Summary
Pastor Safrit walks through John 19:28-29, focusing on Jesus' statement "I thirst" as part of the series on His final words. He emphasizes that Jesus' thirst represents both physical and spiritual needs, illustrating how we must admit our thirst for God and seek His help in times of need. The sermon encourages believers to recognize their spiritual thirst and turn to God for fulfillment, as He is the only one who can satisfy our deepest longings.
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If you have your Bibles, we'll be in John chapter 19 this morning, week five of our seven final sayings of Jesus. Thank you ladies for all your words and all your kind things that you said, and Allison for crying and making everyone else cry. I appreciate that.
If you have a kid that wants to go to children's church, they can be dismissed at this time as well. First grade and younger for that, but we are in week five of our final words series.
Just to recap a little bit, over the last four weeks we've talked about, Father, forgive them. And when we have been hurt, how do we respond when others hurt them? And we saw Jesus forgave those that hurt him.
He made the statement today, you'll be with me in paradise.
And we looked at the criminals on the cross and how when we're in pain, we have the opportunity to give hope to other people. Two weeks ago we looked at, Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.
And we looked at when we're at our wits end and we don't know what to do, we ultimately just need to surrender to God. And then last week we looked at the phrase, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And when we feel alone, we need to seek God for answers.
And so today we'll be looking at the phrase, I thirst. But before we read that, I want to actually, let's go ahead and stand and read the scripture. John 19, verses 28 and 29, if you're willing and able to stand. The Bible says,
After this, when Jesus knew that everything was now finished and that the scripture might be fulfilled, he said, I'm thirsty.
And a jar full of sour wine was sitting there. So they fixed a sponge full of sour wine and hyssop onto a branch and held it up to his mouth. Lord, we love you.
We thank you for what you've done. Be with your service today. Help us to have the words to say this morning as I preach and as I give encouragement this morning. In your name we pray. Amen. You may be seated.
As we've looked the last several weeks of some final words of some final people, we just got two this morning. John Bradford, he was an English representative.
And his final words were sort of a series of words. And he said this, Oh, England, England, repent. Turn. He turned to the young man who was suffering with him.
And he said, Be of comfort, brother, for we shall have a happy supper with the Lord tonight. And then embracing the Lord of his execution, he repented the Savior's words.
Straight is the gate and narrow is the way that led to life and few there be to find it. And the Fox's Book of Martyrs says,
Like two lambs, they were both ended, their mortal life been void of all fear. This is a martyr, one of the very first century martyrs of the faith, John Bradford. Another man named Grace Angler was a poet.
He was a Jewish emancipator and he was a religious reformer, an educator, and a social historian. And she was, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I said he. She was mute and deaf. And her last words were by sign language.
And this is what her last words were. Job 13, 15. Though he slay me, I will trust in him.
Final Words of Faith Heroes
And so as we look at some of these heroes of the faith that went through their final last words, they're quoting scripture, they're quoting what Jesus said, because they understand that Jesus can relate to us when we go through struggles.
Jesus related to us on the cross. And the thought here of Jesus saying, I thirst, theologically, Jesus thirsted from the fire of God's wrath.
God's wrath was poured out on him. And Jesus took our place. And he wasn't physically saying he was thirsty.
Spiritually, he was saying, I'm thirsty for what I'm going through and the wrath that God is pouring upon me. If you like to write down scripture, my wife told me to slow down a little bit on when I quote scripture. But Psalms 89, 46,
the Bible says, How long, Lord, will you hide forever? Will your anger keep burning like fire?
So again, we're thinking of Jesus on the cross and the anger of God burning like fire on Jesus.
Numbers chapter 11, verses 1 through 3. Now the people began complaining openly before the Lord about their hardship. And when the Lord heard this, what did the Lord say? His anger burned and the fire from the Lord blazed among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp.
And then the people cried out to Moses and prayed to the Lord that the fire die down.
And the place was named Tibera because the Lord's fire had blazed upon them. So we see the anger of the Lord creates a thirstiness upon us. And there's nothing in the realm of pain that Jesus went through or experienced that he can't sympathize with us.
He has experienced every type of pain that is emotionally possible. The writer of Hebrews says it like this in Hebrews chapter 4 verse 15.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but whom? One who was tempted in every way just as we are yet without sin.
And we understand Jesus was tempted in every way and did not sin for you and for me. I've shared almost every week some types of different things.
And this morning I want to share, as we look very briefly at the first part here, is three types of thirst. I believe there's three main types that you can look at in all of humanity that you're going to thirst in. The first is the physical thirst.
