The Thirst Trap
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through the person that you expected him to do it through. You ever had God be good to you through somebody that you weren't even good to? And then somebody you were good to wasn't good to you? And it's almost like God wants to challenge your attachments. So he'll keep on moving around his supply and springing up from different places so that you don't camp out where he called you to pass through. And that's why sometimes you get frustrated. But favor can flow from frustration.

Sometimes you have to get down to the bottom of something to find God there. My study has been like that. It was kind of weird. Can I tell y'all something I didn't tell any of the other experiences? I did not want to do a seven-mile miracle series. I preached this sermon five or six years ago.

My publisher had the rights to the material because we had them pay for the study guide for our groups. We had them pay the church, and they wanted to put out a book. I didn't want to write a book about Seven Mile Miracle because I typically like to preach something and move on. As a matter of fact, this is probably dysfunctional, but before I came out to preach to you, I was writing my sermon for the end of April because it started coming to me. I know what it is, and I'm not telling you because then you would skip.

But the way it flows to me… I've had to learn to get in the flow with God.

Get in the flow. For me, creativity and inspiration don't always flow. It's not always dependable. One songwriter said that creativity is like building your house from the sky down, especially when you're depending on God to give it to you. You feel kind of vulnerable when you're waiting on God to give you something. It flows in strange places. Sometimes I get sermons off of Gatorade commercials and

I just have to do it anywhere I can. This year has been interesting because God took some things I studied years ago, like this seven-mile walk on the Emmaus Road. We taught an Easter sermon on it, and then a whole series and a book flowed out of it. But I was kind of done with it, and God took something I was done with, like a seed I thought was gone, but it really wasn't gone. It was in the ground. Something in your life that you sowed in the last season…

are going to come up out of the ground when you least expect it, because favor flows from strange places. I've kind of been going through these seven statements of Jesus slowly, and I don't like to go slow. If it were up to me, we would study all seven of them in the introduction to the sermon. Move on. I like to cover a lot of ground so you don't get bored. Sometimes you have to slow down. I started the series just talking about Clio. Were you here for that one?

He's walking along with a companion. Here comes Jesus, this stranger, and out of this stranger's mouth comes a revelation that reverses their disappointment. They realize it when they get there, not while they're going. So it started to challenge the way I saw faith, because I thought faith meant that I would know why I was going through everything I went through while I went through it. Now I'm thinking, maybe faith means not knowing why I'm going through it,

but trusting the one who makes a way where there is no way to feed me what I need for the season that I'm in because he's God and he knows what I need when I need it.

So when we were preaching about he broke the bread and gave it to them we kind of been breaking the bread Haven't we the bread represents the Word of God and each week I've been giving you a little piece and I'm taking it from the last sayings that Jesus spoke on the cross there are seven seven is the number of completion in the scripture and So when we say seven, we're we're eventually getting to resurrection but to get there we're going through crucifixion and

We're eventually getting to glory, but to get there we have to go through the sufferings of this present time and believe that they are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed. But it's in the ground right now. It's on Saturday that our faith is proven, waiting for Sunday and the aftershock of Friday.

We walked through a couple of different sayings, and one was, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. That one challenged me, because it is the exact opposite of how I think when somebody disappoints me or offends me. See, you're different. You're more sanctified than me, and you've arrived. But when somebody breaks my heart, I don't say, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. I say, God, get them back.

hurt them worse than I could ever hurt because they know exactly what they were doing. I'm challenged because, well, Jesus says to a thief, he says, "Today you will be with me in paradise." Now, I don't think like that. I think if the guy's gonna be in paradise,

He needs to do some good deeds and help some old ladies across the street and take a little membership class and get baptized at our Concord campus. Then he can be in paradise. He didn't do any of that. Jesus just saved him just because he asked. So now I'm thinking, this must be a gift you can't earn. It must not have to do with my works at all. It must be something God gives, not something I get. All I have to do is receive it.

Then I'm a little convicted how he's on the cross, and he's thinking about his mom on the cross. I don't think about others while I'm going through good times, let alone hard times. I don't even like to let people merge in traffic.

on 485 because I'm in a hurry. Here's Jesus dying and thinking about somebody else. All of this has been challenging me. Wade gets up and says that God was forsaken by God, the Son, by the Father, so that we would never have to be abandoned. Then I come to this little phrase.

