The Fourth Sunday in Lent (OTA)

Isaiah 51:17-23
17 Wake yourself, wake yourself,
stand up, O Jerusalem,
you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD
the cup of his wrath,
who have drunk to the dregs
the bowl, the cup of staggering.
18 There is none to guide her
among all the sons she has borne;
there is none to take her by the hand
among all the sons she has brought up.
19 These two things have happened to you—
who will console you?—
devastation and destruction, famine and sword;
who will comfort you?
20 Your sons have fainted;
they lie at the head of every street
like an antelope in a net;
they are full of the wrath of the LORD,
the rebuke of your God.
21 Therefore hear this, you who are afflicted,
who are drunk, but not with wine:
22 Thus says your Lord, the LORD,
your God who pleads the cause of his people:
“Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering;
the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more;
23 and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,
who have said to you,
‘Bow down, that we may pass over’;
and you have made your back like the ground
and like the street for them to pass over.”
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (Is 51:17–23). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

Drink up for tomorrow we die. Drink it down to the dregs for it is our celebration. Heave you ever heard someone say, "I would rather go to Hell because it will be more fun!" "Or the parties must be better in Hell than in Heaven!" Drink up and take your full of it for tomorrow and every day after you will die.

Each and everyone of your sins has been fermenting for a long time. Think of them like grapes that have been juiced. They have been fermenting and aging into a sweet wine. This will fill the cup of your wrath. Awake or arise and drink your full for this is the price of your sins.

We have drunk the fruits of our rebellion. We drink of the fruits of our sins. We drink to the dregs not sweet wine, but fruit of our sins. Can you drink of this cup? Can you take up your cross? Christ has taken up his Cross and died. He has drank the cup of wrath down to the dregs for each of us. He drinks it to every last drop so that we are free from all our sins. He has given us new life.

Take and drink of another cup. Drink of the cup of the new Testament which contains the blood of Christ shed for the forgiveness of your sins.