The Cup of Wrath: A Sermon

This is a sermon I preached at Capital City Rescue Mission on July 19, 2014.

 

Matthew 26:36-46 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, "Sit here, while I go over there and pray." And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me." And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, "So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, "My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done." And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. Then he came to the disciples and said to them, "Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand."

The point of this passage is the anguish, terror and suffering of of our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Listen to His words spoken to His disciples in verse 38.

Verse 38 "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death."

The KJV says, "exceeding sorrowful." the word "sorrowful" in the Greek carries the idea of being "overcome with sorrow so much as to cause one's death." And this is exactly what Christ says in verse 38.

Why is He overcome with sorrow? Why is He suffering such extreme terror and anguish? The answer is found in the very next verse.

Verse 39, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me..."

What is the "cup" referring to? It refers to the cup of God's wrath.

The word "cup" that Christ uses often signifies the wrath of God in the Bible. For instance Isa 51:17; Job 21:20; Ps 11:6; Ps 75:8; Jer 25:15

Christ was about to suffer the wrath of God for sinners. He was about to drink the "cup" of God's wrath intended for you and me?

Think about it for a moment. This holy and righteous man. God in the flesh, who was from eternity in sweet fellowship and communion with His Father, One who had never sinned, nor had ever experienced any guilt over sin whatsoever was about to experience the full weight of His Father's wrath for sins that were not His own. And not just a a few sins, but the sins of the whole world!

This terrified Him. Why? Wayne Grudem in His book Systematic Theology

Now Jesus was perfectly holy. He hated sin with his entire being. The thought of evil, of sin, contradicted everything in his character. Far more than we do, Jesus instinctively rebelled against evil. Yet in obedience to the Father, and out of love for us, Jesus took on himself all the sins of those who would someday be saved. Taking on himself all the evil against which his soul rebelled created deep revulsion in the center of his being.

Having to take upon Himself our sins brought Christ overwhelming sorrow.

Think about the many times your own soul was overcome with sorrow from your own sins. Think about all the times you felt the weight of your own guilt and shame over the sins you committed. How horrible you felt. All of us with a conscience have experienced this.

Now imagine Christ, the holy One, Creator of the Universe, second Person of the Trinity, the God Man, perfect in righteousness and purity, about to take upon Himself the disgusting, putrid, rebellion and sin of the world "in his body on a tree," 1Peter 2:24, 2Cor 5:21

But not only did Christ suffer overwhelming sorrow over bearing our sins in His sinless body, He also trembled in anguish over bearing the full weight of the wrath of Almighty God. Listen again to Wayne Grudem:

As Jesus bore the guilt of our sins alone, God the Father, the mighty Creator, the Lord of the universe, poured out on Jesus the fury of his wrath: Jesus became the object of the intense hatred of sin and vengeance against sin which God had patiently stored up since the beginning of the world....at the cross the fury of all that stored-up wrath against sin was unleashed against God's own Son.

God's wrath against sin is so terrible that it brought Jesus Christ, who is God in the flesh, to such anguish that His sweat was like great drops of blood, Luke 22:44. If the wrath of God terrified Christ for sins that were not His own, imagine the terror that sinners will face as they suffer the full wrath of God for their own sins.

Now, I want to apply this passage to three potential groups of people:

1. To those whom the Holy Spirit has awakened. You know that you are a sinner, and that you deserve the wrath of God. The judgement of God makes you tremble and quake with fear. You may even be questioning whether or not God will forgive you because your sins are too great. I want to encourage you not to be afraid to come to Christ. The reason that you feel the terror and guilt of sin is because God has awakened you, and if He has awakened you He will definitely save you. The arms of Christ are wide open. He has already drank the cup of wrath for your sins. He has already had the punishment of God poured out on Him for your sins. He was your substitute on the cross. Since He has already suffered for your sins, it is impossible for Him to turn you away.

Listen to His comforting words in John 6:37. He promises that He will never drive away anyone who comes to Him. God requires two things from us. First, that we obey His Law perfectly, without flaw. And second, that their be punishment for every sinner who breaks His Law at any point. This is bad news because all of us have failed to keep His Law, and are deserving of punishment. But there is good news! Because the very God who demands we keep His Law has done for us what He requires from us. He sent His Son to keep His Law for us. And then to go to the cross and suffer the punishment for every time we broke His Law! Again, it is impossible for Him to turn you away, because He has already drank the cup of wrath for you. The Father will gladly receive you, because His anger has already been poured out on His precious Son. Now by faith and faith alone you may receive this precious gift of forgiveness free of charge because Christ has paid the full cost required for your forgiveness!

2. The Second group I would like to speak to are Christians who are struggling with sin. Every Christian struggles with sin, and any one who claims to be a Christian and says that they don't struggle probably is not a Christian, 1John 1:8. Christians can find great comfort and encouragement in this passage because Christ drank the cup of wrath. We never have to fear that because we struggle with a particular sin, or sins that God will put us on a shelf, or even abandon us. Satan however, often whispers in our ears saying, "Now look what you've done. You have gone too far now. God is angry with you beyond measure. He will never forgive you for this sin. He has given you chance after chance and you've blown it again! Don't even bother going to Him for forgiveness. You are ruined. You might as well just quit." Now it is true. When a Believer sins he or she does bring displeasure to the Father. But that should never discourage us from coming to Him forgiveness and mercy. Remember, He is no longer our great Judge, but our loving Father. His discipline in our lives is for our good. Hebrews 12:5. God will not put His children on a shelf, or abandon them. He will not waste the precious blood of His Son. Christ drank the cup of wrath for all the sins of God's people. We have the promise of Philippians 1:6. We also have the assurance of our election: Ep. 1:4. Those whom the Father elected, or chose before the foundation of the world He will not ever abandon. We have these preciouse promises that speak of our election and are meant to bring us great encouragement and comfort; Ro. 8:28-29; 2Th 2:13. Election is meant to give us great encouragement by showing us that,

