Those of you who know the truth
know that what he's, I hope the writer of that hymn is saying
that Christ didn't die for everyone, but he did die for all who know
themselves to be sinners. His people are as the sands of
the sea and the stars of the sky, sinners saved by grace. And they all know it, convinced
of it. They appealed to God for mercy
on Christ, and Christ, that's who he died for. He came into
the world to save sinners. John 19, the Gospel of John 19. Wednesday night, we looked at
two words that our Lord uttered from the cross, found in verse
28. It says, After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were
now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst. Knowing that all things were
now accomplished, that the scriptures must be fulfilled. Because he's
God. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning. Being God, the author and finisher
of salvation. Being God who declares the end
from the beginning. He knew. He knew that the scriptures
must be fulfilled. What must be done. And what he
must say. What he must go through. And
he said, I third. Because that's what Psalm 69,
21 says, In my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. And in those
two words we saw Wednesday night. And I repeat these because some
weren't here. In saying, I thirst, our Lord
declared and revealed to us that God is a consuming fire. And that He was enduring the
torments of hell punishment for the sins of God's people. His
soul was being made an offering for sin, an offering to God,
a burnt offering. And he said, I thirst. Not an
offering to man, an offering to God for His people. And God
accepted it. He was that burnt offering, but
he wasn't consumed. But he's saying, In those two
words, I thirst, what he's crying is, he's telling us clearly that
the depth of sin and depravity in man, man has this insatiable
thirst for sin, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, it cannot be
satisfied. And this is the cry, it's going
to be the cry of the damned in hell, where the worm dieth not. That's what that means. The worm
dieth not. Insatiable desire. My pastor
years ago described it as if it's like a drunk. a drunkard
with the bottle just out of reach. Just out of reach. He has that
craving, that desire, and no way to fulfill it. And on and
on it goes. His desire is right before the
eye. No way to satiate it. No way to satisfy it. Thirst,
I thirst. And he was taking that for us,
for his people. Not for everybody, but for his
people. Christ endured that He didn't go to the place called
hell, but he went through hell, which is separation from God.
God's wrath. God's anger. God's separation.
No love. No mercy. No grace. No peace. No goodness. All anger and wrath
and malice. Fire. Fiery furnace. Thirst. Cry of the damned. And we brought out how that our
Lord is crying for his people who live in this dry and thirsty
land called planet earth, like the captives in Egypt who cried
unto God, and he heard their groanings. And God's people said,
I thirst, like Psalm 42. Like a heart panteth after the
water brook, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. I thirst for
the living God. When shall I come and appear
before O Lord? Come and get us out of this dry
and thirsty land." Christ was crying there on the cross for
his people, and God heard him. I thirst. And Christ drank
vinegar. Why did they give him vinegar?
And I brought all that up again because we need to constantly think of
Christ crucified, especially the next time we start thirsting,
hungry and thirsting for things, lusting after things. We need
to consider Him who hung on that cross for us, stripped of everything,
even His clothing. It occurred to me that Job, the
oldest book of the Bible, Job declared this thing. Naked I
came into this world, and naked shall I retire. I brought nothing
here. Our Lord, being the perfect man, left this world naked. Stripped. And that's us. The
next time we start thirsting after things, we cry, Make me
thirsty for you. I have all the things I need.
Let me be content with food and rain. I have many of those things.
I'll tell you there's one thing needful. I thirst. Let that be
said of us. That's why I bring it back up.
