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SERIES: |
Topical |
MESSAGE: |
iThirst |
SPEAKER: |
Skip Heitzig |
SCRIPTURE: |
John 19:28-30 |
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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
- Introduction
- We live in the world of "i"
- Steve Jobs said two words came to mind with the letter i: individuality and inspiration
- In the soul of every man and woman is a deep thirst that only God has an app for
- Jesus experienced everything we experience so that He could give us what we deeply need
- "I thirst" (v. 28)
- Fifth statement of Jesus on the cross (out of seven)
- In Greek, it's one word: dipso
- When Jesus made this statement, it wasn't about individual productivity; it was about universal opportunity—salvation
- This is the most human and most ironic of His statements
- A person's first words aren't as significant as their last words
- Last words reveal who a person really is
- People die differently because people live differently
- Jesus' last words are even more important because they were said on the cross, the greatest transaction in human history
- While Jesus was doing His greatest work on earth, He was uttering His greatest words on earth
- Jesus' statements on the cross
- For the first six hours, they were about other people
- Luke 23:34
- Luke 23:43
- John 19:26
- Darkness and silence fell around noon
- The silence was broken by Jesus' cry (see Matthew 27:46) and followed by three more statements
- John 19:28
- John 19:30
- Luke 23:46
- These verses show Jesus' suffering and sovereignty
- What Jesus Knew: "Knowing that all things were now accomplished"
- Jesus knew everything
- Matthew 9:4; 12:25; Luke 5:22; 9:47
- John 13:1
- John 21:15-17
- Psalm 69:21—messianic prediction
- Sour wine was the lowest grade cheap wine
- Hyssop was a long reed with a bushy end
- Reminiscent of Passover; Exodus 12:22
- 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
- At this moment, Jesus knew every prophetic Scripture was lined up
- There are two sides to the cross: the human and the divine
- Human responsibility and divine sovereignty
- The cross was a diabolical plot by sinful, hateful men
- It was also God arranging all things so that He might accomplish all things
- Acts 2:23: God arranged it, but you did it; God is sovereign, but you are also responsible
- God allows people to make choices and at the same time is in perfect control
- The safest way to live your life is in absolute surrender to God and His plan
- What did Jesus think of the Bible (i.e., the Old Testament)?
- Jesus refers to the Old Testament as the Word of God sixty-four times
- Matthew 4:4 (Deuteronomy 8:3)
- John 10:35
- Mark 14:49
- 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)
- Matthew 5:18
- Find out what a person thinks about the Bible and you'll find out what a person really thinks about Jesus
- If you don't share Jesus' view of the Bible, you will be unstable while you live and probably fearful when you die
- What Jesus Said: "I thirst"
- Shows Us Cross' Intensity
- A physiological result of crucifixion is dehydration
- "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
- It's possible that Jesus had not had a drink for eighteen hours—since the Last Supper
- Shows Us Jesus' Humanity
- His statement is as human as it gets
- The One who called Himself the living water (see John 4:13-14; 7:37-38) is now saying "I thirst"
- Jesus was undiminished deity and unprotected humanity; we have a hard time with His humanity sometimes
- First heresy in the church was the denial of Jesus' humanity (Gnosticism)
- What Jesus knew from the cross shows His deity; what Jesus said from the cross shows His humanity
- Shows Us Jesus' Humility
- Philippians 2:8
- This was the second time Jesus was offered a drink on the cross; Matthew 27:34
- He refused the sour wine mixed with gall
- Gall is an analgesic and would have numbed the pain
- Jesus wanted to drink in the full intensity of the moment
- He didn't want any of His senses to be diminished
- Matthew 26:39
- What Jesus Did: "Received the sour wine.... Gave up His spirit"
- In drinking the wine, Jesus took the cup of suffering and tasted death; Hebrews 2:9
- What Jesus endured on the cross
- Darkness
- Separation from the Father (see Matthew 27:46)
- Burning thirst
- It sounds like hell
- Jesus tasted hell and death that you might enjoy heaven and have life
- On the cross, God treated Jesus Christ as if He had committed every sin committed by every person who would ever live
- 2 Corinthians 5:21
- God treated Jesus like you and I deserve to be treated so He could treat us like Jesus deserves to be treated
- Closing
- iThirst is God's app for your thirst
- You could write "iThirst" over every single life apart from Christ
- John 4:13-14
- The Feast of Tabernacles
- Thousands of people attended the last (eighth) day
- 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
- They would sing Isaiah 12:3 and fall silent
- Jesus cried out in this silence: John 7:37-38
- The final invitation in the Bible: Revelation 22:17
- 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