Good News
(No. 2866)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 1904.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, JANUARY
6, 1876.
"As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country."
Proverbs 25:25.
THIS is a text for summertime rather than for a winter's evening. It is
only on one of our hottest summer days that we could fully appreciate
the illustration here employed. We need to be parched with thirst to be
able to feel the value of cold waters to quench our thirst. At the same
time, I think that we can, without any very great stretch of
imagination, put ourselves into the position of some to whom cold
waters have been almost like life from the dead. Look at Hagar in the
wilderness with her child, whom she has cast under one of the shrubs
that she may not see him die. The water in the bottle is spent and she
longs for a cooling draught that might save the young lad's life. Then
the Lord opened her eyes so that she saw a well of water in the desert
and, as she filled her bottle from it, she understood what cold waters
are to a thirsty soul. Think also of the whole nation of Israel in the
wilderness crying out in agony because there was no water for them to
drink. Then they began to murmur against the Lord and against
Moses–but how joyful they were when the smitten Rock poured forth its
cooling stream and they rushed to it and drank to the full.
If you want another personal example of the blessing of cold water to a
thirsty soul, think of Samson. Heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of an
ass he has slain a thousand men! But the dust of the conflict, the heat
and the exhaustion had caused such an intense thirst to come upon him
that he is ready to die. Then he lifts up his voice to the Lord and the
same God who had made the jawbone to be so mighty a weapon against the
Philistines, opens for him a spring of water in that very jawbone–and
he drinks and is refreshed–and magnifies the name of the Lord. So, you
see, there are occasions when cold waters are inexpressibly precious to
thirsty souls. And Solomon, who seems to have known something of their
value, says that good news from a far country is equally pleasant,
refreshing and reviving.
This proverb is true in its most literal interpretation. When we are in
a far country, separate from those we love, there is no greater
pleasure than that of receiving letters with tidings of their welfare
from them. Even the little details about household affairs–the minor
events which we would scarcely have noticed if we had been
there–become exceedingly interesting to us and the longer we have been
away from home, the more dear everything becomes to us when we hear of
it in the far country where, for a while, our lot has been cast. I
suppose that merchants who have costly ventures in distant parts, also
long for good news from the far country which is still their home
wherever they may be. Solomon had sent his ships to various foreign
countries and when the news came from Joppa that the vessels were in
sight which had come back from India, or from the Pillars of Hercules,
bringing all manner of precious things, the merchant prince was highly
pleased and felt that, "as cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good
news from a far country." And this, which is a literal fact, may become
an illustration of the spiritual Truth of God–and I am going to use it
in that way as God, the Holy Spirit, may guide me.
First, good news from God for sinners is like cold waters to a thirsty
soul. Secondly, good news from Heaven for saints is like cold waters to
a thirsty soul. And, thirdly, good news in Heaven from earth–the good
news which reaches that far country every now and then–is to angels
and glorified saints as cold waters to a thirsty soul.
I. First, then, (and may God bless this first head very richly!) GOOD
NEWS FROM GOD FOR SINNERS is like cold water to the thirsty.
Sin has led the sinner into a far country. That part of the description
of the prodigal son who gathered all and went into a far country aptly
describes the condition of the whole human race. Man, before the Fall,
was near to God. He communed with Him. But when Adam and Eve "heard the
voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day,"
after they had disobeyedHim, they "hid themselves from the Presence of
the Lord God among the trees of the garden." Practically, by his sin,
Adam set out on a long journey away from his happy home and, soon, he
was so far off that when God came where He had formerly communed with
him, He had to cry to him, "Adam, where are you?" In like manner, we
are alienated from God by wicked works, far off from Him in character,
for He is Light and we are darkness. He is Truth and we are falsehood.
He is Love and we are just the opposite. We are also far off from God
in our aims and objectives, for we aim not at the good of others, nor
at His Glory, but we seek earthly things. We are, by nature, far off
from God in the whole bent and current of our life which no longer runs
in a parallel line with the life of God as first imparted to man, but
runs rather according to the fashion of the life of Satan–so that we
yield ourselves up to the evil influence of that foul spirit who works
in the children of disobedience.
