Welcome to the month of April

• Truly one of the best times of year.
• Giant Easter Bunny Inflatable in the yard, chocolate, eggs

For Christians globally, this is a season of Lent 

• Mostly observed by Catholics and Orthodox adherents
• Time of fasting, abstinence, and penitence. 
• I want you to see this season as a spiritual spring
• Jesus set his face towards Jerusalem, many walked with him, we will walk with him as well. 

Let’s talk about the most important event in human history - THE CROSS

• It is the most consequential event to happen
• It is the focus of the Old Testament
  • Genesis 
    • The animal that was slaughtered
    • The lamb of Abel
    • The image of Isaac 
  • Leviticus - whole point of the sacrificial system
  • Prophets - clearest prophecies
• It is the focus of the incarnation
• It is the focus of the preaching of Paul
  • 1 Corinthians 1:17 (ESV) — 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
• It is the song of Revelation
  • “Worthy is the lamb who was slain”
• It is the center of God’s emotions
• It is not talked about much
  • People don’t understand it
  • It is too simple
  • It is offensive
  • It’s not fun :) 

I want to focus on one passage

• In the garden of Gethsemane
• Mark 14:32–36 (ESV) — 32 And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. 34 And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.” 35 And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 36 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.”

The Cup He Drank

• Why did He talk about a cup?
  • Jewish thought - cup of blessing, cup of cursing... “Lot in life”
  • You don’t know what’s in the cup.
  • Cup as a good thing - Psalm 23:5 (ESV) — 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
  • Cup as a bad thing - Isaiah 51:17 (NLT) — 17 Wake up, wake up, O Jerusalem! You have drunk the cup of the LORD’s fury. You have drunk the cup of terror, tipping out its last drops.
• The four cups of the passover
  • First two during dinner, the last two after dinner
  • They were eating and drinking at the last supper
  • Jesus drank from the third cup, and said this is my blood given for you

1. He drank the cup of sin so we could be sanctified
   1. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV) — 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
      1. See him on the cross with a dark sky
         1. Have you ever felt shame for something you did
      2. He became guilty of all the sins I’ve ever committed
      3. He became guilty of our combined sins
      4. He became guilty of the sins of the world
      5. Imagine the weight of that! 
   2. We drink the cup of sanctification 
      1. All of our sins are removed.
      2. Psalm 103:12 (NLT) — 12 He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.
      3. Micah 7:19 (NLT) — 19 Once again you will have compassion on us. You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean!
      4. You are officially unburdened! 
2. He drank the cup of bondage so we could be delivered
   1. Mark 15:1 - They bound Jesus, led him away, and took him to Pilate, the Roman governor.
      1. Jesus became bound by ropes, bound to the whipping post, bound to the cross
   2. The Jewish people were under oppression for 400 years. God gave them freedom. 
   3. Who is our oppressor? 
      1. Sin is our master
      2. The flesh is our master
      3. The god of this world is our master
      4. Death is our master
   4. You are now FREE
      1. Who the son sets free is free indeed.
      2. When you see the cross and the man bound to it, know that you are set free
      3. We are BARABBAS!
3. He drank the cup of the curse so we could be redeemed
   1. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so
   2. I know that my redeemer lives
   3. Redeemed means bought back. 
   4. If something is not redeemed it is cursed. 
   5. Galatians 3:13–14 (NLT) — 13 But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” 14 Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith.
   6. Cursed means - Under wrath, under judgment
   7. Blessed means - Under favor
4. He drank the cup of rejection so we could be accepted
   1. One of the most staggering elements of the cross is when He said “why have you forsaken me?”
   2. The Son in whom I’m well pleased, to forsaken
      1. Rejected by friends
      2. Rejected by society
      3. Rejected by leadership
      4. Rejected by God
   3. So you could be ACCEPTED
      1. Accepted by God
      2. Accepted by heaven
      3. Accepted in the family of God

Father let this cup pass from me:

• The father said “Bottoms up”
• Jesus obeyed
• Isaiah 53:3–9 (NLT) — 3 He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. 4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! 5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. 6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all. 7 He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. 8 Unjustly condemned, he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people. 9 He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave.

So What?

• Stand under the cross and consider the cup he drank so you could have a different cup!