We had a man walking by the church this morning and he stopped and spoke to some of our people and he said, I'm thirsty for just some water. Do y'all have a bottle of water? And we had the opportunity to give him water and just sort of see how he's going.
A physical thirst is the desire or longing or hunger or thirst or even the physical touch in life.
Some of us are physical beings and we like just to be embraced and a hug and a touch and it just makes us have better sense of being. Because we are physical creatures. But also we see here we have an emotional thirst. This is love, affection, acceptance, security and significance.
Emotionally we feel good when we're accepted in society. Right?
We feel good when we go to that girl and we ask them to be our girlfriend and they say yes. It's a great feeling.
When we go and we buy that ring and we ask, will you marry me? And we're up in arms, are she going to say yes? Is she going to reject me and say, well you're a creep, why would you ask me that?
But when she accepts that, there's this sense of emotional attachment. Right now Hudson's in this age of learning all different new words.
If you've had a three-year-old before, you'll learn this. And so he's got two of the ladies in his daycare. They say, I love that all the time.
He understands what it means and he's even got to, I like that. And so we were walking around doing something the other day and he goes, dad, I love that. I love that.
Dad, I just love that. He just says it. He doesn't understand. So we're riding home and I picked him up just the other day and he was a little upset at me to say the least. I didn't let him get something that he wanted. And he said, dad,
you're not my best friend no more. Corrin's my best friend at school. That's my best friend.
And emotionally he just wanted to have that attachment, that affection.
He didn't really understand and so now he'll say, no, dad, you're my best friend. And I'll say, am I your best friend and mom your best friend? And it depends on the day between me or mom of who's the best friend. So there's the emotional attachment we have.
But specifically this morning, we're going to look at the thirst of spirituality.
Spirituality, this is our inside and our soul that God has placed a thirst for him inside of us.
One writer said it like this, that God has placed a God-sized hole in our heart that only he can fill.
And this morning we need to understand and we need to figure out what is this God-sized hole in our heart that only God can meet. Which is why I laid a bullet like this. What do we need and when are our needs aren't met?
Admitting Our Needs to God
And how are our needs not met? When we have needs that are not met, the first thing we must do is we must admit your need to God. We see here Jesus as the example to us. He said, my needs aren't met.
And spiritually he was saying, I'm thirsty. Physically we understand he was thirsty as well. But spiritually he had this need that he needed met. And he admitted that need. I am thirsty. Psalms 42, 1 and 2 says this. As a deer longs for flowing streams.
The psalmist says, so I long for you God. I thirst for God.
The living God. Who when I come and will appear. I'm sorry. When can I come and appear before God? And we see a living God who is there for us who are thirsty after him. And we understand that we can go to him. Jesus was given the parable of the Beatitudes.
And in Matthew chapter 5 verse 6 he says this. Blessed are those who are hungry and thirst for righteousness. For they will be filled.
You see Jesus tells us that we are blessed if we hunger and thirst after what God has for us.
And this morning church when we get to the point where we can admit that we need God and we need God in every area of our life. That is when God says I'm here to supply those needs. I'm here to give you those needs. And you will be blessed.
Because you recognize those things. When we begin to understand when we have thirst in our life. We understand there are some people that try to do things when they have thirst. The first one is this. Some people try to suppress their thirst. Right? They try to take away. They try to get rid of the thirst.
And if it's a sinful thirst or a sinful need or a sinful desire. They repent of it and they ask God to replace it with the right need that only he can satisfy.
But they try to suppress it. And sometimes it's a suppressing of a need where they physically try to get rid of it. Or they try in their own efforts. And God says you can't suppress this without me.
Some try to silence it. As I've been studying lately and praying about where God has for me in the future of preaching. We begin to understand there are characters in the Bible that do this often. They try to silence what God is doing for them. Specifically the man of Jonah.
Where Jonah runs from what God is telling him to do. Because he is running from the thirst of what God has for him. He cannot accept what God has for him.
And so therefore he runs and he is trying to silence the voice of the Lord. So some try to suppress it. Some try to silence it. But we realize this studying through this passage here where Jesus says I'm thirsty that only God can satisfy our thirst.
Look at a couple scriptures with me if you would. Proverbs 27 20. Hell and destruction are never full. So the eyes of man are never satisfied. Isaiah 55 1 and 2. Come everyone who is thirsty come to the water.
And you without silver come and buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without silver and without any cost. Why do you spend silver on what is not food and on your wages on what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me.