And I don't know what to do with it, because Jesus now says one of his last sayings on the cross. This is mile five, commonly known as the word of distress. It's called the word of distress, but after today you're going to see that it's actually the word of destiny. I'm going to show you, because he says something strange. Let's look at it together. Are you ready? Say, "I'm ready." You got your Yeezys laced up and ready to run? What? So he's been mocked. He's been flogged. He's been sentenced, handed over to die.

He's bleeding, he's suffocating, and he's hanging there. After this, John says, John 19:28, Jesus knowing that all was now finished. Finality. Achievement would be the original language. That all was achieved. That he was sent to do his assignment was achieved. Now that he knew that, he said to fulfill the scripture, "I thirst," which is ironic.

Because this is the same voice that spoke the seas into existence, and now he needs water. Do you ever think about this? How the same voice that told the Red Sea to part now needs a drink. How can the voice that could command the sea, peace be still, and it had to shut up so he could get some sleep...

How could that same God, because the Bible says that he is the one, Colossians tells us, by whom, for whom, and through whom all things were created that were created. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. That's Jesus. Now he's wrapped in flesh, dying at the hands of sinful men, a criminal's death, and he says, I thirst. He's the one who said he was living water. How can living water be thirsty?

He is the one who was Jacob's well. How can Jacob's well be dry? Do you see what I'm saying? It's just strange to me. And on top of the fact that it's kind of crazy…

that the one who called the seas to be gathered together so the dry land could appear, the one whose voice is above the waters, the one who separated the water above the firmament, the water below the firmament, the one who has a throne in heaven, by the way, in the book of Revelation that he sits on, where the streams of water flow and make glad the

the city of God, pure and brilliant as jasper and diamond. Those waters flow from the throne, but here we see him thirsting. How can God be thirsty? How can water need a drink? Y'all are looking at me confused, and you should be because it's confusing. I understand me being thirsty. After all, I'm a thirsty man. That's what Holly said one time.

She told a server that in a restaurant. By the way, if you're a server in a restaurant, first of all, God bless you. You are an unsung hero, especially on Sundays with hungry, cranky, non-tipping Christians to put a Bible verse on the receipt instead of a tip. Father, forgive them. It's tough for me to admit this, but I am a server's worst nightmare. It's not because I'm rude. It's not because I'm rude, and I'm not rude because I'm Southern.

So since I'm Southern, if I'm going to be rude to you, I'm going to do it behind your back. I watch people from other parts of the country who are so direct, and it's weird to me because I can feel my mom putting soap in my mouth. We just weren't that direct. I watch somebody in a restaurant. They're done. They just go, check! That's not how you… I can't do it like that. I wish I could. I think it'd be cool. Just holler, check. I see it in movies. Yeah.

I'm going to try sometime. I'm not rude like that. I'm not even really that picky in a restaurant. I'm really not. I'm simple. I'm basic. I like what I like, but it's not that hard to fix it like I like it. I'm not Chunks Corbett. Chunks Corbett is the most embarrassing person to be in a restaurant with because of the specificity with which he demands his food be prepared. His wife is nodding while I'm preaching this.

He'll walk in a restaurant, "I want a blooming onion, but no onion. And can you make it in the shape of an eight? Because that's my favorite number, and when I was eight I played baseball." He's got the craziest stuff. So I'm not really like that. But my thing is, if you can keep up with me on the drinks… Because I drink Diet Coke. Like I just said, I shoot up heroin, you judgmental demon.

People will do it every time I say that they'll send me a link about aspartame, but it's alright I already read about it and I want to go to heaven and I'm kind of in a hurry to get there I'm at peace with my mortal nature and I want to sip a diet Coke on the journey

So my thing is, I tip great, especially if you bring me an Elevation Church stolen pen to sign the tip with. That'll be our thing. I'll bump it up at least 3%. Spread the word.

But my thing is, keeping my drink full is kind of hard, because I'll drink 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11… I've been to 12 glasses before in a long meal, so I know it's horrible. One time this server came over, and she was kind of giggling about how many drinks I was drinking. This had been years ago. She looked like she was too young to be legally working at a restaurant.

She comes over to the table, and she's kind of giggling and apologizing. I'm like, "I'm sorry I'm drinking so many drinks. I just like to drink a lot of Diet Coke. I'm sorry about that, and I promise I'll tip you good. Just thank you for trying to keep up with me." She goes, "Hee-hee-hee." Holly, feeling the need to apologize, goes, "He's just a thirsty man."

