The Disciples Sleep While Jesus Drinks the Cup

Oh, He is risen. Amen. I think perhaps my favorite part about Easter is all the beautiful suits and handsome dresses I get to see that I don't normally get to see before. It is wonderful. Well, I'd ask you to open up your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 22. The Gospel of Luke, chapter 22. although I think I'd prefer Pastor Tim just to continue preaching that sermon that he was giving us in his prayer that was wonderful but alas we will have to deal with this let's go to Luke chapter 22 we'll be in Matthew, Mark and Luke but looking at the the account of Jesus and the disciples at Gethsemane we'll look at all three gospels there but we'll mainly be in Luke so let's turn there.

But if you want to, as I'm referring to the other Gospels, if you want to flip there, it'd be Mark 14 and Matthew 26. Mark 14 and Matthew 26. So Luke chapter 22. Verse 39. And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives. And the disciples followed him.

And when he came to the place, he said to them, Pray that you may not enter into temptation. And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw and knelt down and prayed, and saying, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. and there appeared to him an angel from heaven strengthening him and being in agony he prayed more earnestly and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground and when he rose from prayer he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow and he said to them why are you sleeping rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation let us let's pray Father, I pray that you would help us now.

Help us to see the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ with renewed hearts of joy and gladness and praises. It is amazing to see all the different emotions that go into seeing Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected. The emotions of sadness, of depression, emotions of longing and sorrow, but then emotions of victory and gladness and joy. I thank you, Lord, this good thing that you have done for your people in salvation, that Jesus Christ, as a perfect servant, came and took upon himself the wrath of all of his people so that he would give us a cup of goodness.

I pray, God, that on this day and this Easter Sunday, we would especially celebrate this with glad hearts. Let us not just celebrate it now, but let us celebrate this with our families later and as we see friends and relatives. I pray, God, that the joy of the resurrection of Christ would be tattooed on our face. Lord, that we would be so joyful that Christ has done this work for us.

For we know that we are weak and sinners, yet in Christ we are righteous and made perfect. So we thank you for this day that we can celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. May we hear this word today and may we respond in faith to Jesus Christ our Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, here at the Garden of Gethsemane, we have Jesus and the disciples. They enter into a new territory with this night that picks up here at this garden.

See, up to this point, the disciples have been on the mountaintop, as it were, as they have witnessed amazing things at the lips and at the hands of Jesus as he taught with authority, refuted the powerful religious leaders with perfection, and healing became common occurrence since Jesus began his ministry three years prior. The disciples witnessed this all year after year. Sure, there were times when the heat came close and Jesus seemed like he was about to be destroyed by his powerful enemies, but he would always slip away unscathed.

But as of late, there seems to be evidence that they were headed into a certain valley, no longer on the mountain. There had been weird things that Jesus had been saying, something about his death at the hands of these rulers. But that was quickly thrust aside in their heads. But tonight is different. At the Garden of Gethsemane, it's different. Jesus would give himself up to the religious leaders after the betrayal of his friend.

And as Jesus and the disciples came to Gethsemane, it is very clear that things are now coming to a scary head. The gospel writers themselves spend most of their time writing on these last few hours and few days of Jesus' life. You see the writings, it speeds through everything, but then it just really slows down at this time period here. It's almost as if all the events of Jesus and the disciples' lives was all pointed to these last few hours and days that would be a time of severe testing.

They had spent nearly three years on the mountaintop of teaching, refuting, healing, and seeing the Master at work, but now they will descend to the valley of seeing Jesus murdered. And what we will see this morning as we look at this word together is how not to handle being in the valley from the disciples and we will see how we should handle the valley from Jesus. And more than this, how he does handle it, we will see he also gives the disciples and he gives us strength to handle the valley in a way that honors him and is filled with life So let look at that together as we look at Luke look at Luke 22 39 And he came out and went as was his custom to the Mount of Olives and the disciples followed him And when he came to the place he said to them pray that you may not enter into temptation Now we know that Jesus was his mind was filled with sorrow at this point He knew what was coming as we talk about in a moment And what fascinating is the first thing as he is overcome with so much sorrow and looking upon his own circumstance of what he's about to endure, he's thinking in love for his disciples, for his sheep.

