WEBVTT 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:12.679 Hey everyone, this is Josh from Encounter Church 00:00:12.679 --> 00:00:15.279 Henley, and thanks so much for tuning into our 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:19.000 podcast. Our prayer is that through this podcast, 00:00:19.019 --> 00:00:20.879 you can have an encounter with Jesus that will 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:24.359 change your life. And now get ready for an inspiring 00:00:24.359 --> 00:00:29.379 message from our preaching team. Hey, welcome 00:00:29.379 --> 00:00:31.320 to church. My name is Tim. I'm one of the pastors 00:00:31.320 --> 00:00:35.469 here. It's a joy to have you in church today 00:00:35.469 --> 00:00:39.950 on My 20th birthday my grandfather died which 00:00:39.950 --> 00:00:44.289 was kind of rude of him to be honest His his 00:00:44.289 --> 00:00:47.369 mother also died on my birthday Which was kind 00:00:47.369 --> 00:00:49.869 of rude of her as well. So no one else is allowed 00:00:49.869 --> 00:00:53.810 to die on my birthday All right Fine. Thanks 00:00:53.810 --> 00:00:57.969 sex. So it's actually kind of a buzzkill And 00:00:57.969 --> 00:01:01.500 his his death was for me was one of them the 00:01:01.500 --> 00:01:05.459 first major deaths of my life. And looking back, 00:01:05.560 --> 00:01:09.359 it was a kind of shattering. No one really close 00:01:09.359 --> 00:01:12.560 to me had died in my first 20 years, which was 00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:16.540 both a blessing and it was a difficulty, because 00:01:16.540 --> 00:01:18.920 it didn't really prepare me for the reality of 00:01:18.920 --> 00:01:21.859 death. I was not prepared for the reality that 00:01:21.859 --> 00:01:25.379 I would never speak to him again. I was not prepared 00:01:25.379 --> 00:01:28.680 for the reality of grief like that. Was not prepared 00:01:28.680 --> 00:01:30.340 for the reality that I that I would actually 00:01:30.340 --> 00:01:33.280 lose other people and that other people would 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:37.099 one day lose me See my first 20 years. I'd been 00:01:37.099 --> 00:01:41.200 really sheltered from suffering and then suffering 00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:44.120 broke down the door And I didn't really know 00:01:44.120 --> 00:01:48.019 how to make sense of this And I want to acknowledge 00:01:48.019 --> 00:01:49.780 that that that's probably not the case for everyone 00:01:49.780 --> 00:01:53.379 here Not everyone here has been sheltered from 00:01:53.379 --> 00:01:55.319 suffering for the first 20 years of their life 00:01:55.680 --> 00:01:58.319 But our Western culture doesn't really help us 00:01:58.319 --> 00:02:01.439 with this. See, I never saw my grandfather's 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:05.560 body. I never looked death in the face. His casket 00:02:05.560 --> 00:02:10.180 was closed. Our family did invite Steph, my sister 00:02:10.180 --> 00:02:13.680 and I, to his deathbed and then he was just cremated 00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:16.340 and his ashes were scattered. His ashes were 00:02:16.340 --> 00:02:18.879 scattered in the ocean at Henley Beach South. 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:21.039 And this will tell you the kind of person that 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:23.939 my grandmother is. We did this in broad daylight. 