God Is Looking for Even One Good Man  *  Will You Be that Man?

God Is Looking for Even One Good Man  *  Will You Be that Man?

Genesis 6:5-6 – “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the Earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually; so the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the Earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” [JHK Note: We learn many lessons from these two short verses coming so early in the Biblical account of the relationships between God and us, His children. God searches our hearts and knows what we are thinking. Like every loving parent, God is pained in His heart when His children are rebellious, stiff-necked, wayward, and sinful. Because God loves us, He feels sorrow and grief. On the other hand, He cannot tolerate sin and evil, which He destroys in the Flood Judgment at the time of Noah, as we read in Genesis chapters 6-9 and in the White Throne Judgment in Revelation 20.]

1 Corinthians 2:10 – “The Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.”

Psalm 7:9 – “The righteous God tests the hearts and minds.”

1 Samuel 16:7 – “The Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Psalm 14:2-3 – “The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek for God. They have all turned aside! They have altogether become corrupt. There is none who does good! No, not one!” [JHK Note: This is repeated in Psalm 53:1-3 and again for emphasis in the New Testament in Romans 3:10-18 and also in Romans 3:23 – “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” See also Ecclesiastes 7:20 – “There is not a just man on Earth who does good and does not sin.”]

Matthew 12:35 – “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth evil things.” (See also Matthew 7:15-20)

Genesis 18 & 19 tell the story of the rampant sin and sexual depravity of Sodom and Gomorrah. When not even one righteous man can be found therein, God utterly destroys them with fire and brimstone, though He rescues Lot & his family out of deference for Lot’s Uncle Abraham.

Jeremiah 5:1 – “Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem! Search now and find out .. if you can find even one man, if there is anyone who seeks the truth and executes righteous judgment. If you can find even one, I will pardon her!”

Ezekiel 13:4-5 – “O Israel, your prophets .. have not gone up into the gaps to build a wall for the house of Israel to stand in battle on the day of the Lord!”

Ezekiel 22:30 – “I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.” [JHK Note: Here we understand God’s desperation to find even one righteous man; and since He could find none in the Old Testament, He had to send His son in the New Testament not only to save us from sin by his selfless blood sacrifice on the Cross, but also to set us an example of how to live in this world on this Earth in selfless sacrifice and service to others. We find something similar in Isaiah chapter 59, when the Lord God “saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor,” so God decides to send His son -- “My Spirit is upon you, and My words I have put in your mouth.”]

God Wants Us to Be Filial Children, Partners, Responding to His Love & Direction with Our Love & Obedience. Our proper response to God’s love and God’s calling is simply to say “Here I am!” as does Abraham in Genesis 22:1 & 22:11, as does Moses in Exodus 3:4, or “Speak, Lord, for your servant hears!” as does Samuel in 1 Samuel 3:9-10, or “Hear I am! Send me!” as does Isaiah in Isaiah 6:8. When Saul on the Road to Damascus hears a voice from heaven, he responds, “Who are you, Lord?” (Acts 9:5); but when Jesus appears in a vision to Ananias (who already knows the Lord), Ananias responds, “Here I am, Lord!” in Acts 9:10.

God’s Hope for Humanity Lies in a Future Time of Restoration, as we find in Jeremiah 24:6-7 – I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not pull them down! I will plant them and not pluck them up!” Then I will give them a new heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.” [JHK Note: “Whole-heartedness” devoted to goodness and righteousness, rather than sin and evil, is always what God has wanted from His children – a oneness of heart, a partnership of heart, like the very best of family relations. Similar understandings can be found in God’s prophecy of the “New Covenant,” found in Jeremiah 31:31-34 – “I will put my Law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people .. for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember  no more.” Similar sentiments are found in Ezekiel 11:19-20 – “Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of compassion .. and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.” The depth of God’s heart is shown in Proverbs 10:12 – “Love covers all sins.” This is great good news indeed, for it means that God’s love is greater than our sin, God’s mercy is greater than our iniquity, God’s forgiveness is greater than our transgressions. God’s unlimited magnanimity is expressed in Ezekiel 18:30-32 – “Repent and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. .. Get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit, for why should you die, O house of Israel? “For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore, turn and live!” See also Ezekiel 18:23, 1 Timothy 2:3 & Lamentations 3:31-33.]