[0:00] Let's read at verse 28, John's Gospel, it's on page 1092, John chapter 19 and on verse 28.
[0:15] Last week we saw, we've been looking at that section of where Jesus was actually crucified and the inscription that had been written over him, but now we come to the actual death of Jesus.
[0:27] After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said to fulfill the scripture, I thirst. A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.
[0:47] When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. There are people who say that the Old Testament and the New Testament are completely different testaments.
[1:06] And at one level, there is an element of truth in that, but they are also completely one. And one of the things that the more you delve into the Old Testament that you discover is that the Old Testament is absolutely full of Jesus Christ.
[1:24] And the more you study the Old Testament, whether it is regarding the whole law, the whole sacrificial system, whether you study the prophecies, whether you go to the Psalms, you will find that right throughout that it is showing us the Lord Jesus Christ.
[1:45] And you'll find so often, even in this particular chapter itself, so many quotes from the Old Testament. For instance, in verse 24, we saw this last week.
[1:58] So they said to one another, let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be. This was to fulfill the scripture, which says, they divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.
[2:15] And again at verse 28, after this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said to fulfill the scripture, I thirst. Then if you go on to verse 36, for these things took place that the scripture might be fulfilled.
[2:30] Not one of his bones will be broken. And again, verse 37, and again another scripture says, they will look on him whom they pushed. So you see that in the life of Jesus, the Old Testament is full of Jesus Christ.
[2:48] So we've always got to remember that when people would say, ah, the Old Testament is so, it's got no bearing upon the New Testament. That is not the case. The Old Testament, as we say, is full of Jesus Christ.
[3:01] Now, Jesus has been on the cross for quite some time. And if you go through the Gospels, and as often been done in the ways of studies and so on, Jesus spoke seven times from the cross.
[3:14] From the time that they began to hammer in the nails into his hands and feet. Remember when he prayed, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. But he speaks seven times from the cross.
[3:28] And if we were to go through these sayings, this would be the fifth. The cry of dereliction is already passed. We, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
[3:42] That period was the climactic moment. It was a moment of absolute horror. It was where wave after wave after wave of God's wrath was pouring out upon Jesus.
[4:00] And where every scrap, if we could use that word, every little inkling that he ever had, which he had in all its fullness of the comfort of the Holy Spirit, had been taken from him.
[4:15] Everything that he knew was taken away. And everything that he had never experienced before came upon him. And so this was all mingled in and tied in to the fearful physical and mental and emotional suffering that he was enduring.
[4:32] Because, as we saw last week, those who died on the cross died a thousand deaths. It was the most horrific way of execution known.
[4:44] It was to maximize the suffering and to make it as long and lingering as possible. And so Jesus had gone through all that.
[4:54] The suffering was still intense. The physical suffering was getting worse and worse. There's no question of that. Because there was so much. There were so many things.
[5:06] For instance, one of the things that. Can you imagine being stretched out? All that's holding you up are nails that are driven through your wrists into the wood. And nails that are driven into your feet.
[5:18] And you're hanging there. And breathing would be extraordinarily difficult. Of course, at the end, that's how people died on the cross. Is that they would suffocate.
[5:30] But the suffering that went on was absolutely terrible. However, the greatest intensity where he was made a sacrifice for sin.
[5:43] Is now these overwhelming moments are beginning to subside. Because he now has come to the point where he has paid the penalty for sin.
[5:56] And it's at this point he then says, I thirst. In fact, in the original it's just the one word, thirst. And so, there are so many things that point in Jesus' life to the humanity of him.
[6:10] He's God. God, a very God. And yet, here he is. He is man. And it's very difficult sometimes for us to understand this. That Jesus was a perfect man.
[6:22] And yet, he was subject to everything that we are in this world apart from sin. He was conceived in the power by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary.
[6:33] As short as Catholics and beautifully describes it. So, he was made of her substance. And yet, he was kept free from all defilement of sin. So, in many ways, Jesus was a perfect specimen of a human being.
