The Seven Sayings Of Jesus On The Cross (Part 2)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said,.

�But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you. In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you.

By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King. Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Famous Last Words and the Theme of the Seven Sayings

In the infamous last words, David Hume, the atheist,. �I�m in the flames. Cardinal Borgia,. �I�ve provided in the course of my life for everything except death, and now alas, I�m unprepared to die. Beethoven,.

�Too bad, too bad, it�s too late. Socrates,. �All the wisdom of this world is but a tiny raft upon which we must set sail when we leave this earth. If only there was a firmer foundation upon which to sail, perhaps some divine word.

Huxley, the humanist,. �It is a bit embarrassing to have been concerned with the human problem all one�s life and find at the end that one has no more to offer by way of advice than �Try to be a little kinder.

General John Senwick,. �In the Battle of 1864, they couldn�t hit an elephant at this distance. True. Jesse James,. �It�s awfully hot today. W .C. Fields, �I�m looking for a loophole. Bing Crosby,.

�That was a great game of golf. Franklin D. Roosevelt,. �I have a terrific headache. Last words. Interesting, revealing, insightful. Today, we�re going to look at part two of the seven words of the Lord Jesus on the cross that reveals His true compassion, His true humanity, His true kindness for sinners.

If you�ll take your Bible and open them up to Luke chapter 23 to start, seven sayings of the Lord Jesus on the cross. And by the way, at the very beginning, I might as well remind everyone that if Jesus wasn�t resurrected from the dead, none of these words would have mattered.

It all would have been a hoax, a ruse, and we ought to all be pitied. But of course, the Father did raise the Son, and He confirmed everything that the Son said was true. Everything that the Lord Jesus did was according to the Father�s plan.

And so today, we�re going to finish up what we started last week, the seven sayings of the Lord Jesus on the cross. And you can look at Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John to find those seven sayings. They�re around three time periods from nine in the morning until noon, noon to three, and then afterwards.

And so last week, we saw three of the seven. We�re going to have a quick review, and then we�re going to pick up the last four of the seven. And so I�m hoping to get through all seven today. And then the next couple of weeks, I�d like to look at the book of Ecclesiastes, a couple of specific chapters about death and how to prepare for death and how to live in light of our death and make sure we know we�re going to heaven after we die.

So that will be coming up in the weeks to come. Seven sayings of the Lord Jesus on the cross. The first one, remember last week, Luke 23, verses 32 and following, �Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.

Verse 32, �Two others were criminals were led away to be put to death with Him. And when they came to the place that is called the skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on His right and one on His left.

And Jesus said, �Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they cast lots to divide His garments. And the people stood by watching, but the rulers scoffed at Him, saying, �He saved others, let Him save Himself, if He is the Christ of God, His chosen one.

Soldiers also mocked Him coming up and offering Him sour wine and saying, �If you�re the King of the Jews, save yourself. There�s also an inscription over Him, �This is the King of the Jews. Of course, as we would see in the life of Samson in the book of Judges, power at death, we see here with the Lord Jesus, love at His death.

It�s always a good question to ask, what�s the context for whom is Jesus praying about? To whom would He like to have these words of forgiveness to be addressed? Some people think, well, it�s each and every person that ever lived, including Judas.

It�s the Jewish people. But if you watch the context, it�s the rulers. No, it�s the Sanhedrin. No, it�s the Pharisees. No, it�s the soldiers. And He�s praying for these soldiers. They didn�t have any idea about the cosmic repercussions of what they were doing.

Father, forgive them. Did you know back in the old days when someone would get crucified, many times they�d have to cut the tongues out of the people crucified because they would spew forth so much venom.

And here, unlike other people, of course, the God-man, the Lord Jesus, instead of condemning, instead of slamming, He is doing what a good high priest does. And what does a high priest do? In his life, he prays, and in his death, he prays.

He always lives to make intercession. J .C. Rowe said, �While the blood of the greatest sacrifice started to flow, the greatest of all high priests started to intercede. He could have destroyed them, and he prays for them instead.

Everyone is saying things wrongly, bandits, criminals. They�re defiant. They�re awful, wicked people. And Jesus, according to Isaiah 53, it says, �Therefore, I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death and was numbered with the transgressors, for he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.

One of my favorite places in the world for theology is Scotland. And so you have to go there sometime just to think of a wonderful theologian. And there was a brother named Erskine, and one of the brothers was named Ebenezer.

Why don�t we name kids Ebenezer anymore? Hey, at this church, I think we probably got a couple Ebenezers coming, right? I love the names of children at this church. I had to say that or else, right? What am I going to say?

