If you turn back with me in your
Bibles to John Chapter 18 and I'd encourage you to to go to
the other Gospel accounts in your reading as we enter this
remarkable time in all of human history. The reason this universe
exists, the reason we're here today, is because of the events
of this particular night and the next day. And I often think
in looking at these questions and answering them from the Scriptures
how blessed we were to have the truth of what happened in the
garden and on the cross revealed to us, and how God caused this
one issue, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ, to be absolutely fundamental in all
of our thinking in the early days of our church. And I'll
come back and talk about that a little bit more. But one of
the things about the truth, and the truth will set you free,
and to know the truth is to know God who is the truth. The truth
necessarily declares that everything which is in opposition to it
as false. dishonouring to the character
of God and harmful to the souls of men. It must necessarily be
so. Satan is a master liar. He's the father of lies. And
if he can lie to men and women about what happened at the cross,
if he can lie to men and women about the character of God, he
has achieved his victory. I just want us to look at this
cup and I do want to answer these questions. He says to Peter,
Put up thy sword into thy sheath. The cup which my father hath
given thee shall I not drink it? Turn back in your Bibles
to Matthew 26 just quickly and we'll look and see what the Lord's thoughts were and his prayer
to his father as this cup was given him. Matthew 26 verse 36, Then cometh
Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith
unto his disciples, Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. And
he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, that's James
and John, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then he saith
unto them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death. Tarry
ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little further,
and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, If it be
possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, we know it's
not possible. Nevertheless, not as I will,
but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto the disciples
and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What could
you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that ye enter
not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak. And he went away again the second
time and prayed, saying, Listen to these words, O my father,
if this cup may not pass away, The pass away means to perish
in the scriptures, to cease to exist. Pass away from me, except
I drink it, thy will be done. In John chapter 18 verse 11, he
speaks of the cup which my father hath given me. Shall I not drink
it? Here he is in Gethsemane. Gethsemane
means the olive press. And he led his disciples, he
went forth, all his own he brought to this place. He came on this
significant night. Let's not forget this is the
night of the Passover. where God destroyed that superpower
and brought death to every home in Egypt. What an extraordinary
morning that must have been as the Israelites walked out of
there, knowing that the reason they walked out of there without
a death in their family was that a substitute lamb had died in
the place of their firstborn son. Animals died. in their thousands and people
died, even Pharaoh's son. So this is the Passover night.
This is what they are celebrating in Jerusalem. This is what the
high priests and others are all preparing for in the midst of
the Passover. There they are with the Lamb
of God who takes away the sin of the world and they are planning
to have Him destroyed. He came to express to this particular
place to express solemn agonies. He prayed sacred words. He shed sacred blood from his
broken heart, and it stained all his raiment. So we have those
six questions, and the first of them is, why did the Father
give this cup to the Lord Jesus Christ at this time? You remember his prayer in John
17 as he begins this walk to the cross of Calvary. He says,
Father, glorify thy name. Glorify thy name. He said in John chapter 18, he's
lost none of those that the Father gave him, that the scripture
might be fulfilled, that the same might be fulfilled. He came
to fulfill the word of God. God must, and the transaction
in the garden is a transaction between God the Father and God
the Son. The transaction on the cross
is a transaction between God the Father and God the Son. And I don't want to discount
the activities of the Holy Spirit in all of that. He wrote it and
the Lord Jesus Christ was full of the Holy Spirit. But the point
simply is that God must satisfy God in all of His attributes
before He can do anything for you. He must satisfy His attributes
before He can forgive and save sinners. He must fulfil all that
He has promised. There was a covenant made before
the foundation of the world, a covenant in which God the Father
