This place holds some precious
memories, I tell you. A lot of old friends have already
gone. A lot of you left. This was,
in this building here, is the first conference I ever preached
at, after the Lord called me to preach. On Friday night, God
asked me to preach just before Henry Mayhem. Somewhere during the message,
the lights went out. I've often wondered, you know,
if Scott was just mad at me or if I did something to him, but
I learned a valuable lesson that night. I'm glad that Henry preached right after me,
and he preached on the hands of the Lord. I bet some of you
heard that message. One of the best messages I ever
heard. It's so good to be here. Thank you, Marvin. Thank you
for inviting me, Chris. It's so good to hear Chris preach. It always is. I've got a solemn
text I want you to turn to with me this afternoon over in Matthew
chapter 26. And I want you to begin reading
with me here in verse 36. I want to try to speak to you
for just a few minutes if the Lord would be so gracious and
kind to help us on this cup. Maybe a solemn reminder of the
cost of our redemption. Here in Matthew 26, verse 36. This is after the supper. Then
cometh Jesus within unto a place called Gethsemane. And said unto
the disciples, Set ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and
the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very
heavy. Then said he unto them, My soul
is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Tear ye here, and
watch with me. And he went a little farther,
and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will,
but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto the disciples,
and findeth them asleep, and said 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. He went away again the second
time and prayed, saying, O my father, if this cup may not pass
from me except I drink it, thy will be done. And he came and
found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. And he
left them and went again and prayed the third time. say in
the same words, Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto
them, Sleep on now, and take your rest. Behold, the hour is
at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed unto the hands of sinners. Matthew, Mark, and Luke record
this incident, and we know here in this text that this was the
Lord's last night with His disciples, with his apostles. In just a
minute they would come and arrest him and his mockery would begin,
his trial would begin. Early the next day he would stand
before Pilate and before Herod. He would be mocked and then finally
crucified before the next day was over. He was troubled. Our Lord was
troubled. He was troubled in spirit. Trouble
about different things. He was troubled about his betrayal. The Bible says he was troubled
in his spirit, and he said, One of you shall betray me tonight. And he said again, He that eats
bread with me has lifted up his heel against me. All of you are
clean. But he said, Not all of you.
This he spake of Judas Iscariot, who should betray him. And he
said, Woe be to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It
be better for him never to have been born. He was troubled about
this betrayal. It bothered him in his spirit.
He was bothered about his disciples being offended in him and forsaking
him. All of you shall be offended
in me this night. It's written. The shepherd's
going to be smitten and the sheep's going to be scattered. All of
you shall be scattered and leave me alone." You know the Lord
Jesus took a great measure of comfort in His Apostles. He said, Well, you sit here and
watch with me. I need you to watch with me. I need your company. I need some
comfort that you are able to minister. Could you not watch
with me one hour? He said, Reproach hath broken
my heart. I am full of heaviness. I looked
for some to take pity and I found none. I looked for comforters
and there were none to be found. No comforters for the master.
