Christ will quickly come and
bring his ransomed people home. There we shall see his lovely
face and chant the praises of his grace. Dear Lord, I lift
my praise to Thee. All that I am or hope to be,
I owe alone, O Christ, to Thee. Please be seated. Let's open our Bibles together
to Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55 for our call to worship. And what a wonderful call to
worship this is. Isaiah 55, beginning at verse
one. Ho, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. And ye that hath no money, come
ye, buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk without
money and without price. Buy it for free. Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which
satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me. That's our hope, that the Lord
will give us grace to hearken diligently to his voice. And eat ye that which is good.
The Lord say, labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for
that meat which leadeth to everlasting life. That's his body. My body
is your meat indeed. And let your soul delight itself
in fatness. Oh, the Lord would give us grace
to delight in him. Incline your ear and come unto
me. and your soul shall live. We know the hearing ear and the
seeing eye are both from the Lord, but the Lord uses the means
of calling us to hear to give us the grace to hear. And so
he says here, and I will make an everlasting covenant with
you, even the sure mercies of David. The gospel is sure. Promises
of God are sure. Yay and amen in Christ. Behold, I have given him the
Lord Jesus Christ for a witness to the people. If the Lord witnesses
to us, we'll hear and we'll be saved. A leader and commander
to the people. I bring you greetings from the
Brethren in Pennsylvania. It was, I thought, a very profitable
trip. It was a very quick trip. We
went up on Saturday, came back on Sunday, had services Saturday
night, Sunday morning. And the Brethren there wanted
to thank you for the ministry of the gospel here. They watch
on a regular basis. Had some of the folks from New
Jersey came over. Donnie Wiginton went with me,
and we stayed with Cyril and Lenore. And they said to say
hello, and they look forward to when they get back in October. So Clay's having his conference,
not this coming weekend, but the next weekend. And we encouraged
the folks from Pennsylvania to go over and be a part of that
meeting. So hopefully they'll do that. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly
Father, if we're to hear, Lord, you're going to have to give
us ears to hear. If we're going to believe, you're
going to have to give us faith. Lord, if we're going to love
you and your gospel, you're going to have to spread the love of
Christ abroad in our hearts. We are dependent upon you, Lord,
to send your Holy Spirit in power, to enlighten the eyes of our
understanding, to speak truth to our hearts, and cause us,
Lord, to find our hope and our peace in thy dear Son. Thank you for this time of worship.
Thank you, Lord, for the places where your children are gathered
together and where your gospel is preached, and we pray, Lord,
that you would bless that work and that you would grow them
in your grace, and we pray that you would provide, Lord, for
The many groups that are meeting around the world provide for
them a man after your own heart that can preach Christ to them
and call them together, Lord, as a church. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Let's all stand together again.
We'll sing hymn number 126 from your hardback timbrel, 126. Rock of ages, cleft for me, let
me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from
thy wounded side which flow be of sin the double pure. Save from wrath and make me Could
my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no longer do? These, for sin, could not atone. Thou must save, and Thou alone. In my hand no price I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling. While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eyes shall close in death, When I rise to worlds unknown,
And behold Thee on Thy throne, Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let
me hide myself in Thee. Please be seated. I've titled this message, From
Which Cup Are You Drinking? From Which Cup Are You Drinking?
We've all found ourselves in social settings where more than
one person was drinking out of the same kind of cup and you
pick a cup up and wonder if this is mine. Where did I put my cup? Is this my cup or is this your
cup? And normally don't worry too much about it, but if there
was a person in that setting that had a contagious terminal
disease, you'd be very careful about which cup you drank out
of, wouldn't you? There's two cups mentioned in our text tonight,
Isaiah chapter 51. There's the cup of his fury. And then there's another cup
that's filled with an intoxicating spirit that most folks drink
from. You don't want to drink from
that cup. You want to drink from the cup of the fury of God's
wrath. Look here. Verse 17. Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem. which hast drunk at the hand
of the Lord the cup of his fury thou hast drunken the dregs of
the cup of trembling and wrung them out now look over with me in verse
21 therefore Hear now this, thou afflicted
and drunken, but not with wine. Now that second cup is the cup
of deceit. It's the cup of an evil spirit.