She started laughing when Holly said that, but she was laughing a little too hard. You know how people can laugh a little too hard for what you said and you know they took something different out of what you said? So she's laughing, just laughing, laughing. I said, "What? What was funny about that?" She said, "Your wife just said you're thirsty." I said, "Yeah, I am. You've seen it tonight here in the restaurant. I like to drink." She said, "No, no. You don't know what thirsty means, do you?" I said, "No, but tell me what thirsty means."

I need to know. She said, "You don't want to know this. You're a preacher." I said, "No, tell me." She said, "Well, it's kind of something we would say, younger people would say. Say maybe if a guy is a little too desperate, we would look at him and maybe roll our eyes and say, 'Thirsty.'" So now I knew why she was laughing.

She said, "Even when people post something on social media where they want to get attention and they try a little too hard, we call that a thirst trap." I want to preach to you today about the thirst trap. I want to go all the way back from Bonefish Grill to John 19 and see if I can work it together, because I have to admit, sometimes I'm thirsty.

Sometimes I'm thirsty, like the guy who sends 12 text messages and none of them get responded to, those long text messages. Sometimes I need too much from the wrong place. Sometimes I'm thirsty because I love God, and I know that he's my shepherd, and I'm not supposed to be in need, and I have his Spirit. But sometimes I have to admit to you I'm kind of thirsty. Look at your neighbor and ask him, Are you thirsty? Not you. You're thirsty.

You're filled with the Spirit of God. We get thirsty. It's no surprise we get thirsty, because we're weak. He knows our frame. We're made of dust. We came from the dust. Get thirsty in the dust. Dirty, thirsty people. That makes sense, but for Jesus to say, "I thirst…" Watch this. When he said it, the Bible says they came to him, those soldiers around the cross, and he said, "I thirst." There was a jar full of sour wine, cheap stuff.

what the executioners drank while they were waiting on the person to die. Now see, this was the second drink that Jesus was offered on the cross, but the first one he refused when he was on his way to the cross, when he got to the spot where they would drop the cross, the vertical beam, and attach to the horizontal beam because the cross works both ways. I taught you that two weeks ago.

When he got to that spot, they offered him a drink. This drink was, the Bible says, mixed with myrrh, which was meant to drug the person going to the cross. The women would prepare it often as an act of compassion or kindness. When they offered him this drink, perhaps in mockery, for he called himself a king, and they offered him a drink, Mark tells us in Mark 15:23, "They offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it."

Because maybe he saw it as a trap because he was focused on finishing what God gave him to do and when he got to the cross He refused to drink and said I don't need that now. I want you to do something for me Okay, everybody do this everybody do this I want you to get something in your mind That's trying to keep you from being on the path of your purpose And when I say three push it out the way like Jesus pushed the cup of myrrh and say I don't need it one two three I don't need it. He said I'm not drinking that I

I'm going somewhere. With his gaze set on the glory of God, he went toward the cross. But now it's been six hours since he first got to Golgotha, and he says, I thirst. Remember, this is the same voice of God that created the clouds and filled them with condensation. This is the voice that has the power to flood the earth, and only Noah and every animal on the boat gets out of it alive, and he thirsts.

So we're surprised by it, or at least we should be. We're surprised when they come to him and there's a jar of sour wine, and they offer to the Lamb of God who was slain before the foundation of the earth. You need to understand that what happened on the cross didn't start on the cross, and it didn't end on the cross. The cross was pointing at the prophetic fulfillment of the purpose of God that existed before time began. So they take a hyssop branch.

which was what they used on Passover, back when they would take the blood of a lamb and put it on a doorpost. So they took that branch that they would put the blood on, and now the Lamb of God is bleeding. It's not the shadow anymore. It's the actuality, the revelation of God. The fullness of God is hanging on a cross in the form of a man. They give him vinegar to drink for his thirst, and they put it to his mouth.

the same mouth that spoke them into existence, and they gave him vinegar to drink." How could he be thirsty? How could God struggle with a human sensation like thirst? Struggle. If you want to write something down, write down struggle. To really understand why he said, "I thirst on the cross," you would have to start really in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Garden of Gethsemane is where he went out to pray.

before he drank the cup of suffering and it's one thing to come to church and talk about a calling because Sometimes a calling is like a beautiful cup, but what's in it sometimes? When it comes time to really fulfill your calling let me break this down because y'all are really looking at me Cross-eyed and stuff. It's one thing to pick out a name for your baby it's another thing to have to raise them in middle school and

It didn't work. It still didn't work. I'm trying really hard to bring this right where you are.