[6:49] And yet, despite that, he knew all the frailties that we experience in this world. He experienced loneliness when he was left alone.
[7:00] He experienced exhaustion when he was stretched with overwork. He experienced hunger. He experienced thirst.
[7:11] He experienced emotional distress. We find it at the grave. Jesus knew what it was. To be really sad. For the tears to run down his face.
[7:23] In fact, when we were looking at that before, the actual word, we find that his heart was sometimes breaking within him. So, Jesus understands all these things.
[7:37] But it's highlighting to us that although he's God, the body that he has taken to himself is the body. It's the actual body of a man.
[7:47] It's not the appearance of. It is real flesh and blood. It is real humanity. And so, here is Jesus on the cross. And he's saying thirst.
[7:59] And you know, it's quite extraordinary in a sense because we're so familiar with the cross. And sometimes our familiarity of all that took place sort of numbs us to what is actually taking place.
[8:10] But here is Jesus, battered, bruised, unrecognizable. That's what it tells us in the prophecy. That his face was more disfigured than any man.
[8:21] He was unrecognizable. Through the horrendous beatings that he had gone through. And the scourging and everything. The abuse that he suffered before he went on to the actual cross itself.
[8:34] So Jesus understands when people are abused and people are hurt and people, when their rights are removed and when they go through every form of violation.
[8:45] He's been there. He understands that. But the point is this. We tend sometimes to forget as we look at the battered Jesus on the cross.
[8:56] The one who was crying. Thirst is the one who commanded the light to come into the darkness.
[9:07] Let there be light. And yet he was plunged into the most awful darkness. The one who separated the waters. The one who controls the waters.
[9:18] The one who in this world was able to walk in the water. Here he is and he's crying. Thirst. Thirst. Only if I could only get one wee drop of water.
[9:31] And so we see again as all this is highlighting to us various aspects of what Jesus is doing and who he is. Because sometimes we lose sight of the fact that he's God, a very God, and yet he's man in our nature.
[9:46] And at this moment when Jesus cries, thirst, we see probably the only moment of pity in the whole scene of the cross with regard to what the soldiers and these people did to him.
[10:01] And we find that they get this jar full of sour wine that stood there. This was the kind of stuff that the soldiers themselves would drink. It was this sour wine.
[10:14] There was vinegar in it and such like, vinegar mixed with the wine. And they used to drink this themselves. So they got this hyssop branch and they held it to his mouth.
[10:25] Now this is not the wine and myrrh that he was offered. Remember when he was put on the cross he was offered this wine and myrrh to drink and he wouldn't take it. Why?
[10:36] Because there was in that little, the myrrh, there was a small amount of, or a type of anesthetic that would numb things a little.
[10:50] But he wouldn't take it. Why? You know what it tells us in the scripture? That he tasted death for every man. Jesus wasn't going to take anything.
[11:01] That was in any way going to dull or numb what he had to experience. He was going to take the full force of everything.
[11:13] In order that he would taste death for us. Our death was made over to him. And so we must never lose sight of this.
[11:26] But now Jesus is here, as it were, at the very end. And there must be this overwhelming sense of thirst. You read about people who maybe have been in serious accidents with a lot of blood loss.
[11:40] Or people, maybe soldiers or so on. And they will talk, those who have survived, with this awareness of just an indescribable thirst that takes over.
[11:57] And here is, this is where Jesus is. And that's why he cries out, thirst. And the wonderful thing we've always got to remember here is that Jesus at any moment could come down from the cross.
[12:12] He could have come down from that cross. We know that. They were mocking him below the cross. And they were saying, ah, he saved others. He can't save himself. And that was so true. Jesus couldn't do both.
[12:24] If Jesus wanted to save himself, he wouldn't be saving us. The only reason he was on the cross was in order to save us. And it ultimately wasn't the nails that held him there.
