The Word Of Humanity

I want you to follow with me beginning in verse 28. John says, "After this Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture must be fulfilled," He said, "I thirst." "Now, there was set a vessel," verse 29, "full of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar and they put it on a hyssop branch and they put it to his mouth." We come again this morning to the place called Calvary, the place where Jesus suffered and died for our sins. And we look at him on the cross, but we also listen and hear the words that he spoke. He spoke seven times, seven utterances from the cross.

The first was the word of forgiveness. "Father, forgive them. They know not what they do." The second was the word of salvation. "He turned to the penitent thief, who said, 'Lord, remember me when you enter your kingdom.' And Jesus turned to that thief and said, 'Today, you will be with me in paradise.'" And then thirdly, we saw the word of affection. As Jesus was hanging on the cross, he saw his mother and the apostle John and he turned to Mary and said, "Behold your son." And he turned to John and he said, "Behold your mother." And from that day, John took Mary into his home and took care of her. He was providing for his mother. Then, we saw the word of agony, the fourth utterance from the cross. As Jesus cried during the darkness, he was on the cross from 9:00 in the morning till 3:00 in the afternoon. And the last three hours high noon to 3:00 in the afternoon was a time of darkness. And Jesus cried, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani." Being interpreted as, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

We saw that the Father had to turn for a time his back upon the son, because the son became sin for us. He took our sin on the cross, he became the substitute for man, the creature sin, and there was a separation between God, the Father and God the Son, the word of agony. Today, we move to the fifth utterance, the word of humanity, and we find it, look at it with me in verse 29. Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, He's come to the end of His earthly ministry and His redemptive work on the cross. That the scriptures must be fulfilled, he said two words in English, one word in Greek. "I thirst. I thirst." This statement of Jesus from the cross is the only found in the Gospel of John. Matthew did not record it. Mark did not record. Luke did not record it. Only John recorded it.

And I find that interesting, because the focus of John's Gospel, the theme of John's Gospel is the deity of Jesus Christ. If you want to know whether Jesus was God, read the Gospel of John. He says, "Behold your God." So how interesting that of all the seven utterances, only once do we find it in the Bible and it's in the Gospel of John, the word of humanity. Second fact about this word is it's the shortest of the seven sayings. As I said, two words in English, only one word in the Greek with four letters. He cried, "I thirst." He who began his ministry with gnawing hunger is closing it with raging thirst. As he began his earthly ministry tempted in the wilderness, he was hungry. As he ended his earthly ministry hanging on the cross, he was thirsty.

I love what A.W. Pink said. He said, "I thirst," what a text for a sermon? A short one, it is true, but how comprehensive, how expressive, how tragic. The maker of heaven and earth with parched lips, the Lord of glory in need of a drink, the beloved of the Father crying, "I thirst." What a word is this? Plainly, no uninspired pen drew such a picture. Indication of the inspiration of the scripture that it would include this utterance from the cross.

Now, as we look at this word from the cross, "I thirst," I want to point out three important truths that we learn about Jesus. Three important truths we learn about Jesus. If you're taking notes, you can write them down. It'll be real simple. Number one, we learned that Jesus physically suffered. Now, as I make these points, you might think, "Well, that's no big deal. Anyone can figure that out. What's the big deal?" But as I amplify on them, I think you'll understand how necessary and important it is to understand that Jesus physically suffered in his physical body. When Jesus said the words I thirst, it was first and only time that he spoke of his physical sufferings. I think that's significant. Seven times, listen carefully, seven times he uttered statements from the cross. Only one of the seven deals with him and his pain. Only one out of seven deals with his physical suffering. If I were hanging on the cross, seven out of seven would've been about me. "I hurt. I'm thirsty. Please, help me. This is a bummer. I don't deserve this." Seven times.

It's funny, when you get old, you get together with your friends and it's like an organ recital, right? "Man, this is going out and that's going out and this hurts and that hurts." I was with a friend the other day and we're going over, he took turns, we're going back and forth about all the things that are going wrong. I go, "We sound like old guys." He goes, "We are old guys." You know what old people when they get together, "What's not working with you today?" This really spoke to my own heart, because I know that in pain, we need to be careful about how much we talk about ourself or share what's going on in our own body. There's a time, there's an appropriate balance of sharing with others, so that they can care, that they can pray. But out of seven utterances, only once did Jesus mention, "I'm thirsty."

