to verse 1, and the subscription
to the psalm, to this verse, it says, to the chief musician,
Meshach, psalm of David, when Doeg, the Edomite, came and told
Saul and said unto him, David is come to the house of Emelech.
Now look at this first verse. Why boasters thou thyself in
mischief, O mighty man? The goodness of God endureth
continually. Why boastest thou thyself in
mischief, O mighty man? The goodness of God endureth
continually." And today's message is about the goodness of God.
Now, Doeg here is spoken of, and he had killed a group of
unarmed priests. Let's turn over to 1 Samuel 21.
1 Samuel 21, verse 6. He had killed a group of unarmed priests.
He perceives himself to be a mighty man, and one commentator mockingly
said, a mighty man indeed to kill men who never touched a
sword. And he said that mockingly. He ought to have been ashamed
of his cowardice. He had no room for exaltation,
but yet he had exalted himself. Here's a little history of what
happened to the priests. In 1 Samuel 21, look at verses
6 to 9. priest had given David the sword
of Goliath and some bread when he had none. So the priest gave
him hollowed bread for there was no bread there but the showbread
that was taken from before the Lord to put hot bread in the
day when it was taken away. Now a certain man of the servants
of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord, and his name
was Doeg in Edomite, the chiefest of the herdsmen that belonged
to Saul. And David said to him, And is there not here under thine
hand spear or sword? For I have neither bought my
sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required
haste. And the priest said, the sword
of Goliath, the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of
Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod.
If thou wilt take that, take it, for there is no other save
that here. And David said, there is none
like that. Give it me. There's none like
that, give it me. That statement's all about Christ
right there. But note in verse seven, doe-egg
is there. And we see in the next chapter,
turn over to 1 Samuel 22, verses 16 to 19, we see what's happened. And this is the basis of what's
written here when it says, why boastest thyself in mischief,
O mighty man. That's speaking of this doe-egg
here. Look over in 1st Samuel 22 verse
16, we see here that he fled back to Saul and told him of
what happened. And then Doeg is sent to slaughter.
the priests. He sent the slaughter of the
priests. And the king said, Thou shalt surely die of him like
thou and all thy father's house. Verse 16, verse 17. And the king said unto the footman
that stood about him, Turn and slay the priests of the Lord,
because their hand is also with David, because they knew when
he fled and did not show it to me. But the servants of the king
would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the
Lord. And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou and fall upon the priests.
And Doeg the Edomite turned and fell upon the priests and slew
on that day four score and five persons, and did wear a linen
ephod. And nob the city of the priests,
smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children
and sucklings, oxen and asses, and sheep with the edge of the
sword. So let's go back to Psalm 52 and we'll read that verse
one again. And that first part is about Doeg again. Why boastest
thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? Speaking of him. But look at this, the next part
of that verse. The goodness of God endureth
continually. So this is the setting of the
verse 1, the contrast between the wicked men and the goodness
of the Lord. The wicked seek to quench and
destroy the things of the Lord, but they will not overrule our
great God, beloved. They will not overrule our great
God. They will not overrule His mercy and His grace. They will
not overrule His goodness to us in Christ Jesus. Doeg lived
for a while more, but what did he do? He perished in his sins,
didn't he? He perished in his sins. And
the Lord is still upon his throne. The Lord has triumphed over him
and has righted the wrongs which he has done. And the proud exultations
of the wicked will be silenced. They will be abased because our
Lord reigns and he rules supreme. Let's read the rest of this psalm.
