Good evening. If you would, open
back to Psalm 31. Long ago, there was a people
who had lived all their lives as slaves. They were always in bondage. Work all they might, they could
never render enough work to redeem themselves out of their bondage.
They were held captive. But these people had a hope.
Although I wonder how many of them remembered that they had
a hope. It had been many years that they
were under bondage, enslaved. But these people were the children
of a man who had received the promise of redemption from Almighty
God. While some of these, and perhaps
many of these, had forgotten that promise. He never did. He is faithful. At the time appointed,
the Lord God remembered these people, these people Israel,
and he delivered them with a great blood-bought redemption from
their bondage. Then as they left Egypt, he led
them in the way. to a place where they were hemmed
in. To the left and to the right,
impassable terrain. Before them, the Red Sea. Behind them, the army of Egypt
set on their destruction. Trouble. Trouble on every side. Have you been there? As I started preparing this message,
I thought about us as a whole. I went pew by pew, and every
family in this little group has had trouble, recent trouble. It's not long ago, every one
of us. Then, more recently even, today,
we hear more trouble, heartache and grief. Sickness, injuries, the departure
of loved ones, the long-lasting effects of sin is ever with us. Truly, we live out the truth
of Job, man that is born of woman is a few days and full of trouble. Israel standing there at the
Red Sea, they needed to hear a sure word of comfort in their
trouble, and they heard it. Moses said unto the people, fear
ye not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. In my trouble, I need a word
of comfort. I need some good news. And I
pray the Lord will give us some comfort to our heart here. Psalm
31 verse 19. Oh, how great is thy goodness,
which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, which thou hast
wrought in them that trust in thee before the sons of men. Pray the Lord will teach us something
of his goodness tonight as we consider whose goodness it is. the magnitude of his goodness,
who it's for, how it was obtained, and what the goodness of God
produces in us sinners. First, whose goodness are we
considering? Oh, how great is thy goodness. Over in verse one, we read, in
thee, O Lord. We are considering the goodness
of the Lord God of our salvation. Is there any other to find goodness
in? While walking in the flesh, our
God proclaimed, there is none good but one. That is God. He who is good can do nothing other than good. All that he does is good. And why is it important to know
whose goodness we're considering? Well, let's say you're in trouble. Your house payment is due and
you've got nothing to pay with. If you don't make that payment,
you're going to lose your home. And I walk up to you and say,
tell you what, don't worry about it. I got you covered. But there's a problem. I myself
am bankrupt and homeless. There's no good news for you
in me coming up and saying that. For you to get some good news
in your hour of trouble, you need to hear from someone who
is both able and willing to meet your needs. Any other announcement
to you is nothing but vain words. They're empty and useless, and
they'll bring you no comfort. This evening, we are considering
the goodness of the Lord God Almighty. Who is he? He is the everlasting I Am. He is the Lord, your Holy One,
the Creator of Israel, your King. He is the only God. There is none beside me. And thank God, He is a just God
and a Savior. Where would we be if He were
not a Savior? Ask those fallen angels. There
was no salvation for them. We would be rightfully and justly
condemned. But, but God, he has made an
everlasting covenant with himself. And therefore, we read in Psalm
130, there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. This is our Lord, this is our
God, and he is both able and willing to bestow goodness. Are you in trouble? Are you hemmed
in on every side with no hope? Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. Turn to him, flee to him, trust
in him, and see the goodness of the Lord. Adam, when he sinned against
God, he saw the goodness of the Lord. Israel there at the Red
Sea was delivered and they saw the goodness of the Lord. His goodness was mightily displayed
in the times of the apostles. Is there yet goodness left for
you and for me? Does he still have some goodness? Oh, how great is thy goodness. The Lord's goodness is like unto
him, unfathomable, unmeasurable, without beginning, without ending,
inexhaustible and abundant. Turn over to Exodus chapter 34. Exodus 34 verse 6. And the Lord passed by before
Moses and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth. The goodness
of the Lord is abundant. It far exceeds anything that
can be laid in comparison to it. Is there trouble? The Lord is abundant in goodness. Is there heartache? The Lord
is abundant in goodness. Is there sin that separates you
