Just What Is the Cup of Christ?

During his last Passover meal, with the disciples, just before he was taken and crucified, Jesus Christ took bread, blessed it and broke it, and gave it to the disciples. And he said, Take, eat, this is my body. Then he took the cup and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you. For this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day, when I drink it with you in my Father's kingdom.

Jesus Christ said he would not drink of the cup until he drank it with us in the kingdom of God. Apparently, Christ was speaking literally, and that's something that we can look forward to. But was he not also speaking figuratively? What does it mean to drink of the cup? Brethren, we don't have to wait until God's kingdom is established to drink from the cup in a spiritual sense.

Are you drinking daily of the Master's cup? That's the question we'll ask ourselves today. What did Jesus Christ mean when he said, Drink from it, all of you? Is it still possible to drink from the Master's cup today? Just what is the cup of Christ? That will be the topic for our sermon today. Recall when ancient Israel was running out of food and drink in the wilderness. They were being punished because they lacked faith and would not heed the words of God's true servants, Joshua and Caleb.

And, of course, Moses brought them the word of God, which said, Go in and take the Promised Land. Instead, they listened to the ten spies, who are now no names. I bet you can't remember a single one of their names. You've heard it a few times, I know. I've talked about it a few times, but I don't remember their names. No one remembers their names, for they were unfaithful. They were unbelieving. But we well remember those who were faithful and true.

Moses, Joshua, Caleb. Although the children of Israel were being punished and taught and tested in the wilderness, God did provide manna from heaven, and He also provided water from the rock. We know that Jesus Christ is the bread that comes down from heaven, as John 6 tells us that. We read that every Passover service. We know that Christ is the spiritual manna that comes down from heaven.

But we also know that Christ is the living waters that came down from heaven. That's another expression used in the Bible, that Christ is the living waters that came down from heaven. And Christ said, if we drink of Him, we shall never thirst. In Christ is eternal life. Surely the cup of wine that we all drink at the Passover service symbolizes the blood of Christ shed for us. But could it not also symbolize the living waters, the Holy Spirit that flows from Jesus Christ, the rock, the head of the church? Remember, Christ's first miracle was to turn water into the finest of wines.

Of course, the small cup of wine at Passover symbolizes, as I already mentioned, the shed blood of Christ. And that's the major symbolism, of course. But I think it's interesting to also consider the living waters. The cup of wine at Passover is just a tiny bit of wine, but it's powerful in its significance. The Lamb of God poured out His blood for each and every one of us. Certainly not something to take lightly. When we drink of that little tiny cup of Christ on Passover evening, we are figuratively drinking the blood of Jesus Christ.

Scripture talks about that. In fact, a lot of disciples that were following Christ at that time said they followed Him no more after He talked about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. They didn't understand the significance of what He was really saying.

From a spiritual standpoint, his elect do understand what he was talking about. We are showing our acceptance of Jesus Christ as our King, as our Savior, as the ruler of our lives. When we drink that little bit of wine Passover evening, we are coming out of slavery to sin to be slaves of God. It's important to realize that we are coming out of slavery to sin. We are now in slavery to God. Scripture uses that kind of language. It's okay to be a slave to God and to Jesus Christ because they want what's best for us. If we follow them, we will truly be blessed in every way.

Now, brethren, in a very real sense, we are all the King's cupbearers, all of us who are called now to be elect, chosen and called out by God now. We are showing our willingness to have Christ live in us and to transform us into His nature, the nature of His Father. Christ came to reveal the Father. So we show our willingness to be transformed.

We show our desire. We show our willingness to become just like Jesus Christ. Since life is in the blood, we are drinking unto ourselves eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. So when you drink that little bit of wine, remember what it symbolizes. Remember what it means. Now, the Bible reveals a number of fascinating uses for the word translated cup in the New King James Bible.

I'd like to go to a couple places in the book of Revelation. Now, we're going to contrast the cup of Christ with this cup that's mentioned in Revelation 17. Let's go there.