When a sinner is awakened by the Holy Spirit, he becomes conscious of
this distance and he feels, in a measure, like the lost spirits in Hell
who realize that there is a great gulf fixed between them and God. At
first the convicted sinner fancies that gulf can never be passed and
the longer he looks into its awful depths–the longer his eyes try to
gaze across it to the other side–the more he discovers that he is far
off from his God and that there is, indeed, a vast, yawning chasm
between him and his Maker. If any of you, dear Friends, are conscious
of being thus at a distance from God, I have come as a messenger from
Him bringing to you His words of mercy and Grace which should be to you
as good news from a far country!
And the first piece of good news that I have to give you is that God
has not forgotten you. You are a lost sheep and you have almost
forgotten your Shepherd. Perhaps you have altogether forgotten Him–but
your Shepherd has been counting over the number of His sheep and He
finds that there is one missing, for there are only 99 where there
should be a hundred and He is deeply concerned about the one that has
gone astray!
God has not only remembered that there is such a person as you but he
remembers you with pity. It is wonderful to notice how He speaks.
Sometimes He cries, "How shall I give you up, Ephraim? How shall I
deliver you, Israel? How shall I make you as Admah? How shall I set you
as Zeboim?" Like as a father pities his children, so is it with our
God– He pities those who wander away from Him. "As I live, says the
Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the
wicked turn from his way and live." God takes no delight in your sin
and no delight in the shame and sorrow which your sin will bring upon
you unless you turn from it–but He will take delight in you if you
return to Him! He still cries to you, "Return you, now, everyone from
his evil way!" And He still remembers you in pity and compassion.
Notwithstanding your forgetfulness of Him and your willful rebellion
against Him, He does remember you, for God is Love and there is love in
His heart even towards sinners who are dead in trespasses and sins.
That, surely, is good news to you! And if God thus thinks of you in
pity, should not you think of God with deep, heartfelt penitence and
contrition?
But there is even better news from God for you than this, namely, that
He has prepared the way by which you may come back to Him. Do you ask,
"How can that be, for there is a wall of partition between us? How can
I ever get to God? Surely, the justice of God, on account of my sin,
raises an impassable barrier between us. That justice stands like the
cherubim with a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of
the Tree of Life, lest, haply, I should attempt to return to my God."
That is quite true, yet listen to this, poor, guilty Sinner. God must
be just, that is certain and, being just, He must punish your sin. But
have you not heard that He has given His only-begotten Son that He
might stand in the sinner's place and bear the punishment that was due
on account of the sinner's guilt? That cherub's flaming sword has been
quenched in Jesus' precious blood! That middle wall of partition Christ
has broken down, even as the veil of the Temple was torn in two, from
the top to the bottom! Oh, what a mighty rip was that! Not a little
slit, part of the way down, but from the top to the bottom!
So has Jesus Christ demolished the barrier which stood between a justly
angry God and a guilty but repenting sinner–and now there is a way of
approach for the very worst of men and women–right up to the Throne of
the Most High! By the blood of Jesus, once shed for many for the
remission of sins, the guiltiest foot of man may come. Yes, by that
blood-besprinkled way, the most condemned sinner may come without fear
of being repulsed! The chasm has been filled, the gulf bridged over and
if you truly believe in Jesus Christ, you may, in His name, and for His
sake, come back to your
Heavenly Father! That wise resolve within your heart which says, "I
will arise and go to my Father," should be at once carried into effect,
for your Father has prepared the way by which you may come back to Him
and, to encourage you, He has sprinkled it with the blood of His dear
Son–the surest sign and token of His love to sinners that even God,
Himself, could give! Here, then, is good news from a far country. Your
Father thinks of you, poor prodigal, and He has paved the way for you
to come back to His own house and heart!
Is there any more good news for you? Yes, that there is, far more than
I can tell you! This is another piece of it–God has sent you His Word
and sent you His servants to invite you to come back to Him. It is very
gracious for God to prepare the way, but it is even more gracious for
Him to invite you to make use of that way. There are, sometimes, cases
of necessity when a man thrusts himself upon the notice of another and
seeks his aid in some great emergency. It is a dark and stormy night
and the wanderer, who has lost his way, knocks at the first door he
sees and asks for shelter. But that is not your case. You, also, are a
wanderer and you need shelter, but Mercy's door stands wide open and
God has sent His messengers to invite you to come in! If the door had
been closed, it would have been a wise action on your part to knock and
ask for admission, or even to cause the Kingdom of Heaven to suffer
violence and to take the blessing by force. But that is not necessary.