It's the cup of free will. It's the cup of good works. And
the Lord says the world is intoxicated with that cup. He says it's not
an intoxication of alcohol. It's an intoxication that will
lead to a much worse consequence than overindulgence of alcohol. The cup of God's fury saves. The cup of this spirit, which
is not wine, intoxicates and kills. The cup of God's fury
is empty. It's been drunk dry. The cup
of this intoxicating spirit is full to the brim. Which cup are
you drinking out of? The cup of God's fury is bitter. The cup of this intoxicating
spirit of the world is sweet to the taste. The cup of God's fury appeals
to sinners. The cup of this intoxicating
spirit appeals to Pharisees. It appeals to those who would
seek to save themselves. The cup of God's fury feeds the
soul. The cup of this intoxicating
spirit spoken of in our text feeds the flesh. The cup of God's fury makes one
clear-headed and sober-minded. The cup of this intoxicating
spirit leads to a drunken stupor, unable to discern the truth. The cup of God's fury can only
be drank of vicariously. You see our text? Look at it.
which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord, the cup of his fury. And you've drunken the dregs
of the cup of trembling and wrung them out. Look over in verse
22. Thus saith thy Lord, The Lord, and thy God, that pleadeth
the cause of his people, behold, I have taken out of thy hand
the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury,
and thou shalt no more drink it again." He drank it once. Now I'm going to drink it again. The cup of the intoxicating spirit
of free will and good works consumed by the drunkard, he does it proudly,
he does it publicly, and he does it personally. We can only drink
from the cup of God's fury in the person of our substitute. Substitution and satisfaction. If the Lord ever teaches us what
those two words mean, as they relate to the gospel, we'll learn
the truth. By virtue of our union with Christ,
we have drank of the dregs of the fury of God's wrath, never
to drink of it again. And to know that the Father is
satisfied with what the Lord Jesus Christ did gives me great
hope. The cup of God's fury was bought
and paid for by another. The intoxicating spirit of lies that is not wine Purchased by the consumer With
his own works. Why do you spend money for that
which satisfies not we just read that in Isaiah chapter 55 The
cup of God's fury is for the few It's for the remnant. It's for the elect the cup of
this intoxicating spirit is for the many and It's for the masses,
it's for the multitude. The Lord said, narrow is the
gate, and few are they that find it. Broad is the way that leadeth
to destruction. Many are they on it. Now, how do I know which cup
I'm drinking from? Well, let's begin with verse
17. Awake? Has the Lord woken you
from your drunken stupor and given you an interest in the
cup of the fury of God's wrath? I want to know about that cup.