And then he received the vinegar that the Scriptures might be
fulfilled. They gave me vinegar to drink. Verses 29 and 30. Now
there was set a vessel full of vinegar. And they filled a sponge
with vinegar, put it upon Hyssop, Hyssop's mentioned alternative,
and put it to his mouth, and he received it. Now, I forget
which gospel it was, I believe it was, I didn't write it down. Matthew, Mark, Luke, they all
describe the vinegar, but one of them says the soldiers while
they were mocking him and all that, offered him vinegar mingled
with myrrh. They often did that as kind of
a little bit of a sedative so that these criminals and all
could endure the pain longer, to make their suffering longer. It was sport to them. The Roman
soldiers wanted it to last as long as they could. And he gave
them a little bit of sedative, just to dull a little bit of
their pain. Our Lord would not take that. He would not take
that. It says he refused it. Oh, I wish I had 30 minutes to
describe our Lord's strength. I have a period of pilot that's
never seen a man like that. He'd seen seemingly stronger
men than this Jewish rabbi reduced sniveling, whimpering, begging,
pleading puppies before Him. The crudest, roughest criminals
of all stand before Him crying on our Lord. And our Lord looked Him right
in the eye when it was all over. Pilate was trembling. This is
my captain! This is my David! Going to face
the light. You see? Isn't this wonderful? He stood there. Here, take a
little sedative. No. I'm going to feel this pain. I'm going to be touched with
all the feelings and imperfections of my people. I'm going to endure
all this for them. In six hours he was made sin
to feel. It says they took a sponge and
filled it with vinegar. Sponge. This world is like a
sponge, isn't it? Just like a sponge. Our old sinful
self is like a sponge, isn't it? It just gets filled up with
lust and sin and all that, but it's full of holes and it runs
out. We've got to fill it up again. It's never satisfied. Like a sponge. It'll leak out.
We're leaky vessels. This world. All the rivers run
into the sea, but it's not what? Full. Our Lord finally said,
finally, when it's all the fullness of the Gentile, when the fullness
of sin is all, the Lord says, that's it. And our Lord was made
sin in six hours on the cross. Was made to feel the weight of
all the sins of all God's people. upon His face. Nobody can describe
that. You cannot describe that. So you know the scripture says,
of His fullness have we received. Grace for grace. He emptied Himself. Emptied Himself that we might
be full. But He drank the cup to its fullness. Our cup of grace and mercy runneth
over. It comes from Him. He is this
cup. He is all the fullness. But you know, of our fullness
did He receive. The fullness of sin, all that
we feel, all that we endure, all of our whole life, all of
this pain and suffering and sorrow and grief and lust, if I could
say that, and shame and guilt, our Lord was filled up with that. Though he himself committed it
not. But God laid on him and in his
body. He bore our sins in his body
on the tree. Now that's a mystery. But it's
true. That's why I sweat blood. That's
why I cry it out. Vinegar is what? What is
vinegar? Well, it's wine. Wine that maketh
glad the heart. Wine that maketh merry a heart. Not wine that's supposed to cheer
you up. It's wine gone bitter. The Lord made all things for
us richly in joy, but it's turned into bitterness. The world, the
things of this world. It's fruit gone bad. Man, created
for the glory of God, to bear much fruit under the glory of
God. that he bears the works of the
flesh. Our sweet, sinless Lord made
sin, made to drink the bitter dregs of the cup of sin for his
people. Hyssop, often through the scriptures,
you know where you first hear it? Passover. Where they gave the command that
the elders were to take the blood of a lamb and take hyssop and
strike it. Where? First place. Strike the
level. That's the head of the door.
Take that hyssop and that blood and strike that head. They took
that hyssop with vinegar and they struck Christ in the head. You with me? Okay. She all got
to pass through that door. Under the blood, Christ is the
door, Christ is our head, Christ is the hyssop. Took that hyssop and applied
that vinegar. Oh, what our Lord endured bitterness,
sin, made sweet on that. He reversed it. It took our fullness of sin,
made sin, and of His fullness we receive. We're sweet unto
the Lord. Bad wine gone good. Those with no fruit of His fruit
have gone and received. Kiss them. And that every jot
and tittle of God's law might be fulfilled. Everything concerning
Him. One of you requested, One of
you requested that I put in the bulletin. Remember, I read all
those scriptures that were fulfilled in Christ being crucified? One
of you requested that. Well, there's a whole lot more
than those. I read 10 or 12 of them. Oh, my. The whole volume
is written of Him. So we'd have to have a bulletin
this thick. Well, we got it. We don't need a bulletin. But,
oh, every scripture, every line, every jot Every tittle, that
means a crossy of the teeth and a dotty of the eyes, the law
and the word of God is fulfilled by Jesus Christ. Fulfilled. And so now, in our text, John
9. After that, after he received
the vinegar, verse 30, he said, it is finished. I love thinking
about this rift. He's hanging on that cross in
agony that's untold. I can't describe it. Not physical,
mind you. That's bad enough. But separated
from God and made sin. But, Bonnie, he's not crying,
as it were, weeping. Remember, he calmly And mercifully said the first thing
He said to all those with nails in His hands, His feet, His crown,
His head, His crown, His head. Yet in mercy and peace and love
and kindness to all of those, 3,000 anyway, that had just nailed
Him there and were scoffing and mumbling, Father, forgive them. And then turn with absolute mercy
and love and compassion and grace to a thief. Turn to a thief and
say, today you'll be with me in paradise. I believe he smiles
through the pain. Then looking on that woman that
he loves, that he was going to prepare a place for, that he
thought of her, not of himself, but thought of her and John there, live for and help one another.
