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What does it truly mean to be “good?” Society often shapes our understanding, but on this episode of the Jamie Luce Podcast, we explore a different perspective—one rooted entirely in scripture. As elections approach, we challenge the societal norms and external influences that attempt to redefine goodness, drawing on profound biblical insights from Jeremiah and Mark. Through these passages, we unravel the truth that only God is inherently good, providing Christians with a foundation to make informed, faith-driven decisions amidst a turbulent world.

Join us as we journey through the creation narrative in Genesis, where the essence of goodness is intertwined with obedience to God. Witness the powerful moments when God speaks worlds into existence, declaring His creations as good. Yet, not everything was perfect—man’s solitude exemplified something God deemed “not good.” This pivotal moment led to the creation of companionship, setting the stage for the themes of disobedience and redemption with Adam and Eve. Their story serves as a timeless reminder of the consequences of straying from God’s path, but also of His unfaltering provision and plan for redemption.

As the discussion unfolds, we delve into the profound relationship between love, obedience, and discipleship. Reflect on the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, where love and obedience to God’s will are exemplified despite immense suffering. Through biblical narratives, including those of Jacob and Esau, we emphasize the importance of aligning our lives with God’s definition of good. The episode concludes with an invitation to share these insights, nurturing a community centered on faith, reflection, and growth in God’s goodness.

Where to dive in:

(0:00:00) – Understanding God’s Definition of Good (6 Minutes)

This chapter focuses on the concept of what is truly “good” from a biblical perspective, especially in the context of societal influences and decisions, such as voting in upcoming elections. We explore how culture and external organizations attempt to define “good” according to their agendas, impacting our values and decisions. Reflecting on scripture, particularly from Jeremiah 29:11 and Mark 10:18, we consider the idea that only God is inherently good and that understanding God’s definition of good is essential for Christians seeking guidance. I encourage listeners to reflect on Genesis 1 and other scriptures to gain insights into what God deems good, which can help in making informed, faith-based decisions in life.

(0:06:08) – The Principle of Obedience to God (13 Minutes)

This chapter explores the recurring theme of God’s creation in Genesis, emphasizing the inherent goodness of what God creates through His word. By examining various passages from Genesis 1, we highlight the pattern of God speaking, the resulting creation, and God declaring it as good. This underscores the principle that obedience to God’s word leads to goodness. We then shift focus to Genesis 2, identifying what is not good, specifically man’s solitude, which prompts God to create a suitable helper for Adam. This narrative not only showcases the significance of God’s spoken word but also introduces the idea of companionship as a fundamental component of the created order.

(0:18:43) – The Goodness of Obedience and Love (11 Minutes)

This chapter examines the concept of obedience and disobedience to God’s plan, emphasizing that partial obedience is, in fact, disobedience. We explore the notion that being alone is not good according to God’s design, highlighting the importance of community and relationships for support and fulfillment. The conversation references Genesis 3, discussing how Adam and Eve’s disobedience led to consequences, yet God responded with both correction and provision. We look at how God made the first animal sacrifice to cover their sin, illustrating that true covering and redemption come only from Him. The chapter also touches on the protection God provided by keeping Adam and Eve out of the garden, preventing eternal life in sin, and foreshadowing the redemption story through the seed of the woman.

(0:29:43) – Loving God Through Obedience and Goodness (18 Minutes)

This chapter explores the concept of loving God through obedience to His commandments, emphasizing that these commandments are not burdensome. We reference key biblical passages such as John 14:31, Mark 12:28-31, and Luke 22:42 to illustrate how Jesus exemplified this love through His actions and sacrifices. Jesus’ ultimate choice in the Garden of Gethsemane is highlighted as a testament to His commitment to God’s will, despite the impending pain of the cross. We discuss the dual nature of Jesus as both divine and human, underscoring His emotional struggles and the profound love He demonstrated for both God and humanity. The chapter concludes with Jesus’ proclamation in the synagogue, fulfilling Isaiah 61, which underscores the good and redemptive nature of God’s will that Jesus came to accomplish.

(0:47:16) – Embracing God’s Goodness Through Obedience (9 Minutes)

This chapter explores the profound relationship between love, obedience, and discipleship in the context of faith. We examine the idea that loving God is demonstrated through following His commands, referencing biblical examples such as Jesus’ obedience to the Father and the story of Jacob and Esau. The conversation touches on the concept of prioritizing God above all, even family, as an expression of true discipleship. We discuss the dangers of pride and the tendency to believe we know better than God, using Eve’s decision in Genesis as a cautionary tale. By asking reflective questions about who or what we love and obey, we encourage a deeper understanding of where our true allegiances lie, emphasizing the importance of aligning our lives with God’s definition of good.