[12:38] Although he submitted completely to everything. It was his love. We've said that often enough before. His love to his father.
[12:48] And his love to us. But you know this picture that we have of thirsting. It's also a picture. And we've always got to remember this. We mustn't lose sight of this as well.
[13:00] That Jesus on the cross is a sin bearer. He is bearing sin. And the bearing of sin is thirst. Sin is thirst.
[13:12] Remember how Jesus says, all you who are thirsty, come to me and I'll give you water. It was because of the nature of sin, which is destructive. And Jesus says, I'll give you what you need, which will satisfy the deepest needs of your life.
[13:27] But here he is. He's thirsting because he's experiencing the punishment for sin. You know, you can't read of this but think of the rich man and Lazarus.
[13:38] Remember that picture that Jesus gives us of the rich man who was so ignoring of the poor man Lazarus in life. Lazarus was laid at his gate full of sores.
[13:50] And the rich man never bothered with him. Ever, ever. Remember they both died. And it tells us that the rich man in hell lifted up his eyes. And he saw into heaven and he saw Lazarus there, the man that he had despised and ignored and never once offered anything to.
[14:07] He saw Lazarus there in Abraham's bosom. And he cried and he said, send Lazarus down that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame.
[14:21] This is sin. The punishment of sin. That's where Jesus is just now. Because Jesus is being punished by God the Father.
[14:34] And one of the things the cross shows us is that God hates sin. You know, we treat sin lightly because we're sinners. And we're often comfortable with sin.
[14:47] And we begin to tolerate sin. And we accept sin. Well, let's remind ourselves what God thinks of sin. Look at Calvary. Look at his son.
[14:59] Thirst. The torment. Because of our sin. That's what God thinks of sin. And I quite often find this.
[15:10] You know, every so often we need to stop and think and take a reality check of how things really are. But Jesus thirsted in order that we wouldn't.
[15:20] Jesus bore this upon himself so that we can go free. And Jesus on that cross. This was part of the joy that was set before him.
[15:32] He thirsted for the salvation of all his people. And so we find that here is this Jesus, as we said, who controls the waters, who walks on the waters, who divided the waters.
[15:45] And he thirsts. But Jesus, because of what he did there, is offering us a never-ending supply of water. The water, not natural water, but the water of life.
[15:59] He declared himself, I am. And that's what he said, that he was the water of life. Remember the woman at the well. And Jesus said, he said, I have water to drink of. That if you take that, you'll never thirst again.
[16:12] And you know, my friend, as a believer, that is true. It doesn't mean that you never, ever thirst for. It doesn't mean you'll never thirst spiritually. But there is a deep-rooted satisfaction in your life.
[16:28] See, when you're right with God, even when you sin, and that, of course, it affects who you are. And you have to come back and ask the Lord to forgive you. But when you come to faith in Jesus Christ, you're given, it's like you've been given stabilizers.
[16:47] In life, you're like you're going through the minch. Just, that's normal life. And it's often in storms and difficult. But you know, when you come to faith in Jesus Christ, often he doesn't take the storms away, but he gives you the stabilizer of himself.
[17:04] Because you're right with him. And there is a deep-rooted peace. And sometimes you have to dig deep before you find it, but it's there. There is no longer that emptiness.
[17:16] You know, in life, sometimes, I remember it, there was this sense of, times you used to enjoy life and it was great, and then every so often, there would be this sense of the emptiness.
[17:28] What's it all about? There's got to be more. There's something missing. There's just this emptiness here that there's, when you take all the mirth and all the other things aside, there's something just not there.
[17:42] And that's what Jesus is saying. That's what I have for you. That's what I will give you. I will give you what nothing and nobody else can give.
[17:52] That which ultimately will satisfy your life. Because we're body, mind, and soul. And if we neglect our soul, we do so at our peril. Well, Jesus says, I have what you need for your soul.