And you probably already are ahead of me because we know what Revelation 17 talks about. Many of us who have been in the Church a long time. We know this is prophetic. It's end time. It's a little scary. Let's read it together. Revelation 17.

Now, this is talking mostly in a spiritual sense. There was a lot of idolatry going on here. A lot of immorality going on.

Very graphic.

It has written, Mystery Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots, and of the Abominations of the Earth. We know it's talking about a Babylon-ish system that has existed for actually thousands of years. It exists today. It will be supercharged in the very last days. And it will be something, indeed, to watch. Verse 6, I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. Now, that's a bit scary. We know that God is going to spare this earth because of the elect. But we know also that some will be martyrs.

Some will lose their lives in the end time as they prove faithful. As they stand in the gap, He says, I marveled with great amazement, the Apostle John marveling on the Isle of Patmos. Now let's go to Revelation 18, where it talks about the fall of this Babylon the Great. Verse 1, After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven and having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory, and he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, Babylon the Great is fallen.

There will be a religious system that will fall, a false religious system that will fall. There will be governments that will fall that are committing adultery and fornication with this false system, this religious system. Babylon the Great is fallen and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a bird for every unclean and hated bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxuries.

The Bible has a lot to say about the rich and the poor, and those who put their trust in riches, and those who neglect the poor and don't look out for the poor. Verse 4, and I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people. Come out of her, lest you share in her sins, unless you receive of her plagues.

Now, this is a command for us to come out of Babylon, to come out of this influence of this religious system, also this national system that will be set up against God. Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, unless you receive of her plagues. She will be punished for her sins.

God will pour out many plague, plague upon plague upon her because of these sins. Verse 5, for her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. God is not blind. God sees what's going on on the earth today and what's been going on for now thousands of years, since Adam and Eve decided to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Verse 6, render to her justice she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works in the cup which she has mixed. Here it uses this word, cup again.

In the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her. She's going to get double the plagues. Verse 7, in the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow, for she says in her heart, I sit as queen, and am no widow and will not see sorrow. She's not repentant, not remorseful.

Verse 8, therefore her plagues will come in one day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be utterly burned with fire, for as strong as the Lord God who judges her. These are sure prophecies that will come to pass. We can count on them. We can bank on them. She will be repaid double for her sins. Plague after plague will be poured out upon her. And we don't want to drink of Babylon. We don't want to drink of the great horse cup.

We don't want to suffer the plagues that will be poured out upon Babylon. Just as surely as plagues were poured out upon the Pharaoh and the ancient Egyptians, the Egyptians and the Babylonians, they're all tied in together. They all represent sin. The Days of Unleavened Bread picture coming out of that sort of slavery to this Babylon-eish and Egyptian system that has ruled the earth with Satan the devil as the God of this world. No, instead we want to drink of the good master's cup.

So it is very significant that we will be keeping Passover. It's essential that we keep Passover. It's essential that we drink of the good master's cup. To be a cup-bearer in ancient times was a great honor. Slaves had this honor at times. Of course, Nehemiah was not really a slave at this time. Although he had been taken into captivity, he was a cup-bearer to the king. The cup-bearer was trusted and considered faithful, and Nehemiah was certainly considered faithful and trustworthy. The king put a lot of confidence in him.

We can read about that, of course, in the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah came back to the land of Israel and was used in a mighty way by God himself. But it was the cup-bearer's task to drink of the master's cup. To drink of the king's cup. By drinking of the master's cup, the cup-bearer would share in the delicacies and the richness of the king. So there would be blessings for being a cup-bearer. He would be right there with the king.

He would get to know the king. The king could learn to trust him, as he did in Nehemiah's case. And Nehemiah was given great favor because of his relationship with the king. But at the same time, the cup-bearer would also be the first to receive the wrath that was intended for the king. If the drink were poisoned, and we've heard about the intrigue that goes on, we've seen movies where the king was poisoned.

And if the cup-bearer was involved in it, in the conspiracy, he would fake drinking of the cup, but he wouldn't really drink of the cup, and the king would die. But if the cup-bearer were faithful, and the drink was poisoned, then the cup-bearer would suffer the consequences. He might even have to die for the sake of the king.

