Sermon | John 19:28–29 | 2026 April 03

Title: Sermon | John 19:28–29 | 2026 April 03

Scripture: John 19:28–29 (ESV, reference only)

Date: 2026 April 03

Speaker: Rev. John Chen

Transcribed, translated & edited by: Joseph Wang (Yufan)

Scripture: John 19:28–29

Title: I Thirst (Good Friday, April 3, 2026)

Theme Statement: By bearing the consequences of our sin, Jesus reveals His love to us, and in this love we repent and are reformed.

Question Statement: How can we benefit from the worship of Good Friday?

Transition: We do so in the following ways.

Keyword: Ways.

Introduction: We enter into the worship of Good Friday and come to the fifth saying among the seven words from the cross: “I thirst.”

I. Discern the way Jesus loves.

1. When the Lord Jesus said on the cross, “I thirst,” we think that His body indeed should have felt hunger and thirst. For from the last supper on Thursday night until Friday at noon, after drinking the third cup, the Lord Jesus should not have had any more water to drink. Therefore, for the Lord Jesus to say on the cross, “I thirst,” was entirely normal.

In church history, this sentence, “I thirst,” gave rise to an extraordinary story. This story is about Mother Teresa. At a train station in India, she heard these words from the mouth of a beggar, and she resolutely devoted herself to serving the poor in India.

On September 10, 1946, the life of Mother Teresa was changed, and the lives of thousands upon thousands were also changed. That day she was taking a train to Darjeeling, and at the station she saw a beggar repeatedly saying, “I thirst... I thirst...” This scene continued to appear in her mind. After she returned to the convent, she felt that God was calling her to serve the poor, so she sought the counsel of the Archbishop of Calcutta.

As pastors in the Reformed church, we affirm Mother Teresa’s actions, and we also believe that she did what God wanted her to do. Next, the work of preaching the gospel is what we are to do.

2. Now let us look at the true meaning of this passage. In this passage, the Lord Jesus knew that all things had already been accomplished, but in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, He said, “I thirst.” Therefore, the Lord Jesus did not say this merely because He felt thirsty. His primary purpose was to fulfill the Scripture, so that the Word of God might be brought to completion.

This passage is recorded in Psalm 69:21. Let us read together Psalm 69:19–21. In this passage, David is describing the suffering he encountered. The Lord Jesus spoke these words in order that this verse of Scripture might be fulfilled.

Because when He acted in this way, it would bring upon Him even harsher treatment. This vinegar, that is, the sour wine, was not given to quench a criminal’s thirst, but to stimulate the criminal, to keep the criminal conscious, and to make the criminal endure even more pain.

3. From here, we may draw this conclusion: when Jesus spoke these words on the cross, it was not to satisfy our need for physical thirst, but to fulfill the Scripture, so that the will of God might be accomplished. We may further say that the Lord Jesus came not to satisfy our lusts, not to become our tool, and still less to affirm our sin, but to identify with our pain and to bear the consequences of our sinning.

This understanding of the Lord Jesus’ love can help us better understand the Bible’s definition of love as a whole, and better understand the way the Lord Jesus loves us. The Lord Jesus’ love is not a love that satisfies our lusts, but a love that leads us to know Him, to return to Him, and to imitate His love. He actively bears the consequences of our sin, thereby revealing His endless love toward us; and His purpose is to require that our hearts, moved by grace, should follow Him and imitate Him.

4. Hyssop reveals His substitutionary death. It reveals that He is willing to unite Himself to us willingly. Exodus 12:22 says, “Take a bunch of hyssop.” Leviticus 14:6 shows that hyssop is connected with sacrifice. Hebrews 9:16 says that when Moses established the covenant with the Israelites, hyssop was also used.

Now, when the soldiers gave the Lord Jesus the sour wine, they also used hyssop.

5. When Jesus said, “I thirst,” it was not merely to indicate His condition, but in order to fulfill the words of Scripture actively. The Lord Jesus actively bore the sins of His people, rather than bearing them passively or helplessly.

This active suffering of the Lord Jesus reveals the depth of His love for us.

II. Reject the sinful lusts of the flesh.

1. Then what kind of revelation does this passage give to us Christians today? In fact, there is a kind of hunger and thirst in every person’s heart. This hunger and thirst is the deepest longing within every person, and our sinning is usually related to this longing.

