Good Works

The Lord’s Work – Part 48

Titus 3:1  Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,

How do we “be ready to” every good work?

It is by the understanding of the mind.

This is the only other instance of “be ready to” in the Bible:

Isaiah 32:4  The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.

It is by what you understand and what you are ready to speak. Believe and confess. Believe and speak.

To give, to distribute to the poor and needy and to the brethren is a good work. But the carnal work is the figure of the true. In truth, a true good work, is to give understanding to the simple; to speak the gospel.

How do you prepare yourself unto every good work? Get wisdom. Understand knowledge. Then, you will be ready to speak it. Because speaking the knowledge of God (the gospel of Jesus Christ) is the true good work.

“be ready” appears 3 other times in the NT.

1 Peter 3:15  But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

How can you be ready – be ready ALWAYS to give an answer?

You have to prepare the answer ahead of time. And the hope that is in you is nothing other than the promise of eternal life we have in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

To “be ready” is to prepare yourself with the gospel, and with wisdom and understanding… so that you already have the answers to the questions.

To be ready to every good work, one must be ready to GIVE the gospel. Because that is the true good work. GIVING the necessary things of life to the brethren and to strangers.

And that is the usage of the remaining 2 appearances of “be ready”:

2 Corinthians 9:1-5  For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you:  2  For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many.  3  Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready:  4  Lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting.  5  Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness.

To “be ready”, is to be ready to give. Obviously these were carnal things, the shadow of the true. True giving is giving understanding, the words of eternal life.

To “be ready” in this passage, is to have already collected up, laid up the offering. And as soon as the saints come, its theirs. Its there, its ready, its set aside for the brethren, for the Lord.

Whatever things they are, whether its food, clothing, money, etc. It needs to be already stored up, set aside for distribution to the brethren. This is being ready. Being ready to distribute.

Since the true things are the spiritual things, we’re talking about preparing ourselves ahead of time with wisdom, knowledge and truth. Those are the Lord’s things that we are stewards of, which we need to be ready to give. We’re talking about doctrine, faith, and spiritual strength.

The true good works are to save men with the word of God and build men up with the word of God.

We need to prepare ourselves with the word of God beforehand. Don’t try to collect it up when it is time to give it. It needs to be READY, already.

We should be READY (able/prepared) to work good. We should be ready with the gospel to distribute, to work good unto men.

How do we be fruitful in every good work?

Colossians 1:9-10  For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;  10  That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

How do we be fruitful in every good work? With wisdom and spiritual understanding.

In all wisdom and spiritual understanding, and in the knowledge of His will, this is how we are to work/walk. It doesn’t matter how fired up you are, it doesn’t matter how sincere your motivation is. If you don’t understand how to do good works, if you don’t know what His will IS, then you have no chance of doing a good work.

Without wisdom and understanding, you will work and walk, but without being fruitful.

This is the only way to make a good work. This is the only way to make a good thing.. by wisdom.

Spiritual fruit is (1) wisdom / words, (2) people. A fruitful Christian will increase in both.

There are “good works” that can be done in the flesh. But carnal works are not fruitful to God. They bring Him no increase. God is not served with men’s hands. We can’t give carnal things and receive a spiritual reward / spiritual fruit. We have to take God’s things, and increase them. This is bringing forth fruit. This is profiting God. This is doing a good work. And what is it we are supposed to increase?

The parable of the talents.

Matthew 25:14-29  For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.  15  And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.  16  Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.  17  And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.  18  But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.  19  After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.  20  And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.  21  His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.  22  He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.  23  His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.  24  Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:  25  And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.  26  His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:  27  Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.  28  Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.  29  For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.

This parable teaches that we ought to use the things God gives each of us (His goods, His money) faithfully, to increase HIS things; to make fruit; a profit. But what are these things? How do we know what these talents are? What are the things that we’ve been given, which we better not hide in the earth, but rather use faithfully and increase?

Remember.. this isn’t about man’s money. Its about God’s money. What is God’s money?

This last phrase is used 5 times in Scripture. Once here and once in the very similar “parable of the pounds” in Luke 19. That leaves 3 other places in Scripture. These three passages explain exactly what this parable is about.

Luke 8:17-18  For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.  18  Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.

Mark 4:23-25  If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.  24  And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given.  25  For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.

Matthew 13:11-12  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.  12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

Did you get it? Did you hear the answer? Let’s try again…

Luke 8:17-18  For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.  18  Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.

Mark 4:23-25  If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.  24  And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given.  25  For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.

Matthew 13:11-12  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.  12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

The talents and pounds are the secrets of the gospel, the mysteries of salvation doctrine.

If you HEAR them, understand them, believe them… He will give you more understanding . If you do NOT HEAR them, if you don’t understand them, He will take away what little understanding you have. He will take away His WORDS, your understanding of His words, entirely.

The parable is about how you handle His words; the gospel. About whether or not you hear doctrine. Knowledge. Understanding. His secrets. It is about whether a man receives the mysteries of the word of God, or no. The parable is not about man’s things, carnal things (skills, abilities, money, etc.). Its about the Lord’s money. And the Lord’s money is His truth; His wisdom.

Matthew 25:14  … delivered unto them his goods.

Those that use His goods to increase the Lord’s substance will hear “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”

Those that bring forth no increase of the Lord’s things (His words), but hide them, waste them, cover them with dirt, in flesh, in earthly, carnal things… they will hear “Thou wicked and slothful servant”.

I think hiding the Lord’s money in the earth, is taking the name and gospel of Jesus (the hidden things, now revealed to the sons of men, given to all men to understand) and corrupting it with works of the flesh. I think these are those that “hold the truth in unrighteousness”. What is the increase they bring forth? Nothing but dirt.

A good work is to be faithful with the Lord’s things, not with our own things. What is the Lord’s most valuable thing?

Proverbs 4:5-8  Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.  6  Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee.  7  Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.  8  Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.

Wisdom is the principal thing. Get wisdom, and give wisdom.

If you are faithful with HIS things, He will give you that which is your own things.

Luke 16:12  And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?

If you are faithful with His money (His words) He will give you your own money (eternal riches).

Those carnal works are the figures of the true good works. True good works, which God does require, can only be done in the Spirit, in Christ.

The pattern of good works can be done carnally, and we SHOULD do them. However, we don’t HAVE to. We should clean the outside of the cup, but we don’t HAVE to. It’s the inner part that is required to be cleaned. The Lord will clean the outside of the cup like He cleaned the inside.

True good works are done spiritually, and we MUST do them. And if we’ve been saved by the truth, we have done them already. Furthermore, we continually do them when we get wisdom and give wisdom. When we search the scriptures to understand His secrets.

Good works are done spiritually! THE TRUE worshippers worship in SPIRIT, and in truth. The true worshippers worship in truth, not in carnal figures. The true worshippers do good works in truth, WITH the truth. They USE the truth to FIND or CREATE more truth.

The Lord’s Work – Part 47

Acts 8:18-20  And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,  19  Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.  20  But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.

You can’t give carnal things to reap spiritual things. We do not sow natural things, and get spiritual things in return. Carnal sowing cannot bring forth spiritual fruit.

But, when as a Christian, we minister carnal things to the people of God, for the purpose of supporting a soul-winning ministry, God is able to (1) give you spiritual food to grow you, and also (2 – I believe) give you a part in the fruit of the ministry.

But it is the understanding, not the motivation of the giver, that the Lord honours.

Giving carnal things is not the true good work. The true good work is to give spiritual things.

I’ve counted 9 works that are specifically called out as “good works” in the Bible.

1. Building Jerusalem
2. Anointing the body of Jesus to the burial
3. The office of a bishop (pastor)
4. Making clothing; clothing the naked
5. Raising children
6. Lodging strangers
7. Washing the saints’ feet
8. Relieving the afflicted
9. Giving

These are really all the same thing. They all equate to the same work: Preaching the word of God in order to save souls and establish men in the faith. You do all these things when you get saved, and when you save others. Learn how to save souls, and teach others how to save souls.

1 Timothy 5:24-25  Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after.  25  Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid.

What are the good works that sometimes can be manifested now, but those which are not, “cannot be hid” in the day of judgment?

Well… Here is the only other instance of this phrase:

Matthew 5:14  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

What are the good works that can be manifested now, but those that are not manifest now, “cannot be hid” in the day of judgment? The ones wrought in the city of God. The city of God cannot be hid in that day. And the city of God is the Church. Christians are the good works.

Spiritual good works are the true good works.

Matthew 22:36-40  Master, which is the great commandment in the law?  37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  38  This is the first and great commandment.  39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.  40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

There are two commandments that summarize the law of Moses.

1- Love the Lord thy God. 2- Love thy neighbor. Those 2 capture all the good works of the law.

And in the New Testament, we have, essentially the same 2 commandments. The spiritual law of God, “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” in the NT is nearly identical.

1 John 4:21  And this commandment have we from him, [1] That he who loveth God [2] love his brother also.

1 John 3:23  And this is his commandment, [1] That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and [2] love one another, as he gave us commandment.

1- Love the Lord thy God. 2- Love thy brother. Those 2 capture all the good works in truth.

I believe that a man does both, loves the Lord and loves the brethren, when he gets saved.

1 John 5:1  Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.

You do both commandments when you receive the truth (get saved), and when you give the truth (speak salvation).

2 Thessalonians 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

Ephesians 4:15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

You do both commandments when you receive the gospel and confess it out of your mouth.

You do the whole law, you do both commandments when you do every good work; each of the 9.

You do both when you cloth yourself, and when you cloth others.

You do both when you get born again, and when you bear and raise up others.

You do both when you anoint yourself with oil (Spirit), and when you anoint others.

You do both when you wash your feet (with the gospel), and when you wash the feet of others.

You do both when you receive spiritual food, and when you give spiritual food to the brethren.

How do you love the Lord and love your brother? How do you do all these good works? You get saved, and you save others. You learn how to get saved, and you teach others how to get saved. Jesus told Peter, (if you love me) feed my sheep.

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But we ought to not just love the brethren, the Christians. But to also love the enemies; the strangers. We ought to love the strangers, turning them into friends and fellow citizens. How?

Deuteronomy 10:18  He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.

If you do this good work, you have fulfilled the righteousness of the law.
If you do it carnally, you have the righteousness of the law – the carnal law.

But to do it spiritually, you have the righteousness of faith – the spiritual law. (“the law of faith”, “the law of liberty”,  “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus”).

To give food and raiment carnally is a good work, by which men establish their own temporary righteousness.

To give food and raiment spiritually is a true good work, which establishes eternal righteousness.

Communicating (giving) to the flesh is a figure of the true good. Fake, reprobate, destined to be rejected.

When the figure of the true is done with a pure heart, and understanding heart, seeking the Lord and His things, the Lord will offer an opportunity to receive the true things. As with Ananias, and with those that support the brethren/ministers.

But true giving, true distribution, the true good work of communication, is always the same:

Galatians 2:2  And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain.

To distribute the gospel is the true good work. The work of distributing eternal life.

There are only 2 good works. Love the Lord, and love the brethren. All other good works hang on these two. How do you go them?

Get wisdom and give wisdom. Get saved, and save others. Learn how to win souls and teach other people how to win souls. Feed His sheep.

There are “good works” that can be done in the flesh, but true good works are done spiritually.

I’ve counted 9 works which I believe are specifically referred to as good works in the Bible. All 9 equate to one work (or two works): to grow and care for the body of Christ. To save souls and build up the house of God in faith. To faithfully feed the Lord’s house with the Lord’s things (spiritual things).

Preparation unto good works

2 Timothy 2:21  If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.

How exactly do we prepare ourselves unto good works? Purge ourselves from something? What and how?

2 Timothy 2:15-21  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.  16  But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.  17  And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;  18  Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some. [See what’s going on here?] 19  Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.  20  But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.  21  If a man therefore purge himself from these [the babblings, the errors; the false doctrines that overthrow the faith of some], he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.

You have to study to purge yourself from false doctrine.

If you have not purged yourself from false doctrine that overthrows the faith of some (sends some to Hell or perhaps causes true Christians to not stand fast in the truth and preach the true gospel) you are not prepared to every good work.

A saved man who does not stand fast in pure doctrine is NOT prepared unto every good work.

Only other instance of “babblings” in the Bible.

1 Timothy 6:20-21  O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:  21  Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen. …

That is the danger of “babblings”. And if we don’t purge ourselves from these false doctrines, we will be in ERROR (unsaved/lost or a vessel unto dishonor) and completely unprepared; incapable of doing good works.

True good works are done by teaching the words of truth. Good works are done by the word of God. If we will not study to find the words of truth to divide the word of truth from error, we cannot do good works.

This is how good works are done: Feed and grow the body of Christ with the word of God.

2 Timothy 3:15-17  And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.  16  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:  17  That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

The word of God is given so that we might be prepared, furnished unto good works.

How do you prepare yourself unto every good work? Get wisdom, from the holy Scriptures. Wisdom… unto salvation through faith. Learn how to get saved, and learn how to save others. Otherwise, you are incapable of good works (true good works).

The Lord’s Work – Part 46

1 Timothy 6:18  That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;

Galatians 6:6  Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.

2 Corinthians 9:9-10  (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.  10  Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)

Multiplying seed is in the Bible 7 other times.

Genesis 22:17  That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

Jeremiah 33:22  As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.

Each time seed is multiplied in the Bible, it is a reference to increasing the children of one person into many. Taking one person and turning his house into a great multitude.

So, if you give seed to the sower, what is the effect? It multiplies your seed. Multiplying seed is multiplying children. You increase your spiritual children. And when the sower, who is sowing the word of God, brings forth children, you do too. You take part in the ministry of the sower and will reap the rewards of the SPIRITUAL seed sown. Not the physical seed that YOU sow, rather YOUR spiritual seed that HE sows. HE is doing the true good work, he is the only one bringing forth spiritual fruit. And communicating carnal things to him, you partake in the harvest of the spiritual sower. But you have to draw the line between flesh and Spirit. He is doing the true good work, not you. But if you communicate to the sower… you partake in his spiritual ministration, and will reap his spiritual fruit with him… if so be, that that sower is bringing forth fruit – winning souls.

In both cases above, that SEED is Jesus. So what seed are we multiplying? The seed of Jesus Christ. The Lord’s children. Jesus is the seed. In preaching the gospel, we are sowing Jesus Christ.

Romans 15:16  That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.

And not only is Jesus the seed, but Jesus Christ is the true Sower.

Matthew 13:37  He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;

Jesus does the true good works. He ministers the true good things. And if we want spiritual fruit to abound to our account, we need to take part in His ministry. We need HIM to minister bread to us for our spiritual food. If you give your carnal things to Him, and to His ministers, He is able to sow spiritual things to you.

But remember that the carnal things are the figures, the patterns, the shadows, the images, the IDOLS, of the true. Don’t trust in the works of your hands. Don’t trust in giving carnal things. The unsaved can do those things. The unsaved can give carnal things. The unsaved can be righteous carnally. And that is exactly what they are trusting in.

Luke 18:9-14  And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:  10  Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.  11  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.  12  I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.  [If a man can give carnal things and receive eternal fruit in return, then this man was saved] 13  And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.  14  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

The Pharisee trusted in his own righteousness. He trusted in his giving of carnal things. But he wasn’t justified.

We need to trust in the sowing of the Lord’s things, not our own sowing of our own carnal things.

This Pharisee trusted in carnal things and carnal good works.  To trust in one’s own righteousness is to trust in one’s own riches.

Jeremiah 48:7  For because thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou shalt also be taken: and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity with his priests and his princes together.

1 Timothy 6:18  That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;

There is a very strong connection here between works and riches.

And for the self-righteous, their carnal works become their riches.

Remember the young rich man’s problem … Riches. But it wasn’t that he HAD riches. It was that he was trusting in his riches. But it wasn’t that he was trusting in his money. It was that he was trusting in carnal things! It wasn’t that he was obeying the law, it was that he trusting in his carnal works. And those two things (trusting in riches and trusting in good works) are the same problem.

Mark 10:23-27  And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!  24  And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!  25  It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.  26  And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved?  27  And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.

When Jesus said, how hardly shall they that trust in riches … he was saying how hardly shall they that trust in CARNAL THINGS. This includes all carnal things, including carnal good works.

The rich in carnal things (those that trust in carnal good works) cannot be saved.

But the rich in spiritual things (those that trust in spiritual works only), can easily be saved.

To be saved spiritually you have to have NO riches, NO good works carnally. You cannot keep or save any good works (riches). If you do, you cannot be saved. Because if you have them, if you’ve not denied them all, given them all away, repented of them, then you’ll be trusting in them. And if you trust in carnal things… It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for you to enter into the kingdom of God.

And going back to the beginning of this topic, this is exactly why this is said by Paul to the church: that we even as saved Christians would remember to divide the carnal from the spiritual. That we would treasure the spiritual riches, and not trust in the carnal things.

1 Timothy 6:17-19  Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;  18  That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;  19  Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

Carnal things are not true riches. But God gives us the true riches.

Paul says this so we will be ready to give away the carnal things. And truthfully.. he says it that we be ready to distribute the true riches; the gospel.

That we be ready to communicate to the necessity of those doing the true spiritual good work. And truthfully, that we be ready to communicate spiritual things to the spiritual necessities of men.

Don’t trust in carnal riches, or in the giving of your carnal things – that is, your own righteousness!

Your riches are your righteousnesses, and the giving of your riches is your righteousness.

His riches are His righteousness and the giving of His righteousness is the true good work.

Because it is the spiritual things, the true things, the Lord’s things that HE gives richly. Those are what we ought to distribute and communicate, in order to lay up for ourselves an eternal good foundation.

But if we give carnally, The Lord is able to give to us spiritually. I believe this is what is being taught in Hebrews 13.

Hebrews 13:11-19  For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.  12  Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.  13  Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.  14  For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.  15  By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. [After he has made a difference: the true things are the spiritual things. After he has destroyed the carnal works… ] 16  But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.  17  Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.  18  Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.  19  But I beseech you the rather to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.

After he has demonstrated and hammered home the point that the true things are the spiritual things, and that it is by faith a man is justified (Heb. 11), and that the true fruit is spiritual fruit of our lips, the word of God, the wisdom of God, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the praise and thanksgiving to the Lord out of our mouths, the writer then says this: But, to do good and communicate forget not.

We ought to do good in the figure of the true as well as in the true.

We ought to communicate – to give to the necessity of the Saints.

We ought to obey and submit to those over us in the Lord… that we might profit.

We ought to pray for our spiritual rulers: the apostles, elders, bishops, deacons.

Communicate, obey, pray. If we will do good and communicate, and submit ourselves, and pray for our spiritual rulers, what will the Lord give us?

He will give THEM to us. Do this, that you might have an apostle, or a preacher given to you, that you might have a spiritual benefit!

2 Corinthians 1:15  And in this confidence I was minded to come unto you before, that ye might have a second benefit;

I think this works similar to how Israel’s kingdom’s worked. If the people would fear the Lord, the king would too. Likewise, if the people seek the Lord and do right and give, obey the ministers, and pray for them, the Lord will give them a true minister.

If that’s true, there should be true ministers in every church, right? Unfortunately no. The problem is not just the ministers. The problem is also the people. The problem is, the people mostly just don’t want true ministers:

Jeremiah 5:31  The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?

Mostly, people love the lies. They want their carnal good works to be counted good. They want to trust in their carnal riches (their good works, their charity, the works of their hands, their idols).

But I believe the way carnal giving works is that if you will give the carnal things to the Lord’s ministers with a sincere heart, not trusting your own righteousness, but waiting on the Lord for your food, the Lord will give you the spiritual things (true things) to receive.

I think this is the way it works. I believe this is what is being taught in 2 Corinthians 9 also.

2 Corinthians 9:1  For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you:

From which came this:

2 Corinthians 9:9-10  (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.  10  Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)

2 Corinthians 9:7-8,11  Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.  8  And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:  (…)  11  Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.

In return for giving carnal things to the Saints, the Lord is able to (He can – and He will if your heart is spiritual and sincere) make grace abound towards you that you may have sufficiency (enough supply) in order to abound to (to be greatly supplied, even to overflow/pour out/distribute) every good work.

To those that give carnal things to God’s ministers, God is able to give them, supply them, with spiritual things, and the giving of the spiritual things is the true good work.

Cornelius – What did Cornelius get for all his working righteousness after the flesh? An opportunity to receive the spiritual things. He gave him a minister, and supplied him with something: words, whereby he would be saved.

2 Corinthians 9:12-14  For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God;  13  Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men;  14  And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you.

Not only does carnal communication provide for the needs of the flesh of the Church, but when the brethren see it, they do two things, which results in spiritual fruit:

• They glorify God and give thanks to Him. (Hebrew 13:15  By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.)
• They pray for us, longing for us. (And God may answer that prayer, and though they be far, or in sickness, or in bonds, He may deliver the saints unto us to be comforted together over our mutual faith. A spiritual benefit for both us and them.)

These spiritual fruits are the true things that God desires. These are the true good works that He rewards. These are the true good things that we ought to be sufficient and bountiful in.

Isaiah 32:5  The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful.

What the Lord gives we should be bountiful in. To be bountiful is to give liberally.

Proverbs 22:9  He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.

We need to distribute and communicate the true things. The Lord’s bread.

But feed the brethren, clothe them, house them, bind up their wounds. Communicate with their afflictions, distribute to their necessities. Relieve their afflictions. Both in truth with the gospel and with your faith, and carnally in figure, with the things they need for their bodies, so they can keep preaching – doing the true good work. But divide the true from the figure of the true.

The Lord’s Work – Part 45

I assume they did the job, and did it faithfully, but the Bible doesn’t record them doing it, as if that was the true work of a Christian. Instead, it records those men preaching the gospel, winning souls, and being persecuted for the word of God’s sake. Stephen the Martyr and Philip the Evangelist. Preaching is what they were focused on.

Luke 18:22  Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.

That kind of sounds like you can sow carnal things, and get spiritual rewards. This is where you can get in trouble: teaching carnal good works in exchange for eternal life.

“Thou shalt have treasure in heaven”. That sounds like salvation. Why then did he need to follow Jesus?

If the flesh can do any good thing, then we don’t need a Saviour.

But I believe, that that IS salvation… after the figure.

You, who believe you are rich, and have need of nothing, must give up everything: every work you are trusting in for salvation. Give good things to the poor, by believing they have salvation by faith alone, without those works you are trusting in. That is giving to the poor. That is loving your brother.

That is having good judgment. That is righteous judgment.

That is what Jesus has to be talking about. Why? Because He told his disciples that it was not about giving away carnal things. It was about what the man believed in.

Mark 10:22-24  And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.  23  And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!  24  And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!

