As they led Him away from the trial, they seized one Simon of Cyrene who was coming in from the country and laid on him the cross to carry it behind Jesus. There followed Him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for Him. But turning to them, Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming, and they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us, and to the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

Two others who were criminals were led away to be put to death with Him. When they came to the place that is called the skull, there they crucified Him. And the criminals, one on His right and one on His left.

And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. The people stood by watching. But the ruler scoffed at Him, saying, “He saved others. Let him save himself. If He is the Christ of God, His chosen one.”

The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up and offering Him sour wine, and saying, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” There was also an inscription over Him: This is the king of the Jews.

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at Him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us.” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into Your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed, and the curtain of the temple was torn in two.

Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit.” And having said this, He breathed His last.

Now we’re a little off on the liturgical calendar. This is Palm Sunday. Most of the time, you would have a sermon about Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. We have been in a series over the past four weeks about the last weekend, really, of Jesus’ life, focusing on how He is reigning. And this is where we are today.

And this is why we’re out of step. We’re actually what we normally talk about on Good Friday. This Friday coming.

But from the perspective of the world, Jesus’ death is a sign of defeat rather than victory. The Jews, in accordance with the Old Testament law, viewed a hanged person to be a sign of God’s curse. The people of His day and of our own perceive of Him as a misguided charlatan whose delusions of grandeur ended in his own horrible death.

In contrast to that, the testimony of the Bible is that everything that happened to Christ, up to and including His death, was in fact a part of God’s predestined plan for redeeming mankind. Jesus, in His capacity as a sovereign God, was in full control of each and every facet of his life.

And we’ve been looking at that. We have seen Him reigning at the dinner, reigning in the garden, reigning during his trials last week, and today we come to him reigning on the cross.

And we’ll notice the contradiction in terms there. While the world would look on mock, not believing in who He claimed to be, not recognizing who He was, yet Christ in that very moment is in fact reigning as sovereign God.

This is an important consideration. Last week, we mentioned the seven sayings from the cross. And I cite these again today because this is the principal demonstration. These seven sayings are the principal demonstration of his reign from the cross, as I hope to show you. Though we will focus really on six dimensions because two of them are going to be put together.

First, Jesus says, “Father, forgive them.” Here, Christ is reigning over guilt and shame. He is offering salvation, forgiveness of sin to the entire world, setting us free from the shackles of our sin and our brokenness.

Amen? Then He says to the thief, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” Here, Christ is reigning over eternal bliss. In the book of Matthew, He says clearly that He decides who gets in and who doesn’t get in: “No one comes to the Father,” He says, “except through me as the sacrificial offering of sin.”

Then there’s the third one. Jesus looks down while hanging on the cross and speaks to His mother Mary, saying, “Behold your son.” And to that beloved disciple, “Behold your mother.” In His last moments, we believe Jesus is the firstborn of Mary’s children.

Before He met Mary, because they have adopted over the centuries this belief that Mary is a perpetual virgin. She was a virgin after He gave birth as well as before. We don’t believe that. We believe that there were other children of Mary and Joseph after Christ. Regardless of that fact, whether He is the sole son or the eldest son, He has the responsibility to see for His mother’s well-being as He dies.

And so, on the cross, in the midst of His suffering, He reigns over family responsibilities by assigning someone to take care of His mother.

Then, we have the two: “Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit, and it is finished.” In this, we see Him reigning over death. He is deciding. It’s so very important, children. He is dying when He chooses to die. Not when others have forced Him to die but when He is choosing to die.

He died at exactly the time of His choosing and not at the time the Romans would force Him to die. A very important point. Remember what He says in John chapter 10: “For this reason, the Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me. I lay it down of my own accord.”

This is so fundamentally important in this part of the text. Christ’s death wasn’t accidental. It wasn’t unintentional. It was not God’s plan B. Christ died because that’s what God had ordained to happen, because that is how He’s going to rescue broken humanity from their sin that is making such a mess of our world.

God’s all-compassing control, and as Christ is God, He shares that control in this moment. His all-compassing control is seen especially in this passage from the book of John. So that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and they might be taken away.

