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Teach Us to Pray Part 3 By John McCallum

 We're going to have a brief reading from the scriptures.
And I would like to turn your attention to the Gospel of Luke chapter 22.
The Gospel of Luke chapter 22.
And we want to begin reading at verse 31 and read to verse 46.
Gospel of Luke chapter 22 and beginning at verse 31.
Of course Jesus is speaking.
Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail, and when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.
But he replied, Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.
Jesus answered, I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.
Then Jesus asked them,
When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals,
did you lack anything?
Nothing, they answered.
He said to them,
But now if you have a purse, take it,
and also a bag.
And if you don't have a sword,
sell your cloak and buy one.
It is written.
And he was numbered with the transgressors,
and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me.
Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.
The disciples said,
See, Lord, here are two swords.
That is enough, for he replied.
Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives,
and his disciples followed him.
On reaching the place,
he said to them,
Pray that you will not fall into temptation.
He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them,
knelt down and prayed,
Father, if you are willing,
take this cup from me,
yet not my will but yours be done.
An angel from heaven appeared to him
and strengthened him,
and being in anguish,
he prayed more earnestly,
and his sweat was like drops of blood
falling to the ground.
When he rose from prayer,
he went back to the disciples.
He found them asleep,
exhausted from sorrow.
Why are you sleeping, he asked them.
Get up and pray,
so that you will not fall into temptation.
May God bless to us that reading from his word.
Amen.
We continue our studies in the Gospel of Matthew,
chapter 26,
reading from verse 36,
Matthew's account of the Lord Jesus Christ
in the Garden of Gethsemane,
and I'm going to read through that passage again
very quickly to remind ourselves
of the portion of scripture
that we're considering Matthew 26 at verse 36.
Then Jesus went with his disciples
to a place called Gethsemane,
and he said to them,
sit here while I go over there and pray.
He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him,
and he began to be sorrowful and troubled.
Then he said to them,
my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.
Stay here and keep watch with me.
Going a little farther,
he fell with his face to the ground and prayed,
my father, it would be possible,
may this cup be taken from me,
yet not as I will, but as you will.
Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping.
Could you men not watch with me for one hour,
he asked Peter.
Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.
The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
He went away a second time and prayed,
my father, if it is not possible for this cup
to be taken away unless I drink it,
may your will be done.
When he came back, he again found them sleeping
because their eyes were heavy.
So he left them and went away once more
and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
Then he returned to the disciples and said to them,
are you still sleeping and resting?
Look, the hour is near and the Son of Man
is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
Rise, let us go, here comes my betrayer.
We are trying to encourage one another to pray
and to remind ourselves of the experience
of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Because in all the examples of prayer in the scriptures
that we could refer to, it seems to me
that Christ is the supreme example
in all that is good in the scriptures.
And this portion of scripture gives us more details
about the prayer life of Christ
than any other single text in the Word of God.
And it seems to me, therefore,
that this is the most appropriate portion
to come to in order that we will be taught to pray
after the manner of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now whilst there are, of course, unique elements
in this portion of scripture and in the experience of Christ
on this particular occasion, nonetheless,
we would maintain that what Christ is actually doing
as he prays in the garden is that he is following
the normal course of the life of prayer.
He is not doing something out of the ordinary
despite the extraordinary and unique circumstances.
And we find Christ as he prays in the garden,
in a sense, praying as he would always pray
in his day-to-day life as a man in this world
despite the unique circumstances of this particular occasion.
Now so far, we have reminded ourselves
of some of the more elementary points,
and we're not going to go into great depths in this study.
We're simply trying to extract the main themes
for our own encouragement and application.
And we have seen that Christ actually engages
in the activity of prayer.
We have seen how he separates himself in order to pray.
We have seen how he perseveres in prayer.
We've noticed the reverence with which he prays.
We've noticed the petitionary aspect of his prayer
and reminding ourselves that a large portion
of our prayer life is going to be occupied
with asking God to give us things or to do things for us.
And we noticed also how he was confident
in his prayer to God.
And so we want to continue then this morning.
And again, we want to emphasize
some of the more obvious elements.
And we will find that as we try to pray without ceasing,
as the scripture commands us to do,
we will find that certain of these elements
will come to the fore also in our experience
of the life of prayer.
