Introduction

Luke 22:39-46 ESV  And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him.  (40)  And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”  (41)  And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed,  (42)  saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”  (43)  And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.  (44)  And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.  (45)  And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow,  (46)  and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

• If you were not here last week, let me fill you in on where we are at…
  • Jesus has now left the last supper, with His Disciples, and Has gone up to pray…
    • And through this prayer time that Jesus is having, right before He is betrayed, I think there are at least four things that we can gather… Four things that we can do to pray more like Jesus…

1. To Pray Like Jesus: Have a Prayer Custom.
2. To Pray Like Jesus: Pray that You May Not Enter Into Temptation
3. To Pray Like Jesus: Pray the Fathers Will
4. To Pray Like Jesus: Pray with Passion
5. Last week we went over that first point in depth…
   1. To pray like Jesus, have a prayer custom…
   1. The truth is, we all need to have prayer discipline. If you haven’t yet, your homework is to go watch that sermon, because it is a cornerstone, a keystone… a fundamental pillar of prayer that most people I think miss or are lacking in…
6. But today we are going to talk about that second point…

• To pray like Jesus you need to pray specifically that you may not or would not enter into temptation… and that’s exactly what Jesus told His disciples here…

Luke 22:40 ESV  And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

Point One – The Spirit is Willing, but the Flesh is Weak… Pray that You May Not Enter Into Temptation

• Point one this morning comes not just from Luke, but also from Matthews gospel, where he wrote about the same event… the prayer in the garden on the mount of Olives…

Matthew 26:41 ESV  Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

• So point one this morning is “The Spirit is Willing, but the Flesh is Weak… Pray that You May Not Enter Into Temptation”
  • Now I could take this point in a lot of different ways this morning…
  • I could preach a whole sermon on “The strength of your spirit better be bigger than the weakness of your flesh”.
    • But we are not going to go down that path this morning… because I really want to focus on the prayer aspect of these verses… pray that you may not enter into temptation.
  • So instead of talking about combating the flesh, I am simply going to use this statement “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” as context…
    • It is a given, y’all… we are weak. Our flesh is weak.
      • Our fleshly hearts are weak…
      • Even our minds are weak when set on the flesh and not on the Spirit…
      •  it’s just a given.

James 4:14 ESV  yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

1 Peter 1:24 ESV  for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls,

Romans 8:5-6 ESV  For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.  (6)  For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

Jeremiah 17:9 ESV  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

• Our flesh is so weak… it’s just a given…
  • And when I say flesh, maybe I should clarify… our flesh, biblically speaking, is not talking about the actually skin on our bodies… it’s not talking about our dermis…
  • No, it is talking about everything about us that is not eternal…
    • Our skin is part of that…
    • But its also our wordly desires…
      • Financial desires…
      • Sexual desires…
      • Social desires…
      • Culinary desires…
      • Fitness desires…
        • All of these desires are the flesh… they are not inherently bad…
          • You can have healthy financial desires “I want to work and earn enough money to provide for my family”
          • You can have healthy sexual desires “I want to have a great physical relationship with my spouse and only my spouse”.
          • You can have healthy social desires “I want to fellowship with believers in Christ!
          • You can have healthy culinary desires “Food is not something I do for fun, but something I consume to stay healthy and have energy…”
          • You can have healthy fitness desires “I want to take care of my body that God gave me…
      • But all of these desires can turn sinful, and quick…
        • Serving money as a god…
        • Chasing after sex or fantasies…
        • Being preoccupied with friendships that don’t provide godly fruit…
        • Eating at taco bell…
        • You can even be so addicted to working out that you neglect other things in your life… or so afraid of working out that you neglect your own health.
  • All of these things, and anything else that is a desire, weather good or bad, if it is not Spiritual, then it is the flesh… and the flesh is weak…

Matthew 26:41 ESV  Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

• The Spirit is willing… but the flesh is weak…
  • A devastating report came out this week against one of the greatest theologians of our time…
    • Ravi Zacharia, since his passing, has been found to have been a pervert, an adulterer… and even a rapist.
    • I believe Ravi loved Jesus, he had a VERY willing spirit… but his flesh was weak and time and time again he entered into temptation and it destroyed him.
      • There is no excuse for such behavior… but there is a reason for it…
      • Ravi’s flesh was weak… and he did not pray and earnestly seek that he may not enter into temptation…
        • I don’t want that for my life or for anyone else’s life…
    • So before we even get into praying against falling into temptation we must first except that we are weak…
  • And look, Ravi wasn’t alone…
    • King David’s flesh was weak… he impregnated a married woman, and murdered her husband to hide his sin.
    • King Solomon’s flesh was weak… he chased after women from foreign God’s and ended up sacrificing his children to Moloch, literally killing them at the altar of a false God… And don’t be too shocked by that, there are many churches of Moloch still accepting live sacrifices today, they are called Abortion Clinics… there is one on first Ave here in town… because our flesh is weak, and Planned Parenthood found a way to profit off that weakness.
    • Even the strongest man to ever live, Samson, his flesh was weak… and because of chasing after his flesh, he lost his life.
    • And for the Disciples, it wasn’t women, it was sleep… their bodies wanted sleep, and they let their bodies control them…

Matthew 26:40-43 ESV  And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour?  (41)  Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  (42)  Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”  (43)  And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.

