John chapter 19 this evening, continuing where we left off this morning, this coming Friday, we have the privilege of coming back for a Good Friday service, and we'll have the privilege of coming to the table. We'll be looking at preparation here rightly at the end of this as we consider verses 17 through 30 this evening of John chapter 19. We consider the first 16 verses this morning. We're picking up now at the crucifixion through verse 30. Let's give our attention to the word of the Lord. So they took Jesus and went out. And he went out bearing his own cross to the place called the place of the skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him. and with him two others, one on either side and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, do not write the king of the Jews, but rather this man said, I am king of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I've written, I have written. When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier, also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. So they said to one another, let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be. This was to fulfill the scripture, which says, they divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. So, the soldiers did these things, but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, Woman, behold your son. Then he said to the disciple, Behold your mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own home. After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said to fulfill the Scripture, I thirst. 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 to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head, and he gave up his spirit. And there will end the reading of God's Word. We'll come back on Friday and consider the rest of chapter 19 of the piercing of Jesus' side, the body, and then, of course the burial, which surprisingly Nicodemus shows up at all the way back in chapter 3. I look forward to Friday night to consider that with you. Well, tonight we consider these great words of Jesus. At the end of this, you'll notice those great words, it is finished. I just, I never can get over those words. They're words that we should constantly think about and words that we should meditate on of the great truth of what was finished, what was finished, and how much was finished, and what does it mean that it was finished. Those are some of the most beautiful words in all of Scripture that we constantly have to hold on to and believe and trust because Jesus is telling us something that is complete, that is fulfilled. That's what we're looking at tonight, climaxing with, it is finished, as he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. We're going to be looking at that tonight, really considering here the physical sufferings that are recorded for us. Those are important to look at, to consider the physical sufferings of our Lord, and then look at the larger significance, which I think in John's gospel we can say, sometimes it's difficult for us to fully grasp. Well, why is Jesus' suffering any different than the other two on the cross? And what does that mean? That two others were crucified, which was also a horrendous way of death, just like Jesus. And I think John is answering that by looking at things theologically, looking at the big picture. And so, what we're going to do is look at the physical sufferings for a moment and then move to the theological significance that John is specifically choosing of certain emphases in the Bible, certain fulfillments in the Bible to help us understand exactly what was being accomplished. And then we'll end on a note of application of how we are to respond to this. So the crucifixion, what happened, the meaning, what it meant, and then the application, how we should respond. Not a brilliant outline, but at least one that's clear for you tonight to follow. So where do we begin with where we are in chapter 19? Well, we have to say that what our Lord has endured so far has been stunning and shocking to study. It's meant to be. They have taken him, as we looked at this morning, and they have scourged him. Remember, these long straps with bone attached to the end or lead balls to break open the back to make him a shame and a mockery as they put on a crown of thorns on his head and dressed him in a robe of purple. Pilate, we know what he was doing. He didn't think Jesus was guilty. He in some way feared Jesus. He was a superstitious man. He was not a good man. Pilate's not innocent in any of this. But Pilate was a superstitious man. Pilate was after political gain. And he was hoping to do enough by shaming Jesus enough that the Jews would say, okay, that's enough. Mercy. You don't need to keep shaming him this way. But they, of course, cried out, crucify him, crucify him, as we looked at this morning. Pilate has, in this last scene, taken the judgment seat and sat down to render the judgment. That's what we spent time on this morning. There was only one thing that the Jews needed to say to provoke this judgment. There was only one thing that the Jews needed to do. It was to appeal that Jesus was a king, an insurrectionist, standing against Caesar, and Pilate could do nothing at this point but render the judgment as guilty. The Jews are threatening Pilate here. We are going to Caesar that you let an insurrectionist stand if you don't render the guilty verdict. And that's where we were this morning, that the verdict was rendered guilty, not guilty in himself, as we've looked at, but guilty he became for