4th Fruit of the Holy Spirit
Ephesians 5:8-10 Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.
The Fruit of Goodness is the only fruit mentioned twice in the Bible – the first time in the list of 9 to the Galatians in Galatians 5:22 and again in Ephesus 5:9. This is for the obvious and simple reason: of all the traits and characteristics of God – His praiseworthiness, His truth and righteousness, His self-control, gentleness, faithfulness, kindness, patience, peacefulness, joyfulness and His love—His goodness is the one that stands out above all else – for Jesus Himself has testified in Mark 10:18 & Luke 18:19 “No one is good – except God alone.”
If God alone is good, then God must set the standard for goodness and all that God does and says—God’s actions and words; they alone are good. His purposes alone are good. His plans alone are good; and all else that is not His is not good. That is, all things outside of God are evil; and the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil loses its power over us, the sons and daughters of Adam, when we come to that place where we can say as Jesus said, “No one is good – except God alone.” – say it, knowing it and meaning it. The greatest temptation I find, is when someone says “you are a good person” – accountant, etc – and to not refute it immediately. Now, you can come up with your excuses to say that you should accept a legitimate praise – that’s true. But if you are serious about being like Jesus, you must refute it immediately and openly, or else repent. For when you accept someone else saying you are good, you have gone against Jesus who says; “No one is good – except God alone.”
For when Jesus said this, He said this in reply to a compliment: Mark 10:17 As Jesus started on His way, a man ran up to Him and fell on his knees before Him, “Good teacher”’ he asked, “What must I do to inherit Eternal Life?” The man was not flattering Jesus; he was speaking a truth. – Jesus is by all standards a good teacher – but Jesus chose to reply, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good – except God alone.” Now if you are ashamed of Jesus’ words, you would excuse yourself every time you accept a compliment about how good you are. If you are not ashamed of the words of Jesus, you would refute it openly – like Jesus—or if you fail—repent! Now, what is more important—appear polite to those who are complimenting you, or stand with Jesus in His word?
When you stand with Jesus and agree— “No one is good except God alone.”; then and only then have you agreed to the exclusiveness of God’s goodness, and if His goodness is exclusive, then there is no creature, man, animal or spirit who has any goodness unless they had come out of God directly and are one with Him. When you can agree with Jesus that “No one is good – except God alone.”, then you have agreed that the word which has proceeded from God alone is good, and that the Spirit which has come forth from God alone is good. – It is when you have submitted your whole-hearted agreement to the aloneness of God’s goodness …"God alone is Good."; and proved your submission by a constant and continuous practice of refuting all other words that declare others and you as being good also – and a constant repentance for the times when you failed to refute those words – then do you truly see the fullness of the double portion of God’s goodness.
In Exodus 33, Moses asks to see the Lord’s glory, and the Lord replies: Exodus 33:19 “I will cause all My goodness to pass in front of you and I will proclaim My Name, the Lord in your presence…”, and in 34:5-7 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed His Name, The Lord. And He passed in front of Moses proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished; He punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.” God says, “I will cause all My goodness to pass in front of you…”, and then He says, “The lord, the Lord...” as He passed in front of Moses.
All the goodness of God—that double portion of goodness of God—lays in Jesus His Son; and since God alone is Good, the only Good Son—and His Holy Spirit, and since God alone is Good, the only Good Spirit.
There are no good angels, only holy angels or fallen angels. There are no other good spirits, only clean or unclean spirits.
What Jesus means by good is very different from what you and I mean by good, because Jesus said, “No one is good – except God alone.” So when Jesus said in Matthew 5:16 “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”; your deeds are only any good if God is your Father in Heaven. –And the only way that you can have God as your Father is if you have believed in the Name of Jesus and the person of Jesus. For it is written: Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. John 1:12-13.
And Jesus has baptized with the Holy Spirit; for it is by the Holy Spirit that we cry ‘Abba’ Father and it is the Holy Spirit who validates our adoption, for He is the Spirit of Sonship. All who truly follow the Holy Spirit are those who have the same attitude as Jesus, the only Good Son, for He is the only begotten Son. And they, like Jesus, are always listening and watching the Father, to see what pleases the Father. The greatest imitation of God is imitating Him, not as a good God, but as a good parent – for not all are given the power to be gods, but many are given the power to be parents. And the greatest imitation of Jesus is not imitating Him as Messiah or Savior or Healer or Deliverer—for not all are given unto them the power to be a messiah, savior, healer or deliverer—but all, indeed there is not one human being on this earth, who is not given the ability to be a child, whether son or daughter.
