The Lord’s Work – Part 41
Good works
1st instance of “good works” in the Bible.
Matthew 5:14-16 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
You don’t do good works so they can see the light of God. You don’t let your good works shine. That’s not what this says.
Your “good works” in this passage, is the house of God and the things in it. Those are a Christian’s good works. The city on the hill. According to Revelation, the candlesticks that the light is set on are the churches. The light, is the word of God by the gospel of Jesus Christ. By that light, we labour together with Jesus to build God’s house.
To show men your good works, you bring them into the house of God where there is light to see the true good things. This is a true good work: the house of God and the act of building the house – bringing the lost in to become a part of that house. Giving them light so they can be saved, so they can see the truth, so they can see true good works.
2nd instance of “good works” in the Bible.
John 10:32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
A true good work is a miracle. Healing the sick, raising the dead, giving sight to the blind, opening the ears of the deaf, feeding thousands with a single loaf of bread. Jesus and the apostles did the figure of the true when they did it to men’s flesh. But the true is done to the souls of men. For Christians, we do this when we get saved, and when we win souls.
And to be fair.. Jesus doesn’t specify what works He was referring to. He very well could have been referring to the words that He spoke, the gospel that He preached.
From this verse we also learn that a good work proceeds from the Lord. It does not come out of the heart of men.
This is the 1st and only instance of “good deed” in the whole Bible.
Acts 4:9 If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole;
Healing the sick, the lame, the maimed, the blind.
The figure of good is doing it temporarily, to men’s flesh. But the true good is doing it eternally, to men’s souls. A good deed is a miracle. A true good deed is saving a soul from death.
There are only 2 instances of “good deeds” in the whole Bible.
Nehemiah 13:14 Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for the offices thereof.
Nehemiah’s work was building the city of Jerusalem and the temple, the house of God. Much like Solomon and Moses oversaw the work, Nehemiah was the governor (the “Tirshatha”) as the 2nd temple was being built.
As we have seen, and as we will see: this is the true good work: building the city and house of God.
Ahh, but here is the 2nd instance:
Nehemiah 6:19 Also they reported his good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.
Now, Tobiah was not a Jew. He was not a man of God and His purpose was not to help build the house of God. The opposite in fact. He wanted to stop the work. In other words, this is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, holding up his “good deeds/works”, so he can gain access to scatter the builders and stop the building of the city and house of God.
Tobiah was a spy. He was a reprobate. A fake.
Tobiah’s good deeds were cited in order to STOP the work of building Jerusalem.
A man of God does true good deeds by building God’s house. An evil man does “good deeds” too, but they’re a lie. They are FAKE good deeds. And he boasts of them precisely for the purpose of halting the work of the house of God, and breaking it down.
An unsaved man can do “good deeds”, but they cause the building to stop.
Also, notice what the true man Nehemiah sent back to the reprobate man: words.
Titus 3:1 Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
Titus 3:8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.
Titus 3:14 And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.
1 Timothy 6:18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;
Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
There are many admonitions like these where it is said that we SHOULD do good works. We should be prepared unto good works. Should be ready to do good works. But these don’t tell you what good works are. Do they? How can we know what to do, unless we know what good works are. We need to know what to do. We need some examples. Clear and specific examples. Tell me what I ought to do!
I want to look at what things are specifically (not by inference), called good works in the Bible.
“good work” appears in the OT 1 time. “good works” appears in the OT 0 times.
“good work” appears in the NT 12 times. “good works” appears in the NT 16 times.
There’s a total of 29 occurrences.
That should tell you a TON right there.
There is 1 OT picture of good work(s). Otherwise, there are NO good works in the OT. Why? Because we are better than them? Because our intentions are more clean than theirs? Because we do our works for Jesus but they just did them for the Father?
Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
We had to be created, recreated, to do good works. Why? Because we could not do them before.
Its because we can now do, what they could never do. They could only do the carnal, the figure. But we can now do the true, the spiritual. We had to be born this way. We only do true good works IN CHRIST.
Out of the 29 occurrences, I’ve counted 9 works/actions that I would say are specifically called or directly referenced to as “good works”.
We’ll go through each one, as a clear and specific example of a “good work”, and see how each of them is consistent with the others. As shadows, and figures, they all agree together to teach the form of a singular, true good work.
As we look at each “good work” in the Bible, we will see how, while each work CAN be done carnally in the flesh, to do each of them in the Spirit, in truth, is to do the same true good work: to care for and to feed the house of God. It is to preach the word of God by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
#1
1st instance of “good work” in the Bible and the ONLY instance of “good work” or “good works” in the whole OT:
Nehemiah 2:17-18 Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach. 18 Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.
This is the only thing that God calls a good work in the whole OT.
Building Jerusalem was the pattern of the true good work. That Jerusalem was made with hands. But God does not dwell in buildings made with hands.
