The Goodness of God

 Title: The goodness of God. 

Bible: Psalm 119:68

 

 

Good morning

I am very joyful that we all remain in the lord and the lord holds us all. 

I believe that somewhere deep down you know that the lord is good and he produce only goodness. That is why you are gathered in the lord house in such extreme heat and giving him glory. 

 

Today morning I want to take your attention on the goodness of God, and learn that God is so big that he can do all things for good.

Many times, we sing a song, and even I love this song very much. 

Can we sing together? 

God is so good, God is so good, God is so good, he is so good to me. 

Even many times we also proclaim God is good all the time, all the time God is good.

 

So, what does it mean to say that God is good when everything is good or God is good even when everything is not good? 

The song says God is good all the time 

And all the time means in which you may have good times or bad times but HE is good.

 

 

Today we are living in this 21^st century, where God’s goodness is questioned. 

How can a good God let people go to hell?

How can a good God allow sin and Satan?

How can a good God let natural disasters?

How can a good God allow Satan to plots cause so much pain, destruction?

How can a good God let bad things happen to innocent people?

 

Since the garden of Eden Satan has been trying to convey people the question God’s goodness. He tries to build doubt and raised confusion about God’s kindness/goodness.

To clear up the doubt and clear up some of the confusion, we have to learn more in details of God’s goodness and our response to it. 

 

 

When you say God is Good, what are we really about?

And when you say brother Sourav is Good, what are we really about it? 

In the case of our brother, when we say he is good, we are seeing his hard work, we are seeing his kindness, we are seeing the behavior that is bringing yes to us. But can he change that? Yes, because he is human being. 

But on the case of God, he will never change with his goodness, and when we say God is Good, we are really talking about Psalm 119:68 say You are good and do only Good (NLT). 

In other word, God is good in his character and action. 

When psalmist says you are good that is the character of God and when he says you do what is good that is God’s actions. 

 

So, when we say that God is Good, we are saying that everything about him is good. 

His love is good.

His power is good.

His wisdom is good

His mercy is good. 

His wrath is good. 

His discipline is good.

His justice is good.

His sovereignty is good.

His discipline is good.

His decision is good.

 

Whatever he does is Good and whatever he does not do that is good too. 

Whatever he allows or causes to be done is a good thing and he will do everything for the good of his glory and the good of his people. Why? 

Because God is good and whatever he does is good.

 

To understand more God’s goodness, I want to take you into four things. 

 

1.God’s goodness is not always consisting in pleasant things: God’s goodness is not just in pleasant things. God is not good because he does good things for us or God is not good because of something in you or me. 

God is good because he is good.

Both God and his choices remain good, even when they may not feel or look particularly good to you. 

 

He will be in the perfect time to answer your cry of distress, to deliver you and to display his greatness with his wisdom and sovereignty. 

 

 

For example: a good parent will make their child eat their vegetables, get in bed at right time, and ensure that they have done their homework, a good parent will also discipline or correct their child when it necessary. All those things that do not feel good that a good parent does but good parents know that it is for the good of the child. 

 

In the same way our good God will allow some good things to happen in our lives that do not feel good, we do not want and that we do not like. 

 

Why does he do that? Because he knows it is good for us and it will help conform us to the image of His son and bring him glory. 

 

If you will see in the Bible, is Joseph.

When Joseph was at the age of 17, his own brothers threw him into a pit in order to kill him, and then they sold him into slavery. 

When he was in Egypt, he used to work for Potiphar. 

Potiphar’s wife falsely accused that Joseph attempted rape therefore he placed in prison and while he was in jail, Pharaoh had a dream and Joseph was able to interpret the dream as a message from God about a famine that was coming. 

Then Pharaoh gave joseph charge of preparing for the famine, which gave joseph the second highest command in the land. 

One day Joseph’s brothers came asking for food from the storage of Joseph had prepared,

When they recognized that Joseph was their brother, they had betrayed many years earlier they became afraid. 

