We're going to look at John 3 now. We're going to combine the teaching with our Lord's Supper teaching as well this morning. We're going to be looking at John 3, verses 31-36. Today we're going to finish our study of chapter 3 of John's Gospel. And it's only the 22nd teaching, the 22nd message I've delivered thus far. So, we're on a pretty good pace. I saw on the internet this past week that it took John Piper 24 sermons to get through the end of John 3. So if we were in a race, I'd be winning. At any rate, we've come to, as I said, verses 31-36 of chapter 3, which I think best to take as the words of the Apostle John. offering his own comments on what John the Baptist has just finished saying, rather than as the words of John the Baptist himself. We saw something similar earlier in the chapter. If you recall, when I took verse 16 through verse 21 to be the words of John, it's kind of hard to tell in this chapter if John starts speaking, and if so, when. But I think in both of these cases, he's giving us his reflections on what's just been said, in one case by Jesus, and in this case by John the Baptist. In fact, I think if you have an ESV or a New American Standard, no, it would be the NIV, I think. The ESV and the NIV, I think, both end the quote of John the Baptist after verse 30. Well, I would do the same thing. But, you know, it could be taken either way. And I can't see any real difference it makes to take it one way or the other as far as the actual meaning of the text goes. I just want to point it out to you so that when you hear me talking about John and what John is saying in this passage, you'll know which John I have in mind. I think it's the Apostle John who's speaking. With that, I'll read the text and open with a word of prayer. Because I believe that the Apostle John is reflecting on what John the Baptist has said, I want to back up to a John the Baptist has said, beginning in verse 25, we're told that then there arose a dispute between some of John the Baptist's disciples and the Jews about purification. And they came to John and said to him, Rabbi, he who is with you beyond the Jordan to whom you have testified, behold, he is baptizing and all are coming to him. John answered and said, A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ. but I have been sent before him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Therefore, this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, and I must decrease." Then I think we have the Apostle John speaking now, beginning in verse 31, reflecting on why it is that it is appropriate that Jesus increase and John decrease. He who comes from above is above all, including John the Baptist, would be the implication. And what he has seen and heard, that he testifies, and no one receives his testimony. He who has received his testimony is certified that God is true. For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life, and he who does not believe," some of your translations would say, he who does not obey. That's a more literal translation here. Clearly it's disbelief as opposed to belief, But that disbelief is being characterized by John here as disobedience. When you're supposed to believe and you don't, not only are you not believing, you're disobeying. So that's what he says. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life, and he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. Let's pray. Holy Father, I ask that you will please enable me to speak with clarity and conviction and in the power of your Holy Spirit this morning, that you would fill me with your Spirit, that you would fill each and every brother and sister in the Lord this morning with your Spirit, that we might understand your word. We know that we do not and cannot have the Spirit without measure, as Jesus did, but we are glad that we do have the indwelling presence of your Spirit nonetheless. to aid us, to guide us, to enlighten our hearts and minds. For that we are truly grateful. And we ask that through the power of your Spirit we might understand what it is you want to say to us this morning as we prepare our hearts to partake of the Lord's Supper together. We ask these things for your glory and in the great name of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. As we've already been reminded in our reading of the text, we left off last week with the words of John the Baptist to his disciples, culminating in his assertion that he must decrease, that Jesus must increase. He said that I must decrease. And beginning at verse 31 and extending through verse 36, I think, as I've said, we have the reflections of the Apostle John on why that's appropriate. Why it is that it was so right what John the Baptist said about himself, and why it is that his readers should agree with it, what John the Baptist had said about himself. Remember earlier on in chapter 1 verse 8, backing up here, John pointed out the apostle John, that John the Baptist was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light, the light there being Jesus. I think this is another place perhaps in which John is, maybe he's dealing with some people still who are hanging on to John the Baptist in his day. And he wanted to point out early on in the gospel that John only bore witness to the light, John the Baptist. The true light is Jesus. And I think perhaps he's reflecting here in the way that he is about what John the Baptist has said to drive home the point for his readers about what the true role of John the Baptist is and why it is that John the Baptist saw himself as he did in relationship to Christ. Why