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[silence] This is Glendale Presbyterian Church People Moving Power. This tape includes the reading of Scripture and a message by Dr. Bruce W. Thielman titled "Find Faith Enough to Face the Facts."

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This is the second in his Lenten series on the Kindnesses of Calvary. As soon as the voice stops on this side of the tape, be sure to turn immediately to side number two for the remainder of the message. This tape is copyrighted and all rights are reserved.

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Any public or commercial use, in full or in part, requires the advanced written permission of Dr. Thielman. The private use of this material for the spiritual gain of yourself or others is heartily encouraged. If you would like a catalog listing additional tapes available, write to People Moving Power at the address on this cassette.

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The Scripture reading of the morning is taken from the Gospel according to Matthew, the 27th chapter, and the Gospel according to John, the 19th chapter. Reading first from Matthew 27, the 33rd and 34th verses. "And when they came to a place called Golgotha," which means the place of a skull,

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"they offered him wine to drink, mingled with gall; but when he tasted it, he would not drink it." And then reading from the Gospel according to John, the 19th chapter, beginning at the 28th verse. "After this Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said," to fulfill the Scripture, "I thirst." "A bowl full of vinegar stood there; so they put a sponge full of the vinegar on Hyssop and held it to his mouth."

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"When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, 'It is finished,' and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit." And may God bless to us and to our understanding these readings from his holy word. Let us pray. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

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I ask you this morning to come with me again to Calvary and to notice another kindness there. And this kindness concerns those two moments on that mountain called the Place of the Skull, in which Jesus was offered something to drink. The first of these offers he rejected, the second he accepted.

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And in the difference between this refusal and this reception, there is a spiritual lesson for us to learn. The first event occurred almost immediately after they had arrived at Calvary. It was the custom in that day to give to all of those who were to be crucified, wine which had been heavily drugged with myrrh.

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The intention was to so deaden the senses of the person being crucified that their suffering might be eased. When this cup was offered to Jesus, he refused it. The second offer of a cup came later in the Calvary experience. The battle had largely been won by Jesus, and in the very last minutes of his life,

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there was offered to him Posca, which was the very cheap wine commonly drunk by Roman soldiers, described in the passage as vinegar, but not being vinegar as we understand vinegar to be. And when this drink was offered to Jesus, he accepted it. Indeed, he invited it.

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Now why this interesting difference, the refusal of the first cup and the reception of the second? Well, I submit to you that Jesus refused the first cup because he had faith enough to face the fact of the world's need and the part that his death was going to play in meeting it.

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Jesus did not hesitate to accept things from people. He accepted the cup of cold water from the woman at the well there in Samaria without hesitation. I'm sure he accepted many cups from the hands of Mary and Martha and Lazarus in their home in Bethany. I'm confident, and you are confident, I am sure that he accepted the cup from the disciples

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just this night before his crucifixion there in the upper room at the time of the Last Supper. Jesus did not hesitate to accept things from people, to accept cups from people, but this cup he refused to accept. Because he was determined that in his dying he would be always and without exception

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the complete master of himself. He would not permit himself to be drugged. He would not permit his senses to be numbed. He would not permit his mind to be confused.

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He wanted to be, in every moment of his dying, sensitive to everything that was going on about him and within him. As he sought to lay down his life for a whole world's gone wrongness, he was determined that there would be no slip-ups or mistakes because of some artificial anesthesia afforded him.

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He would face the hell of it head-on, and he would do it without benefit of that kind of assistance. No one of us is ever able to explain completely the mystery of what Jesus Christ accomplished for us in his dying on the cross. There are a multitude of theories about it. No one of these theories individually encompasses it all.

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And all of these theories taken together cannot begin to plumb the depths of that splendid mystery of how the death of the only begotten Son of God could atone for a whole world's sin. But of at least this we can be absolutely sure. Jesus considered his dying to be the most important thing in his living.

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It was that event in the future of which he spoke most frequently throughout his life. It was that coming event which he spent most time explaining to his disciples. It was that event toward which he set his face like a flint, steadfastly, not being deviated at any moment either to the right or to the left.

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Jesus understood the significance of his death as being the culminating purpose of his entire life. And he would not take any drugged drink, any anesthesia, anything that would cloud his thinking, numb his senses, any vinegar and myrrh which would in any way lessen his capacities to fulfill that purpose to the uttermost. He would walk down into the valley of the shadow of eternal death for a whole world's sake,

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and he would do it with every bit of strength and power which were his. He had faith enough to face the fact of a world's need and the fact of the place his death would play in relieving that need. So he spurned the cup and climbed the cross. He stopped to think what we would have missed had Jesus not done that, had he taken that stupefying drink.

