The Goodness of God

Introduction

Last week we looked at one of the more troubling attributes of God’s character, and learned that God in fact, is a wrathful God. We learned that while there are some very obvious signs of a reprobate heart, there are other signs that are not as obvious that can lead us down a treacherous road. The sin of homosexuality is often looked at by the church as being the ultimate in man’s downward spiral, but as we learned last week, to be unloving and unmerciful is just as bad. So to then cast our judgment upon the homosexual and exclude him from our love and compassion- and by extension the love and compassion of Christ, is just as bad as the acts in which he is engaged. This does not mean that we approve of his behavior, but that we can separate the sin from the sinner and we can show the mercy of God that we may somehow lead them away from their destructive lifestyle.

At first this seems like a contradiction, but as we learned it is the wrath of God that reveals our need for a savior. No one, no matter how well-adjusted they are, is good enough to not need a savior. But so then are God and Jesus simply playing some cosmic good cop/bad cop? No, and this is where Paul brings us in this next passage of scripture.

The Goodness of God

Romans 2:4–11 TLV

Or do you belittle the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience—not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance? But by your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed. He will pay back each person according to his deeds. To those who by perseverance in doing good are seeking glory, honor, and immortality—eternal life. But to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—wrath and fury. There will be trouble and hardship for every human soul that does evil—to the Jew first and also to the Greek. But there will be glory, honor, and shalom to everyone who does good—to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.

Here Paul goes on to a dissertation of God’s goodness. Ah! We went from wrath to good. See, God is not a temperamental ogre in heaven just looking for a reason to blast us, He is a loving Father that loves us beyond our comprehension.

Let’s start out by look at some of these attributes of who God is shall we?

God’s Riches

So right off the bat, Paul wants to talk about the riches of God. What are those riches? Well let’s look at a couple of other passages of scripture where Paul uses the word.

Ephesians 1:7 TLV

In Him we have redemption through His blood—the removal of trespasses—in keeping with the richness of His grace

The Greek word for grace is καρις and it is pronounced kahrees.

καρις

kahrees

It is the same word that is translated as gift. So the first thing we know about grace is that it is a gift. So let me ask you. Do you pay for a gift? No? Then it is free. What else do we know about καρις? Well we know that it includes the idea of the divine power which equips a man to live a moral life.

So we can say for the sake of brevity here- because I have an entire sermon on grace which we won’t embed in here today- you’re welcome- we can say that grace is a gift from God that equips God’s divine power onto a man to live a moral life!

Talk about riches! We’ve said it before- this summarizes the Gospels beautifully- I can’t but He can. I guess a better way to say it is, I can’t but He enables me to.

But that’s not it. Turn over with me a couple of pages over.

Ephesians 2:4 TLV

But God was rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us.

So He is rich in mercy! How is that different from grace? Well grace is getting what you didn’t deserve, and mercy is not getting what you deserved. How is that for simple? Mercy is what God shows us when He withholds the judgment of His wrath, which is rightfully due us.

Mercy comes because of the work that Jesus did on the cross, but it’s bigger than that! It is the mercy of God that even made it possible for Jesus to come! He had to have mercy on us before He could even come up with a plan for our salvation- that is truly amazing!

God also has riches in glory.

Philippians 4:19 TLV

My God will fulfill every need of yours according to the riches of His glory in Messiah Yeshua.

And it’s from these riches that God supplies our needs! Aren’t you glad that you don’t have to rely on your own hand to supply your needs? You don’t have to rely on the government to supply your needs! You don’t have to rely on anyone except God.

Well yes, pastor I know that God gives me stuff I need, but what about the stuff I want- the stuff that gives me joy in life?

1 Timothy 6:17 TLV

Direct those who are rich in this present age not to be proud or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God—who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

So where do the things that are ours to enjoy come from? Does he say just some of them? No- ALL of them!

God knows that you don’t need just some meager existence going from one minute to the next. When He created creation He made things for our enjoyment. The colors, the smells, the feel the flavors- all of it He made for us.

And finally He is rich in the strength He provides us.

Ephesians 3:16 TLV

I pray that from His glorious riches He would grant you to be strengthened in your inner being with power through His Ruach,

How many of you knew that the riches of God included the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit? It does! It says so right there!

Paul goes on to talk about a couple more attributes of God

God’s Forbearance

The Greek word forbearance is

ἀνοχή

anochē

and it is translated as patience, tolerance, forbearance a steadfast endurance. It communicates patience in the sense of “enduring” or “standing fast” in spite of the circumstances (our sinfulness).

Psalm 78:37–38 (NKJV)

Psalm 78:37–38 TLV

For their heart was not steadfast with Him, nor were they faithful to His covenant. But He is compassionate, forgives iniquity and does not destroy. Yes, many times He restrains His anger, and does not stir up all His wrath.

So it almost gives the connotation that something is causing God to not react in a manner in which He 100% justified in doing. Listen to what the Psalmist has to say about this.

