Passion Week // The Garden of Gethsemane // Pastor Josh Evans

Amen.

Amen. If you're thankful for God's love, can you say Amen today? And man, I love, love, love singing about what He has done for us and such a powerful, powerful, powerful song. Well, listen, it is so good to see you in the house of God here today. I'm so glad that you are here.

In fact, I want to echo what Pastor David said. If this is your first time here, we really want to take a moment just to say thank you for being a part of here. We understand you could have been in a lot of other places and you've chosen to worship with us here today. And we are so grateful, so grateful that you did.

And we would love to connect with you as well. Hey, listen, one thing we didn't say anything about so far is how many of you enjoyed losing an hour of sleep last night? Any of you? Like, listen, why are we doing this daylight savings thing?

Okay. Can we just talk about that for a moment? Like why in the world? I'm not a big fan of it, but I was kind of frustrated this morning about the fact that we lose an hour. And as a pastor, I'm always wondering, I'm like, all right, we're losing an hour.

Is anybody going to be able to get their kids out of bed this morning and things like that? And so I was frustrated for a moment. So I was like, who started this thing? And so George Hudson is his name.

Okay. And he's the one with the bright idea. And here's the thing. And this is, this is how crazy our world gets from time to time.

We listen to any idea that's out there. George, I read about this this morning. Oh, I should have probably been studying some more, but I read about George Hudson for a few moments. George Hudson started this daylight savings thing. And here's why, why is why?

And we bought into this. He studied insects for a living. And so he had this idea, if he could have a little bit more daylight and stuff like that, like, that's why. And so I just, I'm kind of mad this morning about George, George Hudson. And so because we lost an hour though, I figured I'd gain that back by preaching for an extra hour this morning. I hope you're okay with that.

And no, I am totally, totally kidding. If you have your Bible, Matthew chapter number 26, I did want to mention one announcement for you today. That's super important. And next weekend or this coming weekend, I guess I can say now this coming Saturday and then next Sunday, we are doing a consignment sale that will take place in our gymnasium. And this is a fundraiser for all of our kids to go to camp this summer. And so I'll just tell you this, if you're a parent looking to do some shopping, that kind of thing, make sure you come by. It's going for a great cause.

All the profit and that kind of thing will go to these camps or to the kids going to camp. So we'd love for you to do that. Grandparents, this will be a great opportunity for you to support that as well. And so I want to encourage you on Saturday and Sunday next weekend, take just a moment, pop over here to the gymnasium. And we would love to invite everybody, share it, whatever with your friends.

And so that we can try and help these kids going to camp. Matthew chapter 26. We were in Matthew 26 as well last week. And this week, we're going to continue our series entitled Passion Week. And this is a series that we are looking at.

We've looked at it the last two weeks. This is week number three of this series. This is going to take us through March 31st, which is Easter Sunday.

And so this is going to take us all the way there. And I'll tell you this, today's message, I'm just going to be straight with you, is somewhat of what I would consider a little bit of a heavy, heavy message. One thing I love to do is, I'm a practical thinker. And so one thing I would love to take the time to do is try to teach you every Sunday, how you can practically live out what the scripture is saying. Well, the passage that we are going to look at today, there's really not a lot of deep application for this passage of scripture. I'm going to be straight with you right up front. This is actually my goal today, is that every single one of us would leave here with a deeper understanding of what Christ went through for us.

That's the point. And so that's my goal for today. So if you're looking for like, hey, three steps to this and different things like that, I'm just going to be honest with you, that's not what you're going to find in this passage today. This is going to be more about what Christ has gone through and did go through to purchase your life. We've said this every single week at the start of the series, and I want to continue to reiterate this, that the purpose of everything that we're looking at, the purpose of the crucifixion, the purpose of Passion Week, the purpose of the resurrection, it was for one reason, so that God could reconcile man back into a relationship with him. And the reason is, and we continue, so if you've heard this the last few weeks, I get it.

So just kind of, I want to remember or remind you why this is important. In Genesis chapter one, God created man, okay? And the reason he created man was so that he could have a relationship with man.

