The Triumph of the Will, Luke 22,39 53

The Confidence of Self-Will and the Triumph of the Will

Luke chapter 22, starting in verse 39, reading in verse 53, hear the word of the Lord. And he came out and went as was his custom to the Mount of Olives. And the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place, he said to them, pray that you may not enter into temptation.

And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw and knelt down and prayed, saying, father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.

And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly. And his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow.

And he said to them, why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation. While he was still speaking, there came a crowd. And the man called Judas, one of the 12, was leading them.

He drew near to Jesus to kiss him. But Jesus said to him, Judas, would you betray the son of man with a kiss? And when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, Lord, shall we strike with a sword?

And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said, no more of this. And he touched his ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests and the officers of the temple and the elders who had come out against him, have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs?

When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour and the power of darkness. And the Lord had his blessings to the reading of his holy word. One of the things I find impressive, well, sort of, sometimes curious, sometimes even amusing, is someone with a very strong sense of confidence.

Somebody who knows that he knows, who is convinced of his own rightness, no matter how ridiculous he really is. There's no real, that I can tell, correlation between being right and being convinced that you're right.

You never understand what I mean? They say if you have enough confidence, you could walk right into a bank vault, pass the guard and the tellers, and walk straight out with a couple of bags of money in your hand, and no one would stop you.

You just exude this aura that I belong here, and I'm doing what I have a right to do. Now, I wouldn't try that if I were you, but it's true that people notice confidence, swagger, right? Many people will follow someone simply if he or she appears to be convinced that what he, she, is doing is right.

Now, why else do you think a failed painter and a corporal in the army became the Fuhrer, the leader of Germany? Adolf Hitler had this sense, to many Germans, of an unconquerable determination that he could make things right by the sheer force of his will.

In 1934, a little over a year after he had come to power, the Nazis had a rally in Nuremberg with over 700 ,000 supporters, a huge crowd. The atmosphere was electric as Hitler entered the rally, just radiating a sense of power and absolute resolve that he was right, and that together they would conquer.

A documentary film was made of that rally, which is now considered one of the greatest examples of film directing in history. It's a masterpiece of cinema, and it's all an exaltation of Adolf Hitler. It was called Triumph of the Will.

Now, people will vote for leaders with a sense of that unconquerable will. They may even date somebody with a sense of this unconquerable will, or even marry.

Them.

They will also follow them to churches or cults. I think one of the characteristics many people around here are looking for in a pastor is that he exudes this kind of unconquerable will, an assertive confidence that he is God's man, and he knows it.

So they'll go after such men, even if he really knows very little about God's word. Others, though, don't want their own unconquerable will stepped on. And so either they'll not commit to any church, you know, just float here and there because they don't want to be found out for who they are, or they just won't go at all, you know, see the TV and call that their church.

Or maybe they'll look for churches where they can throw their weight around, you know, where the pastor or the other leaders won't challenge them. I think, for example, that's why we have too many timid pastors, because they get stepped on by people like that.

So they'll argue over things, anything, over the songs, over the dress, over the Bible versions. I believe this is the basic mentality of the King James only people. I'm not putting down that version.

It's just with some who say that's the only one. I think it's really not a matter of not knowing the facts about the translations and how the text came down to us. That may be for some. They may really not know.

But for many, it's simply a matter of their religion of self-will. They've determined that that is their favorite version, and so because it's their favorite version, it is, therefore, the only acceptable version.

And they won't listen to anyone telling them any differently. And so they will love the pastor who will confidently insist that the 1611 authorized version is God's word in the English language, and who will rudely insult anyone who disagrees with him.

About a month ago, I told you the story of Ergen Kainer. You remember that? For nearly a decade following 9 -11, he told the story of how he had been trained to be a terrorist, even, he said, in a madrasa, which is an Islamic school in Beirut, before converting in Ohio.

In 2003, he spoke at a conference on Islam at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, quoting Arabic, and telling the story of how he had once debated this famous Muslim scholar, he said, in Nebraska, very specific details, and the scholar's name was Shabir Ali.

