When Christ Carried His Cross | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Good Friday Service)

They led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country and laid on him the cross to carry it behind Jesus. And there followed him a great multitude of people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. But turning to them, Jesus said, daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold the days are coming when they will say blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed. Then they will begin to say to the mountains, fall on us and to the hills, cover us.

For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry? This is not a very familiar passage for Good Friday, but it is an important one nonetheless. And there is so much in these verses you can imagine that we can take just a portion and choose to just meditate on that alone for the rest of the evening, but let's consider just a few thoughts here. Look at the first few words of verse 26. And as they led him away, and as they led him away, a short phrase that can be easily overlooked, but it should not be overlooked because it is filled with glorious implications.

If you've ever studied Christ, if you ever seen him in the Gospels, then you will know something about him. Yes, he was truly man, but he was in fact God in the flesh. And God in the flesh, being that he was, was in complete control of every single circumstance that he found himself in. Consider the many times that these crowds have gathered around him, prepared to seize him and to arrest him or to even kill him. Yet every single time he seems to effortlessly escape.

He seems to just walk through the crowds, because we are told that it was not yet the time, the time that we are meditating and reflecting on tonight. And so there was never a moment where someone could grab him by the collar or grab him by the arms. Even those that were sent to arrest him at a certain point were spellbound by his ability to communicate truth with such authority that they came back to the Pharisees empty handed. He said that no one can take my life from me, but I lay it down on my own accord. It's my own authority that enables when I am given into the hands of men.

Or consider even how nature, the terrifying winds and the raging waters that have made professional fishermen petrified. Yet there is Christ resting undisturbed. And with just a few words, that sea and those winds obeyed him and submitted to his authority. And what about the creatures of another world? Namely demons, who took power over minds and bodies, and yet when Christ would appear on the scene of those people who were possessed, those demons squealed just because of his presence.

And yet considering all of those things, the great authority that Christ had, that he could have commanded by one word a legion of angels to come and to sweep him away. We read here in verse 26 that he was led astray by a few Roman soldiers. That he was at the mercy of these men. And we look at this and we almost get a sense of a Samson like figure. Do we not?

To the undiscerning mind maybe, that Samson at one point was supernaturally empowered, unstoppable, immovable. But at one point at his lowest point, he was subject to the humiliation and the abuse of his enemies. Is that what's happening here with Christ? The one that we saw operating in such ability now, now so weak and now so submissive to evil men? To think that Christ is involuntarily being led by these men is a grave mistake.

You and I have to understand that in the short phrase, we see a fulfillment of a specific prophecy that was given to us by the prophet Isaiah hundreds of years before Christ even stepped foot on the earth. What do we read in Isaiah fifty three seven? You do not have to turn there, but here's a portion of it. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter. Like a lamb that is led to a slaughter.

And like a sheep that before its shears is silent, so he open not his mouth. When he is being led by these men, it is not weakness, it is meekness. This is Christ without resistance and with an unusually calm spirit. Willingly giving himself to the direction of those who are leading him to his own death. Let there be no confusion about it.

When we are told that Christ was being led away, it does not imply that the Romans were flexing their might, nor does it say that the Pharisees finally had their way. What you see here is Christ magnified in his meekness. Putting aside his power and his authority and is patiently accepting his suffering on your behalf and mine. We go on as we meditate. We are interrupted by someone that we have never been introduced to before this moment, except in Matthew and Mark he is mentioned.

After we are told that he was being led away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country and they laid on him the cross. Who is Simon of Cyrene and why does it matter? What does this have to do with anything? Well Simon from Cyrene, which is modern day Libya is probably a proselyte gentile, or Jew was placed somewhere else and was here in Jerusalem to observe the feast. And what he might have thought would have been another predictable pilgrimage to the holy city, would suddenly be interrupted by an event that would surely mark him for the rest of his life, and perhaps we can speculate, change the lives of those that were closest to him.

What do I mean by that? Well Mark gives us an additional detail about Simon of Cyrene. Mark tells us in 15 chapter 21, and they compelled a passerby. Simon of Cyrene who was coming in from the country. Now look at this.

Mark says, by the spirit, the father of Alexander and Rufus to carry his cross. Luke omits that. Mark includes it. Okay. Simon of Cyrene is one thing, but why do we need to know that he was the father of these two men, Alexander and Rufus?

