I sat there and looked at that
shortcut, and I thought, no, I'd better go around to the steps. It's just a joy to be here, as
I said earlier. I've known you pastor for years,
some of you for a long time, and heard a lot about you. A preacher told me the other
day, a pastor, a dear friend of mine, he said, those are the
most precious people on God's earth up there. And I believe
him. And I thank you for being so
friendly. It makes a preacher feel good
the first time he comes into place among folks he's never
seen before. Some of you have never. And when
you're friendly, it just helps. And I'm thankful for that. You
know, those sour looks, I don't like them, do you? Thanks for
all those smiles. Turn with me to Psalms chapter
42. You know, lots of times I'll get
up and down to our place, and I know it's a tough world out
there you all work in. It's tough. Somebody mentioned
this morning how thankful they were to a brother. He had the
privilege of working with a brother that he could talk to during
the week. That's such a blessing. And I know that most of you probably
out there on the workforce and the workforce on the job, you
don't have that privilege. And it's a trying week, you know,
sometimes to get through to the next worship service and be with
a brethren. And I know sometimes when you come in, I've been there.
Brother Henry told me once that every preacher ought to get out
and dig ditches a while before we get to the pulpit so we can
sympathize with the people that do. And I've been there. Worked
all my life. And I know it's hard sometimes
to come in, you know, with just a cheery and a smile on your
face. And I know it's tough sometimes. And often down home, you know,
folks are sitting there, you know, look kind of gloomy when
I get up. I'll say, well, you know, it's so good to see you
all smiling this morning. And they'll begin to smile. You know, we're not conscious
lots of times of how we look. And I don't like a put-on smile. I don't like that. When I go
have my picture taken, which I detest, they say smile. And it takes every ounce of strength
in me to smile. I just hate those smiles. But
when you smile, it's real. That's good. My subject this
morning is the thirsty soul. The thirsty soul. And I hadn't
thought about this until I was sitting there this morning, you
know, trying to rehearse this in my mind and my thoughts. My soul is thirsty, but yet I'm
satisfied. Have you ever thought about that?
I'm thirsty, I'm starving to death for a drink of water, but
I'm still satisfied. How do you explain that? I probably
shouldn't have even started that business because I can't explain
it. I can't explain it, but it's true. It's true. I'm thirsty, starving to death. And I know some of you are. You're
chic, you're thirsty, you want a drink. You want to drink of
that living water. Oh, you want the Lord to touch
your soul. You're not worried about your
intellect. You're not worried about this old foolish mind and
this foolish world. You want the Lord to touch your
soul. You want Him to touch your soul and your heart and cause
it to leap for joy. And that's what I want to talk
about this morning. I pray that the Lord will cause us to worship,
like I said in the Bible class, We're friends, we're brothers,
we're sisters, and we're family, and just knit our hearts together
for just a brief period of time if He just blesses. That'd be
heaven. That's heaven on earth if He
just blesses one more time. The psalmist said, as the heart,
or the deer, panteth after the water brook, so paineth my soul
after thee, O God." Oh, God, my heart pines after
you. I want to see you so bad. He
said later on in this chapter, he said, when shall I stand before
God? When will I be in your presence?
Oh, I want to be. His soul was troubled. He didn't
feel like he was close to the Lord. He didn't feel like he
was in His presence. You know what's the strange thing about
us? We know who we are. We know that. But sometimes we
feel so far away, so distant. Sometimes I feel so awful, so
mean, so unloving, so... I think, well, I don't even love
the Lord at all. I just don't love Him at all. I feel so estranged. And what is that? That's a cry
of a thirsty soul. That's what it is. David's soul
was thirsty. Thirsty. You know, I look this
heart or this deer, why would he paint after the water brook? Well, there's two reasons that
I found. There may be more. One, of course, he's thirsty.
Of course, we see that immediately. But another is for safety. He
wants that water because he's thirsty. He wants a drink of
it, and he wants to get out in the middle of it. There's enemies
all around, even his own thoughts, his own self. He feels to be
his enemy. Who's your worst enemy? Who is
it? Who is it? It's me. That's my
worst enemy. And he wants so much of it. I
have heard of thee with a hearing of the ear, but now might I say
of thee that I hate myself. I hate my old self-righteous
self. It is easy to hate sinful self, but what about self-righteous
self? I hate myself. I hate myself. And the psalmist,
he wanted to be in the middle of that brook. He wanted to be
in the middle of that water. If he could get out in the middle
of that water, away from the land where the enemies are on
the shore, if he could get out there, he'd be surrounded by
water and he'd be safe. He feels that they can't get
to him if he's out there in the middle of that water. And while
he's out there, he can get strength, too. He can drink of that water
and he can get strength. And that's the way a believer
is, see, when he's in Christ. Where do you want to be in Christ?