Jesus was perfectly obedient to the only Good Father – and humanly speaking, it is easier to be obedient to a good Father than an evil or bad father. And not everyone is blessed with good and kindly parents. – Indeed, it is more of a rarity to have good kindly parents, than to have selfish parents who care only for their needs than their children’s – as the rate of child abandonment would testify. If there was anything in the history of Israel that stands out, it is the lack of parenting that occurs – ranging from the great men of God being too busy ministering to God, to the worst of the Israelites who’d sacrifice their children to Molech or eat them when the sieges of the Assyrians were too heavy. Moses’ sons did not follow in his ministry; neither did Samuel’s sons—why? Because nowhere is it written that Moses or Samuel spent time training their sons into the ministry. Now compare that with God. As Jesus said in John 5:20 “For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does.” Did Moses ever ask God for permission for his sons to enter the cloud of Glory with him to show them what Moses does before God? There is no such request recorded.
The Goodness of God the Father is the Father who shows the Son all He does—and as such, remains in habitation with Him. And when the Lord said “all that He does.” you will be thinking all the great and miraculous official work.—No, it is both the official work and the domestic work. That is, God is a Father who lives with His Son, and through their living together, shows the Son what He is doing. It does take a good son to take interest in what the Father is doing—and the goodness of Jesus Christ is that He is the Son who takes full interest in what the Father is saying and showing Him. That is, the Son who learns from the Father; which is why God used the Recabites to shame the Israelites. Jeremiah 35:14 “Jonadab son of Recab ordered his sons not to drink wine and this command has been kept. To this day they do not drink wine because they obey their forefather’s command.”
If God, our Father has given us only one command, “Listen to Jesus.”, and we have gone off and added all sorts of things to our practice of our relationship with Him—from complaining about Jesus’ teachings being too hard and too dangerous to introducing other teachings and teaching the Church to listen to Mary, the virgin and other men----no wonder God complemented the descendants of Jonadab, son of Recab. He gave his sons one command; do not drink wine and they kept it. God gave the Church one command – “Listen to Him.” and we have not kept it.
If you read on in Jeremiah 35:19 “Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty the God of Israel says: ‘Jonadab, son of Recab will never fail to have a man to serve Me.’”
The goodness of God is not experienced in its full, double portion—unless you take all that God has given you now—His word, His power and His Spirit—and use them to help express to your children the good parent and the good child. When you understand what the goodness of God is and who displays them—you will realize that when Jesus said, and encouraged us with the very hard and almost unacceptable words of Luke 14:25 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be My disciple.”; is so that all who would be his disciples might receive the reward of Discipleship. Mark 10:29-30 “I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for Me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age, (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields – and with them – persecutions) and in the age to come eternal life.” -- That is, the children receive their parents back 100-fold, and the parents receive their children back 100-fold. Now that is a blessing worth having. And as a parent and a son, that is, being the adult of the middle generation – a 100-fold of houses and fields will provide for the ageing parent and a future inheritance for the growing children. Now that is good provision for the family.
So important is the goodness of God to Him to be displayed as the Good Father, and the Good Son—that God Himself cursed all who refused to turn their hearts to their children and their parents in Malachi 4:5 “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will strike the land with a curse.”
The prophet of Elijah promised - was John the Baptist - as Jesus said, both of whom were filled with the Holy Spirit, so that the Spirit of Elijah is also the Spirit of John the Baptist--and that is who we have been baptized with—baptized with the Holy Spirit so that He can help us turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers”; for in the fullness of a parent and child relationship is the goodness of God revealed. Jesus said in Luke 11:11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will you give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
Jesus used the giving of the Holy Spirit as the second witness of the goodness of God in Heaven.—The first goodness of God is the giving of His Son, and the second goodness of God—the double portion—the extra rule of God—is the giving of the Holy Spirit,—so that all sons and daughters might learn and become good sons and daughters, just like Jesus the only Begotten Son, the only Good Son and all parents might become good parents.—Fathers just like God through the Holy Spirit who, being the One who knows the mind and heart of God, can make known to us the things of God that belong to Jesus—the only Good Father. Jesus when He said, “No one is good – except God alone”, also declared no one else has a good Father except Mine!
