For our scripture reading, it's
going to be very brief. It will actually be my subject
of my message once we have a sing a couple songs to the glory of
our Lord. The scripture is Proverbs chapter 25, the 25th proverb. There's just one verse. I'll give those of you who want
to follow along as I read, like I said, it's very brief, but
very profound. night proverbs chapter 25 and
verse 25 as cold waters to a thirsty soul so is good news from a far
country heavenly father as we continue here as we Seek to sing
praises to your glory, the honor of your son. Be with us and guide
us and direct us. Lord, may it be that we are truly
meeting in the name of your son, for we have his promise that
where two or three are gathered together in his name, that you
will be with us in our midst. Bless the rest of this service
here. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Please stand and sing number
34, Immortal Invisible. High and accessible, hid from
our eyes. Most blessed, most glorious,
the Ancient of Days. Almighty, victorious, Thy great
name we praise. Unresting, unhasting, and silent
as light, Nor wanting, nor wasting, Thou rolest in might. Thy justice like mountains I
soaring above, Like clouds which are fountains of goodness and
love. In all life Thou didst do both
great and small. In all life Thou didst the true
life of all. We blossom and flourish as leaves
on a tree. To wither and perish, but naught
changeth thee. Great Father of Glory, pure Father
of Light, You may be seated to sing number 70. Holy, holy, holy. Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty
? Early in the morning our song
shall rise to thee ? ? Holy, holy, holy ? ? Merciful and mighty
? ? Holy is the Lord God Almighty ? Blessed Trinity. Holy, holy, holy. All the saints adore thee. Blessing men their golden crowns
around the blessed sea. Cherubim and seraphim falling
down before thee. Worth ten or ten. ? Evermore shall be ? ? Holy,
holy, holy ? ? The Lord God Almighty ? ? Though the eyes of sinful
men ? ? Thy glory may not see ? Holy, thou art holy. There is none beside thee. Perfect in power, in love, and
courage. Holy, holy, holy. All thy works shall praise thy
name In earth and sky and sea. Holy, holy, holy Lord God of
hosts, In three persons, blessed Trinity. Good morning again, God's dear
elect ones. I bring you greetings from your
brothers and sisters in Christ who gather at Sovereign Grace
Chapel in Crow, West Virginia. Before I start in earnest, let
me say thank you to Johnny and Rhonda. Your hospitality was
to spot on, spot on. Ray and Peggy took us out to
eat, but Judy paid for it. Well, thank you, Judy. That was most generous. And I'm
serious, I was picking at you a little bit. Thank you very
much. Let me read, because I've been here a few times, so you
are probably a little bit used to this. I want to read you this
hymn that my fellow pastor, Joe Galusik, sent me this morning.
It's in Gadsby's hymn book, it's number 273, it's by John Newton,
and his title is To Be Afflicted. John Newton wrote these words,
pensive, doubting, fearful heart, hear what Christ the Savior says. Every word should joy impart,
change thy mourning into praise. Yes, he speaks and speaks to
thee. may help thee to believe, then
thou presently will see that thou hast little cause to grieve. Fear thou not, nor be ashamed. All thy sorrows soon shall end. I, who heaven and earth hath
framed, am thy husband and thy friend. I, the high and holy
one, Israel's God by all adored, as thy Savior will be known,
thy Redeemer, and thy Lord. For a moment I withdrew, and
thy heart was filled with pain, but mercies I shall renew, thou
shalt soon rejoice again. Though I seem to hide my face,
Very soon my wrath shall cease, tis but for a moment's space,
ending in eternal peace. Though afflicted, tempest-tossed,
comfortless awhile thou art, do not think thou canst be lost,
thou art graven on my heart. All thy waste I will repair,
thou shalt be rebuilt anew. and in thee it shall appear what
the God of love can do. Now, one other thing, then we'll
go to Psalm 25. This is a quote by Arthur Pink. Many of you may be aware of Arthur
Pink. Arthur Pink wrote these words,
For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand
is stretched out, and who can turn it back? Isaiah 14, 27.
To say that God is sovereign is to declare that he is the
almighty, the possessor of all power in heaven and earth, so
that none can defeat his counsels, none can thwart his purpose,
none can resist his will. Whatever takes place in time
is but the outworking of that which he hath decreed in eternity.