Shabir Ali is a famous Muslim scholar. And he said, Shabir Ali asked him before the debate, you know, please don't go after Mohammed. Don't criticize Mohammed. And Kainer replied, well, I won't go after Mohammed if you don't go after Jesus.

And so he struck a pose, and if you do, if you do, then he struck a pose like Stone Cold Steve Austin, the pro wrestler, macho, tough, you know, don't cross me. Kainer didn't care, so he said in the story, about what the Muslims thought about their threats, he was too fierce, too determined, too fearless for them.

And the crowd at the seminary, as they heard this story, they just loved it. You can hear them cheering and laughing, just lapping it up, as Kainer tells the story. And I listened to it myself, and what's, you know, really interesting, you would not, you hear him in the confidence, talk about confidence, you would not have any idea listening to him.

It is total fiction. You know, he's just absolutely certain about it. And what's interesting to me is not only the audacity of Kainer to say that at a conference, at a seminary, because it was all fiction, you know, it never happened, that's what audacity.

He had never met Shabir Ali, much less debated him. What is really interesting to me about that incident, here he is, okay, Kainer, free from the facts, right? He's able to make up any story that he thought his audience would want, anything that he thought would advance his cause.

And what does he make up? Does he make up that, you know, that he drove a bus to bring kids to hear the gospel at a gym for years? Does he boast about that? Or how he helped mop the floor so a church would have a place to meet?

No, he told a story about how macho he was, about his unconquerable will. And the people at the seminary loved it. The poet William Ernest Henley has best celebrated this quality that people love. We, by nature, we just love so much.

In his famous poem entitled Invictus, the last stanza of which goes, it matters not how straight the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll, I am the ruler of my fate, I am the master of my soul.

In other words, it doesn't matter what God has said is the straight gate or what punishments he has threatened in his word, I will not submit. I'm in charge of myself. That is pure evil. And we love it.

The Temptation in Gethsemane

Here in Luke chapter 22, we see the triumph of the will. And we see that in four parts, the temptation, the submission, the contention, and the domination. Well, first, there's the temptation. The Lord Jesus goes to his place of prayer because it seems he's being tempted.

We know from the other gospels that this place is called the Garden of Gethsemane. And what happens here is of the greatest importance. That's why all four gospels report it. Now, you might think it's, at first, it should be kind of a footnote, just a, you know, what Jesus happened to be doing.

He happened to be praying in a garden when he was betrayed. But it's not. It's really very important because the business Jesus conducts here between himself and the Father determines everything that happens next.

What Jesus chooses here is why we're meeting here. It results in what saves us. It shows us what we're saved from and what we're saved for. It's so important. The whole Bible, I think, could be called a tale of two gardens.

What happened in the first garden, Eden, is undone in this garden by the last Adam. What Jesus prays, he suggests he prays because he's being tempted. Remember, he tells them at the beginning and at the end of this prayer time, pray that you may not enter into temptation.

The temptation for Jesus is to do his own will. And really, that's what all temptations are about. Jesus' will, at least on one level, is that he not have to go through torture and crucifixion. And he says so in verse 42, remove this cup from me, the cup of God's wrath for our sins.

He doesn't want to take it, at least on one level. But most of all, he wants, Father, if you are willing, nevertheless, nevertheless what I want, in other words, despite what I want, not my will, but yours be done.

Ever had a conflict between two things you want? Two desires pulling you in two different directions? You know, maybe you want to eat an ice cream cone, two scoops of Blue Bell ice cream from Yoder's.

That's what you need. But you also want to lose weight. You know, what you choose will depend on which one you want more. Yesterday, I chose the ice cream cone. Now, Jesus desperately does not want to go through the beatings and the lashings and the rejection and the crucifixion.

His will is to avoid that. And yet he knows that the words of Isaiah 53, the Lord's will is to crush him. And so there's the temptation for him to say, it matters not. The Father's will. How charged with punishments.

Isaiah's scroll. I am the master of my soul. Will he, like Adam, grasp for equality with God? Now, of course, he was equal with God, equal in being, in nature, in eternity being God. But would he grasp for equality by having his will triumph in asserting, I am the ruler of my fate?

