So when we think of the cross, the cross is really a paradox. Because on the one hand, it's the greatest moment in all of history of human suffering. While at the same time, it is the source of our greatest hope. Charles Spurgeon, a late preacher, who was very open about his depression that he struggled with, talked about how he would look to Jesus's suffering as encouragement. Because he embraced this idea that the darkness and gloom of the garden and the cross are the foundation of our brightest hopes. Grace Life, Jesus is acquainted with our suffering. He became like us in every way so that we may find comfort and strength in Him. So tonight, as we think about the cross, on Good Friday we often think about the human suffering, the physical pain that Jesus went through, but I want us to really focus beyond that tonight. I want us to look below the surface to things that the people that were standing there that day watching Jesus Christ be crucified would not have known. the spiritual weight that he experienced, the separation he experienced. That is what I want us to contemplate tonight. Because Jesus didn't just face suffering, he didn't just die, but he drank the cup. So this cup that he drank, the idea of the cup, is something we see all throughout the Old Testament. And what it is, is it's a picture of God's wrath poured out on human sin. So let's walk with Jesus. We'll look at three cups tonight. First, in the garden, then on the cross, and finally, we'll meet at the table. So let's start with the cup before him when he's in the garden of Gethsemane. If you have a Bible with you, you can flip to Matthew 26. There's Bibles in the chairs as well if you didn't bring one with you. Matthew 26. verses 38 and 39. So Jesus is with his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane. He knew all that was before him, and in this moment, he says this in Matthew 26, verse 38 and 39. Then he said to them, my soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch with me. And going a little farther, he fell on his face and prayed, saying, my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. This is our savior, sorrowful to the point of death, meaning he was so sorrowful it could lead him to dying. In one gospel account, we see that he's actually sweating blood. That is the weight he was experiencing. In Christ, we have to recognize that there are two wills that meet. There's a human nature, and in his human nature, he's able to experience the full range of emotions we experience and the full suffering that we can experience. And at the same time, there's a divine nature who's in perfect union with the Father at all times and in perfect alignment with his plan. So in the agony of the garden, We see a man coming to grips with the reality of a brutal death, but the obedience of the Son of God, who does not shrink back from his divine destiny. But we must remember, Jesus genuinely suffered. He was fully human. And I want to put a picture up. There's a sculpture in the Garden of Gethsemane today that somebody carved. And when I got to see this, it moved me. There's something about the picture of Jesus falling on his face, praying. I knew about this story. I knew what Jesus went through physically. But to think about our crowned son of God, crying in agony, knowing what he would experience. That is a sobering reality. And here in the garden, Jesus' greatest fear wasn't the Roman whips. It wasn't the nails that were gonna be placed on his head and a crown of thorns. It wasn't even the shame of being hung naked on a cross in front of your whole community to see. But he was standing on the edge of something far, far worse, the wrath of God. He's looking into the holy, righteous, furious wrath of God on human sin, knowing that he's going to have to bear the full weight of it alone. If you think about this, there are many Christian martyrs who have gone to their deaths singing hymns, seemingly at peace in their soul. So we must ask, why is Jesus, the sinless son of God, sorrowful here to the point of death? because his death was not like theirs. He wasn't just facing the physical pain and public shame. He was standing in the place of sinners in judgment. On the cross, he bore what we deserved, not just death, but the full weight of God's wrath poured out on sin. Hell in our place. Jesus is not shrinking back from this, but he's stepping willingly into this submission, this substitution in our place. And if there's anything you get out of this message tonight, I want it to be this. Jesus drank the cup of God's wrath so that we wouldn't have to. Jesus drank the cup of God's wrath so that we wouldn't have to. Sometimes God leads us through deep sorrow, not around it. And Jesus knows, because he experienced it himself, that this obedience doesn't always feel triumphant. It can actually feel like death. Yet knowing all he would face, he stepped willingly into it. And now that power, the power of God, the divine nature, He actually chooses to dwell in us, to live in us when we share in the union with Christ through faith. So now, Grace Life, this is when we face trials. We have Christ, the Son of God, on our side, walking through it with us. And this, if you think about it, is where perfect obedience is most clearly seen. Because when it's easy to obey, that's not true perfect obedience. True perfect obedience is when it costs everything, and that's what it costs Jesus. So we may face physical pain in this life, and I know all of us are gonna face death. But Jesus has been there, he knows. And he has gone further still. So he knows what he's about to drink in the garden. He's looking at the cup that is going to come to him. And it's not just Roman nails, it's divine judgment. Not my will, but yours be done. The cost of that prayer, we cannot begin to fathom. And yet he prays it, he prays it. So that is the cup that is before Christ when he's in the garden. So next, we'll go to the cross and we'll see the cup being poured out, the moment the cup is poured out. So turn with me, Matthew 27 now, verse 46. These two verses, the verses we just read and now this verse, I think if we look at Jesus's whole life on earth, these are the two moments of his greatest suffering. So Matthew 27, verse 46. In about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lemma sabachthani. That is, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? This is the moment he drinks the cup. Here at the cross, the full weight of God's wrath on human sin being poured out on Christ, our Savior, it falls completely on Him. This cup that He saw in the garden being foreshadowed is now completely drained to the last drop. This sinless, glorious Son of God who has throughout all eternity been worshiped and adored by angels, is now hung on a tree in shame, humiliated on a Roman cross. The one who knew perfect fellowship with the Father for all time, his whole life, is now experiencing this agonizing abandonment to the point where he cries out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And this forsakenness, it's not a loss of faith, but