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<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd
html 4.0 transitional//en">God Is So Good!
Psalm 107:1
"Give thanks
to the Lord, for He is good." 1 Chronicles 16:34a
"The
Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made."
Psalm 145:9
"Taste
and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in
him." Psalm 34:8
We often sing "God is
So Good. He's so good to me."
Do you think that is true?
Is that statement limited in any way? Is God good to me, but no one
else? Is God good to all of his
children…to all Christians?
Well, let me ask you one more question is God's goodness
restricted to Christians?
The
Bible teaches us that He is the "overflowing source of all
good." Jesus reminds us that
God's goodness is not restricted to believers alone; unbelievers too
– whether they admit it or not – also experience the goodness
of God. God is the overflowing source of all good for the believer and
the unbeliever alike:
(Mat
5:45) ... He causes
his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous
and the unrighteous.
This morning I would like to investigate how the
goodness of God is displayed to both the lost and the saved. And this is important because as we see God's
goodness toward all mankind we are able to glorify God in all his works.
I. How God is Good to the Unsaved
Romans 2:4,
"God's kindness leads you toward repentance." When we spoke before we
said that God is patient in that He postpones the judgment of the
unbelieving.
(2
Pt 3:9) The Lord is... patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish,
but everyone to come to repentance.
God always punishes sinners but
sometimes his judgment is delayed so that men will have time to repent.
Thus every breath taken by an unsaved man is a sign of God's goodness,
meant to lead him/us step by step to repentance and faith.
In
that spirit let's survey briefly ten specific ways God is good to the
unsaved.
1. By creating
them knowing that they would rebel
Seven
times in Genesis 1 God surveys his creation and calls it good. The last
time he looked at creation and pronounced it "very good" (1:31). Yet God knew that man would turn away from him. God knew what
Eve would do, he knew what Adam would do, he knew all the pain that would
result from their sin, he foresaw the long stream of suffering that would
flow out from Eden that pollutes the world to this very day. Yet seeing it all, and knowing it all,
he created man anyway. While there are many mysteries here, we may
say with certainty that creation in the face of foreknown rebellion is a
mark of God's goodness.
2. By sustaining
them in spite of their continued rebellion
Here is a second
sign of goodness, that God does not execute the wicked the moment they
sin. Exodus
34:6 tells us that God is "slow to anger, abounding in love and
faithfulness." God would have
been justified to slay Adam and Eve the moment they sinned. Luke 6:35 reminds us that "he
is kind to the ungrateful and wicked." God shows kindness to those who hate him. This too is a mark
of divine goodness.
3. By pouring out
common grace upon them
Common
grace is a theological term that refers to the general blessings God gives
to men regardless of their spiritual state. Many blessings come from God without discrimination. Matthew 5:45 tells us that he causes
the sun to rise and the rain to fall on the just and the unjust. The
earth flys through space, the seasons change, the rivers flow, the fields
give forth their produce-all for the general benefit of the human race.
Although he does not know it or appreciate it, he is a recipient of
common grace.
4. By putting a
desire for God inside every human heart
Ecclesiastes
3:11 tells us that
God has put eternity in every human heart. When Romans 1:18-20 speaks of
the lost it describes the knowledge of God seen in creation and found to
some degree in the heart of every person. Anthropologists tell us that
man by nature is incurably religious. There
is something in him that drives him to seek ultimate meaning outside
himself. He may turn to God or he may worship idols of his own
making. That "something" inside him is put there by God. The
French philosopher Pascal called it a "God-shaped vacuum."
That
men should by nature seek God is one more aspect of God's goodness.
5. By hearing the
prayers of the saved for the lost
Here
we find an aspect of God's goodness that the lost don't realize and probably
don't appreciate when they do learn about it. God is good to the unsaved by allowing the saved to pray for
them. How many of us are in the kingdom of God
because someone prayed for us? While we were still lost in our sins, a
mother, a father, a son or a daughter, a neighbor or a friend at work
befriended us, and unbeknown to us, brought our name before the throne of
God. Only eternity will tell how
much the prayers of others were used by God to bring us to
salvation.
6. By allowing
them to see God's power at work in the lives of the saved
There are many examples of
this truth, but none so striking as the story of the three Hebrew
children in Daniel 3. When Nebuchadnezzar ordered that all those present
bow down before the golden statue, they refused and boldly remained
standing. In a fury the king had them thrown in the fiery furnace. But
when the soldiers looked, they reported to the king that they saw three
Hebrews standing and a fourth standing with them-one like the son of the
gods (Daniel 3:25). The king ordered the three men brought to him. When
he saw they had emerged unhurt, he publicly praised the God of Israel,
saying "He sent his angels to rescue his servants who trusted in
him. This is why we should be bold. The
unsaved watch us all the time. They study what we say and do, they
watch whether or not we will live up to our own convictions. And when we
are willing to sacrifice ourselves for what we believe, they see God in
us, and many of them praise God because of our faithfulness.
