Turn with me, if you would, to
Psalm 31. Psalm 31. As I was reading and
searching for the message for tonight, I came across this psalm and
one verse in particular drew me to it. Verse 19, Psalm 31. Verse 19, it says, 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. Oh, how great is thy goodness. I just, when I read that, I fell
in love with the line. I fell in love with the word
oh at the beginning. Stressing the greatness. Stressing
the goodness. Oh, how great is thy goodness. How great is his goodness. It can't be fathomed. It just
cannot be I read something like this, and I think, how? I really do. How? When he knows our sin more deeply
than we do, I know my sin more deeply than you know my sin.
And you know your sin more deeply than I know your sin. But he
knows our sin more deeply than all of us combined. And when I think about the fact
that he knows me for what I am, I'm serious. I think, how? How? How could he be good to
us in a way that is beyond comprehension? How? Knowing what I do know of my
sin, I wouldn't even be good to me.
If I had to give an honest judgment concerning what I see in my flesh,
if I had to be fair and just and right, I would not be good
to me. Seeing how far I am removed from
His holiness, He is so holy, He is so pure, I am so not Just
seeing how far, it's just east from the west, I'm separated
from his holiness, his righteousness. I sincerely confess my unworthiness. And I sincerely confess my amazement
in reading and entering into this. It's hard to fathom how
he could be good to us. good to us. It's impossible to
fathom the greatness of his goodness. Oh, how great is thy goodness,
thy kindness, your favor, your grace. Goodness means grace. It means gift. Your bestowment. How great is your goodness? Verse 19 says, which thou hast
laid up. That means stored up, treasured
up, set aside, reserved. That's what man tries to do with
his savings accounts and retirement account. But it's all small,
it's unreliable, it's unstable, and it's temporary. What God
does is forever. That's what Solomon wrote. Whatever
he does is forever. The greatness of his goodness
that he has laid up, this wonderful, glorious, great goodness that
he has laid up, reserved, and set aside is so great, and it's
so vast, there is no possible way it could ever be exhausted. I love the thought of that. There's
no way that his goodness could ever be used up. No way it could
be empty. The kindness is so great. The favor is so great. The gift,
the grace is so great. It could never possibly be diminished. Never. It is incorruptible, undefiled,
and it'll never fade away. Now, who has the Lord laid up
this great goodness for? Well, verse 19 says, it's laid
up for them that fear him. Laid up for them that fear thee. That brings great comfort to
me because I believe I'm included in that. I fear him. I do. I fear Him. I know you do too. All of God's
people fear Him. All of God's people reverence
Him. All of God's people bow to Him
and fear standing before His judgment throne outside of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We fear that. And if that's us, then we can
take comfort in this right here. Verse 19 says, oh, how great
is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee,
which thou hast wrought. That means worked. The work that you worked. How
was that goodness laid up for them that fear Him? That goodness,
that grace, that favor, it all had to be worked for. It all
had to be earned. Who did the work? The one we're trusting in did
all the work. Our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ. God's sacrificed
Lamb did the work. He did the work. And He finished
the work. And that finished work is the
only hope we have, and that's why we're trusting in Him. You
know that? His finished work is the only
hope we have, and that's why we're trusting in Him. Verse
19 says, 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. Now, I did a little search,
a scripture search on three words in this verse. When I read these
three words, it just made me want to search this little phrase,
great is thy. David said, great is thy goodness. Great is that let me show you
two more scriptures that declare his greatness with those three
words specifically turn with me to Psalm 86. Psalm 86. Verse 13 says, great is thy mercy. In Psalm 31, David said, great
is thy goodness, great is your grace, great is your grace. And here he says, great is your
mercy. That's why his goodness can be
so great to us. That's how his goodness can be
so great to us. It's because his mercy is so
great to us. Mercy is amazing. It's the only
way I know to say it. Mercy is amazing. It is an amazing
gift from God to his people. Mercy. It was his mercy that
wrought the work that brought the grace. It was his grace that
gave the gift that brought the mercy. You can look at it however
you want to look at it. But his mercy, God pouring out
his judgment on Christ, whenever you think about that, do you
think, why, how? The spotless holy lamb of God. God pouring his judgment on Christ
instead of us, all who have been caused to fear him. Outside of
God creating a fear in a center for Christ, there is no fear
of God before their eyes. They don't fear him. But every
soul that has been given a heart to fear him and to trust to him
and to look to him and hope in him, God pouring out His judgment
on Christ instead of us. That was His mercy to us. And
great was His mercy. It was a great outpouring. It
required a great outpouring. And it was His great mercy to
us. Verse 12 right here says, I will praise thee, O Lord. You see that capital L, lowercase,
O-R-D? That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
I will praise thee, O Lord, my God, with all my heart, and I
will glorify thy name forevermore, for great is thy mercy toward
me. and thou hast delivered my soul
from the lowest hell. Why would he do that? Why would
he do that? Do you honestly not stand amazed
in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how he could
love us, sinners condemned unclean? How? Why such mercy? Why such
grace? Why would He do that for us?
