The Gospel by John chapter nineteen, reading verse twenty-eight, twenty-nine and thirty. This is one of the most awesome and holy parts of the history of mankind, the history of this universe, because here are the moments when the Lord Jesus was crucified and he died. We do well to hear bow our heads and, as it were, take the shoes from off our feet because the ground whereon we now tread is holy ground. The Lord Jesus is about to die upon the cross of Calvary, dying for man is creature's sin. the Creator, dying for the creature, the creature rejecting his Creator, the Creator loving his creatures so much that he gave his life a ransom for them. We read, after he had taken care of his mother and made provision for her welfare after his departure, after this, verse twenty-eight says, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished. Notice the completeness here. All things. Very seldom do any of us complete all things or everything that should have been done. There's always a little part that could have been better or something that is lacking and not time or the ability to finish it. But the Lord Jesus completely finished everything. to God's entire satisfaction. And so we read this remarkable statement, knowing that all things were now accomplished. Everything, friend, that was necessary to redeem your soul and mine was accomplished by the Lord Jesus on the cross. Hence there is nothing more that we could do. What else could we do? We couldn't do anything to a completed work, but spoil it. And so all things were accomplished, and the Lord Jesus said he knew they were, and therefore that the Scripture might be fulfilled. He says two words, I thirst. I thirst. This was to complete the Scriptures, to fulfill the Scriptures. because in the Psalms he says, my throat is dried. My tongue is parched. He was so the temperature of his body, the fever, and likely made his throat parched, his tongue to be dried. And the suffering of thirst must be tremendous. It is common knowledge that we can get along without food and live much longer than we can live without water or liquid. We must have something liquid to slake our thirst and keep our bodies from dehydrating. But on the cross there was no liquids to drink. There was no water to drink. They suffered the agonies of thirst. What they are, And what they must have been can only be told by those who died of thirst over the desert in days gone by. Those who have been imprisoned or caught in some way in a cave where they couldn't get out and died, they died mostly from thirst. The Lord Jesus on the cross died with thirst. You know, friends, He endured that for you and me. The one whom the Lord Jesus tells about who was a rich man and fared sumptuously every day in Luke chapter fifteen. He died and he was buried. But down in a lost eternity he opened up his eyes and being in torment. And what he asked for in that awful place was a drop of water from Lazarus' finger. to cool his parched tongue, for he was tormented in that flame. Oh, friend, we can wash it out of our minds. We can throw it aside and say we don't believe it, but it's still in your Bible and mine, and to say anything else in that would make me less than honest. No, friends, here it is. The Lord Jesus is bearing that same thirst on the cross of Calvary, for you and me that we might not thirst. He is said to come unto him and drink. And he that drinketh of the waters of this world will thirst again. Whether they are waters of pleasure, or waters of wealth, or waters of friends, or whatever it might be, they will thirst again. But we drink the water of life that he gives. We will never thirst again. Which is it that you have, my friend, and which is it that you want? In a lost eternity there is nothing to slake the thirst. And the rich man cried, For a drop of water from Lazarus' finger, Lazarus the beggar, who laid at his gate back on earth full of sores, and was fed with crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. And the dogs came and licked his sores. The only companions the poor fellow had was the dogs that licked his sores. But he died, and was carried by angels to Abram Boos. I'm likely the dogs ate his body. But he was carried, his soul went to be... in the bosom of Abraham, the friend of God. He was comforted, and the rich man was tormented. My friends, it will be an awful thing to search forever. I can't contemplate it. I can't comprehend it. What about you? Oh, my friends, we don't know. what's ahead of us if we don't study the Bible. The Bible makes it very clear the soul that sinneth it shall die, and eternal death is the second death. The Great White's own judgment, those who, as appear before the Great White's own judgment, they're doomed. Doomed to everlasting fire, the Bible says. Oh, my friends, it's not my word. You must... If you're going to reject it or object to it, then you must say that to God. You must tell God that, because it's in His Word, and we can't rationalize it away. Some say it is a figurative flame, but the rich man said he was tormented in it, and he was thirsty in it, and that is enough, friends, without anything more. And the lake of fire is a lake of fire. where the worm dith not, and the fire is not quenched. And the Lord Jesus said that, not me. But on the cross he thirsted, and he cried, I thirst. And the verse twenty-nine says, Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar. That wouldn't slake your thirst very much, would it? And they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore received the vinegar, he said, It is finished. Three words. It is finished. It is finished. What the work that saved, the work of salvation, the work of redemption. He came to die for lost sinners. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. He came to give his life a ransom for many. He came to die for our sins according to the Scriptures. and to be buried, and to rise again the third day, according to the Scriptures. It's all completed now. All things are completed. And He is able to say three great, complete words, closing words, finality. It is finished. The work that saves is finished. The work that saves the soul. There's nothing more to be done. Jesus did it all long, long ago. Sinner, this is all you need. Tell me, is it not? God was satisfied. The Lord Jesus died to put your sins and mine away, and he could say it is finished. The work that saves is completely finished forever. And he offered himself a second. Oh, friend, think of it. The work that saves the soul is finished, finished forever, finished to God's entire satisfaction, finished so that you and I have nothing to do but to leave it and to rest upon it. This is God's salvation, friend, that whosoever believeth in Him, that He died for you on the cross, that He shed His precious blood to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, that is salvation, friend. Then we work. Then we can work as much as we like in service for him, the best of masters, our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. So then we read that after he had said, I thirst, and it is finished, he bowed his head. Oh, his head didn't fall over. No, he bowed his head, and his spirit wasn't taken away from him. He released his own spirit. He delivered up his own spirit to God the Father. He released his life. He was the only one who had power over death. He was the only one who had power over life. And so he bowed his head, and he released his spirit unto God. He died. And then he was buried. And then he rose again the third day, so that he is alive now, and that forevermore. Oh, my friend, the blessed Christ of God, your Savior, if you'll make him so, mine, I've made him so. Blessed Father, we thank thee for the Lord Jesus, that he suffered that awful death, that he might redeem us to himself. We pray that many will trust him. Rest on his finished work. that he finished, and finished it completely in every detail. And now we rest on a completed work by faith in the Savior of sinners. Bless our country, our president, and all of our great people, of our great land, and our government, our Father. We pray thy richest blessing, and help that wars will soon see, and that we will be a righteous nation, a righteous people. And many know the Lord Jesus as their Savior, in his home precious name we pray. Amen.