Drinking of the cup means participating in whatever the cup contains, whether good or bad. Drinking of the cup symbolizes sharing the consequences of what was in the cup. If you follow Babylon, then you will drink of her cup, and you will reap the whirlwind.

But if you drink of the master's cup, you may suffer to some degree, but in the end, you will be richly blessed. So, drinking of the cup symbolizes sharing the consequences of what is in the cup. It also came to mean accepting what the king dealt out.

The Bible says in the last days that the whole world will drink of Babylon's cup. The whole world will be drunk on the wine of her fornication, and the richness and the luxury that she represents. Remember, Satan has deceived this whole world. Only the called and chosen of God, only the elect, the firstfruits, will drink of the good master's cup. When we talk about what the Passover means to us, one of the points was we realize that we are firstfruits. When you drink of the cup, you should be filled with gratitude that you are among the firstfruits.

Only the called and chosen of God, the elect, will drink of the good master's cup. The rest of the world will drink of Babylon's cup, and they will pay the dire consequences of the cup of indignation that proceeds from God. God is going to pour his wrath down upon a sinful world that refuses to come out of Babylon, refuses to come out of Egypt. Let's go back to Revelation, or we're already in Revelation, but let's go to Revelation 14.

Revelation 14, verse 6. If you remember, not long ago, we went to Revelation 14 and talked about the 144,000, and how it refers to them as virgins, because their sins were washed away in the blood of the Lamb, in the blood of Jesus Christ. And they were redeemed among men, being firstfruits to God, as it says in verse 4, and to the Lamb. In their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God, because they have been cleansed. And that's what Passover is all about. We come to Passover to once again recommit ourselves to be cleansed of our sins, to have our sins washed away in the blood of our Savior Jesus Christ, to dedicate ourselves to putting sin out of our lives, to putting Christ into our lives.

But let's read verse 6, Revelation 14.

We can do what we can do now, but God will intervene miraculously here and send His angel.

He himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation.

He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. Those who do not repent will eventually be cast into a lake of fire because of their rebellion. Hopefully there will be very few that will refuse, but the Scripture does say, narrow is the way, wide is the road that leads to destruction. So it remains to be seen how many will be cast into the lake of fire. Hopefully the vast majority will repent of their sins. In chapter 16 verse 17, Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven from the throne, saying, It is done! And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings, and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth. Think about the destruction that came from the 9-point earthquake on the Richter scale that happened in Japan. It was, I think, the fifth largest. There have been a few that have been larger than this one, but the one we're reading about will make those look small. Because exponentially, earthquakes just get worse and worse.

One point on the Richter scale, or one tenth of a point on the Richter scale, as it gets up to the 9-point level, is much, much higher in intensity. This will be an earthquake such as has never been seen, and will never be seen again.

Verse 19, The great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and great Babylon was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found, and great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hellstone about the weight of a talent. I know I never looked this up. I can't remember how much a talent is, but it's like a hundred and some pounds.

A hundred and thirty pounds. Hailstones. They were talking about hellstones the size of softballs, I think, in some of the storms. I don't know if any of that happened in Oklahoma or not. I didn't hear of any that large hitting. But I can't even fathom. I remember as a little boy on the farm out in Ohio, and I was just out having a good time, and all of a sudden this hail storm came up, and it was golf ball-size hail.

And I had my hands over my head, and I was trying to protect my vitals up here, and I was making a beeline for some protection. And that was only little golf-size balls. Maybe they weren't even that big. When I was little, it seemed like they were that large. Probably more like nickel-size. But I'll tell you what, when a hundred and thirty pound hailstone is coming down, you don't want to be anywhere near it.

So there will be great destruction on the earth. Verse 21 again, Each hellstone about the weight of a talent, men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since the plague was exceedingly great. There will be plagues that will be poured out upon Babylon and those who follow her. We want to get as far away from Babylon as we can in Isaiah 51, and that's not easy because we're in the middle of Babylon.