Did he ever talk about himself? And that only after first he had therewithal to say, "Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. Today, you will be with me in paradise." He said to his mother, "This is your son. This is your mother." Before he ever got to I need help, he cried, "My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?" But he wasn't talking about his physical pain and his physical suffering. Someone said, "Listen, God has only one son without sin, but none without sorrow." I love that quote. "God has only one son without sin, but none without sorrow." We all will suffer to some degree. We will all experience earthly sorrow and pain and anguish of heart.

Now, a couple of things about his physical suffering. When Jesus said, "I thirst," we see the intensity of that physical suffering. We see the intensity of that suffering. Remember, Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, and then all through that night he had a mock trial. He was kind of ram-rotted into his crucifixion. He was buffeted, his beard was torn out, he was beat with a rod, then he was whipped, crown of thorns over his head. He walked the Via Dolorosa, he carried the cross, and then, nails were driven through his hands and his feet.

The other day, as I was meditating on this passage and some of the preaching I've been doing the last few weeks, I sought to try to think, "What would it feel like to be nailed to a cross?" Can you imagine the excruciating pain being nailed to a cross, hung out in the open? When we execute a criminal, we try to be as humane as possible. It's not public. You get their meal before they eat and it's painless, and we put them to sleep very gently. This was vicious. It was public. He was mocked and spit at. He suffered and hung on a cross, and he died. He was in agony. Jesus physically experienced excruciating pain, and it apexed, I believe, in his physical thirst.

It's probably at the moment of our Lord's severest physical suffering. At the end of these six hours on the cross when he cried, "I thirst." We heard the cry of spiritual anguish, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Now, we hear the cry of physical agony. Remember, he had refused the wine mingled with myrrh. There were two times they tried to give him the sediment and he said no to that. This wine mingled with myrrh was not the same wine he receives in this passage. That was to deaden the pain. Jesus wanted to be in full facility of his mind. He wanted to be able to think clearly. He didn't want to kind of take away from the full feeling of pain and suffering that he would experience on the cross, so no pain reliever.

That's another thing when you get old, you take lots of pain pills. "Give me whatever you need to give me, but take away this pain." I've no longer, thank God, suffer with migraines, but for 25 years, weekly, multiple migraines, wicked, wicked migraines. And I remember times when it's like, "Knock me out, put me to sleep. Do whatever you got to do, but just take away this pain. It's so horrible." Jesus was suffering all the pain as well as the shame, as well as the sin upon that cross, and it breaks my heart to think about Jesus who had healed, who had comforted, was so kind and loving to people that he would suffer so in agony.

Now, Psalm 22:14 and 15, it says, "I am poured out like water. David's speaking prophetically of the Messiah. I poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within me. My strength is like a dried up piece of pottery and my tongue cleaves to my mouth." What a description there in Psalm 22 of death by crucifixion. Jesus suffered intense pain. But when Jesus said, "I thirst," we also see a clear evidence of his humanity, and I don't want you to miss this.

There are two dangers in understanding the nature of Christ. One danger is to deny his humanity. The other danger is to deny his deity. Both are heretical. Now, in the early church, the big issue was his humanity. There was this group called the Docetist, and they believed that there was no real matter. There wasn't anything physical. There was no reality in the physical realm, everything was spiritual. Only God was good, all evil was matter. They denied the humanity of Christ, they denied that Jesus actually had a physical body.

They said, if you reach out to touch him, your hand will go right through him like Casper the friendly ghost. And when he walked on the beach, he would leave no footprints. And when he died on the cross, he really didn't have a body, so he really didn't suffer. That is heretical. Jesus was fully man, fully human. The word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, fully man.

But on the other side of the coin, it is equally heretical and unorthodox and unscriptural to deny the full deity of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was fully man and fully God. Let me break it down a little further for you. His humanity did not lessen his deity, and his deity did not lessen or diminish his humanity. Fully man, fully God, one person, Jesus Christ. You go, "Well, that's quite amazing." "Yes it is." "Isn't Jesus wonderful?" He's the God man.And because he's the God man, he's able to lay his hand on us and lay his hand on God and bridge the gap. He's the perfect high priest to bringing man back to God.

Here, we see very clear the humanity of Christ. As God, he could know people's thoughts. He could speak to the wind and the waves, they would obey him. The disciples on the sea of Galilee, when Jesus stood up and said, "Peace, be still," and the wind stopped and the waves went to glass. They said, "What manner of man is this that even the wind and the waves obey him?" They were blown away they thought, "Who is this guy?"