(0:56:02) – Sharing Messages of Blessing (1 Minutes)

This chapter encourages listeners to engage with the episode by liking and sharing it with others who may benefit from its message. I emphasize the importance of spreading the word to those who might find the content uplifting or meaningful. Additionally, I invite listeners to subscribe and enable notifications to stay updated with future episodes. I also offer a personal connection by welcoming any questions or prayer requests through my website, jamielucecom. The episode concludes with gratitude for the time spent together and an invitation to join again next time.

About your host: Jaime Luce’s testimony has daunting personal mountains and treacherous financial valleys. She was trapped in day-to-day stress and couldn’t see a way forward. But how she started is not how she finished! And she wants you to know God has a plan for your life too, no matter how tough it seems. Today, Jaime has been married to the love of her life for almost three decades, owns two companies, and has become an author and podcaster. God’s way is always the blessed way!

Free chapter of Jaime’s new book: You Don’t Need Money, You Just Need God: https://jaimeluce.com/book/

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Full Transcript

This transcript is auto-generated and not perfect. We hope it blesses you.

0:00:00 – Jaime Luce
Whatever that is that he has for you, we know that, according to Jeremiah 29, 11, that he has a good plan, right. So God has a good plan for our life which, if we don’t know the end of anything and yet God is the one who is the beginning and the end it says he knows the end from the beginning. True, about God, and God is good and God has a good plan, then that means what is good is for us to obey so that we are able to fulfill that plan on this earth. Welcome to the Jamie Luce Podcast. Thanks for tuning in today. We’re going to be talking today about the term good, what is good?

I’ve been thinking a lot about how our society right now, especially in the United States, is trying to determine, with an upcoming election, what the good and right thing to do is in regard to their votes. What should I be standing on, what should I be believing, what should I be? You know, our culture has tried to define for us and this is something that the church world has not been good at, needs to be better at but the culture has tried to tell us what is good according to the agendas of whatever government is setting forth, whether that be through the school system, whether that be through our laws, the secular world wants to tell everybody. In fact, it goes even higher than that. We have organizations that are outside of the United States who are now trying to tell all of the nations that these few individuals have the authority to determine what is good for our climate, what is good for our health, what is good for the laws of each country, regardless of the country’s sovereignty or not. They are taking a position that they are going to tell us. There have been statements made like you’re going to own nothing and you’re going to like it. So these types of statements, these kinds of agendas are the things that are permeating in our culture today. All over the airwaves, no matter what you’re watching, what you’re listening to, people are putting forth opinions, and these opinions are supposed to cause us to conform in our belief system, in our value system, in our moral system, in our decision making on what they say to us is good.

And because I’ve been thinking about this so much, I just really felt the Lord gave me something a couple weeks ago and I’ve been sitting on it because I knew it wasn’t complete and I needed him to. You know, kind of give me a little bit more I’m looking at my notes while I’m looking down to give me a little bit more than what he had given me. What he gave me was good, but I felt like I needed something more to give to you, and this morning, while I was just in my own personal time, the Lord did that, and so I feel like it’s his timing that he wants this to come out now. But what is good? If you have wondered yourself is this the good thing to do? Is this the right thing? How should I feel about this? What’s good, what’s not good Today’s for you, and if you’re looking to make decisions, I think this is going to be very helpful for you.

Scripture tells us right off the bat in the book of Mark, chapter 10, verse 18. In fact, I’m going to go there with you, and this is Jesus speaking, and he says why do you call me good? Jesus answered no one is good except God alone. So he’s making two points here he is God, they’re right to call him good, but he’s letting us know only God is good. That’s our base point, that’s our foundation, that’s our starting point. Everything, if we are believers, if we are Christians, if we are those who say that we follow after the teachings of Jesus, that we consider the Bible our manual for life, in this life and for the life to come, if we believe that, if we say that we adhere to that, that means that we believe what the scripture says. And the scripture tells us that only God is good. So then, anything we need to then dive into the scriptures and we need to see okay, if God is good, what does God say is good? What does God show us in scripture about himself and what he does that is good? So I’m going to take us on a little bit of a journey. I hope that you will be patient, because everything that I’m giving you, I think will be. It can be life-changing. It could be very directional, it could be very helpful, um, in knowing how to think right thoughts according to God’s word and how to make right decisions based off of God’s word. Okay, so, um, what did God say was good?