The original design that God had was that man could walk with God and he could talk with God, right? And then everything changed, that relationship changed, that communion changed, that fellowship changed, all of it changed in Genesis chapter number three, when man sinned, right? When sin entered into the world, here's what happened, because of man's sin, Adam and Eve was cast out of the Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden was created for an opportunity for man and God to walk together and talk together, and now because they sinned in Genesis chapter number three, man is cast out of the garden. Think, man is cast out and away from the presence of God. And you know what was guarding the Garden of Eden after that was these angels with flaming swords. So you had sin, which led to the sword, that's the judgment of God, and the only thing missing to restore man that was cast out of the presence of God, the only thing missing was a sacrifice.

And that's the reason for Passion Week. Jesus coming to earth to dwell with man to eventually give his life so that they could be essentially reconciled back into that relationship with God. You see, the plan from the beginning was to redeem man back into a relationship with God.

So let's pick up our story. Last week we looked at the upper room, if you remember, so we've seen Palm Sunday when Jesus comes into Jerusalem and everybody's shouting, Hosanna, Hosanna, which literally means God save us, God save us, and they're waving like their outer garment onto the ground and palm branches and things like that. They're waving all of these things down and laying them at his feet as he rides on this donkey through Jerusalem. And then last week we saw the upper room experience as his time was drawing nigh and they gathered together for the Passover meal and his disciples were there in that upper room experience and God repurposed this Passover meal, not to just be to remind them of God's deliverance out of Egypt, but he repurposed everything in that upper room experience to remind him that now from this moment on you won't be remembering God leading his people out of Egypt, you're actually going to be remembering God leading his people out of the bondage of sin.

And as that night continues, here's what happened. Peter, they were all together and and God told, Jesus told them this, we're not going to look too deep at this part of the story, but Jesus looked to his disciples and he said this, that they're going to, several of them are going to deny or be offended that night because of Jesus. And so Peter comes up and Peter said, Jesus, I would never do that.

I would never do that. And he says this to Peter, he said, listen, before the night ends, you're going to deny me three times. Could you imagine being Peter in that moment? You just had this incredible experience, this upper room experience with Jesus and you've followed him and you've walked with him and you've seen him do all of these things, you've seen him prophesy, you've seen him do all of these things and now he's actually prophesying about something that you are going to do, Peter, you're going to deny him. And he begs, he's like, God, I would never do that.

I would die before I would ever deny you. Well, let's pick up the story, verse number 36. Right after that conversation, they had already started going to the Mount of Olives and then in verse 36, it says this, then cometh Jerusalem with them unto a place called Gethsemane.

Gethsemane is east of Jerusalem. It's actually at the foot of the Mount of Olives and they come to this garden and saith unto the disciples, sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. So he goes into this garden and we know this story well and he asked the disciples to sit there while he goes and spends time in prayer.

And then in verse 37, and honestly, this is probably, if I'm being perfectly honest, this verse is probably my favorite of this passage. Look who he took. He took with him, and I just want you to make note of that first name, Peter. Peter. Now, normally we know this, that Peter was with him, but what the significance of taking Peter and listing him specifically by name here in Matthew's account is so important because here's what's amazing that I just find so incredible about this passage is here, he just said, Peter, before the night's done, you're going to deny me.

And now right after that, he's inviting him to come deeper with him. Let me just remind you that every single one of us in here, we are all Peter's. We're all Peter's in this story. We all were born into this world as sinners. We all have denied Jesus in our life at some point, but here's what's amazing about the Lord and savior that we are looking at through this week is that even though you are a Peter, even though you are one that was going to deny Jesus, here's the amazing thing about our God.

He still invites you closer into a relationship. So he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, that's James and John, and then he began to be sorrowful and very heavy. If I can for a moment, I want to kind of tell you about what that word sorrowful means. Here's what that means.

