Alright, if you've got your Bibles, and I hope you do, I want you to follow along with me this morning and turn to John 19. John 19. I want to look at verses 28 and 29. We come to the fifth of the seven sayings of Jesus on the cross. We were studying through Matthew. We got to the cross. We studied one. And I thought, let's get everything. I want to get every word. And I think Spurgeon said this. He said, we do well to dwell upon every syllable. of the matchless words of Christ from the cross. So that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to go through and get everything that we could out of it. And today we're looking at the fifth of the seven sayings. This one is the shortest of all seven. This one is two words in the English, and it would be one word in the Greek. This one is spoken right before he dies. I mean, this is just moments before Jesus says it is finished and he dies and breathes his last breath. And I think these two words, I thirst, this will be the easiest one for all of us here to memorize. If you want to memorize any of these statements, grab this one. This one is meant to show us the depths of his suffering. That's what this is about. This verse here, these two that we're going to look at, these words, are words of profound suffering. And so I titled the sermon today, The Suffering Words of Christ. So let's stand together. I'm going to read these two verses. We stand in honor of the reading of the Word of God. And we have two verses here. You won't stand long. But I want you to hear these words that Jesus said moments before He died. These are the suffering words of Christ. And you need to hear them as if they are being said with profound suffering. So starting in verse 28, it says, And after this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, as the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was said a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and they put it upon Hyssop, and they put it to his mouth. That's the two verses we're going to study today. These two words out of the seven statements that Jesus made, I think there's eight sentences and fifty words total we're going to study too. I thirst. And I think you'll see just how deep His suffering was. And it's not just that we want to see what He suffered, we need to see who He suffered for. He suffered for you and me. So let's study these words. Let's pray together and we'll study the suffering words of Christ. Father, we thank You for these words. And as Spurgeon said, we need to dwell upon every single syllable of these matchless words. There's treasure to be found in every single word. So God, I pray today that we wouldn't overlook our thirst as if it's just a statement said to be passed by. But these are words that we need to hear today. We need to know just how deep the suffering was. And not just that it was deep in that He suffered, but He suffered for me. We'll never understand the cross until we know that it was done for me. So God, teach us that today. That our Savior suffered for me. And God, I think these are words that we all need to hear. We all need to take them to memory. So God, teach us these things today. And we ask and pray them in Jesus' name. Amen. You can be seated. There are many, many, many ways that you can die. I'll say this, there are no, as many as you look, as some of you could say, I want to die this way or I want to die that way, there are no good ways to die. But there are many bad ways to die. There are some ways, and I looked it up this week, there are ways to die that you want to stay away from, that nobody wants to die in these ways. I actually Googled what are the worst ways to die. And out of all those lists that I looked at, here's the ones that always showed up. The list included some of the worst ways to die. One of the top ones was to burn to death. Nobody wants to burn to death. It's a terrible, awful way to die. Nobody wants to suffocate. That's a terrible way to die or to drown. I found it fascinating that on the list, every list that I read was to fall from a very high place. One of them said to fall out of an elevator shaft. I don't know who's doing that, watching too many movies. Or to fall and you're jumping out of an airplane. I don't know who's going to do that. And the parachute not open. But to know that you're going to die and you're falling from a very great height. These are terrible ways to die and you want to avoid them at all costs. So stay as far away from elevator shafts and jumping out of airplanes. So out of all these, you might be surprised that every list included in the worst ways to die was crucifixion. On every list and most at the top of every list was the die of crucifixion. And it's been said of Cicero, who is an ancient Roman historian, that the crucifixion is the most cruel and terrifying death that you could imagine. Josephus, a Jewish historian who had friends that he would have watched die on the cross, said that the crucifixion was the most pitiable of all deaths. There was another author who said this, and I love this quote. He said, the penalty of crucifixion combined all that the most ardent tormentor could desire. It's everything that a tormentor could put into one place. It's torture, it's pillory, it's degradation and certain death. And all of this is distilled slowly, drip by drip by drip. Which means it's not fast. It's meant to suffer and to torture and to let it play out as long as it can. It was the death of all deaths. It was a manufactured hell on earth. That's what crucifixion is. And up to this point in John 19, Jesus has taken every last bit of it. Here we are at the end. He's been on the cross for almost six hours now. And He's been through atrocious physical suffering. Misery upon misery. Hats of torment. No one has ever suffered physically the way Jesus did for six hours. He's facing hell on the cross. And it's not just physical suffering. It's unimaginable spiritual suffering that we studied last week where he said, my God, my God, why have You forsaken me? That in the midst of the worst physical suffering that anybody could ever imagine, his father turned his back on him. Darkness on the cross. And he felt the depth of all that suffering. And here now he