And he tells them as they get to the garden, he says, pray, pray. They're into the valley now. They're into an affliction, a hardship that is coming that it's hard to even fathom. And the first thing Jesus tells them to do is to pray or have communion go to the Father. What's interesting is no matter what situation we're heading into, because really in our own lives, we're either on a mountain or in a valley, and sometimes it just feels like if we're not in the valley, we're just preparing to get into the valley of a hardship.

And what's fascinating is any valley, any hardship, any time of testing, hardship that we face, God's purpose in it is to have communion with his people. And this is what Jesus is identifying when he says, pray to God. Often, whenever we even consider a valley, let alone if we're in one, we'll think the first thing that we will not think is God desires to have communion with me in this valley, potential valley, or whatever is coming forth.

And Jesus here is identifying that whenever we are facing a hardship, a trial, whatever it may be, God's purpose for you, beloved, as you look to Jesus, is to have communion with you. So he tells his disciples as they go into the garden, with this hardship coming forth, pray. Now the second thing we see about this, he says, pray that you may not enter into temptation.

Talking to his disciples. Remember Peter, we read earlier, Peter and the disciples and especially Peter was just very adamant, I am not going to deny you. I am going to stick with you to prison, even to death. I will not deny you. Whatever you're on about with your death finally, whatever it may be, I'm not going to deny you. I'm not going to enter into temptation of sin, so to speak.

I'm not going to sin when these things come. And so what Jesus is doing here is he's saying, you're so adamant about it. You're so strong-willed about it, Peter, especially looking at Peter. Pray that you do not enter into sin in this moment, for it's coming soon. The valley is near. It's here.

The difficulty is coming. The testing is coming. Pray that you will not enter into temptation to sin, to deny me, as you so boldly said that you would not. And again, notice how he's considering his sheep, even in the midst of his own turmoil. And we must look at ourselves, right? Because we're not in the Garden of Gethsemane, but it's very easy for us to see that and just read it as a cool story and not see that there is implications for us here.

That whenever we are facing such a testing, a trial, a hardship, a valley, we must understand that when we act in that way that disobeys Christ, we are denying him just as much as Peter did. That whenever we are in a situation meant for our good, meant for communion with God, when we respond in that way in sin and disobedience to Jesus, we are in effect saying, I do not know the man. So we must understand here, the disciples, we see ourselves, right? of a valley coming, a hardship unknown.

And here Jesus tells them, pray that you do not enter into the temptation of denying me, of running away, of abandoning me. For himself, in verse 41 of Luke 22, he withdrew from them about a stone's throw and knelt down and prayed. So he, our Lord, is in communion with the Father as he is approaching this hardest hour of his life. He kneels down to pray and have communion with the Father.

Luke is kind of, the language is a little bit heightened in Matthew and Mark. In Matthew 26, 39 and Mark 14, 35, they say he fell on his face or he fell on the ground. Luke, it kind of sounds like he kind of kneels down politely, but the other gospel writers, they fill in more detail. he fell on his face. You see that emotions there is not a bad thing.

As we are approaching something difficult and hard at testing, it is completely appropriate for the emotions to have a say there in which it drives Jesus to fall fast upon his face because he's overwhelmed with these, not to the point of sin, but he's filled with them in a response in prayer and falling down on his face to talk with his father. There's no holiness in just being stoic and trying to hide or stifle emotions. There's all sorts of bit of sin that comes with letting emotions take the driver's seat.

But you've got to understand that emotions was given from God to us for us to experience them more. And Jesus is experiencing the emotion of being distraught, so much so that he's falling on his face to go to his father in prayer. Now you might think after telling his disciples, what should make up their substance of prayer is not to enter into temptation, that perhaps he would pray likewise, but that's not what he prays in the garden.