You don’t have to physically sell everything you own in the flesh and distribute to the poor. They may not have known this, but we NOW know this from revealed salvation doctrine.

But you DO have to spiritually, mentally, in your mind, sell all things that you trust in. You have to get rid of them all. Count them all dung. You have to make yourself poor, put yourself in a WORSE position than the poor. You have to become poor. You have to humble yourself, such that you know you have nothing to trust in, and have no hope of salvation, other than faith in the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Those good things you desire – salvation eternal life, eternal riches, an eternal home, living water, everlasting bread – the true good things, you have to distribute to the poor. You have to give riches to the poor. How? By how you judge them. This is all about how you judge men.

Jesus came to give us good judgment. Not to judge. But to show true judgment to men.

True and just judgment is: If they have Jesus they have life, and if they don’t have Jesus, if they have any spiritual riches outside of Christ, that is, if they trust at all in their own riches (their works), they don’t have eternal life. Mentally, you must make yourself poor, and give to the poor (the sinners), eternal life by Jesus Christ.

Luke 16:11  If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

The true things are spiritual things. There are true riches in heavenly places. Giving, distributing carnal things to the people of God is a good work. But truthfully, its just a figure of the true good work of distributing the true riches.

Matthew 10:7-8  And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.  8  Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

After the figure, they were distributing eternal life.

We ought to give the things that we have received: eternal life. Give salvation.

The truth of giving, distributing and communicating, is that we ought to give to all men, but especially to the brethren.

The truth of giving, is that we ought to should carnal things, but the true good things are the spiritual things. To give spiritual things is a true good work.

The truth of giving for a Christian, is that giving to the necessities of the flesh of other Christians (which we SHOULD DO), is not the true.

Your flesh cannot do a true good thing. Nothing you do with the flesh will be rewarded with eternal life or eternal riches, or an eternal house in heaven. Only true good spiritual works are eternally rewarded with good things. Only the giving of, the distribution of true good spiritual things is eternally rewarded with good things. Only being faithful with God things will be repaid with an eternal possession of your own.

When we give the Lord’s things, the same things that were given to us, they give health and eternal life.

Distribution of the Lord’s things, to the Lord’s house, and to all men, is a true good work. How do we do this? We believe unto salvation. Get saved, save others, and grow the faith of yourself and the brethren.

The good work in truth is always the same: build and grow God’s house.

Communicating.

1 Timothy 6:18  That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;

Scripturally, this one was a bit more difficult. Many of the instances of communicating, giving to other Christians, also closely discuss eternal rewards and spiritual fruit. But I don’t believe you can do carnal works to receive spiritual, eternal rewards. So, I struggled a little bit with how to approach these passaged. How do I interpret these things? How do I rightly divide them?

And that is the answer. To understand, you must keep that line between flesh and spirit. You have to divide the true spiritual things from the figurative carnal things.

If you don’t divide the flesh from the Spirit, you will not understand the word of God. You will teach a private interpretation; lies. As we go through these, don’t throw out what we’ve learned. Let the foundation that we have established, the rule that we have learned, let it interpret the Scriptures.

Philippians 4:10-18  But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.  11  Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.  …  14  Notwithstanding ye have well done, that ye did communicate with my affliction.  15  Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only.  16  For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity.  [Communicating is giving to the necessity of saints] 17  Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.  18  But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.

So maybe you can see what I’m saying here. It kind of sounds like giving carnal things can result in spiritual eternal fruit.

What things do you think they gave Paul?  What carnal things should we should communicate to the brethren? I’d say the things that are needful to the body.

1 Timothy 6:8  And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

Carnal things. So here it could get messy. Here is an opportunity for the false prophets to mix up the flesh and the spirit. But lets not break the spiritual foundation, or throw out the rule.

And lets not build again the foundation of carnal things, which we have destroyed.

Galatians 2:18  For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.

We have destroyed the carnal things. Lets not build them again. We cannot cross that LINE.

This passage is really good. And I have not taken this out of context; it teaches exactly this!

Galatians 2:16-18  Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.  17  But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.  18  For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.

We know that we are saved by grace through faith, without the deeds of the flesh. But, what about the “works are proof” doctrine? That is their doctrine: Christ lives in me, in my life, and He makes me do good things.

That doctrine builds again the things which a saved man has destroyed.

If we say that our flesh can do true good works now, that Christ works in our flesh, that Christ is to credit, and is responsible for the good works of my flesh… then when I sin, when I am found a sinner, Christ is responsible for that too. If we can do good in the flesh, if Christ profits the flesh, then we have built again those carnal things which we destroyed. We transgress. We preach false doctrine.

There is a relationship here. Let’s understand the relationship.

Galatians 6:6-8  Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.  7  Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.  8  For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

… It seems there is a way in which giving carnal things to the brethren, or maybe more specifically, to teachers and preachers of the gospel, can result in spiritual things.

I maintain that communicating to Paul’s fleshly necessity is not sowing to the Spirit. BUT, clearly has some connection to sowing to the Spirit.

The question we need to answer is, can you give carnal things (like food and clothing and money) to the brethren and it be counted as a true good work? Some would certainly love to teach this, but I cannot let myself cross that line.

I don’t believe that giving carnal things is a true good work.  You cannot do a true good work with your flesh. We have to draw that line between the flesh and Spirit.

BUT clearly, when giving is done to the brethren, the church, it is so closely connected with the spiritual things, that it may not be so easy to clearly see that line. We must be careful here, but we need an explanation.

I would not say sowing carnal, temporal things can bring forth spiritual, eternal fruit.

But I would say that instead, sowing carnal things to the flesh of Christians, especially our teachers, can foster/support the sowing of Spiritual things. And THIS is the true good work. This is where the true profit comes from. From the Spirit. We must sow to the Spirit to reap everlasting life, and everlasting things.

We have to maintain the division of spiritual things from carnal things:

1 Corinthians 9:11,14  If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? … 14  Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.

If your Pastors and teachers are sowing spiritual things to you, it does not produce carnal things. But, if they are sowing to you spiritual things, the Lord has ordained that they are worthy of you communicating to them your carnal things. You SHOULD do so.

“Not that I speak in respect of want.” And “Not because I desire a gift.” And “I seek not yours, but you”.

Preachers SHOULD live of the gospel. But those carnal things are not the true spiritual fruit. We have to divide flesh from spirit. Carnal fruit from spiritual fruit. Giving spiritual things does not produce carnal things, neither does carnal things (carnal good works) produce spiritual things (spiritual fruit).

If you sow to the flesh, it does not bring forth spiritual fruit. But, then, where is the connection between communicating carnal things, and reaping spiritual fruit?

If you sow to the flesh of Christians, especially your pastors and teachers, the Lord’s ministers are able to sow more spiritual things to you and to others, which, if they are received, those spiritual things will bring forth spiritual fruit.

But we have to draw the line there: sowing spiritual things is the only way to bring forth spiritual fruit.

If we will communicate the carnal things to the preachers who are sowing Spiritual things, then the Lord will give us 2 things: more Spiritual bread for us to eat, and more Spiritual seed (the word of God, Jesus Christ) sown on our behalf. That is, we take part in the spiritual sowing and in the spiritual fruit.

And if we look at Stephen and Philip as the first distributors among the church, did not he Lord increase them in faith and power to sow spiritual things?

Here is where we get that:

2 Corinthians 9:9-10  (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.  10  Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)

What does giving carnal things to a sower of righteousness do? Two things.

1. Increases the seed that he sows spiritually, which you take part in. You take part in his spiritual ministry, reaping the spiritual fruits of his sowing. Ministering to the sower carnally, feeding the sower, increases the spiritual seed sown on your behalf. If so be he is preaching the truth!
2. It increases the spiritual bread for our food. If you are ministering to the saints, the disciples, the preachers and teachers, the apostles, the Lord will minister to you SPIRITUAL bread for your food. Ministering carnal things to the preachers and teachers, in turn ministers spiritual food to the whole church, if so be that the preachers and teachers are teaching the truth.

But you are not turning your carnal things into spiritual things. You are not sowing carnal things and reaping spiritual things. The carnal giving is not the true good work. But if you give carnally to the Lord’s spiritual ministers, the Lord will offer you in return spiritual things for your spiritual food. Spiritual bread – doctrine. If you support an apostle, a gospel preacher, a gospel ministry carnally, the Lord will supply an apostle, a preacher, a gospel ministry, to feed you spiritually. You feeding him carnally, supports him feeding you, and the lost, and the whole church spiritually. Giving to the ministry allows you to take part in the ministry. And that ministry (a true gospel ministry) is the true good work.

Giving is a true good work. Giving carnally is not a true good work. Giving spiritually is a true good work.

Winning souls (1), and growing children (2). If you give carnally, with a pure heart to a gospel ministry that is winning souls, for the sole purpose of profiting the Lord’s people spiritually, you will have an opportunity to take part in the ministering of the true good things: eternal things.

The true good work is to SPIRITUALLY feed men, cloth them, bind up their wounds.

But… given that this carnal communication contributes to the furtherance of the gospel (the body of Christ grows, the house is built in heaven) when care is provided to the brethren who are doing the true good work: growing the body of Christ, we take part in their ministry.

If we sow carnal things to the sowers of spiritual things, The Lord will give us spiritual things – a part in their ministry sowing seed, and bread (doctrine) for our spiritual growth. But those are the true good works. Not the ministering of carnal things. The ministering of spiritual things.

If you do the carnal faithfully with a pure heart, the Lord gives you an opportunity to receive the spiritual. That is the connection between communicating and spiritual fruit. But the connection does not cross the division. We have to divide the carnal things from the spiritual things.

2 Corinthians 9:9-10  (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.  10  Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)

It is fruits of righteousness that the true sower distributes. Those that are sowing righteousness are doing the true good work. Spiritual fruit is the fruit of God’s righteousness. See Prov 11:18, Isa 61:11, James 3:18.

The Lord’s Work – Part 44

#8

1 Timothy 5:10  Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints’ feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, …

The final of the 4 good works of the widow indeed is to relieve the afflicted.

Relieving the afflicted is a good work. Well who are the afflicted? And how do we relieve them?

Well, lets see how the Lord did it, after the flesh, the figure of the true.

Acts 7:9-10  And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,  10  And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

Joseph had afflictions. He was a bondmen, a prisoner. When God brought him out of it to great honour, he was relieved.

If that is the pattern, what is the true? To do the same thing, spiritually. To free the prisoner in bondage, to deliver him from his afflictions.

And this is what a soul-winner does. The good work is always the same.

Acts 7:34  I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt.

As a strangers, servants and bondmen in the land of Egypt, Israel had great afflictions. But when God brought him out of it by a mighty hand, to great honour, Israel was relieved from their affliction.

And this is what a soul-winner does: set free from the power of Pharoah (Satan), the bondmen in afflictions.

So how do we relieve the afflicted? We win souls. First, we relieve ours, then others. First, we get wisdom, then we GIVE wisdom.

How do we deliver them? With Wisdom.

Ecclesiastes 7:12  For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it.

1 Corinthians 1:21  For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

We are saved by wisdom – which the world calls the foolishness of preaching.

Proverbs 3:18  She [wisdom] is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.

The true good work is preaching – sowing – the word of God. What are we sowing? LIFE. A tree of life.

After the Lord’s examples, we are supposed to deliver them out of bondage, with wisdom, and then we need to bring them unto glory and hour.

How do we give them honour and glory? Give them wisdom. Give them understanding.

Proverbs 4:7-9  Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.  8  Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.  9  She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.

Proverbs 14:18  … but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

Proverbs 3:35  The wise shall inherit glory: …

Save them by wisdom, and grow them in understanding. This is a true good work.

Psalms 107:9-10  For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.  10  Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron;

This is the true good work: visit and feed the prisoners. Give them light.

Matthew 4:16  The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.

Give them truth. Give them wisdom, which saves them and brings them to honour.

Afflict* appears 31 times in the NT. I found these previous 2 instances, but otherwise, nearly all of the other instances of afflict* in the NT refer to the afflictions of the Christian brethren.

1 Peter 5:8-9  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:  9  Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

Hebrews 11:25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;

2 Timothy 1:8  Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;

So who are the afflicted? In addition to the lost, they are the people of God, who are doing the work of God: preaching the gospel. If you are preaching the gospel, you will be suffering afflictions.

So to relieve the afflicted is to partake in and/or receive and support the preachers of the gospel.

To relieve the afflicted is 1) to save souls, 2) comfort those that are labouring to save souls.

And look at this. Look how easy this is:

1 Thessalonians 3:7  Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith:

Just have faith. The apostles seeing the faith of the churches was all they needed to be relieved of their affliction.

So just in you having faith, holding fast the faith, another Christian brother hearing of your faith, being comforted by your mutual faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ, you have relieved the afflicted. Right there, you have done a good work. A true good work in the Spirit.

You want to relieve the afflicted brethren, to comfort the distressed man of God? Let them see or hear of your faith. A man of God is comforted by our mutual faith in the word of God.

Romans 1:11-12  For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;  12  That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.

What comforts the afflicted people of God? To see our brethren established in our mutual faith.

2 Corinthians 7:5-13  For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.  6  Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus;  7  And not by his coming only, but by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you, when he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me; so that I rejoiced the more.  …  13  Therefore we were comforted in your comfort: yea, and exceedingly the more joyed we for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all.  … 15  And his inward affection is more abundant toward you, whilst he remembereth the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling ye received him.

When they were troubled on every side, when they were persecuted and afraid, the faith of the brethren comforted the apostles. The faith of the brethren comforts the other brethren. That with fear and trembling our brethren receive and obey a preacher, this is affection and love and comfort toward God’s house.

When a new brother is won, that comforts me. When I find mutual faith in a man, that comforts me. When I hear a spiritual song, that mutual faith in those words of life comforts me.

Not that the apostles’ flesh or Titus’ flesh had any rest, but “his spirit was refreshed” by the faith of the brethren. This is a saved man doing a good work to the house of God.

That they received Titus comforted him, and all the apostles, in their affliction. To receive a man of God in the name of God, this is true love. This is a true good work.

And for a lost man to receive one of the brethren (God’s children, his enemy) preaching the gospel – to  get saved – this is his first true good work. He relieved the afflicted. And it was a true good work because it was not done to flesh, but to one of the spiritual brethren of the Lord. It was done to the Lord.

The true good work is always the same: to save souls and raise children. To build and grow the body of Christ.

#9

1 Timothy 6:18  That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;

I consider this a singular good work: Giving is a “good work”. Distribution. Communication.

Distributing to the necessity of the Saints. Communicating with the needs of the brethren, and of all men.

Part of me wished I didn’t even count this as a specific good work at all. Because you can really get into a lot of trouble with this one. If you aren’t careful, you may start thinking your flesh is doing a true good work by giving carnal things. If I wanted to teach that, I could try to. But I think it would get me in a lot of trouble doctrinally, because it would confuse flesh and Spirit.

I would understand if you would count this instance differently. Maybe there are only 8 specific good works in the Bible.

But I do believe it would be fair to count it as an example of a specific good work, and it needs an explanation. And I believe if we are careful to remember that the true things are the spiritual things, then there is an understanding that fits, and does not violate what we’ve learned: true good works are those that create and establish the house of God; birth and grow the body of Christ, the children of God.

Its really all about the eternal things, not the temporal things.

1 Timothy 6:17-19  Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;  18  That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;  19  Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

I believe that the only true good for which we will be rewarded is when we labour in God’s house. When we labour in eternal life. Giving, distributing, communicating, is about feeding the church of God, building a good foundation. The foundation is Jesus Christ. A true foundation is a saved man in Christ. A good foundation is a strong established living stone that has been built upon with Spirit (not with hands) and furnished with spiritual things.

What we ought to be doing is labouring to build God’s house in heaven.

Distribution.

1 Timothy 6:18  That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;

First two instances of distribute:

Joshua 13:32  These are the countries which Moses did distribute for inheritance in the plains of Moab, on the other side Jordan, by Jericho, eastward.

Joshua 14:1  And these are the countries which the children of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel, distributed for inheritance to them.

Distribution to God’s people is a good work.

The figure of the true shows the true. Like Moses and Joshua, we ought to give an inheritance to the children of Israel. We ought to distribute an inheritance, a place in the country of God, to God’s people. How? The same way we do all the other examples of the true good work: we get saved by faith, and save others by faith and establish them in the faith. We ought to distribute the spiritual things, rather than the natural things. We ought to distribute unto the children of God, rather than the children after the flesh. Should we do the figure? Yes. But much more, we ought to do the true.

John 6:11  And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.

Here is Jesus doing a good work. Distributing man’s necessary food to feed the flesh. A good work, but the figure of the true, after the flesh.

John 6:26-27  Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.  27  Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

The true distribution of meat, is the body of Christ, which he broke and gave to man for his everlasting life. Jesus said:

John 6:51  I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

This is the true good work: the work of the ministry of the word. The work of saving souls by distributing to all men liberally, the gospel of Jesus Christ. We ought to be “ready to distribute” the flesh of Jesus Christ. This is the true good work of distribution.

The true good work is not to distribute unto the house of God after the flesh. They did that in the OT.

Nehemiah 13:12-13  Then brought all Judah the tithe of the corn and the new wine and the oil unto the treasuries.  13  And I made treasurers over the treasuries, Shelemiah the priest, and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedaiah: and next to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah: for they were counted faithful, and their office was to distribute unto their brethren.

All Judah brought in food, and the Levites distributed it unto their brethren. This was a good work, after the figure of the true.

And in the New Testament the Church did the same thing, after the flesh. After the flesh, we are no better, no more capable of doing good works, than the OT Levites.

Acts 4:34-35  Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,  35  And laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.

If this were the true good work, then this is what we would see the apostles focused on doing. But, instead, the Apostles recused themselves from this carnal ministration, saying “it is not meet that we should leave the word of God and serve tables”. They set other men, faithful and honest men of good report over this ministration. So you’d expect to see them focused on doing this, right? Nope. Even the men set over this task, we don’t see them doing anything other than preaching the word of God. I assume they did the job, and did it faithfully. And it was a good work! Feeding the church of God is a good work! But the fleshly ministration was the figure of the true.

The Lord’s Work – Part 43

#5

The next 4 good works appear in the same verse, and constitute a list of good works that should be present in a “widow indeed”. The widow indeed is worthy of being supported by the church financially.

1 Timothy 5:9-10  Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man,  10  Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints’ feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work.

Sandwiched between the “good works” and “every good work”, Paul lists 4 specific “good works”.

These are the figures of the true good works. Notice, if a window has done these good works carnally, she is not “saved”, or rewarded eternally. Rather she is taken care of carnally.

1 Timothy 5:10  Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, …

Work # 1 of the 4: bringing up children.

Should we bring up children on the earth? Should we feed them and clothe them and … generally keep them alive so they can grow? Yeah, sure. But the lost do that. Plenty of OT saints did that. Is that a “good work”? Apparently so.

But, to do it after the flesh, is to do the figure of the true.

We ought to bear and raise spiritual children: the Lord’s children.

Galatians 3:26  For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 4:19  My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,

How did Paul beget children? With the word of God.

How was he laboring to bring forth? In the Gospel.

How did he bring up children? With doctrine, with knowledge and understanding.

1 Peter 2:2  As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

We grow children by the word of God, by the knowledge and understanding of Jesus Christ.

Train up a child in the way he should go. How do you train up a child? You teach him understanding.

Deuteronomy 6:4-7  Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:  5  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. [that is the first and greatest commandment]  6  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:  7  And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

Obeying the first commandment, hiding His word in your heart, enables you to do the good work: teach His words, train up children. The Lord doesn’t care if you “raise up children” like the heathen do. He requires that you teach them His words. That is loving the Lord, that is loving your neighbor, that is bringing up children, that is a good work.

Luke 4:4  And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

Paul constantly laboured to purge out the leaven (the works!) from the children’s bread, as in the church of Galatia. We need to keep that bread pure, because that is what both creates, and feeds the children of God.

Paul fed the house of God with understanding, with doctrine. With spiritual bread. We need to bring up children with pure unleavened bread.

1 Corinthians 14:20  Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.

To raise spiritual children into spiritual men, they must grow, being trained, in understanding. They grow by words.

Ephesians 4:14-15  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;  15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

To bring up children spiritually, with doctrine, with truth and understanding, is the true good work.

And it aligns with all the others: the true good work is to build and feed the house of God.

#6

1 Timothy 5:10  Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, …

To lodge strangers is a good work. Bring strangers into your house. Give them a safe place to lodge. Bring them in out of the darkness, into the house, so they can see the light of the house.

But if you bring strangers into your house on earth, is this a true “good work”? How long do you have to lodge them in your earthly house? One night? One year? What if I just build them their own house? At what point, have I done a good work and am due an eternal reward? Never. Any house I build them or give them will break down. Its all a temporary shadow of the true.

If you didn’t do an eternal good work, why would you get an eternal reward?

The true good work is not to bring them into your house on earth; the figure of the true, but rather to bring them into the house of God, in heaven. Give them a house in heaven.

John 14:2  In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

Jesus left this world, to prepare a place in his house, for strangers to dwell with Him.

John 14:3  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

That is a good work: to receive strangers to dwell in an eternal house.

To “lodge strangers” spiritually is to bring them in to be fellowcitizens with the house of God.

Ephesians 2:11-12,19  Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;  12  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:  …  19  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

Take the strangers and make them no more strangers. Bring them into the household of God. This is a good work.

If we divide the word “strangers”, we see both a heavenly and an earthly meaning.

Strangers to God’s house are the lost. But in the world, Christians are strangers. Truthfully, Christians in this world are strangers and pilgrims.

1 Peter 1:1-2  Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,  2  Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

1 Peter 2:11  Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

We and our brethren are strangers in this world. We are the Lord’s children from a heavenly country, currently dwelling among the children of Satan, in man’s country.

John 17:16  They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

A good work for a saved man is to receive the lost stranger, and make him no more a stranger.

A good work for a lost man is to receive a child of God.

For an unsaved man (a stranger to God) to receive a gospel preacher (a stranger to him), he has received a child of God (a stranger).

Luke 9:48  And said unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me: …

Matthew 10:40-41  He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. 41  … and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.

To receive a child of God, is to entertain strangers. How can you do this?

You already did this when you yourself received a preacher of the gospel, and got saved. And now, you do it every time you preach the gospel to another stranger, and welcome home another stranger – the elect, though a lost sheep.

That is the true good work.

Hebrews 13:2  Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Should we lodge strangers (the brethren) on the earth? Yes. Specifically, the brethren.

I wouldn’t go and find homeless strangers and bring them into your house.

