JESUS ON UNANSWERED PRAYER

[0:00] Father, you know us perfectly. You know us completely. You know us deeply. You know us from the moment of our conception in our mother's womb.

[0:11] You know us to our present moment. You know what is our future that we do not know but you know. You know the dreams we have at night that we cannot remember when we wake up.

[0:24] You know those things that we have buried in our past and have forgotten about. You know every face and every front that we use.

[0:34] And you know how we go from one front to another when we shift and how we shift. You know those things about us that are strong. You know those things about us that are absolutely terrible.

[0:48] And we give you thanks and praise that knowing us so perfectly and so completely. That still your son came to die for us on the cross. We ask Father that your Holy Spirit would come and touch the command center of who we are.

[1:05] That Jesus would truly be the savior and the Lord of our lives. And that we would rest in his strong grip on us. And this we ask in the name of Jesus, your son and our savior.

[1:18] Amen. Please be seated. Just as we're starting, you're going to see why in a moment why this might be important. But if you've forgotten your Bible or you don't own a Bible, there's some Bibles up at the front right there.

[1:32] And you're welcome to take a Bible if you want. You can keep it. It's a gift from us or you could return it afterwards. I don't know how much, how close attention you were paying to Jeremy when you were reading.

[1:43] But here's the thing. If you were listening to that carefully and just sort of listening to it at face value. Or maybe imagine that you had to read this text to your skeptical boss or your skeptical next door neighbor.

[2:02] And don't you think that they would say to you that Jesus does not seem wise? That Jesus does not seem to be a very good teacher. That Jesus is not very spiritual.

[2:14] And that Jesus recommends bad things. And that Jesus, in fact, is a terrible example. Some of you may be your guests and you're wondering why you've come to church today.

[2:29] Maybe some of you are saying, hooray, somebody's actually finally pointing this out. But I don't know. You're both welcome. But, you know, if you think about it, it's a very, very common thing that people will say.

[2:44] That, you know, Jesus is a very wise man. If Christians were more like Jesus, it would be better that Jesus is a good man. If Christians were more like Jesus, that would be a good thing.

[2:55] That Jesus is a really good example. If Christians followed the example of Jesus, that would be a really good thing. But if you just listen to what Jeremy read, you'd actually probably start to say, one moment, maybe I'm going to take some of that stuff back.

[3:09] Because actually, if you listen to what Jesus does and what he says and the impact that he's had on people's lives, I'm not actually sure if he's very good or wise. And I'm definitely, it's definitely not the case that he's a good example.

[3:22] That's what some of you might say if you actually read this. So it would be a great help to me. Let's go back and see. Some of you might say, George, that's a very shocking thing to say. But let's open your Bibles.

[3:33] Let's go back to the text and let's look at it and just see. Is, in fact, the Bible showing us that Jesus is a really good example? Is he a good example because of his wisdom, his spirituality, his access to God, his ability to make us successful?

[3:49] Is he a good example to follow? So if you take your Bibles, we were reading from Luke chapter 22. And I'm just going to start reading from a few verses prior to where we started.

[4:00] So if you have Bibles, it's Luke chapter 22. And we're going to begin at verse 19. And just if you're not familiar with how the book of Luke goes, the book of Luke is a book, right?

[4:13] So it has a structure. It's not just a series of quotes. And so in this structure, Jesus is in Jerusalem.

[4:24] It's a Thursday evening. And Jesus knows that Judas is going to betray him. And Jesus knows he's going to die the next day. And so this is part of that whole sort of final bit of dialogue between Jesus and his disciples.

[4:39] Next Sunday, we'll look at Jesus being captured. But that's sort of the context. And here's how it begins in verse 19. It begins actually for some people who don't really know where things come from.

[4:50] And you know about communion. This is actually where communion comes from in verse 19. And Jesus took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them saying, This is my body, which is given for you.

[5:03] Do this in remembrance of me. And likewise, the cup after they had eaten saying, This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

[5:17] And so that's sort of a, that's sort of, some of you might say, No, that's sort of where the Lord's Supper stuff comes from. I guess that's why Christians do it. Jesus said to do it. But then all of a sudden, here we get into the part now, Which would make many people, if they actually read the New Testament, Wonder why it is that anybody would want to follow Jesus.

