“Not My Will, but Yours Be Done” | Luke 22:39–46

Show Notes

Episode 761: 
In this episode, Chris and Jeff dive into a deeper exploration of Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, as recorded in Luke 22:39-46. They discuss the significance of Jesus' statement, "Not my will, but yours be done," emphasizing the humility and obedience it represents. They draw parallels between Jesus' experience in the garden and the struggles individuals face in surrendering their own will to God.

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You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in practical ways. Hey, everybody, welcome to the Bible Guys. My name is Chris, and I'm Jeff and I'm I'm waiting for you to say that, because it's good to have you back. It is so good to be back. I missed you, Chris. I missed you too, Jeff. I was on the other side of the world you. Were, but you had Dave Wilson with you, Tom Blount and Chad and others, and Tom Green keep you. Oh yeah, Tom Green was there with you too and to keep you company. So you know it was probably harder. To miss me but all of you. For me to get all of them together, I love it. Give wish wish, yes, that they could bring the kind of fulfillment enjoying my life you bring. That was close to what I was expecting. I was going to say, I thought you were measure up to you. I thought you were going to go a little bit higher. Like that. You're going to say, like they make up them, they can't make up the majesty of. The megity, the magnificence of Chris, Yeah, no, know, it was great. So we were overseas. We were encouraging a bunch of pastors and man, let me tell you. I'll tell you one quick story. We went out. We were way out in the bush. We were in the Ivory coast, Cote de Vaux, and we were hours and hours and hours and hours from the capital city. Just you know, full will drive, you know, those bumpy roads. So we get out. We're in this little church. They used to meet under a mango tree, but it would rain, and so the young pastor who was trying to start this church went to the chief had led the chief to Christ already, and he told the chief, we need some land to build a church. And so the chief gave him all of their voodoo altars and all that stuff. They tore it all down and church over it and the ninety believers. It's a little tiny village. So then we asked, well, how long has the church been here? And they went, oh, less than six months. I went, no, not the building, the whole church. The whole church is only six months old. There's ninety new believers. Just six months ago they were worshiping the devil, and now these people are singing Jesus praises, There's no God like our God was the song they were singing. And then I asked, what how long is this? This this church planter been a Christian? He said twelve months. Wow, so he has he's already started a k he has a pastor who's discipling him on how to share the gospel. And here he is. He's been a believer for twelve months. He's got eighty new believers meetings singing there's no God greater than our God. H in a church building that's sitting over top of an old voodoo temple, and. We can't go across the street and talk to. Our neighbor that's exactly right over the fence. Dude. It's amazing. So you know, working with the Timothy in misiative is really an amazing thing. And that's what we do is we make disciple makers and make disciple makers everywhere. That's what I was doing. That's right. I missed you, buddy, but it was a good work. Well. We are in a series the Famous Sayings of Jesus. What if Jesus had a podcast? He talked about these famous sayings and the sing for today Actually the theme for this week are his final words. These are we're getting down to it right and but before we get into that, we have a second. This whole week are the final words of Christ all week long? Apparently, Yes, yes, okay, And so the segment that Desire put together for us is actually a stump the pastor Now you too can be a part of stuff the pastor. If you want to write in a question, please email us at info at the BABA guys dot com. We'd love to hear from you. And here's what Chelsea. Are Wow, so I just read it. Yes, that's a good one. Yeah, and we know Chelsea by the way, Hi, Chelsea. My question is can someone lose their salvation? As a mom and is most important for me to teach my kids about Jesus his love for them and for them to accept Jesus as their personal savior. My worry is if they accept Jesus as their savior when they were younger, what happens if they get order and begin to question and have doubts. That's a great question. That's a good question. It is an age old question. Yes, so Christianity's two thousand years old, and I think they've been asking this question for. Car carry the one that's y. Yeah, yeah, yes, so this is great. There are different groups of Christians who have different views on this. Yes, right, so there's gonna be some strong opinions on both sides. You and I come from a Baptistic background, yes, right, And so here's what I would say. I believe that when a person has genuinely placed their faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone, Jesus is the one who does the saving, not