The last word but one, "It is finished." Brother, thirst I pray you to have your workpeople saved. And said, Hail, King of the Jews!_ Have we not often given him vinegar to drink? He saw its streets flowing like bloody rivers; he saw the temple naming up to heaven; he marked the walls loaded with Jewish captives crucified by command of Titus; he saw the city razed to the ground and sown with salt, and he said, "Weep not for me, but for yourselves and for your children, for the day shall come when ye shall say to the rocks, Hide us, and to the mountains, Fall upon us." and the answer shall come back, "Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh." Here is the safety of the believer in the hour of his departure, and his instant admission into the presence of his Lord. I tell you, sirs, that yonder malefactor carried his cross and died on it; and you will carry your sorrows, and be damned with them, except you repent. Christians, will you refuse to be cross-bearers for Christ? As not a bone of him shall be broken, so not a word shall be lost. And now, brethren, our blessed Lord has at this time a thirst for communion with each one of you who are his people, not because you can do him good, but because he can do you good. I claim for the procession of my Lord an interest superior to the pageant you are now so anxiously expecting. We do not know what may have been the color of alimony face, but it was most likely black. Last Sunday the remark was made to me "If the story of the sufferings of Christ had been told of any other man, all the congregation would have been in tears." Henceforth, also, let us cultivate the spirit of resignation, for we may well rejoice to carry a cross which his shoulders have borne before us. Simon had to carry the cross but for a very little time, yet his name is in this Book for ever, and we may envy him his honor. April 14th, 1878 by C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892). What was he looking for from his vineyard and its winepress? Cheerfully accept this burden, ye servants of the Lord. These are silken days, and religion fights not so stern a battle. No man dare call him friend now, or whisper a word of comfort to him. He thirsts to bless you and to receive your grateful love in return; he thirsts to see you looking with believing eye to his fulness, and holding out your emptiness that he may supply it. The Holy Spirit took special care that each of the sacred utterances should be fittingly recorded. away with him." We will now take the text in a third way, and may the Spirit of God instruct us once again. I invite you to meditate upon the true humanity of our Lord very reverently, and very lovingly. He said, "I thirst," in order that one might bring him drink, even as you have wished to have a cooling draught handed to you when you could not help yourself. Simon was an African; he came from Cyrene. Oh, shame that men should find so much applause for Princes and none for the King of kings. Commentary on John 19:31-37 (Read John 19:31-37) A trial was made whether Jesus was dead. The most Scriptural way to describe the sufferings of Christ is not by laboring to excite sympathy through highly-coloured descriptions of his blood and wounds. Behold, my King is not without his crown alas, a crown of thorns set with ruby drops of blood! "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" is the first. Let this mind be in you also. Beloved, let us comfort ourselves with this thought, that in our case, as in Simon's, it is not our cross, but Christ's cross which we carry. C.H. But what shall be your cry when you shall say, "Good God! Some of them have no objection to worship with a poor congregation till they grow rich, and then, forsooth, they must go with the world's church, to mingle with fashion and gentility. There are some who in company hold their tongues, and never say a good word for Christ. We are to reckon upon all this, and should the worst befal us, it is to be no strange thing to us. They put his own clothes upon him, because they were the perquisites of the executioner, as modern hangmen take the garments of those whom they execute, so did the four soldiers claim a right to his raiment. What joy, what satisfaotion this will give if we can sing, "My soul looks back to see The burden thou didst bear, When hastening to the accursed tree, And knows her guilt was there!". The whole universe shall hiss you; angels shall be ashamed of you; your own friends, yes, your sainted mother, shall say "Amen" to your condemnation; and those who loved you best shall sit as assessors with Christ to judge you and condemn you! The Via Dolorosa, as the Romanists call it, is a long street at the present time, but it may have been but a few yards. IV. Jesus, being a man, escaped none of the ills which are allotted to man in death. Oh! Hail, ye despised children of the sun, ye follow first after the King in the march of woe. Will your Prince be decorated with honors? This was the act too of man at his best, when he is moved to pity; for it seems clear that he who lifted up the wet sponge to the Redeemer's lips, did it in compassion. ye Christian men, who dream of trimming your sails to the wind, who seek to win the world's favor, I do beseech you cease from a course so perilous. 