Dear fountain of delight unknown! Let us magnify and bless our Redeemer's name. There is the complete justification of the believer, since the work by which he is accepted is fully accomplished. Take up your cross, and go without the camp, following your Lord, even until death. We ought all to have a longing for conversions. Our Lord, however, endured thirst to an extreme degree, for it was the thirst of death which was upon him, and more, it was the thirst of one whose death was not a common one, for "he tasted death for every man." Next Saturday all eyes will be fixed on a great Prince who shall ride through our streets with his Royal Bride. Your noble Prince is preparing for his marriage: mine is hastening to his doom. 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. 'Tis his cross, and he goes before you as a shepherd goes before his sheep. Hunger and thirst after righteousness, for you shall be filled. The world has in former days counted it God's service to kill the saints. There is bread upon your table to-day, and there will be at least a cup of cold water to refresh you. This is man's treatment of his Saviour. "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. He died in less time than persons crucified commonly did. 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. We will now take the text in a third way, and may the Spirit of God instruct us once again. A carnal appetite of the body, the satisfaction of the desire for food, first brought us down under the first Adam, and now the pang of thirst, the denial of what the body craved for, restores us to our place. Every word, therefore, you see teaches us some grand fundamental doctrine of our blessed faith. Our first parents plucked forbidden fruit, and by eating slew the race. NOTICE the connection, or you will miss the meaning of the words; for at first sight it looks as if our Saviour taught us that it John:6:29 The Marvellous Magnet I cannot think that natural thirst was all he felt. II. 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. Weep not for him, but for these. Well, then, what means this cry, "I thirst," but this, that we should thirst too? Oh! "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" here we see the Mediator interceding: Jesus standing before the Father pleading for the guilty. " And He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit. and they smote him with their hands. 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. Even as the hart panteth after the water brooks, our souls would thirst after thee, O God. After our Lord Jesus Christ had been formally condemned by Pilate, our text tells us he was led away. See, brethren, where sin begins, and mark that there it ends. As Spurgeon puts it "Faith is described as 'receiving' Jesus. Alas, my brethren, I cannot say much on the score of man's cruelty to our Lord without touching myself and you. May the Holy Ghost work in you the complete pattern of Christ crucified, and to him shall be praise for ever and ever. Next Saturday all eyes will be fixed on a great Prince who shall ride through our streets with his Royal Bride. We can never forget the painful scenes of which we have been witness, when we have watched the dissolving of the human frame. "And he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes," vinegar, and not wine; sourness, and not sweetness. That is very possible; Christ may have carried the heavier end, against the transverse beam, and Simon may have borne the lighter end. In fact, the tendency is to exalt man above God and give him the highest place. 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." Largest collection of Spurgeon resources online, including a complete 63 volume set of sermons, audio sermons, books, and quotes. If we weep for the sufferings of Christ in the same way as we lament the sufferings of another man, our emotions will be only natural, and may work no good. No sufferings of ours have anything to do with the atonement of sin. Hast thou laid thy hand upon his head, confessed thy sin, and trusted in him? Then I will thirst with him and not complain, I will suffer with him and not murmur." Our glorious Samson had been fighting our foes; heaps upon heaps he had slain his thousands, and now like Samson he was sore athirst. "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." We see how the Holy Spirit wants us to pray. Sister, thirst for the salvation of your class, thirst for the redemption of your family, thirst for the conversion of your husband. Jesus paused, and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me; but weep for yourselves and for your children." The extreme tension produced a burning feverishness. why hast thou forsaken me?" 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." "Weep for yourselves," says Christ, "rather than for me." Among other things methinks he meant this "If I, the innocent substitute for sinners, suffer thus, what will be done when the sinner himself the dry tree whose sins are his own, and not merely imputed to him, shall fall into the hands of an angry God." Cover it with a cloak? And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe. 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. (6) John 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, He said, " It is finished! Mark then, Christian, Jesus does not suffer so as to exclude your suffering. He wants you brother, he wants you, dear sister, he longs to have you wholly to himself. Exposition of the Gospel according to John by Hendriksen, William, 1900-1982 (1953) 526 pages 19 ratings You see there the multitude are leading him forth from the temple. 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. 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. Methinks Death thought it a splendid triumph when he saw the Master impaled and bleeding in the dominions of destruction; little did he know that the grave was to be rifled, and himself destroyed, by that crucified Son of man. But ye ask me where is the spouse, the king's daughter fair and beautiful? Amen. Our Lord Jesus came forth, willing to be exposed to their scorn. Believing this, let us tenderly feel how very near akin to us our Lord Jesus has become. 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. 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 are some who in company hold their tongues, and never say a good word for Christ. 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. To-day I invite your attention to another Prince, marching in another fashion through his metropolis. 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. See how man at his best mingles admiration of the Saviour's person with scorn of his claims; writing books to hold him up as an example and at the same moment rejecting his deity; admitting that he was a wonderful man, but denying his most sacred mission; extolling his ethical teaching and then trampling on his blood: thus giving him drink, but that drink vinegar. I will give you one of his thirsty prayers "Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory." Nay more; he is banished from their society, as if he were a leper whose breath would be infectious whose presence would scatter plague. O my hearers, beware of praising Jesus and denying his atoning sacrifice. Think of that! 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. 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. Let the sympathy of Christ, then, be fully believed in and deeply appreciated, since he said, "I thirst." Those pictures which represent our Lord as wearing the crown of thorns upon the tree have therefore at least some scriptural warrant. See, it has been blackened with bruises, and stained with the shameful spittle of them that derided him. John 18:19-40 - Glory on Trial A. As for yourselves, thirst after perfection. It is not sorrow over Rome, but Jerusalem. I invite your attention to CHRIST AS LED FORTH. Though Simon had to bear the cross for a very little while, it gave him lasting honor. I differ from them greatly, but I will say this, that next to the actual enjoyment of my Lord's presence I love to hunger and to thirst after him. 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. 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