2 John 1:10  If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:

Should we lodge other Christians in our houses on the earth? Yes. But that is the figure of the true.

We ought to lodge the strangers of this world, that is, the brethren of Christ into our house in Heaven by preaching the gospel and strengthening their faith.

We ought to lodge the strangers to Christ in heaven, that is, to bring them into the house of God and make them no more strangers.

All 9 agree. There are many good works after the flesh, but the true good work, after the Spirit, is always the same: to save souls and raise children. To build and grow the body of Christ.

#7

1 Timothy 5:10  Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints’ feet, …

If she did these carnal things, she was worthy of support with the church’s money. Carnal things.

But if we do them in truth, we are worthy of an eternal reward.

Number 3 of these 4 good works: Washing the saints’ feet.

John 13:12-15  So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?  13  Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.  14  If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.  15  For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

Should we wash each other’s feet? Absolutely. But carnally, what Jesus did, and what the zealous workers do today, is just an example. The carnal/natural work was the pattern. Should we do the pattern. Yeah, sure! We “ought to”. But that is not where the eternal reward is. That is just the figure, that is not the true!

John 13:8-10  Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.  9  Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.  10  Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.

John 13:14-15  If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.  15  For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

If your feet aren’t washed, you aren’t clean, you have no part with Christ. That is an important work! We need to do this work. But…

1 Timothy 5:10 is the only time that washing the saints’ feet appears outside of the 4 gospels. If it was so important, why didn’t the apostles go around doing it? If it was so important, why didn’t Paul command us to do it? If it was an eternally rewardable, soul-saving work, if it was such an important thing to do in the flesh, it should be elsewhere in the NT, and not just when talking about who is, and who is not, worthy of financial support with church money (the widows indeed). And for the widow indeed who washed the saints feet, there is no mention of an eternal reward, but a carnal one.

Psalms 51:2  Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

Acts 22:16  And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

This is how you wash someone’s feet. You wash away their sins with pure living water. But not in the flesh!

1 Peter 3:21  The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

Physical water baptism is the figure of the true. The true is being baptized into Jesus Christ.

Romans 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

Galatians 3:27  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

We are not required to be submerged into physical water, but into Jesus Christ Himself. That is TRUE baptism. That is the true washing away of sins.

Jesus’ example good work was not about the cleanliness of the flesh, but the cleanliness of the Spirit. That is why, while He washed them all in the flesh, He said they were not all clean; Judas Iscariot was not clean.

This was not about cleaning physical human feet. This is about cleaning souls!

Romans 10:13-15  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.  14  How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?  15  And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

To truly wash the saints’ feet is a spiritual work which has to do with possessing and preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ so that men can believe and be saved. If you wash the saints feet in this world, you’ve only done the example, the figure of the true.

A preacher of the gospel has beautifully clean feet, washed by pure water – the word of God.

To preach the gospel to a man is to give him water to cleanse his feet. To cleanse the feet of a man is to cleanse him from his sin. To wash him with the water of the word.

Ephesians 5:25-26  Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;  26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

That is what we are supposed to do. Wash each other’s feet with the word of God. But not the head and the hands. Just the feet. All they have to do is have their feet cleansed. Just step in the pure water.

John 5:4  For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.

It wasn’t the first person to be fully submerged in the water. It was the first one to step in.

When a soul winner preaches the gospel, he offers a man the pure water of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

1^st instance of “wash” and “feet” in the Bible:

Genesis 18:4  Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:

All that man has to do is allow himself to be cleansed. Just step in. Just wash your feet in Jesus Christ!

When was the Jordan river dried up?

Joshua 3:15  And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,)

A widow may be well reported of for good works in her flesh, and thus be worthy of care and reward in the flesh. But unless she does those good works spiritually, in the true, she has no eternal reward.

All 9 good works agree: the true good work is always the same; to save souls and raise children. To build and grow the body of Christ.

The Lord’s Work – Part 42

1 Samuel 16:13  Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. …

Isaiah 61:1  The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; …

Luke 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; …

So… how do we, as men, anoint the body of Christ? We take that same oil that we have been given, and we pour it out to other men. We preach the gospel. We reprove them with words.

Psalms 141:5  Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: …

Its not a carnal work of anointing the feet of men. Its not any carnal works of caring for the poor.

Its not sweet, beautiful words of encouragement and loving kindness that anoints a man. Its words of rebuke and reproof.

Reprove a man such that he understands how to repent. This is oil on his head. This is loving your neighbor, your brother. This is anointing the body of Jesus Christ. This is a good work.

Giving him oil is giving a man the gospel so that he gets saved; i.e. so that the Holy Spirit comes upon him.

Rebuke your neighbor with wisdom (oil), so that his sin can be removed from him.

Leviticus 19:17  Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.

You love your enemy when you rebuke him. You ANOINT him with oil when you preach the gospel to him. You show kindness to him when you get the sin off of him. You need to REBUKE a sinner, to love him.

To NOT rebuke your neighbor is to suffer sin upon him – and to suffer sin upon him is to hate him.

Proverbs 13:24  He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

To NOT rebuke your neighbor is to hate him. If you don’t warn him, and give him the gospel, you’ve hated your neighbor.

The Good Samaritan was Jesus’ example of loving your “neighbor”, doing good. What did the Good Samaritan (the enemy) do? He went to the half dead man, binding up his wounds, and according to Luke 10:34 – “pouring in oil and wine” (the Holy Spirit and the Blood of Jesus Christ). That is what we ought to do. That is loving your neighbor. That is a true good work. Give him oil, to save his eternal life.

In Matthew 25, Jesus says there were ten virgins. Five were wise and five were foolish. While they waited for the bridegroom, they all slumbered and slept. Those that woke up WITH OIL, went in to be with the Lord, those that woke up WITHOUT OIL were shut out and the Lord told them “I know you not”.

To be ready for your death (the night), you need to have OIL!

Mary Magdalene’s work was to prepare the Lord’s body for his burial. But that was the figure.

A true good work, THE good work, is supplying men with oil (the Holy Spirit) to prepare them for their death. So then, when they die, they die and are buried with Christ.  They die, they sleep, with oil.

While the figure of a “good work”, like pouring oil on the head of a man, may be done in the flesh, the true good work is performed to the body of Christ, and it is performed without hands.

9 good works. 1 in the OT. 1 During Jesus’ ministry. 7 afterward.

The first 2 good works appear before Christ died, the remaining 7 appear after the resurrection of Christ.

1 of 29 “good work(s)” appear in the OT. 23 of 29 “good work(s)” all appear in Acts – 1 Peter. Good works are for New Testament Christians. We were created unto good works, in Christ Jesus.

#3

1 Timothy 3:1  This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.

A bishop’s job is to feed the sheep. To care for the church, the house of God. To preach the gospel. This is a good work. This is THE good work. This work, in truth, is the only good work. All other good works mentioned are really just doing this main good work: to feed the house of God. To build NJ.

To save souls, and establish them in the faith.

Titus 1:7  For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;

A bishop is set over the house of the Lord as a steward of God’s house.

A steward is supposed to manage the Lord’s supplies, and use them faithfully to feed and grow the house.

The things that the bishop is supposed to minister to the house are the Lord’s things, not man’s things.

A bishop is supposed to feed the church with the word of God.

Acts 20:28  Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

A bishop’s job is to feed the church of God. So a good work is to feed the church of God. So what are we doing folks? Why aren’t we out there running soup kitchens and giving out free thanksgiving turkeys.

Jeremiah 3:15  And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

This is a true good work. This is THE true good work. To feed the house of God, but to do so, spiritually, without hands.

#4

Acts 9:36-39  Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did.  37  And it came to pass in those days, that she was sick, and died: whom when they had washed, they laid her in an upper chamber.  38  And forasmuch as Lydda was nigh to Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not delay to come to them.  39  Then Peter arose and went with them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber: and all the widows stood by him weeping, and shewing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them.

Dorcas/Tabitha was “full of good works”, but the only work that is specifically mentioned is… making clothing.

Clothing the naked is called out as a good work in the Bible.

Matthew 25:34-40  Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:  35  For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:  36  Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.  37  Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?  38  When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?  39  Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?  40  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Just like with the oil… who must we do it to? To Jesus. To the body of Christ. We must CLOTHE Jesus. And how do we clothe Jesus? We clothe the brethren, the church!

Dorcas did this in figure. The elect, have done this in truth. They found the body of Christ naked, and clothed it. However, many of the elect who have done it, don’t even know they did it! And the lost, who have done it, they don’t know they haven’t done it. They likely, think they DID do it.

So how do we clothe the naked? We save souls of course. A soul-winner clothes the naked. A soul-winner feeds and clothes the house of God. When you win a soul, you clothe the naked body of Christ. Not only that, but when you got saved yourself, you clothed yourself; yourself being a member of Christ’s body. You did a good work, clothing a child of God.

Isaiah 61:10  I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.

Job 29:14  I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem.

When a man gets saved he is covered with salvation, clothed with righteousness. When you clothe a naked sinner with righteousness, you clothe the body of Christ. You do it, not to flesh, but to Jesus Christ.

Clothing a man spiritually is giving him an incorruptible body.

2 Corinthians 5:1-3  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.  2  For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:  3  If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.

When a man is saved, he is clothed with eternal clothing. This is a good work.

Should we clothe the naked and poor on the earth? Yes. Dorcas did, and she was credited with the 1^st “good work” after Jesus Christ’s resurrection. But that is the figure of the true. We do the true. And because we CAN do the true good work, and we ought to do it.

The necessities of the body are food and clothing. Feed and clothe the body of Christ. Grow His vine, build His building. That is the good work.

#5

The next 4 good works appear in the same verse, and constitute a list of good works that should be present in a “widow indeed”. The widow indeed is worthy of being supported by the church financially.

1 Timothy 5:9-10  Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man,  10  Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints’ feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work.

Sandwiched between the “good works” and “every good work”, Paul lists 4 specific “good works”.

These are the figures of the true good works. Notice, if a window has done these good works carnally, she is not “saved”, or rewarded eternally. Rather she is taken care of carnally.

The Lord’s Work – Part 41

Good works

1^st 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.

2^nd 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 1^st 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 2^nd 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 2^nd 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

1^st 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

2^nd  and 3^rd 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 2^nd and 3^rd 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.

The Lord’s Work – Part 40

The Righteous’ Works

We’ve talked about the wicked and his deceitful works. Let’s address the righteous and his righteous works.

Proverbs 21:8  The way of man is froward and strange: but as for the pure, his work is right.

Man is not “the pure”. The Pure are not like Man. The pure and righteous are not in the same category as man. You can’t be born of a “man” and be pure.

The righteous man’s work is PURE. There is no evil in it, no deceit in it, no imperfection, no fault, no instability. It is absolutely perfect, and it stands for ever.

Proverbs 13:21  Evil pursueth sinners: but to the righteous good shall be repayed.

That is a big fat BUT! That is a line.  If at our judgment, we are found sinners, instead of completely righteous, evil will be repaid.

  Sinners | Righteous

^

“but”

Righteous men are not like the wicked. The righteous are not dealt with the same way.

Psalms 103:10-12  He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.  11  For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.  12  As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

A saved man receives mercy (before judgment) and does not receive according to his sins. His sins have been removed far away from him. His sins have been washed away by the blood of Jesus, by mercy before the judgment.

Romans 3:7  For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?`

What I believe Paul is asking is…If you can be a liar and its good, or okay, or acceptable, or can be overlooked, then why are some people judged as sinners, and some are not? If a liar can profit or be a good thing, or be acceptable to God, then how can God judge some men as sinners? Why is anyone judged as a sinner? Why do I need a Saviour?

But rather, Paul is teaching, lying is NOT acceptable. It never benefits. There is no lying in salvation. There is no lying, no deceit in a righteous man. A liar is not acceptable. A liar is always judged as a sinner. But a Christian is NOT a liar. He is not a sinner.

There must be a division, a line between the Sinner and the Righteous.

If the righteous sinned, lied, they would be JUDGED as sinners. But the righteous are NOT JUDGED AS SINNERS, because they ARE NOT sinners. They used to be sinners, but their sins have been removed by blood and by mercy. And they are MADE (born) not sinners. They “cannot sin” says the book of 1 John.

When we are judged we will NOT be found to have done both good and evil. We are not found to be both righteous and wicked. We either are found sinners, or are found NOT sinners. We are either judged as Sinners (because we sin), or we are judged as Pure (because we cannot sin). There is a line between the two. There is no such thing as a “righteous sinner”.

The common belief of mankind is that we all have some good and some evil in us (what a big fat lie!). That we have all done some good works and some bad works. And when we are judged, the outcome will be the addition and subtraction of those works together. So, you know… your good works add to other good works, and erase your evil works. But your evil works subtract with each other to erase your good works.

Is this Biblical? Of course not!

Hebrews 10:4  For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.  …  11  And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:

Man’s good works don’t take away (subtract) sins. Carnal sacrifices CAN NEVER take away sins!!

Let that sink in. Carnal sacrifices can never take away sins.

Let that sink in, Catholics, who believe you must physically eat the body and drink the blood of Jesus in the form of physical wine and wafers! Who offer physical, carnal money for lessened time in purgatory for self and loved ones. They purchase indulgences, with money! Who demand penances (physical self-punishments, carnal good works) for absolution of sins.

Question to Google: “Can I purchase an indulgence today?” Answer: You cannot buy one — the church outlawed the sale of indulgences in 1567 — but charitable contributions, combined with other acts, can help you earn one.

Let that sink in, Mormons, who offer sacrifices and baptize themselves for other dead men, and wear special undergarments to gain favor in eternity.

Let that sink in, Jehovah’s Witnesses, who believe that physical water baptism, plus a public (fleshly) confession of faith, plus of course, a life of servitude to Jehovah is required for salvation.

Carnal sacrifices are worth 0. Keep adding 0 to 0 and you will get… 0.

Man believes that carnal sacrifices can take away sins.

Sure, they also believe Jesus is the Son of God, but they are still offering the same sacrifices as they were before Jesus came: carnal sacrifices.

Hebrews 10:11  … offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:

The Jews had those things available in the OT. The Law gave them THAT. The Law…

Hebrews 9:10  Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

They had carnal “holy water” in the OT. Washing with that water could never take away sins. They had the blood of pure sacrifices in the OT. Being sprinkled with carnal blood could never take away sins. None of these carnal sacrifices, or any carnal good works, can take away sins.

Well then what CAN take away sins, so that I am not “judged as a sinner”? What can wash away my sins?

.

.

Blood takes away sins. But no other blood than the blood of Jesus. The heavenly blood.

Revelation 1:5  And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

Matthew 26:28  For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Hebrews 9:22  And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

If the blood of Jesus alone can take away sins, and not carnal sacrifices, or any of my carnal works, then why must I do good works?  Then why must I continue to live a life of servitude to God with my body?

Carnal sacrifices CANNOT take away sins!!

Carnal good things can’t add righteousness to man, and carnal evil things don’t subtract righteousness from him. Carnal things cannot defile a man… because man is already defiled. Sin and disobedience is already in him – in his heart.

Jehovah’s witnesses are taught that they cannot receive blood from another man. They can’t take of the life that God put in someone else and put it into them. It sounds good, but… don’t they already have the same product in them? The Bible says all nations of men are made of one blood (Acts 17:26). Jesus said that there is nothing without a man that entering in can defile the man.

1 John 3:5  And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.

John 1:29  The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

You may say, “well Jesus took away our sins, and he was made carnal. So there must be some carnal things involved in salvation. There must be some good carnal things!”

Bad assumptions, wrong conclusions. Garbage in, garbage out.

God was made “flesh”. But Jesus is never called “natural”, “carnal”, or “earthly”. Jesus was not “carnal”, nor was he “earthly”.

1 Corinthians 15:45-47  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.  46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.  47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.

Adam is called natural, and earthy. The first man was made carnal.

The second man was made heavenly – spiritual.

Jesus was made flesh, but Jesus was not natural, not earthy, Jesus is spiritual.

Likewise, is a saved man in the Spirit. He is spiritual, not natural, and his works are spiritual not carnal.

A saved man is not like an unsaved man. And a saved man’s work is not like an unsaved man’s work.

Good works (true good works) are not like the works of the world.

The works of the world are carnal, earthy, natural.

The works of the Spirit are spiritual; good and pure and righteous.

The Righteous’ works, true good works, are not like the Wicked’s works.

Man’s works, carnal works, works done with men’s hands, are not true good works.

So, lets talk about true good works.

The Lord’s Work – Part 39

#3:

Acts 10:34-35  Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:  35  But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.

There is a lot going on here in Acts 10, and if not rightly divided, the false prophets will use people’s confusion to teach their lies: their works salvation.

The Apostle Peter says this in response to realizing that the Lord has sent him to preach the gospel to a Gentile; that salvation is now being sent to the unclean, uncircumcised Gentiles.

While it is not a direct statement that any specific historical human “worketh righteousness”, it does seem to indicate that Cornelius meets the qualification of the statement: that he “worketh righteousness”. And honestly, it would be unfair to say that he doesn’t. We need to understand what is written, not dance around it. But also, certainly not jump to conclusions that contradict Scriptural salvation doctrine.

There is none righteous, no not one (Romans 3:10). There is none that doeth good no not one (Romans 3:12). We are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8), without the deeds of the law (Romans 3:28). Righteousness is imputed to us, without works (Romans 4:6). We are saved not by works of righteousness which we have done (Titus 3:5), but through faith in his blood (Romans 3:25). Our sins are removed by the righteousness of God (Romans 3:25). Not the righteousness which is of the law, the righteousness of God which is by faith (Philippians 3:9). We are justified by faith (Romans 5:1), but no man is justified by the law in the sight of God (Galatians 3:11). And if any man trusts to, or includes his own works, then Christ is become of no effect to him, and he is fallen from grace (Galatians 5:4, Romans 11:6).

This is Christian Church age salvation doctrine. We have to believe these things, hold them fast, and not let this foundation be shaken or destroyed just because one, singular, individual, (only 1), alone, with no 2^nd witness of a man other than Cornelius in the flesh that “worketh righteousness” – just because this one “difficult” verse is used by false prophets to blind men, to put them in bondage, and corrupt the work of God.

Jesus said that they “strain at a nat and swallow a camel” (Matthew 23:24).

So in what way were Cornelius’ works involved to make him “accepted” with God?

Acts 10:1-6  There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band,  2  A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.  3  He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius.  4  And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.  5  And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter:  6  He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do.

Well what oughtest Cornelius to do? Some works? Well if Peter could say that Cornelius “worketh righteousness”, then hadn’t he already done works? If he could be saved by works, if he were already righteous, then why would he oughtest to do anything else?

What ought he to do? What did God tell him Peter would do? Tell him something. And in response what did God say OUGHTEST Cornelius do? Well, its not said here, but it IS explained later.

When Cornelius recounts to Peter, what God told him, he says:

Acts 10:32-33  Send therefore to Joppa, and call hither Simon, whose surname is Peter; he is lodged in the house of one Simon a tanner by the sea side: who, when he cometh, shall speak unto thee.  33  Immediately therefore I sent to thee; and thou hast well done that thou art come. Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.

Peter was supposed to speak, and Cornelius was supposed to (oughtest to) hear.

And then when Cornelius’ servants recount what Cornelius told them that God said, we see this:

Acts 10:21-22  Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius; and said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek: what is the cause wherefore ye are come?  22  And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words of thee.

The servants’ recounting of the story includes what God actually wanted Cornelius to get from Peter: WORDS.

We see this again later. When Peter recounts the story to the Jewish brethren, he says…

Acts 11:13-14  And he [Cornelius] shewed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter;  14  Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.

Each recounting of the story sheds more light on what God said to Cornelius. “Progressive revelation” I’ve heard it called. God doesn’t give understanding all at once, but distributed over time and space, in His word.

What God had told Cornelius, which we were not told in Acts 10, was that he needed to be saved: BY WORDS.

And then again, years later, when false brethren come into the churches teaching works salvation, Peter goes back to recount the same story yet again:

Acts 15:7-9  And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.  8  And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;  9  And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

Cornelius and his house were saved BY FAITH, in WORDS alone. No works were involved. Not even, as Peter had likely supposed at that time, water baptism was necessary. It was actually at this point that Peter began to realize that water baptism wasn’t a part of salvation.

Acts 11:15-16  And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning.  16  Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.

Do you need to be baptized? Absolutely! But not with the world’s water.

And so now, here is the conversion. Here is the opening of the gospel to the Gentiles.

And not only that, but here is how Cornelius – the only man of whom the Bible even somewhat indicates that he “worketh righteousness” – how Cornelius was a figure, a pattern, an example to us.

Here is the value of fearing the Lord, seeking the Lord, waiting on the Lord, and you could say, working righteousness like Cornelius, in the flesh, in the OT, under the law, after the figure of the true, which is not true righteousness. What is the value? The Lord keeps His promise. The Lord will be FOUND of that unsaved man.

The Lord hears the unsaved man’s prayer, and the Lord sends a preacher.

Acts 10:34-48  Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:  35  But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.  [Here is how Cornelius was accepted; here is what he receives from the Lord for his fearing, seeking, and working] 36  The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:)  37  That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached;  38  How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.  39  And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree:  40  Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly;  41  Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.  42  And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.  43  To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. [That was what God sent Peter to say. That was what Cornelius oughtest to do, and there is not a single work required in all of Peter’s words. Those are the words whereby Cornelius and all his house were to be saved] 44  While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.  45  And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.  46  For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter,  47  Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?  48  And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.

There was NOTHING else that Cornelius was required to do: only hear, and believe.

I included verses 46-48 so you can see the conclusion of the matter. Peter commanded water baptism, but it had nothing to do with their salvation.

The Lord purified their hearts by faith. Washed them with the blood of Christ and with living water. But not by physical water. Again, a lot going on here in Acts 10-11. But what we can see is that Cornelius’ works were not a part of his, or are they a part of anyone’s, salvation. The only role Cornelius’ works had, as an unsaved man who was unable to work true righteousness, was to make his seeking of the Lord and his prayer acceptable to the Lord, so that the Lord in response sent him a preacher so that he could HEAR how he must be saved BY FAITH in WORDS alone, without works.

From Cornelius, we see that the only thing that is promised to an unsaved man, is that if he will seek the Lord with his whole heart, he will find Him. If a man will fear the Lord and seek after the Lord, he will find the Lord. If he will seek the Lord with his whole heart, he will be accepted.

Jeremiah 29:12-14  Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.  13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.  14  And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: …

Deuteronomy 4:29  But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

These are promises made to the Jews. But now, salvation is sent to the Gentiles. Now, all nations are blessed in Abraham (Galatians 3:8).