If you look it up in the Greek, it literally means horrified. And that's the thing. What you see from Jesus in this experience and I've been so careful in how I'm going to teach this today because what you see in this experience in the garden is so much different than what you have seen up to this point in like the gospel accounts of him. Up to this point, Jesus has been the one that walks around telling everybody fear not, right? How he tells the disciples fear not. Even the winds and the sea obey Jesus. He's cast out demons up to this point, right? He's looked demons straight in the eye and cast them out of people. He's looked at people that could not see and he's made them to be able to see. He's looked at a raging sea and he was able to speak into it and say, hey, peace be still and everything obeys him. But here in this garden, it's so different.

It's so different. Here it says that he began to be sorrowful. Jesus in this moment began to be horrified.

The word very, or the phrase very heavy. It can be translated this, there was a violent heaviness in his heart. What he saw and the reason why I want you to understand that and I want that to sit in your heart for a moment is I want you to feel for just a moment the heaviness that he was experiencing.

That's what Jesus said. So he began to be sorrowful and very heavy. And then here's what happened, verse 38.

Then saith he unto them, that's Peter, James and John, my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. In other words, this feeling almost made him die. It was so serious.

It was so heavy. So he said, tarry ye here and watch with me, or stay awake, be alert with me. And he went a little further and he fell on his face and prayed saying, oh my father, if it be possible, let this cup, if you mark in your Bible, I'd encourage you to mark that word cup.

We're going to look at that a lot today. Let this cup pass from me nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto the disciples and findeth them asleep and saith unto Peter, what could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away again the second time and he 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 he found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. Listen, I want you to understand something. The disciples, I used to, when I would read this as a kid or hear sermons on this, I used to really criticize the disciples, right?

Isn't that easy to do? Sometimes you think when you read accounts of Peter and Thomas and the other disciples and things like that, what you find a lot of times is in our humanistic minds, we're thinking, man, if I'd have been in the crowd on that day where everybody's shouting crucify, I would have no way, if I saw him work a miracle in my life, I wouldn't have denied him and things like that. I wouldn't have found myself on here.

And I think we sometimes think that we're somewhat better. I want you to know that we are no different than they would have been, okay? And here, Jesus told them to watch. He told them to sit there and tarry ye and they can't stay awake. The amazing thing about that is this, the disciples were asleep while the most significant moment in history is taking place.

Isn't that wild? This is the moment that everybody has been prophesying about. This is the moment that way back from the very beginning, they have heard about all the way from the family of Abraham, that God has told them that one day a Messiah is going to come and that Messiah, all the prophets prophesied about the coming Messiah, that he would one day be come and he would be stripped of his garment. He would be bruised and chastised and eventually crucified so that the whole world could be blessed.

The whole world could be saved. And in that moment, here it is right in front of them. Jesus had just, they just came from this incredible upper room experience. Jesus had just prophesied about the coming Messiah, that he would one day come and he would be stripped of his garment. And in that moment, here it is right in front of them. Jesus had just prophesied that this is happening.

This is it. We are at the point. It's beginning. Redemption is near. And here the disciples are, just their eyes are heavy and they are just falling asleep. It's amazing to me that they, in this serious of a moment, are disloyal to the one that's so heavy.

And that's what's so heavy about this. Heaven and hell are standing in the balance and the disciples cannot stay awake. Verse 44, and he left them and went away again and he 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, the hands of sinners. I just want to share with you a couple things about this passage that I want you to see and I hope that you see Jesus throughout this and understand today what he was going through in this moment so that you could be redeemed back into God's original design so that you could have a relationship with him.

The first thing is this. Jesus experienced the cup of wrath that we deserved. Isn't it interesting that here he mentions the word cup several times here and this comes on the tail end of what he had just done in repurposing the cup in that upper room experience.

Repurposing the cup to mean that this is going to be a reminder for you that this is the blood that you need to remember that was shed for you. We must come to the point that we have to think that this cup is God's wrath that he was having to drink for us. In other words God's redemptive story is that there has to be punishment for your sin. That's what I think we don't realize a lot of times. That's what our world needs to understand is because they willingly sinned against a holy righteous God there has to be punishment.