It is one thing to write down his last name with your first name and think about how awesome it would be to be Mrs. So-and-so, but it's another thing to deal with his bad breath and his bad spending habits and realize that his mom didn't teach him how to put the seat down on the toilet after he used it and work out the mechanics of marriage in the context of the calling, not just the excitement of the concept of something. So sometimes while we are very excited about

about the concept of being used by God. Stay with me because this sermon is about to do something in your soul, deep down in your soul. I feel the Spirit of God saying to somebody today, "What will you do with the cup?" Because Jesus had a cup that he didn't want to drink. And he prayed in the garden. He prayed, "Father, if there's any other way to get this done, if there's any other way, let this cup pass from me." The cup that was full of the wrath of God.

The just punishment that our sin deserved. And he drank it, but he struggled to drink it. Do you know how I know he struggled? Because he prayed, if there's any other way, let this cup pass. But if there's not, if I have to drink it down, if I have to suffer, if I have to go to the cross, I'm going to the cross. If I have to be mocked, I'll be mocked.

If I have to be alone, I'll be alone. If I have to cry, I'll cry. If I have to struggle, I'll struggle. Not my will, but yours be done. So the Son of God is thirsty, and he's thirsty because he's trapped. He's trapped in a place that we're all familiar with. He's trapped between what he wants and what God wills.

Have you ever been trapped? Three honest people, three thirsty people. All the thirsty people make some noise. Just be honest about it, because remember, it's only those who hunger and thirst that can be filled.

It's only those who know what it's like. I mean, he got down in that garden, and he prayed so hard about it, and he heard so much about it while Peter, James, and John slept on the side. But Jesus prayed. The Bible says he prayed to the point that his sweat was like drops of blood. He struggled to surrender, and he was trapped in the garden between what God had spoken and

and what his flesh wanted. I'm thirsty. Of course he's thirsty. When you sweat like that, you're going to be thirsty. I mean, if the Son of God sweat like that, what makes you think you're going to go through life and never break one yourself? So we think we're just supposed to fulfill our calling and never drink the cup? We think we're supposed to have a vision but no vinegar? I mean, the Son of God is sweating drops of blood and we're supposed to be able to sleep through life? It's a struggle. He said, "I thirst," because he struggled.

People, I know he was thirsty. I mean, he's fully God, yes, but he's also fully man. In other words, he's trapped because he's God, but he's wrapped in flesh. Because he's glory, but he's wrapped in frailty. Because he's eternity, but he's trapped in time. Because he's spirit, but he's trapped in a body. Sometimes I feel trapped.

Because what I want to do I can't do, and what I do I hate, and what I want to do I don't have the will to do. I'm trapped, thirsty, tired, and weary." He struggled. See, I'm not very comfortable with this. I don't like it. I don't really want to see a God who struggled like I struggled. I like that stuff where he opens his mouth and says, "Shut up," to the wind and the waves.

I like that because that makes me think he's just gonna walk into my situation smooth sailing But when he says I thirst see now I see him identifying with my shame and it causes me to look at myself not as I wish to be but as I really am because now I've got a picture him carrying my shame write down shame because Shame will make you thirsty shame will make you try to fill something with the words of people that can really only be fulfilled by

By the word of God. Shame will make you forget who you really are. Of course he was thirsty. He was carrying your shame. Now, I mean, to an untrained eye it looked like he was carrying a beam that weighed 80 pounds. And he carried it up a hill. Now, this is from Pilate's palace where Jesus was sentenced by the Roman prelate. He had already been handed over by Caiaphas, the high priest. He's been going back and forth all night. He sweats in the garden.

He heads to the cross. He gets there. They offer him something to numb the pain. He says, "No, I'm focused. No, not yet." He pushes the drink aside, thirsty as he is, carrying my shame. "Eighty pounds. It weighs a lot more than that when it's in your soul. A whole lot more than 80 pounds. It'll weigh so much you can't even look people in the eye when it's in your soul." He carried that.

