Turn with me, if you would, to Psalm chapter 46. Psalm 46 while you're turning. It's good to be here with y'all tonight. I've been looking forward to worshiping together. Our pastor and janitor are in Myrtle Beach. So keep them in prayer for traveling mercies and a good restful time together, hopefully. And remember, Remember one another, you don't have to look very far before you start thinking of people that are undergoing different trials. Ourselves, remember each other in prayer as well. Hopefully this evening, it's been, the study's been uplifting to me. So I hope the message is to you because you don't have to look, don't have to look very far. And we find, if you're looking for it, you can find a whole lot of bad. And when we get into our text, it's give thanks unto the Lord for he is good. And we look at the Lord and his mercy and we see him in Christ and everything is good. There's no bad. So I pray that y'all are blessed this evening as I have been in the study. We'll open our service reading Psalm chapter 46. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, will not we fear? Though the earth be removed, though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof, there is a river. The streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God shall help her in that right early. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved. He uttered his voice and the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Come, behold the works of the Lord. What desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease under the end of the earth. He breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear and sunder. He burneth the chariots in the fire. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. We'll end our reading there. Okay, if you would, turn in your hymnals to song number 17. We'll sing Come Thou Fount. Come thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it, mount of thy redeeming love. Here I raise mine Ebenezer, hither by thy help I'm come, and I hope by thy good pleasure safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God. He, to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood. O to grace, how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be! Let thy goodness, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. Okay, good, now turn to song number 50, Fairest Lord Jesus. Song number 50. Fairest Lord Jesus, ruler of all nature, O Thou of God and man the Son, Thee will I cherish will I honor thou my soul's glory, joy, and crown. Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands, robed in the garb of spring. Jesus is fairer, Jesus is pure, who makes the woeful heart to sing. Fair is the sunshine, Fairer still the moonlight, And all the twinkling starry host. Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer than all the angels heaven can boast. Beautiful Savior, Lord of the nations, Son of God and Son of Man. Glory and honor Praise, adoration, now and forevermore be thine. Psalm chapter 118, and we'll look this evening at the first six verses, Psalm 118. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord for he is good because his mercy endureth forever. Let Israel now say that his mercy endureth forever. Let the house of Aaron now say that his mercy endureth forever. Let them now that fear the Lord say that his mercy endureth forever. I called upon the Lord, the Lord in distress. The Lord answered me and set me in a large place. The Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What command do unto me? Let's pray together. Our Holy Heavenly Father, we pray that you'd be with us in this place this evening, that your name go forth as you'd have it to. that it would accomplish your will, that your name would be glorified as it ought to be. Pray that you'd be with me and leave me not alone. Don't let anyone hear the words of a man, but rather I pray that you send your message according to your will. We pray for those that are traveling. We think of our pastor and Janet. We pray for others that are having health issues or different trials that we know are in your hand. I pray that you bless them with your presence. And we pray this thankfully in Christ's name for his sake. Amen. Oh, give thanks. Verse one, David says, Oh, give thanks unto the Lord for he is good. That's thanks now. Give thanks right now. I'm giving thanks right now as I stand here. I give thanks unto the Lord right now. For He's good for the past, further than I know in the past. I can picture my own past as a function of time, but the Lord has existed. The Lord has been good for much, much longer than that. We give thanks to the Lord for His goodness past. For His goodness, the scripture says before the foundation of the world, for His goodness from eternity. For He is good and for He always has been good. We give thanks to the Lord for He is good in the past. We give thanks now for He is good right now. We give thanks for the fact that He will not change in the future. The future that I can picture and the future into eternity that I can't even imagine. We dwell in time. God doesn't dwell in time. I can't even begin to wrap my head around that. But just a little bit, just a little bit of the glimpse of God eternal past and God eternal future. And during all that eternal to eternal, God is good. All good. Not a sliver of change, not a sliver of everything that we know. Which is selfishness, which is vanity. Isn't that what the scripture says? At best, we're all together vanity, at best. Not a sliver, not a sliver of vanity, not a sliver of