Hebrews 6 & 10 – The Impossibility of Salvation – Part 9
Ye can do nothing
In order to understand the book of Hebrews… one of the most important things to first understand is how to divide flesh from spirit. How to divide FLESHLY good works from SPIRITUAL good works.
True good works are SPIRITUAL good works.
True good works CANNOT BE DONE in the flesh, or BY the flesh.
John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
You can’t start adding words in, in order to try to understand Jesus.
“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me”
“Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin”
Do you do meet those requirements 100% of the time? Don’t try to add words in!
You need to take Jesus’s words, and you need to believe them IN BINARY, as written.
And in order to do that… You need to divide flesh from Spirit.
Jesus said, “without me ye can do nothing”. Really think about that… How can that be true?
How exactly is it that a Christian can do SOMETHING… but an unbeliever can do NOTHING?
How exactly is it that a Christian can bring forth MUCH fruit… but an unbeliever can produce NOTHING? NO FRUIT AT ALL!
How exactly is it that a Christian can do good things… but an unbeliever can do NOTHING? He CANNOT do a single good thing.
But… I know unsaved people that do good works. Don’t you?
I know unbelievers, and I have SEEN them do good works. Haven’t you?
I know they can do good works.
So how could Jesus say, “without me ye CAN do NOTHING”???
If Jesus was talking about doing good works in this world… then Jesus was wrong! Jesus was mistaken!
Maybe, Jesus was lying! Maybe, the Bible just isn’t perfect. Maybe it just isn’t God’s perfect word.
Jesus said: John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
Look, there are only 2 options… Either Jesus was NOT talking about the things that people THINK He was talking about, or Jesus was WRONG!
Now of course… Jesus was NOT wrong. Thus, my point is… Jesus was NOT TALKING about doing fleshly good works in THIS WORLD.
If Jesus had been talking about the doing of good works in this world… then He could not have TRUTHFULLY said, “without me ye can do nothing.”
Because… an unbeliever, he can read the Bible, he can go to church, he can give to the poor, he can clothe the naked, he can defend the fatherless…
And what about all the people that lived BEFORE Jesus came to Earth? They could do good works!
An OT saint could read the Bible, he could go to the temple, he could give to the poor, he could clothe the naked, he could defend the fatherless…
Unbelievers are CAPABLE… CAPABLE… of doing every good fleshly work that believers can do.
James 2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
If you love your neighbor, “ye do well”. That is a good work!
Feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, helping the poor and maimed.
Providing shelter. Condemning the guilty. Justifying the innocent.
Unsaved people do all those things all the time!
It sure SEEMS like they CAN DO SOMETHING. But Jesus said…
John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
I’m sorry Jesus, but, if the “things” in question, are good works in this world… then, you’re just wrong!
But I don’t believe Jesus was wrong? Do You???
So how could Jesus truthfully say, “without me ye CAN do NOTHING”???
You say, “well, what Jesus was saying, was that if you’re really saved, you WILL do good works, and if you’re not saved, you WON’T.”
But that isn’t what Jesus SAID. He didn’t say “without me, you WON’T do anything.” He didn’t say “without me, you WILL do nothing.” He said:
John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
This isn’t about what they ultimately DO… it is about what they are CAPABLE of doing.
And… an unsaved person… CAN do good works in this world.
An unsaved person CAN give to the poor.
But if Jesus wasn’t lying when He said, “without me ye CAN do NOTHING”, then you have to believe that an unsaved person CANNOT do a good thing, but a Christian CAN do a good thing.
You have to believe that when an unsaved person does a good work, he does NOTHING, but when a Christian does a good work he does SOMETHING.
John 15:5 … He that abideth in me… the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Now… if you apply this to men in the flesh… then my question is…
How it is, that when YOU give to the poor, it is (a valuable) SOMETHING to Jesus, but when an unbeliever does the same exact thing, it is (a worthless) NOTHING to Jesus?!?
You did the exact same thing… you were CAPABLE of the exact same work.
So why is your work a good work, but theirs is NOT a good work??
If you think Jesus was talking about fleshly good works in John 15:5, then my question is… Why would it be a GOOD THING when you do it, but when an unbeliever does it, it is NOTHING? When you do the EXACT SAME good work… Why is your work something, but theirs is NOTHING?
