Drinking Judgement on the mount Luke 22v39-46

[0:00] On reaching the place, he said to them, Pray that you will not fall into temptation. He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me, yet not my will, but yours be done.

[0:26] An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

[0:38] When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. Why are you sleeping? he asked them.

[0:50] Get up and pray that you will not fall into temptation. Well, we're going to pray now. So, let's do that together.

[1:00] Father, we pray that we will not fall into temptation.

[1:16] That as we hear your word, we would not be tempted to look away from you and to trust ourselves or other things, but that we would trust the truth of your word.

[1:38] help us that we would obey your word. And we ask that you would change us and make us more like Jesus.

[1:54] We ask it in your name. Amen. Well, it's now Thursday evening.

[2:08] By mid-afternoon tomorrow, Jesus will be beaten, mocked, brutally nailed to a wooden cross and left to die. These last few hours are spent with his closest disciples.

[2:23] They've just celebrated the Passover meal together, but there's a heaviness and there's a sadness in their hearts. Jesus has been talking about denial, betrayal, and death.

[2:38] Jesus, too, is struggling. So, verse 39, Jesus went out as usual. This was his common practice to go and pray.

[2:51] So, Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives to a familiar spot with his disciples, a little olive grove, and his disciples followed him.

[3:04] You see, as Jesus makes his way to the cross, as he gets closer to the cross, disciples follow him.

[3:17] You see, it's only as we follow Jesus to the cross that we begin to see our need of the cross. So, here's an invitation for us all to step out and to follow Jesus as he makes his way to the cross.

[3:37] Three things we're going to see as we follow. First, we all fail in temptation. We all fail in temptation.

[3:49] Look at verse 40. On reaching the place, this little olive grove, he said to them, pray that you will not fall into temptation. And then Jesus goes off on his own and he prays, and when he is finished, he comes back to his disciples, and verse 46, why are you sleeping?

[4:10] He asked them. Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. Why this persistence? Why this reminder?

[4:21] Pray that you will not fall into temptation. temptation. Well, Jesus knows that temptation will come.

[4:32] He's already told them that's what's going to happen. Look back a few verses to verse 31. Here Jesus is addressing Peter or Simon as he's referred to here.

[4:49] Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. A temptation is going to come upon you to see if you will stand.

[5:02] It's a striking picture, that image of Satan wanting to sift you. This newly harvested wheat is being sifted.

[5:14] It's being shaken to separate the good grain from the useless husk. So Satan is out to shake and destroy the faith of the disciples.

[5:25] So as Jesus makes his way to the cross, will they follow him? Or are they going to abandon him? And if you're a disciple today, a follower of Jesus, you will know that temptation also comes to you.

[5:47] Perhaps it's different for each one of us. Maybe it's a particular temptation to lose your cool or to say words that you shouldn't say.

[5:57] Maybe it's a temptation to never admit that you're wrong. Maybe it's a temptation with particular addictions.

[6:11] Maybe pornography. Maybe it's a temptation to be buying things that we don't need and looking for our comfort in shopping.

[6:25] Well, you see, we've all got a common enemy. His name is Satan. And his one aim and purpose is to keep people like us from following Jesus. And when that pressure comes on, will we resist temptation temptation?

[6:43] Or will we fall into temptation? The problem is, and that's certainly my experience, the problem is we all fall into temptation.

[6:57] Now, temptation is not sinful in itself. We'll see that Jesus is tempted. He already faced Satan in the wilderness. So, temptation is not wrong. The problem is, we don't resist it or reject it.

[7:13] We willfully enter into it. We fall into following our own desires. Just like Adam and Eve did in the garden. Just like the disciples did.

[7:25] We fall into temptation. Instead of saying, God's will be done, we say, my will be done. And sadly, the evidence is there to see in our own lives and all around us.

[7:41] Broken relationships. Conflict with our spouse. Divisions in our families. All because we fail to resist.

[7:54] And we fall into temptation. So the first thing we see as we follow Jesus to the cross is, well, it's uncomfortable because we're confronted with our own failure.

[8:08] We fail. We fall. So what do we do? Well, thankfully, Jesus deals with our failure.