selfishness, not a sliver of anything, but pure good from eternity past to eternity future. God has been good and God will be good. And God is good right now. Right now. We give thanks to him right now in this present moment. A phrase that I think of frequently is that we don't judge God's providence by what's going on. Right? Because it doesn't always feel good. A lot of days don't feel good, right? When we look at them from our perspective, from my perspective, I'll speak for myself. I look at things from my perspective and everything doesn't seem good all the time. I gotta tell you. But I don't judge. We're not to judge God's providence by what we see. We're to judge what we see by God's providence. We know that God's providence is good. And therefore, no matter how I interpret something, and it's hard, things are hard. That's not to minimize that for a minute. But it's good because God's in control. It's good. And we give thanks unto the Lord for he's good. What evidence is there? What evidence is there that the goodness we see comes from God? What evidence is there that God is good? I've been fortunate to have heard that all my life. God is good. What evidence is there? And I say that reverently and respectfully. What evidence is there that God is good? Well, first, me convincing you or you convincing me that God is good is impossible. It's impossible to be convinced that God is good and also it doesn't help. Psalm 34, eight says, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Taste and see that the Lord is good. And isn't that why we're here? Isn't that what we want? We want to taste and see the Lord's goodness and not I hesitate to say the word only, but not be limited to seeing the Lord's goodness, but more importantly, to see Him in His goodness, right? To see Christ, to see God in His goodness, to see Him. What evidence is there that God is good? Where is His goodness? Well, God's goodness is in His declared name. Turn with me, if you would, to Exodus chapter 34. Exodus chapter 34. It's in his, his declared name that that is in his character. It's in God's character. It's in who he is. Exodus chapter 34, starting here in five, verse five, the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there. That is Moses stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 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 and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the children's children, under the third and to the fourth generation. And Moses saw the goodness of the Lord. And what did he do in verse eight? Moses made haste and bowed his head towards the earth and he worshiped. He gave thanks for the Lord's goodness. What evidence is there of the Lord's goodness? It's his declared name. It's his character. It's who he is. God's goodness is evidenced here in this physical world. Now turn back to James chapter one. James chapter one, starting here in verse 14, God's goodness is displayed here in this, in the physical world. Let's start in verse 13. Let no man say when he is tempted, I'm tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with evil. Neither tempted he any man, but every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust is conceived, it bringeth forth sin and sin when it's finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Here, here's the goodness. Here's what we see. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. What we see is what we read about in verses 13 through 16. That's what we, But if you see a good and perfect gift, here's God's goodness displayed. What evidence is there of God's goodness? If we see a good gift, scripture says, every good gift, every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Tonight we're worshiping together. This being able to worship together is certainly something not of man. This is good. Evidence of God is, is Him granting us the ability to meet together and worship and bless this time together. If we see a good and perfect gift, evidence of God's goodness. God's goodness is shown in His merciful forbearance. Just the fact that we're even here, existing, is evidence of God's goodness. What did He say? For my mercy sake, you're not consumed, right? Is that what he said in Malachi? It's because of his goodness. It's because of his long suffering. It's because of his mercy that we're not consumed. Evidence of God's goodness. God's goodness is even evidenced by evil man. Matthew says, if you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, How much more will your father who's in heaven give good things to those who ask him? If you being evil know how to give good things to your children, evidence of God's goodness, God's goodness. But all aspects, all aspects of God's goodness are expressed here where David says, still back in our texts here in Psalm 118. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord for he is good. Here's where his goodness is on full display because his mercy endureth forever. His mercy endureth forever. His goodness is on full display in his mercy. His goodness is his sovereignty. You think of God's character and all the attributes of God and his goodness is displayed in every attribute. His sovereignty, his provision, his love, his wisdom, his holiness. We stop and just ponder just a minute on God's attributes, his justice, his presence that he promises with his people, his presence, his faithfulness. His immutability, which you all know, I always have to remind myself is a long word for his unchangeableness. I tend to say unchangeableness. His unchangeableness. His goodness is on full display. And all of God's goodness on full display in his mercy. And it's thoroughly expressed in Christ Jesus. Turn over, if you would, with me to Ephesians chapter one. All of his attributes and his goodness displayed in Christ here in Ephesians chapter one. Start here in verse four, if you would with me. Here's his sovereignty. All his attributes that we just read. On full display in Christ here. Here's his sovereignty, according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. There's his sovereignty. There's evidence of his goodness, his goodness on display. Here's his provision that we should be holy and without blame before him. Here's his love, in love, having predestinated us under the adoption of children by Christ Jesus to himself. Here's his wisdom. according to the good pleasure of his will. Here's his holiness in verse six, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. How can we approach to a holy God? How can we stand in a holy God's presence? To the praise of the glory and his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. Here's his justice, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. Here's his presence, wherein he hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence. Verse nine is his faithfulness, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself. It's according to his purpose. Here's his unchangeableness, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one, all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, which are on earth, even in him. He's not going to change. That's what he has purposed. When he purposed for there to be light, there was light. I think frequently in Esther, when the king saw Mordecai on the bed and he purposed in his mind to put him to death. And before the word was even out of his mouth, his servants had the bag over it, over that guy's head because it's their job to know what his purpose is and carry it out. The King didn't even have to finish saying the sentence and it was done. And that's just a picture of when our Lord purposes, it's done. When he purposed for there to be light, there was light. When he purposed for the world to be made, the world was made. When he purposed in himself, according to his good pleasure, that he'd make known to us the mystery of his will and that he'd gather us together in Christ, in heaven, because he has purposed it. It's as good as done. All of God's goodness fully displayed in his mercy, thoroughly expressed there in Christ. Our text says, for his mercy endureth forever. And that forever, again, that's not a function of time. David describes God from everlasting to everlasting as we were discussing earlier. And again, that's all we know is time, but that's not relative to God's mercy. It says, God's mercy endureth forever. I see that word endureth. And I think when I used to run, Sean has seen me run before and it's an ugly sight. It's me enduring for as long as I can possibly go. And it's me being miserable for as long as I can possibly go. That's me enduring. That's not this endureth. God's mercy isn't barely hanging on like I am when I jog. God's mercy endureth forever. It never runs out. It never spoils. It never changes. It never diminishes. God's mercy endureth. It doesn't decay. It doesn't get dull. His mercy is as fresh yesterday as the day we first heard. And it will be as fresh, a hundred and thousand and a million years from now, as it is right now. His mercy endureth forever. David said, give thanks unto the Lord for he is good because his mercy endureth forever. In Christ, God's mercy is. Does that make sense? It is. It endureth forever. It is, it exists because his mercy is. So he goes on in the next verses to say, well, who should give thanks? Who should give thanks? In verses two through four, he says, let Israel now say that his mercy endureth forever. Let the house of Aaron now say that his mercy endureth forever. Let them now that fear the Lord say that his mercy endureth forever. Who should give thanks and rejoice in God's mercy? David said in verse two, let Israel, let Israel say that his mercy, mercy endureth forever. Let those to whom the covenant was given give thanks. Let those to whom the covenant was given give thanks. Though they had sinned, though they had rebelled, though they had gone astray, God was good. God honored his covenant. God was good. He was faithful and merciful to honor the covenant. All those who have sinned, those who have strayed should give thanks for his goodness, for his mercy endureth forever. He will not leave them. He will not forsake them. Verse three says, let the house of Aaron now say that his mercy endureth forever. Who should give thanks and rejoice in God's mercy? Let the house of Aaron, that's the priests, the sons of Aaron were responsible for those daily sacrifices. Let those that see Christ's sacrifice say that his mercy endureth forever. Let those that see Christ's sacrifice give thanks. Let those who are accepted through Christ's blood give thanks. First Peter 2 says to God's children, to those whose faith is evidence of their salvation. He calls them a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation of peculiar people that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. He calls us Israel, a chosen generation. He calls us Aaron's, the house of Aaron, a royal priesthood. Let Israel and let the house of Aaron now say that his mercy endureth forever. But this, this, this blessed me in the, in the study. I pray it does you. Verse four, who should give thanks and