In Mark's Gospel we come to those
momentous events. Let's just read from Mark 15 verse 22 to the
end of the chapter. They brought him to the place
Gogotha, which is translated place of a skull. Then they gave
him wine mingled with myrrh to drink, but he did not take it.
And when they crucified him, they divided his garments, casting
lots for them to determine what every man should take. Now it
was the third hour, and they crucified him, and the inscription
of his accusation was written above, The King of the Jews. With him they also crucified
two robbers, one on his right and the other on his left. So
the scripture was fulfilled which says, And he was numbered with
the transgressors. And those who pass by blasphemed,
in wagging their heads and saying, Aha, you who destroy the temple
and build it in three days, save yourself and come down from the
cross. Likewise, the chief priests also,
mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, He saved others,
himself he cannot save. Let the Christ, the King of Israel,
descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. Even
those who were crucified with him reviled him. Now when the
sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land
until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried
out with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? Which is translated, My God,
my God, why have you forsaken me? Some of those who stood by
when they heard that said, Look, he is calling for Elijah. Then
someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed
and offered it to him to drink, saying, Let him alone. Let us
see if Elijah will come to take him down. And Jesus cried out
with a loud voice and breathed his last. Let's pray. Our Father in Heaven, we pray
as we read these words and contemplate what happened to our Saviour.
We pray that Your Spirit would guide us, Heavenly Father. That
You would take the things of the Lord Jesus and You would
reveal them to us. You'd cause us to worship Him,
to adore Him, to trust Your Word, Heavenly Father. and for us to
cling to our Saviour in this world of trouble and woe, we
would find our rest and our peace in Him who is the Prince of Peace
and we would be counselled by Him who is the wonderful Counsellor. We praise you for what our Saviour
suffered We praise you for the wonder that he suffered in our
stead, and he suffered because of his great love for his bride. Help us, Heavenly Father, as
the bride of Christ gathered here today, to rejoice. and to be in awe and wonder at
who the Lord Jesus is and what He is doing in this world amongst
His people right at this very moment. We pray Your grace be
upon us, our Father. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. We come in this section of scripture
to that period of darkness and then For a brief time the Lord
Jesus has the sun shining upon him, and after three hours of
silence, three hours which mark the passage of the Lord Jesus
into the darkness of the wrath of God, and he calls out to God
at that ninth hour. As the sun returns, he calls
out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Verse 35, some of those who stood
by, when they heard that said, look, he is calling for Elijah. What does all that mean? For
the Jews, It's not a natural or a probable error because the
Lord had quoted Psalm 22 verse 1 with a loud voice. For the Romans, it was very unlikely
they would have had any notion of Elijah. And so I think it's
right as we reflect on those words that Alex read to us from
Psalm 69 to see that this was just another part of the mockery
of him. They knew from Malachi's prophecy
that Elijah should return before Messiah comes. He's been forsaken
by God. He's been betrayed by his disciple. He's been forsaken by the other
disciples. God's forsaken him, men have
forsaken him, and now they mock him to see if Elijah might come
and save him. It was just a cruel jest. And it was in response to a verse
that I'd like you to turn to and look at more this morning
than Mark's gospel, is in chapter 19 of John's gospel. After this, Jesus, knowing that
all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
cried, I thirst. He cries of his God-forsakenness,
and now he cries, I thirst. They weren't mocking him about
Elijah to give him any comfort. And in fact, the drink would
have just prolonged his agony. The Lord Jesus says, in Isaiah
63 verse 3, I have trodden the winepress alone and from the
peoples no one was with me. I looked and there was no one
to help. I wondered and there was no one
to uphold. So most probably it's a Roman
guard in the midst of all of this taunt and all of this agony,
there is one who seems to show something of compassion for him. And he filled a sponge, he put it on a reed, and John's
gospel said it was the reed of the hyssop plant. The reed of
the hyssop plant, the hyssop plant which was to be used in
the Passover, to be used to sprinkle the blood, to strike the doorposts
and strike the lintel with the blood of the slain lamb, so that
when God says, when I see the blood, I will pass over. Hyssop is a humble shrub, an
uninviting plant, it says. Its outward appearance has no
beauty. Just like the Lord Jesus, there
was no beauty in this plant. But it's also a very fragrant
plant and sweet. There is sweetness mixed with
the bitter. You see, the thing The one person
and the one event that separates the worshippers of God from this
world is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. If those words are
all defined as the scriptures define them, then true worship
in spirit and in truth, true worship that has no confidence
in the flesh, will come from those things. We stand together
as people We want to proclaim that this One who uttered these
words is our God. He is the Saviour of His people. All of this suffering that we've