The very first place we see good mentioned period by God is in Genesis one, and I want us to go back to the very beginning, and I’m going to give you several scriptures. I’m not going to read the entire passage. I encourage you to do that. I encourage you to do that. I encourage you to go back and just take these chunks and go back and digest them for yourself, mull it over, maybe make some of your own notes, kind of teach yourself. The more that we do that, the more that we kind of regurgitate what we’ve taken in, the more it sets in us, the more we don’t lose it and we’re able to hold onto it, so that it’s more impactful, more life-changing.

But the first scripture I want to take us to is Genesis, chapter one, verses three and four. And God said let there be light. So God said let there be light. And there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. So God said something, god spoke something to happen. Then, when God saw that it happened what he said happened he said that’s good, okay. So God said let there be light. And there was light. And God saw that the light was good. So of course, what God creates is good. We can look at our world and everything that God created and know that there is not a beauty that compares to it. We know that’s good.

But I’m taking you somewhere with this I want you to understand. There is a deeper principle at work here. Let’s look at Genesis 1, verses 9 and 10. And God said let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place and let the dry land appear. And it was so. God called the dry land earth, and the waters that he gathered together he called seas, and God saw that it was good. So again we have. God said what God said happened. God said that’s good. Okay, let’s go to Genesis one. All of this is in Genesis 1 for a while, verses 11 and 12.

And God said let the earth sprout vegetation plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit, in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth. And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit, in which is their seed, each according to its kind, and God saw that it was good. Okay, same pattern.

Let’s go now to verses 14 through 18. And God said let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night and let them be for signs. And God said God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. Okay, now go to verse 20 and 21. Go to verse 20 and 21.

And God said let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures and let birds fly over the earth across the expanse of the heavens. So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Jump down to verse 24 and 25. And God said let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds, livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds. And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. Now go to verse 26 through 31. Sorry, got to turn the page, there’s an extra article in here.

And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him Male and female. He created them and God blessed them. And God said to them be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And God said behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of the earth and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food. And it was so. And God saw everything that he made and, behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Okay, so if all of that is good, god is saying and I’m going to kind of paraphrase this for us that there are two things that are good. One of them is that God said and I’ll give you the second one in a minute that we’re. I haven’t paraphrased it all yet for you, but the first one is what God says. And then when those things happen, that’s good. Happen, that’s good. So, in essence, whatever God instructs to happen, whatever God speaks, whatever he commands, whatever he asks, when God speaks and he sees that that thing happened, that’s good, that’s good. So that’s that’s obedience to God’s word. When God’s word happens, that’s obedience to God’s word. So, whenever there is obedience to God, that is good, okay. What do we know? What God says? It’s his word. That’s how we know what God said, his word. When we walk in obedience to this word, that’s good, okay. So what then is not good To know sometimes what is good, you have to know what is not good.

Let’s go to Genesis 2, verses 18 through 25. Then the Lord God said it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helper fit for him Now. Of the ground, the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to all the birds of the heavens, to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. There was not found a helper fit for him.

I’ve heard many ministers say that the Lord chose this process, this way for Adam to name the animals before Eve is created, to bring Eve to him, to help him understand his own need. That in creation, that was not sufficient for him, that everything that he was to have dominion over that still was not sufficient for him, that everything that he was to have dominion over that still was not sufficient for him. That was not where God said it was good yet Okay. So he gave him a job. He gave him all of these, the work that he was to do with his hands and to name the creatures and have dominion. But it says, among them he found none of them suitable to be a helper to him. I know for all the animal lovers out there they might not like that, but it’s true, it might be a help but it’s not the helper.

So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man and while he slept, took one of his ribs and closed up his place with flesh and the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man, he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said this at last, I like that this, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and they Okay.

