The Lord’s Work – Part 14
Fake Good Works
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.
What sort is your work? There’s only two sorts that it could be. What did you work? What did you bring forth. What is your finished work? What is your fruit? What sort is it?
Good or evil? Heavenly or earthly? Carnal or Spiritual? Will it abide the fire of God, or no?
No one can work some good and some evil. No one can work good sometimes and evil some other times. Your work is of one sort.
Romans 2:6-10 Who will render to every man according to his deeds: … 9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, … But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, …
You will receive according to your work. We teach that one cannot go to heaven, not because he did evil, but because he is evil; because he CAN sin. Because he is a sinner.
There can’t be a middle ground. There are only two sorts. Man himself is all good or all evil. The work of a man is all good or it is all evil.
What a man is and what he has in his heart comes out of his heart. You know that right?
Well then how do you get out of this?
Ecclesiastes 9:3 … 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.
We are full of evil. What comes out of our hearts is evil. You say, “that CAN’T apply to ME!”
These things are hard for us to hear and believe. Because we are mad with Satan’s blood-lusts-lies.
If a man can sin, he is a sinner and will receive according to his deeds (sins). If a man can work good, he is one that “worketh good” (none do!) and will receive according to his righteousnesses.
If a man CAN sin, he is a sinner, and he cannot go to heaven.
Alternatively, if a man CAN work good, he is righteous, and he cannot go to the lake of fire.
It has to be that black and white. No gray!
A man cannot do both good and evil.
1 John 3:7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
Don’t be deceived by this. There is no gray area!
If a man CAN do true good works, if he CAN make good fruit, the Lord cannot be just to put him in the Lake of Fire. IF a man has worked good in his life, then:
- He is righteous and the Lord cannot be just judge to send him to Death
- The Lord cannot be just to withhold eternal rewards.
Matthew 10:42 And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.
Hebrews 6:10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
If one can work good, he cannot justly be denied. The Bible says, “he that doeth righteousness is righteous”, and “he that doeth good is of God”. So if one can truly love his neighbor, truly give to the poor, truly raise children, truly wash the saints feet, truly visit the prisoners, truthfully give a cup of water to a thirsty little one, and if in fact he has done it….. He is righteous, he is born of God, and he cannot be denied, and he cannot be unrewarded. Otherwise, God is unrighteous to judge so.
John 5:28-29 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 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.
But, if we can do good things and thus deserve a good reward, yet we can also do evil things and thus deserve an evil reward, then how can God judge righteously? He can’t.
2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
God is not going to judge on a curve (no percentages, no extra credit). 100% Good or 100% Evil. He’s not going to judge in grey area (no partiality, no mixed motivation). He’s not going to add and subtract the good and evil things.
He’s not going to give good things to those that do evil things, or vice versa!
He’s not going to give good things to those that go to the LoF, and he will not give evil things to those that dwell in New Jerusalem.
If we can do both good and evil, we have a big problem! God is found an unrighteous judge. Or, God is found a liar. Which is exactly Satan’s goal – Prove God a liar, or prove Him an unjust judge!
If we allow that man’s good works are true good works, we are in this quagmire of unrighteous judgment. We all do the same things! I doest the same things as others! And if some get life and others get death, when we all do the same things.. there is a problem with the judge!
I have determined that the only way to reconcile this is to admit that our carnal works are not TRUE.
I have determined that mas has done evil, and man has never once done good.
I have determined that man’s work… IT BE bad.
Man’s works LOOK righteous, but they are counterfeit.
Man’s works LOOK good, but they are ALL evil.
Man’s works LOOK true, but they are fake.
Man appears to work good, but he is a reprobate… a spy, an actor, a liar.
We’ve touched on the “WHY?” man’s works are not real, but fake.
- Because they are done in the flesh. They are carnal, to be seen of men.
- Because they are not done IN the Spirit, IN Christ.
Let’s talk about the HOW!?
How are they fake? What are they, if not true?
.
.
.
They are:
- Shadows, Figures, and Patterns
- Vanity
- Idols
Shadows
The wicked does FAKE good works.
FAKE? How are they fake? What are they, if not true?
They are shadows!
Psalms 144:4 Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.
Psalms 102:11 My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.
1 Chronicles 29:15 For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.
Job 14:1-2 Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. 2 He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
For what is your life? It is even a vapour/shadow.
Job 17:7 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.
Man is like a shadow. Our lives are like a shadow. Our bodies are like shadows. They are like a flower, and all the glory of man (and his great and beautiful works) flees away like a shadow.
