Next time your fevered lips murmur "I am very thirsty," you may say to yourself, "Those are sacred words, for my Lord spake in that fashion." What but for the juice of the vine that he might be refreshed? There is bread upon your table to-day, and there will be at least a cup of cold water to refresh you. Today! Even now to a large extent the true Christian is like a Pariah, lower than the lowest caste, in the judgment of some. Hast thou laid thy hand upon his head, confessed thy sin, and trusted in him? We are not sure that Simon was a disciple of Christ; he may have been a friendly spectator; yet one would think the Jews would naturally select a disciple if they could. This was intended at once to proclaim his guilt and intimate his doom. It was most fitting that every word of our Lord upon the cross should be gathered up and preserved. When you are molested for your piety; when your religion brings the trial of cruel mockings upon you; then remember, it is not your cross, it is Christ's cross; and how delightful is it to carry the cross of our Lord Jesus? A strong emphasis in Spurgeon's preaching was God's grace and sovereignty over man's helpless state. I have shown you, believer, your position; let me now show you your service. The sharpness of that sentence no exposition can fully disclose to us: it is keen as the very edge and point of the sword which pierced his heart. Let all your love be his. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. He ran and filled a sponge with vinegar: it was the best way he knew of putting a few drops of moisture to the lips of one who was suffering so much; but though he felt a degree of pity, it was such as one might show to a dog; he felt no reverence, but mocked as he relieved. Largest collection of Spurgeon resources online, including a complete 63 volume set of sermons, audio sermons, books, and quotes. To-day I invite your attention to another Prince, marching in another fashion through his metropolis. We do not know what may have been the color of alimony face, but it was most likely black. But ye ask me where is the spouse, the king's daughter fair and beautiful? This was the homage which the Son of God received from men; harmless and gentle, he came here with no purpose but that of doing good, and this is how mankind treated him. "And they took Jesus, and led him away." A phantom, as some have called him, could not suffer in his fashion: but Jesus really suffered, not only the more refined pains of delicate and sensitive minds, but the rougher and commoner pangs of flesh and blood. He also knew well the terrible joy that comes only through suffering as he lived quite afflicted (both by illness and slander). Ray Stedman The great Surety says, "I thirst," because he is placed in the sinner's stead, and he must therefore undergo the penalty of sin for the ungodly. Perhaps they are your children, the objects of your fondest love, with no interest in Christ, without God and without hope in the world! If we be true to our Master we shall soon lose the friendship of the world. Well, then, what means this cry, "I thirst," but this, that we should thirst too? Christ does exempt you from sin, but not from sorrow; he does take the curse of the cross, but he does not take the cross of the curse away from you. Did he not tell his disciples, "I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished?" Oh! He thirsted to pluck us from between the jaws of hell, to pay our redemption price, and set us free from the eternal condemnation which hung over us; and when on the cross the work was almost done his thirst was not assuaged, and could not be till he could say, "It is finished." Christ comes forth from Pilate's hall with the cumbrous wood upon his shoulder, but through weariness he travels slowly, and his enemies urgent for his death, and half afraid, from his emaciated appearance, that he may die before he reaches the place of execution, allow another to carry his burden. It showed that he had laid down his life of himself. 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." 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. Such a greeting had the Lord of glory, but alas, it was not the shout of welcome, but the yell of "Away with him! Nor is this all. Ah, beloved, our Lord was so truly man that all our griefs remind us of him: the next time we are thirsty we may gaze upon him; and whenever we see a friend faint and thirsting while dying we may behold our Lord dimly, but truly, mirrored in his members. 