Well, that's the temptation that he wrestles with for these hours that he's praying here. And the struggle with this temptation is so intense, the Father sends an angel, a messenger. The word angel just literally means messenger from heaven in verse 43, to encourage him.

In verse 44, he is in agony, it says. He sweats so much. You know, this is praying. You know, praying is not something we usually associate with sweating, but there he was. He'd sweat so much, he poured out, more like bleeding than perspiration.

He endured temptation to the end. Well, how do you deal with temptation? Only the one who sees temptation to its end knows how strong it really is. Now, John Piper tells a story, as only he can. I won't do justice to his story, but I'm going to try to tell it.

Of men being tempted, particularly with lust, with pornography, with sexual sin, sex outside of marriage. Like four men being beside a pit, a deep, long, deep pit with jagged rocks at the bottom, a rope tied around them that goes down into the pit, and the tempter is there in the pit putting weights on the end of that rope, on each man's rope, tugging at the men to drag them down into that pit.

First, they get 20 pounds. They can resist that. Then 50 pounds, and for one, that's too much. He stops resisting and lets himself be pulled down into the pit. The other three lean back and try to hold out.

Then the weight goes up to 100 pounds, and another man gives in, dragged down into the pit. The other two, to dig in their heels, goes up to 150 and 200, and the rope begins to tear into their skin, trying to hold on, cutting them.

It's excruciating, and so another gives in and is yanked down into the pit of sexual sin. But one more holds out. The weight goes up. Rope tears into him deeper. He wonders if his arms will be pulled out of his socket.

There's blood and it's ripping him. He wonders if he can hold out any longer. And then finally, the rope breaks, leaving him bloodied with scars,.

But alive.

In the end, which of those men knew temptation the most? The one with the scars. How do you handle temptation? We will sometimes have the most excruciating struggles with temptation. Now, it may leave you with many scars if you resist it to the end.

Temptations will come. You notice here, Lord Jesus tells them to pray. Pray that you may not enter into temptation. It really doesn't say that you won't be tempted here and elsewhere. Jesus himself is tempted, but pray that you won't enter into temptation, into its realm, its home turf, where it has the upper hand, where it will almost certainly lead you into sin.

Instead, pray that you won't be there, and then pray, and then like an angel, encourage each other. You can be an angel to others who are being tempted, be a messenger to them, to resist temptation. That's part of what the church is for, to encourage each other like angels, to see temptation to its end.

Now, I understand that someone can be a Christian young person, or a Christian of any age, but particularly a young person, and stumble into sin, even like sexual sin. And all sex outside of marriage is sin.

Sex was made exclusively for marriage. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6, verse 18, flee from sexual immorality. Ephesians 5, verse 3 says, among you, it's the church, there must not even be a hint of sexual immorality.

You should avoid anything then that will make you vulnerable to sexual temptation. You won't enter into that temptation. Paul says, the sexual immorality, sex outside of marriage, is against one's own body.

If you're a Christian, your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and so it's an especially grievous sin for that matter. It's like desecrating God's temple. And if you live in that sin, it becomes part of your lifestyle.

Okay, then he says in 1 Corinthians 6, verse 9, that you are one of the sexually immoral, and you will not inherit the kingdom of God. In other words, sexual purity is part of that straight gate that you have to go through to follow Jesus.

You can say, it matters not how straight the gate. I'm going to enjoy my sexual immorality and cover it over with grace. Sin more than grace may abound. You can say that, but you are deceiving yourself.

Now, I understand that Christians may stumble, like David with Bathsheba. But the sincere Christian person, after stumbling, is going to get up, going to repent, is going to cry, create in me a clean heart, and confess, and forsake his sin.

And then wanting to avoid sexual immorality, he or she will probably be stricter with him or herself. He won't make excuses for it, won't keep playing around with it, around the edges, seeing how close he can get.

Next time, instead, he'll dig in his heels, refuse to give in, determine that he's not going to enter into temptation. So for me, probably say, such people, I'm going to be less physical in relationships.

At least before getting married, I'm not going to be making out, I'm not going to go in private situations that could lead to sex. I'm going to set boundaries. Not because it's a law, but because I don't want to enter into temptation, to be dragged down.

