Let me add, that when we look at the sufferings of Christ, we ought to sorrow deeply for the souls of all unregenerate men and women. 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. He had no sooner said "I thirst," and sipped the vinegar, than he shouted, "It is finished"; and all was over: the battle was fought and the victory won for ever, and our great Deliverer's thirst was the sign of his having smitten the last foe. Do not let us forget the infinite distance between the Lord of glory on his throne and the Crucified dried up with thirst. It began with the mouth of appetite, when it was sinfully gratified, and it ends when a kindred appetite is graciously denied. He did not spare his Son the stripes. 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? We ought not to forget the Jews. 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. Remember how Paul said, "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. 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. It was most fitting that every word of our Lord upon the cross should be gathered up and preserved. "He that taketh not up his cross and followeth not after me," says Christ, "is not worthy of me." The flood of his grief has passed the high-water mark, and began to be assuaged. With "I thirst" the evil is destroyed and receives its expiation. "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. "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" "His way was much rougher and darker than mine; Did Christ, my Lord, suffer, and shall I repine?". Rutherford used words somewhat to this effect, "I thirst for my Lord and this is joy; a joy which no man taketh from me. Conceal your religion? In the multitude there was a sparse sprinkling of tender-hearted women, probably those who had been healed, or whose children had been blessed by him. 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. " And having said this, He breathed His last. See, brethren, here is a picture of what we may expect from men if we are faithful to our Master. Some of these were persons of considerable rank; many of them had ministered to him of their substance; amidst the din and howling of the crowd, and the noise of the soldiery, they raised an exceeding loud and bitter cry, like Rachel weeping for her children, who would not be comforted, because they were not. We shall by the assistance of the Holy Spirit try to regard these words of our Saviour in a five-fold light. The lictors executed their cruel office upon his shoulders with their rods and scourges, until the stripes had reached the full number. But how vast was the disparity! Here you see how the mortal flesh had to share in the agony of the inward spirit. Jesus, being a man, escaped none of the ills which are allotted to man in death. I fear me, beloved, I fear me that the most of us if we ever do carry it, carry it by compulsion, at least when it first comes on to our shoulders we do not like it, and would fain run from it, but the world compels us to bear Christ's cross. I am glad the world expects much from us, and watches us narrowly. who would stand in your place, ye richest, ye merriest, ye most self-righteous sinners who would stand in your place when God shall say, "Awake O sword against the rebel, against the man that rejected me; smite him, and let him feel the smart for ever!" He hath traversed the mournful way before thee, and every footprint thou leavest in the sodden soil is stamped side by side with his footmarks. For several Sabbath mornings my mind has been directed into subjects which I might fitly call the deep things of God. Great and worshipful being that he is, truth is to be altered for him, the gospel is to be modulated to suit the tone of his various generations, and all the arrangements of the universe are to be rendered subservient to his interests. God forbid! The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel, they cannot spare him the agonies of dying on the cross, they will therefore remit the labor of carrying it. Well might the Master say, "Weep not for me, but for yourselves." John 19 He preached in the same church as C. H. Spurgeon over one hundred years earlier. And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou ? Save your tears for them; Christ asks them not in sympathy for himself. 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. But further, my brethren; this, I think, is the great lesson from Christ's being slaughtered without the gate of the city let us go forth, therefore, without the camp, bearing his reproach. Our sinful tongues, blistered by the fever of passion, must have burned for ever had not his tongue been tormented with thirst in our stead. Inductive Bible study on John 19. V. Lastly, the cry of "I thirst" is to us THE PATTERN OF OUR DEATH WITH HIM. Though bitter to him in the speaking it will be sweet to us in the hearing, so sweet that all the bitterness of our trials shall be forgotten as we remember the vinegar and gall of which he drank. For his sake we may rejoice in self-denials, and accept Christ and a crust as all we desire between here and heaven. "I thirst" meant that his heart was thirsting to save men. 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. O my hearers, beware of praising Jesus and denying his atoning sacrifice. Though Simon had to bear the cross for a very little while, it gave him lasting honor. C.H. 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. One would wish to be as a spouse, who, when she had already been feasting in the banqueting-house, and had found his fruit sweet to her taste, so that she was overjoyed, yet cried out, "Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love." There were two other cross-bearers in the throng; they were malefactors; their crosses were just as heavy as the Lord's, and yet, at least, one of them had no sympathy with him, and his bearing the cross only led to his death, and not to his salvation. 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. Next Saturday all eyes will be fixed on a great Prince who shall ride through our streets with his Royal Bride. 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. 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. A strong emphasis in Spurgeon's preaching was God's grace and sovereignty over man's helpless state. John 19:16 . 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. The next time we are in pain or are suffering depression of spirit we will remember that our Lord understands it all, for he has had practical, personal experience of it. 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! 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. It is almost done, thou Christ of God; thou hast almost saved thy people; there remaineth but one thing more, that thou shouldst actually die, and hence thy strong desire to come to the end and complete thy labour. Appetite was the door of sin, and therefore in that point our Lord was put to pain. A few times the sun will go up and down the hill; a few more moons will wax and wane, and then we shall receive the glory. 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. 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. 