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Those who nailed him there gathered about the foot of the cross would never have heard him say, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." And we would never have heard it either. The thief who died at his right hand would never have heard the promise of paradise,

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and we would not have heard it either. Father and John would have gone away from that place that day without hearing any word from Jesus, and we would not have heard it either. Every one of those seven magnificent promises from the cross would have gone unspoken.

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And all those who across the centuries have died in the name of Jesus would not have had his example of dying before them, would not have known how to cast their eyes toward heaven, and would not have agreed to prayer and have the words of Scripture on their lips and on their hearts.

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Indeed, if Jesus had taken some anesthesia to make it easier here, then it could no longer have been said of him, "He was tempted in all points like as we are, for there are many who have died for his sake without the benefit of that kind of assistance."

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So he turned aside from that, and with the ringing faith which was his, he went right into the teeth of it. I say a ringing faith because faith comes through every utterance on the cross. "Father, forgive them."

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He boldly calls upon his Father in the midst of that kind of a situation and makes requests. "This day thou shalt be with me in paradise." There's no doubt there. He was sure of where he would be and that he had the power to take those whom he wished with him.

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Even the cry of dereliction, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" The accent in that sentence is on the word "my," "my God." He never doubted that he belonged to God and God belonged to him. "My God."

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No lack of faith there. "It is finished." That was the cry of victory. And then that last prayer, as common to a Jewish boy as the prayer to our children today,

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"Now I lay me down to sleep." Jesus breathed it like a little child ready to go home to his Father. "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit." No absence of faith there.

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And Jesus could face the fact of the world's need and face all the hideous facts of his own dying because he had that kind of faith. And as I ponder it, I feel very, very small. For you see, I know the world's need too.

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I'm not blind to the suffering in the world any more than you are. I'm not deaf to all the world's sobbing any more than you are. I understand that the world is dying just as you understand that the world is dying. And what is more, I know that my life has a purpose toward alleviating that dying.

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I understand that I have a mission, that God has given to me talents and gifts which are to be utilized in relieving the suffering of the world spiritually and physically. And you have gifts and you have talents for exactly that same purpose.

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And we know this of ourselves just as Jesus knew it of himself. Why then do we so readily reach out and take that cup which will numb our sensitivities, which will enable us to excuse ourselves as we drift off into some cloudy world of compromise and lack of commitment? Why are we so ready to quaff that which makes it easier for us

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instead of facing the fact of the world's need and our part, our cross, in meeting it? Why do we do that? I cannot speak for you but for myself. Now that's another story.

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There was a time, I think, when I searched this out in myself. I decided first of all that the reason I so often took the cup which would somehow numb me from my duty was because I was afraid to run great risks for Christ lest I fail. I thought that was it. I was afraid of failing.

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But you know there are a lot of things in life worse than failing. Brain cancer, for example. Wouldn't you rather fail than have brain cancer? Lots of things worse than failing. No matter how many times you can fail, you can begin again.

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If you fail too many times in one place, you can always go someplace else and start all over again. So I decided to myself it wasn't my failure that made me reach for that drug drink. I searched deeper and thought, well, maybe it was because I was afraid of what my friends might think. That's it.

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I didn't want my friends to think me any kind of a fanatic. I didn't want my friends to understand me as one who didn't have a well-balanced sense of priority. And then I realized that so I lose friends. You can always make new friends if there's any grace in you whatever.

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And not only that, as I pondered it more deeply, I realized that most of my friends were not the kind of people who would turn and run away from me anyway. They'd stand by and it was unrealistic of me and indeed unfair of me to think they'd do otherwise. But it wasn't the reason.

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And it was one night, a dark night of the soul, in which I came face to face with what I believe is the reason why I so readily clouded what I knew to be my duty in order to avoid the pain of it. I became convinced and remain convinced still that I was unwilling to run great risks in the fulfillment of my purpose for the love of God and the love of the world because I was afraid of being ashamed.

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I was afraid that in my failure I would look bad. It was my pride that was standing there saying, "Don't do it, lest your image be defiled." It was my pride. I sat some time ago with a committee which has great purpose.

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And in the fulfillment of that purpose can bless thousands. And I listened to them as this purpose of theirs was laid out before them. And I heard them equivocate. I heard them whittle and cut and chop.

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I saw them pare it down to size, making it easier and easier, slurping that cup, taking away anything in it that would give pain or danger or risk or adventure. They chopped it away until there was no room for God. Everything was bought and paid for. The money was available.