Not this man. The three disciples slept while
our loving Savior wept in Gethsemane alone. But that wasn't the chief concern
here in our text. That wasn't the chief concern
of our Lord Jesus Spirit. It was this cup. This cup. Twice he said this in verses
39 and verse 42. Oh, my father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me. My father, if this cup may not
pass away from me. It was this cup, the anticipation
of drinking this cup that had bowed the heart of the Son of
God. Matthew and Mark and Luke. uses
different terms to describe our Lord's state of mind. Matthew
here says he began to be sorrowful and very heavy and said, my soul
is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. Mark says he began to
be sore amazed. That word means to be surprised,
to be startled, to be overwhelmed with astonishment. He was astounded. Luke says he'd been in an agony,
prayed until his sweat became as great drops of blood falling
down to the ground. And all three of these writers
agree as to what his state of mind was and why. This cup. This cup. Let this cup pass from
me. What's in this cup? What made
the Son of God in our humanity dread this cup until he fell
on his face on a cold night in sweat drops of blood? The Bible
says a lot about cups. Jeremiah talked about the cup
of consolation, the cup of comfort. David talked about taking the
cup of salvation. Paul talked about the cup of
blessing that we bless the body, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's not this cup here. that he was talking about. What
was the ingredients in this cup? And I want you to look at some
Scripture with me. I want to try to answer that as best I
can. And before I even start this,
I feel about this high. I feel about this high. Even
trying to enter into such a solemn thing as this. But I want you
to turn to some passages of Scripture with me, and let's examine the
ingredients in this cup. If we can, I want you to look
at the first place over in Revelation. The book of Revelation, Chapter
14. And look in verse nine, the book
of Revelation, Chapter 14 and verse nine, the ingredients in
this cup. Revelation 14, nine, and the
third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man
worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead
or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath
of God, which is poured out without mixture unto the cup of his indignation. And he shall be tormented with
fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the
presence of the Lamb, and the smoke of their torment ascendeth
up for ever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, who
worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark
of his name." Verse 10 says the cup of his indignation. This word indignation means fierceness. It means burning or anger or
abhorrence. Abhorrence for sin. and abhorrence
for the sinner because of sin." Indignation. The contents of
this cup is said to be the wrath of God which is poured out without
mixture unto this cup. A cup of wrath. A cup of indignation. We often
read in the Old Testament languages like this. When the Lord had
overthrown Egypt, Moses said this about them. He cast upon
them the fierceness of His anger, His wrath, and His indignation
and trouble. By sending evil angels among
them, He made a way for His anger. He spurred not their souls from
death." And here is what David said, "'The Lord tries the righteous,
but the wicked and him that loves violence his soul hateth, upon
the wicked he shall rain snares, fire, and brimstone, and then
horrible tempest. This is the portion of their
cup." Fire, snares, brimstone, fierceness, wrath, indignation. That's the ingredients in this
cup that the Lord Jesus was getting ready to drink. So this is a
cup of God's indignation and contains His wrath and fury against
sin. God's wrath is upon sin, therefore
His wrath is in this cup. God is angry with the wicked
every day, therefore His anger is in this cup. He hates all
workers of iniquity, therefore His hatred is in this cup. Wrath. Anger. Hatred, fierceness,
indignation in this cup. And to drink of this cup means
you take it in, you taste it, you swallow it down, you feel
the effects of it, which is what? Torment. It's torment. Snares, fire, brimstone, and
a horrible tempest, this is the portion of their cup. The Bible is full of symbols.
Chris talked, when the Lord talked to us, He often talked to us
in parables. He talks to us in symbols. And
the reason He does this is because we can relate to symbols, can't
we? He teaches us by simple things,
things that we can relate to that otherwise He could not teach
us. How do we describe the wrath
of God? How do you describe the indignation of God, the anger
of God? He gives us symbols to teach
us of these things. When the Lord teaches us of hell,
He often teaches us in symbols of what it will be like to be
under God's wrath and hell. It's called a fire. The rich
man cried and says, I am tormented in this flame. That can't be
a literal flame because it's darkness there. If it was literal
fire like you and I know it, it would be light there. But
there's a flame. What does that flame, what does
that fire symbolize to you and me? It symbolizes the very same
thing that you and I are talking about, the fierceness of God. He shall cast upon them the fierceness
of His wrath And indignation. Listen to Nahum chapter 1 verse
6. Who can stand before his indignation? And who can abide the fierceness
of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire. It is the fire of his fury. You
will now recognize the necessity of controlling fire. If fire
gets out of our control, it devours us, doesn't it? Contain it. We have to control it. We can
relate to fire. This is the fierceness of God's
wrath. It's like fire that's gone out
of control. Who among us can dwell with devouring
fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting
burnings? I have poured out my indignation
upon them. I have consumed them with the
fire of my wrath, he said. Why? That is what he recompensed
upon the head of the wicked. There is something in God more
dreadful and more devouring than literal fire, and that is the
fierceness of his wrath, his hatred against sin. Sometimes
hell is called a bottomless pit. That is a symbolic term to teach
our poor, weak minds. When you think about a bottomless
pit, doesn't that scare you? You know, you get older. I just
talked about Brother Carl falling and breaking his hip. When you
get older, you're afraid of falling. And when you think about falling
in a bottomless pit, that scares you. And the Lord Jesus gives
this to awaken our imagination to teach us what it would be
like. What is the wrath of God like?
