And let us turn in the Old Testament to Exodus, chapter 12. And our lesson will be taken then from Exodus 12, verses 21 to 27. Let us hear now God's holy word as he speaks. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians. And when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. It will come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord will give you, just as he promised, that you shall keep this service. And it shall be when your children say to you, what do you mean by this service, that you shall say it is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians and delivered our households. So the people bowed their heads and worshiped. It ends the reading of this portion of God's holy word. In our scripture lesson, let us turn to the gospel of John 19. And our lesson will be drawn from verses 25 to 30. Let us hear the Word of God in these verses of Scripture. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother and his mother's sister Mary, wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing by, He said to his mother, Woman, behold your son. Then he said to the disciple, Behold your mother. And from that hour, that disciple took her to his own home. And after this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst. Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there, and they filled the sponge with sour wine and put it on hyssop and put it to his mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. Let us pray together. In your thirst, O Lord, we pray, enable us to understand what you meant by expressing your heart and your agony in this moment as you were atoning for our sins. Help us understand what you meant and how we may profit by it ourselves. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Two words we read in the Bible, only two, I thirst. That's all he said at this point in his suffering. And yet how much he said by those two words, it expands our understanding of his suffering. It gives us an understanding of what he understood he was going through at that time. And it gives us hope. Jesus himself, according to the other synoptic Gospels, had just gone through a terrible ordeal of great pain and agony of the spirit, when in the darkness of those three hours in which he hung from the cross, he cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And in those words, he expressed his spiritual agony as the sins of the world, your sins, my sins, were being laid upon him. And he was experiencing sorrows. But the sorrows that he was experiencing were experienced in the darkness of the hour. Sorrows so deep and so hidden that the natural man cannot understand them. So they are hidden from the sight of man. But now in these words, I thirst. He's not speaking to God. He's speaking to other men. And in those words and in that expression, Jesus is actually drawing us closer to his own experience and misery, that we might gain a closer glimpse into how he himself was participating in the act of atonement. He's drawing us to see his involvement, his choices to say these words, that we might get a better understanding of how he participated in this atonement on our behalf, paying for our sins. And this participation of his we see in three ways. First, he's expressing physical agony. And second, These words expose him to final humiliation. And third, these words reveal his participation in the fulfillment of prophecy. Wow, all that in those two little words. Yes, that's the most obvious thing that Christ is revealing to us, of course, of his own physical agony. He's expressing it. He's expressing his agony. You see, thirst is the most terrible of ordeals. People just don't die of thirst. They agonize in their dying of thirst. If you read of accounts of those who have been lost in the desert, they just don't die and wither away. They go through terrible ordeals physically in which their body reacts for the want of water. that man will forego anything before he will forego water. As Dr. Boyce quotes E. M. Blakelock, he says, Fierce thirst and the benediction of water which quenches it are intensely real in the Bible. In Genesis, the herdsmen of the patriarchs strive with the alien for the wells laboriously cut in the hot rock. In Exodus, the panic of thirst shakes and threatens Moses' leadership. Psalmists and prophets liken joy, happiness, life itself, God's grace, to the blessed stream and the fountain filled. Why, we go to John chapter 4, and how did Jesus introduce himself to the woman of the well? He asked her, give me water, give me a drink. In John 7, 37 and 38, Jesus cries out at the feast, if any man thirst, let him come to me and drink, and out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water. So, he explains, water became a symbol of the Holy Spirit. as is the baptismal water and the water of cleansing and purification of the Old Testament. But now, understanding the significance of water in the Scripture and man's need for water physically, consider then thirst in all that Jesus had gone through. Just consider now how dreadfully thirsty Jesus was physically. The last time Jesus saw water was when he washed his disciples' feet with it. And what did he have at the supper? Not water, but wine. At Gethsemane, he underwent a loss of water and blood in his agony. So heavily did he sweat and bleed from the pores of his skin that great drops are described as falling to the ground in Luke 24, 44. And after Judas betrayed him, he was led back into the city where he would undergo intense cross-examination on his feet, taking from one place to the next, slapping and