Let's open our Bibles to Luke
chapter 22. Luke chapter 22. I'll give you the setting for
my text this evening. It is the last Passover supper. And it is the beginning of a
new ordinance, the Lord's Supper. This Passover feast, it was a
great celebration of God's deliverance of Israel out of Egyptian bondage
by means of the blood of the Passover lamb. This would be
the very last observance of the Passover because the next day
God's Passover lamb will die. As that lamb in the book of Exodus,
that Passover lamb as it was each one of them was killed in
the blood shed, applied for the deliverance of the firstborn
of each family. So our Lord Jesus, he gave his
life, he sacrificed himself, sacrificed his perfect humanity
on the altar of His deity. He shed His blood in order to
save the people of His choice. He'd be sacrificed for the remission
of our sins. And He implements this new ordinance,
Luke 22 verse 19. He took the breath and gave thanks and break it
and gave it to them saying, this is my body which is given for
you. This do in remembrance of me. Likewise, also the cup to supper
saying, this cup is the New Testament in my blood which is shed For
you, bread and wine, both bread and wine are symbolic, as we
know, and they were only symbolic. The bread never became his body,
neither did the wine become his blood. After all, he's standing
there in his body and still his blood is going through his veins
and his arteries, his capillaries and so forth. This is great,
great symbolism. The bread and the wine. It's
just like when our Lord said, I am the vine and you're the
branches. He wasn't saying I'm vegetation. That wasn't what He was saying.
He wasn't saying I'm a plant. He's saying, I'm like the vine
to you and you're like the branches to me. You live by me. You live by my life. By the nourishment
that I give you. This bread, he said, of the bread,
he said, I am the bread of life. He said in John chapter 6, he
said, the bread of God is he that cometh down from heaven.
He is the real bread, he is the true bread, he is the very sustenance
of life. And his blood, which was typified
by the wine, That symbolizes the gospel. The wine tells us
of the gospel. The message of good news. This
is the divine cordial. This is that which makes our
hearts to be glad and rejoice. We drink in the wine of the gospel. This blood the Savior said. This
is the blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the
remission of sins. His blood was shed. His blood
was poured out. It was a fountain poured out.
It was poured out for many. For many. Not for everybody,
but it was sure enough poured out for many. Many people from
every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. So this ordinance that our Lord
starts, that He begins on this night before His substitutionary
death, it's full of great symbolism. But there's something else here
that is also very symbolic. And I think we tend to read over
it. We know the bread. That sets
forth his body. We know the wine, that sets forth
his blood. But there is something else here.
Notice in verse number 20. Likewise also the cup after supper
saying, this cup, this cup. He didn't say the wine in the
cup. He said, the cup is cup. It's the New Testament in my
blood. Now, even as the bread was not
his body, but his body was certainly symbolized
by the bread, and even as the wine was not his blood, But it
was certainly symbolized by the wine. Even so, that cup, it wasn't
the New Testament, but it symbolized the New Testament. It symbolized
the New Testament. I want us this evening to simply
talk about the cup. And I'm going to look at it in
four different ways. And I've been, this message has
kind of been on the back burner for a few weeks. I've really
been thinking about it and praying about it, studying about it. preachers, we've always got something
on our minds. I don't have a big mind, but
I've always got something on it. I'm always thinking about
something. Isn't that right, Alan? There's always something
kind of cooking in your understanding and in your mind. Something God
gives you and you just kind of roll it over and over and then
you work on something else and then you come back to it. Well,
this has been This has been with me for a few weeks, the cup.
Number one, the cup stands for the New Covenant. It stands for
the New Testament. The Amplified reads, and in like
manner he took the cup after supper saying, is the New Testament
or the covenant ratified in my blood which is shed, poured out
for you. As the bread was symbolic, as
the wine was symbolic, so also the cup was symbolic and it symbolizes
the new covenant. It symbolizes the covenant of
grace. Now listen, the covenant of grace,
it's everything. That's all of our salvation in
the covenant, in the covenant. You see, as the wine was in the
cup, even so the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is in the new
covenant. It comes out of the new covenant.