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. He thirsted for water doubtless, but his soul was thirsty in a higher sense; indeed, he seems only to have spoken that the Scriptures might be fulfilled as to the offering him vinegar. These are silken days, and religion fights not so stern a battle. If not, may that picture of Christ fainting in the streets lead you to do so this morning. Coming fresh from the country, not knowing what was going on, he joined with the mob, and they made him carry the cross. My heart shall not be content till he is all in all to me, and I am altogether lost in him. Those once highly favored people of God who cursed themselves with, "His blood be upon us and upon our children," ought to make us mourn when we think of their present degradation. What whips of steel for you, what knots of burning wire for you, when conscience shall smite you, when the law shall scourge you with its ten-thonged whip! Remember that, and expect to suffer. We care, however, far more for the fact that he went forth carrying his cross upon his shoulders. It is not fit that he should live." He goes forth, then, bearing his cross. Have you prayed for your fellow men? Cheerfully accept this burden, ye servants of the Lord. 1089 - The Man Greatly Beloved . Oh! As not a bone of him shall be broken, so not a word shall be lost. Nor does the grief end here, for have not the best works we have ever done, and the best feelings we ever felt, and the best prayers we have ever offered, been tart and sour with sin? Trust in the Son of God and you shall never die. and they smote him with their hands. One word: transformation. 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. As you look at the cross upon his shoulders does it represent your sin? With "I thirst" the evil is destroyed and receives its expiation. Oh, shame that men should find so much applause for Princes and none for the King of kings. A new edition of Spurgeon's classic devotional using the ESV. John 18:19-40 - Glory on Trial A. We are to reckon upon all this, and should the worst befal us, it is to be no strange thing to us. Godly working-men, should your employers or your fellow-workers frown upon you; wives, should your husbands threaten to cast you out, remember, without the camp was Jesus' place, and without the camp is yours. Jesus said, "I thirst," and this is the complaint of a man. 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. I cannot roll up into one word all the mass of sorrows which met upon the head of Christ who died for us, therefore it is impossible for me to tell you what streams, what oceans of grief must roll over your spirit if you die as you now are. He must love his chosen whom he has once begun to love, for he is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Come to him in prayer, come to him in fellowship, come to him by perfect consecration, come to him by surrendering your whole being to the sweet mysterious influences of his Spirit. There are no passages in all the public ministry of Jesus so tender as those which have regard to Jerusalem. Scripture provides a wealth . 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. Let this mind be in you also. And well they may; the son of such noble parents deserves a nation's love. I suppose that the "I thirst" was uttered softly, so that perhaps only one and another who stood near the cross heard it at all; in contrast with the louder cry of "Lama sabachthani" and the triumphant shout of "It is finished": but that soft, expiring sigh, "I thirst," has ended for us the thirst which else, insatiably fierce, had preyed upon us throughout eternity. May God deliver you! In that cry there is reconciliation to God. Thou wast still straightened till the last pang was felt and the last word spoken to complete to full redemption, and hence thy cry, "I thirst." London shall see the glory of the one: Jerusalem beheld the shame of the other. I do not know how far it was from Pilate's house to the Mount of Doom. 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." "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" Let us exult as we see our Substitute going through with his work even to the bitter end, and then with a "Consummatum est" returning to his Father, 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. He would have sacrificed himself to save his countrymen, so heartily did he desire their eternal welfare. March 1st, 1863 by C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892). Shall carnal appetites be indulged and bodies pampered when Jesus cried :I thirst"? As these seven sayings were so faithfully recorded, we do not wonder that they have frequently been the subject of devout meditation. They place the cross upon Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country. May the Holy Ghost help us to hear a fourth tuning of the dolorous music, "I thirst." He can receive vinegar, but not lukewarm love. IV. Jesus, being a man, escaped none of the ills which are allotted to man in death. You are not, therefore, so poor as he. Oh! 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. Separately or in connection our Master's words overflow with instruction to thoughtful minds: but of all save one I must say, "Of which we cannot now speak particularly." London shall see the glory of the one: Jerusalem beheld the shame of the other. I think, beloved friends, that the cry of "I thirst" was THE MYSTICAL EXPRESSION OF THE DESIRE OF HIS HEART "I thirst." 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." 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? 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. And what makes him love us so? I invite you to meditate upon the true humanity of our Lord very reverently, and very lovingly. away with him." Christ did but transfer to Simon the outward frame, the mere tree; but the curse of the tree, which was our sin and its punishment, rested on Jesus' shoulders still. Add to Cart. 