the person who does the faith placing. Right, And so God says I will never leave you nor forsake you. The question is what if your children grow up and struggle with their faith for a while and it seems like they forsake Christ. Right, Well, they're not the ones who generate their salvation. Thus they're not the ones who keep their salvation. That's right, right. I believe that they place their faith and trust in Christ in a genuine way, a meaningful way. Repent of your sins, turn to Christ, receive him by faith. Then he says I will never leave you nor forsake you. And the illustration I've used before on this is when my daughter was little, she looked like boo. I think you've seen pictures of her before. She had the little pigtails on top of her head, great big eyes, all this stuff, funny, high pitched voice, just so sweet, very wilful, very strong willed little girl, but so sweet. And she didn't like to have to hold my hand in the parking lot. But you couldn't see her head over top of the things, and back then nobody had the cameras on the back of the car. So I'd be like, all right, Jenna, you got to hold Daddy's hand. And I wanted her to learn when we're out in the parking lot, you hold my hand, right, So I'd always I would ask her, Jenna, hold my hand. And then she told man, well, from that moment on, who's holding whose hand? For real? Yeah? Right, So she placed her hand in my hand, and from that point on I was holding her hand, not her holding mine. So it didn't matter she wanted to wiggle out at that point, I'm going to keep her alive as we're walking through the parking lot. And so I really view salvation in that way. God doesn't yank our hand into his, but when we place our hand in his, he's the one holding us, not us holding him right. And we always say the Bible is its own best commentary. If you take all the verses together about salvation and piece them together, maybe perhaps one verse in isolation, it might sound like you, you know, it's like, what does that mean? Does that mean you have to do good deeds? And yet you stack them all together, And what we realize is it is Christ plus nothing. So nothing we can do to get us into heaven, nothing we can do to take us out of God's care. And so like John ten he says, hey, I'm the sheep, know my voice, and he said, and no one can snatch them out of my father's hand. Member. And then Ephesians one it says that we are given a seal at salvation, and then Ephesians four it says we are sealed to the day of redemption, which is the time that we meet Christ face to face, whether he comes in his glory or at last we shall you know, I forgot that, yeah, yeah, yeah, we open our eyes and see Him in heaven. And that seal is like the Emperor's seal. Yes, nobody breaks that. Nobody breaks the seal, that's right, ye. And then and then perhaps my favorite verse, that's what I was doing. I was looking this up. My favorite verse set of verse is Roman chapter eight, verse thirty five, and this is the NLT version that says, who can separate us from the love of Christ shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or the danger with the sword as it is written. And then it goes on and it says, no, all these things, and all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I'm convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the things present nor the future, nor any powers, nor height, nor death, nor nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. So it is just, it is pretty pretty clear. Nothing in all creation, in heaven on earth, no powers in the sky or in the earth below. Nothing not even the powers of Hell, can separate us from the love of God. So the answer for us, obviously is that we believe the Bible with crystal clarity says you cannot lose your salvation. So I think it's fair to ask, So what about you know, So my child at five years old, had a prayer moment and they made a profession of faith. But then at sixteen they're struggling with remembering it or struggling with did I really mean it? Or at thirty four, did I really mean what I did when I was thirteen? Right, So at whatever point you're like, if you come to a point where you're going, I'm not really sure about that time, it's not going to make God angry for you to say, hey, you are so important to me that I want to make sure our relationship is right. If I didn't mean it before, I just want you to know I mean it now, right. And that would be like, let's say a married couple goes through a tough time. They have a choice to walk away or they come back and they recommit themselves. Again. I've done a few different marriage recommittals. They were never divorced, they just weren't together, and then they would come back and they would want to get back together and they would make a recommittal. It wasn't that they were divorced. It was just that they were reaffirming the fact that we're all in for each other. And so I think it's okay, it's perfectly okay for you. If you're doubting, don't just rely on me saying, oh, you probably were saved before, right, Eternity is kind of a big deal. Don't you remember, honey, when you were five? That's right. Instead say we'll make today the day. Yeah, if