Peter said that Cornelius was “accepted” with God. But Cornelius was not accepted into Heaven. He was not accepted into the Church or into the body of Christ. He was not accepted as a righteous man. He was not given the Holy Spirit.

Cornelius was “accepted” in that his prayer was heard. In response, the Lord sent him a preacher.

Acts 10:30-33  And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing,  31  And said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God.

Cornelius was not saved by his righteousness. He was not saved by seeking the Lord and waiting on the Lord. He was saved by faith in the words of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The only thing Cornelius was given, as a result of his righteousness, in waiting for the kingdom of God, was a chance to hear the gospel. The same promise that was to the Israelites. But Cornelius was a Gentile. And now, the Lord was putting no difference between the Jews and Gentiles, purifying the Gentiles hearts the same way… BY FAITH.

The Lord has things (spiritual things) prepared for those that love Him, those that wait for Him; for every one that, as Peter said, “feareth Him, and worketh righteousness”.

Cornelius was not saved by his righteousness. His own righteousness was not a part of his salvation. His own righteousness was only involved to the extent that he was obeying the law, waiting for salvation, seeking the Lord with his whole heart, and thus the Lord heard his prayer, and sent him a preacher.

If Cornelius was trusting in his works, the Lord would not have accepted him – heard him:

Psalms 66:18  If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:

All men’s works in truth, are evil. If we regard them, trust in them, we are deceived by them, and the Lord will not hear us.

Cornelius knew he was not saved by his righteousness. The Lord told him exactly by what means he was going to be saved:

Acts 11:14  Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.

WORDS whereby thou shall be saved. Cornelius was saved by WORDS. Not by his works, and not by water baptism. Words.

If men could be saved by works, Cornelius would have already been saved. There would be no need for Peter to come and preach Jesus.

So what good was Cornelius’ “working righteousness”?

The Bible says that the law was a schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ (Gal 3:24).

The law, the figure of the true, teaches men to be ready for the true. That is, IF they hear the law.

But you can be diligently working to obey the law, without actually hearing it (Galatians 4:21).  And if men seek the righteousness which is of the law by works, instead of seeking true righteousness by faith, then they’ve not heard the law, or been taught by the law, but they’ve stumbled at that stumblingstone (Romans 9:32). The law can lead you to Christ, OR the law can be a stumblingstone to offend you away from Christ. No matter how righteous men are according to the law, they can reject the law, while not believing and not hearing the law. And they are VERY righteous, according to the flesh (Matt 5:20).

So I believe that the only role a man’s righteousness (carnal, fake righteousness) has in salvation, is the same role as that of the law. Which is: NONE. The law has no role in salvation. The law is bondage.

However, the law can lead a man to Jesus Christ, and cause Christ to hear his cries, and to be found of that man. If the Lord hears/accepts the man’s cry, he will send a messenger, a preacher, to tell him WORDS whereby he must be saved. The best the law can do, the best a man’s righteousness can do, is grant him a chance to hear the truth.

But, the law (or man’s righteousness) can also become a stumblingstone. A rock of offence. It became that for the Jews, and it has become that for the false prophets and for MANY who claim to be Christians.

Romans 9:30-33  What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.  31  But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.  32  Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;  33  As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

Without hearing the law, they trust in the works of the law, in their own righteousness, and thus they are blinded, and they stumble at the law, and they fall into the pit.

But those that BELIEVE on Him only, shall not be ashamed.

Theres a lot going on in Acts 10. This is the transition from the law to grace. This is the transition from Jews to Gentiles. This is the transition from Israel only, to all nations blessed together in Israel. This is the transition from the figure of the true to the true.

John the Baptist preached the law. He preached, the Saviour is coming, prepare yourself by getting baptized, keeping the law and waiting for the Saviour.  But that is OT. Those are lost people.

However, those that what John preached, humbly, seeking the Lord, not lifting themselves up, or trusting in their own righteousness, they were people that were ready and prepared to hear the gospel. Ready to hear words of a preacher, and believe unto salvation.

Now… all this said. The law, or one’s own righteousness is NOT required to be accepted. One does not have to be living as righteously as Cornelius in order to be sent a gospel preacher. One does not have to be living righteously to be able to hear the gospel. We see SINNERS get saved all the time, and there are plenty of Bible examples. Paul, Peter, Mary Magdalene.

Cornelius was one example of a “righteous man”, according to the law, after the figure, who was waiting on the Lord for salvation. But if Cornelius believed himself to be righteous, if he trusted in his own righteousness, if he had lifted himself up in pride, if he rejected the words of Peter, he would have been just as blind and as lost as the chief priests and Pharisees that killed Jesus and persecuted the apostles.

I think there are very few people like Cornelius today. Some maybe, but few. If people are teaching the righteousness of the works of the law today, they are teaching people to trust in those works. They get puffed up by those works.

Jesus says I came NOT to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. If you don’t believe yourself to be a Sinner, instead of “Righteous”, then you cannot be saved. Cornelius was not trusting in his own righteousness. If you trust in the figure of the true (the law), instead of letting the figure LEAD YOU unto the true (Jesus Christ), then you are blind, and you’ve stumbled, and you will soon fall into the pit.

“worketh good” – 1 time

“worketh right*” – 3 times

What do we see? We still see our line of judgment. Our big fat BUT.

They that worketh good, and worketh righteousness in truth are as righteous as Jesus Christ. They are righteous, and are NOT sinners.

They that work righteousness after the pattern, work figures of the true. The figure can help lead a man to Christ, but if men count their righteousnesses as anything more than what they are – filthy rags – then they stumble at the law, and cannot be saved.

Those are the wicked’s works. Those are our carnal works. Fake. Reprobate. They are Vain. They are Idols. They are evil. At best, when our works are patterned after the heavenly things, they are Examples, Figures and Shadows of the true.

The Lord’s Work – Part 38

“You say, that verse is talking about idols, Pastor!” I agree. “That isn’t fair for you to use that verse and apply it to men, Pastor!” I disagree.

Psalms 115:4-8  Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.  5  They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not:  6  They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not:  7  They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.  8  They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.

If you put any value in your works, you are like an idol. That is what you are like. Like a figure, like a statue. And that is what man’s works truly are: idols. And every one that trusteth in idols, the work of men’s hands, is as lifeless and useless, and incapable of working true good OR true evil, as an idol.

Men are just like the idols that they make.

True works, true good or true evil, are the things that proceed out of the hearts.

Psalms 58:1-2  … Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?  2  Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.

It doesn’t matter what comes out of the mouth in the flesh, the heart is working wickedness.

In heart, in spirit, all an unsaved man can work, is evil. It is not in him to do good. Even when he does good in the flesh, he did it while working evil in the spirit.

Isaiah 19:14  The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.

Man has a perverse spirit in him. And it is the spirit in the man causes the works to be evil, or good. It is the spirit that works.

Ephesians 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

1 Corinthians 12:11  But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

Revelation 16:14  For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

You think an evil spirit can’t work “good works” after the flesh? Devils can do miracles! Devils can work good, after the flesh, carnally, naturally. Deceitfully. They look good according to the flesh, in men’s eyes, but they are evil in truth. They are outside of Jesus Christ, they are outside of the work of God, and they result in eternal death.

Jeremiah 4:22  For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.

True good must be done in the spirit, and in understanding. But we don’t have the ability to do good.

Adam and Eve had knowledge OF good, but perhaps.. not knowledge TO DO good.

You say, “what about the Israel in the OT?” Surely they did good works under the law.

Haggai 2:11-14  Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying,  12  If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No.  13  Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.  14  Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the LORD; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean.

If holy things touch unholy things, they are unclean. If a clean thing touches an unclean thing (a dead thing), it is as unclean as the dead thing itself. So is every work of your hands.

If it comes from the flesh, if it touches the flesh, or the fleshly heart, or the spirit that is in mankind, it is unclean.

“Every work of their hands is evil?” You say, “well that’s just because they were doing evil at the time.”

Jeremiah 32:30-31  For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have only done evil before me from their youth: for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, saith the LORD.  31  For this city hath been to me as a provocation of mine anger and of my fury from the day that they built it even unto this day; that I should remove it from before my face,

Remember: I didn’t say it, the Lord did. They have only done evil.

You say, well at some time they had to have been doing good and not evil.” I didn’t say it, the Lord did. They have only done evil from their youth, they have only provoked the Lord since they built it.

You say, “what about under Moses?” HA!

Deuteronomy 9:7  Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the LORD thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the LORD.

Not during the time of Moses and Joshua, not during the days of the judges, or during the reigns of David, or Solomon, or Hezekiah, or Josiah did they do anything but provoke the Lord and do evil with their hands. And the problem… was the defiled spirit of (no) understanding, which defiled the work of their hands. Their works were done with men’s flesh. They proceeded out of man’s carnal heart.

And if Israel has only done evil, because that is all that comes out of their hearts, then we have ONLY done evil, in the flesh, because that is all that comes out of our hearts.

What is it that comes out of man’s heart? An evil spirit. An idol. The work of our hands!!

Malachi 1:11  For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts.

The only occurrence of “pure offering”. Used prophetically. Futuristic. This was not present under the law.

You say, “God gave them the law so that they would know how to do good works, right?” Wrong! The law was a schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ.

Galatians 3:24  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

The law wasn’t the true. It was like school. It was the example, but given to teach the true.

But, the law is a curse, and Christ came to redeem us from the law.

Galatians 3:10  For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

The Jews had…

Romans 2:20  … the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.

2 Timothy 3:5  Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

The law showed…

Hebrews 8:5  … the example and shadow of heavenly things, …

The very best things that men’s hands can make…

Hebrews 9:24  … the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; …

The law taught you the form of good things. The form of righteousness. And it was to accuse you and convince you that you CANNOT obey the law. You DO NOT possess true righteousness. You have a need for a righteousness greater than your own.

“Oh well, I obey a lot of the law!” If you offend in 1 point, you are guilty of all!

If you think the law is there to justify you, you do not “hear the law”. The law is bondage. Ye could not be justified by the law of Moses (Acts 13:39). But, man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law (Romans 3:28).

The law was only a figure of the true. The law does not allow you to do true good.

Romans 7:18-21  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me [its not the motivation!]; but how to perform that which is good I find not.  19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.  20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.  21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

No matter the motive… every time you WOULD do good, it turns out evil. Why?

It is the law! Because we are under the law of sin, the spirit of bondage working in us, we cannot do true good things. Every work of our hands is a carnal offering: a figure, an idol! Every work of our hands, every sacrifice we may give is under the law, and tainted by the law of sin and death.

Everything that proceeds out of our heart, touches the spirit of sin that is in our evil heart. So no matter what we work in flesh, in spirit.. we work an evil thing. An idol.

You may have knowledge of what a good work looks like, but the law does not allow you to work true good. it does not give you understanding to work true good. It merely shows you the pattern, the shadow of true good.

At the very best, man’s good works are shadows of true good works, figures of the true.

That’s just the origin of man’s works. They come from an evil heart. And they are all counted evil.

That’s just the nature of carnal works. Carnal things are shadows of the true spiritual things.

Man’s good works… are “good”.. but only after a figure. They are fake, reprobate. And God will reject them as fake.

This is strong meat.

Hebrews 5:14  But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

We have to divide good from the figure of the good. We have to divide true good, from the figure of good. We have to divide the good. You ever heard anyone teach that? Well… I believe its Scriptural.

Here is the first mention of “good” in the whole Bible.

Genesis 1:4  And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

That thing, that very first thing that God created that was “good”? It was immediately DIVIDED.

We have to find the light, find the good, find the truth, and divide it.

Nothing that has a shred of darkness in it can be “good”. Nothing that has a shred evil in it can be good. Good is divided away from the evil, the fake, the fraudulent, the reprobate.

We have to divide the light from the darkness.

We have to divide the true light from the carnal pattern of light.

We have to divide the Light of this world, from the light of this world.

We have to divide the true good, from the figure of good.

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One correction to make:

“worketh good” – 1 time

“worketh right*” – 0 times

That was incorrect!

“worketh good” – 1 time

“worketh right*” – 3 times

We saw the “worketh good”. That said that God would reward:

Romans 2:9-10  Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;  10  But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:

But somehow I messed up the search or recorded the “worketh right*” wrong and missed the opportunity to show you all three of the occurrences.

While I don’t believe these go against the doctrine that I’ve taught, I need to correct my mistake, and I need address each one. One or two could be considered a bit difficult to understand, so I want to make sure you’ve seen them. Because if they were presented and taught incorrectly, they could be used to deceive people into believing man’s works are true good works, that they are acceptable to God, that men could be saved by their own works, or that our works play a role in our salvation. So we need to look at each one.

#1

Psalms 15:1-2  … LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?  2  He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.

That is perfectly in line with what we’ve been teaching. The only people worthy to dwell in God’s home are the righteous. And the righteous are not the wicked. The Righteous are not sinners.

If someone “worketh righteousness” in truth, they are righteous – born of God – as righteous as Jesus Christ.

Walking uprightly, and working righteousness, and speaking the truth in the heart, these are equivalent in the same person: the righteous. So then do you know who the righteous are? The wise. Those that hear the word of God and keep it (in their hearts). Those that receive the truth – the gospel of Jesus Christ.

#2:

Isaiah 64:5  Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.

With no context, the false prophets, the false brethren would teach that God gives salvation to those that “worketh righteousness”.

First of all, this is OT, so in a way, after the figure, this was true for them. If they feared the Lord and followed the law the Lord would “save” them. But their salvation was not like ours.

Second of all, the context is important. The OT salvation was not the true. It was not truly working righteousness. But for the saved it is true. And we can see that this righteousness is not a reference to the righteousness of the law, or “man’s righteousness”. We see this clearly, from the context.

Isaiah 64:4-6  For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.  5  Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.  6  But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Whoever is working righteousness, the Lord has prepared for them. Fitted them. He has furnished him, supplied him with something. Those that work righteousness have been saved, and given the things that God has prepared for His people (living water, everlasting bread).

But man’s righteousness is nothing but filthy rags.

So this instance of “worketh righteousness” does not say that OT saints worked righteousness in truth. It says that they did NOT. But we could perhaps say that it teaches that, 1 – those that waited on the Lord in the OT, working righteousness after the figure, under the law, would be provided with spiritual things. BUT, what we know to be true, and how we should understand this, is, those that “worketh righteousness”, are the righteous, who have been given eternal life and true righteousness. They are the righteous. They are saved, they do not sin, and they do not fade/die.

The NT cross reference for Isaiah 64 is in 1 Corinthians 2. Here we can understand what is given to those that “worketh righteousness”.

1 Corinthians 2:1-9  And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.  2  For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.  …  7  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:  8  Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.  9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.  10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: …  12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.  13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

These things which are prepared for and given to them that worketh righteousness are spiritual things. Things that must be taught, known, and spoken. The gospel of Jesus Christ.

For the OT saints their only hope was to do right after the figure and to have faith in their resurrection by the Lord, to wait on the Lord for salvation.

But no OT saint did true right. They did figures, while in truth, the figures were nothing but filthy rags.

However, the promise is that if a man will fear the Lord and seek the Lord, he will find the Lord.

For those that wait on the Lord, the Lord has prepared spiritual things for them, which things were hidden in the OT, but today are known, taught and spoken.

If a man will fear the Lord and seek the Lord, the Lord will bring near those things (living water, the gospel, eternal life) to give to the man through the Spirit revealing the word of God to a man.

The only good man’s righteousness was good for was to be temporarily preserved until God could bring near true righteousness, which is only given by grace through faith.

In fact, this is in the manner in which the third and final occurrence appears.

The Lord’s Work – Part 36

By the way… “Faith” appears, Hebrews 11 – 25 times, next closest is Galatians 3 with 15.

“he is good” – 9 times

“he is right*” – 3 times

“he is good” appears 9 times in the Bible. All 9 are a reference to the Lord God. Never a man.

1 Chronicles 16:34  O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.

None of the OT saints was good. They are not exceptions.

Luke 18:19  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.

“He is righteous” appears 3 times in the Bible.

Isaiah 41:26  Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say, He is righteous? yea, there is none that sheweth, yea, there is none that declareth, yea, there is none that heareth your words.

How many men are there of whom God can say “he is righteous”? There is none.

Isaiah 41:21-24  Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob.  22  Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come.  23  Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.  24  Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.

Were you there at the beginning? Do you know how the earth was established?

Do you know the ending? Declare it, if you have understanding.

If you are not “as the angels”, you cannot do true good, or true evil. You are just a vain show.

If a man can’t declare the end from the beginning, then God will not declare that a man righteous.

Who is righteous? Who can meet this definition? The answer is right here in the passage: There is none. That is how impossible it is to be “righteous”.

Oh but there is one. His name is “the Holy One”.

1 John 2:29  If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.

1 John 3:7  Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.

That was all three. Two say that Jesus is righteous. The other says that none is righteous.

Quick aside:

The Lord is called “the Holy One”. The Lord is never called “the One” in the KJB.

The title “the One” is used in the occult in reference to the coming “messiah”.

Deuteronomy 31:6-8  … for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; … 8  And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; …

But the NKJV says…

for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. …

And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you.

2 Kings 19:15  And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone,

But the NKJV says…

Then Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said: “O LORD God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone,

Matthew 26:48  Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast.

But the NKJV says…

Now His betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the One; seize Him.”

The world is waiting for “the One” to come and save them. “The One” is not our God. The beast, the antichrist is “the One”. He is going to exalt himself above all that is worshipped.

2 Thessalonians 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

He will claim to be the One, the Avatar, the Christ, the Messiah, the Creator, the Buddha, Krishna, Allah, Atum-Ra, Zeus, Jupiter, and every god that is worshipped.

He going to claim to be Jesus Christ too, and he will have a pretty solid case built, according to the new age bible versions.

The occult will worship him. He will unite all the religions of the world. One World Religion. They will all worship this man. They will all agree: this is “the One” that they have been waiting for. Supposed “Christians” won’t have a clue. The new age Bible versions will agree to him. All the world, minus a SMALL remnant, will be deceived, with strong delusion, to believe that “he is ‘the One’”.

And if you don’t have a KJB, you will have absolutely no clue.

For more information, see Gail Riplinger’s books: Which Bible is God’s Word? … and … New Age Bible Versions.

“do good” – 27 times

“do right*” – 2 times

We’ve really exhausted our search for variants of men in the flesh “doing good” or “doing right” in the Bible.

These phrase “do good” and “do right” are not the same as we’ve been looking for. Saying that men should “do good” is not the same as saying that they “did good”.

But we should still discuss them.

Genesis 18:25  That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

Of course The Lord shall “do right”. But us? Unfortunately.. we don’t even know HOW to do right.

Romans 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

Amos 3:10  For they [the children of Israel] know not to do right, saith the LORD, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.

Now of course they knew how to do good – after the flesh, in the law! But not after the Spirit. Not in truth.

“do good” – 27 times. We are going to look at a number of them.

Most of them say that a man SHOULD do good.

And that, IF a man will do good, IF he be righteous, the Lord will be good unto him, and that man will have life.

Psalms 37:3  Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.

Psalms 37:27  Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore.

Of course this is true and obvious. If one does good, he will receive good. He will receive life. God is a just and righteous Judge.

Theoretically, if a man obeyed the law, he would live, and not die.

Truthfully, if a man were to do “true good” he would BE good.

But how many do good?

Psalms 53:3  … there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Romans 3:12  … there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

But here is where things get interesting…

Luke 6:33  And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.

Yes, sinners “do good”. However, they are only shadows of good. They are fleshly works done to other men’s flesh, to receive as much again, in the flesh.

Notice… They are NOT going to be thanked of God! They are not rewarded by Him. If they had done good, they would have “dwelt for evermore”.

So why is God not thanking these sinners? Because they are reprobate good works. They’re fake.

Jesus said that to love one’s enemy is rewardable.

Luke 6:35  But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.

If you do good to your enemy, you are a child of God. Wow. How about that?! Stand by for the “how”. Lets first talk about WHO we have to “do good” to.

Luke 6:35  But love ye your enemies…

Who is an unsaved man’s enemy? The saved man. The spiritual man

Who is a saved man’s enemy? The unsaved man. The carnal man.

So to do good to your enemy, is to do good to “the other team” – (the children of your enemy).

But an unsaved man’s good works are done to other unsaved men. Other carnal natural men. They are from friend to friend, from spy to spy. They are from unsaved to unsaved, sinner to sinner.

Luke 6:32-34  For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.  33  And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.  34  And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.

To be rewarded of the Lord, and to be a child of the Highest, an unsaved man needs to love his enemy: the saved man. But the unsaved sinner “does good” only to other sinners. So where is the due reward from the Lord?

Sinners’ works are toward other sinners. They aren’t done for the Lord’s house (like Jehoiada), they aren’t done for the Lord’s children!

Who do they love? Other sinners.

Who do they do good to? Other sinners.

What do they do good with? What do they give? The things of the world.

What do they want to receive again in return? “as much again”. The same things that they give. The goods of other sinners. The goods of the world.

Jesus said, “all their works they do for to be seen of men”. They do them “to receive as much again” from men.

They do them in this world, and for this world, to be seen of this world, and to receive of this world. They are all carnal works!

Not because that is their motivation… But that is the NATURE of the works.

Whether they want to or not, that is all they will get. Carnal things in return. That is all that is due to them.

But we Christians ought to do true good, to receive NOTHING again. NOTHING carnal, that is.

We should do true good spiritually, and thus the only things we will receive again will be the true good things (spiritual things) in heavenly places, which the world cannot give us back.

Luke 14:13-14  But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:  14  And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

Of course they CAN recompense us, if we gave them carnal things. But not if we give them spiritual things.

And if we give carnal things, we will reap carnal things. But if we give Spiritual things we will reap spiritual things.

Galatians 6:7-8  Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.  8  For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

If you sow carnal things, you will reap carnal things, in this world.

But if you sow spiritual things, you will receive spiritual things, in eternity.

Luke 6:27  But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,

A saved man loves his enemies when he gives them the gospel, the Holy Spirit (true “good things”). (Matthew 7:11, Luke 11:13,  Matthew 12:34, Romans 10:15)

A saved man loves his enemies when he gives the gospel.

An unsaved man loves his enemies when he gets saved.

An unsaved man must love his enemies in order to get saved; to receive an enemy messenger. To eat and drink with the enemy. To convert to the other side; to have his enemies become his friends, his brethren.

An unsaved man loves his enemies when he receives the gospel from the mouth of a saved man, and himself becomes a saved man.

An unsaved man becomes a child of the Highest when he receives one of the children of the Highest.

John 13:20  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.

Luke 9:48  And said unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me: for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great.

