God Is So Good

Today we are celebrating God’s work in and thru this body of believers here at New Life Baptist church. 25 years ago God planted this church here in Cook County. This church belongs to him and he has proven his faithfulness in many wonderful ways over the last 25 years. Some of you who are here this morning have been here since the beginning. We thank God for his work of grace in your life and the faith that he has given you to continue and to serve for all these years. Now God is not through with us. There is still a future ahead of us and ministry to be done. Sometimes the tendency in our lives is to get stuck. To find ourselves in a place of doubt or despondency about the future. Fear can creep in and replace faith. What do we do when these feelings emerge? We respond by reflecting on the past wonders and mercies of God and re-affirming our complete and total trust in him. The past can re-assure our present and guide us concerning the future.

In , believe we see the Psalmist, most likely David, reflecting on past mercy and demonstrating a present faith that results in peace & stability as well as praise for the present and hope for the future.

I. A Powerful Testimony

II. A Present

A Patient Plea

The phrase “I waited patiently” carries the sense of waiting, waiting and waiting…almost to the point of not being able to wait any longer. As if the answer to the prayers of the psalmist would never come. But God works on his perfect timetable and schedule, not our own. He is never hurried or late…he always has impeccable and perfect timing.

“There is power enough in God to help the weakest, and grace enough in God to help the unworthiest, of all his people that trust in him.” -Matthew Henry

The Place of Distress

Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994), 800.The Place of Distress

The miry or unsettled shifting clay of the pit-a place of fear & uncertainty. Illustration of being bogged down or stuck in the mud...

“Give a man a good foothold, and a burden is greatly lightened, but to be loaded and to be placed on slimy, slippery clay, is to be tried doubly.” - Spurgeon

This pit is literally a place of desolation - a wasteland that offers no stability. We have all experienced this place.

C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David: , vol. 2 (London; Edinburgh; New York: Marshall Brothers, n.d.), 236.This pit is literally a place of desolation - a wasteland that offers no stability. We have all experienced this place.

The Cry of Faith

The Lord inclined to me - to incline (ear) v. — to bend or turn (one’s ear) towards a speaker in order to listen well.

“There is power enough in God to help the weakest, and grace enough in God to help the unworthiest, of all his people that trust in him.” -Matthew Henry

to incline (ear) v. — to bend or turn (one’s ear) towards a speaker in order to listen well.

What a blessing to consider that God has heard us and continues to hear us when we cry out in faith to him.

From Pit to Praise

The Psalmist has bee lifted from the mire to the choir - that is he has been moved from a place of pity and despair to a place of praise and delight. In spite of his sin, God had rescued him because of his cry of faith.

Up in the mountains where I am from, when you would get stuck in that old red clay you’d say, “I am marred u

Illustration of salvation - God has delivered us from the miry, muddy shifting clay of sin and placed us on the solid rock of Jesus Christ.

He has put a new song in our mouth, a song of praise to God..

Hymn: How Firm a Foundation

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, Is laid for your faith in His excellent word! What more can He say than to you He hath said, To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

“Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed, For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid; I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.”

“When through the deep waters I call thee to go, The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow; For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless, And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.”

“When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply; The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.”

“E’en down to old age all My people shall prove My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love; And then, when grey hairs shall their temples adorn, Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.”

“The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to his foes; That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I’ll never, no, never, no, never forsake!”

If you are saved, God has rescued you and will provide, protect and preserve you. The Psalmist has experienced this and has written about it here. Have you experienced his salvation from sin? Have you experienced his preserving and protecting care? If so, you must praise Him. When we praise him and remember all he has done what happens?

Witnessing Occurs

People hear our testimony. People see the difference that God has made in our lives. The result is that they are led to believe, to trust in the Lord.

Salvation is all about trust. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not about trusting a church creed or man-made religion, but in a person..Jesus Christ the Lord.

Blessed and happy is the man who trusts in the Lord and not in the proud or deceptive idolatry of man. Self-righteousness is detestable to God and it will send you to hell.

A Powerful Recognition

The psalmist had experienced a great deliverance, the Lord had performed a miracle in his life. Yet he wasn’t to forget that God has performed many past wonders and miracles.

“When God puts new songs into our mouth we must not forget our former songs, but repeat them.”- Matthew Henry

The psalmist declares truth to us concerning the wonderful works of God. God is good and is all powerful. He has done great things. Many are his wonderful works. Simple math does not suffice to measure the blessings and wonders God has performed. Our finite human brains cannot measure accurately or adequately the fullness of all God is and all that God has done.

