September 2, 2012
Morning Worship
Text: Romans 8:28-39
Subject: Faith in God
Title: Because God is Good
I’ve been talking about having faith in God. In the process I have been telling you things like, “Our faith is not in our faith… Our faith isn’t in the bible, but in the God who wrote the bible… Our faith isn’t in prayer, but in the God who answers prayer…” Now that may seem like I am stating the obvious, but the truth is there are people and even preachers out there who believe that everything you need for a victorious life is to look within yourself and find the good that is in you and they never mention Jesus. “My faith is what makes a difference… I believe in prayer… People even believe that this book is holy and to be honored so they display it proudly on their coffee tables and never open it. Somehow their faith is in the book.
But Jesus said, “Have faith in God…”
Everybody say, “Have faith in God…”
1 Timothy 1:12, That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.
Now, Paul wrote, “I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.”
The Key… You know whom you have believed in… it doesn’t say, I know about God or I know I believe in God, it says I know the one that I have believed… it’s personal.
2nd key… and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day. What have you entrusted to Him? Your faith! Whatever He has said to you, whatever He has promised you in His word, whatever you believe Him for, I am convinced… that because I have entrusted my faith to Him, I don’t have to worry about anything, not cancer, not heart disease, not poverty, not danger, not oppression, not battles, not the enemy… He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him…
The reason we can believe that is because God loves you and because of this one characteristic that prevails over you life… God is good…
Turn over to Romans 8: 28-39… I want to walk you through this passage to show you that because God is good and He is good all the time, that you can be convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.
Do you believe this is God's Word?
Do you believe it is for you?
Do you accept it as your own?
Will you appropriate it to your life?
Why can you trust God?
Because He is Good!!!!!!!!
28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Now this verse does not say that God causes bad things to happen in your life. What it does say is that even when bad things happen to His children, He will turn it around and make something good come out of it. Why does God work all things for good? Because He is good.
Question: How does God want us to know Him? In the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve walked with God, there was a tree planted that was forbidden to them. It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Before they ate of its fruit, what did they know? Only good! Why? Because they knew God. Now verse 28 says that HE works things for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose. Who is that talking about? It is talking about the redeemed – those who are saved by grace - those who love him… But I want to take this a step further. Is it just those who have accepted salvation? Can you really love God without being convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.
What I am trying to say is that if you really love God wouldn’t you trust Him to do everything that He has said He will do? You have been called according to His purpose. For what? Ephesians 2:10, For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. But you can’t do it on your own. You have to have faith in God that He will accomplish everything that He has promised. John 15:5, If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
…in all things God works…
Verses 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
We’re talking about how good God is. In verse 29 it says that God foreknew you… because of His eternal nature He knows who will have faith in Him. And if you trust Him then He has predestined or foreordained you to be conformed to the likeness of His Son. It doesn’t mean that He has picked some to be saved and others to be lost. If that were true then how can we say God is good? What good God would allow someone to be lost without giving them and opportunity to be saved? And He has done that – because He is good.
30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
OK, here is where we really get into understanding the goodness of God that is revealed by our faith in Him. 31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? The word “if” is better translated “since”. It leaves no doubt of God’s goodness in dealing with those who have placed their faith in Him. Here is an interesting thought. On the surface most would look at this verse and think, “If God is for us, then nobody can be against us!” But that is not what it is saying. Here “If God is for us” is placed in direct contrast with “who can be against us. So if God is good and He is for us, then who is the one that is against us and what is his nature? It is satan who is against us and his nature is the opposite of good. He is evil. So the correct assumption is that if God is for you what can satan do against you. And the answer is, only what you allow him to do.
Look at what satan has going for him.
He is the god of this world…
He is the prince of the power of the air…
He is a liar and the father of all lies…
He masquerades as an angel of light…
He steals, kills and destroys…
He was given dominion over the earth by Adam when he sinned…
But because you serve a God who is good, and He has given you great and precious promises, you can stand against the wiles of the devil. You have God's Word to stand on in the same way Jesus did in His temptation in the desert. Satan, you want to bring sickness? Well it is written… By His stripes I am healed… you want to bring poverty? It is written that God provides seed for the sower and will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion… (2 Corinthians 9:9-10) I’m a sower so satan, you can’t touch my finances… You understand what I’m saying?
32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
Is God good? What part of verse 32 tells us how good God is? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all…
How did you receive that? By faith!!! Wouldn’t you agree that this is the greatest gift that could ever be given to anyone? And you received it by faith didn’t you? By faith in whom? In God! So if God giving His only Son is the greatest gift and you have received that by faith, then doesn’t it just show us that all the other gifts are lesser gifts? But don’t you see what it says? how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? If you have accepted the greatest gift by faith in God, shouldn’t you be able to receive the Sesser gifts by that same faith in God? Because God is good. James 1:17, Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. So wouldn’t you have to agree according to everything we have read so far, that God is good and wants to give us good gifts? Matthew 7:11, If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! What kind of gifts does God want to give you? Good gifts! Why? Because He’s a good God!
Look at the next few verses. Once again Paul begins a comparison between the Father in Heaven and the father of lies…
33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies
33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? Who is it that brings charges against you? It is not the Holy Spirit as some think. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin, but he doesn’t “bring charges”. Revelation 12:10, Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Christ.
For the accuser of our brothers,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. That goes back to what Paul said earlier. If God is for us, who can be against us. Satan can bring all the charges he wants but God says, “Not guilty”!
34Who is he that condemns? Same answer!
Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. We are secure from all condemnation. If Jesus Himself is our intercessor, promoting our benefit, then who can condemn us? So satan tells you that you are foolish for expecting God to care enough about you to do anything for you – he’s lying. God is good. He does good things and gives good things to his children.
35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
Here Paul says that without a doubt that Christians are not exempt from difficulties. But because God is so good, so faithful, so believable, and we can have faith in Him, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Sickness has invaded your life… have faith in God the healer. Your family relationships disrupted? Nothing can separate you from what He wants for your life. Bad job situation? God can make it great.
37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
How are you more than a conqueror? Because you serve a good God.
Faith sees the finished work of the cross and understands that all of God’s promises are yes in Christ Jesus.
Because God is good.
Psalm 27:11-14,
11 Teach me your way, O LORD;
lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors.
12 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
breathing out violence.
13 I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.
How sure are you that God is good and that HE wants good things for His children?
38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
How convinced are you of God’s goodness. Convinced means persuaded. That is what faith is isn’t it? Being fully persuaded that God is able to keep His promises because of His goodness.
Will you let the goodness of God touch your life today? His goodness will cause your doubt to melt away.
Have faith in God for all your needs today.
