Returning to Exodus chapter 34, Exodus chapter 34, and we're reading from the opening verse of the chapter, just a number of verses at the beginning of the chapter. Exodus chapter 34, verse number 1. And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee out two tables of stone, like unto the first. And I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables which thou breakest. And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto Mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount. And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount, neither let the flocks nor herds feed up before that mount. And he hewed out two tables of stone like unto the first. And Moses rose up early in the morning and went up unto Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone. And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children on to the third and to the fourth generation. Moses made haste, bowed his head toward the earth and worshipped. And he said, if now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, then, my Lord, I pray thee, go among us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance. Amen, and we'll end our reading at the end of the verse number nine. And we'll bow in prayer, just to seek the Lord for his blessing, even among us in this house. Our loving Father, we bow again before thee. We thank thee for this place of worship. O God, we pray that our worship may have found itself to be found acceptable in thy sight today. We pray, O God, that thou wilt take of that which is already thine, and, Lord, use it to the furtherance of the gospel, and even the tithe and offering that has been brought in to thy treasury. Help us, O God, to be good stewards of this, O God, we pray, We realize that we are accountable to Thee, O Grand Heavenly Father, heavenly wisdom in all of these matters. May we ever see the work of God prosper, not just financially, for what benchmark is really that? But Lord, spiritually, we pray for a deepening of our love for God, our deepening, O God, in our walk with God, our appreciation and our understanding and knowledge of Him, Lord, grant, therefore, O God, our hearts to be opened and our ears to be receptive to thy word today. We pray these, our prayers, asking help from the Spirit of God to preach the word, granting an unction and power and an anointing that is required for all who will hear thy word. We pray this in and through Jesus' precious name. These are petitions. Amen and amen. There is only one being in this entire universe and beyond that can be justly called good, and that being is God. No matter how good you may feel your mother to be, no matter how good you think your father to be, no matter how good you believe your children to be, no matter how good you consider yourself to be, there is only one existent being that is good. that is God. That's a very humbling truth to begin any message with, but it is a truth that we need to receive, it is a truth that we need to believe, because it is a truth that is revealed to us in the Word of God. When the rich young ruler came to the Lord Jesus Christ, he addressed him by a title. He said, good master. He used that title in Matthew chapter 19. And in response to that title, the Lord Jesus Christ gave this reply, why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God. Jesus Christ reminded the young man that there was only one who was and who is originally, essentially, independently, infinitely, and immutably good. There is only one who is the author, only one who is the source of all goodness, and that is God. Now in contrast to God's goodness, we are reminded in Scripture that man as a being is devoid, is destitute, is deficient of any spiritual goodness. Psalm 14 verse 1, the fellow said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none that doeth Ecclesiastes 7 verse 20 reminds us, for there is not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. Romans 3 verse 12, they are all gone out of the way. They are all together become unprofitable. There is none, none that doeth good, no, not one. Now in light of our deficiency of goodness, today we come to think about the goodness that is in God. Remembering that the eternal, the infinite, the unchangeable God is so in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. Today I want us to behold our good God. Behold our good God. Now, because the word good means so many things to so many different people, we must begin with some kind of definition. Now, when we speak of God's goodness, we are not speaking about His holiness. We're not speaking about His righteousness. Rather, when we speak of the goodness of God, we're speaking about that which inclines Him, disposes Him to be kind, to be merciful, to be gracious, to be benevolent, to be full of goodwill towards his creatures. A. Hodge spoke of God's goodness in the following way, the infinite goodness of God is a glorious perfection or attribute which preeminently characterizes his nature, which he exercises towards his creatures in various ways according to their relation to him and their condition, their spiritual condition. W.G.T. Shade said, the goodness of God is the divine essence viewed as energized benevolently and kindly towards the creature. Dr. Alan Cairns defined God's goodness as the attribute that comprehends God's benevolence, complacency, mercy, and grace. And I say that if you know anything of God's mercy, if you know anything about God's grace in your life, If today you were able to swing your legs out of bed, if you were able to dress yourself, if you were able to go in the cupboard and pour out some breakfast cereal and then make your way to the fridge and find some milk there, then you've experienced something of the goodness