That's not the substance of his prayer. It's a little different from what he told the disciples to pray. He says in Luke 22, look at verse 42, saying, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. So there's three things that we're going to point out with his prayer there. One of them is the substance of his prayer is that the cup would be taken away from him.

Father, if you're willing, remove this cup from me. Or Matthew says let this cup pass from me Mark says the hour might pass from him And so the substance of Jesus prayer in Gethsemane as he considering his heart as this trial upon him is that he talking about the cup of God. Now this cup of God is a cup of wrath. It is a cup of God's fury. Psalm 75 8 says, for in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine well mixed and he pours out from it and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.

The imagery there is that all the sins that happen on this earth doesn't go by God unnoticed. God is angry with the wicked every day and he hates every ounce of sin, every minute of sin, every second of sin, every millisecond of sin, he hates it. So much so that he doesn't let it go by, but he fills it up in a cup. and it fills up and up and up and up.

And eventually the hatred of those sins will come down upon those who have done those sins. And so we see a cup throughout the Old Testament is talking about, and we'll talk about the other cup too, but it's talking about God's hatred of sin and how it is being measured up and his wrath is going to be poured out in which they must drink the cup of wrath because of sins. And so Jesus has this in mind when he says, when he's talking about the cup of God's wrath.

And what's his desire with the substance of his prayer being on this cup of God's wrath? What's his desire? Well, his desire is, one, that the cup would be removed from him. That it would be taken away from him. Jesus is imagining drinking the cup of God's wrath, and it terrifies him. It is an awful thought.

Now, I hear a lot, I remember hearing it as a younger Christian, that Jesus wasn't afraid at all of any physical torture that he was about to endure. Yes, he was. Yes, he was. Because you understand that the physical torture that Jesus was about to endure was at the hand of an angry God who was letting out his wrath upon him. In other words, the physical torture, the physical things that he went through with being whipped and being put on the cross was at the hands and instrument of God who is angry at sin.

And the holy fury he has against it was manifested in the physical curses of the whipping of the cross of death. You ever notice when Adam and Eve sinned, their curses were certainly spiritual, but in Genesis it talks about the physical nature of it, right? Adam had to work with the sweat of his brow. And Eve had to have children in a way that was increased pain.

And so we must understand that when Jesus is here at Gethsemane, and he's considering this cup that he's asking that it be taken away from him, he's imagining all the tortures and the physical hurt that he would receive because it was coming forth ultimately from a God who is angry with sin. Isaiah 53 10 yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him and he has put him to grief Jesus did not want to go through such a time of the father being angry with him of the wrath being poured out on him it terrified him but that's not the greatest desire of Jesus here is it there's a greater desire that we see in here when he says, but not my will be done, but your will be done. There's the greatest desire of Jesus.

There's certainly a lesser desire of Jesus that this cup would be taken from me, that I wouldn't have to endure this. But then there's a greater desire above that in which he says, but your will be done, not mine. And so this teaches us a beautiful teaching that it is okay in our time of trial and hardship as we are looking at it to pray, oh God, may this trial, hardship not come.

Oh, that I wouldn't have to go in this valley. That I wouldn't have to endure this thing that is coming that I see. But if that is your greatest desire, you have created an idol. And Jesus teaches us here perfectly that it is okay to ask that God would keep us from that, but the greatest desire I have is that your will, oh God, would be done. If that means for it to come, let it come.

So this is the prayer of Jesus. It's centered on this cup of wrath. And he says, I don't want it, but if it's your will for me to have it, then may it be done. It's another interesting to note before we move on from this. Another interesting thing to know is when it comes to what's possible and God's will. What I mean by that, I'm getting lost in my notes here.

I might have to skip this part. What I mean by that is what Jesus says. Notice how he says in verse 42, Father, if you are willing. But in Matthew, in Mark, he says, if it be possible, take this cup from me. That's his desire, take it from me. So it's interesting that the three writers, they kind of use that word interchangeably, those two words, willing and what's possible.