And eat what is good and you will enjoy the choices of foods. You see Isaiah understood this process.
He understood that often times we spend our money and we spend our things and we do things in life and they never satisfy our life.
And he says oh but when you come and you enter into the presence of the Lord and you don't have to worry about the cost of it. You don't have to understand what the value of it is. But when you begin to surrender to what God has for you.
It is only what he can give is what satisfies the most deepest darkest longing in your life.
The psalmist says like this in Psalms 107 9. For he has satisfied the thirsty and he has filled the hungry with good things.
This morning church are you one of those ones who are thirsty and who are hungry and are searching after that of righteousness? And if so God says that he is there to satisfy that thirst.
Psalm 63 1. I'm giving a lot of scripture this morning because I want us to understand that God cares about our thirst. God you are my God. I eagerly seek you. What does the psalmist say? I thirst for you.
My body faints for you are in the land that is dry and desolate without water. But ultimately he says I thirst for you.
You see we see that God is the only person that can satisfy. When we've lost hope. When we've lost time. When we don't know what to do. We can turn to him for our help.
But are we admitting that we need God? God. The second thing we must do is we must ask for help in a time of need. You see sometimes we need to get to the point where we humble ourselves and we ask for help. I'm a prideful person in my heart.
I know that I can do things on my own and it's difficult sometimes for me to ask for help. It's easier for me and maybe some men in here can relate to this.
It's easier for me to go to YouTube and figure out a DIY of how to figure out how to fix this problem than it is for me to go and ask someone for help. Can anyone testify and relate to me in here? I had a couple people.
Me and my father-in-law were working on his boat and we're trying to figure it out and we were taking the lower end out of his boat. I've never worked on a boat motor but like one day in my entire life. And it was when I was 19 years old.
And so I had no idea what I'm doing. So we took it out and he's like, oh, it'll be an easy fix and we're working on it and we're figuring it out.
And we was like, okay, it's time to put this thing back in there. And we couldn't get it back in there. It kept hitting something.
And so we YouTubed a video and that video didn't help. I could have called somebody that works on it, a guy, Mark Cantrell in Arkansas. He would have been able to tell me exactly how to do it. No, what did I do? I went and watched another video.
And we tried to figure it out. And finally after what seemed to be hours, we finally figured it out. But oftentimes we don't ask for help.
And the Bible says that we have someone that's there to help us. Look at Hebrews 4.16.
Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness so that we may receive mercy and find grace and ultimately to help us in the time of need. You see, God is there for us and he says, I'm here waiting for you to come ask me.
I'm here waiting to give you the help that you need. Then all you have to do is come before the throne of grace. What does Proverbs say? Proverbs says in chapter 11, verse 14, without guidance a people will fall. But with many counselors there is deliverance.
I have tried in my ministry to have people that I call often. That I ask often how I can be a better pastor.
How I can be a better preacher. Because I know that in a counselor, a multitude of counselors, there is safety and there is instruction. And in our life as everyday individuals, we must understand that there is safety in a multitude of counselors.
But then Jesus in his most practical example, one of the most famous examples of Jesus coming to those who are in need of the woman at the well. In John chapter 4, verse 13 through 15.
Living Water That Satisfies
What does Jesus say? Jesus says to the woman, everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. But whoever drinks from the water that I give him will never get thirsty again.
In fact, the water that I give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life. Sir, the woman said unto him, give me this water.
I don't want to be thirsty. I don't want to have to come back here and draw again. I need the water that you're talking about.
And so often we hear this and we don't come back to the well of water that is there for us. You see, suffering will always have an opportunity for us to have service. Why do we suffer?
We suffer. We suffer to have an example to others. We suffer so that when people come to us and say, Miss Pat, how did you go through that?
How did you even get along? Well, I had these verses of scripture that I was able to go to. How did you go through that loss of a loved one?
Well, I had people that was around me. I had a loving God that was there that wrapped his arms around me, that surrounded me with mercy and grace and comfort. We're able to be an example to others when we suffer.
You see, we have to accept the provisions that are around us that are from God, whether they're good or bad. I want just to go back and look at John chapter 19, if your Bibles are open, and look at verse 28 one more time. The Bible says,
Two main phrases here. After this, Jesus knew. After this, after they beat him, after they put the crown of thorns on his head, after they whipped him, after they took the cat of nine tails and they beat him unto an unrecognizable person, after they drove the nails into his hands and his
feet, and after spending six hours on a cross, after this, Jesus knew.
