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I love hymn night. And ladies, if you keep delivering, you're going to keep getting requested more and more. And you all did a great job. Thank you so much for the evening. Please turn in your Bibles to Psalm 31. I want to really just share a few thoughts that will tag along with what was spoken about this morning.

I'm going to center those thoughts around Psalm 31:19. While you're getting there, I want to again invite you to join us for Route 66. It will be starting in the morning at the Aggie BSM at 6 a.m. We'll be going through Genesis. I'll be leading us through that for about six days.

We have a lot to cover this year, and it is a very rich time. And so I encourage you, if you can, you are free to join us this week. Okay. Psalm 31, verse 19. How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you have wrought for those who take refuge in you before the sons of men.

How great is your goodness? And that's what I want to talk about as we think about this year ahead. We think about the finished foundation that Christ has laid upon the cross, the finished work where it's finished, where the sacrifice of the Son, the love of God is displayed, redemption complete there upon the cross, new humanity born, an eternal supply of God's richness and goodness flowing to his people.

Of course, God loves his people. He created you. Of course, he loves you. He created you. And of course, he loves you. He redeemed you. So he created you because he loved you. And he redeemed you because he still loves you. And he offers redemption to you, to those of you who do not know him tonight because he still loves you.

And so, all of this, as we think about the year ahead, we think about this finished foundation that Christ has laid for his people to build their lives upon. And this year is going to be filled with circumstances. Circumstances, challenges, situations, opportunities, and all kinds of things that will cause you to grow.

We're going through life, we're growing. And I want to remind you this year, just as you think ahead about how do we grow, how do we build our lives upon this foundation? Well, it's keep your focus upon the great goodness of God. And so, in many ways, this will be little more than a reminder for many of you: the great goodness of God.

Psalmist declares, how great it is. And God's desire is to put his goodness on display before the sons of men for all to see. And he does that through his people. The only foundation that's going to weather the storm of judgment is building up on that which Christ has laid.

You remember Matthew 7:24, Jesus said, Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them may be compared to a wise man who builds his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house, and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.

Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be found. Be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and slammed against that house, and it fell, and great was its fall.

The only foundation that's going to withstand God's judgment is building that, or that foundation which Christ has laid in his work, his crosswork, and his words. So, how are we to build on this foundation? I mean, think about what we've been given. We've been given life, we've been given redemption, we've been given forgiveness.

Now, go live, go in the place that God has put you. Go and live. How are we to live? How are we to build upon this foundation? That's what I want to speak to you tonight. The psalmist in these chapters here, in chapter 31, 32, 33, and 34, and I'm just going to be giving some thoughts from those.

The psalmist, and it's mainly David, maybe it's totally David, but certainly three of them are clearly David. But David is longing for the salvation of God. He is also experiencing. Experiencing the salvation of God through this. And when I'm talking about salvation, I'm talking about deliverances, the many deliverances, not just in the soteriological saved from sin, yes, that is part of it, but the many deliverances that God's people need throughout life.

There are things on the outside that the psalmist needs deliverance from, like enemies, like afflictions, like difficult circumstances. And we all are going to encounter the very same thing this year. Some in varying degrees, maybe not, certainly not the same ones that the psalmist did, but some of the same.

Afflictions, circumstances, those who would want to bring us down. Those are deliverances we need that will come against us from the outside. And God is there. The great goodness of God is there. But there's also David is longing for and experiencing God's salvation from things within. There are conflicts and issues that arise within us that we need to be delivered from, sins.

We need to be delivered from anxieties, perplexities, fears. And it's in this context, in these chapters, that David finds his strength in the great goodness of God. And I want you to be reminded of that tonight as you launch off into another year. The great goodness of God.

Look at how it is declared in verse 31, 19. You can see the declaration of it. We'll look at the great goodness of God. I'm going to pull out some thoughts from these, and we'll look at the declaration of it. We'll look at the expressions of it. We'll look at the power behind it.

And then we'll look at that, your personal experience or your personal invitation to experience it. So look at the declaration of it. Psalm 31:19, How great is your goodness? The psalmist is saying, Oh, how abundant is your goodness. How vast, how great, how abundant is your goodness. And it's Stated like this, how great is your, you could even translate it, the best.

