Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, with the last words of Article 1 of our Confession of Faith, we come to a climax in describing the Lord God. We come to a climax where we may say on the basis of Scripture, we may say that the one true God who is eternal, incomprehensible, invisible, immutable, infinite, almighty, perfectly wise and just. We've said all that so far. And yet we may say now, and as a kind of climax, God is good, and he's the overflowing fountain of all goodness. That's who God is. That's what he is like. He's good, and he's the overflowing fountain of all goodness. Good means he's perfect. He's not simply the greatest being ever. He's the best. He's the highest. He's the purest. He's perfect. In every way, He's good. There's no evil in Him. There's no dark side to Him. He's light. He's love. He's life. And He's good. Scripture teaches this to us in so many ways. Remember how Jesus put it to the rich young man who came to Him and said, to Jesus, good Jesus said, who are you calling good? No one is good, but God alone is good. The psalmist of Psalm 119, he was led to confess in verse 68, Lord, you are good and you do good. And when Moses wanted to see the glory of the Lord, remember that was his request in Exodus 33, show me your glory. Then the Lord responded and he said, verse 19 of Exodus 33, Moses, I will make all my goodness high, he said. God is in himself good, perfect, full of glory, the highest and the best there ever was and is and shall be. We confess that he is good, he is good, and he does good. Likewise, our confession speaks of him as the overflowing fountain of all good. This, too, is thoroughly scriptural. James 1 verse 17 tells us that every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of life, with whom there is no variation nor shadow of turning. So here he is, and he is good. So our scripture presents us with this vision or view of God as a fountain, as a continually giving, abundantly giving, wonderfully giving fountain of good and perfect peace. For example, Jeremiah, he talks about that. It's a somewhat negative context, but the point is still helpful. Jeremiah 2, verse 13, the Lord has to complain about his people. They have committed two evils, he says. They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water." Those words deserve some reflection, but the main thing to hear is that the Lord says about Himself, He is a fountain, He is a continually running source of good and abundant blessings. Beloved congregation, we need to keep this in mind. We need ever to keep this in view. This is the God whom we confess. This is the God whom we worship. Do we know Him to be good like this? Or do we live accordingly? It's here that our text is so helpful to us. Psalm 34, verse 8. For with these words, David is calling all of us to learn to know for sure that God is good, yes, so wonderfully good. David is calling us to experience it and to trust this God and to live for Him forever, for He exclaims, O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in Him. Our theme is God is good, so wonderfully good. And for our points, we'll stick mainly with the text and the wording of the text. Oh, taste it and see it. That's the first point. And the second point is, and trust Him forevermore. God is good, so wonderfully good. Taste it and see it, and trust Him forevermore. First of all, oh, taste it and see it. Those are the words David uses in this song. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. What David has in view here is our experience of it. Not just our knowing it, our hearing it, but our tasting it, our seeing it, our beholding it, our learning it for ourselves that it is true, that God is good. It's got to be something more than you know or fear. It's got to be something that lives, that is beating fast and furiously and wonderfully in your heart. faith and see that God is good. David did, and he wants us to do the same. So let's try and do that for a few moments. Think, for example, of the goodness of God that is all around us. Do you remember when God made the world and everything in it? The refrain that occurs through Genesis 1 again and again about the creation? We hear it over and over again. All that He made, it was good. And when God was done, and it was time to rest from the seventh day, we read that God saw everything that He had made, and indeed, it was very good. Who is surprised? Who is surprised that the whole creation reflects the goodness of the good God who created it? The whole creation proclaims the goodness of the Lord. Well, maybe someone says, what about the fall? The fall that brought the corruption into this world. Yes, that was a catastrophic event. And yes, that did affect the overall goodness. It brought ruin and destruction into this good world. So that we can say now that we know the creation growing. A good creation, in its pure goodness, did not need to groan. But the creation today groans. It's not what it once was. We just have to look around and we see the effects of sin. We see the brokenness. We see death. Let's see. And yet, are there not remnants of God's goodness remaining? Think of the overall order, and stability of the created world. Think of the planets continuing in their orbits, and gravity continuing to keep us with our feet to the ground. Think of the different kinds of land, the diverseness of the topography and beauty that's all over. What about the variety of plants and animals, and the features that belong to each species and kindred, how they work, I'm just amazed, living in this community and listening to the farmers talk about the way something that seems to me so basic, corn, is yet so intricate in terms of its root development