In this piece, we want to examine what has been titled: Connecting with The Holy Spirit for Bold Confession or we can say for bold profession or for bold performance, bold actions, bold decisions, bold choices. You know, there are some things that people refer to as “giant stride.” They will say: someone has taken a giant stride in life. That means the person has taken or made a major progress. Connecting with the Holy Spirit for giant strides and progress in life. Of course, without the Holy Spirit, some people might do some things. But with the Holy Spirit, you can do so much more. And so, what w are going to be gleaming from, is not going to be a direct precursor to what we want to discuss but we will infer by the help of the Holy Spirit from it. I want us to begin our observations from the book of Matthew 26 and we will start our reading from verse 36. The Bible says: “Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.” 37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful…”
There is something I want us to note about Jesus in this place. He was coming with the rest of the disciples, but when they got to this place He said “all of you, stay here, sit, while I go yonder to pray” just as Abraham told his servants to wait for him while himself and the lad go yonder to worship. Now, while He had done that, the Bible says He took with Him. So, if there were twelve disciples that followed Him, nine stayed behind and three followed Him, and He revealed this particular state to the three. Bible says: “And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.” Is this a normal state? So, he was filled with sorrow, He was distressed. You know sometimes they say somebody wants to sell a car and it is a distress sale. It means things are not rosy for the man, he probably bought the car two million and he wants to sell it for three hundred and fifty thousand naira. He is not happy, he needs the money, he is under duress. It is like there is a great pressure upon such a man.
Now, the Bible says “He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.” I am sure we remembered what happened in the last Evening Bible School, when we were examining the book of Matthew 11:28, when Jesus said: “come unto me all you who are labor and are heavy-laden…” we can say that at this moment, Jesus began to labor and He was heavy-laden. This was a moment in time when Jesus needed to succeed with the assignment that God gave Him on the earth. If you proceed to verse 38, you would see in clear terms what Jesus was going through at that moment when He said: “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.” Which means that He got to a point in His life that what He was going through could be equated to even death. He was facing pressure from every where and I am not excited. Even the three that went with Him, Jesus told them to wait for Him and watch with Him. Then verse 39 says: “He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”
I am sure we still remember what happened to the two sons of Zebedee earlier in Matthew when their mother came to Jesus, holding the hands of her two sons and she said to Jesus: “Please, allow that in your kingdom, my first son would sit at the right side of your throne and the other one would sit at the other side.” Jesus said to her: “Do you know what you are asking for? Are you able to drink the cup I am about to drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am about to be baptized with?” And they said to Jesus: we are able! And Jesus said to them: indeed, you will drink the cup and be baptized with the baptism that I would be baptized with. So, as I go through the experience as your forerunner, you will go through it. That you are my disciples does not excuse you from my personal experiences. If I go through something, just e ready, you will go through it.
So, now, Jesus had come to the point of drinking from His own cup. He said: “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” And I want us to note something from here, Jesus did not say: Just do it God. He said: if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” Now, if we look at what happened before this moment, Jesus came to a point in His life and ministry he needed to make a decision, He needed to make a giant stride in life, He needed to move forward, like what God told the people of Israel “you have dwelt enough on this mountain, it is time to move forward.” If Jesus would move forward, a cup was before Him. There was a suffering He needed to go through. There was an experience that is even deeper and serious than suffering. For Jesus, and those of us that remembered this story, when Jesus was crucified on that tree, the Bible says there was a particular point in time Jesus cried out: “My Father, My Father; Eli Eli Lama Sabachtha ni; My Father, My Father, why have you forsaken me?”
That is to show us that the suffering that Jesus went through was not the death. The biggest part of the suffering was not just that he was going to be nailed on the cross. The biggest part of the suffering was that God was going to take off His eyes from Him, that he was going to be in a moment that for the first time in His existence, He would not be able to behold God. So, that was the suffering He was looking at when He said: “if it is possible, let this cup pass over me nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will it.” Now, you and I know that it was not possible for the cup to pass Him. Why? We have come to see the aftermath of His sufferings. We are seated today because He actually died and He resurrected. That is why we are here. So, we are beneficiaries of that decision that He made. But towards the decision, there was a time he was at a low ebb. He was filled with sorrows and He was in great distress. So, if all that happened to Jesus was that He was filled with sorrow, are we going to be here? If all we remember about Jesus is that there was a time in His life, especially when He was entering old age, there was so much sorrow and distress, that wouldn’t have been the point. The sorrow was that there was a moment in time that need to lead Him to the next level that we will all celebrate.