So what is not good? Well, the first thing that we saw that’s not good is disobedience to God’s word, because if obedience is good, then disobedience is not good. So that’s kind of implied right Disobedience of what God says is not good. But why? Because it is the opposite of God’s will and intention. For what is good? If God wants to put forth a good plan in your life and he’s calling you to something, calling you for something, whatever that is that he has for you, we know that, according to Jeremiah 29, 11, that he has a good plan right. So God has a good plan for our life which, if we don’t know the end of anything and yet God is the one who is the beginning and the end it says he knows the end from the beginning. If this is true about God and God is good and God has a good plan then that means what is good is for us to obey so that we are able to fulfill that plan on this earth.

It would not be good If you had a destination and you popped in the destination to your GPS but you didn’t act and you thought, well, that’s where I want to go, I know that’s where God’s taking me, but then you don’t listen to the directions it’s giving you and continually God will be saying the same thing. Your GPS would be saying okay, we’ve got a course correct. You know redirect, we’ve got to. You know, make a U-turn, go back, whatever it’s telling you, recalculating. The Lord is always wanting, so there’s never a loss of hope.

If we have disobeyed up to this point, we can repent and we can be redirected and God can give us the plan for what’s ahead. But it’s not good if we’re wasting time. We run out of time, we might be running out of resources, we might be burning some bridges, we might be doing some things that’s going to take us some hurdles to get through, the same way that the disobedience of Adam and Eve took them out of a perfect garden, put them into a hostile environment that they’d have to work with. It’s not good to disobey, okay. It’s not good to not do it the way that God calls us to do it. Obedience is necessary. It’s good. It takes us to the intended end, it takes us where we’re supposed to be and it takes us there with the least amount of trouble and problems and issues. Wherever God’s calling us, he will make the provision. Even if a problem arises. If God has called us to it, he plans to remove those hindrances and help us to get where we’re supposed to be.

You see the tenacity of Paul, so much in this, in in all of his journeys. Wherever he was going, either the spirit hindered him or God made a way. And even if that meant shipwreck and being bitten by a snake and and dealing with hostile, being beaten so many times, having to be let down in a basket over a wall, you know I mean whatever he dealt with being imprisoned, he always continued forward, knowing this is what God has called me to. He will make a way. And the way he made for us, incredibly, even through prison, was that we now have these letters that are for us until Jesus comes, that we know and understand what we were to know and understand through the life of Paul, even through that adversity, so we can look at our circumstance and say, god, if you’re taking me this way, this is good.

Now if I disobey, if I take myself on another route, that is disobedience. That is not good. We like to sugarcoat it and say that it’s not, that it’s not disobedience. We just think, well, I’m just not ready to do that yet. Or well, I did this part, we pull a King Saul. Well, I obeyed over here, I just didn’t do that part.

Partial obedience is disobedience. To delay when God’s calling us to something is actually disobedience. Folks, we have to understand we don’t get to determine that. We don’t get to decide what is and isn’t obedience. God does, and he sets forth his plan and we either obey it or we disobey it. I know that’s hard, but it’s the truth and we’ll talk more about that later. So there were two things that we see then that are not good.

To be alone, according to God’s plan, is not good. For a man, to feel isolated, to not have help in this life, to not have what God has created him for, to have the help that he needs, the one to be there to help accomplish those things, to champion with that person. Whatever that is, it’s not good for man to be alone. Now, of course, that’s true in the marriage situation, but that’s also true in the community. It’s not good for someone to be alone Think of the hurricanes that have come through and there are people alone and they don’t have help. That’s not good. I mean, it’s obvious to us. That’s not good. You need help, you need people, you need a community. If we isolate ourselves and cut ourselves off, that’s not good. And I know for introverts that’s a really hard thing because introverts prefer to be alone. But God said even though you think that’s good, that’s not good. Not only do you need them, they need you, they need you, they need what you have to offer.

And there’s a beauty in understanding the way that God creates something that, if we see it worked out, if he sees that’s exactly the way he said it, that’s good. I mean, that’s really good, okay, so, um, the second thing to be so, to be alone, is not good. The second thing is that to disobey, or in other words, to live in rebellion, that’s not good. Why is that not good. Let’s look to what a good God does to understand. Okay, so let’s go then to genesis 3, verse 21. Then the lord god’s I’m sorry verse 21, that was 22 and the lord god made for adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. So this is in regard to they have now listened to. Eve, has listened to Satan. She has sinned. She gave to her husband. He has sinned, and God has come to them. Why are you hiding what’s going on? Well, we were naked, we were ashamed.