Now let me remind you again this morning. I know you know this, but it’s very important. When you crucified someone, and this was the way the Romans did it, others did it as well in history, but the Romans were famous for the practice. And they would either tie your arms to the crossbeam or nail you to the crossbeam.

And as the course of the day would go on, your body would sag down like this, and your arms would get into a position, and you’d get weaker and weaker and weaker. As you can see, even though I’m not mocking here, my voice is actually changing because I’m unable to move and breathe as I should.

To be able to keep breathing then, you had to push up on your legs to breathe. And as the fatigue set in, you would settle down again. But historically, we know there were some people that would go for days. They would hang there for days before they would actually die.

And because this was on the verge of the Sabbath, the religious leaders, in a moment of cognitive dissonance, they’re killing the Son of God but don’t want to break the religious rule about having people on the cross during the Sabbath. And so they say, “Pilate, break their legs.”

And with their legs broken, not only would you have further physical trauma to the body, but you would also have the inability to push yourself up and you would essentially suffocate or asphyxiate.

So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and the other who had been crucified with Him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. This is very important.

But one of the soldiers just to make sure, I mean, we’re professionals, and we’ve seen a lot of people die. I know this guy’s not alive anymore. But just to be sure because if he’s not dead or if he lives, then we’re going to be in real trouble.

So I’m going to pierce him with a sword, a spear, and blood comes out. Now listen, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear. For these things, these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Not one of his bones will be broken.

Not one of his bones will be broken. And again, another Scripture says, “they will look on him in whom they have pierced.”

Now, we want to ask where is that concept? That the bones would not be broken of the Messiah. This Scripture must be fulfilled. His bones were not broken. And where did we find that?

Well, we go back to the book of Numbers talking about the Passover: “They shall leave none of it until the morning nor break any of its bones.” According to all the statute for the Passover, they shall keep it.

And then in Psalm 34:20, which is a psalm about God’s protection over His people, it says, “He keeps all His bones; not one of them is broken.” In 1 Corinthians 5:7, Paul says, “Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed.”

This is where we get the understanding. It is prophetic Scripture. But how is it fulfilled, children? How is that verse fulfilled that none of His bones were broken?

It is fulfilled because He’s already dead when they come to do that. And this is how He controls. This is how He is reigning. He reigns over the time of death.

And in that reign over the time of death, the Scripture that His bones would not be broken is fulfilled. Christ is reigning even in the moment of His death.

Then you see another passage as you can see there: His bones aren’t broken because He chooses the time of His death. And then verse 37, another Scripture says, “they will look on Him whom they have pierced with the spear.”

Now notice this, please. Two random commonplace practices carried out by trained and experienced soldiers are in fact an outworking of God’s prophesied eternal plan.

The simplest, the smallest thing you think, well, that’s just nothing. And yet it is something in the hand of God. It is the fulfillment of Scripture. Jesus, as one with the Father, in their eternal essence, is in fact reigning over death, over forgiveness, over human destiny, and over Scriptural fulfillment.

These things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled. These things, Scriptural fulfillment. Christ is reigning over it in one sense because He doesn’t die when the Romans want Him to die. He dies before that because He is laying down His life. It is not being taken from Him.

Now this phrase, which appears frequently in the Gospels, are especially prevalent in His last day or two. I’m going to give you all of these passages. I didn’t make a slide for all of them. I put them into three categories because I want you to see them all. And here’s why I say that.

You know this, but for so that I’ll have the assurance that I’ve done my job. Our lives are so busy. And things are pushing in on us all the time. It doesn’t matter what’s culturally, personally, difficulties with our health, our jobs, our families. Who knows what? They’re pressing in on us all the time.

And we’re prone then to miss things that are really significant in the Scripture. And it’s very important for us to see this. So I want you to hear the Scriptures. And I put them into three categories of the Scripture being fulfilled.

Matthew 27:9. These are Scriptures related, they’re indirectly related to His death. Matthew 27:9. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah saying, “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of Him on whom which had been set by the sons of Israel.” This is about Judas betraying Christ for thirty pieces of silver.

It is a fulfillment of Scripture. Then Luke 24:44. He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” This is after the resurrection but it’s referring to His death.