He carried it the length of six and a half football fields from Pilate's palace to Golgotha. Of course he was thirsty. Come on, I can't even do a set of kettlebell swings and not take a sip. Of course he was thirsty. Of course he said, "I thirst." You know what? This isn't the first time Jesus said he was thirsty in John's gospel. No, it's not, man. Not at all. See, because one time… Can I tell you a story from the Bible? It's a Bible story.

from John chapter 4. And it's interesting because Jesus is going somewhere, but he goes around to get there, and the place where he goes is called Samaria. Now, this is not a normal place for a Jew to go. So the fact that he went there was kind of surprising, but nobody asked him why he was doing what he was doing, because by this time his disciples knew that everything he did, he did on purpose.

Let me say that again. Everything he did, he did on purpose.

That's going to come back, and that's going to be very important when I finish this little sermonette today. Everything he did, he did on purpose. The Bible says he had to go to Samaria. He had to go. Why? Why did he have to go to Samaria? Why did he have to go to the cross? Why would he go out of his way to Samaria where a Jewish person would not normally go? Why would God go where he was least expected? Do you ever…

Have you ever wondered why God would bother with someone like you? Have you ever asked that question, "Why me, God?" Any parents who have ever asked God, "Why me? Why would you call me to raise a kid when I feel like a little boy myself sometimes?" See, the interesting thing to me about this little excursion Jesus takes is that he's going to Samaria. He sits down when he gets there.

He waits by a well for a woman. Let me tell you something about this woman. She's coming out in the middle of the day, and the only reason you would go to the well in the middle of the day in a hot climate is so nobody else would be there because you're ashamed to be seen by people. She's going out in the middle of the day to get some water at a time when she doesn't think anybody else will see her because she's thirsty.

I said, "She's thirsty." She's not just thirsty for water. She's thirsty. She's thirsty in the Urban Dictionary thirsty kind of way. So Jesus sits by a well waiting for a woman and sets a trap for a thirsty woman. Y'all aren't even helping me preach this sermon I worked so hard on. That's rude. So she comes up and says, "Oh, crap. I thought nobody would be here. I don't even know this guy."

You notice how everything we've been studying in the Scriptures is Jesus showing up to people who didn't even recognize him when he did? Just showing up, and then he does something unthinkable. Talk about a thirst trap. Jesus, the living water, sees this woman coming, knows what kind of life she's lived, and yet he doesn't say anything about that. He says, "Hey, girl…" Modernization. He said, "Give me…" Look at verse 7. "Give me a drink." She didn't like that very much.

So she got a real deep look at her. Here's what you do when God speaks to a place in your life. When God starts speaking to you, you get theoretical and abstract, because to be specific, to really have to deal with the issue, is actually sometimes painful. So she's like, "Hey, how is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink from me, a woman from Samaria? In other words, I know you're not talking to me." That's what the woman is saying. "I know you're not talking to me." You can feel that way sometimes.

I mean, some of you sit here and listen to me preach, and you think it's for your wife. I'm talking to you. I'm talking to you, buddy, thirsty self. Everybody in here is thirsty. Everybody in here is thirsty.

Some of y'all get it through sex. Some of y'all get it through success. Some of y'all get it through religion. But I have to tell you something. The person you're sitting next to is thirsty. It's not a sin to be thirsty. It's just where you go to get your fix that determines whether or not your soul will be satisfied. There's only one well that has the water I need. We talk about the satisfaction.

Jesus says, "Hey, I need a drink." The woman thinks he's talking about water, but he's not talking about water. The woman is perhaps ashamed and offended, so she goes to push him away. See, that's what she has learned how to do. She's thirsty, so she has learned how to get what she needs from who she thinks can give it.

but none of it lasts. She's learned how to get what she needs, so she wakes up in the morning thirsty. Did they like my picture? Did they comment on my post? Did they friend me back? Did they follow me back? Thirsty. Somebody shout, "Thirsty!"

Acting like that's going to fill you. It might for a minute, but there's one problem with this well. Jesus said, "If you drink of this water, woman, you're going to stay thirsty." I want you to know that if you put your validation in other people's hands, you will have to go back to them for it. Don't make me throw this phone. Jesus just lays it out there. "Oh, yeah, I'm going to make it work a while to come to church today."