I want to be right in the middle of Him, don't you? a good way to express it or not,
but I want to be in the center of Christ. I want to be in the
center of Him. I want Him all around me. I feel
safe there, and I can find strength there. I can drink. And this is the desire of this
writer. This is his desire, is to drink
of that water and to find safety. Verse 2, he says, My soul thirsteth
for God, for the living God. He distinguishes here between
a false God and a living God, for the true and the living God.
He honors God in his heart, and he says, I know you're the living
God. You're the true God. I see all
these false gods, and this flesh is is so drawn to them, they're
so alluring. Lord, I want to be in your presence,
the living God, the living God. My soul is thirsty for you, thirsty
for you, thirsty. You're so thirsty. You know, I can look at you and
I wish I could just come down there and just make you drink
and be satisfied and full. I wish I could do it. You know
what I'm saying? Have you ever seen a brother
you love him so much and you just want to do something for
him? I mean really help him. Really
help him. Not just make some kind of passion
happen, but you want to really help him just because you love
him. Give them something good, something
eternal, and something that just will really satisfy. This is what David wanted. He
wanted something that would satisfy. And this is what every one of
God's free. What brother Paul, your pastor,
and I love him. I don't love him like I should,
but I love him beyond words. But I know what he's thinking
this morning as he's standing behind the podium. He's thinking
how much he loves those sheep. And he's saying, Lord help me
feed them. That was his prayer when he got out of bed this morning.
I'll guarantee it. Just let me feed them. And if you can get a crumb this
morning, if you can get a morsel, if you can just touch your tongue
to that water, thank God for it. Because I can't do it. I can't do it. David had gone
to the right source, hadn't he? He was talking to God. He said,
My soul's thirsty for you, God. Did you ever just talk to Him? Just talk to Him. You can do
that. Do you know that? Talk to Him. It's not irreverent to
talk to God as talking to a friend. It's not. We don't have to say
all these fancy words and use all the vows and arcs and And
all that we do because we're accustomed to it, but we don't
have to do that to talk to Him. When you're really talking to
Him is when you're not, when your mouth is shut and your soul
is open. The Lord shut my mouth. What was it when the tiller of
Israel got to the edge of that sea and the waters were were
rushing by, and they had the enemy was behind them, and they
had to get on the other side. What was it God said? He said, Stand still. Stand still
and shut up, and see the salvation of the world. Just look. That's all you have to do, just
look. My soul's thirsty. His soul was
disquieted in Him. He was troubled, and He was cast
down, And I don't know anything about your day-to-day life here,
not a one of you. I don't live in your community.
I've never been to the place where you work. I don't know
anything about you. But I know this, if you're a
believer, there have been many a day that your soul has been
troubled and it's been disquieted, and your view of the Lord Jesus
Christ has been cut off for a while. And your soul was disquieted,
troubled. And that's the worst that a sheep
can feel. That's his worst time in this
world, is when he feels a cough. But there's a reason for it.
Let me just add this. I'm going to use parentheses
here. God does this. David said it was good for me
that I was afflicted. God does this. He brings us into
these, He permits us, yea, even causes us to be brought into
these valleys to get a look at ourself and see our need for
Him and to create that thirst in us again. God does it. He does it. My soul thirsteth
for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear
before God? When shall I come and appear
before God? Have you ever thought, Lord, just let me be in your
presence? All my sin, all, everything I am, you know me. Have you ever
heard the expression, well, I'm glad God knows my heart? Most
folks will say that. They think God knows something
good about them. But I'm glad God knows about
all my sin. He's the only one who can do anything about it.
I'm thirsty for forgiveness. I'm thirsty for redemption. I'm
thirsty for sanctification. I'm thirsty for wisdom. I'm thirsty
for God. When shall I appear in His presence?
He can straighten all this mess out. And He's all one can. You know, folks, go to the pastor.
Pastor, straighten my life out. Tell me what to do. Why, I tell
you, I can't tell you what to do except go to God. I can't tell you what to do.
He can straighten this mess out.
