In this sermon, Pastor Steve Hopkins discusses the events leading up to Jesus' crucifixion in John 18. He emphasizes that Jesus was in total control of the events, went voluntarily to the cross, and faced it alone. The sermon highlights the significance of Jesus and his disciples passing over the brook Kidron and entering the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus faced the dread of divine judgment. The cup that Jesus had to drink symbolized the wrath of God due to sinners, and Jesus willingly drank it in the place of his people on the cross. The sermon encourages listeners to reflect on the implications of Jesus' statement 'The cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it' and the assurance that Jesus will not lose those who trust in him for salvation.

Thanks for joining us at Barna Bible Church. This week Pastor Hopkins gives his sermon, The Cup Which My Father Has Given Me to Drink, from John chapter 18. Let's turn in our Bibles to the Gospel of John. We're taking a break from the book of Romans this week in our verse by verse exposition of the book of Romans to look at the first 11 verses of John chapter 18, Lord willing, and the title of the message is, The Cup Which My Father Had Given Me to Drink. And let's stand, if you would, for the reading of the Word of the Lord, and we'll read verses 1 through 11 together.

When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Kidron, where there was a garden into the which he entered and his disciples. And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place. For Jesus oftimes resorted there with his disciples. Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth and said unto them, Whom seek ye?

They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayeth him, stood with them. As soon as then he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward and fell to the ground. Then asked he them again, whom seek ye?

And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he. If therefore ye seek me, let these go their way, that the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none. Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it, and smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus.

Then said Jesus unto Peter, put up thy sword into the sheath for the cup which my father hath given me shall I not drink it. Let's pray. Father we are asking once again, Lord, for a work of your Spirit, God, that no man can do. We're asking, Lord, that you would open up our understanding by your Spirit, oh God, that those you have given eyes to see and ears to hear might grow in the grace and knowledge of him who has saved us from our sins. And Lord, we pray if there are any that are lost and have never come to the saving knowledge of Christ, Lord, that this would be the day of their salvation.

And we ask all these things in Jesus' name, amen. Let's be seated. So as I said, the title of this morning's message or this afternoon's message is The Cup Which My Father Had Given Me to Drink. And as we work our way toward verse 11, I want the congregation to keep three things in mind as we look at the account of the arrest of Jesus. One, that Jesus is in total control of everything that is happening, of everything that's unfolding as He heads to the cross.

And two, that Jesus, as He heads to the cross, is heading to the cross voluntarily, not by constraint or force. And third, that as Jesus heads to the cross, he's heading to the cross alone. He's going to the cross alone. Nothing and no one is going to deter Jesus from fulfilling the mission for which He came into the world. He is going to the cross.

He is going to drink the cup the Father has given Him to drink. And as chapter 18 opens, let me set the scene for you because we're picking up in the middle of a series of events that have been taking place and now we come to chapter 18 and in verse 1 but what's been going on this is the scene Jesus has been talking with his disciples about the things that are about to come upon him. And how in a little while they're not going to see him, but yet a little while after that they're going to see him. He's been telling them how they're going to weep and they're going to lament after his crucifixion at the same time that the world is rejoicing at his crucifixion, and yet how their sorrow is going to be turned into joy at his resurrection and ascension. Jesus has assured his disciples that his departing from them to glory will be to their advantage because he will send the Holy Spirit to come to them who is the comforter.

And they've gone now from the upper room where they just shared in the Last Supper and where Jesus washed the feet, set aside his garments, and took a towel and washed the feet of his disciples. And they've made their way through the streets of Jerusalem, and they've come to a brook. They've come to a little stream, a little stream that borders the city of Jerusalem at the foot of the Mount of Olives, in which that border is a garden that is called Gethsemane. And just before they cross the brook, Jesus stops and he prays to the Father in the presence of the Eleven because Judas is already gone. He was dismissed at the Last Supper and he's gone on to do his deeds in darkness.

But he stops and prays to the Father in the presence of the Eleven now, in what is commonly called Jesus' High Priestly Prayer. And in this prayer, Jesus entrusts his children, his disciples, to the Father. And he prays for their unity. And he prays for their growth and holiness through the truth of God's Word. And he prays that they might have His joy fulfilled in them.