and how it responds to lack of rain or loss of rain. And there's a complexity and a wonderfulness there that reflects a goodness, the goodness of God. Do we see the goodness of God in the created world? Does it not testify to the fact that He's Jesus, that He's Christ? Or do we taste it? Do we see it for ourselves? When we get up in the morning and it's a gorgeous day and we ourselves are healthy and strong and everything works, our hands and our arms and legs and feet, our toes and fingers, our ears and nose and brains, and we're up and we're living and we may go to work or go on vacation and we may play and enjoy the days We get to live in this great world. Does it not speak to the goodness of God, our Lord and Savior? Let us taste it and see it and embrace it this morning. God is so good. His goodness is all around us. Likewise, it is toward us. Here we can mention especially the blessings of God's providential care and love. Psalm 145 is one psalm that speaks of that. 9. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. 15. The eyes of all look expectantly to You, and You give them their food in due season. You open Your hand, and You satisfy the desires of every living thing. Then there are Jesus' words in Matthew 5, verse 25. The Father makes his Son rise on the evil and on the good, and he sends rain on the just and on the unjust. What gifts of goodness we receive from God every day. And most days we are so used to the gifts that we don't see them as gifts. We simply take them for granted. But they are tokens. Open our eyes. They are tokens of goodness, of divine goodness. We know that we're short on rain. It's very dry. Perhaps we might not get the harvest this year that we would like. But how many years now haven't we seen the fulfillment of what we read in Psalm 65, verse 11, crown the year with your goodness, and your powers drift with abundance. Just last year, that was our Texas Thanksgiving, and we rejoiced in God's abundance. Despite some of the challenges of this year, has there not been goodness still in so many ways? If we can go home today to lunch, is that not the goodness of the world? If our homes are adequate, or even comfort, or even luxury, is that not the goodness of the Lord? All of us who need to be employed, if we are employed, is that not the goodness of the Lord? We may live in a land of plenty, and with a wealth of resources, and of freedom almost unparalleled in the world, and with opportunities also that others, millions and billions of others, cannot even dream of. Do we not swim in the goodness of the Lord to us? Do we taste it and feel it this morning? Not just giving it a nod, but consciously worshipping before the God who is good. But think now in terms not just of providence and creation, but think also of God's redeeming love and grace. When we say that God is good, we mean especially that he is perfect. And that perfection includes particularly His love, and His grace, and His mercy, and His patience, and His compassion. Here, in a supreme way, we behold the goodness of the Lord. One contemporary Bible theologian starts defining some of these different attributes of God in terms of His goodness. For instance, he says, God's grace is His goodness to the undeserving. And God's mercy is his goodness to the miserable. And if we keep going, we can say that God's patience is his goodness to the stubborn and slow. And his love, what is his love but his goodness in overflowing, is showing goodness to such as us. And isn't it true to say that when we survey God's supreme work in all of history, His work of salvation, all that He's done in Christ, and made known to us by the Holy Spirit, is it not true to say that what shines preeminently through all of that is the goodness of the world? David, he knew about that in his life, for he reflects on it in this psalm. Notice the heading for this psalm. The psalm of David, when he pretends madness before Abimelech, who drove him away and he departed. You may remember that was a very tense time for David. He was running from Saul, ended up in the Philistine territory, and summoned to this Philistine kingdom. David had a reputation for killing Philistines. Not a very good position to be in now, right before this Philistine kingdom. David began to depend upon himself. He began to act like a madman. Abimelech let him go. But this psalm tells us there was more going on. Verse 6. This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his pain. There was David and his rifle hanging in the balance, and he says, God, God heard my cry, and God, he delivered me from Abimelech. God delivered David, and he did so when David did not deserve it. And God delivered David again and again when he was on the run, trying to escape the murder-minded soul. More importantly, even later in his life, when David had to bow before the Lord in deep sorrow and repentance and say, have mercy upon me, blot out my transgressions. God did that to him. God delivered his servant. God saved him out of all his troubles. And it was that saving goodness of God, says David. And David knew it with his heart and with his soul. And so what he's doing is calling us now to know it like he did. Oh, taste and see that God is good, not just all around us, not just in his providential care, but also in view of his great salvation. Taste and see for yourself. Yes, you and me too, is it not goodness? And God sends us goodness. in different terms, but in similar terms, in a way. In Titus 3, verse 4, he's speaking about man and his depravity and his deserving death and destruction. And he says in Titus 3, when the kindness and the love of God, our Savior, toward man appears in Christ, according to his mercy, peace, and love. Paul's