[8:21] As we follow Jesus, and that's what we're to do, we're to follow him to the olive grove. We're to watch Jesus face his own temptation.

[8:31] We're to listen to Jesus as he prays. And as we do that, we will see our need, our desperate need for Jesus. First, the suffering of Jesus.

[8:46] As Jesus begins to pray, something has gripped him with fear. Verse 44. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly.

[8:58] Jesus is in physical and emotional agony. It's not what we always expect of Jesus. Jesus is always in control.

[9:09] He's always strong, always confident. Jesus is the fearless one. But this time, it's different. Jesus is so overwhelmed, verse 43, that an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.

[9:28] The God-man, the creator of the universe, is weak and needs strengthened. In fact, he is in so much turmoil.

[9:40] Look at verse 44 again. Being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. When you or I get scared, we might shake or stutter.

[9:55] But Jesus is so overcome with fear, he starts to literally sweat blood. Jesus is in great physical and emotional agony.

[10:08] Well, what is it that is causing Jesus so much anguish? Well, look back to verse 41. Jesus withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, so just enough to be private in prayer.

[10:24] Father, knelt down and prayed, Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me.

[10:36] The cup. That's what's causing Jesus so much turmoil. It's not a literal cup, it's a metaphorical cup.

[10:47] That means Jesus is going to face something so terrible. Jesus will have to endure something so awful. He pleads with his Father, take this cup from me.

[11:02] Now, for us to understand what this cup is, to know what it is that Jesus is going to face, we need to read from the book of Jeremiah. So, if you keep your finger in Luke 22, go back to Jeremiah, chapter 25.

[11:19] If you're using the red-covered Bible, it's on page 786. 786, Jeremiah 25, verse 15.

[11:37] And in this section, God had been saying to his people that, well, you've been wandering, you've been rebelling, a judgment is going to come, you are going to be taken over by the Babylonians and be taken into exile.

[11:56] So, he's talking to the people about what happens when we turn against God, against the evil and wickedness.

[12:08] So, Jeremiah, chapter 25, verse 15. This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me. Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.

[12:31] When they drink it, they will stagger and go mad because of the sword I will send among them. Now go down to verse 28. But if they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink it, tell them, this is what the Lord Almighty says, you must drink it.

[12:52] See, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that bears my name. And will you indeed go unpunished? You will not go unpunished.

[13:03] For I am calling down a sword on all who live on the earth, declares the Lord Almighty. Terrifying.

[13:15] this cup is not literal. It's a symbol of God's wrath, His anger. It's a dramatic picture of God's judgment, the punishment that God will pour out on those who live sinful lives, who willingly fall into temptation and say, my will be done.

[13:38] So as Jesus prays, He cries out to His Father, if you are willing, take this cup from Me.

[13:54] You see, it's not death that Jesus fears. He knew He was going to Jerusalem to die. It's judgment that He fears. Jesus knows that when He dies, He will have to drink the cup.

[14:06] He will have to face God's wrath, His punishment. Let's go back to Luke 22. Now you might not like the idea of God being angry.

[14:21] It might not fit into your understanding of God. Maybe you just like to think of God being loving and kind and nice. Well, let's understand that God's anger is not like ours.

[14:35] He doesn't lose His temper. He doesn't have uncontrolled fits of rage. No, God's anger is an expression of His personal hate for all the injustice and all the evil that there is in the world.

[14:50] In other words, it is God's just, fair, and reasoned response to sin. And we might be content that God is angry with other people and all the bad people, but what about me?

[15:06] What about you? Has God got a right to be angry with me? Do you think God should just turn a blind eye to all the times that I fall into temptation and say, Johnny's will be done, not God's?

[15:22] Do we expect God to put up with our sinful lives? All the lies, the crosswords, the hurts that we cause, the selfishness, the disobedience, and just say, you know what, it doesn't matter.

[15:38] Of course it matters. It's personal to God. Do you think God is just to look back at all the wars that are going on?

[15:53] The trafficking of children into the sex industry? It doesn't matter. Just let people do what they like. It's okay.

[16:04] It does matter. We deserve to face God's judgment. So what are we going to do about it?

[16:18] Well, second, the obedience of Jesus. Listen again to what Jesus prays in verse 42. Father, here's the cry of agony.

