Turn with me, if you would, back
to Psalm 107. Psalm 107. This message came about because
of a note that I received from a dear believer who had written
a scripture on the bottom of the note, and that happens to
me a lot, and I usually tell you when it happens. You know,
somebody will pass along a scripture, whether it's on a note or sometimes
people just say it, and they'll pass it along because it's a
blessing to them, and then I'll go and read it, and it's a blessing
to me, and the Lord will lead me to speak on it. It doesn't
happen every time, It happens sometimes, and I'm telling you
that to say, pass Scripture to each other. It can be a real
blessing, be a real blessing. Well, the Scripture that was
written on the bottom of this note was Psalm 107, verse one. And I'm gonna read this verse
to you, and then I wanna point out the one word, one word, that
really grabbed me and made me want to preach from this this
morning. Psalm 107, verse one says, Oh,
give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth
forever. What a beautiful verse. Every word in that verse is glorious. It is glorious. I don't want
to put one word above another word. I don't want to do that.
Every word in that verse is glorious. But let me point out the one
word that really got me. It's the word for, F-O-R. All right, I'll show you why.
Verse one says, oh, give thanks unto the Lord. What should we
do? We should give thanks. We do
give thanks. We get to give thanks. Do you
know that some people don't give thanks? But we're counted among
the ones Who get to? We have been made to. We have
been called to it. What a privileged people. We
get to give thanks. We do give thanks. We should
give thanks. To who? The Lord. We give thanks unto the Lord. Unto the Lord. Not to my mama
because she this or my who it, unto the Lord. It's all unto
the Lord. Why? For he is good. That's why. That's why we give
thanks to the Lord. It's because he is good. Now, okay, here we go. Why is He good? Why? Oh, give thanks unto the
Lord for He's good. Now, why is He good? The word for is in here twice. Both of them mean because. Why is the Lord good? It's because His mercy endureth
forever. Now, does that strike you like
it struck me? Here is the glorious truth that
we're gonna look at this morning. And here's the outline for our
message. What? Oh, give thanks. To who? Unto the Lord. Why? For He is good. Now, why is He good? I've titled this message, Why
is the Lord Good? Why is He good? It's because,
for. It's because His mercy endureth
forever. That's the reason why He is good. It's because His mercy endureth
forever. So verse one says, oh, give thanks. Worship involves a few different
things. It involves a few different things,
but mainly it involves giving thanks. Mainly. We gather together and we present
ourselves before the Lord to give thanks. And we give thanks to Him because
that's all that we have to give to Him. That's the reason we
give thanks. It's all that we have to give
to Him. That's all that we can give to
Him. Thanks. I'm sure you've heard
the saying before, give your heart to Jesus. I'm sure you've
heard that. Won't you give your heart to
Jesus? Let me tell you, I can't do that. I can't do that. I can't give
my heart to him. The scripture says it's dead. Scripture says it's stony. This
is a cold, dead, stony heart. The scripture says in my flesh,
I'm dead. A dead man can't do anything. A
dead man can't give anything. The scripture says, he had to
take my stony heart. That's how it happened. He had
to take it out of me so that he could put in a new heart of
flesh. So I didn't give it, he had to
take it. I'm sure you know the scriptures. Many scriptures say, give unto
him the glory due unto his name. I can't do that. Not in my flesh,
not in my flesh. I have never, honestly, I wish
I'm looking forward to, to doing it. One of these days in glory,
once I'm rid of this flesh, I will give unto him the glory due unto
his name. But never, not one time in this
flesh ever have I given unto him the glory that is actually
due unto his name." I can't do that. He's owed it, but I can't
do that. Because it is the only thing
that has ever been solely produced by me, all right? This right
here is the only thing that has ever been completely solely produced
by me. I would say that I gave him my
sin, but I didn't even do that. You know that honestly, I didn't
even do that. He willingly of his own will, the scripture
says, it wasn't of my will, of my own will, I didn't give him
my sin. The scripture says of his own
will, of his own purpose, of his own desire, because he wanted
to, he had to willingly take even that from me. He had to
take my sin from me. I didn't give it to him. He of
his own will laid it on himself. He took it and He laid it on
Himself. So the fact of the matter is,
He's the one who did all the giving. He's the one who does
all the giving. He gave His life. Once you give your life to Jesus,
why don't everybody here dedicate their life to Jesus? We can't
do that. He's the one who gave His life.
He dedicated His life. He gave His body, He gave His
blood, He gave His righteousness. I enjoyed so much yesterday,
I entered into it like I never have before. I've known this,
I already knew this, but I entered into it like I never have before,
that you have a bride who comes down and is presented to her
husband. AND SHE IS WEARING WHITE. AND
THAT REPRESENTS THE PERFECT, SPOTLESS, HOLY, PURE, RIGHTEOUS,
RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. THAT'S WHAT HE GAVE TO
HER. THAT'S WHAT HE COVERED HER IN.
