I always find it probably one of the greatest privileges in my life whenever I get asked to teach or preach, but it's also Something that really eats away at my heart because it's a fearful thing. And it's not, my fear is not what people think of me. That to me is totally irrelevant. But I want to make sure that the preaching goes forth as biblical and it upholds the glory of God. So I want to ask you all to join me in prayer and asking God to just bless this time that His name would be exalted beyond what we've ever seen before. So let's pray. Our Father, we bow once again before You. And we thank You for the privilege that we have to see You in Your Word. But Father, what can we see unless You open our eyes? And so we ask You, through the power of Your Holy Spirit, to illuminate our eyes, to give us hearts to receive these truths. And O God, how I ask that You would grant to me the strength not only to preach, but not to get in the way, that Your Spirit would have His way in my life and in the life of everyone here. So as we look upon You, we see Your awesome goodness in a new and different way, in a way that transforms our lives. So our God, come and do what only You can do deep down inside. We ask it in Jesus' name, Amen. You know, I was thinking in light of all that's going on in the world with the shootings and all the events that are happening and politicians and politics, everything that's going on in this world with war going on and quote, innocent people being shot or being killed and suffering. The question comes up, where is God in all of this? And so this evening I want to look at the goodness of God and understand what Scripture has to say about it. Because right now, the way the world is going, people are questioning. If God is so good, and I hear this often, if God is so good, the implication is that God is not good. Right? If God is so good, why is this happening? But what I want us to see, and this is important, our lives will become good when we understand that God is truly good. It's important for us to see this. And I'm sure that if I went around and asked everybody here, we would all agree, God is good. I'm sure every one of us would give a hearty amen to that. But yet there are times we wrestle with thinking that God does things that are not good to us. How many times I've heard people say, I don't know what it is, but God is out to get me. Other people say, what does God want from me? If God loves me, why is He allowing this? Why doesn't He heal? See, when we doubt God, we are questioning His goodness. I remember visiting the patient one time and I asked her, how are you doing today? And she looked at me and she said, not so good. God's not been taking care of me very well, but I forgive him anyway. And I thought, amazing. I had a mask on because it took my breath away like, whoa. The thought that we can forgive God. See, all of these things are questions of God's goodness. When things do not work our way, we often question God. And we may not question Him vocally, but in our minds there's that question, why? Why does it have to happen to me? And all of these thoughts and all of these questions are questions of God's goodness. See, the problem is that we have an inconsistent view of God and His goodness. When things are going great, we praise God because He's good. But when things are not going so great, they don't go our way, now we begin to question, is He really that good? Yet Scripture makes clear that the actions God takes and the gifts He gives us are all good things. Why? Because He is good. It is impossible for God to do anything but that which is good. So let's look at a couple of definitions of God's goodness. One comes from Martin Lloyd-Jones, and here's how he defines God's goodness. He said, the goodness of God is that perfection of God, which prompts Him to deal bounteously and in a kindly way with all His creatures. Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God, says Paul, Romans 11, 22. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works, Psalm 145, 9. He goes on to say, watch the terms good and goodness as you read your scriptures, and you will find they generally cover that conception of God's bounty. So from his perspective, God's goodness is his generosity, his bounty. It's important to remember. A. W. Tozer defines God's goodness this way, the goodness of God is that which disposes him to be kind, cordial, benevolent, and full of good will toward men. He is tender-hearted and of quick sympathy, and his unfailing attitude toward all moral beings is open, frank, and friendly. By his nature, he is inclined to bestow blessedness, and he takes total pleasure in the happiness of his people." That last part of that last line is critical. He takes total pleasure in the happiness of his people. So when we put these together, we see that God's goodness involves God's bounty, which is immeasurable. And He takes total pleasure in our happiness. So in His immeasurable bounty, God bestows good things on us to make us happy, because He delights in our happiness. That's God's goodness. He delights in our happiness. So let's see how Scripture reveals God's goodness. And the first way that we see God reveal His goodness is that God's goodness is His glory. Keep that in mind. God's goodness is His glory. And we get that out of Exodus 33. When you look at Exodus 33, Moses is on the