00:02:24.870 --> 00:02:27.009 She didn't wait for a time or a place where there 00:02:27.009 --> 00:02:31.189 was no one else swimming around us. She just 00:02:31.189 --> 00:02:35.289 barged out into the middle of the crowd and unceremoniously 00:02:35.289 --> 00:02:38.129 poured his ashes out into the ocean. And so adults 00:02:38.129 --> 00:02:40.169 and children were just running to shore to get 00:02:40.169 --> 00:02:42.189 out of the water. So they weren't covered in 00:02:42.189 --> 00:02:52.789 my grandfather. Where's her culture? don't deal 00:02:52.789 --> 00:02:56.330 with death and suffering that well. It's kind 00:02:56.330 --> 00:02:59.449 of foreign to us. In some ways, it's hidden from 00:02:59.449 --> 00:03:02.270 us. And so when it comes, we might not actually 00:03:02.270 --> 00:03:05.509 know, how do we deal with suffering? We might 00:03:05.509 --> 00:03:08.650 know that pork used to be a pig. We might know 00:03:08.650 --> 00:03:12.750 that others suffer, but we might not know that 00:03:12.750 --> 00:03:17.449 suffering will come for us. With modern medicine, 00:03:17.759 --> 00:03:20.800 relative global security with governmental safety 00:03:20.800 --> 00:03:23.120 nets, it can be easy to believe that we can actually 00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:26.539 escape the clutches of suffering. That with all 00:03:26.539 --> 00:03:28.479 the great things of our modern age, we can kind 00:03:28.479 --> 00:03:30.879 of set up the kingdom of God on earth where there 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:34.400 is no suffering, no tears, no pain and no death. 00:03:35.340 --> 00:03:39.360 In this life, a kingdom without the king. But 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:43.180 then petrol hits three dollars a litre. War comes 00:03:43.180 --> 00:03:46.919 to disrupt our lives. Sickness comes that They 00:03:46.919 --> 00:03:49.199 can't be treated. The safety nets, they don't 00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:55.099 catch us when we fall. What do we do then? What 00:03:55.099 --> 00:03:59.379 do we do when suffering breaks through our Western 00:03:59.379 --> 00:04:03.139 worldview? See, today is Palm Sunday, but we're 00:04:03.139 --> 00:04:05.879 in the middle of our Easter series. Holy Week's 00:04:05.879 --> 00:04:08.560 here. We've been tracing our way through the 00:04:08.560 --> 00:04:10.479 final moments of Jesus' life in the Gospel of 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:12.900 Luke. And he's heading towards the cross. And 00:04:12.900 --> 00:04:16.120 in our text today, Jesus and his disciples are 00:04:16.120 --> 00:04:20.019 staring down the barrel of suffering. They've 00:04:20.019 --> 00:04:23.300 partaken in the original communion and now they're 00:04:23.300 --> 00:04:25.620 about to be tested. The rubber's about to hit 00:04:25.620 --> 00:04:29.000 the road. Jesus takes them to the Mount of Olives 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:31.959 as was his custom and there he tells them to 00:04:31.959 --> 00:04:35.259 prepare themselves for what is to come by praying 00:04:35.259 --> 00:04:39.620 that they will not give into temptation. I wonder 00:04:39.620 --> 00:04:42.829 why Jesus is asking them to do this. to pray 00:04:42.829 --> 00:04:47.550 for this particularly. Because like Him, they're 00:04:47.550 --> 00:04:52.149 about to be tested. Can they follow Him to suffering, 00:04:52.730 --> 00:04:55.889 torture, humiliation and even death? Or will 00:04:55.889 --> 00:04:59.529 they fail at the last turn? Jesus wants them 00:04:59.529 --> 00:05:03.970 to pray for resolve. And He's actually praying 00:05:03.970 --> 00:05:07.540 for this too. He leaves them and he goes only 00:05:07.540 --> 00:05:10.759 a little way and he prays this stunningly beautiful 00:05:10.759 --> 00:05:15.540 vulnerable human prayer Father if you're willing, 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:19.639 please please take this cup of suffering away 00:05:19.639 --> 00:05:23.740 from me You don't want your will to be done not 00:05:23.740 --> 00:05:27.959 mine He's praying because he doesn't want to 00:05:27.959 --> 00:05:30.160 face the testing the suffering that he knows 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:35.259 is coming You know Jesus is God incarnate Which 00:05:35.259 --> 00:05:39.319 means that Jesus is God stepping into the creation 00:05:39.319 --> 00:05:42.480 he created as flesh and blood. God is with us. 