This is the fifth in a series that looks at the last words of Jesus Christ. This message was delivered at Hillcrest Baptist Church on the evening of September 23, 2012.. This message deals with Jesus’ physical suffering on the cross. This contains an audio recording of my message, along with my sermon notes. Please note that the sermon notes are not a full transcript, because I typically add to my notes as I preach. For the entire message please listen to the audio.
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SERMON NOTES:
John 19:28-29
As we listen to Jesus speak from the cross, there is no question that He loves us. His fifth statement reveals that love in a special way.
Jesus was crucified at 9:00am. He spent the first three hours on the cross in the sunlight, then darkness came.
At the end of that darkness He cried “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
The three statements prior to that centered on others, the three after that, centered on Himself.
This is the shortest of all His statements, and the only one that referred to His body and His physical suffering.
This simple statement shows His love in a special way, by painting three pictures of Christ.
1) the suffering son of man
2) the obedient servant of God
3) the loving savior of sinners.
THE SUFFERING SON OF MAN:
Jesus was truly a man. Just as we cannot deny His deity, we cannot deny His humanity.
Liberal theologians today deny His deity, but in the early church, there were those who denied His humanity.
Jesus was born as a baby, grew up as a child and a youth. He ate, drank, became weary, and had to sleep. He felt pain, He wept and He died. These are all human experiences.
Jesus was the perfect man:
Hebrews 7:26
When Jesus was on the cross, He felt the depths of human suffering.
He refused any of the wine mixed with myrrh that was offered as a narcotic, because He didn’t want His senses dulled in any way.
He was in perfect control of His faculties, and didn’t try to escape the pain in any way.
The high priest when ministering in the tabernacle was warned not to drink any strong drink. Likewise Jesus did not want to be identified in any way with strong drink.
He was in complete control of Himself as the suffering Son of Man.
This means that Christ is able to completely empathize with us, and fully understand our pain.
When Jesus became our merciful high Priest, He endured the suffering and paid the full price.
This is why we can come boldly to the throne of grace.
Hebrews 4:16
We can come to someone who knows how much we hurt and how we feel. He knows our burdens and our pain. He suffered for us.
THE OBEDIENT SERVANT OF GOD:
Jesus said “I thirst” so that scripture would be fulfilled.
He completely obeyed the word of God. In fact, everything that Jesus did was in obedience to the Word of God.
Psalm 69:21
It is not surprising that He thirsted, crucifixion is an agonizing form of death.
As a person hangs on the cross, all of His bodily fluids are literally drained out of Him.
Psalm 69:3
Jesus had a purpose, and that purpose was the only thing He was interested in.
John 4:34
It is a lesson for us to be obedient.
God has a purpose for you, and you should make it your mission in life to fulfill His will, just as Jesus was completely obedient.
Philippians 2:8
The most important thing in the life of a believer is to know the will of God, and do it, and do it from the heart!
Ephesians 6:5-6
THE LOVING SAVIOR OF SINNERS:
Jesus was certainly thirsty, because of the physical agony, but there is more to it than that. When Jesus went through the three hours of darkness, He was made sin.
2 Corinthians 5:21
In taking our sin, He had to endure our complete punishment, not just physical death, this includes experiencing the torments that souls will endure in hell.
One of the things we know about hell, is that it is a place of thirst, eternal thirst.
Luke 16:24
It is a place of eternal unquenchable fire.
Mark 9:44
Hell is certainly a literal place, and unquenchable thirst is one of the agonies.
At every step of the crucifixion, Jesus endured unspeakable agony, which ended in what was undoubtedly an incomprehensible thirst. Just like in hell.
Jesus endured the thirst, so that He could provide us with living water.
He endured the thirst, so that we will never have to.
He felt the torments of hell that rightfully belong to us.
In Defense: The Blog 
Posted on September 27, 2012
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