JOHN 19:28
(Reading: John 4:1-14; 19:28-29)

The Fifth Word on the Cross - Christ’s Identification

Dear Church of Our Lord...

	The Master cries out again!
		There is more to be shown from the God-man hanging between heaven and hell.
			“I am thirsty,” the Saviour gasps.

	Jesus Christ reveals His humanity.
		After the first Word from the Cross, where we heard Him praying for sinners; the second Word promising Paradise to a dying robber; the third Word providing for His loved ones; and after we heard the fourth Word crying out the most awful God-forsakedness, Jesus reaches the end of His physical tether with this desperate plea for drink.
			As the darkness goes from Calvary, and the sun begins to shine, the Saviour cries, “I am thirsty.”

	Is it true?
		Could it be that here the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth needs a drink?
			Is this the same One who is no less than the fountain of living water?
				Could He be the One who said earlier in John 7, verse 37, “If a man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink?”

	What?
		Surely this is not God’s Son saying, “I am thirsty?”

	Indeed it is, dear friend.
		This is how far He went away from Himself to bring His people back to Himself!

	Congregation, let’s see how this could every be.
		And let’s do that with two parts.
			Two points which flow straight from Christ’s cry of thirst at Calvary.
				You see, CHRIST’S CRY OF THIRST AT CALVARY... first, SHOWS HIS SUFFERING, and, second, SHOUTS HIS SATISFACTION.

	Firstly, then, CHRIST’S CRY OF THIRST AT CALVARY SHOWS HIS SUFFERING.
		This was the moment of our Lord’s sharpest physical pain.
			This was the pits of what Hebrews 4:15 says later about Christ, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin.”

	You could be wondering, though, how does being thirsty show this?
		How could this be worse than the agony in the garden, those harrowing hearings before Anna and Caiaphas, the public mock trials in the courts of Pilate and Herod, the scourging with the Roman leather whip, the crown of thorns pressed upon His head, the load of the heavy cross, the piercing of the nails through His flesh, the burning rays of the hot sun for three hours, and the bitter cold of darkness for the same time again?
			Which way could it be worse, congregation?

	It was worse because it was the end result of all this!
		And that was exactly as the psalms had predicted a long time before.
			In the words of Psalm 22:15, “My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.”
				And Psalm 69:3 says, “my throat is parched.”

	Ah, yes, we say, someone lost out there in the desert, someone under the beating rays of the tropic sun, they’ll be thirsty.
		That shows how desperate their situation is!

	But it’s still more than this.
		Much, much more!
			For what made His suffering so intense wasn’t that He hadn’t had a drink for a long time; it wasn’t that He thirsted like a dying man, burning inside with fever, who begs for water to relieve it; it was because... CHRIST’S CRY OF THIRST AT CALVARY SHOWS HIS SUFFERING!

	Friends, He so identified with us, He so took over our punishment, He suffered the whole way physically for it.
		The apostle Paul wrote about this in his first letter to Timothy chapter 3:16. 
			With awe in his words, he said, “Beyond all question the mystery of godliness is great: he appeared in a body...”.
	
	And to be quite blunt with, the non-christian wouldn’t have a clue!
		If you don’t believe, the joining together of the Divine and the Human, in the virgin’s womb, just doesn’t make sense!
			Not will it ever unless God touches you!

	When Jesus was born into the world, the eternal Word became flesh and lived among men.
		His thirsting shows how true this was.
			For God the Father doesn’t thirst in heaven.
				Angels don’t ever need a drink.
					And you won’t get a dry throat in your glorified body, for, in the words of Revelation 7:16, “Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst.”
	 
	Jesus on this earth was thirsty, though.
		At Jacob’s well He asked the Samaritan woman, as we read in John 4:7, “Will you give me a drink?”
			
	He was fully human.
		He needed the same things we need to survive everyday.
			So when the death-dew was on His brow, His extreme agony and suffering brought on a burning feverishness, with its accompanying, unbearable dryness in His throat, mouth, and stomach.