Think, then, of the goodness of God who invites, entreats, exhorts and
persuades sinners to come to Him. No, more, there is a text–a blessed
text, I think–which says, "Compel them to come in." The great King
bids His servants to seize them by the mighty force of Love and to draw
them in with tears and entreaties again and again repeated, until they
yield! "Compel them to come in," He says, "that My house may be
filled." This is good news indeed! Such gracious invitations as these
make up still more good news–"Come now, and let us reason together,
says the Lord: though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white
as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. "I
have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions and, as a
cloud, your sins: for I have redeemed you." "Let the wicked forsake his
way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the
Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will
abundantly pardon." "Whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved." "All manner of sin and of blasphemy shall be forgiven unto
men." "The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."
"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." Is not
this good news for poor sinners? O my Master, bless You, Your own Words
of Grace and mercy to all who hear or read them–and make them to be
like cold waters to a thirsty soul!
There is still more good news beyond all this and I will tell you some
of it. It is good news that many have already returned to their Father
and have been welcomed. Some of these are your own friends and
relatives–your brother, your sister, your father, your mother. This
good news does not relate to anything which is merely a matter of
experiment. The experiment has been made so often–the blessed
experiment of proving whether God will receive repenting sinners or
no–that it is now a matter of certainty! Why, you even know one who
used to be your companion in every kind of folly and sin–and he has
sought and found the Savior! Did he not tell you so the other day? And
there was one who seemed to be even worse than you–at least he went
further in open sin than you have ever done–yet he sought the Lord and
he was not rejected! Now, when I see so many come to Christ and find
that He never casts out one of them, what ought I to infer from that?
Why, that, He will not cast me out if I come to Him!
If from my Master's door I saw a stream of sinners coming back with sad
countenances and all shaking their heads, and saying, "We have been
denied admittance. We were too guilty to go in." Or, "We were not fit,"
or, "We were not sensitive enough," or something of that kind, then I
think I should not dare to go. But if the footprints of sinners all run
towards Christ and never is there a single footprint of a penitent
sinner turned back by Him–if I see Him drawing men unto Himself
according to His word, "I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw
all men unto Me"–and if I never see Him repelling or repulsing one
sinner, however black or crimson he may be, I may well say, "Come, my
poor guilty Soul, why should you not have acceptance, too?" At any
rate–
"I'll to the gracious King approach,
Whose scepterpardon gives.
Perhaps He may command my touch,
And then the suppliant lives!
I can but perish if I go,
I am resolved to try–
For if I stay away, I know I must forever die. And if I die with mercy
sought, When I the King have tried This were to die (delightful
thought!) As sinner never died'–
for no sinner ever did seek Jesus Christ by faith in vain! That,
surely, is good news from a far country!
And, once again, we have to bring thisgood news–that the Lord has not
only made a way for His poor wandering children to come back to Him,
but He has provided all the means needed to bring them back You
remember that when Joseph sent for his father, Jacob, to come to him in
Egypt, Jacob could not believe that Joseph was still alive. The news
that he was, under Pharaoh, ruler over all Egypt, seemed too good to be
true! But when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent, then his spirit
revived. "Wagons" is the word in our translation, but I expect that
Joseph also sent some of the best chariots that Egypt could produce to
carry poor old Jacob and all his family down into Egypt. And I do not
wonder that the spirit of the Patriarch revived when he saw those
wagons or chariots! There is many a poor sinner who says, "Yes, I know
that there is a way of salvation, but, then, my feet are lame, so how
can I run along that way? I know that there is saving Truth of God in
the Bible, and blessed be God for that, but how shall I ever learn that
Truth? I know that Christ is Himself the Truth, but how can that Truth
be mine? I know that there is eternal life and that Christ is the Life
as well as the Truth and the Way, but I am spiritually dead–can I ever
have that life?"