gave some people into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ who
according to Revelation 13.8 was the Lamb having been slain
from the foundation of the world. These historic events are lived
out in real time history But all of them were pictured in
the Old Testament and throughout the Old Testament. This covenant
is the covenant of grace, the covenant in the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the covenant between God and God, and in that
covenant is where all of salvation is. The Covenant is a person. Let's not forget the Gospel is
a person. We are declaring the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ as He declares Himself to be, as His Father
declares Himself to be, as the Holy Spirit declares Him to be
all through the scriptures, and particularly as we see Him in
the garden and we see Him in Pilate's court and particularly
of course as we see Him on the cross. The Covenant is a person. I'll just read two verses that
confirm that. In Isaiah 42, he says, He says, I the Lord have called
thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep
thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of
the Gentiles. Verse 7, to open blind eyes,
to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and all then that
sit in darkness out of the prison house. I am the Lord, that is
my name. My glory will I not give unto
another, neither my praise to graven images. The covenant is
a person. The covenant is a person. And
for all who are in the covenant, we love the fact that we are
in him, one with him, in union with him is what he's praying
in John chapter 17. In Isaiah 49, the Lord says,
Thus saith the Lord in the acceptable time, Isaiah 49.8, I have heard
thee, in the day of salvation I have helped thee, I will preserve
thee and give thee for a covenant of the people to establish the
earth, to cause, to inherit, Desolate heritages. And listen
to what he goes on to say, that thou mayest say to the prisoners,
go forth to them that are in darkness, show yourselves, they
shall feed in the way, their pastures shall be in high places. It speaks of freedom, doesn't
it? It speaks of gospel liberty. That's why when the Lord Jesus
Christ finishes his prayer, he says, O righteous Father, John
17 verse 25, O righteous Father, the world has not known thee,
but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent
me, and I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare
it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them
an eye in them. That's how he finished his prayer
before he started shedding his blood. What's he in the business
of doing? is declaring the name of God
in the salvation of his people. And that's what God says, isn't
it? In Romans 3, verse 325, God set forth, the Lord Jesus Christ
was set forth by God to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God. This is about God declaring
who God is, that we might know Him, that we might trust Him
to declare, I say at this time, His righteousness, that He might
be just and the justifier of him which believeth. in Jesus. This Passover night, if you remember
in Exodus, wasn't it? What they had to do, they had
to take that lamb, and they had to take it into their family,
that it became one with their family. And on that Passover
night, they were to slay that lamb, and they were to burn it
in the fire, and they were to take the blood, and they were
to take a branch of hyssop, and they were to put the blood on
the doorpost and a little on the outside of the house. And
then inside that house, they roasted that lamb. And they ate
it. And what did God say? What was
God looking for? What is God still looking for? He changes not. And he says in
Exodus 12, 13, I just love it. And the blood shall be to you
a token upon the houses where you are, and when I see the blood,
I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you
to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. What's God looking
for? He's looking for the blood of
his son. And where he sees the blood of his son, he passes over
the people. That's what they were celebrating. And when this hour had come,
the great cry of the Lord Jesus is, Father, glorify your name.
This is about the glory of your name. He prays as our high priest. And he begins, Father glorify
your son that thy son may glorify you. Having completed the work
of salvation, his prayer is that he would be glorified and God
would be glorified in all of the salvation. What is established
about the character of God in God giving this cup and receiving
this cup? Holy, holy, holy. My God, my
God, he cries out on the cross in Psalm 22. My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me from the words of my roaring? And he gives the answer, doesn't
he? But thou art holy. This is a declaration of the
holiness of God. It was a holy God and a righteous
God and a just God that mixed the cup that the Father gave
into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why He's a just God and
a Saviour, just as mixed this cup and just as filled this cup.