Woman, behold thy son. Son, behold thy mother. And then it turned out. Three
hours. Darkness as he endured the wrath
of God. His worst pain, his worst suffering
of all. The wrath of God. Silence. He's
enduring this in silence. He's not crying out. And after
three hours, he cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? And under that fiery wrath and
judgment of God, he cries, I thirst. Not for begging anybody to give
him to drink, but to fulfill the scripture. In perfect control
of his senses, his mind, fulfilling God's Word to perfection. He
cried, it's time. It's time for me to say this.
It's time for me to reveal this. I thirst. And he tasted it because
he must. He must taste the bitterness
of sin that we taste. And then he cried the reward. With resolution. With perfect,
resolute voice. With a firm voice. a strong voice. It is finished. Maybe, perhaps he smiled when
he said that. It is finished. I wish I could preach this. I'm
going to give it a shot. Like those two words, the cry
of the damned, the cry of the forsaken, in these three words
is the cry of joy and salvation of God's people. It is finished. This is not the cry of a helpless,
suffering martyr. I'm finished. I'm finished. No,
no, no. It is finished. This is not the last gasp of
a desperate, dying man, a worn out life. Oh, it's over for me.
No, he said, it's over for my people. It's finished. This is the satisfied, confident
cry of accomplishment. You and I have never accomplished
anything. Rick, I keep bringing you up,
because you're a builder and I'm a builder. I tell you, about
as soon as we get something built, we've got to start repairing
it, don't we? You got any unfinished? I've
got a... Katherine, any unfinished projects
around the house? That's the way it is with a carton
ridge. That's the way it is with a plumber. His pipes leak. We never really finish anything,
do we? We never really accomplish anything.
He's crying out that the work he came to do, it took him 33
years to accomplish, he said, it's done. Finished. Accomplished. You remember Moses
and Elijah? The law and the prophets met
with him on that mountain, three other witnesses, what they talked
about. What did they talk about? The
decease he should accomplish. That's never said of a human
being when you die. I've never said that about someone
that I've buried. I've said, well, look what he
accomplished. It's the end of everything we
hope to accomplish. It's the end of our works. It's
the end of everything we've done. If we've got something unfinished,
you'll never accomplish it. But he spoke of death as if it
were an accomplishment. Death is not something we do,
an accomplishment. It's done to us. The Lord kills. But he laid down his life. He laid down his life. In order
for him to die, he had to accomplish it. And in doing so, it was the death
of death. It was the end of the law. The
strength of sin is the law. The wages of sin is death. Strength
of sin is the law. Christ said, it's finished. He completed, he accomplished,
he finished the work sent for him to do. And there is no more
work to be done, except to go tell people about this work he
did. You see, I've got to say this. If somebody gets tired of hearing
me say this, I don't care. But this is the clarion cry of
modern false religion today. Jesus has done all he can do,
now it's up to you. That is false religion. That
is anti-Christ religion. It's saying that Christ did part
of it, and you finish the rest. No, Christ cried on the cross,
it is finished. Whatever was to be done for the
salvation of God's people, he did it. Besides, Martin Luther once said,
if I do not declare with the loudest voice that point of which
the world is denying at that time, I am not confessing crime. And that's what they call gospel. God loves you, Jesus died for
you, now let him, let him, let him, let him. He's done all he
can do, now it's up to you. That's another gospel. That's
a false gospel. Nobody's saying none of that.