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:46.019 God has become one of us. Which means Jesus is 00:05:46.019 --> 00:05:49.240 fully human and fully God. And yet here we see 00:05:49.240 --> 00:05:53.680 starkly the humanness of Jesus. Jesus wasn't 00:05:53.680 --> 00:05:56.399 some kind of stoic. He doesn't do the job without 00:05:56.399 --> 00:05:59.800 emotional attachment. Jesus feels everything. 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:05.660 And here his spirit is in agony. about what he's 00:06:05.660 --> 00:06:08.959 going to go through. And there God strengthens 00:06:08.959 --> 00:06:13.939 him. There he settles in his heart that there 00:06:13.939 --> 00:06:17.639 is no other way. There he settles that the Father 00:06:17.639 --> 00:06:20.560 has not granted his request to take this cup 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:23.720 of suffering away from him. And so there his 00:06:23.720 --> 00:06:28.100 attention turns to his disciples who have really 00:06:28.100 --> 00:06:30.120 disgraced themselves a little bit. They've let 00:06:30.120 --> 00:06:32.779 themselves down. They have not been contending. 00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:35.339 in prayer for strength and resolve. They've been 00:06:35.339 --> 00:06:41.379 asleep. Shocking stuff. And as he's saying this, 00:06:41.939 --> 00:06:44.019 one of his best friends, one of his 12 Judas 00:06:44.019 --> 00:06:49.399 leads a mob to Jesus and to add insult to injury, 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:54.199 betrays him with a kiss. In Jesus' culture, you 00:06:54.199 --> 00:06:57.579 greeted your family, you greeted your best friends 00:06:57.579 --> 00:07:00.540 with a kiss. If you were a disciple, you showed 00:07:00.540 --> 00:07:05.930 your honor. and affection for your teacher by 00:07:05.930 --> 00:07:09.089 greeting them with a kiss. And it's with this 00:07:09.089 --> 00:07:12.689 act of intimacy, this act of honor and affection 00:07:12.689 --> 00:07:17.050 that Judas hands Jesus over to be arrested, to 00:07:17.050 --> 00:07:22.129 tortured and to die. This is a stunningly devastating 00:07:22.129 --> 00:07:25.529 betrayal. You know, if this was just like a work 00:07:25.529 --> 00:07:27.449 of fiction, there would be, this would be the 00:07:27.449 --> 00:07:30.240 climactic point. where the main character is 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:33.420 just devastatingly stabbed in the back by the 00:07:33.420 --> 00:07:37.420 one he thought loyal and loving and trustworthy. 00:07:39.980 --> 00:07:42.379 Both Jesus and the disciples here are facing 00:07:42.379 --> 00:07:48.040 a testing. Jesus faces the grief of a devastating 00:07:48.040 --> 00:07:50.500 betrayal by one of his best friends, the fear 00:07:50.500 --> 00:07:53.420 and humiliation of his impending torture and 00:07:53.420 --> 00:07:56.879 the suffering of his impending death. And the 00:07:56.879 --> 00:08:01.170 disciples. the disciples face the crisis of their 00:08:01.170 --> 00:08:04.910 master and teachers' arrests, torture and death, 00:08:05.110 --> 00:08:08.629 and how they will respond to being known as the 00:08:08.629 --> 00:08:11.089 disciples of a convicted enemy of the state. 00:08:12.589 --> 00:08:15.389 And in responding to the testing that is to come, 00:08:15.490 --> 00:08:17.910 Jesus calls them to contend in prayer, which 00:08:17.910 --> 00:08:20.910 is, you can now get that on your water bottle. 