is it necessary that Christ increase and he decrease? Well, first of all, because Christ is the Messiah and he's not. He's the forerunner of the Messiah. And his whole life, as we saw last week, was about pointing to the Messiah and preparing the way for him. And now John the Baptist, or the Apostle John, excuse me, I'm confusing my Johns here now. The Apostle John, he wants us to help or help us rather, to understand why this is so. And he begins by reminding the readers, you and I, of the great difference between Jesus and John the Baptist with respect to their origin. This has been a theme already earlier in the book where he's discussed the origin of Christ. And even John the Baptist said that the one coming after him was preferred before him because he was before him. He understood, if you recall, John the Baptist, the pre-existence and the deity of Christ. This is what is in the mind of the Apostle John while he's writing this passage. The same ideas. He says, he who comes from above is above all, in verse 31, and he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. Notice that at the beginning and end of this verse, John twice repeats the same idea. First he says that he who comes from above is above all, and then he says at the end of the verse, he who comes from heaven, that's the above he has in mind, is above all. This means that he wants to emphasize the truth that Jesus is sovereign over all things and all people because of his heavenly origin, and that includes John the Baptist. He is above John the Baptist. He is greater than John the Baptist. He is above all. He is greater than all. He is over all. Because his origin is a heavenly origin. His origin is in heaven. But sandwiched in between these two statements of the heavenly origin and sovereignty of Jesus, John has a three-fold emphasis upon the earthly nature of, in the context here, John the Baptist and others like him. Literally, the Greek text could be rendered, he who is of the earth is of the earth and speaks of the earth. That of the earth, I just had there three times, John uses exactly the same Greek phrase. He's trying to make a point, isn't he? Twice he's reminded us, told us, that Jesus comes from heaven, the one who must increase. The one who must decrease, well, He's different than Jesus. He is of the earth. And he speaks of the earth. Now, this doesn't mean to say that the things John the Baptist taught were not revealed from heaven. He was a prophet. All the prophets received revelation from heaven that they communicated to people. But none of them have their origin in heaven. John's point here, especially when taken with the next verse, is simply that such revelation is given to the prophets as they exist here in the earthly realm, and have their origin here in the earthly realm. Thus, John the Baptist's origin, speech, and activity are all in this earthly realm. He's not from heaven, and he doesn't have the same kind of connection to and communication with heaven that Jesus has. His relationship to heaven is different than Jesus is. He is earthly. He has no first-hand knowledge or experience of heaven, and so cannot speak as one who does. But this isn't the case with Jesus, as the next verse makes quite clear. In verse 32 we read, "...and want he," here referring to Jesus, one who must increase, and what he has seen and heard that he testifies, and no one receives his testimony. Jesus testifies to what he's seen and heard in heaven, as one whose home is in heaven. That's his experience of heaven. See, John the Baptist says, with all prophets are earthly. That's their home. They're of the earth. They're dependent on a revelation from God in a particular way that Jesus isn't. Jesus can speak of heavenly things as one whose home is heaven. He has inside knowledge, so to speak. First-hand experience of heaven and a relationship with God that John the Baptist doesn't have. He's unique in this way. There's never been anyone like him. And there never will be again. He's utterly unique. But notice that the Apostle John tells us that no one receives his testimony. Think about it. Someone has come from heaven. And John has said in 1.14, has become flesh and dwelt among us. God himself, he said in chapter 1, came from heaven. Became flesh, took on flesh and dwelt among us. And nobody wants to hear what he has to say. Imagine that. Now, when he says no one receives his testimony, obviously he means to state the general rule here, a general truth. This is the typical response in his day to Jesus. And still, the general response to Jesus is, I don't really care what you have to say. I don't really believe you are who you say you are, that you came from heaven. I don't really receive your testimony about heavenly things as one who speaks as an insider, whose origin is in heaven, who is one with the Father. That's the general rule, but there's obviously exceptions to this rule. He's not making an absolute statement here, because look what he says in the next verse. He who has received his testimony is certified that that is true. So when He said, no one receives His testimony, He didn't mean absolutely no one. He meant that's the typical response. That's the general rule. And those who accept His testimony, they're the exception to the rule. It's similar to the way He spoke earlier in chapter 1, in verses 10-13, where He said, speaking of Jesus, He was in the world and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to his own, and his own did not receive him. That's the general rule. But in the next statement he says, but as many as received him, there