1. Just for a moment, a very familiar passage in verses 19 and 20. These verses tell us that God can be known in some way without the Scriptures. But what can be known is fractional compared to what we know about Him from the Bible. This passage says, what may be known of God is manifest in or to all men, depending on how you translate the preposition, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead." So here we learn that we can know quite a bit about God without the Scriptures. Creation tells us several things about Him. I'll give you a list. Number one, Scripture tells us that God's generally revealed attributes are invisible. His invisible attributes are clearly seen. This means that the attributes Paul is speaking of concerning God are not physical. When we speak of human attributes, although we have many invisible attributes as well, we can be talking about physical attributes. that people have two hands, two legs, two eyes, and so forth, a nose. So whatever attributes the Bible describes about God are invisible or spiritual, not physical. But secondly, God's generally revealed attributes are readily knowable. It says that they are clearly seen. Now, His invisible attributes are clearly seen. They're readily knowable. Easily knowable. Obviously knowable. Since creation, God has shown His attributes to men through the medium of creation. Now, not all of God's attributes can be known from creation. Paul says the attributes that may be known of God through creation can be known by all men. That's how clear they are. Everyone can know this by observing creation. There are many attributes, again, that can't be known from creation, but there are some that are, and they are clear. But apart from scripture, through creation alone, much can be known of God. So, number three, God's generally revealed attributes include His eternality. include His eternality. Invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, that's creation, even His eternal power and Godhead. And this is really common sense, if there's any such thing as common sense anymore. Creation reveals a creator, which means the creator had to exist before his creation, which simply means that the creation is finite and temporal and the creator is infinite and eternal. If the creator created something temporal, he can't be temporal. When you look at your surroundings, when you look at the mountains and the oceans, when you look at the vegetation, when you look at the skies and the luminaries and the planets, any simple rational conclusion would be that there is a creator who created the world we live in and the creator existed before the creation. And the creator is eternal and the creation is not. creation is a direct result of an eternal God. Number four, God's generally revealed attributes include His omnipotence, His eternal power. That's what we can know from creation. This is also axiomatic. I mean, it really doesn't need any explanation. For the Creator to create what He has created reveals absolute omnipotence. all power being at his disposal. The Creator has to be more powerful than anything he created, either materially or biologically or spiritually. I mean, even a child can understand this. You cannot look at the vast mountains or the Grand Canyon or the immeasurable oceans or the Niagara Falls and conclude that what has been created is more powerful than the one who created it. That's illogical. But number five, God's generally revealed attributes include His divinity, His eternal power and Godhead. I mean, this too is self-evident. A child can understand this as well. If the Creator created the creation, including man, the Creator cannot be equal to what He has created. In other words, if He created men, He cannot be a man. Men know they cannot create anything, at least in a theological sense. They can't create something out of nothing. The Creator must be greater than His creation in all respects. And to differentiate God from men, we say that we are human and He is divine, which is what the term that Paul uses means, Godhead. Theotes. It means divine nature and that's how the ESV, the NASB, and the NIV translate the word. But number six, God's generally revealed attributes include His judgment. His judgment or His justice. The whole point of why Paul tells us about the attributes of God that can be known from observing creation is to render men without excuse in the day of judgment. seeing God's eternality, His omnipotence, and His divinity in creation is to convince all men that if they ignore the God they know so clearly from that creation, albeit as a very limited knowledge, and they fail to give Him the honor and glory in their lives that He so richly deserved, they will face His eternal, all-powerful, and divinely mandated judgment. God reveals Himself in creation, bottom line, end of verse 20, so that all men are without excuse. This revelation of God and creation coupled with a conscience that God created every person with that convicts us of sin against God is so clear to every person that no one who rejects it has an excuse for not knowing who this God is and what He is like in the day of judgment. So from a simple look around at what exists, we can know so much about God. But there is an infinite amount of information about Him that creation does not reveal. Creation may reveal God's right and ability and