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Everything was on hand. No risk here. No place for God because we can do it all. There it was, you see, anesthetized, asleep, so much less than it was intended to be. As I looked at them, I loved them, every one of them,

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because I knew exactly where they were. They weren't afraid of failing. All of them are successes in other walks of life. They have no need of this success, no fear of this failure.

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And it wasn't because they thought they'd lose their friends. Their friends would stand by them, just as they would stand by their friends in similar circumstance. But they were afraid that if they ventured too much and failed, they'd be ashamed. They'd end up with egg on their faces, and that was a thought too heavy to be born.

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And as I left that place, I thought within myself, "If I would to God they had been with me that night, that dark night of my soul, when for the first time the words of Paul in the second chapter of Philippians came home to my heart, 'Have this mind among yourselves, which you have in Christ Jesus,

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who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in that human form, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, and then this, he became obedient unto death, even the shameful death of a cross.

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There was no greater shame than to be crucified." And for the love of Bruce, Jesus, the Son of God, took upon himself in the fulfillment of his purpose, without the benefit of any comforting anesthesia, all that shame.

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And ever since I saw that for what it was, I have been unable to commit myself to petty things in discipleship, to easy goals. And you may call me fool, if you will,

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but it's a fool for Christ's sake. And how much this fellowship of believers could accomplish in his name, if we were ever to see honestly, without the benefit of all the cloudy confusions, all the outward assistances, all the budgets and backup programs,

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all of the things with which we surround ourselves to make our discipleship easier, if we for once would see the world the way it is and face the fact of it, and then our God-given purpose in meeting it and transforming it, what the Holy Spirit could do through us.

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But too often behind our backs, you see, we clutch that cup, and we hold up our hands and say, "Oh God, it is too much for me to take without the cup." And God, looking at our outstretched hand, says, "How can it be too much for you? I see no nail print there."

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Now with regard to the second cup, Jesus, after having gone through all the deepest agony of the cross, looking down on those beneath him, said, "I thirst." I think that's one of the most amazing utterances that Jesus ever made.

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[Pause] You see, it does not take much strength to grant a favor, but it takes tremendous courage to ask for one. And here was Jesus asking a favor of his enemies.

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We don't even like to ask favors of our friends, but he did not hesitate to ask a favor of his enemies. He had faith enough, you see, to face the fact now of his own need and the role that others could play in meeting him.

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There was a man back in the congregation which I served in the East who was known as a zealous servant of Christ and who was willing to do anything for anybody. Really, people used to say, "Isn't he a strong Christian?

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He'll do anything you ask him to in Jesus' name." And you know he wasn't strong at all. He was, in fact, one of the weakest men I have ever known. He was unable to master his own pride.

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He could never bring himself to the place that he would ask a favor of the clergy or a favor of his friends, let alone a favor of his enemies. He could not stand the possibility of putting himself in any kind of debt to anyone. And that, you see, is nothing but pride again.

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But Jesus said to his enemies, "I am so thirsty." To his enemies, mind you. Now, our philosophy when we're confronting enemies is this. Never let them know how bad you're hurting.

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Keep a stiff upper lip. Put on a good show. You know, make a joke out of it. Or perhaps counterattack.

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But never, never admit your need. And Jesus said, "I am so thirsty." Let me share something with you which I learned from the writings of Carl Gustav Jung, the Viennese psychiatrist and psychologist.

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In talking about the difficulty which we have as human beings in revealing our needs to other people, he makes the point that great numbers of us are willing, at least to some degree, to clothe the naked or feed the hungry or visit the sick or minister to the sinner.

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We remember Jesus' words, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me." And so many of us are willing to go out in ministry to them and thus to Jesus. But when we discover that the least of the brethren is within,

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when we discover that the one who is most naked in things spiritual is ourselves, when we learn that we are the ones who are filled with sin, that we are the ones who are sick with either disease of mind or body or soul, when we discover that we are the least of the brethren,

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then do we go to that least of the brethren with the same love which Jesus commanded us to have? Do we remember his word, "To love thy neighbor as thou dost love thyself"? Oh, no. We say to this least of the brethren inside ourselves, "Shh, keep quiet. Do not speak." We repress. We push down. We deny.

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We take revenge against ourselves lest anyone know that we are the one who needs the help. And even if God himself comes by and asks the state of our souls, we deny that there is difficulty, and we deny and we deny and we deny a thousand times before the cock has crowed even once.

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So anxious, you see, to drink that cup that denies, that denies our hurt. We will not say, "I am thirsty," but we'll sip the drug instead. Jesus denied the drug, but said in the moment of his deepest need, "I am thirsty." He knew, you see, that weakness wins. It doesn't put off. It wins.

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I learned of a doctor who was an eminent Christian, and who was asked on one occasion if he told other doctors about the prayer groups that he had supporting him in his medical work. And he said, "Oh, no, I never talk about those."

