Tackling Ten Timeless Truths, Part 8

If you have your Bible, Hebrews chapter 13, tackling and treasuring 10 timeless truths. They're going to be on the screen behind me in case she's going to put them up for you in case you haven't been with us, or you haven't taken notes, or you just plain forgot. They're right there for you to understand exactly where we've been in Hebrews chapter 13. Where we're going is yet to be seen, but we're going to be done with Hebrews here pretty soon. Not yet, but almost, and it's been seven years, but we're soon going to complete our study of the book of Hebrews in the next couple of weeks.

But as we tackle these 10 timeless truths, number eight is what I want to draw your attention to again this morning, because we concluded with this one last time two weeks ago, and that is making sure that you return all glory and praise to your God. And the writer of Hebrews says you're to do that continually. This is how he states it, Hebrews chapter 13, verse number 15. Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God that is a fruit of lips and give thanks to his name and do not neglect doing good and sharing for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

The sacrifice of praise, even the sacrifice of purse, and especially the sacrifice of person is what the believer is involved in, self, song, and substance. The Hebrews would want to know how it is you can become a Christian without offering any sacrifices, because they lived a life of offering sacrifices. But because Christ was that once for all and final sacrifice for their sin and all of their sacrifices pointed to the arrival of the Messiah, the question would be, well, are there any sacrifices to offer now if we give our life to Christ, and the answer is yes.

We present our bodies as living sacrifices, Romans 12, right? But the sacrifice of person, we give honor and praise to God, which is the sacrifice of praise, and we don't neglect doing good to others because this is well pleasing to God and we sacrifice from our purse, simply because we realize that a sacrifice is going to cost you. That's why it's called a sacrifice. Sacrifice is cost, and so the writer of Hebrews explains to them there is a sacrifice to offer. The sacrifice of praise is to be offered continually, continually, and I thought about that for a while and began to realize that this is very difficult for a lot of people, to give praise and glory and honor to God continually.

We might do it on Sunday because we're singing some songs about God and we'll offer a sacrifice of praise with our lips, but to be able to go through each and every day offering a sacrifice of praise is altogether different. In fact, the psalmist said in Psalm 119 verse number 175, and there's only 176 verses in Psalm 119, but Psalm 119 verse 175, he says these words, let my soul live that I may praise you. Let my soul live that I might praise you. He wants to live so that he can praise his God. That should be our lives.

That's how we should live our lives, every single day. Lord, as I awake today, I live that I might praise your name. Praise is a priority for the believer. We know that from 1 Thessalonians 5 verse number 18, which says that in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Excuse me. In everything give thanks. Ephesians 5 20 says we're to give thanks for everything. So not only when you're in the midst of it, but you're to give thanks for it because it's a priority.

It's a priority for the believer simply because it's the purpose of the believer. Isaiah 43 verse number 21. My people, I have formed for myself that they might praise my name. That's our purpose. The reason it's a priority is because our Lord formed us that we might praise his name, give glory to his name, offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving in his name. That's what we do. So we offer praise continually because praise is our priority. Praise is our purpose. Praise is our prayer. Be anxious for nothing, Philippians 4, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, with praise, let your requests be made known unto God.

Praise is our prayer. You can't pray without praising. The reason we're so anxious is because we don't pray with praise. That's why you're anxious about your circumstances and your situation. That's why you worry about your finances. That's why you worry about your marriage. So you worry about your kids. That's why you go through life worrying and anxious about everything that's there. You don't pray with praise. Praise is our priority. Praise is our purpose. Praise is our prayer. Praise also is our practice.

The psalmist says in Psalm 116, these words, verse number 12, what shall I render to the Lord for all of his benefits toward me? Well, verse 17, to you I will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving, a sacrifice of praise. I will pay my vow. I will offer that sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to you because that is my practice. Praise is not just a priority. Praise is not just my purpose. Praise is not just my prayer. Praise is my practice because I practice praise continually, perpetually, repeatedly.