[18:06] And that's why there's the great final invitation in the Bible, where we have that great invitation to come and take of the water of life. Whosoever thirsts, let him come and take freely from the water of life.
[18:21] And we can do so because of what Jesus did there on the cross, because he thirsted. But just very, very briefly, we then see that after he took this, after he received this, he bowed his head.
[18:37] It is finished, and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Now, you would say to yourself, that's it, when Jesus took that on his lips, that he just bowed his head and maybe he suffocated.
[18:51] No. John is a master of being low key. John goes into a lot of detail regarding the teaching of Jesus. Much more so than the other gospel writers.
[19:04] But when it comes to describing events and things, John is often very low key. So all he says here is, Jesus said it is finished, and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
[19:15] But when you read the other gospel writers, you will find that at this moment when Jesus said it is finished, in Matthew, for instance, we're told, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and he lit up his spirit.
[19:29] In Mark, it says, Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. Look, Jesus calling out with a loud voice. So you see, all the other gospel writers highlight something significant.
[19:45] That at this final moment, Jesus cries out with a loud voice. It's finished. And I believe that's one of the reasons why the centurion who was in charge of the execution said, truly, this was the Son of God.
[20:02] Because there were lots of things that happened, lots of amazing things that happened. But this was one of them. This centurion who was in charge of the execution, it would have almost been a daily occurrence, because the Romans had a passion for executing by crucifixion people not their own, but others.
[20:20] And this man, this centurion, would have seen endless crucifixions. But the one thing he had never, ever, ever, ever, ever seen was someone in the final breath cry out, almost like a cry of victory.
[20:36] That was humanly impossible. Because they were being suffocated. They couldn't do it. But Jesus is here.
[20:48] It's like demonstrating a cry of victory. And that's what it was. It's finished. I've done everything I've been given to do. That's it.
[20:58] Jesus handed over his spirit to the Lord. So do you know, it actually shows us that Jesus is in control of death. His death was similar to our death in that there was separation of soul from body.
[21:11] His body actually physically died. People believe that he died. I don't know what would be worth maybe hearing.
[21:21] The likes of what Dr. Martin Walker or Dr. Martin O'Leary, a doctor, would be able to make of what goes on in the next, where the blood and the water comes out. I have no authority on these things.
[21:33] But there are people who believe that Jesus actually died of a broken heart. But he was in control of everything. He died.
[21:44] We'll see this next week. He died at a particular time. Everything was ordered by heaven. He was in control. Now you and I, that's where it won't.
[21:55] We will die unless the Lord comes first. He might. We might not experience death. Don't know. But the thing is, we, unless the Lord comes first, we will die.
[22:07] There will be the, we will take our last breath. But we will not be in control of that. Not at all. But Jesus was in control even there.
[22:19] But he physically died. He had to go through everything in body. And so he had to go through everything that we will in order to be. And he dismissed his spirit.
[22:31] He gave up his spirit. So that is, this is part of what is so wonderful. That although death took him, he actually took death.
[22:42] That's what I love. Yes, death took Jesus. But he took death. And that moment, he controlled death. And he says, I'm your victory.
[22:53] I'm actually winning victory over you. He had to go through all these different things. He had to go into the grave for us. He has to rise from the grave for us. He has to do everything for us.
[23:06] And so Jesus said, it is finished. Some people have the ability of saying very little. Or saying just in a few words an awful lot.
[23:19] Well, here it is. It is finished. It is finished. He had finished everything. What had he finished? He had finished everything that the Father had given him to do. Jesus, remember how he used to say this?
[23:31] My food is to do the will of the Father who sent me and to finish his work. To do thy will, I take delight. It's finished. Jesus had also finished the work of revealing the Father.
[23:46] Revealing, as it were, the very soul of God. That's what the cross is doing. Remember Jesus in the high priestly prayer says, I revealed you to those whom you gave me.