We're in the world, but we are to come out of the world and be separate. But we are affected by the world, and so we must be very careful. Isaiah 51 verse 17. Isaiah 51 verse 17. Awake! Awake!

Stand up, O Jerusalem! Stand up, you who have drunk at the hand of the Lord, the cup of his fury, you have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling and drained it out. You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling, you have drained it out. God's fury is going to go out, but then it's also going to be removed, and God will be merciful and gracious, but lessons need to be learned. God's wrath will be poured out upon the sinners of the earth.

Just as God poured out many terrible plagues upon Egypt, once again he's going to pour horrible plagues down upon the end-time Babylon-ish system, the false prophet, the entire economic and religious system that is contrary to God and His ways, Babylon and Egypt are at times used interchangeably, two names for essentially the same thing.

We know that Egypt is symbolic of sin, and we know that we are to come out of sin. Babylon is also symbolic of sin. God delivered His chosen ones from Egypt and its leader Pharaoh. God will once again deliver His elect, His chosen ones, from spiritual Babylon and its leader, Satan the Devil.

Revelation 12 talks about a place for God's people. She has a place that God will take His people, the majority of them, to a place where they will be protected and where they will be guided and instructed. But not all will go there. Some will need to give their lives, to lay their lives down.

Either way, we need to be ready, whether it is to go to this place of safety, to go to her place, as it talks about in Revelation 12, whether it is to lay our lives down. Obviously, it would seem that those who are truly faithful now, and close to God, and in tune with God, the majority of them will be protected. But when we let down, and we are lethargic and apathetic, even though we have God's Spirit in us, we are not stirring up the Spirit, we are not utilizing the Spirit of God, it may be those who will be called upon to give their lives.

God says that His elect, His chosen, are to again come out of Babylon. We are to drink not of Babylon's cup, but we are to drink deeply of the cup of the Lord. So have you consciously rejected the cup of this world? Have you consciously rejected the cup of this world, Babylon, Egypt? Or are you still clinging and sipping? Are you still taking sips from this cup of Babylon? I would dare say that we are all taking sips to some degree, and we need to stop taking sips. We certainly should not be taking gulps.

Perhaps some of us, maybe all of us at times, are taking gulps from this cup. When we sin, are we not taking gulps? When we don't bring our bodies into subjection? Are we not taking gulps of these waters that come from Babylon?

Have you fully decided in favor of the cup of Christ? Are you fully committed to the cup of Christ? I know you're committed. I know I'm committed, but I always have to consider just how committed am I. How dedicated, how zealous, how faithful, or how sidetracked have I become? How far have I strayed from the purity that comes in Christ Jesus and His Father? God is holy, and we are to become holy. Christ said, become you therefore perfect, even as my Father in heaven is perfect.

That is our standard. That is our goal. And we all fall short of that. So it is time to be humbled by our humanity. It is time to be humbled by our weaknesses. It's also time to be truly grateful and thankful and joyous of our calling. Because none of us deserve to keep the Passover. None of us really deserve what we're being given. It's a wonderful gift that God gives us. And we should graciously receive that gift that God has for us, that He's extended to us. We all need to be there, Passover. We've been examining ourselves.

We see that we need to be there. We need to drink the wine. We need to drink of the cup of Christ. We need to eat of that unleavened bread that represents Christ. We need to bring that spiritual manna that comes down from heaven into our own lives and hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit.

We need to learn to live by every word of God. And we should pride ourselves to seek repentance and to just strive to overcome and grow. That's what the Days of Unleavened Bread are all about, putting sin out. Once we've been spared by the sacrifice of Christ, and our sins have been cleansed and washed away, the lesson is to continue to put sin out. Not go back to sin, but to put it out. And to continue to fight the good fight and continue to put that sin out and strive against sin and bring in the unleavened bread.

Eat the unleavened bread every day that symbolizes putting Christ into your life, into your hearts and minds. So have you consciously rejected the cup of this world? Something to dwell on between now and Passover. This world's influence is tremendous. There are many vices out there, many things that can trip us up. We can be sidetracked and we can stray from God. We can stray from that true faithfulness that we all want.

