We have Pastor Fred Evans, Redeemer
Baptist Church up in Louisville, gonna come read this scripture.
And then Matt Vincent. Oh, Rick and Helen Garrett's
gonna sing before the first preacher. I don't write it down. I play
it by ear. I really do. Everybody that's
been here very long figures that out. But I do. So Rick and Helen's
gonna sing first. I'm not singing. No. No. No.
I said that too fast. Good morning. Wow. Wow. This is amazing. You'll take your Bibles and turn
with me to Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter three. Here in Jeremiah three, Judah was at a time of great
prosperity, not yet been taken. Very religious time. King Josiah
was reigning, and yet God sent this prophet to declare judgment. Very strange message in a seeming
time of prosperity, isn't it? Yet God not only proclaims judgment,
he also proclaims mercy. Look with me in verse 11. And the Lord said unto me, the
backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous
Judah. Go and proclaim these words toward
the north and say, return thou backsliding Israel, saith the
Lord. And I will not cause mine anger
to fall upon you. Why? For I am merciful, saith
the Lord. And I will not keep anger forever. Only acknowledge thine iniquity
that thou has transgressed against the Lord thy God and has scattered
thy ways to the strangers under every green tree And you have
not obeyed my voice, saith the Lord. Let you know he just called
you and me a whore. God says of us, you have not
obeyed my voice. Turn. Turn, O backsliding children,
saith the Lord. For I am married unto you, and
I will take you, one from a city, and two of a family, and I will
bring you to Zion. What do we have here? One from
a city, two from a family. The election of God. And I will give you pastors according
to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. Praise God for his pastors. Praise God for giving you faithful
pastors to declare his heart to your heart, to preach his
Word. Who among us could do without
a pastor? If God gave you pastors, faithful
pastors, we should be thankful people. And it shall come to pass when
you be multiplied and increased in the land in those days, saith
the Lord, they shall say no more. The ark of the covenant of the
Lord. Neither shall it come to mind,
neither shall they remember it, neither shall they visit it,
neither shall that be done anymore. Doing away with the law. We don't say the Ark of the Covenant,
do we? Christ is the Ark of the Covenant.
Christ is the fulfillment of scripture of the law. At that
time, they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord. And all
the nations shall be gathered unto it in the name of the Lord
to Jerusalem. Neither shall they walk anymore
after the imagination of their evil heart. In those days, the
house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they
shall come together out of the land of the north and to the
land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers. But I said, how shall I put thee
among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly
heritage of the nation." How shall God give you a whore, a
portion with the children? Here it is. And I said, thou
shalt call me my father. He put you in His Son. Union with Christ is our only
hope. God put you in His Son. Now you
call Him Father. That's how it's done. That's
how it's done. Surely, as a wife treacherously
departed from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously
with me, O house of Israel, saith the Lord. A voice was heard upon
the high places, weeping in supplication of the children of Israel, for
they have perverted their way, for they have forsaken the Lord
their God. Return, you backsliding children,
and I will heal your backsliding. Behold, we come unto thee. For thou art the Lord our God. Truly in vain is salvation hoped
from the hills and from the multitude of mountains. Truly the Lord
our God is the salvation of Israel. Have you not weeped for your
sins? Have you not cried and seen the
vanity of all works, religion, all works and all self. There's
no hope here. Our hope is in Christ. And I know these men will come
and they'll tell you the same thing. Isn't it nice to hear
the same thing again and again and again? Let's go to God in
prayer and thank Him. Our most sovereign Lord God,
we are thankful this morning we are able to call you Father.
We are thankful, Father, for your sovereign mercy, that you
have chosen us in Christ, that you have redeemed us by Christ,
and that you have called us to Christ by your Holy Spirit. Father, I thank you for your
word. I thank you you are merciful. Today I pray that you would give
these men liberty, unction of thy spirit, Father. Father, I pray that you would
touch our hearts, that you would cause us to bow down before our
Savior and hold close to his feet, for there is one thing
needful. Oh, give us grace to hang on
to the feet of our Savior. and to bless his holy name. Father, forgive us our sins.
Forgive us our sins because of thy son. Truly, Father, we know that you
have. I'm thankful you nailed them
to the cross and put them away. Otherwise, we'd have no hope.
Glory and praise be to thy name this day, in Jesus' name I ask,
amen. This is the best part of the
service, now. Pastor Gabe Starnaker is gonna
come bring our first message today, pastor of Kingsport Grace
Church. Love him very much and appreciate
his ministry and his family. Gabe, you come on. Good morning. I'm so glad the Lord created
music, aren't you? I don't know if I've ever heard
a better song, except for the songs. I was driving over here
and all of those gray clouds in the sky, probably thinking
the same thing you were. I was thinking, look at all the
sin my God put away for me. And I was loading the car and
those clouds were so thick and just dropping stuff all over
me. I felt them. And I was sitting there thinking,
one day the clouds are going to be rolled back as scroll.
