God's Goodness
I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the 
goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. 
Psalms 27:13


Intro:
(ie) Jr High Kids - pulling legs off of frogs, throwing in fire alive
to watch torment

(ie) Dr. Curt Richter, experiments on Rats

(ie) Job struggle with bad things - where is God? Is God good? Is God
playing with us? 

Where Is God When it Hurts? Phillip Yancy
Does God Cause Evil - Bad things to happen? Where is God's goodness?
            - Night, by Elie Wiesel, Holocaust Remembered p. 91
- Yuba City bus crash - 53 dead and wounded
- Joni Erikson Tada 1967 - Swimming
- Leo Beuerman - genetic freak

- CS. Lewis, The Problem of Pain,  p. 76 
"We want not so much a father in heaven as a grandfather in heaven,
whose plan for the universe was such that itmight be said at the end
of each day, 'A good time was had by all.'"

If God is so good? - the problem of evil and the problem of pain

Do we impugn the goodness of God by questioning his goodness?
Is our questioning his goodness an accusation against Him?

It is a serious matter to bring an accusation against your Creator and
to call Him a liar. We do so when we disbelieve his word, when we
question his integrity with regards to his goodness. 

Our task this morning, as with all messages about God, is a daunting
one, to prove the goodness of God.  I will attempt…explain good and
evil, explain the nature of pain, reason for God's goodness regardless
of our subjective personal experiences at any given moment in time.

We do not want to minimize, trivialize or mock your painful anguished
questions about God's goodness, but we see the truth of God's Goodness
as foundational truth to a healthy walk with God. Consider this
morning the therapeutic nature of faith in God's Goodness.

1. God's Goodness Defined
2. God's Goodness Displayed
3. God's Goodness Denied


I. GOD'S GOODNESS DEFINED

God is good. The very origin of the word God is from the original
Saxon word "The Good"  God is good.   God is good in his very essence
of being.  He is good before any thing was created.  He was good
before creation and he will be good after creation ceases to exist.
There is not, nor can there be any bad in Him.  God is good. "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.  Genesis 1:31

His Creation is Good. His creatures are good. His provisions and care
are good.

Permanent Goodness
Everything that God does is good since it emanates from his being. He
is good there fore his all works are good.  He cannot do anything
poorly, nor can he fail to be good at whatever he does.  God is good.
That is immutable, unchanging truth.  He is so good that He cannot
even be average, mediocre, or neutral.  HE is GOOD, always has been
good, and always will be good.  He was good 30 quadrillion centuries
before He created this universe, and he will be good 30 gazillion
millenniums after it fades from memory.

Imperishable Goodness
His goodness cannot fade, erode, diminish or decay. He is good and
always at every moment of time, in every circumstance for God is good.
It is erroneous though somewhat helpful to sing "GOD IS SO GOOD, He is
so good to me."  God is good whether I perceive him to be good to me
or not.  My personal misinterpretation or opinion cannot diminish the
goodness of God.  He is good whether I feel he is good to me or not.
His goodness is not a subjective matter of personal vote.  It is an
absolute, changeless fact.  God is GOOD!

Great Goodness
God is Good.  There can be no better.  It is really not even proper to
talk about God with such mundane words such as good.  Good is not
enough to describe his goodness --- He is BEST.  He is GREAT!  He
cannot at any moment be less than good or less than best of all the
best good know to man.  He cannot be made better for he already is the
GOODEST OF THE BEST.

Critiqued Goodness
Isn't it interesting that the fallible, finite, feeble, fallen
creature, man so often accuses God of not being good?  How can the
thing that is created look at the creator, inventor, progenitor of all
that is good, accuse Mr. Good of not being good?   Such folly defies
logic.  But even believers can and often are guilty of questioning the
goodness of God.  As if they had some corner on the market of
goodness, kindness and mercy, and had to teach God how to be good. (Or
teach him to at least as good as they are.)  What foolishness!  It is
as thought a kindergartner barely able to hold a crayon should look at
Michaelangelos paintings and say, "That's not very good."


II. GOD'S GOODNESS DISPLAYED

Displayed in every good thing -  it comes from Him
James 1:17 - "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,
and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no
variableness, neither shadow of turning. "


His Creation, His Creatures, His Wonders

Take a challenge:
List 100 good things in life - good, delicious, cool, wonderful,
funny, fun things and you will find God created them all. (ie) Ice
Cream, animals, marvelous hands, nerves and senses of eye, nose,
tongue, touch.

Everything Good God Did
God has revealed himself to us in His Word, the Bible. We cannot know
God entirely by empirical observation of nature thus surmise all of
His character. We are utterly dependent on God's self-revelation. We
cannot know God without divine revelation. God has revealed himself.
With Moses God stepped into a deeper intimacy with man in revealing
himself beyond the then known "God Almighty." 

In Exodus 34:6  God reveals himself intimately to Moses: "And the LORD
passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful
and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,"

Displayed in the Two Sides of God
It is important to understand that the Scripture reveals two sides of
God's character. It is essential to the understanding of God. We
cannot know light without darkness. We cannot know good without the
presence of evil. We cannot comprehend white, without black as a
contrast. They are not contradictions but contrasts. To understand the
goodness of God we must understand the severity of God, out of which,
and in contrast tow which he shows his goodness. (In the same way we
can only see God's mercy if there is justice and judgement out of
which, or from which, to show mercy instead of justice.) God has shown
us both sides of the same coin - the goodness and severity of God. The
severity of God toward those in the unregenerate state of sin and
unrighteousness, lost and separated from God and eternally condemned.
But to those in a right standing with God through faith in Jesus
Christ, he reveals his goodness and mercy.