been looking at over this last little while as we examined the
Lord Jesus and this path of humiliation to the cross is the triumph of
the man who is God, his triumph over the world, his triumph over
Satan, his triumph over our sin. Now as John says, knowing now
that all things are accomplished, all things, he has suffered the
wrath, the fierce wrath of God. He suffered God-forsakenness. He suffered becoming sin. That darkness is emblematic of
how his soul suffered. And he says, now that these things
are accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled as we journeyed
with Him to this place of the skull. We have seen scripture
fulfilled again and again and again. Psalm 41.9, betrayed by
a familiar friend. Psalm 31.11, forsaken by the disciples. being offended at him. Psalm
35.11, false accusations. Isaiah 53.11, silent before his
judges. 53.9, proven guiltless before
the courts of men. 53.12, numbered with the transgressors. 22.16, crucified. Psalm 109, verse 25, mocked by
the spectators. Psalm 22, seven and eight, taunted
about the fact that God, and now Elijah, won't deliver him. It goes on and on. They gamble
for his clothing. He prayed for his enemies. He
was forsaken by God. He thirsts. and finally He yields
up His Spirit into His Father's hands. How much more could God
impress upon us to take this Word and treat it with reverence
and treat it with awe and see again and again that this is
a word from God. It's not a fable of men. It's not the clever contrivance
of men. It is God's word. It was true for the Lord Jesus. It will be true for us. It is a precious word. It reveals a precious Saviour
and precious blood and precious glories ahead of us. We have so much more reason to
trust the Word of God than the things that we perceive and understand
with our eyes. We have much more reason to trust
this Word of God than we are to trust human reasoning when
it comes to the things of an infinite God. We have much more
reason to trust this Word than all the reasoning of all the
wise men in all of the world put together. We just trust what
God says. End of story. And so there are
several lessons I'd like us to take away from this cry of the
Lord Jesus in John's Gospel, I thirst. The very first one,
of course, is that the Lord Jesus is God. He is very God of very
God. He's also very man of very man. Without controversy, says Paul
to Timothy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest
in the flesh. The Lord Jesus wasn't a divine
man or a humanized God. He was the God-man. forever God
and now forever man. He never ceased to be God and
as we've seen he never lay aside his divine attributes. He knew
the thoughts of men. He ruled creation effortlessly. He ruled Satan and the demons
with a word. He knew all things. He knew all men. He was all-powerful. He stripped himself of the glory
which he had with the Father for that short time, the glory
that he had with the Father before the world was. And the Word became
flesh and dwelt among us. He took to himself humanity,
perfect Humanity, we are more than just super-evolved animals. We are made in God's image. Humanity is significant because
of who God is. As a baby, he was wrapped in
swaddling clothes. As a young man, he increased
in wisdom and stature. As a boy, he's found asking questions
in the temple. As a man, he was wearied in body. He was hungry. He was asleep
in a boat in a storm. No doubt, after all the exertions,
he was tired and weary. He marveled at faith. He wept. He prayed. He rejoiced. He groaned. And here we have a real man. And thankfully we have a real
man made like us. And he says, I thirst. God doesn't thirst. Angels don't thirst. And there'll come a time when
all of the redeemed will not thirst. they shall be before
him, before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in
his temple. And he who sits on the throne
will dwell among them, and they shall neither hunger any more,
nor thirst any more. The sun shall not strike them,
nor any heat. Because the Lamb who is in the
midst of the throne will shepherd them, and he will lead them. to fountains, to living fountains
of water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. He thirsted as a real man. It's a reflection, secondly,
of the intensity of his suffering. These sufferings, for which,
in the record of God, there is not a word from our Lord Jesus,
not a word of murmuring or complaint. As Pink said, all his sufferings
were born in majestic silence. So this is not an appeal for
pity, and it's not a request for his sufferings to be alleviated. As I said earlier, the drink
would have just prolonged his agonies. But in this thirst,
there is a reflection of what our Lord Jesus had been through. You see, we are more than bodies. We are bodies and spirits. We are eternal beings. We have eternal souls. Eternity is long. And what happens to us spiritually
is reflected in what happens to us physically often. A broken spirit dryeth the bones,
says Proverbs 17, 22. The Lord, in Psalm 22, describes
himself as he suffers the wrath of God, in silence, because as
he read in Psalm 69, he was made sin. He was silent in large measure
because He had no defence for the sins of His people that were
laid upon Him. When I kept silent, my bones
grew old, threw my groaning all day long, for day and night your
hand was heavy upon me. My vitality turned into the drought
of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you,
and my iniquity I have not hidden. After three hours of darkness,
with his father's face turned away from him, he had really
suffered the fierceness of God's infinite, eternal, holy, righteous
wrath. And his cry, I thirst, reflects
the severity of this spiritual struggle that he has gone through. We have read those verses from
Lamentation, which are a challenge to all people in this world.
