studying from Proverbs 25, 25
almost ever since I left here and started for Texas a couple
of weeks ago. And this is the text that I will
bring to you for my message this morning. Proverbs 25, 25. As
cold waters to a thirsty soul. So is good
news from a far country. Now, I have come this morning
with good news from a far country, and I hope that some of you yearn
to have the news. But in order for us to grasp
the analogy here We'll have to think a little bit because I
doubt any of us really know anything much about what it is to be thirsty. And I doubt any of us really
know much about what it is to get news from a far country when
we've been away for a long time. Brother Walter Gruber was telling
us when we were in Mexico recently. I think I may have told you about
it before, but he was relating the story again several years
ago. He went out hunting. Walter likes to hunt birds, and
he was out hunting with a friend in Mexico, and he said, I knew
better, but I didn't take any water with me. And he said, we
got out, and I began to get thirsty, and I got lost, and I got more
thirsty, and finally, I simply laid down, thought, well, I'll
just, I'll wait here until somebody'll come looking for me. And he said,
I got just almost completely dehydrated and passed out. And
somebody came and found me. The fellow he was hunting with
went to the local village, found some folks to try to find him
some tractors, and they found Walter, brought him some water,
and they gave him just a little bit of water. But can you imagine
what that little bit of water was to that man who was literally
dying of thirst? And this is what the text says,
as cold waters to a thirsty soul. Thirsty. Thirsty. To be thirsty. in the context here is to have
a thirst that, if it is not quenched, will surely result in death.
Thirsty. I wonder if there's anybody here
thirsty for the grace of God, thirsty for Christ, thirsty for
righteousness, thirsty for forgiveness, thirsty for the pardon of your
sins. Well, that's cold waters to a
thirsty soul. So is good news from a far country. When I've been going from home
for just a few days and for some reason haven't been able to contact
Shelby or Faith or Doug and things, you know, just for a few days,
it's just so good to just hear their voice, just know everything's
all right. But in these days of cellular
phones and pagers and worldwide communication at the touch of
a finger, We can't hardly grasp what it would be like to be gone
from home for weeks and months, even years at a time without
hearing a word. Now, I often think when I'm driving
somewhere to preach or get on a plane, I'd go somewhere, I
can preach here this morning, fly across the country and preach
in California tonight. Man, it wasn't long ago it'd
take a fellow months to do that. Well, these days, we can't hardly
associate with that idea of such distance in time as well as in
miles. Back out in California, right
beside the church at Rescue, where Brother Gene Harmon is
a pastor, there's a little plaque. It was a Pony Express trail.
Right there was a Pony Express stop on the trail. And I stood
there a while back and looked at that sign, and I thought,
I just wonder what it's been like to be back here 125, 150 years ago, come from the East,
trying to settle down, my wife and daughter at home, and I haven't
heard from them in months and months and months and months.
A fella rides up, hand me a letter from Shelby, Florida. Oh, my. Everything's well at home, honey.
We're looking forward to joining you. Everything's all right.
Acts like water to a thirsty soul. Well, I've come this morning
with good news. Good news, like water from a
thirsty soul, is refreshing, reviving, comforting, and invigorating. And I want to give you good news
from two or three directions. First, and most importantly,
I am the messenger of good news for you who are yet without Christ. I have good news for poor, helpless,
needy sinners from the God of all grace. Oh, I would to God. I could find a poor, helpless,
needy sinner. I see very few. Not many folks
are. Not many folks. Most folks dying
without grace sit and listen to the message and look out the
window and stare at rocks rather than listen to the preacher.