Displayed in his work with men and women -
Joseph's Experience -
Genesis 50:20  - "But as for you, you thought evil against me; but God
meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many
people alive. "

Unfortunately however many believers who are saved from the wrath of
God continue act as though they were not, and fear God seeing his
severity instead of rejoicing in his goodness. They continue to
erroneously think of themselves as objects of wrath and see God
through the colored lenses.

Romans 8:28 - "All things work together for the good of them that love
God, to them that are called according to his purpose." 

Jeremiah 29:11 God says, "I know the thoughts I think toward you
thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected (exciting)
end."

Displayed in God's provision for man's salvation.
Man deserved to be cut off, destroyed, erased, eliminated,
exterminated from God's GOOD EARTH - but God in his emense love and
mercy did not destroy man. Instead he provided a covering -
forgiveness. He provided one who paid the price of our sin, Who
suffered our hell. Who took on himself all our guilt and iniquities
and bore our sins in his body on the tree.


III. GOD'S GOODNESS DENIED

SATAN STARTED IT
Genesis 3:1  "Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the
field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea,
hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2  And
the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees
of the garden: 3  But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst
of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye
touch it, lest ye die. 4  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye
shall not surely die: 5  For God doth know that in the day ye eat
thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods,
knowing good and evil."

DISTORTIONS
It is a serious matter to believe a lie. When God says he is GOOD, and
we secretly harblor a suspicion or an accusation against him that he
IS NOT GOOD, we call him a LIAR. These hidden distortions of God's
character often lie dormant in the heart until a time of conflict,
stress, or tragedy - then they surface as anger against the Creator
and the accusation that He indeed is NOT GOOD.

God's goodness is not the problem, for GOD IS GOOD whether you think
so or not. He is what he says he is. The problem is not God's but
ours. The problem is in our thinking. Those unworthy thoughts about
God are unworthy of Him and are an offense to the Creator, like
graffiti sprayed over the face of a Masterpiece. Is the Masterpiece
bad? No! The graffiti is bad in distorting the image of the Master.

Our thoughts about God need to be corrected. Correct your thoughts
about God and you will cure your feelings as well. If you feel
fearful, nervous, accused, worthless, guilty, deserving of punishment,
insecure, unloved, threatened or rejected… you are probably operating
under a false modus-operandi.  A false view of God will distort all
you see through that distorted lens.

MAN'S THOUGHTS-DOUBT
From the beginning of the Bible God reveals to us that man has a
problem with his thinking. His thoughts are distorted. It began in the
Garden of Eden, when God gave man the truth and told man about His
love and gave him promises. The enemy, Satan, entered in planting
DOUBTS, and DISTORTED IDEAS about God's character and purposes. Satan
tainted man's thoughts by painting graffiti across the lens of man's
view of God by saying, "Hath God said…" 

Genesis 3:1-5 The Serpent attacks the good purpose of God. Twists,
distorts, accuses

Genesis 6:5  And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the
earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually.

Do you hear the lies and distortions of the enemy? Do you see the
graffiti sprayed across the image of God's goodness? Do you hear the
enemy planting doubts, and suspicions of God's true character? It
doesn't take long for that whispered suspicion to become a conviction
then a belief.  

Man's mind has been tainted against God. God was viewed with distorted
lenses. Gos was now far away, distant, disinterested, even angry. For
all time man has continued to distort the true image of the invisible
God. He has turned the truth of God into a lie. He has worshipped the
creature more than the Creator. He esteems himself more highly than
God. 

A believer's thoughts concerning God don't automatically correct
themselves when he received Jesus Christ as Savior. The soul is saved,
and safe in Jesus but the mind is an open, exposed battlefield where
the enemy continues to paint graffiti on God's face.

God calls every believer to mind renewal - a changing of the old for
the new - a washing of the mind's thoughts that for a lifetime have
been distorted. God calls us to change our minds, to correct our
errors, to see him as he intends for us to see.

"Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and
to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." (Isaiah 55:7)

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and
acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:2

This mind renewal gives us the mind of Christ. It is the mind "kept in
perfect peace for it is stayed on Him." This renewal does not come as
a miraculous intervention, a gift from God, by meditation or even by
the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It comes by one way, the way that
God has ordained to cleanse our thoughts and actions.

Romans 3:4  God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as
it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and
mightest overcome when thou art judged.

Let every thought come under the scrutiny of the revealed word of God.
Let God be true and every other opinion subject to investigation. Let
God be true and every other thought a lie.

1. The goodness of God is discovered in His Creation/ Creatures/
Natural Provisions

2. The goodness of God is displayed in Man's trangression/ and God's
Provision for sin

3. The goodness of God can be doubted when there is suffering and
sorrow in the world.

But God is not life, God is not nature, God is not circumstances. God
is not our luck, He is not the winds of fortune, He is not the
tragedies of life - God is God. He is Good.


CONCLUSION


1. Be like David and anchor your soul for the storms of life on the
never-changing goodness of God. We should like David, not faint when
trouble comes but BELIEVE TO SEE THE GOODNESS OF GOD Psalms 27:13 I
had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in
the land of the living

2. Recognize with Paul that God is at work in both good and evil for
our good

Romans 8:28 - "God is working (weaving) all things together for the
good of them that love God, to them that are called according to his
purpose." 

Jeremiah 29:11 God says, "I know the thoughts I think toward you
thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected (exciting)
end."

3. Rejoice daily, hourly, moment by moment in God's goodness.

We should be ever grateful.  Psalm 103:1 "Forget not all his
benefits..." Every day the Lord loadeth us with benefits, blessings,
and bounty. - Don't forget all your benefits - name them one by one -
Count your many blessings

(ie) Horacio Spafford - writing of the hymn #300 - It Is Well With My Soul