buffeting in the house of Annas, where Caiaphas and he had been beaten right there by the guards. and then Pilate himself who had him scourged by a Roman phlegm that tore open his skin so that he bled freely and openly. And then the cross laid across his shoulders that he might carry it in the heat of the day on up the hill outside of the gates of Jerusalem onto the hill of Golgotha. And for six hours he hung bleeding. Now every joint is stretched and racked with pain. His whole body is burning with intense fever. His mouth is parched. And then he spoke words that were remarkably reflective of that parable Jesus taught of Lazarus and the rich man, how that in the fires of hell, Hades, The rich man cries out for Abraham, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame. And so Jesus, having gone through the fires of hell in those three dark hours, having cried, my God, why have you forsaken me? This same Jesus thirsted on the cross. and cries out two words, I thirst. Now, some have said that because Jesus was already God, he didn't feel suffering like you or I feel. This was an early heresy drawn out of Greek philosophy called docetism. in which it is said that only the good and real were spiritual, but all that was material and physical was actually unreal and evil, and that when it came incorporated into Christian faith, they said, well, Jesus really remained God, and he was really spirit, and therefore physical pain didn't mean anything to him. It only seemed like he was real. It only seemed like he suffered. Well, of course, we know that this is not true. This is no more true than you'll find in the Eastern religions that come into our land, the New Age philosophies, Hinduism, Buddhism, that all is not real. Christian science, you hear these same kind of teachings. But Scripture teaches us that Christ literally emptied himself of that which was divine, what they would call the real Christ emptied himself of. in order that he might take on the form of a servant and be obedient even to the death, the death of the cross. In other words, God became man to suffer like man and to die as a man. God became a man so that he would suffer thirst, so that when he said, I thirst, you know he really meant it. His words not only express physical agony, however, his words also express final humiliation. Verse 28, knowing all things had already been accomplished, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, he said, I thirst. Final humiliation, all things have been fulfilled. But what is this? Well, for all his agony that he was enduring, why did he ask for a drink now? Or was it what he was really asking? What was he seeking, actually, when he said, I thirst? Something to drink? To relieve his physical discomfort? Maybe extend his life a little longer? No, he didn't say, give me a drink, like he said to the woman of Samaria at the well. But he was, in a most timely and appropriate way, saying this, my suffering is intense. You see, in this way, He draws us in a little more closely. And of course, of all ways to express suffering, He would express it through the want of water, life-giving water. I thirst. I am suffering. When Jesus endured every other kind of physical suffering, he said nothing. As a lamb was led to his slaughter, so he opened not his mouth, said Isaiah 53. When he was scourged, he didn't say, my back is torn. When he was crowned with thorns, he didn't say, my head, my scalp is bleeding. When he was nailed to the cross, he didn't say, I can't stand the pain. Why express his thirst at this point after refusing the wine offered to him at first? You remember at first they had offered him wine in Matthew 27, 34. At the outset of the crucifixion he deterred, he refused that wine. Why? Because it was a narcotic-like painkiller that was offered to him to numb his senses. Leon Morris refers to that first offering of wine. He said, We read of the custom in an ancient manuscript. When one is led out to execution, he is given a goblet of wine containing a grain of frankincense in order to be numb his senses. For it is written, Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish and wine unto the bitter and soul. And it also has been taught, he adds, the noble women in Jerusalem used to donate and bring it. So this was what was offered to Jesus, and this is what Jesus refused. And why did he refuse it? For the very reason he tells his disciples, who would have rescued him in a ploy at any rate, to put away their sword, Peter particularly, because must I not bear that which the Father has given to me? In other words, must not he drink the cup of God's wrath to the full? And he must do it with a clear mind in order to be able to control all that was given to him to endure. So he refused that first offering of wine so that he might suffer to the full. But on this occasion, when Jesus says, I thirst, according to Luke 23, 36, the soldiers gave him what's called sour wine. But Luke explains they did it in order to mock him. Because wine vinegar wouldn't clear his throat, wouldn't refresh his senses. In fact, it would constrict his throat, his already parched throat. It would sting his cracked lips and parched mouth. And so it must have been a horrible disappointment to one who would cry for something to drink from the cross and only to receive wine vinegar. In other words, when Jesus was at his worst, the worst of men intensified it more. So the reason Jesus said, I thirst, was not in order to slake his thirst, nor in my opinion was it to clear his throat, as some have suggested, but it was to bear the final stroke of