Again, what's the purpose? Is there a purpose? Unless of course, Mark, when he wrote this, yes, guided by the spirit expected that his immediate audience would have known who Alexander and Rufus were. And that is a great possibility, because there's only one other place where the name Rufus is mentioned. And it's actually in the writings of Paul when he addresses certain people in Romans chapter 16.

And many people believe that the Rufus Paul addresses is the same Rufus that Mark mentions. Romans sixteen thirteen, Paul says greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord. Also his mother who's been a mother to me as well. So consider this now, as Mark is penning this letter, as he is retelling the story of Christ on the road to Calvary, He says, that man, Simon, he's actually the father of Alexander and Rufus. And the immediate audience supposed to know, really?

That was your dad? That's that that was Alexander and Rufus's father who who who carried the end of the cross? And if it's the same roof as that that Paul is writing to, who was chosen the Lord and whose mother was a mother to him as well, then you know what this means when we put the pieces together? That at some point after Simon from Libya helped carry that cross, he understood the implications of that cross. He came to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ himself and he led his own family to that saving truth.

It's an amazing thought, is it not? We may not know how Simon processed this or how he even was able to communicate it, but we have strong evidence to know where it all began for this man. And he was minding his own business walking out of the country, passing by a crowd that was observing just probably another criminal that was receiving their due punishment. And by God's providence was snatched by soldiers and was told to carry the end of a cross to help this random man that was probably a criminal in his own mind, at first at least. And as unaware as Simon might have been in those first few moments, as unaware as he might have been as he was trying to lighten the load of this man who was dripping blood and his flesh was hanging off of his back.

You and I are believers, are we not? And we understand that that this sounds very familiar to a teaching that Christ himself gave early on in the same gospel, in the gospel of Luke. Do you not know it? You should know it because you would have responded to it if you're truly born again, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Simon of Cyrene, I argue tonight, is illustrating what discipleship looks like.

Simon of Cyrene, here is showing us a very literal example of what it means to follow Jesus. And I would like to say that saying yes to the cross is never convenient to the flesh. Just like Simon. He had plans. He had a schedule.

He had relatives to meet, and all for a sudden the cross bid him to come. Yes, it was through the mouths of soldiers, but still the picture is there. And you have to understand something about following Jesus Christ. There is a cost. There is a price.

Christ is not waiting for you and your own terms to accept them. When you hear the call, as you will tonight, and if you were not saved, that is your call. And it demands a response. It demands submission, because as much as this was inconvenient in the moment, I'm sure Simon later on, thank God that he was called to carry that cross. And as much as you might hear the price of what it means to make Jesus Christ as Lord, as much as Satan would lie to you that you will have to give up so much in this life in order to make Christ your Lord and Savior, realize that there's a joy in it.

There's a joy awaiting you that is incomparable to whatever this world has to offer you. There's a cost in following Christ. There's a cross with your name on it and as costly as it might be, there is a greater cost than saying no than accepting it and embracing it. We always talk about the cost of following Jesus. We rarely talk about the cost of not following Jesus.

There is a cost of not following him. But again it makes you wonder, does it not? What was it that triggered Simon? What was it that struck him? Did he communicate with Jesus while helping him for a few steps for that little journey?

There's no evidence of that, but perhaps it was what Jesus said to a group of of woman along that path that did something. At least opened up a curiosity, just like when Jesus was hanging on that cross and had seven sayings, and one of them melted the heart of a thief who was being crucified beside him. Because Christ suffered unlike anybody else suffered. There was a majesty about it. There was a sovereignty about it.

There was a control. There was a display of love and forgiveness that caused even a Roman soldier to to be confessional. There's something so glorious about it. And not just him hanging there, even on his way there. And we read it in verse 28, but turning to them Jesus said daughters of Jerusalem.

Can you imagine the sight for a moment? Think about it. Here is Christ exhausted, weighed down by a cross. Perhaps blinded by blood. Beaten and bruised.

And there he is surrounded by a crowd and there is a blend of cries and ridicules crashing over him and all for a sudden, he turns his attention to a group of wailing woman and he addresses them. He speaks to him and he says something to them of this effect. Don't weep for me. Do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. What does this say of Christ?

