God wants to do us good
God wants to do us good 8/7/2007
God is a happy God. He loves being God, He takes great delight in His Son and He takes great delight in those who put their hope in Him.
Maybe you do not have that kind of picture in your mind when you think of God.
For many, God is a grumpy old man who is almost impossible to please.
He has placed the bar too high for any of us to clear and his expectations of us are unfair.
Many turn away in despair and frustration before realizing that scripture paints a very different view of God.
Zephaniah 3:17 (ESV)
17 The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
This picture of God is very different to an aloof uninvolved God.
God is a God of emotion. He created us as emotional beings, and this verse tells us that He shows emotion – he will exult/rejoice over us with Loud singing.
That has to sound infinitely better than any song we have ever heard!
If you think that God wants us to be reserved, dispassionate, and lifeless, then think again. Ask God to show you how He really feels about you, and what your response should be.
Isaiah 65:17-19 (ESV)
17 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness.
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress.
We know that the new Jerusalem speaks ultimately of heaven, but until the day that the New Jerusalem is established in heaven, we the church are the New Jerusalem and we can already start to enjoy the promises here on earth.
Jeremiah 32:38-41 (ESV)
38 And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
39 I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them.
40 I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.
41 I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.
We are partakers of the new covenant which is mentioned here. We, as Christians share all the promises that were given to Israel,
Ephesians 3:6 (ESV)
6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Galatians 3:29 (ESV)
29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
Through the blood of Christ, we too enjoy the promises of God.
God says that He will “not turn away from doing good to us”
He wants to bless us, and He wants us to enjoy him blessing us.
Let us not get confused about the fear of God.
This passage tells us that God puts the fear of God in our hearts – not so that we can have an excuse to be unhappy all the time – but so that we will not turn away from Him and miss all the good that He wants to do us!!
The fear of God is for our own good, it does not work contrary to God’s goodness.
When things are going “bad” that does not mean God has stopped doing good. It means he is shifting things around to get them in place for more good, if you will go on loving him. He works all things together for good “for those who love him” (Romans 8:28). “No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11). Piper
“ God is like a highway patrolman pursuing you down the interstate with lights flashing and siren blaring to get you to stop—not to give you a ticket, but to give you a message so good it couldn’t wait till you get home. “ (God pursues us)
Psalm 35:27 (ESV)
27 Let those who delight in my righteousness shout for joy and be glad and say evermore, “Great is the Lord, who delights in the welfare of his servant!”
Isaiah 62:4-5 (ESV)
4 You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married.
5 For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.
The perfect bridegroom loves His bride and does her good.
He is omnipotent (all powerful) and omniscient (all knowing). If God determines to love His bride and do her good, nothing can stand in His way.
As humans, our love wavers and fades over time. The honeymoon comes to an end, but with God it never does.
We climb every mountain and ford every stream…..God moves the mountains
We do our best to avoid death……He has conquered death
We spend much time on our houses…..He is preparing a perfect house for us
How do we qualify for God to do us good?
1) We accept the new covenant of grace (God is offering it)
When we accept what Jesus has done in dying for our sins, and accept the free gift of salvation by repenting of our sins and putting our faith in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we become part of the bride of Christ and receive the love of the bridegroom.
Matthew 3:17 (ESV)
17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
John 1:12-13 (ESV)
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
The grace of God is a free gift
Romans 3:22-24 (ESV)
22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
Luke 15:7 (NIV)
7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
Prophetic
Galatians 5:1 (ESV)
1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
…….
Galatians 5:7 (ESV)
7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?
It is all about putting in a perfect performance because God’s standards are high – the good news is that Jesus has done it on our behalf and God sees us as qualified because of Jesus’ performance. He led a sinless life and died as a perfect sacrifice on our behalf.
2) We put our hope in God
Psalm 147:10-11 (ESV)
10 His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,
11 but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.
A God that is worthy of fear, is also a God that you can put your hope in.
Actually there is no other option that we have. We have all sinned, we have all fallen short, we are all weak, we all face death and deserve hell.
The only thing we can possibly do is turn to God, and put our hope in Him, and that is the very thing that gives Him pleasure and causes Him to delight in us.
I want to ask you to respond to this good news this evening.
Today God wants to do you good, today He wants you to experience His pleasure in you.
Why don’t you respond to God? It is the only thing you can do, and it is the very thing that will bring you the most pleasure.
Don’t look for pleasure and fulfillment outside of Christ.