Take Up the Offer

A good place to start today with Passover so close is to focus somewhat on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And so to focus on His sacrifice, let's turn to Isaiah. Now, Isaiah, people have discovered, has between four or five, however you would count them, that there are passages that speak of the role of Jesus Christ as the great servant of mankind.

The great servant of mankind. Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42.1. And so, he is the great servant of mankind. And so these four passages are called the four servant songs. Now, I'm speaking of these four. There may be another one later on which talks about the millennium and his role in the millennium. That would be Isaiah 60, but I won't cover that one.

I want to cover these here. The four servant songs. And so Isaiah 42 and the following verses, this is the first of those four servant songs. Behold, my servant, whom I uphold, my elect one, in whom my soul delights. Now, this is the Father speaking. God the Father is speaking, and He's declaring that Christ Jesus is His servant. Christ Jesus is God's servant. Christ Jesus is the servant of humanity, the servant of mankind. And above Christ Jesus is the Father.

And the Father is the greatest servant of all. Sometimes we don't realize that. But the Father is the greatest servant of all. And the Father provides every breath that we take. God provides that breath. So the Father God is the greatest servant of all. So my elect one, in whom my soul delights. And I want to refer you. You don't need to turn to it. I will read this to you in Matthew 3 and verse 17, where the Father spoke from heaven as actually an angel speaking on behalf of God.

This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. That was at the baptism of Jesus Christ. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Matthew 3 and verse 2. He will not cry out nor raise His voice nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. Jesus was not a rabble-rouser. He never said, you know, we've got to fight for our rights. That's what we've got to do. We've got to fight for our...

He never said that. He was not a rabble-rouser. He did not come to start a movement. And as we saw in last Wednesday's Bible study, when the zealots wanted to make Him a king, kind of the middle, well, kind of early part of John 6, when the zealots wanted to make Him a king, He, in the scripture says, departed to a mountain by Himself alone. He got away from the zealots who wanted to make Him a king. It wasn't His time to become the conquering king.

He is coming as conquering king next time, but it wasn't His time then. So, Jesus never launched any campaign to initiate changes, and He came as a meek and lowly servant. And by the way, it is possible that the two men who were crucified on either side of Jesus were... it's possible that they were of the zealot branch. And the zealots were these hardcore people who went around actually assassinating Romans and stabbing them. They were called the Sicarii, meaning daggers.

They carried daggers. And they would assassinate people, and they would do all kinds of things. And so it's possible that the two men that were to the right and left of Jesus were these zealots. Jesus was not a zealot. He was not a... not a... political party. It really was a political party. They wanted to kill the Romans and take over. And they would give their lives for the cause and die. But in dying, they may have killed other people as well.

But anyway, Jesus did not launch any campaign to initiate changes. He came as a meek and lowly servant. Now, let's go to verse... verse 3 here. A bruised reed he will not break, and the smoking flax he will not quench, and he will bring forth justice for truth. So Jesus is bringing justice. Now, the bruised reed and the smoking flax refer to Christians. They refer to Christians. It's a metaphor or an analogy of Christians.

So a broken-down Christian, a bruised Christian, someone who is emotionally shattered, maybe emotionally and physically and maybe even spiritually shattered and just about run out of their own energy, he will not break that person. He will not break that person. He will work with that person and give that person strength and pick that person back. The bruised reed is the bruised Christian. And smoking flax he will not quench. What if a Christian starts out on fire? Boy, they're red-hot. Boy, they're on fire.

They're taking off like a bullet. And they're just doing great. They're on fire. And then they run out of steam along the way. Discouragement, trials, difficulties, challenges set in. And they go from a burning red-hot flame to just a little whimpering, smoking almost out, almost extinguished. And Christ does not come along and say, oh yeah, you lazy, lacquered, latest sin, I'll stomp on you and quench you.

No, he doesn't do that. He helps that person. He helps rekindle the flame in that person. So these are the scriptures about how Jesus deals with the broken people, with the broken Christians. Now, verse 4, He will not fail nor be discouraged. Christ will never give up until He has established justice. And there's the word justice is repeated again and again. This is the theme. He brings justice to the earth and all the coastlands shall wait for His law.

