I want to paint a picture for you this morning... Picture yourself arguing with a friend and you really lose it. You pull out a gun and kill your friend. You are caught and arrested. Found guilty of murder at your trial. Sentenced to die by lethal injection. With all of your appeals exhausted you are led to the execution chamber, where they lay you on a table. A heart monitor and an IV are hooked up to your body. You watch as the attendant makes ready the poison that will be placed into your IV. You glance at the clock and see that you only have one minute left for a stay of execution.  The phone is silent.  Is this the end?

As the attendant readies the lethal poison, the door swings opens. In walks a young man. He says "Stop, set this man free." He then looks at you with compassion and says, "My father loves you so much that I have come to take your place. Not only for your sin of murder, but your other sins as well.  I will die in your place.  You’re free.  Is that alright with you?" You say "yes" and watch as this man lies on the table in your place. The IV is inserted into his arm. The lethal poison is injected into the IV. You listen as he says "Forgive them, Father." You watch as he says with his last breath, "It is finished".  And then dies.

If this actually happened to you, wouldn’t your life be changed? Wouldn’t you live a different life?  Wouldn’t you be indebted to this man and his father forever?  Wouldn’t you carefully listen to everything he told you?  Well, as you know, it has happened to you.  And everyone.  We have Someone who stepped into our place to take what we deserved…

We have Someone who showed us love that deep.  Who showed us How Deep the Father’s Love for Us is.  (Read text)  The suffering that began as Jesus poured out his heart to God in prayer that evening didn’t end until He died on the cross.  The struggles Jesus went through during this show us the heart of God’s love for us.  And Jesus asked his disciples to watch and pray as He prepared for this mighty struggle.

This wasn’t easy for Jesus.  Look at Him in the garden.  See Him throw Himself down.  Praying with loud cries and groans.  Sweating blood.  Seeing and knowing all that is about to take place.  Even while He was praying, his dear friend Judas was in the process of selling Him out.  The soldiers are on their way.  The trial is coming.  So is the spitting and beating.  Then the flogging.  Then the crushing weight of the cross.  Then the nails in his hands and feet.  Then a day of hanging on the cross in shame.  And then death.  But that isn’t the half of it.  Abandoned by all, comforted by none, all of the sin of the whole world will be dumped on Him.  And every bit of God’s righteous rage against sin poured out over Him.  Wonder why Jesus was praying?  Why He wanted disciples to pray?

Seeing everything that was about to happen, Jesus cries out to the Father,  If there is another way, Father, dear Father… please… but your will be done.  The Father sends an angel from heaven to strengthen Him.  To lessen his pain?  Take it away?  Not at all!  The angel gives Jesus the strength to endure even more!  Here comes the blood-like sweat.   It would be enough to endure the shame and abuse of men.  It would be painful enough to be abandoned by his family and friends.  But to be punished and abandoned by his Father – who can even imagine!?  And so He cries for relief.  But none comes.

How Deep His Love for Us!  We are there in the Garden with the disciples.  And what are they doing?  They hear Jesus crying out, don’t they?  Surely they see the blood and sweat pouring off his anguished brow.  Surely they were wrestling with God in prayer and falling to their faces on the ground during this great struggle!  Surely they were taking Jesus seriously!

But, no…!  Look at them!  They are on the ground, alright.  But they are sleeping!  They aren’t watching this man who went to suffer for them!  They are not joining Him in prayer!  They aren’t even struggling to stay awake!  Isn’t that astonishing?  They are sleeping because of sorrow.  The whole thing is just too much for them.  A child can’t sleep on Christmas Eve because of the excitement of the coming Christmas Day.  But the disciples, on the night before the suffering that would win salvation… are sleeping!

I want you to imagine that you are one of David’s brothers, serving in Israel’s army.  Your little brother has just volunteered to go out and fight the giant.  Down to the valley he goes, risking his neck to save your life, and your people’s lives.  You’d be pretty anxious, wouldn’t you?  Any chance you would fall asleep?  Or imagine it’s D-Day.  You are heading toward the shores of Normandy on a boat.  The German guns stand ready.  The tension is buzzing!  Any chance you would be falling asleep?  Or back to the opening picture we painted.  You were just unstrapped and released from the executioner’s table.  The man lies down in your place.  The IV is hooked up to him.  He asks you to pray with him.  You aren’t going to fall asleep, are you?? 

The disciples did!  Why in the world would Jesus not just get disgusted at this point and say, “If that’s all you care about what I am going through for you, then forget it!  I’ll go back to heaven and the praises of angels I’ve been enjoying for eternity!  You disciples are not worth it!”

