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. wherein we see the Son of man in the gentleness of a son caring for his bereaved mother. In fact, the tendency is to exalt man above God and give him the highest place. Then I will thirst with him and not complain, I will suffer with him and not murmur." The most careless eye discerns it. May the Holy Ghost work in you the complete pattern of Christ crucified, and to him shall be praise for ever and ever. There have been times, and the days may come again, when faithfulness to Christ has entailed exclusion from what is called "society." Add to Cart. I do not think we should seek after needless persecution. 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." 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. Yes, he loves to be with his people; they are the garden where he walks for refreshment, and their love, their graces, are the milk and wine which he delights to drink. Let us magnify and bless our Redeemer's name. Angels cannot suffer thirst. High in the air ye bid your banners wave about the heir of England's throne, but how shall ye rival the banner of the sacred cross, that day for the first time borne among the sons of men. But my Prince is hated without a cause. Let us muse upon the fact that Jesus was conducted without the gates of the city. John and Herod 1549 - Good News for Thirsty Souls 1550 - The Unspeakable Gift 1551 - Today! You may think that this remark is not needed; but I have met with one or two cases where it was required; and I have often said I would preach a sermon for even one person, and, therefore, I make this remark, even though it should rebuke but one. 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. He pitied the sufferer, but he thought so little of him that he joined in the voice of scorn. What knocks he for? Did not the prophecies say that man would give to his incarnate God gall to eat and vinegar to drink? When they had mocked him they pulled off the purple garment he had worn, this rough operation would cause much pain. We are to reckon upon all this, and should the worst befal us, it is to be no strange thing to us. While other religions create what appear to be worship-filled gatherings, they are empty and void of fact. John 19:4-5. Come hither, ye lovers of Immanuel, and I will show you this great sight the King of sorrow marching to his throne of grief, the cross. In the former cry, as he opened Paradise, you saw the Son of God; now you see him who was verily and truly born of a women, made under the law; and under the law you see him still, for he honours his mother and cares for her in the last article of death. No sufferings of ours have anything to do with the atonement of sin. Certainly it is so with you; you do but carry the light end of the cross; Christ bore the heavier end. You have been ill, and you have been parched with fever as he was, and then you too have gasped out "I thirst." 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. "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost." John 19:30. We know from experience that the present effect of sin in every man who indulges in it is thirst of soul. For him they have no tolerance. We care, however, far more for the fact that he went forth carrying his cross upon his shoulders. Think, dear friends, there are some in this congregation who as yet have no interest in Jesu's blood, some sitting next to you, your nearest friends who, if they were now to close their eyes in death, would open them in hell! John Chapter 19 - In-depth, verse-by-verse commentary and Bible study of John chapter 19 in plain English. It was a confirmation of the Scripture testimony with regard to man's natural enmity to God. Hunger and thirst after righteousness, for you shall be filled. 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. 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." We shall perhaps know it in our measure in our dying hour, but not yet, nor ever so terribly as he did. A refined and heavenly appetite, a craving for our Lord. I will not say it is because we are unfaithful to our Master that the world is more kind to us, but I half suspect it is, and it is very possible that if we were more thoroughly Christians the world would more heartily detest us, and if we would cleave more closely to Christ we might expect to receive more slander, more abuse, less tolerance, and less favor from men. 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? But how vast was the disparity! Now Christ standing in the stead of the ungodly suffers thirst as a type of his enduring the result of sin. are they not more like sharp vinegar? He bears a cross, not that you may escape it, but that you may endure it. Sister, thirst for the salvation of your class, thirst for the redemption of your family, thirst for the conversion of your husband. "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" How near akin the thirsty Saviour is to us; let us love him more and more. "Women, behold thy son!" No, no; we must not make a cross of our own. Christians, will you refuse to be cross-bearers for Christ? Our glorious Samson had been fighting our foes; heaps upon heaps he had slain his thousands, and now like Samson he was sore athirst. Some of you will! 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. Do you not remember how that thirst of his was strong in the old days of the prophet? Oh! Will your thoroughfares be thronged? Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) was born in Essex, England. Now we see Jesus brought before the priests and rulers, who pronounce him guilty; God himself imputes our sins to him; he was made sin for us; and, as the substitute for our guilt, bearing our sin upon his shoulders for that cross was a sort of representation in wood of our guilt and doom we see the great Scape-goat led away by the appointed officers of justice. And they asked him, What then? John 19:28 J.R. Thomson This is both the shortest of all the dying utterances of Jesus, and it is the one which is most closely related to himself. I invite your attention to CHRIST AS LED FORTH. With "I thirst" the evil is destroyed and receives its expiation. Our Lord says, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink," that thirst being the result of sin in every ungodly man at this moment. He is thirsty still, you see, for our poor love, and surely we cannot deny it to him. Will your Prince be sumptuously arrayed? Alas, man is the slave and the dupe of Satan, and a black-hearted traitor to his God. After our Lord Jesus Christ had been formally condemned by Pilate, our text tells us he was led away. Largest collection of Spurgeon resources online, including a complete 63 volume set of sermons, audio sermons, books, and quotes. Well, beloved, the cross we have to carry is only for a little while at most. John preached a sacrificial Saviour, a sin-bearing Saviour, a sin-atoning Saviour. This was intended at once to proclaim his guilt and intimate his doom. They take matters very gently; they think it unnecessary to be soldiers of the cross. In the fourth place, one or two words upon CHRIST'S FELLOW-SUFFERERS. May we not despise our loaded table while he is neglected? 