Dying without grace would rather do almost anything. that here's
a message of grace that might bring life to their souls. If
you take a man who's not thirsty, and you set him beside a well
of fresh, cool water, the well is totally unappealing to him,
totally so. Oh, but if you find a man who's
thirsty, find him, a fellow who's not thirsty, he'll look at the
well and say, he's not very pretty. A fellow who's not thirsty, he'll
look at the well and say, I could have dug a better one. Fellow who's not
thirsty, he'll look at the well and criticize everything about
it. But find a thirsty man, he'll drink out of a gourd and be happy,
because he wants water. Oh, if I could find a thirsty
sinner, I've got good news. It'll be like water to a thirsty
soul for you this morning. Some of you here are yet without
God, without Christ, and without hope. Some of you are yet far
off from God, so far off that you cannot and will not ever
be brought back to Him unless God Himself sends His Spirit
and fetches you back to Him by His almighty free grace. Your
sin has you in bondage. So that like the prodigal, you've
wasted your substance with riotous living. Oh, your riotous living
may be the kind of riotous living that other folks look at and
respect, but it's still riotous living. For you live to yourself
and live in rebellion to God, and you waste everything God's
given you upon the lust of your own flesh, walking after the
course of this world, after the lust of your flesh, blinded by
the God of this world. Like the woman with the issue
of blood, You've wasted all your substances, spent all your living
on positions of no value, and you're still unclaimed, still
undefiled, still helpless before God. Well, I've got good news
for you. Listen carefully. Oh, God help
you to hear me. The God of heaven, the God of
heaven, the great glorious God against whom we have sinned,
That God whose law we have broken, that God whose very character
we have violated, that God whom we have despised all the days
of our life, he is gracious and he is great. Oh, what a word. God is gracious. The Scripture says God is love. I haven't yet begun to comprehend
that. It doesn't just say, Jay, God
loves. It says God is love. Whatever love is, whatever love
is by definition, whatever love is by expression, whatever love
is by deed, God is love. That means the great and glorious
God of heaven is a God full of grace. full of grace. It's true. It is true. God Almighty is holy,
infinitely holy, just, infinitely just, righteous, strictly righteous,
pure, absolutely pure, so much so that He will not tolerate
sin anywhere. He won't do it. He won't do it.
A holy, righteous, just and true God must and shall punish sin. Let men these days talk all they
want to about their fanciful, philosophical ideas about God
and say, if God's good, he wouldn't send folks to hell. If God's
good, he wouldn't do this, he wouldn't do that. If there's
a good God in heaven, why do all these bad things happen?
Because we deserve them to happen. That's exactly why they happen.
We've heard them. We've earned His wrath and all
the judgment of sin in this world is but a foretaste of the fact
that God Almighty must and will punish sin. The depravity of
the human heart displayed in Columbine High School, displayed
in the street down where you live, in the street where I live,
the depravity of the human heart will display itself in corruption
in such a way that God Almighty will display His holiness in
punishing sin. And that's just a foretaste.
God will slay you forever under his wrath in hell because of
sin. Now you can laugh at it, you
can mock at it, you can ignore it if you so choose until God
meets you at judgment and you meet him at judgment. God Almighty
is going to punish sin. Because the righteous Lord loveth
righteousness, the psalmist said, he's angry with the wicked every
day. He hates all the workers of iniquity because He's righteous. A good God must punish sin. He won't allow it to exist in
His universe. But this same great, glorious,
good God who must and will punish sinners gives hope to sinners
like you and me because He's as gracious as He is good. In
fact, He's as merciful as He is just. He's as good as he is
kind, he's as true as he is holy, and he is as kind and gracious
as if he were not true and were not holy. It is the glory of
God. Imagine this now. This God who
delighteth in mercy. It is the glory of God to forgive
iniquity, transgression, and sin. Turn to Exodus chapter 33
for a moment. I want you to see this. Exodus
33. Preacher, how do you know God
will forgive sin? Because it's His glory too. It's His glory. That which is
the crescendo of His honor is to forgive sin. Back here in
Exodus chapter 33, you'll remember Moses makes this great prayer.