[5:37] Because look what immediately happens in verse 21. But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. Because Judas was there, and Judas, who's going to betray him for money, Has just received communion from Jesus.

[5:58] For the Son of Man, that's Jesus referring to himself, Goes as it has been determined. But woe to that man by whom he is betrayed. And they, that's the other 11 disciples, and maybe Judas as well.

[6:11] Judas is probably going, Whoa, I wonder who he's talking about. Whoa, do you think he's talking about you? Like, you know, Judas is right there, right? Judas doesn't want to come up to everybody and say, It's me. I'm the one who's going to slip out in a couple of minutes and betray Jesus.

[6:23] Judas wouldn't have done that. He would have been asking the questions just with the rest of them, right? And so in verse 23, And they began to question one another, Which of them it could be who was going to do this? And we'll just sort of pause.

[6:34] Keep your finger in the Bible. We're just going to sort of go through the text And keep making these little pauses and observations. So here's the question. You know, you could say to yourself, If Jesus is so effective, Then why is it that after three years with him, That one of his closest disciples would actually betray him?

[6:56] Like, I don't know, Is Jesus actually really that good of a teacher? That he could spend long hours really closely with somebody, And then they would betray him for really not that much money.

[7:08] Like, it's not even like he got tempted, you know, With five million dollars and, you know, Medical treatment for his kids or something like that. Like, it was actually not that much money.

[7:18] Like, actually, you know what? Like, why would Jesus have picked, Like, not so much why he picked it, But how could they, How could Jesus actually be a good teacher If he could spend three years teaching Judas And then Judas would do this?

[7:33] And you know what? If you actually think about it for a second, Like, what type of effect did Jesus' teaching have on the disciples If they couldn't actually figure this out? Like, does that mean that if I spend three years following Jesus At the end of it, I still might just betray him?

[7:49] Or I'll be so clueless that I can't actually read somebody Who's going to betray one of my friends? Like, I don't know, I don't know if maybe Jesus did that good a job In doing all of this.

[8:02] And then look at verse 24. Like, it gets worse as the story goes on, actually. Verse 24. So it's very interesting. They go, they begin by going, Well, who's going to betray Jesus?

[8:13] They're all, like, thinking about this. And then, the next thing you know, They become unbelievably self-centered. They forget about Jesus Because they begin by saying, Who could do the bad thing? By saying, Well, like, I'm the best.

[8:25] I mean, obviously I'm the best. Can't be me. Because I'm the best. That's what it goes right from, immediately. Verse 24. A dispute. They actually get into argument over this.

[8:35] A dispute also arose among them, As to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. And Jesus said to them, The kings of the Gentiles, the pagans, Exercise lordship over them, And those in authority over them Are called benefactors.

[8:52] But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you Become as the youngest. And the leader is the one who serves. For who is the greater? One who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table?

[9:04] But I am among you as the one who serves. And, you know, if you think about it for a second, You think, one moment, There's two problems with this. The first problem is that These guys have spent three years with Jesus, And they're still just as self-centered And sort of stupid As a bunch of drunk guys in a bar.

[9:23] And that's the result. That's the fruit of three years of Jesus' teaching. And at one moment here, Let's look at this advice. Does Jesus know my boss?

[9:35] Does he know my co-workers? Does he know what my brothers and sisters And my neighbors and my kids are like? If I actually start to just serve them, Does he realize how big a mat that I will be For people to wipe their feet on?

[9:51] Like, is this actually good advice? Like, does he know my boss? Like, if he knew my boss, If he knew my co-workers, And, you know, the sleazy ones Who just, you know, If they make a mistake, It's my fault.

[10:07] And if I, you know, If I do something good, They steal it. I don't know how many of you Watch Parks and Recreation. Very funny show. And, you know, If you know the show, You'll know Jerry.

[10:17] They all pick on Jerry. And then even when they do something bad, They say it's Jerry's fault. If I listen to Jesus' advice, I'm going to be the butt of all the jokes. I'll be Jerry. And then actually, And then, Some of you might say, You know, And I just remember what happens Immediately after this, George.

[10:34] Jesus does that typical religious thing And spiritual thing That just drives me crazy. Here he sees this bunch of people That, if you're honest, Are losers.

[10:46] And then he goes ahead And promises them That they're going to be better Than everybody else. Like, look what happens In verse 28. Jesus says to them, You are those who have stayed with me In my trials, And I assign to you As my Father assigned to me A kingdom That you may eat and drink At my table in my kingdom And sit on thrones Judging the twelve tribes of Israel?

