The Truth & Goodness of God

Recently I have been listening to some excellent sermons preached by Bro. Tom Sooter. (Visit his website at SooterSpiritualWarfare.com) Brother Sooter is a preacher who deals with topics such as spiritual warfare, the lies of Satan, and bitterness. I have been so helped by his preaching. Every new message gives me a new truth to cling to.

Satan's lies are so subtle and become such a part of our lives that it is impossible for us to recognize them for the lies that they truly are. The Lord Jesus said that Satan is the father of lies. "There is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not." (John 8:44-45) Once the devil can get us to accept one lie as truth, countless other lies descend from it. Once those lies sink their teeth into us, we believe that those lies are truth, and we reject God's Word as truth. By the way, I believe that is exactly why so many people get mad at the preacher when he preaches the truth and leave the church in a fit. Satan has sold them a lie, clothed in truth, and they reject God's Word as Truth. "And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not."

Satan is subtle with his lies because he knows how it works. He is slow and sneaky, feeding us one "chocolate-coated" lie at a time. Do you think we would so readily accept his lies if he startled us with them? I don't think so. His subtle deception worked on Eve and it works the same on us, only our enemy has had 6,000 years to improve his tactics.

We must go to the Lord to show us the real, changeless Truth of God and make us free. When I realized this and did some honest soul-searching before my God, I was amazed at the things He opened my eyes to. Things I had struggled and fought and wrestled with. Things I blamed on others. Things I had given up hope of ever resolving. But then, as I prayed and the Lord removed the devil's blindfold from my eyes, I could see! I could see the truth about myself. I could see the lies for what they were. Lies so simple and unassuming, they masqueraded as truth.

Similarly, the truth is not always a startling revelation, but that does not negate the power of Truth. It is only when we know the truth that we can be made free. Truth does not set us free; it does not release us just outside our prison and leave us to find our own way to victory and security. The truth makes us free. Truth delivers us from the prison of the lies of Satan and carries us safely away to that longed-for haven of complete triumph! Our blessed Savior says, "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." (John 8:32, 36)

Did you know that both God and Satan can give you thoughts? In Matthew 16:13-17 we read, "When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." Peter did not hear that Jesus Christ was the Son of God by rumor; God revealed that truth to his heart!

However, just a little further into the passage we read again, "From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men." (vv. 21-23) Who sent those wicked thoughts to Peter's mind? We know it was Satan. Was Jesus rebuking Satan or Peter for that little outburst? The answer is yes. =) You see, Satan did not want Jesus to go to the cross and pay the penalty for our sins, securing our eternal salvation by our simple receiving of that salvation. One minute Jesus was praising Peter for being so in tune with God. I'm sure Peter was feeling pretty good about his height of spirituality. Then the next minute Peter took Jesus by the shoulders and basically said, "You're lying!" Jesus turned His back on Peter and rebuked him like no one has ever been rebuked before, referring to Peter as Satan! 

Both God and Satan can send thoughts to our minds. How precious to be so close to God that we can hear the voice of His Holy Spirit. But when we are even "inches" away from His side, we are easy prey for the devil and his whispered lies. We need to follow 2 Corinthians 10:5 like a hound on a rabbit trail: "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."

I need to know the truth. I want to always be searching for the little, underestimated lies that the devil is so capable of selling to me -- and at such a terrible price. We need to learn to recognize Satan's lies. We need to be on our guard at all times. We need to seek the truth that will make us free.

Lately I realized my great need for a "regular diet" of good Bible preaching. I made it my goal to listen to preaching every day that I possibly could. God has so blessed and so helped me in such marvelous ways. To be truthful, though, some days it isn't easy to be consistent to my commitment. However, those are the days when I especially need a good preaching to. =) I wish I could share with you all the precious things the Lord has spoken to my heart as I have listened to the preaching of His amazing Word. Recently I listened to a sermon by Brother Sooter titled The Hole of No Hope, and I want to share my thoughts on a few points from that message which were especially meaningful to me.

So much could be said of the goodness of God. We could never finish telling how God has blessed us again and again. The goodness of God so far exceeds our unworthiness as evidenced by the grace He pours into our lives. We also see His goodness in the ways He chastens us when we go astray and leads us back to His heart. But there is an aspect of God's goodness we often fail to understand: that the goodness of God is greater than the wickedness of man. Psalm 76:10 is an amazing verse. It seems contradictory, but it is so, so true. It says, "Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain." 

