God is Good - Part 2 of 2

O for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise, Thou for resolve, my God and King, Thou triumphs of His grace.

This is L'sayer Braley, Jr., welcoming you to another broadcast of the Baptist Bible Hour. Heart and thousands, hearts and voices, Sound the loaves of praise above, Jesus reigns and man rejoices, Jesus reigns, the God of love. See, He sees His lips on yonder throne, Jesus, Jesus rules the world alone. Hallelujah, hallelujah, Jesus rules the world alone. Jesus' hale, whose glory brightens, all above, and gives its worth, Lord of life, thy smile enlightens, cheers and charms, thy saints honor. When we pray, we think, above, I find, for we are, we are, with love, we find. Hallelujah, hallelujah, Lord, we are, with love, we find.

King of glory reigns forever, thine and everlasting crown, Nothing gone by love can sever, those whom love has made thine own. Happy, happy, all takes off thy grace, destined, destined to behold thy face. Hallelujah, hallelujah, destined to behold thy face. Sing your praise, soon thine appearing, ring, oh ring, the glorious day, When the awful sound is hearing, and men on earth shall pass away, Then with them with golden hearts we'll sing, glory, glory, glory to our King. Hallelujah, hallelujah, glory, glory to our King. We continue with the theme today, God is Good. That's certainly a very basic declaration, but it is profitable to review just what the scriptures teach us about His goodness. So I pray the message will be a blessing to you.

If it is, let me hear from you. Our address is Baptist Bible Hour, Mach 17, 037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. Long e'er the sun meek and his days, o'er moonshot, o'er her silver rays, salvation's key was fixed, was done, Incomprehensible by the three in one. The Father's faith, the Son replied, the Spirit with him both combined. Praise through the cost for saving man, and wisdom through the noble plan. The Father chose his only Son to die for sins that man had done.

Emmanuel to the choice of green, and the secure the numeracy. He sent his Spirit from above to call the objects of his love. Not one shall bear rich or be lost, his blood has bought them, dear they cost. What high this place of sovereign grace, what love to say, love, ruin, grace! My soul adored his lovely name, by whom my free salvation came. How good is our God! How merciful is he when there are those that will deny his very existence and try to convince others that there is no God and speak disrespectfully of him and blaspheme his name. And God still gives them air to breathe, doesn't strike them dead. Matthew chapter 5 verse 45, Jesus says that he may be the children of your Father which is in heaven, for he maketh his Son to rise on the evil and on the good, he sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. When the sun rises, it doesn't just shine on Christians. When the rain falls, it doesn't just fall on the property of believers. How good is the Lord that he sends the rain on the just and the unjust. Now, the practical lesson of this is that he's saying you are to love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. And the basis for doing this is that you may be the children of your Father, that you may conduct yourself like he conducts himself.

How does he do it? What's the instinct of your human nature? If somebody harms you, do you feel like doing them good? No, the old Adam nature says, I'm going to do them good.

You may want to be a little cautious about how you deal with the matter, but certainly not thinking in terms of doing them good. But your Heavenly Father continues to send the sunshine on the form of that man that says, I believe this earth upon which I'm raising this crop came about through a process of evolution and I don't believe there is a God and God gives him sunshine nevertheless. I've been in communities out in the rural areas where they've called on people to come to pray for rain when the crops were in trouble.

When the rain came, it came on the crops of those who prayed and some who stayed home and didn't believe in prayer. God is good. God is gracious and merciful, good to all men. But of course, he's especially good to his people.

And when you start with the understanding that nobody deserves anything and that even his people cannot say, we're deserving and we're worthy, and I expect that God ought to do a variety of things for me, it'll help you get things in their proper perspective. Romans chapter 3 verse 12 says, they are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable, there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Our subject is God is good, but the fact is, man is not. That's one of the significant problems with the writings of Rabbi Kushner, who not only wrote his famous book, Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People, but continues to write on such subjects and is as wrong as he has ever been, by failing to recognize that, where are all of these good people? Are there any so good that we say that no troubles should ever befall them? If there's none that doeth good, no, not one, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and we join with Jacob to say, I'm not worthy of the least of his mercies.

