The Cup That Jesus Drank

Jesus wouldn't face that for one second. But we are so used to our fellowship with the Father being broken by different sins, wrong attitudes towards people, bitterness, unforgiveness, and we call ourselves Christians, that when I say fellowship with the Father is a great thing, it doesn't mean much to us. We're so backslidden, the best of us.

If you want to be like Jesus, value fellowship with the Father more than anything else on earth. Say, Lord, I never want to lose it. I don't care if I lose money, I don't care if I lose anything, I don't care if I lose my health.

I don't want to lose fellowship with you. That's how Jesus was. So as he came to Gethsemane, he dreaded that, came close to that point where he knew now in a few hours my fellowship with the Father will be broken.

All the physical death, nothing, let them put a thousand nails into me, I'll accept it. But this fellowship with the Father that I've had from all eternity, Father, you mean I'm going to lose that for three hours? I know it'll come back, but I don't want to lose it for even three hours. I don't want to lose it for one second.

And I thought of an imaginary conversation between the Father and Jesus as he was there for, he was struggling for at least an hour and he went back and prayed again another hour perhaps. I don't know how many hours he struggled with this. And I can imagine this imaginary conversation that went on between him and the Father and the Father says, you know, you don't have to go to the cross.

You don't have to die. You've never sinned. You've been faithful to me 33 and a half years.

You don't have to break fellowship. You don't have to drink that cup of the fellowship being broken. You can come straight up to heaven from Gethsemane.

But Zach will go to hell. And Jesus said, oh, okay, Father, I'll drink the cup so that Zach doesn't go to hell. You know, when I understood that, it really made me weep.

I said, Lord, I see your love for me. Let there never come a time in my life when I'll take that lightly. Can I ever sing that Jesus died for me and it becomes something I'm familiar with? Never Lord, never.

It says in heaven, they sing a new song. It's always fresh. The lamb was slain.

How is it fresh? Because they can never lose the wonder that Jesus died for me. I never want to lose the wonder of that. I've known it for 51, 52 years.

I said, Lord, I don't care if I lose everything else, but never let me lose the wonder of the fact that the Son of God loved me and gave himself for me. It was to save me from an eternal hell.