SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the City Covenant Podcast.
SPEAKER_01: We are a warm, welcoming church located in downtown Spokane, dedicated to practicing the way of Jesus in the heart of the city.
SPEAKER_01: Please join us as we dive into the Word of God together.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, if you could take a seat, please, we're gonna go ahead and get started.
SPEAKER_00: I wanted to give you a little bit of extra time because I know our community is really hurting in the midst of these fires.
SPEAKER_00: Um just a reminder again, Tuesday, 5:15 to 6, right here in the sanctuary.
SPEAKER_00: We're just coming alongside our community to pray and pray on behalf of our city.
SPEAKER_00: That's what God's people do.
SPEAKER_00: You read the Old Testament, and when Israel's in trouble, they're like, gosh, what should we do?
SPEAKER_00: And somebody says, we should probably get together and pray.
SPEAKER_00: So that's what we're gonna do.
SPEAKER_00: In addition, I want to let you know, uh, I have a friend that I've known for 25 years.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, his name is Bill Stevens, he's from Spokane.
SPEAKER_00: Bill's a pastor in our denomination, the Evangelical Covenant Church down in the Boulder, Colorado area.
SPEAKER_00: If you recall, I think it was about three Christmases ago, maybe four, they had a fire, 100 mile per hour winds, it swept through Boulder very quickly.
SPEAKER_00: Um, about a thousand homes were burnt.
SPEAKER_00: His was one of those.
SPEAKER_00: And Bill kind of became the point person for his entire community.
SPEAKER_00: And uh Bill knows what you guys are going through.
SPEAKER_00: And out of his just pastoral heart, he'll travel the cities that have had homes that have been um, you know, gone due to fire.
SPEAKER_00: So he was in LA not too long ago with the Pacific Heights fire and Pasadena and all that.
SPEAKER_00: Bill's gonna be here next weekend.
SPEAKER_00: Our church is gonna be hosting him after our service a week from today.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know all the details, but I know Bill's gonna be here for a long time.
SPEAKER_00: He'll meet with people individually, he'll do some group settings.
SPEAKER_00: He will really help people who are struggling get a better grasp on what's happening because he's been through it.
SPEAKER_00: So if you know anybody, anybody who that would benefit, um, please let them know.
SPEAKER_00: A week from today, after our service, more details to follow.
SPEAKER_00: Um, kind of hard to transition into preaching after all that our city has gone through.
SPEAKER_00: I asked a couple friends, like, hey, should I change my message?
SPEAKER_00: And they said, don't.
SPEAKER_00: Um, Cade, thank you for preaching last week.
SPEAKER_00: You really brought uh what was happening in our community to uh the Word of God and how God is there for us.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm I'm gonna continue on in our sermon series on prayer, which is where we are at City Covenant.
SPEAKER_00: We've we've looked at a lot of different prayers, prayers of silence, prayers of intercession, fear, prayers of repentance, prayers of wisdom, and now today a prayer of surrender.
SPEAKER_00: I like to pray.
SPEAKER_00: Um, it's easy for you for me to pray when I'm afraid.
SPEAKER_00: I like to pray for wisdom because I'm kind of an idiot.
SPEAKER_00: Um boy, I pray a lot of prayers of repentance because I sin a lot.
SPEAKER_00: But a prayer of surrender, that's a hard one.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's the hardest prayer of all.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's really hard for the church in America to pray a prayer of surrender.
SPEAKER_00: To truly pray and say to the Lord, whatever you want me to do, I'm gonna do.
SPEAKER_00: I will surrender everything, no matter what it is, let your will be done.
SPEAKER_00: There's a temptation, a very real temptation, not to surrender.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, Martin Sorsei had a movie called The Last Temptation of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure some of you remember it in 1988.
SPEAKER_00: The last temptation was a temptation for Jesus to avoid the cross and live an ordinary, happy human life instead.
SPEAKER_00: Quick disclaimer: I do not endorse this movie.
SPEAKER_00: It is completely flawed theologically.