it's a cry from the depths of his very soul. He is experiencing the separation that we deserved. And I don't want this to be some theological puzzle that we feel like we have to solve, but just to communicate the agonizing reality of what Jesus had to go through what it means to be cut off from the loving presence of the Father. God's still present, but now, instead of love, the Son of God is experiencing wrath. So the doctrine we call the hypostatic union says that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man, 100% God and yet 100% man at the same time. And this unique union allows the Son of God to experience this full spectrum of human emotions, including this profound feeling of abandonment that's leading him to cry out. And yet this doesn't diminish his divine nature or fracture the unity within the Trinity. But for one who has only experienced perfect union with the Father, this is utter abandonment, utter loneliness, utter desolation. And it's what we in our sin deserved to experience for all of eternity. He bore our sin. He bore our judgment. This cry, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me, is actually a direct quote from Psalm 22, verse one. A psalm that prophetically describes the suffering of this servant. And if you read that psalm, you can see the account of Jesus' death playing out. And this cry, my God, my God, it's a cry that reverberates throughout the cosmos, marking the most profound moment throughout all of human history of suffering. In 2 Corinthians 5.21, it's described this way. God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we may become the righteousness of God. The judgment was to have God the Father pour out his wrath, but instead of pouring it out on you or me, he pours it out on his own son. Instead of treating him as a son, he treated him as sin itself. The only true son was treated as sin so that you and I could become sons and daughters. That is reality of what it means for Christ to become sin. Experiencing the full weight of sin and death that we deserve. This is substitution. Christ didn't just die for us, he died instead of us. Jesus bore the isolation, the darkness, the judgment that we should have endured. In this moment, when the Father's loving presence turns to wrath, that is the cost of redemption. That is the cost of grace. And he did it all for you. Tim Keller tells a story of a woman who approached him one Sunday after service, and she tells him that she thought his sermon was very narrow. And the reason why, when he asks, is because she says, well, I don't believe in a God who has to punish sin. I believe he just loves everyone. And as gently as possible, Tim Keller responds with this profound question. He says, what did it cost for your God to love you? She said, after thinking about it, I guess nothing. Tim Keller's response is that if you don't believe in a just God who must punish sin, you don't have a sense of what it cost Jesus to love us. He had to somehow take this infinite, eternal punishment in his own being, in our place. And that is why, in the Garden of Gethsemane, the divine Son of God could say that he was overwhelmed to the point of death. And that is why on the cross, Jesus doesn't just cry out, my hands, my hands, my feet, my head. He certainly could have because of all he was going through, but instead he cries, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Do you get it? There's so much more beyond the physical that was happening on the cross. The internal suffering that Jesus experienced was the true agony. And someone might say, well, God loves everyone. He just loves everyone. Why does he have to go through this suffering? But such a God is not as loving as the God of the Bible. who because he was holy and loving gave us grace. Because he's loving, there is free, free, free, free grace for you and for me. But because he's holy, it's costly grace, infinitely costly grace. And when I know that I'm the recipient of this kind of costly grace, when I know that Jesus went to hell's heart for you and for me, and was loving and obedient for me there, that's what changes me. That brings the tears. That brings amazement. And that is exhilarating. It changes me because at the very same time, on one hand, I hate my own sin because I know it's what put him on the cross. But at the same time, it forbids me to hate myself because he died so that I could be free. The cup of wrath became the cup of grace because Jesus drank it dry. And that is the cup he received on the cross for us. So what's now the cup that we receive? And this is where we look to the table. So on the night before Jesus suffered, he lifted up a cup with his disciples and said, this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. He says that in Matthew 26, verse 28. And this cup that Jesus offers is the cup that we receive today. Because Jesus drank the cup of wrath, we drink the cup of mercy. Because he was forsaken, we are adopted. Because he bore our judgment, we are given his righteousness. The table is not light or casual. It's holy, sacred, and reverent. but at the same time, it's full of joy because it is a reminder of what Christ did for us. He drank the cup of wrath, and now we can receive the cup of mercy, the cup of blessing. So when we take communion, which we will tonight, we remember not just that Jesus died, but why he died, and that he finished the work. It isn't just remembering what he did, but it's receiving what he offers to us here and now. This grace is not just a past tense thing we look back on and say it was poured out, but it's continual, it's present, it's for this moment, for every need that we have. It's for sinners who come with empty hands knowing that we need mercy. So we come to this table not because we are worthy, but because he is worthy. And it's not just remembrance of what was happening then, but it's a promise of what is to come. So right after Jesus offers this cup and says, do this in remembrance, he says, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until the day that I drink it anew with you in my father's kingdom. So grace life, there is another cup coming. There is a wedding feast that we will get to partake in with the lamb, a victory cup, a celebration of the lamb. So tonight, when we come to the table, I want us to remember not just this juice and bread, but the cup that Christ drank for us. It's a reason for the cup we now receive. hold it with reverence, drink it with gratitude. Because like I said, this is more than just juice and bread, but it's a picture of wrath turned into welcome, judgment turned into joy, and death turned into life. The gloom of the garden and the darkness of the cross that we reflect on tonight are the foundations of our brightest hopes. So if you've been carrying guilt, come. If you've been numb or dry or distant, come. If you've been overwhelmed by the burden and weight of your own sin, come. Not because you're worthy, not because of anything that you've done to deserve it, but because of everything he finished. That's what I want us to reflect on tonight.