Turn your Bibles, please, to Matthew chapter 26. Matthew 26. I want to remind you of where we are here. We are turning to the account of our Lord with his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane. Gethsemane means oil press. referring to olive oil, of course, that was produced there from the abundant olive trees. And it would be the place where Christ was pressed in his soul more than any other. Let's recall the order of events on that fateful night. Look with me, beginning at verse 26 of chapter 26. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it and break it and gave to the disciples and said, Take, eat. This is my body. And he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of the new testament or covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives. The Lord has been with his disciples previous to this or right after this in the upper room. He has the great upper room discourse that's recorded in John 13 through 17. And as they walk to the garden, Jesus predicts that all of his disciples will desert him and that Peter will deny him. Look at verse 31. Then said Jesus unto them, all of you shall be offended because of me this night, for it is written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. Peter answered and said unto him, though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee that this night before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice. Peter said unto him, though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples. Then we come to the Garden of Gethsemane. Here the Lord asked the inner circle Peter, James, and John to pray with him, but they sleep instead. And then we read that Jesus prayed on three occasions in the garden that this cup would pass from him. There are at least four cups that are mentioned in the narrative of the death of Christ. The first was The cup that's mentioned in the Last Supper or the First Communion in Matthew 26, 27, it says, and he took the cup and gave thanks. Several verses later, he says, I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of this vine until that day when I drink it anew with you in my father's kingdom. We also read of the cup that was offered at the cross but refused. This cup contained a narcotic intended to deaden the pain, but Jesus would face the suffering of the cross with a clear mind. And then we read of the cup that Jesus did take on the cross. According to John's account, this was given to our Lord right after he said, I thirst. He needed this refreshment for his parched mouth so that he could utter his two final sayings from the cross. It is finished, and Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And then he gave up the ghost. but certainly the most significant cup mentioned in the Passion of our Savior is this cup that is mentioned in the Garden of Gethsemane. This is the cup that Jesus prayed would be removed from Him. Look with me at Matthew 26 and verse 39. And He went a little further and fell on His face and prayed, saying, O my Father, If it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. And then verse 42. He went again the second time and prayed, saying, Oh, my father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. And then in verse 44, it says he left them and went away again and prayed the third time, saying the same words. And Mark's account in Mark chapter 14. You don't need to turn there, but in verses 35 and 36. It says this, and he went forward and fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee. Take away this cup from me. Nevertheless, not what I will. but what thou wilt. And in Luke's account, in Luke 22 and verse 42, he says, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done. And in John chapter 18 and verse 11, when Jesus was arrested, he says, the cup which my father has given me, shall I not drink it? So there is a mention of this cup and all four of the Gospels. This cup was symbolic of all the suffering that Christ would vicariously take for us at the cross. But what exactly was in this cup, and why was Christ so horrified about drinking it, and how did Jesus come to the place where he was able to drink every drop of that bitter cup? That's what I want to address this evening as we prepare for the Lord's Table. I want to speak to you about the cup of suffering that Jesus drank for us. And the first thing I want you to note is I want us to consider the intense horror with which Christ faced this cup. Jesus' aversion to drinking the cup is revealed in his earnest and unique prayers in the garden. We never read of the Lord praying in this way anywhere else in the gospel accounts. He never prays that something would be removed from his life. We never read of him praying with such a sense of desperation. Luke records that Being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. These intense and repeated prayers reveal the horror with which Christ faced the cup. Secondly, Jesus' aversion to drinking this cup is revealed in the agony he suffers as he anticipates the cup. I've mentioned to you in previous messages that there are seven different descriptions of our Lord's suffering in the garden. Many of them overlap. I just want to go through these very quickly. In Mark chapter 14, verses 32 and 33, we read, and he began to be sore amazed. And the Greek words that are rendered sore amazed express something of a shocking surprise, words that denote horror and extreme anxiety. And then we read that he was very heavy. These words describe a person who is confused, shocked and stunned. It