How many of us get to sorrowful point, points of great distress and we successfully scaled the hurdle and step into the promise land? The reason why we are considering this title today: Connecting with The Holy Spirit for Bold Confession is because disconnecting from the Holy Spirit would result into weak or no confessions. So, if there is nothing your life confesses, if there is nothing your action confess, there would be noting to speak about you in days and years and millennial to come. Do we understand? So, Jesus needed the Holy Spirit so that we would realize that we would too. Now, Jesus, haven gotten to that point said: “O Father, if it is possible let this cup pass from me.” Now, there is semicolon in my Bible which I interpret to be pause, a moment in time. What do we think happened? We are talking about a man in the flesh that was full of sorrow and in great distress. What would have happened that would alter his confessions? If a man is under pressure, is not happy, nothing is working for him; the kind of confession that would come out from his mouth is likely going to remain as long as his situations remains.
You go to a hungry man five times in a day, his confession would still be “I need food.” At what point will the confession of a hungry man change? It is at the point when the need of the hungry man has been taken care of and he is now seeking for a new need. If all I am asking God is for money and I have not gotten the money, there is a likelihood that if God asks me: my son what do you want from me, I would simply say give me the money.” But once God have met that need, I will not be saying “give me the money” you have given me already but simply say God, give me that other thing that I need from you. So, the question we are asking is: What changed the confession of Jesus? Because very soon we would realize that this was that statement that came from the mouth of Jesus and it came once. Lest we think Jesus prayed that prayer three times. We would notice that the other two prayers were adjusted. What adjusted those prayers? What changed those confessions? So, this is where we must understand that something spiritual happened that we were not aware of. Don’t forget, Jesus had always been going to pray to the Father before that day. So, Jesus had a relationship with the Father. In the evening, once disciples had been taken care of, He would go to the mountain alone all night and then he would return back to the temple. Right! So, he had been in the cycle of connecting with God, engaging God, drawing strength from God. Every time Jesus was in distress or full of sorrow, He would go to the Father and He would get strength from the Lord. Because if God had never showed up for Him, He wouldn’t trust or expect God to show up that day. For many of us, it is when we are in problem that we go to the father for help. So, when the father wants to help us, we are not even familiar with the modus operandi of the father.
So, Jesus went to the father and said: if it is possible, let this cup pass me. He now said; nevertheless, that change in his confession was not natural, it was spiritual. We all know how the Bible says Jesus Christ had the Holy Spirit without measure. Sometimes when we are preaching, preachers say Jesus Christ was one hundred percent God and one hundred percent man. So, one hundred man means Jesus did everything that man does. One hundred percent God simply means the Holy Spirit was fully in Him. He was fully in contact, in connection with the Holy Spirit. Whatever the Father willed in heaven, He knew it and He was doing it on the earth. That is why He taught the disciples to pray: “Our father in heaven, Hallowed be your name. your kingdom come; your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” How do we know the will of God? By the Holy Spirit. So, Jesus got to that point where hundred percent man said; God, if it is possible, O Father, let his cup pass over me. Hundred percent God said: nevertheless! Between the last statement and the one that came afterwards, the Holy Spirit took charge. The Holy Spirit supplied strength, the Holy Spirit provided what we could call focus for Jesus.
There was a place the Bible says for the joy that was set before Jesus, he despised the shame, he endured the cross. Did the despise and the endurance of the cross, did it start when nail was put in His hand? It must have started well before that moment, all for the joy. If you sent me on an errand and I am facing challenges, and suddenly you gave me a phone call that once I return from the errand, a goody is waiting for me. Won’t I be encouraged to do it? That is what the Holy Spirit does for us. When Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit, He declared Him as the comforter, the Helper. There is an assignment of God that you must finish, that you must accomplish in your own lifetime, everybody is avoiding that assignment and you too also could almost avoid the same assignment but the Spirit will come to comfort you in it and also help you to do it. But you as a person must acknowledge the Holy Spirit as your comforter and Helper. This difficult situation that I am going through, I can go through it successfully if only I can connect with the Holy Spirit. Now let us examine the subsequent verses in the same chapter of Matthew that we have been considering from the beginning. Beginning from verse 40, the Bible says:
“Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping…” Don’t forget we have said that Jesus Christ was hundred percent God and hundred percent man, so, as man, He sleeps. The Bible says the Lord does not sleep nor slumber. So, we know that as hundred percent God, He could not sleep. But as man, He slept, He could sleep. But at this point, haven been strengthened by the Holy Spirit, He was awake. But the disciples that did not fully had the Holy Spirit, they were not fully connected with Him, were sleeping. So, what men do at that time was to sleep. But Jesus, haven connected with Holy Spirit, he was able to labor through to the point that He had strength from the Holy Spirit. He was not only able to pray the right prayer that God wanted Him to pray, He returned in the strength of the Spirit and found His disciples sleeping.
So, without the Holy Spirit, He also would have been sleeping. But let us continue with the reading. Bible says: and said to Peter, “What! With that exclamation there, that means that Jesus was emphatic. He said further: Could you not watch with Me one hour? Because that was the reason why they followed Him. The other disciples just needed to follow Him, but He took three further and said to them, watch with me. And then, he took few steps. But when He returned, they were not watching. Now, if Jesus was full of sorrow and distress, what is expected of the three disciples? They were supposed to be full of sorrow and distress. Like the discipler, like the disciples. So, if they were full of sorrow and distress like their master, see what the sorrow produced in them; sleep. The economy is not working, there is no security, many things are not there. What is these sorrow and distress producing in us? So, if what this current reality in Nigeria and around the world is producing in us, who call ourselves disciples of Jesus is the same things as what is produced in every other person around us, then indeed, we are not yet fully connected with the Holy Spirit.