mountain, and God has given him the Ten Commandments for the second time. By this time, Moses had heard the voice of God in the burning bush. He had seen all those miracles in Egypt that freed them. He saw the parting of the Red Sea, which freed them from slavery. God had provided water and manna in the wilderness. And so Moses had witnessed all this abundant evidence of God's awesome power. But at this time Moses wanted something more intimate. He wanted something more personal to know God. So in chapter 33 verse 18, he said to God, and I love this prayer, I pray you show me your glory. What an amazing request. What an amazing request. God, show me Your glory. In other words, He is asking, I really want to know You. I want to know You as You are. I want to know You more deeply, more personally, more intimately. Show me Your glory. God responds in chapter 33 verses 19 through 20. Here's the words of God, and he said, I myself will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion. But he said, you cannot see my face, for no man can see me and live. Powerful statement. Notice what he said. When God showed his glory, notice what he showed Moses, all my goodness. All my goodness, key phrase. God then put Moses in the cleft of the rock, placed His hand over him and answered Moses' request. And He did it without killing Moses. That's what's amazing. We look at chapter 34 verses 6 and 7. We read, Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. I want to pause there. That word lovingkindness can be translated goodness. Okay, so we could say, an abounding in goodness and truth, who keeps loving kindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of the fathers and the children and the grandchildren to the third and fourth generation. J. I. Packer commented on this and he's looking at this and he focuses on that phrase there when it says abounding in love and kindness he says it's better to see it as abounding in goodness. And he said here that when God spoke to Moses himself talking about his goodness he said it is abounding. In other words, it is generous. God is a generous God. He's emphasizing the quality of generosity. So when we look at God's goodness, we have to understand He is a generous God in His goodness. And so God is bountiful. He is generous in all of His goodness. Have you ever thought of God looking at you and at your life with all your baggage, with all the junk and all your ups and downs and then saying, I want to be generous to you. I long to give to you just what would make you happy, not because you deserve it, but because there's something about who I am that gives me infinite joy in giving happiness to you. That's God's goodness. In His generosity, He wants to give you what is best for you, because it gives Him incredible joy to do what is best for you. That is God's goodness. And so out of His goodness, God gives lavishly. He's not stingy. He desires to give. And it's His glory, and He is passionate about His glory. And those are God's thoughts about each of His children. And He feels that way toward us, not just sometimes, but all the time. Even when things do not go our way, even when they don't go the way we want, God is still good. He thinks that way because that is who He is. It puts on display His glory, and He's passionate about His glory. So God is infinite in His goodness. God is eternal in His goodness. God is holy in His goodness. Because of His divine nature, all that He expresses comes in an expansive, overwhelming, God-sized generosity towards you and toward me. That is God's goodness. Once you start to think of God in this way, it will have an impact on your spiritual life. It will transform your prayer life. And it's important to understand, so meditate on this often. Don't allow yourself to get distracted by the things that you may not like, or it's not going your way, and then you start, your mind starts drifting off on other things. Meditate on the incredible lavishness of God, His generosity towards us. God desires to express His love and goodness to you and to me who are His children. And He does it not because we deserve it. He does it because it is His nature to be good. He wants to do it. That's God. So a critical part of genuine worship is that we flood our minds with this kind of thinking and then we're overwhelmed and we respond with our hearts. That's what God desires for worship. It's not just mumbling a few words, it's to be overwhelmed. And we need to be overwhelmed. We need to be awed by the goodness of God, the generosity of God. We desperately need that today in our church. I'm saying the church in general, not just at Lakeside. So God's goodness is His glory. Secondly, What I want to do is I want us to see that God reveals His goodness to us today. And I say that because too often people doubt it. Yeah, God did all those things back then in the Bible days. But what about today? As if our world is worse today than it was back then. And there are many different ways that God reveals His goodness to regular people like you and me. But this evening we only have time to look at three. Three ways in which God reveals His goodness. First, God reveals His goodness through natural blessings. God pours out goodness through natural blessings. Sadly, this is the way that most people overlook, even though this is something that God does for us every day. Every day. Without realizing it, we take for granted the order and the beauty of the world we live in. Think about Genesis chapter 1. We all know Genesis chapter 1 is the creation chapter. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. But if you recall in chapter 1, in everything that God created, there's a phrase that repeats again and again. And God saw that it was good. And God saw that it was good, over and over. It was good because God's character is good and He cannot do anything that is not good. We ignore these daily blessings of weathers and seasons and life that are evidences of His goodness, because we're so consumed with our lives that we're blinded to the absolute goodness of God. Storms, earthquakes, natural disasters, all of these things should actually remind us of God's amazing constancy. He's a good God and He's consistent. And yes, He's good in the midst of those storms. Though we here in Florida hate hurricanes, God is still good and He's still in control of it. And this is celebrated often in the Psalms. In fact, you can't read through the Psalms and not see this. And one example is in Psalm 145, where God lavishes His goodness, not just on believers, but also unbelievers and all His creatures. In Psalm 145, verse 8 and 9, we read, The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and great in love and kindness. The Lord is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works." Note that little word, all, in verse 9. It occurs twice. Who does that refer to? You and me. We're in that all. This means that there is nowhere in the universe you can go to get away from God's goodness. It surrounds you constantly. He is good to all. He has compassion. He has these deep feelings of concern that translate into actions to keep and comfort us even in the worst, darkest moments. Because He's good. That's His goodness. And then in Psalm 145 verse 21, He ends the psalm this way. He says, My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord and all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever. So He focuses on God's goodness. And we see that it leads to worship. He talks about God's goodness. God is good to all. And when we allow that to grip our hearts, when we are awed by His goodness, it naturally leads to worship. That's what happened to David here. It leads to worship. So one of the most powerful ways you can begin to believe and experience God's goodness is to continually celebrate that God is good to all. Regardless what it looks like out in the world, God is good to all. Regardless what you're experiencing in your life right now, God remains good. See, the problem is that we limit God's goodness based on what we're going through. And we need to understand God is generously good all the time, regardless of what we go through. Because even when we go through those dark times, God remains good and He's working through those dark times for your good. So God is always lavishly good, if you allow me to use that terminology. Remember Scripture tells us every good and perfect gift comes from Him. Even the little ones, the ones we take for granted. It's His goodness. God has given to us more than we need simply for survival. He's given us pleasure. He's given us beauty. He's given us meaning. For every relationship, every job, every tree, every flower, every moment, all of these things is a sign of God's goodness in your life. Never take it for granted. Every corner of your world, every part of your day can remind you of His goodness. If you will only begin to look at it and look for it, you will see it. And this is true even when things are not going the way we want. Even in the darkest times, you can focus on God's goodness and be reminded of it. So we see God's goodness through natural blessings. Secondly, we see God's goodness through specific deliverance. specific deliverance. The Scriptures are filled with numerous examples of God delivering His people. A classic passage is Psalm 107. And just jot this down and look at it later. We don't have the time to read through it. But what a great, great psalm about God's deliverance. And the psalmist opens up in verse one. He begins, O give thanks to the Lord. Why? For He is good, for His loving kindness is everlasting. And so this verse presents a theme that we see all throughout the Psalms. He meets people like you and like me in our acute times of need, because He's good. He shows up with help for one reason, because He is good. That's what we learn in this Psalm. And there are four scenarios. And again, we can't look at it. I wish we could. There are four scenarios. I just want to give them to you and hopefully you could see them as you read through later on. But there are four scenarios that I want us to see. And just to mention about God's goodness. First, God redeems the helpless from their enemies in verses one through nine. God redeems the helpless from their enemies. Why? Because He's good. Because He's good. We see that God rescues us from the shadow of death because He is good. That's verse 10 through 19. Third, God heals our diseases because He is good in verses 20 through 22. And finally, God protects us from the storms that threaten to sink our lives because He is good in the last part of that Psalm. The point being in all of this is that these deliverances that are listed in Psalm 107 refer to countless times in the history of God's