In this sermon, Pastor Pete discusses the goodness of God as showcased in the advent of his son. He references Galatians chapter 4, which talks about how humanity was once in bondage under the elements of the world. However, in the fullness of time, God sent his son to redeem those who were under the law, offering them adoption as sons. Pastor Pete emphasizes that it is the unspeakable goodness of God that led him to send his son to save fallen humanity, despite their lack of merit.

We're going to continue in our Attributes of God series today. And I want us to be mindful of the fact—somebody drank all the water, Barbara? It's all right, I'll live. If I get too thirsty, I'll drink this anointing oil up here. That's okay, I'm all right, thank you. For two weeks, we spoke upon the faithfulness of God, and for two weeks, we spoke upon the sovereignty of God. Neither of those four messages did justice to the greatness of those attributes that we spoke of, in part. And it's that way in any exhibition upon any attribute of God. It'll only be in part by any man that speaks upon those hallowed themes. Much the same today in regard to the goodness of God. I've been a Christian for over 20-some years, I've been a pastor for nearly 20 years. I've never heard a sermon on the goodness of God. Never. Isn't that a shame? That I've been in church, every service nearly, for all of my adult life, and even in my childhood, as a sinner. Never heard a sermon upon the goodness of God that I can bring into my remembrance. But today we're going to hear one. And I'm fully cognizant of the fact that it is only a small glimpse, but a small glimpse of the goodness of God is all that we're going to have until we enter into the fullness of the kingdom of God on that great day when these perishable containers go back to the dust from whence they came. Then we're going to have a baptism in the goodness of God. Engulfed by, surrounded, filled, and oozing in the goodness of God for all of eternity. Alone for that day. But until that time, we now know in part, and we experience in part, and we have revelation in part of the goodness of God. And it's a shame to our generation of preachers that we've not been able to stir up the knowledge of the goodness of God. Thanks, buddy. A pastor was wounded this morning. You don't know your own strength, do you? No, it's all right. I needed those bones to pop and snap. I'll give you $30 after the service. And so once again, church, I think most of you know that I have a long-winded ability in any sermon that I preach or proclaim from the pulpit and when we're talking about the attributes of God, we're talking about such profound truths that I felt in my inward man that I needed to limit the amount per setting that I share with the congregation so that we don't become weighted down with more than what we're able to bear. I know this to be true in the state in which we are in today as a fallen race of formerly of Adam's tribe, that if God revealed the totality of his goodness to us in this weakened condition, it would overtake us and we wouldn't be able to contain or bear it. And I really have felt led of the Holy Spirit in regard to these lessons upon the character and the attributes of God to make it, but to reveal the power of it, but to give it in shorter dissertations so that we not be overloaded, if that makes sense, and to have more than we're able to bear of these weighty truths. The church is sick in need for a great, not only dissertation, but a demonstration of the attributes of God. We're supposed to be revealing these characteristics in the very nature of God into a sin-soaked world that's lost and blind even concerning her own condition. And the church has not emanated the excellencies of the nature of God because of the promises that are lacking in their lives that they've not laid hold of. There's not really been much in the last 100 years teaching and instruction, balanced teaching and instruction upon the nature of God. Everything that I've heard that's been relative to these subject matters has been contorted to where it's all that God is a servant of man. And every characteristic or attribute has been maimed by humanistic philosophy that's come forth in the name of Christ, that is not of the spirit of Christ, that tries to take and to warp the characteristics and the attributes of God that makes God a servant instead of a God that's worthy to be served. You and I cannot worship a God that is a God that runs errands for us. You can't worship that kind of God because that God would become a servant. And no man worships a servant, but a servant worships the master. And so I believe that it's imperative that in the time that we live in, that we bring back to life these powerful fundamentals of the faith, these powerful truths about God, preaching and teaching about who God is so we can have this revelation in part of the goodness and the character and the nature of God. Now in Matthew chapter 19, we're going to start in verse 16. And behold, one came and said unto him, good master, what good things shall I do that I may have eternal life? And this is a common philosophical belief that we do things to