Far, far away from the land of Judah, Christ is at work in bringing the truth to far-flung areas of the earth. Okay, so that's just a brief look at the first servant psalm. Isaiah 49 is the second servant psalm. Isaiah 49, Listen, O coastlands, to me, and take heed, you people, from afar. So God is not just the God of, you know, the Jews.

He is the God of faraway places. The Lord has called me from the womb, from the matrix of my mother. He has made mention of my name. And He's made my mouth like a sharp sword. You know, the word of God is a sharp sword. It's a double-edged sword. And the shadow of His hand He has hidden me and made me a polished shaft.

And in His quiver He has hidden me. He said to me, You are my servant, O Israel. And in this case, it's speaking of Christ. Christ is, in this case, the Israel that God is talking about. In whom I will be glorified. Then I said I have labored in vain. I mean, Christ could have said that because how many people really got converted in His day? And I spent my strength for nothing and in vain. Yet surely my just reward is with the Lord and my work with my God.

So did Christ ever get discouraged? Did He ever, you know, did He ever get angry? He certainly got angry at the money changers, didn't He? And now the Lord says, Who formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him. That's the purpose of Jesus Christ, to bring the people of Jacob back to God, the people of Israel, to be gathered to Him. For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord. And Jesus Christ became glorious in the eyes of His Father.

I remember He became glorious in the eyes of His Father. And my God shall be my strength. Indeed, He says, there's a too small a thing that you should be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Israel and to restore the preserved ones of Israel. God brings a restoration. And like we heard in the sermonette today, the word reset, Mr. Kubik talked about reset. I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles. God is reaching out. Christ is reaching out to the Gentiles.

That you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth. Christ is the salvation of the ends of the earth. The salvation of the ends of the earth. Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, their Holy One, to Him whom man despises, and to Him the nation of horrors. Yeah? Christ didn't win a popularity contest. If He would have run for president, He would have lost the election. To whom the nation of horrors and the people of His day hated Him. The servant of rulers, kings shall arise, princes shall also worship, because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, and He has chosen you.

So in verse 4, He was saying, I have labored in vain, but in verse 7, He said, let's look at the end result. Let's look at the end result. Kings shall see and arise, princes shall worship, because of the Lord who is faithful. Okay, now let's turn to the third Serpents Psalm in Isaiah, and that's verse 50. I should say chapter 50.

Chapter 50 verse 4. And this is Jesus Christ speaking about His Father and speaking about His role. So this is Christ talking in prophecy about what's going to happen. The Lord God, Father God in this case, has given me the tongue of the learned, Isaiah 50 verse 4. That I should know how to speak a word in season to Him who is weary. He awakens me morning by morning. He awakens my ear to hear as the learned.

And verse 5, the Lord has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away. And we'll be referring to a scripture where Christ said, Father, if it is Your will, take this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine, thy will be done. And so Jesus didn't chicken out. He didn't say, I'm not going through with this. I'm not going to go through this pain and suffering. No, the Lord opened His ear. I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away. I gave my back to those who struck me.

The most powerful being on the earth allowed some horrible, terrible Roman soldier to tie him down to a post and scourge his back and whip and scourge. Some translations have flogged. The flog really wasn't what it was. It was a scourging. So I gave my back. He willingly gave his back. If the crucifixion wasn't bad enough, what about the scourging? And my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard.

I did not hide my face from shame, from shame and spitting. So let's hold our places here and turn to Matthew 26.