SPEAKER_00: However, it does bring up this last temptation.
SPEAKER_00: And here we come to a text today where actually Jesus is being tempted.
SPEAKER_00: He's been tempted to not surrender to the will of his father.
SPEAKER_00: What will Jesus do?
SPEAKER_00: What could cause Jesus to actually be tempted enough from abandoning his mission to redeem his people?
SPEAKER_00: In 1962, my dad was a freshman.
SPEAKER_00: My dad's here today, because he's displaced as well from the fires.
SPEAKER_00: He was a freshman at the Segap fraternity at Washington State University.
SPEAKER_00: During Hell Week, the chapter members would make a huge batch of what is known as muck stew.
SPEAKER_00: The stew had anything and everything in it.
SPEAKER_00: All day long, members would add ingredients to this stew, culminating in a brownish, green, yellowish sludge.
SPEAKER_00: Who knows what they put in there?
SPEAKER_00: I'll leave that to your imagination.
SPEAKER_00: Then in the formal chapter room, a huge fire would be stoked in the fireplace, the largest fire of the year.
SPEAKER_00: And the pledge class would have to go upstairs, stand in line, and take turns one by one, where a member would dip a ladle into that 50-gallon drum and pour out some of that stew into their mouths.
SPEAKER_00: They would inhale a mouthful, run through a gauntlet that included scooting under dining room chairs on your back to ensure that you would swallow some of the stew.
SPEAKER_00: You would then spit on the fire until the fire was finally put out.
SPEAKER_00: It took a long time.
SPEAKER_00: So think about that.
SPEAKER_00: So now there's vomit in the stew.
SPEAKER_00: So over and over again they are ingesting this, sliding on their backs, drinking from this cup.
SPEAKER_00: In our text this morning, and this is a little bit of a leap.
SPEAKER_00: However, Jesus is entering Hell Week.
SPEAKER_00: Some people call it Holy Week, but you might as well call it Hell Week.
SPEAKER_00: He has to face his own cup, his own stew.
SPEAKER_00: But it is a stew made with the ingredients of all the sins of his people, past, present, and future.
SPEAKER_00: And it's being poured into his mouth by his very own father.
SPEAKER_00: And the flames he's wanting to extinguish are the very flames of hell.
SPEAKER_00: At least the flames of hell that are reserved for the sins of his people.
SPEAKER_00: But will Jesus do it?
SPEAKER_00: Will Jesus drink the cup?
SPEAKER_00: Why does he have to drink the cup?
SPEAKER_00: Where does he begin to drink the cup?
SPEAKER_00: And what would drinking the cup secure for his followers, for his people?
SPEAKER_00: The answer to those questions is found in one single word.
SPEAKER_00: And the word is in the garden.
SPEAKER_00: The first garden, the garden of Eden, the second garden, the garden of Gethsemane, and the final garden, the garden of paradise.
SPEAKER_00: I have one goal for you today.
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
SPEAKER_00: One goal for our congregation this morning.
SPEAKER_00: It's not that you would fall more in love with our church, although I hope you like our church.
SPEAKER_00: It's not that you would fall in love with my preaching, although I hope I preach well today.
SPEAKER_00: My goal for you this morning and every morning and any time that I preach is that you would fall more deeply in love with Jesus than you ever have before in your life.
SPEAKER_00: That's all I ask for you to consider.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to see his beauty, his strength, his humanity, his fear, his agony, his tears, his cup, his love, his love for you and for sinners like me.
SPEAKER_00: So if you have your Bible, or if you don't, it's there's one provided before you on page 906, Luke, chapter 22.
SPEAKER_00: We come to our text, verses 39 through 46.
SPEAKER_00: I'll give you one second to get there.
SPEAKER_00: Page 906 in your pew Bible.
SPEAKER_00: I believe your pew Bible is the New International Version.
SPEAKER_00: Um I'm reading from the ESV English Standard Version.
SPEAKER_00: It'll be pretty close.
SPEAKER_00: Let's listen to God's word.