And he prays that they might be preserved from the evil one. And after he finishes praying, we read in our opening passage this morning in chapter 18 of verse one, when Jesus had spoken these words, the words of his high priestly prayer, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Kidron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, he and his disciples. And the next verse tells us Judas knew the place also. And the first thing we need to see this morning is that there is no attempt on Jesus' part to evade or escape the mob that Jesus knows Judas is at that very moment assembling. On the contrary, Jesus is in total control of all the events that are unfolding.

And he goes to the same place he's gone so often with his disciples to pray. To the place Jesus knows, Judas knows, he's gone so often with his disciples. Again, he's heading to the cross. Jesus is heading to the cross. He's heading there voluntarily, and he's heading there alone, and nothing and no one is going to deter him from the mission for which he came into the world.

He's going to drink the cup. He's going to drink the cup the Father has given him to drink, and he's going to do it at the time and at the place of God's choosing, not man's. Throughout the Gospels, we read of many failed attempts. You remember them? Many failed attempts to capture Jesus.

Many attempts made by the Jewish authorities to take him, but we read that it was, quote, not yet his time in some place, or that, quote, his time was not yet come. But this very night, we read back in chapter 13 in verse 1, Jesus knew his hour had come. He knew that the hour had come that he should depart out of this world. And in John chapter 10 in verse 18, Jesus told his disciples, no man's going to take my life from me. We need to get something straight right up front here.

No man takes my life from me. He said, I lay it down. I lay it down of myself. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it up again. So Jesus goes to the very place where he knows that these events leading to his crucifixion will all begin to unfold.

And Judas knows the place, and Jesus knows Judas knows the place. And so they pass over this brook. They pass over the brook Kidron, which borders the city of Jerusalem, and they enter into the garden called Gethsemane. Now, in the Old Testament, in 2 Samuel chapter 15 and verse 23, we read of this same brook, that it's the same brook, the brook kidron, that David also passed over after David had been betrayed by Ahithopel. Remember this?

After having been in his flight from his son Absalom, after having been betrayed by Ahithopel, David's counselor turned betrayer, who was a type of Judas, and who, like Judas, by the way, after betraying David, went out and hanged himself. He goes over this brook in a similar type of scenario, situation, almost like as a foreshadowing of what's going to happen here with Christ. And in verse 30 of that same passage, 2 Samuel chapter 15, we read that when David went over the brook in his flight from Absalom, having been betrayed by Ahithophel, he went over the brook and as he went, he went weeping with his people. David being a type of Christ. In Hebrew, the word Kidron that is used here, The name of this brook means turbid.

It means a foul, cloudy, some liquid that suspends particles. Kidron was a black water Creek. It was basically the city sewer. It was also known as Black Brook. It is the same creek mentioned in 2 Chronicles chapter 29 and verse 16 into which the uncleanness and the waste of the temple was said to be dumped by the Levites from the sacrifices.

A.W. Pink suggests here that this being the time of the Passover when Jesus crossed over the brook Kidron, it being the place where the priests dumped the remains of the sacrifices that it may have actually had the blood of the sacrifices trickling through it at that very moment that Jesus passes over. The brook could draw him with his disciples. This is the brook. They've just passed over.

Jesus in the 11, John Gill sees this passing over Black Brook because it's where the refuse of the temple was poured out as a possible quote, representation of the pollutions and the defilements of sin which were soon to be laid on Jesus. Jesus is now just hours away from the cross. He's just hours away from the cross where he will bear the guilt of the sins of his people and drink the cup the Father has given him to drink in their place, in our place if you're a believer today. And now having passed over they enter into the garden called Gethsemane. Gethsemane by the way is interpreted oil press because there was an oil press at Gethsemane there at the foot of the Mount of Olives where olives were pressed into oil.

And it's here at Gethsemane or at oil press that Jesus begins to be sore-pressed with the prospect of bearing human sin As he prays to the Father and considers the cup that he is about to drink, Matthew records Jesus' words in Matthew chapter 26 as these, my soul. My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. His soul was not just sorrowful, it was exceeding sorrowful. And not just exceeding sorrowful, but exceeding sorrowful unto death. Jesus knows he will bear the weight of the guilt of the sins of the people of God, which will shortly be laid upon him when he goes to the cross and that he who has never known anything but the smiles of the Father will soon endure not only the frowns of the Father but the crushing wrath and indignation of his father as he willingly drinks the cup his father has given him to drink.