people when God stepped in with power to save the day. He did it throughout history, and He does it today in every one of our lives. He steps in just at that right moment to deliver us from whatever that situation may be. See, God's plans do not always work out in the ways we would prefer. And many times, what do we do? We complain. I've seen it happen. I've done it. Yet it's amazing how often we focus on the relatively few difficult circumstances of our lives and tend to forget His repeated loving acts of deliverance every day of our lives. We need to take time daily to remember and recollect the different times God has delivered us in our life, whether we would consider big or small. Think about it. You got in your car and drove here without an accident. It's not because you're a good driver. because God is good. Have you seen the way people drive out there? And the fact that you made it is because God is good. It's a deliverance. See, we take those small things for granted. But if we begin to add it up, our minds will be stunned at the goodness of God in our lives. And please remember that God is not good because He does good things for us. God isn't good because of something in us. God is good because of who He is. He can be nothing else. Both God and His choices remain good, even when they may not feel or look particularly good to you. They are good. His intrinsic eternal nature in all of His attributes and perfections is good. He can't be anything but good. He is perfectly good. And so in His wisdom and in His sovereignty, He decides the perfect times to respond to your cries of distress, to deliver you and to display His goodness, His generosity. And God acts because He's merciful and because He is good. And He desires us to know Him this way. He wants us to know Him this way in every situation, in every circumstance. And there are times where God will put you in dark places, dark times, and He wants you in those times to know that He is still good. In fact, many times He'll put you in those places to teach you that He is good. Because many times we will not see His goodness until we go through those difficult times. So God wants to bless you generously. That's His goodness. And once you start keeping track of God's goodness, you're going to find you can't keep up. You cannot keep up. So we see God's goodness through His natural blessings. We see God's goodness through His special or specific deliverances. But third, and this is the apex of God's revelation of His goodness, it's through His Son, Jesus Christ. It's through His Son, Jesus Christ. In God's pattern of revelation, Jesus is the finest example available to illustrate any aspect of God's character. If you want to know who God is, you look to Jesus. Remember what Jesus said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Right? Colossians 115, we learn that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. And then a few verses later, in verse 19, we learn that God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Jesus. So then, Jesus is God's goodness in the flesh. If you want to see God's goodness, you could see it in Jesus Christ. In Mark 10, we read the story, a very familiar story of the rich young ruler who had it all, and his life was fairly easy for that time. But he's troubled about one thing. He was troubled about his eternal destiny. And so he saw Jesus as a good person. Why? Because he saw Jesus do good things. And so because he did good things, he assumed he's a good person. In verse 17, We have this discussion between Jesus and this man. In verse 17, he addressed Jesus. He said, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Now you would think that Jesus would hit him with the gospel. What a segue. This guy's asking for eternal life. Man, this is perfect. Let me give you the gospel. But Jesus doesn't do that. Rather, he responds with a question. Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. Jesus was making a significant point here that I think too often we overlook. Jesus was making the point that calling someone good goes further than just politeness. Goodness is an absolute quality possessed only by God. We need to remember that. Absolute perfect goodness is possessed only by God. Remember what Paul said in chapter 3 verse 12 of Romans. He said, there is none who does good, not even one. No one does good. So God alone is good. So the young ruler was correct in addressing Jesus as good. but he didn't understand the reality behind the good. And Jesus wants this man and us to understand that Jesus is good. He is truly good, because He is God, and only God is truly good. This is important for us to remember, because it's very easy to think of ourselves as being good, and thinking of other people being good, when in reality, God alone is good. If there's any goodness in you and me, it comes from Him. He alone is good. So the young man was trying to compliment Jesus, but Jesus wanted him to think again. Jesus' life and death revealed, like no other person in the universe, the goodness of God. See, when you finish the story, the young man's response demonstrated he was not serious about goodness. Remember, he walked away sad. Think about it. He was rich, but he's the one who walked away sad. And it tells us why. Because he had so much. Flies in the face of world's philosophy today, right? The more you have, the happier