There would have been no redemption. There would have been no salvation
for folks like us. There would have been no forgiveness
of all of our iniquities and transgressions. There would be
no reconciliation to a holy God except for the cup. Except for
the New Testament. Little wonder then that Matthew
and Mark and Luke and the Apostle Paul in the book of 1 Corinthians. Each one of them, they link this
great cup with this wonderful everlasting covenant or testament
of grace. Matthew says in Matthew 26-28,
For this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many
for the remission of sins. In Mark chapter 14 verse 24,
And he said unto them, This is my blood of the New Testament,
which is shed for many. And the Apostle Paul, he says
in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 25, after the same manner
also he took the cup, and when he had supped, saying, This very
cup, this cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do ye as often
as ye drink it in remembrance of me. The wine, it tells us
of the blood. The bread speaks to us of His
body. The sacrifice of His entire self. And all of this work of redemption,
it is to be found in the cup. In the cup. You see, that cup
speaks to us of God's everlasting love for His elect. That cup
speaks to us of God's eternal purpose of redemption. You think
about the wine in the cup. The Lord said, drink ye all of
it. This is the blood of the New Testament. We must trace
the justice-satisfying, God-honoring, and iniquity-removing, bloodied
death of our Lord Jesus Christ back to the council chambers
of God Himself. Back to the New Testament. Back
to the everlasting covenant of grace. You see, every mercy that
comes to us through the blood of the Lord Jesus must be attributed
to God's covenant, God's New Testament. No wonder that David
said, this is all my desire, whatever is in that covenant.
You see, there can only be good in the cup. There can only be
good in the cup of God's everlasting covenant for all of His people. So David said, and I'll give
you the entire verse, although my house be not so with God,
yet He's made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered and all things
ensured, for this is all my salvation and all my desire, although He
maketh it not to grow. Now, what is contained in the
cup? What is in the New Testament?
What all is involved in the cup? Well, the person who would be
the Savior, that comes out of the cup. You see, the very first
one God chose, the very first one God elected, The very first
one God set Himself upon was the very surety of the covenant
of the Lord Jesus Christ. God said, Behold My servant whom
I behold, Mine elect and whom My soul delighteth, I put My
Spirit upon him, he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He comes out of the cup. Not only the person who would
redeem us, but also the people to be saved. That's to be found
in the cup. A chosen people. A people from
everywhere. A people loved, not for their
sakes, but just because God would love them. A people who would absolutely
fall in at them, just like everybody else. But a people that God set
apart for Himself. before He ever made the world
to magnify the riches of His grace in Christ Jesus in redeeming
them. It's in the cup, the price of
salvation. That's in the cup. You were redeemed,
not with corruptible things like silver and gold, but you're redeemed
with the precious blood of Christ Jesus. He's the Lamb ordained
before the world began. He's a God of peace. For in infinite
wisdom, He discovered the way whereby His banished ones would
be restored to Himself through the blood of Christ Jesus. Through
the blood of the covenant. Zechariah 9 verse 11 says, As
for thee also by the blood of the covenant, I've sent forth
thy prisoners out of the pit wherein there's no water. The
blood of the covenant. Don't ever forget the blood of
the Lord Jesus is the blood of the covenant. It's the blood
of the covenant. No wonder then that our Lord
said of that wine, of the wine, this is my blood. And of that
cup which held the wine, this is the blood, this is the blood
in the New Testament. It comes out of the covenant.
And for those who deny the covenant, you have no redemption. There
is no salvation. You say, I don't believe in the
everlasting covenant of grace. I don't believe in God's free
and sovereign grace. To deny His everlasting covenant
of grace is to say, I don't believe in redemption. Because redemption
came out of the covenant. That's where you trace the blood
back to. The wine was in the cup. The
wine was in the cup. The blood is the blood of the
covenant. Without the covenant, there wouldn't
be any blood. There wouldn't be any salvation. All of the blessings that will
ever come to sinners through the Lord Jesus Christ are to
be found in the cup of the New Testament. But because of the shedding of
the blood, there is remission of sins. So the cup symbolizes
the new covenant, the covenant of grace, the New Testament. Our Lord Jesus, His blood is
said to be the blood of the everlasting covenant in Hebrews chapter 13
verse 20. Go with me to Psalm 116. Psalm 116. The cup symbolizes,
first of all, the New Testament. But secondly, the cup symbolizes
salvation with all of its blessings which belong to us in Christ
Jesus. Look at this, Psalm 116 verse
13. Here's what David says, I will
take the cup of salvation. I'll call upon the name of the
Lord. You know that's in response to
what he said in verse number 12. He says, what shall I render
unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me? And on the surface,
this seems to be an unusual response. The Lord has given me all of
these benefits. Well, what shall I render to
Him? He says, this is what I'll render
to Him. I'm going to take up the cup
of salvation. I'm going to drink from it. I'm
going to drink from it. I'll call upon the name of the
Lord." What does that mean? I'm going to worship Him. In light of all that God has
done for me, in light of all that God has done for you, what
are you prepared to render to Him? This is what David, he asked
himself, what shall I render to the Lord? God's done so much
for me. He's done everything for me.
