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THE BLESSED CUP
A
Communion Message
By
Rev. Todd
W. Allen
Villa Rica
7/4/04
Mark 14:22-42
As we come
to the Lord's Table today we are grateful
for the cup of blessing, which He has
provided. But we ought to remember that
for Christ it was...
I.
A BITTER CUP
He came to
that hour and prayed: Father, all things
are possible unto thee; take away this cup
from me: nevertheless not what I will, but
what thou wilt.
The cross
was not a pleasant experience. It was a
horrible cup of shame and agony. His
sinless soul was made to be sin for us. He
stood in the place of the wicked for our
sakes and bore our sins in his own body on
the tree. We can sit here this morning and
remain untouched by his pain and shame.
After all, we did not live during that
time and we have never seen a man
crucified. But I hope you will be able to
let something of what it cost Christ to
give us this cup of blessing come home to
your heart today.
1. Christ
was willing to suffer the pains of death
for us but as the hour approached he knew
only too well all that was involved. It
was not just the physical suffering, it
was the soul suffering, the weight of the
responsibility of entering into the place
of darkness and despair and separation
from the Father in order to vanquish
death.
Death is an enemy. It is
the penalty for sin. We
have seen
death with many different faces. I think
of
the box
office smash hit "JAWS". It was so
successful
that they
made sequels. The great jaw of a Great
White man-eating shark devouring a man is
a fearful thing to behold. In the movie
they made it as realistic as they could.
Some people who saw the movie refused to
go swimming in the ocean anymore. The
vicious, chomping, tearing jaws of the
killer shark etched an unforgettable
memory on the minds of many. There is some
thing morbidly fascinating about man being
tracked and attacked by a brute monster
whose only purpose for existence is to
kill and devour prey.
Death is
like that monster shark in the movie Jaws
or the great white whale in Moby Dick. It
is an enemy to be destroyed but who eludes
destruction. In Jaws and Moby Dick the
killer shark and whale destroy the ship
and consume the hunters. Only one survivor
remained in Moby Dick and just two in Jaws
to tell the tale.
Christ
goes into the jaws of death to destroy
death.
Like being
devoured by a man eating shark in order to
kill the shark and come forth alive and
victorious, a truly superhuman undertaking
without parallel in all of the history of
mankind. Christ took our deserved
punishment and arose victorious over
death. But that does not mean it was a
painless or easy thing for him to do. He
laid everything on the line. He had only
one thin line of light out of that pit of
darkness and despair and that was his
faith in his Father's promise that he
would not leave his soul in hell, neither
suffer his holy one to see corruption (psa.
16:10). He could die but not remain dead.
Death could not keep Christ. The Giver of
life and light could not be overcome by
the darkness, but he did taste the
darkness of death for you and me (See
Psalm 16:8-10).
II. For
Every Believer His Cup Of Death Is A Cup
Of Blessing
He says in Mark's gospel,
Verily I say unto you, I will drink no
more of the fruit of the vine, until that
day that I drink it new in the kingdom of
God. (Mk. 14:25). This is a solemn and
sacred assurance of the gathering together
again of all who die in the Lord, of their
forgiveness and acceptance because of the
cup He drank and now offers to us. The cup
of Christ's death is to the believer a cup
of assurance and blessing. We drink the
cup of communion to commemorate his
marvelous work of love and mercy. He said:
This do in remembrance of me, for as often
as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup,
ye do show the Lord's death, till he come.
But as we
come to the table today let us remember
also that this cup is a cup of victory. It
is a victory that cost Christ a lot to
give to us, and truly it was a cup of
bitterness for him, but we can now
celebrate his victory over death as well
as remember his sufferings.
When Roman
soldier and commanders conquered, they,
like all soldiers of all times, celebrated
the victory over their enemies. More often
than not a victory banquet and a toast did
this to the commander. The war is over and
the enemy is defeated and victory is
sweet.
In much
the same way the Christian recognizes in
the communion cup the sweetness and joy of
Christ's victory.
It is a
victory over evil and Satan and sin, a
victory over death and the grave. Thus it
is the greatest of all victories.
We lift
the communion cup in reverent hands to
lips that praise and honor and bless the
name of the conquering and victorious
Savior King. We can say with John Bakewell
these lines he wrote in 1757:
Hail, Thou
once despised Jesus,
Crowned in
mockery a King!
Thou didst
suffer to release us;
Thou didst
free salvation bring.
Hail, Thou
agonizing Savior,
Bearer of
our sin and shame!
By Thy
merits we find favor;
Life is
given through Thy Name.
Jesus,
hail! Enthroned in glory,
There
forever to abide;
All the
heavenly host adore Thee,
Seated at
Thy Father's side:
There for
sinners Thou art pleading;
There Thou
dost our place prepare
Ever for
us interceding,
Till in
glory we appear.
Worship,
honor, power and blessing
Thou art
worthy to receive;
Loudest
praises, without ceasing,
Meet it
is for us to give.
Help, ye
bright angelic spirits,
Bring your
sweetest noblest lays;
Help to
sing our Savior’s merits
Help to
chant Immanuel's praise.
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The paper and sermon manuscripts from
Pastor
Todd W. Allen
are made freely available for review and
distribution. We only request that proper
web page attribution be provided if
distributed for any reason. Please be
gracious to forgive typos and errors of
expression. These notes are faithful
approximations of what has been preached.
May God be glorified in the preaching of
His Word. |