We do need to examine ourselves and pray that God would help us see ourselves, because oftentimes we're blinded. We don't fully see just how close to the world we've become. I know at times there are people sitting in the congregations of God who are involved in blatant sin. There have been adulterers and adulterers sitting in the congregation. Hopefully no one here.

But I know in the past that's happened. I know some of the history that's gone on. People come here, they warm a seat. They're here almost every Sabbath, but are they truly putting sin out of their lives? That's something that we all have to look deeply within ourselves. We know that we all fall short. I know I fall short, but that doesn't mean I should stop looking just because I know it. It means I should look all the more and try to put that out and grow and overcome.

God is in the process of delivering His elect, His chosen ones, from spiritual Babylon and from Satan the Devil. He is bringing us out of slavery to sin, to be His slaves, to surrender our lives to Him and follow Him. God says that His elect are to come out of her, My people.

That's an expression that we read from Exodus, of course. Come out of her, My people. That's what God said about Israel. Come out of Egypt. Again, we are to drink not of Babylon's cup, but we are to drink deeply of the cup of the Lord, the living waters that come down from heaven.

We're to drink deeply of that cup. We're to drink deeply of the wine that represents the shed blood of Christ, showing that we accept Christ as our Savior. So have you decided in favor of the cup of Christ? Have you made an ironclad commitment in favor of the cup of Jesus Christ?

God will not allow us to mix the contents of these two cups. He may allow it for a time. He does allow it for a time. But we will pay the consequences. The more we mix these two cups together, the more we pay the price, the consequence for it. We can't serve both God and Mammon. We can't serve God and this world. God wants our faithfulness. The two cups are totally incompatible. The cup of Babylon, the cup of Christ are totally incompatible. God says, come out of her completely.

We must choose one or the other. We must choose life, not death. The choice is clear. In 1 Corinthians 10, the Apostle Paul talks about drinking the cup of demons. Let's read 1 Corinthians 10.

And if there is a book of the Bible that would be considered the Spring Holy Day book, it would surely be 1 Corinthians. It would be the book of 1 Corinthians. There's much that is said. In fact, I'm working on a sermon about lessons from Corinth. Hopefully, I will deliver it soon. Lessons from Corinth.

But this is the Spring Holy Day book. 1 Corinthians. There are many lessons that we should be learning. In 1 Corinthians 10, verse 14, let's read it together. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. Notice that this is after the verses that talk about the Old Testament examples, and how Christ was there in the wilderness leading and guiding His people, and how those things happened as examples for us so that we could learn lessons from the Old Testament. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. Flee from Babylon is what He's saying. Flee from the idolatry of Babylon and Egypt. I speak as to wise men. Judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion or the fellowship or sharing of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion, the fellowship, or the sharing of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body. For we all partake of that one bread. Paul was addressing the church at Corinth. I'm addressing the church in Talfa. The same thing could be said. The same thing is being said. For though we are many, we are of one bread and one body. We are of the body of Christ. We are of the church of God, as Mr. Francis mentioned in the sermonette.

We are to be a church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. That's our goal.

For we, though many, are one bread and one body. For we all partake of that one bread. We all partake of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is your Savior. He's my Savior. He's all of our Savior's. Anyone who has the Spirit of God, no matter what organization they happen to be a part of, are a part of the body of Christ. Now, we know that there are others who have recently left us who are a part of the body of Christ.

We must count them as brothers and sisters in Christ. That is the attitude that we need to have for them. We grieve that they've left, but we love them. We care for them. We don't necessarily agree with the choices that they made, but we still love them. We still care for them, and we know God loves them, and that God is looking after them. And they're going to be keeping the Passover, too.

I had someone that thought that those who left us were no longer keeping the commandments, that they had gone away from the commandments. If anyone here thinks that, that's not the case.

They are keeping the commandments of God. We are keeping the commandments of God. I believe it would be best if we were together, and that we could learn to be together, and bolster each other, and lift each other up, and always be there for each other. I mean, that is my prayer. But we all partake of that one bread, Jesus Christ.

