It's lovely to be here. It's
lovely to have the opportunity to share the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And before I turn, if you can
turn in your scriptures with me to Mark chapter 14, I have
a simple prayer for us is that in Psalm 116, the psalmist says,
what shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward
me? I will take the cup of salvation
and call upon the name of the Lord. I'll take the cup of salvation
and call upon the name of the Lord. The topic that I want us
to look at this morning is the cup. The cup that the Lord Jesus
Christ was given by his father in the garden, the cup to which
he was bound as he went to Calvary's tree, the contents of the cup
were what he drank on Calvary's tree. So I have a, Lord willing,
a simple message about a cup. So if you turn with me to Mark
chapter 14, I just want to begin in verse 27. And Jesus saith unto them, all
ye shall be offended because of me this night. That word offended
is the word scandal. It's the word scandal. They'll
be scandalized by the events that happen. For it is written,
I will smite the shepherd. and the sheep shall be scattered.
But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. But Peter said unto him, although
all shall be offended, yet will I not I. And Jesus saith unto
him, verily, verily, I say unto you that this day, even in this
night before the crock, crow twice thou shalt deny me thrice
but he spoke the more vehemently if I should die with thee I will
not deny thee in any wise likewise also said they all and they came
to a place which was named Gethsemane And he saith to his disciples,
sit ye here while I shall pray. And he taketh with him Peter
and James and John and began to be sore amazed and to be very
heavy. And he saith unto them, my soul
is exceeding sorrowful unto death, tarry ye here and watch. And
he went forward a little and fell on the ground and prayed
that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And
he said, Abba Father, all things are possible unto thee. take
away this cup from me. Nevertheless, not what I will,
but what thou wilt. And he cometh and findeth them
sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? Couldst
not thou watch one hour? Watch and pray lest ye enter
into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but
the flesh is weak. And again he went away and prayed
and spake the same words. Then he returned and found them
asleep, for their eyes were heavy, neither wist they what to answer
him, and he cometh the third time and saith unto them, sleep
on now, take your rest, it is enough, the hour is come, behold,
the son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise up,
let us go, lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand. The Lord Jesus Christ was going
to Calvary. He was going to be betrayed with
a kiss that evening by Judas. And so here we have this remarkable
scene and we need to keep remembering who it is that's in this remarkable
scene. It is no one other than the Lord
of glory. It is God in human flesh. The
fullness of deity dwelt in this man and he had In these three
and a half years of his public ministry, he had again and again
revealed the fact that he is God Almighty. He rules creation. He rules all people. He knows
all things. He is the sovereign creator of
the universe and he had come with a mission and he'd come
to this particular hour and this particular moment. I want us to look at what it
is for him to have this cup in his hand. I love the fact that
at the cross, And at the events surrounding the cross, there
is just an extraordinarily simplicity of language and an extraordinarily
simplicity of actions so that we will not be confused about
it. What is something so simple,
just a child can take a cup, just anyone can understand what
a cup is. And yet this is the picture that
the Lord Jesus Christ has painted for us here. The scene, of course,
is the place that he went so often. It's called Gethsemane. And Gethsemane means olive press. And in this particular place,
he was crushed under the weight of what was in that cup. As he
looked in that cup, he fell with his face to the ground. And in
the olive press, they had a huge stone sitting on the olives.
And it crushed cell after cell after cell. And the juice ran
out. And it was a picture of what
happened to the Lord Jesus Christ. His heart was broken and his
blood fell as great drops to the ground this evening. We have
our saviour, the God-man. He came. He came and he led his
people there. He led the way, as Rick showed
us earlier from Blind Bartimos, he led the way to the cross.
He wasn't going to the cross as a victim, he was going as
a triumphant saviour of sinners to the cross. But he came to
this special place and he came to this special place on this
significant night. This is Passover night. This
is the night of the Passover. That remarkable event that the
Jews had celebrated now for the best part of 1500 years when
God said to Moses, he says, when I see the blood, I will pass
over you. The Lord Jesus Christ shed his
blood in circumcision to be joined with his people but also to be
bound to the law of God. He was made of a woman and made
under the law of God and in his life he perfectly fulfilled and
perfectly obeyed all of the law of God. This is the next blood
shedding. He sheds his blood here and he
goes as a blood stained saviour into the courts of the Jews and
the courts of Pilate and the courts of Herod. And the same
blood that stained his raiment here and stained his skin was
blood that was again shed on Calvary's cross. And so this
is an extraordinarily significant event. This is the Passover.