In fact, later on in Mark 14, 36, Jesus says all things are possible for you remove this cup for me yet not what I will but what you will and it reminds me of when Jesus was coming down from the mountain of transfiguration and he's and he has his father that wants his son healed and he says if it's possible heal him from the the demon and Jesus says if it's possible all things are possible with God and so what's interesting here is Jesus isn't saying well if it's if it's possible for you if you have enough power to do this and do it what he's saying is if it's possible in accordance with your will then please take it And so what is possible is connected with God will And what Jesus is saying that if it possible i if it within your will then please I don want to take it And this is the way that we really truly should look at our trials and hardships, is that all things are possible with God. He's not weak in any measure. But the question is, is it according to his will?

Is this according to his will? Is this possible in accordance with your will? And if you have determined that this is what it's going to be, this is your will, then this is what I should pursue. This is what I want to happen. So this is what Jesus is praying. This is the substance of his prayer.

He is asking that this cup of wrath that terrifies him would pass from him. But his greatest desire is that his will, that God's, the Father's will would be done. Now in the Matthew and Mark account, Luke doesn't have this in his account, but it's worth looking at. in Matthew 26, 40 and 41. We read, And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping.

And he said to Peter, So could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. You see the contrast there, right? Jesus is watching and praying. Jesus recognizes what is about to come, and he's in communion in prayer with the Father.

And he goes to his disciples and he sees them sleeping, not watching, not praying. And there's really two issues with their sleeping. Jesus is wanting someone with him to watch and pray. He's wanting fellowship with others as he's about to endure the cross in this cup of wrath. He's wanting to have fellowship with his brothers or with the disciples. And instead, they have already started the process of abandoning him.

That they would stay awake and pray with him. Instead, they are tired with sorrow and they are already starting the steps of abandonment. But the other aspect of why he wants them to stay awake is Jesus cares for them. He cares for their souls. He cares that they would not enter into temptation and sin. That even though he is seeing the greatest testing, the hardship that he's about to face, he still cares for his sheep.

He doesn't want them to enter into sin. And he says the means to not enter into sin is to be in prayer right now. Again, remember how all of them just before had said they would never betray him. They would follow him on to death. Peter being most vocal in which Jesus says he would deny him before the rooster crows. And now he's telling them, if you're going to be able to do what you said you would do, you must pray to God.

And he says, for the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Paul says about that, he says in Galatians 5, 17, for the desires of the flesh are against the spirit. And the desires of the spirit are against the flesh for these two are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things that you want to do. In other words, when you have a hard trial, a valley coming forward like the disciples had before them, there is an entity within you, if you're in Christ, the spirit within you that wants to obey Christ, that wants to follow him, that wants to identify with him in that hardship.

But there's also an entity within you, the flesh that is left over, that wants so bad for you to deny the Lord Jesus Christ and to sin against him. That the pressures of that valley would then come down upon you and you would respond in denying Christ. That is the flesh at work. That is what the flesh desires for you. Even with the spirit that desires, I would use this time to honor, glorify Christ and have life in his name.

So Jesus is saying, you need to be in prayer now as that moment is coming because the flesh is going to want you to fail. Even as the spirit wants to succeed, pray that the spirit would succeed. And there's never a moment in our lives where we can say, well, the flesh won't be that bad. I don't have to worry about the flesh being too bad in this hardship that's to come.

Whatever the situation is that you are facing, you can never, there's never a good time to say, well, the flesh isn't that strong or powerful. There's always a time for you to be in prayer. Oh, Lord, keep me from the temptations to sin, for I know the Spirit is willing, but my flesh is so very weak. Help me. so as they're sleeping instead of being praying and watchful they're undermining the power of the flesh and they're overvaluing their ability to withstand temptation but of course again that first point that jesus is wanting someone to watch and pray with him and they're abandoning him already that is certainly that's part of why he wants them to Stay awake.

Can you not stay awake and watch with me for an hour, he says. And in verse 43, we see that he's alone. And yet, and there appeared to him an angel from heaven strengthening him. We see there's a contrast there, right? His disciples are sleeping. They have abandoned him.

