God Is Good All The Time

Title: God Is Good All The Time

Today’s Bible Verse: [Matthew 19:16-22 ESV] 16 And behold, a man came up to him, saying, "Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?" 17 And he said to him, "Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments." 18 He said to him, "Which ones?" And Jesus said, "You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, 19 Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 20 The young man said to him, "All these I have kept. What do I still lack?" 21 Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." 22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

We also see this in Luke 18:19-23. In both passages Jesus asks why the young man is calling Him good, but in Luke He says:

[Luke 18:19 ESV] 19 And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

This has become part of an ongoing battle in one of the FB groups I am in; that is, is Jesus denying that He is good and by that saying that He is not God? In both cases He never denies that He is good. All present at that time would have understood that but we have lost that understanding some 2,000 years in the future.

As I said, He never denied that He is good and by implication that makes Him God. That would have been understood then as well.

We have lost the understanding of the societies in which the Bible was written. We have also lost an understanding of what was happening when each passage was written and who it was written to. If you fail to understand its history, you fail to understand the Bible.

Going back to our passage, the young man that approached Jesus was rich with money and possessions. He asked Jesus what he needed to do to get eternal life and Jesus told him to keep the commandments.

This brings up another argument common among many FB groups. Is the law for salvation? The answer to that is no; the law shows us what sin is. Salvation comes through grace alone by faith alone through Jesus alone. Grace is given by God to whom He will give it. In other words, there is absolutely nothing you can do to merit His grace.

So, why did Jesus tell the young man that if He kept the commandments then he will get eternal life? The implication here is that you have to keep the commandments perfectly. Only Jesus can keep the commandments perfectly; fallen man cannot.

Returning to our passage, the young man asked which commandments he should keep, and Jesus indicated the last six and the young man indicated that he had lived his whole life by them. In other words, he loved his neighbor as himself. When asked what he lacked, Jesus told him to sell all that he had and give the money to the poor and come follow Jesus. The man went away sorrowful because he had many possessions.

What many do not see here is that the possessions and money had become an idol to this young man, and it had replaced God for him.

This young man may have thought himself good because he was “good” to others, but no fallen human is truly good. We have this saying today, “he’s a good man” or “she’s a good lady” but we have no concept of what good is.

God is good all the time. All the time God is good. Man is not.

Faith is given to His elect by God. Faith is the overwhelming belief in God; it is not head knowledge, it is a deep down in your soul belief that God is your creator and your means of salvation from His wrath due to the fall. This faith was given to His elect from before creation. We have it for His glory.

Through our faith we know that Jesus died for us, and we have justification through Him. This justification means that our sin is covered with the blood of Jesus and, though we may die physically, we are not dead spiritually and will be resurrected into everlasting life when Jesus returns.

It is the elect that have salvation and it is my prayer that you are among the elect and that this serves as your catalyst for awakening.

This is the gospel:

[1 Corinthians 15:1-6 NLT] 1 Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. 2 It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you--unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place. 3 I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. 4 He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. 5 He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. 6 After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.

[Acts 2:22-24 NLT] 22 "People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazarene by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know. 23 But God knew what would happen, and his prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him. 24 But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip.

[1 John 2:2 NLT] 2 He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins--and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.

This is penal substitution; that is, our sins were transferred to Jesus and His righteous transferred to us.

We all have a job.

[Matthew 28:18-20 NLT] 18 Jesus came and told his disciples, "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

All of the disciples of Jesus are to spread His word and the gospel.

Go forth and spread this good news.

I pray that God has revealed Himself to you and that you have salvation.

Remember, God is sovereign. That means that he controls everything.

I hope this has been a blessing to you. May the rest of your day be blessed. Peace.