I think I did it by now. Turn with me, if you would, to Psalm chapter 118. Psalm chapter 118. I bring greetings from home, Hurricane Road, Grace Church in Ashland, from our pastor, Frank, and from Janet, from all our congregation, and we keep you in our prayer. We were talking about that before the service. We keep you in our prayer, other congregations as well, Our Lord continue his presence with you. What we pray for ourselves, we pray for you as well. Psalm chapter 118. We'll look at the first six verses this morning. 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 in distress. The Lord answered me and set me in a large place. The Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do unto me? We'll look at those six verses this morning, starting with verse number one. Oh, thanks. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good. For he is good. Thanks now, he is good. Thanks for past and thanks for future. And thanks for now, for he is good. God has always been good. And we think thanks in the past. We think thanks in the future. And we have no choice but to think in the function of time. That's the only way we see things, right? We see things as a function of time, and we can start there. But anytime we can imagine any true aspect of our God, anytime we can imagine a bit, and let's do, let's think in a function of time, just to get a small picture. Anytime we can see a sliver in our minds, we can know for sure, God is actually much, much greater. But if we can see a slavery, ah, give thanks unto the Lord for he is good. He has been good and as a function of time, we look backward in our life and don't we see that he is good? And in the midst of trial, and trials are real, trials are hard. I had someone tell me one time, don't you look back at that trial and see the Lord's sweetness? Sometimes, as David said so often in the songs, sometimes awfully hard to see his face in the midst of it. And that's real. Doesn't mean he's, he is good. He is good then too. When you look back in this function of time, you look backwards and you see the Lord's sweetness and you see he's good. And you look right this minute together. What a miracle this is that we're able to sit here together and worship the Lord together, that he would grant us that. He is good right now. And we look into the future, we say he is good. And hopefully you, like I, am blessed by that thought. He's so much greater. Oh, he's been good way longer than that time in my life that I can remember. He was good to his people in salvation. What does the scripture say? From the foundation of the world, right? God exists outside of time, outside of time, from the foundation of the world. When God elected the people and Christ saved the people and the spirit agreed, if you will, that's a better word is purposed, purposed to call the people And out of God's goodness, because he is good, he did that. He chose people, saved the people, called the people, purposed to do so. Because of something he would get from us? Oh no. Because of something he needed from us? No. The Lord said, I'd call these rocks to stand up and pray. I don't need your praise. So that you would feed me? I don't need you to feed me. I own the cattle on a thousand hills. If I was hungry, I wouldn't come to you. And again, that's all we know is I do so that you will do. I go to work so that I will get paid. That is the gist of everything that we know. But that's not why he did it. Why did he purpose? Because he's good. Out of his goodness, he purposed to do everything that he did. Way back, we can only imagine it as time. It's in an eternity past. And he was good to do that with no input or influence or effect from anything other than from his good, from who he is, from his character, from eternity past. And that doesn't change. As good as he was, Again, function of time. As good as he was when he purposed then, he purposes now. He is good. And as good as he is now, he will be in eternity past in a way that we can't comprehend. Eternity, future. From eternity to eternity, he is good. David says, give thanks. There's our response. Give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good. I heard someone say one time that we don't, But sadly, we do. We're not to do this. We're not to judge God's providence by our circumstance. We're not to judge God's providence by our circumstance. Oh, that's too easy to do. My flesh rises up at the least little bit of inconvenience, let alone the real, the real heavy trial, which are real. Jeremiah cried a lot, and that wasn't lack of faith. That wasn't any weakness on his part. It's because the trial's real. And at the beginning of that, and certainly in the midst of it, my flesh cries out, God's providence must not be good because of how hard this is. or God must have passed me off. I can't possibly be going through this soul-crushing or body-crushing or mind-crushing trial. I can't be. God must not be good, or God must have passed me off. But that's not true. We're to judge our circumstance by God's providence. This we know, God is good. Do I understand the circumstance? Certainly not. A little boy's name's Coda. Do I understand what Coda's going through? No. No, I don't. I know that God is good. And we're not gonna judge his providence by the circumstance. We're gonna judge the circumstance by his providence, which is that he is good. He has been good. He will be good. He's good right now. And therefore, David says, we give thanks. We give thanks unto the Lord for he is good. What evidence is there that God is good? And what evidence is there that whatever goodness our evil eyes see in this world, whatever evidence that there is that we see good, what evidence is there that that's from God and not from elsewhere? What evidence is there that God is good? Well, first of all, me convincing you, right? If I were to somehow convince you or if you were to convince me that God is good, That doesn't do either one of us any good. First of all, I couldn't do it. And you couldn't either. You can't logic me there to where God is good. It doesn't help. Psalm 34, eight says, oh, taste and see. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Mental ascension. might be the beginning of wisdom to say, yeah, yeah, I see that. Oh, but to lay hold of Christ for myself and to taste and see that he is good. Taste and see that he is, isn't that what we want? We want to see his goodness. And more importantly, we want to see him in the goodness, right? We want to see Christ in that goodness. We want to see him. So where is his goodness? Turn with me, if you would, over to Exodus chapter 34. Exodus 34. What evidence is there that God is good and that goodness comes from God? Exodus chapter 34, the goodness of God. is in his declared name. God's goodness is in his character. Why did he purpose to save the people? Why has he purpose to do everything that he's ever purpose to do? Because he is good, right? God's goodness is in his declared name. And let's look at that here in Exodus chapter 34, starting in verse five. And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, that is, he stood with Moses there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. This is his name, this is his character. The Lord passed 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, 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 generation and fourth generation. And what was Moses' response in verse eight? To seeing the Lord's character, to seeing the Lord's goodness, to seeing the Lord's name. When Moses tasted and saw that the Lord is good, what was Moses' response? Moses made haste, bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. That's a good response. When he saw the Lord God merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and abundant in truth, the best my flesh could ever come up with as a picture or result of God's goodness would be that he decided to turn his head and not see my sin. And that would be the best I could do as a as a picture of God's goodness, would be to say, he's just decided to ignore my sin. He's decided to forgive me in the same manner that I forgive, which is to say, I just won't mention it. But Exodus says, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and in truth. God didn't sacrifice his justice. God didn't sacrifice his holiness. God didn't sacrifice his goodness in showing mercy, not for one minute, not for one person, not ever, ever. What he did was he expressed his mercy through Christ in the perfect sacrifice of Christ, so that justice is fulfilled, so that sin is gone, covered by Christ's blood, so that children for whom Christ died have new life who are born from above now to come and to worship and to beg for mercy, to live, to live. Never at the expense of his justice, for God is good. That would be ungood. Not at the expense of his justice, not at the expense of his truth, long suffering in mercy and in truth. so that sin is wiped away, as the scripture says, as far as the east is from the west. Sin of his people is gone in Christ. Life to his people is given in Christ. I remember after my dad passed, I remember talking to him and he pulled me aside. I'm just so struck by this. I've shared it with I don't know how many people since then. He pulled me aside. Jonathan, you know your dad's not dead, right? Your dad's alive, maybe for the first time ever. Your dad lives. And I hate to say, I heard the gospel for years and that was a whole revelation to me that that's true. Because God is good, he purposed to put away sin and to give life in Christ. In Christ, he expressed his goodness because he is good. Moses saw that and he bowed his head, as do we, onto the earth. And we worship. That's a good response. What evidence is there that God is good? It's in his declared name. It's in his character. He has a character of good. God's goodness is evidenced in his physical world. Psalm 19 states, the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork. God's goodness is shown in this physical world in contrast to us. We drove through and looked at your mountains today on the drive. Not bad. I mean, we drove through a pretty area. Mom said, well, I can't imagine here in a few weeks just how pretty those trees are going to look. And we look and we get just a glimpse of God's goodness. what a crime it would be to stop there, right? What a crime it would be to look only there, but we're left without excuse. We look up at the stars and we look at the trees and we look at this physical world and we see that God is good. So we're left with no excuse, but oh, what a crime it would be to stop there and not see the goodness of God in Christ. That's what we're to see is the goodness of God in Christ. God's goodness is evidenced in this physical world. The heaven is declared the glory of God. The firmament showeth his handiwork. God's goodness is in his merciful forbearance. The fact that we're here, the fact that God hasn't consumed us all is evidence