Thy tongue devises mischief like a sharp razor, working deceitfully. Thou lovest evil more than good,
in lying rather than to speak righteousness, see law. And this
is speaking again of Doeg, or wicked men. Thou lovest all devouring
words, O thou deceitful tongue. God shall likewise destroy thee
forever. He shall take thee away, and
pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the
land of the living. The righteous also shall see
and fear, and shall laugh at him. Lo, this is the man that
made not God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his
riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness. But I am like
a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the mercy
of God forever. Now here's the contrast, isn't
it? Here's the righteous man. And we know we're only righteous
by Christ. Only righteous by Christ. But I am like a green
olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the mercy of God forever
and ever. I will praise thee forever because
thou has done it. And I will wait upon thy name
for it is good before thy saints. Oh, what a contrast we have here
before us. The goodness of God today will
be our topic. The goodness of God. And look
at the latter part of verse one. The goodness of God endureth
continually. Continually. The Hebrew word
there for goodness in this text is defined as kindness, loving
kindness, mercy, goodness, faithfulness, and love. What a definition,
eh? What a definition of a word. Again, I'll read it for goodness
here in our text. Kindness, loving kindness, mercy,
goodness, faithfulness, and love. And take note of this statement
here before us. The goodness of God endureth
continually. And this is penned by the psalmist
by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. And consider how
this statement was proved by the saints of old. Consider how
this statement was proved by the saints of old. God's goodness
to them. We see it continually, don't
we, through the scriptures? Continually. Think of how this
statement is proved even in our lives. Is God not kind to us? Is God not show his loving kindness
to us? Does God not show us mercy? Is
his goodness not manifested to us? Is he not faithful to his people
and does he not love his people with an everlasting love? It's
manifested even in our life, isn't it? The truth of this verse.
The goodness of God endureth continually. Truly our great
God has exercised his loving kindness in our lives. How? He saved us. He saved us. All by his grace and all by his
mercy. He has made Christ for us all
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. He has made Christ
all our salvation. This is manifest. The goodness
of God is manifested to us in and through Christ Jesus our
Lord. And what do we do as a result of that? As a result of that,
we give God all the glory, don't we? We give Him all the glory
and all the honor and all the praise. in and through Christ
alone. And we who are the redeemed of
the Lord, we only glory in Him. We only glory in Him. And we
can truly say that the goodness of God endureth continually. Endureth continually, still today.
And it always will. All the way into eternity and
forever. Oh my. The Christian has made
known to us who is our support under all persecution that we
endure from men. It is God who keeps us. It's
God who keeps us. And God alone. We are given grace
to make it through whatever comes our way. It's He who keeps us. And again, the goodness of God
is manifested to us. Again. And we see here in our text the
goodness of God. Look at the goodness of God endureth
continually, right? We see here the immutability,
the immutability and everlasting way of, the immutability of the
goodness of God. It's everlasting. It'll never
change. It'll never change. And it never
does. It never does. The goodness of
God is the same in all situations, no matter what we go through. It's always the same. God is
always good to us, no matter what we're going through. I remember talking to to Brother
Norm about that one time, and Norm said there was him and I
always say, you know, the Lord is good and to each other all
the time because we know the Lord is good. And he says Norm
always says all the time, by the way, and he says, let me
tell you something. He says one time. my daughter got in a car
wreck, and she broke her neck, and the Lord was good. Even when
that happened, the Lord was good. Now he thankfully healed her,
he said, but even when she had broken her neck and had went
through all that, the Lord was still good. He doesn't change.
He's always good to us, no matter what the situation is, no matter
what we're going through, he's always good. He's always good. He doesn't change. And the psalmist
knew that he was and compassed about with the favor of God as
a shield. He knew that the favor and goodness
of God was like a shield round about him. And it was not in the power of
the most merciless enemies to separate him from the love of
God. Therefore, it was folly for Doag to boast in himself
and his mischief. But mighty men do that, don't
they? Wicked men do that. They boast all the time in the
things that they do. They boast all the time and the
things that they do, but they're soon they're soon perish. They're
soon perish. And nothing, no, nothing can
separate us. We who are the born again, bloodwashed
saints of God, nothing can separate us from the goodness of God.
Nothing. That's wonderful. That's absolutely
wonderful. We have the goodness of God poured
out upon us. And no one can separate the saying
of God, the sheep of God, from the love and goodness and mercy
of our great God, which comes to us, how in and through Christ
Jesus alone. In through Christ Jesus alone.
Why? Why can't anyone separate us
from the goodness of God? Because the goodness of God endureth
continue. It'll never be let up. Ever, ever. Never. Ponder again, you who are the
beloved of God, the definition of this word, goodness. Again,
it's defined as kindness, loving kindness, mercy, goodness, faithfulness,
and love. And oh, again, how the goodness
of God has been manifest to God's people in and through Christ.