Yes, you can, for our Lord Jesus Christ is not merely the Way, but He
is also the powerby which we run in that way! He is not only the Truth,
but He gives us the illuminating Spirit to lead us into the Truth! And
He is not only the Life, but He puts that Life into us and sustains and
perfects it! You have nothing to do, Sinner, but to give yourself up to
the leading, guiding, directing, assisting, quickening of the blessed
Spirit of God! It is true that you must believe, but He will give you
the Grace of faith. It is true that you must repent, but it is also
true that He works repentance in us. There must and there will be a
change of life in all true converts but it is the Holy Spirit who
converts you and turns you completely around. There must be
sanctification in genuine Believers, but it is the Holy Spirit who
sanctifies you. There is nothing asked of you in the Gospel but what
the Gospel itself givesyou! Those things which, in one part of
Scripture, are put as precepts, are, in other parts of Scripture, among
the promises! What the Lord bids the sinner do, He enables the sinner
to do, just as when Jesus said to the man that was paralyzed, "Take up
your bed and walk"–with the command He gave the power to obey it! And
when He said to another man, "Stretch out your hand, withered though it
is," the miraculous power that gave the nerves and muscles force,
again, went with the mandate from the lips of Jesus! In like manner,
trust the Lord to give you the power to lay hold on the Gospel. The
very eye with which to look at the bronze serpent is His gift–and that
gift He is prepared to bestow upon all who come to Him for it. Is not
this good news from a far country?
And this, too, is good news–that you may come to Christ at once. If,
at this moment, you are enabled to trust the Lord Jesus, He is yours!
The way home looks very far, but the good news I have to bring you is
that you can be there in a moment. That is to say, far off as you are
from God, if you believe in Jesus, you are brought to God that very
instant. As soon as the Holy Spirit enables you to trust in Jesus, you
are brought near to God at once. What said our Savior to the dying
thief? "This day shall you be with Me in paradise." You perhaps will
not have an immediate entrance into the paradise above, but may live a
little longer here, but, as soon as you do believe in Jesus, you shall
be reconciled to God by the death of His Son–you shall have
instantaneous forgiveness and, at the same time, it shall be as
permanent as it is instantaneous, and as complete as it is immediate.
This is the good news which comes to you by the Gospel.
And what you have to do with it is this–believe the Father's Word and
trust yourself wholly to what Christ has done for sinners. May the
Divine Spirit take you off from all other ways of salvation and bring
you to trust to this alone, and make you abhor and loathe even to
detestation anything like confidence in your prayers, or your tears,
your doings, your suffering, your preparation, your repenting–or
anything else–for it is none but Jesus who can bring a sinner near to
God! All that you spin, you will have to unravel. All that you build,
will have to come down. All that you can bring to God, you will have to
take back. You must come to Him empty-handed, with nothing of your own,
and simply rest where God Himself rests–in the blessed Person and the
finished work of the Lord Jesus who is All in All!
Now, if you are spiritually thirsty, this good news will be to you as a
draught of cold water. But if you are not thirsty, you will not partake
of it. It is little use to praise cold water to a man who is already
drunk with the world's intoxicating draughts, or to those who have no
thirst and who will despise it. If there is anyone here who does not
feel that he is a sinner, or who thinks that he has no great guilt and
who has no true sorrow of heart on account of his sin–I might as well
walk into St. Paul' s Cathedral and talk to the statues there, or into
Westminster Abbey and preach to the dust beneath my feet, as preach to
you! Cold waters are for the thirsty and the good news of mercy and
salvation is for the guilty. Oh, that the Holy Spirit would make you
feel your deep need and give you intense spiritual thirst, for, then,
Jesus Christ and the good news from the far country would be precious
to you!
II. Now I turn to the second part of our subject which is, GOOD NEWS
FROM HEAVEN FOR SAINTS. That also is as cold waters to a thirsty soul.