I want to love the Lord even if it hurts, even if it leaves scars. Only Jesus knows the full power of temptation because only he endured it all.

To the end.

Submission to the Father's Will

He endured the temptation to impose his will. Through prayer and agony, he endured all the way to submission. Here, submission is the end of temptation because the temptation was to have his will triumph.

People like to argue, you know, we have free will, don't you know? Free will. They're insistent. We must have free will. Now, if they mean a will free of outward compulsion, that we're not little puppets on a string, well, they are right.

We have free will. It's kind of a strange thing to want to be arguing for and to be boasting about. It's like me arguing, I have 30 pounds of excess weight. Somebody say, no, you don't.

Yes, I do.

How dare you suggest I'm not 30 pounds overweight? Says, whoa, what are you so proud of? We have free will, free from outward compulsion. That's true, we do. But why would we be proud of that? Unless our religion is a religion of self-will, that we think by our own choices, free by ourselves, we can choose the right thing.

And so we're proud of our self-will. Yes, our will is free of outward compulsion, but it is not free of inward corruption. That's why without God's grace, we're going to use our will to choose the wrong thing.

We'll choose it to jump in that pit. And we don't even wait for any weights to be put on the ropes to it. We'll insist that our will will triumph. That's why by nature, we like the stories of the triumph of the will.

We like some story about some guy telling us how he's a brave, tough guy, like Stone Cold Steve Austin. How he tore off a Muslim, even if it's fake. We exult in the triumph of the will, because that is the essence of sin.

I have free will, we insist. Yes, and the problem is what we sinners always do with it. Will you submit it? Well here, Jesus has endured temptation to the end by submitting his will to the father's. Not my will, but yours be done.

It's the tale of two gardens. And in this one, after the agony of wrestling with the temptation, Jesus finally, in verse 45, rises from prayer. He rises from his knees, the position of submission. He rises fully submitted to find his disciples sleep.

Jesus has been agonizing while they've been snoozing. Perhaps they saw his agony in prayer, you know, not that not far away from them, they could see him there and they're grieved by that. So for sorrow, it says, they fell asleep, their way of handling it.

Jesus prayed through temptation to submission, the disciples awake to hear Jesus asking them, why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation. And as he is saying that, there's torches coming up the hillside to them, the stomping of men, the clanking of their weapons coming their way through the darkness.

The Betrayal, Arrest, and the Power of Darkness

And now comes the contention. It was a crowd of men. They sent out a lot of troops to get Jesus in verse 47. Judas is one of the 12 that's repeated here. It's not because we've forgotten it. You know, just though we've just from earlier in the chapter, we've forgotten he's a disciple.

No, it's just they find it so incredible. The disciples don't ever seem to have gotten over the astounding fact that they were betrayed by one of their own, by one of the inner 12. Jesus had crowds of people who were considered his followers.

But the 12 disciples were supposed to be, you know, the inner core, the elite. It would be like what we would feel if a Navy SEAL or a secret service agent turned out to be a traitor. Judas blindsides them, except for Jesus, by leading this large band of soldiers and guards and other officials to Jesus, kissing him.

Traditional sign of respect and an affection for one's friend and their culture now uses a signal to betray him. And Jesus speaks to him publicly. Jesus speaks to him, probably his last words to him here.

Judas calling him by his name personally. Would you betray the son of man with a kiss? Has he turned out that fraudulent? Well, yes, he has. Because for Judas, it was now my will be done. No matter how treacherous the other disciples finally realized that this crowd was here to arrest Jesus is probably dazed and confused.

You know, just waking up, they ask, Lord, should we strike with a sword? Remember, they only have two of them. And one of them, and John tells us, is Peter. Didn't didn't wait for any rules of engagement.

You notice that he knew what he was supposed to do. So we thought he was confident. Right. And he knew his will. And he would use that sword to ensure that his will will triumph. And he swings, takes off the ear of a high priest servant.

Now, he probably wasn't aiming for the ear. Keep in mind, the servant probably dodged. It didn't quite get away. And before he could swing anymore, Jesus demands no more of this. Jesus is a submission to the father's will.