They're not with him. And yet here we see an angel from heaven strengthens him. In 2 Timothy 4, 16 and 17, Paul says, at my first defense when he's talking about facing um prison time with with in rome because of the preaching the gospel he says at my first defense no one came to stand by me but all deserted me may it not be charged against them but the lord stood by me and strengthened me so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and the gentiles might hear so i was rescued from the lion's mouth there is a beautiful truth there that even in the hardest of times that we're in like Jesus is facing here, when we are in communion with the Father, relying upon him in prayer, there is a certain strength that comes forth from him.

Even whenever our souls are tore up and our emotions are high with sadness and sorrow, there is a strength that comes from the Lord. And even here, Jesus, as he's relying upon the Father, an angel is sent to strengthen him in this hour of hardship. What's very fascinating is you pair that with the strength that he strengthened with, but yet in verse 44, it seems odd that then Luke says, and being in agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

See, we would like the idea of being strengthened means that they would feel chipper and happy. No more negative emotions. That's what I want to feel when I'm in prayer and I see a hardship coming. I just want to be strengthened in the way of which I feel no more sadness, no more hardship. but here Jesus was strengthened yet his agony grew more that doesn't mean that he wasn't strengthened it just means that he was strengthened through the emotional turmoil that he was that he was feeling now how often whenever we are in prayer in communion with God we recognize these things we're relying upon him and yet our emotions increase with agony and we doubt the fact that God works strength even in those emotions.

You see, Jesus, he's sweating drops of blood. We can't even fathom the emotional turmoil that's going on in him at this moment. He's praying in agony. He prays more earnestly. And the sweat becomes great drops of blood. It's a fascinating thing that despite the turmoil that can be happening in your spirit, it does not mean that as you are pursuing the Father, he has strengthened you for the task at hand.

And this is exactly what happened with Jesus. Although this is going on in him, and you know, we think of ourselves, if this was happening to us, we'd be like, okay, I'm out of here, see ya. And we would sin just like that. Jesus, all this is going on in a way that we can't even fully fathom. And yet he gets up and he says, it's time to glorify and honor and obey my Father.

I am asking for this to be taken from me. He has clearly said no. Get up and now it's time to act. And that's what Jesus does. All these emotions, all this turmoil, all the hardship, the answer is you will endure it. And Jesus says, okay, stands up and he goes and he endures it.

Look at Matthew. Go to Matthew 26 to see this. again hold this contrast in your mind right we're just seeing jesus overwhelmed but yet not overwhelmed to where he's sinning he he gives it all to the father relies upon the father and is strengthened by him that despite the fact that he's overwhelmed with these emotions yet he stands up and he resolves to honor and obey his father and we see this determination matthew 26 45 he came to the disciples and said to them sleep and take your rest later on see the hour is at hand and the son of man is betrayed to the hands of sin arise let us be going see my betrayer is at hand you see that that is not a timid jesus saying oh man i just really don't want to do this he realizes the answer is you're going to take this cup he stands up and he says get up disciples it's time for us to go and it's time for me to do this. A determination, despite the fact that he didn't want to do it, because it was the Father's will, he desired to do it.

And he goes on the path of receiving that cup. He even tells Judas to get on with it, right? Matthew 26, look at verse 48. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, the one I kiss is the man that sees him. And he came up to Jesus at once and said, greetings, Rabbi. And he kissed him.

And Jesus said to him, friend, do what you've come to do. Do what you came to do. Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him. In other words, let's get on with it. I'm ready. Let's go.

So again, don't forget that emotional turmoil just a moment ago, and now Jesus is resolved. Let's go. What an example for us, again, when we're in those hardships, right, when we're overcome with these emotions, we are strengthened as we're relying upon God to stand up and do what needs to be done to honor and glorified to fulfill his will. Even when his disciples responded to the contrary, grabs a sword and starts chopping heads off, what does Jesus do?