00:08:21.089 --> 00:08:23.269 Thanks, Charlie. Look at that, contending in 00:08:23.269 --> 00:08:26.839 prayer. Beautiful. Wow. I don't know why I said 00:08:26.839 --> 00:08:33.940 that, sorry. But Jesus calls his disciples to 00:08:33.940 --> 00:08:37.919 contend in prayer. But Jesus himself gives us 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:43.720 a master class in contending in prayer. The disciples, 00:08:44.059 --> 00:08:46.759 again and again, they fail to imitate their teacher. 00:08:48.899 --> 00:08:53.320 But as we see both requests for the cup of suffering 00:08:53.320 --> 00:08:56.320 to be taken away for, that there'd be another 00:08:56.320 --> 00:08:58.820 way and that the disciples would not give into 00:08:58.820 --> 00:09:02.399 temptation are left unanswered by God and possibly 00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:05.960 even unasked by his disciples. God does not deliver 00:09:05.960 --> 00:09:08.179 Jesus or the disciples from their suffering. 00:09:10.220 --> 00:09:13.259 And my friends, it's highly probable that he 00:09:13.259 --> 00:09:17.700 will not deliver you either. We are all tested 00:09:17.700 --> 00:09:21.879 in this life. We all suffer in one way or another. 00:09:22.409 --> 00:09:25.929 We all have a cup of suffering to bear. We all 00:09:25.929 --> 00:09:28.769 have a cross to bear. Maybe you already know 00:09:28.769 --> 00:09:32.750 the taste. Or maybe you've been spared up until 00:09:32.750 --> 00:09:36.809 now, as I once had. But I think we all have a 00:09:36.809 --> 00:09:41.789 cup of suffering. Pain and sickness, mental illness, 00:09:42.730 --> 00:09:48.610 shame, humiliation, betrayal, rejection, abandonment, 00:09:48.950 --> 00:09:54.429 regret, estrangement. Poverty, unemployment, 00:09:55.009 --> 00:09:59.129 homelessness, oppression, injustice, loneliness, 00:09:59.509 --> 00:10:03.350 helplessness, powerlessness, grief and death. 00:10:04.269 --> 00:10:08.490 We cannot escape the cup of suffering. All of 00:10:08.490 --> 00:10:11.730 us will taste it eventually. But here's what 00:10:11.730 --> 00:10:15.330 really matters. How will you respond to it when 00:10:15.330 --> 00:10:19.289 it comes? Do you run from the suffering? Do you 00:10:19.289 --> 00:10:22.460 run to new places or new people? Do you stuff 00:10:22.460 --> 00:10:24.639 it all inside and pretend the cup of suffering 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:27.039 is not there before you that its taste is not 00:10:27.039 --> 00:10:30.580 already in your mouth? Do you resist suffering 00:10:30.580 --> 00:10:34.679 on principle? Rejecting the very premise of it 00:10:34.679 --> 00:10:39.220 or do you follow the example of Jesus and Imitate 00:10:39.220 --> 00:10:41.460 him as his disciples failed to do on the night. 00:10:41.500 --> 00:10:44.340 He was betrayed This is what Jesus does is he's 00:10:44.340 --> 00:10:47.779 staring down his own cup of suffering He prays 00:10:47.779 --> 00:10:50.929 the cup of suffering away He contends for it 00:10:50.929 --> 00:10:52.409 in prayer. He says, Father, if you're willing, 00:10:53.049 --> 00:10:56.230 please take this cup of suffering away from me. 00:10:56.870 --> 00:11:00.210 But he chooses, get this, he chooses then in 00:11:00.210 --> 00:11:05.769 faith to drink it anyway. Yet I want your will 00:11:05.769 --> 00:11:10.389 to be done, God, not mine. You know, I've had 00:11:10.389 --> 00:11:14.620 personally a very hard four years. My own cup 00:11:14.620 --> 00:11:17.279 of suffering has never been so real or apparent 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:19.419 to me. It's almost like the 20 years of not having 00:11:19.419 --> 00:11:23.240 it is catching up. And all this time I realise 00:11:23.240 --> 00:11:24.940 that I've been praying two -thirds of Jesus' 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:27.980 prayer. Lord, if you're willing, please take 00:11:27.980 --> 00:11:31.600 this cup of suffering away from me. Yeah, I want 00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:35.120 your will to be done, except for here, here and 