Turn with me now to John 19. We came to this portion of scripture,
the crucifixion of our Lord, several weeks ago. We've stayed
here. Some of you heard a message a
couple of weeks ago and actually asked me to preach it again the
next Sunday. And it was a good place to camp and stay. We sang
the old song, Lord, keep Jesus, keep me near the cross. And we
would do well to stay here and always remember. Preaching this
is exceedingly difficult, and I don't know who is sufficient for these things.
I cannot declare what our Lord is doing here as it ought to
be, and you can't hear it and appreciate it. Look at verse
28. We need to look at this and rejoice,
but be sorrowful. Verse 28, After this, Jesus,
knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture
might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full
of vinegar, and they filled the sponge with vinegar, and put
it to his mouth. It says, Knowing that all things
were now accomplished. knowing full well what God had
purposed, what God had written for him to do, knowing full well
all that he must suffer. Scripture says, though his disciples
said, Lord, don't go to Jerusalem, he said, no, for this cause I
came. He set his face like a flint,
knowing what was written, what must be accomplished, what he
must do, knowing he was going to the cross, knowing full well
the agony that he would go through, the pain and the suffering, the
hell that he would endure, knowing that full well, and yet knowing
that his children would be redeemed, his children would be ransomed
from the power of the grave, taken from captivity. Knowing that what was written
must be done, must be accomplished, because God is true, and everything
He wrote must be and shall be accomplished. His purpose, His
will, His mind, His covenant, the bruising of the serpent's
head, the death of death, the bringing of life and immortality
to life through His own death. Knowing these things, He went,
Scripture says, for the joy that was set before Him. There you have it, you have both
joy and sorrow. A man of sorrows. He said, in
the garden my soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death, and
yet for the joy, said before. Knowing he was going to be forsaken
of God, but for the joy in being forsaken that we might not be
forsaken. Enduring the cross. And no man,
no one can rightly described what he endured there. But it
says he, knowing that all things were now accomplished, he said
that in his prayer in John 17, before he went to the cross,
he said that I had finished the work which thou hast given me
to do. You see, this is God who declared
the end from the beginning. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning. This is the author and the finisher.
He wrote the last chapter of the book before there was anything
or anyone. And it just remained for it to
be accomplished. Moses and Elijah came to meet
with our Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration. The Law and
the Prophet. Moses and Elijah. To Him give
all the Prophets witness. The Law and the Prophets witness
of Him. They came to meet with Christ
and talked on that great mountain. about the death, the scripture
says, the death he should accomplish. We don't accomplish things by
our death. Things we hope to accomplish,
we're not accomplished. We have things unfinished, okay? But scripture says his death
was an accomplishment. Death happens to us. He made
that happen to himself. It was an accomplishment. What
happened then? It was the death of death. It
was the putting away of sin. It was the bringing into captivity
our captor, Satan. It was the bruising of the serpent's
head. So our Lord, knowing that all things were written and now
accomplished, that were written in the Scripture, that the Scripture
might be fulfilled, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled,
He said, I thirst. Now that's Psalm 69, 21. He read
it with them. And everything else in that psalm
was accomplished. For he was a song of drunkards.
And on and on it goes. Everything that God has written
will and must and will be fulfilled. Because God who cannot lie, God
is true. And God being true in every man's
life. And all things are written because He had declared them
because He had predestined them. Someone said, for something to
be certainly foreknown, it must certainly come to pass. So for
something to certainly come to pass, you have to be the one
to do it. All that God foreknew, He did predestinate. Everything's
been ordered and all things sure and written down in the book.
And that book was sealed before time began. And it just remained
for it to be fulfilled. Everything. In the volume of
the book. Everything about our Lord was fulfilled in Scripture
from His birth to His death. Everything about His character,
His words, everything was written to declare unto us who He is. Why He came. What He did. Who
He did it for. The fact that He did it for our
glory. John said these things are written
That in Him you might have life, that you might believe. And in
believing, you might have peace. Everything. The betrayal of His
familiar friends, Psalm 41.9. The forsaking of His disciples,
being offended, Psalm 31.11. The false accusations against
Him, Psalm 35.11. His silence before His captors,
His judges, Isaiah 53.7. Him being guiltless before all,
Isaiah 53.9. The numbering of Him with the
transgressors, on the cross, that's Isaiah 53, 12. Being crucified,
Psalm 22, 16. His mockery, Psalm 109, 25. His
taunting, Psalm 22, 7 and 8. Him parting his garments and
casting lots, Psalm 22, 18. His prayer for his enemies, Isaiah
53, 12. The forsaking of God, Psalm 22,
1. Thirsting, Psalm 69, 21. Yielding
his spirit in the hands of the Father, Psalm 31, 5. Not a bone
of his broken, Psalm 34, 28. In a rich man's tomb he was buried,
Isaiah 53, 9. All things must be fulfilled. And they were, and they are,
and they shall be. Doesn't that give you comfort? Everything he has spoken to us,
all the promises of God in Christ are yea and amen and shall be. God who has promised us eternal
life, God who cannot lie, shall surely give it unto us. Why?