Then you see the passages that are near the end of His life being fulfilled. Mark 14:49, and Matthew 26:54 both dealing with His betrayal in the garden. He says, “Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me, but let the Scriptures be fulfilled.”

Matthew 26:54 is when Peter is cut off the servant’s ear, and Jesus says, “Don’t you know that I could call for twelve legions of angels to come and rescue me?” But then He asked, “Then how should the Scriptures be fulfilled?”

The Scriptures being fulfilled are central to Christ’s death. John 13:18. I am not speaking of all of you. I know whom I have chosen but the Scripture will be fulfilled.

He who ate my bread has lifted up His heel against me. John 15:25. The word that is written in their law must be fulfilled. They hated me without a cause, and then John 17:12.

While I was with them, I kept them in your name which you have given me. I have guarded them and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction or perdition that the Scripture might be fulfilled. All these things are happening in the last days of Christ’s life, and they’re being fulfilled.

The Scriptures are being fulfilled. And in many of these instances if you have picked up on it, they’re being fulfilled because He is submissive to God’s will. And this is how He is reigning in the area of scriptural fulfillment.

Notice this. These things, He says in chapter 19 again, it says these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled. These things Scriptural fulfillment. Christ is reigning over it in one sense because He doesn’t die when the Romans want Him to die. He dies before that because He is laying down His life.

It is not being taken from Him. Now this phrase which appears frequently in the Gospels, are especially prevalent in His last day or two. I’m going to give you all of these passages. I didn’t make a slide for all of them. I put them into three categories because I want you to see them all.

And here’s why I say that. You know this but for so that I’ll have the assurance that I’ve done my job. Our lives are so busy and things are pushing in on us all the time. It doesn’t matter what’s culturally, personally, difficulties with our health, our jobs, our families. Who knows what? They’re pressing in on us all the time.

And we’re prone then to miss things that are really significant in the Scripture. And it’s very important for us to see this. So I want you to hear the Scriptures and I put them into three categories of the Scripture being fulfilled.

Matthew 27:9. These are Scriptures related, they’re indirectly related to His death. Matthew 27:9. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah saying, “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of Him on whom which had been set by the sons of Israel.” This is about Judas betraying Christ for thirty pieces of silver.

It is a fulfillment of Scripture. Then Luke 24:44. He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” This is after the resurrection but it’s referring to His death.

Then you see the passages that are near the end of His life being fulfilled. Mark 14:49, and Matthew 26:54 both dealing with His betrayal in the garden. He says, “Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me but let the Scriptures be fulfilled.”

Matthew 26:54 is when Peter is cut off the servant’s ear and Jesus says, “Don’t you know that I could call for twelve legions of angels to come and rescue me?” But then He asked, “Then how should the Scriptures be fulfilled?”

The Scriptures being fulfilled are central to Christ’s death. John 13:18. I am not speaking of all of you. I know whom I have chosen but the Scripture will be fulfilled. He who ate my bread has lifted up His heel against me.

John 15:25. The word that is written in their law must be fulfilled. They hated me without a cause, and then John 17:12. While I was with them, I kept them in your name which you have given me. I have guarded them and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction or perdition that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

All these things are happening in the last days of Christ’s life, and they’re being fulfilled. The Scriptures are being fulfilled. And in many of these instances if you have picked up on it, they’re being fulfilled because He is submissive to God’s will.

And this is how He is reigning in the area of scriptural fulfillment. Notice this. These things He says in chapter 19 again, it says these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled. These things Scriptural fulfillment.

Christ is reigning over it in one sense because He doesn’t die when the Romans want Him to die. He dies before that because He is laying down His life. It is not being taken from Him. Now this phrase which appears frequently in the Gospels, are especially prevalent in His last day or two.

I’m going to give you all of these passages. I didn’t make a slide for all of them. I put them into three categories because I want you to see them all. And here’s why I say that. You know this but for so that I’ll have the assurance that I’ve done my job. Our lives are so busy and things are pushing in on us all the time.

It doesn’t matter what’s culturally, personally, difficulties with our health, our jobs, our families. Who knows what? They’re pressing in on us all the time. And we’re prone then to miss things that are really significant in the Scripture. And it’s very important for us to see this.

