I'd like to read further in Matthew's Gospel, chapter twenty seven. Now, I have some mixed feelings about what I'm going to speak on, but I think perhaps before I finish what I'm going to say, I might link my remarks with what Mr. Paisley has already been speaking on. I'd like to read in Matthew's Gospel, chapter twenty seven, and we'll read from verse thirty three. Matthew chapter twenty seven and verse thirty three. When they were... when they had come onto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, they gave him vinegar to drink, mingled with gall. When he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. May you come over, please, to Luke's Gospel, chapter twenty three. Luke chapter twenty three. Read verse thirty three. And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors on the right hand, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Now down to verse thirty six. This takes place evidently after he was crucified. And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar, and saying, if thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself. Now down the chapter to verse forty four. and it was about the sixth hour, and there's a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. So evidently that took place before the Lord died upon the cross. Now over to John's gospel chapter nineteen. John's Gospel, chapter nineteen, and we'll read verse twenty eight. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon hyssop and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished, and he bowed his head and gave up goats. Now we're certain that God will add his own blessing further to the reading of his precious word. In the scriptures that I have read, we have read of the vinegar that was offered to the Lord Jesus, uh, either before he was crucified or they want to indicate the other occasions that we have read of. It's interesting that the word that is used for the vinegar here is found only seven times in the Bible, and all seven of those occasions it is used in reference to Calvary, and it is used by all of the gospel writers. Now, we haven't read in Mark's gospel, but you'll find reference to the vinegar in the gospel of Mark as well. So the gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all make reference in one way or another to the vinegar that was offered to the Lord Jesus ere, uh, he died upon the cross. I would understand that this vinegar was the portion that was given to the laborer when they went into the fields and they harvest. We would have that in the book of Ruth. You'll remember that Boaz told Ruth that she could dip her morsel in the vinegar along with those who labored in his field. And so evidently there was a thirst-quenching, uh, characteristic to the vinegar that was offered here to the Lord Jesus. I would gather as well that it was made, uh, available to the soldiers who had the responsibility of that awful act of crucifying the Son of God. You remember that the psalmist says, I was the song of the drunkard, and so evidently those men who had that responsibility of nailing the Lord Jesus to the cross at Calvary knew what it was to partake of the vinegar. Now, I would gather, if you had have asked me a few years ago how many times that vinegar was offered, I probably would have said once. But I believe it was offered on at least three occasions, and the scriptures that we have read would indicate that very clearly. We have read in Matthew's gospel that when they were come to the place called Calvary or Golgotha, where they were about to crucify him, they offered the vinegar to him before that act was carried out. And then we have read here in Luke's Gospel, chapter twenty three that it was offered after he had been crucified. And when I read verse forty four, I think it's very clear that the vinegar was offered to him before the hours of darkness that enclosed the scene. So Luke is telling us of a time when he was upon the cross, when the soldiers came in mockery, and they offered him the vinegar. And then we have read this remarkable statement in John's gospel, and I want to draw your attention for a moment to the details that John gives to us, for John gives to us details that are omitted by the other writers. And the Lord Jesus was offered the vinegar when the suffering was completed and the moment of death was drawing near. Notice then what we have read here in Matthew chapter twenty seven. Sometimes we can picture in our mind, can we not, as that crowd that was leading the Lord Jesus through the streets of Jerusalem, and they have made their way outside the walls of that city, and they have arrived at the place called Calvary. And the Lord Jesus stands waiting for that moment when sinful, wicked men are going to nail him to a cross. Must have been a ter- terrible sight for the eyes of heaven looking on to see the Savior standing with the marks of man's brutality upon him. Herod's mighty men had set him at naught. The Roman scourge had come down upon his back. The spittle of men congealed upon his face, and he stands silently waiting for that awful act to take place when men are going to nail him to a cross. What a touching scene, surely. It must stir our souls afresh, even this afternoon. We consider what he was prepared to pass through, that our souls might be redeemed. There is a man that some would be familiar with, Albert Edersheim. Mr. Edersheim suggests that the women of Jerusalem offered the vinegar in order to dull the pain of crucifixion. I have some reservation about that. I might point that out in just a moment. Some suggest that the vinegar was offered. In fact, historians would suggest that the vinegar was offered to make it easier for the Roman soldiers to handle the man who was going to be crucified. We have already heard reference made to the foul language that would be uttered on such a scene as this. And you wouldn't have