comes to the final moment. It's almost over. He's moments away from dying. And he says these two words, I thirst. These are the first words that he would speak of physical suffering. These are maybe the most surprising words that he spoke. You say, why are they surprising? You get this. Because the one that is called the water of life is dying of thirst. Because the one that created the rivers and the oceans Johnny talked about it this morning in Sunday school. The firmament above the heavens. The waters below. The One who separated the expanse and placed the waters where He wanted them is now without a drop. The One who waters the fields. I thought it was the providence of God that was pouring the rain when we came in this morning. Because every drop of rain that falls from the heavens comes from the hand of God. and the one who waters the fields now is dying with parched lips." These are surprising words. I'll give you this. The one that is spoken of in heaven that is a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal that proceeds from the throne of God and of the Lamb is now crying for relief. These are surprising words. And I want us to study them. I want us to look at them. I want us to see how incredible they are. I think there's so much that we can learn from two words. I want to take it, and you guys know how I do things, I want to take these two words and squeeze every last drop of truth that we can get out of them. So you'll understand why He said on the cross, I thirst. This is not a throwaway comment. These are not just two words that He said in passing. These words are so rich and so full to show us how far He went to suffer for us. So let's look at these two words. I thirst. And see the suffering words of Christ. Two words. Three points. You guys ready for this? I want to show you number one. What Jesus knew when He said, I thirst. Because here in verse 28, before he says, I thirst, it tells us exactly what's in the mind of Christ. What is He thinking? What did He know when He said, I thirst? What was in His mind? He says in verse 28, after this, which moves things along, He's going from verse 24, the gambling, where the casino at the foot of the cross, where the Roman soldiers are throwing dice for His clothes and saying who's going to get this and who's going to get that. We're moving from that. We move from the casino at the cross to the scene of a heartfelt son handing his mother over to another disciple. We're moving on from that. And then it says, after this, Jesus knowing. He knew. Again, telling us what's on his mind before he says these words. We know that He knows all things. That He's omniscient. That there's nothing He doesn't know. And here He is on the cross. And what does He know? What is He thinking? What's going through His mind while He's in His last moments? Get this. All kinds of people die and are on their deathbed. And you wonder what's going through their mind. Here is Jesus on the death cross. And He tells us what's on His mind. Look what it says. Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished." What a strange word. He knows. He's dying on the cross and he knows that all things were accomplished. It's a strange word to say of someone who's suffering. Accomplished? You're dying and you want to say, I've accomplished? That's what it's saying here. He's dying on the cross and it says this is not a word of a victim. Accomplishment is not a word of somebody who's a victim. It's the word of somebody who is a victor. I took my kids to my mom and dad's house not too long ago. Mom was cleaning out a closet. I want to make sure she didn't throw some of my stuff away. I love that stuff. It's been there for 15 years. I've never seen it, but I love every bit of it. And we're pulling things out of the closet. And I'm pulling out plaques. And I'm pulling out trophies. I'm pulling out home run balls. And I'm laying them all out in that bedroom. And I look at my boys and say, look at what your dad has accomplished. 20 years ago, I did all that. These are my accomplishments. Look what I've done. Look at this. I did these things. That's what this Word is. How can you dial on a cross and say, I'm accomplishing something? That's what he's thinking in his mind. I'm accomplishing. Again, not the words of a victim, but the words of a victor. He knows what He's doing. Jesus isn't a victim on the cross. He's our victorious Savior. He's accomplishing not a home run ball, not an MVP, not a most improved, not a participation. He's accomplishing our salvation. That's what He's doing. And that's on His mind that I have accomplished all things. That no man has taken my life, but I willingly and voluntarily laid my life down to accomplish salvation. He's accomplishing this. It tells me here, and I want to move on, that Jesus on the cross is the one in the driver's seat. He's the one in control. It's not the soldiers. It's not the Jewish leaders. It's not the devil. The one driving this scene is Jesus. I like that. At the worst moment, at what would be his lowest, he is minutes from dying. In a moment that seems out of control, he is in full and total control. He's accomplishing something. The cross becomes a pulpit to preach the sovereignty of Almighty God. That as he stands there and he's thinking, I've accomplished. He's saying I'm in full, total, complete control of everything that's happening here on the cross. And you know what? It's true then on the cross and it's true for you today. At your lowest and at your worst, even at your last breath, everything is under the control of the sovereign God. That's good to know. When the world seems in chaos, when things seem so strange in our world today, we need to understand that if He's in control here, He's in control now. Even over the tiniest of details. This is where we move on. What's He thinking? That all things were now accomplished. I love that word. I underlined it. It's a similar word to what He'll say in verse 30 under it is finished. Not the same word, but similar. So he says that if all things were accomplished, just how much control does he have on the cross? Okay, he has control in that he's dying for sin. Okay. But I think he has more control than that. That he's in control of