us. Well, now we are moving to the crucifixion. Verse 17 says they took Jesus and he went out bearing his own cross to the place called the place of the skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. I'm going to spend just a minute here on the physical aspect of this. Some overemphasize it, some de-emphasize it. It's important to look at what John is doing by understanding this and having some appreciation of why these details are given here before we move to the theological meaning of this. I want you to notice in verse 17 that he bearing his cross went out to the place of the skull called in Hebrew Golgotha where they crucified him with two others, one on either side and Jesus in the center. Jesus carries his cross. He is full of dehydration. He is carrying this cross to the gate, bleeding. He has to go about a half a mile with this cross. We know that as he gets to the gate, his physical capacities are exhausted. This is where the other Gospels capture Simon of Cyrene coming and picking up the cross and helping Jesus. He is so wearied that he has fallen to total exhaustion in front of the peoples. There's in other gospels, other emphases, this is when the women watching this come up and weep for him. He's gone to the place that is the place full of the dead. It was the Roman place of execution outside the camp, full of corpses and bones. We've been looking at this theme all the way back from the garden with the brook Kidron. It was known by the earliest writers as a skull or the place of the skull because, and maybe there's some history to this, maybe Dr. Van E can give you some more insight into this, but it looked like a skull, they said. Golgotha, place of the skull. He is brought there, and we read those dark, ominous words where they crucified him. where they crucified him. I never really knew what that was. You know, growing up, you hear this and you hear that Jesus was crucified and Jesus died, and you never really appreciated exactly what it meant or what happened and what exactly did they do in crucifixions. It was not only the cursed death that had been prophesied in the Old Testament, But it was the cursed death and the most painful, cruel death that the Romans gave to criminals. The soldiers would take the person. In this case, they took Jesus. They pushed him backwards against the cross. Pushed his head right up against the cross. They would take those big nails, you know, that heavy square iron nails. We've seen pictures of these. And they're right on. Those were the types of nails that they used. And they would nail right to the wrists to hold the hands on the cross, to hold up the body. Then they would take the left foot and they would push it backwards against the right foot. And they would nail, they would drive another nail through both of these. In this case, to leave some flexibility in the body for movement. So, you can kind of have an idea of what's happening here. The victims at this point were said to be crucified. That was the crucifixion. The person who was crucified would be there in such excruciating pain, and the more you sag, the more you'd have to push yourself up to get air. So, after a long time of this, the body would become somewhat paralyzed. you'd have to raise yourself up for hours to get air. Just to get air, you'd have to force yourself up from the pain. You know the pain already from being nailed. Push yourself up to get air until you are really asphyxiated and your heart compressed. You lose so much fluid that your heart can't pump until you lose the air. You finally die after hours of this torment. Some died a lot quicker than others. Some died a lot later. So, it was a terrible way to die. Just an awful way to die. There he was, nailed to two common criminals. John doesn't really pick up the details of that, and I think the discipline of preaching a gospel is to try to stay focused on what that author's doing. The other gospels give us a lot more indication of the thief on the cross and his repentance at the end, which is a beautiful story that gives us so much hope and encouragement that at the very end, when you've not done one work and your hands are nailed, you can still believe the gospel and be saved. Isn't that something? Just a beautiful truth about the Christian gospel. Pilate takes a sign at this point, and he writes it in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. king of the Jews. In every place of crucifixion, they would put a sign over their head describing the reason they were being put to death. So this is important that Pilate would put this here. Notice what Pilate does. He doesn't write he claimed to be king of the Jews. Pilate put king of the Jews in God's providence. That was exactly who he was. And remember, they had just denied that. We have no king except Caesar. In fact, the sad hostility continues from the Jews when they see this sign that they are so offended by it. As you can imagine this, think of the providence of this as everyone is walking by the street. John even picks that up. They're walking by the road. You could see off to the side the crucified victims and you could see this sign. So here they are, all these people swelling up into Jerusalem for the Passover, and they're seeing as they're walking in, right on the side, Jesus being crucified with a big sign. Here's your king. How do you put that together? It's remarkable. Well, the Jews complain. Pilate says, what I write, I write. I've had enough of you. That's really what he's thinking. Then comes the shame. The soldiers strip