Good Friday 2022 - I Thirst

All right. John 19. John 19. Jesus says these words. John 19, verse number 28. Now, I was told I had 12 football minutes. I'm gonna just make it clear in the fourth quarter. Twelve football minutes, that's what I got. John 19, verse 28. Later, knowing that everything had been finished and so that scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, I'm thirsty. Someone say, I'm thirsty. Jar of wine vinegar was there. They soaked it with a spot sponge and put the sponge on a stalk of a hyssop plant and lifted it to his lips. When he received it, Jesus said, it's finished. And he bowed his head, gave up the spirit. Later, knowing everything had been finished, Jesus said, I'm thirsty. Somebody shout, I'm thirsty. You may be seated even in the presence of the Lord. Two and a half hours into this crucifixion and Jesus fever is rising as his body is attempting to heal itself. His body's engorged. His ribs are puncturing his lungs. His temperature is beyond imagination. His body is hanging on the threads of his wrist while the wood is drenched in the stain of my sin and your sin. Jesus is dying. He's forgiven his enemies. He's brought a thug into paradise. He took care of his mama. He vocalized the frustration of the Father turning his back on him. Jesus is covered in the ugliness of my sin. He's dying. Crucifixion's purpose, church, was to embarrass the perpetrator as much as possible. The goal was to ensure they were humiliated, they were exposed. There was so much time for people to come and mock the person, to eviscerate them, to talk about them as much as possible possible. So as Jesus is hanging there, suspended between guest and dismiss, Jesus has sped the dying process up. Because preachers, crucifixion could have taken anything from days to weeks. And Jesus takes the world system and speeds it up to three hours, two and a half hours. Jesus has fulfilled over 20 Old Testament prophecies. He's paused death, he's accelerated death. And each time he's pushed up to get the ribs out of his lungs in order to give us a new word while his body is covered in the ugliness of my problems. After he's fulfilled, according to John, a myriad of Old Testament prophecies, he doesn't speak this word with a loud voice. That's the next word. He weakly, according to Josephus, through chapped lips, a parched throat, he weakly whispers, I'm thirsty. Mind you, Pastor of twice over in Mark and Matthew, he refused to drink anything. But according to John, near the end of his death, as John is communicating to us the humanity of Jesus, we see that Jesus perks up. And according to Josephus, he whispers, thirsty, Pastor, you know I love Good Friday and I think it gives us a chance to re engage these scriptures and, and find something new and find something old. And countless times I've read this text and I preached this text and I've gotten unnecessarily deep with this text. So just take it at face value. Have you ever gone to the gym and when you finish working out, you needed some water. Remember the last time Jesus drank anything was at Passover. Yesterday this brother left Passover, was betrayed by Judas, had all his friends walk away from him, had a coat of nine tails, ripped flesh from his body, had to carry a 300 pound cross nearly two miles. He was nailed to the cross Body palace. Pints of blood have poured out of his body. You know what? I'd be thirsty too. I wish I had a witness in here. And before we churchitize this text and hyper Christianize this text, this 33 year old black man has lost pints of blood from his body. And he looks up and he says, you know what? I'm thirsty. He's fulfilled scripture, Pastor. He's done the very thing he came to earth to do. That was he did his assignment. The Son of man must suffer. He must do what the Father has called him to do. And at the peak of of his purpose, he needed something to help him complete the assignment the Father gave him. And he says, in my flesh, not my spirit, but in my flesh. Thirsty. He reveals church. That there's humanity in the revelation of purpose. That no matter how saved you are, no matter how churchy you are, no matter how many wings you got under your suit coat this morning. There is a moment where you thirst for completing the purpose that God gave you. And purpose will overwhelm you if you are following where God is trying to take you. And is your faith strong enough to risk your reputation to say that in my flesh I'm weak, I'm thirsty because I'm wanting to finish what God called me to do. And the only way I can get my flesh to where God is calling me to is acknowledging that my flesh is weak. I am thirsty. This is a declaration of humanity, but it's also a declaration of fulfillment. It's a declaration, I think of human humility as well. At the peak of purpose, Pastor, I'm thirsty. At the peak of church growth, I'M thirsty. At the peak of your opportunity, I'm thirsty. Are you human and humble enough to declare I can't do it by I am thirsty. I want to finish with God. So I don't know about you, but Pastor, I'm not here to just start things. I'm here to finish things. I don't just want to start the ministry. I want to finish the ministry. I'm thirsty. I don't just want to start the church. I want to grow the church. I'm thirsty. I don't just want to sleep with you. I wish I had a witness. I want marriage with you. I'm