Well, what shall I render to the Lord? I'll take the cup of
His salvation, and I'll drink freely of His grace, and I'll
praise His name, and I'll worship Him. That's what David says he'll
do. So often in the Word of God,
a cup speaks of abundance. Abundance! And it certainly does
here. We drink of the abundance of
the love of God. We drink of the abundance of
the mercies of God. We drink of the abundance of
the grace of God. We drink in abundance of all
the blessings of the covenant that God has given to us. We
enjoy them. We believe them. We embrace them. We turn up the cup and we drink
the cup of salvation and we worship the Lord as we do so. Look over at Psalm 23. Psalm 23. And by the way, that word there
that I read to you from in Psalm 116, I will take the cup of salvation,
literally the word salvation is in the plural. Did you know
that? I will take the cup of salvation. All of the deliverances
that God gives you They're in the cup. Deliverance from the
penalty of sin. Deliverance from the power of
sin. Believing that someday there'll
be deliverance from the very presence of sin. It's all in
the cup. It's all in the cup of salvation. Oh God, give me the desire to
take the cup. There's all the mercies of God
in that cup. All the salvations of God are
in the cup. Oh God, give me the will. Give
me the desire to take the cup, to receive it freely and put
it to the parched lips of my soul and to drink from it and
drink from it and drink from it again. And so my poor soul
is refreshed and revived. Look what he says in Psalm 23. In verse 5, thou preparest a
table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest
my head with oil, my cup, my cup that you've given me, from
which I drink. It just runs over with blessings.
And you know, how many times have you put your your parched
lips to the cup of God's salvation that He's given to you, and you've
drank from it, and you've been refreshed, and you go back to
the cup to drink again, and guess what? The level hasn't gone down. It never goes down. The cup is
always full. In fact, it's just running over.
It's bubbling over with all of the mercies of God in Christ
Jesus. Listen, we've been blessed with
every spiritual blessing, all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ before the foundation of the world. Take the cup and
drink of it. Don't drink of the wines of the
world. Don't drink of the cups of the
world. They'll just be disappointing
to your soul. But you'll never be disappointed
when you drink from this cup. The drink of the cup of the Lord's
goodness and the Lord's mercies to you. And you drink and you
drink and you drink again. And every time you pull the cup
up, you say, it's still running over. It's still running over
with the goodness of God to us in Christ Jesus. No wonder the psalmist said,
turn to Psalm 16. Go back to Psalm 16. He says
this in Psalm 16 verse 5. The Lord is the portion of mine
inheritance and of my cup. You see, when I take this cup
to my lips, I'm drinking of Christ Himself. And all that He is,
in all of His strength. You say, preacher, I'm so weak.
Drink of the cup. He's your strength. Lord, preacher,
I'm so disappointed. Drink of the cup. He's so encouraging
to you. Everything you need is in Christ
Jesus. He's the cup. Turn up the cup
and drink. Number three, the cup symbolizes
not only the New Testament, not only the New Testament that's
in His blood, and not only this great salvation and all of the
mercies of our God. But thirdly, the cup symbolizes
the era of false religion from which men drank to the damnation
of their souls. Look at Jeremiah chapter 51. All in from this cup multitudes
drank. Jeremiah chapter 51, verse 7. Let me back up and read verses
6 and 7. Jeremiah 51, verses 6 and 7. The prophet says, flee out of
the midst of Babylon and deliver every man his soul. Be not cut
off in her iniquity, for this is the time of the Lord's vengeance. He will render unto her a recompense. Babylon hath been a golden cup
in the Lord's hands that made all the earth drunken. The nations
have drunken of her wine, therefore the nations are mad. We know
that there was literal Babylon that was indeed a thorn to the
side of Israel as God used them. But Babylon is also God's word
for the city of false religion. Every religion that is against
the gospel of grace, every religion that teaches acceptance by your
works, by your deeds, by your will, Acceptance with God by
something that you... It's Babylon. It's Babylon. And all the multitudes that drink,
drink from the cup that Babylon has. It's full of poison. There's
death in the cup. Death in the cup. You see, God
used Babylon liberally. God used Babylon as a scourge
against Israel, against Judah, and against the surrounding nations.