inherit what you cannot do to inherit. Are you with me? But we're not justified by the good things that we do. We know as believers and we taught in the doctrine series that we're justified by faith alone. And I, if you don't have an understanding of how we are justified and redeemed, that it has nothing to do with our moral excellency. It has nothing to do with our striving to become better people or to give up cigarettes. It has nothing to do with that. It has to do with coming to Christ as a simple and as a, as a, as a sinful and a simple child in need of his, of his, his tenor and believing that he is that perfect sacrifice that became sin, our sin. He who knew no sin and to throw our life before him, Lord, I, I need your mercy. It's my faith. It's my faith that we see this whole age old philosophy. What must I do? Was even alive in the time of Jesus Christ. It even so remains today. I've heard countless people that named the name of Christ and they've even come to me for counsel pastor. What do I need to do to get saved? Well, beloved, it's not what you need to do that saves you. It's who you need to believe that saves you. Are you with me? Say, man, good master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, why call us thou me good? There is none good, but one that is God. And there have been those that have tried to refute the divinity of Christ and using this passage to try to do so. But we must understand that this is the son of man speaking. Are you with me? Well, but he was equal with God, but he took upon himself the form of a servant. He was 100% God, but yet 100% man. And he's referring to the perfect goodness of God. There's none good, but one. We know that the Bible says over in Romans, there is none righteous. No, not one. Jesus says there is none good. There is none that is good except God. But if that will enter into life, keep the commandments. And he said unto him, thou shalt do no murder and shalt not commit adultery and steal. And he goes into the 10 commandments and then he goes to press it even further because of this young man, this rich young ruler said, I've kept all these things. This young man had a zeal for the Lord from his childhood up. He was still lacking one thing. He was lacking a heart surrender. He was lacking a heart surrender and an experience with an overtaking by the very grace and mercy of God. But the point we want to call out today is the point where Jesus addresses him. And he says, why call us thou me good? There is none good, but one, and that is God. And that's where we're going to launch out this morning and talk about the goodness of God. Can we pray before we go? Father, it's in this Pilgrim's way that we delight to trod Lord. And we ask that in so doing that you would lead us by your Holy spirit, Lord, even through the treacherous terrain, the rugged obstacles in this life called Christianity, Lord, that you would illuminate the path by your Holy spirit and by the word of truth. Father, I pray that today, that as the word of God is being heralded and proclaimed, that you would give us your sheep, your people, an ear to hear and a heart to receive, and also to ponder upon these vast and enormous and glorious truths concerning your goodness. Father, I am only a man and father that my revelation of your goodness, Lord, is embarrassing because of its limits. But father, I pray that you take these words that are spoken, Lord, that come forth from your word and use them to glorify your great name. Father, I pray that they would shine your greatness and your goodness. Father, anoint my tongue to speak and anoint your beloved elect to hear and to receive Lord, these truths in regard to your perfect goodness. Lord, help me in my weakness and my feebleness empower me from on high. Well, we don't just need words that are spoken that are lofty, but Lord, we need a demonstration of your power, Lord, that your power would reveal your greatness and your goodness to our hearts. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. I want to read a statement by Stephen Charnock that I found to be beautiful. He says, when it confers happiness without merit, it is grace. When it bestows happiness against merit, it's mercy. When he bears with provoking rebels, it's long suffering. When he performs his promise, it's truth. When it meets a person to whom it's not obliged, it's grace. When he meets with a person in the world to which he hath obliged himself by a promise, it's truth. When it commiserates a distressed person, it's pity. When it supplies an indigent person, it's bounty. When it secures or secures an innocent person, it's righteousness. And when it pardons a penitent person, it's mercy. And all of this is summed up in the name of God's goodness. Every attribute of God comes forth from his goodness. I saw this morning early, I was up and I was looking at some writings of some old saints in regard to the mercy or to the goodness of God. And there was a drawing that symbolized the goodness of God. And I explained this to Vernon and to the elders this morning. There was a circle. And in the circle, it said on the top, a father, and then the son, and then the Holy