You think, “Well, what Jesus was saying was that we Christians REALLY TRY to do good works now, but unsaved people don’t REALLY TRY to.”
But that isn’t what Jesus said. He didn’t say “without me, you WON’T TRY to do anything.” He said:
John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
It isn’t about what you do, or what you TRY TO DO. It is about what you CAN DO!
So many people believe this doctrine of “works are proof of salvation”.
And maybe at first, Jesus saying “without me, ye can do nothing”, seems to fit that doctrine.
“Yeah, if you have Jesus you’ll have a life of good works, but if you aren’t really saved, you just won’t be able to live a life full of good works. You might do good for a while, but if you aren’t really saved, you’ll eventually turn away back to your sins. That’s why Jesus says “without me ye can do nothing”, because without Jesus helping you, you just won’t be able to keep living a good Christian life, full of good works.”
It seems to make sense at first… Until you really take it word for word,
John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
and you really think about that phrase… “ye CAN do nothing”… and you ask yourself… “wait… the Jews under the law COULD love their neighbors. Atheists today CAN love their neighbors. Maybe they don’t all the time, but I see that they CAN do it. If without Jesus, men CAN do nothing… then neither an OT Jew, nor an unsaved person today, should be ABLE to do ANYTHING! So how are UNBELIEVERS ABLE to do the same good works that I can?”
That is what you need to ask yourself… How exactly is it, that a believer CAN do good things… but an unbeliever CANNOT do a single good thing?!? If Jesus was talking about good works in this world… the statement is preposterous!
So how could Jesus truthfully say, “without me ye CAN do NOTHING”???
Maybe you say, “it’s their motivation”… “See, when they do it, they do it for themselves, and when I do it, its for the Lord.” “When they do it, they do it selfishly, but when I do it, its because I really love other people.” “It’s their motivation”, you say.
But the passage doesn’t say that either.
Jesus didn’t say, “without me ye can’t do things with the right motivation.”
Jesus didn’t say, “without me ye can do things, but ye can only do things selfishly.”
No… Jesus said:
John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
He said that unbelievers, CAN’T DO ANYTHING AT ALL.
They can’t DO a good work. They can’t produce a good thing, AT ALL.
Their motivation is not even a factor. Their ABILITY is the only factor.
So how could Jesus truthfully say, “without me ye CAN do NOTHING”???
People think, “Good works are the proof of our salvation”.
Wait… really think about that… why is a good work proof of YOUR salvation, but it is not proof of EVERYONE’s salvation?
If good works are proof of salvation, then everyone who does them… MUST be saved.
Because, if they weren’t saved, they wouldn’t be ABLE to do them.
John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
If Jesus is to be believed, then an unbeliever CANNOT DO a good thing. He is INCAPABLE of it.
Now, what they really think is “Well, ONE good work is not proof of salvation, but LOTS of good works are!”
Well… Jesus disagrees! According to Jesus, a single TRUE good work is ABSOLUTE UNDENIABLE PROOF of salvation, because ONLY a believer CAN DO a true good thing. An unbeliever CANNOT DO it.
Jesus said: John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
How can good works be PROOF of truly believing in Jesus, if an Atheist, an unbeliever, CAN DO a good work?
If an unbeliever CAN do a thing, then that thing… it cannot be PROOF of belief!
It cannot be PROOF of belief, if an unbeliever, IS CAPABLE of doing it.
Its black and white. There is no grey area. Jesus drew a line that is IMPOSSIBLE to cross when He said:
John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
Jesus taught that believers are CAPABLE of things that unbelievers are INCAPABLE of.
Whatever these true good things are… those who are in Christ, are capable of them… and those who are NOT in Christ, are INCAPABLE of them.
Really think about that… and then tell me… What are those things?
Do you really think they are good works in THIS world?
Unsaved people do good works. I see them do them all the time. I KNOW they are CAPABLE of them.
So how could Jesus truthfully say, “without me ye CAN do NOTHING”???
Maybe you say, “well, the difference is really that they don’t do them REGULARLY. They don’t make a HABIT of doing good. They habitually sin. But ME… I habitually do good.”
But, the passage doesn’t say that either!
Jesus didn’t say, “without me ye can’t do good things HABITUALLY”.