SPEAKER_00: And he came out and went, speaking of Jesus, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him.
SPEAKER_00: And when he came to the place, he said to them, Pray that you may not enter into temptation.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.
SPEAKER_00: And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.
SPEAKER_00: And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
SPEAKER_00: And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to them, Why are you sleeping?
SPEAKER_00: Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.
SPEAKER_00: This is God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Will you join me in prayer?
SPEAKER_00: Father, we come to your your garden, one of many in the Bible, to see your Son and to see his love for us.
SPEAKER_00: And we ask, Father, that we would consider some things today.
SPEAKER_00: We would consider what garden we're in.
SPEAKER_00: What garden do we want to be in?
SPEAKER_00: How do we get into the right garden?
SPEAKER_00: So Father, reveal that.
SPEAKER_00: By the power of your Holy Spirit, change our hearts, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Forgive us of our sins.
SPEAKER_00: Father, forgive me of my sins.
SPEAKER_00: I'm I I don't like to stand up here representing you and your son and your word.
SPEAKER_00: But forgive me now, Lord, if if I've forgotten to repent so that I might clearly preach your word.
SPEAKER_00: And may your people fall in love with you deeper today, Lord, for your glory and in your name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: First question: why does Jesus even need to drink the cup?
SPEAKER_00: Well, Heidi read about it, right?
SPEAKER_00: The first garden.
SPEAKER_00: It was a disastrous event, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_00: And it still wreaks havoc on us today.
SPEAKER_00: The first garden, the Garden of Eden.
SPEAKER_00: It was, it was, right?
SPEAKER_00: It was past tent.
SPEAKER_00: It was perfect.
SPEAKER_00: It was beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, it's described as a place where Adam and Eve walked with God in the cool of the morning.
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine?
SPEAKER_00: They had everything they needed.
SPEAKER_00: They had Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: They had God with them.
SPEAKER_00: They had every tree to pick from but one.
SPEAKER_00: They had livestock.
SPEAKER_00: They had plants.
SPEAKER_00: We were told that they were naked and felt no shame.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine that.
SPEAKER_00: You'd never see some naked couple walking through Riverfront Park, would you?
SPEAKER_00: Because they would have shame.
SPEAKER_00: At least I hope a little.
SPEAKER_00: They're like, this is great.
SPEAKER_00: We have nothing to hide.
SPEAKER_00: And then it goes sideways very quickly.
SPEAKER_00: Even though they had close proximity to God, even though they walked with him day in and day out, they blow it, right?
SPEAKER_00: You know the synopsis.
SPEAKER_00: The serpent comes to Eve and says, Hey, you want some of this?
SPEAKER_00: Adam's kind of watching this.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's weird.
SPEAKER_00: Snake's talking to my wife.
SPEAKER_00: Oh well.
SPEAKER_00: He just sits there, does nothing.
SPEAKER_00: He's quiet.
SPEAKER_00: And then she gives him a bite of whatever the fruit is, and he takes a bite of it.
SPEAKER_00: And then they realize that they are naked and they feel shame.
SPEAKER_00: And as the representative of mankind, Adam means man.
SPEAKER_00: Adam is now our father.
SPEAKER_00: We were progeny of our first father.
SPEAKER_00: And since then we are trying desperately to get back to that original garden state, but to no avail.
SPEAKER_00: We've been kicked out.
SPEAKER_00: It's interesting, right before our passage, just before what I read to you, there are hints of similar behavior hinting back to that original garden.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples have just had dinner with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: They've walked with Jesus in the cool of the morning for three years.
SPEAKER_00: And we are told right before this that Satan has entered Judas to betray Jesus for some cash.
SPEAKER_00: Then we find out that the disciples are arguing over who's going to be the greatest in the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: I'm better.
SPEAKER_00: No, you're better.
SPEAKER_00: No, wait, I want to be at his right hand.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to be at his left hand, I want to be at his right hand.
SPEAKER_00: There's an argument going on.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus actually says to Peter, Satan has asked to sift all of you like wheat.