Spirit. They're all in the circle. But in between, it said not related to or not the same as, not the same as, not the same as, related to, but not the same as. The father and the son, the Holy Spirit, they're all one, but not the same as. And then around this circle, it had the goodness of God, the goodness of God. And then down below, it dropped down. And it talked about God's mercy, and God's grace, and God's patience, and God's kindness, and all the attributes of God. God's, God's severity, and God's wrath, and God's anger. It all comes underneath the banner of the goodness of God. And then underneath that, it goes down unto man. And that God is supremely good, and he's good above all things. The Bible says in Psalm 145, verse 7 to 10, this, that they shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness. The Lord is gracious, and he's full of compassion. He's slow to anger, and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all. Think about that. The Lord is good to all. It's not just speaking of those that have been called out of darkness and into his glorious light. God is even good to those that, that are sinful. God's warmth in the sun shines upon the just and the unjust, just as the rain falls upon the just and the unjust. The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all of his works. All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord, and thy saints shall bless thee. You know, here in the beginning text, we, we find the Lord addressing the rich young ruler with a startling, a startling declaration that there is none good except God. Only God is supremely good. And from this, that we can understand that God is the source of all goodness. Beloved, listen, all goodness that exists emanates from God and from his perfect goodness. It's important that we listen to the terminology here to see the vastness and the immenseness of the goodness of God. Beloved, only God is originally good. God's good of himself. All created goodness is residual from the goodness of God. Everything that you experience, everything that I experience as good is residual from the goodness of God. Beloved, listen, the goodness that we experience has a, a source to feed it. It has a spring that flows the goodness of God into our practical experience and into our lives and into our revelatory understanding. It's a spring flowing from a source. And that source is the infinite and the overwhelming and the abounding goodness of God. But God has no source feeding his goodness because God is good in himself and nothing makes God good because God is good within who he is. It's his character. God is good. Nothing makes God good. God doesn't do good things to make him good. Good things are done flowing from his goodness that is unchangeable or immutable and everlasting and eternal. God's does makes God good. God does good because God is good. Say it with me. Hallelujah. Listen, God doesn't depend on anything or anyone for his goodness. It's only in, and it's only of himself. Beloved, you and I have no inherent goodness within us, do we? Only God is good. We have no inherent. And I know that the, the, there are those out there in, in humanistic, even as to circles, they would say, oh, we're all inherently good. Beloved, we're all inherently rotten. God only is inherently good. He is the source of all goodness. And the loving, and we are recipients of his goodness. And so listen, you and I have no inherent goodness within, and in God, there is no goodness that comes from without. There's nothing that comes to God that makes God good. Beings that God is good and ultimately and all powerfully good. The goodness of God goes forth from God and affects all of his creation. God created the heavens and the earth and he saw it. And he said, it is good. Why was it good? Because it came from God. God created Adam from the dust of the ground and he breathed unto him and to his nostrils, the Ruach, the breath of God, and it became a living soul. And God had created Adam. He said, it is good. It's amazing that God took forth a rib from Adam's side and he fashioned it into a woman. And God said, it is very good. It was good because it came from God. God creates from his goodness and everything that springs forth from his goodness is good. Nothing comes to God to make God good. God is good. Inherently. God is good. Eternally. God is good. Unchangeably. The goodness of God. There is no event that transpires in the course of human history that alters or changes the goodness of God. Nothing. We were watching last night, a little show that had some small glimpses of the Holocaust that took place back during the second world war in the German regime and the Nazis under Adolf Hitler. And those were very dark times on our planet. There were very dark episodes. There was a lot of, in fact, millions and millions of people that were innocent, lost their life, but it didn't change the goodness of God. That God is good, regardless of the affairs of man, that God is good. And so the goodness of God is not derived from anything that's outside of God. God is good in and by himself. And all that is good is good because of God. All is good is good by him. All