I. THE GOODNESS OF GOD IN PROVIDENCE --
The goodness of God is displayed in providence as God provides for His creatures and is
longsuffering towards them. The fact that we live at all is a great testimony to God's infinite
goodness, especially in light of our sinfulness and rebellion against God. The air we breathe, the
water and food we drink and eat, our jobs, our health, our families, all the necessities and
pleasures of life are the fruits of God's goodness. None of them can be attributed to our
goodness, and we see this plainly when we see the reality of sin. When Adam fell, God did not
destroy this world immediately. He had already purposed to glorify Himself in the salvation of
sinners based on the righteousness of His beloved Son. The fact that God allows this world to
continue is due to His goodness. Men and women have sinned against God, yet He allows them
to live and provides for them. It rains on the just and the unjust. This is what we might refer to
as God's common, temporal, providential goodness to all men and women without exception.
Some theologians call this "common grace" or they refer to this as common benefits of the
atonement of Christ in which all without exception, even those who perish, participate. They say
that in this sense, when Christ died He bought the whole world. Therefore the very fact that this
world continues and the fact that even the non-elect receive temporally good things from God is
owing to "common grace" and/or to the death of Christ. But this is not so. First of all, in
Scripture, grace is not common. Grace is God conditioning the salvation of His elect upon the
Lord Jesus Christ and sending Christ into the world to satisfy those conditions by establishing a
righteousness for them. Next, in no sense did Christ die for the whole world, nor do all men
benefit from the atonement. The atonement of Christ is the satisfaction He made for the sins of
His sheep which insures their eternal salvation and final glory. In the Bible, the good things God
bestows upon all without exception temporally are attributed, not to the atonement, but to the
providential goodness of God and the longsuffering of God --
Someone might object, "How can you say God is so good and benevolent when there is so
much suffering and sorrow in the world?" Suffering is not the result of God's goodness. Suffering is the result of man's sin and fall. It is true that we do not always suffer in direct proportion to
our sin, but all suffering in the world is either the direct or indirect consequence of sinfulness. We
may see one who lies, cheats, and steals, and yet prospers financially. We may see another who
works hard, who is honest, but who remains in poverty. We do not understand these things.
Here temporal suffering was not the result of lying, cheating, and stealing. Temporal prosperity
was not the result of hard work and honesty. Another great example of this is the fact that true
Christians suffer in this world, while many unbelievers prosper in this world. The Lord tells us to
think of their end. True Christians will be blessed eternally, while those who die in unbelief will
be cursed eternally.
Still, all suffering in this world is the fruit of sinfulness in this world. The ultimate
question is "Why don't we all suffer more than we do? " We should be amazed that God has not
destroyed us all since we are all sinners. None of us, not even the best of us, deserve the least of
God's temporal blessings. We do not even deserve the air we breathe. We may work hard and
prosper, but we still have nothing in which to boast. God gave it all to us out of His goodness.
We may work hard and fail. We have nothing in God's sight about which to blame Him. We do
not deserve anything from Him but His wrath based on our character and conduct. We are
sinners, unprofitable servants.
This was a lesson that Israel needed to learn. Read Romans 2:3-5 --
The Apostle Paul had proved the Gentiles guilty and depraved. He now turns to the
religious Jews to prove their sinfulness and the fact that they did not deserve God's goodness,
notwithstanding all their privileges and claims. In Romans 2:3, he shows how God justifies only
the righteous and condemns only the unrighteous. God's law cannot pronounce any sinner
righteous based on the sinner's character and conduct, nor based on being a natural descendent of
Abraham, nor based upon circumcision, nor based on sincerity or zeal in religion, nor based upon
faith itself, nor upon repentance. NOTHING will answer the demands of God's law and justice
except perfect obedience.
In Romans 2:4-5, he anticipates an objection -- If the Jews were under God's wrath, how
could Paul explain the favor God had given them over the Gentiles? God had established and
preserved them as a nation. He had given them advantages over other people. Paul told them
that all the favors were not because of their goodness but God's goodness and longsuffering. The
fact that they attributed God's favor to their own goodness revealed their lost state. Temporal
prosperity is no evidence of eternal salvation which will be fully revealed at the Judgment. It is
revealed now but not believed.
This is the problem with all men by nature. When we consider our sins, the fact that we
by nature and practice deserve nothing but God's wrath, and when we consider even God's providential goodness towards us, this ought to cause us to repent. It ought to cause us to change our
minds concerning ourselves, to admit that we are unprofitable servants, and to seek after God's
mercy and forgiveness in Christ. Those who refuse despise the riches of God's goodness and
forbearance and longsuffering.
II. THE GOODNESS OF GOD IN SALVATION --
All of this is ultimately to be applied to eternal salvation. If as sinners we do not deserve
the least of God's goodness and blessings temporally, if we cannot earn His goodness by our
goodness temporally, then we should certainly conclude that we cannot earn His goodness and
favor and blessings eternally. Here is where the goodness of God should lead us to repentance.
First let's view our state by nature as considered in the light of God's goodness.