Because Christ died. Because Christ died. Because
it was written in the scriptures of Evette that he would accomplish. This is why, people, it is such
gross blasphemy to talk about, and only a false prophet could
stand and say God has done all He can do and now it's up to
you. That's why it's the worst form of blasphemy. Anybody that
says that is a false prophet, and anybody that believes that
doesn't know God, doesn't know Christ, doesn't know man, that
he's dead, thinks man can finish the work of I can't say that loud enough
for all to know, because that's prevalent. That's what you're
hearing today. That's not what you're hearing. Blessed are you
hearing. Knowing what He must do. Knowing
what He must do. Knowing what He would accomplish.
And for whom He set His face like a plant. Like a plant. And went to the cross and endured
that. And it came to this last day.
fulfillment of Scripture, I thirst. Now, listen carefully. He came to this last Scripture,
or this last fulfillment of Scripture, where He said, I thirst. It is
finished. Father, into Thy hand. Tonight, it is finished. Our
Lord made seven statements while hanging on the cross. I don't
believe that he made any more than that. All things are not
written that he spoke and did, or the scripture says the world
could not contain the books. But I believe that this is all
that he said. He may have quoted Psalm 22 to
himself within himself, to the Father, Psalm 69, in a prayer
to the Father. But these things are written.
for our learning. Seven statements spoken by Christ
from the cross. Three of them were in daylight.
He hung there for six hours. Three hours of daylight. This
was the morning hour from 9 o'clock till noon. Daylight. And then
at noon, high noon, three hours of darkness. And the remaining
four things our Lord said were in total darkness. That's significant. The first three utterances by
our Lord, the first being hanging there in great mercy and pity
and love and grace and salvation to those who just hung Him there
in broad daylight for all to hear and see, He said, Father,
forgive them. He made a prayer to the Father.
Father, forgive them. They know not what they did. And then, in great pity and love
and kindness to a dying thief, a chief of sinners, for all to
see and broad daylight for all to hear, for the chief of sinners
to take great hope and comfort in him, he said to that man,
the sun was shining on that man, he said, today shalt thou be
with me in paradise. And then, in great pity and preparing
a place for his earthly mother, going to prepare a place for
her in heaven, preparing a place for her remaining years on earth.
He said, for all to see, and for the older, and for the widows,
and for all to hear Him say, Woman, behold thy son. Son, behold
thy mother. I meant to tell you this last
Sunday, but you've seen that awful idol that was Made of stone
by Michelangelo, made of Mary supposedly holding Christ in
her arms. Have you seen that? Where he's lying on her lap.
Everyone's seen it. It's a very famous statue, idol,
image, raven image. That did not happen. That just
did not happen. Mary did not hold his dead body. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea
did. They brought it down from the
cross. But I'll tell you what did happen. When Mary came to die, he came
down and he held her lifeless body in his arm. That's what
happened. He said these first three These
first three statements in broad daylight, and then at high noon,
when the sun is at its zenith, at its peak, at its hottest,
under the hot sun, then it began to be darkened. All the first
three Gospels say that darkness covered the whole earth. Not
just Jerusalem, it says covered the whole earth. The sun refused
to shine. The sun was darkened, the scripture
said. The Lord God, who is a sun and
a shield, hid his face. The Lord whose face is the sun,
as the sun that shineth, hid his face. The Lord God is turning
his back on Christ. The Lord God is forsaking him. The Lord is casting his sun in outer darkness. Now, the first thing he said,
it's not recorded here, but it is recorded in the other three
gospels, when it became dark and he hung there for three hours
in the darkness. The first thing he said was Psalm
22.1, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He knew why. He knew the scriptures must be
fulfilled. He knew that Psalm 22.1 must
be fulfilled. He knew he must be forsaken.
He knew that he must be the scapegoat. He knew that he was the scapegoat.