things that we experienced that are good. We are participants and partakers of his goodness. We are partakers and beloved in Christianity has gone, has sent that we have been redeemed and we experienced the glory of God in our lives. And the good things that we experienced are, are because of a relationship with a God that is ultimately and unceasingly good. God is always good. Listen, there is no source of goodness that is experienced by the created that has springs other than that, which flows from the creator. So, well, I have a source of good that comes from this. I have a source of good and it comes from that. No beloved, all sources of good can be traced back to God. Could all be traced back to God in creation. We know that God has declared good, but God was not made good by his creation. It's his goodness that creation tastes. And it's his goodness that all of creation declares all of creation declares the goodness of God. God has not declared good. Listen by his creation, but his goodness is tasted by the creation and the creation declares the goodness of God as the creation has tasted the goodness of God. Listen, God doesn't partake of anything to make God good, but everything that God has made tastes of him and experiences the goodness of God because the good creator has created the goodness of God. Stephen Sharnock went on. He said this, God is so good that he gives all, but he doesn't receive anything. God is so good that he gives, he gives all, and he doesn't receive anything. And he's only good because nothing is good except by him. And nothing has a goodness except from him. Nothing. God is good and God is good. Infinitely. So the goodness of God is without boundaries. God's goodness knows no limits. He's perfectly good. God is ultimately good. The depths of the goodness of God beloved are beyond our comprehension. They're inconceivable. The good things that we experience in our lives are nothing less than small sparks of an immense flame and small sips of an infinite fountain. The goodness of God. Listen, there's no higher goodness than that, which our God is and is perfectly. There's no higher goodness. And it's important that we understand that any goodness that you and I experience has been, or is being demonstrated as a gift from God. That's emanating from his perfect goodness. The goodness of God is immutable. It's never changing. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He's the Lord God that changes not the bestowment of his goodness, the giving or the, or the, or the, the outpouring, the revelation of his goodness, the tasting as it might be of his goodness by his created, namely you and I might different, might different degree. Doesn't it? There's times whenever it seems that I am tasting more of the goodness of the Lord than at other times, but God is not changing in his goodness. His he's immutable in his goodness. The reception, the revelation, the understanding, the participation with and the reception of his goodness might vary, but his goodness never varies. God's goodness is immutable. It never changes. There's a lot of people think that God's not good because I experienced bad. I've heard it multitudes of time that we've, but again, that's the God at the end of a little stick that you might jump up and down. The God that you and I serve is not the little thing stuck on the end of the stick. He's the God that governs the universe and God wills. You know, Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary and the angels cried out peace on earth and goodwill towards men. God wills good towards those that he loves. He wills good towards those that are, that are born of his, of his, of his own son and the goodness of God even as demonstrated in the lives and experienced by the lives of those that are violently opposed to God. They experienced the warmth of the sunshine. They experienced the good things of God, although they're rebels against his cause and haters of his justice and despisers of his son. And they experienced the goodness of God and how much more we that serve and love the Lord Jesus Christ, God's goodness is shining upon his beloved people. Even now above there's times when it doesn't feel that the sun is shining, but the goodness of God is non-changing. Well, I would think for a moment if you didn't experience from time to time, dark times, hopelessness, the old word, dearth, feeling alienated, alone, suffering affliction as a righteous son or daughter of God. Beloved, how could you be thankful for the goodness of God that shines in seasons of his choice? That shines when God chooses to reveal and to pour out the glory of his goodness upon his people that we rejoice and we're so thankful. I think one of the misnomers that we have is that, that the goodness of God must always be demonstrated in practical experience of our lives. At all times, we're just going that we're just the glee club. It's not real. God, listen, there's times that God in his goodness withholds the understanding or listen, or the participation in practical experience of goodness so that we'll value goodness. It's God in his goodness that causes you to suffer. That won't preach very well, will