In our study in 1 John on Wednesday nights, we looked at verse 5
and how our great God is perfect and holy. Turn if you would there
to 1st John chapter 1. 1st John chapter 1 verse 5. 1st John chapter 1 verse 5. This
then is the message which we have heard of Him and declare
unto you that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. He's perfect, beloved. He's holy. He's righteous. There's no darkness
in Him. Now we come out of darkness and
are brought into the light of the Son of God. We dwelled and
lived in darkness. But in Him, and that means sin,
but in Him there's no sin. He's perfect. He's spotless.
He's holy. He's absolutely perfect. A.W. Pink brings forth then that
the goodness of God respects the perfection of His nature.
The perfection of God's nature, who he is, who he is. God is
perfect. Perfect. He is absolute perfection. That's who our God is. Absolute
perfection. Now, now I've met a few people
in this world who think they're perfect and they're not, you
know, but God is absolutely perfect. Perfect. That's who our God is. That's who our God is. There's
nothing wanting or defective in His perfection. Nothing. Nothing. There's a lot wanting in me,
but there's nothing wanting in Him. Nothing. Nothing. He's perfect. Anytime someone
tells you they're perfect, you just point them to our God. We're all defective in His eyes,
aren't we? Oh my. He's perfect though. Nothing
can be added to His perfection. And nothing can be taken away.
Absolutely nothing. Nothing at all. He alone is good. He alone is perfect. He alone
is holy. He alone is righteous. He's the
only one who can be said to be holy. And how are we holy? Only
in Christ. Only in God. Only in the God-man. The only think of this, the only
way the holy angels are holy, the only way we are holy is in
Christ is because God has made us so. Because God is the only
reason the holy angels are holy, because God has made it so. That's
the only reason. No other reason. Listen to what
one preacher of old brings forth about the goodness of God. He
is originally good, good of himself, which nothing else is. For all
creatures are good only by participation and communication from God. He
is essentially good, not only good, but goodness itself. The
creature's good is a super added quality. In God, it is His essence. It's
His essence. He is infinitely good. You can't
measure it. You can't measure how good our
Lord is. Our God is. You can't measure.
He is infinitely good. The creature's good is but a
drop, but in God there is an infinite ocean or gathering together
of good. He is eternally and immutably
good, for He cannot be less good than He is, as there can be no
addition made to Him and no subtraction from Him. And the only things
that we do good comes from God. That's the only reason. See?
That's what that's what the commentators getting trying to get across
is the fact that he is infinitely good. He's good. And we are only
good or made holy or anything made righteous by him. We don't
have any of that. These are added things for us. We have none of that in ourselves. None of that. God's goodness
makes his majesty, one commentator said, friendly to those in Christ
Jesus. And his majesty makes his goodness wonderful to those
in Christ Jesus. We rejoice. We rejoice in that. We rejoice. A.W. Prink brings
forth that the original Saxon meaning of the English word,
God, is the good. The good. He is so much over
all, beloved. He is the greatest of all beings. He is the Supreme One. He has
no beginning and no end. And think of the infinite goodness
of God. It is as infinite as He is. It's
as infinite as He is. His power is infinite. His power
is infinite. All the acts that He has done
are therefore just as He is. Holy and all-powerful from eternity. So His goodness is infinite from
all eternity. And it always will be. Turn,
if you would, to Genesis chapter 1. Genesis chapter 1. Think of what the Scriptures
proclaim in Genesis 1.31. That after our great God saw
everything He had made. And note in chapter In this chapter,
we see in verse 10 that God saw that it was good, what he had
made. In verse 12, it's repeated. In
verse 21, it's repeated. In verse 25, and now after the
creation of man, which John Gale brings forth was the principle
work of God, because man's made upright and holy and bearing
the image of his creator upon him. He says, look what he says
in verse 31, and God saw everything that he had made and behold,
it was very good. Very good. Very good. In the evening and in the morning
were the sixth day. Turn if you would to Psalm 139.
Psalm 139. Psalm 139 verses 13 and 14. for Thou has possessed my reins,
Thou has covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise Thee for
I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Thy works,
in that my soul knoweth right well." Look at that. For thou
has possessed my reins, thou has covered me in my mother's
womb. I will praise thee for I am fearfully
and wonderfully made. Keep that in mind after what
he said about when he made man. He said it was very good. And
it says here, I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are
thy works that my soul knoweth right well. Now think of this in this little
section here. It says, I am fearfully, wonderfully
made. Think of the intricacies. of
our bodies. Think of how the intricacies
of our bodies attest to the goodness of our Maker. The goodness of
our Maker. Pink brings this forth. How suited
the bands to perform their allotted work. How good of the Lord to
appoint sleep to refresh the wearied body. How benevolent
His provision to give the eyelids and the brows for their protection.