We hear it asked so often: "If God is good and sovereign, how can He let bad things happen to good people?" I'm afraid some people are so pre-convinced of what seems to be the impossibility of that question, that no answer could possibly satisfy them. The truth is, though, that the wrath of man shall praise God. God is able to turn around every wicked thing man's evil heart can imagine to do and make it into something that we can praise Him for in eternity. "Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee."

Brother Sooter brought out that there are two parts of God's will: His stated will and His sovereign will. God's stated will is His Word. It is His will for mankind but do we do it? Do we keep His Word? That answer, of course, is no. Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." That is why there is sin in the world, that is why such terrible, awful things happen to good people. God has given man a free will and a Bible but we are all sinners; we have all broken through God's stated will.

But the other side of God's will is His sovereign will. This is the part of His will that stands stronger than a fortress and will never, ever be broken through. This brings to mind an illustration from another sermon (Turning Your Back on God by Bro. Steve Pigott). Imagine, if you will, one man challenging another to a fight. However, this fight is an unusual one as the first man places his hand on the other man's head and holds him out at arm's length, and proceeds to tell the second man, "Hit me with all you've got." The second man swings and punches, pants and fumes. The first man says, "Hit me! Come on, hit me! Ha, ha! Hit me!" but the second man just can't reach the first man to even touch him. This gives a very clear picture to God's sovereign will as we find in Psalm 2:2-4. "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision." Man in his foolishness can try his best to "hit" God. He can strive with all his power to oppose what God has established and can never, ever be broken. But God's sovereign will cannot be even be touched by man.

The goodness of God is as great as His sovereign will. It cannot be touched. God can take every imaginable evil and work it together for good. (Rom. 8:28) His goodness cannot be overthrown. "The remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain."

Statistics tell that us that approximately 42 million abortions worldwide take place every year. I cannot think of a crime more devastating and heart-breaking than abortion. Yet God's will is sovereign and cannot be overthrown. He has eternal purposes of good that overcome every evil. Brother Sooter brought out one of those purposes that I could never, ever have imagined. Although abortion is so horrible, God is building His kingdom like never before. Do you realize that 42 million babies enter Heaven every year? Those are 42 million eternal, never-dying souls that God so loves. 42 million souls joining the host of Heaven in just one year. Abortion is a horrible crime that cannot be justified, but the goodness of God triumphs over the evil of it. Glory to God!

The evil of man will never win over the goodness of God. Even Satan's wickedness cannot win over God's goodness. The devil will do the very best (or the very worst? =) in his power to overthrow our God's power, but we know our Savior Jesus Christ has already planned our enemy's final defeat. The fight is as good as over! What a grand day that will be!

"Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain." Surely. It is a promise. God is not going to let anything happen to us that He does not foresee to work together for our good and His great glory. And, when it glorifies Him, He will restrain the remainder of wrath so that it cannot touch us. God has given man a free will to act according to the imagination of his heart, but God is still in control. God is able to take every evil and make it good because He is sovereign and good.

There were some other thoughts I planned to share in this post about true Biblical forgiveness. It is something I have been pondering a lot lately. It is an area in which the Lord has shown me that my thinking has been all wrong. Forgiveness is not what we think it is. It is so much greater and glorious that we can conceive. I have so much I would like to share with you concerning forgiveness but it will just have to wait. I'm working on some of those thoughts now and will share the post with you just as soon I "juice" it for all it's got. =) 

So, for now, I leave you with these thoughts... 

The Truth of God is great and mighty. It will open your eyes to and set you free you from every wicked, imprisoning lie the devil has sold you. You need to know the Truth. Running from the hard truth never helped anyone. The Truth, if you heed His call and follow His leading, will transform your life into one of complete, enduring victory.

The goodness of God will never fail. It will never fail to extend you grace, in chastening as well as blessing, just as a good father gives both to his children. The goodness of God will never, ever be defeated by evil. You can be sure of it. It will WIN! And one triumphant day, a day that I just can't wait to see, the goodness of God will prevail over our enemy one final time... and the Lord Jesus Christ will reign in His holy, holy, holy goodness for all of eternity.