Grace Bible Church Glorifying God by Making Disciples of Jesus Christ

Lies Against God’s Goodness & Love Introduction Christians live in spiritual defeat because they believe the devil’s lies instead holding to the word of God Few seek the truth; fewer will face the truth; fewer still will proclaim the truth

Denial of God's Goodness & Love Satan’s denial claims God would not allow suffering if He were good & loving Corollary: If God cannot stop suffering, He is inconsequential because He is either limited or non-existent Truth: God is not limited. He is infinite in respect to time, space, knowledge, power & rule. .

Denial of God's Goodness & Love Corollary: If God is able & good, He would not allow suffering in His creation Truth: The devil is the source of evil, yet blames God for it In a sense, the devil blames God for creating him & allowing him to continue to exist after his fall.

Denial of God's Goodness & Love Few people have altruistic concern for those suffering. People hypocritically deny God’s goodness & blame Him for their suffering People judge God for not meeting their expectations

Refuting the Denial God’s Character People forget God’s character, deny their culpability, ignore God’s goodness & think God is like them. The attributes of God sets Him apart from all creation and therefore make Him holy

Refuting the Denial God’s Character God is intrinsically righteous because He is absolutely virtuous, upright, faultless and guiltless The justice of God is impartial & based solely on the deeds of the person. Man does not understand God, the eternal perspective, or justice based on true righteousness

Refuting the Denial Man’s Culpability Men think they can escape God’s judgement by denying His goodness God’s goodness has no bearing on whether you will be judged or not, only on the equity of the judgement Man is not holy, and without holiness no man will see the Lord – Heb. 12:14

Refuting the Denial Man’s Culpability Man does not & cannot meet God’s standard of righteousness. Man does not even meet his own standard of righteousness – Rom. 2:1 God’s justice demands every aspect of His law be met including punishing those that fail to keep it

Refuting the Denial Man’s Culpability It is God’s goodness & love that tempers His justice with patience, longsuffering and mercy It is God’s sacrificial love that satisfies His justice to grant grace for forgiveness of sins through Jesus

Refuting the Denial God’s Love God’s Love is a stated fact of Scripture & evidenced throughout the Bible - 1 John 4:8; Eph. 2:4, etc. God’s love is not based in anything in us. It is a chosen & self-sacrificial love for the best interest of the other God’s demonstration of love in the sacrifice of Christ proves His love for all eternity (Romans 5:7-8)

Refuting the Denial God’s Love Deists and others deny God’s personal involvement in the affairs of men The Bible is the record of God’s intervention into the affairs of men God has numbered the hairs on your head, invites you to cast your cares on Him and pray to Him

Refuting the Denial God’s Goodness God’s Goodness is stated fact in the Bible and demonstrated in that good even exists God provides everything needed for life generally and personally (Isaiah 55:10; Psalm 139; Job 33:4; James1:17) Arguing against God’s goodness is shortsighted & ignorant

Refuting the Denial God’s Goodness Evil exists because certain angels & all of mankind has rebelled against God. God’s patient endurance of evil does not preclude His goodness or power. He will judge (Romans 9:21-24) Those who denigrate God’s goodness cannot produce a stable source for a standard of goodness

Refuting the Denial God’s Goodness What standard of righteousness would you want others to live by? Evolution? Societal Acceptance? Each by their own personal standard? The strong over the weak?

Refuting the Denial Man’s Arrogance Man ignorantly projects upon God his own thoughts falsely assuming God is like him God warns us to prepare for eternity - Luke 13:1-5, etc. Suffering occurs because sin has consequences - temporal & eternal

Slander of God’s Goodness & Love Satan suggests God is good and loving only to a limited degree. - Genesis 3:5 People who believe this slander lack trust in God for their temporal future – they are anxious, worry, fret. God’s promises are true (Matt. 28:20; Romans 8:26), not cliches

Slander of God’s Goodness & Love God has not promised Christians escape from all suffering and tribulation. Believers will also suffer due of their own sin, the sin of others and living in a fallen world (Romans 8:18) God uses tribulations mature us (Rom. 5; James 1; Phil 4:13) Expect trials (John 16:33; 1 Peter 4:12-13; 2 Timothy 3:12)

Conclusions God offers salvation to you just as you are, but demands repentance and faith to receive it. God’s love does not disregard His holiness, righteousness and justice

Grace Bible Church Glorifying God by Making Disciples of Jesus Christ