It cannot go undealt with. A holy righteous God that created us it has to be dealt with. All the sins that everybody's committed in their life there has to be a system to where it has to be dealt with. In fact Isaiah 51 talks specifically about the cup that we are seeing here. In fact Isaiah chapter 51 in verse 2 there's two phrases that it talks about this cup. It calls it a cup of trembling and it calls it like a cup of fury. A cup of fury. In other words I want you to understand that when Jesus is saying let this cup pass from him he's saying this that that cup is like a poison that would kill all of you. It's a poison that that should kill all of you and in that cup is all of God's wrath. All of God's anger.

All of God's judgment. All of the judgment, wrath, and anger that you and I deserved because of our sin is in that cup. It's in that cup right and that's what he's saying and so Jesus is there in this weak moment that you see you see his humanity coming straight through in this story and he's there and he's praying God if there be any way let this cup pass from me.

Is there any way to redeem man back into relationship with you without this cup? But he says nevertheless not my will but thine be done. Here's the point that cup the cup of poison the cup of trembling the cup of of fury that it's talking about here what what we have to understand is that that cup would kill every single one of us and we all deserve to drink of that cup. And what Jesus was doing is he's stepping in saying I will gladly and willingly take the cup of wrath take the cup of trembling take the cup of fury take the cup of judgment that the whole world deserves because they sinned against a holy God his father and so he willingly was taking that away from you say what was what was he experiencing in this moment the first thing that I think here in this garden experience why he was so sorrowful why he was very heavy that what you see here in this city that what you see here horrified if you would here in this passage I think two things that I want you to see what God and Jesus went or what Jesus went through here in this passage for you the first thing is this Jesus was beginning to experience the turning away of his father. Jesus in this moment was beginning to experience the turning away of his father that I think you see right here in this passage because in three different times here's what the amazing thing is this is God's only begotten son this is the son of God the messiah the perfect sinless lamb of God here in the garden he's the he's the son of God he's part of the trinity he's the second person of the trinity and here's what's amazing to me about this passage and I think this is why he was sorrowful in this moment three times here in this passage he cries out to his father and things are silent that's why this is such a heavy passage is because he was beginning what it's to feel what every single one of us deserved the rejection and the silence of God toward us because of our sin he is taking that on he's beginning here in the garden to experience what it's going to be like to have the father turn his very face away from him what he received in return was just silence and rejection and isolation here in this moment that's why you find him pacing back and forth right like like you get the picture here that that Jesus goes deeper into the garden and he prays and and then he comes back right he comes back to the disciples they're sleeping and so he says hey wake up wake up terry here right and he goes back it's almost like he's praying you can see the the the sorrow that he is experiencing here in this moment it's because he's beginning to experience what all of us should have experienced the second thing that I think's having happening here is not only is he starting to experience the turning away of his father he's beginning to experience the wrath that we deserve Gethsemane in fact the the word Gethsemane it means oil press this was a garden where they would take olives and they would press them in order to make olive oil you see the point is it's significant for you to understand that that is exactly what is happening to Jesus here in this moment that he is being there in the garden he is being pressed so tightly pressed the wrath of God is pressing him so much to the point that if you read the gospel of luke the gospel of luke says here in this moment that the pressure that he was experiencing in the garden was so serious that the blood vessels where he by his sweat glands were bursting to where he was sweating drops of of blood you see what you see here is that he's beginning to be pressed with the wrath of God the wrath that you and I deserve you see that wrath is being pressed in on Jesus causing so much pressure on on him you see this garden this garden experience is is so intense because because if you really look at this and and you understand what is happening in this moment it's as if Jesus the son of God is being ripped away from the relationship with the father something all of us deserve you know if I if I can go as far to say this the crucifixion is terrible right every one of us and and as a kid I've grown up in church my whole life and I I read stuff and and always when I was studying this it just kind of was hitting me to some degree here that I always read that the worst thing that Jesus experienced for me was the cross and it is and and the cross is is what redeemed us him becoming our passover him becoming a sacrifice but the biggest thing that I see here in this text is not just the cross and the stress that the stress and the pressure that that brings the part that should scare us the most isn't just death it's eternal separation from the father that's what is bringing pressure on him that is