Our lives are marked by praise. How about this? Praise is our passion. Psalm 103, verse number 1, blessed the Lord, O my soul. And all that is within me, bless your holy name. That's passion. All that is within me, bless your holy name. Psalm 111, verse number 1, says this. Praise the Lord. I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart. With my whole heart, I will give thanks to him. With all my being, I will give praise to him. So if praise truly is my priority and praise truly is my purpose, my prayer, my practice, if praise is my passion, you with me so far?

Praise is my pleasure. Psalm 147, praise the Lord, for it is good to sing praises to our God, for it is pleasing, it is pleasant, and praise is becoming. Praise is my pleasure. It's what pleases God. If it pleases God, it's going to please me because God's not going to ask me to do something that's not going to bring ultimate pleasure to him and ultimate pleasure to myself because it's ordained by God. Praise is my pleasure. Notice what it says in Psalm 147, verse number 1, for it is pleasant and praise is becoming.

Over in Psalm 33, verse number 1, he says, sing for joy to the Lord, O you righteous ones. Praise is becoming to the upright. In other words, praise is fitting for the upright. It fits the upright. Why? It's their priority. It's their purpose. It's their practice. It's their pleasure. It's their passion. And so it's beautifying to the upright. That's what the psalmist said in Psalm 147, verse number 1. It is pleasant and praise is becoming. It's beautiful. It is fitting. In other words, whenever you praise the Lord, the whole scenery around you changes.

Did you ever notice that? When you give praise to God, the scenery in which you exist all of a sudden begins to change, not because of what's happening but because of your perspective on what is happening. You give praise and honor to the King of kings and Lord of lords. Praise beautifies our circumstances and it's fitting for every single occasion. So the line of Hebrews says, you ought to respond to God with all glory and praise and honor. That's what we do. This is a timeless truth that must be tackled every single moment of every single day as well as treasured every single moment of every single day.

But we find ourselves complaining and grumbling, murmuring and disputing. In fact, Paul would address that in the book of Philippians, the fourth chapter. Very familiar verse to most of us, Philippians 2, verse number 14, do all things without grumbling or disputing. Whatever you do, don't grumble and don't dispute. Grumbling is emotional. Disputing is intellectual. You grumble from the inside out because something's gone wrong and your emotions can't handle it. So now you begin to dispute it and your dispute usually is with God, but because you can't see God, you dispute with other people.

So Paul says, do all things without grumbling and disputing so that you may prove yourself to be blameless and innocent children of God. What's the best way to prove you're a child of God? By not murmuring, complaining, grumbling, and then disputing what's been happening. He goes on to say, that you may prove yourselves children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life. You live in a crooked and perverse generation anyway.

You live in a generation that doesn't praise God. So when you begin to praise Him, you beautify the scenery. It's fitting to the believer because this is what we're about and everything around you begins to change because you live a life that's absolutely beautiful, a life of praise. We don't like to be around people that are always complaining. I mean, I don't. I'm sure you don't either. They're just downers, right? But to be around someone who lives the life of praise and honor to God, that's just so incredibly important.

And yet we find ourselves very easily not giving glory to God, praise to His name, and we begin to grumble. How bad is that? Well, let me tell you how bad it is.

The Apostle Paul will explain it to us in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse number one, for I do not want you to be unaware, brethren.

Or as the King James says, I don't want you to be ignorant, brethren. There are seven occasions in the New Testament where Paul says, do not be ignorant, do not be unaware. In other words, you need to be aware of this. You need to be open to this, see it, understand it, because if not, it's going to catch you by surprise. And this particular subject is dealing with the sins of Israel. And Paul doesn't want the church of Corinth to be ignorant about the sins of Israel. So he says very easily that our fathers were all under the cloud and passed to the sea and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and the sea and all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink and they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them and the rock was Christ.

Nevertheless, with most of them, God was not well-pleased for they were laid low in the wilderness, they died in the wilderness. God wasn't pleased. But why wasn't he pleased? Isn't this God's chosen people? Yeah, yeah. Did he not lead them out of Egyptian bondage? Yep. Did he not ransom them? Yep. Did he not redeem them? Yep. Did he not move them out? Yes, that's what he did. He delivered them, he came down, moved them out, but he wasn't well-pleased with the way they lived their lives. Now these things happened as examples for us so that we do not crave evil things as they craved, do not be idolatrous as some of them were as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and stood up to play, nor let us act immorally as some of them did and 23,000 fell in one day, nor let us try the Lord as some of them did and were destroyed by the serpents, nor, here you go, grumble.