of his goodness. Malachi 3 says, for I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Lamentation says that This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They're new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. That's when I recall that to my mind, therefore have I hope. Look, God's goodness is in his merciful forbearance. Oh, that I... that I'd wake up in the morning and think of that first, that I'd think of him first, that I'd think of his forbearance first, that I would think his mercies, his compassions, they fail not, they're new every morning. Ah, that I'd think of that first when I first wake up. His goodness is evidenced by the fact that we're here and that we're not consumed. God's goodness is even evidenced by evil man, even evidenced by evil man. Matthew says, if you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, contrast that to his goodness. If we even know that, if we who are evil know how to give good gifts, how much more than will your Father who's in heaven give good things to those who ask him? And also turn back to James. God's goodness is evidenced by evil man. All the way back to James chapter one. James chapter one, starting in verse 13. Verse 13 through 16 is us. God's goodness is evidenced by evil man. We'll see us, and then we'll see the contrast of God to see his goodness. James chapter one, starting here 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 out of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren, that's us. However, every good and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, no changing, neither is there shadow of turning. There's no changing. Even when we who are evil, express any good, any good. There is evidence of God and that goodness comes from Him because every good and every perfect gift comes from above, cometh down from the Father. Evidence is in His declared name. Evidence is in this physical world. Evidence is in the fact that we exist, of His merciful forbearance. Evidence of God's good is evidenced by evil man, when evil man, when evil us, do anything good, if you will. That's from the father above, evidence of God's goodness. But all aspects, all aspects of God's goodness are expressed back in our text, right here in verse one. All aspects of God's goodness are expressed here when David said, because his mercy endureth forever. Give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, because his mercy endureth forever. God's goodness, all of God's goodness is on display in his mercy. All of God's goodness is on his, all of his character, all of his traits, if you will, all of who he is and who he always is and who he consistently is, all of his sovereignty. all of his provision, all of his love, all of his wisdom, all of his holiness, all of his justice, all of his presence, that he would be present, all of his presence, all of his faithfulness, all of his immutability, which you all know, you're well taught of your pastor, but I have to be reminded, all of his unchangeableness. I tend to use the word unchangeableness rather than immutability. all of his unchangeableness, all. His mercy is on full display in all of his characteristics, if you will. Turn to Ephesians chapter one, and we'll go through those and see his goodness here in Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one. In his sovereignty, chapter one, verse four. Here's his sovereignty. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. There's his sovereignty. I think, when I think of God's sovereignty, I think often in Esther of King Ahasuerus, Ahasuerus, when Haman, fell on the bed, and the king was going to put him to death, right? And before the word was even out of his mouth, his assistants, his servants, those that worked for him, had the bag over Hayden's head. Before the word was even out of the king's mouth. That's the kind of authority that even this earthly king had. that kind of authority that his servants were there to understand and accomplish his will as he willed it. The word wasn't even out of his mouth yet. He didn't even have to speak it yet. And the bag was on Haman's head, just like that. When our Lord purposed, let there be light. There was light. I believe that was put in there for us, but he purposed it. Did he have to build it? Did he have to design it? Did he have to speak it? He purposed it and it was done. He purposed salvation. He purposed good for his people out of his goodness, bringing glory to his name. He purposed it. That's his sovereignty. His goodness is on display in his sovereignty. As the verse four says, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. Here's his provision that we should be holy and without blame before him. providing for his people. Here's his love, in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself. And here's his wisdom, according to the good pleasure of his will. Here's his goodness on display, verse by verse, right through Ephesians. In verse six, here's his holiness, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. Could we ever approach unto a holy God? Certainly not. How can we approach to a holy God unless we are made holy in Christ? Here's his justice, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. There's his justice, the forgiveness of sins, which is in the redemption through Christ's blood. There's his justice, all of his goodness on full display. Here's his presence, wherein he hath abounded toward us, in all wisdom and prudence. What a shame how easy it is to fall victim to what we hear, which is describing Christ's sacrifice and remission of sin as strictly a legal transaction. How cold and how It shortchanges our God's character. Was sin legally put away? Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. By Christ's perfect sacrifice, by his life as a man, by his death. by his resurrection and God's justice was satisfied. Was justice satisfied? Absolutely. In Christ, doesn't leave us alone, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, his presence. Here's his faithfulness and starting in verse nine, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which again, he had purposed in himself, his faithfulness. And 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 and which are in earth, even in him. His unchangeableness. I heard someone say one time that we, by nature, think that if God changed, it would somehow be for our good. That he saved me, and then because of something I have done since that point, because of the way that I've changed my life, whatever it is, he would continue to save me or he would somehow love me anymore. If God changed, he would see me and change his mind, right? It wouldn't be changing, it'd be changing for my bad, for sure. If he ever saw me as anything other than my sinfulness paid completely by Christ and in Christ and because of Christ, if I was ever seen any way other than that, I have no hope, I'm condemned, as is every sinner. But he doesn't. His goodness is on full display in his unchangeableness. He does not change. And justice says there would be no reason. There's no call to change. Sin is paid for, right? Christ paid for sin. There's no call to change. All of God's goodness fully displayed in his mercy, fully expressed in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where his goodness is expressed. And we read through all those attributes of God's character, all expressed in Christ there in Ephesians. David said, his mercy endureth forever. And once again, this word forever, that's not a, again, not a function of time. David describes God from everlasting to everlasting. And both that it's not relative to God's mercy, meaning from everlasting to everlasting, God's mercy doesn't run out. It doesn't diminish. There's not a finite amount of God's mercy that is slowly trickling away. Not at all. It's not relative to time. God's mercy is everlasting. It won't run out. It will not decay. It won't get dull. It won't get bored. Don't we? Right? Sometimes our heart's hot. And sometimes our heart is not. Very cold. Very cold. That's not true of our Lord. It's not. His mercy endureth forever. It doesn't diminish. It doesn't dull. It doesn't fade. Not a bit. Not one little bit. It doesn't vary. Hot and cold. God's mercy endureth. In Christ, God's mercy is. It is in Christ. Oh give thanks unto the Lord for he is good because his mercy is. It's from everlasting to everlasting, it is. David goes on then to say, who should give thanks? In verses two to four, give thanks unto the Lord for he is good because his mercy endureth forever. Who should give thanks? David says in verse two, let Israel now say that his mercy endureth forever. Let those with whom the covenant is made, Israel, let those with whom the covenant is made give thanks. And what a word of comfort to them because they had rebelled and they had left and they had gone astray and they had done everything wrong. They had turned their back on their God yet, God is good, his mercy endureth forever. He was faithful, he was merciful to honor the covenant to those who have sinned, to those who've broken the covenant, to those who have strayed, David calls them. Have you strayed? Give thanks unto the Lord for he is good. His mercy endureth forever. He will not leave you, he will not forsake you. For those to whom the covenant is made, let Israel say, his mercy endureth forever. Verse three, who else should give thanks and rejoice in the Lord's mercy? Verse three says, let the house of Aaron say, his mercy endureth forever. The sons of Aaron were responsible for the daily sacrifices. Let those, let those that see Christ's sacrifice. The sons of Aaron, let those that see Christ's sacrifice give thanks for they're accepted. They're accepted through Christ's blood. Therefore, let those who are under the covenant Let those who see Christ sacrifice, let them give thanks. And Peter calls us in verse two, he says, ye, us, right? Spiritual Israel, ye are a chosen generation. We are, it's calling Israel, that's us. We're a chosen generation. You're a royal priesthood, we're the sons of Aaron. You're a royal priesthood. "'a holy nation, a peculiar people, "'that you should show forth the praises of him "'who hath called you out of darkness "'into his marvelous light.'" So that's us. Let Israel now say that his mercy endureth forever. Let the house of Aaron now say that his mercy endureth forever. Verse four says, let them now that fear the Lord say that his mercy endureth forever. And here's where I'm at, that this, This verse, who should thanks and rejoice in God's mercy? David says, let them now that fear the Lord. Too often I hear God's promise and I think to myself, that can't be for me. It can't be, not me. I know, I know who I am. No, I don't. I know enough of who I am. to know that these promises cannot be for me. And I think most believers probably feel like I do, and they relate to the man that said, oh, I believe, help thou mine unbelief, right? And when I'm thinking