19:1-18 Little did Pilate think with what holy regard these sufferings of Christ would, in after-ages, be thought upon and spoken of by the best and greatest of men. You have seen Jesus led away by his enemies; so shall you be dragged away by fiends to the place appointed for you. Let there be nothing but your religion to object to, and then if that offends them let them be offended, it is a cross which you must carry joyfully. Beeke, Joel R. & Thompson, Nick. points to the anguish of his soul; "I thirst" expresses in part the torture of his body; and they were both needful, because it is written of the God of justice that he is "able to destroy both soul and body in hell," and the pangs that are due to law are of both kinds, touching both heart and flesh. "Weep for yourselves," says Christ, "rather than for me." I am glad the world expects much from us, and watches us narrowly. For him they have no tolerance. My Lord is not altogether without his espoused one. Romanists pretend to know; in fact they know the very spot where Veronica wiped the blessed face with her handkerchief, and found his likeness impressed upon it; we also know very well where that was not done; in fact they know the very spot where Jesus fainted, and if you go to Jerusalem you can see all these different places if you only carry enough credulity with you; but the fact is the city has been so razed, and burned, and ploughed, that there is little chance of distinguishing any of these positions, with the exception, it may be, of Mount Calvary, which being outside the walls may possibly still remain. Oh! You do suffer. Whether a disciple then or not, we have every reason to believe that he became so afterwards; he was the father, we read, of Alexander and Rufus, two persons who appear to have been well known in the early Church; let us hope that salvation came to his house when he was compelled to bear the Savior's cross. Romish expositors, who draw upon their prolific fancy for their facts, tell us that he had a rope about his neck with which they roughly dragged him to the tree; this is one of the most probable of their surmises, since it was not unusual for the Romans thus to conduct criminals to the gallows. He did not spare his Son the stripes. "Verily I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with me in paradise" this is the Lord Jesus in kingly power, opening with the key of David a door which none can shut, admitting into the gates of heaven the poor soul who had confessed him on the tree. Appetite was the door of sin, and therefore in that point our Lord was put to pain. I saw the other day the emblem of a serpent with its tail in its mouth, and if I carry it a little beyond the artist's intention the symbol may set forth appetite swallowing up itself. That impenitent thief went from the cross of his great agony and it was agony indeed to die on a cross he went to that place, to the flames of hell; and you, too, may go from the bed of sickness, and from the abode of poverty, to perdition, quite as readily as from the home of ease and the house of plenty. It is not sorrow over Rome, but Jerusalem. Beloved, if our Master said, "I thirst," do we expect every day to drink of streams from Lebanon? When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid: It shows he was afraid all along the coward the vacillating coward and now a fresh superstition seizes upon him. Thirst is a common-place misery, such as may happen to peasants or beggars; it is a real pain, and not a thing of a fancy or a nightmare of dreamland. Volume 19, Sermons 1089-1149 (1873) Hide. It was pain that dried his mouth and made it like an oven, till he declared, in the language of the twenty-second psalm, "My tongue cleaveth to my jaws." As he commends his spirit into the Father's hand, so does he bring all believers nigh to God, and henceforth we are in the hand of the Father, who is greater than all, and none shall pluck us thence. The sufferings of Christ should make us weep over those who have brought that blood upon their heads. A Christian living to indulge the base appetites of a brute beast, to eat and to drink almost to gluttony and drunkenness, is utterly unworthy of the name. Hast thou laid thy hand upon his head, confessed thy sin, and trusted in him? V. Lastly, the cry of "I thirst" is to us THE PATTERN OF OUR DEATH WITH HIM. It was one of Death's castles; here he stored his gloomiest trophies; he was the grim lord of that stronghold. A new edition of Spurgeon's classic devotional using the ESV. You may sit under a sermon, and feel a great deal, but your feeling is worthless unless it leads you to weep for yourselves and for your children. No longer sink below the brim; But overflow, and pour me down A living and life-giving stream.". I pray you, lend your ears to such faint words as I can utter on a subject all too high for me, the march of the world's Maker along the way of his great sorrow; your Redeemer traversing the rugged path of suffering, along which he went with heaving heart and heavy footsteps, that he might pave a royal road of mercy for his enemies. The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Some of those whom we loved very dearly we have seen quite unable to help themselves; the death sweat has been upon them, and this has been one of the marks of their approaching dissolution, that they have been parched with thirst, and could only mutter between their half-closed lips, "Give me to drink." Others think that Simon carried the whole of the cross. "I thirst" meant that his heart was thirsting to save men. 1. In the same song he speaks of his church, and says, "The roof of thy mouth is as the