No more. I don't think I'll ever look
at them the same. I am humbled to be here. I am
grateful. I love you, Brother Donnie, and
I thank you for this ministry and the gospel that's been here.
I'm thankful that God saved me, and I'm thankful that he's given
me the ability to tell Man, how great things the Lord has done
for me. And I love you. I just love you. I was sitting
here last night, sitting right over there looking at everybody,
and it's just so good to be together. And I think of the marriage supper
of the Lamb. And I just want you all to know
I love you. I'm just really looking forward to being with you forever.
Our Lord and you. Anyway, I want to begin by looking
at one verse of scripture in Psalm 63. Go with me to Psalm
63. This will be our text. I pray the Lord will help us
this morning, help us to enter into this. Psalm 63 verse 1 says, O God, thou art my God. Early will I seek thee. My soul
thirsteth for thee. My flesh longeth for thee in
a dry and thirsty land where no water is. Have you ever been where David
is? And I don't mean you, I mean you. Have you ever been there? I mean really. We're so glad
to be together and we're so excited this weekend, but this weekend's
gonna be over tomorrow and then we're all gonna go back to life.
And have you ever been there? He said he's in a dry and thirsty
land. Where is that? It's right in there. It's just
dry. I want to feel my Lord's presence. I do. I need Him. I know I need Him.
And I'm looking for Him. Most of the time, it just feels
like nothing. But a dry and thirsty land. And those those precious times
when the Lord sends his spirit, oh, man, you realize I was thirsty. I was just dry and thirsty. Lord,
I need you. I long for you. But I'm dying. There's no water
in here. There's just no water in here.
Every time I look within, there's just no water there. Dying of
thirst. Have you ever been truly thirsty?
Really thirsty? I keep water on the pulpit when
I preach. One of the ladies in our congregation,
after the service a few months ago, she came up to me and she
said, I am so thirsty. And she said, every time you
took a sip of that water, I was thinking, oh, if I could just
have some of that water. I need water. Well, I have some honey right
here, you could drink that. No, I need water. Well, I have a real sugary Kool-Aid
right here. You could drink that. I have
some soy sauce right here. You could drink that. No, I need
water. One thing. I need water. It has to be pure. It has to
be clean. I need something that will get
to the bottom of my thirst and quench it. One thing will do. There are times that I physically
feel dehydrated. I don't drink enough water. I
know I don't. And I just feel dehydrated. And there's a difference between
being thirsty and being dehydrated. There's a big difference. My
whole body head to toe, it is just craving water. You know
what I'm talking about? And everything in me, everything
in me saying, I need water. Right here in verse one, David
said, My flesh longeth for thee, all of my flesh, head to toe. It's longing for thee. It's craving
thee. In a dry and thirsty land. Where no. Water is not very little. Even when I'm feeling dehydrated,
there's something in there. But this says no water. None. This is talking about absolute
spiritual dehydration. Absolute dehydration. Go with me over to Ezekiel 37. And listen to the water come
down. Ezekiel 37 verse 1 says, The hand of the Lord was upon
me, and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me
down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, and
caused me to pass by them round about. And behold, there were
very many in the open valley, and lo, they were very dry."
No water. They were very, very dry. No moisture. No life. Dead, dry bones. Is that you? Without Christ,
as I look to myself, is that me? Dead, dry bones. Psalm 107 says, they wandered
in the wilderness in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell
in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul
fainted in them. Is that you? Is your soul dry, thirsting for
God, for the living God? If it is, I hope it's me. If it is, turn with me to Proverbs
25. Proverbs 25 verse 25 says, As cold waters to a thirsty soul,
so is good news from a far country. You know what we call good news?
It's called the gospel. As cold waters to a thirsty soul,
so is good news from a far country. Now I'm gonna tell you my favorite
story that's ever happened to me. Some of you know Adam and Carrie
Simpson in Ohio. They have a daughter and her
name is Lucy. And when she was five years old,
we were at their house and she said something and I went immediately
and wrote it down because I thought, I don't want to forget this.
And at the top of that page, I put the gospel according to
Lucy Jean Simpson, five years old. Well, we were at their house,
and Carrie was making dinner, and Hannah and Carrie were getting
dinner on the table, and they called everybody to come sit
down. And, you know, where am I supposed to sit? Right here.
So I sat down, and they're putting food on the table, and Lucy comes
up and sits in the chair next to me. And if you know her, she
has hair like this. And she is scooting up into that
chair, and she had a picture she'd colored from her Bible
class at church. And I said, Lucy, that is one
beautiful picture. You did such a good job on that.
She said, thank you. She said, do you want me to tell
you about it? I said, I sure do. So she held it up and there
was a big man in the front and a waterfall and a bunch of people
in the back. And she said, well, this is Moses.
And these are the children of Israel. And she said the children
of Israel were whining and complaining. They said, we're so thirsty,
Moses. We're just so thirsty and they
kept on whining and they kept on complaining. We're just so
thirsty. She said, so do you know what
Moses did? And I said, what? She said, he
struck the rock. And she said, do you know what
came out of that rock? And I said, what? She said, living
water. And the Israelites drank, and
they drank, and they were so satisfied. And she said, do you
know who that rock was? And I said, who? She said, Jesus
Christ. And then she said, do you know
what that rock did? And I didn't know. I forgot.