He can put salve on those wounds, calm
that troubled spirit. He said my tears have been my
meat day and night. You know one thing that troubles
me? Now I come out and I have an Armenian I come out of Armenian
religious background. And whether we want to admit
it or not, we still have some of those old garments hanging
on us. Some of you may have not been
there, but I've been there. But I'm going to say this, and
you know, sometimes even Armenians thumbs across and says something. But I'm going to venture to say
this, and I think you'll agree with me. This troubles me. It does. And I know outward tears
don't mean anything. It's got inward tears. This is
where it's at. But David here, he said, my tears
have been my meat night and day. That meant his soul had been
searching for God, and he'd been searching himself, and he'd seen
something of himself day after day after day. This had went
on for a while. And I don't see, I may be wrong, But you know what I see folks
most folks concerned about, and sadly to say, lots of professors,
they're concerned about things. Things. That troubles me. Concerned about things. Just
things. Folks, I'm telling you, Would there be concern about
a relationship with God? All these purities we've got,
all these things we want, they're going to work with a puff of
smoke. They're going to explode right before our very eyes, even
all human relationships. He said, tears have been my meat
day and night. I don't know if you've ever done
this or not, but I don't... I believe you have. I believe
you have. I have. And we're believers.
We're a whole lot alike. Have you ever prayed for the
Lord to break your heart? It felt like it was the heart. The
Lord break my heart. What did the Lord make David
to know? Look back over in Psalms 39. I don't know if I'm making
any sense to you or not, but I'm talking to you about a thirsty
soul and what causes that thirst and where that thirst is satisfied.
And some of the things we go through, the Lord brings us through
to recreate or to give us that thirst and to satisfy it. In
Psalms 39, David said, I will take heed to my ways that I sin
not with my tongue. I don't want to see him with
my tongue. I don't want to dishonor God. That's what he said. I don't
want to dishonor him. I will keep my mouth of the bridle
while the wicked is before me. Oh, I was talking to somebody
about this, Earl Stan, I think, maybe you might have missed it,
John, about something that happened to me last week, and I didn't
behave well at all. I told Mindy about it. Didn't display, didn't display
the grace of God. I was before the wicked. I dishonored
my master. Might as well tell it, he knows
it. What was he said here? He said,
I'll keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me.
Don't want to dishonor him. See, every experience that the
Lord brings through is for us to learn something. And I learned
something. By God's grace, I learned something. A fellow told me, he said, to
say that God is everywhere and God knows everything. He said,
that's the stupidest thing he ever heard. And I got wired. I got angry. And I imagine he laughed after
I left because I acted just a whole lot like he did. But Lord keep
us. And you know what that was after
I went out there and the Lord settled my thoughts down? You
know what I was so thirsty for? God. Oh God, let me see you. Let me see you. I was done with
silence. I held my peace, even from good. Even from good, I held my peace.
I was quiet. I was silent. God is in the heaven. We're up on the earth. And my sorrow was stirred, my
heart was hot within me, while I was musing, the fire burned. Then spake I with my tongue,
Lord, make me to know mine end, make me to know who I am, and to measure my days, and what
it is, that I may know how frail I am." Verse 7 and 39, he says, And
now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in me. I'm nobody going nowhere doing
nothing. See, that's where God brings
us. That's where God brings us. If God never brought you there,
you're not one of His. You're unconverted as of yet
until He brought you to the absolute end. I mean until there's nowhere
to go. You can't go down. You can't
go up. You can't go to right. You can't go to left. You can't
go nowhere. You get shut up to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Until that happens, you don't
know it. Just you and Him. Saul of Tarsus, Lord, what would
He have me to do? Can you imagine that? All that
commotion around Saul there on the road to Damascus, all those
people with him, and all that going on, and there laid Saul
of Tarsus on the face down on the ground. Who all was there? Just Saul and the Lord. Brought him to the end of himself. The thirsty soul. When I remember
these things. He remembered lots of things.
Memory is a great commodity, isn't it? The Lord to have memory.
to have memory. Memory, lots of times the Lord
brought things to our memory has kept us from doing the same
things again, isn't it? Making the same mistake twice.
