Turn with me, if you would, to
Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10. And look with me, if you would,
at verse 18. Mark 10 verse 18 says, And Jesus said unto him, Why
callest thou me good? There is none good but one, and
that is God. There is none good but one, and
that is God. He is good. He is good. My desire, my prayer
is that we might enter into His goodness this morning. He is
good. Look with me at Psalm 52. Psalm 52 and look at the last
line of verse 1. It says, the goodness of God
endureth continually. Continually, the goodness of
God. I want us to look at another
attribute this morning. We're going to look at the goodness
of our God. He is so good. We have a God. Most people don't
realize that. They don't enter into that. It
does not hit them. Truly, we have a God. We have
a God who rules over us. He reigns over us. He's in control
of us. And thank God, He is a good God. He's a good God. So good. The one who made us. Don't turn
over there, but 1 John 1 says, God is light, and in him is no
darkness at all. And what that means is, God is
good, and in him is no evil at all. God is good. He is good. Nothing else is. Nothing else is. If anything
else has any goodness to it, God gave the goodness to it. If there is any goodness in us,
it is Christ in us. It's goodness in us. God gives it. Without Him, nothing
is good. I mean, nothing is good. We go
after this world and never give a thought to our Lord and we
think, man, this is good, this is great. Without Him, nothing
is good. With Him, everything is good. Everything is good. I wish I
could enter into that. I know it. I know it. If you ask me, does everything
that God does concerning you, is every bit of it good? If you
ask me that, I'll say yes. And I just wish I could actually
live it and enter into it and walk in it. Every single thing
that God does concerning us is good. If he's doing it, it's
good. If he's doing it, it's good.
The reason is because he cannot do anything but good. That's all he can do. In him is good. When we say God
is good, put the emphasis on is. Everybody puts the emphasis
on good. Put the emphasis on is. God is. Arthur Pink said, The creature's
good is a super added quality. God adds that to a person, but
he said, in God, it is his essence. It is his essence. And this is
wonderful. This is so, so wonderful. Because
to give us an understanding of what that means, man is sin. Alright? Sin is not what man
does. Yes, those things are sins. But
when you talk about sin, we're not talking about what a man
does, we're talking about what a man is. He was conceived in
sin, right? It is his makeup. It's what he
is. Well, God is good. And that's not just what he does,
it's what he is. He is good. Turn over a few pages
to Psalm 119. Psalm 119 verse 68 says, Thou art good and doest good. Good is what you are and therefore
good is what you do. Now as I read what Arthur Pink
had to say about all this, I entered in, I believe more so than I
ever have, to the goodness of our God toward us. It was a Precious thing to see. A very
precious thing to see. God's goodness toward us. Everything that he has done concerning
us is good. Not only is it perfect, not only
is it right, it's good. It's good. Down to the minute
detail, every single detail concerning us is good. Look with me a few
more pages over at Psalm 139. Psalm 139 verse 14 says, I will praise thee For I am fearfully and wonderfully
made. Marvelous are thy works, and
that my soul knoweth right well. Everything about the way he fearfully
and wonderfully made this body is good, it's kind. It's kind. It's very kind the way He did
it. It's not just perfect and it's
not just precise. It's kind. The way He made us. How perfect are the hands that
He made for everything we need Him to do? He gave us this thumb.
This is the greatest tool ever made. It's just perfect. Right? It's perfect. It's precise. But
think about this. How thankful do you think your
eyes are for eyelids? Man, that's so good. What if
you didn't have eyelids? How wonderful are eyelashes?
We have no idea how many times we don't go because of our eyelashes. He didn't have to do that. He
made us to see. He could have left it right there.
You work outside. You're hot. I mean, it's hot.
You're sweating. The head is sweating on fire.