Many things. Consider this thought. First, you see a Christ who is deeply concerned for man, even in his own suffering. All of this attention was on him. Christ's attention was on a group of women who are visibly disturbed and shaken.

They caught his attention, and his compassion is not recognized in the fact that he is trying to relieve them of this grief that they are showing, though he has done that many times throughout his ministry. His concern here is seen in the fact that he is, he is deeply aware of their fate and he wants them to be prepared for it. He tells them, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. Why? Because in those eyes he saw the prophetic implications of what was occurring in that moment.

They were rejecting his Messiah and therefore God was going to reject them as a people. And there would be judgment in seventy AD. World history testifies about it by the hands of the Romans, who would bring Jerusalem to destruction and slaughter hundreds of thousands of Jews. And Christ here is aware of that and he tells them, weep. Weep for that.

What I find so amazing here is that Christ, although if we were in his shoes, we would be consumed with the thought of our own death and trying to manage the pain shooting through our own bodies. Here, is not just focus on what comes before him, but is concerned of what lays ahead of these women and the nation as a whole. And some would say, well this is not really Christ compassion. This is a rebuke. This is Christ looking at them and pronouncing judgment on them.

Yes, it is true. But don't forget that just a few days before this Christ himself wept over Jerusalem for the same reason. This is a Christ who even in his suffering led to his slaughter is thinking about the plight of others. Is is there any other greater display of compassion than someone who is undergoing such torture can still think and communicate his concern for those who experience greater suffering. You see it throughout his ministry.

You see it on the road to Calvary. You see it while he's nailed to that piece of wood. Even down to the details of securing Mary's future, by signing that responsibility of care to one of his disciples. This is the humility of the Lord Jesus Christ. Servant, lover of souls, compassionate savior.

So the Lord here is not asking for these women to weep tears of sadness, but tears of repentance. Be broken for what's coming your way. Realize that this is going to affect you and this is not just about me. Which brings us to our second point. Why would Christ say do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children?

Because Christ is not interested in receiving tears of sympathy. Christ here, does not want the pity of these women and he did not feel sorry for himself either. What does that teach us about Christ? You know what that teaches about the Lord Jesus Christ? He was not weak, but he's a strong savior.

We have to be careful of how we observe this night once a year, because we can be mistaken in thinking that we come here dressed in dark clothes, somber, sober, because we're realizing what Christ had to endure and we feel pity. And then Sunday we come with brighter clothes and we come rejoicing and it's lighter and it's bright, because, oh, he made it. He made it. He actually resurrected. Christ was a victor throughout it all.

Christ was a conqueror throughout it all. This is not a Christ that was just led out of his own will, beaten and bruised, mocked and spat upon, and then he he pulled a trick on everybody and he showed up. He is in control here

all along.

Don't weep for me. We serve a mighty king and a mighty savior who came into this world for this very purpose. Throughout his ministry, there have been so many attempts to try to convince Christ to sway from the cross. To not go to that cross. Think about Satan who offered him the world.

Think about the Jews who were so impressed by his miraculous abilities that they wanted to crown him king there. Think about one of his good friends Peter, who tried to rebuke him and persuade him to not take that path, And every single time he overcame. Christ was not moved by temptation. He was not moved by persuasion, and he was not softened by sympathy. He's a rock.

And although Christ was walking a walk that none of us could have walked and he died a death that none of us could even imagine dying. The Holy Spirit takes the attitude of the Lord Jesus Christ and through the writings of the author of Hebrews applies that same attitude to you and I. What do I mean? Did he not say looking to Jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of God? Looking to Jesus.

You know what that tells me? The Lord Jesus did not allow pity or self pity to disturb his total trust in God's sovereign plan for him while on the earth. He didn't question God. He didn't challenge God. He didn't allow other people's interpretation of what was happening in his life and in this moment to cause him to doubt.

His face was like flint. He was so focused. He was so reliant. He was so strong in the understanding that my father is accomplishing his will through this. And I will not throw it away for temptation, for ease, or because of sympathy.

And you and I are called to imitate that kind of suffering. You and I are called to not be shaken by the seductions or the sympathies that others might have for us, but to be like our master. Immovable, unshaken, undisturbed, steadfast in our trust that our God is good. He is in control. He's in control here.