SPEAKER_00: And that while you say you will follow me to death, you are going to betray me three times.
SPEAKER_00: Dang it, we are back in the garden again.
SPEAKER_00: We are right back there.
SPEAKER_00: The messed up garden, the men who walked with God, the God man Jesus in the cool of the day.
SPEAKER_00: And because we're kicked out of the garden, a garden where that first Adam failed and keep doing things to kick us out, we need a second garden.
SPEAKER_00: That's the reality.
SPEAKER_00: And not only do we need a second garden, we need a second Adam.
SPEAKER_00: The scriptures often refer, and theologians often refer to Jesus as the second Adam.
SPEAKER_00: Will he succeed in the garden where we blew it?
SPEAKER_00: Here's the deal.
SPEAKER_00: He's in a serious fight in that second garden.
SPEAKER_00: He's in a wrestling match.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, our text says that Jesus is in agony.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know that's the only time that word's ever used in the New Testament?
SPEAKER_00: The only time.
SPEAKER_00: At its core, it has the idea of a struggle, intense conflict, severe distress, like a combat struggle.
SPEAKER_00: Let's be honest.
SPEAKER_00: We're pretty good at screwing up the garden, aren't we?
SPEAKER_00: I work hard on my tomato plants.
SPEAKER_00: They're not doing well.
SPEAKER_00: There's weeds everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: They got some weird rot going on on the bottom.
SPEAKER_00: I can only eat half of them.
SPEAKER_00: I've worked so hard on my tomatoes.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just good at screwing it up.
SPEAKER_00: It comes so easily to me.
SPEAKER_00: We want to do our things our way.
SPEAKER_00: We don't want to submit to the Father's good will.
SPEAKER_00: We forget all the good trees we have.
SPEAKER_00: And we want that one tree.
SPEAKER_00: No man really just drifts into Christ's likeness.
SPEAKER_00: We just drift away from it.
SPEAKER_00: No matter how hard we try, the garden is full of weeds.
SPEAKER_00: What are we supposed to do?
SPEAKER_00: We need to get that second Adam in the second garden to triumph.
SPEAKER_00: And so we come to Jesus, the God man, in the second garden.
SPEAKER_00: Our text says he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to spend a little bit of time in the second garden because I think it's the most important garden, not only because it's from our text today, but it's the most important garden in the Bible and in the history of mankind.
SPEAKER_00: This is where the passion of Jesus starts.
SPEAKER_00: Right here in this garden.
SPEAKER_00: And it's because of this garden experience that we have a chance to get back to that original garden that we so desperately desire.
SPEAKER_00: Now, our text doesn't say he's in the garden of Gethsemane, it says the Mount of Olives.
SPEAKER_00: This is really easy to clear up, right?
SPEAKER_00: Within the Mount of Olives is the Garden of Gethsemane.
SPEAKER_00: Other gospel writers say that he was in the Garden of Gethsemane.
SPEAKER_00: It's like the Rose Garden or the Duncan Gardens are within Manitou Park.
SPEAKER_00: So yes, we are in a garden.
SPEAKER_00: You just have to believe me.
SPEAKER_00: This is the second garden.
SPEAKER_00: And it's the location of the temptation that Jesus has to surrender to, the plans his father has for him.
SPEAKER_00: You know, in verse 37, this is right before our passage, Jesus mentions to his disciples this very thing.
SPEAKER_00: He says, For I tell you that this scripture must be fulfilled in me.
SPEAKER_00: And he quotes this, and he was numbered with the transgressors, for what is written about me has its fulfillment.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has just said, guys, I'm gonna die.
SPEAKER_00: But all of a sudden there's a dramatic shift in the countenance of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of odd, don't you think?
SPEAKER_00: He's been talking about this for a long time.
SPEAKER_00: I need to die, I need to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to destroy the temple, my body, and in three days raise it up again.
SPEAKER_00: This must happen in fulfillment of the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: He keeps saying it.
SPEAKER_00: But all of a sudden, there is a dramatic shift in the countenance of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You know, to quote the great theologian, prophet, poet Mike Tyson, everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is getting punched in the face in the second garden.