	This is something none of us will completely experience.
		But He was suffering for us all.
			In fact, whenever you hear His cry of thirstiness on that cursed cross, you would be quite right to see the awful pangs of One passing through the hot flames of hell.

	This thirst shows our Lord’s suffering as substitution for sinners.
		In His death He hung in our place, and so He must pay that price for taking all our sin.
			That’s why the fourth Word, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” shows the anguish of His soul.
				And here, in the fifth Word, “I am thirsty,” shows the torture of His body.

	Both types of torture are waiting for unbelievers in hell.
		The bodies of those who don’t believe, will be raised upon the Lord’s second coming, and then both their body and soul will be in torment forever.

	Remember the story of ‘The Rich man and Lazarus the Beggar,’ which Jesus told in Luke 16?
		He says there, “The time came when the beggar died and the angels came and carried him to Abraham’s side. 
			“The rich man also died and was buried.
	“In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.
		“So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’”

	Congregation, this is the fire of judgment Jesus passed through!
		The Substitute must experience the full judgment of those in whose place He stands.
			If He hadn’t, there would’ve been no escape for any of us!

	Then our worship here, now, would be an absolute waste of time.
		Christianity would be the most futile lifestyle anyone could ever live!

	Brothers and sisters, boys and girls... thank God that Jesus thirsted!
		If He hadn’t, everyone of us would be thirsting forever in hell, and like the rich man in hell, we would be finding out pretty quick about the huge gulf between heaven and hell!	

	But He who thirsted and died on Calvary’s cross, rose again from the dead and the grave.
		He offers to His own, to those who receive Him by faith through grace, the water of life.
			In those refreshing words of John 4:14, Jesus says, “whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.
				“Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

	It’s right through His Word.
		The last chapter in the Bible says it again.
			Revelation 22:17 says, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’
	“And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’
		“Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”

	The world rushes here and there, in its mad crush to fill that aching void in their souls.
		Men and women quickly go from one religion to another; from one pleasure to another; to try and quench their soul’s thirst.
			They’ll go from one night club to another; from one drug to another; from one sport to another; and from one sexual partner to another.
	But it’s just a chasing after the wind!
		Until Jesus Christ is received by faith, their hearts are unsatisfied.
			You see, He made us, and He alone can quench our thirst and fulfil our soul’s deepest yearning.
				Oh thirsty one, you who for so long have parched your throat on the dryness of this world, come to the Saviour - drink the water of life!
			
	Ah, but we have moved already into the second point.
		CHRIST’S CRY OF THIRST AT CALVARY SHOUTS HIS SATISFACTION!

	If our first point can be summed up by these words of Cecil Francis Alexander, 
		“We do not know, we cannot tell, 
			What pains He had to bear...”, 
	then the second point is clear from the rest of that stanza, 
		“But we believe it was for us, 
			He hung and suffered there.”
				For when Jesus spoke these words, He declared that satisfaction had been made for sin.

	Notice what verse 28 says before this fifth Word, “Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’”
		You see, it was only when He knew all things were accomplished; when He had paid the penalty for sin; when He had in one compressed moment carried the eternal punishment upon sin in body and soul...then, when He knew He had suffered the eternal thirst which we deserve because of sin...then, and only then, did He say, “I am thirsty.”

	Forget any idea that this is a cry of despair.
		This isn’t the voice of a fainting Jesus who doesn’t seem like He’s going to make it.
			It’s not the cry of the Saviour who’s beginning to feel sorry for Himself.
				He’s not pleading for the crowd to take pity on Him.

	No!
		This is the shout of victory!
			This is the cry of the triumphant Jesus making full satisfaction for sin.
				He knows it’s all accomplished!

	Let’s go back to the scene where Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well.
		He asked her for a drink, and He needed that water.
			But if he craved a drink of refreshing water from those human hands, He craved much, much more the salvation of that woman’s soul!