How great is your best, which you have stored up for those who fear you, your best, the most, the highest good, the highest beauty, the highest prosperity, how great, how vast it is. This is the great goodness of God, and this is what surrounds God's people. Notice a couple observations here.

How great is your goodness? He makes two metaphors, really. He compares it. God's goodness is number one, like a storehouse. God's great goodness is like a storehouse. Second, it is like a shelter. It is like a shelter. Notice how great is your goodness, which you have stored up, that you have, it's really hidden.

How great is your goodness that you have concealed, that you have hidden, that you have laid away for future use. It's a treasury, it's a store. How great, how abundant it is, and how it is stored up for those who fear you. God's goodness is like a storehouse of great treasure.

And you think about this. This makes perfect sense. He created you, He redeemed you. That means He's going to do something with you. Do you see that? He created you because He loved you. He redeemed you because He still loves you. And all that is setting the stage so that the storehouse of His great goodness could be showered and poured upon you before the eyes of all for the sons of men, for the sons of Adam.

It's a storehouse. But notice it is for those who fear Him, which you have stored for those who fear you. What does fear mean? It means reverence. It means reverence, and I think we're quickly, we want to get the thought out of our mind that when we say fear, that God wants us to run away from Him in panic.

And so we're quick to say it's revere. And it is. But when we do. That, we often remove from it the concept of being afraid. We are to be afraid. The word is: blessed are those who are afraid. And it's not in the sense of a panic flight, but it's in the sense of someone who is afraid of God's displeasure more than anything else.

That's what you are to fear. You are to fear His displeasure above all other fears that life may throw at you. It is reverence, but it's fearing His displeasure more than anything else. And this storehouse of God's goodness is for those who fear Him more than anything else in life.

And this too makes perfect sense. God is the one to be feared. There isn't anything else that rises above Him that should captivate or badger or beat your heart into submission. There's only one fear that should rise above them all, and that is the fear of God's displeasure.

God is the one to be feared. It makes sense. And it's also good news. We really don't understand the fear of God and just what good news it is. When I read the Bible and I see over and over this command to fear God, fear God, I find in that incredible good news.

Because that means I'm not supposed to fear anything else. Do you see that? And if you're not careful, you'll start saying, well, you know, we're not going to go down that road of fear. Wrong. You don't understand the good news. What it tells me, Job 28, 28 says, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom.

And to turn away from evil is understanding. Proverbs 8, 13 says, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Proverbs 14, 26, the fear of the Lord is a strong confidence. Proverbs 14, 27, the fear of the Lord is like a life-giving fountain. So as you start putting this together and you look at how healthy the fear of the Lord is, it's good news.

That means that I don't have to fear evil. I don't have to fear evil or what it may bring against me. I don't have to fear it. I am told to fear God's displeasure more than every form of evil. That's great. That's good news for me. That means I don't have to cower or bow or even give much thought to evil, but to honoring God.

It's good news because that means I don't have to fear the arrogant. I don't have to fear those perverse utterances, as the Proverbs 8:13. I hate arrogant pride and the evil way and perverse utterance. I don't have to fear what other people say about me, even if it's perverse in heart.

Or I don't have to fear the masters of the evil way and those who would entice me into it or push me into it. I don't even have to fear my failures in the areas and in areas and my inability to refrain from evil. What I need to fear is God above all.

And this brings a sobering clarity. To what we are to do, it simplifies things. I don't have to turn the eyes on me, my inabilities. I don't have to turn my eyes on somebody else, what they think. I don't have to turn my eyes upon the ways of evil or the deadly snares.

No, it's good news, eh? Just have to fear his displeasure more than anything else, and life will take its course. You will encounter circumstances this year. And if you will go through this year fearing his displeasure more than anything else, your life will build in a way that yields glory, honor, blessing, and the storehouse of goodness of God will be shown to you and through you.

You know, I've spent a lot of time in the counseling and counseling a lot of men. It's interesting to me. I see a pattern, see the pattern in my own heart. One of the greatest fears that men have, and it's not just men aren't the only ones that have a corner on this market, but failure.

Men fear failure. More than you realize. I look in my own heart. I see temptations in my own heart to fear. You know, one of my greatest fears is ministry unfruitfulness. Ministry unfruitfulness. In fact, when you pin many men who've been trained, who are building their lives upon the firm foundation of Christ, you'll find this is a common theme.

