Table of Contents

Tough Questions

There Is No Fear In Love

God Is Not Mad At You

What About The Bad Stuff?

What About Tests and Trials?

Are you tired of being judged by Christians?

Are you sick of people telling you what is wrong with you or what you have to “do” to get God to listen to you?

Do you question why bad things happen if God is supposed to be good?

Are you afraid of God?

I HAVE GOOD NEWS

GOD IS NOT MAD AT YOU!!!

Tough Questions

“God is good…all the time!”  Have you ever heard this phrase, or even said it yourself?  How about this one, “God is in control?”  Or, “God has a plan, you can’t see it now but in the future you’ll know why God allowed _______________,” and fill in the blank with whatever has happened to you or someone you love.  The most popular statement about God is probably this one, “Everything happens for a reason.”  Have you ever been told that?  Have you ever asked the question, “If God is in control, why do bad things happen?” We usually explain all of this away by saying that God is sovereign, meaning he can do whatever he wants.

These phrases and questions can be some of the most confusing ideas one will ever wrestle with.  When we hear these kinds of phrases, especially when we’re in the middle of challenging and difficult situations, we typically conclude that God’s definition of good must be different from our definition of good. We’re taught to believe that God is good but we somehow think God’s version of good includes pain, suffering, loss, calamity, trials, disease, injustice and condemnation.  Leaders and believers alike, say that “God loves you” but put him just out of our reach of understanding because we don’t have good answers to these difficult questions.

Through these statements, God becomes someone that we can’t fully relate to because we’re not sure we know what he’s going to do.  We know we’re supposed to love him but with these stumbling blocks in the way, it’s very difficult to give ourselves to him wholly.  Many of us have encountered people who are supposed to be representing God, but they have only judged us and told us what is wrong with us.

In this booklet, I want to give you some good news and tell you the truth about how God sees and relates to you.  You’ll discover that God is not currently judging the Earth with disasters, and he’s not trying to teach you through pain.

There Is No Fear In Love

1 John 4:18 The Living Bible

We need have no fear of someone who loves us perfectly; his perfect love for us eliminates all dread of what he might do to us.  If we are afraid, it is for fear of what he might do to us, and shows that we are not fully convinced that he really loves us.

Did you get that?  If we’re afraid of God, it’s because we’re not convinced he loves us.  The KJV says that perfect love casts out fear.  In 1 John 4:16 we’re told that God is love.  So, we could say that God casts out fear.  But wait, I thought we’re supposed to fear God.  What’s interesting is the definition of fear in this case means to worship, have awe for and respect.  It has nothing to do with being afraid as we think of fear!  In Luke 4:8, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:13; he said that we are to worship God.  He changed the word from fear to worship.  I think that the Son of God is more than qualified to interpret scripture how he sees fit.

The point so far is, if you’re afraid of God it’s because of what you think he might do to you.  The truth is, God does not want you to be afraid of him.  We’re led to believe that we should be afraid of God because if we mess up, he’ll judge us or allow difficulty into our lives to teach us a lesson.  Many people teach and think that your sin separates you from God and when you sin, you fall from grace and you have to come back to God for forgiveness through repentance.

There are two problems with that line of thinking.  First, Jesus paid the price for your sin; you cannot pay the price yourself because you are not a perfect offering for sin.  Your sin was forgiven once and for all through Jesus’ death on the cross.  God cannot punish you for your sin because he already punished Jesus in your place.

God does not want you to be afraid of him

Repentance is not when we go back to God and he then forgives us, he has already forgiven you.  While we were yet sinners Christ died for us.  Repentance actually means to “change your mind.”  Hebrews 10:14-18 says that there is no more offering for sin.  Your sins were pardoned in the body of Jesus on the cross, never again to be counted against you.

As a matter of fact, that’s what Christians are supposed to be telling people.

2 Corinthians 5:19   For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others.

2 Corinthians 5:20   We are Christ's ambassadors, and God is using us to speak to you. We urge you, as though Christ himself were here pleading with you, "Be reconciled to God!"