When an unsaved man gets saved, both the saved and the unsaved love their enemies in this same interaction/transaction.

Luke 6:35  But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.

Notice that this makes a man a child of the Highest.

But no unsaved man can become a child of the highest by loving another carnal, natural, unsaved man. This would just be loving other sinners. No man can do good (true good) to his enemy under the law.

This is how we will receive a reward: by loving our enemies. How can an unsaved man love his enemies? By receiving one of them. By getting saved (hearing his enemies). And then by giving that same salvation to the lost (his new enemies) he can love his enemies even more.

If an unsaved man does good to another sinner, he has no thank, no reward. An unsaved man loving his neighbor will not be rewarded.

Loving his neighbor / fellow man is not loving his enemy. Its loving those who love him. It is loving his friend. It is loving his ally. An unsaved man’s enemy is a saved man.

An unsaved man, loving another fleshly carnal man will not be rewarded. He needs to love a spiritual man, a son of God.

And a saved man’s enemy is an unsaved man. This is who we should love to receive a great reward.

“and ye shall be the children of the Highest” – The only way to become a child of God is by faith in Jesus Christ. The only way.

Galatians 3:26  For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

So this must be the same action. It must be that one becomes a child of God by receiving his enemy (the saved man), i.e. by receiving the gospel from the mouth of the messenger.

“he that receiveth you, receiveth me”

How do you love your enemy?

Matthew 25:34-36  Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:  35  For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:  36  Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

Clothe the naked. But you won’t be thanked for clothing them with man’s clothing, but rather for clothing them with spiritual clothing.

How do you love your enemy? Feed him. Clothe him. Visit him.

Romans 12:20  Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

Feed them who are hungry. Give them to drink.

John 4:7-9  There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.  8  (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)  9  Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

Jesus asked a drink of the “enemy”.

John 4:10  Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

THAT is loving your enemy. Just give one of them, one drink.

Give them the gospel to believe in.

John 7:38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

That is how a saved man loves his enemy. You give them the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That is how an unsaved man loves HIS enemy, he receives him, his meat and his drink.

But not with the meat and drink of the world.

John 4:13-14  Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:  14  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

You don’t just give him water… you make him a well of living water. Then, he’ll never thirst again.

How?? By Works? No… by Words!

Proverbs 18:4  The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.

Proverbs 16:22  Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it: but the instruction of fools is folly.

The Lord’s Work – Part 35

Because… it was ONLY a PATTERN. A shadow. A shadow OF TRUE FAITH.

It was THE pattern of how to work righteousness. The pattern of FAITH. And that is why it is said here, and nowhere else. They were not credited with having “wrought righteousness” in the OT.  But now that the true is revealed, the shadow can be clearly described. Only here, one time, in the chapter of Faith.

The OT saints, by faith, displayed a shadow of true righteous men. They were the pattern of working the righteousness of God by faith in Jesus Christ.

ONLY BY FAITH men can work true righteousness. Faith was the pattern, although perhaps it was hidden at the time. The only way to work righteousness is by faith.

1^st mention of “righteousness” in the Bible.

Genesis 15:6  And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

Abraham was not truly righteous. But by faith, he was COUNTED righteous. Abraham IS the pattern of true righteousness, of a true righteous man, the very first one given in the Bible. How so? By faith.

The next example chronologically would be Abel, who is mentioned here in Heb 11, with his “more excellent sacrifice”. Abel offered a figure of the true sacrifice. The same sacrifice we must offer to be saved: Jesus Christ. The only work that we have to do, a single offering: the confession of our lips. BY FAITH!

Hebrews 11:4  By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

“he was righteous” – 2 times in the Bible.

Job (in his own eyes) and Abel. And Abel was not called righteous in the OT. But here he is. In the Chapter of Faith.

Abel was a figure of a true righteous man.

The OT saints did not do true righteousness. But by faith, they were counted to have worked righteousness.

Past, present and future, after the figure in the Old Testament and after the true in the New, the only way to work righteousness, is to do so through faith.

We who are of the faith of Christ, work true righteousness. The righteousness of God, which is of faith. Not our own righteousness, which is of the law. (Php 3:9)

Philippians 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Naturally, they could do every work that we can do. But spiritually, we can do something that they could ONLY do in a figure: they could only do naturally.

Romans 10:8-10  But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;  9  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  10  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

This is how a man gets saved. The only “works” that he has to do. This is how to work true righteousness.

This is the true. And as is the true, so is the figure of the true.

Hebrews 11:13  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

What did they confess? That they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. That this was not the true inheritance. This is the pattern and the true things will be given, the true promises will be kept at the resurrection.

The only people that “wrought righteousness” in the OT did it after the figure of the true.

Only the faithful that have believed the Lord’s promises, and confessed concerning the promises of God in the resurrection, have “wrought righteousness”. And he that doeth righteousness…

Hebrews 11:33  Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,  34  Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

The figure of the true, the pattern of true righteousness, shows that it is through faith that God’s promises were obtained. And so how do we obtain the true promise – the Holy Spirit? The same way it was done in figure. By faith. By faith we are made children of Abraham. By faith, we are made the children of God.

They had to have faith that God would keep His promises.. in the resurrection. That was the pattern. Those Sadducees “do greatly err”.

Subduing kingdoms, stopping the mouths of lions, quenching the violence of fire, escaping the edge of the sword, turning to flight the armies of the aliens. Those things are things that we do in the Spirit, both when we get saved and when we preach the gospel. And those are things which we will do in the resurrection.

According to the Chapter of Faith, the only place that the OT saints are said to have “wrought righteousness”, it was not the law that allowed them to work righteousness. It was faith that allowed them to work righteousness.

They worked righteousness while in the flesh, while under the law, according to the pattern. The law was the pattern. The gifts and offerings and the building of the temple and how to love God and how to love your neighbor. All things in the law were patterns. But it was not the law that allowed them to work righteousness. It was FAITH that enabled them to work righteousness.

Hebrews 11:33  Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

Hebrews 11:39  And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise [salvation – the Holy Spirit – everlasting life – God’s righteousness]:

What did they get? Nothing. They received nothing.

They obtained promises. They obtained a good report. Not salvation.

The OT Saints were not saved like Christians. They had to obtain a good report, through faith, and die in that faith.

They had to keep it (faith) so they could die in it.

Hebrews 11:13  These all died in faith, …

They did not have the ability to immediately, instantaneously die with Christ and be raised again with Christ, born again in Heaven, as we do. They could not receive the promises until the resurrection.

But we receive the promises now: in spirit.

They had to believe they would receive the promises in the resurrection.

Hebrews 11:39  And these all, having obtained a good report through faith …

What does a “good report” do? Well, I see two premises in Scripture. (Appears 10 times)

1. A good report is concerning one’s reputation for fairness, honesty and integrity. It means one is worthy of good, and not evil.
   1. So in this sense of the phrase, the Lord could be saying that those that obtained a good report, through faith, were those that He considered to be worthy of receiving the promises and the resurrection. Not due to their own righteousness, but due to faith in His promises, His word. These were those that He had found worthy BY FAITH. These were those that He had found faithful. Those were the ones in Abraham’s bosom. (According to Abraham, the rich man’s fault was that he did not “hear” and believe Moses and the prophets.) Why Abraham’s? Because of his faith. He is the father of (all those who have) faith. By their faith they were counted righteous/worthy.
2. A good report is also synonymous with “glad tidings”, and “good news”, “pleasant words”, which in turn is synonymous with the word of God and the gospel.
   1. So in this sense of the phrase, the Lord could be referring to the point at which they were going to receive the gospel (the good report) preached to them in Abraham’s bosom in death. They obtained the gospel (yet to be given/preached), through faith. They obtained a promise to be given a good report – to be given the word of God – to be given the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Proverbs 15:30  The light of the eyes rejoiceth the heart: and a good report maketh the bones fat.

When they got and “good report”, they got health and life in them – marrow/oil in them – perhaps access to the tree of life? – until Jesus came to give them the gospel to eat, to free them and

Prov 3:8, Prov 16:24, Prov 25:25, Isa 52:7, Isa 61:1-3, Nah 1:15, Rom 10:15-16,

Those OT saints were promised to receive eternal life, eventually, through faith in the resurrection promise. All these, every one of them, are said to have worked righteousness through faith. The OT system was a pattern of the new. But there were no assurances, no promises received.

This is what the false prophets base their doctrine on: the pattern. And because there were no promises, according to them, you can’t just believe and confess one time. No you have to continually work. Have faith in God, and then work, work, work. Mess up? Confess again and keep working. Do the pattern. The carnal shadows. And where will it get you? At best.. to the same place it got them: without the promise.

Hebrews 11:39  And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise …

Hebrews 11:13  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, …

They died and went to death, without the promise.

The only promise they received is the promise of a future resurrection.

The false prophets would have you work, work, work, according to the pattern, instead of according to the true. But the pattern is completed and done away. (1 Cor 13:10, 2 Cor 3:7,11). The true is now available. And if you rejected the gospel (the good report), which is obtained BY FAITH, there is nothing promised you.

Did the OT saints “do good” or “do right” under the law? Yes. But not in truth. Only in figure. Otherwise, they would have been like us. They would have, without us, received the promise and been made perfect.

Hebrews 11:39-40  And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:  40  God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

We are made perfect. They were not.

They worked the pattern of righteousness. They foreshadowed our salvation, but only BY FAITH.

True righteousness must be worked by grace, through faith. And Hebrews 11 shows us that the shadow is consistent with the true. Even the pattern of righteousness could ONLY be worked BY FAITH.

Wrought good – 0 times

Wrought right* – 1 time.

“he was good” – 0 times

“he was righteous” – 2 times

Job 32:1  So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.

Heb 11:4  By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

The Lord’s Work – Part 34

Jeremiah 34:15  And ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; …

If that were true right, they would have been set free forever. They would not need a Saviour.

Remember that “he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.” And “Every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him.”

That was not true right. But, this was the pattern of having “done right” in the true. True right is doing this thing, IN THE TRUE. From this pattern, we know how to “do right” in truth. We set all men free. We proclaim liberty from bondage.

This is the only time men have ever “done right”. The Lord uses these phrases so sparingly, and so pointedly.

True good is not to accuse, or judge, or condemn your neighbor. But to set him free.

John 8:34-36  Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.  35  And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.  36  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

You’re either a servant of Sin, or you are free. If the Son of God makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

But if a man sins, perhaps a grievous sin, and you bring him back into bondage, back into a debt, you have not “done right”. If you preach works salvation, you are not giving liberty, but giving debt.

Romans 4:4  Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

A man must forgive, and condemn not, and accuse not, and judge not in order to be saved. He must set his neighbors, his brethren free; free of works, free of debts, proclaiming liberty to those which only believe in Christ.

To have “done right”, a man must believe that those that are in Christ are free indeed.

If you can’t believe and confess that every man who Christ makes free is completely free from sin, then you yourself are not completely free from sin either. You are still the servant of sin. Thus, you still commit sin. You still CAN commit sin. You are still a worker, with a debt to pay. You are not free indeed, you are indebted. You are under Sin. You are under the law. You are wicked, and not righteous. You have done evil, and have not “done right”.

If you can’t forgive your brother, then you won’t be forgiven either. (Matt 18:35)

If you judge your brother, you will be judged with that same judgment with which you judge. (Matt 7:2)

If you accuse your brother falsely (if he is completely righteous, but you accuse him of a sin) you will receive the exact same punishment that was due to him. (Deut. 19:18-19)

If you cannot set your brethren (those which come to Christ) at liberty, then you will be brought into that same bondage, responsible for paying the debt for your own sins. (Matt 18:30-35)

If you have believed the gospel, you have “done right” after the figure of the true; the pattern which is shown in Jeremiah 34:15, the only instance of men having “done right” in the entire Bible.

Done good – 2 times

Done right* – 2 times

“worked good” – 0 times

“worked right*” – 0 times

No man in Bible history, nor any man you know after the flesh, is ever said to have “worked good” or “worked right”.

“working good” – 0 times

“working right*” – 0 times

Remember that only Jesus is every said to have went about “doing good”.

No man in Bible history, nor any man you know after the flesh, is ever said to have been “working good” or “working right”.

Ephesians 4:28  Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

You can’t work good with your hands. But you can work THE THING WHICH IS good.. according to the pattern of true good things. No different than the kings of Israel and Judah in the OT.

“worketh good” – 1 time

“worketh right*” – 0 times

Romans 2:6-10  Who will render to every man according to his deeds:  7  To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:  8  But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,  9  Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;  10  But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:

This is not a statement on any specific man, or any specific work, or any particular men who worketh good. Its not said about any OT saint or prophet.

This is the same thing we’ve seen before. It’s a division. A line. A separation of the righteous from the wicked. God will judge man according to his works, and give him exactly what he deserves. If he does good things, he gets good things, but if he works evil, he will be rewarded evil things.

This is the same thing we’ve said before. If a man CAN WORK good, if he has even once, then he DESERVES eternal life, and God is unrighteous to give him eternal death.

We know all men do the SAME THINGS (Romans 2:1-3). And we know not all men are going to receive eternal life. If the judgment is based on the good and the bad of carnal works, then we have no line, there is no division.

So the Lord’s righteous judgment in that day cannot be based on what men do on the earth, whether carnal good or carnal evil. The judgment will be based on whether men’s works are carnal (evil, darkness, and at best only shadows of good) or they are spiritual (true good, true light).

A man can’t do both good and evil. A man that “worketh good”, does not also “doeth evil”. Either we learn to divide the true from the figure of the true, or we don’t understand the Lord’s just and right judgment, and we go on believing that God is an unjust and an unrighteous Judge.

This is the only reference to men who “worketh good”. No man in Bible history, nor any man you know after the flesh, is ever said in Scripture to “worketh good” or “worketh right”. Those that do, are deserving of everlasting life. That is not said to be true of any man at any point in the entire Bible. But, if you want to hang your hat here and bet your bottom dollar that you will definitely be found to be one of them who “worketh good”, without a single other Bible witness as to who “worketh good” or how to “worketh good”, then go on ahead. But you really just won’t know for sure, until your judgment where the Lord draws that line and divides you your portion with the believers or the unbelievers.

“worketh good” – 1 time

“worketh right*” – 0 times

Again, we see how RARE these phrases are. Not as exceptions to the rule, but as establishments of the rule, and definitions of the lines, and as very rare figures of the true.

“workest” and “workedst” – 0 times

“wrought good” – 0 times

“wrought right*” – 1 time

Hebrews 11:33  Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

Interesting!! So here we have another single mention. A single mention (maybe the only?) of OT saints working righteousness. But one that applies to numerous OT saints, judges, kings and prophets.

Once again, notice how RARE these phrases are. Each occurrence is NOT random. They are very carefully placed in Scripture. They are very pointedly applied.

So once again, before we start jumping to conclusions that the OT saints did true righteousness under the law, based on this 1 instance, 1 witness… Let’s pause and consider that this is not an exception to the rule, but rather that this is again, a very important pattern! This is said here, only here, and only once, for a reason.

Why here? Why in the NT, and not in the OT? Why here in Hebrews 11?

Don’t throw out what we’ve learned for one inkling of a reference to men working righteousness in the OT. Remember, that it was this very book, the book of Hebrews, that provided the major revelation regarding all carnal “good things” being mere “figures” and “shadows” of good things.

It was Hebrews that told us that the High priests offering the sin offering to atone for the sins of the entire nation of Israel (the “children of the Lord” – Deut. 14:1), was just a shadow of true righteousness. It was Hebrews that told us that the temple, made with hands, was a mere figure of the true temple. It was Hebrews that told us that all the meats and drinks, and offerings, and washings, and the blood, and vessels of ministry, and all the services of the temple were temporary (“for the time then present”) figures of the true.

So this single occurrence, within the same book of Hebrews, does not break the rule, or provide exceptions to the rule: “there is none that doeth good, no not one”. This is not the exception, this is the pattern. He says it 1 time, in one perfect place.

So what is so important about this placement? Why is this the perfect spot for the Lord to put this phrase in His word? How does this placement show the pattern of working true righteousness?

.

.

.

Hebrews Chapter 11 is the Chapter of Faith. This righteousness described here, which, lets be careful, is a shadow of true righteousness, a pattern of the true righteousness, was not worked by the law. This righteousness is not worked through any works at all. This righteousness is wrought THROUGH FAITH.

Hebrews 11:33  Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

Hebrews Chapter 11 is the Chapter of Faith. This whole chapter, is the establishment that FAITH is the key. Faith is the key to working righteousness.

Only the children of God work true good. And we are children of God BY FAITH in Jesus Christ. The OT saints were not. But they showed, in a figure, the pattern.

Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Without faith, it is impossible to do good. It is FAITH that enabled the OT saints able to work good (after the figure). It is by faith that they obtained a good report under that law. And it is by faith that God’s promises were obtained.

Hebrews 11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:2  For by it the elders obtained a good report.

Not by works. They were counted to have “done good” BY FAITH. (Counted!)

Hebrews 11:4  By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

Hebrews 11:5  By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

Hebrews 11:6  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Hebrews 11:7  By faith Noah, …

Hebrews 11:8  By faith Abraham, …

Hebrews 11:11  Through faith also Sara …

Hebrews 11:13  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

Hebrews 11:17  By faith Abraham …

Hebrews 11:20  By faith Isaac …

Hebrews 11:21  By faith Jacob…

Hebrews 11:22  By faith Joseph…

Hebrews 11:23  By faith Moses…

Hebrews 11:29  By faith they passed through the Red sea …

Hebrews 11:30  By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, ….

Hebrews 11:31  By faith the harlot Rahab …

Every single one of them “wrought righteousness”. Each of them, working figures of true righteousness. Hebrews 11 says that each was wrought, not by works of man’s righteousness, but by FAITH.

Hebrews 11:32  And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:

Hebrews 11:33  Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

Hebrews 11:39  And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise [salvation – the Holy Spirit – everlasting life – God’s righteousness]:

The only time that men are said to have “wrought righteousness” is right here, in this chapter of FAITH: Hebrews 11. What do we learn about the true, given this one placement of “wrought righteousness” being applied to flesh, that is, the figure of the true????

We learn that the only way a man can work righteousness, the only way a man can please God, is through faith. Without faith, there is no righteousness.

And though they “wrought righteousness” according to the pattern of doing so “THROUGH FAITH”, they STILL did not receive salvation.

The Lord’s Work – Part 33

2 Chronicles 24:16  And they buried him [Jehoiada the Priest] in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God, and toward his house.

For the priest Jehoiada, he had “done good”…  IN ISRAEL. Not in truth. But in Israel.

And so thus did he receive eternal life? Did he get raptured? Did he get taken to heaven in a chariot of fire?

No, he didn’t live at all. He died. But.. he received a good burial. He did good in the flesh and he received honour in the flesh. Nothing is said of an eternal reward. He didn’t ascend to heaven nor was he translated that he should not die.

But… What an honor, to be said of him and him alone in the Bible that he “had done good”… in Israel, toward God and His house, in the flesh.

What did he do specifically?

1 Kings 21:21  Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel,

But Ahab, the King of Israel had joined himself with Jehosaphat, the King of Judah. King Ahaziah was Ahab’s grandson. So when God appointed Jehu to destroy Ahab’s house, he also killed Ahaziah.

2 Chronicles 22:10-12  But when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah.  11  But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king’s sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, (for she was the sister of Ahaziah,) hid him from Athaliah, so that she slew him not.  12  And he was with them hid in the house of God six years: and Athaliah reigned over the land.

Ahab + Jehosaphat – (Jehu + Athaliah) = almost 0 + Jehoiada = 1

Jehoiada preserved the Lord’s HOUSE. He saved the lineage of David, and of Jesus… and of US!! It was almost wiped out!!

So what did Jehoiada do? He preserved the royal seed of the house of David. Then, 7 years later, he brought out and anointed Joash as the rightful King of Judah.

But can you say that this was true good, which makes him deserving of everlasting life? Was this really better than all other recorded works in the Bible that NO ONE else is said to have “done good”.?

I maintain it is still just a shadow, a figure, a pattern. A very important one. Purposefully, the ONLY one that is given.

What is this all important pattern of having “done good”? Jehoiada preserved the Lord’s seed when Satan attempted to both defile it and destroy it. He hid the seed (the lineage of David) and when the time came, lifted up and confessed the true King. That is a pattern, that is a precedent. That is a figure of what each of us must do spiritually, to get saved to be counted among the children of the resurrection. Receive the seed (Jesus Christ – the Word of God), keep it in your heart so that Satan cannot take it away… and then, bring it forth as fruit!

Mark 4:15  And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.

Luke 8:15  But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.

This is what Jehoiada did (in pattern, in shadow, after the flesh): He kept the word of God in his heart, and brought forth fruit.

Jehoiada is not an exception to the rule. There is none that doeth good. That stands true.

But what he did, was the pattern of what every man that attains the resurrection of the dead must have done. Jehoiada was the figure of a true man that has “done good”. And he alone is given this honor/title.

And its very important to understand that pattern. Why? Because what you have done, whether good or evil, TRUE good or evil, according to the pattern of Jehoiada’s deeds, will determine your resurrection.

Because, remember, here is the only other instance of “done good”:

John 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

Jehoiada possesses the only claim in the whole Bible to have “done good”. So you better figure out what Jehoiada did, and do the same thing. You better have “done good”, after Jehoiada’s pattern.

They that have done good, even once, one true good work, will receive everlasting life.

There are only 2 kinds of people. There are only two sorts of works. And you can’t do both sorts.

If we don’t divide the flesh from the Spirit, the true from the figure of the true, then God is an unrighteous judge.

Jehoiada did not do good in truth. He did good in Israel. He did good in the Earth, toward God and His house. He did good in the flesh, in the figure of the true. But “the judgment of God is according to truth.” We need to do good toward God and His house after Jehoiada’s pattern, in the Spirit, that is, in the true.

If Jehoiada did true good, instead of just carnal worldly good, he wouldn’t have ever died. He would not need a Saviour, and neither would any of mankind.

If a man can do true good in the flesh, then every man can do and does true good. Every man does good in the flesh sometimes. Every man shows mercy in the flesh sometimes.

If Jehoiada did true good, he would be able to open the seven seals of the book of the ending. But no man will be found worthy to open and to read that book.

So why is this here? Why is this ONLY said of Jehoiada and no one else in the Bible? Why is this said only once, and not multiple times?

Some would say that the exception proves the rule. I don’t know where that comes from. Is that Biblical?

But this is not an exception to the rule. This is not here as an exception. “No one has done good, except for Jehoiada.”