Matthew 26 and verse 67. Then they spat on His face. I just can't imagine that, but it did. It happened. They spat on His face and beat Him, and others struck Him with the palms of their hands. Then chapter 27 and verse 30. Again, they spat on Him, and they took the reed and struck Him on the head. You know, Christ said earlier, Matthew 5, they smite you on the cheek, turn the other one. That's just horrible that you wouldn't... you know, Christ did it. Christ went through that. He let them hit both cheeks. Right, dear brethren, He let them hit both cheeks. So let's go back to chapter 50. I gave my back, verse 6, to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard. I did not hide my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord God will help me. Father God will help me. And I'm sure there's a lot of prayer going up from Christ to the Father. And there was a lot of comfort going from the Father to the Son to... The Lord God will help me. Therefore, I will not be disgraced. Now, how can you go from saying, I did not hide my face from shame? In one verse, verse 6, I did not hide my face from shame. And verse 7, therefore, I will not be disgraced. You would not be disgraced because He was going to finish His course. He was going to finish the mission. And ultimately, you and I are coming along to glorify Christ, to honor Christ, to honor the Father, and to tell Him how deeply thankful we are for all this horrible treatment that our Lord and Savior had to suffer with. Therefore, I have set my face like flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed. I know that I will not be ashamed. Okay. And let's just go a little bit more. Well, and I think that covers it. Maybe verse 9, the first part of verse 9. Surely the Lord God will help me. So in His time of extreme trial, He knew God the Father was with Him. Maybe we can cover later, not today, but the Scripture that said, My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Perhaps we can cover that or discuss it next time. So, chapter 52 now, 52-13, this is the fourth servant song.

Behold, my servant shall deal prudently. This is the Father talking. And he shall be exalted, and extolled, and be very high. That's where you and I come in, to exalt Him. That the name of Christ, every knee should bow, it says, to the glory of God the Father, and the glory of Christ as well. He shall be exalted and extolled very high, just as many as were astonished at you. So His visage was marred more than any man. And the NIV puts it this way, His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man.

His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man. And His form more than the sons of men. So I want to refer you to John 19.5. Then came Jesus' fourth, this was after the scourging. Then came Jesus' fourth, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said unto them, Behold the man. Was Pilate even surprised at the disfigurement, the disfigurement that Christ was suffering? And He would have died from that, had He not been crucified.

He would have died of the scourging. Infection would have set in, and loss of blood. He would have died of that. 52-15, So shall He sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths at Him. For what has not been told to them they shall see, and what they had not heard they shall consider. And so sprinkle, there's a Hebrew word behind that, and I don't know Hebrew, but the Hebrew word, now is it sprinkle, or is it your marginal reference where it says startle?

Sprinkle? Startle. Which one is it? Well, Hebrew can mean both. It apparently can mean both. They struggle with the interpretation of that, but certainly in a spiritual sense it does mean both. You know, the intent, it does mean both. Certainly He will startle many nations because when He comes up in the Kingdom, and the Second Resurrection, and all the kings of the earth come and see Christ, and they will see Him as King of Kings, and Lord of the Lord, they will be scared.

They will be startled. Maotasung, He'll be very startled at Jesus Christ when He comes up in the Second Resurrection. So startle is certainly a meaning there, but what about sprinkling? Sprinkling was done a lot in the Old Testament. Remember that the high priest went into the Ark of the Covenant, went to the Ark of the Covenant, Leviticus 16.

He took the blood of the goat. Remember the two goats? One goat goes into the wilderness, one goat is killed. That goat represented Jesus Christ. And they captured that blood, put it in some kind of a container, went into the Holy Holies, went into the very representation of the throne of God, and He sprinkled the blood on the Ark of the Covenant. He sprinkled the blood. 1 Peter 1-2. And let's hold our places, but let's go to 1 Peter 1-2. And this would not be the only place we could find the word sprinkle in the New Testament.

1 Peter 1-2. Elect. Okay, we're talking to you. We're talking to you, the elect. According to the foreknowledge of God, God planted all, way, way, as Mr. Cubic so eloquently explained, billions and billions of years ago, the plan. There was a plan. Through the foreknowledge of God, the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.

So that's why, certainly by intention, whether or not the grammar is there, they struggle with that, but certainly it does mean He will sprinkle many nations with His own blood. Kings, back to Isaiah 52, 15, Kings shall shut their mouths at Him, for what they had not been told, they shall see, and what they had not heard, they shall consider. Imagine people like Maho and Hitler and Stalin, and you name it, they're going to come up pretty humble, pretty humble. What they had not even imagined, they shall consider.