2 Corinthians 5:21   For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

Repentance is not your offering for your sin so you can be forgiven.  You’re forgiven in Jesus. Repentance is when you experience the forgiveness God already has for you and you change your thinking about how you have been behaving or believing.

Second, God said he no longer remembers your sins.  Once you allow Christ to make you righteous, by accepting his death, burial and resurrection, you are engrafted into the New Covenant.

We Are Made Right With God Through Christ, Not Our Works

Jeremiah 31:34 is a prophecy about what the New Covenant would look like and the bottom line, what it all comes down to, is that God no longer remembers your sin and iniquities.  He’s God, he’s powerful enough to forget what he wants.

The reason he forgets your sin, and never again brings it up in your face again, is because you are righteous once you accept what Jesus did for you.

Ok, I know what you’re thinking, I have to be perfect before I accept Jesus.  WRONG!  You can’t be good enough, that’s why he came here.  John 3:17 tells us that Jesus came into the world to save us and not condemn us.

Romans 8:1 tells us that There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

You may stop here and say, well that’s just it, I don’t believe in or want to accept Jesus.  I urge you to keep reading because the news only gets better.  The world has a wrong idea of who God is but it’s time to set the record straight,

God is not angry...He loves us!

God Is Not Mad At You... He Loves You

We’ve all heard Psalm 7:11, “God judgeth the righteous, God is angry with the wicked everyday.”  Under the Old Covenant, that was true.  God is a just God and requires righteousness.  God knew we couldn’t be righteous on our own, so he had to give us righteousness freely so he could relate to us in a new way.  Jeremiah 31:32 tells us that this New Covenant isn’t like the Old Covenant.  The New Covenant changes us from servants to children.  The New Covenant says that we are righteous by faith in what Jesus did, not our efforts.  The New Covenant made peace between God and man.

Isaiah 53 is a beautiful prophecy about what the Messiah would experience and accomplish on the cross for all who would believe.  Isaiah 54 is a description of what life between God and man would be like after the Messiah experienced this death.

Isaiah 54:9 compares this new promise to the promise God made Noah about never again flooding the earth.  Do you believe that God will never flood the Earth again like he promised?  Then this new promise is just like that promise.

Isaiah 54:9 says "For this (the cross of Christ) [is] like the waters of Noah to Me; For as I have sworn That the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, So have I sworn That I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.”

Rebuke means to punish.  God is promising that as a result of the cross of Christ, he will never again be angry with you or punish you.  Jesus did not come into this world to condemn us, but to save us.

Will you allow Jesus to save you?

All that is required is to believe that Jesus came to this Earth and was raised from the dead, having met all the requirements for righteousness and has now freely made you righteous.

Some Christians think that this is giving people a license to sin.  That just reveals a legalistic mindset.  It is obviously not okay to sin.  Sin kills, but the good news is that sin doesn’t separate you from God because it’s already been paid for.  Jesus took your punishment!

Jesus told people to go and sin no more lest a worse thing should come upon them.  Sin has consequences of its own, but it’s not God punishing you as a result of sinning after being made righteous by the blood of Jesus.

Paul dealt with this mindset by saying, “What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.”  Romans 6:15.  Once you accept Jesus, you never again have to be afraid of God being angry at you or seeking to punish or condemn you.  God has settled the sin issue and only desires a loving relationship, free from the performance we feel we need to live up to.

Romans 5:6, 8-11

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.  For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.  And not only [so], but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

What About The Bad Stuff

If you have made it this far, you have just heard the Gospel.  If you have made the decision to accept the sacrifice of Christ, please tell someone and begin to read the New Testament in the Bible.

If you have skipped forward to this section, you will not be sorry because what I am about to tell you has the potential to forever change the way you see God. We have to be willing to stay open to truth no matter how much it challenges our current belief system.  We derive our identity from what we believe about God, so when we read ideas we disagree with, we feel we’re personally being challenged.

Just know that you are righteous before God because of the blood of Jesus alone, and not because you have believed the right things.  In fact, I submit that a large section of the Christian world believes the wrong things about God when it comes to the question, “if God is good, then why...”