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:39.179 also there. In those places, I would like my 00:11:39.179 --> 00:11:43.769 will to be done, please. And this year I realised 00:11:43.769 --> 00:11:45.629 that I was missing one third of that prayer because 00:11:45.629 --> 00:11:49.909 I did not trust God's will for my life. And that 00:11:49.909 --> 00:11:52.909 it could actually be better than my own will 00:11:52.909 --> 00:11:56.870 for my life. I could release most things, but 00:11:56.870 --> 00:11:58.710 I discovered there were still things I found 00:11:58.710 --> 00:12:02.210 difficult to release to God's will. Things that 00:12:02.210 --> 00:12:06.850 I personally could not abide. And I discovered 00:12:06.850 --> 00:12:09.460 in that... potential lack of trust in the depths 00:12:09.460 --> 00:12:13.179 of my heart, because it's easy to say, hey, I'm 00:12:13.179 --> 00:12:16.919 a pastor, I trust God with everything, but it's 00:12:16.919 --> 00:12:19.779 easy to say, hey, not your will, but mine be 00:12:19.779 --> 00:12:22.940 done, but yours be done. But it's way harder 00:12:22.940 --> 00:12:26.379 to actually watch your will for your life, die 00:12:26.379 --> 00:12:30.799 a painful death, and to trust. It's harder to 00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:34.220 actually accept the suffering. It's harder to 00:12:34.220 --> 00:12:38.470 actually drink the cup. It's easy to say and 00:12:38.470 --> 00:12:41.710 it's hard to do. And it forced me to answer this 00:12:41.710 --> 00:12:47.049 question. Did I trust? Did I really, really trust 00:12:47.049 --> 00:12:51.029 God? Did I trust Him that like Jesus my cup of 00:12:51.029 --> 00:12:53.669 suffering could actually bring glory to God? 00:12:54.509 --> 00:12:57.070 Did I trust Him that like Jesus my cup of suffering 00:12:57.070 --> 00:12:59.190 could actually bring life and light to those 00:12:59.190 --> 00:13:01.509 who are in the darkness? Did I trust Him that 00:13:01.509 --> 00:13:03.429 like Jesus my cup of suffering could actually 00:13:03.429 --> 00:13:07.320 be for ultimate good, even if it was not comfortable 00:13:07.320 --> 00:13:14.059 for me. Almost, mostly, but not completely. You 00:13:14.059 --> 00:13:16.179 see, moments like this, that happens a lot in 00:13:16.179 --> 00:13:18.840 our life where we're challenged in our faith, 00:13:19.299 --> 00:13:21.519 when we realize yet another way in which we have 00:13:21.519 --> 00:13:23.759 fallen short of the glory of God. There lies 00:13:23.759 --> 00:13:28.360 within it, these moments, an invitation. If you've 00:13:28.360 --> 00:13:29.580 been around here a while, you've probably heard 00:13:29.580 --> 00:13:32.080 me say that to you. There's an invitation within 00:13:32.080 --> 00:13:37.019 it. Just take another step into deeper relationship 00:13:37.019 --> 00:13:40.500 with Jesus into deeper trust into deeper love 00:13:40.500 --> 00:13:45.159 of God And so in total honesty while I was on 00:13:45.159 --> 00:13:47.200 holidays in between all of the many books that 00:13:47.200 --> 00:13:52.019 I read so good I wrestled this down with God 00:13:52.019 --> 00:13:55.879 I Took to him my dreams my fears my grievances 00:13:55.879 --> 00:13:58.840 and my hopes and I laid them before him and I 00:13:58.840 --> 00:14:02.279 hashed it out with him Until I could say the 00:14:02.279 --> 00:14:04.679 whole prayer of Jesus and actually mean it. Father, 00:14:04.799 --> 00:14:07.799 if you're willing, please take this cup of suffering 00:14:07.799 --> 00:14:11.039 away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, 00:14:11.399 --> 00:14:14.779 not mine. Whatever that means, whatever that 00:14:14.779 --> 00:14:21.860 takes, God, I trust you. I wonder today, do you 00:14:21.860 --> 00:14:25.450 trust God? Maybe you're new to church or new 00:14:25.450 --> 00:14:27.490 to faith and the idea of getting out of the driver's 