This evening, good to see Arlene
back and around, even though she's wearing sunglasses and
a shirt. At least she's not wearing a hat. It's good to have her back. Nancy
Rice is on our playlist, but we'll put her at the end of it
so you remember her. She's got an abscess on her foot
where she'd had a problem with her foot before, and she's also
got to have a muscle reattachment surgery in July, as you said.
request for now we had a tornado woman that one she's our paralysed
where browns doing better going to put him in tracheostomy rehab. So we can
wean him off of that. He's only on assisted air right
now, so he's breathing most of the time by himself. And so the
doctor says it's looking really good. His kidneys are waking
up from being in the soil like a coma. And so he's doing much
better. So continue to remember him in
your prayers. Seek the Lord's help for him
and all the others who requested prayer. Well, let's begin our
worship service with hymn number 70, Holy, Holy, Holy, hymn 70. Holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. Early in the morning our song
shall rise to Thee. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and
mighty. Every person's blessed trinity. Holy, holy, holy All the saints
adore thee Casting down their golden crowns Around the glassy
sea Cherubim and seraphim Falling down before thee ? Which words
and art and evermore shall be ? ? Holy, holy, holy ? ? Though
the darkness hide thee ? ? Though the eye of sinful man thy glory
may not see ? Now art holy, there is none beside thee, perfect
in fire, in love and purity. Lord God Almighty All thy works
shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea Holy, holy, holy, merciful and
mighty, God in three persons, blessed Trinity. Hymn number
354, What a Friend We Have in Jesus. What a friend we have in Jesus
All our sins and griefs to bear What a privilege to carry Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear. Oh, because we do not care. Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful? ? Will all our sorrows share
? Jesus knows our every weakness ? Take it to the Lord in prayer
? Are we weak and heavy laden ? Comfort with a load of care
? Precious Savior still our refuge ? ? Take it to the Lord in prayer
? ? Do thy friends despise forsake thee ? ? Take it to the Lord
in prayer ? ? In his arms you'll take it sheer ? I'm going to read two verses
of scripture. I'm going to deal with part of
it tonight. Exodus chapter 33, verse 18 and 19. And he, that is Moses, he said,
I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I will make all
my goodness pass before thee. I will proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. Let us pray. Our Father, what a privilege it is for a
poor sinner saved by grace to read such a glorious declaration
as this. to a conversation between a man
whom you spoke to face to face as a friend and answered a question
that is the question of all questions. Lord, we thank you that we have
this account and we can be sure of the words because you spoke
them. And we thank you, Father, that
you've given us understanding and faith to believe. Father,
we pray for those of our company who are sick and those who have
been added to the prayer list. We pray for Nancy Rice, that she
must face this operation, watch over her, and bring her back
to a good measure of health. uh... uh... uh... uh... is at once the most precise and
concise bit of inspiration in all of Holy Writ. Nowhere else
is such a question asked and answered. Nowhere else in this
glorious tome does the Almighty reveal such information. I think perhaps as David penned
the 103rd Psalm, he may have had this passage in mind when
he wrote, known his ways to Moses and his acts to the children
of Israel. He showed Israel what he could
do and he showed Moses who he was. What a thing. What Moses
had seen in the presence of God was an astounding thing. He met
him first in a bush that was burning with fire but not consumed
and spoke out of that bush and named himself as I am that I
am. He was a voice out of the flames,
was Moses' first encounter with the Lord. He saw the power of
God over all the elements and inhabitants of the earth, even
down to the bacteria he controlled, would not allow a dog to bark
against Israel. But Moses knew that there was
more. He saw all that. He saw the acts
that the people of Israel saw, but he hadn't seen God's ways,
and that's what he was interested in. He knew that there was more
to know God as He is known. Remember God said, I know you
by name. Whether he could verbalize it
or not, could know what he was really
asking or not, he was really asking to be shown the Messiah.