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And the person who questioned him said, "Well, then, do you not speak of your faith to your colleagues? Are you not seeking to win them for Christ?" "Oh, yes," he said, "but I don't talk about my prayer groups. I talk about how Jesus is bringing my wife and I close together.

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Or I talk about how my daughter and I are very much alienated because of the generation gap, but how slowly but surely Jesus is transforming us both." That doctor, you see, had learned that the way to reach another person is not through theological arguments, not through disputations,

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not through Christian apologetics, no matter how sophisticated they might be, but through the sharing of vulnerabilities. On one occasion, that doctor was in the hospital when a friend of his, who was a cardiac patient in a cardiac care unit, suddenly had cardiac arrest.

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The doctor rushed to the bedside of his friend. He got there after the emergency team had already been there, and as soon as he walked into the room, he looked up and saw the monitor there, which showed that the man's heart had stopped. He was dead.

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This man had been a good friend, and he was filled with a deep sadness because of this, and he turned and started to walk away, but then, for the first time in his life, he felt called to turn around and go back to that bed, and he did. And with no one noticing, he reached down and put his hand on the foot of that friend,

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that dead friend, and he prayed, "Oh, Jesus, bless my friend John." And he looked up, and the heart was beating again, and the man went on to make a full recovery. And this doctor says, "You know, I've never told any other doctor that that happened.

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I didn't tell any of the nurses or attendants in that room or anyone in that hospital since. That's the kind of thing that you can only share with Christians. Only Christians would understand that. I do not speak to them out of those moments of strength.

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I speak to them out of my moments of hurt, and that's where they hear me." And he's won many people to Jesus. Well, that's what Jesus did. There was no one beneath that cross to minister to him at that moment.

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John and Mary and the women had already gone. The moment after Jesus said that John was to be to Mary as a son, John took Mary to his own home. If you read the Gospel according to John, you will see that John has no other words of Jesus from the cross

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following that word addressed to him and to Mary until the very end of the cross experience, this moment when Jesus says, "I thirst." He took Mary home and then he returned again. But he was not here at this precise time, and thus he did not hear Jesus say, "I thirst."

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There was no one there but the enemies of Jesus, and it was to them that the Lord said, "I'm thirsty." And a Roman soldier, whom I'm sure never heard Jesus' words about "Whosoever giveth a cup of cold water to the thirsty in my name," a Roman soldier got up and took some wine and gave it to him.

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And Jesus accepted it. And as I think about that soldier, I'm reminded of another soldier. Do you know who Joyce Kilmer was? If you don't recognize his name, maybe you'll recognize these words.

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"I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree." That poem was written by Joyce Kilmer. He was a young American poet. He was born in 1886 in New Jersey, and he died in 1918.

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He was killed in action in the First World War at 32 years of age. I'm not thinking of his poem "Trees" today, but I'm thinking of the poem which was found upon his body there on the battlefield. It was a poem in which he had likened his sufferings

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and what he understood to be a righteous cause with the sufferings of Jesus. This is what he wrote. "My shoulders ache beneath my pack. Lie easier, cross, upon Christ's back.

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My march with feet that burn and smart tread holy feet upon my heart. Men shout at me who may not speak. They scourge thy back and smote thy cheek. I may not lift a hand to clear my eyes of salty drops that tear.

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Then shall my fickle soul forget thy agony and bloody sweat. My rifle hand is stiff and numb. From thy pierced palms red rivers run." And then this prayer,

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"Lord, thou didst suffer more for me than all the hosts of land and sea. So let me render back again this millionth of thy gifts. Amen." I don't know if the soldier who handed him the wine felt that way or not,

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but I do know this. Of all the people who stood beneath the cross that day, if I had to choose the one I'd like to be, I'd rather be that soldier who handed him that wine.

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For you see, I love him very much. I love this Jesus who had faith enough to face the fact of a world's need and faith enough to face the purpose of his dying in meeting it, so turned away from any clouded compromise.

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I love this Jesus who had faith enough to face the fact of his own need and could say to a Roman soldier boy, to his enemy, "I am so thirsty." So before God and you as witnesses,

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I pledge to that degree of which I am capable. I shall not waste my purpose in drugged and little things, but shall seek as much as in me lies to risk great things for him. And I shall not deny the least of the brethren, even when I am that one,

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but will say to whomever I have to say it, "I am thirsty. Help me." Jesus, you've taught us how to serve, and Jesus, you've taught us how to suffer.

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Give us faith enough to face the facts, faith enough so that all men may come face to face with the fact of me living in me. And I pray it in your own name, amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]