I�m just kidding. Ebenezer Erskine said this, �I tell you good news. Christ is more willing to embrace you than you are willing to be embraced by him. Can�t you see that on the cross with the Lord Jesus?

The love of Christ and his compassion, praying for the forgiveness of his actual executioners. Stephen understood this very well when later in Acts chapter 7, as he was getting stoned, he said, �Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

And falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, �Lord, do not hold this sin against them. This is just like the Lord Jesus, eager to forgive. Sometimes we use the word parsimonious, and we mean by that people are kind of, what we would say when we were kids, they�re kind of chintzy a little bit.

They don�t want to kind of give. They�re holding everything close to them, and they don�t want to be gracious. That�s not the Lord Jesus at all. The most important thing that has to be dealt with in our life is sin, and Jesus, of course, on his deathbed, is dealing with that.

The Thief on the Cross and Paradise

Secondly, we saw in the same chapter, Luke 23, �Not just, Father, forgive them, but today you will be with me in paradise. Remember that wonderful saying of the Lord Jesus on the cross? Again, thinking of others, let�s pick it up in verse 39, please, of Luke 23.

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, �Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us. But the other rebuked him, saying, �Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?

And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong. And he said, �Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom. And he said to him, �Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.

I mean, that is fascinating on many accounts. Here�s one. Can you talk very well when you have the wind knocked out of you? When I used to play football, sometimes I�d get the wind knocked out of me, and you just lay there, and you can�t.

They�re like, �Are you okay? Well, quit asking me questions. I can�t talk. I can�t answer. And remember, they always pull you kind of by the belt. If you�re laying down, they pull you up a little bit to try to give your diaphragm some room to say something.

Now, compounded everything on the cross, Jesus can hardly talk, and yet he�s saying these kind words to others. This thief was going to meet eternity very, very soon. And here, even though Jesus looks weak, is he still mighty to save?

This man was blaspheming. Now he�s praying, as it were, asking Jesus for help. And the good news is for this sinner on the cross, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Can you imagine that thief on the cross? Only one deathbed conversion in all of Scripture, as Spurgeon said, so that we might not be presumptuous, don�t wait until the very end, believe today, but also that we might have hope.

And here, this man believes on the Lord Jesus, and Jesus doesn�t say to him, �Well, you�re going to be with me today in purgatory. Does he say that? No. �You�re going to be with me today in paradise, bliss, pleasure, whatever great things are offered in heaven, you get it all and you get it today.

No delay. This is wonderful. This is amazing love from a cursor, a blasphemer, to now one who�s saved by the Lord Jesus. Heaven, a park, a garden of Eden, a region in heaven. Today you�ll be with me in paradise.

I�ve been crucified with Christ, Paul said, and there�s no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, and it�s for us and it�s for this thief who loved me and delivered himself up for me.

Jesus Entrusts His Mother to John

Thirdly, we saw last week, and finally last week, we saw in John 19, �Woman, behold your son. Please turn to John 19, hitting a variety of different Gospels, the words of Jesus on the cross, revealing his nature, his character, his graciousness, his faithfulness, his obedience to the Father.

Remember, Jesus was sent for this very reason, and now Jesus does something very touching, but it�s more than touching. John 19, verse 23, the third word of Jesus on the cross, �When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them in four parts, one for each soldier.

So there was four soldiers. �Also his tunic, but the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to the bottom. So they said to one another, �Let�s not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it will be.

This was to fulfill scripture, which says, �They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. And with an ominous, sovereign tone, so the soldiers did these things. John is citing, John is having Jesus cite Psalm 22, casting lots for the clothing.

Now, if you had clothing back in those days, here�s what you would have. There would be five pieces of clothing, the turban or a headdress, that�s one, an outer robe, a sash or a girdle that would kind of have folds and pockets, sandals, and then a long tunic that was an undergarment.

So there were five things. So the four were easy to divide, and then the undergarments, not so easy, so let�s cast lots for that. This is why most people think that the crucifixion was in fact even more shameful, because the person had no clothes on.

And here we see in verse 25, standing at the cross, by the cross, where 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 that�s John, �he said to his mother, �Woman, behold your son.

Then he said to the disciple, �Behold your mother. And from that hour the disciple, that�s John, took her, Mary, to his own home. Jesus, the oldest brother, he�s the one in charge to take care of his mother, and there on the cross, Joseph of course must have been dead by now, and Jesus makes sure that his mother�s taken care of.

How kind, how wonderful the Lord Jesus, fulfilling everything, including the end where it�s �Honor your father and mother. And here we have the Lamb of God making provision for his mother. He knew what his mother must be going through, and in stark contrast to these wicked soldiers and thieves, we have the women watching with grief and Jesus thinking of others.