HE GAVE HIS, YOU KNOW, HE GAVE HIS BLOOD TO PAY OUR DEBT. sanctify us and purify us. He gave His holiness to us, holy
and without blame. He gave His inheritance to us. He gave His place to us. Does it not amaze you that Ephesians
2 says that we are seated together with Him? Where does He sit? on the throne. You talk about
humbling. He gave Himself. And when He
gave Himself, He gave His all. He gave it all. He did all the giving. So even
the thanks that is in my mouth and in my heart, Even that thanks,
He put it there. So I could just give it back
to Him. It is God which works in us both to will and to do. He said, Father, I give thee
thanks. That's what He said, Father,
I thank thee. I give thee thanks. My spirit
in my people cries out on their behalf. That's what Galatians
4 says. His Spirit in us and crying out.
Oh, give thanks. Because of that, we do. We do. We give Him thanks for everything
that He's given to us and given for us. He gave His all to put
away our sin and we give Him thanks for that. So verse 1 says, Oh, give thanks unto the Lord. The one who has done this for
us and the one who all of our thanks goes to is the Lord. Now here's my question. Who is
the Lord? You know, we take that question
for granted. We take that so for granted.
Do you realize and do I realize how many people there are on
this earth who do not know who the Lord is? This is life eternal
that we might know thee. Who is the Lord? It just rolls off the tongue.
Oh, give thanks unto the Lord. Well, who is the Lord? Do we know what the name Lord
means? The name Lord means the sovereign. That's what it means. It means,
the name Lord means the God. THE GOD WHO ACTUALLY IS GOD. WE COULD SAY, OH, GIVE THANKS
UNTO THE GOD WHO ACTUALLY IS GOD. SPECIFICALLY, THAT'S WHO
WE'RE GIVING THANKS TO. THE ONE WHO CONTROLS ALL THINGS
AND REIGNS OVER ALL THINGS. THE ONE WHO HAS ALL POWER All
might, all strength, all ability. That's just reason enough to
give thanks to Him. The one who is able to do what
He wants with whom He wants. He is the one that we're giving
thanks to. And who is that exactly? Who
are we referring to exactly? Who are we speaking of exactly? His name is Jesus Christ. THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. THAT'S
WHO THE LORD IS. THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. TURN WITH ME IF YOU WOULD TO
FIRST TIMOTHY CHAPTER ONE. First Timothy chapter one, verse
17, it says, now unto the King eternal, who
is the King? Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Verse 17 says, now unto the King
eternal, Immortal, invisible, the only wise God. The honor and glory forever and
ever. Amen. That's who we're talking about.
That's who we're talking about. Look with me at Jude chapter
one. Only one chapter in Jude, just
before Revelation. Jude 1, verse 25, it says, to the only wise God, our Savior. Who is our Savior? Jesus Christ,
the King of kings and Lord of lords. That's who we're given
thanks to. That's who we are very happily
giving thanks to. To the only wise God, our Savior,
be glory and majesty, dominion, and power, both now and ever. Amen. So go with me back to Psalm
107. Verse one says, oh, give thanks. unto the Lord. Why? For He is good. I wrote in my notes, Wonderful
news. Wonderful news. Great news. This one that we're giving thanks
to is the almighty God of heaven and earth who has all power,
all control, all authority. He does what He wants with whom
He wants. Whatever He feels like doing,
that's what He does. And wonderful news. He's good. He's good. He does good. He is good. Look at verse two. I love this. It says, let the
redeemed of the Lord say so. Whom he hath redeemed from the
hand of the enemy. Do we want to know the goodness
of the Lord? Just enter into this. He redeemed
us from the hand of the enemy. We entered this world captive
to the adversary. Such were all of us. Our conversation,
we were held captive to the prince of the power of the air, the
children of disobedience, just like everybody else. And our
Lord, our God, and our Savior, redeemed us from the hand of
the enemy. Took us out of His hand and put
us in His own hand. He redeemed us, and that means
He paid the price in full. When you redeem something, you're
paying the price in full. If you don't pay it in full,
it's not redeemed. You can put it on layaway, but it's not redeemed until the
price is paid in full. And He redeemed us from all of
our sin by paying our price in full. What did it cost Him? It cost Him His own blood. It cost Him His own life. That ought to tell us just how
in debt we were. It took the life and body and
blood and everything of God manifest in the flesh to redeem us. What
a debt, what a cost. Verse two says, let the redeemed
of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the
enemy and gathered them out of the lands from the east and from
the west, from the north and from the south. They wandered
in the wilderness in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell
in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. That sounds
like a sinner without Christ. Verse six says, then they cried
unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of
their distresses, and He led them forth by the right way that
they might go to a city of habitation. Verse eight says, oh, that men
would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful
works to the children of men. His goodness. For He satisfies
the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. such as sit in darkness and in
the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron, because
they rebelled against the words of God and condemned the counsel
of the Most High. Therefore He brought down their
heart with labor. They fell down and there was
none to help." That was His goodness to them. He brought them down. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses.