As some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer. Paul wants you to understand the sins of Israel. And one of the sins of Israel was the fact that they were chronic complainers. They grumbled all the time. They were never satisfied. They bellied, they bickered, they disputed, and a lot of times they disputed with Moses. That's what happens, right? You can't see God, so what do you do? You dispute with God's leaders. And that's what happened when it came to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse number 10.

There was Korah, Dathan, and Abiram in Numbers chapter 16 who began to complain about the leadership of Moses and Aaron. And God is never pleased when you complain about the leadership that God places over you. He just never is. And so they began to complain and there were 250 others who were with them and complained against what was happening in Numbers chapter 16. God wasn't pleased, so God killed them. He opened up the ground. They and their families were swallowed up because God was not pleased that they would complain against the leadership.

You would think that the people of Israel would say, wow, this is serious stuff. Not so. They grumbled. They got mad. They disputed. And instead of getting mad at God for what God did to those who led the rebellion, who did they get mad at? The leadership. Moses and Aaron. And as they began to complain about what took place because a wholly just God accomplished his purposes, God killed 14,700 of them because they grumbled. They would begin to dispute the providence and sovereignty of God, the actions of God, the justice of God.

And they came against Moses and Aaron because that's what people do. They go against those who are in leadership and they begin to complain and gripe and bellyache. And God said, that's it. So he killed them. That's how serious grumbling is. We tend not to take it very seriously, but God does. He's very serious about it. And so therefore we realize that when Paul says in Hebrews chapter 13, or the writer of Hebrews, maybe it's Paul, I don't know, when he says, look, make sure you return all glory and praise to God and you do it continually.

He knows what he wrote or what was written in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. He knows what happens in Numbers chapter 16. He knows about the history of Israel and the Hebrew people would know all about the history of Israel. And now they were kept out of the promised land because they murmured and complained that the people in the land were too big and they were afraid for their lives. And God said, nope, not going in 40 years, you're going to wander. And they did. You see, God is serious about this stuff.

We need to be serious about it. So how do I offer a sacrifice of praise continually? Well, again, let me read to you Psalm 147 verse number one, where the writer of Hebrews says, praise the Lord, for it is good to sing praises to our God, for His pleasant praise is becoming.

It is good to sing praises to our God. You see, when you give praise to God, it's good. It's very good. And so because giving praise to God is good, understanding God's goodness will help you understand how praise can be offered continually. So let me explain that to you.

Why is it good to give praise to God? Well, because the person of God is good. God himself is good. So, the psalmist says in Psalm 1968, God is good. God is good. Over in Psalm 107 verse number one, O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.

His lovingkindness is everlasting. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary. The Bible says, let's give thanks to the Lord for He is good.

Psalm 118. Psalm 118 verse number one says, give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.

Oh, let Israel say, His lovingkindness is everlasting. That's public praise. Oh, let the house of Aaron say, His lovingkindness is everlasting. That's priestly praise. Oh, let those who fear the Lord say, His lovingkindness is everlasting. That is personal praise. In other words, it's good to give thanks unto the Lord. Why? Because God himself is good. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Psalm 34 verse number eight. The Bible says in Psalm 145 verse number nine, the Lord is good to all.

That's everybody. The Lord is good to all. He's not just good to some, He's good to all. Believer and unbeliever alike. Psalm 32 nine, for I, I will wait on your name for your name is good. Your name is good. See, bad things don't happen to good people. Good things always happen to bad people. Good things always happen to bad people. We know that bad things don't happen to good people because there's nobody good, right? There is none good, no, not one, the Lord says. So none of us are any good. So bad things can't happen to good people because none of us are any good.