The sovereignty of the God of Scripture is absolute, irresistible,
and infinite. We insist that God does as He
pleases, only as He pleases, always as He pleases. But our
God is in the heavens. He has done whatsoever He hath
pleased. Psalm 115, verse 30. The Lord
does whatever pleases Him in the heavens and on the earth,
in the seas and all the deep places, Psalm 135, 6. All the
peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as He pleases. With the powers of heaven and
the peoples of the earth, no one can hold back His hand or
say to Him, what hast thou done? Daniel 4, verse 35. You know, Before God Almighty saved me
by His grace, of course, I was born and raised in fundamental,
Bible-believing, soul-winning Baptist church. Made my profession
at five years old and sang that song we just sang, holy, holy,
holy, over and over and over and over. And until God saved
me, I had no idea what I was seeing. Now, when I think of
God's holiness, I think of those angels. Remember the angel flying
around the throne of God? And they had six or three pairs
of wings, six wings total. These are holy angels, never
fallen, never sinned, nothing, no flaw, no blemish, and they
still have to cover their faces with one set of those wings when
they fly around his throne. And then I think about me. What did it take for me to even
possibly have the slightest hope of stepping into the presence
of a being like that? Now, having prefaced my message
with that, Let's read again Proverbs 25, 25. As cold waters to a thirsty
soul, so is good news from a far country. Now, as I thought about
this, I thought, well, I could go into some current events,
talk about how it would be good news if certain things changed
in certain places and things were more calm, peaceful. But I thought, no. No. No, don't cut it. If men and women in this world
could live at full peace amongst themselves, with no quarrels
amongst us, we're still before that thrice holy God that those
angels had to cover their faces. as cold waters to a thirsty soul. Now Carl said, I'll go get you
one from downstairs. It's actually cold, but this
is wet. This is good. I read a little bit about cold
water. Said that cold water can, because of the temperature of
it, can suppress unpleasant tastes of impurities in the water itself.
And it does that by suppressing the sensitivity of our taste
buds. I'm experiencing that this morning
because Friday, wasn't it, my dear wife made some soup and
it smelled so good, and I stuck it in my mouth before I even
thought about it, and my tongue is blistered still today. I'm
not tasting much of anything. I read that drinking cold water
can activate the sensors just under our skin and increase heart
rate and blood flow. I read that off the line. I Googled
it. It's easy enough to find. But I do know this by experience.
Cold water can invigorate. Cold water can energize. Cold water can restore. So is good news. from a far country. Good news. There's only one good news. Men and women, some men and women
will say things like that. Well, we believe differently,
but we're all on the same road going to the same place. I beg
your pardon. I beg your pardon. No, so is
good news from a far country. That one message has one man
as its theme, Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, a Jew. If you're ever going to be accepted
by God, you will bow down, now listen to me, you will bow down
to a circumcised Jew, this Caucasian, European, white person. will bow down to a circumcised
Jew, or I will perish forever. Jesus Christ of Nazareth is that
which is most supreme to God the Father's heart in all that
exists. Dishonor the son, we dishonor
the father. The evangel. But in particular,
I've already said this in our Bible lesson, the gospel, when
you pull it all down, the gospel is this, Jesus Christ the Lord
crucified. Jesus Christ the Lord crucified. Truly it's from a far country
because we're living in time. I mean, we, you know, people
studied time, you know, and we, gauged time by the rotation,
now forgive me if I get some of this scientific stuff wrong,
but what is the rotation of the earth? The earth goes around
the sun. We're locked into time. Sadly, we as creatures, finite
creatures of time, we often wish for the future because we're
upset with the present. Or we wish for the past because
we're apprehensive about the future. You know why? Because
we can't stop time. But this good news originated
before time ever even existed. Before there was a moon, sun,
star, This good news was from so far away that it's a place
called eternity. I can't even begin to explain
that. I've heard people try, I've read
commentators who've tried, and I'm not criticizing, don't get
me wrong. And I've tried, but when I look back on my explanations
of what eternity is, it just doesn't seem to cut it. But here's
the amazing thing. You know what our God does? He
inhabits eternity. He's not just there, he inhabited
it. It's his place. Before the first beams of light
ever started forth from the most distant star, God was. And this good news was in the
heart and mind of God then. Somebody said, how can that be?
Is this earth really billions of years old, as they say? I
don't know. I don't know. But I know this.
Think about this. I'm not arguing this or that.
Just think about this. When God created the heavens
and the earth, he created trees. You think he just created a little
bitty one like that? Or were they already full-grown trees?