All of the things that are not good, all of the things that are not the way God intended, not what God instructed. What did God instruct? You can have of all the fruit of the tree, except for this one tree. You can’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God didn’t want them to ever know what evil was, to be afraid, to have fear. Fear comes from the knowledge of evil. God didn’t want them to have wrong desires stirred in their heart, wrong motives stirred in them and fed to them. He didn’t want them to eat of that, to nourish them and to know that there is a difference other than your dependence on God was to know something that was too big for them, something they could not carry. Only God was intended to carry that. And so, now that they’ve eaten, now they have it. And God was intended to carry that. And so, now that they’ve eaten, now they have it. And it was too much to bear. And they saw their nakedness and they saw what they did not see before.

And because of this, what did God do? What was God’s good response? A good God responded to his children. Several things took place. He had to correct his children. He covered his children. He let them deal with the consequences of their choices. But even in the dealing with the consequences, god was being good. So a good God.

In this scenario, what did God do? God basically bore the sin for them in that he decided he would make the sacrifice it was the first animal sacrifice to provide for them an adequate covering for what took place. We see that blood had to be shed, sadly, in order for there to be any kind of covering. Leaves were not sufficient, that was not sufficient. Skin needed to cover skin, and so God sacrifices the animal and he makes for them a suitable covering. God’s showing us that, still, the only true provision of what can cover us comes from him. Only truly what comes from a good God can actually cover our sin.

So he covered them and he simultaneously, while loving them and covering them, punished the sin. He forced them out of the garden and did not allow them to come back, which sounds and seems very harsh. He’s sending them into a harsh environment. It’s going to be hard for Adam to till the ground now. He’s not in the garden, where it’s perfect, and Eve’s going to have to bear children and it’s going to be painful for her. The process of bearing and giving birth will no longer be painless. There will be pain and there will always be pain involved. And yet God says that even in this difficulty, in the end the woman will give birth to the seed and the seed will crush the enemy’s head.

So there was a redemption story being birthed at the moment that God is dishing out the punishment. Okay, redemption is still a story that’s coming and he’s letting them know it will come. And he’s also protecting them, because if he allowed them back in the garden, I mean seems harsh to keep them out, but the truth was, if they then turned around, because they proved that they would eat what they shouldn’t eat, if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They would now could go in and eat of the tree of life. And if they ate of that tree of life, they would forever have to live with that sin. And God was protecting their eternity. From the very beginning, god was looking to cover and protect his children, even if that meant now they have to live with the harsh realities of that sin.

Let’s fast forward. Let’s go to John 3, 16. We all know it. I mean I think we all know it, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever would believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life. So what is a good God? What does goodness look like?

A good God says I have performed my plan, like I said, I would just like he did in the beginning. God said it, he performs it. He sees that what is performed of his will is good. He brings Jesus onto the scene and then, as doing what Jesus was called to do, which we’ll read about more in a minute, what was good was that God gave. He again shows he’s the one providing, he’s the one making the sacrifice, not you or I who deserve to have to make the sacrifices and there will be costs involved. I mean, all you have to do is look at the life of the disciples. There will be costs involved, but we are not the ones who can actually pay for the sin. We’re simply trying to live for the good and the will of the one we are indebted to because he paid the price. So God, who is good, gave his only son to cover our sin, punishing the sin by sacrifice, like he did in the beginning, to cover us, protecting us from eternal death, though we still may bear consequences.

Now, why is that good? Because a good God who wants to protect and has already made the sacrifice and shown us by his perfect example that obedience is what will keep us from sin, trouble and death Obedience, by his example. He was chosen to show us what obedience really is. What is obedience? What really is obedience? It’s love. Obedience is love, and I can prove it.

I want us to go to John, chapter 14, verses 15 through 23. If you love me, keep my commands and I will ask the Father and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever the spirit of truth. And isn’t that what we’re looking for what truly is good. The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Before long the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me Because I live. You also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you, father, and you are in me and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. Let me read that again Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my father, and I too will love them and show myself to them. Then Judas not Judas, iscariot said but Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not the world? Jesus replied Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My father will love them and we will come to them and make our home with them. So anyone who loves obeys. If you love, you obey.

I’m reading this out of the New Living Translation Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome, are not burdensome. Now, remember, I’m tying all this to what we saw in the beginning. God said what God said happens. God says that’s good. That means God speaks, god’s commands, god’s oracles, god’s intentions, god’s whatever this word, this scripture, god says. And when we do whatever his this, this word, this scripture, god says, and when we do, that’s good. Loving God means keeping his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome.

