"The Cup" 3-28-24
Overview
The Four Cups and the Cup of Christ
For more than two millennia, the Passover meal has been marked by four cups, each tied to God's promises in Exodus 6:6-7: the cup of sanctification ("I will bring you out"), the cup of deliverance ("I will rescue you from slavery"), the cup of redemption ("I will redeem you with an outstretched arm"), and the cup of praise ("I will take you as my people, and I will be your God"). When Jesus gathered with His disciples for that final Passover in Luke 22:14-20, He took these ancient cups into His hands and redefined them around Himself.
Each cup finds its fulfillment in Christ. Sanctification: "If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation" 2 Corinthians 5:17. Deliverance: Christ "gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age" Galatians 1:4. Redemption: He has "rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption" Colossians 1:13-14. Praise: "The home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God" Revelation 21:3. And awaiting all believers is the marriage supper of the Lamb Revelation 19:9.
Yet there is another cup in Scripture—the cup of God's wrath, foaming and unmixed, drained by the wicked (Psalm 75:8; Revelation 14:10). This is the cup our sin has earned: the cup of wandering, denial, and betrayal. In Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done" Luke 22:42. It was this cup of judgment—more than the nails, the thorns, or the lashes—that drew from Him the cry, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Matthew 27:46. Christ alone could drink it to the dregs, and He did so in our place.
Because Jesus drank the cup of wrath, we are given the cup of salvation—the new covenant in His blood Luke 22:20. Paul warns us to examine ourselves before eating the bread and drinking the cup 1 Corinthians 11:27-28, and apart from grace we would tremble. But "if we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness" 1 John 1:9, and "God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us" Romans 5:8-9. Come to the altar, then, not in fear but in faith. The cup of judgment has been drunk. What remains for you is the cup of mercy, forgiveness, and grace—tangible nourishment to strengthen you against temptation and to seal you as God's own. Drink deeply.
Transcript
4 cups for at least 500 years before then. 6s
4 cups for at least 200 or 2,500 years before today. 15s
4 cups of Passover, 4 cups signifying God's covenant with His people found in Exodus 22s
Say, therefore, to the Israelite, I am the Lord and I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians 40s
and deliver you from slavery to them. 48s
I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 51s
I will take you as my people and I will be your God. 55s
You shall know that I am the Lord your God who has freed you from the burdens of the Egyptians. 60s
The cup of sanctification, I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 68s
The cup of deliverance, I will deliver rescue you from slavery, their bondage, 77s
the cup of redemption. 86s
I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and mighty acts of judgment. 89s
The cup of praise, I will take you as my people and I will be your God. 94s
It is this meal in which these four cups are celebrated that we find ourselves with 103s
Jesus and His disciples today. 111s
If you would please open your bibles to the gospel of Luke the 22nd chapter, if you're 116s
using a pure addition of the Bible this can be found on page 75 in the New Testament 123s
or in the gospel of Luke the 22nd chapter, beginning with the 14th verse. 129s
When the hour came he took His place at the table and the apostles with Him. 139s
He said to them, I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 144s
For I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. 150s
Then he took a cup and after giving thanks he said, take this and divide it among yourselves. 157s
For I tell you that from now on I will not drink the fruit of the vine until the kingdom 164s
of God. 170s
Sun down. 174s
The time of the Passover had come and with it. 176s
With it had come the time in which the final hours of Christ's ministry on earth would be completed. 181s
He desired to share in this Passover feast with His disciples, though He knew that these same disciples, 190s
He knew that it would be the same last feast that He would share with those who would leave Him. 199s
It would be the final feast that would lead Him to His Father's glory and to man's redemption. 207s
He knew this final Passover had indeed come and He also knew of the eternal feast that awaited Him and all believers. 214s
In Revelation we heard that blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. 224s
The four cups of the Passover celebrated over 25, 100 years ago redefined by the one who held them in that final Passover. 233s
The cup of sanctification. 250s
Second Corinthians chapter 5, we hear if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. 255s
Everything old has passed away. 261s
See everything has become new. 263s
The cup of deliverance. 267s
Galatians tells us the Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, 270s
according to the will of God and Father, our Father. 278s
The cup of redemption. 285s
Collogians the first chapter reads, He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of His beloved Son in whom we have redemption. 287s
The forgiveness of sins. 300s
And the cup of praise. 304s
For Revelation chapter 21, the home of God is among mortals. 308s
He will dwell with them as their God and they will be His people and God Himself will be with them. 315s
Christ, in this last supper redefined the cups of the Passover by offering a new cup. 325s
Please look with me at verse 19. 340s
Then he took a loaf of bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them saying, 343s
This is my body which is given for you. 349s
Do this in remembrance of me and he did the same thing with the cup after supper saying this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. 353s