Why would He do that for us? Our last scripture with those
three words will answer that. Turn with me if you would to
Lamentations chapter 3. Lamentations 3, look at the last
half of verse 23. It says, I'm gonna wait. I hear too many
pages turning. Let everybody get there. It says, great is thy faithfulness. Does that not warm your heart? Why would He show such mercy
and grace to us? Why would He do that? It's because
great is His faithfulness. He promised to do it for His
people, therefore He did it. Because He could swear by no
greater, He swore by Himself. He said, I promise on my own
name, for my name's sake, I'll do it." Therefore, he did it. He endured the affliction. He
endured the misery. He endured the wormwood. He endured
the gall. His soul still has them in remembrance
and is quieted in him. After all of that wormwood and
misery and suffering and gall and affliction, every time he
remembers that, his soul is appeased. His wrath is appeased. That's
what verse 19 and verse 20 says right here. Remembering mine
affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall, my soul
hath them still in remembrance and is humble in me. Therefore
we, his people, say in verse 21, this I recall to my mind,
therefore have I hope. This is why I have so much hope.
It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because his
compassions fail not. They are new every morning. How much mercy does the Lord
have for me? Don't you wish more people would ask that question?
How much mercy does the Lord have for me? And don't you wish
you could tell more people? It's infinite. It's infinite. It's never ending. It starts
over brand new every single morning. You ever go to bed at night thinking,
Oh, wretched man that I am once again. Well, the next morning
it's all covered in mercy. You'll never exhaust it. You'll
never empty it. It's the greatest news I've ever
heard in my life. That's the greatest news. Verse 23 says,
They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. The
Lord is my portion, saith my soul. Therefore will I hope in
him. The Lord is good. unto them that
wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that
a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the
Lord. Oh, how great is his goodness. Great is his mercy. Great is
his faithfulness. It's so great. It makes us want
to tell everybody about it. Makes you want to go tell everybody
about it. It is so great. It makes you want to go tell
everybody. Turn with me back to Psalm 31. This goodness and mercy and faithfulness
of the Lord to us has been recorded in this Psalm. That goodness,
that mercy, that faithfulness, that has been recorded in this
Psalm. And what I want us to do is read it and see it. This won't take long. But see
if the Lord will make this to be a blessing to you, okay? This
declares the work that our Lord wrought to save our souls. David said this, he meant it
as he was crying this. David wrote these words, he meant
it. We say this, but we also hear the voice of
our Lord in everything that he endured for us, in the garden,
on the cross, in the grave, Do we not hear his voice in verse
five? He said, into thine hand, I commit
my spirit. We not hear his voice in that.
Just before he bowed his head and gave up the ghost into thine
hand, I commit my spirit. Listen to his voice in this.
Okay. Listen to the garden, the cross,
the grave. Verse one, this is our Lord speaking.