Even if Peter is trying to impose his own. Now, this disciple and probably all the disciples, all the disciples will not probably have a different opinion, different opinions of Jesus than the priests and the Pharisees, but they still have the same spirit.

They think they could bring in God's kingdom on earth to sheer determination. And here they are vastly outnumbered. They're under equipped with only 11 of them and only two swords. And they're thinking they could hold off this crowd of armed guards and soldiers like they're the Alamo, I guess.

What's going through their heads? And one of those movies where just a few determined men think they can overcome vastly greater numbers and armaments that you can have, you can make up for having lesser forces by having more force of will.

Well, Jesus touched the man's ear, healing him, thus undoing Peter's work. The wrath of man cannot bring in the righteousness of God. Besides that, being arrested now is the will that Jesus has submitted to.

He has submitted to the domination of darkness. So he addresses this crowd of officials and guards and soldiers. Why have you come out against me like I'm a robber with swords and clubs when I was with you daily in the temple?

You know, in other words, that your home court, I was right there with you and you didn't stretch out your hands to get me there. Why? Why such a large, heavily armed force to get him? So because they're afraid that his followers might fight back?

Yeah, maybe. But also because it's an expression of their determination, of the force of their will, you know, their will that they will capture Jesus no matter what the cost. They're going to make sure it happens that they get him.

No chances. Why not take him in the temple? He was right there in their area. Is it because they're afraid of the people? Yes, probably. And in their utter commitment to kill him, they've used not only all their might, but all their mind, too.

Sure, with all their guards and their soldiers, they could probably overcome any mob that tried to stop them in the temple. But they figure, why take the chance? They use strategy, not just brute force.

All their mind, all their might. Take Jesus when he's most vulnerable, they think, with overwhelming force. And so they are completely resolved that their will will triumph. And then Jesus says startling words.

But this is your hour and the power of darkness. That is unimaginable to the religion of self-will. That's so common around here. Jesus is saying I'm submitting to the dominion of others, even to darkness.

You know, in our minds, we think surely Peter had it right. You know, they'll take my sword when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers. You probably had that on a bumper sticker on the back of his chariot.

Right?

Never submit, especially to the power. And here the word means authority, the dominion, the domination of others. Never submit. That's what going through Paul's, Peter's mind. That's so much a part of our culture that has shaped the religion around here.

Self-willed, unbiblical ideas flowed from the culture into the church. The culture thought it could dominate and discriminate against some people. And then some who claim to be Christians just brought it right into the church.

They reject what the word of God says about all people being created in God's image, that we're to do justice, which is the opposite of discrimination, and love mercy and love our neighbor as ourself.

And in case we don't know who our neighbor is, Jesus told us that our neighbor is the one of whatever race, whatever ethnicity, even those people our culture teaches us to hate, who comes along on the road to Jericho.

Now, how do such people, having rejected what all the Bible and Jesus himself clearly taught, how do they dare call themselves followers of Jesus and reject his word? The triumph of their will. They think they can will being a Christian to mean what they want it to mean.

Of course, some will say, well, they don't know any better. You know, they've been taught poorly. That's the environment they were raised in. Maybe. Or maybe they just have a religion that's all about the triumph of their will.

No matter how clear the word of God is, they prefer their own opinions. This is my hour for my authority. I am the captain of my fate, they say. So if Jesus says, do this in remembrance of me, take the Lord's Supper with the church and the apostle Paul says, we do this until he comes.

In other words, it does not pass away until Jesus returns in the body. But they don't want to be restricted, you know, by a church that has the authority over dispensing it. You can't have the Lord's Supper with the church.

So they'll say, you make up something, whatever is passed away. It's not necessary anymore. If Jesus has make and baptize disciples, that's the mission of the church for this entire age until he comes again.

But they don't want to submit to a church that has has the power. They want to come to a church and ask to be baptized to humbly. So they'll say, we don't have to do that anymore. And church discipline.

Church discipline, are you kidding?

Are you kidding?

Why do you think it's almost impossible to get people to even sit still for church discipline today, that people would actually stay in a church long enough to be disciplined by it? That's almost a fantasy.

