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 While there's very early descriptions of the essence of Christianity, the most famous,

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! the earliest is the Apostles' Creed after the Bible. It was moving around the Mediterranean

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! being sung and recited in worship as early as about 130 AD.

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 So it's become probably the most famous succinct statement of what Christianity is.

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 And in line 6, it says, Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was

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 buried. And so when you read about the earliest statements of what is Christianity, it's not

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 first a philosophy, it's first stated as a history. He suffered, he was crucified, he died, he was

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 buried. It's just what happened in the story that we just read. It's not a mythology, it's what

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 Pontius Pilate did to him. It's what the soldiers and the Pharisees and humanity did to him that is

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 the essence of Christianity. And so we read this long chapter describing the last, the second trial

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 of Jesus into his crucifixion and his burial. Every sentence in that chapter is worth reflecting on for

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 a long time. But we only have a few minutes today. And so I will only, I want to, with you, just consider

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 the three things Jesus said when he was hanging on the cross in John's gospel. And nothing more today

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 than that. When you read the three things John says that he said, it tells you so much about what the

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 cross means and what it means for us today. So let's just do that briefly first. In verse 26 and 27,

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 while Jesus is hanging on the cross, he looks up and he sees his mother, Mary, and he says,

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 woman, behold your son. And then to John, behold your mother. Now Jesus at that point is hanging on

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 the cross. He's been scourged, beaten twice. The first was the beating of the common criminal,

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 fairly light. But the second was the most severe beating for somebody condemned to death. And it was

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 an excruciating moment, a hideous moment. And I won't describe in detail today what it looked like.

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 Thorns were twisted into his brow because of medieval art. We think of the crown of thorns as

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 just a thin wreath. But it was very likely, the historians think, a full head of thorns. So it

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 would have gone over the top as well. Probably 40 to 60 wounds created by the thorns in his brow. And

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 he was paraded, you'll remember, we read, up to Golgotha with the cross beam on his back that he

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 had to carry part of the way. He was too weak to go the whole way. And there were nails, Roman nails,

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 driven through his hands and his feet. And Pilate, all that happened, this torture happened after Pilate

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 had said, I don't see anything wrong with him. There's no fault in him. The Roman governor who had

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 the right of judgment declared him innocent. But the people overwhelmed Pilate. And in fear of the

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 crowd, he declared him guilty and sent him to be crucified. And so they took Barabbas, you remember,

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 the guilty one, the terrorist, went free. And the innocent one, Christ, was condemned. And you'll

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 all probably know that the major issue in crucifixion is asphyxiation. It's just difficult to breathe. And so

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 typically, someone being crucified dies by being unable to breathe. Now, this is the central event

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 of all of human history. And Jesus Christ has been tortured, and he's been physically bruised.

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 And in the last moment of his life, he finds enough ability, breath, to draw, to look up and see his mom

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 and say, mother. He sees his mom and he says, mother, this is your son. And one of the reasons for that is

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 because she was a widow. And in the first century, being a widow meant a very difficult life for a

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 woman. And so he wants her to be cared for. And so I just want to say that at the very last moment,

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 Jesus had personal love for his mother. And that means that Jesus Christ at the cross did indeed have

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 personal love for every one of you. Christ, God, became human, knows us, all people. And he went to the

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 cross in personal love for you by name. And he looked at his mother, and he looked at John, and he

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 expressed that in that moment. But that's not all the only reason he says this. Another reason is that

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 in John's gospel, the very first sign, his first miraculous deed at the beginning of his public

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 ministry was the turning of the water to wine at Cana at that dying wedding feast. And you might

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 remember that the very first thing that Jesus did in his public ministry was his mother came to him

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 and said, this party is dying. Can you do something? And he said, woman. And so here at the end of his

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 life, he says woman. And at the beginning of his ministry, he said woman. And that was not a title

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 that we hear today. It sounds sort of like a lack of respect. But in the first century culture,

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 it was honorific title to say that he was honoring her. And you see, you have the same thing at the

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 beginning of his ministry and in the last moment of his ministry. And at the beginning of his ministry,

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 he said, woman, it is not my hour. And so when she said, would you turn the water into the wine? He said,

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 it's not my time. It's not my hour. Why? Because the wedding feast at Cana, the wine that had run dry,

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 made him think about his own wedding, the crucifixion. It made him think about his hour.

