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[0:00] Matthew 26, it tells how our Lord was in Gethsemane's garden. And verse 39 it says, And it reads further in Matthew 26, What was this cup?

[0:34] We could think that it was God's anger against our sin. In Revelation 14, it talks about those who received the mark of the beast. It says of them that they shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation.

[0:51] So this cup of wrath, of anger. And it says they shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

[1:02] Further, it says in Revelation 16, So when we think of this cup that our Lord's talking about, we see the Bible speaks about the cup of God's wrath.

[1:14] That could well be in view. And then we see in John 18 verse 11, We see as our Lord was arrested in the garden and Peter tried to defend him, Jesus said unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath.

[1:29] The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? He'd come to that commitment, that determination. He was going to drink that cup. Just some thoughts about what that cup means to us.

[1:42] And going to Isaiah 53 for a familiar one, the Lord Jesus was committed to this remedy of the cross that mankind needed. Consider what the cross means for us today.

[1:55] And Isaiah wrote these words some 800 years in prophecy of our Lord yet to come. And of course we know these words, I'm sure, of our Lord.

[2:05] And of course we could read the whole context. But just for time, we'll take verse 5 and it says, But he was wounded. He, our Lord, it says, was wounded for our transgressions.

[2:16] He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement, in other words, the punishment of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes we are healed. See what it's saying here.

[2:29] This is what Jesus was doing here, drinking of that cup. What that cup means. And what that cup means for us. Think of the benefits of our Lord's suffering.

[2:40] Now the Bible tells us that our Lord Jesus suffered for our sins. He was beaten. He was flogged, whipped, crucified. He died a painful, humiliating death. But our Lord's suffering was not in vain.

[2:53] It was for our benefit. It brought us many blessings. And just to touch on those today, we can only touch the surface today. He poured out his life's blood as a drink offering, as you could reflect of it.

[3:08] Now consider these words, With his stripes, or by his stripes we are healed, as it reads in 1 Peter 2. And now I'm going to touch on this, and this might hit a nerve for some of you, because some of this might be a view that you don't share.

[3:26] But bear with me while I put it to you, because it's very important. Consider these words, By his stripes, or with his stripes we are healed. Now people can often take these words and misunderstand, and misapply them.

[3:39] Especially a lot of the modern TV preachers make much of these words. And so now hear me out on this. For some of you this may sound strange, controversial, you might disagree with me, but hear me out here.

[3:53] Now our Lord can and does heal us of physical sicknesses, but not always. And you know there's some TV preachers that say it's always God's will to heal people.

[4:05] But we have to take the whole context of the Bible and the New Testament era that we're in. And there's a key principle of Bible interpretation that says this, Context is king.

[4:18] And some believe this verse is a promise of physical healing for Christians, that we have a guarantee of physical healing. And really what's happening here is the confusion of the promise of salvation with what they misunderstand as a promise of physical healing.

[4:35] It's a common modern view of this verse, but it's actually a big mistake. We have to take the scripture in the context. Sadly many preachers take this out of context, and this can lead to a lot of disappointment, especially when the preacher says, by his stripes you're healed.

[4:50] If you're not healed, then you must have something wrong with you. Your faith is not enough. You're not claiming the promise enough. You're not standing on this promise enough. You must be in disobedience or you're sinful.

[5:01] I want to assure you that the Lord Jesus can deal with the sickness of our sin. That's the context. The context is of the sickness of sin. It's of guilt.

[5:12] And I want to assure you that the Lord Jesus can take that guilt away. We're going to be talking about wounded spirits today. And I want to let you know today, you may not have heard the news, but I've got to make an announcement this morning.

[5:25] I have a terrible disease. Actually, it's a fatal condition. It's terminal. It's a terminal illness. In fact, here's some more bad news.

[5:36] We all have it. It's called sin. All right? It's called sin. The good news is, in fact, I am healed. I am healed. That's what this verse is talking about.

[5:48] Amen? That's what this verse is talking about. No matter what your views are about divine healing, and I'm not saying I don't believe in divine healing. I certainly do. We certainly believe as a church that God can heal people, and he does heal people in answer to believing prayer when he so wills it.

[6:05] We can use many verses to encourage us to pray, to believe God for healing, and to trust God when we're sick. But this verse is not talking about physical, physical healing.