Let's continue reading. Observe Israel after the flesh, are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?

What am I saying, then, that an idol is anything, or that is offered to idols is anything? Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God. And I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. Obviously, we are too far away from that sort of fellowship.

But that's not the kind of fellowship that we have with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Verse 21, you cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?

Good question. Are we stronger than He? It's a simple question, isn't it? Of course, the answer is no. And yet, sometimes we think that we are maybe stronger than God because of the actions that we take, the things that we allow into our hearts and in our minds. We should shrink back from that which is evil. We should abhor that which is evil, but it's easy for human beings to think, that won't affect me that much. Well, again, we have to be careful and cautious that we don't allow those things to affect us and that we do take a stand for what is right and good and make better choices in our lives.

We must totally reject the world. We must fully accept God's guidance, God's direction, and God's rule in our lives. Now, again, that doesn't mean that there aren't good things that happen in the world.

And there are good decisions that happen, and of course, we can endorse that which is good in the world, but we have to learn to reject that which is evil. It's a mixture of good and evil.

So we're not to get engaged in the evil of this world. We have to be discerning people. We have to judge righteous judgment.

We must allow God to rule in our lives. Again, Satan is the God of the world. Babylon's cup is Satan's cup. Satan wants to be your king. Satan wants to rule over you.

He wants you to do his bidding. He wants you to drink of his cup of death. He wants you to be his cupbearer. He wants you to be his slave.

We already read that communion means fellowship and sharing. We are to fellowship with Christ, and we are to share in his blessings. We are to share in the blessings of the king. By being his cupbearer, we will share in his blessings. When we drink of that little cup of wine Passover evening, we should remember what a wonderful cup of blessing it is. A tremendous cup of blessing. We should be filled with gratitude and praise for our Savior, who is giving us the victory over sin through the blood of Christ, represented in that little cup of wine. According to Hebrew tradition, when a Hebrew man and woman were to be betrothed to be engaged, the groom to be poured wine into his cup, and he invited the woman to drink of it. It was then up to her to accept or deny his offer, his invitation to be his wife. If she drank of the cup, she showed her acceptance of him as her husband to be. She was then betrothed to him.

Their marriage was sure. It was a contract, actually, that they entered into, a betrothal contract. When the bride to be drank of the cup, she drank of the marriage contract or covenant, accepting it. They didn't break betrothal covenants very often back in those days. I know today people get engaged, and oftentimes those engagements fall apart. In fact, movies are made all the time about a man and woman who are engaged, and then somebody else comes along, and it's their kindred spirit. Right there it is. Even though a commitment was made, an engagement was made, it all falls apart. They didn't take these engagements lightly back in those days, when this betrothal covenant was made. She was then betrothed to him. When the bride to be drank of the cup, she drank of the marriage contract or covenant, accepting it. If she refused to drink of the cup, then no wedding, no marriage would take place. She made her choice. She made her decision. Now, we know that Satan does not want us to become the bride of Christ. He wants to keep you for himself. He wants to keep you for himself. He doesn't want you to accept Christ as your husband, as your Savior. Of course, we know that Jesus Christ is the very best husband, Satan the worst.

Christ loved the church. Christ gave himself for the church. Christ loved you. He died for you. Satan, on the other hand, was the first sinner. He is the father of lies. He's a pervert. He's an abuser.

He's not the kind of husband that any of us would truly desire.

He wants to keep you in bondage to himself. You know, it's interesting that even battered women oftentimes are the best of the best. They're the best of the best. They're the best of the best. Even battered women oftentimes, they still cling to their husbands who batter them. I mean, that's well documented.

It's sick and it's sad. But I think we are being abused by Satan, and sometimes we allow it to go on. We allow the abuse to go on. We don't fight back. We don't get out of the situation. We don't get away from Satan. Scripture says, resist Satan and he will flee from you. Resist him.

Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

In 2 Corinthians 11, it speaks of a jealous God.

God is a jealous God in the right sense. God loves you. He loves his wife. He loves the first fruits.