that, or when you're thinking that, these promises cannot be for me, or I know many people, myself included, who sat in a pew and gave mental assent and said, yeah, that sounds right, that's who God is. Yep, there's no arguing with the scripture, right? But it's not for me. That's unbelief disguised as humility, right? It might feel good for me to say to myself, you can't save me, I'm too bad. That's unbelief, just disguised. as humility, and if the Lord had let me sit there in a pew listening, thinking to myself, that can't be for me, for the rest of my life, I'd have died to my sins, and he'd have been perfectly just to do so, right? No argument, but God. So we don't stay there, we don't stay, because the scripture says, there faileth not, not ought, of any good thing which the Lord hath spoken unto the house of Israel, all came to pass. So that this verse, verse four, let them now that fear the Lord, who should give thanks to the Lord, David writes this to everyone, to everyone. David had already written to Israel. He'd already written to the sons of Aaron. In verse four, now he says, let them now that fear the Lord say that his mercy endureth forever. This verse, this verse is to everyone. This verse is to me. If I can't see myself in the covenant, if I can't, if I've never once seen the sacrifice for myself, David says, let those now that fear the Lord say His mercy endureth forever. Come, he says, come. To those that have no right, and that's every sinner, to those who have no right to even ask for mercy before God, David says, come. That's the fear of the Lord, recognizing a glimpse of His holy separation from us when Moses saw it, He put his face in the earth and bowed and worshiped. Why? In order to receive salvation? No, because God is worthy. Because God is worthy. We see a glimpse. Because God is worthy, we worship and we say his mercy endureth forever. We come to Christ because of who he is, because of who he is. And because of who he is, the scripture says, him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Because we came? No, we come as a result of the fact that he called us and he will in no wise cast us out. Therefore we come, therefore we worship. So David says to us who have no right to even ask for mercy, come ask for mercy because of who Christ is. Let's turn back to what Lionel read this morning. I was over there chuckling, could not have fit more perfectly. Psalm 100, right? You read Psalm 100 this morning? In our text, David says, come. Psalm 100 says, make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. That's everyone, that's us. All ye lands, everyone. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord, he is God. It is he that hath made us, not we ourselves. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, into the courts with praise. Be thankful unto him. Bless his name. Why? For the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting. And his truth endureth to all generations. He will in no wise cast out." The scripture says, dead sinner, here, live, come to Christ and find mercy. That's on the authority of the scripture. Come to Christ, bow before Christ for he is worthy. Cast your sin, cast your care, cast your everything. on Christ, for he is worthy. And he that does that and comes to a throne of mercy, he will in no wise cast out." That's on the authority of the scripture. Are we preaching free will? Of course not. Of course not. Only the Lord's will is free. Our sinful fallen flesh, We'll never choose Christ, we'll never come to Christ. Later in this text, it says, he's the stone that was rejected. In John 5, Christ says, ye will not come to me that you might have life. Our free will is a will of will not. It's a will of death. I'm thankful for his free will, for our God's free will in Christ, who purposes to save. those that don't deserve it, those that have no right to be saved outside of Christ, who chooses to see them, purposes to see them in Christ. No, our will is not free. Our text here says in verse four, let them now that fear the Lord say, His mercy endureth forever. And that's again, that's to us, those that have no right, this verse is written to us. David says, give thanks and say that His mercy endureth forever. Cry unto the Lord, cry because He's good. because his mercy endureth forever. Verse six, who should give thanks and rejoice in God's mercy? Verse six, excuse me, verse five, David says, I called upon the Lord in distress. The Lord answered me and set me in a large place. I called upon the Lord. Who's commanded to come before the Lord? All of Israel, sons of Levi, all those that fear the Lord, Who's commanded to come to the Lord? I. David says, I am. I came. I came. I called upon the Lord in distress. Why? Because he's good. Because he is good. Because his mercy endureth forever. God answered him. Set him in a large place. Romans 10 states, there's no difference between the Jew and the Greek for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon his name, unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, right? Shall be, that's his purpose of our sovereign. So he is sovereign to fulfill the purpose. He is sovereign to purpose. This purpose that whosoever shall come shall be saved. He's sovereign to fulfill the shall. He's holy to fulfill the shall in Christ because of Christ's holy sacrifice, right? He's unchangeable to fulfill the shall. This wasn't a promise to David that is not a promise to his people today. Same promise, same