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Resound Church
Leah Ramirez
YOU WILL RECOGNIZE THEM BY THEIR FRUIT: GOODNESS
Galatians 5
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, selfcontrol; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh
with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
Jesus told us that we would recognize His disciples by their fruit! Lot’s of people have talent… and lot’s of
people have gifts and can be eloquent with their words… but a true disciple is really known by their fruit. My
prayer for us as a congregation is that more and more we would be a people known by the cultivated fruit of the
Spirit. You can’t fake patience! You can’t really sing if you don’t have joy. Fruit is real test. When in the
press what comes out?
I. IT’S JUST WHO HE IS
Exodus 33
12 Moses said to the Lord, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom
you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’
13 Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in
order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” 14 And he said, “My presence
will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do
not bring us up from here. 16 For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your
people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on
the face of the earth?”
17 And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in
my sight, and I know you by name.” 18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” 19 And he said, “I will
make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be
gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you
cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” 21 And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me
where you shall stand on the rock, 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I
will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my
back, but my face shall not be seen.”
A. When God describes Himself, we really do need to take notice. Moses asked to see the Lord’s glory.
God’s response was to reveal to Moses all of His goodness! This passage is overwhelming to me.
There’s something so unexpected about it every time I read it. It strikes me at the core now just like the
very first time I read it. It’s utterly unpredictable.
B. Moses is trying to lead millions of people into the promised land… and they keep disobeying God. He’s
frustrated with them, He’s insecure about how to please the Lord. I think Moses is hoping for a power
encounter. He’s hoping to wowed… instead God leaves Him undone. Moses thinks he needs a
revelation of power, but God knows He needs a revelation of His Goodness.
C. It’s interesting to note that the very thing that disqualified Moses later was not revealing God in His
goodness, but rather through the lens of Moses’ own frustration (Numbers 20). We NEED a revelation
of the Lord’s goodness.
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Resound Church
Leah Ramirez
YOU WILL RECOGNIZE THEM BY THEIR FRUIT: GOODNESS
II. GOODNESS IS AN ATTRIBUTE NOT A CIRCUMSTANCE
A. Have you ever dealt with offense toward the Lord? Have you ever questioned whether the Lord is
actually good? You’re not alone. In fact, the Bible is full of stories of men and women just like you and
me who struggled and questioned… and God answered.
B. Asaph, a Levite who was chief of the musicians under David (1 Chronicles 16:4-7,37), composed Psalm
73. My conviction is that the central theme of Psalm 73 is the goodness of God. The first and the last
verses of the psalm contain the word “good.” Through the course of time and this psalm, Asaph
undergoes a radical change in his understanding of the meaning of the term “good.” Because Asaph’s
misconception of the meaning of “good” is virtually the same as evangelical Christians today, we must
understand the message of this psalm and the meaning of the term “good.”
C. One of the deadliest doctrines in the church today has to do with a misconception of goodness.
Goodness means prosperity, and gain, and health and wealth, and a basic freedom from all pain. And
while I believe the gospel is the good news and should be accompanied with healing and deliverance
and even life from the dead, to discount the other experiences in life is to miss the whole point. God is
in it all.
Psalm 73
73:1 Truly God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost
stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
3 For I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of
the wicked.
D. A wrong perception of God’s goodness left Asaph disconetent…even to the point of slipping from the
faith.
4 For they have no pangs until death;
their bodies are fat and sleek.
5 They are not in trouble as others
are;
they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers
them as a garment.
7 Their eyes swell out through fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
8 They scoff
and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
9 They set their mouths against the heavens,
and
their tongue struts through the earth.
10 Therefore his people turn back to them,
and find no fault in
them. 11 And they say, “How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
12 Behold, these are
the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.
13 All in vain have I kept my heart clean
and washed
my hands in innocence.
14 For all the day long I have been stricken
and rebuked every morning.
15 If I
had said, “I will speak thus,”
I would have betrayed the generation of your children.16 But when I thought
how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
17 until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then
I discerned their end.
