Love Hurts: The Cup That Couldn’t Pass

You're listening to the Christ Our Cornerstone

podcast, a ministry of Christ Our Cornerstone

Church in O 'Neill, Nebraska. I'm Pastor Logan

Merrick, and it's our prayer that this message

strengthens your faith and draws you closer to

Christ. Let's dive in. All right. So if you are

taking notes, you want to write some stuff down.

The title of my sermon today is Love Hurts. Remember

that song? Trudy, I know that you are a big Nazareth

fan. So that's what was going through my mind

whenever I was putting the sermon together. So

love hurts the cup that couldn't pass. And then

the big idea, you can write this down and be

right up here. Also, I'm going to go ahead and

tell you guys, because I was told this past Wednesday,

reminded. that I go too fast. So I'm going to

ask you to just give me a thumbs up or something

when you're ready for me to move on when you're

taking notes. Because I don't want you to miss

anything. I want you to get everything down.

So just give me the OK. So the big idea is this.

Write this down. The cup. could not pass because

God's wrath against sin had to be satisfied.

And Christ's love for us compelled him to drink

it. What's the cup? We're going to look into

that in just a second. So go ahead and keep that

up there if you would for me. And as you guys

are writing that down. How many of you guys?

like a good story where the the main character

or of whatever story movie whatever is staring

death in the face they know they're going to

die and yet they go willingly to their death

they look death in the face and they're like

I'm still doing this so I think about the movie

300, I think about the movie Armageddon, I think

about a lot of different movies, but the movie

that I really wanted to, I'm hoping that you

guys have seen, Doug, is Tombstone. Have you

guys seen the movie Tombstone? Okay, Doug, still

no? It's a western. I thought for sure you would

go with that one where the guy was up on the

moon. Armageddon. I was going to go with that

one. And my wife was like, they're not going

to know it. They're not going to know it. So

I went with Tombstone thinking it's a Western.

I almost went with the Alamo with John Wayne.

And I was like, no, Tombstone. Surely everyone

has seen Tombstone. That's your homework. It's

an old movie. But you've got Val Kilmer plays

Doc Holliday and you've got Kurt Russell and

so there are these old gunslinging outlaws But

there's this scene that's famous in the movie

Where Doc Holliday is dying he knows he's dying

he's dying because of blood loss, internal blood

loss. And so he decides that he's just going

to take on these guys by himself. And there's

a famous line in it where he looks at one of

the bad guys and he says what? There we go. Thank

you, Emily. I'm your huckleberry. Meaning, I'm

not afraid to die. You and me, let's do this

thing right now. If it means saving the people

behind me, I will willingly go to my own death.

So I love stories about men and women who stare

death in the face and they don't flinch, much

like Doc Holliday. But there's other stories.

Greek mythology has stories about Achilles. And

you've got Roman stories, which is where the

movie 300 comes from. You've got Westerns. You've

got war movies. You've got all of these stories

where heroes that know their fate, and they accept

it, and yet they march towards it solemnly anyway.

Right? So when we look at the story of Jesus

in the Garden of Gethsemane Mark shows us something

that's very different from the hero staring death

in the face with a smile saying I'm your huckleberry

Jesus just doesn't do that No instead we see

Jesus is troubled and he's overwhelmed with sorrow

and so today We're gonna look at our text before

we go any further to kind of dive in a little

bit more. So if you would We're gonna go through

36, so Mark 14 verse 32. And they went to a place

Mark 14:32

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. I want you to, if you're taking

notes, you have your own Bible, circle those

words, highlight those words. They're kind of

crucial words. I'm going to show you in a second.

And he said to them, my soul is very sorrowful

even to death. Remain here and watch. And going

a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed

that if it were possible, the hour might pass

from him. And he said, Abba, which means daddy.

The word Abba is the way my daughter talks to

me. Dad, daddy, Abba, father, all things are

possible for you. Remove this cup from me and

then it stops. Does it stop? No. He says one

other piece that's pretty crucial, right? Yet

not what I will. Finish that for me. But what

you will. So. Here's Jesus just before his execution.