At some point, Jesus didn’t look at His disciples and said: let me give you money. He knew what they needed was the Spirit of rest. Do we understand? So, if our realities as people of God who have the Holy Spirit as we claim is the same thing as every other person’s reality, then there is a challenge with our connection with the Holy Spirit. That you have sorrow, somebody else has sorrow, and you have distress, and somebody else has it too, but the person is sleeping and you are not sleeping, it is not because you don’t know how to sleep, it is simply because the Holy Spirit is helping you. You know the sleep is in context now. Do you understand what I am saying? Two people are subjected to the same experience. In the same experience, somebody says: God is not faithful, and give up on God. And the other person says: if only I would get out of this experience, I need God and decides to trust God. Do you know it is the same experience but different reaction? The difference is the Holy Spirit. So, they were sleeping even though they were expected to be watching.
Verse 41 says: “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” You know when we are talking about hundred percent God, hundred percent man, the humanity in us wants to give up under pressure, it wants to crack. But the divinity in us wants to rise, wants to become an army that proffer solutions in our generation. That is why the Bible says when others say there is a casting down, you who have the Holy Spirit would say there is a lifting up for me. The Yoruba people would say that heaven is falling, it won’t affect only one person. But our positioning under heaven would determine our experiences. Do we understand that point? Let us jump to verse 42 now, the Bible says: “Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, your will be done.” Now, is this prayer not an upgraded version of the first one? In this one, there is no semicolon. The reason is because this time around, it is just one thought. Jesus made a statement now that carried God along. A statement that was fully by the help of God.
He said: “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, your will be done. 43 And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.” Come to me all you who labor and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest. Verse 44 says: “So, He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. 45 Then He came to His disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting?” As if the two terms are different. So, by the help of the Holy Spirit, we have come to see that the two are different: sleeping and resting. “Behold, the hour Is at hand…” And I want us to see boldness in His confession. Somebody that is sorrowful and distress does not speak like this. Jesus knew there is nothing he could do about it; God has prepared Him for this hour and God has prepared it for Hi and his disciples. He said: “Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed (is it the son of God?) into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise…” This is no time to be sorrowful and hopeless, it is not time to be shattered and scattered, gather yourself together, rise like men let us be going.” We are not going to stay here in hiding and in silence and fear, See, my betrayer is at hand.”
For the confession of Jesus to change at this moment, there was a need for the Holy Spirit. He was fully connected with the Holy Spirit and His confessions changed. And if our confessions do not change, our choices will not change, the produce of our lives, our works, will not change. If all we confess is the calamity in the land, no growth anywhere, no peace anywhere, we actually need to be reconnected with the Holy Spirit for bold, courageous and correct confessions. Now, this matter of confession, somebody may be wondering: how can that be, truly connected with the Holy Spirit? Let us go to 1 Corinthians 12:3. The Bible says: “Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed…” No one by the Spirit confesses that Jesus is cursed. “And no one can say or confess that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.” So, confessions that are correct are only produced by the Holy Spirit. That is the point. When the Spirit came upon the disciples in Acts 2, they made bold statements. There was utterance as given by the Spirit. When the Spirit of God filled them, it produced words from their mouth, they began to speak of the wonders of God.
So, how do you show that you are filed with the Holy Spirit right now? It is going to be evidenced by the kinds of words that proceeds from your mouth. If all I am saying is rubbish, then it shows that the Spirit is not connected with me or I am not connected with the Spirit. So, nobody can look at Jesus and say: you cannot do it, you cannot help me. Who is Jesus, you cannot do that! If the Spirt of Christ is in you, what will come from your mouth is that Jesus is the Lord of my circumstance and my situation, Jesus is above over all my doubts. I do not fear because I belong to Jesus. Why do I say that? Because of the Holy Spirit in me. Do we understand what is going on? So, it is not about whether you have physical muscles, with physical muscles, when you face challenges, you will run, but with your skeleton or slim body, in the place where muscular people are running, with the Holy Spirit, you will stand. The Holy Spirit is the difference.
It is not by power nor might, but by my Spirit says the Lord. If you and I will agree with the will of God on the earth, if we will stand for it, it is not going to be because we have read books, it is going to be because we have the Holy Spirit. God has not given us the spirit of bondage again to fear, but He has given us the Spirit of power, the Spirit of love, the Spirit of sound mind. So, the more we are filled and refilled with the Spirit, the bolder we become, the clearer we become and we are not afraid.
I pray the Lord will help us in Jesus’ name. It is a good time to pray.
