The Cup of Suffering and the Way of the Cross — E.A. Johnston

I'll never forget listening to Leonard Ravenhill tell of a lady who lived near his church in England when he was a young pastor. He said as he walked to his church he had to pass by a poor woman's house who never came to his church, but who would watch him walk by it every day.

One day she invited him in for a cup of tea. Leonard Ravenhill said as he entered the home it not only looked like a pigsty, but it smelled like one as well. There were boxes of junk and trash stacked almost to the ceiling, and everywhere you walked you had to maneuver your way around the trash piles.

She invited him into her kitchen and told him to sit at the table by the sink. He said the sink was full of dirty dishes that had not been washed in some time, and there was even some green mold on the stack of the top dish.

She reached into the sink and pulled out a dirty cup, and then grabbed a teapot off the stove that had cold tea in it. He said then she poured that black tar substance into that dirty cup and handed it to him, and she looked at him to see what he was going to do.

Ravenhill said she knew I was the pastor of the church, and she knew I had invited her to church in the past, and she never came, but now she had invited me into her kitchen to drink this cup of black goo to see my reaction, if I would drink it or not.

Christ Drinks the Cup of Sin and Suffering

And Leonard Ravenhill made the following comment. He said, and as I stared into that filthy cup full of that cold black tar, which was supposed to be tea, my mind raced back centuries ago to another man who was handed a cup, and as he peered into that filthy cup, which was full of my dirty, rotten sins and the sins of the world, he had a drink from it as well.

He drank the dregs of the sins of the world that were in that black cup of suffering, which Jesus willingly drank for me. And as I think of that story that Ravenhill told, I can't help but think of the passage in scripture, in Mark's gospel, in chapter 14, where Jesus is in the garden of Gethsemane, and he's in anguish over the cup which he has been handed to drink.

The text says of him that he began to be sore amazed and to be very heavy. It speaks of something terrible in that hour of darkness, almost too unbearable to face. Jesus knew the full weight of the sins he would soon have to bear on the cross.

He who was holy and innocent soon had to be made a curse for us, as the curse of the law was soon to be transferred unto him. That cup was heavy, that cup of suffering was sorrowful, that cup of suffering of agony was bitter.

Jesus even says to his men, my soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death. Tear ye here and watch. And he went forward a little and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.

And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee. Take away this cup from me, nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt. Listen, friends, the resignation of Jesus in Gethsemane is a sight to behold.

The cup of suffering he had to drink was a cup that startled the angels in heaven and shook the very gates of hell. It was a cup handed to him by the Father, and he willingly drank it. In the Gospel of John, in chapter 18, and verse 11, it states,.

Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath, the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? Jesus took that bitter cup in submission to his Father's will, and even though it was a bitter cup, he was willing to drink of it.

He drank of that cup for me. He drank of that filthy cup for you. What I wish to share with you this evening, friends, comes from a recent time where I have been shut up with God in my very own personal Gethsemane.

And today's message flows out from this recent experience. And I want to ask each of us today, have you been there? Have you been there? Have you ever faced a cup of suffering? That was too much for you to drink?

A cup so terrible that you asked God to remove it from you? A cup that you eventually had to drink from? I say this very solemnly, friends, for many of us are sold a gospel and a Christianity that bears little resemblance to my Bible.

The Diluted Gospel and the Call to Discipleship

Many have bought into the prosperity gospel. Many have been deceived by the modern gospel of your day and mine, which is a diluted gospel that speaks only of God's love. It shies away from sin. It shies away from repentance.

It speaks little about taking up one's cross in a life of discipleship and following Jesus. It omits the suffering that often accompanies a Christian along the narrow way. We preachers often present a Christianity that seldom resembles the one found in my Bible.

We must preach the cross as well as the crown. In the book of Acts, where it relates the conversion of Paul, the Lord comes to Ananias in a dream and commands him to go seek out one called Saul of Tarsus.

And in chapter 9, in verses 15 through 16, it declares, But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel.