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 And now the woman, he says woman, because it is the time for the wedding. You see, in that first

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 miraculous deed, the wine that he gave to the people was the wine of festival joy, but it pointed him

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 straight to the end of his life where he knew giving up his blood would be the wine that would bring the

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 wedding feast to the people. And so what he's saying in this moment at the bookends of his life,

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 of his ministry, is woman, you are my mother, but you're also my people. You are to be my bride,

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 my family, just as much as everybody else in this room can be. He was saying today, I am purchasing

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 with the wine of the feast, my blood, a new family. And woman and John, you are that new family. It's

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 bigger than biological blood. Jesus Christ at the cross had personal love for you, and he came and

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 died on the cross to give you a family that would never leave you. Secondly, he says in verse 28,

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 I thirst. And so they brought him sour wine on a hyssop branch with a sponge. And this is a fulfillment

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 of the Old Testament prophecy in Psalm 69, where the psalmist writes of the one who would come and say,

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 my throat is parched, and they would bring sour wine. Now he's being crucified. So of course,

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 he's thirsty. He's dehydrated. He's been beaten and tortured. And it's this horrible scene. But he never

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 complained one time in the story of what he had received. And Isaiah 53 says that he would receive

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 these wounds, yet open not his mouth. So he never complains about the most horrific things here.

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 But the one thing he does say is, I thirst. Why? Why that? Why is that the one thing?

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 Because something more physical, more, I should say, more than physical thirst was happening in this

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 moment. And so the Bible, from Old Testament to New Testament, is clear on this. Think of Psalm 42,

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 as the deer pants for water, so my soul longs for thee, O God. So across the Bible, thirsting is this

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 metaphor for spiritual life, for wanting spiritual life that you've never found satisfaction for,

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 excuse me, in this life. And remember what Jesus said. He said, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to

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 me and drink, and I will give them water that will satisfy them forever. Now he, the one that came to give

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 the drink that would satisfy true spiritual life to humanity, he is the one now who sits here and says,

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 but I thirst. What does this mean? This is something more. The physical is pointing to something more,

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 and it's pointing to the fact that in this moment he's experiencing spiritual agony.

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 His thirst is the pronouncement physically of what he's going through spiritually. This is the moment

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 where he is undergoing the wrath of God. God is pouring his wrath upon him. His ultimate thirst is

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 him getting what our sins deserve, complete spiritual destitution and separation and forsakenness from God,

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 his Father. And so they take this hyssop branch, and they stick a sponge on it, and they dip it in sour

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 wine and put it to his lips to give him some relief. And I wish we had time to look at the hyssop

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 branch and the sour wine and the sponge because all three of them have a history, but I'll just do the

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 hyssop branch only. The hyssop branch that they use has a history. Why this hyssop branch? And back at the

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 Passover, when the Israelites were in Exodus, God said to them, the angel of death is coming to every home

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 and taking the life of the firstborn for your sins. But if you will take a hyssop branch,

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 and you will wipe the blood of the lamb across the doorpost, the angel of death will pass by,

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 and no one in your household will die. You will be forgiven. Even more than that, in the Levitical law,

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 if a leper or diseased person was cast out of the city in order for them to be welcomed back into

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 the community, what would they do? They would take a hyssop branch, and they would cast hyssop upon them.

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 And it would be a public pronouncement that they were clean, acceptable in the eyes of the community.

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 We sang Psalm 51. Have you ever noticed that the verse 9, Psalm 51 says,

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 cleanse me with hyssop. Purify me that I may be clean, that I may be washed. Why this hyssop branch? And

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 the people would have said all throughout the Old Testament, what is going on? Why does God keep saying,

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 use a hyssop branch to pronounce cleansing and purification and the blood to be poured as a

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 substitute symbolically for us? Why the hyssop branch? And well, the basic answer is God was

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 saying, hey, just wait 1,500 years, and you'll find out. Because in this moment, we see that this

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 metaphor of the whole of the purification system, of what it means to be cleansed by the blood of the

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 lamb is being used. You see, just like the Israelites would have put the hyssop branch to the wooden