it? This is the goodness of God. There's never a time in the seasons of life that we experienced as a child of God, that the goodness of God changes. That when I'm going through a season of affliction, it's the goodness of God that has led me there. It's the goodness of God. God forbid that I ever blame it on the devil. What God has led me to by grace. God leads us by his grace to mountains that we need to conquer to dark valleys that we must trod, that we must trust him by faith alone. When it's always well, when it's always a flourishing time, but when our hearts grow cold and dull, God leads us in the dark valleys by his glorious grace, which comes forth from his goodness, that we might trust him and see the goodness at the hand of the Lord, even in times of darkness and in desperate shadows of danger. The goodness of God demonstrated. How dare we challenge the goodness of God because of momentary and light afflictions. The goodness of God never changes. And it's not determined by human experience, but it's based upon the unchanging nature and countenance of God. The reason that we judge the goodness of God by temporal seasons and experiences that we have as human beings is because we've created a God just like us. And we want things to be rosy all the time. God does what's good and infinitely good in regard to his children. And he knows that times that seem to be flourishing at all times are not always for our good. You and I in this congregation all know people that have abounded in certain things in their life that have robbed them of heavenly treasures, that earthly treasures have filled their cupboards, earthly treasures had filled their bank accounts, and they found in their own satisfaction and their own provision that they have laid up with their own hands, that they have trust in their mammon, they have trust in their resources, and they have no longer a trust for God. And they think it was the goodness of God. And there are also no times when the goodness of God takes away that which he has given. And they challenge the goodness of God in his taking away, which is an act of his goodness. And they can't see the goodness of God because they've created a God in their own image that they would have never done that to themselves. There is no higher goodness than that which our God is perfectly. It's important, beloved, that we understand that any goodness that we experience, any goodness that we might exhibit, has been or is being a demonstration of a gift, a gift that God's emanating from his perfect goodness. The Bible says in regard to the unchanging nature of God and the unchanging goodness of God in the first chapter of James, verse 17, that every good, say good, every good and perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Every good gift, it comes down from the father of lights in whom there is no change or no changing, no variableness, no shadow of turning that God is an immutable and unchanging God. And God is good and being God is good. God's goodness never deviates in any respect or manner, never changes, never changes. God's goodness is always full and plump and it never will diminish. Nothing can change God from being God. So once again, listen, and I want you to understand this and I want you to take this away with you. In our practical experience, we may experience some seasons of deeper revelation of God's goodness and we might even begin to experientially taste more rich and more manifest expressions of God's goodness, but God's goodness still hasn't changed. This is an imperative biblical principle that the Christ needs to know that it's the body of Christ is seemingly lacked. The goodness of God doesn't change. God's goodness is immutable and God's goodness is inseparable from his perfect being. You're not always going to have revelation of it. That's the same. You're not always going to have practical experience or experientially undergo such good circumstances, but God's goodness hasn't changed. We've must let this grip our hearts. I like a W's Tozer talking about the goodness of God. Listen to what Tozer said. Tozer said, the goodness of God is that which disposes God to be kind and cordial, benevolent, full of goodwill toward men. God's tender hearted. He's quick of sympathy. His unfailing attitude toward all moral beings is open and Frank and sincere and friendly. And by nature, he is inclined to bestow blessedness and he takes holy pleasure in the happiness of his people. Of course, I always go back to that, that Tozer saying, quote, that a man is most happy when a man is most holy. And there are providences of God that bring forth a revelation and an impartation of the holiness of God that have pretty much a a sandpaper effect upon us that are not always pleasing to our realms of comfort, but the providences that are ordained to man's total happiness. Because man has no ability to make himself happy. Only God can make the heart happy as the heart becomes holy. Amen. Thomas Manton, another one of the wonderful Puritans, but less famous, said that God is originally good. God's good of himself, which nothing else is for all creatures are good only by participation and communication