God used Babylon to accomplish His purpose to pour out His vengeance
and to pour out His wrath. And so He is using spiritual
Babylon. See, men have despised God's
way of grace. Men have despised the cross of
Christ Jesus. They've trampled underfoot the
blood of the covenant. Salvation by God's free and sovereign
grace is a message that most men oppose, and all will oppose
it unless God brings us to believe the truth. And so there's Babylon. She has in her cup this poisonous
mixture. She gives it to men to drink.
And they drink. Turn to Revelation chapter 17. Revelation chapter 17. Men for generations have been
drinking from the cup of wine. that Babylon freely and abundantly
dispenses. And Babylon is all around us.
People today in this city, in this state, in this nation,
in this world, people all over the world today have been drinking
a Babylon's cup. And you know what? It tastes
good to them. You see, the only reason the
gospel tastes good to us, the reason it's delightful to us,
is because God has given us a heart to love the gospel. If He hadn't given us a heart
to love the truth and drink the truth, we'd be drinking from
Babylon's cup. Look at what it says here in
Revelation chapter 17 verse 3. John says, Revelation 17 verse
3, He carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. I
saw a woman set upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy,
having seven heads and seven horns. The woman was arrayed
in purple and scarlet color, decked with gold and precious
stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations
and filthiness of her fornication. What is fornication? It's giving
your love to somebody that's not entitled to it. That's what
fornication is. On the physical level and also
on the spiritual level. It's giving the love of your
soul to somebody that's not entitled to. To a God, to an idol, to
a Jesus who is not the Lord Jesus Christ. To God that's not the
God of glory. And you commit fornication. There
is in this cup all manner of abominations. Abominations to God. Lies. Lying on God. the filthiness
of her fornication. And on her forehead was a name
written, Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots
and abominations of the earth. Verse 6 says, I saw the woman
drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of
the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered,
or I was absolutely shocked and astonished with great admiration. John says she's drunk from the
blood of all those who were murdered. They were murdered because they
believed Christ. Oh God, give me a taste for the
gospel. Let me drink of the wine in the
cup of the New Testament. Let me drink of the wine of God's
salvation. Oh God, keep the cup of abominations
away from me. I drank from it for so many years
and it seemed to taste good to me. But it doesn't taste good
to me now. In fact, I get just a sniff of
the cup and I say, there's poison in the cup. And that's what I
say to you about false religion. There's poison in the cup. Don't
drink of it. Don't drink of it. Fourthly,
the cup symbolizes the wrath and the fury of God Almighty. You're here in Revelation. Turn
back to chapter 16. There's another cup. This is
the cup of which the Word of God speaks about as being the
cup of God's wrath, the cup of God's vengeance. Chapter 16,
verse 19. This is about Babylon. The great
city was divided into three parts. The cities of the nations fell.
And great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the
cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. Look at chapter
18 verses 4 through 6. Chapter 18 verse 4, And I heard
another voice come from heaven, I heard another voice from heaven
saying, come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of
her sins, that you receive not of her plagues. This is the effectual
call because you see God's elect can't perish with the non-elect.
The righteous can't perish with the wicked. And many of God's
people have drunk from the cup of Babylon for many, many years,
but it cannot be that they will perish with Babylon. And so God
sends them the gospel and He sends the effectual call of grace
by His Spirit and He says, come out of her! And I'll tell you,
when He says, come out of her, you're coming out. You're coming
out. Because you cannot perish! You're
wicked? You can't. Christ died for you. He's paid your sin debt. The
elect cannot perish. So he says, come out of her.
Look at verse 5. Her sins have reached unto heaven,
and God hath remembered her iniquities. Oh, of the righteous, of God's
elect, of the redeemed, our sins and iniquities, God says, well,
I remember no more. But of Babylon's sins, God remembers
her iniquities. And He says in verse 6, reward
her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her, double according
to her works in the cup which she hath filled, fill to the
double. Fill to the double. Go back to Psalm 11. Psalm 11, I'll give you a couple
of Old Testament passages. Psalm 11, verse 6. Psalm 11, verse 6, "...upon the
wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible
tempest. This shall be the portion of
their cup." And remember, of the righteous, the Lord is the
portion of our cup. Salvation's in the cup! But He's
got another cup. This is a cup of His wrath. This
is the cup of His vengeance. And upon the wicked. Who's the
wicked? Anybody who's not righteous. Anybody who's not made the righteousness
of God in Jesus Christ is the wicked. This shall be the portion
of their cup. Look at Psalm 75. Psalm 75 and verse 8. Psalm 75 verse 8, 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."