We're afraid deep down that we might in some way fail as a husband and in the ministry duties that we're called to do before our wives, or fear, or fail as a father to the ministry duties that we have to our immediate family or in the community, ministry, fruitfulness.

Yeah, that's one as I study my own heart. I recognize this temptation, but then I see the good news. What I am to fear is none of that. What I am to fear is God's displeasure and in the circumstances He gives me, based upon the foundation of Jesus Christ and His finished work, I am to live each circumstance and take it internally, each thought.

To bring it before him and bid the evil farewell, so that my meditations of my heart are entertaining that which is good, that which he would not be displeased of. And where there's a healthy fear of the Lord, there is not going to be the evil dialoguings that so pollute us and our world.

So God's goodness is like a storehouse of great treasure, and it's for those who are fearing him. But it's also a shelter. Look back. How great is your goodness? How much of your best is stored up for those who fear you, which you have wrought for those who take refuge in you.

Take refuge in you. See, God's goodness is also a refuge. Not only is it a storehouse, it is a refuge. What is a refuge? Well, a physical refuge, if there's a tornado, you look for a storm shelter, something that will be able to handle a tornado. In a spiritual Sense.

What is a refuge? It's a confiding place. It's a place where your soul goes to confide, to trust, to settle, to rest, to bring it all before the Lord. A confiding place. That's what trust is. God's goodness is a shelter. But notice who it's for, for those who take refuge.

It's for those who trust, those who hope in, those who are counting upon God's goodness. And the good news. This too is good news. God is the one to be trusted because he is trustworthy. So it's God's goodness is like a storehouse of great treasure. It is a shelter.

It's a confiding place for those who are hoping and confiding in God. And that's where our soul is to go. So that's God's goodness. That's the declaration of it. Now I want you to see the expressions of it. A couple of expressions of it. And there are many.

I'm just going to pull out a couple of them. Look over at chapter 32, verse 1. And this, let me just read it, 32, verse 1. How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven. You see, out of this storehouse of God's goodness, the soul that takes refuge in him because of personal sin is met with forgiveness.

One of the goodnesses of this great treasury of God's is forgiveness. How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Look at verse 2. How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity. David discusses what happens when he kept silent about his sin.

This sin created a thirst within him, a thirst for things to be right between him and God. And when I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me. My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer.

And then, look what happens in verse 5. I acknowledged my sin to you, and my iniquity I did not hide. Now, that's someone who's confiding, isn't it? That's someone who's trusting. Okay, I acknowledge my sin to you, and my iniquity I did not hide. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.

You see the vulnerability? Do you see where he's taking flight? He's taking flight to the Lord, not away from the Lord. And look at this acknowledgement, how it was met. End of verse 5: And you forgave the guilt of my sin. Deliverance. Deliverance from sin. Deliverance from the guilt of sin.

Deliverance from the damage of sin. All of that our soul cries out for and will be met by the God who forgives. Look at what he says, verse 6. Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found. Surely in a flood of great waters, they will not reach him.

You are my hiding place. You preserve me from trouble. You surround me with songs of deliverance. Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to you, and you may be found. Trust, you are. My hiding place. So, one expression of God's goodness that comes out of this storehouse for those who fear him and for those who trust in him is forgiveness.

Another abundant goodness that comes out of this storehouse of God's treasury is instruction. Not only is there forgiveness, but there's also instruction. Look at verse 8 of chapter 32. I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go. I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

I love that. I will instruct you with my eye upon you. I will counsel you. In other words, in real time, he's engaged in every step of our life, every thought. His eye is upon his people. Because we need counsel. We need instruction. Think about it. He created you.

He redeemed you. He's got a storehouse of goodness to pour out upon you. And he wants to counsel you in the way to experience it, to enjoy it, and the way it is to be. To be received. He wants to lead you in all of that goodness and celebrate it with you.

So many benefits here. Counsel. He's engaged to provide instruction when we need it. You don't have to fear, well, not knowing what to do. You know what? Just fear God. Pay attention to Him. And know that the instruction you need for the situation that you will face sometime this year will come at its right time.

He promises to instruct. Counsel is, wow, good counsel is very valuable. We pay a lot for a good consultant. And we have the greatest consultant, the one whose counsel is perfect and good. And it's for those who fear and trust, for those who are fearing Him when He tells us what we should do.