00:14:27.490 --> 00:14:29.110 seat of your life and handing it over to God 00:14:29.110 --> 00:14:32.850 is really, really scary. Or maybe church is old 00:14:32.850 --> 00:14:36.149 hat for you. And like me, you're happy for God's 00:14:36.149 --> 00:14:41.730 will when it's beneficial, comfortable, convenient, 00:14:42.470 --> 00:14:45.669 when it makes you feel good about yourself. But 00:14:45.669 --> 00:14:47.389 you have some complaints where God's will for 00:14:47.389 --> 00:14:50.950 your life pushes you, stretches you, challenges 00:14:50.950 --> 00:14:55.879 you, wounds you. forces you to change, forces 00:14:55.879 --> 00:14:59.580 you to hand over your will for your life, forces 00:14:59.580 --> 00:15:03.759 you to let some of your dreams go. If you're 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:07.799 new or old to this, I'm convinced of this. The 00:15:07.799 --> 00:15:10.259 essential ingredient to navigating the cup of 00:15:10.259 --> 00:15:15.039 suffering in your life is trust. It's trust, 00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:18.240 trust in prayer. Trust that God is actually good. 00:15:18.940 --> 00:15:21.259 Trust that God actually wants your best, your 00:15:21.259 --> 00:15:24.600 ultimate best. not your comfort, and trust that 00:15:24.600 --> 00:15:27.399 it's actually safe to put your life and future 00:15:27.399 --> 00:15:30.080 in God's hands. Do you actually believe that? 00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:35.399 No one enjoys suffering. No one wants to suffer. 00:15:35.720 --> 00:15:37.899 Not even Jesus wanted to drink the cup that was 00:15:37.899 --> 00:15:41.820 before him. But sometimes God's ultimate will 00:15:41.820 --> 00:15:45.259 to redeem and restore a cosmos infected by sin 00:15:45.259 --> 00:15:49.179 cannot avoid your discomfort, cannot avoid your 00:15:49.179 --> 00:15:51.480 suffering, cannot avoid your own personal cost. 00:15:52.329 --> 00:15:55.090 Sometimes in order to reconcile a fractured and 00:15:55.090 --> 00:15:57.529 diseased world back to himself, God has to prioritize 00:15:57.529 --> 00:16:01.590 other things than our comfort. And friends, God 00:16:01.590 --> 00:16:05.169 treated his son no differently. If God had given 00:16:05.169 --> 00:16:07.330 Jesus an out because he was uncomfortable on 00:16:07.330 --> 00:16:08.830 the night that he was betrayed, then we would 00:16:08.830 --> 00:16:11.090 be stark enslaved to sin and death with no hope. 00:16:12.289 --> 00:16:15.470 But there was no other way. Do you trust God 00:16:15.470 --> 00:16:17.610 that he has your ultimate good as well as the 00:16:17.610 --> 00:16:20.309 ultimate good of humanity and all creation in 00:16:20.309 --> 00:16:22.809 his hands? The God is actually a good steward 00:16:22.809 --> 00:16:25.269 of your life, even if you don't know the why 00:16:25.269 --> 00:16:29.029 or the how or the what I've been really blessed 00:16:29.029 --> 00:16:32.330 by this this little tidbit from an 18th century 00:16:32.330 --> 00:16:36.850 Jesuit. I'm gonna butcher his name Jean -Pierre 00:16:36.850 --> 00:16:42.629 de Cossard Wow He said this It's true that a 00:16:42.629 --> 00:16:45.769 canvas simply and blindly offered to the brush 00:16:45.769 --> 00:16:48.610 feels at every each moment only the stroke of 00:16:48.610 --> 00:16:51.480 the brush It's the same with a lump of stone. 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:54.360 Each blow from the hammering of a sculptor's 00:16:54.360 --> 00:16:56.399 chisel makes it feel as if it were being destroyed. 