God’s Goodness and Obedience – Genesis 3:1-9

Introduction

Genesis is the beginning of the Bible and also the beginning of history. Genesis 1 is one of the most important chapters in the Bible and also at the center of much controversy. Many of the central and foundational truths about God and the world we live in are established in the first few chapters. One aspect of God that is highlighted repeatedly in the creation account is, God is good and what He does is good. After each day, God looks at what He made and He saw that it was good. God’s goodness flows into all He does and especially in making Adam and Eve, He took great care to make sure it was good, and after all was made, it was very good. What the Bible establishes most strongly in the beginning is God’s goodness. We are to know absolutely and most assuredly that God is good.

God alone is good

One thing that confuses us is that good can mean many things. Biblically speaking ‘good’ is that which is wholesome, virtuous, beneficial and beautiful. It is impossible to define what is good without God. This is because God alone is good. (Mark 10:18) In contrast, none of us are good and have a broken understanding of good (Psalm 14:3). Our understanding of God must be centered around God. God is good, all attributes of God are good and all that He does and says is good. He is the sum of all that is wholesome, virtuous, beneficial and beautiful. Therefore, nothing good can come from a source outside of God. He has a monopoly on goodness and all that is good in this world has come from Him. (James 1:17)

God is good all the time

Psalm 100:5 declares “the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations”. God never stops being good because it is His nature. God never changes. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is always good. This is really important and beneficial for us because life is not always pleasant (Romans 8:28). We go through ups and downs. Every day is a struggle. Yet what we can be sure of, no matter what we face or go through, God is always good.

If God alone is good and God is always good, then that helps us define what good is. We just have to think about God, who He is and what He does and what He gives and those things are good (Philippians 4:8).

God is good to us

“God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them;” (Genesis 1:27-28) In the Garden of Eden, before man sinned, man was blessed perfectly. They lacked nothing, had never experienced any pain or sorrow and had a delegated authority over all other living things. What God made good was very good for us.

Many people misunderstand God as some harsh overlord who is only happy when we are miserable. God is not wicked or petty, His goodness is good for us and for our benefit. It is true that now in our broken state, we cannot experience God’s goodness fully, and we have to forsake our sins and the things of this world that rob us of our experience of God’s goodness. On the outside, it may seem that Christians are miserable and it deters many from following Christ, but it is the exact opposite. Knowing God is good and good for us because God is good. This is also demonstrated by creation. We experience God’s goodness through obedience. Obedience is giving glory to God and enjoying His goodness to us (Psalm 34:8). In fact, we can have the most satisfying joy in Christ, when we obey and love Him and He loves us (John 15:10-11).

The Gospel is God’s greatest goodness

In the gospel we experience God’s greatest good work through Jesus and it is the best thing for us. In the gospel we have the forgiveness of our sin, salvation from hell, adoption into God’s family, a new spiritual life, and eternal life with Him in glory. The gospel is God showing the greatest love and sacrifice redeeming sinners through His coming to earth, ministering to us, dying on the cross in our place, conquering our sin and death by resurrecting from the grave, and ascending to heaven where He will one day return to call us into His presence for all eternity. This was not a reaction to man’s sin, it was planned from the beginning of time. In Genesis 3, we see that God’s response to man’s sin, which completely ruined His good creation, is anger and wrath but is patient mercy and hope for salvation. That’s how good God is, He repays evil with good.

Therefore, there is no greater good than the gospel. It is THE GOOD NEWS. It is the goodness of God lavishly poured out on us, the most wonderful gift from heaven. That is why we must repent and believe. To refuse the gospel is to refuse the goodness of God. Turn from your wicked ways, confess your utter lack of good and receive the love and mercy of God. Believe in Jesus who is God’s salvation for us.

Disobedience severs us from God and His goodness.

Even as Christians, it seems we don’t experience the goodness of God in our lives. This is because we are disobedient. We listen to lies and deception of Satan and this world. It starts with a question, “Is God good?” (Genesis 3:1). Then we slowly make God out to be what He is not. We start to doubt God’s goodness and make Him harsh, by turning His laws into restrictions instead of blessings (Genesis 3:2-3, Matthew 25:24-25). Then the world presents their own truth to us. It tempts us with superficial goodness (Genesis 3:4). Because we doubt God, the world and its poisonous attraction look appealing to us (Genesis 3:6). We forgot God’s goodness and seek our own. Finally, we disobey God’s commands, which results in our guilt and shame, covering ourselves and hiding from God (Genesis 3:7-9)

Sin and disobedience start with a doubt of God’s goodness and end with complete denial and rejection of God and succumbing to the lies of the world. That is why we fail to know how good God is even though it is obvious (Romans 1:19-21).

Conclusion

We have every reason to obey God who is good. He alone is good, He is good all the time and He is good to us. When we obey, we can know and experience God’s goodness. The gospel is God’s greatest good to us. One thing the Bible says, ‘It is better to give than to receive`. We have received the gospel but how much better it is to share the goodness of God with others. We have received, let us also give, for it is much better. God is good.