• Y’all, you are not holier than David, your not wiser than Solomon, and you are not stronger than Samson…
  • So what makes you think that you are holy enough, wise enough, or strong enough to not give into the weak flesh…
    • What makes you think that you are holy enough, wise enough, or strong enough to avoid temptation?
    • The answer is… YOU ARE NOT! Because no matter how willing the spirit is, you still are stuck with this weak flesh!
    • THEREFORE… someone say therefore… THEREFORE WE MUST PRAY THAT WE MAY NOT ENTER INTO TEMPTATION.
• That brings me to point two…

Point Two – Pray that You May Not Enter into Temptation as Part of Your Prayer Custom.

• We talked about this last week… don’t let your prayer life be situational!
  • Things done situationally turn out poor…
  • And so it is with praying not to enter into temptation…
  • If you plan is to only pray against temptation when you are feeling weak or the temptation has already come, then you are probably already too late!
    • NO! Praying to not be lead into temptation HAS to be part of our prayer custom!
    • How do I know? Because the most customary prayer given to us includes praying not to enter into temptation!

Matthew 6:9-13 ESV  Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.  (10)  Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  (11)  Give us this day our daily bread,  (12)  and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  (13)  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

• I love this… lead us not into temptation…
  • You see, James 1:13 tells us that God will never tempt us.
  • But that doesn’t mean that we won’t find ourselves lead into temptation… let me explain…

Psalms 37:23 ESV  The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his way;

• You see if you are born again… if Jesus is your Lord… if you delight yourself in His way… then it is GOD who leads you…
  • God who directs your steps…
  • God who guides your path…
    • And sometime that path may go through some temptation… not that God is tempting you, not at all, but that the evil one is waiting in the bushes to jump out and tempt us while we follow the path of the Lord.
• So to pray “Lead us not into temptation” is first saying “Wherever you lead me, I will follow… where you say go, I will go”.
  • But it is also admitting “But Lord, you know as well as I do, that my flesh is weak… and since you are in charge of my path, if it be your will, would you mind just detouring me around any temptations.”
  • It’s saying “I know you will never tempt me, and I know that whenever temptation comes that you will always provide a way out… but honestly, I don’t trust myself Lord… and I so desperately don’t want to fall into temptation that I pray you would have mercy on me and just not lead me into it in the first place”.
• Now that is an awesome and honest prayer, one that I believe God answers… if God wouldn’t answer it, then why would Jesus tell us to pray it?
• But I also think that temptation is still going to happen from time to time… therefore on top of having a prayer custom of praying “Lead me not into temptation” we should also be praying “Should temptation come, let me not enter into it… give me strength in that moment, prepare me even now”.
• Honestly I think that a major problem the church as a whole has had historically, not just the western church, but the full Bride of Christ, is that we do not have a discipline of praying against temptation…
  • I mean, think about your own prayer life… do you wake up in the morning and pray against temptation daily?
    • Or do you pray for blessings, and protection… and pray for healings, and miracles, and wisdom and guidance…
    • All of that is good… but how many of us, myself included, wake up and pray daily “Lord, I am so passionate about living righteously for you that I never want to enter into temptation… would you guide me away from temptation today… and should it come would you give me the strength to not enter into it? Because God I don’t trust my own strength… so I am asking for yours… because I NEVER WANT TO DO ANYTHING THAT WOULD HURT YOU!”
      • Do we really pray that? I don’t think we do…
  • I wonder if Ravi’s life story would be different if he prayed that daily, and meant it, from the beginning of his walk with Christ…
    • I bet the first time he touched a girl inappropriately he didn’t start that day with “Lord help me to not enter into temptation today, give me strength”.
      • Nope, I think the first day he fell into that disgusting temptation… I think he was probably having a hard day, he was probably tired, angry, on edge… he probably was having a bad day…
      • It’s not like he woke up in the morning and thought to himself “You know what I am going to do today? I think I will grope a co-worker!”…
      • But imagine if he had the discipline to wake up and say “God, I don’t know what today holds, but I know that I don’t want to enter into temptation… deliver me from evil and keep me from temptation today”.

Conclusion

Now in a few weeks we are going to learn about praying passionately, because none of this maters if we are praying in vain repetition… but for now, begin building a prayer culture, and make praying against temptation a part of that discipline… a part of your prayer custom.

• Gospel Call