If anybody believes that, they haven't seen Christ crucified.
They don't know who God is. They don't know what they are.
They don't know that they're sin. But for those who know something
of this thrice-holy God, those who know something of their sin
against Him, those who've seen Christ crucified in their sin,
their ruin, their substitute, their sin offering, their lamb,
their reconciliation before God, their righteousness in God, they
say, now, if He doesn't accomplish my salvation, I won't be saved. And blessed God, you hear him
say, this is good news, the best news a sinner ever heard, it
is finished. Now he didn't cry that with a
loud voice, he cried it with a calm, certain and sure voice.
The next thing he did cry with a loud voice, it is finished. It is finished. Now listen, our God, our Christ,
came to glorify God as a man. He did it. He finished it. He
said that in his prayer before he went to the cross. Father,
I have glorified thee on the earth. I've finished the work
you gave me to do. I've glorified it. He came to
fulfill the righteousness of the law. Brethren, it's finished.
Romans 10, verse 4, Christ is the end of the law to everyone
that believes. Jew, Gentile. Makes no difference. Finish. Take it away the first,
establish the second. He came to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. He came to put away sin. He made
an end of sin by the sacrifice of himself. All the sins of all
of God's people forever were put away when Christ died on
that cross. It's finished. We read that,
didn't we, in Daniel 9. He came to make an end of transgression. He came to finish it, put it
away by the sacrifice of himself. You hear me? God's law is satisfied. God is satisfied. Isaiah 53 says,
He shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. Isaiah 42 says, The Lord is well
pleased for his righteousness sake. And then in chapter 53,
he's well pleased for his being made sin, for God is satisfied. My God is reconciled. His pardoning voice I hear. He owns me for His child. I shall no longer fear. With confidence I now draw nigh. And Father, Abba, Father, cry. And Father, Abba, Father, cry. How? Why? Because Christ, the
Son of God, our substitute God. Christ died. That's why. No other
reason. Who shall lay anything to charge
of God's elect? It is God that justifies. How? Freely, by the redemption that's
in Christ. Who is He that condemned Him? Christ died. Yeah, the rapture
is risen again. Who's even at the right hand
of God? Whoever lived it to make intercession. It's finished. It's finished. He came as the woman's seed.
The woman's seed. The bruise, the crush, the serpent's
head. That's the first gospel message
for you. By our Lord Himself to the first
sinners. The woman's seed. Woman, behold,
thy seed shall come. That's me. That's
Christ, he says. He came to bruise the serpent's
head, to crush his power, the power of darkness, to deliver
his people that were held captive. He said, it's finished. Sin's paid for, atoned for. Satan
has spoiled his goods taken from him. God's people delivered from
captivity. Death and its sting are removed.
That's the law. Strength of sin is the law. Christ
was stoned. Did you ever get stung by a bee? Oh, how many times? A bee usually
leaves its stinger in you. Many times when our children
were babies, you know, they'd get stung by a bee and you'd
see that stinger and you'd remove that stinger. Well, then there'd
leave the bee and that child would be afraid of the bee. Oh,
honey, nothing to worry about. You don't need to fear that bee.
It doesn't have to sting her. The law. Tremble at that. Guilty. Don't
care of the law. Christ, you're good at the sting. Strengthen sin is the law. Sin and Satan hath no more reigning
power over the Lord's redeemed. Death is not death to his people, but sleep. An entrance into eternal
life. forever, never to die again,
Christ said, it is finished. And so much more he did. It is
finished. Matthew, Mark, and Luke say that
after that, after he said it is finished, he cried with a
loud voice, Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit. A loud voice, a loud voice, for
all to hear, written down All the Gospels write that, except
John. Write it down. He cried with
a loud voice, Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit. To fulfill Scripture, because
that's what Psalm 31 5 says. Into thy hands I commit my spirit.