7. By allowing
them to share in his blessings to his own children
There
are many examples of this but at this point I'm thinking of Joseph who,
after being sold to the Midianites, was later sold to Potiphar, chief of
Pharoah's security force. Because God's hand was with him, he rose in
power to become administrator of all Potiphar's household. Genesis 39 tells us that God blessed
the entire household on Joseph's account. In this we see the unsaved
receiving blessings simply from the presence of a saved person in their
midst.
The
same principle is at work in 1 Corinthians 7:14, which you can examine
for yourself. God allows
non-christians to share vicariously in the blessings he gives to his own
children. He blesses them on our account.
8. By using them
to accomplish his purposes
God
often uses the unsaved to further his purposes in the world. Here we may
think of Pharoah whose heart God hardened, which led to the exodus of the
children of Israel from Egypt (Exodus 5-13). Hundreds of years later God raised
up Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians to judge Israel for her sins. Fifty
years later God raised up Cyrus as his anointed leader to decree the
return of the Jew from captivity (Ezra 1). Finally we think of how God
used Pilate and Herod and the Jewish leaders to accomplish his work in
the crucifixion of Jesus.
None
of these things happened by accident. Each one illustrates the truth that
He's got the whole world in his hands. God owes the unsaved nothing, yet
it is a mark of his goodness that he allows them to play an important
role in the unfolding drama of redemption.
9. By inviting
them to salvation and making provision through Jesus' death
Ezekiel
18:23 tells us that God takes no pleasure in the death of wicked. 1
Timothy 2:5 tells us that God desires all men to be saved and that Jesus
Christ is the mediator between God and man. 2 Peter 3:9 adds that God is
not willing that any should perish but that all should come to
repentance. Why then are they not
all saved? Because they have chosen the path of sin
and disobedience and have not believed in Jesus Christ. But do not miss the point God is good
he extends the invitation and makes the provision.
10. By answering
their prayers for mercy when they cry out in Jesus' name
Here is one final proof of
God's goodness to the lost. He not only makes provision for their salvation, he
not only invites them to be saved, but when they cry out in Jesus's name
for mercy, he hears them and saves them. Just as the thief on the cross
was saved after a lifetime of heinous crime, even so the "vilest sin
who truly believes, that moment from Jesus a pardon receives." No
sinner will ever be able to say, "I asked for mercy in Jesus' name
but God turned me away." That will never happen because those who
come to God through Jesus will never be turned away.
All of this leads me to a
simple but profound conclusion: God
is truly good to the lost even though they don't appreciate it. In a
deep sense everything that God does for the lost is meant to lead them to
repentance.
II. How God is Good to the Saved
With
that we now turn to the other side of the question-How God has been good
to the saved. In thinking about this subject, I found myself humming that
old gospel song, "Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
and it will surprise you what the Lord has done."
1. By giving us
eternal life the moment we believe
Here is a
remarkable fact. Eternal life begins for the believer the moment he
believes in Jesus. John 6:47
tells us that he who believes has everlasting life.
2. By giving us
immediate access through prayer
Probably
most Christians have memorized Hebrews 4:16, which speaks of coming
boldly to the throne of grace where we can find grace to help "in the
nick of time."
3. By answering
our prayers, but not all of them
"My grace is
sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). Paul then says that he boasts in
his weakness that God's strength may be seen in his life. He concluded
that it was better that God didn't answer his prayers because he then
experienced God's power in a new and deeper way.
The
same thing happens to us. Have you
ever thanked God for the prayers he didn't answer? God is good to
answer our prayers-but not all of them.
4. By giving
ultimate purpose to the worst tragedies of life
Romans
8:28 reminds us that "all things work together for good."
5. By
disciplining us when we begin to stray into sin
There
are really two parts to this truth. First,
Hebrews 12:5-6 reminds us that those whom the Lord loves, he chastens.
Second, God forgives us when we cry
out to him. Psalm 86:5 says, "You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in
love to all who call to you."
6. By uniting us
with Christ in his resurrection life
There are many,
many verses that teach this vital truth. Second Corinthians 5:17 sums it up by saying, "If
anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has
come!"To be in
Christ means to be joined with Jesus himself in his resurrection life.
7. By giving us
the Holy Spirit and the Word of God so that we have everything we need to
live righteously in this world
Ponder
this verse for a moment: "His divine power has given us everything we need
for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his
own glory and goodness" (2 Peter 1:3). We have a source ("his
divine power") and a channel ("our knowledge of him"), but
most of all we have a promise ("everything we need") with an
awesome range ("life and godliness"). No one ever has an excuse
for sin. No one can say, "I couldn't help myself" or "That
was just too tough for me" or "I had no choice but to give in
to sin."
God's
commands are not grievous. He never
asks from us what he does not also supply for us. If we sin, we have
only ourselves to blame. In the goodness of God, we truly have everything
we need to live a life that pleases God.
