Open your Bible if you would please back to Matthew 26 where we have been as we are continuing to make our way through this gospel. Last week in Matthew we noted Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane Here in this garden, he would soon be betrayed by Judas into the hands of the religious leaders who would then crucify him. Immediately prior to the betrayal, Jesus has in this garden two conversations. One of them he has with his disciples, and one of them he has with his father. Last week, we noted the conversation that he had with his sleepily indifferent disciples. You remember those disciples? He told them that before this night is over, every one of you is going to fall away. And none of them believed him. They all insisted that I will die before I will fall away from you. And last week, we began to look at that conversation with those disciples where we saw the beginning of their falling away. This morning, we're looking at the other conversation, the conversation that Jesus is having with the Father. I know of no spiritual parallel, scriptural parallel, to what we are going to witness this morning. It is indeed a unique experience in the life of the Lord Jesus. And it's not unique because he's praying to the Father some 20 times or more. You see that, him praying to the Father in the Gospels. We know, as Hebrews tells us, that he ever lives to make intercession for us. But this prayer to the Father is different. This prayer marks the most significant prayer that God the Son ever prayed to God the Father. This prayer gives us a glimpse into Christ's bitter cup, which is the title of the message this morning. As we prepare to receive the Lord's table, I want to focus on the heart of Jesus as he looks toward the cross. As we read the passage again, I want you to focus this morning with careful attention on the conversation that Jesus has with the Father. Let's begin. We'll read the same passage this time that we read last week, Matthew 26, beginning in verse 36. Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane. And saith unto his disciples, Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Tarry you here and watch with me. 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 he cometh unto his disciples and findeth them asleep and saith unto Peter, What could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away 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 he came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. And he left them and went away again and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then cometh he to his disciples and saith unto them, Sleep on now and take your rest. Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. Behold, he is at hand that doth betray me. Jesus taught us how to pray in the Sermon on the Mount. We have that to model prayer, pray in this manner. Our Father, which art in heaven, he taught us how to pray there. We see his great high priestly prayer in John 17, where the Lord Jesus prays so affectionately for you and me, for his children. But this prayer this morning that we're looking at is, I think, the most significant of the prayers of Jesus that we have recorded in our Bible. And that's going to be our focus this morning. Just two points I want us to cover today. And then let's pray and ask God to guide us as we look into his word. Our Father, we are so sober just reading these words. We think about the impact of our sin and the price that it would require. It sobers us. How deep your love for us is. And we thank you for Jesus. We thank you for him willingly going to the cross to pay for our sins. Renew a gratefulness in us for that very act today as we prepare to receive your table. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. I want you to notice again just two points today. The first one is significant prayer. Why is this prayer so significant? I want to mention five characteristics that make this prayer such a significant prayer. The first one is, and you could easily see this, there is significant emotion. The Lord Jesus, as the scripture is betraying him here, is in deep grief. Our text says in verse 37, he was sorrowful that has the idea of being deeply grieved. He's very heavy, the text says, that has the idea of being greatly distressed with almost and hopeless, he's not hopeless, but this word leans this way, a hopeless loneliness when you see this word used. You look in the next verse, in verse 38, the Bible says he is exceeding sorrowful. This is the same word as sorrowful mentioned above, only it has a prefix at the beginning of it that means around. And this is communicating here that Jesus is just surrounded in sorrow. That's the idea and the distinction between the word that's mentioned above this same word. is used in the Septuagint. That's the Greek translation of the Old Testament. And you see this very same word that's translated exceeding sorrowful. You see this word in Psalm 42 and verse six, where the Bible says, Oh, my God, my soul is cast down within me. Cast down is this word. So you're talking about deep grief. You remember that the prophet Isaiah said of Jesus, he is a man of sorrows. And you remember in Luke chapter 22 and verse 44, the scripture says, and being in an agony. He prayed more earnestly, our Lord is deeply grieved here. This prayer is significant in the sense that there is significant emotion here. God is, the Lord Jesus, deeply grieved. Not only significant emotion, but also significant impact. He is sweating blood. Luke 22, 44, and his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Again, this language is just speaking to us of the grief, the distress that the Lord Jesus is in at these moments here in the garden. The magnitude of his grief apparently caused those subcutaneous capillaries to just burst as they dilated and the blood escapes through his pores and mingles with his sweat coming off of him. This is a rare condition brought on with extreme grief and distress. Let me ask you, have you ever been in such grief? We all have heartaches. We all witness things. That's part of living in a fallen world. We have challenges that we face from time to time. We have disappointments. We have discouragements. We have things that just really grieve us from time to time. But have you ever been in this kind? of deep, deep grief. This is a significant prayer, significant emotion, significant impact. And then I would say significant desire. This is a repeated request. And the scripture is clear about that, the spirit of God wants us to know that Jesus is going to the father three different times. with this request and three times he leaves the disciples so that he could go to the place of prayer. Nothing in scripture is ever just on a whim. God never acts on a whim. Everything is purposeful. And when the scripture records for us that three different times Jesus leaves those disciples and he goes further into that garden to pray, that is significant. And here you see again the desire of the Lord Jesus in this request that