[6:17] It's talking about sin. It's talking about righteousness in the context. It's not talking about sickness and disease. The being healed here is speaking of being forgiven and saved, not physically healed.

[6:29] And you have this condition. We all have. It's sin. And thank God he can cure that. Amen? He can cure that. And this is the greatest of all healings, really, isn't it?

[6:40] Emotional and spiritual healing. Again, this verse is not talking about physical healing. If Isaiah 53.5 was talking about getting better from physical sickness, then every person would have been made well.

[6:51] And no Christian would ever get sick or die. And you would have to misapply these verses to condemn every person who is sick. Just as not having enough faith, somehow it's their fault.

[7:05] That's what some churches do. I've been in churches like that. I'm a reformed Pentecostal. I've been there, done that. I've seen that. And actually, truth is, we will all get sick and die.

[7:15] That's the reality. And it's for all of us. Death is inevitable for all of us. And we have to look at the context of Isaiah, the book, Isaiah 1, 5 through 6, the passage here.

[7:27] Isaiah's talking about the nation as being sick and being spiritually sick, subject to God's judgment. Friends, Jesus took the car. He took the car.

[7:37] What was he suffering for? He was wounded for our transgressions. Talking about sin, rebellion. He was bruised, crushed for our iniquities, for our depravity.

[7:48] It's talking about sin. That's the problem. And he sacrificed us for sins, not for sicknesses. His sacrifice was for our sins, not for our sicknesses. This is good news.

[7:59] And perfect healing is promised for you from that dread disease. In fact, you can be made perfectly whole. And you can have peace with God. Our peace is because of the cross.

[8:11] You can be made perfectly whole. You can know peace with God. You can be delivered, restored, made whole by God's providence. Thank God he can and does heal. But the healing from his stripes is talking about the deepest need.

[8:24] Of the healing of our soul. In Isaiah 53, the whole concept is spiritual. It's talking about redemption, restoration. About addressing that broken relationship between God and humanity.

[8:35] It says we have peace. Shalom. Shalom. That's what we need, don't we? Don't you need peace? We all need peace. This planet needs peace. One day this planet will get peace.

[8:46] But thank God we can know peace in the here and now. In the present tense. He answers that need. Our minds need healing, don't they? From anxiety. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus.

[9:02] There's healing for your hearts and minds today. Amen. It says, thou shalt keep him in perfect peace. Shalom, shalom. Perfect peace. His mind has stayed on thee. There's healing for your mind.

[9:13] There's healing for your soul, for your spirit. Our souls also need to be healed when they go through traumatic experiences. We're going to hear about that. By his stripes, our spirits can be healed.

[9:24] Think of that. What a blessing that would be. And when we read these words again in 1 Peter, the whole context again is talking about righteousness. It tells us there, as Peter puts these same words of our Lord, it says, who is own self.

[9:38] There are sins in his own body on the tree that we, being dead unto sin, should live unto righteousness. By whose stripes, by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls.

[9:54] Notice it's about sin. That's what it's talking about. Don't get confused by these faith healing creatures, so-called. The sickness here is talking about sin. That's the problem. And we need healing.

[10:05] We absolutely do. And we promised healing right here. The healing we need is the healing of our wounded spirits. Amen. That's the healing that we need. It's very appropriate that we have wounded spirits ministries here today.

[10:18] The serious condition that we all suffer from is sin. And he took the sin of the world on his own body. Our sin. Think of that. All of my various multiple sins were on his own body, on the tree.

[10:30] Have you been wounded by sin? It hurts, doesn't it? It's painful. Sin brings misery. There's loss of peace, of wholeness. Sin is often spoken of as like a disease.

[10:42] Only Jesus can heal that. You can't go to the doctor down the road and get them to give you a prescription for sin. But thank God Jesus. Dr. Jesus can give you that.

[10:53] Amen. Dr. Jesus has got that remedy. Only Jesus can heal that. And the healing is a metaphor for God's forgiveness, isn't it? As the Lord Jesus can heal the soul. He can take away our sin.

[11:04] And he wants to. He wants to heal our sinful spirits. Think of these earthen vessels. They're going to waste away. I don't know about yours, but mine's not in as good a condition as it used to be.

[11:15] And this earthen vessel is subject to decay and ultimately death. Ultimately, sickness will take us out one way or the other. We're slowly decomposing.

