The Unexplainable Unlimited Goodness of God

Ultimate Goodness

Mark 10:18 (ESV)

18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

We think there are good people, and we like to think we are good. but the truth is only God is good, and apart from GOD we cannot be good.

The idea of Goodness in our minds has become corrupted by our pride and arrogance. Perfect Goodness. that is God.

God is Good

God is wholly perfect, lacking nothing, he is the supreme and absolute good. since God is already fully perfect according to his nature, God is incapable of becoming more good or less good. God’s essence is identical with goodness, and goodness is an essential and necessary attribute of the divine nature. Since God is infinite, his goodness is as immeasurable. Finally , as self-sufficient, God does not derive his goodness from anything else. he is Good without depending on anything else..

but it is one thing to make these statements, it is another thing to comprehend them.

The Waterfall analogy…

Taste and See

Taste and see that the LORD is GOOD.

Psalm 34:8 (ESV)

8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

Seeking God as a refuge, is the same as “tasting” that god is good.

you need to try him on.

AN Honest try… on his terms not your own. If you think your smart enough to scam God, your not ready to taste him.

We see that God’s goodness means he makes himself a refuge for us.

English Standard Version (Chapter 1)

7  The LORD is good,a stronghold in the day of trouble;he knows those who take refuge in him.8  But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the adversaries,and will pursue his enemies into darkness.

Good is not a pacifist

Note that verse means that Gods goodness, does not mean that he is a pacifist. He takes action to stop evil and the advisories of goodness. It is impossible to be Good and not take a stand against forces that attempt to destroy goodness. Therefore it is clear that goodness will go to war against evil.

However, we often get frustrated that his action against his advisories is always on His time (appearing slow to us). For it looks like his advisories are wining so often. - not just in today's politics, but all through the Bible it looked like he had forgotten his people and let evil thrive. but in all cases, God was waiting for the perfect time when his actions would not harm the good with the evil. (Lot and His wife in Sodom)

Jesus parable of the tares.

How is God Good?

God creates good things

Genesis 1:31 (ESV)

31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Because God’s nature is goodness good things flow out of his creative power. it could be no other way. But we look at creation, and we see it marred by death, by disease and sickness, and of course human evil. How then can we say God only creates Good things?

Sin Entered the world not through God, but through man. The bible is very clear on that. God created man with the potential for LOVE and free will was a necessary component of love and Gods Goodness required him to give man free will or else he would have been forcing man to love him. not at all a “good thing”.

It was a consequence of man’s sin that God had to alter his Good creation. to make Creation compatible with a humanity that would continually choose to do destructive things.

Genesis 3:17–19 (ESV)

17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

The alterations God made to his creation were designed to constrain sin from overwhelming mankind. (cursing the ground, causing things to decay and wear out, etc… ) now Man would not have as much idle time to waste on evil pursuits, and creation itself would begin to teach mankind responsibility and correct mankind with consequences when they sinned. It was a in-built justice system.

I am convinced that God’s curse after the fall in the garden was the kindest and yet was one of the most heart rending things God had to do. for he new the difficulty it would cause.

God leads us away from sin

Gods Goodness cause hi m to lead us away from sin. to separate us from sin.

Psalm 25:7–9 (ESV)

7 Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord! 8 Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. 9 He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.

we are guided by God more than we guess or imagine ...

he pricks our conscience

sends angles to guide and guard our way

he makes it hard for us to do bad things sometimes, we have to press against his goodness to do evil… but he will not top our free will typically.

not just away from sin… but gives us instruction for a walk toward the light. The devil tries to confuse and decieve.

Wisdom of God is precious. When you

Gods goodness passed before Moses

as it did, the name of God is proclaimed. Note that it is not 4 letters long [I AM] YHWH. But a a longer description that

Exodus 33:19 (ESV)

19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

Exodus 33:7–34:9 (ESV)

7 Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. 8 Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up, and each would stand at his tent door, and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. 9 When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses.

10 And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door. 11 Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. 12 Moses said to the Lord, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’

13 Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” 14 And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”

17 And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” 18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” 19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”

21 And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.” 1 The Lord said to Moses, “Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.

2 Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. 3 No one shall come up with you, and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain.” 4 So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone.

5 The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

this is the explanation of GOODNESS of GOD.

YHWH - LORD (I AM)

Elsewhere the bible says… repeatedly “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever,”

The bible connect Gods Goodness and steadfast love time and time again… they are a part of GOD very name and being.

gods goodness is BIG PICTURE goodness… not just your goodness, but for large groups.

his goal is to have the largest possible group of people choose Life and Believe in Jesus, and enter into eternal life.

this makes some of the things we see more understandable. and why we must walk through valleys of difficulty and testing.

God does not react to our sin in anger… GOD must address evil. but does so on a slower time table than we are comfortable with. (more on this later)

8 And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. 9 And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

The Goodness of GOD is what leads us to repentance, and to Worship and to a deeper relationship with him.

A Good God Gives Good Gifts.

Notice how bold Moses was to ask God for what he needed to accomplish the mission God had given him?

God want us to ask us for what we need… (not stuff that feed out own evil desires).

God is under no obligation to give us bad stuff… His goodness prohibits it!

Jesus explained God’s goodness in answering our prayers like this...

Matthew 7:7–11 (ESV)

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

a good God give good things!

HOw often have our prayers not been answered because we were asking for something that was not “good” for us. only God can see the future. so sometimes when we ask for something that we think is Good, he can see it is not going to BE GOOD FOR US.... so he says no or redirects us. We must trust him.

What then does this mean to us?

God’s goodness is to be praised

Psalm 135:3 (ESV)

3 Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; sing to his name, for it is pleasant!

2 Chronicles 5:13 (ESV)

13 and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord), and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the Lord, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever,” the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud,

Share your testimony of God’s Goodness!

GOD’s Best GOOD GIFT: Salvation