Now, understand this—the parents of Israel sacrificed their children and ate their children in order to bless themselves and survive, knowing and planning to bear more children later. But God, when He sacrificed Jesus for us, knew that He could not have any more sons, for Jesus in His only Begotten Son—Jesus is the only One who had been with Him from the beginning and as such He could never have another. So the Israelites gave up their children to secure their future, whereas God gave up His future to secure His Son—God’s future being Jesus, His only Son. By giving Him up as our sin offering, even though Jesus was without sin, He set Jesus above all other Names—and justice demanded that He whose life was taken, should be compensated—a life for a life. So God gave life to He who is Life, even as Life laid down Himself in sacrifice; and that Life became a life that sin could never take away again, for it had already paid the full price of sin once—and now for all times. And this life that Jesus received from the Father for His Life, which is Jesus, Jesus is now free to give to all whom the Father gives Him. John 5:21 :For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom He is pleased to give it.”
And in so doing, the Father raised the Son to a higher life – the Name above all names –thus the Father sacrificed His future for His Son. No longer is anything done in the Father’s Name, but everything is done in the Son’s Name, and even the Father now answers to the Son’s Name. John 16:26 “In that day you will ask in My Name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father Himself loves you because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from God.”
God displayed His goodness as Father, by giving all He had to secure the future of His Son, even His Life—and Jesus displays His goodness as a Son, not only in obedience, but in receiving all that the Father has given Him and using it to glorify the Father.—And the Holy Spirit displays His goodness in helping Jesus glorify the Father.
Yes, when Jesus says in John 16:14-15 “He will bring glory to Me by taking from what is Mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is Mine”, it sounds as if He has taken His inheritance to keep it, but later He says, John 17:10 “All I have is Yours and all You have is Mine.”. And Paul reveals to us in I Corinthians 15:24-28 Then the end will come, when He hands over the Kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For He “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under Him, it is clear that this does not include God Himself, who put everything under Christ. When He has done this, then the Son Himself will be made subject to Him who put everything under Him, so that God may be all in all.
The goodness of Jesus the Son, is the Son who receives all the Father gives Him, and uses it to glorify Himself, so that the Father is glorified and when it is completed, to give it all back to the Father. It is the heart of a Son who never feels that a Father’s inheritance to Him is ever His, but is always the Father’s.
Now that is the goodness of God – as Father and as Son—this exclusive goodness, which is shared by the Holy Spirit who gives all that He has to glorify them both and not seek to share the glory Himself, so that He is as unseen as the wind and speaks not of his own, but only what He hears and acts not of His own for His glory, but that which is needed to glorify the other two—>Father and Son.
It is in the understanding of this exclusive goodness of God that you can truly come into the excessive submissiveness that is good…and when you can truly see that God alone is good—then you can say, - it is good. When God says, “I will send the sword, famine and plague against them, and I will make them like poor figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten. I will pursue them with the sword, famine and plague and will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth and an object of cursing and horror, of scorn and reproach, among all the nations where I drive them. For they have not listened to My words, words I sent to them again and again by My servants the prophets.” Jeremiah 29:17-19
If God did that to Israel, over words that did not cost Him the life and blood of His Son Jesus—words that did not come out of a lashed and bashed and crucified Jesus—what will God do to those who have refused to listen to the words that cost the life of the only Good Son? How will the only Good Father avenge Him, when His patience is run out? He will give them “days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world until now—and never to be equaled again.” Mark 13:19
But those who know their God will say. “It is good, for God alone is Good.”, and do great and mighty deeds, because of their faithfulness to the only Good Son. And if Jesus alone is the Good Son, then those who abide in Him, and in whom abides His word—then whatever they wish and whatever they will—is also good. Amen.—be it light or darkness, prosperity or disasters, plagues or drought—for all men will be blessed by the only Good God who rewards those who love Him and blesses those who curse and persecute Him; for God Himself has said, “Bless those who curse you…”Luke 6:28. And so as they cursed the God of Heaven who seared them with intense heat, and struck them with His plagues and afflicted them with pains and sores [Revelations 16:8-11]; so God will bless them, for God has also said, “Therefore wait for Me, for the day I will stand up to testify I have decided to assemble the Nations, to gather the kingdoms and to pour out My wrath on them—all My fierce anger. Then the whole world will be consumed by the fire of My jealous anger. Then will I purify the lips of the peoples that all of them may call on the Name of the Lord and serve Him shoulder to shoulder. Zephaniah 3:8-9
GOD IS GOOD
AMEN HOLY SPIRIT
