Sunday Morning Podcast. July 18, 2021. Bro. Dave Goble.
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We serve a mighty God! It’s for the valleys as well as the mountain tops, that we serve Him. Not just when we are being blessed, but also for when things aren’t going well. That’s especially the time we remember the God that we serve! Whether we prosper individually or we don’t, ..whether I live or die, I am the Lord’s I know! It’s like a wedding vow. For better or worse, for richer or poorer, and sometimes it’s in sickness and in health. We take those seriously, for it’s like a contract! It is not meant to be broken. The same is true when we dedicate ourselves to God, and we ask Him for His favor. “Lord I’m a miserable sinner, and I want to be a saint!” And God makes that happen! We’re going to be speaking again this morning on “Lessons from The Cross.” When we ask that question and we plead for God for that, we cannot later say when we’re going the through the valley, “it’s too hard, or because of the way so and so has dealt with me, or not dealt with me, that somehow I’m going to change the vow or change the rules.” It doesn’t work that way! This is a contract we have made with God, and more than that, ..that He has made with us. These lessons on The Cross aren’t necessarily in order, but each of them mean something to us, and I’d like to share that with you this morning. This morning we’re gong to speak about being thirsty. I hope by the time we’re done you’re really, really thirsty! Thirsty for righteousness! It’s meant to be that way. We’re meant to be thirsty for God!
TEXT: JOHN 19:28-30
28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.
29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.
30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
Jesus actually drank the vinegar, bowed his head and gave up the ghost. He died in that moment, but not before He received the vinegar, and said “I thirst.” We’re going to be speaking about thirst this morning, and how it relates to our spiritual condition. I’d like to know, “what is the thirst of the Spirit?” I realize He is responding to a physical trauma in this moment that creates thirst, and we will speak about that also. But I’m really interested in what is the thirst of the Spirit, what do we do to satisfy that thirst, ..and then end with there’s a never ending thirst quencher. And what kind of spiritual condition is referred to here, when we think about being thirsty? What is it that resolves or satisfies that thirst in an never ending way? I’d like us find ourselves in this story, and ask ourselves how thirsty are we for righteousness? It will matter in the way we go about our business everyday in life! How thirsty are we? That’s the question I’d like us to ask ourselves this morning. If you find yourself realizing I’m not quite as spiritually thirsty as I should be, you have the opportunity to “move up.” Not to just be casual, ..but find ourselves in a place of prayer while we’re here, to move up! We want to find ourselves thirsty for righteousness in the way in which we live! If the lesson were only to respond to some physical trauma, this scripture would not need to be here. It’s more than that! It’s also referring to the quality of water and thirst in a spiritual sense. That’s what we’re going to be reading about. What likely happened to Jesus to place Him in such a condition of thirst? We know that He was beaten severely at His trial, and lost blood. They placed a crown of thorns on His head and pressed it down on His brow, and on all the nerve endings and blood vessels on His face. The blood was streaming down over it.
One might say “don’t get so graphic Sunday morning,” but we need to place ourselves in this moment that Jesus was in! They whipped Him with a cat of nine tails, the blood flowed from that, (while they placed a robe around Him), and congealed while the cloth attached itself to His skin, and for a moment the bleeding stopped; but then they ripped the clothing off from Him again before they put Him on the cross, restarting the bleeding. He lost a tremendous amount of blood! So much that on the way from the hall of judgement on the way to Golgotha, He was unable to carry His cross. That was because of the shock of that loss of blood and trauma. So they compelled one man named Simon, of Cyrene, which we have read about, to carry for a way the cross because Jesus was unable. As Jesus stumbled up the road He finds Himself at the place of crucifixion, to be laid on the ground on top of it, to be nailed to it. Crucifixion was worse than any other kind of capital punishment, a most miserable end to one’s life. When being nailed, it likely was through the wrist, instead of the palm commonly thought, because the flesh in the palm would have torn and not held the weight of his body. This is the conclusion of many scholars on the subject. As He’s hanging, his legs also nailed (long 7 to 8 inch nails) to the cross vertically, He experienced such excruciating pain and more great loss of blood. The hung and crucified body buckles, and the lungs expand being compressed by the weight of the body pulling down, constricting Christ’s ability to breathe! Suffocating!
This is the environment told about here. All this trauma, and shock, and He says, “I thirst!” It is most likely He was not only thirsting physically because of the trauma done to His body, but also spiritually because He desperately wanted to connect with His Father in Heaven! He felt so alone! So abandoned by His disciples. Other than the disciple He loved, John, the bible records the only ones present in support, were the women which included His mother! The soldiers, and people passing by, were mocking Him. Stripped in shame as is customary for crucifixion. None of which He deserved! The first element of the cross, is you are suffering not for cause! It is not your fault. Jesus in this environment was made to be the villain, and yet He is not the villain! Hung on the cross, ..for us! Not losing His sense of thirst, and feeling so alone. Feeling disconnected from anything that loves you! Feeling isolated and not part of something, and the terror. He cries out, not because just His mouth is thirsty, but He wants to connect with His Father! Oh the agony now being expressed on the cross! Not at this level, but often people feel like they are just not connected to anyone, and oh so alone! Revelations 22:1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. Jesus talks a lot about water, and the spiritual importance of it as the means of life. Isaiah 35:6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. These are only 2 places, amongst many others, where the scriptures talk about the life giving value of water. Not simply H2O, but a connection from the throne of God, which flows out like a river! And I’d like to ask you this morning, “Are you next to that river?” Have you been planted by the rivers of water? Is it feeding you? Are your roots able to tap into it? Or are we near to the river of water, but somehow our roots have become stunted? So we’re really not getting the benefit to something so close to us! Where do we find ourselves this morning?
The Thirst Quencher ..