In today’s culture, many people truly believe with all their hearts that they are, in fact, a good person. They’ll justify their claim through previous acts of serving other people or not stealing, or not killing anyone. Jesus said, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone” (Luke 18:19). Now if people are actually good, then how can this profound statement by our Savior be true?
The Ten Commandments
To understand this truth, we can go straight to the bottom half of the Ten Commandments. We do this because Jesus says only God is good, and in order for us to be considered “good,” we have to go to the law. God is set apart and is holy, so we also must be holy as the Mosaic law says, “Be holy for I the Lord am holy” (Leviticus 20:26). In order to be holy, we just follow and obey God’s commandments carefully.
1. Have you ever murdered anyone?
Now, most of us probably haven't killed anyone, but Jesus says in His Sermon on the Mount that those who look at people in hateful passion murder them in their hearts. We can all confess to that.
2. Do not commit adultery.
And this pertains to sex before marriage, as well. Whether or not we've physically broken this commandment, Jesus says that those who look at a woman with lustful passion commits adultery in their heart. Once again, we’re guilty.
3. Do not steal.
At first, some of us may say “no,” but downloading music and videos online is, in fact, illegal and considered stealing. Everyone can attest to that.
4. You shall not bear false witness.
Which is basically lying. We are all liars, so once again, we can check this off the list.
5. You shall not covet.
Have you ever been jealous of someone who owns something that you don’t? I know I have. You’ll use phrases like, “I need that,” or, “My life won’t be complete without that.” Once again, we can all agree we’ve broken these commandments.
Going down the Ten Commandments, we’re all guilty of each one. We’re all classified as murders, adulterers, thieves, liars and covetous. Now how can we call ourselves “good people”? God is our Creator and we have to hold ourselves to that standard, His standard. If God lowered His standard, He would no longer be holy, and if God was no longer holy, than He wouldn't be God. He's set apart from us, that's what holy means.
The Bible’s Testimony of Man
If you still cannot fathom that you aren't as good as you think, we can go to one verse that speaks about the wickedness of man, “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of His heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). Think about every thought that has gone through your minds.
If I could take the thoughts of your mind and put them on a big screen for the whole world to see, you would be utterly embarrassed. You would run away from everyone because you've thought things so wicked and so evil that you couldn’t show your face to those people you've thought about. All men are evil! The Scripture is true!
To understand this truth deeper, we’ll take one of the most evil leaders of any nation, Adolf Hitler. I want to be clear that I’m no way saying every person on the planet is as wicked and evil as Hitler. But it's true that everyone has potential to do everything Hitler did. In all the wickedness of Hitler, he was still restrained by the common grace of God. If you take away that common grace of God in your life, you would make Hitler look like a choir boy. That is, in fact, how evil mankind actually is. Praise be to God that even in our wickedness, He still secretly sustains and prevents us from doing such abominable acts.
Every living person has inward given knowledge of God. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above (the expanse from Genesis 1:6-8) proclaims his handiwork” (Psalms 19:1). Then Paul teaches, “For His invisible attributes, namely His eternal power and divine nature have been perceived since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20). We literally don't have any excuse not to believe in God. This knowledge of God has been disrupted because of our wickedness and our sin. Our sin that flows our veins is what keeps us away from the truth.
Ever since Adam ate the fruit of the tree in the garden, sinning against God, that sin has been passed down throughout every generation. Our sin is what makes us think so wickedly and pursue sinful abominations. We can never live up to the perfect law of God because of our sin. “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a). All humanity is utterly depraved, and there's nothing we can do to pull us out of our sinful wicked state. We all need a Savior.
The Cure
Those who sin against the Almighty God deserve damnation and to be thrown into the eternal lake of fire. This is because God is of ultimate and infinite value. So when we commit a crime against someone who is of infinite value, we deserve infinite and eternal punishment. Because of man’s fallen and sinful state, every person deserves Hell. That is a very scary thought the more you think about, and it's hard to teach. The reason for teaching such a doctrine is to illustrate just how big the grace of God is. We can understand God’s grace here, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith” (Romans 3:23-25a).
God sent forth His Son Jesus Christ to live the perfect life, in 100 percent, complete obedience to the the Law. That means Jesus was the only man to walk on Earth to actually earn salvation. God, who so loves His people, “made him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus lived a sinless life but died a sinful man, laying down His life so that all humanity might be saved. Without God sending His Son to die on the Cross, there would be no salvation for man and we would all be doomed. This work of God is the greatest act of love ever done in history. “For God so loved the world that he gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). “but God showed His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
Worthy of All Praise
Throughout the Old Testament, we see how God has divinely intervened with mankind to bring forth His redemption plan by sending His Son to the Cross. Ever since the fall of man in Genesis 3, God has started His salvation process. Every narrative in the Old Testament shows how God is working through the wickedness of man to redeem them of their sins. People like Moses, David, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc. are just ordinary human beings who have received the divine grace offered by God to be used in His redemption process. Everything God did in the Old Testament with the Exodus and the Law to the Kings and Exile of Israel/Judah was all part of the God’s plan for redemption. A lot of atheists and agnostics try to use the narrative of the Old Testament as an argument to assign God with the attribute of evil of some sort. Unfortunately, they fail to realize that it's mankind who are the evil ones, and it's a good God sustaining and working in them.
Because of absolutely everything God has done throughout all of history, He is worthy to be the prized possession of our hearts. Worthy to sit on His throne with the title of “Creator and Judge of the World.” Worthy of all honor, glory and praise. For there is absolutely no other god or man who can do the things God has done. God has done everything through His Son to bring worth our salvation. I illustrate this issue because when you understand the wickedness of your heart and the depravity of your sinful state, you’ll come to realize how big the grace of God really is and the more you'll praise Him for choosing to save you.
May God be the glory forever and ever.