But he's doing that to fulfill his own word. He said, no man
taketh my life from me. Remember that? No man taketh
my life from me. And brethren, no man taketh your
life from you. No man. No thing. The means don't
do it. God does it. The Lord killeth
and maketh alive. Do you hear me? You're immortal
until God says it's time. Your bounds are set. The hum
of your muscle with the Lord. You cannot pass. It's the Lord. That's good news, isn't it? Isn't
that comforting? It should be. Rest right there. Rest right
there. And when it's time, our spirit
goes back to the Lord who made it. And we'll be accepted. We'll be accepted because Christ
cried, in thy hands I commit my spirit. Because there's such
a oneness, a union with Christ and His people. We were in Christ.
We were crucified with Christ, buried with Christ, yet we've
risen with Christ. And when Christ cried, Father,
into thy hands I commit my spirit, receive me into thy presence,
we will receive in him. When he cried that, our spirits,
our souls were committed to our Lord for safekeeping. We belong
to the Father, because Christ, you're not your own, you're bought
with a price. And in Christ, our souls have
committed to the Lord. We've been given eternal life
in Christ, in God, in His hands, our life, our breath, our soul,
committed, commended to God in Christ. His work He did for us,
salvation accomplished. And in the presence of angels
and heavenly hosts, He said, I commit my spirit. And His people
were commended to God, accepted in the middle. Right there. And then I love this. It says
in verse 30, he bowed his head and gave up the government. Again,
this is not a helpless martyr. This is not a last gasp of a
poor dying man. This is the Lord who laid his
life down, willingly, voluntarily. commending his spirit to God.
And in one last show of his accomplished work, of his absolute power of
sin, death, and hell, and redemption, his full, free, accomplished,
finished work of redemption, his head didn't drop as one that
just dies. He bowed his head. victoriously bowed his head. And brethren, the holy angels
are watching this. The ones who ushered in his birth.
The heavens erupted. The heavenly host said, glory
to God in the highest. And buddy, when he did this,
the sinners in glory did. They stood up and gave him a
standing ovation. He bowed his head as one. The
curtain falling. You know what? The curtain. The curtain. The veil. Not written here, but the other
three Gospels. What are you ranting to? From the top to the bottom. Finished! Accomplished! Full free access. Sinners though
we be. in Christ, come right in with
boldness, accessed by the blood of Christ. Isn't that wonderful?
Isn't that the most wonderful thing? That's His name. Call
His name wonderful. Wonderful redemption. But notice
this. It says in verse 31, now the
Jews, because it was a preparation that the body should not remain
upon the cross on the Sabbath day. That Sabbath day was a high
day. The law said that. The law said that. If you hang
someone on a tree, if it's a Sabbath, take him down. Put him in a grave. The law said that. Why? Why did
they do that? Because we can't leave him up
there. Because God said so. Take him
down. And you know they would have
thrown his body in a common grave with the rest of the thieves.
But they didn't. God's not going to let that happen.
The law says take him down and on the Sabbath day put his body
in the grave, in the body. Why? Because we're dead to the
law by the body of Christ. Those that would have us be under
the law on the Sabbath day, no. Christ was in the grave on the
Sabbath day. We're dead to the law. When did
he arise? First day of the week. He planned that. Put me in the
grave, let me lie right there to show my people that when I
died, the law was finished. And you're dead to the law. You've
been crucified. You've been punished. You've
been killed for your sin in Christ. But, well, the next chapter is
going to rise again. I can't wait to get to that.
But look at this, now this is wonderful. They besought Pilate
that the legs might be broken, that they might take these bodies
away, that they might die as quickly. Very quickly. When they
crucified men back then, they would either tie up their hands
and feet or nail them in our lords. They nailed our Lord because
Scripture said so. And to show his absolute strength
and power. You'd normally bleed to death,
wouldn't you? He didn't. That's not the life of his leg.
