It's a great honor. It's a great
privilege. I count it a great joy. Look
in Matthew chapter 26 with me. I've got three texts of scriptures
I want to read, found in Matthew 26 and Mark 14 and Luke 22. Matthew chapter 26 and verse
36. Let's look in verse 36. Then cometh Jesus with them 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 saith he unto them, My soul
is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Carry 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 came unto the disciples,
and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, Couldst thou
not watch with me one hour? Watch, and pray, that ye enter
not into temptations. The Spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak. And he went away again the second
time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass
away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done." This is a different account saying
almost the same thing, but in Mark chapter 14 and verse 32. And they came to a place which
was named Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, Set ye
here while I shall pray. And he took with him Peter and
James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very
heavy, and said unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto
death. Tear ye here, and watch with
me. 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 him
asleep, and said unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? Couldst
thou not watch one hour? Watch and pray, lest thou enter
into temptation. The spirit indeed is ready, but
the flesh is weak. And again he went away and prayed
and spake the same words." And one more place, Luke chapter
22 and verse 39. And he came out and went as he
was wont, accustomed, to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples
also followed him. And when he was at the place,
he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.
And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and knelt
down, and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this
cup from me. Nevertheless not my will, but
thine be done. And there appeared an angel unto
him from heaven, strengthening him. And then in that agony he
prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was, as it were, great
drops of blood falling down to the ground." This was the night of our Lord's
betrayal. He was ready to be brought before
the religious leaders and then the political leaders and to
be falsely accused, tried, and the next day he would be crucified. And it had been some time, several
hours now, our Lord was troubled in his spirit about many things. One of the things he was troubled
about was about his betrayal, the one who should betray him.
He was troubled in spirit and said, One of you shall betray
me this night. He was troubled about that. He
said, He that eateth bread with me lifteth up his heel against
me. Ye are not all clean. This he
spake of Judas Iscariot, which should betray him. Woe be to
that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. He was troubled
about his betrayal. He was also troubled about his
disciples being offended in him and leaving him. This is what
he said about that. All of you shall be offended
in me this night, for it is written, I will smite the shepherd and
the sheep shall be scattered. You shall be scattered and leave
me alone. But I'm not alone. My Father
is with me. The Lord Jesus took great measure
of comfort in his disciples. He had been with them for three
and a half years. And they loved him, but he loved
them. He loved their presence. And
this night, not a one of them was able to comfort him. Not
a one would stay awake to watch with him. Could you not watch
with me just one hour? He found no comforters. He said
this in Psalm 69, Reproach hath broken my heart. Reproach hath
broken my heart. I looked for some to take pity,
and I found none. And I looked for comforters,
but there was none. The old song says this, Tarry
here, he told the three, tarry here and watch with me, but they
heard no bitter moan. The three disciples slept while
our loving Savior wept in Gethsemane alone. Could you not watch with
me? And this bothered him. He was
troubled in spirit. But the passages that I read
to you here in Mark, Luke, and John, they are all in agreement
as to what troubled our Lord more than anything else. Matthew
said this, he began to be sorrowful and very heavy. And he said,
My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. And he fell
on his face. He was exceeding troubled. And
Mark says he began to be sore amazed. That word means to be
startled. He was surprised. He was shocked.
And Luke said, being in agony, he prayed until his sweat became,
as it were, great drops of blood. And all the writers are in agreement
with what brought the Lord Jesus Christ to this state of mind,
and it was this cup. This cup. Father, if you be willing,
let this cup pass from me. If it's possible, let this cup. That was what was causing such
agony of his mind. Now here is what I want to look
at with you just a few minutes this afternoon. What is this
cup? What was it that for the only
time in his life startled the man of Christ Jesus? That's what
I want to look at with you. And if you would, turn back over
to the Scriptures where the pastor was reading to us in Revelation
chapter 14. I want you to keep your Bibles
handy and turn to some passages of Scripture with me. There are
several cups spoken of in the Scripture. David talked about
taking the cup of salvation and calling upon the name of the
Lord. Jeremiah talked about the cup of comfort, the cup of consolation. Paul talked about a cup of blessing.
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion
of the blood of Christ? But these aren't the cups that
our Lord Jesus had on his mind this night that he was betrayed.