Out of all the good things ever done in all of recorded history of mankind, why would this one be the only exception recorded in the Bible?

Its not an exception. So then, why is it said only once, and why only of this one man’s work? Because it’s a very important figure of the true. It’s the shadow, the pattern of how to have “done good”!

The Lord doesn’t use these phrases dozens of times all over the Bible. They are rare, and when they are used, they are very pointed. They are there to show us the pattern! The Lord could have used this phrase for SO many others who also had done good things in Israel and in the Earth. But Jehoiada’s work was the one that the Lord chose to label as “did good”. The Lord chose Jehoida’s work alone to identify for us as the pattern of having done true good. The figure of the true good, which the Lord chose to reveal to man, in a figure. So in the entire Bible, Jehoiada is the only man to be credited with having “done good”. What an honour! Jehoiada “done good”. He received a good burial. He was buried with the Kings. He will be resurrected with the Kings. With King David. Hmm.. that’s a pattern there too. When we die, we a buried WITH CHRIST, and when we rise, we will rise with Christ to reign as Kings and Priests on the Earth.

But still.. the rule is, there is none that doeth good. Jehoiada’s “done good” is not the rule. Neither is it “the exception to the rule”. It is not “the exception that proves the rule”. Jehoiada’s work is simply the figure of the true!

Those that have “done good”, done TRUE good, will have the resurrection of eternal life. Those that have “done good” are the righteous, who are as righteous and as sinless and as perfect as Jesus Christ. They are the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. In truth. They are children of God, not according to the flesh by the works the law (born of the flesh – the bondwoman), but according to the promise by faith of Jesus Christ (born of the Spirit – the free woman).

“Done right*” – again, 2 times

Nehemiah 9:33  Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly:

That is the Lord that has “done right”. Not man! And we have done wickedly. Who shall do wickedly?

The wicked. The wicked shall do wickedly!

Daniel 12:10  Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.

Those are some big fat BUTs. If you are not washed and made white by understanding, then you are the wicked.

Isaiah 53:11  He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

The Lord has “done right”, but man has done wickedly. Here is the only other instance of “done right”.

Jeremiah 34:15  And ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name:

This is the only time any men ever are said to have “done right”. The only time!

Is this a contradiction? An exception? Or.. another very important and very pointedly chosen pattern? Yes, a pattern. A very important one.

This is the only instance of men having “done right” in the Bible. And… WOW!

Wow… here is the pattern under the law of having “done right” in His sight: proclaim liberty every man to his neighbour. Set him free from bondage. That was the shadow. The OT Jews under the law did the pattern. We Christians do the true, in the Spirit!

Not just soul-winners. But EVERY man that BELIEVES the gospel.

Matthew 18:32-35  Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:  33  Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?  34  And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.  35  So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

Luke 6:37  Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:

Matthew 6:14-15  For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:  15  But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

To believe the gospel of Jesus Christ is to forgive men their debts. To SHOW MERCY.

To believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, the record of Jesus Christ is to set your brother/neighbor FREE.

If all men are not forgiven for ALL sins, then neither will you be.

Salvation is liberty. To believe the gospel is to set men free. To proclaim liberty in Christ.

Galatians 5:1  Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

If you believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, you have made men free.

But a false gospel, a gospel of works brings men into bondage.

Acts 15:1  And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. … 5  But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.

Acts 15:10  Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

This is the true. With what you believe, you either make men completely free, or you put them in bondage.

The Lord’s Work – Part 32

The final 2 instances are the only 2 occurrences that talk about a man that “doeth good”.

3 John 1:11  Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.

That is a big fat BUT. That BUT is the division between flesh and Spirit.

That BUT is a line. A division drawn between the righteous and wicked. You can’t do both good and evil. If you doeth one, you don’t doeth the other.

Those that doeth good are “of God” – they are born of God. Otherwise, they could not do good. Never ever, never had, never did, never could, never will.

Not David, not Noah, not Job, not Daniel, not Abraham, not Moses, not Joseph, not Elijah, not Enoch, not Josiah, nor any other man ever did true good.

They did figures and shadows of good. And the Lord did say many good things about them. But there is a reason that none of them were ever said to “doeth good”. And the reason is very simple: They were flesh, and they were not “of God”. That is why the Bible says “none doeth good, no not one”, because a man who is not born of God cannot do good in truth. A man that doeth evil.. does not doeth good.

And the 9^th and final instance of “doeth good” is here:

Proverbs 11:17  The merciful man doeth good to his own soul: but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh.

First of all, that is not a statement that any particular man on the earth does good.

Maybe some people might be prideful enough to think they are “merciful men”. But truthfully, could that possibly be any man on the earth? Would you really think that is talking about you? Its not talking about me! How many times does the Bible say of the children of men, “there is none that doeth good, no not one”? And now, do we see this one verse and think, some men must “doeth good”, some times, right? Certainly the good ones do good, right? The good Samaritan is a merciful man, right?

Well if he is, then he “doeth good” and thus he is “of God”. He has no need for a Saviour. He is already perfect. He is “of God”. He “doeth good” and he does not “doeth evil”.

The good Samaritan is indeed a merciful man. But the good Samaritan on the earth is a merciful man only in figure.

Who is a true merciful man you ask? He that sheweth mercy.

Psalms 37:21  The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth.

Psalms 85:7  Shew us thy mercy, O LORD, and grant us thy salvation.

Who is one that sheweth mercy? Someone who gives… salvation!

A merciful man is a righteous man. A righteous man is not a sinner. But there is only 1 of those.

The Lord Jesus was a merciful man.

The merciful man is one who by shewing mercy to other men’s souls, does good to his own soul. Jesus did this.

By shewing mercy, selling all that He had and giving, to the poor, He became rich. By laying down His life, He gained our life for Himself. By leaving His house by Himself to shew mercy to us, He returned home with many sons. By going forth mercifully to sow Himself in the Earth, He brought forth much fruit. Thus, He will feast and rejoice forever in prosperity. By breaking His body open, giving food and drink to the hungry, He increased/grew His body: the church. By giving, all that He had, He purchased His bride.

By shewing mercy to us, He did good to His own soul.

And now, the saved, the sons of God, like Jesus, are merciful men. A true good Samaritan is a Christian. A true merciful man is the one who by shewing mercy to the lost, doeth good to his neighbor, and also to his own soul, in the truth, in the Spirit. Soul winners are the true good Samaritans.

We find the half dead and give them life. We find the prisoner, and set him free. We find the wounded and we heal them. We find the thirsty and give him drink. We go forth and sow in tears, but doubtless we will come again rejoicing.

Psalms 126:5-6  They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.  6  He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

But these things are not performed in the flesh. They are not done to the flesh, they are to souls.

Proverbs 11:17  The merciful man doeth good to his own soul: but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh.

The merciful man doeth good to his own SOUL. Christians do good to souls. The earthly humanitarian, no matter how much “good” he does, or mercy he shows, when he shews mercy, he does it to flesh, not to souls.

The good Samaritan on the Earth is merely a figure, a shadow, of the true good man, Jesus Christ.

That was all 9 instances of “doeth good” in the Bible. Other than Jesus, and those “in Christ”,

Psalms 14:3  … there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

If Noah, and Job, and Joseph, and Gideon, and David, and Josiah, and Daniel, were said to “doeth good” we might have a problem.  But it is never said of any particular man in the Bible.

You saw all 9 of the 9 instances of “doeth good” in the Bible. Not a single one says that a natural man doeth good.

“doeth right*” – again, 3 times

1 John 3:7  Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.

1 John 2:29  If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.

If you doeth good, you are of God. And if you doeth righteousness, you are righteous, even as righteous as Jesus Christ. The only way to doeth good or to righteousness is to be born of God.

Otherwise, all our righteousnesses are man’s righteousness, the righteousness which is of the law, carnal righteousnesses, which are as filthy rags: FAKE.

The final instance of “doeth righteousness” in the whole Bible – and the only one in the OT.

Psalms 106:3  Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times.

3 times. What do they reveal about doing righteousness?

If one doeth righteousness he is born of God and just as righteous as Jesus Christ. He cannot sin, because he is born of God. And … he doeth righteousness, at all times. They that do righteousness, “doeth righteousness at all times”. There is no other way this phrase is used. It describes a completely perfect man. One can’t doeth righteousness some times. One can’t doeth righteousness for a while. One can’t doeth it only while alive on earth. It must be at all times. True righteousness is done at all times. One must do righteousness from eternity past to eternity future, from everlasting to everlasting (Jesus Christ). Or from birth to eternity future (Christians, the sons of God). But if at any time you do evil, then you don’t “doeth righteousness”, and you’ve never done righteousness. Because he that doeth righteousness, does it at all times.

Now, I would say, that for a Christian, “doeth righteousness at all times” is not necessarily that every Christian does a lot of good, or constantly does good. He may be spiritually asleep. He may be resting, not working, not doing anything. But WHEN What time he does, a Christian does, he does right. What time he goes, he goes right. Every time. At all times.

“doeth good” – 9 times.

“doeth right*” – 3 times.

The only men that doeth good or doeth right, do it spiritually.

The only men that doeth good or doeth righteousness are those that are completely perfect and cannot sin, they are as righteous as Jesus Christ, because they are born of the Spirit, born of God.

“Doest Good” – 1 time

“Doest Right” – 0 times

Psalms 119:68  Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes.

Only the Lord God is ever said to “doest good”. No man “doest good”.

Btw, only 2 other instances of “art good”.

Psalms 86:5  For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.

1 Samuel 29:9  And Achish answered and said to David, I know that thou art good in my sight, as an angel of God: notwithstanding the princes of the Philistines have said, He shall not go up with us to the battle.

“Doing good” – 1 time

“Doing right*” – 0 times

Acts 10:38  How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

Jesus Christ is the only one that is ever said to have went about “doing good”.

Not Abraham, not David, not Solomon, not Job, not Noah. No mere man. There is no man on the earth that is going about “doing good”. None doeth good, no not one.

Ahh.. but there is one. For The Lord God Himself became a man.

Mark 10:18  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.

First of all, you can’t do the things Jesus did on the earth. Unless you have Apostolic power, you can’t. Heal the sick, open the eyes of the blind, raise the dead, walk on water. If you can do those things, then you can tell me that you “do what Jesus did”, and you go about on this earth “doing good”.

Preach the word of God without error. Expound ever riddle and ever parable. Answer every question and put the hypocrites to silence. Then you can tell me that you go about “doing good” like Jesus did. I’ll wait. But I’ll die waiting.

Secondly, of the Lord, the Bible says, all His works are done in truth (Psalms 33:4).

The carnal things that Jesus did on Earth were the shadows of the true good things He also did in the Spirit, to our souls, in our hearts, in heavenly places. He did good on the Earth, at all times, He did only good on the Earth. But, those earthly works (which you can’t even do) were only the figure of the true. But all His fleshly works are also done in Spirit and in truth.

That is the way I see Jesus’ earthly ministry. That is the way I divide it. He did good after the pattern on the Earth, and He also did good in truth.

Now, could you possibly say that Jesus’ fleshly works were true good works simply because Jesus did them, and He was in God, and He was God, and He was the true light, and He was the way and the TRUTH, and the life?

Luke 6:19  And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.

When there went virtue out of Him to heal the sick, was that true good? Maybe.. but they could still sin. So they still got sick again and died.

John 5:14  Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

Mark 8:23  And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.

John 9:6  When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,

Was this true good? I mean, that is the fountain of living water, applying his water to a man.

But this was the application of living water to the flesh. Maybe this was just like putting new wine in old bottles. Maybe this was as if Adam were to eat of the tree of life. It could give eternal life, but only if one kept drinking of it. But every time one sinned, one would get sick and begin to die again. So instead, one needs to put new wine in new bottles. What does that mean? It means you need a new body to put that new blood in, and then both are preserved. Luke 20:36 says of the children of God, “Neither can they die any more”.

But I think we have to say that Jesus’ fleshly works were only a figure of the true. Because if that was true good, then that may allow that a man, doing the same things, can do true good. When a doctor radiates the mess out of a cancer patient and removes the cancer, did he do good? When a surgeon slices open a man’s chest for a heart transplant to extend a man’s life by 20 years, did he do true good? That is similar to Jesus’ works, right? But the cancer can come back, and the “new” heart can fail as well.

This isn’t much different than some of Jesus’ works. So can you really define doing good according to the fleshly works?

When Jesus healed a man’s flesh, they could still die. They could still get sick again. They could even get WORSE things.

John 5:14  … sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

No matter what goodness and righteousness and virtue, no matter if he put living water in your flesh, your flesh would still sin, and it would still die.

Your flesh must DIE. Your flesh must be CHANGED, TRANSLATED. Your carnal flesh itself needs to be changed into a spiritual flesh.

The point.. is that no fleshly work, done to fleshly man is truthfully “doing good”. But this is the pattern of “doing good”.

Acts 10:38  How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

Only 1 time in the whole Bible. Only applied to the Lord, and used as a very important figure of the true.

Jesus healing flesh, resurrecting bodies, opening eyes, casting out devils, freeing the prisoners, loosing the tongue of the dumb, giving light to those in darkness. Spiritually. Eternally. This is “doing good” in truth.

–

“Done good” – 2 times

“Done right*” – 2 times

2 Chronicles 24:16  And they buried him [Jehoiada the Priest] in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God, and toward his house.

From what we’ve seen up until now, no man has even come CLOSE to doing good. But here, we may have our first bit of difficulty. Now we finally have something to pause on, something to assess a bit closer.

Now, before we start making some huge jump from this ONE SINGLE VERSE, to saying that a man can do true good under the law, in the flesh, let’s assess what we have here.

This is ONE verse. ONE time. How incredibly rare this is!! One time, in the entire Bible. Lets skip ahead to the other occurrence for a quick second so you know that this is indeed the only one.

John 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

They that have done good are the children of the resurrection, that is, the children of God. And we have to draw the line between good and evil: if you’ve done evil, then you will have damnation and not life.

This is a classification of people at the judgment. This is not said of any individual men. And it is certainly not true of any natural man.

But…

2 Chronicles 24:16  … he had done good in Israel, …

This is said of Jehoiada and NO ONE ELSE. That alone, is cause for pause. This alone is cause for extreme caution! Because, if you want to have the resurrection of life you have to have “done good”. And Jehoiada is the one and ONLY reference, the only example, we have here.

This is not said of any other prophet, saint, king, prince, patriarch, apostle or disciple, in the whole Bible. But do you think that you have “done good”? Do you think you are better than all of those men? Knowing that NONE of them received this honor, do you think your Pastor, your child, your grandfather, your sweet aunt Sally, or ANY of your heroes and icons, your champions, your rock stars, your beautiful actors and actresses, your motivational speakers, your political activists, your elected officials, your religious leaders, or anyone that you feel love from, or care towards, or respect for, in this world today has “done good”? Can you identify one single person, who is more righteous than every single other Biblical figure, and deserving of this title: “he had done good”, equal to Jehoiada?

No, you can’t. So let’s slow your roll, before you “do greatly err”. Lets pause and humble ourselves, before we begin to lift ourselves up.

Proverbs 16:18  Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

Daniel 4:37  … those that walk in pride he is able to abase.

So instead of throwing out the rule established in the entire rest of the Bible for this one outlier in order to justify ourselves, or to teach what we want to believe, let’s instead see if we can understand the one outlier we have.

The Lord’s Work – Part 31

Doing good under the Law?

Did the OT saints “do good” under the law?

What is it to do good? Who can do good? Who has been said to do good?

We’re going to do a thorough study of doing good and doing right.

What we will find, is that men do not do good. Man does not do good in truth, but there are occurrences in Scripture when certain men are said to have done good or right. They’re in there, but they are very rare.

What we will then find by carefully looking at each one, is that whenever, in these rare cases, that a man is said to do good under the law, or in the flesh, is it exactly what we’ve been saying it is: a figure, a pattern of the true.

“did good” – 1 time

“did right*” – 1 time

Acts 14:17  Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.

This is the only one! The Lord did good, not man. But still, is this the true good? If you give men food and gladness, is that “good”, such that you are then due an eternal reward? If you were able to control the weather and give rain.. would that be “good”?

But what is the carnal pattern of the true good? Giving rain. Giving food and water. Giving FRUIT. Filling the heart with meat and drink and joy.

Psalms 145:9  The LORD is good to all: …

Even though they don’t deserve good, He gives men food and water. That is good. But if the carnal things are the pattern of the true, what is doing true good? Well.. isn’t that exactly what a soul winner does? In Spirit, he gives people food and drink. He gives them his good fruit. He fills their heart with food and gladness, eternal life and joy.

If a man eats the bread of life, he will never hunger again.

If a man drinks of the water that Jesus will give him, he will never thirst again.

If a man receives the gospel, his heart will rejoice in the Lord for eternity.

Psalms 13:5  But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.

The Lord “did good”. He is the only one that ever “did good” in the Bible. Now, the figure of the true is what He did on Earth, but the true is what He does, and now, what we soul winners and preachers do, in Spirit and in truth.

Here is the only instance of “did right*”:

Isaiah 58:1-2  Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.  2  Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.

This is the only one. Notice the word “as”. Israel (according to the flesh) was NOT a nation that “did righteousness”. But they were often AS it. They acted AS it. They appeared that way to man. They even tried to convince the Lord. He called them a bunch of actors-liars.

They pretend like they are righteous, but they’re sinners.

And that is it.. Only 1 time.. in the whole Bible. For a phrase as clear as “did good” or “did right”, that is pretty crazy. This is the Bible, right? There should be at least dozens of saints and kings and prophets and disciples who “did good” or “did right”, right? That phrase should be in there hundreds of times. Dozens? At least a few times, right?

It doesn’t say that David “did good” to his enemy King Saul. It doesn’t say that King Solomon “did good” to Israel. It doesn’t say that Jacob “did right” by Laban. It doesn’t say that Joseph “did good” in Egypt. It doesn’t say that Noah “did good” to build the ark and save the human race from extinction.

Nope. Just 1 time.

The OT prophets and saints did not “do good and right” in the eyes of the Lord. But they did the pattern of good and right. That is all they could do. The pattern. They could do the figure of good and right according to the law. But not good and right according to the truth.

Lets look at the Kings of Israel and Judah, whose acts are recorded, and summarized with one statement in the Bible. Familiar? Here is an example:

2 Chronicles 14:2  And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God:

I think there is a reason it is said this way. They are not said to have done good and right, but they did THAT WHICH WAS good and right.

1 Kings 15:5  Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

? Kings 12:2  And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all his days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him.

2 Chronicles 31:20  And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah, and wrought that which was good and right and truth before the LORD his God.

In the flesh, under the law, people can not do (true) good or (true) right, but they can do THAT WHICH IS good and right.

Romans 13:3  For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:

No man can do good, outside of Christ. But any man can do “that which is good”. That does not mean that he is saved, or that he is spiritually/eternally rewarded, that what He did was true good in the sight of God, or that he is better than another sinner before God. He just did THAT WHICH IS good, in the Earth. He didn’t do good, He did that which is good, he did the pattern of good.

But man won’t be judged according to the pattern. He will be judged according to the truth!

Romans 2:1-3  Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.  2  But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.  3  And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

Man will be judged according to TRUTH!

Pilate asked Jesus: What is truth?

1 John 5:6  This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.

The truth is the Spirit. 2^nd witness:

1 John 2:27  But the anointing [The Holy Spirit] which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing [The Holy Spirit] teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

We are going to be judged according to truth: Whether or not we are in the Spirit.

We will be judged according to truth. The truth is the word of God.

John 17:17  Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

We are going to be judged according to truth: Whether we are in the truth.

Psalms 69:13  But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O LORD, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.

To be in the truth, is to be in the mercy of the Lord. In the salvation of the Lord.

We are going to be judged according to truth: Whether we are in the truth: that is, whether we are IN JESUS.

Ephesians 4:21  If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:

That is the only instance of “the truth is in” in the whole Bible. The truth is the Bible doctrine of life in Jesus.

John 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

The truth is that without Jesus, a man does not do good and right IN TRUTH. He only does good and right IN FORM, IN SHADOW.

True judgment is that man, all men, yourself included, are inexcusable.

Romans 2:1  Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.

No man does different things than other men. No work of one man is better than the works of another man. We all do the same things. The Judgment of God will not differentiate between the good works and the bad works of the flesh, the good works and bad works of man. The Judgment of God will differentiate between the flesh, and the Spirit. The Judgment of God will differentiate between the true good and the true evil.

And since judgment is “according to TRUTH”, no carnal work of man will be counted a good work. Because carnal works are not true works. Because carnal things are not true things.

Man’s works are not IN THE TRUTH – in the Spirit, in Jesus – thus they are NOT TRUTH.

Romans 2:2  But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.

That is the only appearance of “according to truth” in the Bible. It sounds to me like it is pretty important for us to understand how someone can be judged “according to truth”, since this will be our judgment.

This is the only appearance of “according to THE truth” in the whole Bible:

Galatians 2:14  But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?

When man is judged according to truth, according to the truth, the only thing that will matter is the truth OF THE GOSPEL. The gospel is the truth. The only thing that will matter about his works, is whether his works were true good and true right, ACCORDING TO THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL.

What is the truth? 1 instance of “is the truth”

Psalms 119:142  Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth.

So, are we going to be judged by the law, or by the gospel? The false brethren scream, “See, its by works! You have to obey the law!” The Bible haters scream, “Contradiction!”

But, why can’t it be both? Why can’t we just believe that God doesn’t lie.

This is OT. The law of Moses is not the truth. It was the pattern and figure of the truth.

The truth is the new covenant. The new law. The law of eternal life in Jesus. The Bible calls it the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the son of God hath not life.

Romans 3:26-28  To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.  27  Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.  28  Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

The law of Moses, the law of works, the natural law of the flesh, is the figure of the true.

The law of the Spirit of life in Jesus is the true law. The law of faith is the true law. “Thy law is the truth”.

Man will be judged according to the truth: whether he obeyed the law of faith: the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Psalms 33:4  For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth.

The Lord’s works are done in truth. Truthful works are done in the truth. Where is the truth?

Ephesians 4:21  If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:

If you are not in Jesus Christ, you are not “In Truth”.

2 John 1:2  For the truth‘s sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever.

Jesus Christ is the truth. If Christ is not in you, you have no truth in you.

Rather, you are of your father the devil, who “.. abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.”

Better get a hold of that, because that is how you are going to be judged. According to truth.

The truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The truth of the word of God.

The truth of the Spirit.

The truth of the law of faith; the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.

The truth of where you are: in Christ or in the flesh.

The truth of what you are: a son of God, or a child of the devil.

The truth of what sacrifices you gave: figurative sacrifices, or true sacrifices.