Lord, show me your glory. Over in 2 Corinthians chapter
4 and verse 6 we see that set forth in no uncertain terms by
Paul the Apostle as he writes concerning preaching Jesus Christ. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4 he
says for God in verse 6 who commanded the light to shine out of darkness
has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. If
you would know the glory of God, you must make it your business,
your occupation to know Him in who bodily dwells
the Godhead, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. The old catechism
said the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him
forever. And when we speak of God's glory,
we speak of that which belongs to Him and no other. He says
in scripture He is jealous for His glory. Now jealousy among
human beings doesn't mean a great deal. Because jealousy has to
do with entitlement, and when a person is jealous, he believes
entitlement is something that, when in reality, we're entitled
to nothing except what we've earned, and that's hell. But God is entitled to it. God
is, He's worthy to be jealous for His glory because He's entitled
to it. That glory will not be shared,
and the singular subject addressed in that glory is the salvation
of God's people by the substitutionary, propitiatory sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ and all things that attend that salvation. His
glory is tied up in the salvation of His people, and that's what
these four things say, that He says, His names and titles, the Lord
Jesus Christ, and all things that attend salvation cannot
be uttered where the subject of salvation is not the theme
and sum and substance of the conversation. You can't call
Him who He is and not speak of salvation. It's impossible because
His name means salvation. I shall call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins." Jesus is the
derivative of the Hebrew Joshua, and it means Savior, and Joshua
is the derivative of Jehovah. Christ means He's the anointed.
For what? He's the one anointed to do the
job of saving God's people. and he's the Lord. That simply
means that whatever he puts his hand to, he shall perform because
he's Lord over all, and nothing is too hard for him, and nothing
can stay his hand once he sets his hand to something. And this
is exactly what the Almighty speaks of when he answered Moses'
question. Moses said, Show me your glory.
Show me your glory. And the four things he sets forth
are a synopsis of the glory of his salvation, a salvation that
is his alone. When he asked the question, Show
me your glory, he said, I will make all my goodness pass before
thee. I will proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. This is his salvation. There
is no mention of the will of men, the decisions of men, repentance,
faith, contrition, or adherence to the law. The glory resides
exclusively in who he is, the subject of his word, and the
sovereignty of his mercy and grace. The fact is that these
four things, from pole to pole, enwrap every aspect of salvation.
Now, I may not be able to cover them all in one study, or even
in ten studies, as each is a theological library in itself. So tonight
we'll look at the first thing. First thing our Lord says is
I will make my goodness pass before you. That means to pass
by in succession. Since goodness is an invisible
trait or a characteristic goodness refers to what he has and will
do for his people and what he will do against his enemies that's
his goodness passing in front of Moses we know that in the
latter part of this chapter he'll put him in the cleft of the rock
and pass by and he can see his hinder parts but can't see his
face because no man can see his face and live So you see my hinder
parts, what he's talking about. He's not talking about his rear
end. He's talking about that which he's already done. You
can see what I've done. That's what we do. You see what
we do in preaching the gospel and telling folks about Jesus
Christ. We're speaking out a report. We're reporting news. Now news
is something that's already happened. It's already taken place. And
when you preach the gospel, you're setting forth or preaching the
news, what's already taken place. You're talking about the hinder
parts. of God the goodness of God that's revealed over in chapter
34 verse 7 he reveals it this way standing upon the rod he
speaks about his graciousness his long-suffering and abundant
in goodness and truth in verse 6 and verse 7 he says keeping
mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and
sin and that men will in no wise clear the guilty visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children and upon the children's children
until the third and fourth generation. Now that's His goodness encapsulated. Showing mercy to thousands, forgiving
sin and iniquity, yet in no wise clearing the guilty. How can
that even be? Because we know we're all born guilty. We know
we're all guilty before God. How can it be that God can forgive
our sins, show us mercy, if we're guilty, when he says,
I will not clear the guilty. It must be that the guilty or
the guilt of the ones who he shows mercy to and forgiveness
of sins, their guilt is somehow placed elsewhere, and that it
was placed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ
was guilty in this sense. He assumed responsibility for
our sins. He never sinned. He was not a
sinner, but he assumed the responsibility of our sin and stood before God
with our sins upon him as the guilty one, even though he was
the spotless Lamb of God. He took our sins and his body
on the tree. And our Lord says, for those
whom he doesn't clear, he'll visit their transgression upon
them, and that's all his goodness. all is good people talk about
the goodness of god and religion to the top of his kindness was
right here is a product he is good i'll make my goodness pastor
for his goodness is often of the songs you'll find that mention
many times in the songs and the proverbs as for instance in some
one hundred false are familiar with this versus for the lord
is good his mercy is everlasting and his truth endures to all
generations at some one hundred verse five his goodness is revealed
in the treatment of his people how he treats his people his
people his goodness is revealed look at psalm thirty four psalm thirty four verse seven
first seven says the angel of the lord encamped around them
and them that fear him seventeen i think the righteous city and
the lord heareth and delivered them out of all their trouble
the lord is nigh unto them a broken hearted contrite spirit the face
of the lord is against them i must have down the wrong verse but
anyway it talks about the goodness of god and i can't see where
it's at but that wouldn't be the first time i wrote down the
wrong thing so i'm sorry about that but uh... his goodness is
often the theme of scripture. Let's look at another passage
of scripture. Jeremiah thirty-two. I know this one. Jeremiah thirty-two. His goodness is toward his people.