This is the cup. that the Lord prayed in the garden
of Gethsemane when he said, Father, if there be any way this cup
can pass from me, let it be. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thine be done. And the Lord began to taste of
the fury of God's wrath in the garden. And all night long, he
drank from that cup until the next day when he finally bowed
his head on Calvary's cross and said, it is finished. Father,
into thy hands I commend my spirit, drinking it dry down to its last
bitter dregs. And the Lord says, you drank
it. You drank it. Turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter
32. Deuteronomy 32. Awake, awake. Here's the first
time that word is used. in God's Word, the Word awake. Look at verse 8. When the Most
High divided the nations, their inheritance, when He separated
the sons of Adam, So the Lord's the one who separated the people
at the Tower of Babel. He's the one who separated the
nations. He's the one that sent Shem,
Ham, and Japheth in different directions. The Lord's the one
who raises up nations. He's determined where everybody's
gonna live. And the Lord said, when I established the nations,
the sons of Adam, and I determined where I was gonna put each one
of them, He set the bounds of the people
according to the number of the children of Israel. When the Lord divided up the
nations in the promised land, the 12 tribes, you remember Manasseh and Ephraim
were were of the same tribe of Joseph, but they were given separate
lands. Why? Because Levi, Levi wasn't
given any land. Within each one of the city,
within each one of the tribes, there were cities designated
for the Levites. Who were the Levites? They were
the priest. And so within each one of the tribes, there were
Levites. And what does the scripture say
about God's people? I have made you a peculiar people,
a holy priesthood, a royal nation. And just like the Levites were
scattered throughout all the tribes, so the Lord's saying
here, when I set the nations, my concern was not for where
the Russians were gonna live and where the Americans were
gonna live, my concern was for where Israel was going to be
within those nations. for the Lord's portion is his
people. Now we think about the Lord being
our portion. I am your exceeding great reward. But here he says his portion
is his people. The nations are dropping the
bucket to him, their speck of dust on the balance scale. Egypt and Ethiopia I've given
for you and Ziba. The Lord's concern for his people,
and that's what he's saying, my portion. The rest of it's
just fodder. It's all about my people. The
existence of the nations of the world, that's what the Lord's
saying here. The Lord's portion is my people. And when I set
up the nations, my concern was where my Levites were gonna be,
where my priests were gonna be, where my church was gonna be,
because that's what it's all about. Everything that's taking
place in this world is for my people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. Oh. Jacob. That's his church. And that's his inheritance. And
that's the lot of his people. Nothing else matters. Verse 10. He found him in a desert
land. Where'd God get Jacob from? He called him out of the Ur of
the Chaldees, didn't he? He said, remember Abraham, remember
the rock from which you were hewned. Remember Abraham, your
father, and how I brought him out. He was a pagan just like
you. I brought him out of a dry and dusty land and in a waste
howling wilderness. He led him about, he instructed
him and he kept him as the apple of his eye. So the Lord sovereignly
looked down into these nations made up of all pagans and he
elected certain individuals out of those nations. And he said,
you're the apple of my eye. I'm going to teach you. I'm going
to teach you something I'm not going to teach anybody else.
What did the Lord say? Father, I thank Thee that Thou
hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent and revealed
them unto babes, even so it seemed good in Thy sight. That's what
the Lord is saying here. I looked down at the nations,
I chose out my people, I instructed them, I taught them the truth,
and everything I'm doing is for them. As an eagle, here's what I want
you to see. Here's the first mention of a wake in the scriptures. And what a beautiful picture
it is. I mean, here we've got an eagle's nest, and the chicklings
have grown to the point to where they're ready to fly. And what's
the mother eagle do? She hovers right over top of
the nest, flapping her wings. pushing them out of the nest
and showing them how to fly. Look, as an eagle stirreth up
her nest and fluttereth over her young, spreading abroad her
wings, taking them and bearing them on her wings. So the Lord
alone did lead him. And there was no strange God
with him. You see that stirreth up. In
verse 11, that's the same word awake in our text. So here they've
got the Lord stirring up her nest, awaking her children and
teaching them how to fly. Eagles aren't like other birds.
They have an innate ability to discern wind currents. They don't
flap their wings around. She just, she's doing this to
show them how to get out of the nest. And once they get out of
that nest, they're going to fly like she flies. They're going
to catch the thermals and the wind currents. And they're just
going to, you're watching eagle fly. They don't, they just lock
their wings and they're moved by the wind of the spirit. And
that's what the Lord's saying to his children, awake, awake,
come. And the spirit of God blows and
he forces us out of the nest. Look what he says, awake, awake,
stand up, stand up. How are we gonna stand? Well,
the Lord was wounded in his feet in order to heal the wounds of
our feet, weren't he? We're like that cripple at the
gate called beautiful. We can't walk through the gate,
we can't enter into glory. And what did Peter say? Silver
and gold have we none, but such as we have in the name of Jesus
of Nazareth, stand and walk. And he stood and he leaped. What
was the first thing he did when he stood up? And he wasn't able
to go through the gate called beautiful, he was crippled. And
as crippled, the law said he couldn't enter into worship.