his clothing. You'll notice in verse 23, when the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier, also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. So they said to one another, let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be this was to fulfill the Scriptures. You'll notice John adds that everything that's happening here has great theological significance. We'll come back to that in a moment. This tunic was important because notice what is said here, the emphasis being that Jesus is stripped bare. The text emphasizes that the soldiers each took one of the four parts of his clothing, but there was this fifth undergarment, this tunic. It was the undergarment. And with that final piece, they cast lots for it. And it all ends in this horrible shame here of the cross so that it ends with Jesus saying, I thirst. Everything now being finished, all the scriptures being fulfilled, he says, I thirst. And it's important to say that one of the most painful things that people could ever die of is thirst. There was a study on this a few years ago, the most graphic ever recorded, by records of those dying of it. Saliva becomes thick and foul-tasting. The tongue clings irritatingly to the teeth and roof of the mouth. A lump seems to form in the throat. Severe pain is felt in the head and neck. The face feels full due to the shrinking of the skin. Speech becomes impossible. The tongue swells to such proportions that it squeezes past the jaws. The throat is so swollen that breathing becomes difficult. Finally, there's living death. As this is going on, they're mocking him. Here's some sour wine for you. Here's some sour wine for you. We read, as soon as he receives the sour wine. Notice that last verse there. As soon as he received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and he gave up his spirit. Now, the physical aspect of this is enough to make us recoil. It's awful, crucifixion. The common proverb was that a person crucified died a thousand deaths. That was a common proverb of the day. The person crucified died a thousand deaths. But that doesn't even come close to what this was. That's where we have to say for a minute and we have to go for a minute. This doesn't even come close to what it was. Other two were crucified, and it was interesting at lunch, we had a get-together with the professions of faith and some families, and the question that came out was, what made Jesus' crucifixion different? And I really, I was glad that that was being thought about and that people were wrestling with that. Well, he suffered the cruel death of the cross, we say. But what did it mean? I remember reading a while back, somebody said, only those who are the damned in hell know what Jesus suffered when he died on a cross, and I don't even think that fully compensates. Jesus is facing the wrath of God poured out on his body and his soul. That's what our Heidelberg says. I think it's easy to miss. We tend to focus just on the body and the crucifixion, but the catechism really is right when it talks about something is happening to his soul. The appropriate way to understand this, lest we just remain on the surface, is to do what John does with this and look at the larger theological significance and themes that he's working with to tell us something greater is happening, to appreciate the whole story as the Bible has given it to us. That's why I like the different Gospels are helpful this way. They have theological purposes in what they're doing. They're aiming for certain things. John particularly is doing this, and that's where we get to the heart of this. Let's go over it just one more time now and put it all together, and I think you'll see the grand story. It's not everything that I have time to do tonight, but I think you can at least see what John is doing as we work through it now with the things that are emphasized here. Look back at verse 13. When Pilate therefore heard that saying he brought Jesus out and sat in the judgment seat in the place called, notice this, and I'm kind of putting together from this morning, brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat at the place called the stone pavement in Aramaic, Gabbatha. Everything we've seen in the gospel of John has meaning. He's worked with themes all throughout Exodus, Genesis, to teach us things. Gabbatha meant a lofty place of judgment. A lofty place of judgment. None of this is in Pilate's control. In fact, Even the soldiers, as they are cutting up garments and taking garments for sale. Notice here, all of this was done to fulfill the Scriptures. Well, this interesting interjection by John here of Gabbatha called the place of the pavement, a lofty place of pavement. I was thinking a while back when Josh Van E, Dr. Van E, was preaching on Exodus 24. And I thought, we've already seen the Exodus themes. Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and 70 of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. That kind of statement makes everyone stop. and there was under his feet, as it were, a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity. God had descended on Mount Sinai to give his law, and when the Old Testament writers would describe the presence of the Lord, it would often come with the description of the throne. Ezekiel has this moving, rolling throne in chapter 1, and God is on the seat. God is on the seat taking a judgment. As we looked at, as was preached by Reverend Van E, you'll notice there that Moses described it as a beautiful work of pavement. It was the floor of heaven. What he had captured there was the floor of heaven, and God was seated in his glory. Now I often think it's good we don't because certain things we can't see. But when Elisha's servant was there and he asked to have his eyes opened and when he realized heaven wasn't some far off place, heaven was right there, another dimension if you will, when his eyes were open and there were all the mountains all around him and there were horses all around him. The army of the Lord gathered around to protect him. If you had this eyes to see that day when Pilate took his throne, what you would have seen is another throne. Another throne. And what imagery do you have here? Somebody's taking his seat. You know, when we think back to the Old Testament, what the Old Testament keeps showing us everywhere, Something like Genesis 22, God told Abraham, I want you to take your son, your only son, Isaac. That's a really interesting thing. Your only son, whom you love. I want you to go to the land of Moriah. Well, that's where Jesus is, really, the land of Moriah. I want you to offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son and he split wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and he saw the place far off and Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the donkey, the lad, and I will go yonder and worship and we will come back to you. So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on the back of Isaac. What's Jesus doing? He's carrying a cross, wood. Lay it on, he laid it on Isaac, his son. And he took fire in his hand and he took a knife and the two of them went together. Remember what happened? Abraham lifts up the knife, and God stops him. And God says, go put that lamb right there on the altar and remove your son. This is exactly all the scenes the Bible have showed us over and over and over and over of what culminated in Isaiah 53, that he was numbered with the transgressors. Jesus carried the wood. Jesus was numbered with the transgressors. And God the Father did not spare his own Son. And there on the cross, the wrath of God fell. And what place? Golgotha. Golgotha. Place of the what? Skull. Place of the skull. You know, that's a great fulfillment in Scripture. All the way back to Genesis. Remember when God spoke, when he made this great plan right from the beginning, and he said, I'm gonna do something for you and your seed, oh Adam. I'm gonna do something for you. I'm gonna send you a savior. I'm gonna send you a champion. And here's what's gonna happen. He spoke that he would put enmity between the devil's seed and her seed. He shall bruise your heel, but the seed would crush his head or skull. Two seeds are represented on the cross next to Jesus. On the place of the skull where something's about to happen. They strip him naked. I'll put this all together in a minute. They strip him naked and he has to face the shame of the complete nakedness of being on the cross in judgment. Now think about this. Have you ever thought, if you're putting together themes and thinking about all that John is thinking about and all that's happening here, have you ever thought about why we wear clothes? Well, it would be really odd if we were all naked right now. Before Adam and Eve sinned, remember what happened? The man and his wife were both naked and they felt no shame. After they sinned, what happened? They became aware of their sin. their eyes were opened, and the first thing they did was try to cover that shame by putting on clothes. You ever think the clothes that we wear is a testimony of some sorts of the fall itself to everyone? That the outward experience of covering ourselves, our nakedness, so that our neighbor does not see is really demonstrating the overarching problem that we are desperately all trying to cover our shame before God. In other words, we're masters at hiding things. Same is true spiritually. God did something beautiful for Adam and Eve in the garden. For Adam and his wife, the Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed them through shed blood to show that He Himself would provide a covering for our sins. You know, judgment in the Bible is represented as the Lord uncovering and making naked. Job once said, you strip men of their clothing, leaving them naked. The whole picture here is coming together for us. Who is being judged? Who's being stripped? Who's now taken the seat in judgment? And who is the one bearing the shame? See the difference here? it's important. It's telling us that Jesus was taking upon himself the full measure of shame that we deserve. All of it. Giving up everything in order to make us rich. Stripped of all his dignity. What a thought. He who had no sin, he who knew no sin, would become sin for us. and open and naked before the judgment seat of God, he would take the burden. He would take the judgment. He would take the punishment of your sins. You ever thought of all the things that you've done in life? If God brought it out into the open right now for everyone to see, what a scary thing. All of us would be utterly shamed all of us would be uncovered in every little secret thing we've done in the course of our lives. Every filthy deed, every bad thought brought out for everyone to see. What I'm trying to do for you tonight is show you that these themes that are given to us all throughout the Scripture are all coming together in the crucifixion. Jesus is openly bearing the shame. Having now a place of judgment, a place of the skull, bearing the shame, a greater one has taken his seat, and he's being judged in your