The Goodness of God
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Goodness of God
Goodness of God
One of the first attributes that we learn about God or should learn about God is that God is good.
The word “good” from its biblical sense can mean a great many things. However, when it comes to The LORD, it narrows down to two frames of thought:
God is good.......perfect/excellent.
God is good.........upright and moral.
How is God good?
How is God good?
The Lexham Survey of Theology quotes “A thing is good to the extent that is is all that ic and and should be- namely, perfect. God alone is all that he can and should be.”
Only good, compared to anything in existence is wholly perfect, lacking nothing, he is supreme and absolute good.
We don’t look at God and measure God on a goodness scale.......because God is the definition of good! His goodness doesn’t fluctuate, his goodness is not good one day and low the next.
God is perfectly good!!!
He doesn’t align himself to nobody’s thoughts or standards because He is the standard.
His goodness is infinite!!! It is immeasurable......why because God himself is infinite, God himself is immeasurable.
God’s goodness is seen throughout creation:
God’s goodness is seen throughout creation:
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
Then towards the end of the first chapter it is recorded:
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
It was good.....it was very good! Everything worked like it was suppose to work. He didn’t have to go back and tweak everything, he didn’t have to go back and make adjustments, it was good, it was perfect. So perfect, that 1,000 perhaps millions of years later.....the earth orbits the sun perfectly, at the same speed, the stars are shining and still in operation.
It is good.....because God is good!
The Lord’s goodness is demonstrated to all:
The Lord’s goodness is demonstrated to all:
The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.
Ultimately God’s love is manifested in the person of Christ:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
He provides what is needed for both the evil and the good. The sun is a need. The LORD sends rain on the just and on the unjust. These are needs.
I don’t know about you....I’m not about to get in a debate with the LORD about his goodness.
But how can God be good with so much bad stuff happening around me?
But how can God be good with so much bad stuff happening around me?
I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
The entirety of Psalms 27 is about David being in trouble. There is no where in scripture that suggests that we would never experience trouble or suffer.
On the contrary, Job said it best when he said:
Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
Bad things, from time to time will happen to us. That’s just a part of life. But God did say that he will be with us.
The scriptures does say:
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.
This is the goodness of God exemplified! You may land in it....but God will show you a way out of it, God will show you a way in which you can endure it!
Some of us, we may be predisposed to certain hereditary disorders. Now some of those people and preachers that preach against this isn’t going to like what I have to say.
The fact of the matter is that some of us here we are going to get sick and we may die from it.
But God is so good, that he doesn’t just drop us in the sickness or the bad time without preparing us for it. Because there could be some things that may happen in your future, that if you went through it now, you’d give up and lose your faith.
But thank God that he is so good.....that he sends his word to build us up and to prepare us, so that when the hardtimes come, WHEN LIFE HAPPENS!!! We have something to stand on......AND WHAT WE STAND ON IS THE WORD OF GOD!!!
God is good to those who trust him:
God is good to those who trust him:
O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
When we put our trust in Him, He is good to us in return.
The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.
He’s good because he becomes a strong hold in the day of trouble. When trouble comes we have somewhere we can go to for shelter for protection. When the storm comes......we can go to the one who becomes a shelter in a time of storm.
If a tornado or hurricane comes, you’re not going to go to that old ragedy wood house with no basement in it. No! You are going to go a structure that’s made of brick or concrete!!!
We can go to God because God is a rock!!! A rock is stable.....and the LORD keeps us stable during intense times of suffering and trials!!! We depend on the LORD, not only to bring us out....but we depend on the LORD to pull us through!!!
Again, David writes Psalms 34 and guess what David is talking about? He’s talking about hard times, he’s talking about when he was afraid and the LORD delivered him from all his fears!
David said “This poor man cried, this needy man cried” Have you ever had a need? Have you ever cried? Have you ever cried to the LORD......and then the LORD heard you.....and delivered you out of all your troubles?
David is letting his hearers and readers know that he experienced trouble....but the LORD delivered him!
