I. EXORDIUM:
Is GOD good?
Yes, all the time.
II. AUDIENCE PROFILE:
Believers/unbelievers
III. OBJECTIVES:
To show that GOD is good and His goodness to a wicked person causes that wicked person to come to the LORD JESUS, like what have happened to me.
IV. TEXT:
Romans 2:4 (Amplified Bible)
Or are you [so blind as to] trifle with and presume upon and despise and underestimate the wealth of His kindness and forbearance and long-suffering patience? Are you unmindful or actually ignorant [of the fact] that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repent (to change your mind and inner man to accept God’s will)?
V. THESIS:
Praise, worship, glorify, adore, bless, honor, acknowledge and thank You very much LORD JESUS for You are Infinitely Good and Infinitely Kind and Your Goodness and Your Kindness have led me to repent of my sins towards You and my fellow men.
VI. TITLE:
GOD's goodness leads us to repentance
VII. EXPLICATION:
A. Author: Apostle Paul
B. Date written: 57 A.D.
C. Place written: From Corinth
D. Purpose: To prepare Roman believers for his long awaited visit.
E. To whom written: Roman Christians
VIII. MAIN BODY:
Romans 2:4 (Amplified Bible)
Or are you [so blind as to] trifle with and presume upon and despise and underestimate the wealth of His kindness and forbearance and long-suffering patience? Are you unmindful or actually ignorant [of the fact] that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repent (to change your mind and inner man to accept God’s will)?
Romans 2:4 (New King James Version)
Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
A. Don't despise GOD's goodness, forbearance and longsuffering.
"Or are you [so blind as to] trifle with and presume upon and despise and underestimate the wealth of His kindness and forbearance and long-suffering patience?"
3 Unseen things that men despised of from GOD:
1. GOD's goodness
Goodness or "chrestotes" from the Greek language meaning: usefulness, excellence, gentleness, kindness.
2. GOD's forbearance
Forbearance or "anoche" from the Greek language meaning: selfrestraint, tolerance
3. GOD's longsuffering
Longsuffering or "makrothumia" from the Greek language meaning: longanimity, fortitude, patience
GOD is teaching us all these 3 things that are one of His various, uncountable, infinitely GOD'S attributes so that we will be like Him. These I considered are the currencies of Heaven. These are the qualities GOD is looking for us to reproduce and bear fruit.
ILLUSTRATION: There's a joke that goes like this a believer goes out to pray for patience, and he said "GOD grant me patience right now!" But he can't wait on GOD to grant it, he laid his time table before GOD, not a very wise thing to do. Be careful what you prayed for, you might just get it. If you pray like this, GOD will not give you patience in an instant, but GOD will give you circumstances in life that will test your patience.
How do we despise GOD's attributes of goodness, forbearance and longsuffering:
1. When we live a life of sin
Romans 6:1 (Amplified Bible)
WHAT SHALL we say [to all this]? Are we to remain in sin in order that God’s grace (favor and mercy) may multiply and overflow?
Romans 6:15 (Amplified Bible)
What then [are we to conclude]? Shall we sin because we live not under Law but under God’s favor and mercy? Certainly not!
2. When we think GOD does not see us
Psalms 10:11 (Amplified Bible)
[The foe] thinks in his heart, God has quite forgotten; He has hidden His face; He will never see [my deed].
Ecclesiastes 8:11 (Amplified Bible)
Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, the hearts of the sons of men are fully set to do evil.
Jeremiah 7:10 (Amplified Bible)
And [then dare to] come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My Name, and say, [By the discharge of this religious formality] we are set free!—only to go on with this wickedness and these abominations?
3. When we give up thinking about JESUS's Second Coming
Ezekiel 12:22-23 (Amplified Bible)
Son of man, what is this proverb that you have in the land of Israel, saying, The days drag on and every vision comes to nothing and is not fulfilled?
Tell them therefore, Thus says the Lord God: I will put an end to this proverb, and they shall use it no more as a proverb in Israel. But say to them, The days are at hand and the fulfillment of every vision.
Matthew 24:48-49 (Amplified Bible)
But if that servant is wicked and says to himself, My master is delayed and is going to be gone a long time,
And begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunken,
2 Peter 3:3 (Amplified Bible)
To begin with, you must know and understand this, that scoffers (mockers) will come in the last days with scoffing, [people who] walk after their own fleshly desires
B. GOD's goodness leads us to repentance.
"Are you unmindful or actually ignorant [of the fact] that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repent (to change your mind and inner man to accept God’s will)?"
Job 33:27-30 (Amplified Bible)
He looks upon other men or sings out to them, I have sinned and perverted that which was right, and it did not profit me, or He did not requite me [according to my iniquity]!
[God] has redeemed my life from going down to the pit [of destruction], and my life shall see the light!
[Elihu comments] Behold, God does all these things twice, yes, three times, with a man,
To bring back his life from the pit [of destruction], that he may be enlightened with the light of the living.
Psalms 130:3-4 (Amplified Bible)
If You, Lord, should keep account of and treat [us according to our] sins, O Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with You [just what man needs], that You may be reverently feared and worshiped.
Isaiah 30:18 (Amplified Bible)
And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship]!
Jeremiah 3:12-13 (Amplified Bible)
Go and proclaim these words toward the north [where the ten tribes have been taken as captives] and say, Return, faithless Israel, says the Lord, and I will not cause My countenance to fall and look in anger upon you, for I am merciful, says the Lord; I will not keep My anger forever.
Only know, understand, and acknowledge your iniquity and guilt—that you have rebelled and transgressed against the Lord your God and have scattered your favors among strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed My voice, says the Lord.
Jeremiah 3:22-23 (Amplified Bible)
Return, O faithless sons, [says the Lord, and] I will heal your faithlessness. [And they answer] Behold, we come to You, for You are the Lord our God.
Truly in vain is the hope of salvation from the hills and from the tumult and noisy throng on the mountains; truly in and with the Lord our God rests the salvation of Israel.
GOD's goodness makes us repent. He will not give us punishment upon punishment He thinks differently from a human being. Like, for example, rewards for goodness, and punishment for wickedness, but GOD did turned around because He keeps on rewarding evil people with goodness, majority of the unbelievers are rich and they stay rich even after they die and their wealth is passed to wicked people, why is this so? because GOD's goodness that keeps on giving them their wealth leads them to repentance. The most tragic thing than death is if you have live like 80 years old but you never became conscious of GOD'S goodness and grace in your life, that all you have right now, came from GOD, if you can't acknowledge GOD and even thank Him every day for what He has done for you, that's the most tragic thing. This made me pause and realize that I see wicked people getting rich and getting things they've stolen from others, things that they don't deserve but they continue to be rich and very quick about it. Yes, I'm getting richer and richer from glory to glory , of course, but their richess is faster than mine, I must admit. It is because of GOD'S goodness and grace in their lives that they have done that because in GOD'S heart, GOD still hopes that they will be saved, until they come to the expiration of their life, and goes to hell. Sadly but true. This is almost a nightmare to me, that happens, day after day, but I can't seem to break the curse of this nightmare since they will not listen to me, someone, an insignificant slave of GOD, because I'm poor compared to their wealth.
2 Corinthians 3:18 (Amplified Bible)
And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.
IX. CONCLUSION:
Praise, worship, glorify, adore, bless, honor, acknowledge and thank You very much LORD JESUS for You are Infinitely Good and Infinitely Kind and Your Goodness and Your Kindness have led me to repent of my sins towards You and my fellow men.