you're not sure, make today the day. It's okay too. And so one of two things will happen as far as heaven and God is concerned. Either A that'll be the first time that you received Christ because maybe when you were younger you didn't know or mean it or understand. Or B you were saved as a child, but now you've just given yourself some assurance, not for God's sake but for yours. Yeah. Sure, so that's that's the part. There's nothing wrong with it, right, that's the part you say, one harm. But either way, there's only one salvation, there's one Lord, one salvation. Right, So we're saved once and then after we're saved, we're always saved. Or if you ever have a doubt, just make sure. Right, that's right, that's right. That's definitely not going to do you any harm, and it'll make everybody put a bow. On that thing, right, absolutely, because the devil loves nothing more than to neutralize the power that is in you by making you believe you don't have that power. That's right. He loves it. He loves doing it, and so the best way to overcome it is to say, hey, I remember I don't know about yesterday, but I remember today. Here's what I did, and I engage with Jesus and gave my life to him and all that kind of stuff. And you have the power of the Holy Spirit in you, so you don't have to worry, you know. Speaking of being stressed over decisions. That's a good one. Yeah, Jesus was stressed in the Mount of Olives over a decision that he had to make, because, after all, he did say he willingly gave his life and laid it down for you. That's correct. Yeah. So how about that for transition. That's pretty good. That was actually not a bad transition. Well. I suggested that a few weeks ago maybe we should try to do like the best transitions ever, but that would take prep. It was so hard, yeah, so hard. So anyways, I don't know that we're ever going to do the best ever at anything. People, this is the best you're gonna get let me. Let's be honest. If you're hoping to see some improvement, we're coming up on, what is this our seven hundred and sixty first episode, and we already did one hundred and seventy something to the others, so we're coming up close to a thousand episodes. Oh wow, if we're not gonna if we're not any better by now, you probably should give up. Hope we're not get true better. That's true. So okay, here we go. So we're reading in Luke chapter twenty two, and we're reading verses thirty nine through forty six, and we've talked about this passage multiple times, multiple times, multiple times, but we're going to look at it from a different perspective today. It says, then, accompanied by the disciples, Jesus left the upstairs room and went as usual to the amount of olives, and there he told them, pray that you will not give into temptation. And he walked away about a stone's throw, knelt down and prayed, Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine. Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him, and he prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood. At last, he stood up again and returned to the disciples, only to find them asleep, exhausted from grief. Why are you sleeping, he asked them, Get up and pray so that you will not give in to temptation. Is that it's yeah, that's it. That's it, you know, exhausted from grief. I'm not sure I've ever y'all talked the page to me too, log that in my brain. We've made fun of them for falling asleep before. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but they're grieving now I feel bad. You didn't feel bad before. I never didn't make fun of they fell asleep, But now you realize they were grieving. Yeah, they were exhausted from grief. I don't know that. Have you ever? Have you ever been so exhausted that you just collapsed? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, I know I have. Yeah, I've talked to what you are right now. Yeah, you're about to cry. I'm not about to collapse, but I did yawn. So just so you'll know, the whole auditorium we're on the stage in our auditorium at Heritage Church. It's completely dark and we just have these spotlights on us. And so in any low lit situation, I was yawn. I had a seven thirty intro tomissions class at Baptist bable College and it was in a very low lighting, dim situation, and it was unusually dim. And I'm telling you I got up at seven thirty and did other classes and never fell asleep there. But in that situation, I always falling asleep. Yeah, you're very was that photo sensitive? You're very aware? Maybe the darkness? Yeah, yeah, you yawn. But anyways, Yeah, I was just thinking about this, this passage and was trying to compare it to the other times that this story comes up. So in Matthew twenty six, verse thirty six, it comes up and it says, then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gsemine. Remember it said in Luke as was his custom? Right? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, isn't that what it said? As usual? As he left it. So they leave the upstairs room, so they just had the last supper. They just Jesus just introduced what we call communion, right right, This is my body, this is my blood. They sing a song, then they leave the upper room. And then they go they go through the vineyard. Well they so they would have walked through the streets of Jerusalem, out the Eastern Gate, down into the valley, down to and then up the other side. Sousemite's at the bottom. They would have gone up to the Mount of Olives. So he's at the Mount of Olives, and then a stone's throw. It seems like that's where he gets into the garden. I thought the stones throw represented where the other disciples were and then where he called them further. Yeah, but if you're throwing downhill, it goes a long ways. That's That's what I'm warnering, because it says they went up on the Mount of Olives. They went as usual, to the Mount of Olives. But the garden gassemites in the valley, not the mount. Wasn't the whole thing called the mount of all? Is it? No? Think so garden it's a mount. Yeah, but mounts aren't valleys. But mounts can include the bottom of the mount, which is the valley. I don't think that's what it is anyways. Somehow, that's both that, That's what I'm saying. But Anyways, so this one says they went to the olive grove Calledsemone, which is really a beautiful place. Yeah right, it really is. It's actually smaller than you might think. Yeah, it's it's not very big. It's the size of art, a little bit bigger than our auditorium. Right. So uh and he said, sit here while I go over there to pray. So how far is over there stone throw? Yeah? So I love the fact that you get all these little details from the different the passages. And he took Peter and Zebud's two sons, James and John. It's like the cubit it's like the it's like, how much is a cuban? I don't know, maybe this big exactly. And so so the other passage doesn't mention that he took Peter and James and John, but he takes them apart. Yeah yeah, yeah, that's right. And he becomes anguish in distress. He says, my soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Yes, so stay here and keep watch with you. What an unbelievable sad time. Yeah, you know, so I've mentioned this before. We talked about how when you're under great duress that you could actually sweat drop of blood. This note actually gives the name. It's Heima tidrosish which in which under great stesk, under great stress, the tiny blood vessel's rupture and the sweat glands and produce a mixture of sweat and blood. Wow. Then it says the first atom sin in the garden and was condemned to living by the sweat of his brow Genesis three, nineteen. Jesus the last atom or the second atom obeyed the father in a garden and is conquered by Adam Sin and conquered Adam Sin. So in that in that both in the garden. Yeah, kind of neat, right, So there's a garden there, there's a sin introduced. The sweat of his brow was the punishment of sin. Yeah, and then Jesus sweats great drops of blood. There's a little little symbolism there. Isn't that neat? Yeah, well, Jesus, I don't even know what to do with that. Yeah, that's very interesting. There are some things I believe in the Bible that we'll get to heaven and not even realize we're no way right. There are things that we're gonna say, Oh my goodness, like God. It's gonna start peeling back the onion and we're gonna be like yes, yeah. Like everything that he did was so unbelievably intentional that there's gonna be things that I think that that are just yeah, it's gonna be unblievable. So you've heard me also say before that that it is Jewish custom to pass one cup of wine around. Yes, and he says, let this cup pass from me. I was just looking I don't know, I was looking up something the other day and I had realized that also in the Old Testament that the cup of God was also used at least three or four times to symbolize God's wrath. Did you know that God? Yeah, so it would actually say, like, yeah, judgment, like God's wrath, the cup was poured out on the enemies. It actually uses the word cup like three different times when it refers to God's. Wrath revelations the cups to oh. Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. So it could be all the above, right, It's one of those things where again the symbolism is always so rich, and so it could be all the above. Well, that makes sense because God's wrath poured out on sin and Hebrew says, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. And Jesus said that that cup represented his blood. That's right, right, So judgment, Yeah, that's interesting, Okay, super cool on that. But anyways, here's Jesus now it is It is super cool. Super cool on that. I declared that's super cool. Okay, yep, I'm glad to be back. But so in this passage, the main statement that Jesus is making is yet, I want your will to be done, not mine. And I think that that is you know, God says, is it, James. God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. And I don't know as a Christian, there's not much of a more humble statement then not my will but your will. So even in this incredibly dangerous moment, this Jesus is facing the moment he was born for, and that was the diy in the cross he came. Matter of fact, Galatian says that he took on the form of a servant for the joy that was set before him, right that, and so he knew what was coming the good side of it. But in this moment he teaches us this