He says in verse 18, I beseech thee now, show me thy glory. Lord, show me your glory. Show
me your glory. Verse 19, this is God's response. He said, I'll make all my goodness
pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord
before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and
will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. So the Lord here
gives Moses a hint at what his glory is. His glory is the fact
that He is gracious and that He is sovereignly gracious. He
will have mercy on whom He will have mercy, but blessed be His
name, He will have mercy on somebody. He will be gracious to whom He
will be gracious, but He will be gracious to somebody. Now
then, look at verse 5 of chapter 34. The Lord said to Moses, said,
Come now, and I'll put you in the cleft of the rock, and I'll
put my hand over you, and I'll cause all my goodness to pass
before you. I've told you the story before. When I was a boy growing up,
we used to go to Spruce Pine, North Carolina, from Winston-Salem.
We took the trip several times every year to visit my grandparents,
my great aunt, folks on my father's side of the family. And up in
the mountains, we'd pass by a place called Grandfather Mountain.
And then being a little tyke, I was full of questions. Well,
I wasn't so little, but I was young and I was full of questions.
And I'd say, why do they call that Grandfather Mountain? And
my dad would always say, well, if you look close, you can see
the form of an old man, his forehead, his nose, the place for his eyes,
his mouth, and his chin and his flowing beard, like he's laying
down on top of that mountain. And I looked and looked and looked.
I could have looked till I went blind and never seen him. Until
one day, we went around a totally different way, down by Lenoir,
North Carolina. And as we came around that way,
between Hickory and Spruce Pipe, I looked up, And there lay that
old man on top of that mountain. The only way you can see the
form is if you're looking from the right place. And listen to
him now. The only way a sinner can ever
see the glory of God is if he's looking from Christ Jesus the
Lord. You've got to see the glory of
God in the face of Christ or you can't see it. Now look here.
Moses is here placed in the cliff of the rock, placed in the crucified
Christ. And in verse 5, the Lord descended
in a cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name
of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed
the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering
and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. And that will by no
means clear the guilty. visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children and upon the children's children
under the third and fourth generation. Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute. How can both be? How can God
both forgive iniquity, transgression, and sin, and remember it no more,
and yet not forgive iniquity, transgression, or sin? How can
that be done? He says He will by no means clear
the guilty, does He not? He says he will not clear the
guilty. He will forgive iniquity, transgression,
and sin, but he will not clear the guilty. How? There's only
one way. If he can find a way to satisfy
his justice in every demand of his justice and thereby punish
the sins of his people to the full satisfaction of justice,
then he can yet forgive iniquity, transgression, and sin. and you'll
see the glory of God. Look here, look here. Yonder,
on Calvary's cursed tree, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was made
to be sin for sinners, that sinners might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. And that's the glory of God.
Jesus Christ has satisfied the wrath and justice of a holy God,
bringing in everlasting righteousness. for sinners by the sacrifice
of himself. Look to him and live forever."
I've got good news. The Lord God Almighty is gracious
and anxious, delighting to forgive sin. This great and glorious,
gracious God is omnipotent. That means He's mighty to save. He has the power and the ability
to do anything he desires. How absurd for preachers to stand
up and talk about let God. Why don't you let God? What are
you going to stop God? How are you going to slap his
head and say to him, don't you do this? As if some puny peanut
of a man or peanut of a devil could stop God Almighty from
accomplishing his will. Turn to Luke chapter 1 for a
moment. Ever since we began the study in Luke on Sunday evenings,
I've been studying this verse. If God will enable me, I'm going
to bring a message to you from it soon. But here in Luke 1,
verse 37, the angel of God declares the absolute fact of both the
birth of John the Baptist and the incarnation of Jesus Christ,
the birth of John the Baptist through the womb of a woman who
was an old woman with a withered womb, and the incarnation of
the Lord Jesus Christ through the womb of a woman who was yet
a virgin. How can these things be? Look
at verse 37. For with God nothing, nothing
shall be impossible. That means, Gary Baker, God can
find you down there lost in a seminary and save you. Or He can find
somebody else lost in a bar room or lost in a whorehouse and save
them. What does it mean? With God,
nothing shall be impossible. That means wherever the Lord
God has scattered His lost sheep, wherever He has scattered His
elect in His wrath and in His judgment, wherever He has scattered
them, He will gather them. That means that God Almighty
can save you just as easily as He can save anybody else. You
see, salvation doesn't depend on your ability. Salvation doesn't
depend on something you do. Salvation doesn't depend on you
having the ability to discern or see things other folks don't.
