Graeme, thank you very much and thank you everyone for the invitation to be with you.
And the idea for this came as we remembered the Lord Jesus last Sunday evening in Teesside Christian Fellowship.
And I thought it would be appropriate to share with you.
I did seek some guidance from Graeme during the week.
And I understand that you've been spending not just quite a bit of time in Luke's Gospel,
but in latter weeks, particularly around the cross and, of course, around the open grave at Easter time.
I was a widower. I have remarried.
And my wife, Laura, has come with me today.
And she gave me an idea about something.
And just to begin with, you'll see that there are three cups up there.
The cup that I drink, I drink from all three of them.
And they have, of course, associations.
It's not that we're OCD, but when you're moving from one house to another,
you end up doing things like counting the number of mugs you have.
And Laura has 135 mugs that she brought with her.
And she likes to rotate the mugs.
That's not get around to get a clean bit in the lip.
But she uses some mugs at particular times.
And, of course, it made me think, as I've never thought before,
yes, I do like particular cups or mugs.
And there's an association with them.
The one at the top left is my favourite mug,
a Highland Stoneware mug, a nice plug.
I'm on commission.
And it's a lovely mug to drink, either coffee or tea.
The one on the right-hand side at the top, the mackerel one,
was the first mug that Laura bought for me.
It won't be the last, I'm sure.
So there's a nice association with that,
particularly good for tea because it's porcelain.
The Stoneware one is better for coffee.
But porcelain, you've really got to have tea in a porcelain cup, don't you?
You see, I'm a bit OCD myself.
But the one at the bottom is one that's got an association for me
going away back to the forests of northern Sweden.
And I was given that as a gift with a group of people
that became very, very dear friends.
And actually, I don't drink from it so often.
It's an outdoor cup.
But there are lots of stories associated with that cup,
including me being passed through webbing by very small people.
I wasn't quite as large then, but it was a huge effort by them.
And I was just glad to get through this webbing
on this course that we were on in northern Sweden.
And the cup that I drink appears in the Lord Jesus' life.
And we're going to be thinking about the cup that he drank.
First passage is in Mark and chapter 10.
If you want to follow it in your own copy of the Word of God,
please turn to that.
And if you can read the screen, then good and well.
It's up there for us.
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, said to him,
Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.
Jesus said to them,
You do not know what you're asking.
Are you able to drink the cup that I drink,
or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?
And they said to him,
We are able.
And Jesus said to them,
The cup that I drink, you will drink.
And with the baptism with which I am baptized,
you will be baptized.
But to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant,
but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.
Then go over to Mark and chapter 14.
You will get the association as we read that passage together,
verses 22 through 25.
And as they were eating, he took bread,
and after blessing it, broke it and gave it to them,
and said,
Take, this is my body.
And he took a cup.
And when he had given thanks,
he gave it to them,
and they all drank of it.
And he said to them,
This is my blood of the covenant,
which is poured out for many.
Truly I say to you,
I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine
until that day when I drink it new
in the kingdom of God.
And staying in Mark chapter 14,
just down to verse 32.
And they went to a place called Gethsemane.
And he said to his disciples,
Sit here while I pray.
And he took with him Peter and James and John,
and began to be greatly distressed and troubled.
And he said to them,
My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.
Remain here and watch.
And going a little further,
he fell on the ground and prayed that,
if it were possible,
the hour might pass from him.
And he said,
Abba,
Father,
all things are possible for you.
Remove this cup from me.
Yet not what I will,
but what you will.
And he came and found them sleeping,
and he said to Peter,
Simon, are you asleep?
Could you not watch one hour?
Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.
The spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak.
And again he went away and prayed,
saying the same words.
Matthew's account includes those words,
in chapter 26 and 42.
My father,
if this cannot pass unless I drink it,
your will be done.
And again he came and found them sleeping,
for their eyes were very heavy,
and they did not know what to answer him.
And he came the third time and said to them,
Are you still sleeping and taking your rest?
It's enough.
The hour has come.
The Son of Man is betrayed
into the hands of sinners.
Rise, let us be going.
See, my betrayer is at hand.
God will bless his word to us.
The word cup is used 86 times in the Bible.
It's used literally, of course,
to describe a cup.
For instance,
he took a cup.
We read that in Martin chapter 14.
But it's also used figuratively
Remove this cup from me,
said Jesus in the garden.
But yet,
then he was not holding
a physical,
literal cup.
And so we're going to be thinking
about the transition between
a literal cup
and a figurative cup
and what that meant
for the Lord Jesus.