saying what David is saying. Christ is the goodness of God to you. What goodness appears in Him? What goodness we see on the cross of Calvary? I read one author this week, and he said, Calvary is the measure of the goodness of God. Calvary, with all of its darkness and pain and torment and death, Calvary is still the measure of the goodness of God towards us. God said to Moses, back in Exodus 33, At 34, God said, Moses, this is my goodness. Here it is. The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. That's what God showed Moses. And here was his goodness. And years and years later, at Calvary, God again shows it to the world. Calvary confirms it. Calvary declares it to us. Yes, it's true. Here in Christ and Him crucified is God's goodness towards sinners. He will yet save them from their sin and deliver them from the wrath that comes and free them from all their transgressions and bring to them an everlasting righteousness in Christ and in His cross. Goodness of God shines like never before. And what's more, it's God's goodness to you and to me when you believe in Christ and belong to Him. Paul makes that point in Romans 11. He said, if you're a believer, verse 22, that's God's goodness to you. And maybe you're tempted to think at this point, Pastor, we know all this already. And we do. But remember what David is wanting us to do. Taste and speak as God is doing. David wants us not just to behold it from a distance, from a kind of intellectual, solely intellectual, academic sort of view. He's calling for us to experience, to bow to, to delight in. And that's what we may do, especially in the house of God and under the sound of the gospel of God. Surely it's this goodness of the Lord in Christ that was ultimately in the mind of David when he wrote in another psalm, Psalm 65, which says, we shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, of your holy temple. Surely what David meant was that we shall be satisfied with the goodness that Lord you revealed to us, ultimately in your Son Christ and in his full salvation. We shall be satisfied, those are the words of one who is tasting and feeling that goodness for himself. What about you and me this morning? Do we feel and taste that goodness? Is goodness more than an attribute that is at the back of our soul or maybe in some scripture text? Is the goodness of God an attribute of God that thrills us, that lives within us? It can be at this point that you have questions. Maybe you say it's hard to taste and see the goodness of God in a dirty and polluted world. Maybe you say it's hard to revel in God's goodness when so much of my life has been touched or even soaked with heartache and sorrow. Maybe you say it's hard to experience or to rejoice in the experience of God's goodness, when despite my faith and despite my fears, Christ is soft and distant, and sin is still so powerful in me. While those can be real struggles, it's important to understand that God's goodness is no guarantee that there will be no trouble or suffering in life. His goodness is richer and deeper than that. His goodness is goodness to experience despite challenge and challenge. In fact, His goodness is goodness to experience in the midst of challenge. Goodness in God is His blessing His people, poor and helpless and undeserving as they are in themselves. God blessing them and saving them and then upholding them and leading them, guiding them, keeping them, enabling them, transforming them. And that through all of the issues and struggles of life here in this broken down world, that's God's goodness. And someday to receive His people to eternity in a new and glorious life that will be all forever be. So when you face difficulty, and life seems to have little or no goodness in it, remember God is still there, and God is still doing it. And let us go to Him, and let us taste it and see it for ourselves, to crave the overflowing goodness of God that you are. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. That's our confession. What should we do about that? When we've tasted it and seen it, to what should that lead us? Well, David answers that in the second half of the text. And that's also the second point of the sermon this morning. God's good, so wonderfully good, not only should we taste it and see it, but in the second place, trust him forever. Notice what David writes in the text. He says, blessed is the man who trusts. in the Lord who is good. What does it mean to trust in the Lord? Well, it means consciously and constantly to go to Him and to entrust yourself to Him. It means to rest in His everlasting life. It means to rejoice in His everlasting life, to trust in the Lord truly, to turn from all others, everything, everyone, And then to say, a heritage for me. Jehovah will remain. My portion rich and full is He. My rights He will maintain. That's what it means to trust in the Lord. It means to say when things are well, to feel good. It means to say, when things are hard, to still do them. It means to say, in the face of sorrow and heartache and loss, like Job, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. He knows the way that I see. And when he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. Why? Because he's good. The Lord is good. So I will trust in Him. I will go to Him. I will believe in Him. I will cling to Him. I will rest in Him. I will delight in Him. I will adore Him and praise Him. I will serve Him. He'll save me. He said He would. He'll keep me. He'll help me. He'll bless me. He said He would. All things work together for good to those who love God. and no good thing will he withhold from those that walk uprightly. And the young lions may laugh and suffer