he's making. And then let me note, fourthly. There's a significant difference. The son's will and the father's will seem different. Here you see Jesus in his deep grief, just wondering aloud, if we could say it that way, if there might be some other way to deliver men from sin. Now, of course, Jesus knows he's going to the cross. He knows that. He foretold it many times to his disciples. And you see it even in our chapter here. In verse 24, Jesus said, The Son of Man goeth as it is written of him. He says to Judas, But woe unto that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. He knows he's going to the cross. Verse 31, Then saith Jesus unto them, All of you will be offended because of me this night, for it is written, I will smite the shepherd. As he quotes the Old Testament, Jesus knows that he is going to the cross. But you look in verse 42. The change in the request. He said earlier in 39, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. And then in verse 42, oh, my father, if this cup may not pass away, except I drink it. If it's possible, let this cup pass from me. And his next request is. OK, if. If it is not possible that this cup pass from me, except I drink it. Then your will be done. Jesus taught us to pray. And that Sermon on the Mount in Matthew six. Thy will be done in heaven as it is on earth. He taught us to pray the will of the Father be done, and now he's modeling that again. Your will be done. And then fifthly, there's a significant answer. The father said, no, this cup was not going to pass from him. The son is not delivered from the cross, nor did he expect to be. But the text here shows us the great grief of the Lord on full display as he is the son is praying to the father. And you just see this, you sense this. This is indeed a significant prayer, not like any in the Bible that you can find. But why? Why is this prayer so significant? Why is Jesus in such deep grief? Why is he in agony here in the garden? Because you see here not only a significant prayer, but you see secondly, a significant price. A significant price. In verse 39, Jesus, in his agony, requested of the Father, let this cup pass from me. And the key to seeing the significant price is to identify the cup. What is this cup that he's talking about when he says, if it be possible, Lord, let this cup pass from me? What is that cup? The anticipated cup caused such grief for our Lord. Why? Was it because Jesus knew that even now Judas was approaching in order to deliver him to his enemies? Was it because he was painfully aware that Peter would deny him That all the disciples would forsake him, that the Sanhedrin would condemn him, that Pilate would sentence him, that his enemies would ridicule him. That the soldiers would crucify him. I would say that certainly that was part of the grief, what he was anticipating, that human suffering. But as the story unfolds, we notice the tender, sensitive Jesus is more and more, it seems he's aware that he's being driven now into isolation. Some of the people left him who were following him. He knows that all of those disciples very, very shortly are going to be falling away from him. He's not concerned about losing control. That's never been an issue. He's not concerned about being overpowered by the enemy. We must never think that in the cross and in this garden, Jesus is all of a sudden overwhelmed by the enemy that Judas brings along with him when he betrays him. And now all of a sudden now, Jesus is helpless. And they're going to put him on a cross against his will. That is not the case. Remember what John 10, 17 and 18 say, Therefore doth my father love me because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it up. This is not a matter of Jesus being overwhelmed and concerned that he's going to be overtaken here and he's in such grief and struggle because he's about to fall into the hands of enemies who are going to overpower him. That's not at all the case. This is the God of heaven. That's not his struggle, what is involved here is in his willingly laying down his life, all that's going to be involved in that is what is so grievous to him. It's like what the prophet Isaiah said in Isaiah 53. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, the prophet said. God is going to make his son and a sham. A guilt offering for sin. The Apostle Paul wrote it this way in second Corinthians five and verse 21, for he had made him to be sin for us, the one who knew no sin. That we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Galatians three, Paul writes, verse 13, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. This is the grief. That the Lord Jesus is. Experiencing as he anticipates this. Let's look for just a moment, can you go to Psalm 22? We just wrap it up here in Psalm 22. And look at verse 18. The scripture says, they part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture. We know who that's talking about, it's talking about the Lord Jesus. Look up at verse 16. For dogs have composed me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me, they pierced my hands and my feet. We know who that's talking about. Look in verse six, but I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn. They shoot out the lip. They shake the head, saying he trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him. Let him deliver him. Seeing he delighted in him. We know who that's talking about. Our Lord Jesus. But look how the psalm opens, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring? When our sins will be descending upon him in a great mass And so he alone were guilty of all of our sins. He had no sins of his own. He's bearing all of ours. He's made a curse for us and forsaken by God, which we will see later as we make our way through Matthew. This is what is so grievous to the Lord Jesus. The songwriter certainly had it right when he wrote so high the price he paid. The nails, the cross, the grave, such pardon he bestows, such grace he shows. No greater sacrifice he gave his very life. So deep the love, so high the price. This is what we're talking about, and you can see it in this conversation, two conversations, but this is the one He had with the Father, and all this He did for you and me. He went to the cross, He paid for our sins, none of His own, He had none. But He bore the sins of the whole world on that cross. Our Father, this morning, we cannot possibly know the depths of grief that are in those words that you were sorrowful and very heavy. We can't possibly grasp all of that, and yet we believe it. We're sobered by it. We're shamed by our sins. that would require such a price and yet we're thankful that you died for every single one of our sins and that you rose again and your father declared you to be the son of God with power. So we thank you. And we pray that as we observe this now, that we can do it reflectively and cheerfully with deep gratitude for all that you gave to us in your son, Jesus Christ. Bless this time now, Lord, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.