So I want you to hear the Scriptures and I put them into three categories of the Scripture being fulfilled. Matthew 27:9. These are Scriptures related, they’re indirectly related to His death. Matthew 27:9. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah saying, “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of Him on whom which had been set by the sons of Israel.”

This is about Judas betraying Christ for thirty pieces of silver. It is a fulfillment of Scripture. Then Luke 24:44. He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

This is after the resurrection but it’s referring to His death. Then you see the passages that are near the end of His life being fulfilled. Mark 14:49, and Matthew 26:54 both dealing with His betrayal in the garden. He says, “Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me but let the Scriptures be fulfilled.”

Matthew 26:54 is when Peter is cut off the servant’s ear and Jesus says, “Don’t you know that I could call for twelve legions of angels to come and rescue me?” But then He asked, “Then how should the Scriptures be fulfilled?”

The Scriptures being fulfilled are central to Christ’s death. John 13:18. I am not speaking of all of you. I know whom I have chosen but the Scripture will be fulfilled. He who ate my bread has lifted up His heel against me.

John 15:25. The word that is written in their law must be fulfilled. They hated me without a cause, and then John 17:12. While I was with them, I kept them in your name which you have given me. I have guarded them and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction or perdition that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

All these things are happening in the last days of Christ’s life, and they’re being fulfilled. The Scriptures are being fulfilled. And in many of these instances if you have picked up on it, they’re being fulfilled because He is submissive to God’s will.

And this is how He is reigning in the area of scriptural fulfillment. Notice this. These things He says in chapter 19 again, it says these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled. These things Scriptural fulfillment.

Christ is reigning over it in one sense because He doesn’t die when the Romans want Him to die. He dies before that because He is laying down His life. It is not being taken from Him. Now this phrase which appears frequently in the Gospels, are especially prevalent in His last day or two.

I’m going to give you all of these passages. I didn’t make a slide for all of them. I put them into three categories because I want you to see them all. And here’s why I say that. You know this but for so that I’ll have the assurance that I’ve done my job.

Our lives are so busy and things are pushing in on us all the time. It doesn’t matter what’s culturally, personally, difficulties with our health, our jobs, our families. Who knows what? They’re pressing in on us all the time. And we’re prone then to miss things that are really significant in the Scripture.

And it’s very important for us to see this. So I want you to hear the Scriptures and I put them into three categories of the Scripture being fulfilled. Matthew 27:9. These are Scriptures related, they’re indirectly related to His death. Matthew 27:9. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah saying, “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of Him on whom which had been set by the sons of Israel.”

This is about Judas betraying Christ for thirty pieces of silver. It is a fulfillment of Scripture. Then Luke 24:44. He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

This is after the resurrection but it’s referring to His death. Then you see the passages that are near the end of His life being fulfilled. Mark 14:49, and Matthew 26:54 both dealing with His betrayal in the garden.

He says, “Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me but let the Scriptures be fulfilled.” Matthew 26:54 is when Peter is cut off the servant’s ear and Jesus says, “Don’t you know that I could call for twelve legions of angels to come and rescue me?” But then He asked, “Then how should the Scriptures be fulfilled?”

The Scriptures being fulfilled are central to Christ’s death. John 13:18. I am not speaking of all of you. I know whom I have chosen but the Scripture will be fulfilled. He who ate my bread has lifted up His heel against me.

John 15:25. The word that is written in their law must be fulfilled. They hated me without a cause, and then John 17:12. While I was with them, I kept them in your name which you have given me. I have guarded them and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction or perdition that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

All these things are happening in the last days of Christ’s life, and they’re being fulfilled. The Scriptures are being fulfilled. And in many of these instances if you have picked up on it, they’re being fulfilled because He is submissive to God’s will.

And this is how He is reigning in the area of scriptural fulfillment. Notice this. These things He says in chapter 19 again, it says these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled. These things Scriptural fulfillment.

Christ is reigning over it in one sense because He doesn’t die when the Romans want Him to die. He dies before that because He is laying down His life. It is not being taken from Him. Now this phrase which appears frequently in the Gospels, are especially prevalent in His last day or two.