also reflects a restlessness and turmoil of soul. Luke 22, 44 says that he was in an agony. The Greek term for agony is actually the word agona. We get the word agony from this word. It was a word first used in athletic competitions. described a great expenditure of energy that was taking place. And we see that here in the garden, a mighty contest was taking place. Fourthly, we read in Luke 22, 44, that Jesus sweat, as it were, great drops of blood. Now, there is a difference of opinion among scholars about how to take this. Some take this to mean that he was sweating drops of blood. And there are medical people who have said that under great stress, this is possible. But it also may be indicating, because the text literally reads, as it were, great drops of blood. That is, not that he was sweating great drops of blood, but that the sweat was so profusely pouring off of his body that it was like there was an open wound. Regardless of what the text is seeking to indicate to us, it is clear that it reveals that he was under a great strain and that his body was physically reacting to that. Remember that this was not a warm night. because we read a short time later that the soldiers had started a fire because it says it was cold that night. But here Jesus is sweating, as it were, great drops of blood. It was not due to the heat, but to the intense turmoil in his soul. And then in Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 7, we read that cried out with strong crying and tears. This reveals the intensity of his sorrow that night. He was crying like a desperate child to his father. In Matthew 26, verses 36 and 37, we read that he began to be sorrowful. All the sorrows that he had ever felt combined were as nothing compared to what he experienced on this dark night. And then we read what we encounter in verse 38. And I conclude with this description. My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. It is as if the Lord could not keep these thoughts bottled up inside of him. And so he tells the inner circle of his disciples something that must have been astounding to them, because he was a man filled with the Spirit and therefore filled with joy. And now he says that his soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. This is not a hyperbolic saying. He's not exaggerating for effects. He literally was so broken in spirit that he was at the point of death. We see this in his prayers and the biblical descriptions of his sorrow. We see the horror with which he faced drinking that cup. But now we must consider, secondly, the ingredients that were found in this cup. What was in this cup that Jesus drank for us? There are several ingredients that we can identify from Scripture. The first one may surprise you and I will explain as best I can, but I invite you to keep a finger here in Matthew 26 and turn with me to Matthew chapter 20. Matthew chapter 20, verse 22. Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children, with her sons, worshiping him or bowing down before him and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? And she said unto him, Grant that these my sons may sit, the one on the right hand and the other on the left in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, You know not what ye ask. Are you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of? and to be baptized with the baptism that I am to be baptized with, they say unto him, we are able. And he said unto them, ye shall indeed drink, drink indeed of my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with, but to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it shall be given unto them for whom it is prepared of my father. This is an interesting passage that's worthy of much explanation, but I just want you to see the allusion to the cup here. He says, can you drink of this cup? And they very naively say, oh yeah, we can drink of that cup. And then he says he will indeed drink of that cup. And what did he mean by that? The only thing that he could mean by that that fits into biblical theology is that they would suffer and die like he did. And I think that this aspect of the cup is clearly revealed here, that the disciples would drink of that cup, that is, they would give their lives as martyrs for following Christ. But let me quickly add that this is not the primary ingredient in Jesus's cup. But this reference makes it clear that death was certainly part of the cup that he must drink. Now, many preachers through the centuries have hesitated to say that part of what the cup means is his coming death because it seems to make our Savior look cowardly. In fact, if you were to go back and listen to every sermon that I've ever preached, you would hear me say that. But upon more mature reflection, I want to revise that statement. Indeed, many martyrs appear to have faced death with more courage than Jesus does in the garden. But let me remind you that when Jesus did actually face his death, he did so with great courage. He went out to meet his captors, not flee from them. He took the suffering willingly when he could have called 10,000 angels. So Jesus was the most heroic and brave man who ever lived. But in the Garden of Gethsemane, we do see the natural recoiling of human flesh from the prospect of brutal death. So let me defend this proposition that one of the ingredients in this cup was the anticipation of his death the next day. First of all, we must not forget that Jesus was 100% human. I think we often, if we're going to err, we err on the side of caution, and