of God. And even today, if you're sick, even today if your body is weak, Even today, if the troubles in your life are great, and the valley that you're walking through presently is deep, you have experienced something of the goodness of God. Because your sickness and weakness could have been much more debilitating than it presently is. The troubles that you are presently having could have been much greater. And the valley that you're walking through could have been much steeper. It is because these things are tempered with the mercy and the grace and the goodness of God, that we find ourselves not having such deep sickness, walking through such deep valleys. God is good, even in hard days. As I thought about that, my mind was taken to a song that I'd heard recently. The chorus goes a little like this. Even in the valley, God is good. Even in the valley, he is faithful and true. He carries his children through. Like he said he would, even in the valley, God is good. We come to think today of the goodness of God, and as we do so, there are really two aspects to God's goodness. There is, first of all, his essential goodness, and then there is his exercised goodness. We want to think about those two initially as we make our way through this message. I want you to think then first of all with me about God's essential goodness. As we think of God's essential goodness, we're thinking of the goodness that God possesses in and of himself. It is a goodness that is intrinsically his, a goodness that is derived from no one or from nothing else. It is an underrived goodness. I've already quoted the verse that speaks of God's essential goodness. The clearest verse, I believe, in the whole of Scripture, Matthew 19, verse 17. I quote it again, there is none that doeth good. There is none good but one, sorry, that is God. The psalmist, David, in Psalm 25, in the verse number eight, affirmed the essential goodness of God when he said, good and upright. is the Lord. Therefore will He teach sinners in the way. Do you see that? Do you see that God bringing you to Himself, God saving you by His grace, is an act of goodness on His part? He has taught you the way, the way to life, the way to salvation, the way to pardon, the way to forgiveness, Because God is essentially good, intrinsically good, he has taught you the way and brought you on to himself. We sang the 100th Psalm, the Psalm of Praise, as we have it titled within the Word of God. These words are found in the closing verse of Psalm 100, the verse number 5. For the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting. His truth endureth to all generations. Other scriptures affirm the essential goodness of God. Psalm 107, verse 1. Psalm 118, verse 1. Psalm 119, verse 68. Psalm 136, the verse number 1. But I'll quote you one final reference. You'll find it in that minor prophet, Nahum. Nahum 1, verse 7. The Lord is good. a stronghold in the day of trouble, and he knoweth them that trust in him." The expression, the Lord is good, reminds us of the absolute, the essential, the inherent goodness that there is in God. And notice, child of God, when he's good. He's good in the day of trouble. Even in your day of trouble, our God is good. We may not feel that to be the case, but it is a revealed truth that even in our days of trouble, our days of difficulty, our days of disappointment, the Lord is still good child of God. Rest on that, believe it. It'll carry you through. Whatever goodness then is found in the creature, I speak of ourselves. Whatever goodness is found within the creature, that goodness does not spring up from some goodness that is within us, within the creature itself, but rather it is derived, given to us by God who is the only source of goodness. You see, our goodness is limited, God's is unbounded. Our goodness is mutable, changeable, but God's goodness is unchangeable. I'm sure that you've heard people asking the question or a question similar to this, why do bad things happen to good people? You've maybe asked that. You maybe find yourself asking the question, why do bad things happen to good people? We understand what the person means, we understand what you mean. But can I say that if your understanding of man and God is in any way biblical, You'll find yourself never asking such a question because there are no good people in this world. There are no good people. In actual fact, there was only one good person who ever lived on this earth and we all know what happened to him. He was crucified, taken, brutally mistreated, stripped naked and placed upon a cross. You see, folks, Bad things do happen to good people, but bad things also happen to bad people. It's just part of living in this fallen and in this sinful world. You see, God's goodness flows out of his holiness. We have thought about the holiness of God, but because God is infinitely, eternally, and unchangeably holy, he is intrinsically, essentially, inherently good. No other being, whether that being be animal, whether that being be human, whether that being be angelic, there is no other being can make such a claim. Only God is essentially good. Therefore, because God is the source of all good and of all goodness, He alone gets to define what is good. He alone gets to define what is good, not us, not society outside these walls, not those within our judicial system, not our politicians, not the church, but God alone gets to define what is good because He is essentially good, intrinsically good. He is the epitome, the climax as it were, the fullness of goodness. That's what our God and that's who our God is. And so that is God's essential goodness. God is a good God. But in the second aspect of God's goodness, it is an aspect that has ramifications for us. I want us to