Put away your sword. This is not God's will. You know, if it was me, I'd be like, hey, yeah, let's try this avenue for a moment. Let's just see if this works out. See if we can't get out of here. It wasn't God's will.

He says, put away your sword. In fact, he heals the ear and he says, I'm determined to do the will of God even at my own hurt. Now, let's contrast that with the disciples. There's a contrast going on here. A praying Jesus in communion with the Father, relying upon him, strengthened by him. And there's the sleepy disciples, right?

And in keeping with their slumber, instead of watching and praying, the disciples give in to temptation during this tumultuous time, during this valley that has now started. and all the disciples in Matthew 26 56 they all left him and fled that was in keeping with their sleeping in keeping with their lack of watching and praying they fled they denied Jesus Peter didn run away totally though which might make you think perhaps he did something more noble but instead he stuck around more just to dig himself deeper into the hole Remember, he sticks around, tries to watch the trial at a distance. Go to Luke 22, 59 through 62. Take a look at that.

Luke 22, 59 through 62, Peter initially ran away, but he stayed at a distance enough to see what was going on. But we see that it's just so he can deny his Jesus further. And after an interval of about an hour, still another insisted, saying, certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean. But Peter said, man, I do not know what you're talking about.

You see, imagine being strengthened and not given into temptation of sin would be to do what? Yeah, I'll take my cross right beside him. I'll identify with Jesus. I'll go with him. Whatever that may look like, I'm with him. But instead, what does he do?

I don't know him. Again, attach yourself to you. when you're in that same situation of a hardship of a tribe, a valley, when you sin and deny Christ, you are saying, I don't know the man. And this is what Peter is doing here. And notice, immediately while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And this has to be one of the most powerful verses. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter.

And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord and how he had said to him, before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times. and he went out and he wept bitterly. Many things must have been exploding in his mind. Obviously, the fact that he remembered what Jesus said about him denying him. But I have to believe Jesus' words of, you will betray me and you can't keep watch for one hour and pray that you won't enter into temptation came into his mind too.

I've got to imagine that Peter, as he's looking at Jesus, he's remembering all these things that were just said, that Peter is saying, I will never deny you. I will stick with you. I will stay with you even unto death. I can imagine Jesus telling him what Jesus said, that keep up, stay up and watch for an hour. Pray that you do not enter into temptation to sin.

And in this moment, he would realize as he denied Jesus, I did not do that. And now he's running away. What a low time to be Peter. What a low time to be the disciples. That at the greatest expression of devotion to Jesus, they ran. and what's fascinating is in our lives the greatest growth we can have is in the hardest time of trial which is the hardest time to identify with jesus but when we say i will identify with jesus there is the greatest growth to be had but here the greatest tragedy happens in which they all flee and run away as jesus takes the cup Jesus goes through a kangaroo court trial and dies on a cross at the hands of the wicked religious leaders and his followers failed to follow him three years of being on the mountain with Jesus witnessing his power concludes in the valley of returning to their former life afraid as at this point I want to move to an unexpected conclusion though.

We'll work our way back. But it's an unexpected conclusion because open your Bibles to Acts 4 verse 13. Let's settle our hearts on the fact that with cowardice and cowardice they ran away and they failed to identify with Jesus. They deny him. But just a few short weeks later, Peter and John would be within the presence of the hatred of the Jewish leaders again.

Right? They just denied Jesus because of the Jewish leaders. They were afraid. And now here, a few weeks later, they're before them again, but this time they would not run away nor deny Jesus. Look at Acts 4.13, what they say about him. These are the same people that just murdered Jesus, the same people that they were afraid of, that they ran away because they were afraid to identify with Jesus because of their hatred.

And now look at verse 13 of Acts 4. When they saw the boldness, underline boldness there, right? We just read how Peter was not bold. When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated common men, they were astonished. But then look what it says further on, and they recognized that they had been with Jesus. So what a fascinating turn of events of just a few weeks later that they would run away because they were cowards and they would not be with Jesus, They would not identify with Jesus.