Anyone squirming right now?  I am.  I think we are all too familiar with the sleep of those disciples.  We are experts at not taking Jesus seriously.  We have not prayed with Jesus!  We have not prayed that we won’t fall into temptation!  We know how to say: “Lord, I know this is what You want me to do, but frankly, it’s just too much effort for me.  Besides, I am sure You’ll understand.  I’m sure You will forgive me.  So Jesus, can You excuse me while I take a nap, a break from following You?  A break from praying?  I don’t want to suffer , I just kind of want to enjoy life right now.  Lord, You know how it is…”

Yes, He knows alright!  He saw it in his disciples.  And He sees it in us.  We have NOT prayed with Him!  And how does He respond?  “Father, my dear Father, with cries and groans and sweat like blood, I come before You and ask that your will be done.  While they sleep in indifference and carelessness, I beg of You, let me redeem them.  And if this is the only way that can happen, I will obey!  Just as long as their debt is paid and their ransom is complete.”  Friends, that is how deep the love of Jesus for you and me who haven’t prayed with Him, is.

So now, what do we do?  Do you think we can maybe take this Jesus who has stepped into our place to redeem us seriously?  Can we listen to Him now?  He tells us: “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”  So that we don’t fall into the Devil’s snare and trap!  He told the disciples to watch and pray because of the great danger that lay before them.  They too, were about to endure a great battle!  The devil was eager to catch them in a trap!  If they didn’t listen to Jesus’ words, they would have no armor of defense!

They didn’t listen.  They didn’t pray.  They fell asleep.  Their battle was coming.  And they weren’t ready.  Temptation came alright.  The devil attacked.  And when Jesus was arrested, they all fell.  They ran away and hid!  How loving of them!  How loyal.  At the first whiff of trouble, they are gone.  Peter, the “strongest,” denies Jesus.  If only they had listened.  If only they had watched and prayed with Jesus as He told them to.  They still would have suffered.  But they would have suffered with hope, with strength from the Word, with answers to prayers for strength.  But because they didn’t cry for help, they were overcome with tears and despair.

If you fail to watch and pray like the disciples, you can be sure that the next time you have to “carry a cross,” you will carry it with much greater sorrow and suffering than necessary.  You will fall and fail.  Run and hide.  You will deny Jesus and pursue the sin of the moment, rather than suffering with Him and waiting the glory of his resurrection.

You already know that, don’t you, from bitter and painful experience?  Think of the times in your life when you were tempted and you stumbled and fell.  Why was that?  It wasn’t God’s will that you should fall!  It was because you didn’t listen to Him!  It was because you didn’t watch and pray.  Or if you did “pray,” you were only praying for secondary things.  There is nothing wrong with praying for health and wealth and warmth of family and friends.  But even more important is the prayer Jesus urged us to pray in the Garden.  The prayer that we will not fall into temptation.  The prayer that He and his grace fill our eyes and hearts and minds.  The prayer that He and his Word will always be most important to us.  The prayer that when the temptation to abandon Him or doubt his love comes, we may cling to Him and watch with Him!

If our souls aren’t filled with Jesus, they’re going to get filled with something else.  The Tempter will come fill them with doubt, fear, lust, pride, and a host of other sins.  Think of the times in your life when you were afraid that maybe God had finally left you, finally gotten sick of your excuses, and was going to let you suffer a while.  You got sick.  You lost a job.  A loved one died.  The past had shame in it.  The future held fear.  But Jesus said:  Watch and pray!  Listen to my Word and promise!  Follow me to the cross.  If we do that, we will still suffer.  But we will suffer with Jesus.  We will suffer in the confidence of the resurrection and the victory He has won for us by the cross.  We will suffer with hope, a light at the end of the tunnel.

So friends, watch and pray!  Daily.  Constantly.  Don’t make any decisions in your life without prayer!  Pray constantly not to fall into temptation!  Pray the same thing for others!  Use the insert in the bulletin today to pray for the needs of many!  Watch and pray!

One Sunday after church a pastor noticed that one of the men was wearing a lapel pin that had a bulldog on it. He was wearing it because he worked for Mack Truck and the bulldog is their logo, but the pastor didn’t know that.  So when he asked, "Frank, why are you wearing a bulldog pin?"  Frank got a twinkle in his eye and said, "Well, that bulldog symbolizes the tenacity with which I hold onto Jesus Christ."  His pastor answered, "Well, Frank, it’s a great symbol, but lousy theology."  Frank said, "What do you mean?"  The pastor said, "It shouldn’t stand for the tenacity with which you hold onto Jesus Christ. It should stand for the tenacity with which Jesus Christ holds onto you."  Jesus said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”

Friends, it isn’t our great prayer life that attracted God to us.  It isn’t that we have watched and prayed that moved Jesus to do for us what He did.  It was his great love for us that moved Him to take away the guilt for all the times we have fallen.  And slept.  That is How Deep the Father’s  Love for Us!   Amen.