As rebels against the sovereign of heaven and earth, as sinners who have violated his law, we don't deserve anything. But oh, how good the Lord is, good in many ways to all men, but good especially to his people. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 5 says, Having predestinated us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. According to his good pleasure, he was good. When he determined before the foundation of the world that he would have a people and said, I will be their God and they shall be my people. How good God was to reach down to those who were in the very pit of sin, lift them up to inherit thrones of glory by his free and sovereign grace. How good that God sent his son Jesus Christ to redeem them, to save sinners from their sin. In the Gospel of Luke chapter 2 verse 10 it says, And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. Good tidings, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord. Oh the goodness of God in sending his son Jesus Christ. Giving his son who was perfect in spotless and without sin and he was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. No wonder verse 14 says, Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace good will toward men.

This angelic multitude, this heavenly host were praising God and singing glory to God in the highest. God is good in making choice of a people. Good in sending his son to redeem them and purchase them and do that which was necessary for their salvation. And God is good in providing for his people. Matthew chapter 6 verse 26, this is part of the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus says, Behold the fowls of the air for they sow not and neither do they reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.

Are ye not much better than they? If God takes care of the fowls of the air, cease to it that they are fed. Don't you know he says he will take care of you? This is the promise of God. Verse 30, Wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall ye not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Now remember here he is talking to his people. Sometimes it's observed that there are places in the world today where multitudes of people are starving. But you know, in some instances it's a direct result of their idolatry. There are places in India where they worship a cow which God made to provide food for the hungry, but rather than killing the cow and eating it, they worship it. So they're reaping the results of their own sinful action. God's promise to care for and feed the hungry is that he's going to feed his own. This is a special blessing, a special mercy and blessing that belongs to them, belongs to his own. God is good. Now, seeing that the fact is declared, the evidence of it is reviewed, now the application made.

What does that mean? Well, the psalmist says in our text, thou hast dealt well with thy servant, thou hast dealt well with me. Can you say that? Surely you ought to say it.

If there's some hesitancy, if there's some reluctance to say it, it possibly goes back to the problem that you have not yet fully recognized your unworthiness. If you start with the premise, I am a sinner, I deserve nothing but the wrath of God, then anything that I get better than hell itself will have to be because of the goodness and mercy of God. If you understand that, then you'll have to say, he has dealt well with me as his servant. His mercy is to be remembered. His goodness is to be thought about.

It's so easy in the busy rush of life to be caught up thinking about our frustrations and our problems. This thing's not going well, having a bad day, all kinds of things that distress us and we fail to pause and think about how good God is to us. Psalm 106 verse 1 says, Praise ye the Lord, O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Praise him. You acknowledge that he's good in your own heart and you praise him and ought to be ready to praise him, even the four others, to tell them that you believe God is good and that he has dealt well with you, his servant. Psalm 107 verses 1 and 2, O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Don't just admit God is good, but say it. Be willing to tell others, God is good.

He is good in adversity as well as in days of prosperity. That's the times that some people have great difficulty seeing the goodness of God. So often people say, well if God is good, why doesn't he remove all suffering from humanity?

Why doesn't he solve all the problems, straighten out all the difficulties? See, this is to challenge the ways of God which are higher than our ways. We live in an earth that's under the curse of sin, among people who are under the curse of sin.

And much of what we encounter endures the consequence of sin itself. But God is good and merciful to spare us at all. But for his children, certainly God is good even as he sends affliction their way. Have you ever heard somebody make the expression, well this thing happened that was real deliverance Look what the Lord did and say, oh God is good.

Well, certainly you ought to be thankful for what he did, but God would still be good if he hadn't done that. He's good when he delivers us, but he's also good when he sends affliction or when he allows various difficulties to touch our life. Nahum chapter 1 verse 7, the Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him. The Lord is good, he's a stronghold in the day of trouble. Even when things are not going well, your plans are not working out, you feel like your prayers are not being answered and God is afar.

He's still good. Jeremiah the prophet said, I cry and shout and he shutteth out my prayer. Have you ever been there?