[11:07] Like, Jesus says that To these losers Who get into arguments About who's the greatest And can't recognize That one of them's betrayed him? We don't know, by the way, Where in this whole conversation Judas has quietly slipped out.

[11:18] Maybe it's while they're having An argument about Who's the greatest That they don't even notice That Judas has slipped out. And Judas is now off In the night Going to where The soldiers and the police Are going to capture Jesus So he can be killed The next day.

[11:32] And so, you know, We might say, you know, George, this Like, George, Given all of these guys Would you choose these guys To judge people?

[11:46] Like, where's Jesus' judgment In all of this? Like, the more I look at this text The more I sort of wonder Whether Jesus actually is wise or good. Like, whether he really is A good example.

[11:56] And then in verse 31 to 34 It continues just to get It gets worse.

[12:06] Like, Jesus says, Simon, Simon, Behold, Satan demanded To have you And if you were Irish And isn't it too bad That we aren't all Irish? Just joking. To have yous Because it's plural Or if you're from the south Satan demanded To have you all That he might sift you all Like wheat But I have prayed for you Singular That your faith may not fail And when you have turned again Strengthen your brothers.

[12:34] Peter said to him Lord, I am ready to go with you Both to prison and to death. And Jesus said I tell you, Peter That the rooster Will not crow this day Until you deny three times That you have known me.

[12:47] Now, here's the thing That some of you might say Okay, one moment, George. Jesus' prayer didn't work, right? Isn't that what you're going to read next week?

[12:59] Isn't that what happens later on? Just after Jeremy stopped reading That Peter actually In fact, they all fail. Jesus says he's going to pray for them But they all fail. Like, you know what, George?

[13:11] I don't have to go to Jesus To learn how to have God say Have my prayers not work I do that all right by myself. I pray and my prayers don't work And so now you want me to go to Jesus And his prayers don't work, George.

[13:27] Like, what's going on here? And once again Like, there's three years with Jesus And it just All I've done is George, all I've done is Made Satan mad And made them failures.

[13:43] Like, what's going on? Here. And then And then, you know, George One of the things that I think about Religious people One of the things I think about Religious people Is all they do is incite violence And then the very next thing I see Is that Jesus is encouraging Having weapons and violence.

[14:02] I mean, this is actually Becoming very shocking That in terms of What's actually here in the New Testament You know, I've been told That if you read the Quran You'll be shocked And I just didn't think That would happen If I read about Jesus That I would be so shocked But look at verses 35 To 38 And Jesus said to them When I sent you out With no money bag Or knapsack Or sandals Did you lack anything?

[14:25] They said nothing And then you sort of say Well, George What should you just say Well, yeah, just keep on doing that Like, live a simple life Like, Walden Pond Like, thorough Be spiritual But then all of a sudden It takes this dark turn Because he says in verse 36 Jesus said to them But now let the one Who has a money bag Take it Like, is Jesus recommending That they start really Being concerned about money?

[14:49] And likewise A knapsack And let the one Who has no sword Sell his cloak And buy a sword? For I tell you That this scripture Must be fulfilled in me And he was numbered With the transgressors For what is written about me Has its telos Or fulfillment And they said Look, Lord Here are two swords And he said to them It's enough In other words We're ready We can go out We're armed Group of guys Two swords Maybe better have more But we have two George I'm really confused Here by this He seems to be doing Exactly what I'm afraid That religious people will do I mean, it's one of the reasons I, you know I maybe can't go the way Of the spiritual people Because a lot of this Is just sort of Spiritual hooey, you know I mean, George After you've read this text Doesn't it make you Just want to go To the local Starbucks And just have a good coffee And read the paper And not bother With the rest of this stuff?

[15:45] Like, I'm not sure, George Why anybody now Would say that Jesus Is an example And it finally gets worse Because, George Jesus You know Some of you might say You know, I've been At the deathbed Of a loved one And they faced death A lot better than Jesus did Like, I was just At a deathbed A little while ago Some of you might say And, you know The person dying They were pretty calm But look at Jesus He can't even handle that Like, why would anybody Think he's an example?

