Grace be to you in peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Text our meditation. This evening is recorded for us in the gospel of St. John chapter 19, verses 28 and 29. Later, knowing that everything had now been finished and so that scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, I am thirsty. A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the sap plant and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. This is the gospel of the Lord. Praise Ms. Powerheads for prayer. Heavenly Father. We so rejoice to be here, to worship and to praise you for your goodness, your glory, and especially your love and your son, Jesus, our Savior. Send your Holy Spirit to guide and teach us tonight and may the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen. My dear Lenten worshipers, deep inside the heart of every single person is a deep thirst and only God has the answer for it, and it is in his son, Jesus Christ, whom he sent down from heaven to earth. To experience everything that we humans experience so that he could give us what we deeply need In John’s gospel tonight we come to the fifth statement of Jesus On the cross, there were seven altogether, the fifth word of Jesus on the cross. A little statement I thirst. Two words, that’s in English. In Greek, it’s actually only one word with five letters dip. So D-I-P-S-O dip. So I thirst. So when Jesus made all of these statements, it was about opportunity, but also, and more importantly, about salvation. It was about. Your sins, your sins, my sins from the beginning of our lives, to the end of our lives, and to all people on this earth. From the beginning of creation to the end of the world. It’s all about all of those sins. Seven sayings on the cross where Jesus is communicating something very significant to us and I thirst. It is of all the statements on the cross, the most human, but it is also strangely enough, the most ironic, as we shall see later. A person’s last words are very significant. That’s why we call it final words, eternal impact for this lenon season. A person’s last words often reveal who that person really, really is. Back in the eighties, 1987, to be exact, a woman, a dear woman, was on her deathbed. Yes, it was my mother. I was blessed to be at her bedside during those final hours, and she was kind of in and out of consciousness, as you might expect, as she laid there on her bed at home. I came in to have a little prayer with her and I put my hand on her head and I said, let’s pray. And she immediately replied, I believe in the Father, son, and Holy Ghost. Wow. Yes Mom. We believe in the triune God, don’t we? Before morning came, she was in glory with her. God. Boy, those great last words. So we have Jesus last words. And they’re important, not just because Jesus said them, but because of where he said them from the cross, the cross. It’s the greatest transaction in the history of humanity. Think of it this way. While Jesus was doing his greatest work on on earth, he was honoring his greatest words on earth. The greatest sermon ever preached were these last seven statements from the cross.

Our Lord was placed on the cross about nine o’clock in the morning. He hung there for six hours. For the first three hours, he gave three statements, nothing about himself, but only about others. And then at 12 noon. It was completely dark in the whole region and silent over the entire land. Finally, Jesus broke the silence with a cry. That is the only statement recorded in the original Arama E. We heard about this last weekend, last Wednesday. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And then followed three more statements. This one, the fifth one, I thirst. Then as we will hear next, next week, it is finished. And Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit and Jesus died. So let’s look at I Thirst tonight. As these words show suffering as well as his sovereignty, there’s three things that we wanna look at tonight. What Jesus knew, what Jesus said and what Jesus did. So number one, let’s look at what Jesus knew. Verse 28. After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst. You know, you can’t read the New Testament. You don’t go very far and reading the the Bible until you come to the realization that Jesus knew just about everything. In fact, he did know everything. Which could be very unnerving to get close to a person like that. Do you ever have a friend that just knew everything there was to know about you? He knew what you were thinking Twice. Once in Matthew. Once In Luke it says this, and Jesus knowing their thoughts said to them, why do you think evil in your hearts? Well, that’d be a little tough hanging out with a person like that, wouldn’t it? And that’s the way it is with our Lord and our God. We can talk about your sins, what you actually do wrong, but don’t forget your thoughts are just as sinful, whether you act on them or not. What’s in your heart, as Jesus once said, out of the heart, proceed, all these horrible things. So our thoughts. Our sins too, and our God knows ’em all. Jesus knew every single thing leading up to the cross that all of the scripture was fulfilled except for one thing, and that’s what he references here, Jesus, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said I thirst. He is referring to Psalm 69. It’s a messianic psalm in which it says in verse 21. They offered me sour wine to satisfy my thirst. It was handed to him on a SAP plant. SAP plant was a long read, it was a stalk, and the end of it was very, very bushy. And it grows kind of like a weed all around Jerusalem.