what is stressing him that is what is hurting him that is why he's sweating drops of blood it's because he is experiencing what you and I deserve and that is eternal separation eternally cut off from a relationship with the father you see that's the point that's the weight the weight that you need to understand you see when Jesus looked into the cup he had a choice he had a choice he chose to be separated from the father he chose to be isolated in this moment from the father and he did it for one reason and one reason only so that you could be reconciled to the father that's the point that's why this is so significant of a moment and here's what I'll tell you this you know growing up in church and this might resonate with some of you we fear God's wrath to some degree right if we don't do this wrath of God right if I don't if I don't you know do everything I'm supposed to be I got to be the perfect Christian I got to do everything right I got to be at everything I got to I got to serve at everything I got to do this and whatever and I know what it's like to grow up in that culture and feel somewhat guilty like man the wrath of God and so we don't want that to come on us and and things like that and some of us just live under the fear that God's wrath is is going to come down on you if you make a mistake if you struggle if you give into a temptation or you experience a moment of weakness and here's what I want you to know the wrath of God does not have to ever come down on you and here's why because the wrath of God already came down on Jesus that's the point so so if you're in here today and you're like worried about you know if you grew up in a church culture where there's so much pressure and we do so much for guilt and and we're always worried about the wrath of God coming down on us if we don't do everything just right and things like that listen you don't have to worry or stress a bit in the world about the right if you're a child of God about the wrath of God coming down on you because what you see in this moment and what you're going to see next week as well is that you don't have to worry about the wrath of God because the wrath of God has already come down on the son of God for you that's the point that's what that's what you're seeing here you see why this is such a heavy sermon i mean this is just because you see what Jesus is doing and what he's going through he's experiencing separation from the father he's experiencing rejection from the father he's experiencing the cup of God's wrath the cup of fury that you deserve here in this moment the second thing i want you to see is this and this is the most practical i can get in this passage is it's found in verse 45 jesus this is the good news about it all even in this moment jesus is experiencing such sorrow such heaviness but even in this moment he offers us grace that we can rest in that we can rest in even in in the moment that he is taking the cup the cup of poison the cup of God's wrath that you deserve jesus is willingly taking the cup and drinking it for you for you and then in the midst of this he comes back a third time in verse 45 and he comes back and here's what he says it's different the other two times he's like hey guys peter wake up did you forget set your alarm or whatever peter come on wake up i said to watch i said to be alert i said to terry here i gave you specific instructions but in verse number 45 everything about jesus after this moment in the garden that he just experienced about the rejection and the wrath and everything he was about to endure all of that is pressing in on jesus and it's it's pressing in so much he's sweating drops of blood and then he comes back this third time and he says something totally different to them as he finds them asleep here's what he says sleep on now and take your rest why the first two times is he's saying hey wake up watch terry was was he just giving in was he fed up was jesus just like hey no hope for peter no hope for john james man i should have known i should have known the minute i brought them deeper into a closer relationship here in this garden to experience something with me i should have known the three of them and i mean i'm god i should have known that they wouldn't have been able to do that was he fed up with them no i this is me i really believe that this is what this phrase means sleep on now and take your rest and he goes on and he says this behold the hour is at hand and the son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners here's the point i i really believe this that when he came back and he found peter and james and john and and they're sound asleep and he just calmly and peacefully says hey rest now rest the time is at hand here's what he was saying is he's saying the reason why you can rest now is because you don't have to do nothing to get what i am freely offering you the free gift of redemption the finished work of what jesus is about to do he's basically looking at peter in this statement when he says hey it's okay rest now here's why he's saying because you don't have to contribute a thing to what i'm doing for you you don't have to do nothing all you have to do is rest all you have to do is rest in this moment you see in this moment of sorrow jesus is still realizing that all of the work of your redemption all of the work of you being reconciled back into that original design where god wanted to have a relationship with you all of it was up to the finished work of jesus it wasn't up to peter to get this relationship it wasn't up to james it wasn't up to me it's not up to any of us all we can do is accept the free gift of salvation and once you do that you can then sleep on and rest because the work has been done for you and we contributed absolutely