certainty to judge all men, which it does, but it does not reveal how men can be saved from that judgment. It gives us the bad news, it doesn't give us the good news. And this is why we study the Bible. That's what the Bible's all about. Really, creation should drive us to study God's Word. Because creation can't reveal God's mercy and compassion and goodness and kindness in His salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ. The Bible is absolutely necessary for that. So we study as much as we can about God, of what He has revealed to us in Scripture. A few weeks ago, when we did our study on God's holiness, I prefaced that message with the proposition that as Christians, our number one agenda in life is to know God better. God wants all of His people to know Him better because, as He says in Hosea 6, 6, I desire the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. That's what He desires from all of His people. or as Paul says in Colossians 1, 9 and 10, that he prayed for his churches that they would increase in the knowledge of God. That was his number one prayer. As much as we need to pray for each other when we're sick and we're struggling through hard times, our number one prayer should be to pray for each other, to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, to grow in the knowledge of God. That's number one. But sadly, rather than getting their information from Scripture, more and more Christians today are striving to get their knowledge of God from unreliable second-hand sources. For one, many ignore Scripture and rely on experience to teach them what God is like. This is what's happened in my life, therefore God must be like this. Further, many read unsound so-called Christian literature to teach them what God is like. And although there are good publications in the Christian book industry today, most are anything but Christian if you evaluate them from a biblical perspective. I mean, I just wish I could go around to every Christian bookstore and every Christian website and nail on the front of it, buyer beware. You almost have to be a theologian just to sort through the garbage. And much of the church is no better More and more churches today are inviting and teaching people to experience God. I mean, just drive around town and look at the marquees. Come to our church to meet God or encounter God, when the only place we can get our knowledge of God is from Scripture. That's the only place. Everything else is buyer beware. Our experiences are then to line up with the objective truth of His Word. Our experiences don't dictate what He's like. So having said all that, we're continuing in our study of God's attributes. This morning I want to look at with you the attribute of God's goodness, His goodness. Another attribute overlooked, I think, when we study his attributes. Honestly, this week has been probably one of my most rewarding studies in my study of the attributes of God. Goodness. And I hope you'll agree with me after we're done. There's no question from Scripture that God is a good God. Absolutely no question. Exodus 34.6 says that he is abounding in goodness. He's overflowing with it. When the Levites instructed the people in Nehemiah's day, they said in Nehemiah 9.25 that the people delighted themselves in your great goodness. We should do the same. Psalm 21.3, David said that God met him with the blessings of goodness. And in Psalm 23.6, he said to God, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. I mean, if we are God's people, if we're His children, God's goodness is overflowing to us every single day. So much so that it follows us all the days of our lives. So let's begin first with God's goodness defined. We'll start there. God's goodness defined. As with any other attribute, we want to define God's goodness. And His goodness is the eternal principle within His nature which leads Him to communicate His blessings to those who are like Him in moral character. So God's goodness is bound up in His eternal nature and His character. And it moves Him to bestow on His creation in general and His people in particular His blessings. And God's goodness is seen in His care and provision for His creation in its overall welfare. God is concerned about what He has created, all of His creation, not part of it. And He shows us His concern by His goodness. So God is generally good to His creation as a whole. And He's particularly good to His own people. But the act of His goodness in Him, doing the best for whatever or whomever receives it. He's doing the best for whoever receives it. Since God is infinite, His goodness is infinite. Since He is righteous, His goodness is righteous. Since He is morally pure, His goodness is always morally pure. So when God is good, it's not mediocre. It's not middle of the road. It's the best that He can give. James 1.17 says, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Ultimately, everything good in our lives, not just our lives, everybody on the planet's lives, comes from God's good hand. Everything. It's not that God gives His people good things and chance gives unbelievers good things. That's not what the Bible teaches. Everything good, even to the most wicked people, comes from God. And God's best is always the best that can be had. So everything anyone, saved or unsaved, has in this life that is good flows out of God's