And a sovereign went forth. He went forth to them. He was
in charge of everything all through these events. They bound him
only because he allowed them to bind him. He gave himself. He gave his back. He gave his
face through his beard to be plucked out. He gave his back
to the smiters. He gave himself. He was A willing,
willing substitute and a willing, willing sacrifice. Here we see
the love of God. Here we see the grace of God. Here we see the truth of God. Here we see the God who we must
deal with. He's the only God. He's the faithful
God. He's faithful to his father unto
death. He's faithful to his covenant
promises and he's faithful to his bride. What's in the cup? What was in
the cup? The cup was given, as we read
in Matthew and in the other accounts, it's always a cup that the father
gave him and a cup that is in his hands and a cup that he must
drink. I want us to before we look at the contents
of the cup, because the cup contains the sin. God collected all of
the sins of all of the children of God, all of those that the
Lord Jesus Christ prayed for in his prayer in John chapter
17. God, in his omniscient and omnipotent glory, filled that
cup with all of the sins of all of God's people. And that cup
is the cup of wrath and it's the cup of trembling, it's the
cup of the fury of God, it's the cup of the indignation of
God. Sin was in the cup and the wrath of God, the holy wrath
of God upon sin was in that cup. I'm hoping, praying that as we
go from here today we'll think a lot about a cup. And maybe
when we have time to think about cups in the future, when we're
having a cup of coffee or a cup of water or whatever, we'll actually
be led to think about this cup. One thing that I want us to establish
really importantly and clearly at the beginning is that the
cup was given to the Lord Jesus Christ And it proves that he
never, ever sinned. Not only did the Lord Jesus Christ
not ever sin, but he could never sin. I can hold a cup in my hand
full of the most deadly poison in all the world, and it not affect me one little
tiny bit. God the Father could mix a cup, as it were, and give
that cup into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ without it
actually touching him. We're talking about things that
are way, way, way beyond our tiny brains to try and figure
out, but all we can do, the only light that we have on this is
the light of what the scriptures say about it. The cup being given
to Christ proves that he never was a sinner himself, nor could
he ever sin, but the sins of God elects were made his as he
was given and he willingly received and drank them into himself on
the cross of Calvary. That's why the holy wrath of
God fell upon him on the cross of Calvary. God the Father could
fill this cup and not be defiled by its contents. God the Father
is holy, God the Father is righteous, and God the Father is the only
true God. And they're the names that God
the Son gives his Father. God must be righteous and therefore
all sin must be punished fully. and completely, or he denies
his very nature. What was in the cup? He who is
holy, undefiled, and separate sinners looked into that cup. What did he see? What did the
Lord Jesus Christ see when he looked into that cup? What he saw horrified him. Even though he knew about this
from the foundation of the world, what he saw horrified him. In Mark chapter 14, Jesus said
to them, you shall all be offended because of me this night. You'll
all be scandalized because of what's happening to me this night.
For it is written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep shall
be scattered. To smite is to visit with evils,
to afflict and to kill. In Mark 14.33, he takes Peter with
him, James and John, and began to be sore amazed and to be very
heavy. He had horror of mind as he looked
into this cup. He said, my soul is exceedingly
sorrowful unto death. Tarry here and watch. God Almighty
in human flesh fell on the ground and prayed if it were possible
this hour might pass from him. Psalm 18.5 says, The sorrows
of hell compassed me about, they surrounded me. The snares of
death went before me. He says in John 12, 27, when
this is all about to happen, he says, now my soul is troubled. That's the Latin word for hell. And what shall I say? Father,
save me from this hour, but for this cause came I unto this hour. As Luke 22, 44 says, being in
agony, and that means convulsion as in death throes, he prayed
more earnestly, and his sweat were as it were great drops of
blood falling to the ground. He says in Psalm 22, I'm poured
out like water, all my bones are out of joint, my heart is
like wax, it's melted in the midst of my bowels. Psalm 40
verse 12 says, for innumerable evils have compassed me about,
they've surrounded me. Mine iniquities, is what he says,
mine iniquities. When he drank that cup, those
iniquities became one with him. have taken hold upon me, so I
am not able to look up. They are more than the hairs
of mine head, therefore my heart faileth me. May God cause us to see something
of the sinfulness of sin. Cause us to see something of
the blackness of the brook Kidron. which marked and carried, as
it were, all of the transgressions and sins of the people of God. God forsaking God. God raising the sword of his
justice against his son. Who can understand that? We can
bow, we can be thankful, We can, if the Lord allows, cause us
to be horrified by the sinfulness of sin. This is where we see
what sin is. This is where we see what God
must do when he finds sin on someone. The Lord Jesus Christ
suffered hell in his infinite deity, That's why Zechariah says, Awake,
O sword, against my shepherd. Against the man that is my fellow,
saith the Lord of hosts. Smite the shepherd, and the sheep
shall be scattered. That's what he knew, that's what
he was declaring, wasn't he, in Mark's Gospel. And I will
turn my hand upon the little one. I'll turn my hand of grace
upon the little one, because all their sins have been gone. Eternal life is getting better. to the Tree
of Life, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the Tree of Life. Eternal
life is to know God. And it's more than just knowing
about Him, it's knowing Him in such a way that you're in a loving
relationship with Him. There was a way which was guarded
to the Tree of Life when man was kicked out of the garden.