He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and
broke their bands in sunder. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children
of men. For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars
of iron and sunder. Fools, because of their transgression,
and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. Their soul abhorreth
all manner of meat, and they draw near unto the gates of death.
Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble and he saveth them
out of their distresses. He sent his word and healed them
and delivered them from their destruction. I love that verse,
that's what he does. He sends his word and heals them
and delivers us from our destructions. Verse 21 says, oh, that men would
praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to
the children of men. and let them sacrifice the sacrifices
of thanksgiving and declare His works with rejoicing. They that
go down to the sea in ships that do business in great waters,
these see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep."
I told you this before, but I was watching a documentary one time
of some deep sea fishermen and they were out there working. in a great storm. And this storm,
the waves were just, I was afraid watching TV because it looked
to me like these waves were gonna wash all of their equipment off
the boat. It looked like they were gonna
wash these men off the boat. And I thought, if they go off
this boat, there's no getting them back. And one guy looked
right at the camera and he said, you don't believe in God? Come
out here. They that go down to the sea
in ships that do business in great waters, verse 23 says,
these see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep.
For He commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind which lifteth
up the waves thereof. Why do waves come like that?
Well, it's because of, you know, God does it. They mount up to
the heaven. They go down again to the depths.
Their soul is melted because of trouble. And I'll tell you
that all of God's people feel these boisterous waves in life. Sometimes it just feels like
we're just mounting up and being dropped down and reeling to and
fro. Verse 27, they reel to and fro
and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits end. Then
they cry unto the Lord in their trouble and He bringeth them
out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm so
that the waves thereof are still. And how glorious it is when He
says to all of our storms in life, peace, be still. And all of a sudden there's a
great calm. Verse 30, then are they glad because they be quiet. So he bringeth them unto their
desired haven. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children
of men. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord
for he is good. He is good to every one of his
sinful people. that were given to Him to redeem. Now, why is He good? Why is this Almighty Sovereign
God so good to His sinful people? Realizing that our flesh is in
constant rebellion against Him. Our flesh is constantly sinning
against Him. David, as a saved man, said,
against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in
thy sight. You know, well, we don't sin
and rebel against God anymore once you're saved. This flesh
is nothing but sin and rebellion. That's all it is. Why would this
sovereign God be so good to His sinful people? Why? One more
time, look at verse one. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord
for He is good because His mercy endureth forever. That is why
He is so good. That's why he will never stop
being good to his people. Does that do your heart good?
Just listen to this. The Lord God will never stop
being good to his people. Never. Never. His mercy endures forever. Every morning it's brand new. Every morning His great fountain
of blood streams forth brand new. Every morning, the covering and
the washing, the purging, of mercy in His
blood is brand new. Brand new. You know, a long time
ago, I took a shower and I got clean. And you know what I did? I made myself dirty again. I
took a shower, I got clean. And you know what I did after
that? I made myself dirty again. I took a shower and I got clean. And you know what this old wicked
flesh did after that? I made myself dirty again. And
the blood of Christ, the fountain of blood drawn straight from
God's own veins will never run dry. Plunged, plunged every morning,
plunged. That's the mercy. The mercy is
in the blood. The mercy is in the blood. And
every morning it is brand new. Every morning we wake up again
spotless, clean, as clean as the lamb himself
who shed it. You know what this old wicked
flesh will do? Get dirty again. But you know what the blood will
do? cleanse us, purge us. David said, purge me again, cleanse
me again. Where our sin abounds, His grace
always much more abounds. His grace has abounded, His grace
will abound. I love the song that says, dark
the stain that soiled man's nature, long the distance that he fell. far removed from hope and heaven
into deep despair and hell. But there was a fountain opened
and the blood of God's own Son purifies the soul and reaches,
thank God, deeper than the stain has gone. Praise the Lord for
full salvation. God still reigns upon His throne,
and I know the blood still reaches deeper than the stain has gone.
That is His mercy to us. It's the covering of our sin
in His own blood. And because it was the blood
of the Almighty God Himself that paid our debt, He paid it so
powerfully and He paid it so completely. There is no possible
way our debt could ever return. There's no way we could stack
up a debt against Him ever again. Washed, washed, clean, white. That's why He's good to us. That's
the reason why. And that's why we give thanks
to Him. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for
his mercy endureth forever. All right, Brother Eddie, you
come.