In other words, God's going to make you drink it all. But you'll
have to drink it all for eternity because you'll never drain the
cup. You'll never drain the cup. Go to Isaiah 51. Isaiah chapter
51. Here Jerusalem stands for all
of the elect of God, all of the ransomed of the Lord Jesus. Isaiah
51 verse 17. There is none to guide her among
all the sons whom she hath brought forth. There is none that taketh
her by the hand of all the sons that have brought her up. Now
let me say, I'm sorry, verse 21, go down to verse 21, I'm
sorry. Therefore hear now, hear now this, thou afflicted and
drunken, but not with wine. Thus saith thy Lord, the Lord,
and thy God that pleaded the cause of his people. Behold,
I've taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the
dregs of the cup of my fury, thou shalt no more drink of it
again, while I will put it into the hand of them that afflict
thee, which they have said to thy soul, bow down, that we may
go over, and thou hast laid thy body on the ground, as on the
ground is the street to them that went over." God says, they
made you drink of their hatred, their persecution, I'm going
to make them drink of another cup, the cup of my wrath. But I'd like to read the 22nd
verse and know the application to it. 51-22, Thus saith thy Lord the
Lord, and thy God that pleaded the cause of his people. Behold,
I've taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the
dregs of the cup of my fury. Thou shalt drink of it no more.
Again, because I'm giving the cup to somebody else. Somebody
else is going to drink the cup of my fury for you. Somebody else is going to drink
the cup of my vengeance. Go over to Matthew now, chapter
20. Matthew chapter 20. I tell you, you cannot read of
our Lord being in Gethsemane. and being on the cross without
facing the fact that he had to drink from the
cup. This is really in the center of all this, both in Gethsemane
and on the cross. Look at Matthew chapter 20, verse
22. And of course, The sons of Zebedee, their mother
had said, I want my sons to sit right with you in your kingdom.
Verse 22, but Jesus answered and said, you know not what you
ask. Are you able to drink of the
cup that I shall drink of? Can you even take a sip of it?
And to be baptized with the baptism that I'm baptized with? They
said unto him, we're able. And he saith unto them, ye shall
drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that
I am baptized with. But they said on my right hand
and on my left, speaking as the son of man, he said, that's not
mine to give. It shall be given to them for whom is prepared
of my Father. Go over to chapter 26. It's especially
in the garden that we see our Lord And I've got to tread carefully
here. We see him overwhelmed at the thought of drinking this
cup. I don't know any other way to
say it and God help me not to say anything
wrong here. Look at Matthew chapter 26 verse
36. Then cometh Jesus with them unto
a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto his disciples, Matthew
26, 36, sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. He took with
him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, James and John, and
began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul
is exceeding 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, not as I will,
but as thou wilt. Why would the Lord pray that? Our Lord Jesus knew why He came
into this world. He said, Lo, I come to do Thy
will, O God. But I also know this, as a man,
He learned. There's a marvelous passage of
Scripture in Hebrews chapter 5, and it says this, Though He
were a son, Yet he learned obedience by the things that he suffered. As the Son of God, he knew everything. He was omniscient. As the Son
of Man, he learned. I can't comprehend this. But
the Scripture says he grew in stature. I understand that part. It's that next part. What's the
next part? And wisdom. and wisdom. He was born into this world and
he made that new baby cry just like all the rest of us did.
He cried just like all the rest of us did. He was fully dependent
upon his mother. He was feeding the world. But
he had to be nourished from his mother's breast. He grew up, he had to be instructed,
he had to be taught. You ever think about that? He
had to learn. Now, he never made any mistakes.
He never got anything wrong, but his mother had to teach him
math. And I can just hear him saying
to her, so you mean ten times ten is a hundred? Yes, Jesus,
that's very good. You've got that concept. Well,
Mother, let me practice my... Of course, He spoke in Hebrew,
but let me practice my ABCs. I want you to make sure I'm saying
them right. A, B, C, D. Mother, did I say those right?