you are. No. This man walked away because he had much. And so the young man rejected the absolute goodness that confronted him. Why? Because he wanted to hang on to all the worldly goods. And that's the problem. How often do we do the same thing? Too many times we measure God's goodness based on the goods of this world. I have all of these things, that means God is good. But if you lose all of these things, where's God? Why did this happen to me? And we have to be careful how we measure the goodness of God. Many times we're more like the rich young ruler than we would like to admit. So Jesus reveals God's goodness. And I want to show you three ways in which Jesus reveals God's goodness. I mean, there are many ways. But there are three ways I specifically want us to see that Jesus reveals God's goodness. First, Jesus reveals God's goodness in the undeserved goodness that He gives to us. Notice Romans 5, 8. But God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God's extravagance flowed out of Jesus' heart, even while you and I were enemies. In fact, in Romans, we learned that we were hostile. That word for hostile can actually be included in the definition of hatred. We hated God. And when we hated God, Jesus died for us. That's extravagant goodness. That's generosity. He sent Christ to die upon the cross as our sin substitute. It's unmerited goodness. We didn't deserve it. You and I don't deserve it in any way. In fact, we need to understand He didn't do it because we were so good. You know, and I've had people say this to me, absolutely amazing. Well, yeah, I was okay. I was doing okay. I just needed a little bit more help to get to that point where I can be saved. And no, you're not good at all. Nobody is good. God alone is good. And He gave His Son. See, He died on the cross, not because we said, I'll clean up my act, God. I'm going to try real hard. I promise I'm going to clean up and I'm going to be a better person. That's not why He did it. God demonstrated His goodness and love by allowing Christ to die in my place and in your place. And He did it because He is good. That's the goodness of God. He paid the price we owed. So what does that say about how God looks to you and to me? He sees us as important. He sees us as precious. So precious that He pours out His goodness lavishly upon you and upon me. That's goodness. If you can ever get a handle on that, if it ever really sinks in, it will change you deep down inside. But many struggle with this because they define good according to their terms, and thus they miss out on the true goodness of God. Remember, please, we cannot define goodness. God alone is good. He defines goodness. So Jesus reveals God's goodness in the undeserved goodness that He gives to us through the cross. Another way Jesus reveals His goodness is through the promises of future benefits. The promises of future benefits. Look at Romans 8, 32. Incredible promise. He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Notice, give us what? All things. In other words, God has already shown His goodness in the giving of His Son, So how can we ever wonder whether He'll take care of the rest? He gave the very best out of His goodness. He gave His Son. Surely He'll give us everything else that we need in life. God loves you, and He wants you to know He is good every moment of your life. But see, we all have this basic problem. We all have a warped view of God, as I mentioned earlier. When it comes to God's goodness, as with all of His attributes, the wrong view always produces a negative emotional response. If we get that wrong, we're always going to respond negatively. We will not recognize God's goodness as long as we're convinced that God has other intentions in my life. God doesn't want me to have a good life. God doesn't want me to have these things. God does not want to take care of me. God wants me to have a difficult life. We have those thoughts and we will never understand the goodness of God. And I've heard it many times. I've said it, but I've also heard it from people many times, people who claim to be believers. Think about it. If God has already loved us enough to give us His infinite best, don't you think that He has the best in mind for our future? Of course He does. He's consistent, definitely He's going to do that. He's already given you the very best. The fact that He gave His Son guarantees that. God's generosity on the cross reminds us that not only has He been good to us, but by doing that He has committed Himself. God has committed Himself to being good to you and to me every day for the rest of our lives. The cross guarantees God's goodness in our lives every day. It doesn't matter what the world throws at us. It doesn't matter what we're going through. The guarantee of God's goodness is the cross. If He gave His very best, will He not give us the rest? Which is insignificant in comparison to the cross. Of course He will. That's why we can trust Him with those big Lordship decisions that come up in life. We can surrender ourselves to Him because He is infinitely and perfectly good. We don't have to question. We accept the fact that He is good. And we may not understand what's going on in our lives, but we know that God is good. So we see the undeserved goodness that He gives to us, the promise of His future benefits, and third, we see His unique role as mediator between God