He could cleanse the leprous man with His word. He could give sight to the blind. He could make the lame walk and leap and run, and He could raise the dead from their graves. He was God. But on the other side, we see His humanity. When He was a boy of 12 years old and He was in the temple, He was asking questions. Does God need to ask questions? No. He was hungry when tempted in the wilderness. He slept in the boat, in the storm. Jesus wept. One of the shortest verses in the Bible, but packed with truth. The grave of Lazarus, Jesus wept, a tear, ran down his face. He was a man just like you.

Now, there's great significance and importance in this truth. You say, "Well, what's the big deal? Why is it important that God became a man?" Well, it means that He can sympathize with us in our suffering, in our pain, and in our sorrow. Jesus understands your pain. Jesus understands your suffering. Jesus understands your sorrow. In Hebrews 4:15, the writer of Hebrews says, "For we have not a high priest, which cannot be touched with feelings of our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted like we are yet without sin." In Hebrews 2:17, "Wherefore, in all things that behoved him, that is Christ, to be made like unto His brethren that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest." Whenever you're suffering, whenever you have sorrow, whenever you have pain, guess what? Jesus knows, Jesus cares, Jesus understands.

You ever been misunderstood? That's one of the things that's hardest for me. When people misunderstand you or the impute motives to you that aren't true, you think, "How hurtful? They don't know my heart. How hurtful for them to think that when they don't know me or they don't know my motive? They don't know my heart?" Have you ever felt hurt like that? People who have misunderstand you or attack you? Happened to Jesus, his own family and friends. How about family and friends forsake you? You ever been forsaken by a friend? Forsaken by a family member? Jesus understands.

Maybe you're passing through a time of darkness. Maybe all around you is dark. Maybe you're depressed, maybe you're discouraged, maybe you're fearful. Maybe you don't know what the future holds. Maybe you're afraid of getting old and having all the aches and pains. Maybe you don't know how you're going to pay the bills or how you're going to retire, how it's all going to work out, or how are you going to take care of your parents that are aging. Maybe you're concerned about your children you've got a son or daughter. Jesus knows, Jesus cares, and Jesus understands, and maybe you're suffering in your body today.

This cry of Jesus, "I thirst," says a lot to us about pain. Says a lot about suffering. Whenever you're suffering in your body, Jesus knows, he cares, he understands. Maybe you've lost a loved one, maybe a friend or a family member have died. Do you know the pain of lowering someone into the grave of someone you love? A parent, grandparent, a wife, a husband, a child? I've seen the pain on many a parent face as they load small caskets into the ground and they've wept. It's not supposed to be this way. Parents aren't supposed to bury their children. It's hard. But I see that Jesus stood at the grave of Lazarus and wept.

The very unique word that is used in the Bible when it says Jesus wept. It doesn't mean He wailed, as so often in the Middle East, they do. It doesn't mean he cried out loud. The Greek word used for Jesus wept, smallest, shortest verse in the Bible, is His eyes welled up with water, His eyes moistened and it means that a tear, one tear just trickled down His cheek. The Son of God in tears.

I never conduct a funeral service at a grave site and watch people weep, but what I think about the Son of God, that he's there weeping there with him. The tears are running down his face, he understands. When your heart is broken, Jesus understands. I love what John R.W. Stott said in his book, "The Cross of Christ. He said, "I could never myself believe in God if it were not for the cross." In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who is immune to it? I love that statement. I could not believe in a God, who weren't for the cross, because in a real world of pain, how could you worship a God that is immune to it, but he's not? God came down from heaven, took on full humanity and in his humanity, he suffered pain.

Not only the physical pain, but the first that he experienced on that cross, which brings up the subject of pain and how we look at the problem of pain. The world has different ways of responding to pain. They deny that evil and pain and suffering exists. That's ancient docetism. It's manifested itself today in what we call Christian Science religion. Deny that we suffer, deny that there's disease, deny that we really have bodies, deny the physical world, deny that suffering's there. Denying that isn't going to make it go away. It's a reality. But they want to just dismiss the reality of pain and suffering.

Then, there's Stoichism, stiff upper lip, don't cry, the kind of a thing where real men don't cry, and I see people that I'm maybe doing a graveside service. It's like, men ought not to cry or people shouldn't cry or this does, and it's kind of a stiff upper lip kind of a thing. People get the idea that you can't feel pain or suffering and they're stoics, and we have them with us today. Just power through your suffering.