and your God? The Lord is abundant in goodness. Beyond the abundance of His goodness,
He is the ever-present I AM. And so his goodness, like unto
him, is ever present. It's always there where he is. Oh, how great is thy goodness,
which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee. All of mankind are partakers
of the Lord's goodness while we walk on this earth. All men benefit from his goodness
in his long suffering towards sinful men. The goodness of the Lord has
been laid up, it's been put in store, it's been reserved for
certain people. Those people that Moses led out
of Egypt, they all had a common bond. They all had something
that tied them together. These men, these women, were
all of the lineage and the bloodline of one man, Jacob, the son of
Isaac, the son of Abraham. Only these people were the partakers
of the blood redemption that freed Israel from Egypt. As Israel had a common bond,
so too do all those who are recipients of God's goodness. They fear
the Lord. Do I, do you, fear the Lord? Are we a recipient of God's goodness
that is laid up in store for those that fear him? Do we have a reason to fear? What is it about God that should
give a sinner a reason to fear? Now, I'm thankful I know very
little about organized false religion. I was spared from that. But that doesn't mean that I
don't know false religion. It abides right here. I worshipped for many years the
little god of my imagination. And there was absolutely no reason
to fear that God. You see, he and I had an understanding. I would make a promise to do
or not to do something and basically immediately break that promise. But that's OK. We'll try again
tomorrow. There was no reason to fear there. My natural description was recorded
by Isaiah in Isaiah 28, 15. Because ye have said, because
I said, I've made a covenant with death. And with hell, we
are in agreement. When the overcoming scourge,
my conscience bore witness against me that I was guilty, I knew
deep inside I was wrong. There was a price to be paid.
But I ignored it. When the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, it shall not come unto us. It won't come
unto me. I've made lies my refuge, and
under falsehood, I hid myself. Hid myself under lies, under
falsehoods, and I had no reason to fear that little G-God. Here in Exodus 34, this is where
I placed my trust. Verse 6, And the Lord passed
by before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful
and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and
truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression
and sin. And I stopped there. See, that's
a God I like. That's one me and my endemic
nature can get along with. He forgives everything. All is
well. One day. One day. God in mercy dealt with
me like he did to Paul. And he revealed himself to me. He revealed in the preaching
of his word, I am God and there is none else. I am God and there
is none like me. Especially not your little God. He revealed his name. He revealed
his character to me. He is holy. He is separate from
sinners. He is just, and he cannot be
unjust. He is righteous. Sin cannot stand
in his presence. He is light. He is life. He is all. And as he revealed
something of who he is to me, he started revealing something
of what I am to me as well. I am sin. I am darkness. I am death. Without God, without
hope and undone. If the Lord is pleased to reveal
this to any man, woman, boy or girl. We will fear this Lord God. Let's finish reading the nature,
the character of this true God. Exodus 34 verse 6, And the Lord
passed by before Moses 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. That's me, guilty. Visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children and upon the children's children
until the third and to the fourth generation. This God, this Lord,
this is a God that is holy, just, and right. This is a God to be
worshiped. This is the God that will cause
the guilty sinner to follow Moses in verse 8, and Moses made haste
and bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. We can go back to Psalm 31 now. Oh, how great is thy goodness,
which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee. What is the goodness
that the Lord has laid up to those that fear him? What's the
desire of the heart that the Lord has imparted? I think Paul
said it best, that I may win Christ and be found in him. How, how might this goodness,
how might Christ be won, be obtained? Oh, how great is thy goodness,
which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, which thou hast
wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men. Our Lord Jesus Christ is all
and in all. He is the reward and he is the
rewarder. Sinful man is so far separated
from God that we cannot approach to him. In Adam, we died and
were cast out. but God, sending his own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in
the flesh." Our Lord came in our likeness,
in the flesh. And he walked as our substitute
in absolute perfect obedience to the law. And he was found
perfectly righteous as a man before God. And this is what he did for us.