to use too much imagination to consider the reaction of those thieves ere they were crucified, and the soldiers would force their hands upon the cross, and they would be impaled to that, that cross. So imagine the language that would escape from the mouths of those men that were to be crucified. And so the historians suggest that the vinegar was given, there was a portion in the vinegar that would cause it a little easier for the soldiers to crucify those who were to be nailed to the cross. And if the vinegar was offered to the Lord Jesus to dull the pain, he refused to receive it. He would experience every throb of pain that that death of crucifixion would mean for him. In the garden, he could look into that dark cup and cry to his father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. We would understand the awfulness and the darkness and the terribleness of that cup that he was contemplating. But thank God for the man who was prepared and willing to move in obedience to the Father in heaven. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. If the vinegar was offered to make it easier, then a man would be crucified. In the case of the Son of God, it was a needless thing to offer him that vinegar because he was going to fulfill, he was going to complete all the purposes of God from that pathway that would lead to shame and suffering, from that awful crucifixion that he was about to endure. He would not turn aside. He would not alter his course. He would glorify the Father. He would complete the work that was given into his hands to complete, so it would not be needful. In fact, as the Roman soldiers must have been amazed, they must have been astounded after having crucified those two thieves and the struggle that those two men would put up as they were being crucified. You see, a man was willing that his hands should be nailed to a cross, and to hear no oaths or curses from those blessed lips. To see a man who was willing to die, a man who was willing to be crucified, who allowed them to nail him to the cross. I wonder sometimes whether it was the soldiers that offered him the vinegar. If you come back where we have read Matthew chapter twenty seven, there's an interesting word here, verse thirty three. Notice the word they. And when they were come onto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, they gave him vinegar to drink, mingled with gall. When he had tasted thereof, he would not drink, and they crucified him, parted his garments, casting lots that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet, they parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture they cast lots, and sitting down they watched him there. Seemed to me possibly that the they is referring to the Roman soldiers, the speaker, perhaps for the reason that I have suggested, that it was their intention to make it easier to crucify the man that they were about to crucify, but that portion he would not receive. And so it's clear then that he was offered the vinegar before he was crucified. On two of the occasions that I have referred to, he refused it. On the third occasion that we have read about, he accepted it. Notice then the second occasion in Luke chapter twenty three, we have read these solemn words, and the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, offering him vinegar. We should be very clear about this, that the offering of the vinegar here in Luke chapter twenty three was when the Lord Jesus was already crucified. He was upon the cross. And as well as that, we should be clear when we read this statement that the soldiers coming to him, and in the offering of the vinegar, they mocked him. And I wonder what, what that means. What would it mean for the soldiers to draw near to the man on the center cross and to offer him the vinegar, and in the, the offering of that vinegar, they were in the process of mocking him. Now, that's what the word of God says, and the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, offering him vinegar. That word mock simply means to sport with, as one child might tease another, to jest with a person, to mock a person, to sport with a person. In other words, in the offering of this vinegar, they were mocking the Lord Jesus. They were going through a horrible act of jesting with the Son of God who was hanging upon the tree. I wonder what it means. I want to illustrate it this way, at least how it would have seemed to me. A number of years ago, I walked into the home in Toronto that our brethren here would know much about, Bethany Lodge. And in that home, there was a dear old brother who, who meant a lot to the Christians in the assembly where I presently am in the city of Toronto. Mr. Pacey would know him well, Mr. Lucas. That dear man was nearing the end of his life. He only lived for a week or two after I visited him on this particular occasion. And when I walked into the room and I looked down at him, he was lying there with his eyes closed, peep it, nearing the end of life's journey. And he opened his eyes and he saw me standing there. Uh, he was an Englishman, and he was a little self-dependent. Uh, he didn't like to feel that he was going to be a bother to anyone. And the request that he made of me, he should have made to a nurse a long, long before I arrived in the room. But I noticed that his lips were cracked and parched. And as I looked down at him and he looked up at me, he asked me just to give him a drink of water. That was all that he wanted. And so I remember getting a glass, and I put my hand underneath the pillow and very carefully lifted his head, and I took the glass of water, and I can picture it clearly in my mind as I put the glass of water to that dear brother's lips. Really wasn't the drink that he wanted, he wanted something to moisten his lips. And when he had put his lips in the glass of water just for a few seconds, he