And so they crossed over the brook. As they crossed over this brook of filth and blood and entered the garden, Matthew records that it is here in the Garden of Gethsemane that Jesus falls prostrate on his face. And he prays saying, oh my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. And Luke says in Luke chapter 22 and verse 44 that he being in agony prayed more earnestly and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground. And brothers and sisters, it is impossible for us to fully comprehend the horror of what Jesus is going through at this moment before he even gets to the cross.

And so many misunderstand what is happening here. What was it that caused Jesus to sweat great drops of blood at Gethsemane? And I guess that depends on what was in the cup that he didn't want to drink, but was willing to drink. It depends on what was the content of the cup. Many see Jesus sweating great drops of blood and dread of drinking the cup of physical suffering at the hands of men, at the hands of Roman soldiers.

They see Jesus dreading to drink the cup of physical torture under the Roman justice system, and sweating great drops of blood in anticipation of physical suffering and torture. But what was in the cup? What was in the cup? Roman justice or injustice or divine justice? The wrath of men against God or the wrath of God against men?

It was not the dread of Roman justice, or in this case Roman injustice, that caused Jesus to bleed through his skin, but the dread of divine judgment. Jesus knew he had to deal with the judgment of God in the place of his people. Jesus knew he had to deal with divine judgment, not the judgment of men, but the judgment of God. The cup was not filled with human rage, but divine rage against human sin. And Jesus knew that he was about to be made sin in the sight of God in order to satisfy the justice of God to his people.

2nd Corinthians 521 says, for he had made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. He who knew no sin was about to be charged with all the sins of God's people. He who knew no sin was about to be counted as a sinner in the sight of his father and treated by his father as though he had done all the things that you've done and that I've done. And if that doesn't pierce the heart with conviction, nothing will. He who was in perfect fellowship with the Father was about to be forsaken of his father and become the object of his father's wrath.

And in contemplating it, Jesus bled through his skin. And he prayed, being in agony, Oh Father, if it be possible, if there's any other means of saving sinners that can be offered let this cup pass from me but if not thy will be done And there's no other way to do it. He will drink the cup down to the dregs under the last drop. Jesus is resigned to do the divine will. Our passage this afternoon, going back to John, tells us that meanwhile, While this is taking place, this is taking place.

Meanwhile, Judas had received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees. The word band, or the Greek word that is translated band there, your Bible may say cohort. It signifies a detachment of Roman soldiers provided by the government of Rome to back up the temple guards. And the officers from the chief priests and Pharisees refers most likely to the temple guards themselves. By some estimations the Roman auxiliary, it's by itself would have been about 600 men.

As the Greek word used here translated band or cohort signifies, quote, the tenth part of a legion. A legion being about 6, 000 men. Add to that the 300 temple guards that were estimated to have been employed at the temple in Jesus' day, and we're talking about a combined force of around 900 men all armed to the teeth. An army of 900 men to take one man and their arm to the teeth as if they expected resistance and all with lanterns and torches blazing as if they expected to find Jesus hiding from them in the dark in which case they they might need a lot of light to find him. But they don't need to find Jesus at all because Jesus finds them.

Verse 4 of our text says, Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth. That is, he went straight at him. He went straight toward them. Knowing everything that was going to happen to him, he goes forth to meet the mob and he emerges from the darkness and steps into their full view. I would like to have seen that.

They think they're going to need torches and all this. They think they're gonna need weapons and we got to go find him. He may be hiding out here in the garden somewhere and trees. Adam and Eve ran and hid in the garden, Jesus didn't. No, He emerges from the darkness and steps into their full view.

Jesus is headed for the cross, He's heading to the cross voluntarily, and he's heading to the cross alone. And nothing and no one is going to deter him. He's going to drink the cup the Father has given him to drink. And notice when he approaches Judas and the mob, They don't interrogate Jesus. Jesus interrogates them.

