What God Says about Himself

CURRENT RADIO SERIES Legacy   CURRENT TV SERIES Invisible

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.            --Romans 8:1 Years ago, I heard about some men who were out camping when they were caught in a terrible forest fire. Fire was all around them, there was no way out, and it looked like they were going to perish in the flames. One man was a seasoned camper, so he got some kerosene, poured it on the ground in a big circle, and lit a match. Several of the campers asked him, “What are you doing? Why are you trying to light a fire?!” As he threw the match on the ground and set the grass ablaze, he told them, “Once the grass burns away, stand on the charred ground. The fire can’t come where it’s already been.” And with that, the men were saved from the fire that burned all around them. When Jesus died on the cross, the flames of a holy God fell upon Him. And when you go to the cross and receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then He has accepted your penalty. That means the fire that fell on Him can’t fall on you! Those who are in Christ can never be condemned. So be confident in your standing before God if you’re in Christ. You’re completely clean and will escape judgment when it comes! IN CHRIST, YOU CAN STAND BEFORE GOD WITH CONFIDENCE, KNOWING JESUS TOOK THE PENALTY FOR YOUR SINS.

What God Says about Himself

Thursday, October 24, 2019

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.”

Exodus 34:5–7

When you ask someone about themselves, the answer they give tells you a lot about what is important to them. Some people speak of their jobs. Others talk about their families. Some focus on their hobbies and interests. When God presented Himself to Moses and the Children of Israel, He identified some of His traits, and one of those was that He was “abundant in goodness.” God is not just partly good or somewhat good. His goodness is perfect and overflowing.

There are times in all of our lives when we are tempted to question the goodness of God. When the doctor gives us a bad test report, when the company issues layoff notices, when the relationship fractures and seems like it cannot be restored, God is good. When the doctor gives us the all clear, when the company announces raises and bonuses, when hearts are knit back together, God is good. He never changes. And understanding and remembering His goodness is vitally important to maintaining our faith through the hard times. David said, “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living” (Psalm 27:13).

In his poem “The Eternal Goodness” John Greenleaf Whittier wrote:

Yet, in the maddening maze of things,
And tossed by storm and flood,
To one fixed trust my spirit clings;
I know that God is good!

Today's Growth Principle: 

No matter what our circumstances may be, we can always rejoice in God’s abundant goodness.