thirsty. Y' all can act like you're churchy. I don't just want to talk to you at 2am when I'm convenient. I want relationship with you because I'm thirsty for purpose. I'm thirsty for what God has called me to be. Somebody toss your head back and say, I'm thirsty. Jesus pushes up. He pauses. Death man away. And he whispers, this ain't done yet. He whispers, I ain't over yet. And the strength I need. I gotta push some pee. I gotta push my pride aside and say, I'm thirsty. His body is engorged. Fever is setting in. Blood is pouring out. Ain't no Tylenol, ain't no medicine, ain't no wine. I'm thirsty. My bills are engorged. Student loans dropped one away from me. Temptation to forgive. Give up on the gospel. But I love God's word will for my life too much. I can't stay here long. I'm thirsty to finish what God has called me to finish. I must suffer because I'm thirsty. What is he thirsty for? Pastor Justin, two things I show you. The text shows me number one, Pastor he was thirsty for obedience in his humanity and the pain of suffering and walking in purpose. Jesus says, I'm thirsty. Now, it wasn't just a declaration of to a declaration of obedience. See, Pastor, remember the prayer that Jesus prayed in John 18, Father, let this cup pass from me, but not my will. Your will be done. Then later, Peter comes and thug life cuts a man's ear off. Jesus says, put your sword away. Then he says something powerful in John 18. Peter, will I not drink the cup on the cross? Pastor Westcott suggested that when Jesus said, I'm thirsty and it was the prayer to the Father, in light of what happened in the garden, I didn't want this cup. But now I'm thirsty for the cup. God, I'm thirsty for what I just prayed For y' all missing me. I'm thirsty. For what? I'm thirsty, Jesus. I'm thirsty, God, that I refuse the drinks they gave me earlier because the drinks they gave me earlier were trying to take away the sting of death. I'm thirsty for all the sting sin so my children never have to suffer the sin. I'm thirsty that I'll let my mama watch me suffer. I'm thirsty I'm gonna let the government think they won. Because I'm not thirsty for what the world can give me. I'm thirsty for what only God can give me. See, Pastor, Jesus is saying, I'm thirsty for the will of God. So much so that it's not if it be your will, but God, I want your will. And I wish I had some old school saints in this building building that can say, I'm thirsty for what God wants to give me. I'm thirsty for God's will in my life. I'm thirsty for God's dreams for my life. I'm thirsty for what God wants, even if it means I don't like it. Pastor. Maybe that'll move us from constantly finding things to cope with our pain, to heal our pain. Because others call this a moment of weakness. But Jesus says, no, this is a declaration of strength. Because if I'm ever in the will of God, there's safety in the will of God, there's power in the will of God, there's workmanship in the will of God, I'm working and I'll suffer because I want the will of God. And the world calls it weak. Oh, but it's strong. Because the closer I am to Jesus, the further I'm away from myself, the closer I am to the Father. I wish I had somebody. The more I'm running away from that which is distancing me from the Father. Because when I weak, then I'm strong. I'm finished. I'm thirsty for obedience and pastor. Secondly, and finally, I'm thirsty to conquer. I'm about to shout out of my own shoes. Jesus was offered Pasca, which we believe was 1st century Gatorade. The goal of Pasca was to give him an energy. Remember, the goal of crucifixion church was to extend death as long as possible. So they gave gave Jesus this not to help him, but to humiliate him. Because Jesus refused it. Because he knew his goal was not to get away from the sting of sin, but to suffer so we don't have to understand the effects of sin. Then John says, they didn't Give him Pasca. John says no, they gave him mold wine. Pastor. Mold wine was a narcotic. It was a prophecy fulfilling from Psalm 22 that his mouth was dry and they gave me vinegar, something to take away the sting of his pain. I was studying this text, Pastor Lee, and it blessed my life because this mulled wine was a common drink for soldiers. Watch this. To cope with the presence of constantly being around death. That's why it was so accessible. It was a soldier's drink. So watch this. They offered Jesus a sour drink to take away the sting of death, because that's what they did to deal with the being in the presence of so much death. Hear me. Your enemies are mocking you because you're conquering something they don't know how to conquer. See, the very people who are mocking you are the very people who only cope with drinking what you're fighting through. The very people who are unhealth, have unhealthy coping mechanisms are the same people watching you walk into purpose. Stop giving your attention to people who are constantly coping with things that God called you to conquer. God that you around too many people who are comfortable with coping through sex and coping through alcohol and coping through social media that God says, I did not give you the authority to cope. I gave you the authority to conquer. And I wish I had about 18 folk up in here who can say, God did not give me all this anointing to get through it. He gave me the anointing to overcome it. I'm more