the Father and His creation. God has given us abundant promises of His goodness. And then He has told us the key. And what is the key to His abundant promises? Jesus. Right? Because in 1 Corinthians 1 20, it says that every promise of God is yes in Christ. Yes in Christ. That means all of God's specific promised goodness comes to us through our relationship with Jesus Christ. He is our special mediator. He guarantees all of those promises. He guarantees that we now have free access to the throne of grace, because He is our mediator. So if I want to understand and appreciate God's goodness, I begin and I end with His Son, Jesus Christ. Now there's so much more that can be said of how Jesus reveals God's goodness, but we have to move on. I want to get this next section in here. And that is, how are we to respond to God's goodness? How are we to respond daily in everything we do? How do we respond to God's goodness? And I believe there are three basic steps that we absolutely must take to change our lives and begin to fully experience the effects of God's generosity. First, we need to repent. Repent of our ingratitude. In Romans 2, 4 we read, Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? Basically what Paul was asking here is, do you think that all the good that came in your life was because you're an incredibly nice person who made it on God's special list? Is that why he's doing this? No, not at all. God wants you to know that He has been good, He has been generous with you for one specific purpose, to lead you to repentance. He's been drawing you with goodness, not threats. God is not on His throne with lightning bolts saying, you don't do this and come to me, I'm striking you. No, God pours out His goodness and that through this goodness we would draw close to Him. That's why it's so critical we understand the very goodness of God. He's always been drawing you with goodness and not threats. And so we are to see God's goodness and have a change of mind that leads to a change of direction, that leads to a change of life. How often do we get discontented today? And when we're discontented, we're thankless. When God gives me 9, I want 10. God gives me 99, I want 100. It's hard for us to be satisfied in this culture. No matter the blessings, we manage to be ungrateful or we take it for granted. And I see that often. We take a lot of things for granted. And that's the reason why we find it difficult to see God's goodness at certain times. We need to be thankful. Let's not take things for granted. We need to turn to God and be more thankful morning, noon, and night. Start your day giving God thanks for everything. When you go to bed at night, spend some time, turn the TV off if you have to, but spend time thanking God for all the good things of that day and force yourself to think on the good things that day. The fact that you have clothes, that's a good thing. The fact that you made it through the day and you're alive, that's a good thing. The fact that He fed you, the fact that He's done all of these things for you, that's a good thing. Take that time to thank Him, to genuinely thank Him, because He deserves it. And this, of course, comes only by faith to believe that God is good and He does all that He does for you and for me because of His goodness. So the first thing we have to do is we have to repent. Secondly, we have to rest. Rest in His goodness when you encounter adversity. We know we live in a fallen world. We live in a world filled with darkness. Bad things and good things happen to all people. David says in Psalm 31 19, he says, how great is your goodness, note that first line, how great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you have robbed for those who take refuge in you before the sons of men. See, sooner or later, we're going to face situations that is far greater than we can handle. We're going to face those situations that cause us to question that is out of our hands. A loved one may be hurt or may be dying, and all we can do is pray. How does God's goodness help us in that situation? We know that God can do anything. He can even heal this person if He wants, but He doesn't, because it's not part of His good plan. So how does God's goodness help us during that time? See, we are called to rest in His goodness regardless. And we can rest in His goodness regardless of the situation, because we have His promises that all His goodness underlies everything He brings us through. Everything He does is because of His goodness. I don't know all the specifics of God's will, but I do know how great His goodness is, and that He has stored up for all of us who take refuge in Him, goodness. So you may be going through some difficult times, And in your adversity, rest there, knowing that God is good, and what He is doing right now is a good thing, even if you can't see it. He is taking you through adversity for your good. He's not just throwing you to the wolves. In your difficult times, and times where you can't figure out why is this happening, why doesn't He heal? Understand, our God is good, and He's caring you for your good. He's carrying you through it. So you can rest there. He has an eternal plan, and it is a good plan. And by the way, this is what makes the promise of Romans 8 28 so true. And we know that God causes what? All things, not just a few things, not just the good times. God causes all