Like Cold Water: Why the Gospel Is the Good News We Need
Let’s be real for a second—bad news is everywhere.
You scroll, you swipe, you tune in—and it’s violence, disasters, lies, pain, and more pain. Some people have told me they’ve stopped watching the news altogether. It’s just too much. And honestly, I get it.
Just like eating junk all day messes up your body, a steady diet of bad news messes with your soul.
That’s why we need good news. True good news.
The kind that doesn’t just give you a warm fuzzy feeling for a moment, but that satisfies something deeper—like a glass of cold water when you’ve been out in the heat all day.
Proverbs 25:25 puts it like this: “Good news from a distant land is like cold water to a parched throat.”
And that’s exactly what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is. It’s not just encouraging. It’s refreshing. Restoring. Life-giving.
The Problem: We’re All Thirsty (Romans 3:9–18)
Let’s talk about the bad news first.
We’ve all sinned. We all fall short. Nobody gets to walk around like they’re spiritually spotless. Paul says it plain in Romans 3—our thoughts, our actions, even our mouths expose our brokenness.
He hits on:
Our Character – “There is no one righteous, not even one.”
Our Comprehension – “No one understands or seeks God.”
Our Commitment – “All have turned away.”
Our Communication – “Their throat is an open grave.”
Our Conduct – “Their feet are swift to shed blood.”
Our Conscience – “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Bottom line? We all guilty. All of us.
And in the middle of that guilt, the world tries to hand us fake gospels that sound good on the surface but fall flat.
Stuff like:
The Gospel of Affirmation: “You’re fine just the way you are.”
The Gospel of Self-Improvement: “Just try harder.”
The Gospel of Religion: “Keep the rules, earn God’s love.”
The Gospel of Prosperity: “God wants you rich, happy, and unbothered.”
But none of that deals with the real issue. None of it can save you from your sin—or give your soul the rest it desperately needs.
The Provision: Jesus (Romans 3:19–22)
God didn’t leave us stuck in our sin. He made a way.
Not through our good behavior. Not through rule-following or self-help.
But through Jesus.
Paul reminds us that God’s righteousness—the kind that makes us right with Him—is available through faith in Jesus Christ. That’s it. That’s the news. The kind of news that’s been promised since the beginning and now fulfilled in Jesus.
This is righteousness that’s…
Apart from the law – You can’t work for it.
Attested by the law and prophets – It’s what God promised.
Accessible through faith – You just believe.
It’s not a reward for perfect people. It’s rescue for broken ones.
The Power: Redemption (Romans 3:23–26)
We’ve all sinned. Present tense. We still fall. But we’re not without hope.
Jesus didn’t just cancel the debt—He paid it.
In these verses, Paul gives us the heart of the Gospel:
Justification – God declares us right with Him.
Redemption – Jesus bought us back with His own life.
Propitiation – God’s wrath toward sin? Fully satisfied through Jesus’ blood.
This isn’t religious jargon. This is freedom. This is life.
God is both just (He doesn’t ignore sin) and the justifier (He deals with it Himself by sending Jesus in our place). And that means we can stop pretending. We can stop trying to earn what’s already been given. We can stop carrying shame He already died to take away.
Good News > Bad News
The Gospel is relief to the weary.
It’s peace for the restless.
It’s water to the thirsty.
Like Paul says in Romans 1:16—it’s the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.
So if you’re tired of the noise… if you’ve been trying to drink from empty wells… if you’ve been running on fumes and guilt and shame…
Come take a sip of the real thing.
The Gospel is LIVING water.
And it never runs out.
Catch the full message, “Like Cold Water,” on our YouTube channel now. Let it refresh your soul—and then go share it. Somebody you know is thirsty, too.