Okay, now I want you to go to John 14. And we’re going to look at verse 31. And it says but I will do what the father requires of me so that the world will know that I love the father. I’m going to do what my father’s commanded me to do because I want the world to know I love my father. That’s beautiful, but I will do what the father requires of me so that the world will know that I love the father. Do we do that? Okay, one more for you. Go to Mark, chapter two. Okay, one more for you.

Go to Mark, chapter 2, and we’re looking at verses 28 through 31. And it says one of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating, noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer. Ha ha, right. A good answer. He asked him, of all the commandments, which is the most important? Verse 29, the most important one, answered Jesus, is this hear, o Israel, the Lord, our God. The Lord is one. Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these. So what did he say? He says love God first and then love people. Love God and love people. How do you love God? You obey. So obey God and don’t leave people alone. Don’t let people be alone. Don’t be alone. Love God and love people. Be a part of the community. Don’t pull yourself back and be removed. Love God and love people. Jesus was good. Who did he love and what did he do? Let’s look at Luke 22,. Luke 22, 42. Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me. Yet not my will, but yours be done.

I want to read you a quote that I read in the book called the Proving Ground. It was page 222. This is author Kevin Gerald. He’s a pastor as well, and when Jesus was in the garden and he is sweating great drops of blood and asking the father if there’s any other way you are able to see the torment that he was in, knowing the pain he was about to face and the sacrifice of his self, his body, his life that he was about to give. He was human, he was God, but he was human. He came in human flesh, lived as a man, so he felt everything that you would feel and he didn’t want to have to do it. The same way you and I don’t like to have to sacrifice and do things. Only this was his life for all, bearing sin. He never needed. He didn’t commit the sin, and yet he’s going to bear the sin, he’s going to pay the sacrifice and we already read that he, for the sake of the world, knowing that he loves his father, he’s going to obey his father. So he says, not my will but yours, be done. So who is Jesus loving? Who is he loving? He’s loving the father and he’s loving us. But listen to this quote With the pain and suffering of the cross, just hours away, jesus had a choice.

He had a choice to make Deny his flesh and submit to the Father’s will, or submit to the flesh and deny the Father’s will. He actually said Jesus said my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. I’m sure you can relate. I’m sure you can relate. I’m sure you have gone through something that you just felt like you wanted to die, and not die a brutal death, to do it, to escape the brutal death. His soul was so overwhelmed and he had a choice. Do I do what God is? Do I follow the command of God, though it is sacrifice, though it will cost me? Do I obey or do I follow the flesh? Do I love my life? There’s a scripture that says they love not their life unto death. They were saying Lord, I love you before I love me, and Jesus was saying I love you before I love me and I love them before I love me. And Jesus was saying I love you before I love me and I love them before I love me. A very particular order indeed.

I want us to look quickly at Isaiah 61. Well, we don’t have to read that. Let’s go to Luke, and I’ll explain why Go to Luke, because it says Isaiah 61. Anyway, we’ll go to Luke, chapter four, verses 16 to 21. And this is Jesus in the temple says he went to Nazareth where he had been brought up and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue as was his custom.

He stood up to read and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him, and that’s Isaiah 61. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.

Do you know what good is? Jesus, right there, is telling us that God’s will is good and he came to fulfill that will, to obey God’s commands and in those commands, his will for you. That is good is that the poor has the gospel preached to them and the blind see. Those who are sick are healed, oppressed are set free, those that are bound are made free Folks everything that we would suffer in this life, god has come to deliver us. He’s our deliverer. That’s good. That’s what good is. So do you know in your life have you looked at your life what is good? Do you love what is good? Do you love what God loves? And if so, that also means then, if you love what God loves, it is just as important in obedience, then, to hate what God hates. What God says is not good. That’s just as important. If you follow his commandments, it will mean that you understand what God hates. Proverbs 6, let’s go there. I’m trying to be very systematic here to help you. Proverbs 6, and I want us to read 16 through 19.

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This book is available today and it says there are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him, seven that are detestable to him Haughty eyes, so pride, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community. Do you hate those things? Do you align yourself with those things, maybe unintentionally or intentionally, in rebellion or in what you thought was what your opinion of good? Was that maybe? The misconception is that you get to determine what good is and what we should love and hate, but do you hate these things? So, basically, what is God saying? He hates? He hates everything that is in opposition to the commandments he gave. I mean, I feel like I’m reading the 10 commandments here. Let’s look at that. Let’s go to Exodus 20. And we’re going to look at verses 1 to 17. And we’re going to look at verses 1 to 17.