You know that was the first place he went. First place he went
was to worship God. He was able to stand, he was
able to walk, he was able to follow after Christ. And so the
Lord hovering over his nest like an eagle says, awake, awake,
stand up. Oh, Jerusalem, he's talking to
his church, isn't he? The city of peace, the city of
peace. We have peace with God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. And what's he saying to us? Don't
drink. Don't drink from that intoxicating
spirit of good works and free will. Drink from the bitter dregs
of the cup of God's wrath. It's already been emptied. And
you've already drank from it. Look what he says. And the rest of this verse, which has drunk at the hand of
the Lord, the cup of his fury. When did we drink from it? We
drank from it when he drank from it. When He drank dry the damnation
of our sin and the fury of God's wrath, everything the Lord Jesus
Christ did, we did. Now, people don't want a salvation
like that. Why? Because all the credit for
that salvation goes to Him. But everything He did, In His
life, in His death, in His resurrection, we did in Him. And the Lord says,
drink from that cup. Drink from that cup. He tasted the bitterness of it
in the garden. He drank it dry that day on the
cross. Only the sinless Savior could
drink from the cup of God's wrath and not be destroyed by it. Only the holy, undefiled, separate
from sinners Savior could drink the bitter dregs of God's wrath
and not be destroyed by it. You try to drink from God's wrath
and it'll be an eternal separation. The grave could not hold him.
Had to let him go. The wrath of God didn't destroy
him. The wrath of God put away our sin. Shed his blood, took
his life, but he could not see corruption. Look what he says in verse 18. There is none to guide her among
all the sons whom she hath brought forth, neither is there any that
taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought
up." Now what's the Lord saying? No man can help you. You can't
help yourself. Don't look to your right or to
your left. The only man that can help you
is the man who admits to you that he can't help you. The only
man that can help you is a man that tells you you can't help
yourself. The only man that can help you is the man who points
you to the man that can help you. That's why John said, behold,
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world, I
must decrease, he must increase. He's the only one who can help
you. And that's what the Lord's saying. There's nobody else can
help you. No amount of psychology, no amount of counseling, no amount
of discipline, no amount of wisdom on the part of man is able to
help you. The Lord is our counselor. He
is our strong right arm. He's the only one that can save
us. We're without strength. We're ungodly. And everybody
else is too. Look at verse 19. These two things are come unto
thee. Who shall be sorry for thee?
Who's going to take pity upon you? Who's going to help you?
Well, what are the two things that have taken place? Desolation
and destruction, famine and the sword. Now you say, well, that's
four things. No. Desolation brought forth
famine and the sword brought forth destruction So really he's
talking about the two things of famine and the sword Famine
and the sword Now who is not moved when they see on TV a the
pictures of an emaciated, starving child in some place of the world
that's dying from hunger. We all are. We don't even want
to change the channel, don't we? And as awful as that is,
there is a starvation that's worse. There is a starvation that's
worse. The only thing that that lack of food will do is take
one's life from this world. But if there's a famine in the
land, not a famine of bread and water, but a famine of hearing
the word of God, if God sends that kind of famine, then it
will emaciate and ultimately destroy for eternity, not the
body, but the soul, the soul. The Lord says two things have
come upon you. Famine. Desolation brought about
by famine. Spiritual famine robs the soul
of eternal life and leads to eternal separation from God. What about the sword? I've never been in a, in war. Been in the military, been shot.
But I was able to holler at the guy that shot me and tell him
to stop shooting. I can't imagine what it'd be like to have someone
shoot you and they're still looking for you to shoot you again. But
as horrible as war is, contrary to what people say, war is not
hell. It's not hell. Hell is hell. The only thing the sword can
do, the only thing war can do is kill your body. The Lord's
talking about a destruction by the sword of God that brings
about eternal separation and destruction of the soul. This
is the flaming sword of God's justice wielded against Man,
because they've not drank from the dregs of God's wrath. They've not drank from it. They're
drinking from another cup. The flaming sword of God's justice
is much more devastating than any sword that any man has ever
made. And the Lord says, these two
things are come upon you. Who's going to be sorry for you?