from God. God is essentially good, not only good, but goodness itself. The creature's good is a super added quality in God, in it, in his essence. Listen, the good as we are, we're created beings. A lot of times these old saints will talk about the creature talking about us, not talking about the dog on the porch or the goat in the cow lot. He's talking about the people of God and all the good that we have is a super added quality that comes from God in the very essence of his being. But only God is infinitely good. The creature's good is only a drop, but in God, there's an infinite ocean or a gathering together of good. He's eternally and immediately good for it cannot be less good than he is. And there can be no addition made to him. And there could be no subtraction made from him to make God more or less good than he is. Listen, every grain of goodness that we experience is from the unending field of God's greatness and goodness. The good experiences that you and I daily partake of the raising of our kids, the loving of our families, the cherishing, the blessedness of the body of Christ. These are but small granules of the infinite goodness of God. And they're only small glimpses of the baptism into the fullness of the goodness of God that will manifest beyond this temporary life. Let's talk about this for a moment. The goodness of God is showcased by the sending of his son. Everybody okay? You're not becoming bored with the word of God, are you? Delight thyself also in the Lord and then he will do what? Direct your paths. The goodness of God is showcased in the advent of his son. Galatians chapter four, please. Pastor Pete will be listening to this message, I'm sure. By the end of the week, we can get it to Connie and get it up in sight. Elizabeth, can you take it to her, please? We want Pastor Pete and Kathy to know that we here at Pryor Creek Community Church love them, are interceding for them. Amen. The Bible says in Galatians chapter four, verse three, it says, even so we, when we were children, we were in bondage under the elements of the world, who in the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. So good news. God's goodness is showcased in the advent of his son. Listen, what other than the unspeakable goodness of God would dispose God to send his son to redeem a fallen race of transgressors? Listen, it wasn't any merit that was in this fallen tribe of Adam's loins that caused God to demonstrate and exhibit his goodness towards them. It was simply a demonstration. And in my notes, I put an exhibition, a demonstration or an exhibition of the free and the sovereign goodness of God. Listen, it wasn't the need of man that initiated demonstration of God's goodness. It was just a sovereign prerogative. The Bible says in John one, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of the will of God. It wasn't just man's need that caused God to demonstrate his goodness in the sending of his son. It wasn't the need of man. It's just simply a demonstration of the goodness of God. God doesn't need man's need to be good. Are you with me? Listen, I'm not insinuating man didn't have a need. Man did still does. I still do. So do you. But that wasn't the basis for God to demonstrate his goodness. The basis for this demonstration of goodness was solely the goodness of God. It's just solely the goodness of God. God sent his son simply because God is good. The basis is God's goodness. The basis is not man's need. It rests with God's goodness. That might not seem like a big matter to you. That's a big matter. That's a big thing that God does what he does simply because he's good, not because people need it just because God's good. Listen, I can go as a child of God emanating the goodness of God. And even though that you're blessed and have all that you need, I can come and bless you with something even though you don't need it. The basis isn't your need. The basis is my goodness and love. How much more God? How much more God? The basis was not the need of man. The basis is just the goodness of God. God does what he does because he's good and sovereignly good. He's good. He's infinitely and perfectly and sovereignly and immutably good. Always, always good. Listen, Sharnock said pure and perfect goodness is only the royal prerogative of God. Goodness is a choice perfection of the divine nature. Goodness is a choice perfection of the divine nature. But yet, beloved, it's the will of God to demonstrate his goodness in the crushing of his son. It pleased the Lord to bruise him. Why? To affect the redemption of his people. Listen, beloved, it's also the goodness of God that leads ungenerate men to repentance. Lost men to repentance. Romans 2, please. Any reason he's standing out there? You come in here with us. We like you. In verse four, it says, Oh, or despises thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. The gift of repentance is a demonstration of the goodness of God who is not willing that any should perish. Notice how it says the goodness of God leads us to repentance. This suggests that God is demonstrating as well as asserting his goodness in the leading of his children unto repentance. Listen, this