are the exceptions to the rule, to them he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. So we see that John assumes that the predominant response to Jesus will be rejection of him, but that there will be those who do receive him, although no one, according to John, can or will receive him aside from the gracious and sovereign work of God. We just read it to you, who are born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. But John also says that those who do receive Jesus as the one from heaven attest that God is true. In the New King James it says they've certified that God is true. But it can also be translated, he who has received his testimony has set his seal that God is true. Some translations take it that way. That's what the Greek word used here literally means. It means to seal. But it can have a figurative meaning too. It could be used to seal something as the owner of it and identify it as yours. It was often also used when you sealed something, you could seal an official document as a token of its authenticity. And I think the figurative meaning that came out of that is what John has in mind here. We're like the person that we hear the testimony of Jesus and we say, I want to get out my seal and stamp that as authentic, as true. I believe it. I attest to it. I certify that it's true. I'll be the notary public to that," or something. So, he who receives Jesus' testimony certifies that God is true. You see this language again where Jesus and God go back and forth in His mind. But this implies that the converse is also true, namely that to reject Jesus is to call God a liar. Right? In fact, in his first epistle, the Apostle John says this, in 1 John 5.10, He who believes in the Son of God has this witness in himself. He who does not believe God has made him a liar because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of his Son. No one can say they believe God and reject Jesus. For example, what's the testimony God gave of his son? Remember at his baptism what he said, for example? This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And no one can deny that testimony without God calling God himself a liar. There are a lot of people out there that say, well, I believe in God. I'm not sure I accept Jesus. Well, you can ask him then, well, if you believe in God, then do you believe what he says about Jesus is true or not? Because if you don't, you may believe in him, but you're calling him a liar. That's not a good thing to do. It's really bad. You talk about people like that as being under God's wrath, and deservedly so. So no one can receive Jesus for who he truly is without acknowledging the truthfulness of God. I think Thomas Constable is on the right track when he says this about this verse, Jesus so exactly revealed God's words that to believe Jesus is to believe God and to disbelieve Jesus is to disbelieve God. Jesus came from heaven and said, here's what God has to say. You don't believe that. You don't trust God. You don't believe God. What is also implied is that Jesus speaks for God in a special way. This is made explicit in the next verse, in verse 34. For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God. For God does not give the Spirit by measure. Now we could say that, in fact, we were told earlier, John the Baptist was sent by God. He spoke a revelation from God. He quoted the Old Testament, and he also added some things about who it really was that the Old Testament was prophesying about, who would be the Messiah. He pointed him out, called him the Lamb of God. He had revelation from God. John's not trying to deny the Apostle John any of that. What he's trying to say is that though there have been those who've been prophets and have given us words from the Lord, none of them have been like Jesus in the utterly unique way that he did this. For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit, he says, by measure. So Jesus speaks the words of God in a way that no other has ever done, and we're told why. Namely, because he has been given the Spirit without measure. In fact, I would argue to you, he's the only human being who could ever have the Spirit without measure, precisely because he wasn't merely a human being. He was both fully God, as we've been taught in this Gospel already, back in chapter 1, and fully man. How could a human being ever really receive the Spirit without measure? I'm not sure that's even logically possible. Jesus had the Spirit without measure. He's utterly unique. Not even, I would argue, the greatest prophet of all. That was Jesus' testimony about John the Baptist. Not even he. at the Spirit without measure. John the Piper, who in my view goes a bit too far off into speculation concerning the eternal relationship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in his treatment of this passage. If you read his sermon or listen to it on this, he goes a little bit too much into speculation for me on the inner workings of the Trinity here. But nevertheless, I do think he has a helpful comment on this point about the fullness of Jesus having the Spirit without measure. He says this, I'm going to give you the tip of the iceberg of what I think is here and then challenge you to watch for it elsewhere in Scripture. God gives the one whom he sent the Spirit without measure. What does this mean? It means that there is an infinite, he says, difference between the way the Son of God received the Spirit of God and the way we receive the Spirit. The difference is that He receives it without measure. The way the Son of God receives the Spirit of God