I thought I was a good person. I thought I was a really good person, especially compared to the guy next to me. I thought my goodness would make me o.k. with God. Turns out, I’m not as good as I thought I was. Are you a good person? Let’s see. Here’s how we find out.
1. I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods before Me. God wants us to love Him with all our heart, and all our soul, and all our mind and all our strength. Loving lots of other things more than God is idolatry, spiritual pride, unbelief, rebellion and hatred towards God.
2. You shall not worship idols. An idol is anything you worship, want and desire more than God. You can even idolize your ‘goodness’ and religious works, or anything in your life, or in this world. This is pride and idolatry.
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. This is making God’s name a curse word. It is treating His name as dirt. It’s called blasphemy.
4. Observe the Sabbath. The Lord Jesus, who is God, is our Sabbath (rest). We are meant to rest in God, by faith. If we don’t, this is unbelief.
5. Honor your father and mother. Honoring parents is a reflection of how we are to honor God. Dishonoring parents is rebellion against God.
6. You shall not murder. Did you know that Jesus said if you hate another, or are unjustly (selfishly) angry, it is the same as murder, in your heart? God sees the heart. Jesus said if you hate, you have committed murder. One who commits murder is a murderer.
7. You shall not commit adultery. Did you know that this means every kind of immoral sexual behavior? Jesus also said that if you look at a person to lust after them in your heart, it is the same thing; it is adultery in your heart, and God sees the heart. If you do this, you are an adulterer.
8. You shall not steal. God gives us everything we have. Stealing is a slap in the face to God, who provides for us. If you do this, you are a thief.
9. Do not bear false witness. That means do not lie. God is Truth, so lying is evil. If you lie, you’re a liar.
10. Do not covet what belongs to others. Coveting is envy, selfishness, ingratitude, and idolatry.
Looks like we are not so good after all. Our goodness cannot bring us favor with God because our goodness does not exist. Only God is good. When we die we stand before God in judgment. What will you say to him on that day? God is giving us lots of time right now, to repent of our sins against Him. He is giving grace to us. Grace is favor that we do not deserve. God in His goodness, has provided the goodness for us Himself; the the Lord Jesus Christ. God is so good to give Jesus for our sins against Him.
The death of Jesus satisfied God’s judgment against our sins, for those who trust in Him. Jesus was sacrificed for us. God did this for us out of His love for us. He meted out judgment that we deserve, upon Him. Jesus is good. He is the perfect, sinless, Son of God. Jesus poured out His blood on the cross. Jesus willingly did this, out of His love for us. This is the love and grace of God, given to us. The shedding of His blood washes away our sins, and they are not counted against us anymore. He rose from the dead to prove He is God and that our sins have been paid for and judged, forgiven and washed away, in His goodness.
If your sins are not paid for and judged by God through Jesus’ death on the cross, then you will have to stand before God and receive His judgment and condemnation against your sins. God’s rightness and justice must judge sin. God’s love and mercy gives us grace to flee to Him in faith, with a repentant heart, for mercy and forgiveness. We can’t get to God with our ‘goodness’. God in His goodness, sent His Son, Jesus, to bring us to God through Him. This forgiveness of our sins; this grace and mercy, is a gift from God. The goodness of Jesus Christ is given to us as a gift, so that on judgment day, we stand before Him with Christ’s goodness counted to us. That is what He will see. God is the One who is good.
All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Grace and Truth 