nothing for it you see in this moment i think he's offering them grace something that they do not deserve because he is doing all of the work for them you know i think it's interesting in luke's account in the gospel of luke if you read these and this story's in all four gospels and so every one of them give a little bit of a different perspective and a little bit of a different account but if you look in luke's gospel chapter 22 you'll find this verse number 43 in the midst of this moment it has a verse in there that's so good that i wanted to point out it actually says this in verse 43 and there right there in the garden appeared an angel appeared an angel unto him from heaven strengthening him now i think i think it's interesting to think everything he's experienced because if you look at matthew even luke's account goes so far to talk about his his sweating drops of blood and things like that and and so all of them are just heavy heavy passages of scripture and just heavy text to to read and to write from and that kind of thing but in the midst of that luke reminds that hey in the midst of this there was an angel that showed up and the angel was was strengthening him now you know when i read this and i read all four accounts together here's my first thought and i really wish i knew this what do you think the angel did or said well that's my first thought i just want to know like what was it because a verse or two before this like we're talking sweating drops of blood we're talking horrified we're talking this incredible great heaviness that jesus experiencing so much to the point where you kind of get this picture that he's pacing back and forth matthew said we read it today that at one point he felt like he was about to die the pressure was so heavy at one point in matthew's account he fell on his face because the pressure of the cup of of god's wrath was so heavy for him to bear and then here luke says but in the middle of all that appeared an angel strengthening and encouraging him and you wonder what in the world did that angel have to say that would bring him such encouragement in that moment because it seemed like the most discouraging moment of jesus's life outside of when he died on the cross and and the father's face officially turned from him like what in the world encouraged him well if you look in scripture then this is something that i thought was just interesting hebrews chapter 12 i love to look at words and how things all meet together hebrews chapter 12 verse 2 says this looking unto jesus the author and finisher of our faith and then here's what it says who for the joy that was set before him what did he do endured the cross here's the point is that i don't see a lot of joy in the garden of gethsemane i see the complete opposite i see the cup of god's wrath being poured out on the son of god so that i can actually be reconciled into a relationship with the son of god and then the writer of the book of hebrews comes out here and says this who for the joy set before him perhaps this just going the angel shows up there in the garden you say like what how could this possibly be joyful the joy of what my question is this what could jesus ever obtain through the cross that he didn't have before what could he ever obtain by dying on the cross that he didn't have before acceptance by the father got that 100 percent god got that forever in the presence of god he has it already kingship in heaven he already had that why on earth would he ever be joyful on earth would jesus come from heaven leaving all of that behind come in here to drink the cup of god's wrath and then say that it was joy for him to do so the only thing and the only reason that this could be joyful and perhaps just perhaps that the angel showed up in the midst of the angel came and said hey listen it's gonna be okay and here's why it's because of you the only thing that jesus could gain from this that he did not already have before was you and me that's the reason that it could be joy that's the only thing that he could ever gain he already had everything that he could ever want with the father 100 percent god kingship in heaven a seat at the right of the father everything he had he he already had it why would he ever come down the only thing that he could gain by going to the cross was me and you that's the point that's the reason why he could come and and say the joy that was set before him he endured the cross because the whole time he was doing it for you because you and i could never get back into a relationship with god on your own you're too broken and sinful to ever work the only way we could be reconciled to a relationship with god was if a perfect sacrifice was given for you and the only perfect sacrifice that's only happened one time and it's the son of god who gave his life for you and me first john 3 1 behold what manner of love the father has bestowed upon us you see this passage here's what i want you to understand this passage shows god's unwavering and unconditional love for you the fact that he would drink of the cup of fury the cup of trembling the cup of god's wrath cup of god's wrath it shows that god came or sent jesus because he loved you but then the second thing you see here it not only shows his love for you but this passage shows the terrible judgment that awaits you if you reject him that's the point and so our response is either this last week upper room experience we did this here we did communion together and we took communion in this place and here's the good news every single one of us we got to take communion and the reason why god or jesus repurposed all this together was so that we could forever remember and last week we did that we remembered wow jesus sacrifice allowed us to be free from sin