And a lot of times it's not so much circumstantial as much as it is honoring His Word in the circumstances that we find ourselves in. Say, I'm not sure what job you're to take or what you're to do with this opportunity that's right before you, but I kill you not to lie, cheat, steal.

And after. After you get through with all of those things, see what options are left on the table. Sometimes it's not that difficult as we had imagined. No, he provides the instruction when we need it, and so we are to be fearing him and confiding in him. You see the interesting dichotomy there.

On one hand, we are to be fearing his displeasure more than anything, and on the other hand, we are to be confiding him most intimately and fleeing to him most aggressively. And that's how you build your life. He's the one that is arranging things, ordaining things. We are to go through and respond in a manner of fear and trusting him in whatever this year holds.

We have the foundation laid in Christ. Think of fear and trust as pillars, great supports to the house. You go through life fearing and trusting, don't worry, your life will take shape. It'll be an eternal monument to God's goodness, and you'll experience His goodness in your days. And how do I know this?

Well, we've looked at the declaration of God's great goodness. We've looked at the expressions of God's great goodness. But there is a power behind God's great goodness. There's a power behind it. Look at Psalm 33, verse 6. By the word of the Lord, the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth, all their hosts.

He continues: He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap. He lays up the depths, the deeps, in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him, for he spoke, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood fast.

The Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations. He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever. The plans of his heart from generation to generation. I love that. His counsel stands forever. And what is his counsel? He's going to direct his people in the way that we should go with his eyes upon us.

And I think that just as long. Yeah, I think I'm just yeah, I think I don't know what happened. But his council stands. How's that now? Okay. There's power. I got power again. That's my point, you see? There's power behind the great goodness of God. His counsel stands forever.

Nothing can thwart it. He spoke and it was done. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, and it is his good pleasure to bring about all the goodness of the people he created, the people he redeems. It's his desire according to his Counsel to bring about his great goodness upon his people before the sons of men, for the watching world.

And he knows how to bring it about. And so he counsels us. He tells us the way we should go. And that's why we are to be fearing him. Be fearing thoughts that displease him. If you'll come to a point in your life where every wayward thought that is displeasing to him, when as soon as that comes in and you send it out, I'm telling you, you are going to find his path.

Life is not going to be a big mystery. You will build something that praises God and honors him because his counsel stands. Notice in verse 18 of chapter 33: Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope for his loving kindness.

You see a theme, a pattern. His eye again is upon those who fear them, those who hope, those who are trusting, those who are confiding and waiting for his loving kindness. His eye is upon them, as we saw earlier. In chapter 32 and verse 8, to teach and instruct.

And here in verse 18 and 19 of chapter 33, it's his eye is upon them. Look at verse 19, to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine. So it's to deliver them. So those he has created, those he has redeemed, he counsels and instructs, and his eye is upon them to deliver them from whatever may come against them.

To deliver them from death and to keep them alive. You see how this treasure of goodness has a direction. He's got to deliver you from death. He created you, he redeemed you, so he's going to deliver you from death. He's not going to give your life over to that which would separate you from him, spiritual death, and in many instances, physical death, until he's ready to bring you home.

And that's good. You don't have to fear death. That, too, is in his hands so you can go through life. One of the biggest fears people have is the fear of death. You don't have to fear it. Because we know there's a storehouse of goodness, and he is going to deliver us from death until he's ready to bring us into his presence.

And I don't want to be hanging around here when he wants me in his presence. And so there's freedom from the fear of death. But also, notice he wants to keep us alive, to keep us alive. That makes sense. He wants to sustain us, he wants to protect us and provide for his people so that we can experience his goodness.

Well, let's move on. So I've looked at the declaration of God's great goodness. We've looked at some of the expressions of God's great goodness. We've looked at the power behind God's great goodness, his word. And now I want you to see your invitation to experience it. Look at chapter 34 and verse 8.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. How blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. There it is again. Trust. Think of these two pillars: fear and trust. That's what you build your life upon. Got a Firm foundation laid in Christ's sacrifice. How blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

How blessed is the one who comes to him for shelter. And I don't care what the perplexity, I don't care what life is thrown at you, I don't care what internal things are going on, I don't care what external things are. The promise is: Blessed are those who confide in him, who hope in him, who come to him, like you're running from a tornado into a shelter.