humble God, I don't want to go through what's coming next, but nevertheless, your will be done, not mine, and that this is a humble positioning of just the humble servant of who Jesus is saying, I'm willing to do whatever you want from me God, and then ultimately it changed everything. Yeah. Well, I've heard you say before. It's probably one of the most powerful statements in the whole Bible. I think so. So Jesus says, not my will, but yours be done. This can symbolize anybody who recognizes God as God. Every day in our lives, that's what we have to pray, right, not our will, but his be done. Is there anything in your life more powerful than your own will except for God? Right? Because if it's not God's will, you've just moved onto God's throne. You're the God now, right. And when you exercise you're well over his Yeah, yeah, right right. So, so then for you to step off of your throne and say, actually, it's not even my throne, God, it's your throne. I don't think there's anything more powerful than that, because you're inviting the power of God to sit on the throne of your life. And then what do you have to fear? What could possibly overcome God on the throne of your life? Nothing? Yeah, if you recognize I'm sorry, if you recognize man, it is if you recognize I know. But it comes down to whether or not you recognize God as the final authority. Yeah, you recognize God as someone you trust, someone you love, someone you could believe in. And it's that statement in the Bible where he says, to whom else shall we run to? And he says, you know, the Psalma says, what God is greater than our God? When we come to that point in our lives where we say, I trust God in every single area of my life, whether it's money and I give God money, or you know, because he asks us to to honor him, or whether it's you know, my marriage, or whether it's my pride, my forgiveness right, the way that I run my business, the way that I conduct my relationships, all everything, and we have to say God knows better than me in every area. And if we believe that, and we believe that He has what's best for us in mind, even if it's even if it's bad news, even if it's a even if it's a season of suffering. Right, even if it's even if it's like, oh no, I'm going through a sickness or whatever it is, whatever it is, if God's got me, it's going to be better. Right, And we have to arrive at that point in our lives. And then and only then if we say God, you know, you can have the throne. Then it's like what else can can be better than that? Right, because I've arrived at that point in my life. And there's so much peace in that, there's so much calm in that. Because if God's on the throne, he's the one that has to defend his kingdom. So if your little life is a kingdom and you're the you want to be the king, well, then you've got to defend it. You've got to protect it, you've got to provide for it, you've got to do all the stuff in order to maintain your little kingdom. But if you step off your throne, you say, not my will, but your will be done. You be the king. And this is what Romans tells us. We have to make him the lord of our life, the king of our life right for salvation. So then when we say you be the king, now he's the one responsible for provision. He's the one responsible for protection. He's the ones responsible for the mission and the vision, all the blessings. And of course a good king is going to do good things for his kingdom, right right, So then no matter what happens, hey, enemies might come along, your kingdom might get besieged by cancer or whatever, you can still know there's a good God. He's providing for you, and he's taking care of you. And regardless on this side or on the other side light of this life, when you believe in eternal life, when you believe that salvation is real and that eternal life really exists, all it is is God has your back, whether it's here in this body or the other side. The difference is for you and me, we have this confidence, quite honestly that regardless of healing on this side or that side, we live forever in Christ. For the person who doesn't believe in eternity, this is the end, right, and so this is the hope that we have. And this is why Paul says we grieve, but not as those who have no hope. That's right, right, bad things happen, We're just not hopeless. Which is such a great passage. Right, such a great phrase. Bad things happen, but we're not hopeless. Why because we've got a good king in a case, you know, for everybody, whether you believe in a God or not, whether you believe in eternity or not, life is terminal for every person on a planet. Right. The difference is we have a good God that is the king of our life, that will guide us through that transition in the best way possible and will provide everything necessary for his glory and for the betterment of our lives and our souls. And so we have nothing to fear. And I think that's why Jesus, knowing he was heading to the cross, was able to say I don't want to do this, but nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. Yeah, that's great. Well, that's a great place to end. So hey, we will hopefully see you tomorrow if you tune in on the Bible. Guys,