And he's opening his heart to his disciples.

He's opening his heart to the Father. He's opening

his heart to us as the readers of Mark's Gospel.

And he lays bare his struggle and his agony and

his fear of what he is about to face. And we

see so much of His humanity in this scene. We

see His fear. But I thought He was God. Yes,

He is. So why wasn't Jesus facing death much

like Doc Holliday in Tombstone? Doesn't Jesus

know that there is an afterlife? Isn't He God?

Yes, of course. So we are seeing that fear and

things are natural. But it also must mean that

Jesus knows something else and so Jesus pleads

with the father Is there a way that this cup

can be taken from me? Can we accomplish this

mission of saving people any other way? So up

until this point Jesus has been in control. We've

seen that in every story. Doesn't matter if he's

challenged by the Pharisees. Doesn't matter the

demons he comes against. It doesn't matter the

sickness that he sees. He's constantly and never

taken off guard. He's always in control. Nothing

surprises him. Nothing seems to jar him. But

now he is deeply distressed. And Mark says that

he is troubled. And here's something, that Greek

word carries this idea of being overcome with

horror. You've probably experienced this before

where you either see something, experience something

that immediately your skin goes pale, you start

to get nauseous, you get a little sweaty, and

you start hyperventilating a little bit, right?

You get that lump in your throat. And that's

something that Jesus is experiencing right now.

But why? Why isn't Jesus facing death like Doc

Holliday or Achilles or Bruce Willis in Armageddon?

His struggle is not only unusual compared to

ancient stories of great men facing death, it

is also unique when compared with the history

of the church. What do you guys know about the

early church and those who have faced death?

If you read the book of Acts, if you read Fox's

book of martyrs, what do you know? Yeah, and

they willingly went, right? There's also something

in the early church, the bishops, it got to the

place where they were trying to die, almost to

a point of suicide. They wanted to be arrested.

They wanted to be killed for their faith. Because

they were just ready to go be with Jesus. And

it got to the place where the bishops had to

go, hey, hey, hey, let's calm down. We're almost

to a place where we're trying to just get killed

for the sake of it. We need to calm some things

down. So they were willingly going. So why is

it that Jesus isn't like that? And as a matter

of fact, so we've seen, we know that we have

accounts of believers being burned alive, mauled

by lions, sawn in pieces. You can read about

that in Hebrews, right? And yet they face their

deaths with remarkable peace. If you know anything

about the tradition surrounding Jesus' brother,

James. If you don't know, Jesus' brother James

was executed by being beheaded and he was being

taken to his death. And as he's being taken to

his death, the Roman soldier who's walking beside

him is literally mocking him and spitting on

him, yet he's not bothered. Then as James goes

and lays his head down in order to be killed,

he has such peace, and his life is taken. And

you know what happens in that moment? Do you

guys know the story? No? The Roman Guard? Because

of the peace of James And because he didn't fight

back didn't do anything Gave his life to Christ

and was beheaded right next to him And so how

can it be how can followers of Jesus? Sometimes

face death with such calm when Jesus himself

seems to be overwhelmed by it He's begging the

father take this cup for me And now if you remember

last week, I talked about the elements of the

Passover, right? And what they represented. We

talked about how the bread represented, do you

remember? Affliction. And you can write this

down if you don't remember. What does the cup

represent? The wrath of God against human evil.

The wrath of God against human evil. So Jesus

knew something about death that Doc Holliday

never knew Jesus wasn't simply walking walking

towards death Jesus was walking into the wrath

of God There's your difference Jesus had lived

his entire earthly life his entire eternal life

in perfect communion with the Father. From eternity,

the Son existed in perfect fellowship. Remember,

one of the very first sermons I preached when

we started going through Mark was the dance of

the Trinity, right? So they've always been in

perfect communion together. And God is the source

of all love, all life, all light. and in him

he holds all creation together and now Jesus

stands in the garden looking towards the cross

knowing that he's about to bear the judgment

that our sin deserves. So think about that for

just a moment. This cup is horrifying because

the father who he's always been in communion

with who is light, who is love, who is all things.