even the tiniest of details on the cross. Because he now says, knowing that all things were accomplished, and that the Scripture might be fulfilled, he says, I thirst. So when he says the words, I thirst, he's saying them on purpose. He's saying the words, I thirst to fulfill Scripture. I said down to the tiniest of details. These are two words in the English and one word in the Greek. And we look at them and you read through your Bible studies and you read past that and it's kind of a throw away two words. But even down to these two words or the one word in the Greek, God is in complete control of the smallest of details. One word here. And he's saying it in order to fulfill Scripture. It goes back to Psalm 69 or Psalm 22. Both speak of the thirsting on the cross and them giving them vinegar to drink. And Jesus is here in His dying moments quoting Scripture. Checking it off His list. I don't know if that's on His mind. That He's going through His mind and He's thinking, I've got this to do and this to do and this to say. I've got to get all these things done on the cross before I can die. I've got to say, I thirst. And Jesus knew Scripture. He mastered Scripture. He memorized Scripture. And His mind is razor sharp to the point here He's saying, I thirst. Fully aware of what's going on. Knowing in advance. At no time was Jesus mentally in the dark. He knows what's going on. Everything is fulfilling Scripture. It's all according to the plan of God. Down to the tiniest of details, even the words, I thirst. Every detail written beforehand. This has been the case his whole life. From the moment he was born through the entirety of his ministry and every detail on the cross was in fulfillment of Scripture. He's just checking it off a list. Every Saturday I get up in the morning and I make a list of things I have to do to get ready for Sunday morning. I love it on my phone. You can put those little dots. And it feels so good to click it and there's a checkmark on it. Checkmark. And it's as if He's on the cross saying, I've got to say this and I've got to say that. And I've got to do this and I've got to do that. He's in control to the point where He's not going to die too soon. He's not going to die too late. He's going to die exactly according to the plan of God. You say, give me that. Show me that. Look at this with me. Just in this passage. And I might move on. I don't know. I've had people challenge me. Can you preach an hour on two words? Don't challenge me like that. Look at verse 24. They said, therefore, among themselves, let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Verse 28, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Verse 36. For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled. A bone of him shall not be broken. Verse 37, and again, another Scripture says, they shall look on him whom they have pierced. And that's just in this little passage here. I've got Psalm 41.9 that speaks of his betrayal. Psalm 31.11 that says his disciples will forsake him. Psalm 3511, that he'll be falsely accused. Psalm 22, that he'll say, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Isaiah 53 is as if Isaiah is watching everything unfold at the cross. Verse 7, he'll be silent. Verse 9, he'll be without sin. Verse 12, he'll be hanging with sinners. Verse 9, he'll be in a rich man's tomb. You want me to go on? Yeah. Psalm 109, He'll be mocked. Psalm 22, they'll gamble for His clothes. Psalm 31, He'll say, into thy hands I commend my spirit. Psalm 34, that no bone will be broken. Psalm 69, He'll say, I thirst. Every single detail of the cross has come from the foreordained plan of Almighty God. That's what's going on in His mind as He's dying. I'm accomplishing salvation according to my Father's plan. Nothing was left to chance. Every act, every detail, down to the smallest little words. Ah, thirst. He could have come down at any time. He could have created water like that. Why didn't he? He's got a plan to follow. He could have died. I mean, all those things could have killed him. Why didn't it? He's got a plan he's got to follow. He could have created water in his mouth like the rain that just fell on our church. We used to call them gully washers. The storm's coming down. He could have made it rain like that. But he's got a plan he's got to follow. He's on a schedule. He knew exactly what he had to do to accomplish our salvation, to save us, and he's going to do every single bit of it. The Bible says he was obedient unto death. even the death of the cross, doing exactly as He was told all the way to the end. That's what's on his mind. It's like he's crossing off a list and he won't stop until he gets to verse 30 and says, here's where I'm finished. We'll study that one next week. So that's what Jesus knew when He said, I thirst. You guys ready for number two? If that's what He knew, let me show you what Jesus felt when He said, I thirst. Because now we've got to get into it. What does it mean to say, I thirst? Verse 28, he says, I thirst. There's the two words. This is a cry of suffering. This is a cry not of spiritual pain, but of physical pain. The commentators say there's more pain and grief in these words than anyone could ever imagine. The commentators say that there's not one of us that will be here today that has really ever thirsted. My kids say they're thirsty and they drink non-stop. They say they're hungry and they never stop eating. They have no idea what it means to be thirsty and they have no idea what it means to be hungry. And we are so spoiled in America today that God has blessed us with so much and we praise God for it that we really don't know what it means to thirst. We don't know what it means to be hungry. We don't wake up in the morning and wonder where we're going to get our next drink. So we don't understand our thirst. When you say our thirst, and this is extreme thirst here. He's suffered immensely already. He's experienced terrible pain. His body is torn. He's been lacerated. His head has been punctured. His hands and his feet have been nailed. He's fighting for every breath. He's a pitiful figure. And on top of all that, he's now thirsty. I don't think he says it loud. We said last week that when he said, my God, my God, that