rejoice in God's mercy? Verse four says, let them now that fear the Lord. I think most believers are, are, are touched by the verse. I believe, help thou mine unbelief, right? We relate to that. And too often, I share this just in case you are like me, too often I hear God's promises and I think to myself, that's not written to me. It can't be. It can't be. Not me. The promise is too good. The promise is too pure. It can't be written to me. And let me tell you, that is nothing but unbelief disguised as humility. That's what that is. I tell myself it's me being humble. What that is, is that's unbelief. The scriptures are very clear. Joshua says, there failed not ought, not one of any good thing, which the Lord has spoken under the house of Israel. All came to pass. Right? God's promises are sure. But David says here in our text, who should give thanks to the Lord for his mercy? David writes, let them that now fear the Lord. David writes to everyone. To everyone. David's already written to Israel who had the covenant. David's already written to the sons of Aaron who had the sacrifice. Now in verse four, he says, let them now that fear the Lord say that his mercy endureth forever. Who should give thanks unto the Lord? Everyone. Everyone. This verse is written to everyone. And what blessed me is. Everyone includes me. This verse is written to those that have no right to come. Now that, that, I can put myself in that. Now, now this promise is written to me. If David says, let them that fear the Lord say, his mercy endureth forever. Someone that has no claim to God's goodness other than God's goodness. Right? I don't see myself as the house of Israel. I don't see myself as a son of Aaron who would be worthy. who were called into the service of God. To them, the fear of the Lord, to everyone, to those that have nothing to give and no right to ask. Those that, those David calls to ask for mercy from God. And that's the fear of the Lord. That's the beginning of the fear of the Lord is recognizing just a glimpse of of his holiness, his complete, his separation from us, God's absolute separation from us, his holiness. And recognizing that if he never acknowledges me, he's still holy, perfectly holy. Recognizing that I'm lost. That's the beginning of the fear of the Lord. Silly example, so pardon me, but we just got a little kitten last week and I think it's dumb. Goodness. But it knows. I've learned something from it. It gets itself stuck in a corner like stupid kittens do. It gets itself in trouble and it knows exactly what to do. It cries. That I can do, right? And again, silly kitten example about a very serious subject, which is the And I don't even want to call it trouble, the death that we put ourselves in and we will not cry. Left to ourselves. To them that fear the Lord, to them that see his holiness, David says, to them that now fear the Lord say, his mercy endureth forever. Call upon the name of the Lord. Call upon the name of the Lord. David says, give thanks. Say His mercy endureth forever. Cry unto the Lord. Why? Because my cry is meaningful? No. Because He is good. That's what the verse says. Because His mercy endureth forever. Because of who He is. We cry unto our merciful good God through Christ, in Christ, because of who He is, because of His character, because of His goodness, because of His mercy, because His mercy endureth forever. And there in verse five, Who should call on the name of the Lord? Who should give thanks? Who should rejoice in God's mercy? All of us do. All of us are to do that. But do you know who is commanded to? I am. Right? All of God's children are. Israel is commanded to. The sons of Levi are commanded to. Them that fear the Lord are commanded to. And that's absolutely true. David says, I called upon the Lord in distress. That's who's commanded to. I'm to call upon the name of the Lord. I am. David says, I called upon the Lord in distress. And because he is good, because the Lord is good, because his mercy endureth forever, God answered him. Romans 10 states that there's no difference between the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Promise in the scripture. As a result of our call, do we obligate God as a, does a sinner obligate God as a result of the call? Of course not. Of course not. A sinner calls upon God's name because that sinner has already been drawn. That's right. And a work that he started, he won't leave unfinished. He'll finish. So our call doesn't obligate God to respond. If we're calling upon a holy God in Christ in mercy, it's because we've been drawn to call. That's why. His mercy endureth forever. Grace before grace, right? Mercy before mercy. Because he is good, his mercy endureth forever. Verse six says, The Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do unto me? Based on God's goodness and based on his mercy shown in Christ, in all of his attributes, his goodness and his mercy in Christ, we can say God is on my side. That's what David writes. The Lord is on my side. We were down in Lexington. about a month or so ago, my daughter's in band. I have zero experience with marching band and with competition, competitive marching band. This is all a brand new culture to me. I have learned it is very, very busy. And we leave early in the morning and we drive the trucks down and we unpack the trucks and we set up the stuff and we get the instruments and we cook the chicken and we feed the kids and we set up the tents. And I mean to tell you, we are moving all day long. We leave the school at 7.30 and a couple weeks ago, we didn't