Salvation doesn't depend on you deciding something other folks
don't decide. Salvation doesn't depend on you doing something
to save yourself. Oh, no, no, no, no. Salvation's
of the Lord. And this one in whose hands salvation
is, He is God Almighty. What do you do then? Well, we
just wait. We pray and ask God to do for
sinners what sinners cannot and will not do for themselves. We
pray and ask God to be gracious according to His character, trusting
Him who is able to save to the uttermost all who come to God
by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now then, this great God in great grace has made a way
for sinners to return to Him in perfect reconciliation. This
is what the Master said, I am the door. I love some simple
things, don't you? I love things maybe put there
where I don't have any question at all, but we're talking about
there's a door. Oh, what a marvelous, mysterious, Let's study the door. No, you just walk through it.
That's all. You just walk through it. Our
Lord says, I am the door. By me, the door. If any man enter
in, he shall be saved, shall go in and out. I don't know about
you, but if there's salvation in that
door, and damnation out here. If there's light in that door
and death out here. If there's light in that door
and darkness out here. If there's food in that door
and starvation out here. If there's water in that door
and thirst out here. I don't know about you but I'm
going through the door. I'm going through the door. What
are you talking about preacher? on the Lord Jesus Christ and
thou shalt be saved. Are you thirsty? No. Are you thirsty? Then drink. Now if you're not, you can stand
around and fuss, but if you're thirsty, drink. Are you hungry? Why sit down and eat? Now if
you're not hungry, you can fuss about the way the meal's prepared,
but if you're hungry, Just grab your bite to eat. It's just that
simple. Well, I don't need Christ at
all. Now we got to where the problem
is. That's where the problem is. The reason you sat there
in your stubborn rebellion and ungodly unbelief is because in
your proud arrogance you presume you're good enough to meet God. That's the problem. So I cry
to God, oh Lord God, with the omnipotent hand of your grace,
lay hold of the rags and big leaves of self-righteousness
with which sinners seek to hide themselves. God stripped them
naked, make them bare. Oh may God show you the corruption If ever you see what you are,
if ever you do, you'll flee away to Christ. And
until you do, you will never come to Him. That's just that. The Lord God has sent me here
with good news. to declare to you that redemption
is accomplished by His Son, to tell you that Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, is ready to save, that God the Father is ready
to receive, that God the Spirit is ready to comfort. But I'm
telling you, you will never come home to God by faith in Christ
until, like that prodigal, God brings you to yourself. Oh, Mark, the most bitter, blessed
thing in this world for a sinner to be brought to himself. God
ever brings you to yourself, He'll bring you home to Christ.
Remember that prodigal? He said, Father, give me what's
coming to me. Every fool talks to God like
that. Give me what's coming. I've been pretty good. Give me
what's coming to me. And lives in presumption upon God's goodness.
Every fool does. And the father said, all right,
take it. And our God wisely, graciously
lays the reins on the neck of the wild ass's coat and says,
run your own way. Until we run ourselves to destruction.
And that prodigal wasted his substance and life that's living. And when he would fain have filled
his belly with the husk that the swine did eat, he remembered
that there are servants, hired servants in his father's house
who have bread and nothing to spare, and he came to himself.