is suggestive. The grace of God has appeared unto all men. The grace of God has appeared unto us, revealing to us our own depravity and measuring it against God's holiness and perfection. And this is none other than the active and the eternal goodness of God at work in redemption. It's the active and the eternal goodness of God at work in redeeming lost humanity. The goodness of God leads men unto repentance. This is the active grace of God at work. Love it. Listen. And again, I want us to understand this is not based upon the merit of man, nor is it based upon the need of man alone, but it's based upon the goodness of God demonstrating itself as God so chooses. God wills the redemption of mankind, and he does so based on his goodness. Therefore, any redemptive means is a demonstration of the goodness of God. You're here today in this local church. You're here in the solemn assembly today, worshiping Jesus Christ, our beloved redeemer, because of the goodness of God. The Bible says, oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good and his love endures forever. Selah. Pause. Think about that for a moment. Oh, give thanks to the Lord for he is good and his love endures forever. Psalm 107, verse 9 and 15, for he satisfies the longing soul. He fills the hungry soul with goodness. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. Oh, that we would praise him for his goodness. I made mention at the beginning of this series that we cannot worship God apart from the knowledge of God, because you worship what you know not. Where'd that statement come from? From the epistle of John. Not the epistle, but the gospel of John. You worship what you know not. Beloved, worship hinges upon the revelatory knowledge of the person of God. That's why it is so imperative that we preach and proclaim the character and the nature and the attributes of our God so that we might worship a God to which we have been revealed by the word of God and by the Holy Ghost. Amen. That we might worship God in spirit and in truth. Truth. God is revealed unto us by his word. He reveals himself to his church by his word. And then lastly, we read in the fifth chapter of Galatians, that the fruit of the spirit produces goodness in our lives. It's residual and it's reflective goodness. It's not inherent, but inherited. It's not inherent, but it's inherited. They got the fruit of the spirit is goodness. But we know love and joy and peace and gentleness and kindness and goodness, the fruit of the spirit. Beloved, this is residual goodness that as we partake in the very divine nature of God that we share in and that we have cultivated within and that we demonstrate towards those that are undeserving, just as we experience the goodness of God, though we're undeserving. Beloved, your Christianity either works toward the undeserving or it doesn't work at all because your Christianity that you live and experience all hinges upon the undeservingness of yourself. And if your goodness is only reflected unto those that are deserving, you are only operating in the natural goodness of the natural man and not redemptive goodness. Are you with me? It's a goodness that you share in the confines of your own limited and warped perception of goodness. And it's not a real goodness at all because it's the motive behind it's wicked and twisted. And it all the goodness goes out just so you can have it back. But divine goodness that God works in us by his spirit as his nature is being ratified on the inside of his people is a goodness without merit. It's a goodness that goes forth to undeserving people and it's all done for the glory of God and not so that we can get something good back from it. Hello? And so this goodness that we see here in the in the fifth chapter of Galatians and it talks about the fruit of the spirit is the effect of relational grace. It's the effect of relational grace within redeemed man and it's the cause of relational grace from God. Let me say that again, it's the effect of relational grace within redeemed man, the fruit of the spirit, goodness, goodness, the God kind of goodness coming forth from us. It's the effect of relational grace that transpires within the corridors of the heart of redeemed man. But it's the cause of relational grace from God. God's goodness is the cause of relational grace towards man. Grace is the effect of the cause, which is the goodness of God. Does that make sense? And so we receive the goodness of God and it affects in us a relational grace to which we can give out the goodness of God or we can emit or emanate the goodness of God towards others. A little bit difficult to grasp, but not too much. The effect of relational grace is the emanation of God's goodness in our lives. The cause of relational grace is the goodness of God. It's the goodness of God beloved that leads man into repentance and thereby converting grace. It's converting grace that leads us to experience and to share in the goodness of God and the fruit of the spirit is God's goodness. And we're quickly running out of time, but even the wicked partake in the goodness of God as do all of the works of the hands of God. They might enjoy this goodness