For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. Did you hear that, friends? Great things he must suffer for my name's sake. If you ever want to read about those great things that Paul suffered for his testimony in Christ, go and read 2 Corinthians chapter 11 for the Apostle Paul's laundry list of sufferings.

But we paint Christianity in a different light than what our Bibles declare it is. We make it sound like being a Christian is all honey and blossoms, and we fail to mention the thorns, or the cup, or the cross.

I've had to drink from my own personal cup of suffering as I have learned to follow my master along the way of the cross. And as for telling my message this evening, friends, the cup of suffering and the way of the cross, or if you like an abbreviated title, the cup and the cross, that is my subject at this hour.

Knowing Christ Through the Fellowship of His Sufferings

My text is found in Paul's letter to the Philippians in chapter 3. You may turn in your Bibles there now. We will be in chapter 3 and verse 10. This was Sidlo Baxter's favorite Bible verse. In fact, I have several books of his where he signed his name, and beneath his name he placed this Bible verse there, Philippians 3 .10.

Let me read it to us now, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. This verse of scripture is layered with many levels of powerful truth, friends.

My central theme from it will be the fellowship of his sufferings. That's what we will look at this evening. For all the rest of the verse centers around that tremendous statement, they each link together in a powerful way.

I recall a story I heard about Helen Rosevere, the famous missionary to Africa. She was a member of Graham Scroggie's church when she was saved in her late teens and later felt called to be a missionary.

Relating about this time, she said, as she went forward and approached Graham Scroggie, he took her Bible and signed his name and put it in Philippians 3 .10, and he told her the following, he softly said, that I may know him.

This you have hopefully arrived at, and you now know him as your savior. May there come a day when you are privileged enough to also know the fellowship of his sufferings. Years later, when she was a missionary in the Congo, and it was 1966, a rebellion arose where Christians were being attacked and butchered.

Helen Rosevere was attacked by a vicious mob who cruelly kicked her. They beat her with rubber hoses. Eventually, she was raped by one of her attackers, and as she was being beaten, the pain was almost too much to bear, and her mind raced back years ago to that chapel and Graham Scroggie and his words to her.

May there come a day when you are privileged enough to also know the fellowship of his sufferings. She said as she thought upon his words in Philippians 3 .10, it was the only thing that got her through that terrible cup of suffering.

The Cost of Following the Crucified Savior

I'm going to make a statement, friends, and it is a statement that goes against the popular version of our comparable Christianity here in the West, and my statement is this. Any true follower of Christ, who is born of the Spirit of God, must walk in the path which the Master tried.

Now what do I mean by such a statement as that? I mean this. If you desire to be Christ-like, if you desire to be used of God in your generation to further the gospel of the Son of God, then you too must drink of the cup of suffering as you walk along the way of the cross.

Now some of you won't like that statement. Some of you call me too severe that my Christianity is not your Christianity. Listen to me, dear friend. Of which I speak, I know. Of which I speak, it is truth whether you like it or not.

The casual brand of Christianity which has been sold in America is not the Christianity of my Bible. It doesn't resemble it in the least. Chinese Christians know of which I speak. Chinese believers count the cost and know that suffering is part and parcel of being a follower of a crucified Savior.

But all I can say to you, dear friend, is perhaps you will be privileged to one day know the fellowship of His sufferings. It will be a cup. You will not want to drink. You will shy away from it. You will even shrink from it.

But those who submit to the will of the Father and drink of that cup of suffering will know of which I speak. There are four aspects I'd like to draw forth from my theme this evening, the cup of suffering.

The first is this. Number one, the dregs of that cup in fellowship of abandonment. Number two, the dregs of that cup in fellowship of sorrow and grief. Number three, the dregs of that cup in fellowship of the cross.

In the life of the believer. And number four, the dregs of that cup in fellowship of the turned face of the Father. I wish to look at these individually and apply them to the whole context of Philippians 3 .10.

Listen to me, dear friend. Hear me loud and clear. One must drink from the cup of suffering to journey with Him the way of the cross. Now, that is a statement you can either reject or accept, but it's a valid statement.