[16:30] Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me. Jesus is fearing what is ahead. His sweat is like drops of blood.

[16:41] He's in emotional anger. In a few hours' time, Jesus is going to be nailed to a cross. But he knows it's not just physical death that he faces. It's God's judgment that he faces.

[16:55] So as Jesus prays to his father, it's as if he's looking into the cup. He sees something of what lies ahead. He knows that he will be separated from his father.

[17:05] He knows he will have to suffer hell. This is not some rehearsed play, some acted out drama where Jesus has been before. This is the real temptation that Jesus, the God man, is facing.

[17:20] Father, is there some other way that we can do this? Father, can you take the cross away from me? I don't want to go through with this.

[17:33] You see, we mustn't think that Jesus is some kind of robotic person that just does without any thinking. Jesus was not immune to temptation.

[17:46] temptation. He might have experienced all the kinds of temptations that we have experienced, but he experienced them in a way that just built up one after the other.

[17:59] The pressure increased more and more and more. But as the writer to the Hebrew tells us, Jesus was tempted in every way just as we are, but he did not sin.

[18:17] He did not cave in under the pressure. He did not bow. Verse 42, Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me, yet not my will, but yours be done.

[18:36] Jesus resists temptation and in obedience to his Father he prays. Not my will, your will be done.

[18:48] Not my wants, but Father, what you want. Not my desires, but Father, what will please you.

[19:03] How easily we fall into temptation. How willingly we just so quickly fall. It comes upon us, the pressure builds, we fail to resist it.

[19:21] Jesus is the only one who stands strong in the face of temptation. The only man who has resisted.

[19:31] God's God's is the God's God's judgment is to drink that cup for us. In other words, he has come to prepare himself through prayer, to take that place for you and me and to drink the punishment that you and I deserve.

[19:55] He exchanges places with us on the cross. You see, Jesus never fell into temptation. Jesus always resisted. He never disobeyed.

[20:06] He always obeyed his father. He is the only one free from God's judgment, the only perfect man who doesn't deserve it.

[20:20] But yet in love he comes to this world, he comes to people like you and me and he says, I will take all your disobedience on myself. Jesus is treated on the cross as the one who has fallen into temptation.

[20:37] He makes my sin his own so that I can be free from what I deserve. Imagine you're holding that cup.

[20:52] It's symbolic, I know, but as you look into it, you see this is God's judgment. You get a glimpse of hell itself.

[21:03] And to drink it, you know, will be separation from God for all eternity. Nothing, there's no beauty, there's no goodness, no laughter, no joy.

[21:15] And you have no choice but to drink it. And yet standing before you is the Lord Jesus. Jesus. And in love he reaches out and he takes that cup from your hands and he drinks it.

[21:32] And he drinks it to the very last drop. So there is nothing left for us to drink, not even a taste. For when Jesus died on the cross, he is drinking that judgment for you and for me.

[21:49] Do you see, as we follow Jesus into the garden, not only do we see that we fall in temptation, but we meet the perfect man who passes the test, who passes temptation, who resists it, and drinks judgment for you and for me, dealing with our failure.

[22:17] So how do we respond? Well, third, we pray not to fall into temptation.

[22:28] You see, because of Jesus' death on the cross, temptation is now no longer this irresistible force that we have to give into. Three things that we can pray in regards to our temptations.

[22:45] And before we look at these three things, let me just encourage you right now, each of you personally, try and identify for yourself right now, what is the area of weakness?

[22:56] What is the temptation that you most succumb to? What is it that you so easily fall into? It could be an anger issue.

[23:11] It could be addiction issues. it could be the temptation to find your comfort in material things and physical things.

[23:25] Where are you most likely to fall? And when you've got that in mind, now let's think through what we pray. First, admit to our weakness.

[23:39] Look at verse 45. When he rose from prayer and went back to his disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. Why are you sleeping?

[23:49] He asked them. Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. Jesus does not say, when you enter into temptation, pray.

[24:04] No, Jesus knows our hearts. He knows what we are like. He knows that we are weak people. So he says, pray that you will not fall into temptation.