place so that you'll never have to, on that day, recount all the awful things you've ever done and pay for them. Never. John wants your mouth to drop. John wants you to think about this and marvel at the sacrifice. One more thing is emphasized here. I'm picking up another theme. After this, Jesus, knowing that all these things were accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst. Do you think that's an unimportant statement? Apostles' Creed said, we confess, he descended into hell. When? Well, you just read it. You just read it. This is the climax of that descent. Jesus spoke of hell being a place that he was announcing from the cross that the horrid torments of hell would be poured out upon his soul. He spoke of hell as a place throughout his ministry where the fire is so hot that there is no water to quench unending thirst. imagine that suffering so awful awfully that you never ever ever get to get water to quench the thirst he had sour wine given to him no relief and the wrath that he faces is expressed in the intenseness of the thirst that is being communicated to us through that don't you find it remarkable when Jesus was um preaching and teaching on the gospel he would say things in John's gospel like he who believes in me out of his heart will flow rivers of living water whoever drinks of that water will never thirst it was a way of saying you'll never come into judgment the water that I shall give woman at the well shall be in him a fountain of water springing up to everlasting life as here, you'll never thirst. You'll never thirst. And what's he saying on the cross? I thirst. Finally, you read these great words, it is finished. So when he had received the sour wine, he said it's finished. Bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. Really was the last act of humility, in the state of his humiliation, and then, of course, going into the grave where the posture of bowing the head shouldn't be missed. He completely, in full submission to the will of his father, had bowed his head and made full payment for all your sins, and he just expressed it. He just said, I did it. It's done. And then he dies. You struggle with your sin? You struggle with doubt? It's real. Doubt's real. We'll see what's happened here. Here the Lamb of God was offered. God took his seat and judged his son in your place. You can't add to it. Let me just say this really clear tonight. We run around thinking what we do is going to get pleasing enough with God to find some kind of acceptance with him. You can't add to this. By his death, you overcame. You can't make your life more pleasing to God than it is that very day when Jesus said, it's finished. Do you understand that? That's the most releasing message I could ever give. It's the most freeing message I could ever give. you are in Jesus. When he said, it is finished, it was done. Your sins were atoned for. You were saved from the wrath to come. Sure, in time, he gives faith. That too was a gift. But understand that when the Bible looks at this objectively, and he said, it's finished, it was done. He's not raising your sins again in judgment. This is the gospel. This is the good news. I know we're just scratching the surface here. But somebody says, like they always do, well, what do we do now in response to this? What do we do? How do we respond to this? Well, I think it's fascinating that in the midst of this, just before it's over, Jesus in the most excruciating pain possible for your sin looks down, and there standing at the foot of the cross is His mom, His mother, And these other women, and they're weeping. They're full of sorrow. He looks at his mother and the disciple whom he loved, John, and he looks at John and he says, Behold your mother from the cross. Then he said to his mother, Behold your son. In the midst of his dying, in the midst of his forgiving sins, what burdened him? there was one of his hurting sheep. There was someone with a need. His mom was really hurting. And who would care for her? Who would care for her on earth? In the midst of his anguish, in the midst of his suffering for you, in the midst of his death, what did he care about? he cared about helping his sheep and how did he help her he looked at john and he said i want you to take her as your mom there's your son there's your son he will care for you you want to know how to respond to this tonight we'll come back on Good Friday and consider this. He broke down all family distinctions. Did you hear me? He shattered family distinctions. He shattered blood ties. Some of us are too devoted just to our families. And he showed what binds us in Christian love. Jesus has a family that he died for. Jesus has a family that he purchased. Jesus has a family that he went through all of this to love and to save. And Jesus wants you to love his family. That's his church. You want to know how you can be thankful? You can love his church. You can love his people. You can take in his people. You can care for those in need. You can go after and help those who are wandering. You can go after and help those who are crying. Jesus went through all of this to save you. That's done. That's done. But so many people wonder what to do now. There you go. Right there in the heart of the crucifixion, Jesus told you. Here's your family. Here's your family. Here's your people. Here's my people, says Jesus. Love them. That's how you can be thankful. Doesn't that fit with coming to the supper? How do you come to the supper? You're sorry for your sins. You're ensuring that you're reconciled