Creation

A person only needs to look around them to see the marvelous works of God. Each person who is seated around you is a marvelous work of God, created in his image.

Redemption

Spurgeon states, “The influences of the cross reach farther than the beams of the sun.”

In salvation we have experienced justification, pardon and have been adopted into the household of God. We seem to often overlook the miracle of salvation and redemption that God has performed in our lives. The Psalmist could not be silent about this, and neither should we. We should repetitively praise God for this miracle. Every Sunday we gather together corporately for the purpose of praising God for his salvation in the past. We also look to the future with an eye of faith because of God’s providence and care for his children.

A Present Application

Application:

, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.”

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.

, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have continued to extend faithful love to you.”

New Life Baptist Church has been blessed by God.

Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume Psalm 40:1–5

When God puts new songs into our mouth we must not forget our former songs, but repeat them

“When God puts new songs into our mouth we must not forget our former songs, but repeat them.”

We rejoice today and reflect on all that God has done for his church. Despite difficulties, change and struggles, he is God and he is perfect and all sufficient. Remember this church.

Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994), 800.

New Life has been blessed with faithful pastors, but pastors come and go…we thank God for them and their service, but God has placed and planted you here to serve Him and to be a light to this community. Bloom where he has planted you and stop looking for the greener grass.

2. The Past Should not be the Object of Our Faith - God Is and He has plans for His church.

Past victories are not

We do not neglect the past, but we do not focus primarily on the past alone. But when the past becomes the hero, or the focus of our lives, we are setting ourselves up for spiritual disaster. If we are only looking at the past and failing to plan for the future we are not being good stewards of God’s blessings and we actually do not honor those who came before us. Plus, if we live in the world of “if only” or “remember when” we are bound to live in constant disappointment. We play the favorites game with pastors or other people in our lives and when they are no longer with us we lose sight of our mission and

The memory of God’s faithfulness in the past strengthens us for the present task and extends us toward the future. A healthy community of faith never leans backward but forward by reflecting on the goodness of God in the past and reaching toward the future with faith and hope.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 29

For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the LORD’s declaration—“plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope

, “ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.”

3. We Must Together as a Church Pursue God with all of Our Heart

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 3

13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, 14 I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.

, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.,d 38 This is the greatest and most important command. 39 The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.,e 40 All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), .

A few points of emphasis as we consider the future:

Groups (Sunday School) are essential to a healthy and growing church. I cannot make you be faithful to Sunday School or to desire to be in a group. But if we are going to catch fish (evangelism - seeing the lost come to faith in Christ), we have to deploy healthy and focused groups.

Faithfulness - In today’s world we are bombarded with activity. We have more freedom to travel and to be involved in all kinds of recreation than we ever have. Our families seem to be running to every activity under the sun. Certainly these things in and of themselves are not sinful, but I cannot help but wonder what this has done in terms of teaching our children and others the importance of corporately gathering together to worship God. When you make church optional as a parent, don’t be surprised when your children will grow up to do the same.

Engagement - Connecting with faithfulness is engagement - now I am not talking about a wedding, but ministry. And we need to be reminded that sometimes the reason people stop attending Sunday School groups or worship is because we do not employ them in ministry by giving them opportunities to serve. Likewise, we do not lovingly seek to build a relationship with them. Our relationship is more transactional, that is, if you do what I expect of you then we are good. Instead of encouraging them lovingly, we beat them down by emphasizing a “rules-based” 7 grace-less approach. Discipleship requires disciple-makers to have great love and patience.

A boss instills fear. A leader inspires confidence. A boss assigns blame. A leader takes responsibility. A boss demands loyalty. A leader extends trust. A boss controls people. A leader empowers people. Are we demonstrating this to one another? Are we leading one another well? Are we patiently bringing others along with us or are we frustrating them by our own lack of grace?

, “ 24 And let us watch out for one another to provoke love and good works, 25 not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.”

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), .

Conclusion:

I am going to call you this morning to make three decisions:

Decide today to trust Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You are lost in your sins and you know something is missing. You need to turn to Christ in faith today and he will place your feet on an eternally secure foundation.

New Life Family, decide today that you are no longer be half-hearted in your commitment. Remember the pit from where God has brought you and commit today to live not in the past, or in some make-believe world of what if’s, but by faith in the Son of God who loved you and gave himself for you.

New Life Family, decide today to see the people around you not as some personal project or object of scorn, but as a person made in the image of God, gifted by God for service in his kingdom - stop being disappointed when your expectations aren’t met and lead others, not by driving them or being critical of them, but by loving them and encouraging them.

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