think about God's exercised goodness. While God is essentially good, he exercises, he manifests, he demonstrates, he bestows that goodness in a measure to his creatures. God's goodness is a goodness that can be communicated to others, and thus we find this attribute listed with these communicable attributes. You see, God works in the hearts and in the souls of men and women. And what does he do? He makes them good. He makes them good. Through saving grace, the Lord communicates a goodness to his people, and therefore their goodness is derived from God. It is a goodness that does not come from self, but it comes from God. Let me give you a number of examples within the Word of God where individuals are called good, but you'll see that the only reason why they're called good is because something has happened. The new birth has happened. They've been saved, they've been born again of the Spirit of God. I think first of all of a man by the name of Joseph of Arimathea. In Luke 23, verse 50, he is described there as a good man. You can turn there, I'll read the verse for you. Luke 23, verse 50, and behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counselor, and he was a good man and a just man. He was a good man and a just. Why was Joseph of Arimathea a good man? Did he possess a natural goodness in and of himself? No. He was only good because he was just. He had been justified. And because of his justification, he was made a good man. It was not that he was good and then justified and then continued to be good, but rather he was bad, he was justified, and then made good by that justification. Barnabas is another individual you'll find him referred to as a good man in Acts 11 verse 24. For he was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith and much people was added unto the Lord. Here was a man who had faith. saving faith, justifying faith, pardoning faith. Here's a man who had faith in God, a faith that united him to God, and as a result of that faith he was a good man. Now last week we saw that God's justice can be exercised in a number of different ways. We saw that the justice of God is exercised towards the obedient by way of reward. The obedient are rewarded by God. But in the second place, the justice of God is exercised towards the disobedient by way of judgment, by way of punishment. This differing approach of God towards his creatures because of their varied spiritual conditions is carried through when it comes to the goodness of God, because we see the goodness of God demonstrated in a variety of ways. And that's what I want us to continue to think of. Firstly, we see God's goodness demonstrated in His benevolence. We see it exercised, demonstrated, manifested in His benevolence. Now that word you may not use. I'm sure you don't, it's a word that I wouldn't use, but we could use words such as kindness, compassion, goodwill. Think of that word, goodwill. You'll know a verse that contains that word, goodwill. When we see God's goodness, or sorry, we see God's goodness in his goodwill towards men by the giving of his son into this world. It is a demonstration of God's goodness to us benevolently in a manner that is goodwill. What did the angels say to the Bethlehem shepherds? Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace. Goodwill. This is my goodwill toward men. I have sent a Savior born in Bethlehem of the city of David and this is out of my goodwill that I have sent a Savior to this world. It is the manifestation of God's goodness to us. We'll think about that later on. When God, this is when I think of the benevolence of God towards His creature, His goodness, really this is the goodness of God towards His creatures in general. When God deals bountifully and kindly with all of His creatures, no God's goodness is seen in His tender care over all that He has created. Animal and human, God cares for them. There's not a sparrow that doesn't fall without a good God in heaven knowing about it. Not a sparrow. Now I read of the general goodness of God to all created beings in Psalm 145 verse 9 and 16. The Lord is good to all. and his tender mercies are over all his works. Thy openness, thy hand, and satisfyeth the desire of every living thing. God's goodness to all created beings. And then I read of God's goodness to the animal life. Psalm 147, verse nine, he giveth to the beast his food. and to the young ravens which cry. In Psalm 65 verses 9 to 13, let's turn there, Psalm 65, we read about God's goodness to the plant life. We have thought about the animal life, every beast is fed by God. The ravens which cry to God, remember the raven was an unclean bird? Remember that? Even the unclean bird, is provided by God. This is a mercy. This is out of God's good heart. The raven was an unclean animal. Well, Psalm 65, you're probably there. I'm not, but Psalm 65, let's read from the verse number nine. Thou visitest the earth and waterest it. Thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water. Thou prepares them corn when thou hast so provided for it. thy waters the ridges thereof abundantly, thy settest the furrows thereof, thy makest it soft as showers, thy blessest the springing thereof, thy crownest the year with thy goodness, and thy paths drop fatness, they drop upon the pastures of the wilderness, and the little hills rejoice in every sight, the pastures are clothed with flocks, the valleys also are covered over with corn, They shout for joy, they also sing. Why does this happen? It is out of God's goodness. He crowns the year with his own goodness. As we consider God's goodness over the animal and plant kingdoms, we can say in the words of them, the Psalm of Psalm 33 verse 5, the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. But God's goodness