Who's in control of what's taking place here? Jesus is the one doing the questioning and he already knows the answer to the question he's asking, but he's going to have them give an answer. And he says to them, whom seek ye? Who are you looking for? And they answered him, Jesus of Nazareth.

And Jesus responds here, and this is so important to understand, Jesus responds using the words that are the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew for I am. The same words used by God when he identified himself to Moses in the burning bush in Exodus 3 14. Jesus said I am. Your Bible may say, may have the word he, you'll notice it's in italics. If you use the KJV it's going to be in italics.

He didn't say I am he, he said I am. He identified Himself as God in the flesh. Jesus responded simply, I am. The same words He's used so many times to identify Himself as deity. Over in John chapter 8, you may remember having read this, when Jesus was confronting the Jewish authorities, he said to them, look I'm gonna go back to the Father.

He said I'm going away and where I'm going you cannot come and you shall die in your sins. I'm going to go away and you're going to die in your sins, " he told the Jewish authorities. For if you believe not that I am, If you don't believe I am, I am, you shall die in your sins. And the same is true of every one of us in this congregation today and every person in the entire world. If you do not believe that he is God, the Son incarnate, You will die in your sins.

And then further on in John 58, Jesus told the Jewish leaders, before Abraham was, I am. Before Abraham even existed, I from all eternity have existed before Abraham was I am. Same two words. And the Jews knew exactly what Jesus was saying when he said those words. That he was equal with God.

That he was God incarnate. God the Son come to earth. Which is why back in John chapter 8 they immediately picked up stones intending to crush him under a weight of stones, but it wasn't his time yet. Here in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus uses these same two words. Jesus says unto them, I am.

And our text says Judas was right there standing with the mob when he said it. And verse 6 says, as soon as he said these words unto them, I am, they all went backward and fell to the ground." This massive contingency of temple guards backed up with Roman soldiers is thrown backwards onto the ground and rendered powerless before Jesus. Just a spark of his glory. And they're all thrown backward onto the ground. Psalm 27 verse 2 says, When the wicked, even my enemies and my foes, come upon me to eat my flesh, They stumbled and fell.

Psalm 40 verse 14 says, Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul. Let them be driven backward and put to shame that which be evil. And what we've got to continue to see here is that Jesus is in total control of the events that are unfolding and he'll have everyone involved know it beyond any shadow of a doubt before he willingly allows them to take him. And just a quick rabbit trail, this is evidence that the Spirit of God alone can change the hearts of fallen men. No miracle, no display of power.

How great. God could rip open these clouds right now and yell down here, hey I'm God, better watch out, and people will go on. They might be struck for a moment. They go on their blindness, they go on their hardness. No matter how great a display of a miracle or power on earth, we saw this with Jesus' miracles.

All these people are following him and all of a sudden it says they all forsook him and they all left him. They're all following Jesus. They love his. He's making food for them. You know, You give people food and health care, right?

Democrat Party figured that out, right? They'll follow you for a while, but they didn't believe in him. They didn't trust in him. They didn't own him as their Lord and Savior. No.

No miracle, no display of power on earth no matter how great could change a man's heart. This army has just been knocked off their feet and driven backward onto the ground by two words from the mouth of one man, the God-man, and they pick themselves up off the ground they go right back with their intents as if nothing happened. If a display of God's power in the sight of men were all it would take to open men's eyes to the truth, these men would have been lying prostrate on their faces and crying out to God for mercy. But they're not. It takes the work of God.

Notice from what we see in the text, when they get back on their feet, they don't even respond. They don't even say anything. Look at the text! You expect them to at least get up and go, whoa, I don't know man, that was crazy. No, Jesus is still the one doing the questioning.

He's the one who's in command of everything that's unfolding. He's the final authority on the scene and he interrogates them further with the same question a second time, whom seek ye? And they said, maybe a little more politely this time, Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus answers, look I told you that I'm he. I told you I am, I am.

Therefore if you're seeking me, let these go their way." And Jesus said this, that the saying might be fulfilled which he spake of them which thou gave us me, have I lost Nada. Nunka ninguna, I'm trying to figure out which word is appropriate, none. Jesus protected his disciples just as the scriptures predicted and just as he prayed earlier to his father in chapter 17, while I was in the world I kept them he said. By the way, Jesus didn't lose one of those given him by the Father and he won't lose you either. You are trusting in his person and his work alone for your salvation.