goodness. As Louis Burkhoff said, God's goodness is an inexhaustible fountain. It never runs out. And this inexhaustible fountain of God's goodness has its end, the welfare and happiness of His universe. That brings us to secondly, God's goodness to His creation. God's goodness is seen in Scripture toward different entities or groups. The first of which is His creation. That's the most general beneficiary of His goodness. No one would argue that there's much evil in the world. I mean, you can't turn on the TV or read a newspaper or a periodical without seeing that the world's a mess. But there is not nearly as much evil as there is good. It's not 50-50. It's not that, you know, the world is, everything's 90% evil and we only have 10% good. Most of it is good. We're just not programmed to see it. And this goodness is a result of God being good to His creation. I can remember when 9-11 occurred, many were asking the question, where was God? As if God was absent. or uncaring or powerless in the 9-11 attack. But it was interesting to me that in 2001, the day of national horrific horror and evil, which was a direct result of man's sinful depravity, nothing was ever said of God's goodness. His goodness the other 364 days that year. What happened? Where is God? But taking man for who he is, sinful to his core, why did God spare us from evils like this the other 364 days? I mean, if everything is in His hand, if He controls everything, let's answer that question. The answer to that question is obvious if you know anything about the Bible. The reason all of us didn't experience that the other 364 days that year, or 12-month cycle, was because God is good. Imagine what would happen if he let evil have its free course. We, not as Christians but as human beings, are so used to God's goodness on a daily basis, saying we take it for granted is a gross understatement. God is good to his creation 24-7, 365. Even when things like 9-11 happened. We can't lose perspective. We can't lose biblical perspective. Even when it happened on 9-11, God was still good that day. The sun came up that morning. Everyone had an abundance of air to breathe. The fields were full of grain. The pastures were full of livestock, just like they always are. Up until the tragedy, God even provided sunshine and air and food and water to both the victims and the perpetrators. All signs of His goodness. And He does so whenever and wherever a major tragedy occurs. And have we forgotten that over 300 million Americans were spared that day? It's only our sinful selfishness and irrational emotions that keep us from seeing God's goodness in tragedy. God doesn't change. He's been good to His creation from the very first day He created it. Turn with me to Genesis chapter 1. God's goodness is actually one of the first attributes mentioned in Scripture. It's actually the first directly stated attribute in scripture. And in Genesis 1, we see God creating a good world, right? When God created the light, he saw in verse 4 that it was good. When He separated the waters and the dry land, He said in verse 10 that it was good. When He created the vegetation on day 3, He saw that in verse 12 it was good. When He created the luminaries, He saw in verse 18 that they were good. When He created the sea creatures on the fifth day, He saw in verse 21 that they were good. And after He created on the sixth day animals of every kind, and then man, He saw in verse 31 that everything He created was very good. The only way that could happen is if He's a good God. Not only is He a good God, He's a very good God. What we learn from Psalm 145.9 that the Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works." God is good to His entire creation. In verse 16 of Psalm 145, Speaking of God's entire creation, it says, the eyes of all look expectantly to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. Turn with me to Psalm 104. I'll slow this down a little bit so we can actually see this and have it etched in our minds. Psalm 104 is the most comprehensive recounting of God's goodness to all of His creation we find in Scripture. And if you're struggling with seeing God's goodness, this is a great psalm to read. Let's start in verse 10. He sends the springs into the valleys which flow among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field. The wild donkeys quench their thirst. By them the birds of the heavens have their habitation. They sing among the branches. He waters the hills from his upper chambers. The earth is satisfied with the fruit of your works. He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and vegetation for the service of man, that he may bring forth food from the earth, and wine that makes glad the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread which strengthens man's heart. The trees of the Lord are full of sap, the cedars of Lebanon which he planted, where the birds make their nests." The stork has her home in the fir trees. The high hills are for the wild goats. The cliffs are a refuge for the rock badgers. He appointed the moon for seasons. The sun knows it's going down. You make darkness and it is night in which all the beasts of the forest creep about. The young lions roar after their prey and seek their food from God. When the sun arises, they gather together and lie down in their dens. Man goes out to his work and his labor until