But good things always happen to bad people because all of us are bad. And good things are always happening because God is a God of mercy and grace and loving kindness and faithfulness. And we praise him because our Lord is good. His place is called the good shepherd, John 10, right? The good shepherd, not the bad shepherd, not the indifferent shepherd, the good shepherd. When the rich young ruler came to Christ, he says, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Luke 18. Christ says, why do you call me good?

There's none good except God. And he's right. Only God is good. So the reason it's good to give praise to God is because God himself is good. The person of God is good. Not only is the person of God good, listen carefully, the proclamation about God is good. The proclamation about God is good. Luke 2, what do the angels say? We bring you good news of great joy. Good news. That's the gospel. And when you proclaim the gospel, you're proclaiming the good news of the person who is good. So the proclamation of the gospel is good because it's good news, not bad news.

It's only good news. So, in Isaiah chapter 40, verse number 9, get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news. Lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news. Lift it up. Do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, here is your God. Behold, the Lord your God will come with might, with his arm ruling for him. Behold, his reward is with him. His recompense is before him. You are the bearer of good news. Over in Psalm 52, I mean, excuse me, Isaiah chapter 52, verse number 7, how lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness.

Who announces salvation and says to Zion, your God reigns. Listen, your watchmen, lift up your voices. They shout joyfully together for they will see with their own eyes when the Lord restores Zion. It's good news. The proclamation about God is good. Why? Why? Because it's all about the good news of salvation. It does not say in Romans chapter 2, it's the goodness of God that leads you to repentance. If God wasn't good to all, he could lead no one to repentance. But because he is good, his goodness is seen, he leads people to repentance.

So it's good to give thanks unto the Lord. It's good to praise his name. Why? Simply because the person of God is good. And the proclamation about God is good. Number three, the providence of God is good.

Psalm 119, 16, thou art good and doest good. The providence of God are the details of God's sovereignty. It's how he orchestrates the events of life to bring about his perfect purposes so that Joseph could say, you meant it evil for me, but God meant it for what? For good. Why? Because Joseph understood the providence of God, the outworking of the details of his life, bringing about goodness for him and glory to his God. That's why in Romans 8 it says, for we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose.

We know that. We don't think. We don't speculate. Paul says, we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose. We give praise and honor to God because the person of God is good. The proclamation about God is good. And the providence of God is good. In other words, every detail of your life as we speak is bringing about God's glory and your greater good. Do you believe that? Let's see. Turn me to Matthew chapter 11. Matthew chapter 11. In Matthew 11, Christ gives an invitation.

Christ came with a mission, right? The mission provokes the invitation. What's the mission? Luke 19 verse number 10. The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which is lost. That is the mission of the Messiah. Christ came that he might seek and save that which is lost. So, with that mission comes an invitation. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest for your souls. In Matthew and John chapter 6, he says, come to me, you'll never hunger. John 7, come to me, you'll never thirst.

John 8, come to me, you won't walk in darkness. John 11, come to me, you'll never die. Matthew 11, come to me, you'll find rest for your souls. The invitation was come. Come to me. Come to me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest for your souls. Take my yoke upon you. Learn from me, for I am meek and gentle at heart. If you go back to verse number 25, look what it says. At that time, Jesus said. At that time, Jesus said. At what time? The context is very important. In John 10, there is the commission of the 12.

In John 11, there's the question about the Messiah by John the Baptist. Are you really the Messiah? Why would John, the forerunner to the Messiah, ask that question? What would prompt that? Because of the lack of response by the people, and because he's in prison. So in John 10, you have a question, I mean, you have a commission, and then in John 11, you have a question. And that question is followed by a summation, a summation of his Galilean ministry, because it's coming to an end. It's come to an end.

So in verse number 19 of Matthew 11, it says, the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners, yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds. This is the Galilean summation of the ministry of Christ. He eats with drunkards, he eats with tax gatherers, he's friends with them. So that's a summation. At that time, there was a summation. At that time, there was a question. At that time, there was a commission. At that time, there was a denunciation.

Verse number 20, then He began to denounce cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent. Woe to you, Chorazin, woe to you, Bethsaida, for if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon, which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Nevertheless, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades, for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom, which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day.