SPEAKER_00: We've never seen Jesus like this before.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us, when we read of him, this is a bit troubling.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm used to reading about a confident Jesus, a Jesus who flips over the money changing tables and drives out the religious leaders with a cord and a whip.
SPEAKER_00: That's the Jesus I like.
SPEAKER_00: I like the Jesus who casts out demons, right?
SPEAKER_00: Remember the Garrison demoniac?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, What's your name?
SPEAKER_00: And he says, My name is Legion, because there's like a thousand demons in me.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is like, whatever.
SPEAKER_00: Be gone.
SPEAKER_00: And they leave.
SPEAKER_00: I like that Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I really like the Jesus who's asleep in the lake.
SPEAKER_00: What like is it?
SPEAKER_00: Sea of Galilee, and the disciples are freaking out.
SPEAKER_00: They're taking on water, they're baling water, they're baling water, and Jesus is asleep on a pillow because he's so tired from his ministry.
SPEAKER_00: And they they wake him up and like, don't you care that we're perishing?
SPEAKER_00: He's like, uh, how long have you guys been with me?
SPEAKER_00: He stands up and he literally says, Shut up.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says, hush, be still, but it's really like, hey, shut up.
SPEAKER_00: And the wind and the waves obey him.
SPEAKER_00: I like that Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Like the Jesus who just a few days ago came in on a donkey and everyone's throwing down their cloaks and their palms and saying, Hosanna to the highest.
SPEAKER_00: Our King is here.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not the Jesus we see now.
SPEAKER_00: I wonder if it embarrassed his disciples to see him a little bit like this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure it confused them.
SPEAKER_00: Does it embarrass you to see our Lord Jesus like this?
SPEAKER_00: Does it confuse you?
SPEAKER_00: What would cause Jesus to say, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me?
SPEAKER_00: And elsewhere, Jesus tells his disciples, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.
SPEAKER_00: Why is he feeling this way?
SPEAKER_00: It's because of the cup.
SPEAKER_00: The cup! The dreaded cup that no man has ever been asked to drink until now.
SPEAKER_00: In the second garden.
SPEAKER_00: In Scripture, the cup is often the symbol of what God has assigned to a person or nation, especially his judgment and wrath.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 75, 8 says this for in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine well mixed, and he pours it out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 51, 17.
SPEAKER_00: Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs, the bowl, the cup of staggering.
SPEAKER_00: The cup of staggering.
SPEAKER_00: Biblically, the cup is linked to the Lord's wrath for the wicked.
SPEAKER_00: In Gethsemane, Jesus is facing that same cup, but as the sin bearer for his people.
SPEAKER_00: And why is he drinking it?
SPEAKER_00: Because of that first garden with that first Adam.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is scared.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is asking his father, if there is another way to get back to that Garden of Eden, I'm open to it, Dad.
SPEAKER_00: And he's terrified of the potential answer.
SPEAKER_00: One pastor put it this way: use your imagination.
SPEAKER_00: Suppose it was you praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, and you face what Jesus faced, that horrible cup.
SPEAKER_00: When you think of being in that situation, I think that if God asks you to put just the rim of the cup against your lips, not to drink it, not to swallow it, just to touch it with your lip, that would be enough for you to experience a cosmic blast of wrath that would crush you under its weight.
SPEAKER_00: I could not, you could not endure to touch it, let alone drink it.
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's not as if God said, Jesus, I know we've talked about this, and this has always been our plan to rescue mankind.
SPEAKER_00: But tell you what, just just take a sip.
SPEAKER_00: Just a little sip.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what the Father was asking.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, the Father was saying, Jesus, take this cup.
SPEAKER_00: Don't just sip it.
SPEAKER_00: Swallow it.
SPEAKER_00: Swallow it to the bitter dregs.
SPEAKER_00: Ingest it.
SPEAKER_00: Let it fill your stomach and then your soul.