So He's bringing forth how marvelous and how intricate our bodies
are. And again, think and behold,
it was very good. And think of how expressive of
the goodness of God it is when we again think of how intricate
the human body is. and think of how good it was
for God to create us in this manner. We see then that God
delights in His creation. He delights in His creation.
Why? Because it's all being made for
Him. Revelation says this, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive
glory, honor, and power, for Thou hast created all things,
and for Thy pleasure they are and were created. All things
for Him, for His pleasure. We were created for His pleasure.
For His pleasure. And think again of the fact that
all the goodness there is in any creature has come from the
Creator. But God's goodness is underrived. It's eternal. It's
eternal. It's infinite. Because it's part
of His eternal nature. It's part of who He is. Part
of who He is. The Scriptures proclaim in Psalm
119, verse 68, Thou art good and doest good. Teach me thy statutes. Psalm 119, verse 68. Thou art
good and doest good. Teach me thy statutes. He is
essentially, originally the only good. The only good. He is the fountain of goodness
to his creatures. He is the fountain of goodness
to his creatures. Who does good to all the saints of God in a
special way? Well, God does, doesn't He? He does good to us in a way that
He does to no other. To no other. By His grace and mercy, we are
in Christ. We are in Christ when so many
others are outside of Christ. All by His grace and mercy. Even
when we're afflicted, He's good, isn't He? Because He watches
over us and takes care of us. Even when we're chastened, He's
good. He's good. He's good at all times. He's
good to His people. So the believer can say with
the psalmist, thou art good and doest good. And that's what we
say, isn't it? No matter what we go through,
the Lord is good. He's good. And we have, again, the goodness
of God manifested in our lives. We have all we need, don't we?
What's our most pressing need? What's the most pressing need
of man? Well, you ask some folks and
they say, well, it's clothes or a house. No, the most precious,
pressing need for we who are human beings is salvation from
our sins. And we have that in Christ. We
who are his people. Is not the Lord good to us? Is
he not good? Has not the goodness of the God
been manifested to us? in and through Christ alone.
Then think of this, though. Actually, turn, if you would,
to Psalm 136. Psalm 136. Let's go to 145 first. 145. The goodness of God is manifested
in the fact that he provides for all his creatures, for all
his creatures. We know that He makes the sun
to rise on the just and on the unjust, doesn't He? So God's goodness is manifested
in the fact that He provides for His creation. He provides
for His creation. Think of this, without the sun
and the rain, there'd be no crops. There'd be no crops. There'd
be no life. Both are required to grow crops
and to sustain us. And note, the sun shines and
the rain falls, both on the just and on the unjust. In Scripture,
it says this, for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on
the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. So
the goodness of God is manifested in the fact that He provides
for all His creatures. Look at this in Psalm 145, verses
15 and 16. The eyes of all wait upon Thee,
and Thou givest them meat in due season. Thou openedest thine
hand and what? Satisfied the desire of, look
at this, every living thing. The just and the unjust. So when we sit down at meals,
which we do usually two, three times a day, right? The goodness
of God is manifested right there before us. Right there before us. The goodness
of God endures continually, doesn't it? Continually. Think upon this, whether it be
all the life in the sea, or all the birds in the sky, or all
the beasts of the earth, abundant provision has been made to supply
their every need. And the scriptures plainly proclaim
this. And this all proceeds from the goodness of our great God.