Is it nothing to you, all who pass by? Is it nothing? It would seem to most of this
world that it is nothing. They pass by today in mockery
as they passed by 2,000 years ago in mockery. Is it nothing
to you, all you who pass by? Behold and see if there's any
sorrow like my sorrow, which has been brought on me, which
the Lord has inflicted in the day of His fierce anger. From above he has sent fire into
my bones and it overpowered them. He has spread a net for my feet
and turned me back. He has made me desolate and faint
all the day. It's a description of our Lord
on the cross. So this thirst is a reflection
of the agony of his soul in the fierce heat of the holy wrath
of God. How he must have loved his bride. This is love, isn't it? This
is where we see love displayed. love for us, but also it's a
reflection of the love that he'd shared with his father for all
eternity. That love and that communion
which was broken. Broken in the world's eyes for
a short time. But because he is God, there
is and infinity in those three hours of forsakenness. You see,
Psalm 42 says, as the deer pants for the water, so pants my soul
for you. Oh God, my soul thirsts for God,
for the living God. When shall I come and appear
before God? Who is this psalm speaking of? You can only be speaking of one. Listen to the next verse. My
tears have been my meat, day and night, while they continually
say to me, where is thy God? Where is thy God? They finally,
these sons of Satan, finally had the Lord Jesus where they
wanted Him. They could open their scriptures
and turn to Deuteronomy and say, this man cannot be Messiah. This man is forsaken by God. He is a cursed man. And he really was. and those
agony, those drops of blood shed in agony in that garden and so
much of his groaning, so much that was anticipated that drove
him to the cross, and so much that came in floods, floods of agony was this being
cut off from his father. my soul pants after thee, O God. My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me? But we see also that the Lord
Jesus knew that the scriptures must
be fulfilled. His death was an unnatural death. Be mindful that he just cried
in a loud voice after 12 to 15 hours of agony and harsh treatment. His mind was clear, his memory
unimpaired, and his control still perfect. that knowing all things that
were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Isn't it remarkable that there
he is, nailed to a cross, unable to move his hands, unable to
move his feet, there under the control, it seems, of his enemies,
and yet, He knows that the scripture must be fulfilled in every detail and without his
physical activity. It's remarkable, isn't it? He
just says, I thirst, and there just happens to be a man there
who shows some pity, and he just happens to have a reed of hyssop,
and he just happens to have a sponge, and he just happens to give the
Lord a drink, and the Lord drinks the vinegar. He wouldn't drink
the wine mixed with myrrh before, because it was designed to ease
his pain. The Lord Jesus honoured the Word
of God. Psalm 138.2 says, you have magnified
your word above all your name. The Word of God is to be magnified. Magnified as we come to it and
pray that God would take these words and make them alive in
our lives. For unless he does so, they are
just bits of ink on bits of mushed up trees. But when God takes
these words and they become spirit and life, they become powerful,
they become life itself, they become what God's children live
on and cling to. The psalmist says, Make me go
in the path of your commandments, for therein do I delight. So the psalmist knew who had
to be the motivating force. Incline my heart to thy testimonies,
order my steps in thy word, and let not any iniquity have dominion
over me. He knew all things. He knew that
the scripture must be fulfilled. And He was, as our substitute,
even at these last moments of His earthly life, He was, as
our substitute, perfectly submissive to His Father's will. The one
who thirsted was the Creator and the sustainer of this universe,
for by him all things were created. He is the rock from whom Israel
was nourished with streams of water in a desert. The most unlikely
place on earth to find water is a rock in a desert, and yet
the Lord Jesus produced enough rock, water from a rock, to feed
and to nourish two million people. Making water is no problem for
our God. But never in the Scriptures,
ever once, do we see the Lord Jesus perform a miracle to satisfy
His own needs. When He was famished after 40
days of fasting in the desert. He could have made a mountain
of bread. He could have, with a word, produced
a feast. But he trusted himself into the
hands of his Father. He trusted his God, his Father,
to fulfil it. Your will. Your will. Your will, not mine, be done. So much of the pain that we see