[16:17] Like, look at verse 39 And he came out And went As was his custom To the Mount of Olives And the disciples Followed him And by the way It's because as is his custom That's how Judas Is going to know where to go Like, some of you might say Jesus is so clueless He knows Judas Is going to capture him He doesn't tell his friends And now he goes to the place Where he knows That Judas knows about So Judas can bring the soldiers Verse 40 And when Jesus 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 Saying, Father If you are willing Remove this cup from me Nevertheless Not my will But yours Be done And there appeared To Jesus An angel from heaven Strengthening him And being in agony Look at this He prayed more earnestly And his sweat Became like great drops Of blood Falling down to the ground And whether this is A literal description There's a medical condition That it could be

[17:17] When you're under Unbelievable stress And anxiety It's I wrote it down somewhere I can't remember I have terrible memory For medical terms But there's a medical condition Or it could just It could be a metaphor For unbelievable stress And And when he rose from prayer In verse 45 He came to the disciples And found them Sleeping for sorrow And he said to them Why are you sleeping?

[17:43] Rise and pray That you may not Enter into temptation Jesus doesn't seem To be able to face death Very well His disciples Seem to not Be able to have The basic strength Just to stay awake And And Wow Wow George Am I ever glad I came to church today This is actually A perfect time For me to tell you My favorite joke About Anglicans That many of you Have heard before This is the difference Between the different Protestant denominations The Salvation Army Picks you up Out of the gutter The Baptists They baptize you And get you that Basic solid Discipling beginning Presbyterians Educate you Methodists Get you Zealous For holiness Pentecostals They teach you How to be filled With the Holy Spirit And fill the joy Of the Lord And how to really sing Anglicans Introduce you To society And culture And then The Salvation Army

[18:43] Picks you up Out of the gutter And some of you Might say George After this After your talk I can see Why Anglicans After they Spent some time With you You just go back To the People are Picking you up Out of the gutter You know So some of you Might say George Okay George What do you say About all of this What do you say About all of this And here's the Here's the One of the Really big things To say about this I would say To people If they were To all of these things You say You know what I actually Basically agree With you Jesus isn't A very good Example Jesus isn't A good example Years ago When I was still Part of the Anglican Church Of Canada There was this Day long There was this Evening workshop And one of the Things we had to do At the table With other clergy And the bishop's Wife was there And everything Was talk about The Bible And why we Appreciate the Bible And they were All going on About how the

[19:43] Bible was really Great literature And how the Bible had so Much wisdom in it And I'm not Making this up I said to them You know what Frankly For most people If they had a choice Between reading The great literature In the Bible And reading like A Michael Connelly Novel Everybody would Choose the Michael Connelly Novel Everybody would Pick another Novel Because it's Actually not Very good Literature And if you Real And then I Said But the Wisdom Like I Don't Know Like isn't The reader's Digest With its Quotes This is Like a few Years ago Like isn't That like An easier Way to get Some wisdom Than the Bible And they All This is The reason Why when I Was doing Theology People weren't Sure if I Was an Atheist Actually So But you Know I So if Somebody said You know George all Those things You just Said I I would I would say Well I Actually I Agree with You Jesus isn't A good Example Probably Like at Least In terms Of how You Understand It And so Then They'd Maybe say To me Or maybe You're Saying to Me Well George And what On earth Is going On Like what Are you Going to Say about This text And the First thing I'd like To say

[20:43] Is Andrew If you Could put This up On the Screen I'd Like to Say that Maybe what The Bible Is doing Is Something which Is completely And utterly Surprising To us So you See the Part The big Problem is Is that We look As if We think I'm in Control I have This almighty Brain And I Have this Almighty Power And I Put my Cash cards Somewhere else But you Know I Have the Money And so I'm Over the Bible Reading the Bible And what If I don't Understand the Situation And actually The Bible Is reading Me What if I think I'm reading The Bible And sending A judgment On Jesus Because I Want to Figure out If he's An example To follow And I've Completely And utterly Misunderstood My situation And actually The Bible Is reading