E. Asaph is full of judgment towards those who appear more blessed. He overstates his case…He is
basically being punished for being so holy. God is rewarding the proud and punishing Asaph for his
commitment. He’s offended. He’s burnt out. He’s distorted.
F. But when He comes into the presence of God, He gains clarity. When Aspah comes into the place of
encounter he is able to discern the “end.” There is so much that does not make sense in God if we are
not accounting for eternity. We need an eternal perspective!
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Leah Ramirez
YOU WILL RECOGNIZE THEM BY THEIR FRUIT: GOODNESS
…22 I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you. 23 Nevertheless, I am continually with
you;
you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to
glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26 My
flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
27 For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to
you.
28 But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
that I may tell of all
your works.
G. Through time and process God begins to restore Asaph and his perspective. Goodness is not temporal,
but relating to One who loves us so much. Whether in this season we have nothing or we have surplus,
God loves us! Goodness is defined in nearness!!
III. IN THE BEGINNING
Genesis 3
3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the
woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not
eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But
the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes
will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
A. God is good, and everything He created is good. But the one thing in the garden which was not “good”
to eat was “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Satan’s seemingly innocent question was
intended to undermine Eve’s confidence in the goodness of God. By the time Satan has finished, Eve
has come to view God as the One who is less than good, and the forbidden fruit as that which is good.
Once Eve doubted the goodness of God, it was a great deal easier for her to disobey Him. If God was
not good and was not acting for her good, then why should she obey Him? Indeed, why should she not
act independently of God in seeking her own good—the forbidden fruit?
IV. REMEMBER WHERE YOU CAME FROM… AND WHERE YOU’RE GOING…AND WHERE
YOU ARE!
A. The key to living without offense is to remember where you came from. They key to really living… is
to remember where you are going. This life is just a vapor. It’s just a shadow. I find that the easiest
way to let go is to simply remember what God has forgotten. He has forgiven much in all of us, so let
love abound! Stop fretting so much and live. Life is so good. Life is just so good. Experiencing God
in all the little things is just so good. Being in real community is so good. Being with our friends and
family is so good. Watching God transform us and others is too wonderful for words.
B. The Gospel is the good news. You were a sinner… with no hope in the world. And then the goodness
of God appeared. And His love broke in. And He saved you. You weren’t looking for Him. You were
helpless. Lost. But He came for you. He saw you. And He wanted you. He didn’t come because you
deserved love. He came simply because He is GOOD! This is the Gospel. Everything He does is good.
Ephesians 2
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Resound Church
Leah Ramirez
YOU WILL RECOGNIZE THEM BY THEIR FRUIT: GOODNESS
12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel
and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in
Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
C. Whatever the loss, it’s all a gain in God. Don’t worry about all the stuff. Don’t let your focus get TOO
temporal. Live into what matters most. Live into love. Live into all of God’s goodness.
Mark 3
13 And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. 14 And
he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them
out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons.
D. Come on! Jesus called you because He desires you. He called you to be with Him. This is GOOD!!!
Enjoy God. Enjoy Him. Enjoy His company. Enjoy your spouse. Enjoy your children. Let all this
worry go. Just let it go. It’s time to live. All of the goodness of God dwells within you in the person of
the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God within you is currently at perfect peace, is operating now within the
fullness of joy, and abounding in absolute love.
Romans 8
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the
Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows
what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called
according to his purpose.
E. Just as it was in the garden… When Peter betrayed God three times, Jesus reinstated Peter by leading
him through a 3 part confession of his love. The thing with God is He will not pretend away our
failures… He addresses them head-on and forgives them.
F. God is bringing us back to our first failure. Our parents, Adam and Eve, fell short. They disobeyed
because they doubted the goodness of God… God is coming after the root of the issue. Sin and
disobedience is really the symptom of a distorted image of God. When we know that God is good, when
we truly believe that He is not withholding any good thing, our tendency to sin/harden greatly decreases.
G. You want to be steady in God? Ask the Lord to let all of His goodness pass before you!
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