he said it with a loud voice. He said it doesn't say whether he said it loud or quiet. But if you've ever been thirsty, have you tried to say something loud? I don't think he's saying it loud. I think it barely comes out. I think his lips are dry. I think they're cracked. I think his tongue is sticking to the roof of his mouth. I think he's got cotton mouth where he's just trying to get any kind of saliva that he can out of his mouth. I think it's quiet. I think it's a whisper. I think he's barely getting it out. I think just the people around the cross can hear this. I think it's the soldiers who have this mixture of vinegar. I heard a guy say this week that this mixture of vinegar was a Roman Gatorade that they would just take and rub on his lips. I think he's looking down at them saying, I'm thirsty. And barely getting it out. To be thirsty they say, I don't know, I've never been thirsty. Not like this. I carry around a half gallon of water with me all the time. I don't get thirsty. But they say to be thirsty is one of the worst pains you could ever imagine. They say it's agony. And he's not had a bite to eat or a drop of water since the upper room. Which means from the upper room where he went to the garden and sweated, drops of blood. I mean, he's losing water. And then the exertion of going from trial to trial, of carrying his cross, of being beaten of wrestling with the powers of darkness. Our body is over 60% water. And they say if you exert yourself and you're under extreme heat and circumstances that you will lose water rapidly. And that's what's going on here. And they say that the thirst has four stages. First, you feel thirsty. It's in your mouth. In your mouth, in your tongue, in your lips. Psalm 22 15 says my strength is dried up. My tongue cleaves to my jaws. It goes on to talk about how you feel like a desert in your mouth. That's where it starts is in the mouth. That's stage one, you feel it in your mouth, and then it goes to where you overheat. That's where it gets down inside you where there's no sweat, there's no water, there's nothing to cool you down. The Swedish word, I read this this week, the Swedish word for thirst has a root from fire. To where you begin to feel like you're on fire on the inside of you. So it starts in the mouth and your body can't cool itself down. So it's like a fire burning on the inside of your body and you're overheating and you have no water to cool yourself. So you're overheating on the inside. They say it's almost like hell inside your body. That's stage 2. Stage 3, your organs shut down. Kidneys shut down. You begin to be poisoned from the inside out. And stage four is death. I didn't want to tell you this, but on every list of the worst ways to die, thirst is on the list. So on top of everything else that he suffered, he now says, I thirst. And he felt every last bit of it. As a man, That's where you've got to get with this. He's suffering as a man. See, we understand. I know our church does. Because I preach it so much. Because there's such a debate today in our world over is Jesus really God? And we proclaim that from the rooftops that Jesus is God in the flesh. We believe that. That the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we love to proclaim Jesus is God. Jesus is Lord. We say that. We get that. We amen that. He is truly God. But let's not forget that He's also man. Truly God and truly man. And the word I thirst is a complaint of a man. Angels don't thirst. God doesn't thirst. Men thirst. This is Jesus thirsting as a man. Truly man. Sinless man. Jesus was born as men are born. Jesus was raised as men are raised. Jesus was trained and taught by His mother as men are raised and taught. Jesus lived as men live. He drank as men drank. He needed water just like men need water. He ate just like men eat. Jesus got tired. Jesus slept. Jesus wept. And Jesus suffered here as a man. We need to get this. He earlier said no to a narcotic that would dull the pain because he wants it all. He wants his mind to be clear. He wants to be able to quote Scripture. He doesn't want to relieve any of the pain. He wants the fullness of the suffering in his body as a man. He takes it all. He knows it all. He didn't escape one bit of the pain and the suffering on the cross. This is depths of suffering that no one will ever know. And you say, why did he do it? Why would he suffer like this? Why didn't he do all the pain? And I've got one reason for you. To sympathize with us. It's so common for people to walk into my office and to say, I'm suffering. Because we live in a world of suffering. We live in a world of pain and agony. A world of thirsty and hungry. And they walk into my office and they say, does anyone understand? And they look at me and they say, do you understand? And I have to look at them and say, I don't. I don't know what that's like. I've never really been thirsty. I've never really been hungry. I don't know how you're suffering. I've suffered in my own ways, but not your ways. I don't understand. I can try to sympathize. I can think and maybe put myself in your shoes. I don't know. And they say, well, who does? I know somebody who can sympathize with everything you're going through. I know somebody who knows. I know somebody who cares. I know somebody who has been in your shoes. And anything you've suffered and anything you've faced, He's faced it. And more! He sympathizes. He's able to completely and totally understand everything that we go through. Our pain. and our needs. I thirst is the words of a slave. I thirst is not the words of a rich man. Rich people have plenty. Poor people have nothing. Jesus goes all the way to the depths of dying without even one single drop of water. That's a poor man. so that anyone in this world, and I'm sure there are people all over this world today, who would love a drip of water. And they could look up to heaven and say, does anyone understand? And we can point them to two little words that everybody overlooks in John 19 and say, He understands everything you're facing. He's been there. He's done that. He understands. Even our thirst, He understands. God knows. God understands. We sing a song that says, Jesus knows our every weakness. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Isn't that great comfort today? Somebody sitting here who's not suffering. Somebody sitting here whose life is just perfect. They may say this. They see this and say, ah, that's no big deal. But you've been through some stuff. When I was a kid, I'd hear this and say, I don't need anybody to sympathize with me. Do you see all my accomplishments? I've never thirsted, I've never been hungry, I've never been sick, I've never taken a kid to the hospital, I've never heard a bad diagnosis, but you live long enough and you will. You live long enough and you'll go to your deathbed just like Jesus is on his death cross. And you're going to need somebody to walk you through that. And there's only one that can take you by the hand and say, I've been there, I've done that, let me walk you through it. And do you know what he's done the entire time? He's walked through this worst time that anybody could ever imagine. And we go back to point number one. And he never stopped being obedient to Scripture. I tell people when they're suffering, I don't know what you're going through. I know he does. And I know what he did. And if you do what he did, God will take care of you just the way He took care of him. I thirst. We can take it to Him in prayer. We can push through our times of suffering because Jesus felt every last drop of suffering. I've showed you what He knew when He was set athirst. I've showed you what He felt every last bit of the suffering of athirst as a man. Now I want to go to the last point. It says in verse 29, He drank. But I want to show you what Jesus meant when He said, I thirst. What Jesus knew, what Jesus felt, and now what Jesus meant. Because it had to be more. I'm sitting here and I'm reading this and I'm thinking there has to be more to this than just physical suffering. And if there's not, I'm cool with that. If all this is teaching us is that Jesus suffered as a man according to the will of God the Father, and He's showing us sympathy, I could stop at point number two and we'd be done and get out of here. Y'all would pat me on the back and say, I love my pastor. But I kept reading this and thinking there has to be more to this than just the physical suffering of Jesus. And I started to put all the Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John passages together and put it in order and I thought there has to be more. And here's where I get. Jesus has just went through the passage we looked at last week. My God, why have You forsaken me? Where God turned out the lights all over the globe and it was dark for three hours. Are you with me on that? Yeah. The judgment of God was falling. So when Jesus had just finished three hours of darkness, so there had been no sun, there had been no heat, there had been no breathing of hot air. We just had terrible heat the last few weeks here. You'd get outside and you could breathe the hot air. I'd get thirsty walking from the front door of my car. It was hot. It felt like a sauna everywhere you went. Hot. Heat. Like fire coming out of your mouth that was so hot. Can you imagine the desert? But, it had been dark for three hours. He hadn't been breathing that. Darkness in the desert gets kind of cool. Maybe even a breeze. So I'm thinking, no sun, no heat, complete darkness. Not breathing the hot air. And as soon as the lights come back on, he says, I thirst. There's more to that than this. It's not just a physical thirst. Here's what's happening. He'd went through three hours of darkness. Judgment had fallen on Him. The judgment of God had fallen on His Son. He turned His back. And Jesus had taken the cup of God's wrath out of His Father's hand. And He had drank it dry. We heard from Him in the garden about three months ago. That He said, if it be Thy will, let this cup pass from Me. But not My will, but Your will be done. And during those three hours of complete darkness, He had taken from His Father's hand the cup of indignation, the cup of wrath, the cup of condemnation, the cup of judgment, and He had drank every last drop of it all the way down for three hours so that there wasn't a drop of wrath left in the cup. He tasted death. Hebrews 2 says. He tasted the heat of God's wrath. He went through the darkness of hell. He swallowed the hot wrath of Almighty God. He tasted sin. He was not a sinner. He took our sin. I like John 4. You've got to follow the water theme of John. John 2, he turns water into wine. Like that. John 4, he meets a lady at the well who had so much sin in her life, adultery, fornication, been married six times, now living with a man that wasn't her husband. Sitting there at the well, and he said, if you keep drinking of the water of this world, which is sin, that's what he's talking about, you keep drinking of that, you'll never be satisfied! Because that's what sin does. It doesn't satisfy. It makes you more thirsty. It dries you up. That's what David said, I think, in Psalm 32 after all of his sin. He said, my moisture is turned to the drought of summer. That sin will dry you up. He told that lady to her all. It's going to dry you up. But if you drink of the water that I give, you'll never thirst again. So the water that the world offers, which is sin and ungodliness, will make you miserable. It will not quit any of your thirst. That's why there's so many unsatisfied people in our world today. They're chasing the wrong things. It drives them off. It doesn't quit your thirst. Sin just makes you more thirsty. And he had tasted sin. And he said, I thirst. I've got more. He had tasted death. Hebrews 2.9, He tasted the death of all men. When He drank that cup, He tasted sin. When He drank that cup, He tasted death. You want another one? He tasted hell. He had swallowed the hot wrath of hell. You say, you're going to have to prove that to me. Luke 16. Turn there. Verse 19. There's a certain rich man. Which is clothed with purple and fine linen, and he fared sumptuously every day. He had everything he'd ever wanted. There was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate full of sores. Desiring to be fed of the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table, more of the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and he was buried. And in