Jesus didn’t say, “without me ye can do good works, but ye can’t make of HABIT of it”.
Jesus said:
John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
Its not about whether they DO or DON’T do good works… its not about whether they TRY to do good works… its not about whether they WANT to do good works… it’s not about whether they CHOOSE to do good works… its not even about how OFTEN they do good works…
It is about whether or not they CAN DO good works!!!
Whether they DO them is not the question… The question is whether they CAN DO them.
CAN they do good, or CAN they NOT do good? Are they CAPABLE of doing a single good thing, or are they INCAPABLE of doing a single good thing? THAT is the difference between the saved and the lost.
John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
If it were about fleshly good works, then how could Jesus truthfully say this?
But maybe you insist… maybe you say… “the difference is that a Christian will be able to CONSISTENTLY do good works over the course of his whole life, but an unbeliever, he might do them sometimes, but he can’t do them CONSISTENTLY.”
Again… that is simply NOT what Jesus SAID!
He didn’t say, “without me ye can do good works sometimes, but ye can’t do them all the time”.
He didn’t say, “without me you can do things for a while, but you can’t do anything long-term”
He didn’t say, “without me ye can do good works every once in a while, but with my help ye can do them much more often.”
No… He said:
John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
Jesus said that unsaved people CAN DO NOTHING!
The truth is that unbelievers and Christians alike, in the FLESH, CANNOT do true good works.
John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
That is what Jesus says that unbelievers do… they do “NOTHING”. That is what He thinks of their works… their works are NOTHING to Jesus.
Whatever an unbeliever CAN DO… is ABLE to do… it is “NOTHING” to God!
We know unbelievers are ABLE to do fleshly good works. Thus, fleshly good works must be: NOTHING!
Fleshly good works are NOT true good works. They are nothing!
Isaiah 41:29 Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.
Isaiah 41:24 Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.
Psalms 14:2-3 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. 3 They are [not WERE – ARE] all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
The Lord looked down from heaven, on the earth, to see if any did good… and he found that no man ON THE EARTH “doeth good”.
There is no man under heaven that does true good, in the eyes of God.
Why? Because men’s flesh cannot do true good works.
Not even “seeking God” in the flesh, does God consider a true good work. There were people that loved God and sought the Lord, on the Earth. Yet NOT ONE of them does God count to “do good”; true good. Because you cannot seek God, you cannot truly serve God, in the FLESH.
Romans 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
To God… not a single person on the Earth, under heaven, truly does good.
And in case you think, “well that was the Old Testament. But today, in the New Testament, when we get saved, Jesus comes in and helps us do good and keep the law”.
Romans 3:12 … there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
No person alive on this planet today is CAPABLE of doing good. No flesh CAN do a true good work.
NOTHING you can do with your flesh is a true good work. Nothing. Not even reading the Bible, or preaching to others!
If it was, then every person who ever preached would be saved, in Christ, and would be 100% sure of eternal life and eternal reward for their preaching. That would mean that to get eternal life, all anyone would have to do to get eternal life is go out street-preaching or door-knocking one time. Then they’d have assured eternal life! Because Jesus said…
John 5:29 … they that have done good, [shall come forth] unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
You just have to have “done good” ONE TIME! One TRUE good work, is absolute PROOF of salvation and is an absolute GUARANTEE of eternal life.
So if the work of preaching is a TRUE good work, then all those that have ever preached, even just ONCE, shall have eternal life.
When we go out soul-winning, we encounter other preachers sometimes. They might be Jehovah’s witnesses. Mormons. Pentecostals. Seventh Day Adventists. Wesleyans. Calvinists. Baptists. Non-denominationalists.
Now, they don’t agree with our gospel… they haven’t repented of works… but they are doing the same thing we are doing, in the flesh. They are unbelievers! Yet, they are “doing good” in the flesh. So are they all saved?
Well, if reading the Bible is a true good work, if praying is a true good work, if preaching is a true good work… then all those people MUST BE saved, just like true believers are.
If fleshly good works are TRUE good works, then everyone who has ever “done good” in this world is going to heaven. No matter what they believe.
That is how black and white the Scripture is. That is how BINARY it is.
John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
The only way to understand this, the only way to reconcile all the Scriptures… is to understand that NOTHING we can do in our flesh is a true good work.