is measureless. It cannot be measured. Why not? Because it is infinite. God communicates, imparts, bestows His Spirit on the Son infinitely. As much as there is of the Spirit, the Son has. As many ways as He can have Him, He has Him in all those ways. As fully as the Spirit can be known and enjoyed in all that fullness, he knows and enjoys the Spirit of God. I think there he's on solid ground when he says that he has the Spirit without measure. You can't say that about anyone else but Jesus. It's not even possible that that could be true, in my view, of anyone else but Jesus, who has his origin in heaven because he existed eternally with God. There's never been a prophet like that. Not even John the Baptist. Remember what the Apostle John said in the very opening of this Gospel? Chapter 1, verses 1-3, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In the beginning He was with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. He hasn't forgotten this in chapter 3. This is who He's talking about. And this Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory. Nothing like that can be said of John the Baptist. Why is it that John the Baptist says, He must increase and I must decrease? John the Baptist knows who Jesus really is. So does the Apostle John. who, even if these are the words of John the Baptist, wanted us to have them here and included them here for a reason. He doesn't want us to miss this point about the utter uniqueness of Christ. He has a special relationship with God the Father that no one else has. And it's this relationship that's further described by John in the next verse, in verse 35, where he says, The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. It's not just that he has a spirit without measure. There's nothing God has that isn't in the hand of his Son. Because of this love relationship that they have. Nothing. You can't say that about anybody but Jesus. Who is God's Son by nature? We all get to be called sons of God by adoption. There's only one who's the Son of God who's His Son by nature, whose home is in heaven, who eternally preexisted as God, with God, who created the whole world. When John says, the Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand, he hasn't forgotten all of that that he said earlier in the Gospel. Everything the Father has, the Son has. You compare somebody, even the greatest prophet who ever lived to Him, and all you can conclude is that He's got to decrease and Jesus has got to increase in the mind of everyone. There's no other conclusion to reach. And not just about the greatest prophet who ever lived, but about any one of us. About any person who's ever lived. How can anyone call themselves a believer in Christ and not say with all their heart, He must increase and I have simply got to decrease? There's no other possible response to seeing Him for who He is other than that. John doesn't want to leave off his testimony about what John the Baptist has said without driving that point all the way home. Because heaven and hell hang in the balance, as we see in the last verse. I mean, no wonder people were so consistently astonished at Jesus, right? At His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and that is described. He just spoke as though He were God Himself. Nobody talked like that. No wonder a person's eternal destiny hangs upon whether or not he receives the Son. Verse 36, He who believes in the Son has everlasting life. You could never say that about anyone but Jesus. The One who has simply got to increase. If we have any idea who He is, before Him we say, I can do nothing but decrease. I must fall on my face and worship. I must call Him King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I must say there's no place for me to be prideful. That's the kind of heart that believes his testimony. He doesn't call God a liar. And that's the kind of faith in the Son that brings everlasting life in this context. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life, and he who does not believe, the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. Now, as we saw in our previous study of verses 17 through 21, John doesn't address the issue of what happens here to those who have never heard the gospel, as Paul does in Romans 1 and 2, for example. Because his interest in writing this book is to present the gospel and to make clear to his readers the crucial choice that is before everyone who has heard the truth. That's the whole point of this gospel. Remember, his purpose in writing the gospel stated, I'll remind you again, in John 20, verses 30 and 31, he said, And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. John has his ultimate purpose for writing in mind here in this verse, in verse 36. He's written this gospel to present the truth to everyone who reads it or hears it. And he wants everyone who reads it or hears it to understand this very important truth. You cannot remain neutral. Either God is true or He's a liar. Either Jesus is who He said He is or He's not. Either you believe or you disobey the Son. There is no middle ground. If you've read this much of the Gospel so far, He's brought you to a crossroads. There's a choice to be made. You're going to accept Jesus for who He is or you're not. Now he's going to hold that choice before you through the rest of the book too, different ways. But that's the choice we all have to make. No one may remain neutral. If you're here this morning and you haven't come to know Jesus as your Savior and you think you're on some middle ground, you are sadly and sorely mistaken. If you never in