Look at it here in Revelation chapter 14, and look in verse
10. He's speaking of those that would
have the mark of the beast. In Revelation chapter 14 and
10, he says, 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 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 nor
night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever
receiveth the mark of his name." This cup is called the cup of
his indignation. And in that cup contains his
wrath. This word indignation itself
means fierceness, burning anger, abhorrence, hatred, hatred, hatred. We talk about divine hatred. We don't even like to mention
such a word, do we? Divine hatred, but that's in
God. The fierceness of God's wrath
and his indignation, the cup of his indignation. David said
in Psalms 78, he cast upon them the fierceness of his anger,
wrath, and indignation. That's what this cup is. It's
a cup of God's indignation. He said in Psalms 11, the Lord
tries the righteous, but the wicked and him that loves violence
his soul hates. And upon the wicked he shall
reign snares, fire and brimstone, and that horrible tempest. This
is the portion of their cup. The fierceness of God, the anger
of God. the wrath of God, everything
that is evil in God, his bad side is in this cup. God's wrath upon sin, he hates
sin. God's anger against sin, he is
angry with the wicked every day. That anger is in this cup. God
hates all workers of iniquity. And to drink of this cup means
it's tasty, it's swallowed down, it gets down deep into the soul,
and all the effects of it is felt. The wrath, the fierceness,
the indignation of God. A horrible tempest. No rest,
day nor night. Sometimes you and I talk about
hell, and we limit it just to a place. It is that. It definitely is that. Speak
to my brother that he come not to this place of torment. But
hell, more than a place, is a condition. It's a state. And what I'm contending
this evening in these scriptures, that it's possible and did occur
that the Son of God endeared hell without going to the place."
Now, let me say this. The Bible speaks to us in symbolic
terms. It describes terms to us that
our mind cannot grasp of the wrath of God, things pertaining
to the fierceness of God's anger. And it speaks to us in terminology
and symbols that we can relate to. Let me give you three. The
first one is fire. When the rich man lifted up his
eyes, he said, I am tormented in this flame. And hell is called
a place of fire that is not quenched. That fire cannot be fire as you
and I know it. Because when you and I see literal
fire, it not only produces intense heat, but it produces light. Hell is called a place of outer
darkness, where there is no light. So fire symbolizes a term that
describes something to our mind that is indescribable. And what
is that? God's fierceness. God's wrath. Listen to Nahum, chapter 1, verse
6. Who can stand before his indignation? Who can abide the fierceness
of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire. His fury is like fire. That's fire that cannot be quenched. That's the torment in fire that
the rich man inhaled woke his eyes up as soon as it touched
him. You and I recognize something
about fire. It's necessary not to make direct
contact with it. We cannot abide fire. It's contrary to our nature.
It will destroy us. Isaiah said this, "'Who among
us shall dwell with devouring fire, and who among us can dwell
with everlasting burnings?' And listen to this in Ezekiel 22,
"'I have poured out my indignation upon them, I have consumed them
with the wrath, with the fire of my wrath.'" So fire in the
scriptures is symbolic of the cup of God's indignation. Everything that is in it. There is something more dreadful
than natural fire. And that is the fire of God's
wrath. The fire of His anger. And it never is quenched. It
can never be quenched. Let me give you a second example
about hell. And it is sometimes called the
bottomless pit. That's a symbol. That's a symbol. It's a symbol of something that
our weak minds can grasp hold of. I'm afraid of a bottomless
pit. I am scared to death of heights.
You've seen these fellows parachute off into these huge holes in
the ground. And when the camera comes up
and just peeps over the edge, it scares me to death. We think
about a bottomless pit, and it makes us afraid, doesn't it?
The bottomless pit is symbolic of this, the removal, the loss
of God's support. When God ceases to support a
soul, what happens to it? It falls. It falls. When God removed His hand from
those heavenly angels, what did they do? They fell. When God
removed His hand from our first parents, what happened? They
fell. When God removes His hand from you, what happens? You fall. You fall. God upholds every individual
in this world. There's nobody, no matter how
wicked they are in this world, but what's upheld by the hand
of God. And when God removes his hand,
they fall. And there's no stopping themselves.
There's no place to get a foothold. They sink and they sink and they
sink, having no support. David in Psalms 36 said this,
the workers of iniquity are fallen, they are cast down, they shall
not be able to stand. Why? God has removed his support. God himself has cast them down. They shall not escape in thine
anger cast down the people. This is what was in that cup. A bottomless pit. Fire. Outer darkness. They shall be
cast into outer darkness. We often hear hell and read of
hell described as outer darkness. What is that symbolica? And I'm
not saying that there's no hell. Well, sure there's a hell. There's
a place. But the condition is what makes
it hell. And he said about outer darkness
is this. It's describing the loss of God's
presence. What is outer darkness? What
is utter darkness? But the loss of God's presence.
God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. To lose God's
presence is to lose all light. When the rich man lifted up his
eyes and held, he cried. He cried. God wasn't there. He hated God here, but he couldn't
live without God. But when God lets him now live
without him, he lives in utter darkness, without the light of
God's presence. The rich man was in fire that
would never be quenched. His soul is fallen tonight as
you and I are gathered here. This is what was in that cup.