And anyway, these men often they would put something under their
feet because hanging there under such excruciating pain and the
way that your body, your lungs couldn't breathe and you'd have
to raise yourself up to get a breath like that. And so they would
come by to hasten their death and break their legs. Take an iron bar or a big wooden
mallet, whack. Now, our gods are not going to
let them. They've done enough. But there's a reason. Now, I
want you to see this. Now, one of those thieves belonged to the Lord. The one
on his right hand, Patrick, the one on his right hand, the Lord
just said, today you're going to be with me in paradise. I
think, Patrick, after the Lord said that, this man's smiling.
Through the pain, he's smiling. He just heard the best. He's
still on the cross, but his sins are gone. But his pain isn't
over. His suffering's not over. How could they do this to one
of the Lord's own? It's going to happen. And buddy, they took a club to
that man on his left and broke his leg and that man couldn't
breathe anymore and he died. And then they came over to that
thief on the cross of whom the Lord had forgiven all his sins,
one of his dear children, one of his own that he came to redeem
and die for, his dear son, sinner though he be, and they broke
his legs. And through excruciating pain
and suffering, he died in pain and suffering. It didn't last long. The next thing he knows, his
pain is over. And we've through much tribulation,
pain, suffering, broken legs, hands, feet, cancer, you name
it. Who did it? God did it. Christ did it. For His glory. For our profession
of faith. So many martyrs who were burned
at the stake. One man, oh, I love those men,
I love... One of the men was being burned
at the stake, and his people, he was a preacher, and his people
were around him. He said, if I murmur, if I complain, if I
utter one cry of desperation, don't believe a thing I say. They broke his leg. And they
came to Christ in the middle. Why'd they go around him? But
they came to Christ. Well, the last is first. That's
why. They came to Christ. Well, he's
dead. Pilate marveled. He's dead. Already. So they didn't break his leg.
Why? Why? Well, because scripture
said so. Read on with me. One of the soldiers,
verse 34, took a spear. Well, let's make sure he's dead.
Took a spear. This is a horrible scene, people.
Imagine Mary and John all looking on in horror. He took a spear
and ripped his side open. And out came, out of his side
came blood and water. Why all this? Why did all this
happen? John says, well, I bear record.
I saw it. And this record is true. And
he knoweth that he saith it is true, that ye might believe.
I'm writing this, I saw it, and that ye might believe, because
these things were done, verse 36 and 37, that the Scriptures
might be fulfilled. A bone of him shall not be broken.
Lamb, burnt offering, the whole Lamb, a complete, perfect. And we are bone of His bones
and flesh of His flesh. And Christ said there are members
of my body and not one of them will be separated from my body. Not one of them. That's why. The bone of Him shall
not be broken. I give unto them eternal life
and they shall not perish. I died for them. If I die, they
shall not die. I suffered for them. If I suffered
the wrath of God, they shall not suffer it. My body was broken
for them, and if I did that, they will not be broken. Not
a bone of him shall be broken, not even a little toe. And again, I know the Scripture
says they shall look on him whom they pierce. Look on him whom
they feared. Somebody said to me one time,
you know why that water came out, don't you? He says, pulmonary
edema, edema, pericardial effusion, congestive heart failure. No,
it wasn't. No. He didn't die of natural
causes. He didn't die of a disease. He
laid down his life. What came out of his side was
ordained of God. John wrote this in 1 John. He
said, This is He who came by water and blood. Jesus Christ. You remember when Adam, in the garden, the Lord said,
It's not good that the man should be alone. I will make a woman. Now help me for him. What did
God do? Let him sleep and cut his side open. And out of his
side, what came out? Blood. I'll tell you what else came
out. A woman. His bride. You women, when you have babies,
what happens? What's the first thing? Your
water breaks, doesn't it? That's what they're born in. Born of
water. New life. Created in Christ Jesus. Out
of Christ's living side came his bride. His church. Blood to justify. Water to sanctify. Did Adam bear a scar all of his
days for giving birth, as it were, to Eve? Perhaps. Well,
our Lord does. And Thomas put his hand on her.
And we're going to see that rib inside. A rock of ages clasped
from me. Out of his side. And so our Lord
cried, It is finished. It's finished. It's over. And Jesus Christ is Lord.