None is Good Save God

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. Genesis 1:31

All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good. Not even one.” Psalms 14:3

Did you know when God created the world, he declared everything good? In fact, if you read the first chapter of the Bible, each day he creates something new, and each evening he declares that thing good. Even mankind, when he creates us, is declared good. God does not lie, nor does he exaggerate. If he says something is good, then it is good. But somewhere between the beginning of the earth and the time when the Psalms were written, something had changed. All had become corrupt, and there was no one who did good. What was it? Why is mankind no longer good? Why was the world no longer perfect?

And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” Genesis 2:16

Why did God give this rule? Does he just have this thing about rules and laws and regulations? Actually, what God desires most is a willing heart. The rules and laws are not as important as our willingness to obey God. If God gave Adam and Eve—the first man and woman—no rules, then they could not choose to obey him. And if they could not choose to obey him, then were they worshiping him because they wanted to, or because they had no choice? God does not want, nor does he accept, a ritualistic worship of him that is forced. He wants willingness to obey, and it is far more important to him than the act of obedience itself. 

But Samuel replied: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.” 1 Samuel 15:22

So he offered mankind a choice, and we chose not to obey. We chose to sin, to go our own way. And because of that choice, wickedness came into the world, and into our own hearts. We corrupted ourselves from the inside out, and the only way we can be cleansed of our corruption is through the power of God himself. This is why we need a Savior—why Jesus Christ came to earth. We were good; but we chose evil. No one is good save God, and only through the blood of Christ can we be redeemed from our evil and be accepted into heaven.