But here now, three weeks later, for the same people, now with boldness, they were identified as those who were with Jesus. What a turn of events we have here. Well, what changed? What happened between a few weeks before to now? such boldness identifying with jesus instead of denying him is explained by peter and what he boldly just declared to the religious leaders a verse before Look at Acts 4 11 and 12 He says This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you the builders which has become the cornerstone And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

You see, they found, they understood the full totality of salvation, what Jesus did. What Jesus did when he was rejected and killed by the builders was drink the cup of wrath that was set before you and I and all who believe upon him. You understand? That's what Jesus was doing. That cup that he says, please take it from me, the cup of wrath, that wasn't for him.

Jesus is perfect, deserving no wrath at all. That cup that he says, oh, that you would take from me was the cup of wrath that all of his people deserve, all of his sheep, all the elect, all the chosen ones, all of it was there. He says, take it from me. But whenever he says, my father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done. You know what drove Jesus to go?

It was for God's will, for sure. And part of that will was, is that the only way that their wrath is going to be taken care of is if you drink it, Jesus. There is no other way for salvation, no other way to be right with God, but that Jesus would take that cup and drink it. That's what's being exemplified there. is that don't even think for a moment there's another avenue in which the cup of wrath that Jesus didn't want to take can be dealt with in any other way.

It can only be done by Jesus following the will of the Father like he did that night. And so what happened with salvation is he took the cup of wrath that the disciples, that Peter, deserved by denying Jesus and all the other sin. He took the same cup of wrath that all of you, if you believe upon Jesus, All that you deserve as you deny Christ in the valley.

Whenever you should identify with him instead, you find yourself in sin. All the wrath that you deserve was taken by Jesus on that cross as he drank it to the full. So that when Jesus says it is finished on the cross before he gave up his spirit, he's saying I drank their cup. But it doesn't stop there. It doesn't stop there. He doesn't just take that away from us, but he gives us something in its stead when he rose from the dead and conquered sin and the death with an empty tomb.

Remember what he says in Matthew 26, 27, and 28. He took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. See, not only does he take away the cup of wrath that you deserve to drink, but he gives you a new cup, and it's filled with goodness, forgiveness of sins, righteousness from his own wounds.

So not only are your sins taken care of in the wrath, but he gives you a new cup filled with goodness from his resurrected power. Back to Psalm 116, 13, the psalmist says, I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. So the boldness of the disciples came from their cup of wrath being taken away by Jesus and given a cup of salvation in its stead.

The story of salvation is the story of Jesus being faithful unto death to drink your wrath so he can drink his goodness and righteousness and life. So that as that came to bear upon the disciples, they went from fleeing and sleeping to being active and bold and identifying with Jesus because they had drank the cup of goodness from Jesus, their wrath being taken care of. And this is our only hope, is it not?

Oh, how we are weak sinners. How we are disciples that fall asleep often. There's a problem coming on the horizon, and we'd rather just sleep and expect good things to happen on the other end. And oh, how we are taken out by these trials and hardships. But do you not know that Jesus Christ was faithful? Do you not know that he endured to the end?

That he drank your cup of wrath? And he says, here is a better cup of goodness by my wounds, so you can drink and be strengthened. And in the time of trial and hardship, you can say, I identify with him. For he has done the work. He has succeeded. He is victorious.

Now, as I conclude, that means that Peter and the disciples, they never faltered again, did they? No, it doesn't mean that. In fact, remember what we read in Galatians 2, 11 through 14? Flip there. Let's do it. Let's have fun together.

Galatians 2, 11 through 14, you remember? What Peter did after, again, denying Christ and then boldly proclaiming Christ to the same people? because of the cup of salvation he received. But that doesn't mean that all of a sudden now we're just constantly on the game. Look what happens, what Paul details. This is after this fact that he had such boldness because of salvation.

Look at Galatians 2, 11 through 14. But when Peter, that is Cephas, came to Antioch, man, Paul says, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles. but when they came, he stopped eating with the Gentiles. He separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. Imagine the duplicity there.