He's about to be disconnected from, which means

what? What is the opposite of light? Darkness.

What is the opposite of love? Yeah, so he's going

to experience disconnection from the thing, from

the being that he has always been in communion

with. The cup isn't merely death. It isn't merely

nails, or thorns, or the agony of crucifixion,

which is brutal, by the way. The cup is the righteous

judgment of God against sin, and Jesus is looking

into the abyss of what He is about to endure,

and for the first time in His ministry, He asks

the Father if there's another way. Now you can

understand the prayer father if you're willing

take this cup for me But there was no other way

this was plan a and it was always about plan

a so Jesus Knowing exactly what was in the cup

willingly drank it now. I'm talking metaphorically

by the way Not because Jesus wasn't afraid. Not

because the suffering was somehow easy for him.

He drank it because he loved his father and he

loved us. And that brings us to the question

I want us to wrestle with today. Why couldn't

the cup pass? Why was there no other way? And

the answer is found and the wrath of God's love

and the obedience of Christ's love. So for those

taking notes, my first point is the wrath of

love. So let me ask you this. What comes to your

mind when you hear someone mention the wrath

of God? What comes to your mind? Judgment. Anger?

Justice. Anybody else? What about just discomfort?

Does it make you a little uncomfortable to think

about the wrath of God? Yeah, it does me too.

I can remember sitting when I was a pastor in

Arkansas. We did a small group for young couples

in our church. And I can remember sitting with

them and two young wives told me that they didn't

like the thought of God's wrath or a wrathful

God. Or the thought of having to fear God. Because

as they said, God is love. If God is love, then

wrath and these things like that just doesn't

make sense. It doesn't compute. They wanted to

think about God, and this happens a lot. They

wanted to think about God as in the Old Testament,

he's like an adolescent, angry middle school

kid. And then in the New Testament, he's grown

up and he's married and he's matured. You know

what I mean? And that's not him. He is unchanging.

He's always the same and that is comfort, right?

But I understand that why the wrath of God would

make us uncomfortable because I wrestle with

that too. But you've heard me say this for the

last three weeks and we're gonna write it down

again. We cannot separate the wrath of God from

the love of God. We cannot separate. the wrath

of God from the love of God. So think about it

this way. Can loving people become angry? Like

even nice loving people can become angry right?

They can get mad right? Can loving people like

me loving my spouse or my kids can that make

me angry? Yes, right. They can do things that

annoy you, that make you upset. And so it's not

in spite of our love for them, but it's because

of our love for them that we get angry. Pastor

Logan, what are you talking about? Hang with

me. The more deeply you love someone, the more

angry you can become when you see them being

harmed or harming themselves. You you guys know

that like if you were to Call my wife ugly Pastor

Logan ain't saved no more for a moment right

If you were to be hateful to my children The

the unsaved part of me or the you know The old

me wants to come out and you guys understand

what I'm saying because you guys are exact same

way Right? And so the more we love others, the

more angry we can become whenever those people

are affected. If you see someone or know someone

or love someone that has an addiction problem,

and you just want them to desperately, desperately

get it together, and you see that how this addiction

is tearing them apart, it's destroying their

lives. It makes you angry. Does it not? Why?

Because you love them. You want better for them.