One writer said this, �When we suffer, we become so completely absorbed with our suffering that we forget everything else. All it takes is a little toothache or a headache to make us irritable and quick-tempered.

It is therefore amazing to see Jesus here suspended on a cross making arrangements for the care of his mother. Jesus fulfilling the law all the way to the very end, honoring his father and his mother, earning righteousness for us.

The Cry of Dereliction and Penal Substitution

Alright, those are the three in review. Let's go to Mark chapter 15 for the fourth word on the cross. Jesus said, �My God, my God, why have you forsaken me This is Mark chapter 15. Nothing has been said from noon to three, and now we have some more words.

�My God, my God, why have you forsaken me David had said in Psalm 37, �I have not seen the righteous forsaken. But now we will see the righteous forsaken. Luke, John, and now Mark, Mark 15. This is a special kind of literature called the Gospel.

It talks about who Jesus is with a theological emphasis, and Mark is really a fast-paced Gospel. For some of you kids that are here, maybe I can excuse me. I've had three COVID tests. I don't have COVID, so don't get worried.

Gospel of Mark, it's fast-paced. Have you ever seen Indiana Jones? This is like the Indiana Jones of the Gospels. It's fast, fast, fast, fast, fast. What does that have to do with anything? It doesn't have to do anything with anything.

I just had to cough and talk about it. I read that quote about you get a little headache or earache and you're suffering and you can't think of anything else. I thought, well, that's me. I can identify.

Mark 15 .33. When the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. You start counting hours at 6 a .m. Six hours from 6 a .m. is noon. From noon to 3, it's supposed to be sunny out.

What does the text say? There's darkness over the whole land. There's not a cloud or two. It's completely dark. Jesus at 3 p .m. at the ninth hour, verse 34, cried out with a loud voice here in Aramaic, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, which means my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Some of the bystanders hearing it said, behold, he's calling Elijah. Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it him to drink saying, wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.

And Jesus uttered with a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion who stood facing him saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, truly, this was the Son of God.

Now, Jesus regularly in the Gospel of Mark speaks in Aramaic and he does that right here, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It's noon and it's dark and you should be thinking to yourself, why would it be dark at noon?

What's going on with the darkness? What does darkness often tell us in the Old Testament? This is kind of a puzzle. Does this mean like the sun wouldn't shine on such an atrocity? Is this somehow God going to avenge Jesus' murders?

Dark? Let me read you a few verses from the Old Testament so it clicks in your mind that often in the Old Testament, judgment is darkness. Light isn't. Listen to what Amos says. Alas, you who are longing for the day of the Lord, for what purpose will the day of the Lord be to you?

It will be darkness and not light. That judgment day it's going to be dark. Amos 8, that I shall make the sun go down at noon and make the earth dark in broad daylight. That's what's going to happen on that judgment day.

Even Jesus said it in Matthew 28, immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be what? Darkened and the moon will not give its light. Darkness is the judgment of God. It's dark at noon.

It shouldn't be dark at noon. Why is it dark at noon? Because God is judging. Who is God judging? Well, He should be judging our sins, but He's judging the Lord Jesus. Jesus now is beginning to take on our judgment.

God the Father is judging the sun. And for those three hours, like a lamb dumb or quiet before its shearers, Jesus doesn't say anything. At the very end though, He says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

You can tell my God, my God repeated. It's very personal. My God, not God, God. My God, it's repeated twice. When we say verily, verily or truly, truly. My God, my God. Is he somehow not trusting the Lord?

Of course, he's trusting the Lord. Spurgeon said it was an instance of a man in weakness, but not in revolt. Pilate's sentence was death. And in a very similar fashion, the Father's sentence was the same, just on different grounds.

Forsaken. Some call that word the most tragic word in all human speech. Friends can forsake you. Spouse can forsake you. Children can forsake you. Parents can forsake you. But the Father forsaking the object of his love from all eternity.

Why have you forsaken me? Perfect eternal communion, obviously perfect communion on earth for 33 years. Abandoned by God. This is not the feeling of abandonment. This is abandonment. And there's no explanation in all of scripture except this, that Jesus now is the substitute for our sins.

Why would God the Father forsake Jesus? Because he's bearing our sins. And by the way, this is what liberal Christian theologians despise. They want nothing to do with any kind of penalty substitution.

They don't want anything to do with the cross, where this assuagement of God's wrath. They want forgiveness, but they don't want it at the price of blood and death. They think it's uncouth. They think it's boorish.