This is the cup that the Lord Jesus Christ had in his thoughts
when he said, Father, O Father, let this cup pass from me. Here
is what he said, Behold, and see if there is any sorrow like
unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath
afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. The anger of Almighty God was
in that cup. And Jesus Christ, just thinking
of it, anticipating it, brought the blood to the pores of His
skin. Oh, my God, my soul is cast down
I sink in deep mire where there is no standing." What is that? That's hell. That's hell. It's a removal of God's presence. God had always supported him.
When men hated him and tempted him, God supported him. When
he faced the rage of the sea and the wind and devils, God
supported him. But now on the cross. God removes
his support. And he said, I sank. I'm sinking. I can't find a foothold. I'm
sinking. What's wrong? My Father has forsaken
me. He's withdrawn his support from
me. I stand alone. Oh, I sink. I sink in deep mar. Deep. Deep mar, deep water. No bottom to it. You can't get
a foothold. Oh, Christ our rock, David said.
David said, He's my rock. He's my rock. No wonder. We can't
stand before God except we stand upon Christ our rock. The only
place where you can stand and not sink This cup contains everything
that is against our natures, things that to experience would
be tormented to the soul and to the body. Those things that
are in God, which things you and I cannot abide in our humanity. We cannot abide to drink of this
cup. And for the Lord Jesus to deliver
us from it, he must drink it himself. Something else about this cup,
not only does it contain all those things that are in God
that you and I cannot face, his wrath, his indignation, the fierceness,
the anger, but something else about this
cup Look over in Psalms, chapter 75, and look in verse 6. Psalms, chapter 75, and look
in verse 6. For promotion cometh neither
from the east nor from the west, nor from the south, But God is
the judge, he puts down one and sets up another. For in the hand
of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red, it is ripe,
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." Another thing about this cup that the
Holy Spirit tells us here is that it is full of full of mixture,
but not mixture of good and evil, but mixture of evil. Everything
that's evil. And it's so full that there's
no room for anything good. In this life, you and I enjoy
a mixture of things that's disagreeable to us and things that's agreeable
to us. Arms are hurting, our legs are
free. If our body is afflicted, our
mind is free. This life is full of sickness
and wellness. It's full of tears, but it has
some laughter. It's full of mixture of good
and evil, but it's not so in this cup. This cup that the Lord
Jesus prayed and said, O Father, let it pass from me, it is a
mixture of evil without any good at all. You and I cannot imagine
what a life would be if all we had was evil, and God made certain
that all good was removed and just gave us the evil. And on
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, All comfort was taken away, all
sources of joy and gladness and peace. Aggravating devils that nobody
could see but himself. Looking out over a crowd without
any tears of sympathy, but mockings and spittings. all the aggravating
circumstances that you and I could imagine. Not only the loss of
God's presence, but his felt indignation. What he felt upon
his pure and holy conscience, sin and the guilt and the shame. As he looked down upon his body,
it was naked, and the shame of all of that. All that was left
him upon the cross was that which was evil without any good. No man in this life, even men
upon their deathbed that are ready to perish, still have a
measure of that which is good, but not Christ the Lord. He put
this cup to his lips and he swallowed it down, and all it was was a
mixture. of everything that was evil. This cup, this cup. Something else about this cup,
and I'll quote this scripture to you. But it's found, if you'd
like to read it sometime, over in Ezekiel chapter 23 and verse
32. It's a large cup. This cup is
called a large cup. Thus saith the Lord God, Thou
shalt drink of thy sister's cup. deep and large. You shall be
laughed to scorn and had in derision, for it containeth much." It is
a large cup. It contains much. This cup not
only contains a tempest, but a horrible tempest. It not only
contains sorrow, deep sorrow, but exceeding sorrow. He not
only contains the wrath of God, but the fierceness of God's wrath. Yea, even the fierceness of the
wrath of God Almighty. And not just a worm, but a worm
that never dies. Not just darkness, but outer
darkness. Not just a pit, but a bottomless
pit. Not just punishment, but everlasting
punishment. Not just a fire who causes the
torment to ascend up, but up forever and ever and ever. A large cup, a wide cup, it contains
much. And the very anticipation of
this cup throws the Son of God down on his face, and he is astonished. And if that does him that way,
what will it do for you? And what will it do for me if
I have to drink this cup? What must God feel towards sin? You who think of sin but lightly,
nor suppose the evil great, here may view its nature rightly.
Here its guilt may estimate." We want to estimate sin and its
guilt. Mark the sacrifice appointed. See who bears this awful load.