is not only seen across the spectrum, across all of His created beings, not only seen in animal life, not only seen in plant life, but God's goodness is exercised benevolently, kindly, out of His good will towards mankind, and it's seen for both the saved and for the unsaved. Matthew 5 verse 45, speaking of God the Father, Jesus Christ said, He maketh His Son to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. Think of that statement. Men and women who know nothing of God's saving grace in their lives are recipients of the blessing and the favor and the goodwill of God. This is what theologians call God's common grace. It is a grace that is extended to all men. Now, it's not a saving grace. It is just a grace. It's His common grace. Now, think of that. You think of that sinner in your school. You think of that sinner in your workplace who blasphemes God, who denies God's existence. You're maybe one of them. An individual who mocks, who ridicules the believer, and yet that individual is still closed, is still fed, is still watered, and still preserved by God in this world. What is that? That is God's goodness. Sinner, that's God's goodness to you. I put it to you, you unsafe person in this house, God has been good to you. You're saying, preacher, God's been good to me? You don't understand my difficulties. You don't understand what I've been going through. You don't understand the troubles that I've had in life. I tell you, sinner, God has been good to you. He has been abundantly good to you. He has given you a goodness that you certainly do not deserve. Certainly do not deserve. God has provided for your daily needs. That's God's goodness. God has preserved you in this world to this moment in time, despite your continual denial and rejection of Him and His gospel. That's God's goodness to you. God has been good in raising you from a bed of sickness in your life. God has been good in giving you a comfortable standard of living. God has been good in seeing that you were born into a Christian home. God has been good to you in seeing that you were raised in a loving home. God was good to you in bringing you to a gospel preaching such as this, and yet I ask you today in the house of God, what have you done with that goodness? What have you done with it? You've stayed in your sin. That's what you've done. You've continued to reject the gospel. Romans 2 verse 4 speaks of those who despised what? The riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God was that which should have brought you to repentance. But it hasn't. It hasn't. You've stayed in your sin, and despite God's goodness to you, despite His mercy towards you, a goodness that I say again, I repeat it for emphasis sake, a goodness that you are most undeserving of, you still have not been brought to a place of repentance. Now I want you to notice that God does not drag you to such a place, but God leads you And how does he lead you? By his good hand. His hand of goodness is that which leads you to a place of repentance. Let me ask you, as you sit in this house, as you count your many blessings, as you name them one by one, as you think of God's goodness and grace and kindness and benevolence and goodwill towards you, as you consider that today, will you be led to a place of repentance? In light of God's goodness in your wickedness, will you come to God in repentance? If you do, you'll find something about God. You'll find that He's good. Listen to this promise in Psalm 86, verse 5. For thy Lord art good, and ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon Him. Will you call upon Him? I asked you in the pew, will you call upon him now? Where you sit, will you lift your heart before God? In light of the goodness of God, in light of the mercies of God, in light of the goodwill of God towards you, will you call upon him? Call upon him who is good. Call upon the one who is ready to forgive. Call upon the one who is plenteous in mercy. Call upon the good God of heaven today. Be saved. So God's goodness is exercised, manifest, demonstrated to us in His benevolence. Secondly, we see God's goodness demonstrated in His love. His love. This is God's goodness exercised towards fallen sinful man. The greatest demonstration I've already hinted of the divine goodness in terms of love is seen in the sending forth of Jesus Christ into this world to be the savior of sinful men. 1 John 4, 9, 10. And this was manifest, the love of God toward us. Because our God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him here in his love. Not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. In Scripture we find that God loves his people with a particular love. It is a special love, because we are united to Christ. We are united to Christ, and what is Christ? Christ is the object of the Father's love. left to ourselves, there would be nothing within us whereby God would love us, but Christ has taken up residency within us. Christ in you the hope of glory, Christ dwells within us, and as the Father looks on us he sees Christ, we're united to Christ, and because of that we're loved for Christ's sake. How are we loved? We're loved with an everlasting love. Jeremiah 31 verse 3, and we're loved to the end. Having loved His own. He loved them to the end. John 13 verse 1. See folks, whenever we come to truly understand biblically our sinful state and standing, for God to love any one of us is surely an act of God's goodness. It's an act of God's goodness. There is nothing that would commend us to God. There is nothing within you, nothing that you have done, nothing that you will ever do, that will find you a worthy object upon which God will set His love. But out of God's goodwill and pleasure, He just chose to love us. It is unmerited. It