hell, in hell, in hell, in hell, he lifted up his eyes. Being in torment, he sees Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and he said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me. And send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. You know what hell's like? Being thirsty. Like being thirsty. I think some of the worst deaths that you could ever imagine. Like you're falling. We said that one, didn't we? Like you're suffocating. Like you're drowning. and like you're thirsting, and hell is just burning on the inside out, like you're being poisoned inside your body. Hell is not just a spiritual punishment, it is a physical punishment. Don't fear him who can kill your body, but fear him who can kill both body and soul and cast them into hell. It's a physical and a spiritual suffering in hell. And Jesus has now tasted what it's like in hell to thirst. He just, all He wanted, do you see that? All He wanted was that He may dip the tip of His finger in water and just cool my tongue for I am tormented. We said the cross was a torment. It was a torture. That's what Jesus is going through here. He's being tortured or tormented. He's tasting sin. He's tasting death. He's tasting hell. And He says, I thirst. This is more than just a physical suffering. He says, I thirst. And now, He drank back to John 19. When He says, I thirst, You've got to see the whole picture. For three hours he had drank my cup of wrath. For three hours he had took what belongs to me. For three hours he had taken my cup of sin. For three hours he had taken my cup of death. For three hours he had taken my cup of hell and he had drank it down so that there is not one sip left for me to take. Romans says there is now no condemnation to those who have crossed Jesus. Not one drop of punishment will fall on a believer in Christ. He's taken it all. He drank my eternal condemnation so that now He can offer me eternal satisfaction. That's so good. I'm sure you all clap over that one. He took my cup. I've got to repeat myself. He took my cup of eternal condemnation and damnation. And He drank it down. so that He can now turn and offer me eternal satisfaction. There's two cups. There's the cup of wrath that He drank for three hours and said, I thirst. And there's the cup of salvation. You say, what is that? It reminds me of John 7. Don't hurry. We're going to be here a while. Take your time. John 7. Just follow with me here. I'm almost done. John 7. I've got a big Gatorade today. I can preach for a while. John 7, 37. In the last day, in the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and He cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. He's offering us eternal satisfaction. Do you know how many points I can get out of that? I've got five. These themes just keep flowing through. John 2 turns water into wine. John 4 offers that sinful woman who had been drinking out of the wrong cistern a life of sin. He says, if you'll drink of what I give you, you'll never thirst again. Eternal satisfaction. This won't satisfy, but what I have will. And John 7. And we need to teach people this. They think that being a Christian is so sound. Right? As we come to church, it's the greatest thing in all the world. Jesus will satisfy you here and He'll satisfy you for eternity. That's what He's offering. And He offers it in John 7. He says in verse 37, I've got point number 1, He gives a personal invitation. I love this. If any man, underline it, circle it, highlight it. It's basically the whosoever of John 7. He's saying there, I give an open invitation. It's a crowd full of people. If any of you... This is as if... This is better than my name being written in the Bible. I don't know if you ever think about that. That God hung the stars in the sky and He knows every single one of them by name. But He knows me even better. And when he says here in verse 37, if any man, that's as if he's saying if Joshua Gerald Tompkins thirsts, my name's there. Your name's there. If anybody here has a thirst, let him come unto me. That's an open invitation to anybody who wants to come. That's point number one. It's a personal invitation. Your name's there. Write your name in. You can put your name and your address. You say there's more people named that than me. Put your address. You're there. If any man... Point number two. Desperate invitation. Thirsts. Thirsts. I've read so much about thirsts this week. Somebody check my Google history. They think I'm the thirstiest man in the world. What's the signs of dying of thirst? Now get that guy a cup of water. They say the desire, the need that when you're thirsty, nothing drives you like thirst. Not even hunger. Thirst is the greatest desire that a human has. that when you're in a desert and you haven't had water for days, you will crawl on your hands and knees anywhere you can go trying to get whatever it is you're after. That's what thirst is. It's a great desire. It's a great need. I'll do whatever I have to do to have my thirst quenched. Does anybody have that kind of need? Do you have that desire? Are you that desperate? Sometimes before God saves people, He has to get people desperate enough to want Him. You don't know you're thirsty. You don't know you need to drink until you know you're thirsty. We're sitting out here telling all kinds of people that they need water. Don't tell them why. They don't know how sinful they are. They don't know what He's offering here. They don't know that He took the cup of damnation and wrath and is now offering the cup of satisfaction. People thirst for the wrong things. They're after the wrong things. Things that will not quench their thirst. Didn't Jesus say in the Sermon on the Mount? If you hunger and thirst for righteousness, you shall be filled. You've got to want it. You've got to come running for it. You've got to desire it. So it says a personal invitation of any man, a desperate invitation is thirst. And a clear invitation, there's only one place to go to have it quenched. Look what it says. You didn't know I'd preach another passage today, did you? If any man thirsts, where does he tell him to go? Let him come unto me. I circled me. Because you can't go anywhere else in the world to find satisfaction other