I want to begin this morning our consideration of Christ,
praying on this occasion by reminding us first of all
of the agony and the struggle that was involved
for Christ in prayer on this particular occasion.
And it was for that reason that we were reading
in the Gospel of Luke.
Because Luke tells us in his Gospel
of how our Lord Jesus Christ entered
into that tremendous experience of struggle and anguish
to such a degree that his sweat became, as it were,
great drops of blood falling down to the earth.
It is Luke who emphasizes that particular aspect
of our Lord Jesus Christ's experience.
And we might imagine that there was something
in a sense extraordinary about that particular experience.
And in a sense there is something extraordinary
about Christ's agony in this particular occasion.
And the extraordinaryness is the physical phenomena
and the degree and the depth of the conflict
in which Christ found himself as he was praying
on this particular occasion.
But there is a sense in which that also,
that struggle and conflict is also part
of the ongoing experience of prayer.
Because if you and I try to pray,
as the scripture commands us to pray,
we are going to find ourselves also in an agony
and in a conflict.
I would emphasize not at all to the extent
that Christ experienced on this occasion
because this is a unique and an unrepeatable occasion.
But nonetheless, in principle, the agony and the struggle
that Christ was experiencing is an agony and a struggle
that everyone who tries to pray is going to experience
to a lesser degree than Christ experienced
on this particular occasion.
And I want to emphasize that for a most elementary reason.
And it is that everything in the Christian life
involves struggle and involves agony.
And everything that you and I try to do as Christians
in obedience to God is going to involve a struggle.
It is going to involve effort.
It is going to involve a degree of pain
and a degree of anxiety and anguish.
And I would refer you, for example,
to something most interesting and instructive
that our Lord Jesus Christ said
in the Gospel of Luke in chapter 13.
You remember from verse 23 onwards,
he was asked the question by a certain individual
on one occasion, are there few that enter in?
Are there few that be saved?
And our Lord Jesus Christ replied to that question
by reminding the individual of the need to strive
to enter in at the straight gate.
And the word that he uses there for strive
is the word from which we get our English word, agony.
In fact, what Christ is saying is that in order to enter in,
in order to begin the Christian life,
there must be struggle, there must be a degree of agony.
You and I will not even begin to live the Christian life
unless we are willing to experience something
of the struggle and the agony that is involved
in so living the Christian life.
The Christian life begins with an experience of agony
and struggle and striving and effort.
And I'm emphasizing that because in the teaching
of the word of God, we are reminded again and again
that there are tremendous barriers to overcome
in order to do the will of God.
Doing God's will, experiencing the full life
of the Christian is not something that comes naturally.
It's not something that comes easily.
And there is no man or woman in this world ever, ever, ever
has found following the Lord Jesus Christ
to be an easy thing.
It is a pleasant thing.
It is the most satisfying and the most desirable thing,
but it is not an easy thing to do the will of God.
And it is not therefore an easy thing to pray
and to engage in the kind of intercessory,
petitionary prayer that our Lord Jesus Christ
is experiencing in the Garden of Gethsemane.
And I'm emphasizing that because we all know that
from our own particular experience.
But we must be very careful as Christians
that we do not misunderstand what this agony actually is
and where the cause of those barriers to living,
the Christian life actually come from.
And I'm emphasizing that because sometimes we imagine
that in our striving and in our struggling in prayer,
we are struggling with God.
And that somehow or other in order for God to hear us,
we have to cry loud and long
and somehow or other constrain upon God
to listen and to hear and to answer our prayers.
And sometimes we find, for example,
that when the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 15,
for example, says strive together with me
in prayers on my behalf.
We might be tempted to think that the Apostle is saying
that we must struggle and strive with God
in order to pray as God would have us pray.
But that is not what the scripture means.
When the Apostle Paul says strive together in prayer,
he is not saying that we're to strive with God
as if God somehow or other is reluctant
to hear and to answer our prayers.
And there are Christians who maintain that
because way back in the book of Genesis in chapter 32,
from verse 24 onwards, we find Jacob, you remember,
struggling with the angel.
And Jacob was saying that he would not let go that angel
until the angel blessed him.
I will not let you go until you bless me.