Figuratively,
in the Bible,
the term cup is used
quite often.
David uses it
really quite often.
And in Psalm 116,
he says,
I will lift up
the cup
of salvation.
Now, of course,
that isn't literal.
But he's thinking about
the fullness
of the deliverance
God has given to him.
And as the
great king of Israel,
he has
a large cause
to thank God
for deliverance
in personal salvation,
but also in rescue
from his enemies.
The great psalm
that we sometimes
repeat
and even sing,
Psalm 23,
you prepare a table
before me
in the presence
of my enemies.
You anoint
my head
with oil.
My cup
overflows.
And we get used
to repeating
the words,
but without
thinking of it
as being literal.
And these things
really do mean
something
to David
and they mean
something
to us.
As we think
about the rod
and the staff,
they comfort me.
He makes us
to lie down
in green pastures,
the quiet waters.
And of course,
it's not a literal
experience,
but figuratively,
as we find
spiritual solace
in the one
who cares for us,
who looks over us
as the shepherd.
The Lord
is literal.
The shepherd
is a figure.
We read of
the cup of consolation,
the cup of staggering.
Some might know that,
perhaps filled
with buckfast,
I don't know.
The cup of staggering,
but there is also
the cup of horror
and desolation.
And so we're going
to be thinking
primarily
about a figurative
use of the term
cup.
But first of all,
in Mark
and chapter 10,
when James
and John
come and ask,
or their mother
asks,
about where
her sons,
where these disciples
will sit
in the kingdom,
and they want
to get
a reserved
space
right beside
Jesus,
and the Lord
Jesus
asks them,
are you able
to drink
the cup
that I drink?
Are you able
to be baptized
with the baptism
I'm baptized with?
And they say,
we are
able.
We are able.
Not quite sure
what they
understood
by that,
but they are
affirming
that they would
want to
experience
everything
that the Lord
Jesus
experiences.
Now,
the reason
I read
the passage
from Mark
14,
and the
communion,
the Lord's
Supper,
or the
Passover meal
where the
Lord's Supper
was instituted,
was that
literally,
they did
take the
cup that
he drank
from.
There are
a number
of cups
that are
drunk
over the
passage of
a Passover
meal,
and I
emphasized,
at least in
the reading,
that they
all drank
from it.
The Lord
Jesus drank
of the cup
and they
all drank
of the
cup.
And so,
in one sense,
it is literally
fulfilled that
the disciples,
James and
John,
drank of
the cup.
Concerning
the baptism
with which
the Lord
Jesus was
baptized,
that might
be a
throwback
to the
beginning
of his
public
ministry
when he
enters into
the Jordan
and asks
his second
cousin,
John the
Baptist,
to baptize
him.
And the
Lord Jesus
goes under
the water
of the
Jordan,
and when
he comes
up,
you may
remember
that the
spirit came
down in
bodily form
like a
dove and
rested upon
him,
thereby signifying
to everyone
who was
spectating
that day
that the
Lord Jesus
was being
called into
a particular
mission and
ministry,
and he was
empowered by
the Holy
Spirit.
And of
course,
that is
exactly what
happened to
both James
and John,
when after
the resurrection
and in
Jerusalem and
in an upper
room,
they encounter
the giving
of the Holy
Spirit as
was promised
to them.
And the
Holy Spirit
descends,
not this
time like
a dove,
but like
fiery tongues,
and rests
upon them.
And so
literally,
they were
baptized by
the Holy
Spirit,
just as
Jesus was
on that
day.
But then,
when we
think of
the figurative
application of
this,
the Lord
Jesus may
have been
meaning not
just a
literal drinking
of the cup
and a
literal baptism
by the
Holy Spirit,
but rather
that he
understood
the figurative
use of
the term.
And the
Lord Jesus
is going to
suffer
tremendously
just after
this Lord's
Supper,
institution
of this
first
communion.
And he
is going
to go
to Calvary.
He's already
warned his
disciples that
they too are
going to
participate in
his sufferings.
As the
world has
hated me,
so they
will hate
you.
So if we
take James,
who was
one of the
sons of
Zebedee and
whose mother
asked the
question,
James was
the first
apostle to
be martyred.
And we
read of that
very early
on in
Luke's
account of
the early
church.
John was
exiled on
the Isle
of Patmos,
and there
were various
things which
he suffered
in his
life, but
exile was
one that we
definitely know
of from the
scriptures,
from tradition
and history.
There were
all kinds of
suffering that
he too
faced, but
he was
exiled on
the Isle
of Patmos.