humiliation. I know some have suggested that the sour wine served to help clear his throat so he could utter his last words. I've heard that. You have probably heard that as well. But I'm inclined to think the opposite, in fact. For apparently his voice was not cleared by the vinegar. John does not indicate that he shouted, it is finished. He only said it. Now you go to Luke. Luke informs us that the very last words Jesus spoke is, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. But he didn't say that first. He said that later. How soon after it is finished, I don't know. But it was those last words that he said loudly. The words that followed immediately after taking the wine, John indicates, no volume. It was a legitimate request to clear his throat, certainly, but it became a final act of humiliation. Though he could command the waves with his words, he could not control a drop of water for his relief. Though he could turn water to wine for his mother, he couldn't turn wine to water for himself. And look, how did they extend this vinegar wine to Jesus? Through a branch of hyssop. Well, there's something significant about that, isn't there? You heard my reading of the scripture in Exodus 12, 22. how that the hyssop was used to dab in the blood of the lamb and put on the lintel and the doorpost of the house on that night of the great Passover, the first Passover, the night in which the angel of death would pass through Egypt and slay all the firstborn of those houses that were not marked by the blood. But what was it that put the blood on the doorpost? It was the hyssop. It was about an 18-inch long stalk. It had leafy ends. It itself served something of a sponge, even though it says the soldiers put a sponge on the hyssop. But what's the point of it? Well, hyssop then became a remblem to Israel of its lowliness and its tears spent in bondage in Egypt. So how appropriate that Christ, at his lowliest and in his greatest sorrow, when he said, I thirst, would receive from the hyssop the bitterness of this sour wine to parch his throat and sting his lips. That was the ultimate humiliation of Christ. And while heaven was denying him a beam of light, earth was denying him a drop of water. He didn't ask for a drink to live longer, but to die sooner. Jesus, knowing that all things were accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst. But his words also not only teach us about his physical agony and not only expose him to final humiliation, but his words also reveal his participation in the fulfillment of prophecy. His participation in the fulfillment of prophecy. Physical agony, final humiliation, fulfilling participation in prophecy. You see, Jesus had a consciousness throughout, of course, of prophecy being fulfilled. Nothing remained to be fulfilled now as he was on his sixth hour on the cross. Nothing remained to be fulfilled but that he expressed, I thirst and that he be given bitter wine or sour wine. He said to his disciples after the resurrection that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me. All things must be fulfilled. Luke 24, 44. And we have already seen in connection with the casting of lots for his garments at the foot of the cross, the importance of philosophy, of prophecy to be fulfilled. And we cited many prophetic statements that were made that Jesus did fulfill. We've already viewed these things before. but particularly concerning his thirst. There are these prophecies. Psalm 22, 15, My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws. You have brought me to the dust of death. Psalm 69, 3 that we read in our Psalter, I am weary with my crying, my throat is dry, my eyes fail while I wait for my God. In verse 21 of Psalm 69, they also gave me gall for my food and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. It was necessary, you see, that all Scripture be fulfilled just as it was expressed beforehand. And why? Stop and think. We all assume Scripture must be fulfilled. Scripture must be fulfilled. He has to fulfill all Scripture. But did you ever stop and scratch your head and say, why? Why must all Scripture be fulfilled? Why were there even prophecies made in advance that he had to fulfill them? And the reason is this. Scripture is given in advance. Prophecy is given to us so that when it is fulfilled, it assures those who believe that God's word is true and faithful. But also for those who do not believe, The fulfillment of Scripture convicts those who have hardened their hearts against God and makes their guilt plain and God's judgment true. He commanded it. He governed it. He accomplished it. And He all demonstrated it according to His unchangeable Word, and therefore by that Word He will redeem us, certainly by His Word, or He will judge those who have not believed it. By that Word. So that no man has an excuse. There's something different about this prophecy being fulfilled. There's something different about the fulfilling of this prophecy by Christ. It's that Christ proceeded to fulfill this prophecy himself by his own initiative. knowing that all things were accomplished and that one further thing needed to be accomplished. You see the difference? In most of the other prophecies about Christ, Jesus is not actively involved at all. He was foretold to be false witnesses to accuse him. It was foretold that he would be crucified with thieves. It was foretold that they would gamble for his garments. It was even foretold that not a bone of his body would be broken, as we shall see. And all of these things were fulfilled as prophesied. But Christ didn't have anything