Do you think they only had one growth ring? Or do you think
if you were to have cut one down, it already had hundreds of groceries? You see, God is not confined
by time. God created time. This good news is truly from
a far country, but... Now that boggles my mind. I've
often said, get to the second point here a moment. I've often
said eternity past, eternity future. Ever said that? But it
still really doesn't cut it. I've then tried to say, well,
time is just a measurable space or speck of eternity. It still
just does not cut it. Our God is immense. He is said to be the word, this
word is not used in scripture, but the truth is taught. He is
omnipresent. He is everywhere at one time,
right? But yet he said, it says he inhabits
eternity. So I don't know if I'm stating
this right, but I know this God in his essential essence inhabits
somewhere. He sits on a throne somewhere. And guess who is seated at his
right hand today? That circumcised Jewish man. You say, preacher, why do you
say that? Because it's the truth. It's the truth. We will bow to
who God's Christ is, or we will perish. But here's the second thought. It's truly from a far country,
seeing its source and origin as compared to the recipients
of this good news. Turn to Romans chapter 5, and
we'll hopefully see what I'm talking about. It's truly good
news from a far country because to the source and the origin
from which this came. And then you look at its recipients.
I mean, my brothers and sisters, it would have been a gracious
act of God. It would have been a gracious
act of God to simply let me hear the gospel and then perish. Because I deserve to perish. I don't deserve to hear the good
news. You get what I'm saying? But if you let me just hear it, there could have been maybe just
a moment's hope before I had to spend endless separation from
God. I think it was Henry Mahan, and
he may have been quoting someone else, I do not know for sure,
but he said, every breath you take on this side of hell is
one less you'll take in hell. You best thank God for what you
got here, even though it may be miserable. What's to come
outside of Christ is unimaginable. Where the worm doth not. You
know what the book says? Where the worm doth not. I don't
think he's talking about some wiggling thing. Think about this,
a conscience that will continue to nag you ever with no relief,
no hope of relief. My conscience nags at me sometimes
for just a few moments and it's almost unbearable. Can you imagine
God turning his back on someone and then that conscience? It's
like, remember what father Abraham said to the rich man who lifted
up his eyes in hell? Remember. Hmm. Remember, listen, Romans
five, listen to what the book of God says. You will talk about
good news from a far country for when, verse six, for when
we were yet without strength. And I hear it now, maybe not
anybody here, I don't know, maybe, maybe someone online, maybe somebody
may get the message later, but preacher, you always talk about
that. It's always in this book. God doesn't say these verses
will expire on December the 21st, 2023. These are eternal words
from God Almighty. They're truly good news from
a far country. For when we were yet without
strength in due time, Christ died for thee. If you can take your place there,
Christ died for you. If you can't, you got no reason
to think he died for you, because it tells us specifically here
who he died for, doesn't it? The ungodly. When I was in religion,
it was, and I know this is scripture, oh, but how we use it to justify,
well, we've all sinned to come short of the glory of God. That
ain't the way that's to be said. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. But look, Christ died for the
ungodly. I like that news. I like that
news. for scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even
dare to die." What's he talking about? He's comparing men to
men. I'm saying comparing men to men.
There are some people that are better people than other people.
Okay? But there ain't nobody as good
as God. And did not our Lord Jesus Christ
say, there is none good but God? So Paul and Christ are not at
odds now, they're just talking about two different planes, two
whole different levels. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And back in that day, I mean,
it meant something. There was a leper came to him
and, you know, we don't think much about leprosy nowadays.
We just, we just really don't. But it, it is a rotting of the
human flesh where this thing, virus, whatever it is, begins
to eat away at the human flesh and just oozes and distorts. And you know what Christ did
to one leper? Touched him. That's good news from a foreign
country. He didn't demand the leper touch
him. The leper was forbidden by law to do so. As a matter
of fact, he'd already broken the law. He was supposed to cry,
unclean, unclean, unclean. Now, he comes forward and said,
Lord, if you will, you can make me whole. And Christ said, I
will. That's good news from a far country.