And there are those that imagine
that that is our normative kind of experience
for every Christian and we must therefore struggle
and wrestle with God in prayer
in order for God to bless us.
Nothing could be further from the truth
according to the word of God.
God delights to hear.
God is more willing to give than we are able to ask.
God desires to give good things.
And he is willing, he hears us before we even ask.
When then and where then does this struggle come from?
The struggle in prayer and in the whole
of the Christian life is not that God is putting barriers
in the way of salvation and strengthening
in the Christian life.
It is the devil who is putting barriers in the way.
Your struggle and mine as Christians is not with God.
My struggle is with the flesh and with the world
and with the devil.
It is the enemy of our souls who seeks to discourage us.
It is the sinful flesh and the law of sin in our members
which rises up in resentment
against this activity of prayer.
Prayer is withering to the flesh.
The flesh loves ease.
The flesh loves to have the desires of the flesh
and of the mind satisfied and contented.
The flesh loves to relax and to sleep
and to ignore the things of God.
The Lord Jesus Christ says in this very passage,
the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
And even in the experience of our Lord Jesus Christ himself
as he strives and struggles in the Garden of Gethsemane,
there is an element of fleshly weakness.
I am not saying there is sin.
I am saying there is weakness.
And I'm saying there is weakness
because the scripture speaks of the weakness of Christ
in the days of his flesh.
He was a man crucified in weakness,
says the apostle in 2 Corinthians chapter 13.
And our Lord Jesus Christ is made
in the likeness of sinful flesh.
He is without sin.
And please do not misunderstand what I'm saying.
I am not hinting or in any way alluding to any reality
of personal sin in the life of Christ.
He is without sin.
But the manhood of Christ is made in the likeness
of sinful flesh and for sin.
And as a man in this world identifying with sinners,
Christ must enter into that experience of human weakness.
Since the end tale of the fall afflicts us all,
Christ must enter into that stream of human life
under the fall.
He is not fallen.
It is impossible for Christ to sin.
But in order for Christ to do the will of God,
there must be the overcoming of a whole environment
and a flesh in which he was living as a man
that has to do with the likeness of sinful flesh.
And so this conflict that Christ is experiencing
is a conflict with the devil, with the world,
and with the flesh.
And what I'm saying I know,
I would love to expand this more.
But what I'm asking us please to understand
for ourselves this morning is that God is not
withholding blessings or reluctantly giving in
to our pleas as we come to pray.
The struggle is not with God.
We strive against the world and the flesh and the devil.
And every area of the Christian life
has to do with struggle and with striving.
And our Lord Jesus Christ here,
he understands perfectly what it is that we experience
as we struggle against every possible barrier,
deviation, and temptation to pray.
In order to do the will of God,
we must overcome the world and the flesh and the devil.
And that means that when you and I try to pray,
we must recognize that there are going to be
those barriers that must be overcome.
If we imagine that prayer is going to be simply going away
and somehow or other having immediate access
into the presence of God,
entering into the full experience
of communicating with God,
we are greatly mistaken.
The enemy of our souls, he desires to sift us like wheat,
to drive us away from that throne of grace.
And our Lord Jesus Christ, we're told in Hebrews chapter four
he was tempted in all points like as we are,
yet without sin and he knows and he is learning
in a new way the hardships that are involved
in praying to God and seeking to do the will of God
in this particular regard.
The second thing, and I can only just mention these things,
the second thing I want to emphasize this morning
is the strength that Christ derived
during this experience of praying in the garden.
We again were reading in the Gospel according to Luke
and we're told there of how an angel
came from heaven and strengthened him.
Now you will of course recall
that that is not the first time
where our Lord Jesus Christ was ministered to
by angels from heaven.
You remember how after the wilderness temptation
in Luke chapter four and in Matthew chapter four
we're told that after those 40 days
and that particular threefold temptation
we're told how angels came and ministered unto him.
And it is in the Gospel of Luke chapter 22
that we're reading together that we are told specifically
of an angel coming and strengthening him.
And the point amongst many points
that we can make about that,
the point that I want to emphasize
is that Christ was actually strengthened
as he prayed to God.
He was being given strength and grace
to do what God would have him do.
He was being made willing to do what God would have him do.
Not my will but thy will be done.