with your neighbor, that you desire to live in repentance and faith, and to love one another. That's how people know that we're his disciples, by our love that we have for one another. That's the conduct worthy of the gospel. As you leave this tonight, and as we go out, and as we're going to pray here for a moment, think about all that was accomplished for you this week. What a great week of preparation for us. All that was done, all that was said, all that was accomplished, all that was performed on your behalf so that it would climax tonight in this great statement, it's finished. And that he would undergo that for you so that you would live in the joy of this comfort. That's what he wants for you. It's what He desires for you. So enjoy your Savior. Enjoy your people. Enjoy your family. There's a lot of misery in this world right now of people who are sad and sorrowful and looking for answers, and you, beloved, of all people on the earth are the most happy people. That's what the gospel's done. That's what He's accomplished for you. So let's love one another in response to this marvelous love that we've been shown in the gospel of Jesus. Let's pray to him. Heavenly Father, thank you tonight for so great a salvation. Thank you for your tender mercies to us. Thank you, O Lord, for completing and fulfilling all that was necessary to deliver us from all our sins. We just looked and scratched the surface of this great text. We've heard all our lives that Jesus died for us and was crucified. And we understand the horrible torments of it. We understand the difficulty physically to go through, but then to think on it in such a way that the Lord Jesus Christ was bearing for us in our place the wrath of God to set us free from the severe judgment of God. A greater judgment seat had been set. And then to think that at the place of the skull, Satan was defeated. Crushed head, anticipating the final crushed head at the end. And we are so thankful, Lord, for the victory and that all your promises are yes and amen and that everything that was necessary to be done was accomplished for us to be saved. But we need your Holy Spirit to appreciate this the way that we should. We need you, Lord, to open our minds to its truth, to shape us and form us through the message of the cross, to shape us and form us into the image of Jesus. As we study here tonight and we see the care and concern of our Savior from the cross who would look down and see us herding sheep and assign to them a new responsibility to love one another as the family of God is such a beautiful thing that is shown to us. Give us a sacrificial mindset in our lives, O Lord. Help us more to love one another, we're weak. Help us to care and to, Lord, be considerate of the needs of others. For tonight, Lord, as we see this immense sacrifice that was made, we bow our heads in such thanksgiving, it moves us to want to say thank you in the way that we love one another. Is there anyone, Lord, we have not reconciled with? Is there anyone, Lord, that we are holding anger and hatred in our heart against? Are there people, O Lord, we need to forgive? Well, so we must forgive as we have been forgiven. Help us to do so. Give us, Lord, to be lights in this dark world. Help us to fulfill the callings you've given to us. Let us be a blessing, Lord, as you called Abraham to be a blessing so many years ago to the peoples. May we be the same. And thank you for what we celebrate at this time of year. May around the world this message be heard anew and believed and treasured and appreciated. And may, Lord, in this place and in your churches all over the face of the world. We be united together in the way you desire us to be in love and in the furtherance of your kingdom and your gospel. We realize, Lord, there are many who still weep in this place. There are many who mourn. There are many who hurt. There are many who are overwhelmed with all of the difficulties of life, all of the hardships and sorrows that we see every day. And Lord, the burdens sometimes are so great. We try to carry them on our own foolishly, but we do. And we commit that to you, O Lord, tonight, asking for your help, asking that you, Lord, would help those who mourn, for those who are facing discouragement and despair and depression, that you, Lord, would lift them up in your truth, that you, Lord, would strengthen us together, and that, Lord, we would drink of the living water that we considered tonight, thinking that we will never have to know thirst. May your water, the fountain of living water, spring up into us into everlasting life. Bless us and our children on our way. Thank you for your faithfulness always. help those, Lord, in homes tonight. In the church, we think of some who are bound in homes and are not able to worship, and for those, Lord, who desire to worship and are not able that you, Lord, would help them and comfort them, surround them with peace. And Father, as we leave this place tonight, may we say it's been good to be in your house, to worship the Lord, and to long for what is to come soon for we know that this is a very short time that's left and that soon the Lord Jesus Christ will return on the clouds of heaven and will take us to be in heaven and in glory forever with you and that there will be no more sin or sorrow or sickness or suffering. Thank you for fixing all of this and thank you for the renewal that is to come. Forgive all of our sins. May we be a trusting people, and may we live in the joy of the salvation. In Jesus' name, we pray these things. Amen.