Does someone ask, "Is there any news from Heaven?" Yes, there is, and
that shall be my first remark in this part of my theme–that news does
still come from Heaven. There is an invisible telegraph between us and
the Glory Land. We are not cut off from communication with those who
are there. Jacob dreamed of a ladder reaching to Heaven, but it was not
merely a dream. Never was there anything more real than that vision of
the night, for there is a blessed means of communication between this
far-off land and the goodly land beyond the river. Our prayers and
sighs and tears, our praises and thanksgivings get there all
right–they are not lost en route. They reach the great heart of God
and messages come down to us from Him in response to them. How do they
come? Well, they come by the Holy Spirit sealing home to the soul the
promises of the Word. Do you know, experimentally, what I mean by that?
Every now and then some blessed portion of Scripture seems as if it
were set on fire and, as you read it, it blazes out before your eyes
just as, sometimes, we see the lamps that are being prepared for an
illumination. There is some grand device and, before it is lit up, it
is little more than an array of pipes–but how different it looks after
they have lit it all! So, there is many a text of Scripture which is
like that design–you can see something of what it means, but you
should see it when it is lit up! How very different it is then! You
sometimes get a promise from the Word whispered into your ear and it is
just as new to you as if it had never been written down 1,800 or three
or four thousand years ago! It is as fresh to you as if the eternal pen
had written it today and written it for you, alone. Some of us–I hope
many of us–know how the Spirit of God takes of the things of Christ
and reveals them to us–leads us into the very heart and soul of the
precious blessings of the Covenant of Grace. This is as good news from
a far country, and is as cold waters to a thirsty soul!
And often, too, the Lord Jesus Christ sends us news concerning the
fellowship which He intends us to enjoy with Him. Still do godly men
walk with God as Enoch did. Do not imagine that God has gone away and
that no longer may we speak to Him as a man speaks with his friend. No,
for, "truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus
Christ." Still does Jesus lay bare His heart to His beloved. Still may
we say with the spouse and have the prayer answered, "Let Him kiss me
with the kisses of His mouth: for Your love is better than wine." There
is still sweet communion and blessed love passages between Christ and
His chosen, of which the world knows not, but "the secret of the Lord
is with them that fear Him and He will show them His Covenant." Yes,
there is good news from a far country for the saints of
God!
And, dear Friends, it should be our earnest aim to keep unbroken our
communion with Heaven, for it is the most refreshing thing beneath the
sun. This world is like an arid desert where there is no water except
as we maintain our communion with Christ. So long as I can say that the
Lord is mine, all things here below are of small account. But if I once
get a doubt about that matter and if I cease to walk with God, then
what is there here below that can content my immortal spirit? Without
Christ, this world is to us as thorns without the roses and as bitters
without the sweets of life. But You, O Lord, make earth to be a Heaven
to Your saints even when they lie in dungeons when Your Presence cheers
them. But were they translated to the palaces of kings and thereby lost
Your blessed company, those palaces would be worse than prison to them.
It is most important that you who are obliged to mingle with the world,
should maintain your communion with Christ, for that is the only way to
keep yourself clear from its corruptions. And you who have much to do
in the Church, must keep up your communion with Christ, for that is the
only way of preserving your service from becoming mechanical and of
preventing you from doing good works as a mere matter of routine. You,
too, who have much to suffer or even much to enjoy, must keep up this
holy communion or else your soul will soon be like a thirsty land where
there is no water.
It may be that I am addressing some who have not had much news lately
from the far country of Heaven. You are going there, one day, and–
"There your best friends, your kindred, dwell. There God your Savior
reigns"–
but you have had no news from there lately. If it is so with you, I
hope you feel as some of us did a little while ago, when we were in the
South of France. "No letters?" we asked, as the time came for our usual
post. When the next day came and there were still no letters, we
enquired, "What is the matter?" And they said, "There is deep snow on
the railway, the trains cannot travel, so the mails cannot be brought
in." Another day passed and as the snow was not gone, we had no
letters. When the letters did come, they were very sweet–and all the
sweeter because we had had to wait for them. And there were more of
them than usual, for those that had been delayed came tumbling in two
or three at a time. I hope it may be so with you and your good news
from Heaven! If there have been any snow-drifts between your soul and
Christ– and that does happen sometimes in this cold world–if there
is, between you and the Savior, a chilly air and a frozen mass of
unbelief so that the trains cannot travel to and fro–oh, cry mightily
to the Lord to melt the snows and clear them away! And, I guarantee
you, if you do so, when you get communication restored and fellowship
renewed, it will be exceedingly sweet.