For every kind of longing is a distortion of the true God.

2. Generally speaking, there are usually three deepest longings in the human heart:

To exalt oneself and make oneself supreme above all (what the Bible calls the corruption of the flesh, power). Such people are always seeking their own affirmation, always pursuing greater power, and delighting in the approval of others.

To love the world and gain all the wealth and treasures of the world (the lust of the world, money). Such people long for money, because they understand the value of money, that it can buy everything the flesh needs. Nowadays many women, and men as well, regard money as the only reliable refuge.

To satisfy one’s own lustful soul, and even seek help from the spiritual realm (the attack of Satan, religion). Such people seem to be looking for a kind of spiritual comfort. They may perhaps have very good talents, but they always want to possess some kind of religion, and within this false religion gain a certain kind of satisfaction.

Satan’s three outer garments:

False science (false wisdom, false prophet). Satan will disguise himself as the wisest of men.

False saint (false goodness, false priest). Satan will disguise himself as the most benevolent of men. Evil people also seem to be pursuing a good reputation for themselves, and giving their wickedness a dazzling halo.

False emperor (false authority, false king). Satan will disguise himself as the one with the greatest authority. This corresponds to the longing to make oneself supreme above all.

3. The unbelieving people of the world cannot escape these three attacks, or Satan’s three deceptions. They are drawn into these lusts and cannot free themselves. In the end, they develop these false longings and seek false satisfaction in these false longings.

4. But after Christ redeems us from our sins, joy fills us within. John 7:37–39 says that Jesus came to resolve our deepest hunger and thirst. Not only that, but out of our belly shall flow rivers of living water. That is to say, in us who trust in Christ, the Holy Spirit will form a river within us to satisfy all our hunger and thirst.

The Holy Spirit will destroy the three sinful longings in our hearts, and He will tear away Satan’s threefold mask. The Holy Spirit impresses the image of the Triune God upon our hearts, enabling us to understand eternal life, and then causing us to live for eternal life.

The Holy Spirit enables us to know that we already possess the highest authority, that we already possess the new heavens and the new earth, that we have true worship of the true God, and that our souls are fully satisfied.

The Holy Spirit enables us to possess true wisdom, true goodness, and true authority.

Jesus desires to remove our old man, so that in Him our new man may have rivers of living water flowing from within. The old man is always hungry and thirsty, but the new man neither hungers nor thirsts any longer. This new man is in Christ worshiping the true God.

5. A Christian is one who no longer has worldly hunger and thirst. Our new man has already been satisfied in the Lord. We no longer crave this world, no longer exalt ourselves, and no longer seek the satisfaction of a sinful soul.

III. Enter into the holy life of believers.

1. More specifically, we Christians are to see, in the Lord Jesus’ active death, the Lord Jesus’ active love toward us. The way He loves is not by satisfying our lusts, nor by affirming our sins, but by directly bearing the consequences of our sins.

Thus, in the love of Jesus, we hate sin. The horror of sin is revealed to us through the death of Jesus. Sin is joined to hunger and thirst. Sin brings the true hunger and thirst of life. This hunger and thirst can never receive such satisfaction, and in the end it develops into the thirst of Hades and hell.

Luke 16:23–24—this is the real thirst, an everlasting thirst that continues forever.

2. Then, in the love of Jesus, we long for a holy life. We desire to live as Jesus lived. We resolve to live a holy life and to obey God’s statutes and rules.

This holy life is the expression of our no longer having worldly hunger and thirst. We now have a healthy hunger and thirst, namely, a thirst to be with God, a thirst for the new heavens and the new earth, and a thirst for a holy life. In this right longing, we receive the blessedness of eternal life.

This is both the result of the living water being given, and it also becomes the reason why we increasingly receive the living water.

First, this holy life is not something we ourselves are able to produce, but is the result of the Holy Spirit granting faith, and of our union with Christ by faith. It is a special grace given to us by God.

Second, we ourselves also must strive to understand and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, so that rivers of living water may flow from within us. This river waters both ourselves and others. This living water of the Spirit leads us to understand all truth. This living water causes us to be continually immersed in the love of the Lord Jesus.

Closing Sentence: May God lead us in this Good Friday, so that we may receive spiritual guidance, and in the love of the Lord’s death, may our lives be lifted up and transformed.