The Candle Of Humanity – How Good Is Good? Series

THE CANDLE OF HUMANITY – HOW GOOD IS GOOD?

There is the light of a candle in every person relating to goodness. That light connects with the knowledge of good and evil. The good a person has, is measured against the standard of man for what is good and evil. That is why the world can say, “He was a good person.” “She did good things.” Goodness is comparative, and its parameters are set by the verdict of man. Man’s judgement is based on standards these days of his own making.

However, what happens when the standard of man has fallen or been perverted by humanism or philosophy? What if the world’s standard of today stands in contrast with the standard of 200 years ago? Today a man is said to be doing good when he works towards the acceptance of homosexuality, and the marriage of such practices. 200 years ago such a man would have been declared evil, jailed or executed.

That shows us the arbitrary nature of the perception of what constitutes “good” in a human community. It has no fixed standard, so the prevailing thought of humanity becomes the standard. They had this problem in Isaiah's time when good was being accepted as evil and evil was embraced as good. When there is no standard to measure the continuance of human good with, then the people begin to do what they consider right in their own eyes. {{Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Isaiah 5:21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight!}}

The light of a candle sheds it rays but a short distance, and that is why the conscience of man and his knowledge of good and evil is so limited. When you begin to appreciate God’s perspective on this, then you come to understand that the laws laid down by God for what is right and wrong, are eternal laws and decidedly determine the destiny of not only the human race, but the individual destiny of individuals. “There is a way that seems right unto man but the ways thereof are the ways of death.”

When the greater light of God illuminates the scene totally suppressing the candle of human goodness, then we see what is the correct assessment of God in the matter. In Romans, Paul wrote, “there is none that is good, not even one.” Now we have a second standard that is God’s standard. The light of God will show up both the true and the false; what is good in man’s eyes and what is good in God’s eyes. The latter is the true goodness, and by it, all men and women fail. Each one has gone his own way and each one is corrupt. There is not one good person on the face of the earth.

The candle in man’s soul is of no use ultimately because it is grossly flawed through the old nature that was corrupted at conception, for all are conceived as sinners and bankrupt morally in the light of God. It is no use using the light of man’s candle to determine what is good and evil. To follow the leading of the candle will lead to eternal darkness. It is only when man comes to the light and he is revealed for what he is in the true light of God, that he can understand who he truly is in the sight of God. That leads to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.

Jesus was met one day by an inquirer – {{Mark 10 v 17 As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and began asking Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Mark 10:18 and Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.”}} This man wanted eternal life but got a confrontational answer that turned him upside down. At first glance the response Jesus gave seemed strange in that He deflected the appellation of goodness from Himself to God. However that is not a problem as He is God and He is good as He confirmed of Himself in {{John 10 v 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. John 10 v 14 I am the good shepherd and I know My own, and My own know Me.”}}

We have established that no one is good in the eyes of God, and God alone is good. Where do we go from there in wanting to establish goodness? A study of Roman 3 is very damning of the human race – {{Romans 3 v 10 as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one. Rom 3:11 There is none who understands. There is none who seeks for God. Rom 3:12 All have turned aside. Together they have become useless. There is none who does good. There is not even one.” Rom 3:13 “Their throat is an open grave. With their tongues they keep deceiving.” “The poison of asps is under their lips.” Rom 3:14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” Rom 3:15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood. Rom 3:16 Destruction and misery are in their paths, Rom 3:17 and the path of peace have they not known.” Rom 3:18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”}} Human beings can not establish their own goodness for they begin from a corrupt base. The great thing about Romans is that it lays out the progressive steps to man’s righteousness, and therefore goodness.