[24:00] Because this is what the cross does. It reveals to us how holy God is. You know, we talk about the holiness of God. We don't really understand it. But we go to the cross.
[24:12] And it's there we see it. Just as we said a moment ago. The gravity of sin. That sin really matters to God. And through the death of Jesus on the cross, God is, as it were, revealing his heart to us.
[24:26] He's revealing his justice to us. Because we talk about the justice of God. We talk about the wrath of God. We talk about the holiness of God. Well, this is, we see it on the cross.
[24:42] It was Martin Luther who said that God opened his heart to us on the cross. That's what he did. Where it's like he opened up where we could see. So it's finished.
[24:52] The work of redemption is finished. Jesus has done it all. And that's why we are able to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because he did it all. If he hadn't done it all, we wouldn't have any good news.
[25:08] People could come to church and they would go through rituals. And they could talk about this and talk about that. And sort of talk about different themes. But there would be no gospel.
[25:18] There would be no redemption. There would be no highlighting that Jesus Christ is able to save you. To change the inner being that you are. To make you right with God. To give you liberty and freedom in life.
[25:32] To book you a guaranteed place in heaven with himself. It's finished. It's what Jesus said. I've done it all. And for you today, my friend, it's there.
[25:45] Jesus is here for you. He finished everything. The Bible is, when you go to the prophecies, tells us that Jesus was to be born in Bethlehem.
[25:58] Tells us that his mother was to be not only of the tribe of Judah, but that he was to be of the lineage of David. Tells us that Jesus would be betrayed.
[26:09] For 30 pieces of silver. Tells us in the Bible he would ride into Jerusalem on Anasas' cult. The prophecies are full of Jesus.
[26:19] It says, it's finished. I've done it all. Today he's done it all. For you. What are you going to do? Is it possible that you'll say, well, that was great.
[26:33] And just walk away from it. This event is what changes lives. It's the single most important event that ever took place in the world.
[26:46] The death of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus. Let us pray. O Lord, our God, we pray that what Jesus has done might not be lost upon us.
[27:00] We pray that souls will seek Jesus. Because he said it's finished. I've done it. I've done it all. And we pray that we might not turn away from this.
[27:13] But that it might go down deep within us. And that we might find something of the liberty and the peace and the satisfaction in Jesus. Wash away from us all our sin, we pray in Jesus' name we ask it.
[27:26] Amen. We're going to conclude singing in the ninth psalm. And sing psalms. Psalm number 9. 9a. Verses 7 to 11.
[27:42] Psalm 9a. Verses 7 to 11. That's on page 9. The Lord forever reigns on high. His throne for judgment stands.
[27:54] He'll judge the world in righteousness. With justice rule the lands. The Lord will be a hiding place for those who are oppressed. He'll be a strong defense for those who are distressed.
[28:08] All those who know your name, O Lord. In you their trust will place. For you do not abandon those who seek your gracious face. So on 7 to 11.
[28:19] It's on page 9. Psalm 9a. And the tune is toward with the Lord forever reigns. Psalm 9a. Psalm 9a. The Lord forever reigns.
[28:29] The Lord forever reigns on high. His throne for judgment stands.
[28:43] He'll judge the world in righteousness. With justice rule the land. With justice rule the land.
[28:57] The Lord will be a hiding place for those who are oppressed.
[29:12] And he will be a strong defense. For those who are distressed. For those who know your name, O Lord. For those who know your name, O Lord.
[29:24] In you their trust will place. For you do not have a strong defense. For those who know your name, O Lord. For those who know your name, O Lord. For those who know your name, O Lord.
[29:36] In you their trust will place. For those who know your name, O Lord. In you their trust will place. For you do not abandon those who seek your gracious face.
[29:59] Sing praises to the Lord who sits in Zion on his throne.
[30:14] Among the nations of the world proclaim what he has done.
[30:30] Amen. Now may the grace, mercy, and peace of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit rest and abide upon each one of you now and forevermore. Amen.