Nevertheless, I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you. At that time, when the summation of His ministry in Galilee was that He's a man who eats and drinks with drunkards and task-gatherers, at a time in which there was a denunciation about the cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum, why is that so important? Because you ever been to Capernaum? I've been to Capernaum. It was the home base of the ministry of Christ in Galilee. And you know, Capernaum never yelled at Jesus.

Bethsaida never did either. Bethsaida never tried to kick Jesus out of the city, out of the synagogue, neither did Capernaum. In fact, they were never really outspoken against the Messiah. They were just simply indifferent to the message of the Messiah. He'd done so many miracles in that area, but they did not believe. So Christ pronounces a denunciation, a condemnation upon these cities. It will be more tolerable in the day of judgment for those who committed idolatry, Tyre and Sidon, those who committed immorality, Sodom, than for you, Capernaum, who didn't do that.

Or you, Bethsaida, Chorazin, who didn't do that. In fact, because you're just simply indifferent to the gospel, your judgment will be so severe, it would have been better for you to commit immorality and idolatry like those in Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon on the day of judgment. Because the severity of your judgment will be so much worse because you saw everything. You saw my miracles, you heard my messages, yet there was no response, no repentance. And yet in the face of overwhelming evidence of my Messiahship and my kingship, you said, eh, no big deal, just glad that you're here to feed the 5,000, which he did in Bethsaida, or to walk on water, or to heal the sick, or cast out demons.

That's good enough for us. So at that time, at that time, before he gives the invitation, there's a commission. After the commission, there's a question. After the question comes a summation. In the summation, you have a denunciation or a condemnation. But before you get the invitation, there's a revelation. Look what it says. At that time, Jesus said, I praise you, Father. He didn't say, what happened here? What are you doing? Why aren't people responding? What on earth is going on? Maybe we developed the wrong plan.

Maybe we didn't do it right, say it right, act right. What happened? No. No, there's praise. Praise? Yeah. Because praise was the priority of Christ's. Praise was the purpose of Christ. Praise was the prayer of Christ. Praise was the practice of Christ. Praise was the pleasure of Christ. It's good to give praise to the Lord. So what's he do? I praise thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, the sovereign ruler of the universe, the controller over everything. I want to praise you. I want to thank you.

I want to honor you at this time. No disappointment. No anger. No disillusionment. Why? Read on. Not only is there a revelation of his praise, there's a revelation of his purposes. At that time, Jesus said, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. The Lord says, I praise you, Lord, that you have kept hidden from the wise and intelligent these things pertaining to what? Salvation. You've hidden them from the wise and the intelligent.

Who's that? Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, the religious establishment. I praise you because I understand your purposes in salvation. You've revealed them to infants, to babes, to the lowly. That's what 1 Corinthians is so important. 1 Corinthians 1, Paul says, for the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved, it's the power of God. He says, for it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever. I will set aside.

Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not come to know God. No man in his wisdom can come to know God. None can't. It's impossible. God was well pleasing through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For the Jews indeed ask for a sign in Greek search for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified to Jews, a stumbling block to Gentiles' foolishness, but to those who are called, both the Jews and the Greek, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Our Lord offers praise for the providence of God, because God has hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, but revealed them unto babes. Remember what he says over in John 12? John 12, verse number 36, these things Jesus spoke and he went away and hid himself from them, but though he had performed so many signs before them, they were unbelieving. They did not believe in him. This is John 12. This is right before Passion Week or right during Passion Week, because he was already talking to the Greeks, so this would have been on a Tuesday of Passion Week.

This was, listen, this was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet. Why were they not believing in the signs of Christ? Because it was prophesied that they wouldn't believe. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet, which he spoke, Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, he has blinded their eyes, he has hardened their hearts, so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart and be converted, and I heal them.

In other words, Christ says, look, this was all predestined. It's all a part of the providence of God. It was all prophesied that Israel would not believe, because God has hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, but he has revealed them to the infants, the lowly. That's why the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, if we were to read further, God has not chosen many wise, many strong, but he's chosen to fool these things of the world to confound the wise.