2 Corinthians 11.

Let's start with verse 1. 2 Corinthians 11. O that you would bear with me in a little folly, and indeed you do bear with me. For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. Now, this is Paul talking about him being jealous with a godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

But I fear less somehow as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Christ, there is tremendous simplicity in Christ. Accept him fully as your Savior. Cling to him, do what he tells you to do. Follow him, that's simple. If you just put your complete faith and trust in him, it is very simple.

For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it. I don't think we need to continue reading here, but...

But God is jealous, and we should be jealous of one another in a right sense. We should be protective of one another, looking out for one another as the people of God.

As we drink of the cup of Christ, we do accept his invitation to be betrothed to him, to be forgiven our sins so that we can be chaste virgins. Like he is. Sinless, spotless, and without blemish. Without fault in his presence at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Of course, it's only through Christ's sacrifice and accepting him as our Savior, drinking of the wine and eating of that unleavened bread that we can be cleansed, that we can be sinless, that we can be spotless, that we can be without blemish.

We are to have repentant hearts and minds, truly repentant of our sins.

When we accept Christ as our Savior, we do drink of the cup of Christ. We not only share in the blessings, but we also share in the suffering. Not the curses, but the suffering of Christ.

There's no curse upon us to follow Christ, but there are sufferings that go along with it.

Jesus Christ was persecuted and suffered more than any other man. Christ's disciples and the prophets before them were all persecuted. Many were martyred. We will suffer persecution if we are drinking of the cup of Christ.

We will suffer some persecution in this life. We may suffer a lot more persecution as we draw closer to Christ's return.

In Matthew 20, let's go to Matthew 20.

It speaks of suffering in following Christ. We must all be willing to suffer.

Matthew 20, verse 22. But Jesus answered and said, You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink? Remember that Zebedee's sons came to him.

The mother of Zebedee's sons came with her sons, and she wanted one to sit on the right and one to sit on the left in God's kingdom. And Christ answered and said, You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am about to be baptized with? They said to him, We are able. So he said to them, You will indeed drink my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with, but to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give. But it is for those whom it is prepared by my Father. But again, it shows that they were going to suffer martyrdom in many cases. In fact, all of the apostles were martyred except the twelve apostles, the original apostles all died, except for the apostle John.

So John was the only apostle that wasn't murdered, but he no doubt suffered great persecution at times in his life. He was exiled. Now, I've been to the Isle of Patmos, and it's a beautiful island, so I suppose there could be worse places to be exiled. But nevertheless, he was exiled, and tradition says that he miraculously survived being boiled in oil.

He also had to watch the church disintegrate through apostasy and persecution as he was in his nineties when he died. In 1 Peter 2, and frankly, brethren, this is a scripture that I've thought about a lot in the last few months. And I think, had this scripture been followed by everyone, everyone, what we've gone through would not have happened. It would not have happened.

1 Peter 2, verse 18. 1 Peter 2, verse 18. Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable. If because of conscience toward God, one endures grief suffering wrongfully, for what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and you suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.

For to this you were called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example. If all of us would have followed this example, then we would not need to split up.

For to this you were called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth, who, when he was reviled, did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. If we would have all followed this example of Jesus Christ on both sides of the aisle, first of all, not sinning ourselves, and then secondly, if we suffer wrongfully, if someone else sins against us, and we take it patiently, it is commendable. Had we all followed this wonderful example of Jesus Christ, then these schisms, these divisions, would not have to occur. But it is not easy for human beings to be perfect like Christ. And we once again show our humanity. Servants must be submissive to their masters. First and foremost, we submit to God and to Christ. If we all do that, then it is easy to submit one to another. If everyone is submissive to God and to Christ, then it is very easy for us to submit one to another. But when we are not submissive to Christ, then it is very difficult to submit one to another. Our relationship with God and Christ must improve, brethren. Your relationship with God and Jesus Christ needs to improve. Mine needs to improve. I know that. I know it needs to improve. I want it to improve. I desire that it will improve. In Psalm 116, it speaks of the cup of Christ as the cup of salvation. Psalm 116. Psalm 116. Psalm 116, verse 13. O eternal Lord, truly I am your servant. I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.