What will hell be like? It's a bottomless pit. Men are
ever falling. They've lost all support. When
do men fall? When God moves His hand. Hell is a place where God has
moved His hand. When God moves His hand, we fall. If He utterly removes His hand,
we'll fall utterly. He removed his hand, and holy
angels sinned and fell. He removed his hand from Adam,
and Adam sinned. He fell. And if God removes His
hand from you, and God removes His hand from me, we'll fall. What is hell but a place where
God has utterly removed the support from the soul, and the soul is
continually falling? and fallen and fallen without
any support. A bottomless pit. The workers of iniquity have
fallen, David said. They are cast down and shall
not be able to arise. Why? God has removed His support. They shall not escape in thine
anger cast down the people. God not only removes His support,
But He cast down Himself. That's this cut. That's this
cut. Sometimes hell is called outer
darkness. What does that symbolize to us
but a loss of God's presence. God is light. And in Him is no
darkness at all. And what will it be like to be
in hell? It will be without God. Men here
despise God's presence. Depart from me. We don't want
your presence. We hate the knowledge of you.
Well, there'll be no God. There'll be no light. The rich
man lifted up his voice and he cried, There's no God here. There's
no God here. There's no light here. God's
presence. That's what's in this cup. There's
darkness in the unregenerated soul, a spiritual darkness. But
there's a greater darkness to come for those who die in their
sins. And Jude calls it the blackness
of darkness. The blackness of darkness. There's
darkness and then there's the blackness of darkness. And I'm
just saying this, brothers and sisters, this is the cup about
which the Lord Jesus Christ was amazed. He was startled by just
anticipating drinking this cup. Behold and see, if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in
the day of his fierce anger. He hath sent from above and sent
fire into my bones. That's the cup of God's indignation.
And he tasted it. He drunk it in and he felt the
effects of it. The Father had always supported
him. Always supported him. Always held him up. He faced
devils. He faced men. He was tried sore,
but God always held him up. But not on the cross. Not on
the cross. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me?" And when he did that, what happened? He said,
I sank in deep mire where there is no standing. All thy waves
and thy billows have gone over me. He sank. And when God forsook
him there on the cross, that's why we see the darkness all over
the land. The darkness, the loss of God's
presence. Indignation. Sinking. Darkness. That was in this cup. That was in this cup. This cup
contains everything that's against our nature. Things that to experience
would be tormented to our souls and our bodies. Those things
that are in God we cannot abide. It's a cup of eternal damnation.
Eternal fury. And Christ knew it. He knew it. And He knew to deliver you and
to deliver me from drinking of this cup, He had to drink it
Himself. What is in it? The wrath of God,
indignation, anger, the fierceness of His wrath. Look at Psalms chapter 75 and
verse 7 and verse 8. Look at verse 7 and verse 8.
Something else that says you're about this cup. Look in verse
7 of Psalms chapter 75. 75 and verse 7. But God is the judge. He putteth down one and setteth
up another. For in the hand of the Lord there
is a cup. And the wine is red, it is full
of mixture. And he poureth out of the same,
but the dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall wring
them out and drink them." A mixture, but not a mixture of good and
evil, but a mixture of all that is evil. All that is bad was
in this cup. Can you imagine if everything
good was taken away from you? All comfort, all joy, everything
that was good and desirable was taken away from you, and all
that was left was evil. None of us know anything about
that. This life is made up of a mixture for us, isn't it? It's
a mixture of good and evil. It's a mixture of mercy and judgment.