We have done the world a grave injustice by telling them that God has a hand in calamity, destruction, disease, and any form of pain.  Now that we are on this side of the cross, we have to remember what The New Covenant is about.  God promised that he will not be angry, that he will not rebuke you, that he will not remember your sins, and that you are righteous.

So, if God is all powerful, then why is the world in the state that it’s in?

The answer lies in the dawn of creation.  In Genesis 1:26, God gave dominion, or rule, over the Earth to mankind.  God literally put mankind in charge of the Earth.  God had to do this in order for us to have total and complete free will.  If we did not have total rule over this Earth, then we would not be truly free.

The age old debate between just how free we are will always be an issue for the Calvinists but the fact remains that in the beginning, God gave mankind authority over this earth and what we see happening is not God’s will, but what man has allowed.  If you want to see God’s will, look at the perfect Garden of Eden, and then look at Heaven...everything in between is what man has done.

You might say, but he’s God, he could do something about it.  If he did, we would no longer be free.  God has placed his spirit in us and now works through us.

Jesus did say we’d have tribulation in the world but that he’s overcome the world.  Are you living in the world, or are you living in Jesus?

Isaiah 54:15 tells us that after the cross, difficulty would come but that it wouldn’t be from God.  Insurance companies are wrong, disasters are not acts of God.

What About Tests and Trials?

By now, you’re either happy that God is not mad, or mad at me for saying that God is happy.  Many of you may be in agreement that God is not angrily judging or causing earthquakes, but you might still believe that God allows tests and trials to teach us lessons or shape us into what he wants us to be.

James 1 is very popular in trying to build a case that God creates temptations and tests for us so we’ll learn.  Aside from that putting God in the same league as a masochist and sadist, it leaves out an important part.

Many quote James 1:2 and 1:12, which say that temptations produce a crown of life, but verse 13 is usually left out.  Verse 13 says, “Let no man say what he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts he any man.”

The word “tempted” here means: test, trial or experiment.  It means God is not testing us or creating trials for us.  Love doesn’t need to.  It’s the goodness of God that draws us to repent, not tests.

Okay, what about 1 Corinthians 10:13 that says God will not allow us to be tempted above what we’re able?  Read it closely, it doesn’t say God is doing the tempting, it just says he’ll make a way out when it comes.

What about 1 Peter 1:7 which says to rejoice when your faith is tested?  Again, trials come but they’re not from God.  We cannot project our experiences into scripture to make the Bible fit what we believe.  We have to read the Word and believe it.  We can’t look at a difficult circumstance and think God “allowed” it to make us stronger...it’s unscriptural.

We learn from difficulties, but they are not by God’s design.  Just because we learn from difficulty or draw closer to God in hard times doesn’t mean he created it.  The bottom line is that we don’t want to take responsibility for the condition of our lives, we’d rather blame God, the devil or someone else.

We have to realize that Jesus enacted a New Covenant through his blood.  We are no longer separated from God.  He loves us and wants good things for us.  God’s will for this planet is seen in the Garden of Eden and Heaven...everything else is what man has allowed to happen through sin.

I urge you to search the New Testament today and discover a loving God and a powerful Holy Spirit.  Jesus made peace between you and God. Accept his free gift of righteousness today simply by believing in his death, burial and resurrection by the hand of God.

Contact us if we can help you in any way.

info@forwardministries.org

www.forwardministries.org

Copyright Information

GOOD GOD by Clint Byars

Printed Within The USA © 2010 by Clint Byars

Clint Byars is author of Devil Walk & Lead Pastor of Forward Church

Available Through Forward Ministries

770-500-9217

If reprinting any portions of this book, please notify Forward Ministries before duplicating.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, King James Authorized version, which is public domain.

The Living Bible, c1971 by Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois.  Used by permission.

Table of Contents

Tough Questions

There Is No Fear In Love

God Is Not Mad At You

What About The Bad Stuff?

What About Tests and Trials?