As Christ gathered with His dearest friends, His dearest disciples, the ones who would abandon him, 367s
the one who would deny him and the one who would betray him. 378s
As he gathered with these disciples, he lifted the cup and he proclaimed a new covenant between God and His people, 388s
a covenant that was promised and secured in the blood of Jesus Christ Himself. 401s
It's from this cup that His disciples were invited to drink. 410s
It is from this cup that you and I have been invited to drink. 417s
Cups are very interesting. 428s
Very interesting in Scripture. 430s
In Psalm 23, we read of the cup that overflows the thomest is speaking of the life that is blessed in the Lord. 433s
In the prophet Ezekiel, we read, you shall drink your sister's cup, a cup that is deep and large. 445s
You shall be laughed at and held in derision, a cup of horror and desolation. 451s
It was a cup of punishment for Israel who had turned from the Lord their God. 459s
There's another cup of which we hear in Scripture, a cup that the Jesus in the Garden of Get's Semini will pray about. 467s
Momentarily in the Gospel of Luke, where he prays, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me, yet not my will, but yours be done. 480s
You see, as Christ drew nearer and nearer to the completion of His ministry, he knew the cup, which he was about to drink, the cup of the wrath of God. 497s
Psalm 75 says, in the hand of the Lord there's a cup with foaming wine. 523s
Well, mixed. He will pour a drop from it and all the wicked of the earth shall train it down to the dregs. 530s
In Revelation 14, chapter, we hear they will also drink the wine of God's wrath, poured unmixed into the cup of His anger, and they will be tormented. 539s
With fire and sulfur, the anger, the torment, the full punishment for sin from the just and righteous God. 550s
This is the cup, which our sin has earned us. 566s
The cup of living and unholy life, the cup of our wandering and abandonment of the Lord, the cup of our denial, the cup of our betrayal. 575s
Jesus drank the cup of God's wrath for you, because He is the only one. 598s
God himself who could receive the fall punishment of sin. 610s
The only one who was able to drink the full cup of God's wrath poured out. 618s
When we think of the cross, when we think of what Jesus endured, we consider the physical pain of Christ. 635s
We consider the blood-gening. We consider the crown of thorns that pierced His head. 646s
We consider the lashes made upon His body. 653s
We think of the nails that were driven through His hands and His feet, but it was the cup. 658s
It was the cup of judgment that He drank that caused Him to cry out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 666s
This is the new cup. 680s
The cup of the new covenant, the cup that was bought at the steep price of the righteous life of Jesus Christ, 683s
because it's a price that neither you nor I could ever pay. 694s
He drank the cup of judgment so that you may drink the cup of salvation. 704s
The cup that Christ gave to us in the final Passover feast is the cup that is filled with mercy. 714s
The cup that is filled with love, the cup that is filled with forgiveness. 723s
Consider for a moment. Consider your sin as you approach the altar knowing what was given for you by Christ. 731s
Do you tremble in fear? Do you tremble in fear as you approach the altar with nothing but your sin trembling before the Holy God who meets you there? 747s
Paul writes about this. 769s
He writes about this about approaching the altar in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. 771s
He says, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord. 780s
Examine yourselves and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 789s
If left in your sin, if left in my own sin, we should tremble before the Lord. 800s
But by God's grace, in his mercy and in his love we are not left in our sin. 812s
We are not left to tremble without hope and without promise. 824s
When you confess your sin, you are promised. 831s
Promise forgiveness. 837s
In the first letter from the disciple John, the apostle John, he said, if we confess our sin, he who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 840s
In the fifth chapter of Romans, we hear that God roes His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 855s
Much more surely than now that we have been justified by His blood, will we be saved through Him from the wrath of God? 868s
You have confessed your sin before the Lord. You have confessed your sin this evening before the Lord. 881s
You confess your belief in salvation through Christ and Christ alone. 893s
We confess our need of the Holy Spirit to help us live in a court and with God's holy and perfect will. 904s
The body and blood which we receive at the altar, the body and blood which we receive is the body and blood given through with and under the bread and the wine. 919s
And it is gift, a gift from the Lord that is intended to strengthen you and to sustain you in the Lord Himself as you face temptation every single day. 934s
God proves, God proves His love for us. 955s
While we were still sinners, Jesus died for us. 963s
Jesus drank that cup of God's wrath so that we may drink the beautiful cup of salvation. 970s
Given through Him, as you come to this altar of grace tonight, you have no need to tremble. 984s
You have no need to tremble because the cup of judgment has been drunk. 996s
And what is placed before you is the cup of grace, the cup of salvation. 1002s
So drink, drink the tangible grace, the tangible forgiveness of your sins given for you through the body and the blood of Jesus Christ. 1014s
For cups, there were four cups, twenty, five, hundred years ago in the final Passover meal, the cup of sanctification, the cup of deliverance, the cup of redemption, and the cup of praise. 1031s
These four cups have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. 1062s
The Passover feast has been made complete. 1069s
And in God's love, we are given the gift of a new covenant, the gift of the final cup, the cup of Christ. 1074s
Thank you. 1090s