SERIES: Topical
MESSAGE: iThirst
SPEAKER: Skip Heitzig
SCRIPTURE: John 19:28-30

MESSAGE SUMMARY
The world is filled with Apple's i-technology, which delivers on its promise to make connectivity and information readily accessible. But there is a deeper need within everyone, a thirst to be right with God, that no app or gadget can fulfill. How ironic that Jesus, the great Thirst-Quencher, would Himself be thirsty. It was part of the great exchange—His temporary thirst enabled yours to be quenched eternally!

DETAILED NOTES

  1. Introduction
    1. We live in the world of "i"
      1. Steve Jobs said two words came to mind with the letter i: individuality and inspiration
      2. In the soul of every man and woman is a deep thirst that only God has an app for
    2. Jesus experienced everything we experience so that He could give us what we deeply need
    3. "I thirst" (v. 28)
      1. Fifth statement of Jesus on the cross (out of seven)
      2. In Greek, it's one word: dipso
      3. When Jesus made this statement, it wasn't about individual productivity; it was about universal opportunity—salvation
      4. This is the most human and most ironic of His statements
    4. A person's first words aren't as significant as their last words
      1. Last words reveal who a person really is
      2. People die differently because people live differently
      3. Jesus' last words are even more important because they were said on the cross, the greatest transaction in human history
      4. While Jesus was doing His greatest work on earth, He was uttering His greatest words on earth
    5. Jesus' statements on the cross
      1. For the first six hours, they were about other people
        1. Luke 23:34
        2. Luke 23:43
        3. John 19:26
      2. Darkness and silence fell around noon
      3. The silence was broken by Jesus' cry (see Matthew 27:46) and followed by three more statements
        1. John 19:28
        2. John 19:30
        3. Luke 23:46
    6. These verses show Jesus' suffering and sovereignty
  2. What Jesus Knew: "Knowing that all things were now accomplished"
    1. Jesus knew everything
      1. Matthew 9:4; 12:25; Luke 5:22; 9:47
      2. John 13:1
      3. John 21:15-17
    2. Psalm 69:21—messianic prediction
      1. Sour wine was the lowest grade cheap wine
      2. Hyssop was a long reed with a bushy end
        1. Reminiscent of Passover; Exodus 12:22
        2. Jesus was dying during the Feast of Passover; a few hundred yards away, lambs were being killed (see Revelation 13:8) and hyssop was still being used in the ceremony
    3. At this moment, Jesus knew every prophetic Scripture was lined up
    4. There are two sides to the cross: the human and the divine
      1. Human responsibility and divine sovereignty
        1. The cross was a diabolical plot by sinful, hateful men
        2. It was also God arranging all things so that He might accomplish all things
        3. Acts 2:23: God arranged it, but you did it; God is sovereign, but you are also responsible
      2. God allows people to make choices and at the same time is in perfect control
      3. The safest way to live your life is in absolute surrender to God and His plan
    5. What did Jesus think of the Bible (i.e., the Old Testament)?
      1. Jesus refers to the Old Testament as the Word of God sixty-four times
        1. Matthew 4:4 (Deuteronomy 8:3)
        2. John 10:35
        3. Mark 14:49
      2. Five different times He asks Jewish teachers and leaders, "Have you never read what the Law says?" (Matthew 19:4; 21:16, 42; 22:29; Mark 2:25)
      3. Matthew 5:18
      4. Find out what a person thinks about the Bible and you'll find out what a person really thinks about Jesus
      5. If you don't share Jesus' view of the Bible, you will be unstable while you live and probably fearful when you die
  3. What Jesus Said: "I thirst"
    1. Shows Us Cross' Intensity
      1. A physiological result of crucifixion is dehydration
      2. "The unnatural position made every movement painful; the lacerated veins and crushed tendons throbbed with incessant anguish; the wounds, inflamed by exposure, gradually gangrened; the arteries, especially of the head and stomach, became swollen and oppressed with surcharged blood; and, while each variety of misery went on gradually increasing, there was added to them the intolerable pang of a burning and raging thirst" —Frederic Farrar, The Life of Christ
      3. It's possible that Jesus had not had a drink for eighteen hours—since the Last Supper
    2. Shows Us Jesus' Humanity
      1. His statement is as human as it gets
      2. The One who called Himself the living water (see John 4:13-14; 7:37-38) is now saying "I thirst"
      3. Jesus was undiminished deity and unprotected humanity; we have a hard time with His humanity sometimes
      4. First heresy in the church was the denial of Jesus' humanity (Gnosticism)
      5. What Jesus knew from the cross shows His deity; what Jesus said from the cross shows His humanity
    3. Shows Us Jesus' Humility
      1. Philippians 2:8
      2. This was the second time Jesus was offered a drink on the cross; Matthew 27:34
        1. He refused the sour wine mixed with gall
        2. Gall is an analgesic and would have numbed the pain
          1. Jesus wanted to drink in the full intensity of the moment
          2. He didn't want any of His senses to be diminished
          3. Matthew 26:39
  4. What Jesus Did: "Received the sour wine.... Gave up His spirit"
    1. In drinking the wine, Jesus took the cup of suffering and tasted death; Hebrews 2:9
    2. What Jesus endured on the cross
      1. Darkness
      2. Separation from the Father (see Matthew 27:46)
      3. Burning thirst
      4. It sounds like hell
    3. Jesus tasted hell and death that you might enjoy heaven and have life
    4. On the cross, God treated Jesus Christ as if He had committed every sin committed by every person who would ever live
      1. 2 Corinthians 5:21
      2. God treated Jesus like you and I deserve to be treated so He could treat us like Jesus deserves to be treated
  5. Closing
    1. iThirst is God's app for your thirst
      1. You could write "iThirst" over every single life apart from Christ
      2. John 4:13-14
    2. The Feast of Tabernacles
      1. Thousands of people attended the last (eighth) day
      2. They would pour a pitcher of water on the stones of the temple platform as a reminder that God quenched the thirst of their forefathers in the wilderness
      3. They would sing Isaiah 12:3 and fall silent
      4. Jesus cried out in this silence: John 7:37-38
    3. The final invitation in the Bible: Revelation 22:17
    4. Jesus thirsted that we might drink deeply and be satisfied perpetually

Figures referenced: Steve Jobs, Frederic Farrar

Greek/Hebrew words: dipso

Cross references: Exodus 12:22; Deuteronomy 8:3; Psalm 69:21; Isaiah 12:3; Matthew 4:4; 5:18; 9:4; 12:25; 19:4; 21:16, 42; 22:29; 26:39; 27:34, 46; Mark 2:25; 14:49; Luke 5:22; 9:47; 23:34, 43, 46; John 4:13-14; 7:37-38; 10:35; 13:1; 19:26, 28-30; 21:15-17; Acts 2:23; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 2:8; Hebrews 2:9; Revelation 13:8; 22:17


Topic: Cross

Keywords: thirst, spiritual thirst, longing, salvation, death, suffering, suffer, sovereignty, sovereign, Scripture, the Word of God, prophecy, human, divine, the cross, living water, deity, humanity, hell


iThirst - John 19:28-30 | SkipHeitzig.com/2621
Page |