	Listen to what He said to her in verse 10, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
		He stopped at that well for a drink for physical relief, though it was also to give that woman the ultimate spiritual relief.
			He thirsted to deliver her from the thirst of hell.

	Friends, it’s exactly because Jesus cried out this way upon the cross for thirst, that He has become for us the fountain of living waters.
		Because He made satisfaction full and free for all sinners on the cross of Calvary, He invites you and me to drink of that water.
			The water which once drunk means you’ll never thirst again!
				Isaiah’s prophecy, in chapter 55 verse 1, is revealed, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”  

	Standing there before the cursed cross, we who believe can confess nothing but His forsakedness, so that we might be accepted by Him, and never more be on our own.
		Did you have that dry feeling in your soul?
			Was it ever that you were parched deep within, thirsting after things which seem to satisfy, but only made you thirstier afterward!

	That’s what comes from the wells of this world.
		Whoever drinks of those waters will thirst again.
			In fact, those who drink only of those wells of this world will, like the rich man in Christ’s parable, thirst for all eternity.
	Like him in hell, they’ll be crying out forever for a drop of water.
		There is no relief there - body or soul!

	But because this Jesus has gone to Calvary; because this God-man suffered this thirst for His own, He has said, and He still says today, “whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.”
		Then, to cap it all off, the apostle John again brings back this glorious truth in the book of Revelation.
			He tells us there that those who have washed their robes, and made them white, in the blood of the Lamb, will one day be gathered before Him who sits on the throne.

	You know, they won’t hunger anymore, nor thirst anymore, nor will the sun beat down upon them anymore, nor any heat.
		For the Lamb who’s in the middle of the throne will feed them, and He’ll lead them to the fountains of living water.
			God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

	Dear friend, do you sing with Psalm 42, the verses 1 and 2, “As the deer pants for the water, so my soul pants for you, O God.
		“My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
			“When can I go and meet with God?’

	What communion this is!
		Christ Jesus opened the pipeline to God’s everlasting presence.
			In Him we have our every need supplied!

	My brother, my sister, young adult, boy, girl...as you yourself come to stand before this Jesus, the God-man who said, “I am thirsty,” may you also be able to sing, 
		“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 (New P/H 488:2).”
		
				Amen.

PRAYER:
	Let’s pray...
		O Fountain of Life; You the Way, the Truth and the Life; You the way to the refreshing waters of Paradise; oh, do flow over us now by Your Spirit.
			LORD, so immerse us in the love and the knowledge of You that we ourselves cannot help but pour you out to all those around!
	Saviour God, we seek You!
		Our souls thirst for You, our bodies long for You, in this dry and weary land.
			Bless us in You!
				Make the message of the cross mean all the difference in Your Church today.
					Amen.

FORM FOR LORD’S SUPPER:
	What’s even more, congregation, is that we can eat and drink with the Saviour even now.
		As the Lord He has given us what we need to confirm our faith in His sacrament.
			And so that we understand what He means, let’s turn to page 87 in the Forms booklet...

HYMN: 
	While the table is being prepared we sing, while seated, hymn 482...

AT TABLE:
		[178:1,3,5]

OFFERING:
	The apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians about what they given to the Lord, “They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.”
		They gave a lot - it was a sacrifice. 
			And they gave it from their hearts.
	That’s why Paul could write next, “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
		With that love they showed to the Lord, they won’t miss out.
			And neither will any of us, if we give the same way.
	Because that’s His way!
		Let’s give that way today...

OFFERTORY PRAYER:		[ELDER]

BENEDICTION:
	Congregation, we stand now to receive the parting blessing of the Lord, after which we sing psalm 24, the verses 3 & 5...

		“And the God of all grace,
			who called you to His eternal glory in Christ,
				after you have suffered a little while,
		 will Himself restore you
			and make you strong, 
				firm, and steadfast.
		 To Him be the power for ever and ever.
			Amen.”

DOXOLOGY:
		[24:3,5]