Layman's Pulpit

 

NOVEMBER 24  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#32 

“What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”  (Matthew 26:40)

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer   

JESUS, O Jesus, the Name above all names, but even more amazing

 is that the Most High God would send His Only Begotten Son to live

 a Perfect and Innocent Life and die upon a cross as the Passover Lamb 

that whosoever believed in Him could call on that Precious Name

 for Salvation and enter into the Eternal Kingdom of God! 

Lord, the longer I live under Grace, the more I realize the need for Your Mercy,

 indeed give me this day Your Daily Bread, for only You have

 the Words of Eternal Life! Blessed be the Name of Jesus!!!   

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has entered into His Great Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane

 for He knows that soon He will be “despised and rejected” as foretold

 by the prophet Isaiah 800 years before Jesus “became flesh and 

dwelled among us” and Jesus knew the Divine Extent that He would be 

“wounded for our transgressions, …bruised for our iniquities, 

… the chastisement for our peace [laid] upon Him, …

 [Jesus would receive] the stripes [in His Body] 

that would heal our souls.” (Isaiah 53) 

Earlier in His Ministry Jesus had read from Isaiah in the synagogue

 at Nazareth and pronounced: 

“Today this Scripture {Isaiah 61:1-2} is fulfilled in your  hearing”

 (Luke 4:21) 

and here in the Hour of His Betrayal the disciples will observe the 

Scriptures once again being “fulfilled” as they will witness first hand

 the fulfillment of the Prophecy of the Suffering Servant and we can 

be sure that with our limited intellect that while we are in this mortal 

body we will not be able to comprehend the extent of the 

Agony of Gethsemane nor the excruciating pain of Golgotha

 but we can be sure that Jesus KNEW that for Him to be the 

Atonement of ALL sin that He would have to Suffer 

and accept the Pain for our iniquities!  

Jesus was there when it was Divinely determined that 

“without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin”!!! 

(Hebrews 9:22) 

and Jesus knew He was the Passover Lamb to be killed 

as the Acceptable Sacrifice by God for the remission of ALL sin 

and Jesus has encouraged us: 

“Follow Me” and “enter into God’s Labor and the Harvest of souls” 

when He asked, 

“What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”  (Matthew 26:40)  

Jesus again admonishes the sleeping disciples: 

“Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand,

 and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.” 

(Matthew 26:45) 

and then Jesus tells us how to move forward in our ministries 

“Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.” (Matthew 26:46) 

Jesus never gives up on us and He never quits Teaching

 and every Lesson is for all people. The Timeless Message of Jesus

 is appropriate to our generation especially as we see that once 

again we are in bondage to sin as never before in our great nation 

as the forces of evil that are changing our once great American 

society has enslaved us by removing prayer from our schools, 

God from our government, passed laws allowing the murder of the unborn,

 and “legalized” many activities that God Himself has declared

 as “abominations”, yet as a culture we are openly embracing them in 

open defiance of the One True Living God of Jacob!?!? 

Surely the Words of Jesus rings true, “Are [Christians] still sleeping 

and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man

 is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.” (Matthew 26:45)  

 If we are going to claim to be “Followers of Christ” then we must prove

 our loyalty and our love to Jesus and do as Jesus instructs us —

 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” (John 14:15) 

and Jesus in His Gethsemane plea has commanded, 

“Watch and Pray and Rise, let us be going…”!   

The “hour” is getting late and we have slept long enough so 

let us “be going” for soon, very soon, 

God will complete His Plan of Salvation 

which includes as the Conclusion of our time on earth, 

the Final Judgement where God Himself will separate the sheep 

from the goats and we will hear Jesus saying: 

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, 

and they follow Me.” (John 10:27) 

Jesus is “talking” but the SERIOUS question is:

 “Are we not listening to Him because we 

have let the world put us to sleep?”