I want to begin this message by just reading some verses that
will lead up to our text. And I wanna do this because as
I was going through the concordance, reading verses that had to do
with the subject that we're gonna look at tonight, It really blessed
me. It blessed me so, so much. This event just blessed my heart. And it really confirmed this
to me, just verse after verse. And I want you to have the same
experience that I had. That's why I want to do it this
way, because this is how it came to me, and this is how I want
to bring it to you. I'm hoping this will bless you
too. Whenever you look at a concordance,
it lists verses of scripture in order. As you look up something
in a Bible concordance, it'll give you a verse that has to
do with this word or this subject. And I read one and I thought, man,
that is good. That's just so good. And then I read another one and
I thought, that's good. And then I read another one and
I thought, man, that is good. And I finally got to one and
I thought, that's our text. That one's our text. So let me
just read some of these to you, okay? I'm gonna not necessarily
deal with the, the story around these verses. I'm just going
to read the verses and this is what I want to ask you to do
before we do this. Ask the Lord silently in your
heart if he will make this to be a blessing to you. We come
in We fervently love each other and hug each other and glad to
see each other. Now we've sat down, let's see
if the Lord will let us leave everything for just a minute.
And I want to encourage you young people to do the same thing.
You young people, I want you to quietly in your heart, ask
the Lord to make his word to be a blessing to you. The Lord
blesses his word to the hearts of his people. So maybe he will
prepare us. Maybe he will make us ready.
Just like Lydia, it says, the Lord opened her heart. Ask the
Lord to open your heart to this, okay? Let me just read these
verses. The first one is in Exodus 18.
Turn with me if you would to Exodus chapter 18. Exodus 18 verse 9 says, and Jethro rejoiced for all the
goodness which the Lord had done to Israel, whom he had delivered
out of the hand of the Egyptians. Verse 8 says, Moses told his
father-in-law all that the Lord had done unto Pharaoh and to
the Egyptians for Israel's sake and all the travail that had
come upon them by the way and how the Lord delivered them.
And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness. which the Lord had
done to Israel, whom he had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians."
Jethro rejoiced over that. Turn with me to Exodus 33. Exodus
33, verse 18. And Moses said, I beseech thee,
show me thy glory. And the Lord said, I will make
all my goodness pass before thee. And I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee and will be gracious to whom I will be
gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. He
said, all my goodness, I'll make it pass before you. All my goodness,
all my goodness. Turn over to 1 Kings 8. It's after Samuel, 1 Kings. And look with me at verse 66,
1 Kings 8 verse 66. It says, on the eighth day, Solomon sent
the people away and they blessed the king. That means they thanked
the king and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart
for all the goodness that the Lord had done for David, his
servant, and for Israel, his people. All the goodness, all
the goodness. Go with me to Psalm 23. Psalm 23 verse six says, surely
goodness. What a thing to be reading. What
a thing to be reading. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. Surely, goodness. Look at Psalm 27. Verse 13. It says, I had fainted unless
I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the
living. He said, that's what keeps me
going. believing that I will see with my own two eyes, the
goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. One more Psalm
107. Psalm 107, verse eight says,
oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for
His wonderful works to the children of men. Oh, that men would praise
the Lord for His goodness. Oh, that I would praise the Lord
and we would praise the Lord for His goodness and His wonderful
works to the children of men. Those are good, aren't they?
All right, now go with me to the one that will be our text.
It's Isaiah 63. Isaiah 63 verse seven says, I will mention the loving kindness
of the Lord and the praises of the Lord according to all that
the Lord hath bestowed on us and the great goodness toward
the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according
to his mercies and according to the multitude of his loving
kindnesses. Amen. Amen. Every child of God will
come to that conclusion right there. Every child of God, in
the end, All of God's people will say that very thing. I will
mention the loving kindness of the Lord and the praises of the
Lord according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us and
the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath
bestowed on them according to his mercies and according to
the multitude of his loving kindnesses." Every child of God will say,
that's what I'll mention. That's what I'll mention. That's
what I want to talk about. All you have to do is get them
together. All you have to do is get God's people together.
And that's what they'll mention. That's what they'll talk about.
They will mention His loving kindness. They will mention His
goodness. They will mention His mercy.
They will mention how worthy He is to be praised for it. Now, I want to personally mention
those things tonight, but before I do, I want to glory in this
right here. The heading at the top of my page, I know that our
headings may be a little different, but the heading at the top of
my page says, Christ showeth who he is and his power to save. That's what this is about, okay?