evening. O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your possessions, this great and wide sea in which are innumerable teeming things, living things both small and great, There the ships sail about and there is that Leviathan which you have made to play there. These all wait for you that you may give them their food in due season. What you give them they gather in. You open your hand and they are filled with good." God takes care of the entire creation. Psalm 104.21 says, "...the young lions roar after their prey and seek their food from God." If you turn to Acts chapter 14, you'll see that Paul was very familiar with what the Old Testament taught about God's goodness. And he summarizes it in an evangelistic call to unbelievers. Listen to this, Acts 14.15. I'm starting in the middle of the verse here. God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless, He did not leave Himself without a witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. This was an evangelistic sermon. He was appealing to unbelievers to recognize the goodness of God. He's basically asking them, where do you think all this stuff comes from? You need to turn to this God for salvation. God's goodness is truly over all His works. Psalm 33, 5 says, the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. It's full. You can't go anywhere without seeing it or experiencing it. Every person who gets up in the morning experiences the goodness of God. Every single person. Turn to Matthew chapter 5. Jesus taught on this. Matthew 5 and verse 43. He said, you've heard that it was said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. That's what the Jews taught. you love your neighbor and hate your enemy. Because that's what they thought God was like. So that's what they were going to do. But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. Why? So that you may be the sons of your Father in heaven. because that's what God does. For He makes His Son rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. God is not partial concerning His goodness to His creation. So we are to be good to all of those around us, even our enemies. Why? Not because God is good to us. That's not what Jesus says. It's because God is good to them. That's why we're supposed to be good to them. Psalm 36.6 says, Lord, you preserve man and beast. everything. Now, if God is who the Bible says He is, a God of all power and perfect justice, none of us should be here right now. We should all be under His eternal wrath as we speak, but we're not. Anyone who's alive right now should have been cast into hell the first time he or she rebelled against God. That would be perfect justice. So why aren't we? Why weren't we cast into hell the first time we consciously sinned? Why are there almost 7 billion people in the world today? One reason. God is good. He gives time, even to those who rebel against Him, to repent. That's why there's so many people on this planet. But instead of man seeing God giving him time to mend his ways, time to see his sin and the eternal trouble he's in with God, he sees God as lax, as a God who is giving him a pass on his sin. That's how men interpret the goodness of God. Solomon saw this basic flaw in mankind. He knew why sinners saw God as a softy and not as a God giving them time to repent. Turn with me to Ecclesiastes chapter 11. I'm sorry, Ecclesiastes 8, verse 11. He says, "...because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." In other words, since men don't see God judge them on the spot, they're going to keep sinning. They think God's giving them a pass. They are concluding that He is not a holy God, that He is not a God of justice, that preachers are just blowing hot air. We need to understand, most people see God as a dog whose bark is worse than his bite. That's how they see Him. Man's sin just doesn't allow him to see God's inactivity in judging sin as a measure of His goodness in allowing sinners time to repent. Well, Paul understood what Solomon understood if you go to Romans chapter 2. Romans chapter 2, Paul is talking to unsaved people. He's addressing the church in portraying unsaved people, even unsaved people in the church. And he asks this question in verse 3, Do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things as he just mentioned at the end of chapter 1, all of those sins, and in doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? It mentions goodness twice in that verse. You don't recognize the goodness of God and you don't recognize that the goodness of God is to lead you to repentance, not lead you to disregard God's justice and keep on sinning. You see, if you misinterpret God's goodness as giving you a pass on your sin, that somehow God thinks so highly of you, that He is blessing you because of your performance or your wonderful personality or whatever else you think you have, if you misinterpret God's goodness this way, you will run headlong into His justice. That's what it says. Look at verse 5. But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart, You are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. It's not that God isn't going to judge sin. It just means that He's probably not going to judge it now. That's all it means. If you misunderstand God's goodness as being a reward for your being so blameless, so lovable, and so irresistible, instead of a time