Who's going to show any pity towards you? Destruction, desolation has come
by famine and destruction has come by the sword. And who's
going to comfort you? Who's going to give you any comfort?
You can't find comfort anywhere, can you? Except one place. One
place. The one who drank damnation dry. He took that bitter cup of God's
wrath and God says, you drank it with me. You rang it out. There's no more. Can you be satisfied
in drinking from that cup? Look what he says, look what
he says in the next verse, thy sons, verse 20, thy sons have
fainted. They lie at the head of all the
streets as a wild bull in a net. They are full of the fury of
the Lord and rebuke of thy God. They can't help you. With all
their strength and all their fury, they've been caught up
in their own net of their free will and their works gospel. Their attempt to atone for their
own sins Why? Because they've drank from this
cup. Look. Therefore hear now this,
thou afflicted and drunken, but not with wine. Now religion is
full of people who pride themselves in having abstained from the
consumption of alcohol. And those very same people guzzle
like water An intoxicating spirit that's much, much worse than
the abuse of alcohol. A wine that numbs the soul of
the truth. It confuses the mind. It feeds the flesh with pride
and dulls the heart to the things of God. This is the wine of free,
this is the lie. This is the lie of free will,
the wine. When John said, test the spirits
and see whether they be of God. Be careful which cup you're drinking
out of. There's only two cups. This wine thickens the tongue
so that you cannot make sense of their speech. You can tell
if somebody's drunk, can't you? You just let them open their
mouth. And the way they talk and the things they say exposes
them as being inebriated. And you just talk to somebody
who's drank from this cup, and they'll tell you God loves everybody,
but most of the folks God loves are going to hell. They'll tell
you God's sovereign, But in spite of the fact that God's sovereign,
man's got a free will and he holds the trump card for the
destiny of his own soul. They'll tell you that Christ
died for everybody, but most of the folks that Christ died
for are not gonna go to heaven. You see, that's a nonsense message. That's an inebriated person who's
got such a thick tongue that you can't understand what they're
saying. The Lord says, be careful which
cup you drink out of. They stagger and fall at the
sound of the gospel. Like a drunk man taking a sobriety
test that can't walk a straight line. He says, they've drank
from a cup, but it's not wine. It's not alcohol. Oh yes, they're
drunk. And if the Lord doesn't make
them sober, They will continue, like a drunkard,
feeling no pain until that day when pain is all they'll have
to experience for the rest of eternity. They are under the influence
of an evil spirit, inebriated with a lie. There's no way to
reason with a person who's blind drunk. You just can't do it. And that's what the Lord's saying.
They're drunken, but not with wine. So there's two cups to drink
from. And we're not talking about alcohol here, you know that. Look at verse 22. Thus saith
the Lord the Lord. How do I know which cup I've
drank from? Well, if I'm drinking from this
cup that's not wine, I'm looking to something I've done for the
hope of my salvation. I'm looking to a decision I've
made. I'm looking to a prayer I prayed. I'm looking to a work
I performed. I'm looking to some performance
that I'm showing in my life for the hope of my salvation. I'm
getting comfort By comparing myself to myself or comparing
myself to someone else and I'm and I'm drunk. I'm intoxicated. It's an evil spirit or the cup
of God's wrath has been drunk dry and I run it out in the person
of my substitute. That's what the Lord let go back
to this verse. This is a wonder. Look at verse
17, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup
of his fury, and hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling,
and wrung them out. The fury of God's over. The fire's
quenched. There's no wrath. The bitter dregs. And God says,
you did it. You did it. You were there. When
He did it, you did it. Verse 22, Thus saith thy Lord,
the Lord, and thy God, which that pleadeth the cause of his
people. How do I know? that I have drank,
that when Christ emptied the bitter dregs of the cup of God's
fury, that I was in Him, and God's crediting me for what He
did. How do I know that? Because I've
got a God who's pleading my cause. He's pleading my cause. When
the Lord Jesus Christ said from Calvary's cross, Father, forgive
them for they know not what they do. Yes, those Roman soldiers
and particularly the one that said, surely this is the son
of God. They didn't know it was the son of God. They were crucifying.
