THE GOODNESS OF GOD AND … YOU!
Sermon Notes
Sometimes when you are about
to eat, an apéritif can add relish, indeed restore appetite. For this, let us ask here some questions, and
answer them, leading us to the Lord.
1.
WHICH WAY ?
Goodness – perhaps you love good people, seek to be
good ? But what ARE good
people ? People who get what they want without causing much harm ? Good for
what ? a better world ? why ? better rather than good ? or worse! But better …
for what purpose ! for fulfilment ? fulfilment of what ? of self-will ? of
exploiting resources, for power and comfort ? Others however might want to
exploit them for exploration and greatness – great, however, in what ? in
manipulation ? in understanding ?
Understanding however of WHAT ? of truth ? After all, what else WOULD
you understand!
Truth, this brings you to its absence if God is not
known, and its presence if He is, for He both can and does know the truth, in
Himself, without aid or help from any: for He IS the truth. His word is its
conveyor, Himself its source.
What then does HE want ? that is the question. What
is HIS kingdom ? It is epitomised in Christ.
So to have goodness you need Christ to DECLARE it and to SHARE it. In
John 14:6 you see this …
2.
HE IS THE WAY!
Christ declared: “I am the
way, the life and the truth, no man comes to the Father but by Me.” In
Matthew
You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!
He who has seen HIM HAS seen the Father, Christ
declared (John 14:9). As His eternal and living word, the Son discloses the
realities of God in person (Hebrews 1:1-3, Micah 5:1-3); and as man’s format is
such that he can have fellowship with God, thus God could use this format for
His own precise, definitive expression of Himself in His word become flesh.
Here then is the GOODNESS, which as David
acknowledged in Psalm 23, with the divine mercy likewise, would follow Him all the days of his life. Indeed, in Psalm 16
we find these words:
“Preserve me, O God, for in You
I put my trust.
O my soul,
you have said to the Lord,
‘You are my Lord,
My goodness is nothing
apart from You.’ ” (Bold added).
3.
BEING FILLED WITH ALL GOODNESS
– Ephesians 3:19-20, Romans 15:13-14
SURELY goodness and mercy shall follow me … is in the Old Testament, and in the New, in Galatians 5 we find that the fruit of the Spirit is LOVE, JOY, PEACE, LONGSUFFERING, KINDNESS, GOODNESS … Again in Psalm 144, we find that the Lord is not only David’s fortress, but his lovingkindness! Here is the source and the security for it. But what does it do ? In Isaiah 1:17, we are told this:
“Wash
yourselves, make yourselves clean;
Put away
the evil of your doings from before My eyes.
Cease to
do evil,
Learn to do good;
Seek
justice,
Rebuke the
oppressor;
Defend the
fatherless,
Plead for
the widow.
“Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the
Lord,
‘Though
your sins are like scarlet,
They shall
be as white as snow;
Though
they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool.’ ” See also Micah 6:7-8.
In II Timothy 2:20-22
we are instructed to avoid dishonour but to seek honour, calling on the name of
the Lord with a pure heart. JUSTICE, KINDNESS, HONOUR, PATIENCE, BEING CLEANSED
and CORRECTED by the Lord, these are steps into goodness, His, which resides in
the heart of the believer. Thus in Romans 15:13-14, we find these words:
”Now may the God of hope fill you
with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power
of the Holy Spirit.
Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you
also are full of goodness,
filled with all knowledge, able also to
admonish one another.” (Bold added – see Heb.
Now
the Lord declares in Exodus 33:17ff., that He is gracious and will be gracious
to whom He will! But to whom ? In I Timothy 2:1-4 we find that He would have
ALL men come to a knowledge of the truth; but HOW ? In Acts 4:11-12, we find
that it is ONLY through the name of Christ, and in Romans 10:9 with I Cor.
15:1-4, by confessing that IN FACT He is one’s Lord, and that one so believes
in His power and presence as to believe that His body rose from the dead: LIFE
IS HIS.
Ephesians
3:16-17 incites us to know God, that He might dwell in your heart, through
faith, so that you might be rooted and grounded in love, and even KNOW the love
of Christ which passes knowledge – like seeing a vast lake, you realise it, but
its depths are incomprehensible though obvious! It is known, and it is infinite
in its beauty, as befits one’s Creator and Redeemer. In knowing this love, says Paul, he would
like you to be “filled with all the fullness of God.” Indeed, do you now see, that guidance and
goodness are inseparable companions. If you seek the one, delight in the other!