And so, you can write this down right here. Your

sense of love and justice are activated together,

not in opposition to each other. If you see people

destroying themselves or destroying others and

you don't get angry, it's probably because you

don't care. You're too self -absorbed. You're

too cynical. You're too hard -hearted. I already

have something else. Are we good? I got a thumbs

up. And I got Keith May telling me that I got

to ask Vicki, though, because you're not the

one taking notes. I see her over there. So here's

another one for you to write down. The more you

love someone, the more you fiercely or the more

fiercely you oppose whatever destroys them. When

you are raised by an alcoholic You know how many

You know how many people I've known in church

that they were raised by an alcoholic and so

they are so fiercely against Alcohol period like

not even just like being an alcoholic like they

are against all forms of alcohol Why because

it severely affected them, right? So they are

fiercely opposed to it. That, that comes from

the Lord. The Bible tells us that God loves His

creation and everything in it and that's one

of the reasons He gets angry at what is happening

in creation. He gets angry at sin because sin

destroys the people and the world he loves. So

when someone says, I don't want a wrathful God,

I want a God who is love, what they're really

asking for is a God that doesn't care about evil.

But a loving God must hate what destroys the

people he loves. His wrath is not the opposite

of love, his wrath is one of the ways his love

responds to evil. You guys have heard me say

this before and use this example before. If someone

breaks into my home and they mean to do harm

to my wife or my children, would I be loving

by just saying, don't hurt me, but go ahead and

take them? Would that be loving? Nope. But nobody

would fault me, hopefully, if I took a 45, right,

to someone's chest. Why? Because I love what's

behind me. Right? So there's something else that

we need to understand. If you don't believe in

a God of wrath, you actually have no idea how

valuable you are. Again, what's behind me is

valuable to me. So here's what I mean. Think

about it like this. A little G God, okay? A God

without wrath has no need to go to the cross

and suffer incredible agony and die in order

to save you. So, picture on one side a God who

simply says, I love you, but never does anything

about evil that destroys you. There's no cost.

There's no sacrifice. There's no cross. His love

cost him nothing. But, look at the God of the

Bible, because He is holy, He is angry at evil,

and because He loves us, He doesn't leave us

in sin. He comes after us, He goes to the cross,

He absorbs the debt, He pays the ransom, and

He suffers immense torment to rescue and redeem

His people. So the wrath of God tells you how

seriously He takes sin. The cross tells you how

far His love is willing to go to save you from

it. Amen. Do you remember this song in Sunday

school? Alright. See if you can sing it with

me. Ready? Jesus loves His children, all the

children of the world. red and yellow, black

and white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus

loves the little children of the world. Good

job. It's a beautiful truth because it's true.

Jesus loves His people, but your conception of

God's love and your understanding of your value

in His sight will only be as big as your understanding

of His wrath. Write this down for me. The greater

you understand what He was willing to save you

from, the greater you can see how far His love

was willing to go to save you. And that's why

Jesus is standing in Gethsemane looking into

the metaphorical cup, the wrath of God, and He's

going, if there's any other way. The wrath of

God is not some theological abstraction. It was

something very real and only something that God

knew He could bear. That's why He came. It is

what Christ came to bear for us. Are we good?

Still writing? Son, why aren't you taking notes?

Sad. Good All right point number two The obedience

of love the obedience of love When life is going

well, and you're receiving the desires of your

heart What tends to happen? I'll Ask it again

when life is going well, and you're on the mountaintop

And God is giving you the desires of your heart

what tends to happen? Are you happy? Yeah, hopefully

if not What's going on here? But there's a word

That I'm That I think you guys would agree with

when things are going well when you're in a season

of life where it's like Going really well, right?

You're content, right? So what seems to happen

is contentment. Now, when life isn't going well,

when you're experiencing suffering or pain, or

you're not even in pain, you're just uncomfortable

with life, how do you respond? Discontentment,

right? For me in the past, If I wasn't happy

or if I was uncomfortable, I would convince myself

that God is calling us as a family somewhere

else. And you can't argue with God, right? Like

if I say God is calling us, then there's nothing

anyone can argue with me about because obviously

God must be calling me. But I have learned over

the years that it wasn't God at all. It was often

my own unwillingness to grow. to rest in Jesus

and to trust Him with what He was doing in our

lives. And so what would I do? In my unwillingness,

in my discontentment, I would look for a new

job, I would change the scenery, I would buy

something, anything that might distract me and

change my circumstances. Now I don't want you

to misunderstand me though. Because there are

reasons for you to change your circumstances.