If flesh can do it, then it isn’t a true good work.
If an unbeliever can do it, then it isn’t a true good work.
An unbeliever “can do NOTHING”.
In the flesh, an unbeliever can do EVERYTHING that a Christian can do. But not IN THE SPIRIT!
In the Spirit, a Christian CAN DO good things. But an unbeliever CAN DO nothing.
The difference between me and a false Christian is not the fleshly WORKS that we DO. Because we do the same things! We both want to do right. We both try to not sin. But we both DO sin! Our fleshly works are no different. The difference is not in the works that we DO in the flesh.
It is not even the WORKS that we CAN DO in the flesh. We both CAN read, and CAN pray, and CAN preach on the streetcorner. We CAN do the same fleshly works. There is NO DIFFERENCE in our flesh.
The difference between me and a false Christian is not the WORKS that we DO in the flesh. In the flesh, we very clearly do the same things. But Jesus said that I can do something, while they “CAN DO NOTHING”.
So… what gives?!? What is the real difference?
The ONLY difference between me and a false Christian is the WORDS that we believe and preach.
It is not THAT a person is preaching, it is WHAT a person is preaching.
It is not the WORK of preaching, it is the WORDS that are being preached.
WORDS are the true proof of salvation.
That is how you know the difference between brethren and false brethren. Believers and unbelievers.
We don’t know false Christians by their works. Not even zealous works for the Lord like giving, and reading, and praying, and preaching!
We know them by their WORDS – by their FRUIT! FRUIT is the proof of salvation. Not fleshly works!
Works produce fruit.
Fleshly good works produce fleshly fruit.
But spiritual good works produce SPIRITUAL good things.
John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Jesus is not saying that unsaved people cannot do fleshly good works. Of course they can!
Jesus is saying that unsaved people cannot produce SPIRITUAL good fruit.
He is saying that unsaved people CANNOT PRODUCE true good WORDS.
Men in the flesh can do… NO THING.
To do a good thing, to truly DO A THING, is to produce good fruit.
Feb 4 2025
Hebrews 6 & 10 – The Impossibility of Salvation – Part 9
Hebrews 6 & 10 – The Impossibility of Salvation – Part 9
Ye can do nothing
In order to understand the book of Hebrews… one of the most important things to first understand is how to divide flesh from spirit. How to divide FLESHLY good works from SPIRITUAL good works.
True good works are SPIRITUAL good works.
True good works CANNOT BE DONE in the flesh, or BY the flesh.
John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
You can’t start adding words in, in order to try to understand Jesus.
“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me”
“Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin”
Do you do meet those requirements 100% of the time? Don’t try to add words in!
You need to take Jesus’s words, and you need to believe them IN BINARY, as written.
And in order to do that… You need to divide flesh from Spirit.
Jesus said, “without me ye can do nothing”. Really think about that… How can that be true?
How exactly is it that a Christian can do SOMETHING… but an unbeliever can do NOTHING?
How exactly is it that a Christian can bring forth MUCH fruit… but an unbeliever can produce NOTHING? NO FRUIT AT ALL!
How exactly is it that a Christian can do good things… but an unbeliever can do NOTHING? He CANNOT do a single good thing.
But… I know unsaved people that do good works. Don’t you?
I know unbelievers, and I have SEEN them do good works. Haven’t you?
I know they can do good works.
So how could Jesus say, “without me ye CAN do NOTHING”???
If Jesus was talking about doing good works in this world… then Jesus was wrong! Jesus was mistaken!
Maybe, Jesus was lying! Maybe, the Bible just isn’t perfect. Maybe it just isn’t God’s perfect word.
Jesus said: John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
Look, there are only 2 options… Either Jesus was NOT talking about the things that people THINK He was talking about, or Jesus was WRONG!
Now of course… Jesus was NOT wrong. Thus, my point is… Jesus was NOT TALKING about doing fleshly good works in THIS WORLD.
If Jesus had been talking about the doing of good works in this world… then He could not have TRUTHFULLY said, “without me ye can do nothing.”
Because… an unbeliever, he can read the Bible, he can go to church, he can give to the poor, he can clothe the naked, he can defend the fatherless…
And what about all the people that lived BEFORE Jesus came to Earth? They could do good works!