to repent of your awful deeds and rebellion against Him, you will face His wrath for eternity. That's what Romans 2 teaches. I really haven't shared this with you in probably the 12 plus years I've been here, but it fits, so I'm going to. This is why I eventually came to Christ. Exactly what Paul's talking about here in Romans 2. It was holy because of God's goodness. God actually drew me to himself over a period of years. I was 20 years old. I had a great job in the construction industry. I was climbing the professional ladder, moving from labor to supervision to management. And I began almost as a common laborer in the industry. And within a year after I started, I had my own crew. And within two years, I had my own project. I was the youngest in a company of 2,000 to ever do this in Chicago. When I got my first project to run, it was customary for the company to give the foreman a brand new truck. But since I wasn't 21 yet, the company's insurance wouldn't cover me. So they gave me the new truck, but someone else had to drive it for me until I was 21. By the time I was 22, I began my own business. I had quit that job, started my own company. And the first year, I made a six-figure salary. Now, this is over 40 years ago. That was a lot of money back then. 1976. By the time I was 26, I built a brand new house in one of the richest suburbs in Chicago. I had a house full of new furniture, a brand new 1977 Cadillac Coupe Deville that I bought for my wife, and a 1977 Corvette that I bought for myself. Had a great wife and kids, and all of this by my 27th birthday. I had everything a mid-20s male in the Chicagoland suburbia could ever want. Except for one thing. Didn't have peace. I was miserable inside. I was drinking myself to death and right out of my marriage and family. I would shut all the all-night bars down at 4 o'clock in the morning and get home by 5, shower, drive two hours to work, and get back on the job by 8 o'clock. That was my daily routine during the week. I was miserable. Twice while driving drunk, I totaled a classic 63 Chevy Impala convertible and a 68 Supersport big block Chevy Nova on two different occasions. How I walked away from those accidents, I have no idea. Only God knows. Over a period of years, I realized later that God was drawing me to himself. I can remember driving home many nights drunk, listening to moody radio, hearing the gospel at 3, 4, 5 o'clock in the morning. Guys on the job witnessed to me and I just laughed it off. But I had a hole in my heart as big as a beach ball. Something was missing. and I couldn't find it. All the good that I had, it plagued me. I can remember crying out night after night, God, why are you so good to me? I wasn't saved. In 1977, I began going back to church, and one of the elders of the church shared the gospel with me. And this time I listened. But it took me months of locking myself up in my room, reading the Bible to see if Jesus was who he really said he was. Poured over the scriptures. And one day I repented and gave my life to him because I believe what he said in John 8, 24, if you don't believe who I am, you will die in your sins. But what got me to that point was God's goodness. Just like Paul said in Romans 2, 4, that the goodness of God leads you to repentance. I'm wondering if a person can truly come to Christ if they don't understand the goodness of God and how they've sinned against that goodness. I don't know. Paul makes it a pretty bold statement. God is a good God and He bestows His goodness on sinners, not to deceive them into thinking they're so great in His eyes, but to lead them to repentance. to show them how much they don't deserve, to show them how good God is in spite of who they are, in spite of what they've done against Him. So there's no question, biblically speaking, that God is good to all of His creation, even to those who hate Him. But unfortunately, unless a person responds properly and biblically to God's goodness, His ultimate goodness and salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ, that goodness will one day run out. There is no good in hell. How soon that's going to happen, no one knows. Let's look more practically just for a few minutes at third, God's goodness to His people. We've looked at His creation in general. Let's talk about His goodness to His people. The Old Testament repeatedly tells us how good God was to Israel. Psalm 73, verse 1 says, "...truly God is good to Israel." It's pretty clear. And without question, the Old Testament bears this out. One of the greatest demonstrations of God's goodness to Israel is His rescue of them from Egypt. When Moses tried to convince his father-in-law to come with God's people into the Promised Land, he said to his father-in-law in Numbers 10.29, Come with us, and we will treat you well, for the Lord has promised good things to Israel. And when Moses recounted to his father, father-in-law, later on, all the good that God had done for his people, Exodus 18.9 says, then Jethro rejoiced for all the good which the Lord had done from Israel, whom he had delivered out of the hands of the Egyptians. If you can remember in Ezra chapter three, when the people laid the foundation of the second temple, after the captivity. Verse 11 says, "...they praised and thanked the Lord, for He is good, and His mercy endures forever." When the king granted Nehemiah