I think most of us have been there more than once. Or you go through the routine, you go through the motions of praying and you just think, I don't know if God is hearing me or not. Just wonder if there's any use to try to pray. Doesn't seem that God's hearing me.

Jeremiah was there, he was a prophet of God. And he says, though I shout and pray aloud, God shuts out the prayer, he doesn't hear me. But he went on to say, it's of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed. He still was acknowledging God is good. God is good. See, we have to be very careful here because sometimes it's as though we're kind of challenging the Lord. Lord, I'll say you're good and I'll praise you if you do things my way. And if you don't, I give up on you.

I just don't have enough faith to trust you anymore if you don't do what I want you to do. We have to recognize God as sovereign. And sometimes God is good in bringing trials into our life that are very disruptive, very painful, very difficult. But he's bringing them for a purpose. And he sees the whole picture.

All we see is that immediate trial. We have all these why questions in our mind. We struggle. Say, if God doesn't do something quick, I think I'll give up. I've read numerous accounts through the years of people who prayed earnestly for certain things that they never saw in their lifetime. And after they died, God answered that prayer. Sometimes it was praying for their children. Sometimes it was praying for the success of the gospel in a particular area. Would it be alright if God delayed for whatever reasons and only answered that prayer after we'd already gone to heaven? If that's God's purpose, that'd be okay, wouldn't it?

We need to bow in submission before him. Acknowledge God is good. God is good. Habakkuk talked about some very difficult situations after God told him about the judgments that were going to come upon the people. He first had thought God wasn't doing anything. God said, I am.

I'm getting ready to punish them for their iniquity. And when he heard that, then he was deeply troubled. And he says in Habakkuk chapter 3 verse 16, When I heard my belly trembled, my lips quivered at the voice, rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself. So for sometimes, you're trembling in the midst of your troubles. They say this is about more than I can handle.

This is about to make the best of me. Understand Habakkuk the prophet was right there with you. I trembled in myself that I might rest in the day of trouble. When he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.

There's a pretty dark scene. The troops coming in, invading the land. Everything that he's loved and hoped for is going to be wiped out. Multitudes of people are going to die.

But look what he says. Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall the fruit be in the vines. The labor of the olive shall fail, the field shall yield no meat.

The flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls. Wiped out. Everything's dark. Everything's bleak. Nothing's going right. What's he say? I give up?

No! Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. This word literally means that he was going to turn around. You've seen little kids swing around in a circle when they're happy. They say, I'm going to swing around in a circle and I'm going to rejoice so that everybody knows I'm rejoicing.

Whew! That's a tough one. Here's a Beckett that's saying, in spite of all of this darkness, all of this difficulty, I will rejoice in the Lord. God is good. He's good in all things. He's good in providence. He's good in grace. He's good in prosperity. He's good in times of loss.

It's very easy. When everything's going well, we're in good health. We're relatively prosperous to say, oh, how good the Lord is.

And we ought to give thanks for that. But God is still good in our times of sickness, in our times of darkness. Paul said in Philippians chapter 4 verse 12, I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound everywhere and in all things. I'm instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. He's good when we don't understand. Circumstances just seem so perplexing.

Nothing is going right. He's still good. Job said, when I'm tried, I'll come forth as gold. We should acknowledge His goodness. God is good. Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O Lord, according unto thy word.

Thou art good and doest good, teach me by statutes. But can we say that we have dealt well with Him? God has dealt well with us, but how have you dealt with Him? Have you always been faithful in keeping your promises? In seeking to praise Him and honor Him in the most difficult of times? To follow Him with true commitment?

To display love for Him? Thou hast dealt well with thy servant. May we as His servants seek to deal well with Him by praising Him and acknowledging His goodness. Well, if the message has been a blessing to you, just a reminder that we need the help of our listeners to stay on this and other stations. You can make a donation at our website BaptistBibleHour.org. Till we greet you next time, this is Lisera Bradley Jr. bidding you goodbye and may God bless you. It is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior, praising my Savior, praising my Savior all the day long.