An OT saint could read the Bible, he could go to the temple, he could give to the poor, he could clothe the naked, he could defend the fatherless…
Unbelievers are CAPABLE… CAPABLE… of doing every good fleshly work that believers can do.
James 2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
If you love your neighbor, “ye do well”. That is a good work!
Feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, helping the poor and maimed.
Providing shelter. Condemning the guilty. Justifying the innocent.
Unsaved people do all those things all the time!
It sure SEEMS like they CAN DO SOMETHING. But Jesus said…
John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
I’m sorry Jesus, but, if the “things” in question, are good works in this world… then, you’re just wrong!
But I don’t believe Jesus was wrong? Do You???
So how could Jesus truthfully say, “without me ye CAN do NOTHING”???
You say, “well, what Jesus was saying, was that if you’re really saved, you WILL do good works, and if you’re not saved, you WON’T.”
But that isn’t what Jesus SAID. He didn’t say “without me, you WON’T do anything.” He didn’t say “without me, you WILL do nothing.” He said:
John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
This isn’t about what they ultimately DO… it is about what they are CAPABLE of doing.
And… an unsaved person… CAN do good works in this world.
An unsaved person CAN give to the poor.
But if Jesus wasn’t lying when He said, “without me ye CAN do NOTHING”, then you have to believe that an unsaved person CANNOT do a good thing, but a Christian CAN do a good thing.
You have to believe that when an unsaved person does a good work, he does NOTHING, but when a Christian does a good work he does SOMETHING.
John 15:5 … He that abideth in me… the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Now… if you apply this to men in the flesh… then my question is…
How it is, that when YOU give to the poor, it is (a valuable) SOMETHING to Jesus, but when an unbeliever does the same exact thing, it is (a worthless) NOTHING to Jesus?!?
You did the exact same thing… you were CAPABLE of the exact same work.
So why is your work a good work, but theirs is NOT a good work??
If you think Jesus was talking about fleshly good works in John 15:5, then my question is… Why would it be a GOOD THING when you do it, but when an unbeliever does it, it is NOTHING? When you do the EXACT SAME good work… Why is your work something, but theirs is NOTHING?
You think, “Well, what Jesus was saying was that we Christians REALLY TRY to do good works now, but unsaved people don’t REALLY TRY to.”
But that isn’t what Jesus said. He didn’t say “without me, you WON’T TRY to do anything.” He said:
John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
It isn’t about what you do, or what you TRY TO DO. It is about what you CAN DO!
So many people believe this doctrine of “works are proof of salvation”.
And maybe at first, Jesus saying “without me, ye can do nothing”, seems to fit that doctrine.
“Yeah, if you have Jesus you’ll have a life of good works, but if you aren’t really saved, you just won’t be able to live a life full of good works. You might do good for a while, but if you aren’t really saved, you’ll eventually turn away back to your sins. That’s why Jesus says “without me ye can do nothing”, because without Jesus helping you, you just won’t be able to keep living a good Christian life, full of good works.”
It seems to make sense at first… Until you really take it word for word,
John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
and you really think about that phrase… “ye CAN do nothing”… and you ask yourself… “wait… the Jews under the law COULD love their neighbors. Atheists today CAN love their neighbors. Maybe they don’t all the time, but I see that they CAN do it. If without Jesus, men CAN do nothing… then neither an OT Jew, nor an unsaved person today, should be ABLE to do ANYTHING! So how are UNBELIEVERS ABLE to do the same good works that I can?”
That is what you need to ask yourself… How exactly is it, that a believer CAN do good things… but an unbeliever CANNOT do a single good thing?!? If Jesus was talking about good works in this world… the statement is preposterous!
So how could Jesus truthfully say, “without me ye CAN do NOTHING”???
Maybe you say, “it’s their motivation”… “See, when they do it, they do it for themselves, and when I do it, its for the Lord.” “When they do it, they do it selfishly, but when I do it, its because I really love other people.” “It’s their motivation”, you say.
But the passage doesn’t say that either.
Jesus didn’t say, “without me ye can’t do things with the right motivation.”
Jesus didn’t say, “without me ye can do things, but ye can only do things selfishly.”
No… Jesus said:
John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
He said that unbelievers, CAN’T DO ANYTHING AT ALL.