than Jesus Christ. There's so many people, and I say this, you need to get this. They're going all over the place. They'll go to false religion. There are people who are thirsting for the satisfaction of their souls that only Jesus can bring and they're dying of thirst in Mormon churches. Drying up like a desert in Catholic churches. Going to all these false religions thinking that when they go there, they'll find satisfaction for their soul. But there's only one that can satisfy that need that you have and it's Jesus Christ! He's the only one that has it! He's drank your sin and wrath so you can have His satisfaction. People even sitting in churches, like the arts, thinking just being here will satisfy your soul. No, no, no. You need to come not to church. You need to come to Jesus. Let's keep going. It's a believing invitation. If any man thirsts, let him come unto Me. I like this. And drink. And I've got an arrow that went from drink to verse 38, He that believeth on Me. You see that? The word drink and the word believe, it's the same thing there. He's showing us that to believe is a lot like to drink. To put your faith in is a lot like you drink. And when you drink something in, you take every last drop of it. This is so good. It's like he took every last drop of wrath and condemnation and hell and indignation When we believe in Jesus, we take every last drop of who He is and what He did. Don't take a sip. People like to split it, like you can split a drink, you know. I don't like that part of my water. I like this part. They'll say, I don't like that part of Jesus. I like this part. I don't like what He said here. I like what He said here. And then they try to split it up. You can't do that. You take all that is and all that He did, or you take none of it. Not a taste. Not a little drop. Not a Presbyterian sprinkle. We baptize. We immerse. We go all the way. That's what it means. That's the belief. Take every last drop of it. And if you do that, it will be a satisfying invitation. You see what it says? And he that believeth on Me, as the Scripture says, it will go all the way down to his belly. Do you see that? When you drink, where does it go? All the way down. And all through you, you'll know satisfaction like you've never known in your entire life. You'll know a quench. There it is. Have you ever been out in the sun? I have. I was out in the sun doing some work this week. Burning up. Sun down on me. A hundred degrees. Doing some landscaping. So thirsty. I looked at the guys I was working with and I said, it's the providence of God that he's got me out here doing this on the week I'm preaching I thirst. As I went to my car and I got my little half gallon of water, and I drank that thing dry. And I got done, I put it down, and I said, ah. And I thought, you know what? That's exactly what salvation is like. I found exactly what I've been looking for my entire life. And I am completely and totally satisfied. I don't need to go anywhere else. I don't need nothing else. There are no other options out there. Today is my 18th wedding anniversary. And I say this, I've been married for 18 years and I've been saved for 18 years. And if I had a thousand lives to live, I'd choose to marry Steph all over because ain't nobody else out there that can satisfy me like my wife can. She meets every need. She loves me to death. and I ain't trying nobody else but Jesus either. I'm exactly on the path that I'm supposed to be on. I found who I'm supposed to be with, I love my wife, I love my savior, and he has quenched every single thirst that I've had. Out of my belly flows rivers of living water. It's a satisfying, thirst-quenching, cleansing, And when you put your faith in Christ, it's like a monsoon in the driest heat and desert that you could imagine. It's a gully washer. And that's what Jesus means when he says, I thirst. He thirsts on the cross. So we will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever thirst again. So you, as if you're the only person in the entire world that's ever lived, will never, ever, ever, ever, ever thirst again. So that you will know comfort beyond all comfort. So that you will know relief. So that you will know satisfaction. That's what He's offering. There's an invitation in those words. And I'll close with this. You want to know the worst way to die? I named, what would I name to be suffocated, to drown, to burn, to fall in an elevator shaft, to thirst. But out of all those ways to die, the worst way that, and Google don't get this, but the worst way anybody could ever die is without Jesus Christ. That's the worst. So I offer you today, if you're without Jesus, I told you, avoid these ways to die. Didn't I say that? You guys have no idea how I plan these sermons. I'm going to come full circle for this thing. Avoid these deaths at all costs. Do everything you can. Stay away from elevator shafts. Don't jump out of airplanes, even if you've got a parachute and a backup. Don't drown. Don't burn. Always have water with you so you don't thirst. Avoid that. Don't die that way. But the main way, do not die without Jesus. Avoid that at all costs. Do everything you can to not die without Jesus. You say, what do I have to do? John 7 says you just have to believe in Him. And if you believe in Him, the Scripture says out of His belly will flow rivers of living water. You put your faith in Him, He'll save you. So I put before you today two options. You can die and have the cup of eternal condemnation and damnation waiting for you. Where the Father will hand you a cup of wrath and you will drink it for all eternity. And you will thirst. and you will thirst and you will suffer physically and spiritually unlike anyone could ever imagine, that cup will be waiting for you. Avoid that. Or I offer you today. Imagine that. I'm offering you a cup of wrath. The wrath of Almighty God to drink down sin and death and hell. Or I'm offering you the cup of eternal satisfaction as you'll be saved and cleansed and quenched and satisfied now and throughout all eternity. Here's your cups. Here's what you have the option to drink today. Who turns down the cup Jesus offers? You'd have to be a fool Don't be a fool. Take the cup of salvation. Take the cup of satisfaction. Take