I said, what? She said it followed the Israelites
wherever they went. That's good news to me. That's
good news. Turn with me over to 1 Corinthians
chapter 10. 1 Corinthians 10 verse 1 says, Moreover, brethren, I would not
that you should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under
the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized
unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat the
same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual
drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed
them. And that rock was Christ, she
told the truth. That rock was Christ. There is
a rock that has been smitten. Smitten for the thirsty. I mean
the thirsty, the dehydrated, the very dry. His name is Jesus
Christ. He is that living water. He is
that living water. He said, Whosoever drinks of
the water that I shall give him will never thirst again. Are you thirsty? John 7 says,
In the last day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying,
If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth
on me, as the scripture hath said, Out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water. Everyone that thirsteth, come
ye to the waters. Go with me over to Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55 verse 1 says, Ho, every
one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath
no money, not very little. We all have very little. But
he that hath no money, do you know what you call that? Bankrupt. I mean, bankrupt. This call is
for the dehydrated and the bankrupt. It is good news for the dehydrated
and the bankrupt. Everyone that thirsteth and hath
no money, come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come by wine and milk without
money and without price. The end of verse two says, let
your soul delight itself in fatness. Just let it delight itself in
fatness. Why do we get this fatness? Why have we received this refreshing? For one reason only. It's because
our rock was smitten. That's why. That's the only reason.
And while he hung there on that cross, while our rock hung there
on that cross, you know what he said? He said, I thirst. That's what he said. He said, I thirst. Do you think
he just wanted a glass of water? He was talking about something
much deeper than that. He was talking about something
much drier than that. Much deader than that. He was talking about the feeling
of our infirmities. All those clouds were rolled
over to Him, weren't they? The feeling of our dryness. The feeling of our lack. But our Lord received no relief.
No quenching. Look what he said in Psalm 69.
Go with me to Psalm 69. This is our Lord speaking. Psalm
69, verse 20. Reproach hath broken my heart,
and I am full of heaviness. And I looked for some to take
pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. They gave me also gall for my
meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. There was
nothing to quench that bitterness. Nothing. And after he was smitten,
that soldier pierced a spear into his side. And do you know
what came out of his side? Blood and water. Blood and water. God was satisfied. And his people
were satisfied. That's what happened. God needed
that blood to be satisfied. His people needed that water.
Living water. Go with me back to our text in
Psalm 63. Verse one says, Oh God, thou
art my God. Early will I seek thee. My soul
thirsteth for thee. My flesh longeth for thee in
a dry and thirsty land where no water is. Then come to the
water, David. If that's the case, come to the
water. There is a river. A pure river
of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne
of God and of the Lamb. Come to the water. Come to Christ. But don't move a muscle. Don't move a muscle. Come in
the heart. Come in the soul. Go with me to Isaiah 41. Isaiah 41, this is where our
Lord said in verse 13, I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right
hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee. Fear not,
thou worm, Jacob, and you men of Israel. I will help thee,
saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. But look
at verse 17. When the poor and needy seek
water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst. I, the Lord, will hear them.
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will open rivers
in high places and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs
of water." I will open rivers. David said, my cup runneth over. Then get another cup, David. The river's never gonna run dry.
That river is Jesus Christ. That river is his word. Come
to the word. Are you thirsty? Come to the
water. That river is his spirit. Are
you thirsty, Lord? Send your spirit. Send your spirit. Send your spirit. That river's
life, it's hope, and it's never gonna run dry, never. Here's
the promise to all that God draws to this water. If anybody comes,
last night we heard two men stand up and say, come to Christ, come
to Christ. And if any man comes, it's only
because God reached down and pulled him in. And if God draws
anybody to the water, here's the promise. Go with me to Revelation
7. Revelation 7 verse 13 says, And
one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which
are arrayed in white robes? And whence came they? And I said
unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are
they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their
robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Every
soul that has come to that rock that was smitten, that lamb that
was smitten, stricken of God, afflicted, because that river
of blood was shed, because of that blood, verse 15 says, therefore, therefore, this is why, therefore
are they before the throne of God and serve him day and night
in his temple and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among
them. They shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any
heat. For the lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto
living fountains of water, and God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. Are you spiritually dehydrated
and bankrupt? Come to the waters. Come to the
waters. Come to Christ and buy without
money, without price. Buy wine, buy milk. Let your
soul delight itself in fatness. Whosoever is a thirst, let him
or her take the water of life freely. It doesn't cost a dime.
It does not cost a dime to us. It cost him everything, but he
paid it all. He paid it all and it's free.
And that's the best news a bankrupt sinner's ever heard. It's free.
It's free. Yes, I'll come. Yeah, come. All right. Thank you, Brother
Donnie.