Nonetheless, I will repeat it. One must drink from the cup of suffering to journey with Him the way of the cross. Now, let me draw out several aspects from scripture this evening. I wish to say that if you desire to have the power of His resurrection in your life and ministry, then you must share in the fellowship of His sufferings.

You must know the cross and the life of the believer being made conformable unto His death. Each of these aspects are all intertwined in the life of the child of God by the Spirit of God. Let's now look at these one by one.

You may wish to take notes in the margin of your Bible. 1. The Dregs of that Cup in Fellowship of Abandonment. Jesus knew full well the pain of desertion by friends and family. Scripture tells us they all fled.

Abandonment and the Fellowship of Christ’s Sufferings

He was abandoned by His disciples, those closest to Him. I believe men in ministry can experience this more frequently than others. I look at the life of Jonathan Edwards, and I see how he was thrown out of his church in Northampton, turned out by those closest to him, those who were his close friends and saints of revival blessings.

He was cast out into the world with a large family, with no livelihood nor a place to live until he moved to Stockbridge to work with the Indians there. Jonathan Edwards knew the fellowship of his sufferings in drinking the dregs of that cup of abandonment.

My mind right now goes to two pastor friends of mine, of whom both in the last few months have been kicked out of their church by wicked deacons. Both of these men are without pulpits at this present time, and their anguish is real in the cup of abandonment.

If you are a pastor who has experienced this, you know of which I speak. In my own personal life, I've had to drink the dregs of that cup in fellowship of abandonment. I know the bitter dregs of that cup, where I have been in a place of desertion by all close to me.

So Paul makes mention of this fellowship of his sufferings. Notice the word sufferings is plural. Let's look at this second aspect, friends. Number two, the dregs of that cup in fellowship of sorrow and grief.

Sorrow, Grief, and the Presence of Jesus

This is a cup hard to swallow, indeed, and one quite out of our hands. The death of a loved one is staggering. The overwhelming sense of grief is almost too much to bear. Jesus wept over his friend Lazarus.

He felt the empathy of grief in his own heart. He bemoaned the entire city of Jerusalem and wept over its come destruction. Jesus was called a man of sorrows, and he was acquainted with grief. I've had to drink of this cup in the fellowship of sorrow and grief.

The death of my wife was sudden and unexpected. The loss has almost been too much to bear at times. It's only by his grace I've been held up even to address you here this evening. The holidays are dreadful times, the empty chair, the black void.

Those who have lost loved ones know of which I speak. It is only his presence that supports one through a difficult time in life, and no one understands what you're going through unless they pass that way themselves.

The Cross, Surrender, and Resurrection Power

Number three, the dregs in the fellowship of the cross and the life of a believer. It has been said, no cross, no crown. You would be hard-pressed, friend, to walk into a church in this country and hear a sermon on the subject of the cross and the life of a believer.

Why, it's an unheard subject today. All people want to hear today are feel-good messages and an encouraging word from their pastor. So pastors give their people what they want instead of what they need.

But if you truly want to follow Christ, friend, then you must tread the way of the cross. You must come to the place in your existence where you willingly surrender to that cruel cross, where you give up your rights and submit to all the claims that Christ has on you.

For you are not your own, you were bought with a price. He must be a complete master. You must come to a place and drink that cup and climb up on that cross and yield all your rights, crucify all your desires, all your hopes, all your freedoms, to live your life in the way that best pleases you.

For a person who is crucified has no rights and they cannot make any demands. They are utterly helpless. They are utterly at the end of all their human resources. The way of the cross is there to face every one of us if we are willing to face the severity of it, the solemnity of it, the power that lay hidden in it.

For it is here that one experiences the other aspect of our verse, the power of his resurrection. For without the cross and death of Christ, there would not have been the resurrection. Listen to me, brother pastor.

Listen to me, fellow evangelist. Listen to me, dear missionary friend. If you want power from on high to be upon your ministry, then the only path is the one in which the master tried and the one in which he paid for us to follow, and that is the way of the cross.