Jesus has
said to his
disciples,
if they
persecuted
me, they
will also
persecute
you.
And the
warning was
given, and
even to the
early church,
those who
would count
the cost
before committing
to following
Jesus,
Peter says
to them,
do not be
surprised,
at the
fiery trial
when it
comes upon
you to
test you.
Paul, the
great apostle
of the early
church, said
all who
desire to
live a
godly life
in Christ
Jesus will
be persecuted.
We do
forget that
we are
inured from
so much
suffering here
in Scotland,
and as we
think of the
church in so
many parts
of our
world.
If we
think of
what has
happened in
Syria, where
prior to
this awful
war, there
were numbered
well over
one million
Christians,
and now it's
estimated only
around 300,000
or so are
left.
We ask the
Christian families
who have had to
flee about
great tribulation.
They would
give accounts
of terrible
suffering.
I'm not
sure if you
have Syrian
refugees here
coming to
the church
we have in
TCF, and
the stories
that are told
are just
absolutely
horrendous.
Mothers who
don't know
whether the
father of
their children
still lives
or not, or
whether in
the refugee
camp or
whatever it
might be, but
across our
world, there
is tremendous
suffering for
those who own
the name of
Christ.
And of course,
we should be
particularly
sensitive to
the suffering
of others.
We haven't
faced what
Jesus, what
Peter, what
Paul talked
about, and
what James
and John
and the
others faced
personally.
But of course,
we are warned
that we will
face suffering.
One of the
issues that we
do face in
TCF is about
sharing our
faith personally.
And in the
fairly innocuous
environment of
Costa,
that's a
wonderful place
to be able
to do that.
Perhaps
forming a
habit so that
it's not a
Sunday night
we do that,
but it's also
the Monday at
lunchtime and
the Thursday
in the evening
when we're
just with our
friends.
Just to be
brave enough
to own the
name of
Christ and
to tell of
his love,
of his
suffering,
of the
difference he's
made in our
lives.
Oh, we
have nothing
to fear,
but fear
itself.
How often
will the
devil keep
us from
just sharing
simply and
most
straightforwardly?
The church
that I was in
before going to
TCF was
Hillbank in
Dundee,
Hillbank
Evangelical
Church.
We had a
special weekend
there with
an evangelist
who just
oozed the
gospel,
who found
opportunities
everywhere.
I picked
him up from
Edinburgh
Airport,
took him
up to
Arbroath
and said
we're going
to have a
chipped tea
before we
start our
church weekend.
He said
well that's
great,
what will we
get?
I said
I don't
know,
but here in
Arbroath
they have a
speciality
in making
fritters.
Fritters?
What are
fritters?
He didn't
say it with a
West-of-Scotland
accent of
course,
but we
stood in
the queue
and he
ordered a
bag of
fritters and
he said
that's
absolutely
amazing.
Do you
think Jesus
ever had
fritters with
fish?
And it's
just a
simple
question,
he just
spoke as
he thought.
And before
long,
not only
was the
guy frying
the fish
engaged in
a conversation
about Jesus
and his
eating habits,
but the
whole shop
were involved
and he
said,
you know,
it's just
easy,
just do
it.
And people
were saying,
but I
find it so
difficult to
speak.
And he
said,
well,
what do
you do
when you
meet your
fellow
parents at
the school
on a
Monday
morning with
their
children?
Do you
speak to
them?
Oh,
yeah,
that's
easy.
Well,
just do
it.
We are
warned
about
persecution,
but of
course we
don't really
face that
here.
But
nonetheless
we have
the fear,
or let
me be
honest,
is it
the shame?
Is it
the shame
of being
a Christian
and of
believing
this wonderful
message?
I wonder
what it
really is
at our
hearts.
However,
the Lord
Jesus then
went on to
ask that
the cup
would be
removed
from him.
and now
we're
beginning
to get
meat
and the
bone
about
the
figurative
use
of the
language.
What
was it
a cup
of?
Isaiah
51
says,
you who
have
drunk
from the
hand of
the Lord
the cup
of his
wrath.
Jeremiah
25,
take
from my
hand
this
cup
of the
wine
of
wrath
and make
all the
nations
to whom
I send
you
drink
it.
And in
the book
of Revelation
in the
New Testament
we're
given this
warning.
He,
that is
the idolater,
the one
who would
replace
God
with anything
other than
God,
who will
deliberately
shun
God
and the
gospel
and his
Christ,
he also
will drink
the wine
of God's
wrath,
poured
full
strength
into the
cup
of his
anger.