00:16:57.019 --> 00:16:59.179 As blow after blow descends, the stone knows 00:16:59.179 --> 00:17:02.320 nothing of how the sculpture is shaping it. All 00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:04.960 it feels is a chisel chopping away at it, cutting 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:07.420 it and mutilating it. For example, if we took 00:17:07.420 --> 00:17:09.680 a piece of stone destined to be carved into a 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:11.680 crucifix, we might ask it, what do you think 00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:14.400 is happening to you? And it might answer, don't 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:17.819 ask me. All I know is that I must stay immovable 00:17:17.819 --> 00:17:20.650 in the hands of the sculpture. I must love him 00:17:20.650 --> 00:17:22.630 and endure all he inflicts on me to produce the 00:17:22.630 --> 00:17:25.789 figure that he has in mind. He knows how to do 00:17:25.789 --> 00:17:28.269 it. As for me, I have no idea what he's doing, 00:17:28.630 --> 00:17:30.250 nor do I know what he'll make of me, but what 00:17:30.250 --> 00:17:33.289 I do know is that his work is the best possible. 00:17:34.029 --> 00:17:37.430 It's perfect. I welcome each blow of the chisel 00:17:37.430 --> 00:17:39.410 as the best thing that could happen to me, although 00:17:39.410 --> 00:17:41.710 if I'm truthful, I feel that every one of these 00:17:41.710 --> 00:17:44.829 blows is ruining me, destroying me and disfiguring 00:17:44.829 --> 00:17:48.809 me. But I remain unconcerned. I concentrate on 00:17:48.809 --> 00:17:50.990 the present moment, think only of my duty and 00:17:50.990 --> 00:17:53.329 suffer all this master sculpture inflicts on 00:17:53.329 --> 00:17:56.690 me without knowing his purpose or fretting about 00:17:56.690 --> 00:18:00.269 it. The essential ingredient in navigating your 00:18:00.269 --> 00:18:03.250 cup of suffering is trust. It's the essential 00:18:03.250 --> 00:18:10.130 ingredient. Friends, this is the God that you 00:18:10.130 --> 00:18:12.869 are trusting. You see, Jesus didn't just have 00:18:12.869 --> 00:18:15.410 a run -of -the -mill cup of suffering. The cup 00:18:15.410 --> 00:18:18.619 is a loaded biblical word. It's a metaphor for 00:18:18.619 --> 00:18:22.839 the righteous wrath of God against sin. God's 00:18:22.839 --> 00:18:24.980 anger that His children use and abuse each other, 00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:28.140 that this world is distorted and diseased by 00:18:28.140 --> 00:18:30.940 sin, that humanity is enslaved to sin and death, 00:18:30.980 --> 00:18:34.160 that the enemy oppresses humanity. God is mad 00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:37.519 that His children suffer. And in the Old Testament, 00:18:37.640 --> 00:18:39.900 the cup of God's wrath at sin and injustice is 00:18:39.900 --> 00:18:42.799 poured out on the wicked, those that perpetrate 00:18:42.799 --> 00:18:46.200 evil. Psalm 75, 8 says this, for the Lord holds 00:18:46.200 --> 00:18:48.890 a cup in His hand. and it's filled with foaming 00:18:48.890 --> 00:18:51.730 wine mixed with spices, and he pours out the 00:18:51.730 --> 00:18:54.490 wine in judgment, and all the wicked must drink 00:18:54.490 --> 00:18:59.230 it, draining it to the dregs. But on the cross, 00:19:00.309 --> 00:19:06.029 the cup, God's righteous wrath against sin, was 00:19:06.029 --> 00:19:09.930 poured out not on the wicked, not on the abusers, 00:19:09.990 --> 00:19:12.910 the betrayers, not on the greedy and the injust, 00:19:13.049 --> 00:19:16.250 not on the proud and the liars, not on the selfish. 