Sometimes changing your circumstances is exactly

the right thing to do. If you're running with

the wrong crowd, leave them. If you've received

a bad medical diagnosis, there's very good reasons

to change your diet, exercise, living situation,

whatever needs to be done in order to be good.

But what we shouldn't change, or we shouldn't

change things simply because we're uncomfortable.

Write this down. Because sometimes God is doing

his deepest work in us right in the middle of

circumstances we would rather escape. Sometimes

God is doing his deepest work right in the middle

of circumstances that we would rather escape.

So why do I bring this up? If you look at Jesus

here in the garden, on the surface it looks like

he wants to take the path of least resistance.

Any other way God, any other way. He sees pain

and suffering is on the horizon and he asks if

there's any other way. And he's contending with

the Father. And he says everything is possible

for you. take this cup from me. And if the passage

ended there, you might think Jesus was pulling

the ripcord and just trying to get out, right?

I asked you guys when we read it, is that where

it ends? And everybody said, nope, there's still

one sentence left, right? And so we keep reading

and it says, not my will, but your will be done,

right? So Jesus is not taking his circumstances

into his own hands. He's wrestling, but he's

obeying. He's relinquishing control over his

circumstances and submitting his desires to the

will of the Father. And what does he say? Yet

not what I will, but your will be done. Again,

he's wrestling, but he is obeying in love. And

so I want you to think about this. Jesus had

the opportunity at the last moment to abort the

mission. He could have. But he doesn't. Notice

that Jesus doesn't say, let's abandon this whole

thing and go beam me up Scotty. Right? That's

a Star Trek reference for those that don't get

it. Jesus just says, is there another way? Because

as horrible as this cup is, right, I know there's

not another way. So I'm going to drink it anyway.

He knows what his immediate desire is to be spared,

but his ultimate desire is what? Obedience. Rescuing

those behind him. To spare us. And Jesus doesn't

pull the ripcord. He doesn't look for the escape

hatch. He stays. He accepts the will of the Father

and ultimately he trusts the Father despite the

suffering that lies ahead. And that's where this

becomes personal for you and I. You should trust

the one who went under the flaming sword of God's

wrath for you. You should trust him in the middle

of your discomfort. You should trust him when

you don't understand what God is doing. And you

should trust him when obedience is costly and

the easier path is right in front of you. So

what are you currently begging God to take from

you? What is the thing you desperately wish would

change? It's okay to wrestle with God about it

because Jesus did but don't confuse wrestling

with disobedience Because you should bring your

desires honestly before the father and then like

Jesus surrender them to him We should all pray

like we when I preached on how you should pray,

right? At the end, it should always be, but yet

not my will, but yours. Because the one who drank

the cup for you is the one you can trust with

whatever you're facing now. And so in closing,

here's what I want to say. That love, the love

we've been talking about all morning, the love

whose obedience is wide and long and high and

deep enough to absorb a mountain of righteous

wrath, That is the love you've been looking for

your entire life. No family love can give you

this. No friendship, no mother or father, no

spouse, no romance, no human relationship can

ultimately satisfy the deepest need of your soul.

Those loves are good gifts from God, but every

one of them will eventually disappoint you. People

will fail you. People will leave you. People

will die Even the people who love you most cannot

love you perfectly But this love is different

This is the love that looked into the cup and

drank it anyway This is the love that went into

the darkness so that you could live in the light

This is the love that endured the cross because

of the joy set before him the joy of bringing

sinners like us to home to the father So when

you're afraid Trust Him. When you're suffering,

trust Him. When you're uncomfortable and you

don't understand what God is doing, trust Him.

You can trust the one who went where you could

never go or what you could never bear and drank

the cup that you could never drink. So why couldn't

the cup pass? Because your sin is real. God's

wrath is righteous. And Christ's love is greater.

So He drank the cup for you and if He loved you

enough to do that, you can trust Him with everything

else. Let's pray.