I hope you will often feel that you cannot have too much of it and seek
to have more and more. Say, as the spouse did in the Song, "It was but
a little that I passed from them, but I found Him whom my soul loves: I
held Him and would not let Him go." Let this dark season of interrupted
fellowship into which you have passed only make you the more
desperately in earnest to get out of it, so that when that fellowship
is restored, you may be able to say, "I held Him, and would not let Him
go." Get such a firm grip of Him, again, such a grip as you had when
first you knew Him–when the love of your espousals was upon you–when
you were newly married to the blessed Bridegroom and say again, "I held
Him, and would not let Him go." God grant to you that there may be no
more lukewarmness, no more of being neither cold nor hot–and may the
cold atmosphere through which you have passed in His absence make your
heart grow all the warmer towards Him now that you have Him again! May
you now cling to Him with an intensity of affection that you have never
reached before!
What is this good news of which I have been speaking? Well, dear
Friends, I think that this good news may be summed up thus. God is
working in Providence and making all things work together for your good
if you belong to Him. Your heart is heavy just now and your harp is
hanging on the willows. Yet God is permitting that to happen for your
good. The bitter medicines you have to take are nauseous to you, but
they are to work together with other things for your good–therefore,
be of good cheer!
The next piece of good news is that Jesus is pleading for you. Remember
how He said to Peter, "Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift
you as wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not."
Jesus has your name upon His breastplate–yes, "engraved on the palms
of His hands." You are not forgotten of Him! Is not that good news?
When somebody comes to you in a foreign land, you like to hear him say,
"When I was at your home, they were all talking about you and they all
sent loving messages to you. I saw your portrait in a locket and I
could tell that you were not forgotten." You are glad to hear that–and
Jesus has your names engraved on the palms of His hands and He is
pleading for you before the Mercy Seat–you are not forgotten up there!
Another piece of good news is that He is coming here again–coming here
for you–coming to be admired by you and the rest of His redeemed
family when He comes to take His people up to their eternal home. The
message which He has sent is, "Behold, I come quickly." What is your
answer to that? I think I hear you say, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." It
will not be very long before you will be with Him, or else He will be
with you! In a short time you will have ended your pilgrimage here. The
days of your banishment from Home will be over. Wait a little
longer–only a few more tears and, then–
"Safe in the arms of Jesus, Safe on His gentle breast."
Is not that good news?
There is another piece of news which you have often heard before–that
is, that a great many of the saints have got Home already. There is
good news from the Fair Havens! Many have entered there–thousands,
millions–who have had
as stormy a sea to traverse as you, yourself, have had, but their Pilot
has brought them to their desired haven. Many, whom we loved on earth,
have gone Home to be "forever with the Lord." They are all right. All
is well with them. The sheep are getting Home to the fold! The children
are going Home to their Father's house above!
I have another piece of good news and that is, beloved Brother or
Sister, that there is a house there for you! Our Lord Jesus Christ has
made it ready for you. There is a crown there which nobody's head but
yours can ever wear. There is a seat in which none but yourself can
sit. There is a harp that will be silent till your fingers strike its
strings. There is a robe, made for you, which no one else can wear. And
let me also tell you that they are needing you up there. "Oh," you say,
"they are so happy and so perfect that they surely do not need me." But
they do. What does Paul say in the Epistle to the Hebrews? "They
without us should not be made perfect." Nor can they–there cannot be a
perfect body till all the members are there! It cannot be a perfect
Heaven till all the saints are there! Jesus Christ has not all the
jewels of His crown, yet, and He will have a perfect crown. So they are
looking for you and waiting and watching for you–and all is ready for
your reception. You shall go Home soon, therefore live in hope and
having this hope within you, purify yourselves, come out from the world
more and more. "Our conversation is in Heaven, from whence also we look
for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body,
that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the
working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself."
There is good news for you! Is it not like cold waters to a thirsty
soul?
III. Now, lastly, and very briefly. SOMETIMES, IN HEAVEN, THEY GET GOOD
NEWS FROM EARTH.