THEN DAVID WRITES “OOOOOOOO TASTE AND SEE”.........MY GOD........WHEN SOMETHING IS GOOD YOU WANT TO SHARE IT WITH SOMEONE!!!!
HAVE YOU EVER HAD A PIECE OF GOOD FOOD AND WANTED TO SHARE IT WITH YOUR LOVE ONE AND THE TABLE? YOU SAID.........MMMMMM MMMMMMM YOU GOTTA TRY THIS!!!
DAVID SAID “OOOOOOO TASTE AND SEE THAT THE LORD IS GOOD”........YOU’VE GOT TO TRY THIS......YOU’VE GOT TO TRY THE LORD!!!! IF YOU ARE IN TROUBLE......CRY TO HIM........IF YOU ARE IN NEED CRY TO HIM!!!! THE LORD WILL DELIVER!!
Then David said “Blessed (happy) is the man that trusteth in him.” You out there whose life seems to be miserable.......TRY THE LORD.....AND BE BLESSED!!!
We can rely on God’s goodness!
God is good because he works positively for good in unfavorable circumstances!
God is good because he works positively for good in unfavorable circumstances!
Classic scripture:
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
Finally, God’s goodness is shown in his dealing with the sins of humanity.
Finally, God’s goodness is shown in his dealing with the sins of humanity.
God’s goodness extends grace to the undeserving, mercy to those unworthy of mercy, and love towards those underserving of love.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
But then it says:
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.
And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.
REPLY TO GOD’S GOODNESS.
REPLY TO GOD’S GOODNESS.
Now that we know that God is good, what is our reply to the goodness of God?
What do we do?
What do we do?
Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?
His goodness ought to move you to do something for Him! His goodness ought to propel you to respond in some kind of way.
The first response is that you should repent and turn from your evil ways!
You may say “Well I’m a good person.......I do this and that.....I don’t do this.......I don’t do that.” But listen what Jesus said:
And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
They asking Jesus about what good thing they could do to obtain eternal life and look at what Jesus’ reply was.
“There is only One who is good” and that is God.
Notice the scripture at verse 16. Not one time did they comment and called Jesus good as in what his attribute was. No, the previous verse they asked Jesus what they needed to do.
In reply Jesus says “why callest me good” meaning “why are you asking me about what is good.”
You can try to do good.....BUT IT WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH!!! YOU NEED THE LORD.....ONLY THE LORD IS GOOD!!!
If you think you can make it to heaven simply by doing good......you are SADLY MISTAKEN! And there are going to be a whole lot of folks that are going to lift their eyes up in Hell wonder what happened......I thought I was a good person!!!!
NO!!!! YOU ARE NOT GOOD....YOU NEED JESUS!!! YOU NEED TO BELIEVE THE GOSPEL!!! YOU NEED TO REPENT!!!! YOU NEED TO BE BAPTIZED IN JESUS’ NAME!!! YOU NEED THE HOLY GHOST!!!
CLOSE:
The fact is, God has been good to me and I can’t just sit back and do nothing!!! I have to do something!!! LORD what do I do?
ANS: LIVE FOR HIM!!!! LOVE HIM!!!! OBEY HIM!!!! WORSHIP HIM!!!! PRAISE HIM!!!!
A sacrifice of praise! Offer unto God a sacrifice of praise!
By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
For some of us, it is a sacrifice of praise......it takes a lot for some of us to praise God. Sometimes we don’t feel well in body, sometimes things are going hay-wire in our life, then there are people who don’t want to embarrass themselves and they are worried about what others think. But don’t worry about what someone thinks about you.......give God your best praise!
If you gotta stand up to praise Him do it!
If you gotta get out in the aisle to praise Him.....do it!
If you gotta walk to praise Him do it!!!
If you gotta leap to praise Him do it!!!
If you gotta lift your hands.....do it!!!
If you gotta cry tears.....do it!!!
If you gotta yell do it!!!
From the bottom of your heart.....to the depths of your soul.....LET GOD KNOW WHAT YOU THINK OF HIM......LET HIM KNOW HOW YOU REALLY FELL......LET EVERYONE AROUND YOU KNOW HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT THE LORD!!!!