[21:44] Me And I'm Reading about Myself Without Realizing It What If maybe What the Bible Is showing Is that With simple Clarity Jesus Knows us Human beings In our Fragmented And fallen Complexity What if That's actually What's maybe Going on Just as An opening Gambit That it's That it's Not about Me Trying to Figure out Whether Jesus Is a Good Example And I Can Say oh Yeah Okay well I'm going to Forget all That You know Be like Oh Yeah right Serve other People Like I'm Going to Forget about That stuff And yeah Yeah You know This is Not good And that's Not good And that's Well you know But there's A gem Of wisdom In there And I'll Sort of Take that But you Know what If What if It's Actually That the Bible Is showing That That God Knows me What if It actually Is that Jesus Knows me What if It's Showing That Jesus Actually Knows me In my Fragmented

[22:44] Fallen Complexity Better than I know My own Fragmented Fallen Complexity What if It is The fact That the Situation Is that Often I go In my Own mind Between being A legend In my Own mind To being Despairing About my Life Because my Life Doesn't Match The legend I am In my Own mind And what If it Is that I take Solace At how I can Put others Down Maybe I Don't have The ability Like my Boss Does Or my Snarky Coworker To do it Right in Front of Everybody Else And then I cower Away Because they're So good At putting Me in My Place But Afterwards I think Of those Cutting Statements In my Mind And I Put them Down And I Cut them To pieces And I Tower Over Them And maybe And maybe I forget All about That All of The time Because I Go back To the Comfort Of my Idols And I Go back To I go Back To To not Recognizing Just how

[23:44] Fragmented And complex And fallen I actually Am And maybe The Bible Is showing Me That Jesus Has clear Eyed Knowledge Like you Know maybe It's saying That Jesus Who institutes The Lord's Supper He knows He knows That the Apostles Are going To abandon Him He knows They're weak He knows They're vain He knows They're self Centered He knows They're slow Learners He knows That one of Them will Betray Him He knows All of These Things And still He goes Ahead And does What he's Going to Do And you See Maybe There's Something In this Story At the End That Helps You To Understand Why It is That Jesus Isn't Actually Fundamentally An Example But That There's Something Completely And utterly

[24:45] Going on Here Because You see Jesus Regularly We want To avoid Thinking about The control And the Command center Of our Lives But Jesus Always Wants Us To keep Looking At The Control And Command Center Of Our Lives And Looking At It In The Context Of Who We're Really Going Where We've Really Been And He Wants Us To do It All In The Context Of A Real God Who Really Exists And So He's Looking Into Our Hearts And He's Looking Into Our Hearts Because Of Something That He Says In This Text Which Makes It Clear Why He's Not An Example But Something Completely And Utterly Different Than We Expect That Makes Him Completely And Utterly Different Than Muhammad Or Buddha Or Krishna Or Oprah Or Harold Robbins Or The Woman Who Wrote The Secret Or Any Human Teacher That Maybe There's Something Else Completely Different Going On And It Comes Up At The End

[25:45] Of The Text It Comes Up In This Odd Thing Where It Says That He Was Numbered Amongst The Transgressors And It's A Quote From Isaiah Chapter 53 Verse Twelve And Maybe It's Something About Jesus Being Identified With Transgressors And Maybe It's Something About That Part That Seems So Horrible Where Jesus Doesn't Even Seem To Have The Courage To Face Death As Much As My Uncle Faced Death Or My Best Friend Faced Death Or Those Martyrs Who Were Killed In Libya Those Christian Martyrs Maybe Maybe Actually If you Could Andrew Put Up The Next Slide Maybe This Is What's Actually Going On In The Text As Son Of God And Sinless Man Jesus Has A Cup Of Destiny As A Fallen Image Bearer Of God I Have A Cup Of Doom The Gospel Is The Good News That With Clear Eyed Grace And Love Jesus Offers Me An Exchange As Son Of God And Sinless Man Jesus Has A Cup Of Destiny As

[26:46] A Fallen Image Bearer Of God I Have A Cup Of Doom The Gospel Is The Good News That With Clear Eyed Grace And Love Jesus Offers Me An Exchange You know that The Whole Story Begins With Jesus Instituing The Last Supper And This Cup Of A New Covenant But You know Look Here Again At The End Look At Those Last Few Verses Because It's Really There Where We Understand The Whole Text Verses 39 To 46 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 Saying Father If You Are Willing Remove This Cup From Me Nevertheless Not My Will But Yours Prayed More Earnestly And