So he tells him, do not weep for me but weep for yourselves and for your children. And he goes on to describe the horrors of the judgment that will come upon them for the rejection of the Messiah. He says here that the days are coming when they will say blessed are the barren and the wombs that never born, the breasts that never nursed. To be barren in in this culture was almost seen as a curse And he's saying it's it's a better thing to not have children during this time, than if you were nursing children for yourself. And he goes on to describe the tragedies that await this people and it seems very strange, does it not, That as Christ is on his way to absorb the wrath of God on our behalf, he is communicating the wrath of God.

He is prophesying the judgment of God. What does this have to do with the gospel? What does this have to do with these events? It has everything to do with it. Because although this was fulfilled in seventy AD, although Jesus in the immediate sense of speaking to the Jewish people, It's just a preview of the judgment to come.

It's just a glimpse of what's going to happen on a global scale. In other words, what the Jews will expect because of the rejection of Christ is what every single person should expect if they choose to reject the crucified Messiah. You see Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins, but that forgiveness is only applied to those who receive him. We don't believe in a universal salvation, meaning we don't believe that everybody will be saved one day just because God is so loving that whether you believe and repent or not, you're gonna go to heaven. That is a damning truth.

That is a lie from the pit of hell itself. If you reject Christ as savior and Lord, the only thing reserved for you is the wrath of God. The wrath that Jerusalem experienced in seventy AD was simply a glimpse of the micro or the micro cosm of the macrocosm of the final judgment to come upon the world. In Revelation six, the the language is borrowed as the kings of the earth and the rich and those who are powerful, great and small, will realize the return of Christ and they themselves will beg the mountains to fall upon them. So even John is borrowing the same language to say, this is going to be magnified in the final judgment.

When Christ comes to redeem the bride, but also confront those who've sat in churches year after year, who come to Good Friday services just to pay their dues to Christ or to make their mom or dad happy, but ultimately have not made Christ Lord. Christ will come and he will face those who have heard the gospel once or a thousand times and have rejected it to say, you had your chance. One person said it so wisely. What you will do with Jesus's first coming will determine what Jesus will do with you at his second coming. What you will do with Jesus concerning his first coming will determine what Jesus will do with you at his second coming.

And the certainty and the severity of God's divine judgment is hinted at by a brief parable that Jesus gives in verse 31. For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry? What is he trying to say here? Christ compares himself to a flourishing, fragrant and fruitful green wood. And he is contrasted to the Jewish people who are recognized as a withered, dead, fruitless people.

Colorless. And the reason why he's communicating this sobering truth is to say, if Christ as the sinless Son of God is being treated so cruelly, how much more will the wicked unbelieving rebellious Jewish nation experience suffering?

But

remember, there's a broader application here. So we're not just speaking about a people group for all who reject the saving work of Jesus Christ will know will know something of of wrath. And the great commentator Matthew Henry said it this way, as only he could, if God did this to the son of his love, when he found sin, but imputed to him, what shall he do to the generation of his wrath when he finds sin reigning in them? If God was so willing to pour out his justice upon the one who was sinless, though he took sin upon him, What is he going to do to those who have loved and embrace their sin within them, when they heard the call repent and believe? If judgment came upon the innocent one, will it not come towards those who are guilty?

We have to rediscover the holiness of God. We have to rediscover just how pure he is. That even the one that he had eternal fellowship with, even the one that was at his bosom, he looked at for a moment and turned his face away when the sin of the world was placed on his shoulder. If he was willing to do that to the son of his love, what will he do with the children of wrath? It'd be a terrifying thing to end the service in this way, would it not?

Rightfully so. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But we can evade this wrath and we can escape it. And that is the good news. Because as much as Jesus prophesied judgment towards Jerusalem for the rejection, oh he was on his way to pay the price so that we would never know judgment.

Oh he would pay a price that would be so great and so satisfying and so sufficient. Then not only would he just hear on a on a few words on a page tell us so, but the Spirit of God himself will bear witness with our spirit that we are indeed children of God. And real in your soul, so supernatural that you can live the rest of your days never fearing God's judgment. That you can stand before God, as you will one day and as will I, with total confidence. A boldness almost.