best wine for my beloved, that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak." John, the gospel of faith by Harrison, Everett Falconer, 1902- from Everyman's Bible Commentary series. Have you repented of sin? We do not read that they removed the crown of thorns, and therefore it is most probable, though not absolutely certain, that our Savior wore it along the Via Dolorosa, and also bore it upon his head when he was fastened to the cross. We know from experience that the present effect of sin in every man who indulges in it is thirst of soul. There was nothing behind in the price, but there is something behind in the manifested power, and we must continue to fill up that measure of revealed power, carrying each one of us the cross with Christ, till the last shame shall have been poured upon his cause, and he shall reign for ever and ever. The Redeemer's cry of "I thirst" is a solemn lesson of patience to his afflicted. The soldiery mocked and insulted him in every way that cruelty and scorn could devise. As Spurgeon puts it "Faith is described as 'receiving' Jesus. As Christ went through the streets, a great multitude looked on. We see how the Holy Spirit wants us to pray. Commentators like Thomas Manton and John Calvin are represented in this series. Dear friends, we must remember that, although no one died on the cross with Christ, for atonement must be executed by a solitary Savior, yet another person did carry the cross for Christ; for this world, while redeemed by price by Christ, and by Christ alone, is to be redeemed by divine power manifested in the sufferings and labors of the saints as well as those of Christ. Ray Stedman I wonder he has ever received them, as one marvels why he received this vinegar; and yet he has received them, and smiled upon us for presenting them. You see there the multitude are leading him forth from the temple. There was a deeper meaning in his words than she dreamed of, as a verse further down fully proves, when he said to his disciples, "I have meat to eat that ye know not of." Today! "I thirst, but not as once I did, The vain delights of earth to share; Thy wounds, Emmanuel, all forbid That I should seek my pleasures there. More solemn still is the reflection that according to our Lord's own teaching, thirst will also be the eternal result of sin, for he says concerning the rich glutton, "In hell he lift up his eyes, being in torment," and his prayer, which was denied him, was, "Father Abraham, send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame." There is a fulness of meaning in each utterance which no man shall be able fully to bring forth, and when combined they make up a vast deep of thought, which no human line can fathom. Angels cannot suffer thirst. John and Herod 1549 - Good News for Thirsty Souls 1550 - The Unspeakable Gift 1551 - Today! Thus have I tried to spy out a measure of teaching, by using that one glass for the soul's eye, through which we look upon "I thirst" as the ensign of his true humanity. Yet, dear friends, to some eyes there will be more attraction in the procession of sorrow, of shame, and of blood, than in you display of grandeur and joy. Here is the forgiveness of sin free forgiveness in answer to the Saviour's plea. How truly man he is; he is, indeed, "bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh," for he bears our infirmities. Let us now gaze for awhile upon CHRIST CARRYING HIS CROSS. "I thirst," is his human body tormented by grievous pain. We see in Simon's carrying the cross a picture of what the Church is to do throughout all generations. The platted crown of thorns, the purple robe, the reed with which they smote him, and the spittle with which they disfigured him, all these marked the contempt in which they held the King of the Jews. The woes which broke the Savior's heart must crush theirs. The mind of man is like the daughters of the horseleech, which cry for ever, "Give, give." Was not the Redeemer led thither to aggravate his shame? Such a greeting had the Lord of glory, but alas, it was not the shout of welcome, but the yell of "Away with him! No sufferings of ours have anything to do with the atonement of sin. We read, "The soldiers also mocked him, offering him vinegar." It is said that a German regiment was at that time stationed in Judea, and I should not wonder if they were the lineal ancestors of those German theologians of modern times who have mocked the Savior, tampered with revelation, and cast the vile spittle of their philosophy into the face of truth. Do not let the picture vanish till you have satisfied yourselves once for all that Christ was here the substitute for you. And well they may; the son of such noble parents deserves a nation's love. It was a thirst such as none of us have ever known, for not yet has the death dew condensed upon our brows. This added to his shame; but, methinks, in this, too, he draws the nearer to us, "He was numbered with the transgressors, and bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." Did not the high-priest bring the scape-goat, and put both his hands upon its head, confessing the sins of the people, that thus those sins might be laid upon the goat? There are more unlikely things than that you will be dead before next Sunday. John 18:19-40 - Glory on Trial A. Universal manhood, left to itself, rejects, crucifies, and mocks the Christ of God. There were, as you know, seven of those last words, and seven is the number of perfection and