The agonies of our saviour are solemn agonies. And here we have
him in sacred prayer with his father. He calls him here in verse 36,
he calls him Abba Father. On Calvary's cross the next morning,
next afternoon, he calls him my God, my God. So here he is in intimate union,
intimate communion with his father. It's a special place, a place
that he went to so often. and how often when he went there
did he think of the events that were going to happen at this
particular time. It is a sacred place and there
was sacred blood. Peter calls the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ precious blood. Precious blood burst forth from
our Saviour onto the ground of Gethsemane's garden. We have If you go back to verse 27, we
have here a fulfillment of the scriptures. All of the scriptures
are written. There is our Bible is held together
by the covenant in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And turn with me
to verse 27. It says, I will smite the shepherd
and the sheep shall be scattered. The Old Testament prophecies
of the Lord Jesus Christ finished in remarkable ways, promising
what was to come. But one of the most remarkable
descriptions of what was happening on Calvary's cross and began
here in the garden is in Zechariah chapter 13, verse 7. It says,
this is God the Father speaking. God the Father says, awake, O
sword. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
against the man that is my fellow, the one that is my companion,
the one that is my equal, saith the Lord of hosts. Smite the
shepherd. Slay the shepherd. and the sheep
shall be scattered and I will turn my hand, my hand of love
and my hand of compassion and my hand of gathering upon the
little ones. This is what was happening, brothers
and sisters. This is as it is written. This is the fulfilment
of what God has written. Awake, O sword! The sword of
God's holy justice was raised against the Lord Jesus Christ
when he was made sin on Calvary's tree. The contents of the cup
were drunk by him. So I want us to look at the cup. I want us to look at what was
in the cup. I want us to look at the transaction
of the cup. And I want us to look at the
delight of what it is for us to know what our Saviour has
done on Calvary's tree. So the cup, very clearly in this
account in Mark and in John and Luke, the cup was given by the
Father. So this is a transaction between
God the father and God the son. The cup was given by the father
and the cup was taken by the son and it's in his hands. It was in his possession and
he says that he must drink it and he must drink it alone. And
when he drinks it, And when he suffers all of the infinite wrath
of God, it will pass from him. So the contents of the cup will
pass from him. In the garden, Ben took and ate. The Lord Jesus Christ came and
took this cup. It was given him by the Father.
He took it willingly. He took it knowingly. And all
of the attributes of God, all of the glorious attributes of
God, from his sovereignty to his holiness, to his justice,
to his truth, all of the attributes of God are on display here, brothers
and sisters. and they are most clearly on
display at the cross the next day. So in this transaction,
the great transaction of the salvation of our souls, the great
comfort for us as believers is in this transaction between God
the Father and God the Son. He calls him Abba Father. As I said, it's a transaction
that's been recorded by the Holy Spirit. It's a transaction that's
written all through the scriptures. It's a transaction that was established
before the foundation of the world and that Lamb slain. Just
let me read some scriptures about this transaction. He spared not
his own son, Romans 8, but delivered him up for us all. Isaiah 53, you know the verse
as well, he made, God the Father made his soul an offering for
sin. He laid upon him the iniquity
of us all. God, 2 Corinthians 5, God made
him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made
the righteousness of God. Galatians 3.13 says that he was
made a curse. God sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins, the mercy seat, the wrath-absorbing sacrifice
for our sins. Hebrews says that he offered
up himself. He put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. He offered one sacrifice for
sins. It's so important, brothers and
sisters, that we actually see that this is a transaction. All
of our salvation is a transaction between God the Father and God
the Son and God the Holy Spirit. And it's applied to the hearts
of God's people as his precious blood is sprinkled on our hearts.
And we are led by God to see what has been transacted. People
think that the Lord Jesus Christ was making an offer to all of
the world. Let's just listen as I read Hebrews
9 to you. 9-11, but Christ being come a
high priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
this temple that was there in Jerusalem, neither by the blood
of goats and calves, but by his own blood. He entered in once
into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. He has it in his hands. For if
the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling
the unclean sanctify to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself
without spot to God. To God. The transaction, brothers
and sisters, the transaction of our salvation is a transaction
between God the Father and God the Son. And that's exactly what
we see here. In this, how much more shall
the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself
without spot to God? Did God accept his offering?
Of course he accepted his offering. Of course he accepted his offering.