get back till 3 a.m. and we're moving the entire time. And we finally get to the competition and I'm actually standing over there on the field and we sweating, pulling all the, I'm anything but still, right? I'm moving the props, I'm doing all this stuff. Sweaty, awful. And the first band comes out and starts with Be Still My Soul. And it led me right to that verse. And as sweaty and as not still as I was, My soul was still. And they played that song as they're opening in marching band. I was shocked. Be still my soul. The Lord is on your side to guide the future as he has the past. My goodness. Be still my soul. The Lord is on my side. And I thought to myself, the Lord is on my side. How far that journey must have been. to get on my side. Scripture says, and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth. Turn with me if we would over to Acts chapter two. Acts chapter two, and this isn't... You all know this, I'm not telling anything you don't know. This isn't being on someone's side, sitting in the corner rooting for them. We watched the girls play volleyball last week and I was on their side and me being on their side doesn't help a bit. I'm just sitting up there, sitting. Shoot, me being on the court with them wouldn't have helped because me being on their side doesn't mean anything. David said, the Lord is on your side. The Lord with all those attributes that we just read, uses all those attributes, His sovereignty, His love, His justice, His goodness. All of those attributes in Christ, He uses on the side of His people. We just get, scripture says, we see through a glass darkly, right? At best, just a glimpse of His goodness. How far He must have come. To be on my side, as the scripture says. Acts 2.22, Peter says, ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, the same one who was, the word was made flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth. Jesus of Nazareth. This is how far the trip was, all the way from heaven. Be with God, the father from eternity. He was made flesh. He dwelt among us full of great grace and truth. And Peter says, ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know. Him, Jesus of Nazareth, being delivered by the determinant counsel for knowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands of crucified and slain. Verse 24 says, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holding of it. Verse 32 says, this Jesus, this Jesus of Nazareth, hath God raised up whereof we are all witnesses. Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the father, the promise of the Holy ghost, he hath shed forth this, which you now see in here. For David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith himself, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom you've crucified, both Lord and Christ. David says in Psalms, the Lord is on my side. What a distance that Christ would come from heaven, from the presence of God to be born a man and to live a sinless life, to carry the sin of all of his people to the cross, become their sacrifice, be raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of God. That's how far the distance was to be on the side of his people. That's what it took for the Holy God in Christ, for Christ, the God-man to be on our side, as David says, and then to make us on his side, accepted in him, right? And scripture says, so that he says in John 14, I'll come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there ye may be also. What a, what a distance. So David says, in closing, David says, I will not fear. Not when I see Christ for who he really is, even in the midst of it, which when we're in the midst of it, it's not a promise that the trial goes away. The trial is in our God's hands and we know that and there's comfort in his sovereignty and in his goodness. But again, if you're like me. What I tend to really want is for that trial to go away. But that's not what's best. What's best is to see him, even in the midst of the trial, to see him. And there, when we see him, even in the midst of the trial, we say, just like David says, I will not fear. I'll cry, but I will not fear. Now, when I see Christ for who he really is, when I really see him, right when we really see a glimpse of him, he fills our entire vision. There's no room for fear. He's on my side, the scripture says, so that we can say with David, Oh, give thanks unto the Lord for he is good because his mercy endureth forever. Amen. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, I pray that you bless this time together. We thank you for Christ, for his work, for his sacrifice, the remission of sins, gone because he carried them away as far as east is from west. That we can come before your throne of mercy as begging sinners, yes, and also boldly because of Christ's work. We're thankful. Pray that you lift up your name in this place this evening. We pray this all thankfully in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen. Okay. If you would turn in your hymnals to song number 118 and stand as we sing, when I survey the wondrous cross. 118. When I surveyed the wondrous cross On which the Prince of Glory died, My richest gain I count but loss, And poor contempt on all my pride. Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ my God. All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood. See from his head, his hands, his feet. and love flow mingled down? Did e'er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown? Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine Demands my soul, my life, my all