So Jesus is like hey, you know everyone who drinks of this water everyone who drinks of this water Yes, we ain't on the Gala on Facebook. Yeah, but but why do you go to the mall? Everybody drinks somewhere. Why do you eat Doritos? Everybody drinks somewhere why you put so much pressure on your kids to do what you never did Everybody drinks somewhere. Why are you texting her back? You better take your phone man. Something's coming over me while I hold this thing So sit down

He sits by a well, and he's like… Now, I have to be honest. On the surface, it sounds like a pickup line, but we know it's not, because Jesus… He's not thirsty like that. He's trying to give her something. Got it? He's not trying to receive something from her. He's trying to release something to her, because he knows she's thirsty. So he's like, "Hey, whoever drinks of the water I will give him will never be thirsty again."

That troubled me, because I was contrasting that, what he said 15 chapters earlier, with what he said in John 19 on the cross, where he said, I thirst. I felt like I had caught Jesus contradicting himself, because he said he had water and we would never thirst if we drank it, but he said he thirsted on the cross. I noticed how he didn't say you'll never feel thirsty again. He said you'll never be. He didn't say you will never thirst again. See, you're going to thirst. You

You're going to have days that you feel discouraged. If you weren't, God wouldn't tell you not to be terrified or discouraged. If you were naturally going to always be encouraged, if you were never going to be discouraged and dehydrated, that's what the water is for. So what he's saying is you'll always have somewhere to drink from. Not that you'll never have a need, but that I will meet all of your needs according to my glorious riches.

That's the promise. So he tells the woman, "I got something for you." That's what he tells the woman. "I got something for you, and it's not like what you've been drinking."

Watch this. He traps this woman. He totally traps this woman. All through his ministry, people were trying to trap Jesus. The Sadducees and the Pharisees. Judas trapped him in the garden, and the Roman officials thought they had him trapped on the cross. But Jesus was always the one. Even when they thought they had him, they never really had him, because he was always in control. Even on the cross, there were over 300 messianic prophecies.

that Jesus fulfilled in his life and in his death. Jesus was never really trapped. Here he is with this woman, and he says, "I want a drink," but he's not really thirsty like that. He's trying to give her something. God doesn't really need anything from you. He can have another you in a minute. I don't mean to go back to 2002.

God really isn't needing something from you. When we talk about giving in the church, how dare you with your thirsty self get an attitude, they just want my money. God doesn't need your money. God wants to be in your heart. He wants to set you free. You're the one thirsty. You're the one. So he says, give me a drink. She says, well, we don't have a bucket. And he's trying to get her to see that she is the bucket and he is the water. Ugh.

You know what I'm telling myself right now. Focus, Furtick. You've got to finish. These people have a life. They don't want to be here with you for three more hours. Give me 10 minutes. The woman said, Sir, if there's some kind of water, if there's some bottomless well, if there's free refills… Somebody shout, free refills. Give me this water so I won't have to be trapped, so I won't have to keep coming back here, so I won't…

So I won't have to keep texting Travis. I just made up the name Travis. So I won't have to keep performing. So I won't have to keep being so thirsty. And now Jesus, he's got her. He came to Samaria and sat by the well, and now she's trapped. Because watch this. He goes, all right, go get your husband. She says what had happened was, I don't have a husband, which is true.

but it's not the total truth. You know how you do. "I have no husband." Jesus said, "You're right in saying, 'I have no husband.' For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you've said is true, and you're thirsty and you're trapped." When I asked you for water, I was trying to release you from having to go all around and things and stuff that doesn't satisfy. I want to give you something that comes from within. I want to give you something

that doesn't depend on bank accounts, that doesn't diminish, no matter how the biopsy comes back. I want to give you something you can live off of, something that only gets stronger in your struggle. I want to give you unlimited supply." She said, "Sir, I think you're onto something." She goes back to Samaria carrying living water she didn't even expect to get.

comes back to Jesus, and the Bible says that many in Samaria believed because of her testimony. See, it was a trap. Jesus used a thirsty woman to transform an entire region. I wonder how he could use your life if he would receive his grace today. You've been coming here a long time. Have I ever preached stronger than I'm preaching right now? I'm not even done yet. So sit back and let me give you my fourth point. I want to talk about the setup, because that's what it was.

It was a setup. That's why he went through Samaria. He was setting this woman up. That's why he asked for a drink, because she was thirsty. That's why he went to the cross uphill 650 yards. That's why he said, "I thirst." I'm going to tell you how I found out.

