GOODNESS OF GOD

Transcript:

0:00 Intro

Our goodness is a drop compared to the ocean of God's goodness. 

Today's video is on the Goodness of God. Looking for some answers, Kyle and I went to Trinity Reformed Church to get pastor van Eyk's thoughts on the subject. This is Faith to Film. 

When we speak about the goodness of God we're talking about His absolute perfection. There's nothing lacking in God, there are no defects, there's nothing that needs to be added to Him to make Him better, He is altogether good. In fact, He is goodness itself. 

0:39 How does God show his goodness?

God's goodness is revealed in a variety of ways. The whole world is a stage on which God parades His glory and magnificence. You see this in creation for example remember God's own declaration after He had created all things in genesis 1 verse 31 He saw everything that He had made and behold it was very good. And the evidence of that is all around us, the goodness of God in creation. The magnificent mountains, the inspiring vastness of the ocean, all the different tastes and textures of food, the different colors of flowers, and the different variety of trees. It's all an expression of the goodness of God and that He has made things good. I often think about this when i'm walking beside/behind someone on uneven terrain and just to watch how the bones and the muscles and the sinews and the nerves all work together that make walking so easily done on difficult terrain is a demonstration of the the goodness of God. He has made everything good because He is good. And then you also see the goodness of God in providence. In his day-to-day governing of the universe everything works out for the ultimate good of of God's people. Remember what Joseph said to his brothers "you meant it for evil but God meant it for good for the saving of many lives" and so everything that God does, because he is good, is good. I love that text from psalm 119 68 "you are good and you do good" there is nothing imperfect in God's works or in God's ways, He's altogether good. And then you have the demonstration of God's goodness in the death of Christ. We have seen God's glory in the only begotten of the Father and you look at the cross and you see that the death of the Lord Jesus is a demonstration of the the perfect justice of God. We see in the cross a demonstration of the perfect love of God. The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and his glorious death is again a demonstration of God's goodness. 

3:01 Can God do anything that is not good?

No. God cannot do anything that is not good because He is goodness Himself. Everything that emanates from Him is good. A corrupt tree causes corrupt fruit but a perfect tree would give perfect fruit and since God Himself is goodness itself, everything that He does is without fault. "God is light" John says in 1 john 1:5 "and in him there is no darkness at all." There's no shadows, there's no imperfections, there's no hint of immorality in anything that God does because there is none of that in who God Himself is. 

3:47 Can humans do good?

Can humans do any good? No. That is, we've all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Our tendency as sinners is to hate both God and our neighbor. There's no one who does good, no not one. So, no and then, yes. Humans are able to do good, unbelievers because of God's restraint of sin are able to do civic good. They can be kind to others, they can serve the needy, they can demonstrate moral goodness in that sense, though ultimately it is not pleasing to God so there's no perfect goodness, it's a goodness that has shadows and then believers are able to do good because the Spirit of God is in us and has transformed us into the image of the Son of God Jesus Christ and so we too are unable to do good things that please God and that reflect the character of God. But as Thomas Manton so helpfully said "our goodness is a drop compared to the ocean of God's goodness."