Then, another view, third view is Hedonism. Pleasure, first, avoid suffering. Playboy philosophy. Have as much fun as you can and avoid any pain, avoid any sorrow, avoid any suffering. And I see these people too when they don't want to acknowledge, that there's a bad thing or sorrow or grief. It's just, "Let's just go drink. Or, let's go have fun or let's have a party or let's laugh or tell a joke." I just wanted to deny the reality by covering it with pleasure.

Then, there's a fourth view of the world today, the suffering, it's called existentialism. The existentialist believes that human existence is absurd. There's no purpose to life, so why live? We're here by accident. When we die, we just cease to exist. There's no purpose, no God, no meaning, no life after death. Nothing is real, so just put a gun to your head and commit suicide. If you're there today, God has a purpose. God has a plan. God does exist. What a contrast to the Christian's view of the problem of pain. We believe that sorrow and suffering and sickness and death are the result of man's sin, that it came into the world. It's not what God originally designed, it's not what God originally intended. He didn't even intend for us to die, but sin brought death and sickness, sorrow into the world.

What did God do? God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, who came into the world from heaven, took on full humanity, sinless but humanity, and experienced all of our sorrows, all of our suffering, all of our pain, physical, social, emotional, even spiritual, He was separated from God on the cross. Everything you could ever go through, He suffered, He experienced, He understands. And Jesus came to deal with our sin, to redeem us from sin, to save us from sin. And one day, he will reverse the curse when he returns the second time, and he will make all things right. God cares, God comforts us, and even if we don't understand our pain, we can trust God with our pain. God can use it to serve a greater and higher purpose. God can use your pain, your suffering for a greater and higher purpose.

As Christians, we know that God is in control, that God knows what he's doing. We don't know, we don't understand, but that's where faith comes in and we rest in that, we trust in that. I don't have to know everything. I don't have to understand everything. I just trust. I just rest. There's great peace in that. God loves you. God has a purpose, God has a plan, and your pain is not without purpose. God knows what he's doing, trust him. Jesus said, "I thirst." He sanctified our sorrows and suffering.

But here's my second main point. Jesus fulfilled scripture. Notice, in verse 28, says, "That the scripture might be fulfilled. After Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scriptures might be fulfilled," he says, "I thirst." When Jesus said, "I thirst," we see his deep reverence for and submission to the scriptures.

Now, again, how amazing that while he was dying on the cross, that he turned his mind toward the scriptures, which by the way, is a good thing to do in your pain. Let me give you a recommendation. When you're suffering and when you're in pain, turn your mind toward the scriptures. Meditate on them, quote them, claim their promises. Let God speak to you in your pain through his word. I believe that as Jesus was hanging on the cross, that He was thinking on, meditating on, reviewing the scriptures, and that he was running down from the book of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, all through the Old Testament book by book. Has everything been fulfilled? Has everything been accomplished? Have I done what I needed to do, that I come to do the father's will? And he was meditating on scriptures. We already saw that when he cried, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?", that he was quoting what? Psalm 22:1, right? He was actually quoting that verse.

Well, the Psalm for today's utterance is Psalm 69:21. David said, "They gave me also gall for my food and in my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink." When Jesus cried, "I am thirsty," and they filled the sponge with vinegar and they put it up to his lips, it was a fulfillment of Psalm 69:21, "They gave me vinegar to drink." Do you know every detail of Christ's death was prophesied beforehand? Let me just give you a sampling of some of them. In Psalm 41:9, it says that he would be betrayed by his friend. In Psalm 31:11, "Forsaken by the disciples." In Psalm 35:11, "Falsely accused." In Isaiah 53:7, "He would be silent before his judges." In Isaiah 53:9, "He would be proven guiltless." In Isaiah 53:12, "He would be numbered with the transgressors."

In Psalm 22:6, "He would be crucified." In Psalm 109:25, "He would be mocked by his spectators." In Psalm 22:18, "They would gamble for his garments. They cast lots for my garments." In Isaiah 53:12, "He prayed for his enemies." In Psalm 22:1, "He cried, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?'" In Psalm 31:5, "He yielded His spirit into the hands of the Father." In Psalm 34:20, "His bones were not broken." In Isaiah 53:9, "He was buried in a rich man's tomb."