A readiness, actually with a joy. Because what Christ is about to do on this cross is be the substitute for sinners. And he would drink that cup filled with the wrath of God. Can you imagine it? Oh, if we just look in this room already, think about the amount of sins that accumulated just with our own lives, our thoughts, our deeds, private, public.

Imagine all of our sins in this room heaped upon Christ. How great of judgment would be placed upon him. And yet, it is greater than this room. From Adam to the last man, every single human being's sin was taken into account and was brought upon Christ, and placed on his head, so to speak. And he became the target of God's wrath, And the flood, the floodgate that was reserved to be poured out upon the sons of Adam for all of eternity was redirected upon Calvary.

And Christ in that moment, though it was but a few hours, experienced something that is a mystery. And he drank every single drop of God's justice, in such a way that he could confidently take that cup and flip it upside down with not one drop left in it. And as he drinks that cup and as he drank that cup, he extends to you the cup of fellowship, and he invites you to come and to be forgiven and to be washed and to take into your account his innocence and his holiness though you are undeserving and unworthy. That is the great exchange. And so we do not have to weep for ourselves.

When we realize that truth we have every reason to rejoice. And so as much as this is a sobering night, it is a joyful night. And if there is any weeping that we will do, if there's any heaviness in our hearts, it's not so that we look at Jesus and say, oh poor Jesus. Two thousand years ago he was such a good man and yet they treat him that way. If there's any sorrow, it's what our sins did to him.

It's it's it's how unimaginable it is that God came into this world and walked this walk on your behalf and mine, and went to that cross for you and me. And that's why we're gonna break bread in a moment. A visual representation of what Christ has done. God is so wise, he instituted an ordinance that would engage our tastes, so that there would be an experiential understanding of the goodness of God. But this ordinance is not open to the public.

It is kept for those who have understood what Christ has done and have received him, and have repented, have believed. And so if that is you today, you will participate. If that is not you today, if you are a guest here, welcome. If you are one of those Christians that come for Easter and Christmas only, I have a message for you. A message that is very very mysterious, and it's a terrifying thing to preach the gospel not because you have to stand before people and speak, but but because you are trying to communicate something that is almost unexplainable.

It is so simple a child can understand it. It is so it is so easy that anybody can understand and believe. But there is an there is an element to it that it that is so glorious that the human tongue, the human mind cannot fully grasp all that happened on that day. But I'll do my best and say to you that if you do not know Christ, in love I say this to you because I may never see you again. No matter how good your life may seem to the natural understanding, upon you is reserved the wrath of God.

You have sinned against God. And you know, your conscience bears witness. Your conscience bears witness, and that's why you're trying to dismiss this concept of God altogether because you do not want to even entertain the possibility that you will be held accountable for your lack of morality. Well, I've never killed anybody, and I've never I've never robbed a bank. You are measuring goodness by man's standards.

God's holiness exceeds all the morality that man can conjure up. He is so pure and brilliant. He is so light. He is so holy, that all it takes is a thought of hatred to be considered as murder in his sight. All it takes is one imagination of sexual morality and as though you have done the act itself.

You stand condemned. You stand condemned. I know this world wants to pamper you. I know this world wants to tell you what you want to hear. I know this world hates you so much, that it wants to tell you that you even have the right to skew your own reality.

But I love you too much. I will tell you the truth even if it hurts. You will stand before God and you will remember this message among many other messages I'm sure, when he casts you off for eternity. But this God who is so holy is just as much love. If his holiness blazes with so much power, I tell you his love is so overwhelming.

So overwhelming that God comes into this stinking filthy world. Leaves glory, leaves heaven, leaves praises, leaves angelic beings who so revere him that they don't even dare to show their face in his presence. To walk among men, who question him, who doubt him, who betray him, and who spat upon him, and beat him, and mocked him. And he sat there silent as a lamb being sheared, ready to be slaughtered. All to do what?

Oh, we heard it. There was a joy set before him. That joy, yes, was to obey the father's will, but there was a joy beside that joy, and that was the knowledge that people would be saved. That you might be saved. And that you would know fellowship with him.

You see it's not that God just wants to give you insurance to escape hell. It's that God so longs for you. He yearns for you, desires you, wants to fellowship with you, wants you to be with him forever and ever, but it is your sin that is separating you from him. And you would think that man knowing that, would try to build a bridge to God. It's impossible.

