Keith Battle - The Cup

I want to use the subject this weekend, «The Cup», the cup. In this rich, insightful, beautiful passage of Scripture at its pivot is a cup; the epicenter of our focus in this text is on a prayer that Jesus is praying to the Father, and it is an intense prayer. In Matthew’s Gospel, in chapter 26, and in Mark’s Gospel, chapter 14, he prayed over and over again for three hours about what he called a «cup.» What is so interesting about it is we all have a cup; we all have something that we want God to remove. «I can’t, I can’t fix it, Lord. Move it! I didn’t ask for that.» Even if you asked for it, when you prayed for it, it felt like a blessing, but now it’s become a cup. I feel like I’m talking to somebody already. Let me walk through this passage before I get too much into that cup.

To start with, this passage begins with Jesus leaving the upper room. They have just had a dinner together called the Passover supper, and it is the last time Jesus will eat with them because that is why it is called the Last Supper; by this time tomorrow, Jesus will be dead. As they walked in verse 39 down from the upper room, they went to a place called the Mount of Olives. The Bible says they went to this place, and it’s interesting that it says, «as usual.» As usual, this was their routine; this was a place they went to all the time. In fact, in Luke chapter 21, verse 37, it states that Jesus’s schedule was to get up, go to the temple, teach during the day, and then at night, he would go to the Mount of Olives and spend the night there. This was his routine; this was his place; this was his spot.

The Bible says in the New Living Translation that when they got there, he said something to them. Now, this is one place where I tend to disagree with the New Living Translation because I prefer the translation to say, «when he got to the place.» Yes, most translations say «when they got to the place.» It was a special location, a place Jesus frequented often. It was what Dr. Hiawatha B. Fountain called his «prayer ground.» It was his place. Let me ask you a question: do you have a place where you meet with God, where you pray, where you open up His Word, and He talks to you? Do you have a place? I’m not talking about a church where you go and there are others present; even during a pandemic, I’m talking about a place where you go to be with God all by yourself.

As the hymn writer says, «I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses; and the voice I hear falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses.» And you know what? He walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me I’m his own. And the joy we share in that place as we tarry there, none other has ever known. Do you have a place? When they got to that place, he said nine words that I could end the sermon on. He said, «Pray that you do not enter into temptation.» Pray that you do not give in to temptation. Oh, I’m going to say it again: pray! Let me read it so I don’t miss anything— «pray that you will not give in to temptation.» Let me say it again for the people in the back: pray that you will not give in to temptation. I don’t think you heard me—prayer is good right here: pray that you will not give in to temptation. Okay, that’s helping somebody already.

Let me ask you a question: do you ever get tempted? Have you ever dealt with temptation? Of course, you do. We all get tempted, and Jesus says here’s a temptation strategy: pray. So, watch this—not that you won’t ever face temptation because you will, but pray you don’t yield, pray you don’t fall, pray you don’t give in. I’m already helping somebody: pray that you don’t give in to temptation. Whoo, that’s so good right there! That’s so good! I want to go somewhere real quick. I want to call this little place we curated «Temptation Station.» That’s where I want to go, and I want to talk to you about temptation for a few moments because we all face temptation, and we all need temptation strategies. Yeah, that’s what we need!

The reason why this is so important is that Jesus says twice in this text to them: once before they went to sleep, «Pray that you don’t enter temptation, ” and then when he found them sleeping, he said it again: „Pray that you don’t enter into temptation.“ Then he modeled it for them; he prayed because he was being tempted himself. Even though he was Jesus, Hebrews 4:15 says he was tempted at all points just like we are, yet he was without sin because he used the strategy: he prayed that he wouldn’t give in. Now, did he not get tempted? Some of us are praying the wrong thing; he said, „Lord, don’t let me get tempted.“ That ain’t it.