Now, that's just a sampling of some of them. You know what this tells me? The Bible is given by inspiration of God. Only God could speak a couple of thousand years about something in such detail and then it was fulfilled. Some say, "Well, Jesus manipulated things and he worked it out, he orchestrated fulfilling prophecy." How do you orchestrate your legs will not be broken when you're dead on the cross?" How do you orchestrate you're going to be buried in the tomb? Jesus tried to orchestrate all that? How do you orchestrate the thief on the cross turning to you and saying, "Remember me." You pay him off, "Okay, when we get up there, here's a couple bucks, I want you to say this. You say this, I'll say that. It'll be really cool." Pay a Roman soldier off, "Okay, don't break my legs."

God's word is given by inspiration of God. God breathed it all. It's true, it's trustworthy. If you're a Christian, there's nothing more important than for you to have faith in the Bible, for you to know God's word is true and reliable. Now, let me make a couple application points. We see the divine inspiration of scripture, God's word is true. And secondly, we must obey scripture no matter what the cost. We must obey scripture no matter what the cost, that it might be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I thirst." He had to suffer, he had to die upon a cross to obey God's word, to do what the Father gave him to do. If you obey God's word, it may cost you your job, it may cost you a friendship. People may laugh at you or mock you, but we need to obey God's word no matter what the cost, no matter what the consequences.

In the utterance, "I thirst," we see Jesus physically suffered. We see that Jesus fulfilled scripture, but thirdly, Jesus saves sinners, and I love this. Jesus saves sinners. You say, "Well, what do you mean by that, John?" When Jesus said, "I thirst," there was more involved than his physical thirst. Remember, Jesus died to taste death for every man. When he cried, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?", he was forsaken of the Father, so you and I would not have to be forsaken.

And I believe that when Jesus cried, "I thirst," that Jesus was thirsty, so that you and I could drink. So that you and I could have our spiritual thirst satisfied with living water. Jesus was thirsty and he was crying in agony. He is portraying man's emptiness and thirst for fulfillment, for purpose and for meaning. I love Isaiah 55:1. It says, "Oh, everyone that's thirsty, come to the waters, and he that has no money." I like that. There I go. That's me, I'm there. "Come nearby and drink. Everyone who's thirsty, come to the water and drink."

I thought about it this week. Jesus is hanging on the cross and he cries, "I thirst." He's the one that made the oceans. He's the one that created every lake, every river, every stream, every artesian well, every waterfall. All that water that pours over Niagara falls, He created it with His spoken word, and now His lips cry, "I thirst."

What an interesting contrast. Jesus said, "I'm hungry," but yet, He said, "I'm the bread of God, which comes down from heaven. If you eat of Me, you'll never hunger." The Bible says, Jesus didn't have a place to lay his head. Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, the Son of man have nowhere to lay his head, but he said, "I'm going to go and prepare you a place in heaven." What a contrast. And so here, the living stream, the living water, the creator of all the universe," I thirst." Jesus had to thirst so that he might satisfy the thirst in every soul. Remember, in the Old Testament when the children of Israel came out of the Exodus in Egypt? They went into wandering in wilderness for 40 years. Forty years in the desert. Okay, think about that. No AMPM. No In-N-Out. No super Gulps. Nowhere to drink. No drinking fountain. Imagine being out in the desert and there's no drinking fountain.

They cried to Moses and what did they say? "We're thirsty." Couple of million people in the desert, 40 years. "We're thirsty, we're thirsty, we're thirsty." God told Moses to take his rod and he said, "You see that big rock right there, smite that rock. Hit that rock and I'll take care of their thirst." Moses obeyed God. He took the rod, he smote the rock, and what happened? Out of the rock came what? Water. I'm sure they danced under it like a waterfall, drinking the water and they're just, "Ahh!" Made water balloons and threw them at each other. Just water from the rock.

Paul the Apostle in 1st Corinthians makes it very clear, that rock was who? Jesus. You see, in the Old Testament, you not only have verbally predictive prophecy, Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, but you have typical predictive prophecy or in type where you have pictures. That rock was a picture of Jesus Christ. When Moses smote the rock with his rod, it was a picture of the crucifixion, of the death of Jesus on the cross, and out of his death, out of his being smitten of God came forth. What? Living water, came the water of life. Jesus must suffer and die and thirst so that our thirst, our spiritual thirst, could be quenched. There's a universal thirst in the heart of man, a thirst for God, and that is a spiritual thirst, and only Jesus can satisfy that thirst. Only Jesus.