[27:46] His Sweat Became Like Great Drops Of Blood Falling Down To The Ground And He Rose From Prayer Came To His Disciples And Found Them Sleeping For Sorrow And He Said To Them Why Are You Sleeping Rise And Pray That You Might Not Enter Into Temptation Imagine A Thought Example Nowadays With CGI Imaging And Everything Like You Could Just Picture This In A Movie And Imagine That You Had A Chance To Sit Down At A Table With God So There's A Maybe If We'd Had The Curtain Lifted Up There Were Some Tables I Think On The Other Side It Would Have Been Maybe It's The Wrong Time To Had The Curtain Down And God Says To You Come Sit At The Table With Let's Have A Talk And At First You're A Alienated Teenager With A Hoodie And Sitting Down Just Looking Down And There's Two Cups On The

[28:46] Table One In Front Of The Stranger And One In Front Of Yourself And You Begin To Let God Know What You Think About The Different Things That Have Happened In The World And A Shocking Thing Begins To Happen In The Conversation Because God Says Well That's Very Interesting That You Mention That And Then God Let's You Know Backstories And All Of The Other Things And You Start To Hear All Of The Complications And Permutations You Realize That God Is Actually Pretty Just There And Then You Think Of Another Thing And You Realize That God Actually Was Pretty Good There As Well And Every Time You Bring Up Something Against God You Realize That When You Know What Went On Behind The Scenes You You Agree You And

[30:02] They Have Done Something Wrong And Sometimes For Reasons You Can't Let People Know Everything That's Gone On And People Can Actually Even Be Mad At You But It Actually Is The Case That If They Actually Knew All Of The Facts They End Up Realizing You You You Had Actually Been Pretty Merciful And You Had Been Fair And You Done The Right Thing And I Want To Sug That If You Had A Chance To Sit Down With God At A Table That That Would End Up Happening If You Talk To Him And Then God Says Let's Talk About You And At First As You Talk About Your Life You're A Little Bit Relieved Because God Knows Everything About You And So Some Of Those Things That People Got Mad At You About And Blamed You At He Actually I Know You Turned The Other Cheek There Yeah I Actually Know That You Are The Generous One That I Know That You You Know That Idea That Everybody That Was Your Good Idea And That The Other Person

[31:02] And At First You May Be Feeling Pretty Good But Then Because Of God's Perfect Knowledge He Starts To Bring Up All Those Other Things And He Tells You He Reminds About Maybe Even Your Drive Here This Morning And Maybe The Comments You Have About How Other People Are Dressed Or About How The Band Sang Or About How I'm Dressed And He Knows The Times When You're Going Through What You're Going To Say To Your Boss Or Maybe Your Lustful Thoughts Or How You Can Maybe Lie On Your Taxes To Get A Few Extra Dollars And Every Time He Comes Up With Something Like That It's Like He Takes A Bit Of Black Poison And He He Said You Know That There Has To Be Some Type Of Payment For That Don't You Agree At First You Agree And Then He Says Just Imagine That That's Like Some Poison A Black Ugly Looking Thing And I'm Just Going To Drop Into This Cup And Then As He Goes Through Your Life There's Drop After Drop After Drop After Drop After Drop

[32:02] After Drop And The Cup Gets Full But After That It Doesn't Actually Overflow It Just Gets Darker And Blacker And Danker And Fouler And Then He Said George This Is All Of The Things You Have Done In Your Life And I With My Perfect Clear I Know I Know All About Them And I Know That There's No Excuse And That What You've Just Done Is You've Been Self Centered You've Been Vain You've Done Horrible Things You've Done Bad Things You've Neglected To Do Good Things And Every Time We've Come Up With Something It's Been A Drop Of Black A Foul Black Stuff Which Now Goes Into That Cup George And You've Evaded Punishment For Most Of It And Most People Cup Of Doom And You Know That If You Drink That Cup Of Doom You Will Be Completely And Utterly Unmade It's Unavoidable And

[33:05] Then The Hooded Stranger Lifts Up His Hood And You Realize It's Jesus And He's Heard The Whole Conversation He Knows Everything That's Gone In That Cup There's Nothing In That Cup That He Didn't Hear About And Then He Looks At You And Says George I Want To Make A Trade To You With You In The Old Testament There's Sort Of Two Primary Ways That There's Image About The Cup Is It's A Cup Of Wrath It's A Cup Of Doom It's A Cup Of God's Judgment That People Must Drink And The Other Image Connected To A Cup Is A Cup Of Destiny In Other Words You Drink That Cup That You Were Destined To Drink That It's Connected To Good Things That Are Going To Be Accomplished And Now You Realize That You've Been Sitting At This Table With God And There's A Cup In Front Of Jesus And There's A Cup In Front Of You And