He's chosen the weak, the ignoble. And so, you go back to Matthew 11 and listen to this. This is mind-blowing. He says, verse 26, yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in your sight. That is the only answer to God's elective purposes, God's choosing, God's predetermination of those who will be saved and man's responsibility to obey the Lord. In other words, people want to say, why does God do that? Simply because it's well-pleasing in his sight. God is God. God can do whatever he wants. And because God chose to hide these things from the wise and intelligent, right, and reveal them unto babes, this was pleasing to him.

This is what he wanted to do. God just does what he wants to do. Letting God be God is praising God for the providence of God. That God is orchestrating everything, every situation, every event, every conversation, all things for his glory and for his purposes. And then he says, verse 27, all things have been handled, handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to what? Reveal him. Do you know the only way you can come to know Jesus is if he reveals himself to you?

Remember Matthew 16, when Christ said, who do men say that I am? Well, some say Jeremiah, some say Elijah. Some say you're one of the prophets. Ah, but who do you say that I am? What did Peter say? Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. The very mixed words out of the mouth of Jesus are what? Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you. No human revealed that to you, but my Father who is in heaven revealed it to you. The only way you'll know that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God is that the Father decides to reveal that to you.

If he does not reveal that to you, you'll never know. Why? Because this is well-pleasing to the Father. That's why. That's the only answer. So in the midst of all that, Jesus says this, come to me all who are weary.

The invitation is given. The revelation about his person, about his praise, about his purposes, about his pleasure, about his passion. Come to me, all you that labor in heaven, and I will give you rest. Listen, listen carefully. In salvation, there's a divine side. In salvation, there's a human side. And never ever will you reconcile those two together, this side of eternity. Don't even try. Because once you try, you're going to mess up one side of the other. Don't do that. Jesus says, come to me all.

Not just come to me babes. Don't come to me wise and intelligent. Just come to me babes, no? Come to me all you that are heavy laden, that are burdened with your sin, that are laid low because you cannot keep all the religious activities that have been prescribed for you. You're tired of trying to please God. You can't do it. Come to me all you that labor and heavy laden, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Learn from me, for I am gentle and I am meek in heart. What a great God we serve.

When you get saved, there's this big sign that says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You see that big sign in the gateway to glory, right? So, you see that? Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And you walk through that gate. And as you walk through that gate, sorry about this. And you look back on the other side, you know what it says? It says, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. You don't know that on this side. All you know is whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Come unto me all you that labor and heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Come to me, you'll never hunger. Come to me, you'll never thirst. Come to me, you'll never walk in darkness. Come to me, you'll never die. So, what do we do? We come. We come. Because that's the invitation. Because the mission was the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which is lost. That's the wise, the intelligent, the infant, everyone. That's the invitation given. And when you respond to that invitation, you look back and it says, call before the foundation of the world.

Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. You praise God for the person of God. It's good to give praise to God because of his person. His person is good. He's a good God. He's good to all, Psalm 145. You praise him because the proclamation of God is good. It's all about good news. Why? Because you're bound for eternal hell. When you respond, you receive good news. The providence of God in that salvation is good. Why? Because thou art good and do us good. God doesn't do bad, but it is good.

And therefore, it's pleasing for him to do whatever he wants to do. And you got to leave it at that. You can't reconcile it. In this life, it gives you a finite mind. He's an infinite God. You take by faith what he says, believe it. And you preach the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ to every man. They might respond and believe. How about you? Do you understand the goodness of God? Do you understand the goodness when it comes to his providence? Not just in salvation, but in sanctification.

And everything he does in your life. Our God is good. He only does that which is good. Job had to learn that. Daniel in the lion's den learned that. Paul in prison learned that. Joseph in a pit and in prison had to learn that. That God only does what is good. So it's good to give praise unto the Lord. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for today. The opportunity you give us. Our time is long gone. So much to cover. So very little time to cover it all in. And we can't cover everything. But one thing we know.

You are good. And do us good. And those who have been called according to your purpose. Know for certain that all things work together for good. For that we are grateful. In Jesus name, amen.