And listen to what he goes on to say, the Holy Spirit says,
purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. He offered up himself. He offered
himself to God. God, Romans 3, set forth his
son to be the propitiation through faith in his blood. As Moses
was told, God says, when I see the blood, when I see the blood,
that's the glory of Passover, when God says, when I see the
blood, So here we have the shedding of the Lord Jesus Christ's blood
in Gethsemane's garden. So the cross, the cross is the
place where God gets glory. If you read his high priestly
prayer, and you read in John chapter 12, when he first contemplated
what was going to happen to him in public testimony, he says,
he says now, John 12, 27, now my soul is troubled, but what
shall I say? Father, save me from this hour,
but for this cause came I into this hour. And then he says,
Father, glorify thy name. This is all, brothers and sisters,
tied up with the glory of God. The glory of His name, the glory
of all of the revealed attributes of our God are here on display. His holiness, His justice, His
sovereignty, His grace, His truth, His faithfulness are all here. God forbid, says the Apostle
Paul, that I should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. God forbid that I should glory. So let's just look briefly
with me at the horrors. The horrors that holiness felt
as he looked in the cup. The Father gave him a cup. and
it was in his hands and he looked into that cup in Gethsemane's
garden and he says in verse 34 of our text, he says, my soul
is exceedingly sorrowful unto death. As Psalm 18 says, the
horrors, the sorrows of hell compassed me about, the snares
of death prevented me, surrounded me. In Mark verse 14, 33, he
says that he was sore amazed and very heavy. It means horror
of mind. I just read John 12 and it says,
his soul was troubled. That's the Latin word for hell,
brothers and sisters. And he fell to the ground. He fell to the ground and he
prayed more earnestly. And Luke says that his sweat
was as it were, Great drops of blood falling to the ground. This is God Almighty, brothers
and sisters. This is our creator. This is
the one who spoke the world into existence. This is the one who
just days beforehand has said to Lazarus, come out of that
tomb. This is God Almighty. This is
our saviour. If you want to see the sinfulness
of sin, If you want to see the horror of sin, you need to look
to the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's where we
see sin in all of its horror. He who was holy, he who was holy
fell to the ground and was in agony. He says in Psalm 22, my
heart, is like wax, melted in the midst of my bowels. In Psalm
40 he says, my iniquities have taken hold upon me, therefore
my heart faileth me. The Lord Jesus Christ nearly
died in Gethsemane's garden, brothers and sisters. Such was
the weight of all of that sin. He says in Psalm 40, I'm not
able to look up. And so, he alone, he alone who
is holy, he alone who is righteous, he alone who is just, saw sin
in its horror when he looked into that cup, brothers and sisters.
The Father gave, God Almighty in all of his holiness gave and
the Son took and the Son held. The only God Almighty knows exactly
what was in the cup. He's omniscient. The knowledge
of God is infinite. He knew exactly what was in the
cup. He knew exactly how horrific it all was. Only omniscience
knew what was in the cup. Only omnipotence could hold that
cup. He was sustained by the reality
of his deity as his flesh was crushed. And only holiness, only
holiness looks in agony that he felt as he saw the sin. What was in the cup? What was in the cup? All of the sin of all of the
children of God was in that cup. All of them. All of the sins
of all of God's people. All that the Father gave him
from the foundation of the world and God the Father gave the Lord
Jesus Christ a bride chosen out of Adam's race. And in that covenant
in his blood that was sealed from the foundation of the world,
the Lord Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world took
full responsibility, full responsibility for all of the sins of all of
those people. And he took full responsibility
for all of their righteousness and holiness before God. He is
the surety. He is the surety. So at that
moment, as they struck hands as it were in that covenant before
the foundation of the world, God the Father now can only and
will only look to the Lord Jesus Christ for everything that he
requires of all of his people to be brought into his presence.
and he cannot look anywhere else. And he looks to his son, and
he looks to his son in Gethsemane's garden, and he sees the weight
of all this, and he sees the holy agony that the Lord Jesus
Christ meant. Oh, brothers and sisters, we
talk about, we're talking about things, this is holy ground,
isn't it? We're talking about things which
are just way, way, way beyond our comprehension, that we can
look and adore we can look and be amazed in wonder at the love
of the Lord Jesus Christ. So all that was in the cup were
all those that were in union with him. It's all of his sheep.
It's all of the elect. It's all of his bride. He is
the husband of his bride, and he takes full responsibility
for his bride. And it's his task, isn't it,
to present all of them wholly spotless, unblameable, and unapprovable
in God's sight, Colossians 1. And that's exactly what's happening
here on the cross. He has to take all of their sins. They have to be declared to be
his. And on the cross the next day,
he drank that cup and all of the sins of all of God's people
were in him. And God the Father took out that
sword on Calvary's tree and slew his son. He was crushed in Gethsemane's
garden. And it says in Isaiah 53, it
pleased the Lord to bruise him. That word is to crush him. It
pleased him. It pleased the honour of his
name. It pleased the glory of all of
the glorious attributes of God. So sin was in the cup, but it
was a sin of all those people that he was in union with. He was, he was the glorious substitute. He stands, he stands in our place. and all of the wrath of God fell
upon him. He is the sacrifice. He is the
one who is in covenant, promised union with his people. He is
the head and we're the body. He's the husband and we're the
bride. He's the shepherd and we're the sheep. We are members
of his body, which is why Paul can say, I was crucified with
Christ. I was crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, but the
life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faithfulness of
the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Where
was Saul of Tarsus when this was happening, brothers and sisters?