comes from a good God, His love for me. God's unmerited love that was bestowed upon Israel. As a nation, we see a reflection, a resemblance of God's unmerited love for us. You'll know the verses when I start quoting them. You'll find them in Deuteronomy 7, verse 8 and 9. God is speaking to his people here. The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you because you were more in number than any people, for ye were the fewest of all people, but because the Lord loved you. That's it. That's why he loved us, because he loved us. Nothing in us. Dr. Gill, he said he loved them because he loved them. That is because he would love them. His love was not owing to any goodness in them or done by them or any love in them to him, but to his own goodwill and pleasure. Out of his own goodness, God loves his people. But thirdly, we see God's goodness demonstrated in his grace, his grace. Grace is another aspect of God's goodness and it focuses on the guilt of sin. The guilt of sin. Now grace has been defined as the free unmerited favor of God. Our redemption from sin is founded upon the grace of God. According to Romans 3 verse 24, it is by grace that the way of redemption has been opened for us. By grace, sinners are justified by grace, they're sanctified by grace, they are eventually glorified. Thus, all of the work of the Godhead in bringing many sons on to glory flows out of God's free and sovereign grace. All then our works are valueless. And all our self-effort is pointless, because salvation is by grace alone. Understand then, brother, sister, that it is only because God has exercised His goodness towards you in grace that finds you numbered among the redeemed. Oh, should we not then take the words of Psalm 107 and the verse 8 as our doxology? or hymn of praise today. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and His wonderful works to the children of men. Oh, that we would praise Him for His grace. Fourthly, we see God's goodness demonstrated in His mercy. Mercy may be defined as the goodness of God shown to those who are in misery and in distress. You may think grace and mercy are interchangeable terms. Try and remember it this way, GGMM. The grace of God deals with man's guilt. The mercy of God deals with man's misery. Mercy, misery, grace, guilt. You'll remember it like that. God has revealed himself as a merciful and compassionate God who pities those who are in misery because of their sin. He is seen as one who bestows his mercy. He bestows his mercy upon the repentant sinner. And thus we read of those who sought God for mercy and found it, because God was good to them. I asked you miserable sinner here today, would you not seek God and mercy and for his mercy? Would you not take today the words of the publican that we find in Luke 18 and make it your plea today? God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Because if you would, you'll find God, this good God, you'll find him to be abundant, plenteous, and rich in mercy, a mercy that will come to you as a result of his goodness. But fifthly, we see God's goodness demonstrated in long suffering. God's longsuffering is another aspect of His goodness in both the Old and the New Testament. That word longsuffering in our English translation literally translates to mean slow to anger, long of face. One theologian defined God's longsuffering as that aspect of God's goodness in which He bears. I tell you sinner, He bears long with you. In which He bears with the froward and evil. in spite of their long-continued disobedience. I wonder, have you ever wondered, have you ever wondered why God defers His judgment against those who willfully continue in their sin, even though they have been repeatedly warned to turn from that sin? Why does God postpone? Why does God defer His judgment against such people, it is because God is exercising His goodness towards them in being long-suffering with them. But that long-suffering will come to an end. God has been showing you long-suffering, sinner. He has been long-suffering to you. Think of the many times he's spoken. Think of the many times he has pleaded with you. The many occasions that he entreated you to come to him and you've remained stubbornly in your sin. Think of the many years that he has put up with your sinful career. A career that spans possibly even decades. Think of the numerous occasions that he spared your life on the farm, on the roads, in the workplace. God's been long-suffering. Why? Peter gives us the answer why. 2 Peter 3 verse 9, God has been long-suffering to you because he is not willing. that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Now, how do we marry together the goodness and the justice of God? Last week we thought about God's justice. We thought about God's goodness. How do we marry them together? Well, we must ever remember that God's goodness does not cancel out his justice. you turn to Romans chapter 11 and we'll soon be finished Romans chapter 11 the verse number 22 we see the Holy Spirit marrying together the goodness and the justice of God now within this passage of God's Word we're speaking about Israel or the inspired writer is speaking about Israel Paul he's speaking about their rejection of Christ and then the cutting off of the branch and then the bringing in of the the grafted branch and into the vine, and that's speaking of us as Gentiles. Verse 21, for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. And then he says these words, behold, look, watch, take notice, therefore the goodness and severity of God. They're brought together and as a conjunction. It's a link pin. You farmers know what a link is. A link pin will attach maybe a slurry tanker on to a tractor. Well, an and is simply that. It's a link pin, if you