[34:05] You Know That Your Cup Is A Cup Of Doom You Know That Jesus Has Never Done Anything Wrong And His Cup Is A Cup Of Destiny And Jesus Looks At You And Says George I Want To Give You Good News I Know Exactly What's In Your Cup I Know Everything That's In Your Cup That I Know That Even Now You've You've Blocked Your Mind Out Of Some Of The Things But I Haven't Forgotten And Because I Love You I Will Drink Your Cup Of Doom And You Can Drink My Cup Of Destiny And I Will Do It Freely For You Because I Love You Will You Accept Me And Accept My Offer There's Nothing You Can Offer Me There's Nothing I Need I Just Do It For You Because I Love You And

[35:05] That's What The Gospel Is See That's Why Jesus Was In Agony In The Garden It's Because He Had Clear Eyed Gracious Gospel Love And He Knew That He Was Going To Drink My Cup And He Was Going To Drink Your Cup And He Knew That With Clear Eyed Knowledge With No Illusions With No Romanticism With Nothing He Knew The Stark Truth Of Your Life And Mine And Everything Bad And Shameful And Foul And On Is Blяти rồi Pretty In And he offers you this exchange.

[35:47] And that's, you see, what's in communion in a sense. It's why it's so brilliant that it goes from the communion to this time. Because the Christian life begins when you say to God, I will accept this offer of what your son has done for me.

[36:02] I will accept that. The cross is Jesus drinking the cup of doom that you deserved and I deserved. And in communion, every time we receive communion, we both remember that he drank the cup I deserved.

[36:16] And we realize that in communion, we do not drink the cup that we deserve. I drink the cup of destiny that he deserved. And it only works if it's actually a remembrance that that's the exchange that I accepted, that he offered and that I accepted.

[36:36] As son of God and sinless man, Jesus has a cup of destiny. As a fallen image bearer of God, I have a cup of doom.

[36:47] And the gospel is the good news that with clear-eyed grace and love, Jesus offers me an exchange. In fact, now if you go back and you look through the whole story again, and you realize that it's fundamentally a preparation, all of the things that we've heard are not, in fact, a sign of Jesus' failure.

[37:08] Every single thing that I read and I've made it look, from the perspective of being an example, it looks like a failure. If you understand that it's the Bible trying to help me to see my heart, the control center of my life, and that it's leading me to this understanding, the final moment that Jesus is going to take the cup of doom that I deserve, then you can go back and you realize that it's something quite different, that even when I put my faith in Jesus, when I put my faith in Jesus, I don't all of a sudden become a superstar.

[37:38] I still remain the same person that I am, and so that I have to understand faith in a way that's gospel-driven, not George-driven, if you could put it up, Andrew.

[37:49] Faith in Jesus means living on the strength of his grip on me, not my grip on him. Faith in Jesus means living on the strength of his grip on me, not my grip on him.

[38:08] How good is Peter's grip? Peter's going to deny Jesus. They're all going to deny Jesus. Jesus is, they're just going to fail.

[38:20] But you see, here's the thing, you know how in superhero, like in action movies, you know the person's falling out of the helicopter, they've fallen off the cliff, and just before they fall, the arm reaches down from the person who's above them, and they grab them.

[38:33] And just imagine now that the Christian life is based not on how strong the person who's hanging down, and about to fall, how strong their grip is. Because it might very well be in the movie, that you see the person who's holding down, that their grip lets go.

[38:47] They can't hold it. In the movie, sometimes that means that the person falls to their doom. But no matter whether we go through times in our life when our grip on Jesus' hand is so weak that we cannot hold, his grip on me never lets me go.

[39:02] In the Bible text is trying to tell me that all the way through this, that Jesus is for me, that he intercedes for me, that he knows that my grip is going to let go, that he knows that my grip will fail, and he wants to keep reminding me, George, faith is putting your hand in my hand, but faith continues and grows, knowing that your grip will never be enough, but my grip is always sufficient.