That he was come to be made sin for us. He who knew no sin. He was come to have his soul
made an offering for sin. He knew that, knowing that the
Scriptures must be fulfilled. That he must be forsaken of God. Greater love, no man than this. And yet the thought of it in
the garden made him sweat blood. We, who don't deserve this at
all, who often give no thought of God for long periods of time,
the thought of being forsaken of God for three hours, it couldn't
bear him. This thought of being out of
fellowship and communion with God just for three hours. This is our substitute. This
is our covenant head. This is the second Adam. The
first Adam rebelled against God. The first Adam, our father, he
rebelled against God, and God cast him out. Well, here's the
second Adam. He did not rebel. He glorified God as a man. God was well pleased with his
righteousness, and God beamed down and smiled upon his son.
He's our representative, John. He's our substitute. He's our
covenant head. God's well-pleased head. In the
same sense, though, Christ had to be forsaken. He's us. He's us. In the darkness, He
cried, My God, my God. And He knew why. He knew why.
But He cried that we might know. That we might know a little bit
of what He was doing for us. You know, men and women, Don't
ever listen to this again, lightly. Don't ever say anything like
this. And men and women blasphemously say things like, I went through
hell. Oh, that was hell. And they say, they use the term,
perhaps we should never use it lightly or flippantly or fearlessly
speak of hell. If we really knew, we'd tremble.
Our Lord did. The Lord Jesus Christ went through
hell for his people. That's what he was doing. He
didn't go to hell. He didn't go to hell. Hell is
being separated from God. Wherever God is not, that's where
hell is. That's what hell is. That's where hell is. Hell is
separation from God. And he endured for three hours
on the cross, six hours total, he endured the equivalent of
eternity in hell. It was for him. That's why someone said that
hell is eternal, because our sin is against an eternal God.
Hell is separation from God, who is life. Hell is to be cast
into outer darkness. God is love. Hell is where there
is no love. There is no only hate and wrath
and malice. God is mercy. Hell is where there
is no mercy. There is no pity. There is no
goodness. God is peace. God is rest. At
his right hand are pleasures forevermore. Where there is no
mercy on the misery, there is no pleasure on the pain. Don't talk lightly of hell. Our
Lord went through it. All because of sin. And yet man
makes light of sin. Man makes light of sin. Man loves
sin. Man loves darkness. Man loves
darkness rather than light. That's what our Lord said. So
man's going to give exactly what he loves. And he didn't know.
He just didn't know. And man drinks iniquity like
the water. Man drinks iniquity like the
water. So our Lord hangs there. And that's us. That was us before
he came to us, wasn't it? That was us. So Christ, our covenant
heir, our substitute, went to the cross. for us who drank iniquity
like the water." And he says, I thirst. I thirst. Two words. Infinite truth. Two words. In these two words,
shortest of utterances by him. The shortest verse in the Bible,
Jesus wept. The shortest utterance by him,
I thirst. So much found in both. Two words,
our thirst. We find out who God is. Our God
is a consuming fire. It's a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of a living God. That's what the scriptures say.
Christ did. Because of sin. Christ, our God,
is a consuming fire. Endured the fire of His wrath
and His judgment. Torment without end in the space
of six hours. I Thirst tells us why Christ
came. He came to be a sin offering
to God. He wasn't offered to man. He
was offered to God. That's the worst form of blasphemy
to say the offers stand, the offers still stand, that God
offers you sin. That's just the worst form of
blasphemy of all. Christ didn't come to offer Himself
to us, but He came to offer Himself to God. No sacrifice in the Bible
was offered to man. It was all offered to God. And
every single sacrifice was burnt with fire. Every single thing
was roast with fire, showing that Christ endured this for
His people. Made sin, forsaken, punished
by God for His people, and He cried, I thirst. In these two
words, we see the insatiable sin of man. Man thirsts, and his thirst and
his lust for flesh and pleasure and sin is insatiable. It's a thirst that cannot be
quenched. I believe it's, yes, please,
yes, he says, all the rivers run into the sea, the sea is
not full. He says, all things are full
of labor, but man cannot utter it. The eye is not satisfied
with seeing. Or the ear filled with hearing,
insatiable desire for, not God, but sin. Christ being made that. He's going through that. He's
feeling that. This is a mystery. We talk about
our Lord being made sin, and this is the best I can do with
that, is that He, somehow or another, without sinning Himself,
yet He's being made to feel. That sin, that insatiable... I say that carefully, but man
thirsts for everything but God, you know. Again, false prophets
say things like this to try to pacify people, try to excuse
people, to apologize for rebels, they say man has a real thirst
for God. He just doesn't know it. People
are thirsting for God. No, they're not. No, they're
not. They're thirsty for blood. They
didn't thirst for God. They didn't thirst for knowledge.