Acts 7:47-49 But Solomon built him an house. 48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, 49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?
What house can you build him with hands? What good work can a man do with hands?
2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Mark 14:58 We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.
That is the Lord’s work. That is a good work. That is THE good work.
Acts 17:24-25 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; 25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
The works of your hands are figures, idols. The Lord is not worshipped with carnal works. The Lord is worshipped with spiritual works. This is how we worship Him: we build His house, and offer spiritual sacrifices in His house. Not on the Earth with hands, but in the house made without hands, eternal in the heavens.
A true good work is done WITHOUT HANDS. Building New Jerusalem is the true good work.
That is the first “good work”, and all the others agree to it. While the figures may be done in the flesh, the true good work is performed to the house of God, and it is performed without hands.
#2
2nd and 3rd instances of “good work” in the Bible:
Matthew 26:7-12 There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. 8 But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? 9 For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor. 10 When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me. 11 For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. 12 For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial.
Mark 14:6 And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me. … 8 She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.
What was this good work? Anointing with oil. Pouring oil on the body.
What was it done to? To the body of Jesus Christ. What is Christ’s body? The Church!
That is the 2nd and 3rd instance of “good work” in the whole Bible. The first 2 NT instances.
This is the only work that Jesus specifically called a “good work” during his ministry.
Mary Magdalene did this, and no one else did. What do you think the Apostles would have done if they had it to do all over again? But that opportunity is GONE. So how can we do that “good work”? Certainly we can’t do it in the flesh. Jesus isn’t here. He hasn’t been here for nearly 2,000 years.
So how can we do after Mary Magdalene’s example? How can we work a “good work” like Mary? How do we do what Mary did?
Well its pretty simple. We anoint the body of Jesus (the Church) with oil. We prepare it for the burying. We prepare the members of the Church (the body of Christ) for death.
2 Corinthians 1:21-22 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; 22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
God has anointed us with the Spirit, in Christ. The Father the Son and the Holy Ghost.
Christians are anointed with oil – anointed with the Holy Spirit. Not oil made with hands.
1 John 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
The anointing is the Holy Spirit. Give a man the gospel, give a man the Holy Spirit.
It is the Holy Spirit which teaches us of all things.
John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
The Holy Spirit is the oil, the anointing.
Mar 6 2022
The Lord’s Work – Part 41
Downloadable Word document:
The Lord’s Work – Part 41
The Lord’s Work – Part 41
Good works
1st instance of “good works” in the Bible.
Matthew 5:14-16 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
You don’t do good works so they can see the light of God. You don’t let your good works shine. That’s not what this says.
Your “good works” in this passage, is the house of God and the things in it. Those are a Christian’s good works. The city on the hill. According to Revelation, the candlesticks that the light is set on are the churches. The light, is the word of God by the gospel of Jesus Christ. By that light, we labour together with Jesus to build God’s house.
To show men your good works, you bring them into the house of God where there is light to see the true good things. This is a true good work: the house of God and the act of building the house – bringing the lost in to become a part of that house. Giving them light so they can be saved, so they can see the truth, so they can see true good works.
2nd instance of “good works” in the Bible.
John 10:32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
A true good work is a miracle. Healing the sick, raising the dead, giving sight to the blind, opening the ears of the deaf, feeding thousands with a single loaf of bread. Jesus and the apostles did the figure of the true when they did it to men’s flesh. But the true is done to the souls of men. For Christians, we do this when we get saved, and when we win souls.
And to be fair.. Jesus doesn’t specify what works He was referring to. He very well could have been referring to the words that He spoke, the gospel that He preached.
From this verse we also learn that a good work proceeds from the Lord. It does not come out of the heart of men.
This is the 1st and only instance of “good deed” in the whole Bible.
Acts 4:9 If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole;
Healing the sick, the lame, the maimed, the blind.
The figure of good is doing it temporarily, to men’s flesh. But the true good is doing it eternally, to men’s souls. A good deed is a miracle. A true good deed is saving a soul from death.
There are only 2 instances of “good deeds” in the whole Bible.
Nehemiah 13:14 Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for the offices thereof.
Nehemiah’s work was building the city of Jerusalem and the temple, the house of God. Much like Solomon and Moses oversaw the work, Nehemiah was the governor (the “Tirshatha”) as the 2nd temple was being built.
As we have seen, and as we will see: this is the true good work: building the city and house of God.
Ahh, but here is the 2nd instance:
Nehemiah 6:19 Also they reported his good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.
Now, Tobiah was not a Jew. He was not a man of God and His purpose was not to help build the house of God. The opposite in fact. He wanted to stop the work. In other words, this is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, holding up his “good deeds/works”, so he can gain access to scatter the builders and stop the building of the city and house of God.