And when
the Lord
Jesus
is going
to take
from the
very hand
of God
a cup,
it is
a cup
of wrath,
a cup
of wrath.
And as
the Lord
Jesus
anticipates
this,
the hand
of a
holy
God,
he says,
let this
cup
pass
from me.
Now I've
become convinced
and I hope
to show you
that this
was not
a request
by the
Lord
Jesus
to not
die.
That
wasn't
his request,
but rather
that as
he faced
the wrath
of God
against
sin,
of a
holy God
who for
centuries
had been
offended
by all
of humanity
and who
was going
to hold
to account
those sins
done by
others
against
other human
beings,
as he
is the
judge
of all
and as
he is to
exert
justice,
he is
poised
ready
on that
night
in
Gethsemane
to pour
all of
his wrath,
all of
his offenses
on his
own
son.
And
Jesus'
agony
as he
anticipates
this
is that
only he
can
understand
what this
is about.
Because
as God
in the
flesh,
he too
has that
holy
revulsion
of sin
and
sinfulness.
And the
beauty
of his
perfect
and
sinless
life,
of the
one
substance
with God
the Father
and God
the Holy
Spirit,
he sees
what it
will cost.
He's about
to feel
the full
weight
and fury
of his
father's
anger
against
sin.
Only
he in
his
holiness
can
fully
anticipate
and
know
what
is
to
come.
He
knows
the
enormity
of the
judgment
that
must be.
He
is the
one who
is
sinless.
He
didn't
deserve
to drink
the cup
of God's
wrath,
but he
was willing
and obedient.
He
says
previously,
shall I
not drink
the cup
my
father
has
given
me?
And so
we see
on the
one hand
his
holy
soul
and the
revulsion
for sin,
dreading the
judgment
of God
and all
that that
must mean.
And yet
on the
other
hand,
his
obedience
to the
father
and his
love
for you
and for
me.
To take
that which
we need
not face
if we
come in
faith
and repentance
and accepting
the sacrifice
of Christ,
accepting
the fullness
of the life
that he
has lived
and all
his sinlessness,
all his
purity,
all his
righteousness.
and
prophetically
he
understands
what is
going to
happen
because
Isaiah
had
anticipated
this
night
and he
uses
the words
he was
crushed
for
our
iniquities,
crushed
for our
iniquities
and the
weight
of all
the sin
of the
world
throughout
all of
human
history
is placed
upon him
and the
judgment
of God
against that
and only
he can
fully
appreciate
all that
that means.
Matthew
and Mark
relate
that Jesus
prayed
three times
and Luke
gives a
single
summary
description
and
includes
a detail
that wasn't
included
by Matthew
and Mark
that after
praying the
first time
there appeared
to him
an angel
from heaven
strengthening
him
and being
in agony
he prayed
more earnestly
and after
that first
prayer
as he
anticipates
the wrath
the judgment
of God
he's praying
don't save
me from
the death
that I
must die
but save
me from
the wrath
and all
that that
means
I'll
willingly
die
for all
of humanity
I'll pay
the price
in my
death
but that
wasn't
enough
God
says
it's not
enough
for you
to die
you've
got to
be judged
as if
you
yourself
had
committed
all of
those sins
and I'm
going to
pour out
all my
wrath
that's
the death
that he
must
die
and so
Matthew's
account
of the
second
prayer
and included
that in
the reading
for the
second
time
he went
away
and prayed
my
father
if
this
cannot
pass
unless I
drink it
your will
be done
if
this
if
this
wrath
if
this
judgment
if
this
dreadful
torture
for sin
and so
many
theologians
reject the
idea that
someone could
be personally
made to
pay the
price for
my sin
that's so
unfair of
God
well it
isn't because
God's son
says
I want
it
I want
you to
judge me
father
for their
sin
I'll bear
it
I'll face
it
and after
that first
prayer
he has
given that
divine
heavenly
sustenance
and God's
answer is
given
in the
strengthening
by the
angel
and so
as John
Piper says
Jesus did
not go on
praying for
the cup
to pass
he went
on praying
for success
in drinking
it
if this
may not
pass away
from me
except I
drink it
your will
be done
your will
be done
the greatest
prayer
and the
prayer life
of the
Lord Jesus
is rich
and I'm so
glad you're
going to be
thinking about
the Lord's
prayer
of course
there is
another
prayer in
John 17
where his
heart of
love and
his concern
for his
disciples
is just so
evident as
on the
surface
to see
how much
he loved
but even
this prayer
brief though
it is
perhaps the
greatest
prayer
that the
Lord Jesus
prayed
your will
be done
it wasn't
about us
it's about
him
and his
relationship