[11:26] But the truth is, Jesus didn't die for our physical healing. He didn't die for that. He died to heal our soul from sin. And we can be made truly well and whole in being saved.

[11:37] That's what it means. That's what matters. There's deliverance there. There's a health. There's a wholeness. There's a rightness. It's a spiritual thing. One day for sure. One day for sure we will know.

[11:48] Ultimate physical healing. One day we'll get a new body. We'll get the whole box and dice. And our Lord's suffering paid the penalty for our sins. He took the punishment we deserved.

[11:58] He bore the wrath. That cup. He drunk the whole lot of that. He purchased our salvation through his sufferings. And believers, friends here this morning, you can be forgiven.

[12:09] That's healing, isn't it? Forgiveness. We talked about forgiveness yesterday. There's healing in forgiveness. There's healing for the soul, for the spirit. You can be forgiven of everything. And have your slate wiped clean.

[12:22] All the guilt gone. By the glory of God. You can have eternal life. His suffering brings us peace with God. God. And friends, we can be made truly whole. So think of that cup, what it means for you today.

[12:34] For what he has done for us. There's blessing. So much blessing. To God be the glory. Great things he has done. Isn't it? We should praise him, shouldn't we? For his love.

[12:45] His mercy. Tell others of it too. Share it. Help others come to experience that love. That forgiveness. That peace. Of soul. We think of that cup this morning.

[12:58] It says in Matthew 26, verse 27. And he took the cup. He took the cup. That fateful night. That Passover night. He took that cup with his beloved disciples.

[13:09] And he says he gave thanks. And he gave it to them. Saying, drink ye all of it. For this is my blood of the New Testament. Which is shed for many. For the remission of sins.

[13:21] What was that cup? We see that he drank a tangible physical cup. In that room. And then in the garden. He prayed.

[13:33] My father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will. But as you will. He came into submission to God the Father. He knew what that cup meant.

[13:44] He knew what that cup would cost. He knew that cup was going to hurt him. What was this cup? It was the cup of suffering, of death. He was about to drink it. He knew he was going to be arrested, beaten, crucified.

[13:57] He knew he would experience the full wrath of God. Not against him and his sin. Because he had none. But it was our sin. It was our guilt.

[14:09] It was our penalty. It was the wrath of God against me. And my sin. He experienced the full wrath of it. And he drank fully that dread cup. He drank the whole bit.

[14:20] And surely he has tasted death for every man. The Bible talks about death. And the Apostle Paul cries out, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

[14:31] The sting of death is sin. And the strength of sin is the Lord. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus also knew that he had to drink this cup.

[14:43] It meant suffering. It meant death. It was real. This was real death. It wasn't some make-believe. It wasn't pretending to die. He actually died. He suffered death.

[14:54] Actual death. And it was going to hurt. Notice it says the sting. The sting of death. The sting of death. Now, I don't know how Brother Williams talked me into keeping bees.

[15:06] He talked me into keeping bees. And I've got some beehives there. And I've got to tell you this morning, I just hate getting stung.

[15:20] And friends, but putting your humour aside, the sting of death. Think of that. Think of that today, people. The sting of death. Our Lord knew it was going to hurt.

[15:30] It was going to hurt him. And he went there. He willingly went there. Our Lord knew the cup was going to hurt. It meant that he was going to be hurt.

[15:42] And his hurting is for your healing today. His hurting is for your healing. He knew that it was the only way to save the world from sin and death. He knew that he had to die in our place so that we could be forgiven and have eternal life.

[15:56] So, friends, today, Jesus, our Lord, drank that cup. He drank all of it. He drank the cup of suffering, of death. He drank the cup of God's wrath. And he did it for us.

[16:06] He did it for you, for me. Our sin was on his body, on the tree. And the sting of death, we don't have to be worried about it because he's taken that sting. We're protected from that sting.

[16:17] Amen? I'm not going to be allergic to death. If death stings comes my way, the Lord Jesus has already taken it. Amen? He's taken the sting.

[16:29] He's taken the pain. He's taken the hurting. And we've got healing today from that most dread disease of our sin. That's what it's talking about. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.

[16:41] The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes, we're healed. We're made completely whole and healed from that dread disease of that sin. He's set us free. He's delivered us.

[16:52] And because our Lord Jesus drank of that cup, we can be forgiven. That's healing. Forgiveness, isn't it? We can be forgiven. That healing that is the grace of God. We can be set free from the power of sin.