Sermon Tone Analysis

The Good Shepherd Week 3

He Promises

Robert Morris

We’re finishing our series The Good Shepherd

He Provides!

He Protects!

He Promises!

Let’s memorize this psalm

Psalm 23:1–6

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.

3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.

NKJV

He promises 3 things: Goodness, Mercy, and Eternal Life!

1. Goodness

Goodness is an attribute of God

Attributes are not things God does

They are things that God is

If being good is just something that God does

What if He has a bad day?

And one is immutability

That means since God is good, He can never be bad!

When Moses asked to see God’s glory, the best thing about Him,

Jack Nicklaus – Golf; LeBron James - Basketball

What He was famous for, He showed him His goodness!

Exodus 33:18–19

18 And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.”

19 Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you.

I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”

NKJV

He had talked to the burning bush.

He had seen the miracles.

He had been on the mountain.

But He wanted to know the greatest attribute of God

All of the other attributes magnify His goodness!

God is infinite.

God is infinitely good.

There are no limits or boundaries and can’t be measured

His goodness: No limits, boundaries, and can’t be measured!

The sun is bright but not infinitely bright because it can be measured.

God’s goodness cannot be measured and has no limits.

God is infinitely good!

God is immutable.

His goodness can never change or diminish.

God is Omnipotent.

His goodness is not limited by His power.

God is omnipresent.

His goodness is everywhere.

God is so good that He cannot be bad or even better.

God cannot get better or be “gooder!”

There is never a time when God isn’t good!

He never wakes up on the wrong side of the bed.

Don’t worry about finding Him in a bad mood.

Why were we created?

Did we deserve to be created?

How can nothing deserve something?

How could we earn the right to be created before we even existed?

James 1:17–18

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

NKJV

Why were we created?

There is only one answer: God is good!

Why were we not destroyed after we sinned?

God is good!

Why does God continue to forgive me?

When I commit the same sin over and over again

What was the one thing God looked for in everything He created?

The only thing that wasn’t good was for man to be alone

He was probably running with scissors!

When we fell from God's created goodness,

God sent Jesus so that we would not fall from his infinite goodness.

Sometimes we think that God’s attributes are warring against each other.

His goodness is warring with His justice.

Let’s hope His goodness wins.

We even make statements like, “His justice demands that He act!”

Nothing demands God to do anything.

God does because He is!

Satan’s number 1 battle plan is to get us

To doubt or disbelieve God’s goodness!

“If God is good, then how come all these bad things have happened?

We as imperfect, finite creatures are analyzing and judging

An perfect, all-knowing, all wise, and all loving, good God!

Amy Wilson Carmichael asked God to change her brown eyes to blue

She would not have been able to save the lives (Neuralgia)

Of thousands of young girls in India without brown eyes.

55 years

2. Mercy

If attributes are something that God has rather than who He is,

Then He might misplace them, lose them or use them up.

Justice is giving someone what he deserves.

Mercy is not giving someone what he deserves.

How can God be completely just and completely merciful?

If He is just with me, giving me what I deserve,

Then how can He be merciful and not give me what I deserve?

Was God just with me or merciful?

Maybe He’s more merciful than He is just!

The problem is that we don’t understand justice.