THE CUP OF THE WICKED.
THERE is nothing so definite and plain as the Word of God; and I would appeal to you, dear reader, as to the solemn, and none less certain fact, in the above verse.
It clearly defines a certain class of people, and plainly states that a certain portion will be theirs.
This is put in the figure of a cup: the cup of the wicked. God, acting in righteousness towards such, must necessarily fill their cup with judgment. Mark how expressive are the words of the Psalmist, “He shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible (or burning) tempest.” No mitigation—no word here of mercy, um of blessing.
The character of God demands that every rejecter of Christ must have such a portion, and the all-important question for you and me dear friend is, Do I belong to this company? or shall such a portion be mine? And this not merely for time—but for eternity. You, dear reader, whoever you may be, will shrink from such a doom. Satan, and your own heart, will be too ready to tell you—that you are not of this company. A religious training, moral influences, good society, and many other things may seem to separate you from the openly wicked. Or again, you say, once I was such; I was known as a drunkard, a blasphemer, and mixed up with all that is bad. Now I have given up these things—signed the pledge, it may be; become moral, upright, and religious; surely, such a portion can never fill my cup?
Much there is in all this, to be thankful for—but I want you to read one verse with me in the last book of the Bible; where God, as it were, winds up the destinies of men.
In Revelation, chap. 21, verse 8, (Rev. 21:88But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)) We read “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.” How striking the similarity between this verse, and the one already quoted from Psa. 11; but this gives more details, and defines more emphatically, who shall have the solemn part of which it speaks. Now, heading the list are two classes of people, and I tremble, dear friend, lest you should belong to one of these—namely, “the fearful and unbelieving.” Alas, how many good, amiable, and even religious people come under this head, and what if you are amongst them.
Psa. 9:1717The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. (Psalm 9:17) verse, declares that “the wicked shall be turned into hell” but beware, dear reader, Oh, beware, lest, unbelieving, your portion shall be the same as theirs, and your eternity spent with them. What sin so great and heinous before God as unbelief! Jesus says of the Holy Ghost, in John 16, “He shall reprove the world of sin, because they believe not on me.” Again, he says in Mark 16, “He that believeth not shall be damned.” I need not stay to explain what is implied in belief or unbelief—you can scarcely be a stranger to what is meant—but what I do plead, is, that the claims of Christ, as well as His love may have a place in your heart—that your eternal portion may be settled now, as it must be in time—that you may weigh now solemnly—the consequences of being amongst the wicked, so that you through mercy may escape their awful and righteous doom in the lake of fire, where their cup shall never be drained. “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”
“Stop, poor sinner, stop and think
Before you farther go;
O can you sport upon the brink
Of everlasting woe?”
II.—THE CUP OF SUFFERING.
“Father, if it be possible, let this Cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I wilt, but as thou wilt.” Matt. 26:3939And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. (Matthew 26:39).
After having spoken of the awful portion that must fill your cup for eternity, if a Christ rejecter— surely, dear reader, you will be the more willing to hear of another cup; one that speaks of suffering, of substitution—of judgment borne—of guilt atoned for by One Who was, and is, spotless as God Himself. Love brought Him down—the eternal Son of God—the Saviour of the world—matchless love led Him on through this scene to Calvary, Love divine sustained Him in that awful hour when He, the spotless victim, made an atonement for sin, when He took the cup filled with suffering and death. Oh, miracle of grace! to see the Saviour thus: to hear that cry, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” while He bore His righteous judgment; while He suffered, not for Himself, but for others. This, dear friend, is the way God has met man’s need.
He has said, “Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom.” And this is found in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Neither is there salvation in any other.” Say will you not now, even now, turn to this Saviour and trust in Him? His work avails for the chief of sinners. He came into the world to save such. Will you not then whilst owning what you deserve, thankfully believe in this perfect provision for all your need? Thus, you will escape the judgment;, and be saved from the wrath to come that must fill the cup of the wicked, and all the blessings that Christ’s finished work secures—namely, pardon, salvation, peace, joy, glory—all will be yours through faith in Him.
“Jesus the curse sustains,
Guilt’s bitter cup he drains.
Nothing for us remains,
Nothing but love.”
III.—THE CUP OF SALVATION.
Thrice happy the soul that follows the Psalmist’s example in the above verse. The latter has such a sense of the Lord’s goodness that his heart gladly responds to it, in these words, “I will take the cup of salvation.”
Here again we have the figure of a cup—only this time it is filled—not with judgment, not with the sufferings of atonement, but with the blessed and certain result of Christ having accomplished the work—having drained the cup of suffering even to the dregs. Peter tells us that “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.” To be brought to God in all the value of Christ’s sacrifice, this, dear friend, is salvation.
If left to myself, the cup of the wicked must be my portion, but in wondrous love the Saviour God has acted for me.
“He took the guilty culprit’s place,
And suffered in his stead.
For man, O miracle of grace,
For man the Saviour bled.”
So the hymn expresses it, and such is the testimony of God’s own word. Rom. 5:66For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6), declares that “When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” The cup of suffering is put, as it were, into the Saviour’s hands, and we know how He finished the work, and how God raised Him from the dead, the living proof that the work was done; and God was satisfied. What then is left for you, what else can you do, but “take the cup of salvation?” If David spoke of benefits think, oh think of Calvary—of that unspeakable gift— of that atoning work of the Saviour’s love; and tell me, dear friend, are you not constrained to take, what God Himself has provided, and so wants you to have— “the cup of salvation.” O be real, in view of the judgment to come, and the perfect grace now displayed, and take— just now—what you so need, as the hymn puts it:
“Take salvation,
Take it now, and happy be.”
Then shall you rejoice; then, and not till then, can you look back to sins put away—to death and judgment behind you; then can you look forward without the fear of having to drink the cup of the wicked, but with the certainty of glory with Christ your deliverer. Then too you will learn that He Himself who so loves you is even now and forever the portion of your cup (Psa. 16:55The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. (Psalm 16:5)), so that you are constrained to say in the language of the twenty-third psalm, “My cup runneth over.”
T. E. P.