Have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them. For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God punishing the children for the sin of the parents of the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations, to those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord, your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless. Who misuses his name. Do you misrepresent God? I know we like to think of this as swearing with God’s name, though I think that that is very unwise and we shouldn’t do that. But this is much bigger than that. Do you misrepresent God? Do you misuse his name? That’s happening so much right now People in the political arena, people on TV, on television programs trying to tell Christians what God meant, what he said, and they don’t serve God, and yet they use his name inappropriately. They try to take scripture and use it for their benefit. That’s using the Lord’s name in vain.

Verse eight. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord, your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord, your God, is giving you. You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Folks, we have to understand that what God says he hates is disobedience to his law, to his will, to living a life that is contrary to his commands. Why? Because he’s good. If you want a good plan for your life, he’s showing you how to do that. He’s not this mean ogre God who’s trying to keep you from fun? He’s not trying to keep you from good. He’s trying to protect you from what evil is out there. What will happen that will not produce good in your life. Those are good boundaries. The same way a parent won’t let a kid run into the street, they don’t let them play with fire, they don’t let them play around with knives, they don’t let them get into the pillbox and they don’t let them do things that they’re going to hurt them and bring them harm. Folks, we have to be wiser than that. We have to have some discernment and realize he’s a good father. He’s a good father. I should have looked at those verses too.

So this leads me to ask you one final and very important question. Ask you one final and very important question who do you love or what do you love? And when I ask it, I’m referring to, if you’re not following God’s commands, who? Who are you really loving? What do you obey? What does your flesh obey? What do you give your time to? What do you sacrifice for? Who do you love or what do you love? I have a couple more verses for you, and we’re just about finished.

Luke 14, verses 25 to 33. Large crowds were traveling with Jesus and turning to them, he said if anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters yes, even their own life, such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. I’ll stop there. You can go on and read how he reiterates all of this, but he’s letting us know and he uses the word hate, and this really bothers people because they don’t understand what this word hate means. When Jesus is using this word hate, it is not the kind of hatred that we read about in what he hates in Psalm. This word hate actually means to be disinclined to, to disfavor, to disregard, in contrast to preferential treatment. So what he means is if you love father, mother, brother, sister, whatever it is that you love, more than you love me, if you love them more, if they had been put into a preferred position above God, then that is disobedience to God, who says you cannot have any other gods before me.

He’s reiterating his command. If you can’t love God first, then this is what God is saying. He’s saying that this you can’t be my disciple. A disciple is someone who follows my commands is someone who loves me. I know they love me because they follow my commands. I read you those scriptures and Jesus same thing. You know that I love the Father. I’m telling the world that I love him because I’m obeying him and doing everything he’s asked me to do. That’s love. So this relationship we have with God, this relationship we have with our Savior, is love based. He loved us first. Now we, in return, are loving him with our obedience. He loved us first. He loved us while we were yet in sin. He died for us when we were still sinners. He covered us, protected us, made a way for us was our were still sinners. He covered us, protected us, made a way for us was our salvation and it is in our love for him that we obey.

So don’t get hung up on that word hate. You have to understand what sometimes these words, because we’re using translations and it’s good to go and look these words up to understand, but I hope I’m making that clear for you. That’s what he hates. It also is in reference to let’s go to Romans 9. I believe this is my last scripture, romans 9, verse 13. Oops, I accidentally put an extra letter in there. Okay, stop Our technology, can’t live with it, can’t live without it. Romans 9, 13. Just as it is written Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. This is the same thing. It can seem really offensive.

God is saying Esau preferred not his birthright. He didn’t prefer what could be passed to him from his father as a blessing from God. He didn’t prefer the establishment that God had instituted for him. He preferred a bowl of soup. He preferred to satisfy his flesh. He preferred to give in to his nature. He married wives that were not the wives his parents wanted him to marry, because they were outside of the covenant.