Imagine if Pastor Tim would sit with a certain group of people right But then a certain segment of the church came maybe some really extra people came like the really heavy ones And Tim like well, I don't want to sit with the less-reformed people. I'm going to kind of stop doing it. You know how awful that would be? And here, Peter is enjoying the company of fellow brothers in Christ, Gentiles, and then certain Judaizers come, and he says, okay, I'll go somewhere else.

The hypocrisy. And Paul could not handle it in righteousness, he goes up to them. In verse 14, when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, if you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews? In other words, cut it out. Stop doing that.

So even Peter, after all this, right? There's a time in which he does something so denying Christ that he would sit with brothers in Christ and then denied to sit with them a moment later because of pride's sake, there he is again, in some measure, denying Christ. Yet, he's given grace. Because then 2 Peter 3, 14 through 16, this is after this happened.

Now go to 2 Peter 3, 14 through 16. This is the last time we'll flip pages. Look what he says about Paul. Peter could have stood up and said, who are you? You're like a newcomer. Okay, you might be an apostle.

You're a newcomer. Who are you? but there's no reason to think that that happened. 2 Peter 3, 14-16, Peter says, Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish and at peace, and count the patience of our Lord at salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters.

There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist their own destruction as they do the other scriptures. The point that we're looking at there is that Peter had no problem calling him a fellow brother and saying, listen to him. So there's a certain way about our Christian life in which we face these hardships, these trials, these valleys like Jesus faced.

And we are constantly looking at our own weaknesses and our own shortcomings, but we always must look to Jesus Christ who is successful, who stood up to the will of God and he also strengthens us to do the same. And even now today, as you are considering your own life, oh Christian, as you consider, man, I have failed this morning, I have failed this week, I know I have, how can I deny Christ over and over again? How can I fall asleep and not watch?

Beloved, there is grace to be had in the wonderful drink of Jesus Christ. The cup that he provides is for you right now to drink and to be satisfied. Won't you drink that now? If you're an unbeliever, what are you waiting for? Why would you continue to drink the cup of wrath? Your life is miserable.

I know it is. I'm not trying to be prideful and act like I know you, but I know that your life is miserable outside of Christ. I once was there. Would you stop drinking the cup of wrath and drink the cup of goodness that Christ provides and follow him? He is a wonderful shepherd. He is patient with you.

When you mess up, he comes and says, here, drink more for my goodness. Why wouldn't we all do that now, today, on this Easter Sunday, and celebrate the good things that Christ has done for his disciples then and for his disciples now. Let us thank him together. Oh God, thank you for the mercies and grace that's found in Jesus Christ our Lord. God, I'm always amazed about how we can see the failures and failures and failures of the disciples, of the people in the scriptures that weren't Jesus.

And then Lord, I consider my own failures and I see how my failures are reflected there. But I'm so thankful that Christ did not fail. I'm so thankful to see him endure the same things that we endured, yet he did not sin. I see him go through a tumultuous time with his emotions, agony, sadness, and yet he stood up and said, I will do the will of God, let us go.

And we know, Lord, that him doing that, he drank our cup of wrath, and he gave us a new cup, a cup of grace and mercy of goodness, righteousness. which strengthens us, like the disciples, to be bold for the gospel, to identify with Jesus, even in the hardest of circumstances, to say, my life is found in identifying with him, even to my own hurt. But Lord, we know that we go through these periods in which we are strong, yet our weakness reveals itself, like Peter, and so we're in constant need to go to Jesus and receive that cup of goodness. And we know, Lord, of testimony that Peter, even unto death, he identified with Jesus, being hung on a cross upside down.

Lord, most of us will not be called to such a thing, but we know that we're called daily to deny the deeds of the flesh, to deny ourself and pick up our cross and follow him. So may we do so now with a resolve to know that Jesus provides the strength to do it all the way. He's patient and loving and kind. He will gather us together even unto eternity so that we can sing praises to his great name.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. he died and rose again and he gives me new life now praise you for that thank you Lord in Jesus name Amen