And I want to emphasize something fundamental
in this particular regard
and that is that according to the scripture
in many places there is a strengthening
that comes to the people of God
when we do commit ourselves to God and pray to God.
In Psalm 27 for example, verse 14,
you have the same kind of emphasis made
where we are to encourage and strengthen ourselves
in the Lord, we're to call upon his name
and the Lord will strengthen our hearts.
Psalm 31, Psalm 37 emphasizes the same kind of thing.
There are many other references in the Psalms to this
where the man of God calls upon the name of the Lord,
commits his cause to God,
and his heart is made more strong and resolute
in the things of the Lord.
You have it, I suppose, most excellently summarized
in the book of Proverbs chapter 18 at verse 10.
The name of the Lord is a strong tower.
The righteous man runs into that name
and the righteous man is safe and strengthened and so on.
And so it is for all the people of God,
the scripture makes this clear over and over again
and it so was in the case of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In other words, what I'm saying is that
there is an actual strengthening that comes
to the people of God when we commit our case to God.
Because let us remember something about the Christian life
and all those conflicts and battles
that one finds in the Christian life.
And it's basically this, the battle belongs to the Lord.
The Christian life is a life that you and I cannot live
in our own strength and God doesn't ask us
to live the Christian life in our own strength.
God never asks us to do anything at all
for which he is not prepared to give us grace
and the ability to do those things that he has.
And Augustine put it very well a long time ago
when he said, give what thou dost command
and command what thou wilt.
And that is exactly what the Bible emphasizes
over and over again.
You and I are asked to repent of our sins.
We have not the ability to repent of sin
but he gives repentance, he gives us what he asks.
You and I are commanded to believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ.
By nature we have no ability or desire to believe in Christ.
Faith is the gift of God.
We are commanded to love.
We cannot love, we've no desire to love, we've no ability.
The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts
by the Holy Spirit and we could go on and on.
All those great things that God commands us to do and to be,
he gives us the ability so to do and to be.
And here is a man, the Lord Jesus Christ,
and God is requiring him to be made sin for us
and to be a sacrifice for sin.
And there is something in the manhood of Christ
which is shrinking and fearful.
Let this cup pass from me.
That is the plea because the manhood of Christ
is not rebelling against the will of God
but shrinking from the experience of being made,
the object of the anger and the curse of God
because the Messiah is one whom the Lord is pleased to bruise
and to lay our sins upon him and to smite him
and to stripe him with the sins of his people.
And Christ is understanding more and more clearly
the implications of being made sin
for the sins of his people.
And he is shrinking as a man from the prospect
of being separated from God
and made a curse under the wrath of God.
But he must be enabled and strengthened
to do this very thing.
And he is being enabled by God.
Behold my servant, it says, I say in the prophet,
the one whom I uphold.
God upholds Christ and God enables Christ
and God strengthens Christ.
But Christ must pray as a man
as the people of God have always had to pray
that God would do for us those things
that God has promised to do
and those things that God must do
if we are to be the people
that God would have his people to be.
And the principle for Christ and for us
in those regards is exactly the same.
To be made willing to do the will of God,
to be enabled to do the will of God.
Hebrews chapter four at verse 16 puts it this way.
Let us come therefore with boldness to the throne of grace
that we might find mercy, mercy for our sins.
That's what we need, mercy.
And that's the first thing we experience.
And then grace to help us in times of need.
And here is a man in a time of need
and he must have grace and strength for this time of need.
Now I want to tie in this with a most interesting passage
in scripture in the epistle to the Ephesians in chapter six
where you remember from verse 10 onwards
the apostle encourages us, commands us indeed
to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might
and to put on the whole armor of God.
And then Paul lists you remember
the various portions of the armor
in order that we might stand in the evil day
and having done all to stand
we must be able to understand and resist,
recognize and resist the wiles of the devil
because our warfare is not with flesh and blood,
it's not men, other men, it's not even ourselves ultimately,
it's not my own flesh and blood that is my ultimate enemy.
It's not me, it is those principalities and powers,
evil hosts and wickedness in high places,
the devil and his fallen hosts of demons.
The scripture makes it very clear
those are ultimately the adversaries of the Christian life
and the scripture makes it clear
that those were the adversaries
with whom Christ was contending in the days of his flesh.