Psalm 31, verse one. In thee, O Lord, do I put my
trust. He trusted when we could not. He trusted for us. Let me never be ashamed. Our Lord had nothing to be ashamed
of, but I do. My heritage, what I've inherited
from my father, I'm a slave, sold under sin. What I've done
myself, sold myself into slavery with my sin. In thee, O Lord, do I put my
trust. Let me never be ashamed. Deliver
me in thy righteousness. Bow down thine ear to me. Deliver
me speedily. Be thou my strong rock for an
house of defense to save me. For thou art my rock and my fortress. Therefore, For thy names sake,
lead me and guide me. Our Lord, the man Jesus of Nazareth,
honored and glorified God's name the whole time he walked on this
earth. For this wretch, who does nothing
but bring shame to his name, in and of myself. For thou art my rock and my fortress,
therefore, for thy name's sake, lead me and guide me. Pull me
out of the net that they have laid privily for me, for thou
art my strength. I am continually ensnared in
the sin which so easily besets me. And I have no strength to
get out myself, but he is able. He is my strength. He has made
himself my strength. He took my place and allowed
himself to be ensnared. in my net. He trusted for his elect bride
in a way that we never can, but oh, how we have a heart to want
to. In our hours of trouble, in times
of grief, our hope, our plea, our comfort, In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust. Hear me, help
me, deliver me. And the only reason that I can
give for you to do so is for thy great namesake. To you be all glory and praise. Our Lord, having fulfilled the
law and the prophets that we cannot. He gave himself to pay
the price of our redemption. Verse nine. The words of our Lord. Bearing our trouble. Have mercy
upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble. Mine eye is consumed
with grief, yea, my soul and my belly. For my life is spent
with grief, and my years with sighing. My strength faileth
because of mine iniquity." He's so identified with us. He calls my iniquity his own. and my bones are consumed. I was a reproach among all mine
enemies, but especially among my neighbors,
and a fear to mine acquaintance. They that did see me without
fled from me. He was left alone. I am forgotten as a dead man
out of mind. I am like a broken vessel. For I have heard the slander
of many. Fear was on every side. While
they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away
my life. But I trusted in thee, O Lord. I said, thou art my God. He so identified with us, his
people, that on the cross his cry was not, my Father, my Father,
but my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He went to his cross, he poured
out his blood, and he cried, it is finished. And then, quoting
verse five, he said, Father, into thine hands I commend my
spirit. He was taken down from the cross,
he was placed in the tomb, and on the third day, he arose. Our conquering victorious Savior,
verse 15, my times are in thy hand. Deliver me from the hand
of mine enemies and from them that persecute me. And he was. Make thy face to shine upon thy
servant. Save me for thy mercy's sake. And his prayer was answered.
Let me not be ashamed, O Lord, for I have called upon Thee.
Let the wicked be ashamed and let them be silent in the grave. Let the lying lips be put to
silence, which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously
against the righteous. Our Lord of Himself accomplished
our salvation. Finally, what is our response
to the goodness of the Lord? Those whom the Lord has been
pleased to have mercy upon, what is our response? Repentance,
a change of mind. Where before I trusted in lies
and falsehoods, now, verse six, He's given me a heart. I have
hated them that regard lying vanities, but I trust in the
Lord. I turn against myself, my lies,
my vanities. My falsehoods that I once trusted
in, he has turned me and now I trust in the Lord. I am grateful and thankful for
his great mercy and kindness. Verse seven. I will be glad and
rejoice in thy mercy for thou has considered my trouble. Thou hast known my soul in adversities. He knows my frailties. He knows my condition. He's been
where I am. And he's not shut me up into
the hand of the enemy. Thou hast set my feet in a large
room. He's done it all. To him be all
glory, all honor, praise, Because of the goodness of the
Lord, we are hidden in the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 19. Oh, how great is thy goodness,
which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, which thou hast
wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men.
Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the prod
of man. Thou shalt keep them secretly
in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the Lord,
for he hath showed me his marvelous kindness in a strong city. For I said in my haste, I am
cut off from before thine eyes. Trouble has come, and I've looked
within, and I am cut off in my sight, but not in his. I'm redeemed, everlastingly his. Nevertheless, thou heardest the
voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee, even when
I thought I was cut off. O love the Lord, all ye his saints! For the Lord preserveth the faithful,
and plentifully rewardeth the of good courage, and he shall
strengthen your heart. All ye that hope in the Lord. I pray the Lord will make that
a comfort to us.