Crucified Christ must have crucified followers. The underground church in China knows this power of his resurrection. They experience that power in prayer. They experience that power in their preaching.

That's why the church in China is exploding into a force to be reckoned with. I repeat, if you want this power, this anointing from on high, then you must be willing to drink the dregs of the cross in your own life and nail every hope, nail every pleasure, nail every purpose, nail every single aspect of your life and will to that cross.

For my Bible declares, it's not by power nor by might, but by my spirit sayeth the Lord of hosts, every great revival was birthed from this process of a crucified life, a hidden life of prayer, an empowered life of preaching, God's resurrection power through men, which raises the dead and brings them to life.

Salvation is the experience of this power. It takes dead men and brings them to life. If you desire transforming ministry, friend, then submit all your rights to that cross. Surrender every one of every one of them to the will of the father and drink the dregs of the cross in the life of a believer where every aspect of your life is nailed up there where you're not in control any longer.

But someone who is far more capable, far more able, far more powerful is in control. And the people will say, this is the Lord's doing. And lastly, number four, the dregs of that cup and fellowship of the turned face of the father.

The Turned Face of the Father at Calvary

When Jesus was on the cross with the weight of our sins upon him, and the nails piercing his hands and his feet, the combination of the physical pain and the spiritual pain was more than any of us could ever hope to bear.

Only the Christ, the lamb of God, could endure such immense suffering. But the aspect of the cross, which I feel was the hardest to bear for Christ Jesus, was the moment that the father turned away from him because a holy God could not look upon sin.

Jesus cried out in anguish a soul. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? That, friends, was the most terrible aspect of Calvary that angels and men ever beheld. The turned face of the father away from his beloved son.

David experienced this awful cup when he cried out in distress a soul. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring? Have you ever been there, friend, where the heavens seem as brass and God's ear is deaf when the winds of adversity blow into our lives and our faith is put to the test and we pray and seek God at these times and it seems like he's a million miles away where you feel like Joseph in prison and there's never going to be a way out for it seems as if God has forgotten you.

It's a real feeling. It's a real experience. But listen to me, dear friend. God has not forsaken you. His divine delays are painful, trying, and hard to fathom. But they have a divine purpose in them for our good.

The turned face of the father is only momentarily. It does not last. We see in the book of Isaiah a demonstration of God's withdrawn presence for a time alongside his declaration of his love for Israel.

God’s Mercies After a Season of Abandonment

Look at Isaiah 54, beginning in verse 7. For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee.

Sayeth the Lord thy Redeemer. There is hope in that first friend. There is food for the hungry. There is rest for the weary. There's an old hymn which I love which states, Though troubles upset us and trials beset us, God is still on the throne and God will take care of his own.

God is still on the throne, friend. And if Jesus is still on the mountainside in a delay, watching you toil in a boiling sea, he will eventually come to your rescue because God is a God who delivers his people.

Everywhere I look in my Bible, I see that my God is not a bankrupt God who has no power. Rather, he is a God of Moses and the Red Sea. He is the God of Abraham and Isaac. He is a God who raised the dead, made the blind to see and the deaf to hear, the lame to walk and leap.

He sets the captives free. He is still that kind of God, my friend. My God is a living God who rules from the heavenly throne and the earth is his footstool. Even the hearts of kings are in his hands.

He is an almighty sovereign whose hand is not too short to save. He is a mighty deliverer. Let me reread our verse of Philippians 3 .10 to us right now. That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death.

Resurrection Power Through the Way of the Cross

That verse not only comprises divine truth, it comprises a cup and a cross to every believer who follows Christ along the narrow way, the way where he tread. For one must drink from the cup of suffering to journey with him the way of the cross.

There is power there. There is power there. There is wonder-working power there which flows from that cross. It is resurrection power, like our text declares, the power of his resurrection. It's available to those individuals who drink from the cup of the fellowship of his sufferings and who are willing to be made conformable unto his death, which was on a bloody cross.

Listen, dear friend. In the Christian life, one must drink of the cup of suffering as you walk along the way of the cross, the cup and the cross. Let us pray.