Jesus is going to the cross, he's going voluntarily, he's going alone, He's gonna drink the cup the Father has given him to drink and no one Will be permitted to interfere with that not even Peter verse 10 Now maybe Peter, you know, he's emboldened by the sight of all these men falling backward onto the ground I don't know. I probably would have been. The text doesn't tell us, but we read in verse 10 that Simon Peter having a sword drew it. Remember, Jesus told him, if you're gonna have a sword, go get one. We got two.

I don't know if it meant two total or two apiece or what, but we got a couple, so he's, you know, he's got his sword on like Jesus said. Simon Peter had a sword, drew it, and he smote the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear Won't go into depth in this but in order to do that he had to been going to chop his head off because he had to go to the side in order to get his ear otherwise it would have gone right down over through his shoulder. This is a intent to take the guy's head off but this isn't the mission for which Christ came into the world. He's going to the cross, he's going voluntarily, He's going alone. No one's gonna be permitted to interfere with his mission to save his people from their sins.

Luke 22 51 tells us Jesus touched the man's ear, Malchus' ear, and he healed him. And in Matthew 26 53, we hear Jesus telling Peter, look, Don't you realize that right now I could call, I could pray to the Father and He would send me more than 12 legions of angels? Peter, put your sword back up! It's not my mission! Put up thy sword into the sheath, the cup which my father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" And of course the answer is yes.

Jesus will drink the cup the Father has given him to drink and he did. The cup is a symbol of the wrath of God due sinners and Jesus took it from the hand of the Father. The cup my Father has given me to drink. He took it from the hand of the Father and voluntarily drank it to the dregs in the place of his people on the cross. The cup which my Father has given me to drink, shall I not drink it?

Yes I shall. Even though the cup is filled with divine wrath. Psalm 75 8. Turn there with me. Psalm 75 8.

Last page of notes. For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup. Not in the hand of the Roman soldiers. There is in the hand of the Lord a cup and the wine is red, it is full of mixture and he porth out of the same but the dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall ring them out and drink them Jesus standing in the place of sinners of ungodly men and women and children like us, stands in our place. He takes from the hand of the Lord this cup that the wicked are supposed to wring out and drink for all eternity, and he drinks it down, and he does it on the cross.

Revelation 16 19 speaks of the cup of the wine of the fierceness of God's wrath. The cup is filled with the wrath of God and Jesus will drink it down in the place of his people willingly voluntarily alone. Psalm 11 6 upon the wicked he shall rain snares fire and brimstone and a horrible tempest this shall be the portion of their cup." Brothers and sisters, that was the portion of our cup! But Jesus drank the portion of our cup that we were supposed to drink or would have had to drink for all eternity under God's anger and wrath and he drank it all down in that three hours on the cross in our place. Isaiah 51 17.

Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which has drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup, which has drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury. Thou has drunk into the dregs of the cup of trembling and rung them out. Brothers and sisters, Jesus drank at the hand of the Lord from his father's hand, the cup of the righteous indignation and fury and wrath of God that was directed at us, which we deserve to drink down for all eternity in a place called hell. And Jesus drank it down in those three dread hours on the cross bearing our sin willingly voluntarily alone. Jeremiah 25 15 for thus saith the Lord God of Israel unto me take the wine cup of this fury at my hand God says at my hand and cause all the nations to whom I send thee to drink it Jesus took the cup of God's fury from his father's hand and he drank it down to the last drop for us.

Revelation 14 10 calls it the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation. No wonder the men of the earth will one day cry out for the mountains to cover them and to hide them from the face of him who sits upon the throne and from his wrath. No wonder. The good news this morning is that Jesus drank the cup, his father gave him to drink, he bore our sins, he bore the wrath to us for our sins, and in doing so he satisfied the divine justice to his people and appeased the wrath of God forever removing his anger from us. Jesus was treated, think about this, as we deserve to be treated.