"'Tis the word of the Lord's anointed, Son of man and Son
of God." And look what it does to him. It throws him down on
his face, and he begins to sweat drops of blood. If it be possible,
let this cup pass from me. I want to read this one to you
over in Psalms chapter 51. This is so important. Psalms
chapter 51 and in verse 17. Isaiah chapter 51. Isaiah 51 and verse 17. Look what he says 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 drunken the dregs of
the cup of trembling, and hast wrung them out. This tells us
the effects that this cup has upon those who are forced to
drink it. It is a cup that is called a
cup of trembling. The ingredients make one tremble. This is why the scripture says
he began to be sore amazed. He was startled. He was astonished. The disciples never saw him like
this. They never saw his face shocked. all the things that he had faced
for three and a half years. Never was he surprised. Never
was he shocked before. But now he is amazed. He is overwhelmed. And he cries like a baby. He
begins to sob like a little child. And he falls down on his face
in the dirt. And the blood begins to come
to the surface of his skin and flow out red like drops of sweat. And all they could do was sleep
for agony. They couldn't enter into what
he was ready to enter into. Astonished, trembling, amazed. Oh, Father, take this away. Remove this. Let this pass from
me. If I had no other place than
this to prove the humanity of the Son of God, wouldn't this
prove it? The ingredients that's in this
cup is made for this very reason,
to astonish, to awaken the faculties of the soul with astonishment. to make it tremble. He is real
human. That's why this cup affected
him the way it did. It made him tremble. Have you
ever seen these T-shirts or these bumper stickers that says on
it, no fear? You see sometimes the kids wear
them at the mall, no fear. I'm not afraid of anything. I'm
the master of my fate. I'm the captain of my soul. No
fear. I'm not afraid of anything. You
will be. You will be. I called, and you
refused. I stretched out my hand, and
no man regarded. And here's what he said. I will
laugh at your calamity. And I'll mock when your fear
comes. And it will come. It will come. That's what this cup does. That's
what it's meant to do. There are men who are dying in
great peace and calmness. The rich man never lifted up
his eyes. He was afraid of nothing until
this cup touched his lips. And he was awakened. He was astonished. Jude said the Lord is coming
with ten thousands of his saints to convince all. That's what this cup does. The mixture in it is made to
awaken the soul, the mind, the understanding that there is no
doubt why I'm in hell. Nobody in hell tonight doubts
why they're there. Nobody in hell tonight would
deny what they're suffering and why. You can't convince men here.
We cry, we pray, we preach, but we can't convince men. God will
convince men. That's what this cup is for.
It's to finally get men's attention and convince them, I am indeed
a sinner against God. And my sins deserve the eternal
wrath of God. I agree with him. I agree with
him. This was the cup that made Jesus
Christ tremble when he drank of it. It astonished him. Oh, this cup. This cup. Two more
scriptures and I'll close. Look in John 18. John 18. Look what he said in verse 9.
The Lord Jesus was ready to be arrested in John 18.9. That the
saying might be fulfilled which he spake of them which you have
given me, I have lost none. Then Simon Peter having a sword,
he drew it and smote the high priest's servant and cut off
his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus.
Then said Jesus unto Peter, put up thy sword unto the sheep.
which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? Shall I not drink it? The only
place we ever seen him flinch when he anticipated drinking
this cup. Finally, he comes to terms with
it and says, Shall I not drink it? And drink it he did. He drank it until he drank all
the dregs, and he licked the bottom dry. He drank the cup
of damnation dry. Dear child of God, you should
never fear the wrath of God. You should never fear the fierce
anger of God. You should never fear this cup.
When your Father chastens you sore, draw near to Him and address
Him as your Father. And be thankful that all the
evil toward you has been swallowed up by your blessed Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Shall I not drink it? Yes. And
bless His heart, He did. And that cup is gone. It's empty. It's dry. If you could find it,
you could look in it. There's nothing there. Maybe
there's someone here this afternoon, and the thoughts of your heart
is being, I want to come to the Lord. I want to be saved by Him.
But something is making you hesitate. Listen, everything's been done
that God requires to be done. He's poured out His wrath upon
sin. He's punished it. Cast your soul
upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and he'll receive you the instant
you do. Shall I not drink it? Yes, he
drank it. Thank God he drank it. He either
drank it or we must drink it. And while he drank dry, we'll
spend eternity sipping upon if we don't trust him. One more
passage. Psalm 85. Look in Psalm 85. Psalm 85, verse 1. Lord, thou hast been favorable
unto thy land, to your people, to your church. Thou hast brought
back the captivity of Jacob. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity
of your people. You have covered all their sins. Thou hast taken away all thy
wrath. Thou hast turned thyself from
the fierceness of thine anger." How did he do that? When did
he do that? Where did he do that? When Jesus Christ, our Lord and
our Savior, drank that cup. That's when he turned from it. In verse 10, mercy and truth
are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the
earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea, the
Lord shall give that which is good. And you know something? It's good without any mixture
of evil. Because that's all gone. Clara, you never suffer any evil
now. It's all good. It's all good. The evil is gone. It was in that cup. Jesus, our
Lord, drank that. Now, it's all good. And your
land shall yield her increase. Oh, Lord. Ain't that a wonderful
gospel? Oh, gracious Father.