Joseph told them not to be afraid and then said this statement about God’s sovereignty and God’s goodness.

Joseph said You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. Genesis 50:20 NLT. 

What Joseph went through was not all pleasant but it resulted in good. God’s goodness is not always pleasant/enjoyable.

 

2. God’s goodness is for everyone : God is good to all in some things but God is good to some in all ways. 

God is good to all in some ways because he ordained that certain aspects of his goodness be available to all people. Through Matthew 5:45 we can understand more, Jesus says, “He gives His sunlight to both the evil and the good, and He sends rain on the just and the unjust alike”

You do not have to be believer to get God’s rain, or it does not rain just on Christians yards. The rain is for everyone, this goodness available to atheists as well as to the committed Christians. 

 

But God is good to some in all ways. Here some are the people of God who are untied with Christ. They are blessed with every spiritual thing. They will enjoy his goodness which comes from spirituality that the world can never get. 

He gives his revelation, he gives his holy spirit to guide, he gives his divine perspective to see and enjoy his goodness. 

 

Ephesians 1:3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ” (NLT). 

If you are a child of God, then you have already been blessed with every spiritual and supernatural blessing there is in heaven because of your relationship with Christ

 

 

3. God’s goodness is based on him, not us:  God sets the standard for what is good. It does not matter how good something looks or how good it makes you feel.

 

God is the standard of what is good because by nature God is good and all good things come from Him. Jesus implied this when He said in Luke 18:10, “Only God is truly good” (NLT) and Psalmist said in Psalm 34:8, “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (NLT). 

What is good or not is determined by God because He is the only one who is completely and purely good.

If God says something is good then that is good. We must be aware here, because we often replace God’s standard of goodness with our own. 

 

We often replace God’s standard of goodness with an our emotional standard of goodness. The cross can be emotional moment for us but the cross was a display of God’s goodness toward mankind. 

If we identify everything that causes us stress, worry or anxiety as not good, then we will miss many blessings, opportunities for growth and ministries. 

God’s goodness is not determine by our feelings or emotions but by what God says is good. 

And even it is not based on our ability, or to make sense of it but if God declares it good then it is good. 

 

 

 

 

4. God’s goodness blesses us through everything – in other words, there is nothing that God cannot use to bless you with. 

Romans 8:28 says and we know that God causes everything to work together  for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

Everything works together for the blessing, benefit and good of Gods’ people who love him.

The bible is not saying that God stop his people from experiencing things that can harm them. 

But rather than this, the lord takes all that he allows to happen to his people, even the worst things and then turns those things into blessings.

Why? Because he is Goof and sovereign God.

 

Work together refers a combination of two or more elements and it produce greater effect than the elements acting separately. 

 

For example: if you only poured sodium on you food you would get sick and if you poured only chloride on your food it would make you sick. 

But when we mixed sodium and chloride together, then it will make salt which is essential for our body. 

That is mean working together for good, in the same way eggs, flour, baking soda, water, oil, and 400 degrees of heat. 

Mix together and put it in an oven and you get a cake, that is mean working together. 

So, God  is able to take everything, your sin, your failures, your successes, the sin in the world, the good in the world, your helpful experiences, your hurtful experiences, what you have gone through, going through and about to go through and have them work together”  that will result is good. Why? Because God is good God. 

 

 

 

Even though God is amazing and good God. But we have to learn, how should be our response to him.

What should be our reaction be knowing that God is good and works all things out for Good?

A. God’s goodness produces our repentance : Romans 2:4 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? (NLT) /not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? (NKJV)

the bible is asking, do you think that all the good that came in your life was because you are nice person? Or has God been doing good because you deserve it? the answer is no. 

 

but God wants you to know that he has been good, kind, loving, and generous with you for one specific purpose to lead you to repentance. 

When we see Gods’ goodness which produce in us repentance, and that leads to a changed life. 