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. 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. We will now take the text in a third way, and may the Spirit of God instruct us once again. That little rising ground, which perhaps was called Golgotha, the place of a skull, from its somewhat resembling the crown of a man's skull, was the common place of execution. I have touched that point very lightly because I want a little more time to dwell upon a fourth view of this scene. 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. 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. Nay more; he is banished from their society, as if he were a leper whose breath would be infectious whose presence would scatter plague. Sit at his feet with Mary, lean on his breast with John; yea, come with the spouse in the song and say, "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for his love is better than wine." 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. 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. Once again, as we think of this "I thirst," which proves our Lord's humanity, let us resolve to shun no denials, but rather court them that we may be conformed to his image. Are you lukewarm? Will your thoroughfares be thronged? III. Amid all the anguish of his spirit his last words prove him to have remained fully self-possessed, true to his forgiving nature, true to his kingly office, true to his filial relationship, true to his God, true to his love of the written word, true to his glorious work, and true to his faith in his Father. Some of you will! May we not despise our loaded table while he is neglected? The Redeemer's cry of "I thirst" is a solemn lesson of patience to his afflicted. 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. 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. He loved the Gentile, but still Jerusalem was the city of the Great King. Shall the servant be above his Master, or the disciple above his Lord? How truly man he is; he is, indeed, "bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh," for he bears our infirmities. The flood of his grief has passed the high-water mark, and began to be assuaged. So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. Christians, will you refuse to be cross-bearers for Christ? Yet most people today have never heard of John Gill. This is unfortunate, since his works contain priceless gems of information that are found nowhere except in the ancient writings of the Jews. Now recollect, if Jesus had not thirsted, every one of us would have thirsted for ever afar off from God, with an impassable gulf between us and heaven. Brother, thirst I pray you to have your workpeople saved. The Geneva Series of Commentaries include historic commentaries on biblical books written by some of the great theologians in the history of the church. Go ye, then, like the Master, expecting to be abused, to wear an ill-name, and to earn reproach; go ye, like him, without the camp. Your Prince is surrounded by a multitude of friends; hark how they joyously welcome him! See, it has been blackened with bruises, and stained with the shameful spittle of them that derided him. He pitied the sufferer, but he thought so little of him that he joined in the voice of scorn. He cried, ere he bowed the head which he had held erect amid all his conflict, as one who never yielded, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." I am ashamed of some professed Christians, heartily ashamed of them! I have sometimes met with persons who have suffered much; they have lost money, they have worked hard all their lives, or they have laid for years upon a bed of sickness, and they therefore suppose that because they have suffered so much in this life, they shall thus escape the punishment of sin hereafter. 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. Grant me only thus much of likeness: we have here a Prince with his bride, bearing his banner, and wearing his royal robes, traversing the streets of his own city, surrounded by a throng who shout aloud, and a multitude who gaze with interest profound. The words, "I thirst," are a common voice in death chambers. What a cataract of immortal souls dashes downwards to the pit every hour! The excitement of a great struggle makes men forget thirst and faintness; it is only when all is over that they come back to themselves and note the spending of their strength. Angels cannot suffer thirst. Think of the millions in this dark world! It is not likely that we shall be able to worship with their worship. Acts 19 Acts 19 He preached in the same church as C. H. Spurgeon over one hundred years earlier. Spurgeon left this earth for his heavenly hope in 1892. John 19:7-8. In the fourth place, one or two words upon CHRIST'S FELLOW-SUFFERERS. Oh! Pilate, as we reminded you, scourged our Savior according to the common custom of Roman courts. Of cold water to refresh john 19 commentary spurgeon, the King 's daughter fair and?. Today have never heard of John Gill text in a third way, and began to cross-bearers! Sin, and quotes fainting in the Son of such noble parents deserves a nation 's.! 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