Why does He do it? Because it pleases Him to do
so. 136 Psalm 136 look at verses 25 and 26 Psalm 136 verses 25
and 26. Look what it says here Who giveth
food to all flesh? Why for his mercy endureth forever? Oh Give thanks unto the God of
heaven for his mercy endured forever His goodness is continually
manifested, isn't it? continuously can manifest it. In Psalm 33, the Scriptures declare
this, He loveth righteousness and judgment, the earth is full
of the goodness of the Lord. Psalm 33, verse 5, He loveth
righteousness and judgment, the earth is full of the goodness
of the Lord. So again, think of how the goodness
of the Lord, the goodness of God is manifested to us every
day. He gives us food to eat. And think of how wonderful this
food tastes to us. Think of all the different meats
and vegetables that He's given us to enjoy. Think of all the
various ways people cook that food. With spices and such, which
all flow from His hands. All flow from His hand. Then
He gives us senses to enjoy the things that He's given us. Beloved, isn't His goodness not
being revealed to us? Think of the beautiful flowers
and trees that He gives us to enjoy. Look at awe and wonder at different
flowers and how intricate they're made. Sometimes the fragrance that
they give off. Think of the wonderful sound
of the birds in the morning, Brother John, you've mentioned
that many times, at 4.30 in the morning. It's like a choir. And
it's beautiful. I got up a couple times and just,
you just sit there in awe. Especially in the spring and
the summer. It'll take your breath away. It's like a choir, they're
just singing. It's absolutely beautiful. He's given us that. It all comes
from his goodness for us to hear. And we have we have the senses
to hear and to see and to taste. To experience these things, that's
all flows from the goodness of God, beloved. And it's all manifested
to us. They've all come from his providential
hand again, turn, if you would, to Psalm 33, verse five, Psalm
33, verse five, this. Psalm 33 verse 5. He loveth righteousness in judgment. The earth is full of the goodness
of the Lord. Full. Full. Is that not true, beloved? Is
that not true? Oh my. He gives us mountains
and rivers, seas and wonders to enjoy. The psalmist writes
this, the Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over
all his works. They manifest the goodness of
our great God. And then think of this. Think
of the goodness of God. And the fact that God did not
destroy man when he transgressed. And He just didn't wipe them
out. And let us consider the goodness
of God. Manifested in a way that none
other show. In a glorious way when He sent
forth His Son. Made of a woman. Made of a woman. Made under the law. Why? To redeem
us. to redeem us, that we're under
the law, that we might receive the adoptions of sons. Does that not manifest the goodness
of God in no other way? That's the supreme manifestation
of the goodness of God, isn't it? We would say that as believers. Yes, it is. Because it's not
what I deserve. Oh, I praise God for His goodness
being manifested, for His goodness being manifested. Turn if you
would to Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2. We'll read verses
9 to 14. And lo, the angel of the Lord came
upon them, 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. And you shall find the babe wrapped
in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there
were with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising
God and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace,
good will toward men. Has not the goodness of God been
manifested with our Lord and Savior coming into this world
to redeem us from our sins? And the goodness of God is manifested
in His people, in His choosing us in eternity in Christ. All because it pleased Him to
do so. The only reason you and I, who are His blood-bought people, were chosen in Christ is because
it pleased Him to do so. Can we not say, oh my, this is
the goodness of God. This is the goodness of God. And then in His sending His Son
to redeem us, to purchase us, to die in our place, to shed
His precious blood to redeem us. And then, on top of that,
the fact That we have all our sins forgiven. Forgiven. Every one of them. In and through
the Lord Jesus Christ. I ask you, is not the goodness
of God manifested to us? We who are His born-again blood-bought
people. It is, isn't it? It is. It's on full display in what
Christ done for us. All through the shedding of His
precious blood. And think of this, think of how
again the goodness of God is manifested to us because this
grace is not given to everyone. This salvation is not given to
everyone, but it's given to a people of God's own choosing. Salvation
has come to you in and through Christ and Christ alone, all
according to the mercy and the goodness of God. Oh, it makes
you want to shout. This is wonderful. This is wonderful. Rejoice, then, you who are redeemed
by the Lord, as the goodness of God has been manifested to
you through the Lord Jesus Christ, all according to the free and
sovereign grace of our great God and King. Heavenly Father,
we thank Thee. O Lord, we thank Thee for Thy
goodness. for thy goodness which has been manifested in our lives
in many, many ways, but more so in and through the Lord Jesus
Christ, and through the fact that he left the glories and
splendors of heaven to come to this world. And the believer
can say, to redeem my soul. Oh, how the goodness of God has
been shown and manifested to we who are your blood-bought
people. May we glorify and magnify thy name today. May you be lifted
up high and mighty through the preaching of thy words. In Jesus
name, amen.