And so He builds a bridge to you. What does it require for you to know His friendship, His smile, eternal life, new life? Repent and believe. Turn from your sin. What good is it anyway in your life?

It's only destroyed you. It's only left you unsatisfied and it's only heaping up more judgment. And embrace not just eternal life, embrace life now. Because the power of the cross as we just sang, is not just the power that delivers you from the wrath that is to come. It's a power so great that it gets into you and transforms your heart, and sets you free.

It breaks the shackles of sin. And God so purifies you by the blood of the lamb, who is the person of Jesus Christ, that the Holy Spirit that can now come in and take up residence within you and animate you to new life in which you see the world differently, you see God differently, you see life differently, you see sin differently, you see holiness differently. And then you walk in this world as a pilgrim with a sense of connection to God and God's people though from different tribes and tongues and cultures, yet something in common. We've been redeemed. We've been forgiven.

We're saved. We're children of God more than children, more than escapees of judgment. But Christ goes on to crown us with something even greater, ambassadors of Christ. Now you represent me in this world and you communicate this truth to people as you are hearing it today. As you are hearing it today, so that they may be saved.

Oh, would you come to Christ? Oh, would you would you hear the invitation in this world that is falling apart? It is falling apart because Jesus predicted it. It is falling apart because in Jesus's goodness, he wants to show the world just how broken it is, so that they can look to a transcendent source who is Christ himself to redeem and rescue them. So he's calling you at this time of history to embrace to embrace his lordship.

Repent and believe. As we come to the table, we're going to do something differently than what we do as a church. We're going to take the elements, you will return to your seat, and as you return to your seat you will be seated. And usually we sing all together as we reflect, but we will have the choir come up and sing over us as we meditate upon what Christ has done. Pastor Daniel will lead us through communion.

We will eat and we will conclude. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in this moment that you would enlarge in our hearts to love Jesus, Savior and Lord. That even in this process, oh God, as we partake of the bread and the cup, greater revelation would be given to us. For the person who does not know Christ, may they sense the goodness of God that leads to repentance.

And Lord, may you be exalted in this place. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Just take the time to examine your hearts and to ask God if your heart is pure and free from any known sin, if there's reconciliation that needs to take place, anything that's in our hearts that Christ would be grieved by should be dealt with before we partake. But as you deal with the Lord in that and if you feel confident, come forward, partake, return to your seat, and just sit there and meditate upon the cross because we we are people who are not here to ask God what we need to do.

We are here to reflect on what he's done. He's done it and we're celebrating that together. Amen.

Remembering Christ. We are here to remember him. We have remembered him through the songs, through the worship, through the word, and now is the time to remember him through, breaking of the bread. I'd like to read from the gospel of Matthew, chapter 26 beginning in verse 17, and we want to take our time as we remember our Lord and savior this evening. Now on the first day of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus saying, where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?

And it happens to be today where the Jews meet together to celebrate Passover. He said, go into the city to a certain man and say to him, the teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples. And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and they prepared the Passover. When it was evening, he reclined a table with the twelfth.

And as they were eating he said, Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me. And they were very sorrowful and began to say to Him one after another, Is it I, Lord? He answered, He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to the man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.

Jesus who would betray him answered, is it I, Rabbi? He said to him, you have see it too. Now as they were eating, they were eating the Passover meal. Just took bread. It was the bread of the Passover.

The bread that is called the bread of affliction. That bread that reminded the Jews of the affliction of Egypt. The time when they were hurrying to get out. But now Christ takes that bread to make it symbolize something different and something new. He took that bread and after blessing, it broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, take, eat, this is my body.

Now this is going to be representative of my body. That's gonna be broken for you. And he took a cup. There were four cups on the table. It's what the Jews do during the Passover In reference to Exodus chapter six beginning in verse six, just let me read it to you.

The first cup, they called it the cup of sanctification. Based on that verse, I am the Lord and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptian. The second cup they would drink you in the Passover is called the cup of deliverance. And that comes to the other part of the verse, and I will deliver you from slavery to them. And then comes the third cup, it is called the cup of redemption.

And this is the verse, I will redeem you with an ostrich arm and with a great acts of judgment. And many people think this is the cup that Jesus took, the third cup, the cup of redemption and said after that, this is my blood. It was the redemption of the Jews from Egypt. But let's do what the verse says. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with a great acts of judgment.