They can’t DO a good work. They can’t produce a good thing, AT ALL.
Their motivation is not even a factor. Their ABILITY is the only factor.
So how could Jesus truthfully say, “without me ye CAN do NOTHING”???
People think, “Good works are the proof of our salvation”.
Wait… really think about that… why is a good work proof of YOUR salvation, but it is not proof of EVERYONE’s salvation?
If good works are proof of salvation, then everyone who does them… MUST be saved.
Because, if they weren’t saved, they wouldn’t be ABLE to do them.
John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
If Jesus is to be believed, then an unbeliever CANNOT DO a good thing. He is INCAPABLE of it.
Now, what they really think is “Well, ONE good work is not proof of salvation, but LOTS of good works are!”
Well… Jesus disagrees! According to Jesus, a single TRUE good work is ABSOLUTE UNDENIABLE PROOF of salvation, because ONLY a believer CAN DO a true good thing. An unbeliever CANNOT DO it.
Jesus said: John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
How can good works be PROOF of truly believing in Jesus, if an Atheist, an unbeliever, CAN DO a good work?
If an unbeliever CAN do a thing, then that thing… it cannot be PROOF of belief!
It cannot be PROOF of belief, if an unbeliever, IS CAPABLE of doing it.
Its black and white. There is no grey area. Jesus drew a line that is IMPOSSIBLE to cross when He said:
John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
Jesus taught that believers are CAPABLE of things that unbelievers are INCAPABLE of.
Whatever these true good things are… those who are in Christ, are capable of them… and those who are NOT in Christ, are INCAPABLE of them.
Really think about that… and then tell me… What are those things?
Do you really think they are good works in THIS world?
Unsaved people do good works. I see them do them all the time. I KNOW they are CAPABLE of them.
So how could Jesus truthfully say, “without me ye CAN do NOTHING”???
Maybe you say, “well, the difference is really that they don’t do them REGULARLY. They don’t make a HABIT of doing good. They habitually sin. But ME… I habitually do good.”
But, the passage doesn’t say that either!
Jesus didn’t say, “without me ye can’t do good things HABITUALLY”.
Jesus didn’t say, “without me ye can do good works, but ye can’t make of HABIT of it”.
Jesus said:
John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
Its not about whether they DO or DON’T do good works… its not about whether they TRY to do good works… its not about whether they WANT to do good works… it’s not about whether they CHOOSE to do good works… its not even about how OFTEN they do good works…
It is about whether or not they CAN DO good works!!!
Whether they DO them is not the question… The question is whether they CAN DO them.
CAN they do good, or CAN they NOT do good? Are they CAPABLE of doing a single good thing, or are they INCAPABLE of doing a single good thing? THAT is the difference between the saved and the lost.
John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
If it were about fleshly good works, then how could Jesus truthfully say this?
But maybe you insist… maybe you say… “the difference is that a Christian will be able to CONSISTENTLY do good works over the course of his whole life, but an unbeliever, he might do them sometimes, but he can’t do them CONSISTENTLY.”
Again… that is simply NOT what Jesus SAID!
He didn’t say, “without me ye can do good works sometimes, but ye can’t do them all the time”.
He didn’t say, “without me you can do things for a while, but you can’t do anything long-term”
He didn’t say, “without me ye can do good works every once in a while, but with my help ye can do them much more often.”
No… He said:
John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
Jesus said that unsaved people CAN DO NOTHING!
The truth is that unbelievers and Christians alike, in the FLESH, CANNOT do true good works.
John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
That is what Jesus says that unbelievers do… they do “NOTHING”. That is what He thinks of their works… their works are NOTHING to Jesus.
Whatever an unbeliever CAN DO… is ABLE to do… it is “NOTHING” to God!
We know unbelievers are ABLE to do fleshly good works. Thus, fleshly good works must be: NOTHING!
Fleshly good works are NOT true good works. They are nothing!
Isaiah 41:29 Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.
Isaiah 41:24 Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.
Psalms 14:2-3 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. 3 They are [not WERE – ARE] all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
The Lord looked down from heaven, on the earth, to see if any did good… and he found that no man ON THE EARTH “doeth good”.
There is no man under heaven that does true good, in the eyes of God.
