part of that and receive one yourself from me. Just go online to www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org and get your copy of the encouraging word Bible devotion today. Our time's gone for today, but discover more on our website this week at www.tewonline.org.