fulness; the number which blends the three of the infinite God with the four of complete creation. O brother, if he says, "I thirst" and you bring him a lukewarm heart, that is worse than vinegar, for he has said, "I will spue thee out of my mouth." One would have said, If he were thirsty he would not tell us, for all the clouds and rains would be glad to refresh his brow, and the brooks and streams would joyously flow at his feet. Your heir of royalty is magnificently drawn along the streets in his stately chariot, sitting at his ease: my princely sufferer walks with weary feet, marking the road with crimson drops; not borne, but bearing; not carried, but carrying his cross. I have heard sermons, and studied works by Romish writers upon the passion and agony, which have moved me to copious tears, but I am not clear that all the emotion was profitable. "Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing." And yet again in the eighth chapter the bride saith, "I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate." Will ye raise a clamor of tumultuous shouting? I believe there was a tenderness in Christ's heart to the Jew of a special character. O thou blessed Master, if we are indeed nailed up to the tree with thee, give us a thirst after thee with a thirst which only the cup of "the new covenant in thy blood" can ever satisfy. Bearing upon his back the sin of all his people, the offering goes without the camp. I have touched that point very lightly because I want a little more time to dwell upon a fourth view of this scene. Conservative, but not too much depth. How harshly grate the cruel syllables, "Crucify him! The Church must suffer, that the gospel may be spread by her means. Then thy sin lies not on thee; not one single ounce or drachma of it lies on thee; it has all been transferred by blessed imputation to Christ, and he bears it on his shoulder in the form of yonder heavy cross. We thought sometimes that we loved him as we heard the story of his death, but we did not change our lives for his sake, nor put our trust in him, and so we gave him vinegar to drink. Can you help feeling how very near Jesus is to us when his lips must be moistened with a sponge, and he must be so dependent upon others as to ask drink from their hand? I am not the One anointed of God to save mankind. John 1:21. When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples over the Brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which He and His disciples entered. Amen. III. Every word, therefore, you see teaches us some grand fundamental doctrine of our blessed faith. Our text is the shortest of all the words of Calvary; it stands as two words in our language "I thirst," but in the Greek it is only one. Christ was spit upon with shame; sinner, what shame will be yours! We should love the cross, and count it very dear, because it works out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. And said, Hail, King of the Jews! He pitied the sufferer, but he thought so little of him that he joined in the voice of scorn. John 19:28 . is the fourth cry, and it illustrates the penalty endured by our Substitute when he bore our sins, and so was forsaken of his God. What, then, dear friends, should be the sorrows excited by a view of Christ's sufferings? Then the goat was led away by a fit man into the wilderness, and it carried away the sins of the people, so that if they were sought for, they could not be found. Conceal your religion? I do not think we should seek after needless persecution. My heart shall not be content till he is all in all to me, and I am altogether lost in him. Betrayal and arrest in the garden. (7) Luke 23:46 And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, "Father, INTO THY HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT. Your path runs hard by that of your Master. Oh! There are many other ways in which these words might be read, and they would be found to be all full of instruction. To report dead links, typos, or html errors or suggestions about making these resources more useful use the convenient, Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible. It is the way whereby many shall be brought to Christ, when this blessed soul-thirst of true Christian charity shall be upon those who are themselves saved. Today! If we be true to our Master we shall soon lose the friendship of the world. That man is a fool and deserves no pity, who purposely excites the disgust of other people. O to be enlarged in soul so as to take deeper draughts of his sweet love, for our heart cannot have enough. According to the sacred canticle of love, in the fifth chapter of the Song of Songs, we learn that when he drank in those olden times it was in the garden of his church that he was refreshed. Holy Scripture remains the basis of our faith, established by every word and act of our Redeemer. Oh! The Church, the bride of Christ, was there conformed to the image of her Lord; she was there, I say, in Simon, bearing the cross, and in the women weeping and lamenting. In the fourth place, one or two words upon CHRIST'S FELLOW-SUFFERERS. This very plainly sets forth the true and proper humanity of Christ, who to the end recognised his human relationship to Mary, of whom he was born. We ought all to have a longing for conversions. Thirst is no royal grief, but an evil of universal manhood; Jesus is brother to the poorest and most humble of our race. 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