God is Slow to Anger

Psalm 86:15 TLV

But You, my Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, full of love and truth.

God is full of compassion. Is it any wonder then that He would require that compassion from us toward each other? After all, we are not Holy and righteous, we are not so far removed from sin that the world’s sinfulness is foreign to us. But we must learn to be slow to anger, and instead be ministers of mercy and grace.

What is the whole purpose of this goodness? Well we learned about it last time didn’t we? It is to cause men to repent.

So the proper response to this goodness of God is what?

Romans 2:7 TLV

To those who by perseverance in doing good are seeking glory, honor, and immortality—eternal life.

What is the reward? Do we know that we are sinful people? Do we know that God has patience for us? Well then, how can we have any less patience with each other? Or worse still, how can we have less patience with ourselves. I know that it is easy to get down on ourselves when we fall, but you have to understand that the Christian walk is a longsuffering walk. It requires that desperate patience of one that is out at sea whose only hope of staying alive is to reach the shore. See, God has that desperation for us, that’s what led Him to send Jesus. We need to be that desperate about remaining Holy.

God’s response to us then is a direct answer to our faithfulness in living a life that seeks to obey the truth. And His response is pretty awesome.

Romans 2:10–13 TLV

But there will be glory, honor, and shalom to everyone who does good—to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God. For all who have sinned outside of Torah will also perish outside of Torah, and all who have sinned according to Torah will be judged by Torah. For it is not the hearers of Torah who are righteous before God; rather, it is the doers of Torah who will be justified.

But see, here is where God’s beauty shines through. God writes His law on our hearts. So while it is often contrary to our nature, we know His law. But then this gets really good. Skip to chapter 3 with me.

Starting in verse 19 Paul proclaims the sentence- the final judgment for humanity.

Romans 3:19 TLV

Now we know that whatever the Torah says, it says to those within the Torah, so that every mouth may be shut and the whole world may become accountable to God.

So the final judgment basically proclaims that whether you are under the law as are the Jews, or if you are one on whose heart God has written His law, the same verdict is rendered- GUILTY! Wait pastor, I thought you said this was getting good. All I see there is that it got really bad really fast. What’s going on? Skip to verse 21

Romans 3:21–26 TLV

But now God’s righteousness apart from the Torah has been revealed, to which the Torah and the Prophets bear witness— namely, the righteousness of God through putting trust in Messiah Yeshua, to all who keep on trusting. For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. They are set right as a gift of His grace, through the redemption that is in Messiah Yeshua. God set forth Yeshua as an atonement, through faith in His blood, to show His righteousness in passing over sins already committed. Through God’s forbearance, He demonstrates His righteousness at the present time—that He Himself is just and also the justifier of the one who puts his trust in Yeshua.

Aha! I want you to take a look at verse 25… because in what? HIS FOREBEARANCE! Because He deals with our sinfulness, He is able to “pass over” does that term sound vaguely familiar? He is able to pass over the sins that were previously committed. See, here’s the thing about many non-believers, and quite frankly quite a few believers as well. For whatever reason, we believe we still somehow have to pay penance for the sins we committed. Somehow we think that by being really, really sorry, or super bummed about our past, we can somehow deserve God’s forgiveness. And until we have paid the appropriate amount of penance, we cannot even hope to receive the best God has for us. But the whole process of salvation has nothing to do with us, how sorry we are, or even how much we’ve paid for our wickedness.

Romans 3:27–31 TLV

Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. By what principle? Of works? No, but by the principle of faith. For we consider a person to be set right apart from Torah observance. Is God the God of the Jewish people only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. Since God is One, He will set right the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then nullify the Torah through faithfulness? May it never be! On the contrary, we uphold the Torah.

It has everything to do with HIS forbearance and his longsuffering. We cannot come close to paying the required cost for our past sins, neither for salvation nor to receive His riches of καρις (grace) because remember, καρις not only means grace, it also means gift- not something you can earn- it is something God gives you out of His abundant riches!

The only thing we put on our part is a little bit of faith, but even that comes from Him.

Romans 10:17 TLV

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Messiah.

So where does faith come from? Hearing what? The word of Messiah?

John 1:14 TLV

And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. We looked upon His glory, the glory of the one and only from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Where does faith come from?

Jesus!

See, this is all His work. It is not ours.

Romans 3:27–28 TLV

Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. By what principle? Of works? No, but by the principle of faith. For we consider a person to be set right apart from Torah observance.

Conclusion

Church, we need to stop taking ourselves out of the game before we even know the score. You know, we do that each and every time we fail to see that God has completely paid for our redemption. He has already paid the price of having to put up with us- He is longsuffering, but what kept Him steadfast toward us was His love for us. How then do we presume to stand in God’s way to thwart His will in our lives by not taking Him at His word. But pastor I’m saved! That’s great, but are you completely redeemed? Have you truly laid it all down? Or have you just trusted Him with the eternity of your soul, while you content yourself with struggling on earth because after all- you deserve it?

Let us pray.