God put outside that garden two cherubims with these flaming
saws, saying that there is no way back into the Tree of Life.
until those swords are satisfied, God plunged that sword into the
very heart of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. The way of access is now opened
to all for whom he died. The veil in the temple was torn
open from top to bottom, So he had this cup, he took it from
his father and he took it willingly, and it had to be taken. He must
alone drink this cup. And then he says, it can pass
from me. If I drink this cup, if I drink
the sins and all of the wrath of God upon all of the sins that
are in this cup, and it'll be taken away, it'll perish, those
sins will be gone forever. The wrath of God is satisfied,
the justice of God is satisfied, and He says to all of those things,
you can have me, but you let these people go, you let them
go their way. Our Saviour is God. The Lord Jesus Christ is God
Almighty. Omniscience. He sees and knows
all. He looks into the cup and he
sees all the sin and all the wrath which is righteously due. All these infinite offenses against
the holiness and majesty of God. And he says, I'll drink it. I
must drink this cup. He who is God Almighty has the
power to hold this cup and is able to bear the weight of it. God in His omnipresence looked
at the lamb slain from before the foundation of the world and
the lamb on the throne in heaven and the lamb in the new creation
and He sees all of these events as one complete union. The Lord Jesus Christ and His
Bride are one. That's why He took this cup willingly,
the Great Shepherd and all of His flock. He took the cup that
says in Hebrews, for the joy that was set before Him. He will
see, Graham read in Isaiah 53, he will see the travail of his
soul and he'll be satisfied. We have a joyful, satisfied God
and Saviour in heaven because it's finished. It's finished. It's finished. The price has
been paid. He must drink. and he must drink
alone because only he can drink. Only infinite God can bear the
infiniteness of the evil of our sins. It's the hardest and it's
an impossible thing for man to ever get across to fellow man
is how sinful sin is. And until we're taken to the
cross, until we're taken to the garden, until we see the Lord
Jesus Christ, by His Spirit showing us what sin is, we'll always
treat it lightly. It'll always be something that
seems so little. I just want to talk about one
more of these questions. What happened to Christ when
he drank that cup? As we read earlier, he says,
let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou will.
If this cup may not pass from me, except I drink it, thy will
be done. God must be just. He that justifieth the wicked,
and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination
to the Lord. As we read in Isaiah 53, Yet
it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. That word offering for sin in
Proverbs 14 verse 9 means sin. Fools mock, make a mock at sin,
but don't run the righteous there is favor. In Genesis 26 verse 10, Abimelech said, What is this
thou hast done when Abraham deceived him? One of the people might
likely have loomed with thy wife, and thou shouldst have brought
guiltiness upon us. The same word as sin offering. It's to be sin. God made him
to be sin for us. who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. This cup is the cup that the
wicked drink. This cup is the cup that all
those in hell will drink forever, because there is no redeemer.
And there is no grace, and there is no salvation. We read it in
Psalm 116 at the beginning of our service. God has a cup for
all of them. whose sins are not in this cup. The wicked will drink in righteous
wrath from God because of their personal sins, which must be
punished for God to be just and righteous and holy and true to
his words. This is what he goes on to say
in Psalm 11 verse 7. For the righteous Lord loveth
righteousness, and his countenance doth behold the upright. The cup my father has given me,
shall I not drink it? Drink all of it, drink it dry,
such that all the wrath of hell upon these sins is exacted upon
them in our Saviour, until God can say, it is finished, my justice
is finished, my law is satisfied, my holiness is satisfied. They're
all passed away from him. They're perished, is what he
said. They're passed away, they're perished forever. What was the
result of him drinking the cup? The cup was given by the Father
to the Son. Therefore, it wasn't given to
us. The cup is in the hand of Christ. Therefore, he had it
with him, and we didn't have it with us, and never will. It's
not in our hand, it's in his hand. He must drink. When He drank that cup dry, those sins became one with Him,
which means it's impossible for us ever to drink those sins ourselves. They are gone from us. If He drinks, it is all gone,
and it cannot be upon us. is to know this God in these
attributes doing these things in this amazing transaction between
God and God. May the Lord bless his word to
us. Let's have a break and we'll
come back and we'll finish our last couple of questions and
we might go home rejoicing.