Not as we deserve to be treated by men, He was treated on the cross as we deserve to be treated, not as we deserve to be treated by Roman soldiers forever, but as we deserve to be treated by God forever and all eternity. And drinking the cup of the wrath and the holy indignation of God and dying in our place. He drank down the last drop of the cup of the fury of Almighty God standing in the place of sinners as he hung there and absorbed the fury and the wrath that was hanging over our heads, but instead it rained down on the head of our substitute. Praise God. Jesus suffered under the wrath of God and died to pay the penalty for our sin that we could not pay in an eternity of suffering.

Victory over sin and death and hell and judgment for us was accomplished at the cross because Jesus took the cup of wrath from the hand of the Father and drank it down to the last drop in our place. When you think about, just a moment, when you think about jesus suffering on the cross be be honest with yourself when you think about jesus suffering on the cross is what is in your mind chiefly his physical suffering and pain Is that what Jesus suffered and you think about it hurt him a lot it was painful he's on the cross he's has nails in his hands and his feet he's hanging there it's painful that is that what is chiefly in your mind When you think about Jesus suffering on the cross, or do you see him Dealing with the justice of God for you. The cup of the wrath of God is held over the head of every impenitent sinner and it will one day be poured out for all eternity upon their heads in hell as they endured the just punishment for their sins. But the cup has already been emptied for those whose trust is in Jesus Christ.

The cup is empty. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, You're trusting in Him alone for your salvation. The cup's empty. Jesus drank it all in your place. He drank it down in your place.

When Don was still alive, whenever we had a candidate for baptism approach the elders, we'd always ask the question, he always asked the question that originated from, I think it was evangelism explosion. If God were to ask you today on the day of judgment, why should I let you into my heaven? What would you say? And if the answer came back, well I did this or I did that or you know, my good deeds outweighed my bad deeds or I tried to do this or I tried to do that, We'd always wonder if that person really understood the gospel because no person who's ever been saved is trusting in their own works or efforts to merit acceptance with God. Eric made that clear earlier in his teaching on the Baptist confession.

Only by trusting in the person of Jesus Christ and what he has done in his life and in his death by his act of obedience and his passive obedience as Eric explained. Only by this has any soul ever been justified in God's sight. No person will ever satisfy the justice of God do them or appease the wrath of God by any amount of human suffering or human effort on their part. If they could Jesus wouldn't have had to go to the cross to accomplish it in their place, in our place, right? Remember the mere anticipation of dealing with the judgment of God in the place of sinners caused Jesus to sweat great drops of blood.

It's really pretty simple. Why should God allow me into his heaven? Jesus suffered in blood and died in my place. Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to his cross I cling. Jesus satisfied the justice of God, do me for my sins, when he took my place and dealt with the justice of God for me on the cross.

The cup of God's wrath is empty for all those who believe in Jesus. The cup, hear me if you hear nothing else, the cup of God's wrath is empty for all those who believe in Jesus and an empty cup can't be poured out on anyone. Jesus drank the cup of God's wrath for me so that I wouldn't have to drink it down for all eternity. Jesus suffered what I could not suffer so that I might suffer what I deserved to suffer for all eternity in hell. Jesus lived a life I couldn't live and died a death I couldn't die so that I wouldn't die a death I deserved to die for all eternity in hell.

Before he died, he cried, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Jesus was forsaken of God on the cross that I might not be forsaken of God for all eternity in a place called hell. If your trust is in Jesus, the wrath of God is no longer abiding on you, just the favor of God and the smiles of God. You're under grace, justice has been satisfied, the wrath of God appeased, and the favor of God is resting upon you. I'll end with these words of Calvin, Christ was the price of our chastisement, that is of the chastisement that was due us.

Thus the wrath of God, which had been justly kindled against us, was appeased. And through the mediator we have obtained peace by which we are reconciled to God. Praise God. We're reconciled to him. Our trust is in Christ and in him alone.

Let's pray. Oh Lord God, we pray God just a prayer of thanksgiving. We thank you Father for sending Jesus into the world to be the Lamb of God to take away our sin, to satisfy your justice, to appease your wrath that was due us. We thank you for what Jesus did on the cross. And we thank you God that after he died, he suffered and bled and died, He did not remain in the grave but that he rose again the third day and Lord we were just so so grateful to have been called out of the darkness of this world into the glorious light of the kingdom of your son our Lord Jesus who suffered and died for us and rose again the third day We praise His Holy Name.

Amen.