Tobiah was a spy. He was a reprobate. A fake.
Tobiah’s good deeds were cited in order to STOP the work of building Jerusalem.
A man of God does true good deeds by building God’s house. An evil man does “good deeds” too, but they’re a lie. They are FAKE good deeds. And he boasts of them precisely for the purpose of halting the work of the house of God, and breaking it down.
An unsaved man can do “good deeds”, but they cause the building to stop.
Also, notice what the true man Nehemiah sent back to the reprobate man: words.
Titus 3:1 Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
Titus 3:8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.
Titus 3:14 And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.
1 Timothy 6:18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;
Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
There are many admonitions like these where it is said that we SHOULD do good works. We should be prepared unto good works. Should be ready to do good works. But these don’t tell you what good works are. Do they? How can we know what to do, unless we know what good works are. We need to know what to do. We need some examples. Clear and specific examples. Tell me what I ought to do!
I want to look at what things are specifically (not by inference), called good works in the Bible.
“good work” appears in the OT 1 time. “good works” appears in the OT 0 times.
“good work” appears in the NT 12 times. “good works” appears in the NT 16 times.
There’s a total of 29 occurrences.
That should tell you a TON right there.
There is 1 OT picture of good work(s). Otherwise, there are NO good works in the OT. Why? Because we are better than them? Because our intentions are more clean than theirs? Because we do our works for Jesus but they just did them for the Father?
Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
We had to be created, recreated, to do good works. Why? Because we could not do them before.
Its because we can now do, what they could never do. They could only do the carnal, the figure. But we can now do the true, the spiritual. We had to be born this way. We only do true good works IN CHRIST.
Out of the 29 occurrences, I’ve counted 9 works/actions that I would say are specifically called or directly referenced to as “good works”.
We’ll go through each one, as a clear and specific example of a “good work”, and see how each of them is consistent with the others. As shadows, and figures, they all agree together to teach the form of a singular, true good work.
As we look at each “good work” in the Bible, we will see how, while each work CAN be done carnally in the flesh, to do each of them in the Spirit, in truth, is to do the same true good work: to care for and to feed the house of God. It is to preach the word of God by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
#1
1st instance of “good work” in the Bible and the ONLY instance of “good work” or “good works” in the whole OT:
Nehemiah 2:17-18 Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach. 18 Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.
This is the only thing that God calls a good work in the whole OT.
Building Jerusalem was the pattern of the true good work. That Jerusalem was made with hands. But God does not dwell in buildings made with hands.
Acts 7:47-49 But Solomon built him an house. 48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, 49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?
What house can you build him with hands? What good work can a man do with hands?
2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Mark 14:58 We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.
That is the Lord’s work. That is a good work. That is THE good work.
Acts 17:24-25 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; 25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
The works of your hands are figures, idols. The Lord is not worshipped with carnal works. The Lord is worshipped with spiritual works. This is how we worship Him: we build His house, and offer spiritual sacrifices in His house. Not on the Earth with hands, but in the house made without hands, eternal in the heavens.
A true good work is done WITHOUT HANDS. Building New Jerusalem is the true good work.
That is the first “good work”, and all the others agree to it. While the figures may be done in the flesh, the true good work is performed to the house of God, and it is performed without hands.
#2
2nd and 3rd instances of “good work” in the Bible:
Matthew 26:7-12 There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. 8 But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? 9 For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor. 10 When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me. 11 For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. 12 For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial.
Mark 14:6 And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me. … 8 She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.
What was this good work? Anointing with oil. Pouring oil on the body.
What was it done to? To the body of Jesus Christ. What is Christ’s body? The Church!
That is the 2nd and 3rd instance of “good work” in the whole Bible. The first 2 NT instances.
This is the only work that Jesus specifically called a “good work” during his ministry.
Mary Magdalene did this, and no one else did. What do you think the Apostles would have done if they had it to do all over again? But that opportunity is GONE. So how can we do that “good work”? Certainly we can’t do it in the flesh. Jesus isn’t here. He hasn’t been here for nearly 2,000 years.
So how can we do after Mary Magdalene’s example? How can we work a “good work” like Mary? How do we do what Mary did?
Well its pretty simple. We anoint the body of Jesus (the Church) with oil. We prepare it for the burying. We prepare the members of the Church (the body of Christ) for death.
2 Corinthians 1:21-22 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; 22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
God has anointed us with the Spirit, in Christ. The Father the Son and the Holy Ghost.
Christians are anointed with oil – anointed with the Holy Spirit. Not oil made with hands.
1 John 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
The anointing is the Holy Spirit. Give a man the gospel, give a man the Holy Spirit.
It is the Holy Spirit which teaches us of all things.
John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
The Holy Spirit is the oil, the anointing.
By Pastor • Christian Doctrine, Good Works • 0