so we say, well, you know, he was the divine son of God, so of course, of course it wouldn't have bothered him that the next day he was gonna die on an old, rugged cross. Yes, but he was the God-man. And one of the instinctive reactions of all human beings is to fear death. And one of the instinctive reactions of human beings is that often the greatest struggle we face when we're going to face a situation that we consider to be very difficult and very dangerous is that the anticipation of it is often worse than the actual event itself. Have you ever noticed that? The second thing I would add in defense of this proposition is that Jesus knew the details of his death, which you and I do not know. He knew exactly how he would suffer. The prophecies revealed how it would go down. He knew exactly the kind of pain and torment and degradation that he would face the next day. But Jesus did overcome this natural apprehension in a short time and faced the most degrading death imaginable with peace and composure the next day. But this point is much more important. Jesus, in drinking the cup, was bearing God's curse upon the sinner, which is death. Now, I did not intend for this morning's message to fit into this evening's message, because I was planning to preach this morning's message last Sunday morning, but Pastor Aaron had to preach his message. No, that's not true. I had a physical injury that made it doubtful if I was going to be prepared, so I asked him to go for me. You guys were supposed to laugh at that. Everyone's like, what's going on here? This morning, I said to you that the consequence of transgression, according to the Old Testament law, was death. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. So how can God be just and forgive transgressors like us? Well, Jesus paid the penalty of the death penalty for us. Jesus was not a sinner, but he was dying in place of sinners who deserve the penalty of death. So let me just conclude that this is not some embarrassing weakness of our Savior. We should not try to make apologies and try to dismiss what we read here in the Garden, which is in many ways hard to explain and very different from anything else we read in the four Gospels. This is not embarrassing. This should be encouraging to us because it means that we have a sympathetic high priest. And so when we face something that seems unthinkably difficult and we bow our knees and we come to him in prayer, We're coming before someone who has faced something like that before. And he is sympathetic to us and there to help us in time of needs. So what was included in this suffering and death? The 39 stripes that tore open his back. The beating and mocking by the soldiers. The crown of thorns that were driven into his brow. This included the spikes that were driven into his wrist and ankles. This included the stinging thirst that tortured him on the cross. That cup of death was part of the mix, but there was more. The second ingredient that I would identify as being part of the cup is the attack of Satan and his host on the Lord. I don't have a direct verse from scripture to confirm this, but there is circumstantial evidence. In Luke chapter 22 and verse 53, just moments after this prayer in the garden, when Jesus was arrested, he says, this is your hour and the power of darkness. This would indicate that Satan and his host were very busy this night. He told his disciples that night that Satan had entered into Judas and that Satan had desired to have Simon and Peter. The devil was indeed making a full-scale assault on Christ and all of his followers this night. And we should not think that Satan would not dare to tempt or to bombard the mind of our precious Savior because we read about His temptation at the beginning of His ministry. Let me read the words of this German theologian from the 19th century, F.W. Krumacher, who wrote the classic book, The Suffering Savior. He says, it is certain that they assailed Him in the most fearful manner and strove to induce Him to suspect the conduct of His Father toward Him. and torture him with insidious thoughts to abandon the work of human redemption. Suffice it to say that our Lord's faith as well as his patience, fidelity, and perseverance in the work he had undertaken were never put to fiercer ordeal than under the fiery darts of the wicked one which he endured in Gethsemane. But now I want to move to the third ingredient of the cup. And that is the anticipation of bearing the guilt of the world. In less than 12 hours, the Lord Jesus Christ would become the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Isaiah 53.6 says, The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 1 Peter 2.24 says, whose own self bear our sins in his body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed. Jesus did not know what it was like to feel guilty. That's hard for us to imagine. because from the time we have had a sense of self-awareness and consciousness, we know what it is to do wrong and to feel something inside of us telling us, you did wrong. But Jesus never felt that way because he always did those things that pleased his Father. But I believe that here in the Garden of Gethsemane, he began to feel the strange burden of guilt for the first time. not because he was a sinner or would become a sinner, but because he would be bearing the sin, the guilt, the shame of sinners. This was one of the bitter ingredients of the cup. And then there is the anticipation of being separated from his father. In Isaiah 59 and verse two, we read the