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 doorpost with the blood of the lamb, saying, the lamb is our substitute. So in this moment, the hyssop

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 branch reaches up and touches the blood of the lamb, the lamb himself on that wooden post, saying,

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 this is the substitute. This is the lamb of God who has taken away the sins of the world. This is the one

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 who thirsts in spiritual agony for our sins in this moment. Not only does the cross say that you are

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 personally loved, the cross says you are washed in the blood of the lamb. It says you are cleansed by

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 his blood. He drank the sour wine of the dregs of God's wrath all the way to the bottom so that you

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 could have your spiritual thirst quenched forever. Lastly, verse 30, he says, it is finished. Now, this is

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 that famous statement of Christ on the cross, tetelestai in Greek, and I mention that only because

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 it comes from the word telos in Greek, or goal, or purpose. So what is Jesus saying when he says it is

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 finished? And it's the word, my telos is fulfilled. My mission is the word telos. And so in this moment,

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 he's effectively saying, I've done it. I've experienced the agony of spiritual, of being forsaken

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 by God. I've done it. It's complete. I've done it for them. That's what he's saying in this moment. So

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 it's him saying, the thing I was always meant to do, the goal of my entire earthly incarnational

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 existence, the mission given to me by the Father, has been brought to its completion in this moment of

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 my agony. And now the effects of this completion will go forward into world history forever for my

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 people. That's what he's saying. It's, see what he's saying? He's saying, it's finished. I've done it.

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 Mission complete. And he's turning to you in that and implying this. I did it all. Don't dare think

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 it's you. Don't dare think that you can save yourself. I did it all for you. I did every bit

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 of it for you. You can't do any of it. And so when he says, it's finished, he's saying, I've left no

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 unfinished business when it comes to salvation. There is nothing left. You can't do anything.

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 I've done everything. You know, notice he didn't say, I am finished. I am spent. I've got nothing

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 left. He said, it is finished. And in John's gospel, John calls the cross his glorification,

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 his lifting up. This is a moment where he's shouting victory. He's not crying defeat. He's

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 shouting victory. It's finished. I've done every bit of it. So let me invite you as we finish.

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 Come to the Christ of the cross today in your soul, in your spirit, in your mind, in your heart,

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 in your emotions, in your thought life. And if you are saying today, I do need spiritual life

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 that I've never had before. I've been left thirsting for something to fulfill me that I've never quite

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 captured in romance and work and achievement and relationship and everything else this world has

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 to offer. I've never had it. If you want to come today and find spiritual fulfillment, it's in the

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 Christ of the cross, and you need do nothing but what the man in the gospel said. Just pray, Lord,

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 have mercy on me, a sinner. That's it. And the spiritual life of the cross is your life, your

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 fulfillment. He thirsted for you. That will be true. And believer in the room, as you come today on this

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 good Friday, and you say, the most evil, so good for us, leave today hearing, it is finished. He did it all.

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 You can't save yourself. There's nothing you can do. And so go Christian from here, and don't beat

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 yourself up every day. Don't self-flagellate and saying, I wish I were better. I wish I could do more.

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 I wish I could do something. I need to achieve more. Don't go do that. No, hear the words say,

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 he said to you today, it is finished. You can say, I know I'm forgiven. I know there is nothing I can add

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 to this. Jesus' death was not just a contribution to your salvation. It was the verdict of who you are

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 in Christ Jesus. And so if you're saying today, like we do every day, I've got to be better. I've

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 got to do more. That is not the essence of Christianity. The essence of Christianity,

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 it's already been done. Look at the bloodied man on the cross, personally undergoing spiritual agony

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 for your sins. Listen to him. Listen to him. Listen to him say to you today, it is finished. You are

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 forgiven. Let's pray. Father, we ask that we would hear, uh, tetelestai. It is finished that we would

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 believe that today. And I pray for someone in this room, maybe who is searching for spiritual

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 fulfillment, a thirst that's never been satisfied. They, they look to the waters of this life and have

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 not found them. And so they see today, maybe they were made for another life. And I pray,

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 oh Christ, that you would help them to hear that you thirsted for them. And so draw our hearts

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 towards the Christ of the cross as we sing this final hymn. And we pray that in Christ's name. Amen.