SPEAKER_00: You know the reason why Jesus' countenance changed so much?
SPEAKER_00: Because it's in this garden that Jesus learned something new about sin that he had not known and could not have known before.
SPEAKER_00: To his amazement and to his horror, he suddenly found himself, made sin himself, and carrying the weight of it, the guilt of it, the stain of it, the shame of it before a fully God, as if he had committed every sin ever committed in the world.
SPEAKER_00: And he fell on his face in that garden because the Lord his God was laying on Jesus the iniquity of us all.
SPEAKER_00: In the second garden, Jesus became the greatest sinner that the world has ever known.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: The man who knew no sin became sinned so that we might have the righteousness of God.
SPEAKER_00: And he is coming undone.
SPEAKER_00: He is in agony.
SPEAKER_00: He is wrestling.
SPEAKER_00: You know the feeling when you sin?
SPEAKER_00: You know the feeling when you like um are super unkind to your spouse?
SPEAKER_00: Or as a parent where you just, man, you just lose it on your kid.
SPEAKER_00: And you just and you cuss them out.
SPEAKER_00: You shame them.
SPEAKER_00: Like a dog that, a puppy that urinated on your new carpet, you shove their face in it and say, What's wrong with you?
SPEAKER_00: Or you lie, or you cheat, or you steal, or you curse out your coworker, or you're arrogant.
SPEAKER_00: You know the weight of that on you, how it just feels awful.
SPEAKER_00: You feel like you're coming undone.
SPEAKER_00: Gosh, at least Adam and Eve had some fig leaves to cover up their shame.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus had nothing.
SPEAKER_00: Judas betrays Jesus in the guilt and the shame, the weight of that causes him to commit suicide by hanging himself.
SPEAKER_00: Sin's ugly.
SPEAKER_00: Sin's weighty.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is bearing all of that on himself.
SPEAKER_00: The pressure, the weight of bearing the sins of his people was so terrible that we're told that Jesus began to sweat drops of blood.
SPEAKER_00: I think Jesus got his answer really quickly.
SPEAKER_00: Father, if there's another way for this cup to pass me, but not my will, but your will be done.
SPEAKER_00: I think he got his answer really fast.
SPEAKER_00: We're told an angel came immediately to strengthen him.
SPEAKER_00: He got his answer.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: There is no other way.
SPEAKER_00: My son.
SPEAKER_00: I love you so much.
SPEAKER_00: But you have to drink it.
SPEAKER_00: He got his answer.
SPEAKER_00: He prays more fervently.
SPEAKER_00: To the point of experience a medical phenomenon called hematidrosis.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I'm saying that right.
SPEAKER_00: Which is under extreme stress, intense fear or anguish, the tiny blood vessels around the sweat glands constrict and they rupture, allowing blood to mix with sweat and come out in droplets.
SPEAKER_00: It actually makes your skin super sensitive.
SPEAKER_00: We know later Jesus is punched in the face, they put a crown of thorns on him.
SPEAKER_00: His skin is so tender.
SPEAKER_00: After all, Luke was a physician.
SPEAKER_00: He knows what he's talking about.
SPEAKER_00: Are you falling more in love with Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Gosh, I hope so.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see how he understands your stress, your trauma?
SPEAKER_00: All of our fire victims, Jesus, he's with you.
SPEAKER_00: But stick with me.
SPEAKER_00: Because precious Jesus did pray a prayer of surrender, and he accepted the answer from his father and agreed to drink the cup, which secures the final garden for us, the garden of paradise.
SPEAKER_00: If you're in your Bibles, I mean you just might have to turn one page to Luke 23, 43.
SPEAKER_00: One of the criminals who's just hanged railed against Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is now on the cross, saying, Are you not the Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Save yourself and us.
SPEAKER_00: But the other rebuked him, saying, Do you not fear God since you are under the same sentence or condemnation?
SPEAKER_00: And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward for our deeds.
SPEAKER_00: But this man has done nothing wrong.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to Jesus, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, we have a problem, even after hearing all this, that Jesus drank the entire cup.
