Through the death & resurrection of Jesus, His question to the rich young ruler, “Why do you call me good?”( Luke 18:19) gets turned upside down. It is the believer saying in astonishment and wonder to God, “Why do you call me good?” And that brings humble gladness where there was sadness and smugness.
Jesus was willing to called bad so you could be called good. He was slandered with a bad report so you could have an absolutely good résumé. If you have put your trust in Jesus’ goodness rather than your own, you are astonished because you know there is nothing in you that would make God call you good. And yet, He calls you good.
By having the perfect goodness of God credited to you through Jesus Christ, it is though God has thoroughly scrutinized you and given you full approval and delights in you. If you renounce your own incomplete and questionably motivated goodness as having any merit and put your trust in Jesus’ total goodness, God pronounces you good—not just forgiven, but scrutinized and approved of, and delighted in. That is what Jesus meant in Luke 18:14 by "justified" and "exalted."
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