I remember what I, yes, thank you, Lord. And sometimes, like
I said this morning in the Bible class, many times I felt lonely,
and I remember you. Why, I've got a friend. I've got a friend. Remember Paul
Makan, John, you. I've got a friend. Memory is
such a precious thing. I remember at that meeting, you
remember that meeting we had, the Lord sent the preachers in,
and they preached this message and that message, and the Lord
permitted us to worship together. I remember that. I remember when
we went up and we worshiped together. And what a good time it was,
when the saints meet together, and they sang His praise, and
they preached His Word, and we worshiped together. He said,
I remember these things. I remember the bad, and I remember
the good. I remember the bad, and I remember the good. I pour
out my soul in Me. For I had gone with a multitude,
I had went with them to the house of God, and with a voice of joy
and praise, and a multitude that kept holy day." I remember these
things. So why are you cast down? God's
still on the throne. God's still for you. So what's
the matter? Who are you looking to? I've
been looking to myself. I've been looking to myself. No wonder you're cast out. No
wonder. That's the worst place you could
look to get any peace. It is. That's the worst. Oh,
that's the worst. That's a garbage dump. You go
there, you're in trouble. You're in there. Oh, man. Rotten,
dead, stinking things. That's a bad place to go. Been looking at you safe. That'll
get you down quick, won't it? Hope that God. Wesley, I pray. I read the Bible. I'm thoughtful of my wife. Mostly,
sometimes I'm real thoughtful toward my wife. Sometimes. And my children, I halfway was
a daddy to them. I've done several good things. Oh, boy, you're in trouble. You're
going the wrong road. You're going to wind up right
back in the graveyard. That's right. Soul, hope, and
God. Oh, my soul's thirsty. Don't
drink. I remember one time I was out
in the woods, and I was a child. I was kind of a loner. I've got
one sister, and we didn't have, you know, Brother and sister,
they don't have a lot of interests to get together and things to
share. I'd get out and roam around the woods all day, me and my
dog. I wandered around too long one day and way back I knew basically
where I was at, but in one sense I was lost. I got so thirsty, it was so hot,
just a young boy, 12, 14 year old. And it had rained and there's
been a deer or a cow or something made an imprint in the ground
and there was a little water in that. You ain't going to believe
this, but I got down and drank some of that water. Man, I was
thirsty. I didn't drink anything. I just
had to have some water. I never make it home if I don't
drink because I don't get something to drink. And that's the nearest
to thirst physically that I've ever been through, I guess. You
have to be thirsty to do that. But that's how thirsty you've got
to be. The Lord's got to take every other drink away from you,
and you won't find any satisfaction except in Him. He's that living
water. And like I said at the outset,
I told you about us sitting there thinking, I'm thirsty, I'm starving
to death for a drink, but yet I'm satisfied. And I can't explain that, but
it's true. Why art thou cast down on my soul? And why art
thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise him. Do you all have a Bible with
a center margin, center reference? If you look over there, there's
a number, and mine is eight. And there's a reference in that
center margin, and it says, for the help of his countenance,
and in mine it says, his presence is salvation. Is that what it
says? When shall I appear before God?
His presence is salvation, being his presence. He said, where
I am, there you shall be also. And his presence is salvation.
He said, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the light, John
14. And he said, in my presence is
salvation. Now you can be in the presence
of the church and still be in trouble. You can go to the baptistry and
still be in trouble. You can be a Calvinist from the
sole of your feet to the crown of your head and still be in
trouble. I'm like Mr. Spurgeon. I'm not
ashamed to be called a Calvinist, if somebody knows what a Calvinist
is. Calvin just simply believed the
gospel. The point of Calvinism is just the gospel. But you can
even believe that in your head and die for it. and still be in trouble with
God. You see what being in the presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ and having life and drinking of this
living water is. You love it. You embrace it. I'm trying to give you some evidence
here. And that's difficult to do, because
we're saved by faith, and we walk by faith, not by sight.
But I'm telling you, in your heart of hearts, to love the
Lord Jesus Christ. We love Him because He first
loved us. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying our love in Him
saves us. But I'm saying a believer, a
hungry, thirsty soul, loves the Lord Jesus Christ. He embraces
Him. Lord, don't leave me. And I don't know about you, but
there are times when I am blessed before the preaching, blessed
with the song service, with the songs I can enter into, the songs
from the heart that fit the reading. Lord exceptionally blesses me
in preaching. I don't know if it's that way
with you, but I enjoyed that, so I hope this is good enough.
That's off the tory. When I want to stand up and sing
what she's playing, I'm getting a blessing. And I came that close
because I didn't want to take away from that the beautiful
way in which she played it. All right, John fourteen, John
chapter fourteen is our text. We have been looking at this
one verse, verse six, and this is the last of three messages
on John fourteen, six. Let's read that one verse again. Lord Jesus Christ saith unto
Thomas, I am the way, be truth, and be light.