He says, in thee, O Lord, do I put my trust. Envision him
in the garden as the sin of his people was being pressed into
him. In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust. Let me never be ashamed. Deliver me in thy righteousness
while all of this sin is being pressed into me. Bow down thine
ear to hear me. Deliver me speedily. Oh Lord,
if it be possible that this cut pass from me. I'm sorrowful unto
death. Bow down thine ear to me. Deliver me speedily. Be thou
my strong rock for in house of defense to save me. For thou
art my rock and my fortress. Therefore, for thy name's sake,
lead me and guide me. Listen to the cross right here.
Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me, for
thou art my strength. Into thine hand I commit my spirit. Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord
God of truth. I have hated them that regarded
lying vanities, but I trust in the Lord. I will be glad and
rejoice in thy mercy. I'll do this for the joy set
before me, the mercy that's coming through this right here. I'll
be glad and rejoice in thy mercy for thou has considered my trouble. Thou has known my soul in adversities
and has not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. Thou has set
my feet in a large room. Have mercy upon me, oh 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 and my bones are consumed. All of my bones, my
people, bone of my bone, we were all consumed in him. That fire
of God's judgment, it consumed us in the sacrifice of him. And it's all because he took
our sin and our sorrows and made them his very own. My iniquity. Verse 11, he said, I was a reproach
among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbors in a fear
to mine acquaintance. They that did see me without
fled from me. Now listen to the grave. I am
forgotten as a dead man out of mind. I'm 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. My times are in thy hand. Deliver
me from the hand of my enemies and from them that persecute
me. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant. Save me for thy
mercy's sake. 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. Now listen to the resurrection. 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 pride 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. Listen to that ascension. Blessed
be the Lord, he hath showed me his marvelous kindness in a strong
city, for I said in my haste, I'm cut off from before thine
eyes. Nevertheless, thou heardest the
voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee. Oh, love the
Lord, all ye his saints, for the Lord preserveth the faithful
and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. Be of good courage,
and he shall strengthen your heart. All ye that hope in the
Lord. That's glorious, isn't it? That's
just glorious. Oh, how great is thy goodness. Great is thy mercy, great is
thy faithfulness, Lord unto us. That's our salvation, and it
makes me wanna go tell everybody. It makes us want to go tell everybody. It's so glorious, it makes us
want to tell how great things the Lord has done for us. I want
to read this to you in closing. This is an excerpt from one of
Brother Henry's messages, and Tony handed me this years ago,
and this is my first time reading it. But this is just wonderful.
I thought about this whenever I was thinking, this is so great,
it just makes you wanna go tell everybody. This is from a TV
broadcast, so he's preaching to the general public of Ashland.
He said, I was down in Mexico last week visiting with some
missionaries, and I had the privilege of preaching in several pueblos
there. I went out to one little village,
a two or three hour drive over a dirty, rough, and rocky road.
There were some people knitting like their ancestors did a thousand
years ago. They were grinding their corn
with rocks and cooking on rocks outside. They were living in
little mud and huts with thatched roofs and dirt floors and sleeping
in hammocks. They had a group of believers
there, a church. I preached to 70 or 80 people
there in that little church that they'd built. Not with American
dollars, nor with somebody putting a church up and financing it.
They did it themselves and it took them four years to do it,
but they laid every rock and every stone and every piece of
roofing and they did it themselves. I talked to these different believers
through an interpreter. I preached the gospel through
an interpreter. These believers were going to
other villages, telling about Christ, preaching the gospel. They were going to these villages
and one of them was six hours long one way. They walked six
hours one way to preach and six hours back. They asked us to
help them to get a motorcycle so they wouldn't have to walk
so far. They said, but whether you get
the motorcycle or not, we're going on and telling men about
Christ. We can't help but tell men about the Lord. He's done
so much for us and we're so grateful for his grace and his mercy. His grace is so great. His mercy
is so great. His faithfulness is so great.
That's our salvation. That's our message. That's our
glory. We glory in Him, don't we? Let's
go tell everybody. Let's all stand together.