Have you ever thought about how much sweat our eyebrows deflect
from our eyes, keeping all that salt right out of them? Isn't
that so kind? Isn't that so good? He made us
to see, yes he did, but he didn't stop there. He's good. He is
good. God did everything for us in
the kindest, sweetest, most thoughtful way it could be done. Isn't that
wonderful? And the reason he did it is because
he's good. When he does something, the end
result is good. In Genesis 1, the last verse
says, after he made us, after he made man, God saw everything
he had made and behold, it was very good. It was very good. The same thing can be said about
every creature he's made. If you look at every individual
creature, is it not amazing? He's given each one of them a
self-defense. He provides for every single
one of them in an individual way to whatever need they have. Go over a page to Psalm 145. Psalm 145 verse 15 says, The
eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou givest them their meat in
due season. Thou openest thine hand and satisfyest
the desire of every living thing. Why does he do that? It's because
He is, in essence, good. That's the reason. Psalm 33 says,
The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. It is full of the
kindness and the thoughtfulness and the favor of the Lord. Think
about this. Not only does He feed us. He feeds us. But not only does
he do that, he made our food delicious to our taste. He didn't
have to do that. We have a couple of cats. We
feed them the exact same thing every meal. I thought, boy, I'm
not nearly as thoughtful toward our animal as he is to me. He gave us so much variety, so
much flavor. Not only did he give us eyes
to see, he made flowers to look at. He didn't have to do that. The colors, the shapes. He put a perfume inside every
single one of them for our noses to smell. He didn't have to do
that. He didn't have to do that. That's what he did. Not only
did he give us ears to hear, he gave us birds, he gave us
streams, music to listen to. Not only did he give us life,
he gave us love. He gave us emotions. He didn't
have to do that. The earth is full of the goodness
of the Lord. But I'll tell you this, no goodness
was ever shown to this earth like this goodness. You have
any idea where I'm going with this? Turn with me to Luke 2. Luke chapter 2 verse 6 says, and so it was that
while they were there the days were accomplished that she should
be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn
son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger
because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were
in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping
watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord
came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about
them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them,
Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day
in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto
you. You shall find the babe wrapped
in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there
was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising
God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace
Good will toward men. Good has come to man. For God so loved the world, He
gave His only begotten Son. He gave His only begotten Son.
You talk about goodness. I have two daughters, which one
am I willing to give for all the murderers on death row? Which one of those two? I would
still have one left. You talk about goodness, you
talk about kindness, generosity. Paul told the Galatians, when
the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son, made
of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under
the law. God sent his son to redeem them
that we might receive the adoption of sons. You know, he would have
been just, he would have been right to have just killed Adam
and Eve and been done with man. He could have done that. He would
have been just and he would have been right. They sinned, that's
it. But his goodness was long-suffering
toward him. And instead of wiping them off
the face of the earth and wiping all men off the face of the earth,
he came to the earth. And he dealt with man's evil
in his own body, didn't he? God came down and he laid the
sin of his people on himself and then he dealt with himself.
You talk about goodness. And because he's good, his goodness
led every single one of his people to repentance and faith in Christ. And now this is the question
that the Apostle Paul asked. He said, despisest thou the riches
of his goodness? Do we despise the riches? the absolute riches of His goodness. One man said, if everything we
knew of God's goodness in this world was a drop, if everything
we knew about His goodness was a drop, there still remains in
Him an ocean of goodness. He is eternally, unchangeably,
inexhaustibly good. Despises thou the riches of His
goodness? Our Lord walked into the temple.
They handed him the scripture. He opened it up to Psalm 61 and
he said, I've come to give sight to the blind. I've come to open
the prison doors and set the prisoners free. They hated him,
didn't they? Despises thou the riches of his
goodness? Not if God has shined it on this
heart right here. No sinner will. Not if God has
shown goodness to him. I want to read something to you
from Psalm 107. Go with me over to Psalm 107. And we'll close with this. This
is our Lord's dealings with us. Okay. This is our Lord's dealings
with us. Let's put ourselves in this text. Okay. Put ourselves right here. Psalm 107 verse one says, Oh,
give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth
forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so. Oh, may we all 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. 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. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children
of men. For he satisfieth 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. 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 break
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 in sunder. Fools, because
of transgressions 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
destructions. 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. For he commandeth and
raiseth the stormy wind which lifteth up the waves thereof.
They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths.
Their soul is melted because of trouble. 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. 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. And then the last verse,
verse 43 says, who so is wise and will observe these things,
even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. What a God. Man, what a God. A loving, kind, good God. Thank God for His goodness. Thank
God for His goodness to sinners like us. We didn't deserve it,
did we? But He gave it. And He's good. Alright, you're
dismissed.