God, same power, same sovereignty, same authority, same right. Say mercy. His mercy endureth forever. They that call upon him shall be saved. Because they called? No. Because he called them. Because he called us. Because he would not leave me sitting in that pew. Because he would. Or any place else. Because he will not leave his people there. He will not, because it's his purpose of mercy to call them out of wherever they are, because he's good, because his mercy endureth forever. I used it, and pardon me, I don't like silly examples, but silly example, bear with me. We've got this kitten, my kids got this kitten, and it's about a week older than being weaned. And it has, my goodness, this cat has energy for everything, and it has no sense whatsoever. And it's everywhere. Oh my goodness, the cat's everywhere, nonstop, all the time. But even it knows when I get myself stuck in this corner, I know to cry. And we, by nature, will not. Not to God, in Christ, in mercy. Even that dumb cat knows to cry to me, and I will come get it. And we don't, by nature. We won't. It's not just that we're ignorant to, we're rebellious to. That's our state that we're born in. And if God doesn't come to us and pull us out of there, we will die in that state. Rightfully so. Who should call upon the name of the Lord? I should. I should cry. Because he is good, because his mercy forever. I should come to him because he is worthy. Revelation says, all power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise is all due to Him. I don't... To say, come to Christ to be saved, come to Christ because He is worthy. Come to Christ because He is worthy and in Him find that He is salvation and He is wisdom and power and comfort and strength and life. and glory and praise because it's all due to him. Come to Christ because he is worthy. In verse six, David says that the Lord is on my side. What a powerful phrase that is. What a powerful statement. The Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do to me? Based on the first five verses, based on God's goodness, based on the fact that His mercy is endureth forever and exists in Christ, is shown in Christ, therefore we can say, God is on my side. I was down at, my daughter has joined competitive marching band and now most weekends we travel and we go a long way. for all these competitive marching bands. And we leave very early in the morning. A couple of Saturdays ago, we left at 7.30 in the morning. We didn't get back till 3 in the morning. Long days. And during this time, I'm busy the whole time, right? I'm pulling props. I'm doing this. And all the parents are. We're running this here. We're driving trucks there. We're feeding the kids. We're busy, busy, busy, busy. And at the end of one of these performances, we're out on the field pulling all the props off. And there's 30 of us out there. There's a lot of props. And we have a certain time frame, and we're running to pull all these props off. And we get them over to the end zone where you're allowed to set them down. and turn and watch the next band. And the next band started with the song, Be Still My Soul. At a high school, at a public high school marching band competition. And I stopped. Be still my soul. The Lord is on your side. To guide the future as he has the past. And it was just a picture. Busy, busy, busy. and just being still for just a minute. You know we're not saying stop working. No one's saying that. We work. I should have been busy, right? I should have been pulling props off. No one's saying to be a bump on the lawn. We are busy in the service of God, and we should be. that we would be honored to do anything for him. We should be busy in the service of God. To secure our salvation? Absolutely not. To gain salvation? No, that's our evil way of looking at things. Because he is worthy, because he is good, because his mercy endureth forever, while we work, we be still. Be still, my soul. And I heard that, my goodness. And again, left to ourselves, we have this picture of a well-meaning old man sitting in our corner, useless to do anything, but meaning real well. Watched a couple of girls from our congregation play in a high school volleyball game the other day. They were playing against the school that my kids go to, and I was rooting for our kids. I went over to the visitor's side against our own school, and I was rooting for these girls from our congregation. My route for them didn't change. I didn't help them. I'm a useless old man sitting over there. Right? I have no power whatsoever. All I was expressing to them was my well wishes. And left to ourselves, that's how we picture God. Sitting in the corner, wishing us well. And that could not be further from the truth. That is not who God is. God is good. His mercy endureth forever. How far must God have come? to be on my side. David says, the Lord is on my side. How far must God have come to be on my side? The scripture says, if you would turn over to Acts chapter two. Acts chapter two, starting in verse 22. Before we read that, the scripture says, We're looking at how far God must have come to be on my side. Scripture says, the word was made flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth. That's Christ. Christ was with the father from the foundation of the world before eternity began, was with the father, the word was with the father, the word was made flesh. How far God must have come to be on my side. Acts chapter two, Peter says, you 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 yourself also know, him, Jesus of Nazareth, the word, the word that was made flesh, Jesus of Nazareth, him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have slain, have crucified and slain. this same Jesus of Nazareth, verse 24, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. Verse 32 says, this Jesus, the word who has made flesh, Jesus of Nazareth, whom we crucified. Verse 32, this Jesus 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 ye now see and hear." Verse 34. 