Okay, I say 53. This goes on now. Chapter 52, verses 13 and on into the end of 53, this is the fourth servant song. The fourth one. So here we are in the fourth one now, starting 52-13 and going all the way through 53. So, for who has believed our report? Who has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

Nobody believes the truth, I'm over exaggerating, but a few people, I mean, they're just too busy doing everything else than to believe God. And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Who takes God seriously anymore? For he shall grow up as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground. So Christ came up as a tender-hearted being. And dry ground wasn't much of the Holy Spirit going in Palestine at that time, just like not much of the Holy Spirit around now, except in the people of God.

And he has no form or comeliness. He had no stately form or splendor. He didn't come in royal robes and was carried on that. What do you call that thing when they carry a king on a chair and there's four big guys on each end of this chair, each corner of it? I forget. Anyway, a great pompous guy being carried about. No, that's not what he came as. I'm sure, though, he had a dignity in his appearance. And when you got close to Christ, you saw a dignified man, not a large man, but a very dignified man.

And we see him. There's no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men and a man of sorrows, a man of pain, actually, and acquainted with grief or sickness. So he's a man of pain and sickness.

So what's that mean? We hid as it were our faces from him. There are so many scriptures here that just say man runs from Christ. Man runs from God. Man hides. Man ignores. Man doesn't pay attention. He's too busy. He was despised and we did not esteem him. And there's again so many scriptures that talk about that, about our loving Savior. Surely he has borne our sicknesses and carried our pains.

He has borne our sicknesses and carried our pains. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. Now, that is fulfilled in... and let's turn to Matthew 8 and verse 17. That is fulfilled here. And it's being fulfilled today every time we anoint somebody. Matthew 8 and verse 17. So when evening was come, this is verse 16, Matthew 8, 16. When evening had come, they brought to him many who were demon-possessed, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all, heal all who were sick. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.

He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses. So he carried on his back then the diseases, the sicknesses, and that's what's excursioning. Because it also says, and I should turn to that. We are familiar with that. 1 Peter, I believe it is chapter 2. And again, we don't make this up. This is what the Scripture does say. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 23. Who, when he was reviled, did not revile in return. And when he suffered, he did not threaten.

He did not say, I'm going to get you guys later. He didn't say that. But committed himself to him who judges righteously, who himself bore our sins on his own body, on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed.

By his stripes you were healed. That's reference to the scourging. Not the crucifixion, but the scourging. By his stripes, we are healed. And so we see it prophesied as if it is chapter 3, chapter 4, we see it being fulfilled, Matthew 8, chapter 17. And then Peter, to make sure we understand, says it is by his stripes that we are healed, which is pretty awesome. Very awesome. For a while I was sending out at least two cloths a week.

And that's never, I mean, never. People were just sick. And it's a pretty awesome thing to pray and to anoint a cloth and realize this is what Christ went through. It's not some meaningless ritual that doesn't mean anything. And he carried our sicknesses. He carried our pains.

And there have been a lot of sick people in the church, whether we send out cloths or anoint people. There have been a lot of sick people. And yet this is what Christ was willing to do. So going on, verse 5, he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. And by the way, one commentary said that—how did they put this? I thought it was so good. Oh yeah, in this particular section, one commentary said, we are at the heart of the book. Now Isaiah has 66 chapters. It is a big book. He says, we are at the heart of the book, the center of its whole pattern of sin and righteousness, grace and judgment. So Isaiah 66—I mean, Isaiah with 66 chapters—this is the heart of the book. Absolutely the heart of the book. Okay, so he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him. Do we want peace? Do we want peace of mind? Something not haunted by our past sins? Well, our peace of mind comes from this chastisement and this death of Jesus Christ. And by his stripes we are healed. So Peter quotes here, and we just read that.

Do you think that was difficult for the Father to do that? For the Father to put upon the Son, His Son. And the Bible speaks of the Son of God as His one and only. You know where it says, only begotten Son, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son? It means one and only. The standalone, the one and only. Yes, other children will be born into the family of God. We understand that. We understand that. But His one and only. And He had to take His one and only and lay upon Him the iniquity of us all.

The iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted. He opened out His mouth. He didn't speak in vengeance. He didn't say, I'll get you later. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, He opened out His mouth. Pilate was amazed. Pilate was amazed because most of the people that he ever saw in the brought before Him would be groveling on His feet. Oh, please spare me. I'm a nice guy. I didn't do it. I did it, but I'm sorry. He's not even offering a defense. He marveled. So He opened out His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment. And who will declare His generation? He was cut off from the land of the living and for the transgressions of my people He was stricken. So God keeps saying, this is what He went through. And they made His grave with the wicked, but with the rich at His death. So there was a switch at the very end because the soldiers thought, well, we'll just dump them in with all the other crooks. We'll put them on a common grave or we'll just push them off somewhere with all the other bums and crooks and thieves that we just killed and crucified. And so that's what's going to happen. No, wait, wait, wait. There's nothing going to happen. Joseph of Arithumea stood forth and said, I will bury my master in my tomb. And so Joseph of Arithumea buried him in his tomb. And so God saw to it that his dear son would be buried in a dignified way, in a dignified location rather than just pushed off into the Kidron Valley where they threw the bodies of, like the garbage dump, the city dump. And they threw people's bodies, dead people's bodies in there, criminals and crooks' bodies in there. So let's go to Matthew 27 and just see that. Matthew 27.

Matthew 27 and verse 57. Now, when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who himself had also become the disciple of Jesus. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. So that took a lot of courage because you're throwing in with the one Pilate had just sentenced to death. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him, and when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth. Christ was being given a dignified burial. And he laid it in his new tomb, which he had hewn out of the rock, and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb and departed. So whereas the centurion and the other one saw, well, they'll just push him off into the wicked, where the wicked go. No with the rich at his death, Isaiah 53.9. Because he had done no violence, or the NIV says, some of you have probably had the NIV says, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. You can almost get the frustration when you go through the story of the high priest and the chief priest and all that. And they had to switch accusations, because they tried one accusation against Christ, it didn't work. They tried another one, that didn't work. They couldn't find anything wrong with him. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. And again, the Lord here is the Father. So did it really please God to see his son, one and only son, bruised? The NIV captures it again very well. Yet it was the Lord's will to bruise him, to crush him, and cause him to suffer. And cause him to suffer. Well, it was God's will. It was God's will, brethren. Luke 22 42, and I'll just read this to you here. Luke 22 42 41 and 42. And he was withdrawn from them by the stone's throw. This was his prayer in the garden. And he knelt down and prayed, saying, Father, if it is your will, take this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will but yours, but yours be done. Okay, Isaiah 53 and verse 11, and I'll read this. I will read this in the New International Version. Isaiah 53 11, He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied, and by his knowledge my righteous servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. So Christ is satisfied with the labor of his soul. He's satisfied. He completed his job. He said it is finished. He died for my sins. He died for your sins. Isaiah 53 12, therefore again, God the Father is saying, I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoiled with the strong because he poured out his soul unto death. He poured out his soul unto death. So God is going to make sure and has made sure that there would be a portion of with the great, Hebrews 2 and verse 7. Hebrews 2 and verse 7, You have made him a little lower than the angels. You have crowned him with glory and honor and set him over the works of your hands. So God has crowned the Son with glory and honor. So he was numbered with the transgressors. Okay, he had the thieves and robbers on both sides of him. So he was numbered with the transgressors and he bore the sin of many and he made intercession for the transgressors. Now, there are more than one verse in the New Testament that talks about Christ as our intercessor. He is our intercessor. But I just want to turn to one, and let's go back to Luke 23 and verse 34.

Luke 23 and verse 34. And here he is. He's dying. They crucify him. They steal his clothes. They stole his clothes. Then they gambled for him. And priests and rulers sneered at him and laughed at him and made fun of him. That's verse 35. But what was Jesus doing? Jesus said, Father, forgive them. Luke 23 and 34. Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. And he was praying this while they were stealing his clothes.