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." No longer sink below the brim; But overflow, and pour me down A living and life-giving stream.". Although Simon carried Christ's cross, he did not volunteer to do it, but they compelled him. I have shown you, believer, your position; let me now show you your service. I am ashamed of some professed Christians, heartily ashamed of them! 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. As Spurgeon puts it "Faith is described as 'receiving' Jesus. She craved full flagons of love though she was already overpowered by it. Amen. They force him without the walls, and are not satisfied till they have rid themselves of his obnoxious presence. My Lord is not altogether without his espoused one. From the sky the angels viewed him with wonder and amazement; the spirits of the just looked from the windows of heaven upon the scene, yea, the great God and Father watched each movement of his suffering Son. 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. The Holy Spirit took special care that each of the sacred utterances should be fittingly recorded. 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. I cannot think that natural thirst was all he felt. Every word, therefore, you see teaches us some grand fundamental doctrine of our blessed faith. "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Oh, wondrous substitution of the just for the unjust, of God for man, of the perfect Christ for us guilty, hell-deserving rebels. Brother, thirst to have your children save. Behold, my King is not without his crown alas, a crown of thorns set with ruby drops of blood! Fathers and confessors, preachers and divines have delighted to dwell upon every syllable of these matchless cries. Beloved, can you say he carried your sin? Today! III. The last word but one, "It is finished." Lectures to My Students - Charles Haddon Spurgeon 1889 Lessons from the Apostle Paul's Prayers - Charles Spurgeon 2018-02-19 Why study and pray the prayers of the Apostle Paul? You have seen Jesus led away by his enemies; so shall you be dragged away by fiends to the place appointed for you. Simon was an African; he came from Cyrene. "We, whose proneness to forget Thy dear love, on Olivet Bathed thy brow with bloody sweat; "We whose sins, with awful power, Like a cloud did o'er thee lower, In that God-excluding hour; "We, who still, in thought and dead, Often hold the bitter reed To thee, in thy time of need.". 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. It is done. 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. "To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." 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? 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! 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. I have touched that point very lightly because I want a little more time to dwell upon a fourth view of this scene. "I reckon that these light afflictions, which are but for a moment, are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." 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! There are many other ways in which these words might be read, and they would be found to be all full of instruction. 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." You young believers, who have lately followed Christ, should father and mother forsake you, remember you were bidden to reckon upon it; should brothers and sisters deride, you must put this down as part of the cost of being a Christian. Will your Prince be decorated with honors? Oh! July 2nd, 1882 by C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892) "I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them." John 17:26 . The words, "I thirst," are a common voice in death chambers. Nay more; he is banished from their society, as if he were a leper whose breath would be infectious whose presence would scatter plague. 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. In that cry there is reconciliation to God. 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. Coming fresh from the country, not knowing what was going on, he joined with the mob, and they made him carry the cross. While thus we admire his condescension let our thoughts also turn with delight to his sure sympathy: for if Jesus said, "I thirst," then he knows all our frailties and woes. For the thousands of eyes which shall gaze upon the youthful Prince, I offer the gaze of men and angels. As these seven sayings were so faithfully recorded, we do not wonder that they have frequently been the subject of devout meditation. So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. 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. 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. Now, I am not sure that we ought to blame ourselves for this. So numerous has the family of man now become, that there is a death every second; and when we know how very smell a proportion of the human race have even nominally received the cross and there is none other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved oh! Commentators like Thomas Manton and John Calvin are represented in this series. Lloyd-Jones opens John 19:31-37 to answer that very question. Alas, my brethren, I cannot say much on the score of man's cruelty to our Lord without touching myself and you. Bearing upon his back the sin of all his people, the offering goes without the camp. He loved the Gentile, but still Jerusalem was the city of the Great King. The ceremonial of the Jewish religion denies him any participation in its pomps; the priests condemn him never again to tread the hallowed floors, never again to look upon the consecrated altars in the place of his people's worship. Jesus said, "I thirst," and this is the complaint of a man. Do not let the picture vanish till you have satisfied yourselves once for all that Christ was here the substitute for you. For a biblical, reformed, and historic collection of commentaries, the Geneva Series is unsurpassed. 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. Nor is this all. To-day I invite your attention to another Prince, marching in another fashion through his metropolis. 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. If he was so poor that his garments were stripped from him, and he was hung up upon the tree, penniless and friendless, hungering and thirsting, will you henceforth groan and murmur because you bear the yoke of poverty and want? O Lord Jesus, we love thee and we worship thee! March 1st, 1863 by C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892). We read, "The soldiers also mocked him, offering him vinegar." Have we not often given him vinegar to drink? And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. Do not forget, also, that you bear this cross in partnership. 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. 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. John 18:19-40 - Glory on Trial A. Our first parents plucked forbidden fruit, and by eating slew the race. 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." Think of that! The mind of man is like the daughters of the horseleech, which cry for ever, "Give, give." IV. Let us now gaze for awhile upon CHRIST CARRYING HIS CROSS. ye unregenerate men and women, and there are not a few such here now, remember that when God saw Christ in the sinner's place he did not spare him, and when he finds you without Christ, he will not spare you. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. How they led him forth we do not know. 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.