the bondage of sin that we could never get out of jesus sacrifice did that here's the big idea of this when you put the cup of communion and the cup of god's wrath together here's the point and your response and only you can respond you either get to face the cup of communion or one day you're gonna have to face the cup of god's wrath it's your choice it's your choice you can either face the cup of communion and forever remember jesus that means you've trusted in him as savior and because of that i can drink the cup of communion and take of the bread and remember his body that was broken for me his blood that was shed for me so that i could have a relationship with the father but if you reject him what's awaiting you is something terrible the cup of god's wrath what was pressing in on jesus what he was experiencing in the garden of gethsemane all of that wrath and anger and fury and trembling that cup that he took for you one day that is in your future if you choose to reject that's what you have listen for by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourselves listen it is the gift of god here's what jesus is doing and we'll wrap this thing up jesus dying for you coming leaving everything behind leaving everything behind coming to drink this cup it's as if this cup of poison is waiting for you and jesus just comes in and drinks it for you taking away the wrath the fury the trembling the rejection all of the things that we deserve jesus took on himself so that you if you trust in the free gift of salvation that he's free freely offered to you here's the good news you can be reconciled with the father and guess what i don't have to fear the wrath of god any longer i don't have to worry about the wrath of god i don't have to stress out about the wrath of god i don't have to worry about any of that why because i've trusted in the one that took on all of the wrath that i deserve i'm trusting in him you see jesus is not just a way to god he is the only way to god he's the only way and the only way you can be reconciled into that relationship with god that god created man to have with him in the first place the only way that happens is by trusting in the only perfect sinless sacrifice that came to this earth for you and for me you either get to face the cup of communion and remember what he did for you or you're headed one day if he was to come back today to face the cup of god's wrath listen you know what some of us today we need to just say jesus thank you we need to just praise his name maybe take a moment and just remember the sacrifice remember that he gave his life for you and then for some of you if you've been putting him off and rejecting him up to this point hey i'll get saved another time you know another service or whatever listen i'll just tell you right now don't reject him another second it's not worth it except what jesus is freely offering you today it's a gift you have to do nothing you don't contribute anything in fact the beauty of the gospel is that he didn't come because i was searching for him he came because he came searching for me you see it's all about him we didn't contribute anything all i get to do today because of what jesus did for me is sleep on rest because he has done all the work and what he did on the cross i contributed absolutely nothing the only piece that i peace that i contributed is the sin that put him there to begin with but in order to redeem us we did nothing don't put it off another day except jesus today trust in him would you bow your heads with me let's do this our instruments are going to play let's all stand nobody's looking around heads bowed hearts lifted in prayer if you're in here today and you say pastor i don't know jesus as my savior i i've not trusted in him i'm trying to do things on my own i'm trusting myself i don't know jesus as my savior and that's where i'm at today that if he was to come back right now before this invitation ends i know right now because of what the scripture says that in my future i'm going to have to deal with the cup of wrath if that's where you are today listen we are a church of broken sinful people i'll just tell you right now nobody's going to judge if you slip up your hand you look at me and you're worried about what people think listen i will deal with that if that's listen we welcome you if that's where you are today i want you to be honest before god if you like pastor that's where i'm at would you slip your hand up high enough for me to see it long enough for me to recognize it anybody anywhere say listen i don't know jesus as my savior i've never trusted i've never given my life for him amen today it looks like most are in here they've trusted in jesus well when was the last time let me ask you this when was the last time christian saint of god one that has been redeemed into a relationship with god when was the last time you just got on your face and you said jesus thank you in fact here's the beauty of this you wouldn't be able to get on your face before god if it wasn't for what jesus went through to get you there when was the last time you just came to an altar and i'm going to give it as much time as you need and you just sat there and you prayed and thanked him for taking the cup of wrath the cup of fury that you deserved i'm going to pray and then in a moment maybe that's what you need to do that's your next step that you just come down front or you sit where you are and you pray and you pray you praise god and you thank him that because of what he did you don't have to experience the cup of wrath father blessing this invitation time god thank you so much for taking what we deserve the fury the wrath the rejection everything that we deserve god you did that for us thank you if god speaks to you come