I will be there. Matter of fact, God's word describes
us and even worse shape than that. Some lepers only had small
spots of the disease and it really never progressed and it may eventually
go away. Of course, others were bad shape,
but you know how the prophet Isaiah describes us all from
the top of our head to the soles of our feet. We are nothing but
wounds and bruises and putrefying souls. And there's a part of
me that hates that. There's a part of me that hates
that. But thank God, he put something down inside of me. He's called
the new man that says, that's the truth about me. I can put on a good facade. And
sometimes, sometimes, not always, sometimes I can even hide that
corruption from that lady right there, not always, but sometimes
I can hide that corrupt, and sometimes I try to hide it from
myself, but it always eventually boils over. Now listen to me,
I'm not, I ought to say, I'm not worried
about being misunderstood. I've been misunderstood for 38
years since I've been preaching the gospel. Unless God gives
you eyes to see and ears to hear, it don't matter what I say. But
the more I try to do good, the more I find that evil is present
within me. Usually things work best when
I just quit doing. and say, God, I believe you take
care of my unbelief. Now what that one guy said, he
didn't say, Lord, I believe, help me to put my unbelief away.
No, you can't deal, I can't deal with our own unbelief. Isn't it hard to really just
give up and bow to God? I was getting ready this morning,
had to make sure everything was just right. I don't know how
many times I looked in the mirror to make sure my tie was straight.
Why? Now, I'm not telling you to wear
your tie crickets. I'm gonna tell you not to care, but does
it really matter? We're coming to worship God. Don't even have to have one of
these things on to worship God, do you? You see, think about this. God
acting in mercy toward the ungodly, that's good news from a far country.
Think about this, absolute holiness, being gracious to the unholy,
that's good news from a far country. Now, it is if you're unholy. Now, when preachers like me start
reading passages like what I've just read or quoted, it's like,
but that's not really me. I'm not that bad. I wish you'd
seen how bad you were. I do. I wish God would open up
your mind and your heart and make you miserable with yourself.
That'd be the first, best, worst thing that God ever did for you,
to make you miserable with yourself. And you know the thing about
this salvation of God in Christ? It don't get any better. I don't get any better. I know
if I live longer. God gives me more grace that
he has to give us more grace because we need more grace. That's
how bad we really are. And I say it to the people at
Sovereign Grace Chapel all the time, and I try to remind myself
of it. John and I talked about it, I
think it was maybe this morning. If God just lifts his little
finger of restraint just a little, I go mad. I look back and think, who am I? What am I? I, now listen to me,
our Lord said this to Peter, I, Am Satan incarnate in the
flesh? And now what our Lord said to
Peter? No, he said, Peter, I'm gonna go die. I'm going to Jerusalem. They will slaughter me. Peter
said, not so, Lord. And our Lord said, get thee behind
me, S-A-T-A-N. We like to blame the devil, don't
we? Think about this. Unbending justice, being satisfied
by God, the father's slaughtering of his son, the just for the
unjust. That's good news from a far country. First Peter chapter three, and
I love the way this is worded. It's meant so much to me by the
grace of God on many occasions. 1 Peter chapter 3. Think about it, unbending justice.
The unbending justice of this thrice holy God, as this book
speaks about. Being satisfied by God the Father's
slaughtering of the Son. The just for the unjust. Verse
18, for Christ also hath once suffered four
sins. Why just once? Because he got
the job done. That's why. Now, if he hadn't got the job
done, he'd have to do it over and over. It's none of this,
well, he did this much, now it's up to us to add to that. No,
no, no. For Christ also hath once suffered
for sins. Whose? Certainly not his. He had no sin. He did no sin. In him was no sin, except ours
when he hung on that tree. Peter goes on to say at one point,
he, he bore our sins. I can't comprehend this. in his
own body on the tree. Read the Psalms. He claimed my
sin and yours. If he died for you, he claimed
them as his own. For Christ also hath once suffered
for sins. Here's that good news from a
far country, the just or the unjust. Hmm. that he might bring
us to God. Stop a moment. Question, how? I suggest you really go do this.
If you go out there and ask some of these other folk, they'll
tell you when you start doing this, or you need to do that,
or you need to walk the hour, you need to pray the prayer,
you need to repent, you need to join the church, whatever
it is. But look at what Peter says. For Christ also hath once
suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring
us to God. How? Being put to death in the
flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. He brought us to God in Himself
when He went back to God. I'm saying this is good news,
folks. Not a good suggestion. Not a
good offer. This is good news. He is the
forerunner. He went into the presence of
this thrice holy God and says the rest of them's coming later. If he bore my name, like the
old high priest in Israel of old, if my name was bore on his
chest when he died on that tree, I'm safe. I'm safe. And somebody says, well, don't
that make you loose? I'm already too loose. That message don't make me loose,
me makes me loose. The truth of God don't make me
loose, my old flesh and corruption makes me loose. That message
gives me hope, gives me hope. Here's the third thing. God's
gospel concerning his son is truly good news from a far country.