You're trying to satisfy that thirst today with wealth or with power or with worldly pleasure or with sensual pleasure, maybe even religion. John 4, "Jesus met a woman at a well." A lot of water stories in the book of John, which is interesting. He's the only one that mentioned Jesus saying, "I thirst." He sits on this well, He's weary, He's a man. He's thirsty, He's a man, and He says to the woman of Samaria, "Can I have a drink?" Can you imagine God asking you for a drink? He sits on the well, he says, "Can I have a drink?" And she kind of, "What do you mean have a drink?" You don't have a bucket, you don't have a well, and she ignores him. Why is it you being a Jew ask me a drink, a woman of Samaria? And he said, "If you knew who I was and you knew that I could offer you living water, you would ask me and I would give you living water."

That's when she said flippantly, "Well, how are you going to get your living water? You don't have a bucket. You don't have a robe. Ha ha ha." Then, Jesus said to this woman, "You drink of this water," referring to Jacob's well, you drink of this water and this is the statement he made, "You will thirst again." I believe you could write that statement over every earthly pursuit of trying to satisfy your thirsty soul. You drink of pleasure, you'll thirst again. You drink of wealth, you'll thirst again. You drink of power, you'll thirst again. You drink of materialism, you'll thirst again. You do drugs, you do alcohol. You'll thirst again. You yield to the lust of the flesh, you'll thirst again. It only will intensify your thirst.

Then, Jesus said these words, John 4:14. "But the water that I will give him shall be in him or in you, a well of water springing up the everlasting life. And he shall never thirst again." I love that. Jesus promised us that if we drink of him, he will satisfy our thirsty souls and we will never drink again. That's why when you come to Christ, he satisfies your thirsty soul. Amen? He is the living water. And he said, "Whoever drinks of me will never thirst. Whoever eats of me, will never hunger." In John 7, another water story involving Jesus and the Gospel of John. It was the last day of the great feast, and Jesus stood in the courtyard and ceremonially for seven days they'd been pouring out water into the courtyard, symbolizing the water come from the rock.

Seven days, every day, they pour out water. It was a symbol of the water from the rock. Jesus stands up on the last day of the great day of the feast, and after they poured the water out and everybody's just sitting in ankle-deep water, Jesus stand up and he said these. "Is anyone thirsty?" People were like, "Whoa! Where are the temple guards? Get the quack." He said, "Is anyone thirsty?" And this is what he said. He said, "Come to me and drink." And he said, "Out of your innermost being will then gush forth torrents of living water." Isn't that awesome? Number one, are you thirsty?

Will you admit today that you need God? Have you been trying to satisfy your thirst and other things? Will you admit today that you need God? Will you come to Jesus Christ? Number two, will you come to him? Is anyone thirsty? Number two, come to me. Jesus said, "Come to me. You must come to Jesus Christ. You don't come to me, you don't come to this church, you come to Jesus Christ. I'm glad you're here in church today, but we want you to come to Jesus. He's the only one that can help you."

And then thirdly, you need to drink. You need to drink. Have you drank from that life-giving stream? Have you drank by faith of the living water that Jesus has to give and Jesus has to offer? Are you thirsty? Will you come? Will you drink? Jesus said, "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, they will be filled," in the last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation 22:17. And the spirit and the bride say, come, let him that is a hearth say come. Let him that is a thirst, come. And whosoever will let him come and take of the water of life freely.

Do you know that in heaven, we'll never thirst again? That's what it says in heaven. They shall never thirst again. But did you know in hell? In hell you will thirst for all eternity. In Luke 16, the story is told about two men that died. One went to paradise, the other one went to hell, and the rich man went to hell, and he saw Lazarus and Abraham's bosom across the chasm and comfort. What did he say? He said, "Abraham, Father Abraham, send Lazarus to dip his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I'm tormented in this flame."

Heaven, a place of satisfaction, and you can begin right now. You can have eternal life and you can enter into heaven and never thirst again. Are you going to reject Jesus Christ? Thirst now and thirst in all eternity. The choice is yours. Someone put it into a poem, "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. I want to give you the opportunity today to come to Jesus Christ. I want to give you the opportunity before you leave to drink of Jesus Christ. I don't believe anyone's here by accident today. I believe God brought you here to hear this message. He can satisfy the thirsting in your soul. He can satisfy the thirsting in your soul and he can deliver you from the bondage of sin and fill your heart, fill your life today. Let's pray.