And look at the blessings for those who fear. He goes on: the one who trusts, how blessed is the one who trusts. And then look what he says in verse 9 of 34. Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for to those who fear him, there is no want.

See what a blessing it is to let God's displeasure be your greatest concern about daily life. And when you do fail, we land back on that firm foundation of Christ's work. And we get up and we keep on going. Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him.

There is no want. Verse 10, the young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing. Picture the young lions who, though they are strong and powerful, sometimes they lack. But those who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing.

It's the blessings of fearing him. But then the psalmist doesn't leave it there. He wants to instruct you and me specifically on how to fear. How do we fear God? What does that look like? Look at what he says in verse 11 of 34. Come, you children, listen to me.

I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Isn't that great? All these blessings that come about by fearing him and trusting in him. And now he's saying, I'm going to tell you now, I'm going to teach you the fear of the Lord. And he goes on in verse 12, who is the man who desires life and loves length of days, that he may see good?

Again, this big treasure house of good. And then he's going to tell them three things: keep, depart, and seek. Those are the verbs. Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from evil. Speaking deceit, depart from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it. You show me a person who keeps their tongue from speaking evil, whether that is some profane or sinful utterance, or whether that is a deceptive speech, or whether that is a slanderous nature.

You show me someone who is mindful and keeps his or her tongue from evil, and I'll show you someone who fears the Lord. So watch what you say. Second, depart from evil and do good. Wherever an evil thought or inclination comes in, depart. Send it on its way, pursue the good, pursue the good thought, so that your evil dialogues are short and you quickly repent and you move on and you think the good thoughts and then you do the good thought.

You depart from all practitioners and all practices of evil and depart. Let your feet do the walking. Keep your tongue from evil. Keep your feet from evil and pursue. Pursuing good. Seek peace. Seek peace and pursue it. Seek peace with God. With the blood of Christ. Seek peace with one another through reconciliation.

That's how you fear. If you grow cavalier and letting your tongue fly, if you are not very mindful of where your feet are going or where your mind is going, and you're one who justifies unreconciled circumstances with your brothers and sisters, you don't fear God. You're not practicing the fear of God.

You do these things: keep your tongue from evil, your lips from speaking deceit, depart from evil, do good, occupy yourself in doing good and seeking peace and pursue it. And I will assure you, you will know the fear of God and you will experience God's great goodness. It was at the cross that God finished this foundation.

We've looked at the declaration of God's goodness. We've looked at the expressions of God's goodness. We've looked at the power behind it. And we've also looked at your personal invitation to experience it. You build your life upon the finished. Work of Jesus Christ, as we talked about this morning.

And having believed in the great goodness of God displayed upon the cross, we are to continue building upon that great goodness of God every moment of our lives by fearing Him and by trusting in Him. By fearing His displeasure and running to Him when we displease Him and running to Him in every other circumstance.

You see, we're not all masters of our circumstances, are we? The year ahead is full of circumstances that we're going to have to deal with, and many of them are outside of our control. But what we are called to do is fear God, trust in His great goodness, in all our thought patterns, in all of our circumstances, seek shelter, seek soul shelter in Him.

And you can be sure that your life, that building, that God is doing, it's not just that we are building. This is the means by which He has purposed that your life would be built and be raised up to be a house. House of praise, a legacy of God's goodness, a fountain of blessing to others, a place of refuge.

And so we can fear, we can hope. The psalmist has many other pillars of this building we could talk about: thanks, giving thanks to Him, rejoicing in Him, and waiting in Him. But these two, trusting in Him and fearing Him, are the ones I wanted to bring to your attention tonight.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we leave here tonight, we thank you for creating us, we thank You for redeeming us. We thank you for the completed work of Jesus Christ on which we can leave here now, building our lives. Let us go in the biblical fear of you.

That fear that you promise so much blessing, let that be in us. And may that fear cause us to run to you and not to run anywhere else in times of distress and perplexities that arise within and without. We lay all of our anxieties to you. We come to you.

Father, I know in a body like this, there is a lot of things going on, a lot of things. Things weighing on our hearts and minds. Father, we just lift all of those up to you. Pray for everyone here that we would grow in our trust and our fear of you for your glory.

And we give you thanks, and we rejoice in your salvation, and we wait for you and your deliverances. Bless this year, I pray. In Jesus' name, amen.