with God
and about
this great
work
that God
has given
him
to do
Hebrews 5
in the
days of
his flesh
Jesus
offered up
prayers and
supplications
with loud
cries and
tears
to him
who was
able to
save him
from death
and he
was heard
because of
his reverence
then it
goes on
although
he was
a son
he learned
obedience
through what
he suffered
being made
perfect
he became
the source
of eternal
salvation
to all
who obey
him
and the
Lord Jesus
the son of
God
in the
flesh
fully human
had to
learn
what
obedience
to God
the father
was
and he
went to
the utmost
extremity
the extremity
to which
others
may have
gone or
approximated
to give
their life
for the
Lord Jesus
give their
lives
for their
faith
whether it's
Syrian
believers
Pakistani
believers
presently
or whether
it's the
martyrs of
the early
church
they gave
their lives
because
Jesus
obedience
is the
model
for our
obedience
for our
obedience
and we
who would
come to
know
Christ
and God
as our
father
to know
the freedom
of sins
being forgiven
it's on the
basis of
our own
obedience
to the
word of
God
to come
in faith
believing
and in
repenting
of the
sin that
caused
us
and to
acknowledge
that in
Christ
he has
paid the
debt
fully and
completely
what a
prayer
and he
did it
for me
and he
did it
for you
and so
we read
these
great words
being
found in
human
form
he humbled
himself
by becoming
obedient
to the
point of
death
even death
on a
cross
therefore
God
has highly
exalted
him
the one who
could appreciate
all that it
cost
his son
that great
burden
that awful
dread
that
unswerving
obedience
that great
love for
his father
that abundant
love for you
and for me
only God
could appreciate
it
therefore
God
has highly
exalted
him
and bestowed
on him
the name
that is above
every name
so that
at the name
of Jesus
every knee
should bow
in heaven
and on earth
and under
the earth
and every
tongue
confess
that Jesus
Christ
is Lord
to the glory
of God
the father
is that
the kind
of obedience
we're willing
to give
God
to find
forgiveness
for our
sins
to find
a relationship
that is
beyond
every
relationship
that can
be offered
upon earth
and to be
linked
eternally
with the
very God
of heaven
and all
of the work
has been
done
except
for us
to bow
the knee
and to
come
to him
some
think it's
an awful
cost
but I
came across
this
quotation
and it
seemed to
sum it
up
as we
close
when we
are crushed
like grapes
we cannot
think of the
wine
we will
become
and in the
life of the
Lord Jesus
and his
eternal glory
and that we
shall all
see his
glory
my
my how
wonderful
that will
be
and for
you and
I
today
to come
to an
end of
ourselves
and our
struggling
and to
come
willingly
and to
thank Jesus
for what
he has
done
in bearing
our sins
on the
cross
and in
coming to
know him
and in
a life
of absolute
surrender
and
obedience
to be
crushed
all our
pride
all our
thinking
we can
do it
our way
just to
be crushed
so that
God can
pour us
out
like a
beautiful
wine
let's
pray
father we
thank you
for this
glimpse again
into
Gethsemane's
garden
we think
of the
cup
that the
Lord Jesus
took
at that
communion
service
and we
think of
all that it
meant and
only he
could fully
understand
and yet
he gave us
this to
remember him
by and we
thank you
that we
regularly
remember his
body given
for us
and his
blood poured
out
father we
pray that
we might
be touched
with the
enormity
of our
sin
but
especially
of the
wonder
of the
obedience
of your
son
and that
we might
come and
give you
thanks and
praise
for all
that he
has done
and in
going to
Calvary's
cross
and bearing
the judgment
for my
sin
that I
can now
come to
him
confessing
as Lord
trust in
his sacrifice
and trust in
his redeeming
grace
and to
know a
life of
fullness
father we
pray that
each and
every one
of us
might do
that
we pray
our father
we will
hold the
name of
Jesus
in such
awe and
reverence
it will
overcome
our reluctance
our fear
our shame
perhaps
just to
say to
those who
would abuse
it
please don't
use it
that way
he's such
a lovely
man
he's done
a wonderful
thing for
me
and I
want to
protect
his name
father help
us to
live for
Jesus
to bow
the knee
now in
obedience
coming to
him in
faith
or in
a renewed
commitment
to lift
up his
name
father we
pray that
you would
be glorified
and only
what remains
of your
word will
remain in
our hearts
and our
minds
for we
pray together
in the
name of
Jesus
amen