They think it's unsophisticated. And here we have God the Father forsaking the Son. How can we describe it with Trinitarian language? I think it's almost off limits. We just know this is happening. Jesus is in our place, in the stead of sinners, suffering on our behalf.

Remember what Jesus said in the garden? Abba, Father, all things are possible for me, for thee. Remove the cup from me, but not what I will, but what thou wilt. And what he was shrinking from in the garden, now he gladly accepts.

And it's darkness. God is judging. It's one thing from nine to noon to be judged by men, spit on, condemned, blasphemed. But you know, other people have been crucified. I'm not saying it's a good death.

But many other Jews, some say 10 ,000 Jews have been crucified. So from nine to 12, Jesus is suffering at the hands of men. But now, as Arthur Pink says, it's like you take all of eternity suffering in hell and you condense it into three hours and pour it onto the Lord Jesus.

God's too holy to look on sin. God is so holy, he'll always judge sin. At the cross, Jesus was receiving our wages that were due us. This is the language of substitution. When I was a younger father and the kids were in the house, it's sure quiet in our house now, by the way, I would say to them regularly, what's the most important word in all the Bible, the most important concept?

And they probably would say Jesus. Yeah, I know that. But besides that, I'd say the most important concept in all the Bible is substitution. Substitution. And I was really good at that because I never could start in high school basketball or high school football.

I was always the substitute. I know that role well. It's called bench warmer. And you just look at scripture and you get substitution. You think this is the climax of all. Adam sins and Eve sins. God kills an animal in their place.

Substitution. Passover, if you don't want to die, you kill the lamb, you spread the blood over the doorpost and instead of you dying, the lamb dies. Substitution. Israel sins, the day of atonement, Leviticus 16.

You've got to have something die for your sins, Israel. And so it's either the goat, the scapegoat, something's got to die, day of atonement. And no wonder John the Baptist later on, and John 1 29, looks at Jesus and says, what?

I'll just, I'll just make sure you're paying attention. Behold the ostrich of God. You should see some of your faces. You're like, who are you? My point is this. It's not just any animal. Why was Jesus called the lamb?

Because of substitution. And now we see it right here. The lamb. We're not picking lambs because they're dumb. We're not picking lambs for those reasons. We're picking lamb for one reason, substitution.

And everywhere you go in the new Testament, you'll see this in bold letters as it were. First Peter three, Christ died for the sins of all the just for the unjust substitution. First Peter two, he himself bore our sins substitution.

Galatians three, having become a curse for us substitution. Hebrews nine to bear the sins of many substitution. I mean the most important Bible verse that I can think of with the gospel is first Corinthians 15 three.

I delivered you as a first importance that I also received that Christ died for his sins. Obviously not for our sins, that substitution. Maybe you could describe all the Bible with one word on behalf of in Greek.

That's one word. God didn't have to save anyone. There needed to be no substitute angel sin. They got judged. We sinned. God provides a mediator. God's provides a lamb, a substitute. People say, well, I look at the cross.

I just see the love of God. Great. When I, when I look at the cross, I just see God saying I have to hold up justice. Great. When I look at the cross, I see God defeating demons. Great. But unless you have at the center, something called penalty substitution, you lose everything.

And friends, we can't take capital punishment in our world. This is capital punishment, divine capital punishment, Christ's punishment instead of our punishment. Don't even sing about it in my place condemned what he stood.

This is substitution. Can you hear the language of substitution? As I read from Isaiah 53, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him as stricken, smitten by God and afflicted, but he was pierced for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds, we are healed. And we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

And what happened to Texas in verse 38, the curtain of the temple was torn into no more rituals, no more ceremonies, salvation, all open to all through the death of Christ. If you ever want to have some interesting readings, sometimes read what liberals say about miracles in the Bible.

Like the one I always thought was the most crazy was Jesus didn't walk on water, he walked on a sandbar. I'm like, how dumb do you have to be to make this up? Or like the Pharaoh's army, they were they were drowned in six inches of water.

Like that's pretty bad army. That's that's I don't know what you're doing there. Well, some people say there was a Scirocco that came by dark in the sun, and also accidentally on purpose ripped the veil.

Okay, from top to bottom, God did it. It's open for everyone. Now when we come to substitutionary atonement and penalty substitution, and you thinking Jesus died for me, I should have died. He died in my place.

Yes, I'll physically die, but I don't have to die eternally in the lake of fire. Jesus took that he drank every drop every sin that I committed Jesus died for penalty substitution, I have a substitute.

But I don't want you to think somehow when Jesus was dying for our sins, that the Father was mad at him somehow. Calvin said, we do not suggest that God was ever angry toward him. How could he be angry toward his beloved son, in whom his heart was well pleased.