And he said, I'll go to my father. And I'll say to him, Father,
I'm not worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired
servants. And he arose and came to his
father when he was yet a great way off, and father saw him and
got up from his high lofty throne, and ran, and fell on his neck,
and kissed him, and kissed him, and kissed him. And the son said, I've sinned
against heaven and against you, and probably don't say another
word. That's enough. That's enough. Confess your sin. Just acknowledge
what you are. And He's faithful and just to
forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
And the father said, uh, go get the fatty calf. I remember years
ago, I preached on that, and Lindsey came up to me after service. It's been 20 years ago. He said,
uh, he said, did you ever know the fatty calf was already fatted?
Yep, I noticed that. Already fatted? Why, you mean
the father was expecting him? Why, sure he was expecting him.
He planned the whole thing. Even the rebellion of the son.
He planned it all. Sent his angels to watch after
his son during the time of his rebellion. Make sure nothing
happens to my boy now. Make sure nothing happens to
him. Leave him to himself, but don't leave him to the devils
of hell. Leave him to himself, but not to this world. Make sure
nothing happens to him. And he said, bring the ring.
Put it on his finger. You come to Christ right now,
and this is it. May God seal for you the covenant
of His grace. It's all yours. Bring the, bring
the robe, the best robe. Bring the family robe. Put it
on him. Look at that. Perfect fit. The robe of Christ's righteousness
made for sinners just like God. Made specifically for me. Bring
the shoes, the gospel of peace and put them on his feet. My
son was dead, now he's alive. He was lost, now he's found.
Rejoice with me. Indeed, that's good news from
heaven, for sinners are still deserted. Well, I've spent too much time
on that, but let me wrap this up by giving you this. God has
sent me here today also with good news for weary pilgrims
in this sin-cursed world. I've got good news from the homeland.
This world is not our home. We're just passing Our citizenship
is in heaven, in the New Jerusalem, in the City Foursquare, in the
heavenly Jerusalem. You and I, who have been called
by God's grace, you and I who've been granted life and faith in
Jesus Christ, are pilgrims in this world, and the Lord God
here in the Book has given us good news. that ought to refresh
our souls in the midst of this pilgrimage. Here's some of it,
some things I fetched fresh from the homeland. The Lord our God,
He's still on His throne. Our God is in heaven. He hath
done whatsoever He pleased. And it does it all exactly right. The Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior,
our great God and intercessor, he's still in heaven. He's there
preparing a place for us. He's there representing us. He's there ruling all things
for us. He's there making intercession
for us incessantly. God the Holy Spirit, our comforter,
our divine guide, he's still with us. to comfort and instruct
us. The interest of our souls, both
in heaven and upon the earth, both for time and eternity, are
perfectly safe. The promises of God, they're
all sure. The providence of God, it's absolutely
sure. The people of God, they're forever
secure. All our interests are safe, for
the Lord will save us, listen now, from all our enemies, all of them. That means Bobby
Edgerton's going to save us from ourselves, from the world, the
flesh, and the devil. He's going to save us from sin,
save us from judgment, save us from wrath, save us from this
world, save us in time, save us forever. He will deliver us
from all our enemies. And there are a whole lot of
folks already yonder in heaven just like you and me. Try, if you can, to picture the
saints around the throne. I do this sometimes. I look yonder. There's drunken Noah. There's impetuous, impetuous Peter. But there's Moses, that man who
in anger struck the rock Christ Jesus, we should have spoke to
him. Why? Yonder there's my twin brother,
righteous lot. Saints of God are already there,
just like us. Well, how on earth are they there?
Because they were good? No. Because they made themselves
righteous? No. They're there by the blood
and righteousness of God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And they're
there by the free grace of God, and they seem worthy, worthy,
worthy of the Lamb. Not only that, but we're wanted there. We're wanted there. Imagine that. You and me. wanted in heaven
by God our Father, by the Lord Jesus Christ, by God the Holy
Spirit, so that our great God may see of the travail of his
soul and be satisfied, so that our God may show forth in us
the riches, the exceeding riches and glory of His grace in Jesus
Christ the Lord. Amen.