While they were stealing his clothes. And there's other scriptures in the Bible that speak of the intercessory role of Christ. The intercessor is one who goes to the Father and says, Father, use my blood to wash away their sins. This person, this woman, this man needs my help, needs our help, needs your help. And I know what it's like to be human, he says, because I was a human for 33 and a half years. And so he intercedes. He intercedes to the Father God on our behalf. And that's what he was doing even while he was dying. Let's turn to Psalm 116. So those are four basic servant songs. Maybe someday we can talk about another one, another possible one. We'll save that for another time. But let's go back to Psalm 116 and look at what is certainly a Passover Psalm. And it is a Passover Psalm. Now, we don't know who wrote this Psalm. There's no little name under it where it says a Psalm of David. Boy, it sure sounds like David. You know, I don't know for sure, but it sure sounds like David. But anyway, there's much Passover material in this. Verse 1, I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my supplications. And hopefully everyone in this room can say the same thing, that we know that God has heard our prayer, our voice, our cries out to him, our supplications to him. And we love God because he's heard us. We love God because he's heard us. Verse 2, because he has inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call upon him as long as I live. So sometimes, you know, sometimes people just say, I can't quite hear you, so let me... God doesn't have to do that because he has super perfect hearing. But it's like that, that he leans over and listens intently. And therefore I'll call upon him, he promises, as long as I live. Some kind of a trial was coming upon this person. The pains of death encompassed me. The pains of Sheol or the grave laid hold of me. I found trouble in sorrow. So he lists several things going wrong in his life. Then I called upon the name of the Lord. Verse 4, O Lord, I implore you, deliver my soul. I think every Christian has gone through that, haven't we, in our life? Haven't we, haven't we gone through that? Gracious is the Lord and righteous, yes. Our God is merciful. Verse 5, our God is merciful. Thank God for that. The Lord preserves the simple. Now again, in the Hebrew, one word can have a lot of meanings. You've got to look at all of them and say, well, okay, I kind of get the idea of what Christ is saying here, what God is saying here. So thank God he preserves the simple. The simple are those who are seducible, foolish. That's what Strong said, seducible or foolish. Another lexicon, foolish or open-minded. Open-minded, well, may not be such a good idea to be so open-minded that we'd let any crazy thought take root in our minds. That's not a good idea. Or another one says, innocent, clean or untarnished. And those would be some good meanings as well. But certainly for those who are simple in whatever way that means, God's here to preserve us. I was brought low and he saved me. Return to your rest, O my soul, where the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. Whoever this author was, said, well, he was talking to himself and saying, have peace, relax.

Don't be anxious. Return to your rest, O my soul. God has dealt bountifully with you. We have delivered, verse 8, my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from failing. So three maladies, you might say, of human nature. You delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from falling, I should say. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I believed and therefore I spoke. We'll go on. Let's drop down to verse 12. What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits towards me? Verse 13, I will take up the cup of salvation. I will take up the cup of salvation.

We'll talk a little bit about this cup of salvation. And call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. Dropping down to verse 16, O Lord, truly I am your servant. I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. So he was giving tribute to his mother, and he said, I'm just following what my mom taught me. My mom was your maidservant. My mother was your maidservant. And I'm following in her footsteps. I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. He was giving tribute to his godly mother. You've loosened my bonds. I will offer you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all these people in the courts of the Lord's house in the midst of you, O Jerusalem. The main vow that we take is the vow of baptism, where we make an exchange with God. God says, okay, I'll tell you what, through my son, I'll forgive you of your sins, and I'll give you the Holy Spirit. We exchange, we say, okay, I will obey you the rest of my life. I have faith in you. I can't do this by myself, so I can't obey you by myself. I can't do works of righteousness by myself. I really can't do anything that's really worthwhile by myself. I've got to have faith. I'll have faith, and I repent. Those are our baptismal vows, which we renew every Passover. We renew our commitment to God. We renew our baptismal vows every Passover.

Okay, so let's go on now. I think it's time to turn to the New Testament.