SPEAKER_00: We still have this proclivity to think that the way back to the garden, to salvation, is Jesus drinking the cup, thank you, plus stuff that I do.
SPEAKER_00: We do it all day long.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for drinking the cup.
SPEAKER_00: Dying on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm sure there's more I need to do.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: He drank to the drugs.
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing left in the cup.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing.
SPEAKER_00: We forget that Jesus prayed a prayer of surrender.
SPEAKER_00: He surrendered all and he drank all of the cup.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to see, hopefully, a short clip by Alistair Begg.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's the best explanation of what's happening.
SPEAKER_02: Without the preaching of the cross, without preaching the cross to ourselves all day and every day, we will very, very quickly revert to faith plus works as the ground of our salvation.
SPEAKER_02: So that to go to the old uh Fort Lauderdale question, if you were to die tonight and you were getting entry into heaven, what would you say?
SPEAKER_02: If you answer that, and if I answer it in the first person, we've immediately gone wrong.
SPEAKER_02: Because I, because I believed, because I have faith, because I am this, because I am continuing.
SPEAKER_02: Loved ones, the only proper answer is in the third person, because he, because he.
SPEAKER_02: Think about the thief on the cross.
SPEAKER_02: I can't wait to find that fellow one day to ask him.
SPEAKER_02: How did that take out for you?
SPEAKER_02: Because you were, you were, you were, you were cussing the guy out with your friend.
SPEAKER_02: You've never been in a Bible study, you never got baptized, you never you didn't know a thing about church membership, and and yet, and yet, you made it you made it! How did you make it?
SPEAKER_02: That's what the angel must have said, you know, like what are you doing here?
SPEAKER_02: Well, I don't know.
SPEAKER_02: What do you mean you don't know?
SPEAKER_02: Well, like I don't know.
SPEAKER_02: Well, you know, what do you excuse me, let me get my supervisor?
SPEAKER_02: So wait, just a few questions for you.
SPEAKER_02: First of all, are you are you uh are you are you clear on the doctrine of justification by faith?
SPEAKER_02: The guy said I never heard of it in my life.
SPEAKER_02: And and what about let's just go to the doctrine of scripture immediately.
SPEAKER_02: This guy's just staring.
SPEAKER_02: And eventually, in frustration, he says, on on what basis are you here?
SPEAKER_02: And he said, the man on the middle cross said, I can come.
SPEAKER_02: Now, now that's the that is the only answer.
SPEAKER_00: The man on the middle cross said, I can come.
SPEAKER_00: It's that simple.
SPEAKER_00: The guy had no training, he'd never been to a Bible study, he'd never been to a prayer group.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing.
SPEAKER_00: He saw something in Jesus and said, I think this guy's the real deal.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says, Yeah, you're you're with me today.
SPEAKER_00: What does he say?
SPEAKER_00: Remember me when you come into your kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus doesn't say, Okay, you're coming with me this day into my kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: He says, today you will be with me in paradise.
SPEAKER_00: It's a Persian word.
SPEAKER_00: It means a walled garden where the king walks with his people.
SPEAKER_00: Starts in a garden, but it ends in a garden.
SPEAKER_00: That thief on the cross is walking with God in the cool of the morning in the garden of God.
SPEAKER_00: He's back.
unknown: He's back.
SPEAKER_00: How forgiven do you think you are?
SPEAKER_00: A little bit, a lot bit?
SPEAKER_00: 50%?
SPEAKER_00: 70%?
SPEAKER_00: Some of you, maybe you're in the 90s.
SPEAKER_00: Way to go.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know who said it.
SPEAKER_00: It's probably Calvin or Luther or Spurgeon or Chesterton.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: He said the worst sin you can commit is to believe that God doesn't love you.
SPEAKER_00: That's the worst sin you can commit.
SPEAKER_00: Of course he loves you.
SPEAKER_00: He was crushed for you.
SPEAKER_00: He drank the cup.
SPEAKER_00: Are you fallen more in love with Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Or have you forgotten what happened in the second garden?
