One Cup

[0:00] The whole of history leads up to what we now call Good Friday, the cross of Calvary on which the Son of God died.

[0:12] It began in the Garden of Eden, and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.

[0:25] Jesus is the offspring of Eve, and Satan will strike at his heel, by his death on the cross, where Satan thought evil had won over good. But the exact opposite was true.

[0:40] The death of Christ would mean the end of the reign of sin in people's lives, in our lives. What Jesus did on the cross ended Satan's reign.

[0:54] And Isaiah explains how this was done. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

[1:10] We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us have turned to our own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

[1:20] We had gone away from God. The people of Israel had gone away with God. And something needed to be done about it.

[1:32] That was done by God, by sending his son, and by laying on him the sin of us all. Because it was and is not possible for us to deal with our sin ourselves.

[1:47] As another old hymn says, there was no other good enough to pay the price of sin. He only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in. We can't do it.

[1:58] The gates of heaven, a metaphor, a symbol, are locked to us, unless we have Jesus Christ in us by his spirit.

[2:11] Peter said, So the history of God's plan of salvation came to fruition on the cross of Calvary, where Jesus died for us, and sin was dealt with once and for all, for those who know and follow Jesus.

[2:47] Sort of heading for this service today was one cup. There are actually many cups in the Bible. But when used of God, it has two meanings.

[3:00] It's either God pouring his anger on the wicked. In the hand of the Lord is a cup full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours it down all the wicked of the earth, drink it down to its very dregs.

[3:13] That's in Psalms. In Job, let their own eyes see their destruction. Let them drink the cup of the wrath of the Almighty. And in Revelation, if anyone worships the beast in its image and he receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they too will drink the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath.

[3:36] So when we read the cup in the Bible, it sometimes is about God's anger, God's wrath. But it also shows God's love.

[3:48] Again, in Psalms, I will lift up a cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. Now we've just taken communion together. And part of this is taking a cup, the cup.

[4:02] And this is a cup showing the love of God. In the same way, after the supper, he took the cup saying, this cup is a new covenant in my blood which is poured out for you.

[4:16] This new covenant was no longer relying on the sacrifice of animals as the Jews had to do. They had to go day in and day out to the temple to sacrifice animals.

[4:29] And the high priest had to go in and sacrifice so that the sins of the people could be dealt with. But no longer. And by that will, we'll be made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

[4:46] We no longer need any other sacrifices because Jesus was sacrificed for us. And it was no longer to be a covenant which was written down.

[4:57] This new covenant is one I will make with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and will write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people.

[5:12] And Paul wrote to Corinthians, God has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the spirit. For the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.

[5:24] And it's through Jesus and only through Jesus that this new covenant is given to us. But in fact, the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one since the new covenant is established on better promises.

[5:48] God made a covenant with these people of Israel that he would be their God and he would be his people if and only if they kept their laws and obeyed him and did not sacrifice to other idols.

[6:03] The problem is if you read the Old Testament and I'm just reading through Judges, you see that the Israelites turned their back on God, turned to other gods.

[6:19] God sent a judge for a few years. The people of God did what they ought to do and again they turned their back on God, turned to other idols and other people and then God turned his back on them.

[6:31] and that was an ongoing circle in the Old Testament. The old covenant could not be kept because the people of God were not able to keep their promise to God.

[6:44] But we are able to do that because the new covenant is in the blood of Jesus Christ which has nothing to do with us but it has to do with the fact that God sent Jesus so that we could be the new people of God.

[7:01] So that's why they're better promises for in Jesus all promises are yes. So we are people of the new covenant.

[7:14] We have it written on our hearts and in our spirit by the Holy Spirit. So we can face this Good Friday remember the terrible suffering and death of our Lord because we can look forward to Easter Sunday.

[7:31] as I think I said before pinching someone else's sermon it's Friday but Sunday's coming. It's Good Friday now. Jesus Christ is on the cross.

[7:44] Jesus Christ has died. Jesus Christ has given up his spirit. Jesus has said to his father why why why have you forsaken me?

[7:55] God but on Sunday we know what really happened on that cross our sins were dealt with. Christ was victorious.

[8:07] He wasn't defeated. So it's Friday now but Sunday's coming. Sunday when Jesus rose from the grave met the women in the garden and the disciples and showed them he was alive and would be alive forevermore and that he would go into his father and that he would return and return to bring his own people back to himself in heaven.

[8:34] So Good Friday is a somber day but it's a day when we can look forward to a victorious day. Amen.