I’m going to give you all of these passages. I didn’t make a slide for all of them. I put them into three categories because I want you to see them all. And here’s why I say that. You know this but for so that I’ll have the assurance that I’ve done my job. Our lives are so busy and things are pushing in on us all the time.

It doesn’t matter what’s culturally, personally, difficulties with our health, our jobs, our families. Who knows what? They’re pressing in on us all the time. And we’re prone then to miss things that are really significant in the Scripture. And it’s very important for us to see this. So I want you to hear the Scriptures and I put them into three categories of the Scripture being fulfilled.

Matthew 27:9. These are Scriptures related, they’re indirectly related to His death. Matthew 27:9. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah saying, “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of Him on whom which had been set by the sons of Israel.”

This is about Judas betraying Christ for thirty pieces of silver. It is a fulfillment of Scripture. Then Luke 24:44. He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

This is after the resurrection but it’s referring to His death. Then you see the passages that are near the end of His life being fulfilled. Mark 14:49, and Matthew 26:54 both dealing with His betrayal in the garden.

He says, “Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me but let the Scriptures be fulfilled.” Matthew 26:54 is when Peter is cut off the servant’s ear and Jesus says, “Don’t you know that I could call for twelve legions of angels to come and rescue me?” But then He asked, “Then how should the Scriptures be fulfilled?”

The Scriptures being fulfilled are central to Christ’s death. John 13:18. I am not speaking of all of you. I know whom I have chosen but the Scripture will be fulfilled. He who ate my bread has lifted up His heel against me.

John 15:25. The word that is written in their law must be fulfilled. They hated me without a cause, and then John 17:12. While I was with them, I kept them in your name which you have given me. I have guarded them and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction or perdition that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

All these things are happening in the last days of Christ’s life, and they’re being fulfilled. The Scriptures are being fulfilled. And in many of these instances if you have picked up on it, they’re being fulfilled because He is submissive to God’s will.

And this is how He is reigning in the area of scriptural fulfillment. Notice this. These things He says in chapter 19 again, it says these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled. These things Scriptural fulfillment.

Christ is reigning over it in one sense because He doesn’t die when the Romans want Him to die. He dies before that because He is laying down His life. It is not being taken from Him.

There are only two sayings remaining. We’ve covered five of them. There are only two remaining. The next one, and by the way, I do not have them in a proper sequence this morning. I’ve arranged it for the purposes of my message. But the next one is one that most of us know.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? This comes from Psalm 22, verse number one. Now notice this please. It is not when you read that in the Gospel, you do not see this was the fulfillment of Scripture. We put it in that category because it was an Old Testament text coming to pass.

Okay? But I want you to notice this. There is a last, the last statement that I will call your attention to this morning and that is after this. Jesus knowing all was now finished said to fulfill the Scripture, I thirst.

Everything’s finished except this. This is where He’s reigning, children. This is where He’s in complete control of what’s happening. To fulfill the Scripture knowing all things are now finished, He said, I thirst.

Now please forgive me for just a momentary delay because as you know I go through this, I go through my message and every time I go through it I see other things and so this morning when I went through it I saw other things again and I apologize for this. So let me read it from the Bible.

After this, Jesus knowing all was now finished said to fulfill the Scriptures, I thirst. And a jar full of sour wine stood there so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it into His mouth and when Jesus had received the sour wine He said, It is finished and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

He chose when He was going to die. Now this concept comes from a number of other places. Here’s a passage that was not on the slideshow. Psalm 22, Psalm 22, verse 15. My strength is dried up like a potsherd and my tongue sticks to my jaws you lay me in the dust of death.

Notice the hint there of thirst. His strength is dried up. He’s dehydrated. His tongue sticks to the roof of His mouth or to His jaws and then the phrase dust. You lay me in the dust of death.

So there’s a hint there but then our passage Psalm 69, specifically for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink. And here’s where He’s reigning. He says, I thirst to fulfill the Scripture. It wasn’t the statement I thirst that had to be fulfilled. It was the people giving Him sour wine after He says, I thirst.