8. By giving us
whatever we need so that we can be content whatever our circumstances
I'm
thinking here of verses such as Philippians
4:19, which speaks of God supplying all our needs and of James 1:17,
which tells us that every good and perfect gift comes down from the
Father above. In my reading recently I ran across a statement attributed
to a man from Montana who used to say regarding contentment: "If you
can't be happy with what you already have, why should God trust you with
anything else?" Good question. Far too many people go through life
chronically unhappy with their circumstances. Yet in every situation we have whatever we need to be content
(if not happy). When we focus on material things, we will often feel
frustrated, but when we focus on the Lord, we can rejoice that what we
have can never be taken from us.
9. By giving us a
reason to rejoice when the world turns against us
You
may remember that Jesus ended the Beatitudes with a blessing for those
who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness (Matthew 5:10-12). Few
of us would want such a blessing, yet I am convinced that all of us will
experience it sooner or later. Because we live in a fallen world, we will
often encounter spiritual hostility. In the words of Jesus, "In
this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the
world" (John 16:33b).
This may not be happy news but it is the sobering truth.
It is the goodness of God
that even though we are bitterly attacked and slandered for our faith,
our opponents may rob us of everything except our joy. They cannot take that away
no matter how hard they try.
10. By giving
good hope for the future so that we have nothing to fear at the moment of
death
Many
years ago I discovered Hebrews 2:15, which says that Jesus came to
destroy him who has the power of death-that is, the devil-and to free us
who were held in slavery by our fear of death. Death is the great
leveler. In this life there are many differences among men, but in the
end we leave the way we came-naked and powerless.
Several
centuries ago Christians often spoke of "dying well." In fact,
John Wesley claimed of the early Methodists that "our people die
well." I could say the same
things. The Christians I have known-with no exceptions-have died well.
They have died full of faith in God, still believing in Jesus till the
very end. They have trusted in God's Word and have found that in the
moment of death, the Lord could still be trusted completely.
What
does it all mean?
We
often say "God is Good … all the time." Indeed he is. God is good whether we see it or
whether we don't. In the words of the Psalmist, God is good and his
mercy endures forever!
Everything About
God is Good!
There
is nothing about God that is not good. Goodness may be appended to all
his other attributes.
·
His wrath is
good.
·
His mercy is
good.
·
His justice is
good.
·
His holiness is
good.
·
His love is
good.
Everything
God does is good. There is nothing but goodness in his being!
Since God is good, he always
has our best interests at heart. That must be true and if we are going to be
happy-content, we must believe it. Because God is good, nothing happens to us that is
not for our ultimate good. In saying that, I do not mean to downplay the
pain of tragedy or the sorrow of unexpected loss. I too know what it is
to stand by the graveside and say farewell to those I love. I too have
wept many tears. And I certainly know what it is to pray and have my
prayers go unanswered-sometimes very fervent prayers for healing and help
and life itself for those I love.
When God Says No
How
does the goodness of God square with the pain we all experience? The
answer moves along these lines. When
God says, "No" He does it because he loves us. What God
forbids is for our own good just as much as what he grants.
I
do not mean to suggest that we will always see the good in the midst of
our pain. Generally we won't. I'm
simply saying that because God is there, he is in the midst working out
that which is for our ultimate good and his ultimate glory. We see this
by faith and believe it by faith.
Oftentimes we won't see his
goodness until after our trials are past-if we even see it then. In other sermons I have
referred to Job 23:10 and I now bring it up again. "He knows the way that I take; when
he has tested me, I will come forth as gold." Both parts
of this verse contain precious truth. "He knows the way that I
take." How wonderful to know that God knows. Very often we walk in such darkness
that we cannot tell where we have come from or where we are going. Even
the next step is a mystery to us. God knows! He knows where you are at
this moment, he sees the path in the darkness as though it were the
blinding light of day. God knows! Let this thought comfort your heart,
child of God.
"When he has
tested me, I will come forth as gold." Gold is produced by taking
the raw ore, putting it into the smelter, and heating it until the
impurities rise to the top to be skimmed away. Then nothing is left but
pure gold itself. Do you feel as if God has put you in the furnace of
affliction? Does it seem as if the temperature is too hot to bear? Fear
not, my friend. God knows what he
is doing. In the end, you will come forth as pure gold. The heat of
your present trials is producing pure gold in your heart. Some day you
will look back with joy on your present struggles
.
Run to the Cross
If you are here this morning and you are
not a Christian - you have not placed your full faith and trust in Jesus,
I urge you to run to the cross and fling yourself upon God's mercy. You must not presume on
God's goodness. It will not last forever. God for the moment withholds
his hand of judgment, but his hand will not be stayed forever. I urge
upon you the deepest concern for your spiritual welfare.
One final comment and I am
done. Truth always demands a response. What shall we say to the goodness
of God?
If you are saved
… Give thanks to the Lord for he is good.
If you are lost … Taste and
see that the Lord is good.
I close with the
good news that the gospel is the ultimate good news! That's what the word
"gospel" means: Good News. God
has made a way for you to go to heaven. The way is now opened. The
goodness of God is meant to lead you to repentance. May that be your
experience and may you come to know the goodness of the Lord today. Amen.
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