1. Our salvation is not dependent upon us.

2. God will never abandon His elect children that He forknew before the creation of the world.

3. The third group that I want to speak to are those here tonight who could care a less about what I am saying up here. Christ means nothing to you, and sin is a small matter to you. You love your sin, and you hate your Creator. You may have had some seemingly godly desires in the past, but those desires have been for your own personal gain. God's wrath doesn't scare you, and there is no fear of God before your eyes. This should terrify you because it means that God hasn't awakened you to your sin. Jesus trembled over bearing the wrath of God for the sins of the world. The Holy, Righteous One, the Creator of the world trembled over the wrath of God for sins that were not His own; How much more should we tremble for the sins that we have committed. Pray that God will awaken your hearts tonight so that you will be saved. Pray that God would show you your sinful state and would grant you repentance, because repentance is a gift from Him; 2Tim 2:25; Acts 5:31; Acts 11:18.

So again, tonight, you whom the Spirit has awakened, believe that Christ died in your place, repent of your sins and be saved!

And you who are saved, but are struggling with sin, remember, the loving arms of the Father are waiting for you, no matter how many times you have blown it! He will forgive you because Christ has already suffered for your sins. Don't be afraid to return to Him

And finally, you who are mocking this message in your heart, you have no guarantee that you will not meet your Maker tonight. "What is your life? It is but a vapor that appears for a moment and then vanishes away." I assure you, if you die tonight having rejected the only way of salvation you will stand in judgment before God for your sins, and be cast into hell until that final day when you will be thrown in the lake of fire. Repent, and turn to Christ that you may be saved! Amen.

 

 

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4 Things To Do When You've Blown It

How many times have you seen the bumper sticker that says "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven?" I understand what the first part of that phrase "Christians aren't perfect" is trying to say, but the second part, "just forgiven" really bothers me. "Just forgiven?" As if forgiveness is thrown in as an, "Oh, and by the way." Forgiveness is a big deal, not an afterthought. It’s how the believer stands before God. Our sins have been taken away through the death of Christ. We stand perfectly righteous before God because we have been given the righteousness of Christ. That being said, we aren't perfect. We do blow it. We sin everyday, multiple times a day. This can bring guilt, shame and doubt into our lives and can often times cause us to despair. So what should we do when we've blown it? Here are four things.

 

1. Confess

 

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Once we have been born again God is no longer our Judge but our Father. So John is speaking of parental forgiveness not judicial forgiveness. Judgement for all our sins is past tense. It has already taken place at the cross. Through faith we have been adopted into the family as sons and daughters of God. Now when we sin we go to God our Father and ask for forgiveness, not because if we don't we will be judged by Him, but because sin hinders our fellowship with Him.

 

2. Repent

 

Proverbs 28:13 Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.

Holding on to sin brings chastening. After David sinned by committing adultery with Bathsheba and then murdering her husband Uriah to cover it up (2Samuel 11-12) he describes how the heavy chastening hand of God was upon him sapping his strength:

Psalms 32:3-4 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted awaythrough my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.Selah

But after he confessed and repented of his sin he found forgiveness (yes, even for adultery and murder) and the joy of his salvation returned:

Psalms 32:5 I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord," and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

3. Remember

I believe this is the most crucial point. Because we are fallen creatures we tend to go back to our default mode of trying to make up for our mistakes. Guess what? We can't. One sin is enough to condemn us to eternal judgement in hell. This is why remembering is so important. Christ was our Worker. He did all of the work that God requires of us. We need perfection in order to be saved and Christ was perfect for us. There must be a penalty for every sin we commit and Christ paid the penalty, absorbing the wrath of God for every time we've sinned. All of our sins have been dealt with at the cross our past, present, and future sins have been punished.

4. Preach

In his book The Gospel for Every Day Life Jerry Bridges speaks of the importance of preaching the Gospel to ourselves every day. He reminds us that the Gospel of Jesus is not just good news for the unbeliever, but for the believer as well. Because we blow it every day the Gospel must be preached everyday, to ourselves. This is why it is so important to know the Gospel. Start by reading the epistle of Romans. It's only 16 chapters so it can be read straight through in a about an hot and a half. Make it your goal to read Romans every day, even if it's only 3 or 4 chapters a day. Know the Gospel and know it well. This way you will have the content to preach to yourself.

In this video John Piper speaks of the importance of preChing the Gospel to yourself:

 

 

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The Legal Demands Of The Law Have Been Canceled

As I am studying the book of Colossians the thing that sticks out to me the most is the absolute freeness of the Gospel. Salvation is completely and totally free! Completely free because God did all the work required of us for us. And totally free because because the legal demands of the Law were nailed to the cross.

Christ pursues sinners

This is good news because our works are filthy and tainted with sin. And yet God loves sinners! As a matter of fact, sinners are the only ones who qualify for salvation. Sinners owe a great debt to God. The demands of His Law require perfect obedience. But God in His great love for His own sent a Worker for them. This Worker kept all of the demands of the Law. Then He went to the cross and bore the sins of all who will ever trust in his grace. He absorbed every bit of the wrath due to us for every time we violated His Law.

Canceled debt

Our debt was cancelled! The legal demands of the Law were nailed to the cross! Now through faith in the work of the Worker our sins are forgiven. We are now free to obey the Law of Christ without fear of punishment for our failures. The legal demands of the Law have been cancelled. Let us serve Christ now in freedom!

 

 

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