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 this same Jesus, the Word of God, Them who by the power of God, we crucified this same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, God hath made both Lord and Christ. What a distance, what a distance from God the Father to be made a man, a real man and really walk on this earth. What is the phrase we hear so frequently? As much man as if he were never God. and as much God as if he were never man, to come that distance and walk on this earth, to feel. You know, when I'm in a trial, outside of the Lord's restraining hand, I would do anything to get rid of that pain, whether it's physical pain or head pain, mental pain, heart pain, Whatever it is, left to myself, there's no telling what horrible thing I would do to get rid of that trial. Only one man on the entire face of the earth has ever had the power to do so. And when he, Christ, was faced with the worst trial that anyone living on this earth has ever faced, while he sweat great drops of blood, while he carried the weight of all of the sin of all of his people to the cross and gave his back to the smithers. Gave his face to have the hairs yanked out by the fistful. Gave his head to have a crown of thorns shoved down on it. Gave his face to be spit upon and to be ridiculed and to be completely misunderstood to be rebelled against, to be hated. He sat there and took the hatred from man to the cross, didn't shy away from the justice of God himself, not from God himself, and hung there exposed for God himself to pour his wrath upon. For sinners, The one person, the one man who has ever had the power to turn the trial off, if it was his purpose to do so, didn't. He said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And he gave up the ghost of his sovereignty, of his power, of his purpose, of his goodness for sinners to get nothing in return from us. But because he would, for his goodness, the one who could have turned the trial off didn't. Because of his character, because of his holiness, because of his goodness. What a distance Christ came to be on my side. And every child of God can say that. If it wasn't in writing, what nerve would I have to stand and say, the Lord is on my side? My goodness, what an awful, arrogant, terrible thing to say, but it's in writing because it's true. The Lord is on my side because he came that distance from glory to suffering, to sacrifice, to ridicule, to rejection, to having all the sin in his body on the tree, to dying. He gave up the ghost to die, to be raised and put on the right hand of God again, making intercession for his people. What a, what a distance he came so that we would be now be able to say, Lord is on my side. Because he chose not to give up the trial out of, the goodness of his character. He did not because he is good, because his mercy endureth forever, because he changes not. Because he needs our love, because he needs our worship. And we talked a little bit about that before. He said in Psalm, every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains, all the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you, for the world is mine and the fullness thereof." He did all this to get something from me? Certainly not. He doesn't need anything from me. Again, he'd call the rocks to worship him. In fact, he told the Pharisees that. The Pharisees told him, tell your people to be quiet. tell them to hold their peace. And Christ said, if they held their peace from praising him, even the stones would immediately begin to cry out. It's impossible, it's impossible. And in closing again, what a distance, what a distance that God would come in Christ so that we would be able to say, the Lord, Jehovah, the Lord is on my side, I will not fear. That he'd be born of a man to live a sinless life, that he was raised from the dead, seated on the right hand of God. And that's what it took, that distance for him to be on our side, for him to make us on his side also, accepted in him, right? Accepted in him so that he says in John 14, I'll come again. I will come again. That promise is just as sure as all the others. I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there ye may be also. It's not a cold, legal salvation. That he would bring his children into his presence. That where I am, that that would be his purpose. That his purpose would be that where he is, I would be with him. That where he is, you would be with him. Why? Because he's good. Because he's good. Because his mercy endureth forever. Therefore, David says, I will not fear. Not when I see Christ for who He really is. Not when I really see Him. Not when I really see Christ. When I really see a glimpse of Christ, there's no room for anything else in my vision. And you all know what that... You see Him for a minute, don't you? And there's no room for fear, he's on my side. David says, I'll fear no man. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, because his mercy endureth forever. Amen.