But the point that I want to emphasize is this,
that when you and I are considering the armor of God
that God commands us to put on
in order that we'll be strong in the Lord
and in the power of his might,
we often finish you remember with the shield of faith,
the sword of the spirit
and we forget that the armor of God
includes verse 18 of chapter six in Ephesians,
praying always with all prayer in the spirit,
making supplication for all men and also for me.
In other words, prayer is part of the armor
and not only is prayer part of the armor,
prayer is the climax of the armor.
If you and I put on those other aspects
of Christian life and virtue
that Paul is mentioning in Ephesians chapter six,
but do not pray it will all fall to the ground
because how am I to put on the shield of faith?
I must ask God for that shield of faith
and righteousness, the breastplate of righteousness.
How can I ever be ready and equipped with the equipment,
the shoes of the gospel of peace?
How can I ever understand and take up and use wisely
the sword of the spirit which is the word of God
and all those other,
how can I do it unless I pray to God
to give me all that is necessary
to put on the armor of God?
And we must not imagine that Paul turns to some other subject
in verse 18 in Ephesians chapter six.
Praying always with all prayer in the spirit for all men
is part of the armor of God.
It is that climactic experience
where if we neglect to pray,
we shall never be strong in the Lord
and in the power of his might.
And our Lord Jesus Christ is being strengthened
in the activity of prayer
in the same way as the people of God
have always been strengthened in the activity of prayer.
There is something that God does for us
in the act of prayer that is strengthening
our understanding, our resolution, our conviction,
our confidence, our faith, our hope and our love.
The act of prayer is a means of grace
and God will bless and God has promised to bless
and on every occasion God does bless
the man or the woman or the boy or the girl
who comes and pleads his cause to God
in sincerity and in truth.
And if God does not do that,
then let us close our Bibles and forget all about it.
God has covenanted that when his people cry, he will hear.
Will he not vindicate them speedily,
his elect who cry unto him day and night?
He will vindicate them there and then,
not necessarily by changing their circumstances,
not necessarily by giving them great feelings of assurance,
but he will vindicate them in that he will strengthen them
and God will be for them and not against them.
Christ was strengthened in the act of prayer.
There are other things we could say about that too,
but we must pass on to the third point
that I want to emphasize this morning about prayer.
And it is in the closing verses of this portion,
Matthew chapter 26, where we have the sympathy of Christ
for his people, he is, we find that there is an agony
in Christ's experience and there will be in ours.
There is a strengthening of Christ to do the will of God.
And on that regard, I should make a comment
that from the time of Gethsemane onwards,
we find no more sorrowfulness unto death
in the life of Christ.
From this time onwards, through the crucifixion,
we find Christ calm, resolved, absolutely clear
and committed in his own mind.
When the multitude came to arrest him,
you remember he stood forward and he said,
I'm the one that you seek, you come against me,
I'm the one you seek.
You remember how when Peter would take up the sword
and cut off the ear of Malchus,
the servant of the high priest,
Jesus healed that servant's ear and rebuked Peter,
Peter, shall I not drink the cup?
The father has given me Peter, I'm going to drink this cup.
Standing before the high priest, you remember,
you shall see the son of man coming in power and in glory,
I am the son of God.
Standing before Pontius Pilate, you remember,
Pilate, you've got no authority over me.
The only authority that you've got over me,
Pilate's authority is given from above.
Christ is not sorrowful unto death after Gethsemane.
He has strengthened, the issue is settled once and for all
and he goes forward to do the will of the father.
Arise, let us be going.
That is how Gethsemane ends, let us be going.
There's work to be done.
The crisis of Gethsemane for Christ is over
and he was strengthened in the garden
as he committed himself to God.
But the third point this morning, very briefly,
is this sympathy with his disciples
and I bring this in because in verse 41,
I will consider this later on, Christ says this,
watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.
The spirit is willing but the flesh, not the body,
the flesh is weak.
I will consider that later on.
But the point is this, that Christ understands
from his own experience that the spirit may be willing
and the flesh is weak.
He knows and we're told something of this
in Hebrews chapter four at verse 15.
We have not a high priest who is unsympathetic to us,
one who cannot be touched
with the feelings of our infirmities
but one who was in all points tempted like as we are
yet without sin.