This is Christ speaking. When I read that, I thought,
how glorious is that? This is Christ speaking. He is
the one right here who is saying, I will mention the loving kindness
of the Lord and the praises of the Lord, according to all that
the Lord hath bestowed on us and the great goodness toward
the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them, according
to his mercies and according to the multitude of his loving
kindnesses. That's Christ speaking. In this chapter, he's mentioning
every bit of that. He's telling us what it is. Now,
what is it? What is the loving kindness and
what is the praise and what is the goodness and what is the
mercy of the Lord? What is it? Look with me at verse
one. He says, who is this that cometh
from Edom? With dyed garments. Who is this
that cometh from Edom with dyed garments? Edom means red. When
you look that word up, it means red. Who is this that is coming
in red stained garments? From Basra. That means the sheepfold. Who is this coming out of the
sheepfold in red stained garments? This that is glorious in his
apparel, traveling in the greatness of
his strength. Who is it? That's the question. Who is this? Who is it? He answers. He said, it is I that speak in
righteousness, mighty to save. That's who it is. It is I. It
is I. Isn't that what he said to the
disciples? He said, fear not. It is I. It is I. The question then continues. It comes in verse two. He says,
wherefore art thou red in thine apparel and thy garments like
him that treadeth the wine fat? Why are your garments, what is
covering you? What has been laid on you? Why
are they dyed so blood red? He answers the question in verse
3. He says, it's because I have trodden the winepress alone. That's the reason why. The winepress of the judgment
of my people. That's what the winepress was. The winepress of the vengeance
that had to come down on God's people. It had to. It had to. The violent wrath that had to
come down on their sin. This is a holy God and it had
to come down. Verse three, he said, I have
trodden the winepress alone. And of the people, there was
none with me. For I will tread them in mine
anger and trample them in my fury and their blood shall be
sprinkled upon my garments and I will stain all my raiment. He's saying vengeance is mine
on their sin. And he's saying, I will make
the vengeance that must come down on their sin to be mine. Vengeance is mine on their sin.
And I will make the vengeance that has to come down on their
sin to be mine. I will lay that vengeance that's
owed to them. I'll take that vengeance upon
myself. I have laid that vengeance on myself. I have judged them. I have been judged for them. I have been just in justifying
them. Verse three, he said, I have
trodden the wine press alone. And of the people, there was
none with me. For I will tread them in mine anger, and trample
them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments,
and I will stain all my raiment." He said, I'll do it. I'll do
it. I have the power to do this.
He said, I lay down my life. No man takes my life from me,
I lay it down. I have the power to take it again.
This have I received of my father. Verse four, he said, for the
day of vengeance is in my heart. And the year of my redeemed has
come. He said, it's in my heart to
do this for my redeemed. It's in my heart to do this for
them. God has a particular people that he has chosen to show his
goodness to, and he's chosen to show his mercy to, and he's
chosen to show his loving kindness to. And every time a great sinner
hears that, he or she thinks, why? Why would He choose to show
such goodness and love and mercy and kindness? Why? That's what
it pleased Him to do. The Lord is good. The Lord is
good. He's merciful. He said, it was
in my heart to do it for them. And He said, the great day came
that I did it. I did it for them. Verse five. And I looked, and
there was none to help. And I wondered that there was
none to uphold. Therefore, mine own arm brought
salvation unto me, and my fury upheld me. And I will tread down
the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and
I will bring down their strength to the earth. He's saying the
fire of my anger against the sin of my people, that furious
war that he had to encounter with the sin of his people. God
is angry with the wicked every day. That's me in this flesh. The anger of the Lord was kindled
against the sin and rebellion against him. He went to war with
our sin. He went to war with our sin,
our sin. That conflict was in him. And he said, my fury did not
ease until victory over the sin of my people was won. And he's saying, I wasn't eased
at all until all that enmity and all that blasphemy and everything
that they were in their sin was dead. He said, until that happened,
my fury held me up, held my arm up. Paul said, I was crucified
in Christ. I was crucified, I was killed,
slain under the judgment of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. That
war raged on until everything that was against him. This is
such wonderful news. That war raged on until everything
that was against him was dead and the battle was his and the
war was over and he'd gotten the victory. Now, what do you call that? What
do you call God dealing with his people that way? He said
in verse seven, I call it the loving kindness of the Lord and
the praises of the Lord. according to all that the Lord
hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house
of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies,
and according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses." Now, what we just read right
there, that taking place, you know, that takes place on all
sin. all sinful men and women, that taking place outside of
Christ, that's called the condemnation
of the Lord. That's not called the loving kindness of the Lord.