A. THE STANDARD OF ALL GOODNESS --
We see the standard of all goodness as taught in an encounter the Lord Jesus had with a
rich young man --
Christ offers a rebuke to the man for his casual use of the word "good." The point of His
reply is not to deny His own deity or His own sinlessness. The young man obviously did not
know Christ. The point of the reply was to challenge the assumptions the young man had about
goodness. We all by nature have this same assumption about goodness which reveals a wrong
standard of goodness. Our standard of goodness is way too low, and it is because of our own sin,
self-love, self-righteousness, and religious pride.
Christ tells him that the standard of all goodness is God. Only God is good, and this man
must realize that if Jesus were truly good, then He must be truly God. As we compare ourselves
with ourselves we may appear good. But when we compare ourselves with God, we must say --
When we compare ourselves to Christ, we must say --
All of us without exception, even the best of us, miss the mark and fall short of the goodness and righteousness God requires.
Christ is the standard of judgment at the Final Judgment
The only thing that will matter at Final Judgment is "Do you have a righteousness that
answers the demands of God's law and justice?" If you do not, you will perish! It is not enough
simply to be content that we are good. We must know the standard of all goodness. We cannot
judge goodness by outward appearance. Apparently this man was religious, dedicated, obedient
as far as men could tell. And as far as men could tell God was blessing him. He was rich, but he
was spiritually poor (void of righteousness).
B. THE PROVISION OF GOD'S GOODNESS --
Again, as we have seen in every attribute of God's character, His conditioning salvation
upon the Lord Jesus Christ and sending Him into the world to fulfill those conditions is the
greatest manifestation of God's goodness ever revealed --
This is God's special goodness shown towards His elect. In some ways all men and
women without exception are recipients of God's providential, temporal goodness. But only
those who believe the Gospel, the revelation of God's goodness in Christ, are recipients of this
special goodness where God's blesses them eternally based on the righteousness of Christ. Think
about the Gospel message itself. It is God's promise to save sinners, give them, and entitle them
to the whole inheritance of eternal life and glory based on the righteousness of Christ. This is the
goodness of God in salvation.
Some say, "A good God would not send men to Hell." A good God cannot keep from
sending sinners to Hell." His holiness and justice demands that "the soul that sinneth must surely
die." His good and holy law can only pronounce a curse where it finds the least sin in the best of
men (Gal. 3:10). But this good God has provided a way that is consistent with His goodness and
holiness and justice. He displays His perfect goodness as He sent Christ to satisfy law and justice
on behalf of His elect. He displays His hatred for sin and His justice in punishing sin in the Person
of Christ, the Representative and Surety of all whom He chose from the beginning. If sinful, self-righteous men and women despise God's goodness revealed in the gospel and insists on salvation
conditioned on themselves, who is to blame? They are to blame, not God. They refused God's
goodness and refused to repent.
Just as a good God cannot keep from sending sinners to Hell, a good God cannot keep
from justifying the righteous. Just as His good and holy law can only pronounce a curse where it
finds sin, it can only justify where it finds righteousness. This where those who believe in a
universal atonement and a conditional salvation deny God's goodness. They say that even though
Christ paid the sin-debt with His own blood, and even though He provided a righteousness for
them, God sends them to Hell anyway because they did not meet the condition of faith. This
accuses God of evil and injustice.
God's goodness shows us that He is faithful and just to save all for whom Christ died.
Christ's righteousness demands their salvation and final glory according to God's goodness. God's
goodness shows that He is faithful and just to save all who come to Him trusting that Christ has
met all the conditions and who plead His righteousness as the only ground of salvation.
C. THE SCOPE OF GOD'S GOODNESS --
God's goodness towards this wicked, fallen world is displayed widely in the preaching of
the gospel. Sinners who hear this good news are fully responsible to believe it and repent. It is a
rejection and a despising of God's goodness when sinners refuse to believe. God's goodness is
also displayed when a sinner receives His Gospel and comes to faith in Christ and true repentance.
Consider the following --
D. THE COMFORT OF GOD'S GOODNESS --
As Paul wrote in Romans 8:35-35, nothing can separate the objects of God's love from
that love. He will in no case cast us off. His goodness will forever be our preservation. Sinners
who believe that multitudes perish whom God purposed and promised to save, that the majority
for whom Christ died end up in Hell because they did not meet the condition of faith, cannot
honestly take comfort in God's goodness. Those who believe that salvation can be gained and
then lost cannot honestly be assured of salvation based on God's goodness in Christ. They can
only take comfort and have assurance based on what they see as their own goodness or what they
see as the Holy Spirit enabling them to be good. Therefore, they have very low thoughts, even
blasphemous thoughts, of God's goodness and the saving work of Christ. But when a sinner sees
the truth and reality of God's goodness revealed in the Gospel, revealed in salvation based on the
righteousness of Christ, he can have real comfort and assurance. Because of God's goodness that
all who believe the gospel are eternally secure for Heaven's glory based on the imputed righteousness of Christ. Therefore --
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