This is a we have to understand what God is saying. He didn’t hate Esau. He actually blessed Esau. He told Jacob you can go back, I’ve taken, I’ve blessed your brother Esau. He has a blessing, you can come back. And Esau loved his brother Jacob and they left each other alone and I mean it all was good. He hated that he ended up giving to Jacob what should have been Esau’s, because Jacob valued it. Jacob was willing to sacrifice for it. He even did things he shouldn’t have done for it, but that’s how much value he placed on it. And Esau he didn’t Okay. So you have to understand. You have to love what God loves and hate what God hates. But you also have to understand that when God says something, understand what he’s saying is good, it’s good. Okay, I want to give you these last few thoughts. Do you see the correlation that his command was?

First, god said that no other gods could be before him. And to put even family before God is to disobey. People don’t like this. Their objection, then, is to take a position of pride and I’m sure we’ve all done this, so I’m not. I’m not, you know, just pointing you out, we’ve all done this but to take a position of pride and think that they know more what is good than God.

Because the minute you object to scripture, the minute you object to what God says, you’re saying that what God says is good is not good and that God does not know better. So, in essence, what you’re saying is that you know better than God. I’m sorry, but that is plainly pride. That is just in your face, there’s no other word for it. That is pride and arrogance, to think that you would know better than God. And I think the minute we realize that we can self-course, correct real quick and realize. Of course God knows more than I do. I’m just human. He’s God, and if I knew everything God knew, then I’d be God. Then what would God be? It’s crazy to think that I could even understand all of God. But God says of himself what is good. He showed us through his life, through the life of Jesus and throughout scripture and all that God did. He has shown us through his word what is good.

And in these last days of not last well, their last days, but in these days of what we’re dealing with in our lives and in our culture, we need to know what’s good and we need to know how to make decisions based off of what is good, what is right. If we look back at what Eve did in Genesis, three verses one to six this is when the serpent comes and he deceives her and he gets her to question the word, did God say? And then she looked on the fruit and she decided, based off of what she saw and what she thought about it, that it was actually yeah, this is good to eat. Forget what God said. She allowed the one who is the author of pride, satan himself, use pride very subtly and get her to think that what she does, the decision she’s making, is a good one, is better what the enemy’s saying than what God is saying. This is imperative that we know what good is. And she followed her own judgment and pride to supersede what God had said. That was not good. That is the fall. That is why we live in the mess that we live in. We must know what good is.

So who do you love? Who do you love? Whose commands do you follow? Is it a spouse, a boss, children, teachers, culture, governments, the flesh, fleshly desires, addictions. You know what do you love? What do you obey? What do you give to? What do you sacrifice for? Who do you choose to obey? If you answer that question, you’ll know, and it will help us to know. Do I truly love the Lord? He loves me, there’s no doubt. Do I love him? Do I know what good is, or do I put confidence in the flesh? Do I allow pride to be what drives my life and think I know better?

I’m challenging us today, folks. I’m challenging us. I’m challenging us into a life of true love with the Father for truly thanking Jesus, our elder brother, for taking our place, sacrificing himself, loving us and loving the Father, showing us how to follow the commands, showing us what is good. Showing us how to follow the commands. Showing us what is good. If you want to know what good is, god is good. Let me pray for you, father. I thank you for your word. I thank you for how good you are, that you did not leave us without understanding that you were good enough to not only tell us, you’ve shown us, you were an example to us, and we are so grateful for all that you’ve done to provide for us, to care for us, to cover us even in our sin, to sacrifice for us, to make a way for us that we could live free from the punishment of eternal sin and death, and that you have given us new life. You’ve given us instructions on how to live that life so that we can live in the good plan that you have made for us.

Father, help us. Help us to get past our own thoughts, our own flesh, to see you as you really are and to live according to your good commands that we could walk in your good blessing. We just thank you for it today. I thank you for every listener. I pray that they see your good blessing. We just thank you for it today. I thank you for every listener. I pray that they see your goodness today, and it’s in Jesus’ name we pray Amen. Thank you so much for tuning in today.

If this has been a message that resonates with you, if it’s been a blessing to you or you know someone who needs to hear it, I’m asking that you would like this episode, but also maybe that you would share it. You know, pass it along to somebody who this would minister to. And and um, if you haven’t yet subscribed, hit that bell and get that subscription Every time. You’ll get notified every time a new episode is made available to you and um, it was my pleasure to spend some time with you today. If you have any questions or any prayer requests, you can go to my website and leave me an email at mail at jaimeluce.com, or just the website is jaimeluce.com. Thanks again for being with me today. We’ll see you next time. Bye-bye.Transcribed by https://podium.page