your life Understood it. Understand that after having heard what you have heard today, you cannot walk out of here a neutral person. You are not a spiritual Switzerland. Right? You are taken aside when you walk out of here. You either are saying, I believe Jesus is who He said He is, and shouting with all of my might with John the Baptist, He must increase and I must decrease, or you are walking out of here calling Him a liar on your way to hell, and there is no in-between. When John says that he who believes in the Son has everlasting life, he means to say that eternal life isn't just some future hope. It's a present possession. We don't experience it in its fullness now. I know that there are some preterists out there who believe that this is the new heavens and the new earth. That is one of the more ridiculous heresies I've ever heard. This isn't the new heavens and the new earth. where we're in our resurrection bodies experiencing the need for no more light bulbs, or sun or moon, because God is lighting everything. No more sickness or sorrow, no more tears. We're not experiencing that yet. That's the fullness of everlasting life. We're not experiencing that yet, but that doesn't mean we are not right now spiritually alive forever. We have, those of us who have trusted Christ, as a present and ongoing possession everlasting life. The ESV study Bible notes correctly observe that the phrase has eternal life indicates that eternal life is not merely a future expectation. but already a present experience. This is sometimes called John's realized eschatology, where eschatology means the events of the end times and the life of the age to come. In John, this kind of life is partially realized or partially made the believer's possession even now in this present age. This is the life then of the age to come. We get to experience now. Though not yet in all its fullness. On the other hand, when John says that he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, not just that they won't have it, but for some reason he wants to say they won't see it. I don't know why he puts it that way. Is he imagining someone squinting his eyes and trying as hard as he can to get some glimpse of the blessedness that belonged to the saints? That the Word holds life? He can't even get a glimpse of it? Zero perception of it? Completely, in other words, cut off from it? Maybe that's what he has in mind. He certainly means that they won't experience it. He means at least that much. when he says, he who does not believe the Son shall not see life. But as I have pointed out to you already, the Greek term here is better translated, he who does not obey the Son shall not see life. That's the literal translation. I think the reason that the New King James translates it the way it does is because here it's set over against belief. But I think John says it the way he does Because for him, disbelief in Jesus isn't simply a matter of intellectual disagreement with some propositions about Him. It is rather a matter of active disobedience toward the Son who has called them to faith in Himself. This isn't just an intellectual exercise of do I agree or do I not agree with some propositions. We've seen in our previous study of this Gospel that saving faith isn't merely intellectual assent. It's actually trusting, putting your life in Jesus' hands, and actively trusting Him. Well, disbelief isn't a matter simply of intellectual propositions either. It's either actively trusting in Christ, or deliberately disobeying what He tells you, by refusing to trust Him. In fact, John sees those who disbelieve and thus disobey the Son as having actually disobeyed God Himself. Which is why he can finish this verse by asserting that the wrath of God abides on Him. In other words, the righteous anger of God toward them for their sin remains upon them. Such anger is not a violent outburst that goes as quickly as it comes, like the tantrum of a two-year-old child. Some people imagine God this way, well, He gets mad, but then He gets over it. It's not what it means here when it talks about God's wrath remaining, abiding on someone. It is a persistent disposition of anger the anger of God which flows from his justice and which demands punishment. I think Merrill C. Tenney is right when he says that the word here, orge, the Greek word translated wrath, does not mean a sudden gust of passion or a burst of temper, rather it is the settled displeasure of God against sin. It is the divine allergy to moral evil, the reaction of righteousness to unrighteousness. That is what the unbeliever can expect from God, whether he or she senses or experiences his judgment in this life or not. And we know from Scripture, God does exercise his judgment on people, even in this world, whether they see it or not. But maybe he doesn't. Maybe there are some who get through this life and they can put together, I don't really see God's judgment. That doesn't mean it's not coming, because God's judgment is ultimately future. The Apostle Paul speaks of this future judgment in his epistle to the Romans, and he even says that those who disobey the Lord now are storing up wrath for themselves as they await the judgment day. It doesn't matter if they can point to anything in their life and say, I think God's judged me. It's being stored up. Regardless, their whole life long. Here's what he says in Romans 2, 1-5, Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things. He's talking about everyone's a hypocrite. Every human being that makes a moral judgment about someone else, folks, is a hypocrite. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? Do you really think that? Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? If you haven't been zapped already, and swallowed up like Achan, It doesn't mean judgment isn't coming, but the very fact that you haven't been judged that way already is God's goodness designed to lead you to repentance, Paul says. But, he says, in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart, you are treasuring up for yourself. It's like you're taking God's wrath and treasuring it up into this account of wrath. Storing it up in a wrath storehouse, as it were, just so it can all be poured out on you in its fullest at the end. He says, in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart, you are treasuring up yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Be not deceived. Just because God doesn't judge everyone now, doesn't mean it's not coming. This is the kind of wrath that John has in mind in the passage before us. And he wants us to know that it may be avoided by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. And this leads to preparation for the Lord's Supper. Because we can also see how this text helps those of us who have trusted Christ as our Savior to prepare our hearts for the Lord's Supper. Since it's through his death on the cross that Jesus removed God's wrath, from us forever. We're told that his death is a propitiatory sacrifice, a propitiation by his blood. Propitiation is a wrath-ending sacrifice. This wrath is sometimes spoken of figuratively in the Bible as a cup that sinners are made to drink in God's judgment. I'll give you a few examples. Psalm 75, 4-8 says this, I said to the boastful, do not deal boastfully. And to the wicked, do not lift up the horn. Do not lift up your horn on high. Do not speak with a stiff neck. For exaltation comes neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge. He puts down one and exalts another. For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup. And the wine is red, it is fully mixed, and He pours it out. Surely its dregs shall all the wicked of the earth drink and drain down." He's saying there's this cup of judgment coming. God's going to pull it up to the lips of that sinner and force it down his throat. In Isaiah 51.17, He says, Stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury, or as the ESV translates it, the cup of His wrath. You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling and drained it out. Think about it. Imagine this vivid metaphor. There's a cup of wrath, of God's fury and His wrath, that He's holding up to their lips and forcing it down, and these people are trembling in fear. knowing what's happening to them. This cup of trembling. No one wants to pick it up and drink it. But they'll drink it. When God pours it down their throat, they'll drink it. This metaphor is also used later in the revelation of God's judgment on those who worship the beast. It's the most Hellfire Brimstone sermon I've had in a while, right? Later in Revelation, he says about the beast in Revelation 14, 9-11, those who worship the beast, "...then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If anyone worships the beast in his image and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he shall himself also drink the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of his indignation." Indignation means righteous anger, his wrath. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever. And they have no rest day or night who worship the beast in his image and whoever receives the mark of his name." That's the kind of judgment later on he says is coming to everybody in Revelation 20. Who isn't in the book of life, who isn't trusted in the Lord to save them. It's my contention. I went into all that to say this. It's my contention that this same cup metaphor was being used by Jesus in Gethsemane when he said this. He prayed three times. Oh my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but you will. You know what he was praying about there? He wasn't afraid of dying a physical death on the cross. That's not what he was praying about when he prayed that. He was talking about the cup For me and for you. That's what he was talking about. He drank down the cup of trembling. He had the cup of God's wrath forced down his throat. Figuratively speaking. He knew it was coming. And he willingly took it. That's why he's a propitiation. That's why he's the wrath-ending sacrifice for all those for whom he died, who trust in him. But thank God when we come to predate the Lord's Supper, we drink a different kind of cup. It's a cup of remembrance. When we get to remember that Jesus drank a different cup for us, the cup of God's wrath, We get to drink a cup celebrating what He's done. And I tell you, when we do it, our hearts should be crying out to God, He must increase and I must decrease. That's the only possible response. So let's take some time, a few moments to pray Prepare our hearts to partake of the Lord's Supper. Examine your hearts, as Paul says. Ask God to forgive you any sins that you're aware of, and ask Him to forgive you for the ones you're not aware of. And remember that it's all possible because Jesus drank the cup of God's wrath for you. And if you're not a believer, I hope today you'll put your faith in Jesus. I hope today you'll trust Him. But I need to tell you, the Lord's Supper we're going to take part in together now is not for you. It would be a great blasphemy for you to partake of it. It would mock what Jesus did. So we ask that you not partake. There, I fenced the table. Let's pray.