You have loosed my bonds. I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the Lord. Now, that's not where I'm supposed to be, is it? Let's go back to verse 13. It didn't sound right. Verse 13, I will take up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord, now in the presence of all his people. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. O Lord, truly I am your servant. I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds. I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the Lord.

We all need to call upon the name of the Lord at this Passover season. We need to take up the cup of salvation. Take up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord.

The cup of Christ is the cup of salvation. The cup that you will be taking tomorrow is the cup of salvation.

In a very real sense, as we truly accept Christ as our Savior and we look to the sacrifice of Christ to take away our sins.

Now, the cup of Babylon is a cup of destruction. It is the cup of death. The cup that the great whore has in her hand, that is a cup of death, a cup of destruction. Christ's cup is the cup of blessing. Satan's cup is the cup of curses. The cup of salvation contains all the blessings of God, especially those of eternal life and reward in God's kingdom. There is salvation in no other name save that of Jesus Christ, the great King. We know that God the Father devised a plan in conjunction with the one who became Jesus Christ. We serve them.

Don't you want to be God's cup bearer?

Although I have concentrated primarily on the cup of Christ today in the sermon and the wine that we will all drink tomorrow evening, I do want to briefly address the unleavened bread that we'll eat as well. What did Christ mean when he said, take, eat, this is my body? Among other things, he meant that we need to regularly have communion with him through prayer, through Bible study, through meditation, through fasting, through obedience, through doing good works, serving others.

Take, eat, this is my body.

This body that was broken for us, Christ's body that was laid down for us and crucified for us.

We are to humble ourselves as the body of Christ, as the people of God, as the children of God.

And how are God's people known? How are the disciples of Christ truly known? It's by love, one for another. We do need to follow 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter.

I don't know that we can overemphasize that. Some people maybe cast aspersions because we talk too much about Christ or about love. You know, I'm not too sure that that's possible. As long as we know who the Father is, Christ came to reveal the Father.

Is it still possible to be fed unleavened bread, manna, today? You're going to eat unleavened bread tomorrow. But it's symbolic of the body of Christ. Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Mr. Francis mentioned that in his sermonette. Christ is our Savior. Christ was the God of the Old Testament. Believe in Him, obey Him, serve Him, allow Him to be your strength, allow Him to sustain you. What is the spiritual manna? It is Christ living in you. The unblavened bread that comes down from heaven, living in you, that changes you from carnal flesh to the very love of God.

So how often should we eat this spiritual manna? We should eat it every day. We should eat it continually. We should bring Christ into our lives each and every day. Through the power of the Spirit, we're bringing the Father in at the same time, aren't we? I and my Father are one.

So we should eat daily, continually. What must we have to eat of this... What must we have? What needs to be in us if we are to eat of this spiritual manna? We must believe. We must have faith. It all gets down to faith and belief and trust. And allowing God to work in you and allowing God to be the judge and not rising up against God and against the principles of His word, we are to submit ourselves first to God. Then we will be able to submit to one another.

If we haven't been doing that, we need to repent. All of us. And we need to draw closer together. So we must have faith and we must believe. Tomorrow evening, we will observe the Lord's Passover. First, we will wash one another's feet. As Jesus Christ humbly set the example of washing His disciples' feet, we will drink of the cup of Christ, the cup that we talked about in today's sermon. We will drink of that cup, that cup of blessing, that wine that symbolizes the shed blood of our Savior, crucified for us. We will drink in Christ. We will drink in Christ. We will drink in the living water.

We will eat the unleavened bread that pictures the body of Christ broken for us.

The Passover service is very rich in spiritual meaning.

I wish I could be here tomorrow with you all.

I'm going to be in Springdale. They don't have any elders there. We have elders here. You'll be well taken care of. But I nevertheless wish I could be here with all of you, as I wish Oklahoma City and Lawton and all of us could be here together. The important thing is that we keep the Passover because we will be together. We'll be together in spirit. We'll be keeping the Passover at the same time. It's a wonderful service. Let's thank God for it.