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." Yet his language teaches us not to worship her, for he calls her "woman," but to honor him in whom his direst agony thought of her needs and griefs, as he also thinks of all his people, for these are his mother and sister and brother. The last expiring word in which he commended his spirit to his Father, is the note of acceptance for himself and for us all. The extreme tension produced a burning feverishness. Can they be compared to generous wine? John 19:3. This was intended at once to proclaim his guilt and intimate his doom. Think of that! 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." Christians, will you refuse to be cross-bearers for Christ? Exposition of the Gospel according to John by Hendriksen, William, 1900-1982 (1953) 526 pages 19 ratings John and Herod 1549 - Good News for Thirsty Souls 1550 - The Unspeakable Gift 1551 - Today! Here we behold his human soul in anguish, his inmost heart overwhelmed by the withdrawing of Jehovah's face, and made to cry out as if in perplexity and amazement. But power is wanted to dash down those idols, to overcome the hosts of error; where is it to be found? "After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst." It is not fit that he should live." And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe. The soldiery mocked and insulted him in every way that cruelty and scorn could devise. 2 And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, . Trust in the Son of God and you shall never die. And said, Hail, King of the Jews! But such is not the truthful estimate of man according to the Scriptures: there man is a fallen creature, with a carnal mind which cannot be reconciled to God; a worse than brutish creature, rendering evil for good, and treating his God with vile ingratitude. "Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing." I am not the One anointed of God to save mankind. John 1:21. As not a bone of him shall be broken, so not a word shall be lost. This is a kind of sweet whereof if a man hath much he must have more, and when he hath more he is under a still greater necessity to receive more, and so on, his appetite for ever growing by that which it feeds upon, till he is filled with all the fulness of God. Christ must die a felon's death, and it must be upon the felon's gallows, in the place where horrid crimes had met their due reward. 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. The Holy Spirit took special care that each of the sacred utterances should be fittingly recorded. For him they have no tolerance. 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 have already told you that such was our Lord's mystical desire; let it be ours also. As for yourselves, thirst after perfection. You have, then, no true sympathy for Christ if you have not an earnest sympathy with those who would win souls for Christ. To-day I invite your attention to another Prince, marching in another fashion through his metropolis. Some of you will not be baptized because you think people will say, "He is a professor; how holy he ought to be." The more manifestly there shall be a great gulf between the Church and the world, the better shall it be for both; the better for the world, for it shall be thereby warned; the better for the Church, for it shall be thereby preserved. Have you repented of sin? 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. 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." He also knew well the terrible joy that comes only through suffering as he lived quite afflicted (both by illness and slander). Barrabas may go free; the thief and the murderer may be spared; but for Christ there is no word, but "Away with such a fellow from the earth! Thirst is no royal grief, but an evil of universal manhood; Jesus is brother to the poorest and most humble of our race. Alas, man is the slave and the dupe of Satan, and a black-hearted traitor to his God. Oh! While other religions create what appear to be worship-filled gatherings, they are empty and void of fact. He knew once how to turn water into wine, and in matchless love he has often turned our sour drink-offerings into something sweet to himself, though in themselves, methinks, they have been the juice of sour grapes, sharp enough to set his teeth on edge. He must love his chosen whom he has once begun to love, for he is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. What if the bread be dry, what if the medicine be nauseous; yet for his thirst there was no relief but gall and vinegar, and dare we complain? He who stood in our stead has finished all his work, and now his spirit comes back to the Father, and he brings us with him. It is so with each one of you? If he carried all the cross, yet he only carried the wood of it; he did not bear the sin which made it such a load. But my Prince is hated without a cause. Nay more; he is banished from their society, as if he were a leper whose breath would be infectious whose presence would scatter plague. He is indeed "Immanuel, God with us" everywhere. Our Lord is the Maker of the ocean and the waters that are above the firmament: it is his hand that stays or opens the bottles of heaven, and sendeth rain upon the evil and upon the good. The nails were fastened in the most sensitive parts of the body, and the wounds were widened as the weight of his body dragged the nails through his blessed flesh, and tore his tender nerves. (7) Luke 23:46 And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, "Father, INTO THY HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT. Jesus was deserted of God; and if he, who was only imputedly a sinner, was deserted, how much more shall you be? I like to think of our Lord's saying, "It is finished," directly after he had exclaimed, "I thirst"; for these two voices come so naturally together. He saith, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." They would be very proper, very proper; God forbid that we should stay them, except with the gentle words of Christ, "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me." 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. 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." There is bread upon your table to-day, and there will be at least a cup of cold water to refresh you. 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. Our first parents plucked forbidden fruit, and by eating slew the race. We shall perhaps know it in our measure in our dying hour, but not yet, nor ever so terribly as he did. This cross was a ponderous machine; not so heavy, perhaps, as some pictures would represent it, but still no light burden to a man whose shoulders were raw with the lashes of the Roman scourge. Will ye raise a clamor of tumultuous shouting? Yet most people today have never heard of John Gill. you that are ashamed of Christ, how can you read that text, "He that is ashamed of me, and of my words, of him will I be ashamed when I come in the glory of my Father, and all my holy angels with me." Shall the servant be above his Master, or the disciple above his Lord? Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) was born in Essex, England. His great love makes him thirst to have us much nearer than we are; he will never be satisfied till all his redeemed are beyond gunshot of thee enemy. There are some who in company hold their tongues, and never say a good word for Christ. As Christ went through the streets, a great multitude looked on. crucify him!" There can be no shadow of doubt but that our Lord was really crucified, and no one substituted for him. 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