In Jeremiah thirty-two in verse thirty-eight. He says, And they shall all be
my people. They shall be my people and I will be their God. and
i will give them one heart in one way that they may fear me
forever and for the good of them and for their children and i
will make an everlasting covenant with them that i will not turn
away from them to do them good he'll never turn away to do good
for his people cause he's good i'll make my goodness pass before
you what does he say in romans chapter eight and verse twenty
eight we all know that we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them of the called, according
to His purpose. What He has done and is doing
and will do is always good, even when He employs evil to accomplish
it. He employs evil to accomplish
good. He did that on the cross of Calvary.
Look at Acts chapter 4 if you're familiar with this scripture. in Acts chapter 4 verse 25 says
who by the mouth of thy servant David and this is in from Psalm
2 that David says this why do the heathen rage and the people
imagine a vain thing they're hanging God on the cross they
think they're gonna get rid of it we should not have this man
reign over us that was a stupid vain thing it was they did it
because they hated it the kings of the earth stood up and the
rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against
His anointed, His Christ, for of a truth against thy holy child,
Jesus, whom thou anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, that's
the government of the Israelites, excuse me, and the government
of Rome, and the Gentiles, that's us, and the people of Israel,
that's the Jews. Everybody was gathered together
in that courtyard. they were gathered together didn't say
they gather together said they were gathered someone gathered
the one that gathered them together was the lord of glory to do this
why would they gather together for to do whatsoever thy hand
and thy counsel determined before to be done this is the first
use of the Greek word pro-orizo or predestination in the New
Testament. The first use of it. It was used
six times. This is the first one of what
has to do with it. That was all predestination.
The evil, the anger, the rage of the kings, the rage of the
governments, the rage of the Gentiles, the rage of the Jews,
that was all foreordained. all predestinated because God
said it to be done as He intended it to be done. So God's employment
of evil is a good thing. I'll make my goodness pass before
you. The name God is a transliteration of the word good. It's an English
transliteration of the word good. They knew God was good. and so
they just took out a zero or took out an O and made the name
God. His name is Jehovah Yahweh. We
call Him God, which is the derivative or transliteration of the word
good. Why? Because He shall make His
goodness pass before you. That's His glory. His glory is
His goodness. The message and the theme of
the book is what? The Gospel. What is the Gospel?
It's good news. glad tidings of good things. That's what we preach is the
gospel. The gospel is how He teaches His people. It's the
good way He teaches His people over in Psalm 25. I hope I got
this one right. Verse 8 says, Good and upright
is the Lord, therefore will He teach sinners in the way. is good that the Lord teaches
sinners in the way. Isn't that what he said in Romans
chapter 3? That he saved his people, he sent his Son to be
propitiation for their sins, to declare what? His righteousness.
His righteousness. What do I think? He saved me,
a wretched, rotten sinner. And he says to the world, and
we'll say it to the world out loud one day, right for me to
do that. It was a righteous act to save
me. It is a good thing, a good thing. How does the Lord teach
His people? He teaches them by the gospel,
through the preaching of the gospel. All they that are told
of the Lord, it says in John 6, 45, everyone that heard of
the Father comes to the Lord Jesus Christ. Scott Richardson
said many years ago, Since I heard of the good news, I ain't heard
no bad news. And that's the truth. what he pleases and wills is
always good. In Romans 2.12 it talks about
perceiving your body as a whole sacrifice to do his good and
perfect will. Good and perfect will. Twice
in Ephesians chapter 1 he talks about his good will, the good
pleasure of his will. He declared that his creation
was very good on every day of creation from the beginning when
he said there was a day when he said let there be light. there
were light, he said, and he saw the light, and it was good. And
every day thereafter, every part of creation, and finally on the
last day, he said it was good, in Genesis 1, 31, and very good. Good and very good. The designation
of good or goodness can only be applied to God. One time a
rich young ruler came to the Lord Jesus Christ and said, Good
master, what must I do to be saved? Lord said, don't call
me good, there's none good but God. And what he was saying,
if you're calling me good, I must be God. I must be God. That name belongs to God, not
to you. For scripture clearly declares
there is none good, there is none that doeth good, no, not
one. This word good fits only one
character in all of eternity and that character is God Almighty. It is His glory. Show me your
glory! I'll make all my goodness pass
before you. In Psalm 34, David said, Oh,
taste and see that the Lord is good. Taste and see that the
Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in Him. Father, bless us for understanding.
We pray in Christ's name, amen.