Oh, let's see. Verse... Yeah, verse 17, the sacrifice of thanksgiving. I hope that we are... I know that we are very, very thankful to God. So let's keep in mind the cup of salvation. While we turn to Matthew, we're going to go through three passages here. First of all, Matthew 26.

Matthew 26, 26.

One of the greatest communal event of all times. Communal being, it was Passover night. Christ was the host. Christ was the host. He had this thing all planned. His meal all planned. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, Matthew 26, 26, blessed it and broke it and gave. Gave! He's a giver. He gave it to His disciples and said, take and eat. This is my body. Now they know He wasn't literally giving His body and not His literal flesh. And they knew it was a symbol of something. They didn't know what yet.

Then He took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, drink from all of you. But this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. So in those days, as far as we know, they were reclining at a table. Not much of a table, maybe this high. And they were reclining and probably propped up on their left arm. And they've done some archeological studies and they see that kind of the way it was. Apparently that's the way it was. And they would be eating with their right hand and propped up with their left arm. And so Jesus took this wine and He poured it into a cup and He passed it around. He passed it around to all the disciples that were there. This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. This was truly a stunning moment in time. Mark 14. He was acting out what was going to happen within, oh, 12, 15 hours. Mark 14 and verse 22. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it and broke it and gave it to them and said, Take, eat, this is my body. Then He took the cup and we had given thanks. He gave it to them and they all drank from it. They all drank from it. And He said to them, This is the blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. And then He said He would no longer drink of the fruit until He comes back in the kingdom. But let's just focus on those few verses there about the bread and the cup of wine. And each man took a sip of that wine and then maybe they just passed it around the table. I don't think Jesus got up and walked around. I mean, He might have, but I don't think so. They just might have shared the cup by passing it around. But that's not really important. What is important is He was sharing this cup with them. Luke 22.17. The third passage here, Luke 22.17.

And then He took the cup and gave thanks. And they drank apparently more than one cup of wine at that Passover. And gave thanks and said, Take this and divide it among yourselves. And then He spoke about not doing it until the kingdom. And then He took bread. So here's the institution of the bread and the wine. He took the bread and gave thanks and broke it and gave it to them and said, This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Now, this cup was a unique cup. This one coming up, it was just like Matthew, just like Mark. Likewise, He took the cup after supper saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you. Now, what is Jesus doing here? What is Christ doing here? He is offering them the cup of the new covenant. He is offering them the cup of blessing, as it's called in Corinthians.

He is offering them the new covenant marriage contract. And we heard a Bible study the other day that talked about that this was the marriage contract. And the bride, I should say the bridegroom, would offer his wife to be a cup of wine. And if she didn't take it, the deal was off. No marriage. But if she did accept it and drank from it, then that was the beginning of the marriage promise to each other. So it's a new covenant. It's the cup of blessing. It's the new covenant marriage contract. The marriage contract with his church. It was the cup of salvation. He was offering them salvation. Now, just imagine this scene. You know, He looked everyone in the eye as He went and He caught everybody's eye. He went all the way around the table. And they were just, I'm sure they were just, speechless. And He said, look, I love each one of you. I love each one of you. And my token of love to you is my blood. I'm going to spill my blood tomorrow. So that's my token of love to you. That's how much I love you. And so all you got to do is accept the cup. You know, accept this cup of salvation because I love you. I want to marry my bride, the church, and I want to live with you forever in my father's kingdom. And I will be your older brother, and you will be my younger siblings. Accept this cup of blessing and salvation. Now, what would you do if you were present there at Jesus' last supper? A lot of things were going in your mind. Your miracle-working rabbi keeps saying he's going to die. That doesn't make any sense. And he just said that one of the twelve was going to betray Him. Who in the world would that be? It's impossible. What do you mean? And you're probably fighting a lot of doubts and dismay.

And now the Passover Cup of Wine, which is poured by Jesus Christ Himself, comes to you.

This cup comes to you. What will you do? What will you do at that time? Brethren, take the cup. Take the offer. That was the title of my sermon. Take the cup. Take the offer. Take the offer of salvation.

So, dear brethren, this cup of salvation is being offered by none other than Jesus Christ Himself. Take the cup.

Thank you.