The truth of what things you worked: shadows of good in the flesh (evil things), or true good in the Spirit (good things).

You are going to be judged according to truth.

“did good” – 1 time, “did right*” – 1 time

The Lord is the only one that is ever said to have “did good”, and no man is ever said to have “did right”.

“doeth good” – 9 times.

“doeth right*” – 3 times.

First, “doeth good” – 9 times. What you need to know: No historical person in the Bible is ever said to “doeth good”. In fact, 6 of the 9 times, the phrase is the same:

Psalms 14:1  … there is none that doeth good.

Psalms 14:3  … there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Psalms 53:1  … there is none that doeth good.

Psalms 53:3  … there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Ecclesiastes 7:20  For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.

Romans 3:12  … there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

There are only 3 other instances of “doeth good”.

Proverbs 17:22  A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

First of all, this is not an instance of any carnal man being able to “doeth good”.

This is no exception to the rule (6 times!). So what is this?

It’s a proverb. … It’s a parable. It’s a mystery. It’s a dark saying. It’s a hidden thing. Its hidden wisdom. It’s a spiritual truth spoken to men such that men see without perceiving and hear without understanding. These things are revealed to the babes, but are hidden from the wise and prudent, of this world. These things are given to the spiritually wise men, but are hidden from the naturally wise men.

The common “understanding” of this verse is, as you would expect, a carnal “understanding”: that joy and laughter helps the flesh heal and live, whereas sorrow and despair cause the physical body to fade and die. “Laughter is the best medicine”. This is not what the Bible teaches:

Proverbs 14:13  Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness.

Ecclesiastes 2:2  I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?

Ecclesiastes 7:3  Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.

The truth of “laughter” in the Bible is that if you laugh now, you will mourn at the end, but if you mourn now, at the end, the Lord will fill you with laughter.

Laughter is not for your health. Laughter is not going to do you good.

Proverbs 17:22  A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

If we are to open the Spiritual eyes to this, if we will divide flesh from Spirit and true from the figure of the true, I believe that what it says is that a saved man’s heart (a merry heart, which has been given joy – the Holy Spirit) doeth good – it can do good. It can bring forth good things, health and life (living waters – moisture), whereas an unsaved man’s heart (which has a broken spirit) brings forth evil things, sickness and death (wells without water – dryness, and no moisture).

A saved man gives moisture and health, an unsaved man gives dryness and death. A saved man gives living water, and unsaved man gives no water.

Is there some fleshly medical truth here? Possibly, as a figure of the true. But, I don’t really know. If you want to know fleshly wisdom, ask your doctor. But if you ask your Pastor, I’ll tell you about the true things.

The spiritual truth of this passage, is the same that Jesus taught. What a man can do, good or evil, is based on what is IN his heart. What is inside the heart, good or evil, is what comes out of the heart. And what comes out of a man is of one sort: good or evil, carnal or spiritual.

We are NOT talking about what a man does, whether good or evil, whether nice or mean, whether lawful or unlawful.

What we are talking about, is a SUBSTANCE that proceeds out of the heart. That substance is like a medicine. That substance gives life, or it gives death.

No man under the law was able to do good. True good only proceeds from a merry heart – a saved man’s heart. True good is the giving of living water instead of water that perisheth. The giving of moisture, instead of dryness. If a man drinks your waters, will he be healed? Will he thirst again, or will he never thirst again? To give the gospel of Jesus Christ, is to give eternal life, and to “doeth good like a medicine”.

I AM HERE

The Lord’s Work – Part 30

Can the evil “do good”?

Ecclesiastes 7:20  For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.

Romans 3:12  … there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

4 Billion males in the world today. Not a single one of them does good. Every single one of them is a sinner.

4 Billion. And not a single one of them is “good”.

Luke 18:19  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.

There was no doing good before Jesus came. Not in truth. There was no true good man, there was no true good work, and there was no true good things, there were no true good fruits. Just shadows, figures, patterns.

4 Billion. And not a single one of them “doeth good”.

3 John 1:11  … He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.

If a man is good, if he can do good, he must be of God. He must be in God. He must have drunk into His body, he must have been born into His house, he must abide in His vine, His tree. He must be a good tree.

Only a good man can do good things. A man cannot do good unless he is a born again, child of God. That is what Jesus taught, and that is what the whole New Testament teaches. A sinner, a man born under sin, is not good. A sinner cannot do good.

It should be very clear… But what’s so confusing to the whole world, is that they clearly see with their own eyes that they “do good”. So naturally, they believe that they in fact “do good”. Why wouldn’t they? It looks good.

And I mean, even Jesus says that sinners “do good”.

Luke 6:33  And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.

What?? How?? How could Jesus say that sinners “do good”?!?!

How could Jesus say that sinners “do good”, when the Bible says, “there is none that doeth good”?

How could Jesus say that sinners “do good”, when He also said, “none is good”?

How could Jesus say that that sinners “do good”, when He also said that an evil tree cannot bear good fruit?

If Jesus said that no evil man can bring forth good, and no good man can bring forth evil (Matt 12:33-35), then how can He also say that sinners “do good”?

If you can “do good”, then you are good.

3 John 1:11  He that doeth good is of God…

1 John 3:7  … he that doeth righteousness is righteous,…

If you can bring forth good things, then you are good. A good tree bringeth forth good fruit.

Luke 6:43-45  For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.  44  For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.  45  A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

Goodness proceedeth from the good, as wickedness proceedeth from the wicked.

1 Samuel 24:13  As saith the proverb of the ancients, Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked: …

But you can’t have both good and evil proceeding from you.

As Jesus said, “Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt”

And as James said, “…so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh”

If wickedness proceedeth from you, then you are wicked.

If good things proceeded from you, then you would be good. If righteousness proceeded from us, then we would already be righteous. And if we were already righteous, then Christ died in vain.

It has GOT TO BE one or the other. Make the tree good, or make it evil. Count the man righteous or count him wicked.

If one has wickedness proceeding from them, they are wicked. If we sin, then we are evil. That’s how we have to count it.

So then… how could Jesus say that sinners “do good”???

So what do we know? Here is what we know from Scripture. We know that there is none good, but God.

Luke 18:19  … none is good, save one, that is, God.

But we also know that some people have done good.

John 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

We know that some people have done good, and those that have, are of God.

3 John 1:11  … He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.

We also know that no one does good, not one.

Ecclesiastes 7:20  For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.

Romans 3:12  … there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

And finally we know, directly from the mouth of Christ, that sinners do good.

Luke 6:33  And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.

So we know that: No one is good except God (Luke 18:19). And he that doeth good is of God (3 John 1:11). And some people have done good (John 5:29). But no one does good (Romans 3:12). But sinners do good (Luke 6:33).

So wait… a sinner is of God? … He is if he can do good. And yet if he also doeth evil, he hath not seen him, neither known him!?!? (1 Jn 3:6)

What is going on?!? These look like clear contradictions. This looks about as clear.. as thick mud. How than these things be?

If a sinner can “do good”, true good, are not the Scriptures a lie?

If a sinner can bring forth “good things”, true good things, is Jesus not a liar?

Matthew 12:33,35  Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: … 35  A good man … bringeth forth good things

You can’t say that a man is good, but sometimes he does evil. Or this man is evil, but sometimes he does good.

If a sinner can bring forth good things, if he can “do good”, true good, is Jesus not a liar? Is not the Bible a huge contradiction?

So which one is it, Jesus? Can a sinner “do good” or not! Is a sinner “of God” or not?

1 John 2:29  If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.

1 John 3:10  In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

If a man (whosoever he be) can do good, he is born of God. So, if a sinner can “do good”, he is born of God. Whosoever.

If a sinner can “do good”, we have a real problem here.

The doctrine is binary: Either a man does good, and he is born of Him, or he does evil and his is not born of Him. No middle ground.

If a man is a sinner, he cannot not born of God. Because a good man cannot sin.

1 John 3:6  Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: …

1 John 3:9  Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; … he cannot sin, …

1 John 3:8  He that committeth sin is of the devil; …

Binary: The Righteous are born of God and do good things, and cannot do evil things.

Sinners are of the devil and do evil things, and cannot do good things.

A sinner, who can sin, can’t also do good.

Jeremiah 13:23  Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.

If you can sin, if you are able to sin, then you can’t also do good.  The only way to do good, is to change your skin, nature, flesh. To change how you were born. You have to be born of God, born of the Spirit. But as long as you have this body of flesh, you cannot “do good”.

Whosoever can do good, he IS good. He IS righteous. Even as righteous as Jesus Christ.

1 John 3:7  Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.

Good things come from a good man. No good thing can come from a sinner. No sinner can do a good thing. We know this.

And yet… by Christ’s own admission, sinners “do good” to other sinners. So sinners must be as good and righteous as Jesus Christ. Right?!

Luke 6:33  And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.

According to Jesus, sinners must be destined unto the resurrection of life of those that “have done good”, because they “do good”.

So is not Jesus an unrighteous judge? To say that sinners “do good”, is He not contradicting Scripture? Did He not make himself a liar? Or did not the apostles lie in the NT? Did the word of God lie in 1 John?

It looks like it, doesn’t it? That is what mean see, with our eyes.

If you choose to believe Jesus lied, or contradicted Himself, go on ahead in the blindness of your heart.

But.. there is a way to understand Jesus’ words, without making Him or His word, a liar.

The only conclusion, the only way to reconcile all of this, is to rightly divide it!!

2 Timothy 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

We must divide the word of “truth”. We must divide the true good things, from the figure of the good things. We must conclude that whatever good, or goodness, or righteousness proceeds from a wicked man (all of us), has to be FAKE: fake good works. It has to be ONLY a shadow of true goodness. Sinners do good, but not true good, not true righteousness. They can ONLY do according to the pattern of true good, which pattern they have seen in the law, in the world. A sinner can only do good after the flesh.

But in the flesh, there is no good thing (Rom 7:18) and there is no truth (John 8:44).

The works of men are sometimes called good, but they are not TRUE good.

We must divide the true from the figure of the true. We must divide the natural, from the Spiritual.

Jesus did not lie, and He did not teach a different doctrine than the one we find in 1 John.

John 3:5-6  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.  6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Galatians 6:8  For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

A sinner cannot bring forth a fleshly thing to give to a man’s flesh, and it result in eternal life. No matter what good flesh does to flesh, no matter what good thing a sinner does to another sinner, it only brings forth corruption.

Good fruit must come from the Spirit. Only a Spiritual man can sow to the Spirit and bring forth good things (life everlasting).

Only a seed sown in the Spirit, a tree planted in the Spirit, a tree of life, can bring forth true good things.

Only a spiritual man can bring forth true good things, true good fruit.

Ephesians 6:8  Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.

If you take this in a vacuum, not dividing flesh from Spirit, and not considering who it is written to or what it implies if you apply this to an unsaved man who does a “good thing”, you have a big problem: if an evil man can do good, then the evil man is due a good reward. Scripture also then says that this evil man, this sinner, is “of God”, and just as righteous as Jesus Christ Himself.

And this is exactly what they think: “Lord, Lord, have we not… done many wonderful works?” You can’t put me in Hell, I deserve a reward! I deserve many rewards, for I did MANY wonderful works!

And truly, if a man does any good thing, any TRUE good work, he has an eternal reward.

And so here… right here… is man’s confusion.

“God, you said if I did a good thing, I would have an eternal reward. You’ve said that if I did good, then I was of God. You said if I did righteousness then I was righteous! And I’ve done lots of good works. So why can I not enter in?”

They are confused. They’ve been deceived. Right here, is confusion and contradiction in their eyes! They’ve been deceived by their own natural eyes. They only see figures and shadows, and they don’t have their eyes open to the true things. They’ve been blinded. They’re blind to the true things.

And the eyes of them both were opened, …”. Whatever Satan did to man, messed with his eyes! “When Adam’s carnal “eyes were opened”, maybe his spiritual eyes were closed. Whatever he did… it made man blind. Man is now blind to “the true” things. So he is confused and deceived.

But, if we understand that carnal things proceeding from the flesh are evil, and spiritual things proceeding from the Spirit are good, we have no issues of confusion or contradiction. There is no lie in Christ. There is no lie in His word.

If you understand that the things which proceed out of the spirit of disobedience which is in an evil heart (man’s natural heart) are evil, and only the spiritual things which proceed out of the Spirit are good, we have no issues of confusion or contradiction.

If you understand that spiritual good works (done in Christ) are true, and carnal good works are figures of the true, we have no issues of confusion or contradiction.

True good things are spiritual things which come from the Holy Spirit. Always and only.

Matthew 12:33,35  Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. … 35  A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

You can’t be both a good man, and an evil man. You can’t bring forth both good things and evil things. You can only bring forth according to your kind. You, as a carnal man can only bring forth evil things, because you are an evil man. And Jesus can only bring forth good things because He is a good man.

There aren’t even any (true) good things are in our flesh.

Romans 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

If Paul says, nothing good is in the flesh, then how can anything good come out of it? As Job says…

Job 14:4  Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.

So how can the flesh be a good tree? It can’t. We have to divide the true good from the figure of the good.

The flesh cannot possibly bring forth a good thing, a good work, a good fruit. If a work is a fleshly work, it is reprobate. It may be fashioned after a good work. It may sound or look like a good work, but we (in light, in truth, not in blindness and darkness) know that it is not.

There is no good thing in the flesh, and no good thing can be brought out of it. What comes out of it can’t be made into a good thing.

It doesn’t matter if you pattern it according to a good thing. Its just a figure of a good thing.

How good is a mud pie? It might look pretty good when decorated, but it’s all mud within.

How good is a cake of poop?

How good is a jam made with poison berries?

How good is a house made of leaves?

The problem with those things is not the quality of the work, or the intentions… it’s the substance itself!

There is no good thing dwelling in our flesh. But Christians are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. And a Christian’s works are not done in the flesh, but in in the Spirit, in heavenly places. The flesh is not where God created us unto good works. We were created unto good works IN CHRIST.

Man’s good works are not true good things.

Our best works are simply shadows and figures of true “good things”.

The only good things, the only good fruit, that can proceed out of a Christian, are the words of eternal life that proceed out of his mouth.

Those are the only true good things that we can bring forth. Speaking the word of God by the gospel of Christ is the only good work that we can do. Which is truly not a work of the flesh, or even a work upon earth. It is a work in Christ, in heaven. It is the building of the city of God in heaven. It is sowing to the Spirit. It is the giving of eternal life to a born again, new creature in heaven.

The Lord’s Work – Part 29

Man’s works are evil

This world is evil.

Galatians 1:4  Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:

The works of the world are evil.

John 7:7  The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.

The works of the flesh are evil.

Galatians 5:19-21  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,  20  Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,  21  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

These are the works of the flesh, and there is not a single good one among them.

The works of the flesh are Idolatry.

They which do the works of the flesh shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Where do all these evil things come from?

Man’s works come from his heart, his evil heart.

Jeremiah 18:12  And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.

Jeremiah 3:17  At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.

Why is it called evil? Because it is full of evil.

Ecclesiastes 9:3  This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

Its full of evil because sin is dwelling in it.

Romans 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

And whatever thing is in the heart, is the thing that will come out of it.

Luke 6:45  A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

Mark 7:21-23  For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,  22  Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:  23  All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

Every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart is only evil continually.

Genesis 6:5  And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Everything that man imagines and desires to do, is evil. If man devises a good thing with good intentions, it is still evil. There can only evil come from his imaginations/inventions.

If something originates from man’s heart, it is evil.

John 8:39-44  They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.  …  41  Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.  …  44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. …

John 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

This is really pretty crazy. Jesus talking about who Satan was from the beginning. Jesus was there. Jesus made Lucifer. He watched him sin. He beheld him when Satan as lightning fell from Heaven.

He’s the inventor of lies, the father of lying. Lies are his own.

There is no truth, no good, no righteousness in Satan. Neither is there in his children.

John 2:25  And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.

1 John 3:8  He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

The works of sinners (all men) are the works of the devil. That’s were they come from.

Their father. God is not man’s father. Satan is. What is in man, what an works, is from Satan.

There is no good in those works, there is nothing redemptive in those works. Jesus came to destroy them.

Man’s works are evil. Its not all man’s fault. Its Satan’s fault. Man thinks he is doing good, but his own works defile him.

He is incapable of bringing forth good of himself. When he works, he works the works of Satan, and those works defile him.

Mark 7:23  All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

Psalms 106:39  Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions.

Man’s works are works of iniquity.

Isaiah 59:6  Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.

And in case you would want to exclude yourself, and just apply this to one generation or one group of sinners…

Isaiah 59:7-8  Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.  8  The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.

Notice the red text. There is a new testament cross-reference for this. Do you know where?

Romans 3:10-17  As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:  11  There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.  12  They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.  13  Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:  14  Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:  15  Their feet are swift to shed blood:  16  Destruction and misery are in their ways:  17  And the way of peace have they not known:

Romans 1-3 is not talking about the Pharisees only, or the heathen only, or the Gentiles only. Romans 3 is talking about every man, all men.

Romans 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Every man:

Rom 1:18  … men, …

Rom 1:26 … their women …

Rom 1:27  And likewise also the men, …

Rom 2:1 … O man, whosoever thou art …

Rom 2:3 … O man, …

Rom 2:6 … every man …

Rom 2:10 … the Jew … the Gentile …

Rom 2:25  … circumcision … uncircumcision.

Every man. They are all the same. They all do the same things.

Rom 2:9 … every soul of man that doeth evil …

Rom 2:10  … every man that worketh good …

A man either does good or he does evil. Not both. Which are you? Well..

Rom 2:12 … if thou be a breaker of the law, …

Then this condemnation in Romans 3, is to you. You’re no different. No matter how you were born, no matter what you’ve done, every man who is a breaker of the law doeth evil. The same things that he judges as evil, he does the same things. All men are the same.

This condemnation in Romans 3 applies to …

Rom 2:12  … as many as have sinned …

None escapes. Not one man who is a sinner is counted as better than another sinner.

Rom 3:4  … every man a liar; …

The only ones that escape are those that have judged themselves as sinners, and have died and been born again as NOT sinners, having been made righteous in Christ Jesus.

Romans 2:1-3  Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.  2  But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.  3  And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

Matthew 7:2  For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

If you judge men who are sinners, according to their sins, you will be judged as a sinner, according to your sins.

John 8:15  Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man [after the flesh].

Jesus is THE JUDGE. But He does not judge after the flesh. He judges men according to truth.

He judges men according to the heart, according to the things that proceed from the heart. Jesus judges by the words, the understanding, the secrets of the heart. He judges according to truth.

Rom 2:2 …the judgment of God is according to truth…

Does truth come out of your heart, or no?

Matthew 7:1-2  Judge not, that ye be not judged.  2  For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

Judge not (men after the flesh), that ye be not judged (after the flesh, as a sinner).

John 7:24  Judge not according to the appearance [the flesh], but judge righteous judgment.

Well which one is it? Should we judge or should we not judge? … Both of course!

We should not judge after the flesh. We should judge righteous judgment.

Righteous judgment is to judge all sinners, yourself included, as worthy of death and the wrath of God.

Righteous judgment is to judge all men as sinners, and only Jesus Christ righteous.

Righteous judgment is judge carnal sons of men as evil, and spiritual sons of God as righteous.

Righteous judgment is to judge all works of the flesh as evil, and profitable for nothing.

Righteous judgment is to judge after the Spirit and not after the flesh.

Righteous judgment is to judge after the record of Jesus Christ: He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

1 Corinthians 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

Which once is it, are we going to be judged, or not be judged? … Both of course!

We will not be judged according to the flesh as sinners, but we will be judged according to righteousness, as children of God.

If we judge righteous judgment, according to the truth of the gospel, we won’t be judged as sinners.

That is the only way to escape the condemnation. Because the condemnation is on ALL men. ALL men, do the same things.

By nature, all men are sinners, all men ONLY do evil, and all men are incapable of doing good things.

Romans 3:9-12  What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;  10  As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:  11  There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.  12  They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

So Isaiah is talking about the same group of people that Paul is talking about in Romans 3, that is: all men. All sinners. All breakers of the law. they are all the same, they cannot do good, and their works are only of one type:

Isaiah 59:6  … their works are works of iniquity, …

Jeremiah 32:30-31  For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have only done evil before me from their youth: for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, saith the LORD.

And so the final nail in the coffin: Man’s works are evil.

John 3:19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

John 7:7  The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.

There is not a single work of the flesh that is a true good work. They are all evil. Even the “good” ones.

Everything that a man thinks is evil, everything that comes out of man’s heart is evil. Every work that man does is evil. Every fruit he brings forth is evil.

True good works are only wrought in Jesus Christ. Outside of Christ, men’s works are evil.

Matthew 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

We were righteous! We did the Lord’s works! We did good works!

Matthew 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Works of the flesh are works of iniquity. You do the works of the flesh. You never did the Lord’s works. You never did a true good thing or brought forth a true good fruit. You never even did one true good work for the Lord. Not even one thing. Not even once. Not one work.

Titus 1:16  They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.

Every good work that an unsaved man does is reprobate: a fake, a counterfeit.

They profess that they did many wonderful things, but truthfully, they did many reprobate things.

Why? Because their works are done in the flesh, and not in Christ.

Because themselves are IN WORKS, and not in Christ. In works, they deny Him. BEING in the flesh, every good work that they work, is reprobate.

All of man’s works are evil. There is none that doeth good, no not one. There is none that has ever done true good, outside of Jesus Christ.

You’re thinking.. “None of our good works are true good works!?!?  All our good works are just

• figures and shadows,
• vanity, and
• idols?

How can that be? Is there not a single work I can do that is good, true good? Every good work in the flesh is fake, reprobate? Not because of one’s sincerity, but just because it is fleshly!?”

Yes, just because it is made with hands. Just because it is done outside of Christ. Just because it comes from an unsaved man. Just because it proceeds from an evil spirit in an evil heart.

You say, “How can you say that??? How can that be?? What about this one, and that one?”

This is a tough pill to swallow, agree? Indeed, this is hard to digest!  And if you think so too, I believe there is a reason for that… this truth is hard to eat, because this truth is strong meat!

Hebrews 5:13-14  For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.  14  But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Strong meat belongeth to them, even to those, who discern both good and evil.

Strong meat is to discern both good and evil.

A grown man of full age, knows how to discern good and evil. A grown Christian of full age knows how to discern (that is, to identify, to discover, to distinguish, to make a difference, to divide) both good and evil.

Not just discerning (dividing) good FROM evil. But BOTH good AND evil.

A full grown Christian, can discern (differentiate) good, and also can discern (differentiate) evil.