00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:20.099 and the murderers not on the basically good people 00:19:20.099 --> 00:19:23.859 not unto you or to me but God poured his wrath 00:19:23.859 --> 00:19:28.740 at sin upon Jesus upon his own beloved son the 00:19:28.740 --> 00:19:32.039 world had filled up a cup with suffering and 00:19:32.039 --> 00:19:35.759 so the Godhead the Trinity three in one drained 00:19:35.759 --> 00:19:40.380 his own wrath to the dregs this is the God that 00:19:40.380 --> 00:19:42.119 you can trust with your life and your future 00:19:42.819 --> 00:19:45.700 One who has gone to this length for you, to save 00:19:45.700 --> 00:19:49.200 you, to rescue you. This is the grace of God 00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:51.420 for you. We call it the gospel because it's good 00:19:51.420 --> 00:19:53.759 news. That's what it means, good news. We call 00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:56.380 that for a reason. This is the best news. God 00:19:56.380 --> 00:19:58.539 has made a way where there was no way. He has 00:19:58.539 --> 00:20:00.980 rescued you from slavery to sin and death at 00:20:00.980 --> 00:20:05.819 his own ultimate personal cost. And this is the 00:20:05.819 --> 00:20:09.920 best news. Because one day Revelation 21 says, 00:20:10.319 --> 00:20:12.720 That because of the finished work of Jesus on 00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:15.559 the cross, because Jesus was willing to drink 00:20:15.559 --> 00:20:20.059 the cup, God Himself will wipe every tear from 00:20:20.059 --> 00:20:23.680 our eyes. That there will be no more death or 00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:27.579 sorrow or crying or pain. All these things will 00:20:27.579 --> 00:20:32.380 be gone forever. This is the promise of God to 00:20:32.380 --> 00:20:35.220 us. This is our inheritance in Christ Jesus. 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:38.160 That the cup of suffering is only temporary. 00:20:38.990 --> 00:20:41.890 that your cup of suffering is only temporary. 00:20:43.309 --> 00:20:45.750 And a world without suffering or death is coming 00:20:45.750 --> 00:20:51.150 for us. Eternal joy awaits us. I wonder, do you 00:20:51.150 --> 00:20:54.910 actually believe this? Do you actually trust 00:20:54.910 --> 00:20:59.029 God with your life and with your future? When 00:20:59.029 --> 00:21:03.470 you are tested, when you are faced with your 00:21:03.470 --> 00:21:10.900 own cup of suffering, what will you do? Friends, 00:21:11.059 --> 00:21:16.319 take the lead of Jesus. Pray it away. But in 00:21:16.319 --> 00:21:19.839 trust, drink the cup anyway. Let's pray together. 00:21:24.059 --> 00:21:26.700 God, we thank you that you give us a hope and 00:21:26.700 --> 00:21:30.140 a future. You give us a hope, you give us a living 00:21:30.140 --> 00:21:34.359 hope in you that one day you will put everything 00:21:34.359 --> 00:21:39.150 right. With suffering, There will be no more 00:21:39.150 --> 00:21:43.829 suffering. I just pray that you would come. Come 00:21:43.829 --> 00:21:47.609 Holy Spirit. Help us to know the God that we 00:21:47.609 --> 00:21:50.309 are trusting with our lives. Help us to know 00:21:50.309 --> 00:21:52.869 the Spirit that walks with us who is named our 00:21:52.869 --> 00:21:59.369 Comforter. Help us Lord Jesus to actually believe 00:21:59.369 --> 00:22:04.750 this and live this. What else are we to do God 00:22:04.750 --> 00:22:07.410 when we are faced with the suffering in our lives? 00:22:08.690 --> 00:22:14.670 but to trust, to trust and to pray. And God, 00:22:14.690 --> 00:22:16.910 I thank you that in that, even in that, even 00:22:16.910 --> 00:22:19.289 in the hard things, even in the valley, you are 00:22:19.289 --> 00:22:24.170 with us. You are able and you are faithful. I 00:22:24.170 --> 00:22:28.809 pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks so much 00:22:28.809 --> 00:22:31.589 for tuning into this week's message. If you felt 00:22:31.589 --> 00:22:34.390 challenged or need prayer, we'd love to hear 00:22:34.390 --> 00:22:37.390 from you on Instagram, at encounterhenley. or 00:22:37.390 --> 00:22:39.710 if you're interested in how you can support this 00:22:39.710 --> 00:22:43.410 ministry, please go to our website encounteradelaide 00:22:43.410 --> 00:22:47.569 .com .au Thanks again for listening. God bless 00:22:47.569 --> 00:22:47.930 you.