the cup of forgiveness and of relief. It's so easy. All you have to do is say, I take what Jesus offers. I believe in Him. I receive it by faith. And I drink it down to the last drop. And you'll be saved today. So I invite you to drink of the cup of the living water. And for those of you who are saved here today, which I say most, I invite you to enjoy the salvation that He's given you. I'm so tired of the bitter, the sour, the miserable. That's not what He intended for us to be. That's not what I want to be. When you take that cup of eternal satisfaction, it doesn't mean that your life will be perfect. It doesn't mean that. Jesus was a sinless man and said, I thirst on a cross. Don't you think we won't go through some stuff? But when you take the cup of eternal satisfaction, when you go through some stuff, you'll have the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart to stay. What does it say? If the devil doesn't like it, he can sit on a tack. Ouch. You see? He said, why are you doing that? I plan these things. Because I said, I think everybody here, as I say, should have a little bit of joy in their life. And I'm looking out and everybody's like... So I said, I'll say sit on a tack and everybody will smile. And you did. You fell for it. Just hook, line and sinker. Because I think there needs to be a little joy in church. I think there needs to be a little bit of joy in our Christian life. I think there needs to be some posting on Facebook that's not, my life is so bad. You know, gas prices are so high. Milk costs $8 a gallon. I got five kids. I can't do it. You know, it needs to be, I got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart. That's where we need it and it's there to stay. To stay. I didn't say happy. I ain't got the happy, happy, happy, happy. Happy only determines my happenstances, what's going on in my life. Joy is there to stay. John 7 says if we take of the cup that He offers, rivers of living water, that's better than... There's so much joy in Him, it's better than going to the ocean. I know we love the beach, but Jesus is better than the beach. You'll stay at the beach for a week, walk away with all kinds of sand. And you'll be longing to go back in a year. Jesus gives so much better than the beach. I've got another one for you. Jesus gives so much better than the lake. People just need a lake. There's nothing wrong with a lake. It just won't satisfy like Jesus will. You see people that are miserable trying to go and find joy anywhere that they can. I love the ocean. I'm going to try my best to get there. I need the ocean. But not like I need Jesus. The ocean will give me a week of joy. With five kids, probably not even a week. The lake will give you a weekend of joy. Maybe not even that. It's according to the weather. Alcohol. People run to alcohol. It will get you drunk for a day and a hangover tomorrow. They want a joy for a minute. I'm offering you Jesus who gives you joy now and through eternity. I don't know why people don't get it. Run to Jesus and He'll offer you what nobody and no place can offer you. We seem to be running from Jesus to other things today. You don't know the joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy that I know. That even here in the hot sun of Big Stone Gap, Virginia, I can have the joy, joy, joy, joy. And if you don't like it, you can sit on a tank. I'm going to close. Let me read to you a verse. Revelation 22. This is at the very end of the Bible. Last chapter, one of the last verses. Revelation 22, 17. Can you imagine that? That down to the very last chapter and some of the last verses. And the Bible is still inviting people. I love it. I've got an outline for verse 17. How much time do I got? I don't. Verse 17, "...and the Spirit and the bride say, Come." You see that? I told you that I want my... the picture that people have in me of their minds when I'm gone is like this right here. Arms wide open saying, Come. The Bible, Jesus, all the time. Come on. What's this? Spirit and bride say, Come. Let him that heareth say, Come. Let him that is athirst You see that? Come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Doesn't cost you a thing. I was thinking this week, and I got to close, that the price of everything is going up. And it is. I took Steph out for an A anniversary dinner yesterday, Olive Garden. Used to cost us about $50, $60. I thought, my kids are getting older, it might be $70, $110. For pasta? I saw that bill, I said, Steph, get every one of those breadsticks and put them in that bag. We couldn't put the salad in a bag. Everything's going up. Gas prices going up. Milk going up. Eggs going up. Everything going up, going up, going up, going up, going up. Everybody talking about inflation. Can't afford this, can't afford that. And I thought, what the church offers has never gone up. It's free. It's free, without cost. How can you offer something so great for free? Because Jesus paid every last dime of it on the cross. Because Jesus said, I thirst, I can offer you the water of life for free. That's why the cost will never go up here. You may pay more out there, but it's already been paid in here. And if you want it, you can have it, and you can have it for free. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that you said, I thirst on the cross. Two little words, one in the Greek, with so much meaning. And I pray, God, that you take it and use it, and let it accomplish exactly what you set it out to do today. That those here who are unbelievers, that they would see the satisfaction that can only be found in Jesus Christ. That they would desire it, they'd want it, they'd need it, they'd run for it. They wouldn't be able to leave without saying, I must put my faith in Jesus. Nothing else is satisfying me. And I pray for those of us who are believers here, that we would live the life that You've given us, satisfied, thankful for all that You've given us. Those words are so precious to me, I thirst. May we never forget them. May we have them etched in our memories. May every time we read these words, may every time we take a drink of water, we remember what You have done for us on the cross. And we ask and we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.