[39:28] It will never let you go. That time of depression, that time of failure, that financial setback, the problems in your family, the problems in your job, the health concerns, all of those things, those times when you just purely and utterly willfully want to do bad things, or turn your back on God, once you've put your hand in mine, and there will be many times in your life, George and friend, when your grip will be very weak, but I want you to understand, I have drank in the cup of doom that you deserve, and my grip on you will always be sufficient, and will never let you go.

[40:10] Never let you go. And then, finally, if you could put up the last screen, Andrew, in terms of how Jesus is inviting us to live, I enter the Jesus way praying, not my will, but yours be done.

[40:28] Isn't that the prayer of conversion? It's Jesus who says to me, George, this is the cup of doom. It's your cup. Jesus says, this is my cup, the cup of destiny.

[40:41] And Jesus looks at me and says, my will is that you drink my cup, and let me drink your cup.

[40:52] And the Christian life begins, in a sense, when I say to Jesus, not my will, but yours be done. Not my will, but yours be done.

[41:08] I enter the Jesus way praying, not my will, but yours be done. And I walk the Jesus way, learning to pray day by day, not my will, but yours be done. Jesus, God doesn't wait for my heart to stop being fragmented, and incomplete, and fallen, and bent.

[41:26] And sometimes I ask for brilliant, selfless things, and other times I have a pious, spiritual way of praying, like Janet Joplin, Lord, won't you give me a Mercedes Benz?

[41:37] And God hears all the prayers, and he answers everyone, and in heaven we'll say, God, I'm so thankful you said no to 95% of my prayers.

[41:50] I'm so glad. But we grow learning that we enter the Christian, the Jesus way, by saying, not my will, but yours be done.

[42:03] Father, take this cup from me. Not my will, but yours be done. And I learn to walk the Christian walk day by day. That when my ego, and my confusion, and my desire for power, and my desire for violence, and my being a legend in my own mind is getting in my own way, and messing up my life, and doing all of those things, and I walk the Christian walk, starting to learn day by day that in every situation, I should be praying, Father, please help me with this, please do this, but not my will, but yours be done.

[42:37] Not my will, but yours be done. We enter the Christian way, and we walk the Christian way in the same terms, the terms that Jesus sets before us.

[42:49] Friend, if you have wandered far from God, maybe there was a time when you had given your life to Jesus, but you've wandered far from God. He's never let His grip up on you. There's no time better today than to call out to Jesus and say, not my will, but yours be done, and my life from now on.

[43:07] Thank you that your grip has never let me go. There's no better time than today to do that business with God. And if you have looked down your nose at Christian people, and the way I started talking about this book, and that was exactly what was through your heart, but now you realize that all the way that you thought you were examining Jesus, He was actually trying to make you examine your own heart.

[43:30] and it's time for you to begin the Christian walk. There's no better time today, and there's no better words to use than just today. Say to Jesus, for the beginning of the rest of your life in the Jesus way, not my will, but yours be done.

[43:45] There's no better time than today to say such a prayer. And Jesus, who died for you with clear-eyed love, will grip you with His hand, and He'll never let you go until you see Him face to face in the new heaven and the new earth.

[44:01] Please stand. Just take a moment to make that private work of God, that private work with God that the Holy Spirit is convicting you to do.

[44:21] Many of us might want to memorize later on when we go home. Verse 42, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.

[44:32] That latter half, nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. Father, we thank you that Jesus' prayer for Peter was answered, that Peter did put, that your grip on Peter was so strong that even though Peter, Father, we thank you that we can live out of knowing that because your grip is so strong with us that even when we fail, we have a ground for turning and repenting and coming back to you because we know that you knew all about it and still you kept your grip on us and never let us go.

[45:07] We thank you, Father, that we can understand what the cross is and what you've accomplished for us on the cross. We thank you, Father. We ask that you would grip us with what Jesus did for the cross so that as we are gripped by what Jesus did for us on the cross, that we can respond by basing our life on it, by grounding our actions on it, that we start to understand how to model our lives on it, that it starts to draw us into doing things that we never thought that we could do, that we never had the ability to do, that you will draw us into yourself, that you will form us, that you will shape us, that you will mold us as we're gripped by the gospel.

[45:41] Father, make us disciples of Jesus, gripped by the gospel who live for your glory and we thank you, Father, that we understand that we're gripped by the gospel because Jesus grips us and Father, help us to live our lives as disciples of Jesus, gripped by the gospel who live for your glory and this we ask in Jesus' name.

[46:02] Amen.