A full grown Christian, can discern good by itself, and evil by itself.

We ought to divide the evil from the figure of the evil. (e.g. an idol is nothing in the world).

We’ve got to divide the good, from the figure of the good.

What senses are we talking about? Spiritual senses. With our spiritual minds and eyes.

We are talking about growing the new man, the new creature. We are not talking about discerning between the good and evil of this world, or of the law, or of man’s judgment. You know what those are. A carnal man knows the difference between carnal good and evil. You were born with a conscience of sins, and you’ve grown that conscience (perhaps defiled it, seared it) over your whole life.

You know how to discern man’s meat – good from evil. But do you know how to discern spiritual meat – good AND evil? not just the good from the evil, but also the good from the good, and evil from the evil. Can you discern The Lord’s good things from man’s good things. The spiritual bread from man’s carnal bread? The Lord’s spiritual bread from the false prophet’s spiritual bread?

We are talking about TRUE good and evil. Spiritual good and spiritual evil. To discern these from each other, AND from their respective carnal figures, is strong meat!

John 6:60  Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?

This is an hard saying. This is strong meat. This is hard to chew, hard to swallow, hard to digest. I don’t have it all figured out. I have many questions of my own.. Maybe I’m still a child, a baby.

But I believe this is, if we will receive it, strong meat.

This world is evil.

The works of the world are evil.

All works of the flesh are evil.

The works of the flesh, even the good ones, are fake.

There is not a single work of the flesh that is a true good work.

The Lord’s Work – Part 28

Idols

Man’s works are FAKE. They are:

• Shadows, Figures, and Patterns
• Vanity
• Idols

Our works are FAKE? How are they fake? What are they, if not true?

They are idols..

God says some pretty good things about Israel in the OT. Like this one.

Numbers 23:21  He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.

But then.. we also see this:

Jeremiah 32:30-31  For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have only done evil before me from their youth: for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, saith the LORD.  31  For this city hath been to me as a provocation of mine anger and of my fury from the day that they built it even unto this day; that I should remove it from before my face,

The children of Israel didn’t do any good works before the Lord. Not one. They ONLY did evil. From the day they built Jerusalem. The work of men’s hands have ONLY ever, I suppose since Adam fell, provoked the Lord to anger.

Why? What’s so wrong and so provoking about the work of their hands.. the work of our hands?

What are the works of men’s hands… to the Lord, in truth?

Psalms 115:4  Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.

Psalms 135:15  The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.

We’ve previously found that our works are Vanity, that they are Shadows and Figures, and now also we find… they are IDOLS!

The works of men’s hands… are idols. The works of your hands, are your idols.

That is 2 witnesses. But there are plenty more!

Deuteronomy 4:28  And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

2 Chronicles 32:19  And they spake against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods of the people of the earth, which were the work of the hands of man.

Isaiah 37:18-19  Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries,  19  And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.

Acts 7:41  And they [Israel] made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

It says they were rejoicing in the works of their own hands… What were they doing? Worshipping their idol… Worshipping their own works!!

Isaiah 2:8  Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:

Jeremiah 25:6-7  And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.  7  Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the LORD; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.

To the Lord, man’s works are idols. Men worship their own works, provoking the Lord to wrath.

Jeremiah 1:16  And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.

Man’s gods, man’s idols, are the works of his own hands. And man worships his own works. Man’s works. Our carnal works! We devise them, craft them, we bring them forth, we make them look good, we cover them with gold and silver, and then we worship them.

Isaiah 44:17  And the residue thereof [of a tree] he maketh a god, even his graven image [the work of his hands is his god – you’ve seen the witnesses!]: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.

I believe that in spirit, this is what man does from the residue of himself. Himself being a stone, a tree.

They make their works out of their own substance, with their own hands, then they worship the works of their own hands, falling down unto them and saying, Deliver me!

“Prayeth unto it” – Whoa, think about that! They are praying to their own works! When you include your works in your salvation prayer.. it is not a prayer to God, but to another god. A god of your own making: a god of the works of your own hands. An idol.

Thinking that your own works can deliver you.. This is idolatry.

If you put any value in the works of your own hands, you’re an idol worshipper.

You want to see what you are like? Here are some idol worshippers. Ones that truly believe in the goodness and power of their idol (the works of men’s hands).

1 Kings 18:26-29  And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made.  …  28  And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.  29  And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.

You call on your works, your idols, saying “save me, oh works of my hands!” but don’t can’t answer. And then you cut yourself. And shed your blood upon the altar of your works, and still there is no answer. And then you throw your entire body on the altar, your whole life itself, saying, “please, oh works of my hands, hear me! Please respond, please do me good. I’ll pour out my own blood into serving you. I’ll offer my whole life to serve you, oh work of my hands. Please accept my offering! Please do me good, please SAVE ME!”

But there is no voice, or any to answer, nor any that regard.

Your work… Its beautiful. Covered in Gold and Silver.

But its an idol. It’s a fake, its reprobate. It looks like a god, but it is no god. It looks like it can save, but has no power to save. Your work of your hands.. is an idol.

Habakkuk 2:19  Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.

Awake, my works! Arise, the works my hands! Save me!

My works will deliver me. My works will be my security. My works will be my proof!

Isaiah 44:9-13  They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.  10  Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image [the work of men’s hands] that is profitable for nothing? … 13  The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.

We make our idols after what we have seen with our eyes. We make them after birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things, but mostly… men! We fashion our works after the beauty of a man.

They know what a good man looks like. So they make works after the figure of a good man. They scope out the pattern, and fashion their works (themselves) after a good man. Just be like Jesus! Just be good like Ghandi! Just be like Mohammed! Just be you, but better than you were before. Mold and Reshape your life. Completely change your lifestyle. Change your actions. Change your shape.

Mold yourself.. craft your idol. Craft the work of your hands, after the figure of a man.

As an unsaved man, your work – the work of your hands is a dumb and deaf idol!

That is what you worship, and that is what you pray to, and that is what you trust.

Men’s works are deceitful works. Man’s works (his idols) are teachers of lies.

Habakkuk 2:18  What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?

Man thinks his works are true good works but his WORKS are lying to him, and his heart, trusts in them.

Man’s works are dumb idols. They cannot speak, hear, walk, nor can they save.

Just like a dumb and deaf idol, your works will not profit you.

Jeremiah 10:5  They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.

My theory: What we do in the flesh is not true good OR true evil. True evil or true good is defined by what sort of spirit it is which creates the thing, and what sort of heart the thing comes out of. What comes out of a saved man’s new heart is always true good, and what comes out of an unsaved man’s heart is always true evil. No matter what the outward appearance of the flesh is, no matter what the shadow looks like, what the flesh does is according to the spirit which is in it. Its neither true good or true evil. Its nothing. Its vanity. It’s a shadow.

An idol can’t do any true work. And neither can you! Because the works of your hands are idols, and you are just like your works.

Psalms 115:4-8  Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.  5  They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not:  6  They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not:  7  They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.  8  They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.

Everyone that trusteth in idols (the work of their own hands), is just like an idol – dead and vain, without life, without power to speak or move or deliver.

You are vanity, and your works are vanity. You are of nothing, and your works are of nought.

And you are just like your works. You are like an idol. The physical body can look like a good man. It can be covered with gold and silver. Beautiful. But it is just a figure, just a shadow.

There is an evil spirit behind you that may come and work… but it will work evil. It will be your ruin.

Micah 5:13  Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands.

How do you STOP worshipping the works of your hands?

Hosea 14:2-3  Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips. [You take words – His words – and offer a sacrifice out of your lips!] 3  Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.

To get saved, you must repent of your idols – the works of your hands.

Revelation 9:20  And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:

Your works are blind and deaf, dumb, and lame idols.

Men need to REPENT of the works of their hands. But they see profit in their works. They see their works like an idolater sees his idol. The works of my hands can rise up and deliver me! Save me, my works!

“men’s hands” appears 6 times in the Bible. 5 refer to them directly as gods/idols. The 6^th is this.

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 true worshippers worship in spirit and in truth.

But our natural works are not true works. Nothing an unsaved man makes with his hands is accepted / true worship.

Psalms 28:4-5  Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert.  5  Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up.

You will be judged according to the works of your hands.

Your works will be weighed against His works. Your works will be proved, tested, tried.

Your works will be found to be idols.

A man must repent of his idolatry, that is, the works of his hands. A man must regard the works of the Lord as his only salvation.

Psalms 111:7  The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure.

The Lord’s works are truth and judgment. The Lord’s works are not made with carnal hands.

The Lord’s works are his sons.

Isaiah 45:11  Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.

Isaiah 60:21  Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.

Saved men are not like idols. Saved men have true life, eternal life. Saved men are the work of the hands of the Lord.

Isaiah 29:23  But when he [Jacob] seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.

And, as a saved man, those are our works of OUR hands.

What is the work of our (spiritual) hands? New Jerusalem of course. The city of God, the Bride of Christ.

This is the Lord’s work, and it is our work, as labourers together with Him.

1 Corinthians 3:9  For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.

This was not true in the OT. They could not work good and acceptable things. But it was prophesied that they would.

Isaiah 65:22-23  They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.  23  They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.

Psalms 90:16-17  Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.  17  And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

These OT references are prophetic, futuristic. When the Lord’s work appears, then ours will be established too. What work? The building of God! The house of the Lord.

1 Peter 2:4-5  To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,  5  Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

Deuteronomy 33:1  And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. [this is prophetic, futuristic] …  8  And of Levi he said, …  10  They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law: they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altar.  11  Bless, LORD, his substance, and accept the work of his hands: smite through the loins of them that rise against him, and of them that hate him, that they rise not again.

The works of carnal hands are idols. But the works of Spiritual hands are acceptable.

This is fulfilled in us, the Church… we are the true priesthood, offering up spiritual sacrifices. NOT with the carnal hands of men.

Romans 13:12  The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

That is all they could do in the OT. And its all we can do according to the flesh. Darkness, shadows, figures, patterns of the true. But now… the day is at hands. Cast off the works of men’s hands, the works of darkness, your idols… and put on… the Holy Spirit, the word of God, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

You will be recompensed according to your works.

Psalms 28:4  Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert.

Lamentations 3:64  Render unto them a recompence, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.

Jeremiah 25:14  … and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.

We will each be recompensed according to our works.

Which are your works? Which hands are you working with? Which works will be rewarded to you again?

The vain works of your own carnal hands (your idols), or the works of His hands (His children, His building).

“the work of men’s hands” – 5 times, all 5 define them as gods/idols.

“the work of the hands of man” – 1 time, defined as gods/idols.

To me, that seems to be the definition of men’s works.

1 Samuel 15:23  For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.

Rebellion is as idolatry (worshipping the works of men’s hands).

Idolatry (worshipping the works of your own hands) is rebellion.

1 Samuel 15:13-23  And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.  14  And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? … 20  And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, … and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.  21  But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.  22  And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices [works], as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey [believe the word of God] is better than sacrifice [work], and to hearken [believe the word of God] than the fat of rams.  23  For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

Saul and the people used their own wisdom to reject the word of God. To change his commandment. To rebel against it by taking of man’s good things (works) and sacrificing them to the Lord.

Now, that’s not how they saw it… They really believed they had done a good thing! They thought they obeyed the commandment. Saul said so twice. They thought, what a good work! Surely the Lord will be pleased with our offerings of these good things!

But the Lord didn’t want any of those things. He wanted those things destroyed – man’s things, man’s works.

What do we learn from this?

1 – Believe the word of the Lord perfectly! Don’t add, don’t subtract. Offer to Him exactly what He requires. No more, no less.

2 – Don’t save what is to be destroyed. God said destroy it all. Likewise, we are to repent of all our works. We are to crucify the flesh. But Saul and the people spared the good things and only destroyed the vile things. Likewise, the false prophets would have you repent only of your sins, but not of all the works of your hands. Saul and the people couldn’t think to destroy those “good works”. They could not scripturally Repent.

3 – To rebel (in this case, to make an offering to the Lord of something that was supposed to be destroyed) is as idolatry (worshipping the work of your hands). A prayer including one’s own works (which were supposed to be cut off/destroyed) is rebellion. This is what a false salvation prayer is to God: Witchcraft and Rebellion. This is why He does not accept or respect, or even hear, their prayers.

The works of men’s hands… spiritually, scripturally, truthfully… are idols.

Revelation 9:20  And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:

Woe to the man that offers the works of his hands (his idols) to the Lord.

To obey, to believe, to be saved, a man must repent of the works of his hands and have regard only to the Lord and the work of His hands.

The Lord’s Work – Part 27

Vanity

Man’s works are FAKE. They are:

• Shadows, Figures, and Patterns
• Vanity
• Idols

Our works are FAKE? How are they fake? What are they, if not true?

They are vanity!

Ecclesiastes 12:14  For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

1 Corinthians 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

There are only two sorts of work… Yours and His. Man’s and the Lord’s. True and fake (reprobate). Carnal works and spiritual works. Good works and Evil works.

The Lord is going to prove your works. He is going to find them out, of what sort your work be by:

1 – Trying them (it) – in the fire (whether they abide, or burn), and

2 – Weighing them (it) – against a just weight in an even balance.

We’ve talked a little about the trial by fire. Just to recap:

Jeremiah 23:29  Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

Jeremiah 5:14  Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

Ezekiel 22:21  Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof.

You will either melt in that fire, or walk through the midst of it like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

Your works will either abide the fire, or be burned.

1 Corinthians 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

We’ve talked a little about the trial by fire. Now, let’s focus on the weighing.

1 Samuel 2:3  Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.

The Lord is going to weigh man’s work, your work, and recompense you according to the weight of it.

Isaiah 65:7  … therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.

Your work(s) is going to be measured.

You will be recompensed according to the measure, according to the weight of your work.

Remember – whether it be good, or it be evil… you will receive according to your work – how much should He recompense you? How much payment do you deserve for your work? He’s going to use weights, and measures, to find out.

Deuteronomy 25:13-15  Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small.  14  Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small.  15  But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: …

Leviticus 19:35-36  Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure.  36  Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt.

The Lord will take your work and put it in His balance, and measure it against HIS weights.

And.. the Lord will be perfectly fair when he measures your works in His balances against HIS weights. It will not be unfair. There will be no untrue balances. There will be no uncalibrated scales. There will be no unjust weights. There will be no confusion, there will be no gray area. There will be no almosts. There will be no just barelys. There will be no last minute cheats.

Proverbs 11:1  A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight.

So what will the Lord use as a just weight to weigh your works?

Noah’s work? Abraham’s work? Job or Daniel’s work? You might come out pretty favorably if that were the case. Most wouldn’t. But you’d have a shot! Your works might weigh a portion of their works.  Your works might have some weight in that case. They would weigh more than nothing (vanity), at the least. But those are not just weights. Those men were sinners. The Lord will not weigh our works against those of a sinner. So what else could he use?

His own works! His own weights.

Proverbs 16:11  A just weight and balance are the LORD’S: all the weights of the bag are his work.

Your works will be laid in a balance. Not to compare them to your own works, or to the works of your neighbor, or to the works of an average human being, or even to the works of a good human being.

No, your works are going to be weighed against HIS WORK.

I used to emphasize, God is NOT going to put your works in a balance and weigh your good works against your bad works.

True… but… He IS going to weigh your works.

Your works will be weighed in an even balance against a JUST WEIGHT. They will be weighed against a TRUE GOOD WORK. Your work will be weighed against “HIS WORK”.

If you have worked just one true good work, you’ll be rewarded with glory honour and peace, and eternal life.

If you have worked just one work that measures up against His Work, you will be rewarded with eternal life.

If your work is found to weigh anything… if it has weight… it will be rewarded.

Isaiah 40:10  Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.

How will he know exactly how much to reward you? By measuring and weighing your work against His work.

It’s not just your works laid in the balance. It is you.

Job 31:6  Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity.

You yourself will be weighed against a good man, Jesus Christ.

You yourself will be weighed against a good work, New Jerusalem.

The Lord weighed King Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar’s son in the balances before taking away his kingdom and life.

Daniel 5:27  … Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.

The Lord will find you out. He will find out if you, and your works, have WEIGHT.

What will he find of an unsaved man??? That he weighs nothing; less than nothing.

Psalms 62:9  Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.

All men, when laid in the balance, are found to be lighter than vanity, lighter than emptiness, lighter than nothing.

YOU will be laid in the balance and YOU will be found to be lighter than nothing.

You are worthless, and your works are worthless. Less than worthless!

Psalms 39:5-6  … verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.  6  Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: …

Ecclesiastes 2:11  Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

You cannot claim to have done more “good works” than Solomon. His kingdom was the most prosperous in the history of mankind. Not only did he increase riches but he increased happiness. He increased knowledge. The law was adhered to. There was chastisement. There was fairness. There was good judgment. There was peace and trade with other nations.

Everything that men strive to accomplish in the world today through politics and diplomacy, Solomon had accomplished.

Solomon’s were “good works”! And yet, he himself confessed that they were all VANITY. Nothing. But not just HIS:

Ecclesiastes 1:14  I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Ecclesiastes 4:4  Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit.

The only instance of “right work” in the whole Bible. Every right work under the sun is merely a pattern of a true right work. Every right works under the sun is vanity.

Jeremiah 10:14  Every man is brutish in his knowledge: …

Jeremiah 51:17-19  Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image [his work] is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.  18  They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.  19  The portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the former of all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the LORD of hosts is his name.

You are the work of errors. Everything you make is the work of errors.

By your knowledge, you are a barbarian. In your lack of understanding, all your works are errors. Knowledge, understanding is the problem.

Because man has no truth, no knowledge, his work is vanity.

But the Lord and His works are not like man’s.

Isaiah 41:24-29  Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.  …  28  For I beheld, and there was no man; even among them, and there was no counsellor, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.  29  Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.

We are nothing. Our works are nothing. And they weigh exactly… NOTHING!!

Why? Knowledge. Understanding is what you lack.

The Lord is going to weigh your works.. and find them to weigh nothing. Less than nothing!

They are of nothing. They are made of nothing. They have no substance, no density, no weight.

When laid on the scale, when put in the balances, they won’t move the needle at all.

You may as well be weighing the wind. You may as well be weighing confusion.

Which of your works would weigh anything to the Lord?

How much does a prosthetic leg weigh? What about a house for the homeless?

What about a whole hospital? What about a whole nation?

Surely, if your work was a whole nation, it would have weight in the Lord’s balance, no??

Isaiah 40:12-17  Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance  …  15  Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. … 17  All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.

He’s going to find them to weigh nothing.. less than nothing, and vanity.

Man’s works weigh exactly vanity. How much do you weigh? One. One what? One vanity!

I know some women that would happy with that, but I don’t know any men that would.

And if your works were do good that you were worth all nations twice over (Elon Musk maybe?), well then your weight would be two. Two vanities. Two nothings. Two zeros.

Psalms 62:9  Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.

All men, all together. Put every man who has ever lived on this planet together, along with the accumulation of every work that they have worked, on one side of the balance, and put the Lord Jesus Christ and His work on the other side of the balance. What do you find?

They are altogether lighter than vanity.

Proverbs 16:2  All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits.

Of what sort is your spirit? Is it the Lord’s, or is it man’s? Does it have weight, substance, or is it vain? Your works: Are they natural, or are they spiritual? Do they have (spiritual) weight? Spirit has weight. Pretty opposite of what you’ve been taught, isn’t it?

How much Spirit (eternal life, wisdom, truth, knowledge, understanding) have you gained? (The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.)

True things (spiritual things) have weight. Carnal things are nothing.

Judges 9:4  … Abimelech hired vain and light persons, which followed him.

Again, vain and light is not good. We want weight in a man’s spirit. We want THE Spirit in a man’s spirit.

Galatians 4:6  And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Psalms 26:2  Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.

Jeremiah 17:10  I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

We know God will try the hearts with fire. Likewise, its possible that the Lord will try the whole hearts of men with weights as well, to see if they are empty, or to see if they have Spirit in them.

Ephesians 4:17-18  This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,  18  Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

Words. Understanding. Wisdom. Good things are made by wisdom.

It is the understanding that causes men to work vanity instead of to work the true spiritual things.

In the vanity of man’s mind, he believes his works are true, he thinks his works are weighty. And so he walks, he works, he continues to heap up vain works.

Many walk, work good works, and are enemies of the cross of Christ.

You must work – walk – in the Spirit, in understanding. Understanding that it is the spiritual things that are the true things.

Matthew 23:23  Woe unto you, scribes and  Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

Judgment, mercy and faith have WEIGHT. These will be what the Lord will be looking for. Either the Lord will find that the man and his works are vanity and they weigh less than nothing, or the man and his works will have weight.

But not yours.. His judgment, His mercy, His faith. These are the things that are weighty.

A saved man has judged himself as wicked, and has received mercy of the Lord, by faith in Jesus Christ.

A saved man has judged the Lord’s word as true, and now gives the Lord’s mercy to the poor, by the faith of Jesus Christ.

A saved man will stand before the Lord’s judgment and be found innocent, as having been justified by the mercy of the Lord, and having overcome the world by the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ.

His works. All the weights of the bag are HIS WORK. These come from Jesus Christ – the Word of God.

But those works of the law, in the OT were FAKE. They were not true. They were only a pattern of the true, to teach man about the true. The law was a schoolmaster to bring us unto the true.

School is fake. Schools is learning through practice. In school, we learned through solving fake problems, which were patterned after real world problems.

But no one rewarded us for our schoolwork. We didn’t get paid for school assignments.

When we graduated from school and moved on to the real world, that was when our real work began, and our works were worthy of a recompense, no?

Likewise, when we died to the law (the schoolmaster) and were born again in the Spirit, that was when our real work began, and now our works are worthy of a recompensed.

Now our works have weight. When we speak the gospel and win souls, those things (the works – the words, and the people) have weight. When we get wisdom, and give wisdom, we work a weighty work. These things will be weighed and recompensed.

And also, when we suffer for Christ’s sake, this has weight. In fact, it will be found to have EXCEEDING WEIGHT in the Lord’s balances. And our reward for that weighty work will be eternal glory.

2 Corinthians 4:17  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

Get saved, get wisdom, preach the gospel, and suffer affliction for the cross of Christ, and THESE works will be true, and WEIGHTY.

Isaiah 65:7  … therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.

Every man will have his spirit weighed. Of which sort is your spirit? A true and weighty spirit, or a light and vain spirit.

Every man will have his works weighed, measured, and recompensed to him.

Carnal works are vanity. When weighed against the Lord’s work, they are weightless, lighter than vanity. When they are tried by fire, they melt and consume away.

Spiritual works in Christ have weight. And these are the works for which we will receive an eternal, profitable, glorious reward.