If he was anywhere near Jerusalem, he was cursing the Lord Jesus
Christ, and that sin was in the cup. We've all wandered, haven't
we? You think of your life of wandering. You think of your life, my life
anyway, of running from God and despising the very notion of
his sovereignty and his holiness. And yet, always he pursues his
own because their sins were in the cup. And there will come
a time of love for every one of those people. And he'll come
to them because he's in perfect union with them. I do love reading
John chapter 17 and John chapter 17 is the glorious high priestly
prayer that was prayed that evening and he sang a song and led his
disciples out there. But he prays, he prays, doesn't
he? He says, Father the hour has
come, this hour in the garden has come, this hour on the cross
has come, glorify thy son. It's always about the glory of
God. Everything about salvation is the glory of God. Everything
that brings us the greatest comfort as believers is about the glory
of God. It's our greatest comfort, isn't
it? Glorify thy son, that thy son may also glorify thee. As
thou has given him power over all flesh, that he should give
eternal life to as many as thou has given him. And this is eternal
life. that they might know thee the
only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. He speaks
of union. I just love how he speaks. He
says In verse 20, praying for us, the Lord Jesus Christ. I
love the fact that these prayers are answered, brothers and sisters.
He put a tick beside all, these are answered. I neither pray
I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me
through their word, that they all may be one as thou, Father,
art in me, and I in thee, that they may also be one in us, that
the world may believe that thou hast sent me. and the glory which
thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one even as
we are one I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect
in one in the world and the world may know that thou hast sent
me and has loved them as thou hast loved me here is love They're
my people, he says. That was what was in the cup,
all of the sins of all of God's people. It is, as Mark showed
us earlier, it's the blood of the New Testament. It is that
cup, and it's necessary that ye drink it. He says in Mark
26, verse 30, O my father, if possible, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.
Oh my father, if this cup may not pass away from me except
I drink it, thy will be done. It's the cup the father has given
him. This cup, this particular cup,
this cup given by the father, it's in his possession. People say that the Lord Jesus
Christ was an innocent victim. Have you heard that? He was an
innocent victim. It's impossible for God to punish
an innocent victim, brothers and sisters. You know the Proverbs
17, isn't it? Proverbs 17, 15. He that justifieth
the wicked and he that condemneth the just, even they both are
abomination to the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ was made
sin and he was punished because he was made sin because he drank
that cup, brothers and sisters. He opened not his mouth before
Pilate and Herod. When I've been accused of doing
something that I didn't do, I'm very, very quick to open my mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
brothers and sisters, and he opened not his mouth. He opened
not his mouth. The religious world wants to
tell us that he willingly sacrificed his sinless life as a substitute
for human sin. Have you heard that? is a substitute
for the sins of all mankind. This is a transaction, brothers
and sisters, between a holy God and a righteous God and a just
God. Everything about this transaction
is a magnification of all of the attributes of Almighty God. If he died, as a substitute for
human sin, then everyone is saved. Everyone must be saved for God
to remain holy and just and true. You see, the very character of
God is so, so evidently on display here, brothers and sisters. He
died for his people. He died for his sheep. There
was a perfect, holy, just equivalent between the sin that was in the
Lord Jesus Christ and the punishment that God the Father enacted on
him on Calvary's tree that next day. Which is why, which is why,
brothers and sisters, He cried out from that cross, it is finished. The price is paid in full. All of the debts of all of God's
people are paid perfectly in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is God on that cross. This is God almighty, brothers
and sisters. He knew exactly what he was doing.
He knew exactly who his bride was. And God the Father punished
him in perfect justice. Perfect justice. Because he was
made sin. People want to say in some sorts
of religion that it was sufficient for all and efficient for the
elect. Brothers and sisters, go with
me to that garden and see the Lord of glory falling on his
face and his heart breaking within him and him crying out to his
father and you try and tell him, You try and tell him that he
was paying for sins that were not of those in union with him. You try and tell him at that
point that this was some sort of legal transaction, as some
people say. There is a reality here, brothers
and sisters, just in the very posture and just in the very
agony of the Lord Jesus Christ. In closing, I want us to consider
the character of God, and the necessary results of him taking
that cup. Again, I want to say that everything
about all of the attributes of God is on the greatest display.