than a conqueror through the power power of Jesus in me because I'm not here to cope with it. I'm here to conquer it. I'm done. Thank you so very much. Somebody toss your head back, open up your mouth and say, I'm thirsty. Pastor, the Greek here is interesting. The text says, they soak the sponge. I'm doing the best I can. Urban Dyson they soak the sponge with sour wine. The Greek is so interesting. He never I preach this all my life and every time I preach it, he drank it. But if you remember what the sour wine would do, it would dry your vocal cords out. The Greek there says that he didn't drink it. Josephus suggests, and then Westcott suggests as well, that all they did was touch his lips because he needed to take away the chapness of his lips so he could scream in the next verse. For with a loud voice, it's finished. Because Jesus did not drink the wine. Because Jesus would not let his thirst be quenched the way the world quenches his thirst. Oh, I'm about to come up all in your Kool Aid. What are you drinking? What are you willing to say no to? To stay in the will of God. Can I suggest, pastor, the reason people don't trust churches is because our faith is so pliable that people know they'll give us anything and we'll drink it because God does not quench our thirst. But popularity quenches our thirst. Oh, I ain't scared of none of y'. All. I said pride will quench your thirst. I wish I had a witness in here. Be known going viral quenches your thirst. So, pastor, we'll serve the homeless. But we get weird when the homeless come to our churches. My name is Justin Lester and I approve this message. We'll serve and preachers, we'll sleep with the widow. I ain't scared of none of y'. All. But we won't invite. I wish I had a witness. Well, then we won't invite the widow to be on the altar with us. We'll serve and preach with members, but won't talk with members. Jesus said, God, they give him the wine and he doesn't bring into his body. Pastor, the reason people don't trust churches is cuz we drink too much. Maybe. Maybe that's why people make fun of pastors so much, cuz we drinking too much of the world's Kool Aid. Maybe that's why folk don't come to church. Cuz you raised so much hell in church. Cuz we love drinking hell. We don't want heaven. I. Oh, I mean your Kool Aid this morning. But I'm looking for some folk in the Bay Area that can say we are a generation of people that want the will of God so bad that I will not let anything from the world stop me from owning the anointing of God on my life. I'm not gonna get drunk with popularity because I got the passion of Christ. I'm not gonna get drunk with pride because I've got the anointing of heaven. And pastor, I came to tell somebody, I'm not arrogant. I'm anointed because I woke up like this. I wish I had. I woke up with favor. I woke up with a joy. I woke up this day and every time, time I turn around, I told my wife, I'm done. Thank you. So I. I told my wife, I came here and Lord knows that God has given me a very unique prophetic voice. And I. I know that I'm not arrogant. I'm anointed. And so I came here, Pastor, and I got the phone call on the freeway, literally, as I was driving through Fairfield. From your admin, Pastor Lester, Pastor Lee would love for you to come. And I was so honored. And my friend looked at me, he said, oh, no. I said, what? He said, God is talking to you. And so the Lord is talking to me. I got to be out here, Pastor. Let me tell you something, church. I've been here two weeks, and I can tell you all the dirt on 18 different pastors. I'm right here. Prophetic voice right here. I can tell you, Pastor, who folk want to sleep with. I ain't scared of none of y'. All. What folk want to drink. I'm here to call it out because I don't like this, pastor. Because, Pastor, we've gotten too comfortable with the drink of gossip in Bay Area. If God's gonna do what he wants to do here, he needs some folks starting today that can say, I'm not gonna drink what the world gave because I'm gonna drink the word, the worship that God gives. I'm not gonna get drunk with gossip. I'm not gonna get drunk when I get there. But I wish I had about 15 folk in the building that can say, today is the last day. I'm gonna let anything that's not the will of God cross quench my thirst. I wish I had somebody that can high five your neighbor and say, I will bless the Lord at all times and his praises will always be in my mouth. My soul will make her boast in the Lord. The humble will hear it and be glad. Oh, taste and see. The Lord is good. Is there anybody here that can toss your head back, open up your mouth and say, God, fill my cup and let it overflow? I said, feel, feel. Feel my cup and let it overflow. And any thirsty folk, any thirsty people, thirsty for church growth, thirsty for Gen Z, thirsty for young adults, thirsty for expression, explosive churches, Thirsty for miracles, Thirsty for signs, thirsty for wonders. The devil thought he had us, but today's the last day. I'm gonna drink the wrong thing. If you're willing and if you want to. I wish I had somebody that can. Throw your hands in the air, toss your head back and say, lord, fill my cup. Fill my cup. Fill my cup. Fill my cup. Grow my church. Heal my family. Won't he do it? I said, won't he do it? Won't he do it? If you know he will say yeah. Say yeah. Say yeah. Yeah, yeah, I'm thirsty.