SPEAKER_00: It's easy to forget.
SPEAKER_00: People do it all the time.
SPEAKER_00: I have empirical data on this.
SPEAKER_00: My wife and I went to an auction in April.
SPEAKER_00: It was a Christian school.
SPEAKER_00: I have no idea what they were raising money for.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody told us.
SPEAKER_00: Thought that was odd.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of people there.
SPEAKER_00: It was at, where was it, babe?
SPEAKER_00: The Davenport.
SPEAKER_00: And um in the hall of Dodges, Doges, whatever, you know, it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: And silent, silent auction.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, this is our one chance of maybe getting something, right?
SPEAKER_00: And we're walking around, and I I had looked earlier online, and there was a piece of artwork, and it was valued at$7,500.
SPEAKER_00: An oil painting by a mom at the school.
SPEAKER_00: And um this is the painting.
SPEAKER_00: Original artwork.
SPEAKER_00: I love art.
SPEAKER_00: Let's put put this down here.
SPEAKER_00: And um Heidi and I are walking around looking at things, and um said opening bid, 500 bucks.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how this works.
SPEAKER_00: You just, you know, put your name down, you're never gonna get it.
SPEAKER_00: 500 bucks.
SPEAKER_00: Andre and Heidi Lewis.
SPEAKER_00: We're walking around, we go inside, now the guy's auctioning off other stuff.
SPEAKER_00: I have no idea who's winning.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And um somehow I found out that we won.
SPEAKER_00: With our one singular opening bid at a Christian school.
SPEAKER_00: It kind of bothered me.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm glad I won, but it bothered me.
SPEAKER_00: And the auction's going on, and at one point, somebody bid$10,500 to have maple bars with the principal and get a parking spot for a year.
SPEAKER_00: I got mad.
SPEAKER_00: I looked at Heidi, I go, we're gone.
SPEAKER_00: I grabbed Jesus, grab my Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of weird, you're walking out to Davenport.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, you got and I just I I felt bad for him.
SPEAKER_00: I was like, after all you've done, you got beat out by maple bars.
SPEAKER_00: Not okay.
SPEAKER_00: A few parting questions.
SPEAKER_00: What garden are you in?
SPEAKER_00: Are you still in that one that we were kicked out of?
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to be in that final garden?
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to be in paradise?
SPEAKER_00: You need to pray a prayer of surrendering right now.
SPEAKER_00: And here's how it goes: Lord, I surrender to you because I've been trying to earn my way into your kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna believe that you drinking that cup and dying on the cross is enough.
SPEAKER_00: I surrender.
SPEAKER_00: You will experience paradise today if you do that.
SPEAKER_00: What garden are you in?
SPEAKER_00: What might you need to surrender?
SPEAKER_00: Are you willing to pray the prayer, Lord?
SPEAKER_00: I surrender to your will.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what that is.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're supposed to be in a different profession.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're supposed to sell your house.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're supposed to give 25 grand away to somebody who burnt, lost their house and doesn't have insurance.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what it is.
SPEAKER_00: Super scary prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Don't be careful when you pray it.
SPEAKER_00: What is he asking you?
SPEAKER_00: The drinking of the cup was not a tragedy, it was a necessity.
SPEAKER_00: And he did it because he loves you.
SPEAKER_00: He loves you.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that you've fallen more in love with Jesus today.
SPEAKER_00: I pray when you come down for communion and you see this table represents what the second Adam has done on your behalf, that you'll be in love with him more and more.
SPEAKER_00: That was the goal from the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: I pray it has been accomplished.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we love you because you first loved us.
SPEAKER_00: We need your forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: We have your forgiveness because you drank the cup, because you went to the cross, and you sat down at the right hand of the Father, because it is finished.
SPEAKER_00: Father, change us this day more and more into your likeness for your glory.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening.
SPEAKER_01: Please join us in person for community worship, the breaking of bread, and prayer.
SPEAKER_01: We are located at 512 South Bernard Street, Spokane, Washington, 99204.