Then this is this individualistic religion of self-will that has destroyed almost any real practice of church membership that you would be committed to and accountable to one body with elders and a covenant and and other members having input into your life.

Now, sure, we can try to explain it more winsome and, you know, charming people than me can try to explain that it's a loving thing. It's the vision that Paul has for a connected body and that is absolutely necessary for to practice what the Lord Jesus clearly told us to do in Matthew 18, have brothers and sisters that we can approach, who we can call others to if necessary.

And even if, God forbid, I hope it never happens, we can put out. But, you know, you can't put people out if no one is in. And so we can teach that you can try to be reasonable about it. We can try to be winsome about it.

But to the person of the religion of self-will, that is a nightmare. They'll take my right to be unaccountable when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers. Although dress it up in pious talk, I'm committed to the universal body of Christ.

I don't need to be committed to a specific body. You know, that's like a man saying, I'm committed to the universal woman. I don't need to be committed to a specific woman. It's empty talk. Sure, at first you should try to teach such people.

Maybe they've been taught badly. Maybe the Holy Spirit will use your teaching to change their heart. But understand for many, it's really not about any of these issues. So you go issue by issue and somehow straighten them all out.

As though they've reasonably come, you know, with reason and use of their mind, come to the conclusion to believe in racism. That's really been their rational conclusion, really? Or that by serious Bible study, they really opened their Bible up and come to believe that we don't need the Lord's Supper or baptism or the local church anymore.

They've really gotten that from the Bible. Really? Sure, they'll insist they have a different interpretation that they that they deserve to be listened to. They've studied, they say. They've come to different conclusions.

Listen to me, they say. But the truth is, they aren't listening to God. Sure, there are some things. There are some things we can have different interpretations about. But there are others that are so clear that if someone doesn't accept it, it's not because they've searched the scriptures and found a different answer.

They simply refuse to submit to the authority of God's word. And so Paul says about such people in 1 Corinthians chapter 14, verse 38. If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. What people of the religion of self will want is for their word to be recognized over God's word.

What it's really about is their determination that they are the master of their soul, that their will will triumph. That's why such people can't understand what Jesus does here. He submits to the dominion of darkness, Jesus says.

This is your hour. Your time. The authority of darkness. Now, at this time, Jesus says darkness will get its way, darkness's will will be done, not mine, but just earlier he had said the father's will will be done.

So which is it? Is the authority of darkness getting its way or is the father getting his way? This is very confusing to those of us who have read the Bible. Those who have kind of a zero sum game, you know, that is zero sum game idea about the triumph of the will.

They think, well, there's God and there's the devil and there's us and we choose between the two. If we choose God, he wins. He gets a point. If we choose darkness. Darkness wins, it gets a point, God loses.

But here, Jesus has just been in agony, praying to bring his will in submission to the father's, that he would be willing to drink the cup that the father gave to him, resolving finally on his knees that the father's will will triumph.

And then. Just a few minutes later, he says now on this day. This day that he will be crucified, darkness is authority. Will triumph. So which is it? It's both. The father's will is that Jesus drink the cup of death that darkness will give him.

Sure, Jesus's enemies are exerting all of their strength and using all of their ingenuity to nail him to the cross. And when they do, they will celebrate thinking they have triumph. Their will has been triumphant.

And yet that is the very cup. The father has given Jesus to drink. They don't know it. But it's the father who has given the religious hypocrites this hour their authority to put Jesus on the cross. Our salvation comes through Jesus submitting to the domination of his enemies.

Do you see now?

With Jesus submitting first to the father's will and then the authority of darkness, how radically anti Christian is that religion of self will? It loves the fake toughness that no one's going to get over on me.

The defiance that it doesn't matter what anyone, not even God says, I'm the master of my fate. Do you see that if that's your problem or the problem of someone you know? The problem is probably not just teachings or opinions, interpretations.

The problem. Is that you have about the knee like Jesus, you haven't said, father, not my will, but yours be done. The problem is that you haven't let the father's will triumph in your life yet.

So now.

Pry your fingers loose of it, of your pride, of your self will.

And submit.