It's a mixture of laughter, but a mixture of sorrow. We may have
a headache, but our legs are free. We may have a diseased
body, but our minds are sound. But not so with this cup. This
cup contains nothing but evil, a mixture of all that's evil. On the cross of Calvary, nothing
was left to the Son of God but that which was evil. Pain of
his soul and pain of his body. His eyes were consumed with angry
faces. His ears only heard mocking. He felt the wrath of men, the
wrath of devils, and the wrath of God without any mixture of
mercy from any. I looked for some to take comfort.
I found none. And with all these aggravating
circumstances, the betrayal of one, the denial of another, the
forsaken of all, the shame, the humiliation, the nakedness, the
innumerable company of sins that lay upon him, the guilt upon
his white conscience, the hours of darkness, all of this and
incomprehensibly more evil that none of us can number without
any good at all. This cup is a mixture of all
that's evil. Thirdly, let me quote this one
to you, and you won't have to turn there. Listen to Ezekiel
chapter 23 and verse 32. Thus saith the Lord God, Thou
shalt drink of thy sister's cup, deep and large. You shall be
like to scorn and had in derision, for it containeth much. This is a large cup, a deep cup,
and it contains much. How can we measure the contents
of this cup? We can't. It's too large. It's too deep. This cup not only contains a
tempest, but a horrible tempest. Not just sorrow, but exceeding
sorrow. My soul is exceeding sorrow,
even to death. Not just wrath, but the fierceness
of wrath. And even more than that, the
fierceness of the wrath of God Almighty. Not just a worm, but
a worm that never dies. Not just darkness, but the blackness
of darkness. And not just for time, but forever.
Not just a pit, but a bottomless pit. Not just punishment, but
everlasting punishment. And Jesus Christ knew the largeness
of this cup and all that it contained, all the evil that was in it.
And it brought his soul into an agony. Brothers and sisters,
if this threw the Son of God on his face until he shed blood
out of the pores of his skin, what will it do to poor, weak,
vile sinners if they are made to drink of this God? If it did that to him, what will
it do to people like us? You who think of sin but lightly,
nor suppose the evil great, here may view its nature rightly.
Here its guilt may estimate. Mark the sacrifice appointed. See who bears the awful load.
Tis the word of the Lord's anointed. That's who bears this load, the
Son of Man and the Son of God. I want you to turn to one more
passage, two more passages, and I'll quit. I told you this was
sort of solemn. This is solemn. Look in Isaiah
chapter 51 and look in verse 17. Isaiah 51 and verse 17. Look at this about this cup.
The ingredients in this cup are calculated to make a man tremble. In verse 17, Awake, awake, stand
up, O Jerusalem, which has drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup
of His fury. Thou hast dranken the dregs of
the cup of trembling, and wrung them out. What's this cup calculated
to do? Make a person tremble. It's called
the cup of trembling. He began to be sore amazed. He became startled, astonished,
surprised, shocked, trembling. These poor apostles never saw
the Lord Jesus like this before. This man wasn't afraid of anybody. He faced legions of devils and
never flinched. He faced crowds of people that
tried to kill him and didn't bother him at all. He faced the
raging of the sea and the wind and spoke peace to them. But
not here. Not here. Here he cries like
a baby. Here he begins to groan. Here
he begins to beg. Oh, my Father, let this cup pass
from me. My Father, remove this cup from
me. My Father, if it be possible,
remove this cup from me. What was going on? I think if
there's only one place in all the Scripture that proved the
manhood of the Son of God, it had to be here. He was 100% God
and He was 100% man. And this is why he trembled.
He was facing this cup. And this cup is calculated to
make a man tremble. And that's what he was, a man,
David. He was a man, a holy man, but
a man. You and I have seen people wear
these little t-shirts and put bumper stickers on their cars.
No fear. No fear. Ain't afraid of anybody.