in this world, the horrible things that have happened in America
in this last little while. abut the outworking of man saying,
I will be like God. I will make the rules here. I will determine what is right
for me. I will have the right to have
guns and to carry guns. I will have the right to rule
my life as I see fit. It's not the way of God's people. Submission to the Father's will,
even in the most extraordinarily difficult and trying circumstances,
is the path of peace and the path of joy. We see that our
Saviour suffered bodily. We see that He had a thirst in
His soul. A thirst that could only come
with restored communion. He could only be satisfied with
restored communion with His Father. It's fascinating but he who had
called God, Father, Abba Father, throughout the Scriptures, throughout
his time on this earth. When he's forsaken by God, he
still calls Him, My God, My God. And then, before he's finished,
when all things are accomplished, he again calls Him, Father. Father, into your hands I commit
my spirit. But there was in our Saviour,
in this cry to have his thirst quenched, a reflection of another
thirst. A thirst that sent him from heaven
to this earth. He thirsted for the souls of
his people. He thirsted for fellowship and
communion with his bride. In John 4, when he meets that
woman at the well, one of his father's children, one of the
members of his bride, and he said to this woman, when he was
wearied with the journey and wearied with the heat, he says
to this woman, give me to drink. And then he has that remarkable
conversation with that woman. And extraordinarily, he doesn't
drink. There's not a record of him drinking. He talks about this water that
we drink provides temporary relief. But then he talks about another
water. But he was one who could give a drink, the drink of the
water which I give. Those people shall never thirst. You see, love is what held him
on that tree. Love took him to that tree. But also we must remember that
love is never satisfied. Love thirsts until there is a
response of love in return. In Revelation 3.20 he says, Behold,
I stand at the door and knock. A standing man hear my voice
and opens the door. I will come in to him and dine
with him and he with me. You see, the dining, the supping
that the Lord has is a communion with His bride. There is Him
dining with us, and us dining with Him. So not only is it our
privilege to dine with Him and to commune with Him, but it's
our privilege to delight ourselves in Him as He dines with us. He finds our communion, our fellowship,
something for His heart to feed on. As this woman at the well
is saved, He has a refreshment that food and drink can never
provide. He delights. He delights in his
bride. He delights in our fellowship. He delights in communion with
us. He delights in our communion
with him. It's so beautifully expressed
in the Song of Solomon. So is my beloved among the suns. He's like an apple tree among
the trees of the woods. I sat down in his shade with
great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought
me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. You see, his love produces love
in response. He calls his bride, you are all
fair, my love, and there is no spot in you. He says of his bride, you have
ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse. You have ravished
my heart with one look of your eyes, with one link of your necklace.
How fair is your love, my sister, my spouse. How much better than
wine is your love. and the scent of your perfume
and all spices. See, the Lord Jesus has done
all this that he might delight in his bride, and his bride might
delight in him. Return is the call, isn't it,
of our Saviour. With his arms nailed outstretched
on their cross, as he says to the Shulamite, return, return,
Shulamite, return, return, that we may look upon you. His thirst is in some sense satisfied
now. But there is a longing in the
heart of our Saviour for that great wedding that's to come
very soon. The great consummation of all
things. He did it for love. He suffered for love. Alas, and did my Saviour bleed
and did my Sovereign die? Would he devote that sacred head
for sinners such as I? Was it for crimes that I have
done he groaned upon the tree? Amazing pity, grace unknown,
and love beyond decree. Well might the sun in darkness
hide and shut its glories in when God, the mighty maker, died
for his own creature's sin. Thus might I hide my blushing
face While His dear cross appears, Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
And melt mine eyes in tears. But drops of tears can ne'er
repay The debt of love I owe. Here, Lord, I give myself away,
Tis all that I can do. I came to Jesus as I was, weary
and worn and sad, and found in Him a resting place, and He has
made me glad.