Lord saying, your iniquities have separated you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear. Now Jesus was the sinless son of God, but he was carrying our sins upon his shoulders. And during that time in the darkness of Calvary, his father did turn his face away. It's not that Jesus just felt like he was abandoned by his father, that's true. He was abandoned by his father. And that is why Jesus would cry out from the cross, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Jesus had for eternity passed, enjoyed perfect communion with his father. But soon that divine fellowship would be broken by the darkness of Calvary. And then there is the anticipation of bearing God's wrath for sinners. One might say this was the main ingredients in the cup. At least 16 times in the Old Testament, a drink or reference to a cup is used symbolically of judgment or wrath of God. In Exodus 32, verses 19 and 20, Moses comes down from the mount and he sees the children of Israel involved in immoral and idolatrous practices. He burns the calf of gold and grinds it to powder and mixes it with water and makes the people drink it. This was an act of judgment. In Job 21 and verse 20, Job says that the wicked would drink of the wrath of the Almighty. In Psalm 11 and verse 6, it says, upon the wicked he shall reign snares, fire, and brimstone, and a horrible tempest. This shall be the portion of their cup. Isaiah 51 and verse 22 speaks of the wicked drinking the cup of his fury. In Jeremiah 25, we read of the nations that were the enemies of Judah drinking the cup of God's judgment. It says, drink ye and be drunken, fall and rise no more. I think you get the idea. The cup is a common Old Testament symbol for God's wrath poured out upon sinners. In summary, I'd like to quote once more from Krumacher's classic, The Suffering Savior. He says, was the entire curse of the inviolable law, all the horrors of conscious guilt, all the terrors of Satan's fiercest temptations, and all the suffering which can befall both body and soul. It contained likewise the dreadful ingredients of abandonment by God, infernal agony, and a bloody death to which the curse was attached, all to be endured while surrounded by the powers. of darkness. Is it any wonder that Christ responded to the cup the way he did? But now I want us to consider how Jesus was able to drink of this cup. There are several answers that could be given. We know, for instance, from Luke 22 and verse 43, that the Lord sent an angel to strengthen him. But I want to quickly consider three ways that Jesus faced the unthinkable. First, Jesus turned to God in earnest prayer. And Luke 22 and verse 44, it says, and being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. After these three sessions of prayer, Jesus wasn't able to go out and face those coming to arrest him with confidence. And so we see here a pattern for us to follow. What should we do when we are facing something, some trial, some difficulty that seems unthinkable, that everything inside of us recoils from facing, and yet it's what we must do. We must go to God in earnest prayer. Secondly, Jesus committed His suffering to His Father. It says in 1 Peter 2.23, when He suffered, He threatened not but committed himself to him that judges righteously. The idea of committed here is that he entrusted himself to God. He entrusted himself to God, to his heavenly Father. This is what we must do when we face the unthinkable. We must commit our cause and entrust ourselves to our Father's keeping. And thirdly, Jesus focused on the joyful results of drinking that cup. It says in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 2, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. This verse gives us an insight that we would not have known otherwise. Jesus focused His mind in the hour of suffering on the results of His suffering and the joy that would come from that. Many things could be given that could define the joy that He considered. Certainly, I think it was the joy of pleasing His Father. Throughout eternity, he had always done what was right in his father's eyes, but this was the ultimate test. And though it was excruciatingly difficult, yet he knew that he would please his father by dying on that cross. But also, certainly, it was the joy of bringing many sons to glory. The joy of knowing that through his suffering and death, there would come The salvation of sinners like us. And that brings us finally to why Jesus drank this cup. Why did Jesus drink this cup? If it was so unthinkably difficult and bitter. And painful. Jesus drank of this bitter cup. Because it was the only way that wicked people like us could be saved. He bore the curse of the law so that we might be declared not guilty. He took our sin and guilt upon him so that we might have a clean heart before a holy God. He was abandoned by his father in the darkness of Calvary so that we might claim the promise, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. He drank a cup of wrath without mercy. that we might drink a cup of mercy without wrath. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Let's close in prayer. Father, we thank you for what our Savior has done for us. I pray that now as we partake of these elements, as we reflect on what you have done for us at the cross, that we would be overwhelmed with your gracious love for sinners like us, and for what you are willing to take, that we might be redeemed. Thank you, Father, for giving us a great Savior. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.