Ain't afraid of anything. I don't fear. You will. You will. I stretched out my hand and no
man regarded. You've said it not all my counsel.
I'll laugh when your calamity comes. I'll moan when your fear
comes. And it will. It will. Men can brag here, can't they?
They can boast themselves about their power. Religious people
boast about the power of their free will. But when this cup
is put to a man's lips, he'll tremble. He'll tremble. Jude said the Lord is coming
with ten thousands of His saints to execute judgment upon all
and to convince all of their ungodly deeds and their harsh
speeches with which they have spoken against the Lord. He is
coming to convince them. Preaching will not convince anybody
apart from the grace of God. How many people have gone to
hell over the prayers of their mom and dad? They will not be
convinced. I am not afraid of anything,
do not tell me. But God will convince them. Every
man in hell tonight knows why he is there. He knows exactly
why He's there. He's very well awakened. And you know something? He's
astonished. He's astonished. This is the cup. I can't go without
one more scripture. Turn to John chapter, I think
it's 19. John chapter 18. John chapter 18. This is where
they came to get the Lord, here in the garden. John chapter 18
and verse 4. Look at this. This is where the
Master gets off of His face. Jesus, therefore, knowing all
things that should come upon Him, went forth and said unto
them whom seek ye, They answered him and said, Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus said unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed
him, stood with him. As soon then as he had said unto
them, I am he, they went backward and fell on the ground. Then
asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
And he answered, I told you that I am he. If therefore ye seek
me, let these go their way. that the sand might be fulfilled
which he spake, of them which thou gavest me I have lost nothing.
Then Simon, having the sword, drew it, and smote the high priest's
servant, and cut off his ear. The servant's name was Malchus.
Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into thy sheath.
The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? He drank it. He drank it. Everything that I've been trying
to describe in a very weak way to you that was in this cup,
the wrath of God, a large cup, what it was calculated
to do to those who had to drink it caused trembling astonishment. He drank it. He drank it all. He drank the bitter dregs. He
drank Damnation dry. Damnation is dry. You dear child
of God, you poor broken-hearted believers, listen, there is no
fury in God against you. The wrath of God will never touch
you. His anger will never fall upon you. Why? There is none. Jesus Christ with
a trembling hand and a broken heart put it to His lips and
turned it up and drank it, dregs and all. It's empty. My Father
gave me this cup and I drank it. And if He drank it for you,
dear soul, there's nothing left for you to drink. There's nothing
left for you to drink. I've often told this story. I'm
just worried out I've told it so much, but I love it. about
the wagon train going west. And out on the plains they ran
into some high prairie grass that was dry, that was thick. And they saw flame from the smoke
coming their way. The prairie grass had caught
on fire. And quickly they circled the wagons and burned out a huge
place and pulled the wagons, circled the wagons inside the
place that they burned out. And they sat there and they watched
the fire come towards them. And the little boy pulled on
his daddy's pants and said, Daddy, are we going to be burned up?
He said, No, son. And after a while he tugged again
and said, Daddy, I see the smoke. Are you sure we're not going
to be burned up? He said, No, son. No, son. He said, Daddy,
how do you know? He said, Son, we're standing
where the fire has already been. Dear soul, there is no fury.
There is no wrath. There is no indignation. God
is well pleased. He is as pleased with you, dear
believer, as He is with His Son. Call Him your Father and bless
Him for giving this cup to His Son. Have you ever found such
love? Have you ever heard such love?
Unsought, unheard of love? Have you ever read about such
obedience? This is the obedience, the obedience
it takes for a man to be saved. This is the obedience that had
to be rendered in the face of the wrath of God. Not my will,
but Yours be done. That's the obedience it's going
to take to save us. I'm way over here. All the way over here.
Every channel you turn, they talked about this is Good Friday.
This is Good Friday. Yesterday was Good Thursday. Tomorrow will be a good Saturday.
And you know something? For all eternity, it's going
to be a good eternity if Jesus had drank this cup for you. God
bless you. God bless you, Mark.