want to put it that way. And they're married together. They're not divorced. They come together. They're twins. Siamese twins, we would say. Cannot be divorced from each other. And we see, married together by the Spirit of God, the goodness and the severity of God, as in the judgment of those branches. You see, in the being of God, goodness and justice exist together in perfect harmony. There is no conflict within the being of God. When he comes to exercise his justice, it is a good justice. So there's no conflict within the being of God. He's not setting aside his justice to be good to someone. Remember we thought about that a couple of Sunday nights ago? God is always just in forgiving the sinner. He must judge one on our behalf, a substitute, a worthy, a perfect substitute. Justice is meted out upon the body and upon the soul of Jesus Christ. God is being just in giving us forgiveness from sin. He doesn't set it aside. One does not cancel out the other, rather both justice and goodness are compatible with each other. Divine goodness is closely connected to divine justice because goodness, what does goodness do? It abhors evil. It hates evil. A good individual, whenever they see something happening, they hear it on the news, what's the natural response? It is an abhorrence for it. It is a hatred for it. So the punishment of evil is intrinsic to what it means for God to be good and to be just. God brings the justice and goodness of God together. his words to Moses. That's why we read that portion. You maybe thought, well why did he read that portion today? He hasn't even spoken on it. But God marries even the justice and goodness of God as he speaks to Moses. Verse number 6, Exodus 34, And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty, but he's going to visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the children's children, unto the third and the fourth generation. There we see the goodness and the justice of God married together, married together by God. You see, we need to understand that the outworking of God's justice in punishing the sinner is one way in which God manifests his goodness to his creatures. Think of it this way. Let's bring it to mankind. You think about a good judge on the earth. You think about a good judge. He's not going to allow evil to flourish without punishment, without it going unchecked. He's going to stop the murder. He's going to imprison the individual who abuses a child or who abuses a lady. He's going to make sure that justice is meted out. Why? Because he's a good judge. Well, let me ask you, do you not think that the perfect judge of all the earth is going to allow evil and wickedness to flourish without it being punished at some point? You see, God is a just God because he's a good God. because he's a good God. How God's goodness stands in stark contrast to us who by nature are full of sin and wickedness, however, that contrast between us and God, that great gulf that exists between me and God and you and God today should cause us to be more thankful for God for his goodness. As one preacher put it, when others behave badly to us, It should only stir us up the more heartily to give thanks unto the Lord because He is good. And we, when we ourselves are conscious that we are far from being good, we should only be the more reverently blessed in Him that He is good. We must never tolerate an instant unbelief as to the goodness of God. Whatever else may be questioned, this is absolutely certain that Jehovah is good. His dispensations may vary, but his nature is always the same. Let this truth, child of God, take hold of your soul today, the truth that your God is good. Your God is good. In days of sunshine, as well as in days of shadow, In days of joy, as well as in days of sadness, in days of health, as well as in days of sickness, in days of reward, as well as in days of chastisement, God is infinitely, eternally, immutably good. Have you found that to be so in your life? If not, then do what the psalmist encourages you to do, in Psalm 34, verse 8, and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. The goodness of God. How good is the God we adore, our faithful, unchangeable friend. His love is as great as his power, and knows neither measure nor end. Tis Jesus, the first and the last, whose spirit shall guide us safe home. We'll praise Him for all that is past and trust Him for all that is to come. The Lord is good. Let's bow our heads in prayer. O God, our loving Father, we rejoice that in heaven today that there is a good God upon the throne of this universe. We realize at times we may question thy goodness. We ought not to do so, but we do because of our ignorance. But, O God, we pray that thou wilt help us to lift our hearts to thee today and thank thee for all goodness that we have received from thy hand. We bless Thee, Father, for the temporal mercies that have come to us from a good God. And, Lord, we thank Thee for the spiritual mercies that have come to us from that same God, because every good and perfect gift cometh Thine from the Father of light. In Him there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. And if ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father, who is, who is a good Father, Much more shall he give the Holy Spirit and good things to them that ask him. Oh, we thank thee for thy mercy, thy goodness, thy grace, thy benevolence, thy longsuffering with us. And we find them all sourced in the goodness of God. May goodness today, God's goodness, bring the sinner from their sin. May they exercise today faith in Christ and not despise any longer the goodness of their God. Answer prayer and bless thy word, for we pray this in and through Jesus' most precious name. Amen and amen. Thank you.