I thought about that thing so long. I thought, "Okay, how can living water be thirsty? How can a well need water? How can the one who spoke the oceans into existence now need water from the very same source he created? How could God, who reigns above the waters, need water? How could it be possible that God could come down, condescend to the form of human man? How could Christ be made flesh? How could he die and suffer like that? How could it be that there are seasons in my life when I call on him and nothing happens?

How can it be that I have divinity, but I'm trapped sometimes in my desperation? How can it be that I'm full of the Spirit, but sometimes I feel so dry? So I had to read again. I read that verse like 20 times in John 19:28. I don't read Greek, although I took Greek. I don't read Hebrew, although I took Hebrew. I was not very effective in my language studies.

And I don't even read Aramaic, which is what Jesus was probably speaking in at the moment when he said, "I thirst." But what I do read really well is English. And I know my punctuation marks. So when I read John 19:28… Have y'all got like seven minutes for me to tie this up? Seven minutes. Seven-minute miracle. And so it said that after this, after all you've been through…

After all they've accused you of, after all the people who walked away who should have been there, after this, they counted you out and said you were nothing and mocked you. After this, after a crown of thorns was placed on his head, after the blood ran from his brow, after this, after they beat his back, after they released Barabbas, after this, after the cock crowed and Peter denied him thrice, after this, knowing that now

All things were finished. Jesus had one more thing to say, one thing to do, because there are 300 prophecies, and he was on 299. See, everybody standing around that day thought that death had trapped Jesus. The cross was a setup, but it wasn't set up by Judas, and it wasn't set up by the Sadducees, and it wasn't set up by the Pharisees, and it wasn't set up by Herod. It was set up by heaven.

Listen to me preach this sermon. Listen to me preach on the parentheses in John 19:28. I've preached on a lot of things in my little tenure preaching, but I've never preached on a punctuation mark until today.

After this, knowing that all things had been fulfilled, knowing that he had drank down the full cup of the wrath of God so that you would never have to, after knowing that he suffered like a criminal so that he could reign like a king, after humbling himself, being obedient even to the point of death on a cross, and it was then Jesus said, "To fulfill the Scripture."

I wonder why John put it in parentheses. Probably because he didn't know that's why it was happening at the time. See, when Jesus said, "I thirst," they thought he wanted water, so they gave him vinegar to mock him. The thing they used to mock him was actually the thing he used to finish the work God gave him to do. The thing they put on a sponge to shame him was the… Listen, I have to tell y'all something. Stand up so I'll finish this sermon, please. I have to show you one more thing.

See, because when Jesus said, "I thirst to fulfill the Scripture," have you ever had to live in the parentheses? I mean, like not understanding why you were going through what you were going through. Please be real with me. I cannot preach this sermon to closed hearts. I'm trying to give you water today for your thirsty soul, but sometimes you're in a wilderness and you don't know why. Sometimes you're looking at a Red Sea and you feel trapped.

Jesus looked trapped up there on that cross, but John said, "No, he wasn't trapped." Death didn't trap Jesus. Jesus trapped death. Now I know why he said, "I thirst." Now I know why the lips that spoke the waters into their place on the earth said, "I thirst." To fulfill the Scripture, God has a purpose for every thirst in your life.

That didn't trap Jesus. Jesus trapped death. So one time David felt trapped in the Psalms, and in Psalm 69 he describes it in vivid detail. He goes, "The deep waters have engulfed me. I'm surrounded by enemies. They hurl their insults at me." Does this sound familiar, by the way? It's a messianic psalm. It's describing centuries before the cross what the cross would be like for Jesus. It is David

Jesus is called the son of David. It is David pointing to the one who now says, "I thirst." And David says something that although he is surrounded by what he calls deep waters of trial, he says that the reproach has broken his heart. The shame has brought him so low to this place that he feels like he's drowning. And you can get to a place where you feel trapped in doubt.

And you can't have dysfunctions in your life that have been there so long that you feel trapped inside of yourself. That's the worst place to feel trapped. Not in a bad relationship. I mean, you can always block that number. But what do you do when you're trapped inside of your own heart? Your own broken heart? David said it's...

It's so bad. It's broken my heart, and I am in despair. I am in distress. But watch this. He said, I looked for pity. There was none. For comforters, I found none. Nobody could help me. I was trapped. I was trapped. I was trapped. He said, I got to the point where I asked my friends for food. Go to the next verse. And they gave me poison for food. The people who were supposed to help me hurt me.