leave to go to Jerusalem and rebuild the broken-down walls, Nehemiah said in chapter 2, verse 8, "...the good hand of God was upon me." Psalmist said in Psalm 65, 11 to 13, being under the Mosaic covenant given to Israel, you crown the year with your goodness and your paths drip with abundance. They drop on the pastures of the wilderness and the little hills rejoice on every side. The pastures are clothed with flocks. The valleys also are covered with grain. They shout for joy. They also sing all because of God's goodness. Isaiah said this of God in Isaiah 63, 7, I will mention the loving kindness of the Lord and the praises of the Lord according to all that the Lord has bestowed upon us and the great goodness toward the house of Israel. And speaking to Israel again through the prophet Jeremiah, God said in Jeremiah 31, 14, I will satiate the soul of the priests with abundance and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness. Are you satisfied with God's goodness? You need to ask. There's no question that God was especially good to Israel. He was their covenant people and they were under His good covenant hand. But Israel's not the only group in the Bible that God is good to, right? He's good to His church, isn't He? Turn to Romans 11. Paul is explaining why God has temporarily set Israel aside as a nation and is now calling a people to himself from the Jews and Gentiles in the church. And he says in verse 22, Romans 11, Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God on those who fell, speaking of Israel, they fell in disobedience, severity. That's what they get. but toward you goodness in bringing you into the church through Christ and the gospel, if you continue in His goodness. If you prove to be unregenerate, just like Israel did, you'll suffer severity too. But God is good to His church. So salvation in the church for both Jews and Gentiles is because of His goodness. He says it twice in the passage. Did you know that you're saved because of God's goodness? That's why we're saved. Did you know that the church exists because of God's goodness? That's why we're here. Man, I don't want to go today. The wife says, you got to go. He says, I don't want to go. She says, you got to go. He says, I don't want to go. Nobody likes me. She says, but you're the pastor. And because Christians are saved because of God's goodness, Paul said this in 2 Thessalonians 1.11, therefore, we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power. Paul says pray that every single time I pray for you. That he would fulfill the good pleasure of his goodness in you. So why is God so good to his children? Well, we could really, it's easier for us to understand this when we understand the relationship to our own children. And Jesus understood that, and that's why he said, turn to Matthew 11, I'm sorry, Matthew 7, 11. He said to His disciples in Matthew 7.11, If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him? You don't ask your earthly father for a fish and he gives you a stone. So why would your Heavenly Father do something like that? God is good to us because that's His nature. I, as a father, give good gifts to my children because that's what fathers do. Ask me to explain that. I can't explain that. Why do I keep doing that sometimes, I ask myself. But I do it. That's just part of who I am. It's what a father does. And no man is going to understand that until he's a father. Even as evil as I am, I still give good gifts to my children. That's what Jesus says. And if I, as an evil father, give good gifts to my children, how much more will God, who is anything but evil, he's all holy, how much more will he give good gifts to his children? I mean, take away the equation of evil and see how much good you get. That's what we get from God. Do we understand that God is good? That it's in his nature, he can't be anything but good? There's no switch there. I'll be good, but I won't be good. That's just who he is. It's like saying I'm going to breathe or I'm not going to breathe. He can't do it. My nature says I have to breathe. There's no other choice. There's not plan B. Do you understand he's been good to you? Sometimes I wonder if we understand that. When I listen to Christians complain, I listen to myself complain, we really believe that God is good. And if He's so good to us and even so good to His enemies, don't you think we should be good to everyone around us? Can we be good to our spouses? Can we be good to our children? people at work, at school, in the neighborhood. If we say we're God's children, the apple is never too far falling from the tree. We need to be like Him, like Jesus said. Thank you, Lord, for this time. I know I'm embarrassed, Lord, to even talk about your goodness when so many times I deny it. Maybe we need to repent. I know I do. From the very first day of time and space, you have shown your goodness. regardless of how bad things get, Lord, I pray that we would think biblically, that we would go back to your word to see how good you are to us. And even if we don't see anything materially or physically, surely we have to see what you've done for us in Christ, that good work that he did for us at Calvary. and that good that you did when you raised him from the dead to justify us. So thank you, Lord, for that goodness. And we just thank you because of Jesus, our Savior. Amen.