But I want you to think about that prayer as it relates to
you and me. Because everyone the Lord prayed
for is forgiven. And when he says to the father,
father forgive them. Forgive Brian, forgive Deanna,
forgive Deb. They don't know what they're
doing. Forgive Greg. He doesn't know what he's doing.
He has no idea how bad his sin is. He has no concept of sin. Father, forgive them. I'll drink
the dregs of the fury of the wrath of God for them. I understand. The Lord Jesus Christ understood. He understood fully. God saw
the travail of his soul and was satisfied. He understood what sin was about.
You and I don't. We're so accustomed to sin. We're
so used to it. We're so numb to it. But we're
looking to what Christ did, knowing that our sin's a lot worse than
we think it is. And he knew how bad it was, and
he wrung out, he wrung out the wrath of God. And God said, you
were in him. Everything he did, you did. Now
the wrath, the fury of my wrath is satisfied. Peter, I have prayed
for thee that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted, teach the brethren, encourage
the brethren, strengthen the brethren. There's our hope. Our hope is that we have an advocate
with the Father. We have one who pleads our cause
before God. Little children, I write this
unto you that you sin not, but if any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. I know I've drank, when Christ
drank that cup, I know that he drank it from me if I'm looking
to him to plead my cause before God. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
7, verse 24. You see, those who are drinking
from the intoxicating spirit of free will and good works are
pleading their own cause before God. They're believing that they're
obligating God to reward them for the sincerity of their prayer
and for the accomplishments of their lives. They believe that. Hebrews chapter 7 look at verse
24 but this man because he continueth ever hath an unchangeable priesthood the Lord Jesus Christ the same
yesterday today and forever he changes not and that's the only
reason the sons of Jacob aren't consumed isn't it there's nothing
else that is worthy of the name immutable other than our God. Everything else is changing.
Everything else is mutating. Everything else is... He's the
only one that never changes. I drank that cup. It's been wrung
out. You were with me when I did it.
There's no more wrath. Don't drink of that other cup.
It's not wine. But it'll leave you intoxicated,
believing a lie. Look at verse 25. Wherefore,
because he's unchangeable, and because he is our high priest,
wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost. How far is the uttermost? You
ain't got there yet. Say, well, you don't know what
I've done. You haven't sinned to the uttermost. You haven't done
it. You can't do it. He saves to
the uttermost. That's beyond anything that you
can do. That's deeper than any place
you've ever been. He saves to the uttermost. Them
that come unto God by Him. seeing that he ever liveth to
make intercession for them. For such a high priest became
us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made
higher than the heavens, who needeth not daily as those high
priests to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins and then
for the people. For this he did once when he offered up himself.
For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmities, but the
word of the oath What's that? That's the covenant of grace.
That's the agreement that God the Father had with God the Son.
That was an oath. I made you a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. Sit thou down here at my right
hand till I make all thy enemies thy footstool. I made you a promise. And I'm satisfied with what you
did in interceding for your people for the word of the oath, which
was since the law before the law, because of the son who is
consecrated, set apart, made holy forevermore. He drank of that cup. His blood
pleads our cause. Go back with me to our text.