Think about it. in and because of its eternal
demands upon God's Holy Son. Turn to Proverbs 8. Now, it's just something I don't,
my mind don't think of this a lot, but let's all get to that spot
if we're following along. Proverbs chapter 8, then I'll
make a few statements and read some verses here. Have you ever thought of this?
The eternal Son of God, or the everlasting Son of God. You say,
well, how can that be? Well, because God the Father
is called the everlasting Father. And you can't be a father unless
you've got a what? A son. Of course, a daughter,
but in this case, it's the son. I can rightfully say Jesus Christ
is the eternal son, but he has everlastingly taken upon himself
human flesh. Why? Why? Why would he do such a thing
when this is said of him? Proverbs chapter 8 verse 22. The Lord possessed me in the
beginning of his way before his works of old. And look, it explains
what he's talking about. I was set up from everlasting,
from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no
depths, I was brought forth. When there were no fountains
abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before
the hills was I brought forth. While as yet He had not made
the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust
of the worlds, When He prepared the heavens, I was there. When
He set a compass upon the face of the depth, when He established
the clouds above, when He strengthened the fountains of the deep, when
He gave to the sea His decree that the water should not pass
His commandment, when He appointed the foundations of the earth,
then was I by Him as one brought up with Him, and I was daily
His delight." Why would He need anything else?
just cause he wanted to. Out of the free sovereignty of
his good pleasure. Look at it. Rejoicing, last part
of 30. Rejoicing always before him. Rejoicing in the habitable part
of his earth. My delights were with the sons That's good news from a far country.
When he was way back yonder, he actually was thinking about
me and thinking about you if you're in here. Let's read on though. Now therefore
hearken unto me, O ye children, for blessed are they that keep
my ways. Hear instruction and be wise
and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth
me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the post of my doors.
For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favor
of the Lord. But he that sinneth against me
wrongeth his own soul. All they that hate me love death. Before time, and even reaching
end time, There were eternal demands, commands set upon God
the Son. He said in more than one occasion,
this commandment have I received of my Father. Here's good news
from far country. When he came into this far country,
from that far country, he fulfilled the will of God. And he did that
for you. And he did that for me. But according
to the book of the revelation of Jesus Christ written by John,
it reaches beyond the end of all time. I don't know what all eternal
glory will be like, but it will be glory because the lamb will
be there. And you know what? I just have
to believe that. I can't relate to that right
now. Do you know that? I will freely confess to you
that going to heaven, going to glory scares me some, because
I think to myself, I'll mess it up. Huh? If God takes me into
that place, I'll mess it up. But bless God, we shall be changed. Those of us who go to sleep in
Christ, who die, when Christ returns, those who are dead in
Christ should be raised, but raised in a new body. Somebody says that's a pipe dream.
Whatever you want, it's good news from a far country to me.
Whatever you want, mock it, make fun, it don't matter to me. It's
good news from a far country to me. But even if I'm alive
and remain, I think about alive, our brothers and sisters that
died, they've already dropped this coal, right? What happens
to us when he returns, if we're still in this school, right? Isn't that a valid question?
Well, it says in the moment in the twinkling of a wheel, if
we're still alive, we'll be changed. And then both of us should be
caught up together to be with the Lord in the air. And then
here's the kicker. And so shall ye ever be with
the Lord. Johnny, you don't have to worry
about whether fishing is going to be in eternal glory or not.
Christ is the eternal glory, and we will then and only then
be able to enjoy him as he ought to be enjoyed. What we're enjoying
now is just a blip on the radar of any given day, just a blip.
We'll leave here. We'll go back home and probably
before the day is out, we'll fall flat on our face. And if
not outwardly, overtly, down in here. But one day we'll be
rid of this. Like one preacher said, it's
like having a shoe. It's too tight. It hurts, it's too tight
and you walk and it just throbs and it throbs and it throbs.
And when you sit down and pull the lace loose off of that and
pull that shoe off, what do you do? When I'm done with me, it'll
be a morning. Heavenly Father, oh God, keep
us. As our brother, the songwriter
said, prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the
God I love. Lord, keep a hold of us. Never
let us go. When we do fall, when we do fall,
may it be, Lord, that we're falling into your sovereign hand. We thank in Christ's name. Amen. Hmm.