They gave me poison for food. I was thirsty, but for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink. And now I understand why Jesus said, "I thirst." Go back to my Scripture. It was to fulfill the Scripture. It wasn't about water. Jesus was setting the trap for death. This was the last thing he had to do before the Spirit could be released. It's a set-up! It's a set-up!

If he didn't suffer, salvation could not spring up like a well. If he did not suffer, it could not flow forth. If he did not die, he could not rise. Somebody shout, "It's a setup!" It's not the end. It's in the parentheses.

Sometimes you have to trust God in the parentheses, in the tight places, when it looks like you're trapped, to know that the very Red Sea that feels like it's going to kill you is going to drown your enemies behind you. Somebody shout at you. He said, I thirsted, and they gave me vinegar. But watch this. David prayed.

This is what I'm praying over your life today. Every evil thing that the enemy has done to you and every trial that feels like it's sweeping over you, and for everybody who feels trapped, listen to what he prayed. Let their own table before them, the thing that they brought to destroy me, let their own table become a snare, and when they are at peace… So just when the devil thought he had Jesus trapped,

Just when he thought it was over, just when he thought we got rid of that one, just when he thought it was the end, just when they rolled the stuff, let it become a trap. God set the trap. He set the trap.

He set the trap so God brought you here into this garden so you could sweat out your insecurities. God brought you here into this tight place so that your doubts could die and your faith could live and you will never thirst again. He said, "I thirst." They brought him vinegar. He said, "Good. I need that. I needed that vinegar. I needed that trial." Sometimes victory doesn't look like victory.

Sometimes victory doesn't taste sweet. And when he said, "I thirst," and they gave him the vinegar for water after that, after he had received the sour wine, after he had set the trap on death, hell, and the grave, I promise you we're going to have the best Easter ever this year. I feel like Easter came early today. I really do.

I really do. I really feel like resurrection came at an unexpected time for somebody who thought you were trapped. Hear the word of the Lord! It's not a trap! It's a triumph! Shout unto God! So, Friday's trap was Sunday's triumph. He set up a thirst, set the trap, and after he had received the sour wine, he said, "It's finished. It's finished."

The trap became the triumph. God is going to take the thing that looks… Ask the children of Israel. They thought the Red Sea was going to be the end of them. It was the end of their enemies. You're not trapped. The Devil is. You're not trapped. Touch somebody and say, "I'm not trapped. Come on. I'm not trapped, and I'm not thirsty whom the sun sets free."

How many believe that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed? How many believe Christ is in you, the home of glory? Come on, shout like you believe that. I'm going to tell you one more thing, and I promise I'm going to walk off this stage while I'm saying it.

I love to preach the Word to you, not because I like to hear myself taught. I love to preach the Word of God to you, because I know what this seed is going to do if you get it down in your heart. Do you remember when we were writing the song "Resurrecting"? It took about nine months to write the song, and everybody on the team contributes in different ways.

My thing is, I always like to write… Chris can tell you this, because we've been knowing each other forever. Y'all give it up for Chris Brown. This man is a great man of God. Well, I'm kind of weird, because when the song seems like it should be over, I always like to put another verse. It's true, right? So we wrote the song, and it was kind of done. Not really done, but we thought it was done. We finished the songwriting thing, and I started thinking I wanted to write this fourth verse for this song.

Chris is kind of lazy because he's a worship leader. No, I'm just kidding. He's the hardest-working man in the praise biz. It took six months to get the verse right, but we ended up writing a declaration for our church. Lift your hands. Whatever has got you trapped today, we ended up writing this verse to let you know that what looks like it has got you locked in

It's going to be the place. See, that's what the grave was. The grave of Jesus Christ was a garden in disguise. That's what your trials are. That's what your weakness is. So I want you to sing this fourth verse, because just when it seems like the song should be over, just when it seems like your hope is gone, just when it seems like the devil has dehydrated your dream. The tomb where soldiers washed in

So they thought they had him, right? They posted the guard right there. And now if he robbed the grave of its power, if the guards couldn't keep his body in, come on, church. Come on. I'm talking about rivers of living water. You never thirst again when you get this spirit. And the saints

You better sing that for us first!

Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry. It's because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to give now or visit elevationchurch.org slash podcast for more information. And if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it with your friends. You can click the share button, take a screenshot and share it on your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.

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