active to do with them. But in this case, Christ played an active part. In fact, we could see other occasions when Christ did, such as when a lamb is led to the slaughter, so he opened not his mouth. And Jesus didn't open his mouth in his own defense throughout. Praying for his enemies was foretold, and he did pray, Father, forgive them. Even yielding up his spirit into the hands of the Father was foretold. And Jesus played an active part. So now our Lord cries out, I thirst, and John makes the point of explaining that Jesus did so specifically in order that the scripture might be fulfilled. Verse 28, John 19, that is, Jesus, in obedience to the Father, acted to bring about the fulfillment of God's decree as revealed by the Holy Scriptures through his own action. How do we explain this? A doubter, a disbeliever would say he's trying to make it look like his execution was all prophesied by saying words that were already known to have been ascribed to the Messiah. Of course not. Of course it's not true. But this is one of the few points where I actually Disagree with Dr. James Boyce. He explains that what Jesus was doing on the cross is that he was. Scanning over the all the Old Testament prophecies and upon finding the prophecy about thirst, he then made the decision to say those words which were foretold about him to get that. Jesus, of course, had access to all the Word of God and so he scanned it, he says. But that doesn't exactly solve the problem of accusing Christ of trying to play out the role of a Messiah by quoting something that was ascribed to the Messiah so that they might think that he really was the Messiah. But Dr. Boyce goes on and he says it's like this. Concerning the prophecy of missions in the church, Jesus prophesied, the gospel of the kingdom will be preached as a testimony to all nations. Now, he says, he argues, that this prophecy should require us to stimulate missions. It should even stimulate us to stimulate missions, and thereby we will fulfill the prophecy. And that this is what Christ was doing. He read Psalm 22. He was stimulated. He was moved. He was inspired to say these words. And as it turned out, he did. And it accomplished prophecy. I don't think that that's the explanation. Bear with me in this. Because there's something very remarkably hidden in this that he includes us in on. I think that what is missed here is the uniqueness of Christ's utterance. That word, I thirst. The uniqueness of it. You see, Jesus is saying this as a result of his foreordained covenant with the Father in heaven before the worlds were even created. And that all that is in the mind of the Father is also in the mind of the Son. He is God come in the flesh. He is God incarnate. He is the word of God himself. And he's always expressing the father's nature. The father's will, you see, was already settled in the councils of heaven with the son before the world was made. And that is the basis of all Jesus would say and do, including these words, I thirst. For instance, you look at John 10, verse 18, Jesus foretold that he would willingly lay down his life for the sheep. That is, he would cause himself to die. Nobody would take my life from me, he said. I lay down it of my own free will. That is, Jesus, as we shall see, didn't just die. But Jesus, in fact, received the commandment of the Father and it says then he gave up his spirit. He yielded up his spirit. It was his own act that caused his body to stop living. And why? Because it was foretold him of the Father. It was commanded him. In fact, he says it explicitly. He says, this commandment I have received of my Father. That commandment. What was the commandment? To lay down your life. So it was in obedience to the Father. When? When? When did the Father command it? In eternity. However, since the mind of the Father is eternally present, the mind of the Father is with the Son at all times, and what the Father minds, the Son minds. So in John 8, 26, Jesus says, I speak those things to the world which I heard from him. In John 8, 29, he said, And he who sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone, for I always do those things that please him. So you see, Jesus did not say, I thirst, because it was prophesied of him to say, I thirst. It was prophesied of him to say, I thirst, because he would say, I thirst. And every other prophecy of Christ as well. But if you're looking at your text, you're probably scratching your head again saying, no, no, no. John specifically records that it says that the scripture might be fulfilled. He said, I thirst. that the scripture might be fulfilled indeed. But it wasn't what John is saying motivated him. It was a fact that the scripture must be fulfilled that he said it. You see, it's the same words are used, not just of Christ's life. These words that the scripture might be fulfilled are used of ignorant sinners who had an active role to accomplish in Christ's life. You think they'd look back in the scriptures to see if the scriptures might be fulfilled by slaying all the boy babies under the age of two? Well, Herod did these things that the scripture might be fulfilled. In fact, Matthew quotes many Old Testament prophets, such as in 225, when Mary and Joseph would take the child and flee from Herod to Egypt. Then he quotes Hosea 111, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt I called my son. Herod wasn't trying to fulfill Scripture, but Scripture would certainly be fulfilled in that action. So it was with Christ on the cross. In fact, what about the soldiers who were gambling at the foot of the cross over