[24:16] So it's a cry for help saying, help me before the temptation comes. Isn't that what Jesus taught his disciples to pray in the Lord's Prayer?

[24:29] Father, hallowed be your name, and lead us not into temptation. Jesus knows how weak we are. And Jesus knew what it was to be weak.

[24:46] And so he cries out in prayer more earnestly in the midst of temptation. If Jesus knew that he had to pray in temptation, how much more do you and I need to pray?

[25:04] We admit our weakness weakness. And that we so easily fall and fail. Second, we pray to be strengthened.

[25:16] As Jesus prays, he is dependent upon his father for help. So, verse 43, an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. God knows our weakness.

[25:29] He knows how we're so prone to wander. So, when we call out to him in prayer, he will strengthen us. The writer to the Hebrews reminds us.

[25:41] I haven't got it here, I'll just read it out to you. Hebrews 4, verse 15. He says, we do not have a high priest who is unable to feel sympathy for our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are.

[25:58] So, he knows what we go through. Yet, he did not sin, therefore, he's in a position to be able to give to us. So, let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive the mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

[26:19] Through Jesus' death, we now have access to our Father, a generous Father who gives what we need. In the face of our temptation, we pray for grace and mercy, pray to be strengthened so that we do not fall.

[26:43] So, we admit our weakness, we pray to be strengthened, and third, we rejoice in our Savior. You see, because of Jesus' death on the cross, us, even when we fall into temptation, it is not the end.

[27:04] Remember what Jesus said to Simon Peter? Go back to verse 31. He's putting it up to them, saying, temptation is coming.

[27:16] Verse 31, Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. we're going to face temptation. It's going to happen.

[27:30] But that's not all that Jesus says. Read on verse 32. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail.

[27:40] And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers. it's an enlightening verse. Jesus is saying, I pray that your faith may not fail.

[27:56] And when you have turned back, in other words, look Simon, and to all the disciples, you will fall, but your faith will not fail.

[28:10] The prayers of Jesus on our behalf cause us to turn back to him when we do fall in temptation. And as we'll see that next week, Simon Peter did fall, but the prayers of Jesus means that Peter will turn back and be restored.

[28:29] His faith will not fail. And because Jesus died for us on the cross, because he drank that judgment for you and for me, he now continues to intercede for us.

[28:48] You see, Jesus' death is not just a partial rescue, it's a rescue for all eternity. He doesn't save us until we fall and go, right, okay, I've saved you, but now you've fallen, that's it, you're on your own now.

[29:03] Jesus saves us even when we fall. He drinks the cup of judgment so that we will never, ever have to drink of its dregs again.

[29:19] Look at verse 32. Read it and put your own name instead of Simon. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail and when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.

[29:47] Jesus has overcome temptation for us so that we can be restored, not living in a depth of guilt and despair, but raised up, go and strengthen your brothers.

[30:04] Go and encourage them. Go and encourage fellow disciples who are going through a hard time, who are struggling in their faith. As we follow Jesus to the cross, we begin to see our great need of the cross.

[30:24] Let us pray that we will not fall into temptation. As we pray, we all know the areas that we struggle with, the areas where we conform.

[30:55] Father, forgive us for the times we say, my will be done and not your will be done. Father, we admit to our weakness that we so often fail to resist.

[31:17] We cave in under the pressure. Father, draw near to us and strengthen us as we go about this week, as we go into our workplace, our schools, amongst our friends where we are challenged to doubt you, where we are pushed to remain silent about you.

[31:46] Strengthen us, pour out your grace and mercy and fill us with the power of your Holy Spirit, that we may walk obediently to you and to your word.

[32:00] And, Father, may we rejoice in a wonderful Savior, who has walked the path for us and drunk the cup of judgment so that we never have to, who has rescued us completely and forever, who forgives even when we do fall, and who prays for us even now, so that our faith may not fail.

[32:32] What a great Savior. Thank you, in Jesus' name. Amen. Here's another prayer, a prayer in song, picking up on some of the things we've been looking at.

[32:55] Before the throne of God above, I have a strong, a perfect plea, a great high priest whose name is love, whoever lives and pleads for me.

[33:07] You ever think about that as you go about your day, oblivious to what's going on?