It’s convenient because it does soap up a whole lot of liquid and can be used for these kinds of purposes to administer drink. But to Jewish ears, sup would remind them of something else. It would take them back centuries to the time when their forefathers were held as slaves. For 400 years in Egypt and finally God through Moses says, go there and tell Pharaoh, let my people go and I’ll give you 10 plagues. And it took the 10th one before Pharaoh hardened his heart enough and let those people go. It was the Passover. Moses told all the fathers in Israel take a hiss. A Hisa plant and take this, the blood of a spotless, innocent little baby lamb and take that blood and put it on the lentils and the doorposts of your homes so that when the angel of death comes to kill the firstborn of man and animal, the angel of death will just pass over your house. And you’ll be saved. That’s Passover. SAP was used then here it is used once again to give a drink to the Spotless Lamb of God as he hung on a cross paying for all of our sins. So that at that very moment, Jesus knew that everything had been fulfilled. That’s what he knew. Now, let’s think about what Jesus said, that the scripture might be fulfilled. He said, I thirst. Now that statement reveals a few things. First of all, it reveals. How intense the cross was I thirst brings us back to the cruel form of execution that the Romans had perfected, and one of the physiological results of crucifixion was dehydration. The loss of body fluids caused the tissues of the body to send stimuli to the brain. That says there’s something wrong here. We have to be attended to. We need some liquid. Do you know that it was possible that Jesus had not had anything to drink for 18 hours since the last Supper with his disciples? Scripture says he got up after that and went down to the garden of Go Seminary, where he sweat as it were, great drops of blood. Then he was taken and brought before a trial, not one, not two trials, six trials, three religious anus, khas, and the, and three secular Pontius Pilate, king Harridan back to Pontius Pilate, and no doubt he was on his feet the whole time. And finally PIL took him and had him beaten flogged, enormous amount of bloodletting. So body fluids were leaving his body. Now he’s on the cross for six hours and he cries out. I thirst. It shows us. The intensity of the cross, but there’s something else. This little statement reveals not only the Cross’s intensity, but Jesus’s humanity. I thirst. That’s as human as it gets, isn’t it? That’s why I say we can relate to this statement, may be more than any others. It’s the most natural, most human statement. You probably said it once or twice yourself. I thirst so natural. But it’s ironic because of who was saying it, the same one who said, I am the living water. Whoever believes in me will never thirst. This is the one that made every single body of water on earth to quench the thirst of humanity. And he’s up there saying, I thirst. He was God. He was man. He was tired, he was exhausted, and he got thirsty.

So what Jesus knew from the cross shows us his godhead, his deity, and what Jesus said from the cross shows us his humanity. But this little statement not only shows us those two things, but it also shows us his humility. Years later, the Apostle Paul would write to the Philippians, follow this. Listen. Paul wrote, Jesus humbled himself, humbled himself, and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. Now number three. Let’s notice finally what Jesus did when Jesus had received the sour wine. He drank it, he took it. That’s what he did. He said it is finished bowing his head. He gave up his spirit. He drank, he took, and in drinking, he took the cup of suffering. He’s tasting death. I didn’t make that up. Hebrews two says it that he, by the grace of God, might taste death for every person. Think of it. Think of what he endured on the cross from the arrest, humiliation, the slapping, the spitting, the pain, the nails through his hands and feet, and then darkness separation from his father. Thirst and death. He took darkness that you might experience light. He took wrath so that you would receive mercy. He took hell so that you could enjoy heaven. He endured thirst so that you could be completely satisfied on the cross. God, the Father treated Jesus Christ as if he had committed every sin committed by every person who had ever lived. Second Corinthians 5 21 tells us that God made him Jesus who knew no sin to be sin for us. That we might be the righteousness of God in him. In other words, God the Father treated Jesus like you and I deserve to be treated so that God could then treat you. And I, like Jesus, deserves to be treated. There is a doctrine here someplace. It’s called Vicarious Atonement. The dog. Mathematicians like those big, long words. Vicarious means substitute substitutionary, atoning to bring us at one with a father. Again, every person has a deep spiritual thirst. And watch this. Jesus said to the woman at the well at Samaria drink of your water and you’re gonna thirst again. And now here’s where the substitution comes in. Jesus said, drink my water. And I’ll give you water that lasts eternally. But what an offer he’s making to all of us who thirst that our thirst can be quenched. And for us to realize that the one who said that bearing the intensity of the cross and the humanity of us all.

It was thirsting for you. He was thirsting for the souls of men and women on this earth more than anything else, and we’re humbled by that. Here’s your invitation. Come and drink. Join me in prayer. Heavenly Father, it is amazing that we can be here with you. I’m worshiping you and we are sad that what caused this was our sins and the sins of all humanity, but we’re so happy that what it accomplished on the cross was our forgiveness. May you always assure us of that as you did actually in the very last word of the Bible, in the book of Revelation chapter 22, you said, let the one who is thirsty come and let the one who wishes. Take the free gift of the water of life. Amen.