said, thanks, that's enough, and I carefully put his head back down on the pillow. All he wanted was something to moisten his lips. Well, if I'd had done something like this, what a terrible thing it would have been. If I'd have lifted his head and took that glass of water and put it almost to his lips, and then put his head down and not given him the water, what a terrible thing that would have been. Well, I believe that's what took place here. I believe the soldiers in a, in an awful jesting mockery, drew near to the Lord Jesus with, with the vinegar, and they offered it to him, and just at the last moment they withdrew it. In an act of mockery, they denied a dying man the vinegar to quench his thirst. What a terrible thing. You know, it ought to touch our souls when we consider what the Lord Jesus was willing to endure, that our souls might be saved. You know, the last expression that I've read in John chapter nineteen, the Lord Jesus said, I thirst. That should touch the coldest heart here. There ought not to be one believer in this audience at this present time, and your soul, your very heart, your affections ought to be touched as you think of the Savior and all that he suffered, and the hours of darkness, and the excruciating suffering that was his as he hung upon the tree, and the wrath of God that he endured, and now all is drawing to a close. The hours of darkness are over. From the cross is that I thirst. And you notice what happened. The response is recorded here in, in Matthew and in Mark and in John's gospel. We have read the response in John. John makes it very clear that he accepted the vinegar. And you notice what John observes. John observes, and he tells us that there was a vessel sitting there. And then not only that, John tells us here that the vessel was full. Did you ever think of that, the vessel full? And John gives us that detail. He- he's very careful about giving us that detail, that the vessel was full of vinegar. Now, I have indicated that altogether likely there was a supply of this vinegar for the soldiers that had the responsibility of crucifying the Lord Jesus. But wouldn't you s- think that it would be an amazing thing that these men would walk by this vessel full of vinegar, and there evidently was never a soldier that touched it? There were no lips of these vile, wicked men ever touched the brim of the vessel that was full of vinegar. They passed by it and by it, how many times we wouldn't know, but it seemed that the hand of God was over it. God had a use. God had a purpose for the vessel that was full of vinegar that had never been touched by a Roman soldier. That vessel was reserved for one purpose and one purpose only. And John tells us that there was a, a sponge there, and that the sponge was put upon the hyssop, and then it was dipped in the vinegar that no one else had touched, and that it was put to the lips of the Lord Jesus. And when he had received the vinegar, he cried, finished. That mighty, that triumphant. I have thought that it may well have been one of the Roman soldiers that offered the vinegar. In fact, we are told one of them, and I wonder if the them does not refer to the Roman soldiers. You see, I would have to believe that when the Lord Jesus cried from the cross, forgive them, for they know not what they do. That there was never a prayer of the Son of God that was left unanswered. His prayer had to be answered. He was in the mind of God when he prayed that way, and God was going to answer that prayer. He never left earth for heaven without unanswered prayer left behind. And so I would gather that the Roman soldier, along with the centurion, after they had observed all that had taken place, altogether likely the man's soul was touched, and he went to the vessel, and he took the vinegar, and we are told that others hindered him. Let him alone, they said. And he went to the Lord Jesus with that sponge filled with vinegar, and he touched the lips of the Son of God. You know, it has struck me that he received the vinegar because his sufferings were complete. But I wonder as well in the receiving of that vinegar, as I indicated at the commencement of what I've said. He was not identified with the common man because that was the common portion of the laborer in the field. That was the common portion of the soldier, and in the last moments of his life upon earth, he identified himself with that which belonged to the common man. I believe it may well indicate the compassion in the heart of the Lord Jesus for the souls of perishing men. Let me apply it then, as we've already been hearing. Ah, listen, if my soul is really touched with what the Lord Jesus has done for me at Calvary, with all of the sufferings that he entered into and experienced on my behalf. And then there's one thing that ought to characterize me as I move in and out amongst those that I meet day by day, is this. I ought to have a love for their soul. I ought to have a compassion for them. I ought to desire that they should come to know the Savior too, the Savior who in the closing moments of his life, had an interest in the very men who were responsible for nailing him to the cross. That's why we're here, really. That's our prayer to God, really, that in the next few weeks ahead, and we're not limiting it to that, even in the meetings that are to continue after the conference here, that the God of heaven would draw near, and as a result of the gospel meetings, that God might in mercy save the souls of men and women. We realize that we can't save. We read in the word of God in First Corinthians chapter three that it's God that giveth the increase. It's God's own work to save. It's God's prerogative to save, but thank God for the little privilege that we have of telling others about the Savior, of preaching the gospel, and of looking to God that there might be others that would come to know him as well.