This was the fulfillment of the Scripture. Notice this in the crucifixion sequence it is not the last saying but it is the last act of His seeking to fulfill all the Scriptures despite the ravages of emotional and physical fatigue.

He has the presence of mind to see to it that the Scriptures concerning Himself are all fulfilled before He gives up the ghost. Now we should pause to ask this question why is this absolutely natural state of events important? Of course, He’s thirsty.

As far as we know, He’s had no nourishment for the past 18 to 20 hours. He has had a lot of blood lost from the beating and therefore His body’s dehydrated. Of course, He’s going to be thirsty. Why is that important in the bigger scheme of things?

And I would give you two brief thoughts. First, Jesus is committed even to the smallest detail of God’s Word. Now where are you and I at today? Where is the Christian church at today? Because I can tell you as a pastor and as people I deal with both in church and out of church we are a group of people just making our own rules.

I decide this is how I’m going to live. That’s what I’m going to do. That’s what I’m not going to do. And we just make our own rules. Jesus is dying. He’s in pain and yet He says, I’m going to be faithful to God and make sure this last detail is accomplished.

The second consideration is the symbolism of our own predicament. Listen to Skip Ryan another one of the essays in the little book I showed you last week. Listen to what he says. When Jesus says, I am thirsty, He’s saying, I am thirsty with a thirst that every sinner deserves to experience forever.

Remember the story of the rich man and Lazarus and the rich man died and went to hell and when he woke up or when he got there, what does He say? I’m thirsty. And we use that as a metaphor for eternal damnation but it goes beyond that because our predicament is we are thirsty as human beings.

And this is what Skip goes on to say. You and I deserve that unquenchable unremitting agonizing thirst because we have sought to fill our lives with anything and everything but Jesus. At the cross, Jesus asks the question, what do you thirst after?

Throughout Scripture, thirst is a metaphor for a deep inward spiritual emptiness and need. Again, a passage I do not have on the slideshow. Psalm 42, 1-3. As a deer pants for flowing streams so pants my soul for You O God.

My soul thirsts for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God? Now listen to the echo here of Christ on the cross. My tears have been my food all day and night while they say to me all day long where is your God?

Did you hear it earlier in the text? They said well if You are God, if you’re the Messiah, if you’re the chosen one come down. Where is God? They mock Him.

And this is what the psalmist is crying out for. Matthew 5:6. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied. Skip goes on. He says without God we will die because the Bible says that what we most thirst for and need at the center of our lives is not stuff but God.

I must pause to ask you to contrast that with the prosperity preachers who say that God’s real plan for you is to give you every last possible thing you want in this life without any mention of the fact that your life could end today despite all your stuff. In the last week, in the last week we’ve had two people die not in our church but people we know both named Tammy ironically only in their late 50s and they’re gone.

And neither one of them was expecting to go. And all the toys as one man wrote a book all the toys went back in the box. We came into the world empty-handed, we leave empty-handed and our thirst can never be satisfied by stuff.

He says what we most thirst for and need at the center of our lives is not stuff but God. The question always is what do I drink to fill that deep and profound thirst within me? And I have to tell you children this is why people jump from relationship to relationship to relationship, from bed to bed to bed from job to job from church to church.

They bounce around always looking for satisfaction never realizing true satisfaction comes only through Christ. And this is not your pastor. That’s not me that’s not my opinion let me read Isaiah 55. Come everyone who thirsts come to the waters and he who has no money, come buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Are you listening? Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me and eat what is good and delight yourselves in rich food.

Incline your ear and come to me here that your soul may live. And I will make with you an everlasting covenant my steadfast sure love for David. When Jesus says, I thirst it isn’t just a fulfillment of Scripture. It is an expression. Here’s the answer for every human longing in Christ.

He is God that is happening. He is and it is a reminder that even at the point of death He is reigning over all things. His death is not random not uncontrolled not tragic not pointless. It is the supreme work of God, the ultimate act of reigning over life so that you and I whosoever will may come to the fountain.

Jesus said on that last day John he stood up and said if any man is thirsty let him come to me and drink. Come to the fountain of true satisfaction. Amen. Father thank you.