Pastor Daniel today mentioned the judgment. The cup we drink. Today symbolizes the blood of Christ and our redemption. Faith can be also a cup of judgment. I think Paul alludes to that in first Corinthians 11.

If we take unworthily in it, we will be judging ourselves. And those who don't receive the redemption of Christ, nothing remains to them but a cup of judgment. But Christ himself on the cross, he drank the full cup of judgment for me and you who has accepted Him on accepted Him on the cross and His work on the cross. And then there is the fourth cup and the last cup the Jews would drink, and that says in verse seven, I will take you to be my people. This is the cup of praise.

Let me continue the reading of Matthew. And he took a cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them saying, drink of it all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it in you with you in my father's kingdom. And when they had sung a hymn, Hallel, one of the Psalms that they sing from one thirteen to one eighteen, they went out to the Mount Of Olives and probably then they drank that cup of praise. 27, chapter 27, when morning came, all of the chief priests and the elder of the people took counsel against Jesus to put Him to death.

And they bound Him and led Him away and delivered Him over to Pilate, the governor. Verse 27. And the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed on his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him saying, hail king of the Jews.

And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. And where they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him. And verse 45, now from the sixth hour there was darkness over the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? That is my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

And some of the bystanders hearing it said, this man is calling Elijah. And one of them at once ran and took a sponge filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the other said, wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him. And he has cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit, it is finished. It is finished.

It is finished. Christ has done it. He poured that judgment of God for you and me on the cross. And now we come together to remember His work for us on the cross. We would remember first His body.

Jesus took the bread. He gave thanks. Let us give thanks for the bread. Our Lord and Savior, this is the greatest love story ever told. The story of God's love for sinners.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. This is the story of Christ's love to his church. He loved her and gave himself for her. This is the story of our salvation and our redemption. This is the story of the wrath of God falling on a righteous man, the Lord Jesus Christ, for wicked men like us.

It is the story of the power of God and the wisdom of God that set us free. Lord, we come to thank You for what You have done for us. We come to thank You that you died and you drank the full cup of the wrath of God for us. That we might be set free and have eternal life with you. Lord, we give you the glory and the praise and the worship as we break the spirit and partake in it together.

In your name, Lord, we give thanks. Let's drink, eat it together. And Jesus took the cup and he gave thanks. Give thanks for the cup. Lord, this cup remind us of your blood that was shed there for us on the cross.

And remind us that there is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood. The blood of the Lamb of God who is without spot and blemish. Oh, we thank You. We thank you that you did not say no, that you went there to the cross. You accepted that judgment for me and for us because of that great love for us.

Lord, we thank you for the cross. We thank you for the blood. We thank you that we have been cleansed once and for all because of the body because of the blood of Christ, your blood that was shed for us. And now Lord, as we drink it together, we cannot say Lord God anything but thank you, thank you, thank you. In your name, amen.

Can we just show our appreciation to Lori, the choir director and the choir, doctor Brian Lee for helping us. I know they I know they won't be too happy with me by doing that, but I know the work that they put in week after week to bless us with their gifts and with their willingness to just exalt Christ in the way they just did. And we look forward to celebrating with you if you're able to join us, this Sunday as we turn our attention to the resurrected Christ, and he's alive today. And we so are so grateful for you being here tonight, and we look forward to all that the Lord will do in this place through your lives as we live the crucified life for his name's sake. Can we pray together?

Lord, we thank you for the blood. We thank you that in Christ, you see Christ perfection, and we stand forgiven at the cross. Lord, for the person in this place who's wrestling with that truth, who either can't believe it because they know the wretchedness of their sin or who are still in love with their sin. Lord, help open our eyes to the truth of it all. And Lord, lead us by your spirit to where we need to be.

Lord, we pray that with these short lives, they would be fragrant offerings unto you. Not because we are repaying you, but just as a symbol of our gratitude to what you've done for us. Lord, we're so grateful that we can come together and sing and reflect and receive and rejoice in Christ as your people. Bless our time of fellowship. Use us for your glory and be exalted through it all.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. Amen. God bless you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hope to say hello to you and hope to see you this Sunday if the Lord wills.

Have a good night.