things to work together for good. God causes all things to work together for good. Even those times of adversity, even those dark times that you can't figure out, God is working it all out for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Why? Because God is good. In all of His goodness, He will work it out. He doesn't always work things out this side of heaven the way you want Him to, but you can count on this reality. He is good and He can only do good. Do not allow worldly perceptions of good to blind you to the goodness of God. Don't let this world dictate to you what is good and what is not good. When we judge goodness based on what we think it is, we will complain constantly and we will doubt God's goodness. Remember, God alone is good, therefore only He can determine what is good. We do not. Third, after we repent and after we rest, the third is we risk. risk stepping out in faith. When we discover the depth of God's goodness, we will find ourselves taking ever increasing steps of faith. As our faith in God's goodness increases, the greater the risk will be that we take. And there's a great promise here in Psalm 84 11. I would hope that you can memorize this and meditate on it constantly. It's a huge promise of God's goodness. For the Lord God is a sun and shield, The Lord gives grace and glory. No good thing. Do you see that? No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. What incredible words of encouragement. The Lord gives grace and glory. That's comprehensive. He lavishes us with unmerited favor and kindness. But this promise, no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. What a stunning Stunning promise. Either God is true to His Word and this is true, or you have to call Him a liar. That's a promise He has made based on His goodness. See, here's what's amazing. People are afraid of missing out. They're afraid if they do certain things, if I give away certain things, I'm going to miss out on something. With God, you will never miss out, because He will always give you what is good. Always. If He doesn't give you something, it's because He knows it is not good for you. We think we know what's best for us. I got news for you. No, you don't. God knows what's best for you. And so if there's something you really want, you think you need, and you have to have, and God says no, then please understand out of God's goodness, He's giving you the best. That means what you think you need, God says, no, you don't. I know what you need. I know what is best. That's God's goodness. And when you see clearly God's goodness, you start taking steps of faith. You begin to do things you would never have done before, like giving your money to people who need it more than you. You attempt things that used to scare you, like talking to others about God's goodness and God's grace. And then God responds by pouring out His incredible goodness in your life. So that's how we are to respond. Repent, rest, risk. When we are generally gripped by the goodness of God, it really does change our lives in many ways. I want to close with this story I came across concerning God's goodness. One night in February, 358 AD, the church father Athanasius held an all-night service at his church in Alexandria, Egypt. At this time, he had been leading the fight for the eternal sonship and deity of Jesus Christ. He knew that the survival of Christianity depended on it, and he had many enemies. for political reasons, even more than theological reasons. And that night they moved the power of the Roman government against him. That night the church was surrounded by soldiers with drawn swords. People were frightened. With calm presence of mind, Asinatius announced the singing of Psalm 136, which begins, Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His loving kindness is everlasting. The vast congregation responded thundering forth 26 times that God is good. His love endures forever. And it just got louder and louder with every shout. When the soldiers burst through the doors, they were staggered by the singing. Athanasius kept his place until the congregation was dispersed. Then he too disappeared in the darkness and found refuge with his friends. Many citizens of the city that night were killed. But the people of Athanasius' congregation never forgot that although man is evil, God is good. In the midst of their adversity, they found comfort in the goodness of God. And so as I said at the beginning, I say again, life becomes good when you genuinely understand that God is good. Let's pray. Precious Father, we bow our hearts to you. Some of these truths are difficult to understand, especially in our dark world, especially when we have to go through some very difficult times. But Lord, we ask that in your grace, you do a work in our hearts that we would never forget. You are a good God. You lavish your goodness upon your children. So I pray you'd work in our hearts today. Throughout this week, Help us to focus on Your goodness in every way. Help us to see how genuinely good You truly are, so that our lives would be transformed. So that in the midst of darkness, when people are scared, and they are nervous, and they worry, we can shout praises, knowing that our God is good, even in the midst of darkness. Oh, our Father, come and do what only You can do. Do such a great work in us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.