They didn't thirst for understanding. Man drinks iniquity like the
water. You can lead a man to Christ and he won't drink. Right? You can lead a man, bring someone
in here to hear the gospel and preach Christ as powerfully as
you can possibly preach him, but he won't drink. He's not
thirsty. But God. Like some people thirsty. Blessed are those that hunger
and thirst. Christ was made sin. This is
the cry of the damned in hell is what this is. I thirst. Our Lord gave the illustration
of the rich man in hell and Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham. And
the rich man in hell said, I'm tormented, and he's blind. He
wasn't repentant of his sin. He wasn't sorry for his sin against
God. He was just tormented. That's
all that bothered him. The fires of hell won't make
a man repent. Fear of hell won't make somebody
repent. I tell you what will. The only thing that will is that
we crucify His Son. The goodness of God will make
us repent. And our Lord cried, I thirst.
I thirst. And I believe He's crying on
behalf of His people. On behalf of His people whom
He makes thirsty. On behalf of His people, He is
forsaken of God. He is forsaken of God, but we
feel forsaken of God, don't we? We often feel forsaken of God,
and should be, but won't be, and cannot be, because Christ
was. You see, God cannot forsake that,
because Christ was forsaken. God is just. And all those that
were in Christ, He was forsaken for us. You see? Isn't that good news? But he's
crying, as it were, for us. As the heart panteth after the
water brook, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth
for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear
before God? Christ prayed that. Christ cried
that. Christ wanted that. Christ desired
that. When shall I come? I'm being
tormented down here in this place. And isn't that what we often
feel about this? This present evil world, you know how you
probably feel? It says, my tears have been my
meat day and night while they continually say unto me, where
is thy God? And men mock and scoff. Where
is thy God? Where is the promise of his coming?
And we say, come. Listen to this. These are the
psalms. He cried, I thirst. Listen to
this, O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee, my soul
thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and
thirsty land where no water is. Is that what you think about
this place? Our Lord is crying that on our behalf, crying that.
See, our Lord is crying that for us and as us. Our substitute
and entering into the feeling of our infirmity. Our Lord cried, I thirst. David said, My soul will be satisfied
only in marrow and fat and soul and die. Those that seek my soul
will destroy it. And you know, everything that
David said there in Psalm 69, can you hear any of that? Listen to this, Psalm 143, that
the Scriptures might be fulfilled. Our Lord said, I thirst. Listen
and hear my prayer, O Lord. Give ear to my supplication.
In thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness enter
not into judgment with thy servant. In thy sight shall no man live
and be justified. The enemy hath persecuted my
soul. He smitten my life down to the ground. He made me to
dwell in darknesses just like those that have been long dead.
My spirit is overwhelmed within me. My heart is desolate within
me. I remember the days of old. I meditate on all thy work. I
muse on the work of thy hand. I stretch forth my hands unto
thee, my soul thirsteth after thee as a thirsty man." I thirst. Do you thirst? We have not a high priest who
cannot be touched with the feeling of our impermanence, but in all
points, tempted like as we are, without sin. He cried, I thirst,
because we cried, I thirst. He cried, I thirst, because God
forsook him, that he might not forsake us. I thirst. Bone of our bones,
flesh of our flesh, weary, suffering, tried, sorrowful, afflicted,
God Christ went through the furnace of affliction, just like Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, just like all His Hebrew children. They
go through the furnace of affliction, and He's right there with them,
in the furnace. But you know what? They come
out. Tried his silver, tried the fire seven times, but he
stayed in. So he cried, I thirst, but no
water came to him. I gave him no water. And look at this. No water came
to him, but water came from him. Look at this. In our text, in
John 19, verse Verse 34, one of the soldiers
with a spear pierced his thigh, and forthwith came thereout blood
and water. They gave him no water, but he
became ours. He's that smitten rock. Look
to the rock from which you're digged. No water for him, but
water came from him. He is the water of life. Our
Lord was cursed for us. He hung on that tree. Our Lord
thirsted for us, but no water came to Him that we might have
the water of life. Now let me say these things in
cloaking. Is it any wonder why Paul, we
see something of why Paul would say, God forbid that I should
glory, save in the crops of my Lord Jesus Christ. by whom I
am crucified in the world and the world to me. And nothing
and no one should have our admiration, or we should glory in anything
or anyone at saving Christ. Love so amazing, so divine, deserves
my life, my best, my all, my... In light of Christ crucified
in our place, doing this for us, If we really see this, if
we really see something of His agony and His glory, it should
both humble us. There's no room for boasting.
There should be no room for boasting, none whatsoever. It should both
humble us and get lift up. He said, He that seeth the Son,
and believeth upon Him, shall not perish, and shall raise Him
up to the last day. Those who are humbled by this,
those that mourn for Him who was pierced, they will rejoice
forever. Should humble us and lift up.