and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people. Who's pleading
your cause before God? Who's pleading your cause? Is the blood of Christ pleading
your cause? The blood of Christ is the only
thing that silences the justice and judgment of God. Is the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ pleading your cause? Because the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ is the only thing that silences the
condemnation of the law. It's the only thing. You can't
silence the law. We've got to have the Lord Jesus
Christ plead our cause. Is the love of Christ pleading
your cause? Because it's the love of Christ
that subdues sin before God and gives grace so that where sin
abounds, grace does much more abound. We've got a God who's
pleading our cause. Father, I pray for them. I pray
not for the world. I pray for them which thou hast
given me out of the world. And the Lord prayed all down
through John 17 to keep us, didn't he? We've got a God who's pleading
our cause, who drank right down to the bitter dregs of the wrath
of the cup of God's fury. And he says to us, when I drank
that cup, all those for whom I drank it, drank it. There's no more fury. And now
I'm pleading your cause. Behold, I have taken out of thy
hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury,
and thou shalt no more drink it again. Never gonna drink it
again. It's over. The fire's quenched. Fury's gone. That's why the Lord
Jesus Christ is called our propitiation. He's our propitiation. God's
been made propitious. In other words, all of his anger's
gone. All of his wrath's gone. He's satisfied with what Christ
did. And we don't drink of that other
cup. Why? Because the cup of the fury
of God's wrath's been wrung out. That's the only cup we're interested
in, isn't it? Now, in conclusion, what does
God say about His wrath and His fury? Verse 23, But I will take
this cup, the fury of God's wrath. You're not going to drink it
anymore. It's dry. It's empty. You drank it vicariously
in the person of your Savior. And you know you drank it because
you're looking to Him As your intercessor, you're looking to
him to plead your cause before God. That's how you know you
drank it. But those who have drank from
that intoxicating spirit of free will and good works, there is
a day when the fury of God's wrath, the cup, the revelation
speaks of that cup, doesn't it? It's going to be poured out.
The bowls are going to be poured out. Look what he says in verse
23, but I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee,
which have said to thy soul, bow down that they may go over. And thou has laid thy body as
the ground and as the street to them that went over. What
does that mean? Matthew chapter five, blessed
are you when they persecute you for righteousness sake. We're
looking to the Lord Jesus Christ for all our righteousness. Blessed
are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and say
all manner of evil against you for my sake. You see, they're
just a bunch of drunks drinking from this other cup, intoxicated
with the spirit of the lie. And they're looking at you and
thinking, you're drinking from that cup? Rejoice and be exceedingly glad
for great is your reward in heaven For so persecuted they the prophets
which were before thee So the Lord says those who Who who say
to you That's not the cup I want to
drink from Those who berate you and persecute you for righteousness
sake, there's a cup, there's a bowl of wrath that's gonna
be poured out. And God says that's going to
be eternal damnation. Which cup you wanna drink from? The one that's been drunk dry? or the one that is leaving people subject to the wrath of God in
the day of judgment. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank You for the willingness and the faithfulness
and the success that the Lord Jesus Christ had in drinking
dry the bitter dregs of thy holy wrath for our sins. And Lord, we thank you that you've
revealed to us the mystery of substitution and union and what
great hope we have in knowing that when you look at us, you see his work and you're satisfied. Thank you that we have one who
pleads our cause before thee. And we ask that you would keep
us looking to Him. For it's in Christ's name we
pray. Amen. Alright, let's stand together,
Brother Tom. Number 34, let's stand together. Yeah. It is finished! Sinners, hear it! Hear the dying Savior's cry! Hear the Lord Himself declare
it! Justice has been satisfied! It is finished, go proclaim it,
to poor sinners far and wide. Holy Spirit, make them hear it,
Jesus Christ for sinners died. It is finished, all is over,
Jesus drank damnation dry. What a Savior, what a Savior,
see Him now exalted high. It is finished, look, Roy, hold
him, seated at his father's side. Yonder on the throne, behold
him, Christ our substitute who died. It is finished, hear him
pleading, As our advocate on high. His own blood, great merit
pleading, Pleading justice satisfied. It is finished, can you hear
Him? All the work was fully done. Now believing, looking to Him,
we are saved by God's own Son.