This was his life. The Father sent him to do this very thing. And now we have the height of perfect obedience. He became obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. How can the Father be displeased with his son's obedience?

There's a man named Harry Emerson Fosdick, and he wrote a book called The Guide to Understanding the Bible. So, pretty good title, but here's what he said. God evolves. You got the Old Testament God, kind of devilish.

You got Noah's God, bloodthirsty. You got Abraham's God, he loves sacrifices. Moses' God, volcanic fire eruption God. By the time David's God comes along, getting nicer. And then Fosdick said, by the time of the prophets, quote, God was really making improvement.

He hated unrighteousness and spoke out against crimes committed by men. But when Jesus came along, Fosdick said, well Jesus gave men a beautiful concept of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.

But he didn't read very far because we have penalty substitution. We have eternal wrath assuaged by the Son. It wasn't that long ago there was a new song called Christ in Christ Alone. Do you know that song, In Christ Alone?

I know you know that song. Do you know it was debated in the liberal Presbyterian denomination? Because they did not want to sing these words. And on that cross, as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.

They said, no, no, no, no. Bloody, gory, gruesome, we don't sing that. So they wanted these words instead. That the love of God was magnified. So they had to talk to the authors, Getty and Townend, and can we make changes?

And thankfully, those authors said, no, you can't make the changes. Chris Joyner of First Presbyterian Church in Franklin said, you know, the original lyric comes close to saying that God killed Jesus.

The cross is not an instrument of God's wrath. Okay. The atonement was a substitutionary death. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And the answer, dear Christian, is so that we wouldn't be forsaken.

There'll only be one forsaken person in heaven. We're not forsaken in heaven. Only Lord Jesus has been forsaken and still be in heaven. Can you imagine not forsaken? We deserve it, but we're not forsaken.

You know, dear Christian, you won't have to pay for one of your sins in heaven. Not one. You won't have to answer for one of your sins. Say, well, there are people here that aren't Christians. Well, you're going to answer for every one of your sins unless you're trusting in the Lord Jesus.

That's why we say, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be what? Saved. Here Jesus is dying a substitutionary death. What's one of the most important concepts in all the Bible? Substitution.

I Thirst and the Full Humanity of Christ

Okay. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking we're never going to get through all this. Number five, John 19. I'm thirsty. I'm thirsty. Sane number five out of the seven, John 19. You can pick up something called the harmony of the gospels if you'd like, and it'll give you kind of chronological order as best as they can.

Putting these four gospels together. I'm doing my best to stay in that chronological arrangement. With that said, after you've assuaged the wrath of the father for three hours and you're truly human, I think you are going to be thirsty.

There's a connection. John 1928. After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said to fulfill scripture, I thirst. Here's the God man who starts off his ministry on earth by hungering for 40 days and 40 nights, and now he ends by thirsting.

He just got done saying, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And now he says, I thirst. Who has ever borne the eternal wrath of God? Only the Lord Jesus. And now he responds with, I'm thirsty. I think it's physical, certainly, but I think it's more than that.

Here this word of suffering. To think that this Lord Jesus who created everything, including every fresh water lake that exists, and supplied Israel with water out of the rock in the wilderness, says now I'm thirsty.

He's borne the eternal judgment of my sin and yours, dear Christian. And now this perfectly, truly human man, the God man, while he's been tired, while he's been thirsty from journeys, while he's weeping at Lazarus' tomb, now he is thirsty.

Here's probably what I would say. I'm in pain. I'm hurting. Help me. But the Lord Jesus, to fulfill scripture, Psalm 42, Psalm 63, Psalm 22, I am thirsty. Did you know some people want to say that Jesus wasn't truly human?

They say he just kind of seemed human. This is a word, docetism. He seems like it, but he's like a phantom. He's not really human because how can you be the God man? Sometimes in the Bible, there are statements that say, believe, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ that I alluded to earlier.

There are some verses in the Bible that says, don't believe. Here's a don't believe verse. 1 John 4, beloved, do not believe. Say, is there more to it? Yes. Every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.

For many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this, you know, the spirit of God, that every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. He's very man of very man, perfectly man.

He's finished the job the father sent him to do. He says, I'm thirsty. Verse 29, a jar of sour wine stood there. This isn't the kind of earlier stuff they offered to him to kind of dull his pain. This is just cheap stuff.

So they put a sponge full of sour wine on a hyssop branch, kind of like a little stick or a javelin to get it up there to his mouth, held it to his mouth. Maybe this will prolong his pain a little bit longer.