Seeing Christ crucified should both convict us, as our sins
have put Him to death, and comfort us. Our sins have come. It should
shame us. We should hate ourselves. We
should deny ourselves. We should confess Him in light
of Christ crucified. Only glory in Him. The things
of the world should fade if we keep in mind Christ the imprucified. The things of this world should
fade. Should. This is why we need to
keep our eye on them. Listen. Listen carefully. This
is why Paul said, our light affliction, which I've looked for a moment.
Our light affliction. Paul went through more difficult
and more numerous afflictions than we will in a lifetime. Didn't
he? You've read of his terrible afflictions
that he went through. And he said, I fill up the cup
which Christ left me to bear of his suffering. Didn't he?
He said that. He said, but I rejoice. Like Peter, he rejoiced to suffer
shame for his name, who suffered such shame for him. It was no
shame to suffer shame for Christ. glory and boasting in Him. But
this is why Paul said, our light afflictions, which are but for
a moment, work for us a far more exceeding eternal weight of glory.
Our light affliction. Now, I'm not going to make light
of anyone's afflictions. Afflictions are very real. They're
very real. But in light of what Christ endured,
our afflictions are nothing. In light of what Christ endured,
the eternity of hell, They don't last very long, do they? In light
of what Christ endured that He did not deserve, our blessings
far outweigh our troubles, don't they? And we say things like
this, I need more things, I need this, I need that. Our Lord was
stripped. Our Lord had nothing. Our Lord
died on the cross with nothing, forsaken of God. What do we need?
What do we need? We need Him. We say things like
this, I'm tired of doing things for others. I'm tired of doing
it all. Oh my. Oh my. I'm not happy. Oh my. Man of sorrows, what a
name for the Son of God who came. Ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah. I'm so lonely. Oh my. Oh my. We don't know loneliness. God will never forsake us. He
never has, never will. Christ was forsaken. That's loneliness. I'm so lonely. I don't deserve
this. Oh my. They're mistreating me. Oh my. Christ crucified. Keep that in
mind. Always. Let these two words,
I thirst, Christ crucified, always come to mind whenever we're prone
to murmur, complain, or voice our complaint. No one cares for me. Oh my. No one did care for him. Even
God didn't come to care for him. Why was he doing that? Someone cares for us all right.
And greater care hath no man than this. Oh, look at all my
troubles. Don't say that. Only beholding
Christ crucified will break us and humble us and strip us and
make us glory in Him alone. Will turn our murmuring and our
complaining into glory. Into, Paul says, rejoicing even
in our infirmities. Here's what we'll say. Behold
Him, Christ crucified. Here's what we will say if we
truly see Him. Thirst Him. We will say, I deserve more trouble
than I'm getting. We will say, I deserve to be
left alone. I deserve to be cast out. You'll
say, I deserve to be hung on a tree as a spectacle for all
to see. I deserve to be stripped and
exposed before everyone to see the hypocrite that I have been.
I deserve to hang there. I deserve to be mocked and ridiculed.
I deserve to be punished for my sins. I deserve to be forsaken
of God forever. I deserve that. But you say, did Christ do that
for me? Yes, He did. And you say that
I ought to confess Him? Why, yes, I will. Ashamed of Christ? Oh, yes I
may, when I have no sin to wash away. Ashamed of Him whom angels pray? Confess Him? Who hung there naked
for me? Who thirst for me? Confess Him? Yes, I'll confess Him. Yes, I'll confess Him. By the grace of God, I'd love
to lay down my life for Him. Wouldn't you? Somebody's going to do that this
Sunday, Lord willing. If anybody else feels the need,
let me know. I thirst. I thirst. The Lord, who is the water of
life, thirsted for us. You know, one time he said, you
know, that we should be thankful. The Lord saved it the simple,
preserved it the simple. Those who are satisfied with
the simple truth and simple things are thankful for simple things.
One time said, just a cup of cold water will receive a discipleship
award. He didn't even get that, a cup
of cold water. That's all, that's all he needed.
That's all he needed, a cup of cold water. He didn't get it.
Oh, our cups run on ground. Because he said, I thirst. All right, stand up. Our Father, forgive us for not praising Thee and worshiping
Thee as we ought. Forgive us for not being thankful
as we ought. Forgive me for not being able
to declare Thee as Thou ought to be declared. Forgive us, O
Lord. We know that we have Thy forgiveness
because Christ died. because Christ suffered, because
Christ was crucified. O Lord, let this be, let Him
be our everything, O Lord. Let Christ
and Him crucify our heart's desire to know Him, to be found in Him. praise Him and to live for Him
who died for us. In Christ's blessed name we pray. Amen.