He was tempted not to pray.
He was tempted not to drink the cup
that the father gave to him.
He was tempted to take the easy way.
That was a real temptation.
Such as you and I perhaps will never experience
the degree and the maliciousness of that temptation.
But the point is he understands his disciples.
He knows that they are weak
because he has entered into the weakness of flesh
and that's why I said what I said earlier.
And there is a sympathy with Christ.
We have a high priest who is touched
with the feelings of our infirmities.
And you remember how Christ comes to those disciples
three times in the Garden of Gethsemane?
Peter, could you not watch with me one hour?
He came again, found them sleeping and he comes again
and he says to them, sleep on now, you're still sleeping.
You need sleep.
Why does Christ say that?
Because he understands not only their weakness
and their weariness but he understands why it is
that they are sleeping and weary on this particular occasion
and it's in the Gospel of Luke
that we are told why these disciples were sleeping.
They were overcome with sorrow.
Have you ever been weary with sorrow?
That terrible dark depression that sometimes
can come over us because of experiences
and we find ourselves quite unable to respond.
We simply can hardly think straight.
We are so overcome with a lethargy.
That is something that we all experience
to a lesser or greater degree.
These disciples that night with Christ,
they were subject to the powers of darkness.
Their hearts were over born with sorrow.
Christ has already told these disciples in the upper room
that he's going to depart from them.
He has told them that one of them is going to betray him.
He has told them that they're all going
to forsake him and flee.
He has told them that he is going to die
and you remember in the upper room,
already their hearts were overcome with sorrow.
Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me.
And again in the Gospel of Luke
when the multitude came to take him,
this is your hour and the power of darkness.
There were evil powers abroad that night
doing what they could to deviate Christ
from the task of saving his people from their sins
and these disciples were in that environment
where the devil and his angels were tempting Christ
and they were overcome with sorrow.
And Christ understands these disciples,
they're not careless, they're not indifferent
to his cries and to his prayer.
They can see him, they can hear him.
He's only a stone's throw away, they can hear him
and he was praying with loud cries, remember.
They could hear him, they heard him.
They weren't indifferent but their flesh was weak
and they were overcome with the sorrow of the occasion
and the implications of what they were hearing him saying
and they were overcome and he understands their weakness
and their sorrow and he enters into a sympathy with them
because he knows what it is to be the subject
of evil and malicious temptations.
Now for you and for me, there's a basic principle
and I must stop just in a word.
But the lesson for you and for me is very simple.
If you and I pray, we will not only find ourselves engaged
in a conflict, we will not only find ourselves
being strengthened in the things of God
but we will find ourselves being sympathetic
to those for whom we are praying
and those men and women who are around us in weakness.
We will have a new understanding of their weakness.
We will be less willing and quick to criticize
and to condemn the weaknesses and the faults of others.
We will be less prone to make hasty judgments
and false judgments and if you and I find ourselves
as Christians harboring grudges against an individual,
I'll tell you the biblical remedy to cure that root
of bitterness is to pray for them because do you know this?
If you pray for an individual, you will find it
a psychological impossibility to hate that individual.
You will find your affections beginning to go towards
that individual and they may hate you
and to pray for you may be the last thing
that they would ever dream of doing.
But if you and I are praying before God,
we will find ourselves entering into a fellow feeling
and a sympathetic compassion with our fellow men
because the moment of prayer, the activity of prayer
is a revelation of our own weakness
and our own sinfulness and insufficiency for those things
and the Christian church would be a much happier
and a much harmonious family and fellowship in this world
if we would learn to pray one for another
and if a Christian falls into sin as we all fall into sin,
let us not come down like a ton of bricks
and condemn and criticize and mock
and perhaps rejoice with glee.
Let us rather weep and let us rather pray one for another
and we will find a sympathetic and a loving heart
towards those who have fallen by the wayside,
perhaps overcome with sorrow and our Lord Jesus Christ
comes on his final words to those disciples
is a word of understanding and sympathy and compassion,
sleep on now, take your rest
and of course there is an interlude and a time lapse
and then he says, time now to awake, let us rise and go,
here comes my betrayal.
Well, I better stop at that point
because I've gone over my time already
but may God bless us one more time.