Jesus, You said them perfectly. You think about it. Our Lord
grew in wisdom and knowledge. He worked with Joseph in the
carpenter's shop. Jesus is a hammer. Here's a saw. Let me show you how to use him.
I only had to show him one time. Just one time. Never hit his
thumb with a hammer. Never missawed anything. He kept
on growing and learning throughout his life. As he approached Calvary, the
thought of facing the wrath of God intensifies. So much so that
you remember in John chapter 12, he said, now is my soul troubled. That word troubled is agitated,
it's stirred within me. I got a churning inside of me. What shall I pray? Father, deliver
me from this hour. But for this hour I came into
the world, because except a grain of wheat fall into the ground
and die, it abideth alone. But if it died, bring forth much
fruit. I must die. And now he's in the
garden, where he sweat, as it were, great drops of blood. In
agony. And He falls on His face. He
says, Oh my Father, if it be Thy will, let this cup pass from
me. What's happened? I believe He
looked into the cup. And He saw to a full degree as
the Son of Man, the awfulness of the vengeance and the wrath
and the fury of God Almighty. And He said, Oh my Father, Oh
my Father, if it be Thy will, I don't want to drink the cup, but not my will. Thy will be
done. I can't see anything else but
that in this passage of Scripture. It shows the reality of His humanity. In fact, when Matthew says, he
fell, he fell on his face, it's the same terminology as a drunken
man who falls. He staggers and he falls. What
is it? It's the weight, the weight of
the wrath of God that's about to fall on him. And then the
man, Christ Jesus, He says, Father, if it be Your will, let it pass
from me. Let it pass from me. And I'll
tell you, He prayed it three times. He prayed it three times. Go over to John chapter 18. John chapter 18. Let me show
you this. He looked into that cup. What
did he see in the cup? It was like a cauldron. A cauldron. the boiling, infinite wrath and
vengeance of God against sin. He smelled it. He smelled it. The sulfur of it. The awfulness. He smelled hell itself in the
cup. He smelled all of the punishment
that all of His sheep would have to suffer forever and ever. And
just the smell of it turned His stomach. Oh, Father, if it be Thy will,
Let the cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, thine
be done. Now look at John chapter 18,
having prayed, then he strengthened by the Holy Spirit. And in John chapter 18 verse
number 10, then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, Smote the high
priest's servant, cut off his right ear. The servant's name
was Malchus. Then Jesus said unto Peter, Put
up thy sword unto the sheep, into the sheep. The cup which
my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? He embraces the
cup. He says, Now is the time to drink
from the cup. And he goes to the cross. He embraces it. Of course, wicked
men hung Him on the cross, treated Him awfully. But then about 12 o'clock, God puts His hand over the sun. He blots out all light. I can't even, I can't enter into
this like I should in the darkness. The cup is put to His holy lips,
and He drinks, and He drinks, and He drinks in the wrath of
God. He drinks hell itself into His
soul until finally there's nothing left in the cup. And then God takes His hand away
And the sun shines again. And our Lord Jesus, he cried
out with a strong voice, it's finished. It's finished. What's finished? All of the fury
of the wrath of God in the cup of my people, I've drained it
dry. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus. There is nothing in the cup for
the people of God except salvation. All the benefits of the cup of
God's New Testament. That's just the best news I've
ever heard in my life. And I put the cup of God's salvation
to my lips again and again, even tonight again. And I say, oh
Lord, this is so good. This is so good. There is no
wrath for me. Now let me tell you one more
thing. For those of you who are unbelieving, He drank of the cup and He drained
it dry because of who He is. But if you die in your sin, If
you die without a mediator, if you die without perfect righteousness,
God's going to put the cup of His vengeance to your lips and
you're going to have to drink it forever. You will never, never
even begin to drain it. It will always be full. The cup
of God's wrath will always be full because you can't pay for
one sin. That ought to scare you. That
ought to frighten you. That ought to cause you to flee
to Jesus Christ. Flee from the wrath to come. Flee to Him who turned up the
cup of God's vengeance and drank it all for His elect. And now
nothing remains for us but just infinite blessings. Infinite
goodness. The infinite everlasting mercies
of our God. I will take the cup of salvation. I'll put it to my lips, the lips
of my soul, and I'll drink again. I've drank again from the cup
tonight. And I've been refreshed. And
I hope you have too. Let's sing 329.