He knew there was one more thing to do. You see, there were 332 prophecies in the Old Testament about a Savior who was going to come and was going to redeem all of mankind. And up until this moment right here, there were 331 prophecies fulfilled. There was one prophecy left. And after this,
Jesus knew that everything had been accomplished. And he knew the purpose of his will. He knew the purpose for us. And he was going to fulfill the perfect prophecies that were there according to God's word. Psalm 69, 21. And instead, they gave me gall for my food. And for my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.
And Jesus, when he said he was thirsty, what did they do? They went and filled a sponge with sour wine and hyssop and vinegar, and they held it up to him.
Because he knew that this was the prophecy that needed to be fulfilled for him to fulfill all 332 prophecies to prove, not only to the skeptics, but to the scholars, that he was there to redeem mankind. Psalms 51, 7.
The psalm of David and his repentance. The psalm of David, after he had sinned with Bathsheba, after he had done a horrible act, this is what David says in verse 7. Purify me with hyssop. Purify me with vinegar. And I will be clean. Wash me. And I'll be water than snow.
You see, what other people see for evil and what men seek for evil, God means it for good.
And God has a purpose for every single one of our thirsts in life. When we thirst for righteousness, he has a reason for it. When we thirst for comfort, he has a reason for it. When we thirst for whatever it may be in our life, he has a reason for it this morning.
God's Provision in Our Thirst
When it seems like the devil has dehydrated you and has sucked the dreams out of your life and you now thirst, God says, I've got a provision in Scripture that's going to fulfill it. Matthew 19, 26. And Jesus looked at them and he said unto them, With man, it is impossible,
but with God, all things are possible. You see, we may not understand why this is going on in our life. We may not understand what the reason is in our life, but we understand if we understand God in his fullness, that through his provision, all things are possible with God.
As Terry comes and we close down, I came across this story this week and I want to share it with you. It's a story of a missionary meeting where young people were discussing one of the theological quotes of Jesus. Jesus said unto the disciples, he said, You are the salt of the earth.
And as these young people began to talk about, they began to make suggestions and each of them were from different ages and stages of life and from different diverse backgrounds. And each of them began to try to interpret this meaning.
One of the young men said, You know what salt does for me? It imparts desirable flavor.
You ever ate something and you just, something's missing, right? I was over at Vic's house the other day and we were eating some green beans and all of us looked and we were like, Something's missing here. And she said, I knew I salted those when I canned them. And sure enough, she didn't.
And so we're all loading salt on these green beans because there was no flavor to it. And it was a joke and we laughed and it was great, but we understand salt gives flavor. One person looked and said, You know, in my culture,
salt preserves people from, preserves things from decaying. We have a ham and we'll slaughter a pig and we'll brine that ham in salt so it will not decay. And they all began to go around and talk about different things. And one little Chinese girl spoke up
and she had an experience that none of them had ever had. She said, You know, when I eat salt, it creates thirst in my life. It creates a desire that I need
more liquid in my body. You see, restaurants know this. They put peanuts out for you to eat so you drink more drink. So you spend more money on those drinks. It's a common thought,
but these young people that were around, they didn't understand it. And all of a sudden, a hush began to come over them and everyone was thinking, have I ever made anyone thirsty for Jesus?
Because Jesus said, you're the salt of the earth. And if you are going to be giving salt, people are going to be thirsty. But are we salty in that sense for Jesus?
Maybe you're here today and you're saying, Pastor James, I'm thirsty for Jesus. I'm thirsty for the gospel that my wife talked about. Man, I sit eight years in church. It could be 80 years in church. It could be 18 years in church. And I've never accepted Jesus and I've put on a show.
Maybe it's today. She didn't mention her testimony. She said, but she had it written down. She said, I was tired of playing the motions.
Are we just tired of playing the motions? We come and we sit in church and we sit in Sunday school or are we saying, God, I need change and I need you to come in and to satisfy my longings this morning.
Looking to God for Needs
You see, because I put the very last statement on your notes, when your needs aren't met, don't look to some other person.
Don't look to a family member, but look to God, the author and the finisher of our faith, as Hebrews says, because he is the only one that will satisfy your needs and your longings.
Father, we thank you for this morning. We thank you for, Lord, the women and their ability to lead us and the gift of grace that you've given them. Lord, I pray that you would be with us this morning. Lord, we're thirsty. We thirst after righteousness.
We thirst after hunger and we see Jesus was also thirsty.
And I pray, God, that you would help us as we go into our time of invitation. If there's one here that doesn't know you, Lord, help them to come to know you today. For it's in your name we pray. Amen.
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