Our text may be applied to the angels and to the spirits of just men
made perfect–"As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a
far country." We do not know how they receive news about us and it is
no use speculating concerning the matter, but there is one thing that
we are sure of–that is, in Heaven they know when a sinner repents, for
our Lord Jesus Christ has told us that "there is joy in the presence of
the angels of God over one sinner that repents." That is, to them, good
news from a far country! The angels all know about Jesus having died.
And every time they see a repenting sinner washed in the blood of the
Atonement, they must rejoice for Jesus' sake because He sees of the
travail of His soul and is satisfied.
I believe, too, Brothers and Sisters, that they get good news from a
far country when you who are running the Christian race run well For
how does Paul put it in the 12th of Hebrews? Does he not tell us that
we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses? And who are
these witnesses? Why, those he had been speaking of–those brave men
and women who had performed such valorous deeds by the power of
faith–whose names he had inscribed on the triumphal arch of the 11th
Chapter of his Epistle. These are they who gaze upon us from their
lofty seats and they see us as we run the race and note how we do it.
And they clap their hands, as the spectators were known to do in the
old Roman foot races, and rejoice over the Grace that is manifested in
us–and it is as cold water to their souls when they see what God does
for His struggling, suffering people.
And, moreover, there is another piece of good news that reaches the far
country. That is when the Church of God is being built up and the
Gospel is spreading in the earth. When the world was created, did not
the morning stars sing together and shout for joy? And do you not think
that as this new spiritual world is being fashioned by the pierced
hands, the spirits above are looking down and watching the wondrous
process? I am sure they do. "When the Lord shall build up Zion, He
shall appear in His Glory and appear, not only to those who are
watching here below, who are workers together with Him, but also to
those who have gone above, who rejoice together with Him in His
gracious work below!
And I believe it is also good news from a far country when the saints,
one by one, finish their course. They get tidings up there when another
saint is crossing the Jordan of death. "Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of His saints," and it must be precious, also, in the
sight of the angels and the redeemed from among men. John Bunyan
pictures the shining ones as coming down to the river's brink and I can
easily conceive that it is so. I can well imagine their glad welcome to
the spirit as, disencumbered of this poor body, it comes forth from the
stream of death and taking it up to the pearly gates of the celestial
city. Then that is good news from a far country!
I sometimes like to send a message Home by some whose hands I grasp as
they are in the last article of death. Rowland Hill, when he was very
old, said to one aged Christian who was dying, "I hope they have not
forgotten to send for old Rowley." And then he added, "Take my love up
to the three glorious Johns, the Apostle John, John Bunyan and John
Newton." I have sometimes felt inclined to do the same. Surely, a
spirit there will not forget anything that was
good here below and pass, in utter unconsciousness, into the next
world. It will have enough to do to think of Christ and to behold His
Glory, but, perhaps the mind will be so expanded as to be able to think
of other things besides. This, however, I do not know. But this I am
sure of–that as one by one they for whom the Savior died, come Home,
there must be joy. As they rejoice over repenting sinners, so do they
rejoice over perfected saints who are without spot, or wrinkle, or any
such thing and who come up cleansed and delivered from anything like
sin through the precious blood of the Lamb. Then is there good news for
them from the far country!
I cannot help feeling that I am addressing some who know nothing about
the good news of which I have been speaking. For their benefit, let me
tell you a story I have heard concerning one of our English pilots. A
vessel was off the coast of Kent, gently sailing, as the seamen
thought, towards their desired haven. A pilot who was watching them,
observing the extreme danger in which they were, went at his utmost
speed to warn them of their peril. He was hardly aboard before he
shouted to the captain, "The Goodwins! The Goodwins!" They were almost
on to those fatal sands and they did not know it. At once the course of
the vessel was changed and all possible sail was set–and they were
saved as by the skin of their teeth!
So, I come to you thoughtless, careless ones, and I cry to you, "Hell
lies right ahead of you–eternal destruction from the Presence of the
Lord and the glory of His power! Steer your helm hard aport, up with
such sail as you have and may God send the breath of His Eternal Spirit
to blow you off these breakers which already seem booming with the
certainty of your eternal doom!" O God, almighty and ever-merciful,
save them by Your Grace! Save them by the precious blood of Jesus, for
His dear name's sake! Amen and Amen.