hunger, but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing. It's all over the scriptures, his promises, his care, his goodness to his people that will culminate in eternity in riches and goodness and glory unending and unimaginable. And so I will trust in him. No matter what, I will trust in him. That is what David so much wants to encourage. In the face of the great goodness of the God that he's tasted and seen for himself. And as he has trusted the Lord to himself, so now let everyone who hears him taste it and see it too, and trust in the Lord. You know what is so sad? What is so sad is that so many experience the goodness of the Lord. They experience it, but they do not trust Him. They receive His goodness. They live with many tokens of it. But the most they stay in, thank you very much, and they live for themselves. They live out in effect what Paul writes about in Romans 2 verse 4. They despise the riches of God's goodness. forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads them to repentance. What ought to be the fruit of God's goodness in our lives? What should every blessing of His lead to in us? It should lead to repentance, turning to the Lord from all our sins, trusting Him, living always and forever in devotion and love to Him alone. But that doesn't happen. All over the world, it's not happening. In our own community, it's not happening. Maybe even in our church. Maybe some of us. We who are inundated with the goodness of God. We who live under its manacles, showers, and downfalls every day. Who here can say he knows nothing of the goodness of God? Just the fact that we may sit together under the sound of the gospel of life in Christ, just that fact proclaims to us the great goodness of the world. He shows you His goodness, He calls you to choose Him, and yet you are despised and persecuted. So how can anyone dare to live that way? Paul goes on in that same passage to say that such teachings, in accordance with your hardness and the impenitent heart, you are treasuring up for yourselves wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment. Is this not a question for all of us to think about? We who live under the wealth of the blessings and goodness of God, does it bring forth the fruit of repentance in our lives? If not, it only increases our condemnation. Let us instead hear the call also of David, trust in the Lord, and let that be a word to anyone not doing And let it be also a word to everyone who is doing this. Trust Him and keep on trusting Him. Paul writes later in Romans 11, when he speaks about being a believer and that because of the goodness of God, he says, now, here's what you need to do. Continue in God's goodness. It's like Paul's words. Continue trusting the Lord humbly and heartily and for all of life. Keep on trusting Him. That's the message of our text. And what a promise to encourage us. Blessed is the man who trusts in Him. Blessed, blessed. That's a great word in Scripture. In the Hebrew, it's a word that's very full and rich. It means happy. It means supremely happy. It means satisfied, deeply satisfied, delighted and thrilled, deep in our souls. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord. He is good. He is blessed. Why? Why is he blessed? Why is everyone blessed who trusts in the Lord? Anyone should be able to answer this. What can beat the goodness of the Lord? What can beat His grace and mercy? Whatever can match His love and His care? What can be better than to know His compassion, and His patience, and His health, and His provision, and support, and leading you in so much more in life? If you know the Lord, He is good. If you know Him and belong to Him, if you may daily drink at the fountain of His goodness, What can be better than He as our God and as our guide through life and then through all eternity, in fellowship with Him and the glory that awaits us? For sure, Paul or David said, the great authority behind us lest it is ever done to trust in no one but Jesus. But to help us, David is not the only one who writes this way. Let me give you two illustrations and then we'll be finished. Two other examples. Listen to Paul. Paul tells about one time when he was going through a season of suffering. He describes it as a thorn in the flesh. You know about that. Some kind of ailment or affliction in his mind. It hindered him. It was in his body or something. We're not clear about what it was. But according to Paul, it was a hindrance to his ministry, into his life. So he went to God and he said, please, take it away. Three times he pleaded with the Lord, and the Lord said to him, Paul, my grace is sufficient for you. That means, on the one hand, my grace is to save you. And when Paul heard that, Paul said, in effect, that's right. Your goodness to the undeserving, your grace to me is sufficient. One more example. Listen to the words of the Lord through the Prophet Jeremiah. Chapter 31, he's talking about the restoration. He's talking about the blessings of the gospel, of grace, of life, of Jesus Christ, and what that means for all who embrace him by faith. It's all to come in Jeremiah's day, that God's giving you great forecasts and prophecies. And listen to what God says. Jeremiah 13, or 31, verse 14. My people shall be satisfied with my goodness. says the Lord. That's why he said, my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, says the Lord. Oh, what reasons to talk about. He's not only right. is an overflowing fountain, the fountain of all good. That's the consistent message of the Bible. The God who is eternal, incomprehensible, invisible, immutable, infinite, almighty, perfectly wise and just, is also good and the overflowing fountain of all good. Have you tasted it and seen it with me? Amen.