in part because it reigns and it also shines upon the just and the unjust, but the redeemed of God and only the redeemed of God can participate in and share the goodness of God with others. And I don't have time and I really don't think it too mandatory to expound upon the goodness of God towards the unjust, but I think you and I both know that it's supported by a multitude and a host of other scriptures. My last scriptures in Psalm 145 9, the Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all of his works. The Lord is good to all. Let me give you something to think about. Is the wrath of God emanating from the goodness of God? It is. Listen, is the judgment of God and the banishment of sinners into eternal perdition an act of the goodness of God? Listen, if it were not so, heaven would be no longer heaven. It would be just like here. That which separates to protect is an act of goodness. It's my heart's desire to help us see and to help us increase in some manner to have a deeper and a more cognizant revelation of the goodness of God, to see the goodness of God in a more magnificent light. Listen, all goodness is of God and all goodness is from God. The most minute glimpse of goodness is dispersed from the very goodness of God and it cannot come from any other. And the passage says, oh, give thanks to the Lord for he is good. His love endures forever. Charles Wesley wrote this hymn, thy ceaseless, unexhausted love, unmerited and free. The lights are evil to remove and helps our misery. The latest to be gracious, still thou dust with sinners bear that saved we might, by goodness, feel and all thy grace declare. Thy goodness and thy truth to me, to every soul abound a vast, unfathomable sea where all our thoughts are drowned. It streams the whole creation reach, so plenteous is the store. Enough for all, enough for each, enough for evermore. Faithful, oh Lord, thy mercies are a rock that cannot move. A thousand promises declare thy constancy of love. Throughout the universe, it reigns unalterably sure and while the truth of God remains, his goodness must endure. Amen. Let's stand. Well, Father, we just delight ourself in the Lord. We're so thankful, Lord, that you let us participate and partake of thy goodness. Father, I pray that in our lives, the lives of the people at Pryor Creek Community Church and the saints of God abroad, Lord, that your promises would manifest themselves in fruition in their lives, that they and we might partake of your nature. Lord, having escaped all that is in this world through lust, Lord God, that we might partake of your nature, Lord, that we might partake of thy goodness. Father, help us. Father, I pray that you'd move upon our lives and our hearts, Lord, that we might believe you, Lord, that we might trust you, that every promise unfulfilled might be completed in our lives, might be brought to a place or a fulfillment or a fruit or fruition. Lord, that your nature, Lord, might be revealed in us and through us. Lord, we thank you that we can search the scriptures. Lord, that we can read these powerful truths of the word of God that are revealing your goodness unto us. Father, we delight ourselves in them. We delight ourselves in that you are a good God. We thank you for your goodness. Father, we don't want to be a people, Lord, that despise the goodness of the Lord. Lord, for we know that it is thy goodness that leads us unto repentance. We thank you for your goodness. We bless you for your unchangeable goodness. We, we, we extol thee, O God. We lift you up. Lord, we not will not keep silent. We will praise your great name and your goodness. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Lord, guard our hearts, lest the serpent of old, that old dragon would steal away the good seed that has been sown today. Father, I pray that the seed, the good word of God will bloom and grow and produce grace in life and the lives of the people of God that have been called out of darkness and into this marvelous light of salvation. Father, we pray, Lord, for this body that we might grow up and mature, that we might put aside and put away the things of childhood, Lord, that we might mature, that we might put aside unforgiveness and grievances and bitterness, that we might put aside strife and unbelief, Lord, that we might put aside, that we might keep our sights focused on Jesus Christ and his righteousness, Lord, that we might keep our eyes fixed on the goodness of God, Lord, that we might have our eyes upon the one that has been lifted up on the tree, that has paid the price for all of sins, our humanity, sins, and woes. Father, God, help us to keep these eyes fixed. Help us to keep these eyes open and inclined to you. Help us, O God, to keep his heart open and fixed upon the excellencies of your greatness. We rejoice in you. We rejoice in you. Hallelujah. Oh, hallelujah to the Lamb of God that was slain from the foundations of the earth. Hallelujah. Blessed be the Lord God, our Redeemer. We honor you. We bless you. We love you, Lord. We give you praise and thanks, O God. We bless your great name. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Lord, it's in the name of Jesus alone. Amen.