Judgment, when God rained down judgment in the days of Noah,
judgment fell on everybody. Judgment fell on Noah, his wife,
his sons, and their wives. God's judgment came down on all
eight of them. in the ark. In the ark, they
were in the loving kindness of God. Outside the ark, they were
under the condemnation of God. And outside of Christ, that's
just the vengeance and the wrath and the judgment of God on sin,
but in Christ. If all that happened to us in
Christ, that is called the loving kindness of the Lord. That's
called His mercy. That's called His goodness to
His people. Verse eight says, we'll read
verse seven again. He said, I'll mention the loving
kindness of the Lord and the praises of the Lord according
to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us and the great goodness
toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according
to his mercies and according to the multitude of his loving
kindnesses. Verse eight says, for he said,
surely they are my people. Children that will not lie. That means children who he is
going to rid them of their lies. He's going to rid them of their
sin. He's going to make them holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight. Verse eight goes on to say, so
he was their savior. Verse nine says in all their
affliction, he was afflicted. And the angel of His presence
saved them. In His love and in His pity,
He redeemed them. And He bare them and carried
them all the days of old. Is that not glorious? Is that
not goodness? Goodness? Goodness? Look at verse 10. But they rebelled
and vexed His Holy Spirit. Is that not us? What did He do
in return? Verse 11 says, He remembered
the days of old. He remembered His covenant. And He loved them anyway. He
saved them anyway. He pitied them anyway. He redeemed
them anyway. He bared them anyway. He carried
them anyway. Our Lord is not good to us because
we're worthy of his goodness. He's good to us because of his
covenant. That's why he's good to us. He's
good to us because he made a covenant. He's good to us because he's
faithful to his promises. He didn't see anything in us.
You know, we just sang that song that I love so much. Oh, the
love that sought me. Oh, the blood that bought me.
Oh, the grace that brought me to the fold. I quote it all the
time. That first verse, I love it. To hear the courts of heaven
ringing, singing. Oh, the love. I love that song.
But verse three says, I wonder what he saw in me to suffer such
deep agony. Sin. That's what he saw in me. That's why he suffered such deep
agony. It was sin. It wasn't anything in us that
caused him to do that in the first place. It's not anything
in us that keeps us in his favor and loving kindness. It's his
faithfulness to his promise. His faithfulness. That's why
the Lord is good to us. That's why we will mention His
goodness to us. That's what we will mention about
it. He has promised to be good to His people and therefore He
will be. He will be. Turn over to Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31, verse 14 says, and I will satiate, that means
fill up, that means satisfy. I will satiate the soul of the
priests with fatness And my people shall be satisfied with my goodness,
saith the Lord. My people shall be satisfied
with my goodness. That's why the Lord is good to
us. It's because he has promised to be, and he is so faithful
to his promises, so faithful. In closing, turn with me to Romans
8. Any guesses what verse we'll
be reading? Romans 8 verse 28 says, and we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God to them who are the
called according to his purpose." All things work together for
good. All things. In Christ, it's all
things. I've told you before that at
some point toward the end of Brother Henry Mahan's human life,
He decided that he had heard all the bad news he was ever
going to hear. He was done with bad news. No more. It did not
matter what you complained to him about. His response was,
but it's good, right? Well, I mean, but it's good,
right? Well, actually, you know, honestly,
but it's good, right? It's good. It's good, whatever
it is. It's good. Whatever it is, it's
goodness to God's people. Whatever it is. I think we all
love the story of George Whitfield riding on his horse to go preach.
He was riding in the pouring rain and he's just complaining
the whole time and just miserable the whole time. While this raining,
the man jumps out to rob him. And his flint pistol won't go
off because it's soaking wet. And George Whitefield cries,
thank you for the goodness of dumping rain on me. Absolute
goodness, goodness, all goodness. It's all, I wish we could see
what God sees right now. One day we will. William Cooper
wrote, Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take. The clouds you
so much dread. You know there are dark clouds
ahead. You know they are. The clouds
you so much dread, like, oh no, no, please don't let that one
come over. The clouds you so much dread
are big with mercy and will break in blessings on your head. It
is always goodness for God's people, no matter what it is.
No matter what it is. Let's mindfully, heartfully mention
that. Let's remember that. Let's mindfully,
heartfully praise the Lord for His goodness to us. That first scripture, the first
one we read, it says, Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, he rejoiced
for all the goodness which the Lord has done to Israel. I'm
telling you, the Lord has been good to us. He has been so good
to us. Let's do that with Jethro. Let's
rejoice. Let's do that in our hearts and
in our minds. And let's constantly make mention
of that to each other. Like the scripture says, comfort
one another with these words. Let's make mention of these things.
He has been so good to us. Let's praise the Lord for his
great goodness that he has bestowed on the house of Israel. All right,
Brother Dwight, you come.