 

For the unbeliever, this means that God’s blessing in your life, His patience with you and all the good things that have happened to you have all been for the purpose of you coming to a point where you repent of your sin and give your life to Jesus Christ. The greatest act of goodness that God ever did was sending His Son to die for you on the cross so that you would not have to go to hell, but could go to heaven. Repent of your sin and turn to Christ.

 

 

B. Secondly, God’s goodness produces goodness in us : we do good because God is good. God wants to do acts of goodness through us. 

In 3 John 3:11 Dear friend, don’t let this bad example influence you. Follow only what is good. Remember that those who do good prove that they are God’s children, and those who do evil prove that they do not know God.

When you are doing good and doing what God approves of, then you are showing and represent that you belong to God and are a follower of Jesus.

 

In 1 Peter 2:21 we are told, “For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in His steps” (NLT). Remember, God’s goodness is not always pleasant. But you are “called,” assigned, and drawn toward doing good.

 

In Galatians 6:10 we are told, “Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone – especially to those in the family of faith” (NLT). This is interesting because here God is putting the spotlight on doing good to other believers. We should be looking for ways to bless each other, encourage each other, and build each other up.

 

In 1 Thessalonians 5:15 we are told, “See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people” (NLT). This is in the context of when someone does something wrong to you like lie about you, slander your name, or steal from you or hurt you in some way. You will be tempted to pay back evil with evil in some way. God says “try to do good” toward them. He knows this will be tough for us but says attempt to be nice, strive to be forgiving, aim at acting good toward them. Try it!

God’s goodness produces goodness in us. 

 

C. God’s goodness produces peace : you know that life is hard, bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. But Bible says in psalm 31:19 How great is the goodness you have stored up for those who fear you, and you pour it on those who come to you for protection, blessing them before the watching world.

As you obey God, he will pour on you his goodness. Sometime we might coming to God for protection or stressed about something, but God says at those time he will pour out his goodness on you, and when God’s goodness on you then you can experience peace in a stressful situation. When Jesus was facing cross, it was a bad situation, but he was calm because God’s goodness was driving him. 

 

D. God’s goodness produces thankfulness :  Psalm 107:1 says, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good” (NLT). God is a good gift giver. I want to become more and more the most thankful person on the planet. I want to give thanks in the morning (God thank you for giving me another day). I want to give thanks for all the big things and little things in life. God thank you for my health, thank you for my salvation, thank you for helping me grow spiritually, thank you for the ministry you have given me, thank you for my family, thank you for what you have brought me through, thank you for the flowers, thank you for this church, thank you for my friends, thank you for helping me get through the bad times. God, I just want to say thank you.

 

Someone may say, “I don’t have to come to church to be a Christian.” You sure don’t. coming to church doesn’t make you a Christian. But if you are a grateful Christian, you will come here to celebrate God’s goodness. You won’t mind singing to His glory. You will shout it out. Why? Because He’s been good to you. 

 

Conclusion 

God is so good to us that it would take eternity to count all the blessings he has given us . The best thing we can do until He returns is to live a life of grateful devotion, obedience, faith and praise to Him in response to His abundant goodness.

God has been good to you. If you are not a believer I want you to think about how God has been good to you. Maybe you are married to a Christian spouse, given you Christian parents, Christian friends, Christian kids. God is reaching out to you with His goodness. The job you have, that God’s goodness at work. All the blessings you have, that’s God’s goodness at work. Even the bad things that have happened either by your decision or someone else’s… God allowed to get your attention and that’s a good thing. Let God’s goodness lead you to Him. Give your life to Him today.

Believers, maybe you are going through a difficult time and you need to rest in God’s goodness knowing that what you are going through will work out for good. Maybe you need to pray and ask God, “Heavenly Father, I am going through a tough time right now. I don’t understand why you allowed it to happen but I do know that I love you and you promised to work all things out for good. I’m going to trust you through it and give you thanks for being a good God.”