Why? Because men’s flesh cannot do true good works.
Not even “seeking God” in the flesh, does God consider a true good work. There were people that loved God and sought the Lord, on the Earth. Yet NOT ONE of them does God count to “do good”; true good. Because you cannot seek God, you cannot truly serve God, in the FLESH.
Romans 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
To God… not a single person on the Earth, under heaven, truly does good.
And in case you think, “well that was the Old Testament. But today, in the New Testament, when we get saved, Jesus comes in and helps us do good and keep the law”.
Romans 3:12 … there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
No person alive on this planet today is CAPABLE of doing good. No flesh CAN do a true good work.
NOTHING you can do with your flesh is a true good work. Nothing. Not even reading the Bible, or preaching to others!
If it was, then every person who ever preached would be saved, in Christ, and would be 100% sure of eternal life and eternal reward for their preaching. That would mean that to get eternal life, all anyone would have to do to get eternal life is go out street-preaching or door-knocking one time. Then they’d have assured eternal life! Because Jesus said…
John 5:29 … they that have done good, [shall come forth] unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
You just have to have “done good” ONE TIME! One TRUE good work, is absolute PROOF of salvation and is an absolute GUARANTEE of eternal life.
So if the work of preaching is a TRUE good work, then all those that have ever preached, even just ONCE, shall have eternal life.
When we go out soul-winning, we encounter other preachers sometimes. They might be Jehovah’s witnesses. Mormons. Pentecostals. Seventh Day Adventists. Wesleyans. Calvinists. Baptists. Non-denominationalists.
Now, they don’t agree with our gospel… they haven’t repented of works… but they are doing the same thing we are doing, in the flesh. They are unbelievers! Yet, they are “doing good” in the flesh. So are they all saved?
Well, if reading the Bible is a true good work, if praying is a true good work, if preaching is a true good work… then all those people MUST BE saved, just like true believers are.
If fleshly good works are TRUE good works, then everyone who has ever “done good” in this world is going to heaven. No matter what they believe.
That is how black and white the Scripture is. That is how BINARY it is.
John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.
The only way to understand this, the only way to reconcile all the Scriptures… is to understand that NOTHING we can do in our flesh is a true good work.
If flesh can do it, then it isn’t a true good work.
If an unbeliever can do it, then it isn’t a true good work.
An unbeliever “can do NOTHING”.
In the flesh, an unbeliever can do EVERYTHING that a Christian can do. But not IN THE SPIRIT!
In the Spirit, a Christian CAN DO good things. But an unbeliever CAN DO nothing.
The difference between me and a false Christian is not the fleshly WORKS that we DO. Because we do the same things! We both want to do right. We both try to not sin. But we both DO sin! Our fleshly works are no different. The difference is not in the works that we DO in the flesh.
It is not even the WORKS that we CAN DO in the flesh. We both CAN read, and CAN pray, and CAN preach on the streetcorner. We CAN do the same fleshly works. There is NO DIFFERENCE in our flesh.
The difference between me and a false Christian is not the WORKS that we DO in the flesh. In the flesh, we very clearly do the same things. But Jesus said that I can do something, while they “CAN DO NOTHING”.
So… what gives?!? What is the real difference?
The ONLY difference between me and a false Christian is the WORDS that we believe and preach.
It is not THAT a person is preaching, it is WHAT a person is preaching.
It is not the WORK of preaching, it is the WORDS that are being preached.
WORDS are the true proof of salvation.
That is how you know the difference between brethren and false brethren. Believers and unbelievers.
We don’t know false Christians by their works. Not even zealous works for the Lord like giving, and reading, and praying, and preaching!
We know them by their WORDS – by their FRUIT! FRUIT is the proof of salvation. Not fleshly works!
Works produce fruit.
Fleshly good works produce fleshly fruit.
But spiritual good works produce SPIRITUAL good things.
John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Jesus is not saying that unsaved people cannot do fleshly good works. Of course they can!
Jesus is saying that unsaved people cannot produce SPIRITUAL good fruit.
He is saying that unsaved people CANNOT PRODUCE true good WORDS.
Men in the flesh can do… NO THING.
To do a good thing, to truly DO A THING, is to produce good fruit.
By Pastor • Christian Doctrine, Problem Texts • 0