If you want to see what love is, brothers and sisters, you
go to the cross. If you want to see the sinfulness of sin,
you go to the cross. If you want to see the power
and the absolute sovereignty of God, this is according to
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. There was nothing here
that was accidental in any way. This is God absolutely sovereign,
isn't it? This is God being holy. This
is God being just. This is God displaying love.
This is God revealing how grace is so powerfully effectual in
the lives of all of his people. There are necessary results and
the necessary results are all tied up with the character of
God. God is absolutely sovereign. God is absolutely holy. And holy justice slew his son. And holy justice cried out, it
is finished. And holy justice, raise the Lord
Jesus Christ from the grave and sin is gone, brothers and sisters,
all of the sin of all God's people. What extraordinary wisdom from
God that he could display all of the glory of his character
in saving a wretch like me. What wisdom. He is, as Romans
3 says, a just God and the justifier, a just God and a saviour. What extraordinary faithfulness
we see in the Lord Jesus Christ. He was faithful to the promises
he made before the foundation of the world. He was faithful
to the promises of bringing his bride back into heaven's glory
with him. It's a display of his holiness,
his sovereignty. It's a display of the justice
of God. It's a display of the truthfulness of God. That what
is written, what is written must come to pass, brothers and sisters.
These blood-bought promises. We open our Bible and we see
these blood-bought promises. And they're all yay and amen
in the Lord Jesus Christ because of this transaction. He is the
one who brings peace. He brings peace to his people
through what he did on Calvary's cross. He paid a price. He redeemed his church. He bought his church with his
own precious blood. Did he get what he paid for?
Must he get what he paid for? must all of the redeemed be with
him in glory. See, the blood speaks, doesn't
it? The blood speaks and the blood
is atonement for sins. The blood is the redemption in
his blood. And the blood cleanses us. And
the blood brings us peace. The blood brings us pardon. The
blood brings us justification. The blood makes us white. They're
singing about the blood in heaven, brothers and sisters, as we're
speaking here. They're singing about, you have redeemed us by
your blood. and brought us to God. The blood
sanctifies us. The blood sanctifies us. We overcome
the evil one by the word of our testimony and the power of the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have right of entry into the
holy of holies in heaven through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is the seal of the covenant. It is, as John 6 says, it's real
drink for the souls of God's people. It's real food for the
souls of God's people. It is that which contains life. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
13. I just love this passage of scripture. I just wanted to
read verse 10 because I just love it so much. We have an altar.
This was the altar upon which the Lord Jesus Christ was sacrificed.
And the fire of God's wrath fell on the Lord Jesus Christ and
he consumed the fire. We have an altar. whereof they
have no right to each but serve the tabernacle. You cannot serve
God by your works and by your activities. We serve him by faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It says in verse 13, let us go
forth therefore unto him without the camp bearing his reproach. For here we have no continuing
city, but we seek one to come. By him therefore let us offer
the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit
of our lips giving thanks to his name. And then in verse 20,
he says, now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead
our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood
of the everlasting covenant. What's the result of it? Make
you perfect. in every good work to do his
will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight. Through Jesus Christ, to whom
be glory forever and ever. So let's think again about the
cup in closing. It was given to him by his father.
It was taken by him willingly. He says he must drink. So it was given to him by his
father. It cannot be given to us. If it's in his hand, it cannot
be in our hand. If he drinks, I cannot drink. If he drinks, it is gone. The contents are gone, brothers
and sisters. That's what it is to be justified,
that the sins are gone. Sin cannot be in two places at
the same time. It cannot be in the cup that
he drinks and somewhere else. God cannot punish sin twice and
be holy, brothers and sisters. God accepts Christ's offering. The offering was to God and we
are now accepted in the Beloved. If Christ died for you, brothers
and sisters, you must be saved. You are saved. You must be saved. Everyone that the Lord Jesus
Christ died for is saved, brothers and sisters. To the glory of
God. There was a missionary some years
ago speaking to a tribe and they just had broken language and
the communication wasn't as clear as it might have been. And he
asked someone to tell them what they'd just heard. And she said,
a lady stood up and said, He die or me die. He die, me no die. He die, me no die. May the Lord, by his grace and
mercy, enable us to take the cup of salvation. And to take the cup of salvation
is to call upon the name of the Lord. God commands belief. Our warrant for coming, our warrant
for believing, is the very command of God Almighty. May the Lord
bless his words to our hearts. Thank you.