Jesus' garment? Did they know they were fulfilling Scripture? They did not. But the Scripture must be fulfilled. You see, Scripture cannot be broken because Scripture records for us the counsels of God in heaven. through the words of the inspired prophets. And we may be sure that every word of prophecy must be fulfilled, not simply because it was written in the Bible, but because everything that is written in the Bible is based upon the eternal counsel of God. And the only difference with Jesus is He had a foot in heaven and a foot on earth at the same time. The only difference with Jesus is that even as he was actively accomplishing that which was the eternal counsel of God, he also knew that his actions and words had been foretold by the prophets. But it's very important for us to understand that what moved Jesus to say, I thirst, was just what we said, his physical anguish and his final humiliation. in obedience to the Father and the counsels of heaven. Physical agony, final humiliation, fulfilling participation in the prophecy. What does all this mean to you and me? In particular, it means this. that Christ's thirst draws us closer into his own experience in misery, that we might gain a closer glimpse into how he himself, in his suffering, was also participating in our salvation. And now, because Christ thirsted and was humiliated and suffered the agonies of hell, he invites all those who thirst that they might be delivered from everlasting suffering and the fires of hell. And you know, if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, you might be experiencing those fires even now. The foretaste of the misery, the depression, the fears, the darkness of the future, the uncertainty of Judgment Day, the fear of death. You're thirsting for something if you live like this. You can't escape from the sins of the past or their consequences. Seeking to be relieved and seeking to find the joy that no man can take from you is like seeking refreshing water in the wilderness. This is what Christ suffered in order to deliver you from. And this is what it means to us. Because he thirsted, he invites those who thirst for him to come and drink. He said this. He said, whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst." John 4.14. To us he cries, if any man thirst, let him come to me and drink, and out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water. And to those of you who know the Lord Jesus Christ, then, and know what it's like to have your thirsty souls slaked with the refreshing knowledge of Jesus Christ, those words of Christ in John 7 also invite us to consider, am I imbibing in this water that he has provided for us? You see, the drinking that is offered to us is not a one-time deal. I drank once and I'll never be thirsty again. He says in these words, let him come and keep coming to me, and out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. If you want the water to fill your soul so that it overflows and gushes out into the life in the joy and victory and and witness of Jesus Christ and the fruit of the Spirit. If you want this experience as a part of your life, you need to keep coming back to Him and drinking from Him, who freely gives to all who ask Him. Keep coming to Me, keep coming to Me, and out of your heart will flow abundance of waters. And you know, whether you receive that water now for the first time or whether you continue to go back, to receive those waters of Jesus. This is your future. Revelation 22, 17. Let him who thirsts come, whoever wishes to take of the water without cost. Give to him who thirsts from the spring of water of life without cost, he says. And then in verse 1 of chapter 22 of Revelation, And he showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb. This is what he offers. Revelation 7, 16 and 7. They shall hunger no more, neither shall they thirst any more. Neither shall the sun beat down on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb in the center of the throne shall be their shepherd and shall guide them to living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes. I heard the voice of Jesus say, Behold, I freely give the living water. Thirsty one, stoop down and drink and live. I came to Jesus and I drank of that life-giving stream. My thirst was quenched, my soul revived, and now I live in Him. Because He said, I thirst, we shall never thirst again. Let us pray. Enable us, O Lord, to see our hearts as to how well watered they are We who look back and recognize in the Lord Jesus that which is life-giving streams of water sometimes forget what it was like when we first drank and how refreshing it was and what a joy to know God and to feel the fullness inside of the presence of Jesus. I pray, O Lord, that you will revive that desire within us now and that we would return to Jesus We who have weakened in our resolve, lost our commitment, put aside our relationship with you. We who have spared ourselves the time and the trouble to come and drink. I pray, O Lord, that you will show to us how thirsty we are, that we will return to the fountains again and be revived through seeking the Lord and drinking of him. O Lord, I ask, make this real to our hearts, I pray. Revive us, Lord, revive us. And I pray, Lord, for any who do not know you yet, who have not really taken that first draft of water from your fountain, I ask, Lord, that you will make that real to them, that they may freely help themselves and find indeed that they are no longer thirsty, that you have given to them streams of living water and quenched their soul. We ask this all in Jesus' name. Amen.