April 20th, 2025

Joy in the Cup 

Key Verse: “For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross…” (Hebrews 12:2)
 

Key Point: Jesus drank the cup of wrath so we could drink the cup of joy. He endured the agony of separation so we could live forever in union with the Father. 

I. The Author of Life in the Garden

Text: Luke 22:39–40 

• Jesus, the Creator, steps into the very world He spoke into existence. 

• He enters  Gethsemane, not to escape the pain, but to embrace His purpose. 

• The Author of Life  walks into the garden—just like Eden—but this time to reclaim what was lost. 

• He calls the disciples to pray: because what’s coming next is not just suffering… it’s cosmic surgery. 

TRUTH: The story of redemption is being rewritten—from the first garden of rebellion to this garden of redemption. 

II. The Agony of Separation

Text: Luke 22:41–44 

“And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly; and His sweat became like great drops of blood…” 

• The Greek word agonia (ἀγωνία) implies not just physical strain, but a soul in violent conflict. 

• Why the agony? Not because of nails, or shame, or suffering alone…
  But because the Son was about to be separated from the Father. 

• He who had only ever known perfect communion was about to taste the horror of divine distance. 

• This is the true weight of sin: separation from the Source of Life. 

TRUTH: Separation from the Father broke the Son before the cross ever did. That’s what hell really is. 

III. The Anger in the Cup, the Abundant Joy Overflows 

Texts: Luke 22:42; Hebrews 12:2 

“Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me…”
“For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross…” 

• This is the cup of divine wrath—God’s justice against sin, gathered drop by drop across history. 

• It was full of fury, but Jesus drank it down—every last drop. 

• And what fueled Him? Joy. 

• Not comfort. 

• Not acclaim. 

• But the joy of reconciliation. 

• The joy of you with the Father. 

• The joy of forgiveness. 

• The joy of resurrection. 

Take and Drink.
His cup: judgment.
Your cup: joy. 

IV. The Atonement Satisfied: Never Separated Again

Texts: Romans 8:38–39; Colossians 3:3 

“Your life is hidden with Christ in God.” 

• The wrath is spent. The debt is paid. The veil is torn. 

• Now, nothing can separate us from the love of God—because Jesus was separated once and for all. 

• This is atonement—at-one-ment. Forever restored. Forever found. 

• Our lives are now hidden in Christ, and our identity no longer hangs on our failures, but on His finished work. 

TRUTH: The separation He endured secures our eternal nearness. That’s the joy that cannot be shaken. 

Take and Drink.
Not from wrath—but from wonder.
Not from guilt—but from grace.
Not from separation—but from salvation. 

This is the joy that was set before Him—
and it’s the joy now set before you.