Song of Solomon 2:17 Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, …
Our works looks good. They look real… But we’re in the night, in the dark. We have (outside of Jesus) no light. And we don’t realize we are like shadows, shadows in the dark! Shadows in the dark don’t stand out. In the night, you can’t tell what they are: real or not. We can’t see the true, because there is no light. Plato’s Cave?
When the day breaks, the shadows flee away! We as shadows, will continue to look good and true, until that day of the Lord when the sun rises, and the shadows (all flesh / all carnal lives) flee away. Then the true will be manifested.
James 1:10-11 But the rich, [let him glory] in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. 11 For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
That is what a flower does – withers in the sun. That is what a shadow does – FADE AWAY in the light.
Hebrews 9:1,10 Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. … 10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.
The first covenant (the old testament, the law) was made of carnal ordinances.
ORDINANCES: laws, rules, commandments, ceremonies, services, signs… works.
The old testament, the first covenant, the law, had carnal works. It stood in carnal things. Thus it was temporary – only for a time. It was a shadow.
For a carnal man to abstain from sin and do the service of the Lord… in truth… it’s just a carnal ordinance. It’s a carnal shadow. It’s just a CARNAL SHOW.
How do I know that? How can I say that doing good according to the law is just a worldly show?
“How can you say that?” What about Moses? What about David and Daniel? What about all their works?
Because the Bible says it. Of those carnal ordinances, Paul says they are a SHOW – shew.
Colossians 2:20-23 Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, [of the law of Moses and all ordinances of the natural law in the world – that is: works of the flesh] 21 (Touch not; taste not; handle not; 22 Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? [not just those ordained by men, but also those carnally ordained by God of the first covenant, for men in the flesh] 23 Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.
Abstaining from sin and doing the services (ordinances) of the Lord… they are like a show of shadows – shadow puppets!
Its just an empty, vain SHOW. They look like true worship, but they are a SHOW.
You say, “no, not the things written in scripture!” Yes, even the OT law. If it is an ordinance/work in the world, it is a show.
Worldly ordinances, whether natural or divine, whether of man, or of Moses and God, are really no different. Blasphemy!?!
That’s how the Bible puts it: the Gentiles do by nature the things contained in the law, these having not the law, are a law unto themselves. They had the work of the law written in their hearts. By nature, they were no different. By nature, “there is no difference” between Jews and Gentiles. The nature of their ordinances are the same: carnal. They are shadows!
Colossians 2:16-17 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: [ordinances, works, laws – these are all the “good things” under the law] 17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
Everything under the law of Moses was a shadow of things to come. They were figures of the true.
There will be TRUE meat, drink, holy days, new moons and sabbaths in heaven and eternity. But those here are shadows of these future true ordinances.
Man’s “good works”, all carnal good works, all works of the law (whether of the law of nature or of the law of Moses) are a mere figure – a shadow – of true good works.
The ordinances of the OT law given by God were more complete shadows than man’s, but shadows, nonetheless!
What about Moses? What about David and Daniel? What about all their works? “How can you say that?”
Because the Bible says it:
Hebrews 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
My shadow has my pattern, but not my very image.
Our good works, those defined by the natural law, they are patterned after God’s works. Like a two-dimensional shadow of a man. Sure, it has the form of a man, but its not true. How can you even be sure that what is making the shadow is even a true man?
Our good works are a shadow of true good works. Like a two-dimensional shadow of your mother. It looks good, but it can’t make you soup when you’re sick. Like a two-dimensional shadow of a police officer. It looks good, but it can’t help you when you’re being robbed.
Ultimately, they are useless shadows, images, patterns. They look great! Maybe they make you feel good. But they’re fake.
The true body, the true works which will be rewarded good, are not done on Earth, under the laws of nature, according to carnal ordinances, but are done in the body of Christ, in heavenly places.
Oct 25 2020
The Lord’s Work – Part 14
Downloadable Word document:
The Lord’s Work – Part 14
The Lord’s Work – Part 14
Fake Good Works
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.
What sort is your work? There’s only two sorts that it could be. What did you work? What did you bring forth. What is your finished work? What is your fruit? What sort is it?
Good or evil? Heavenly or earthly? Carnal or Spiritual? Will it abide the fire of God, or no?
No one can work some good and some evil. No one can work good sometimes and evil some other times. Your work is of one sort.
Romans 2:6-10 Who will render to every man according to his deeds: … 9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, … But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, …
You will receive according to your work. We teach that one cannot go to heaven, not because he did evil, but because he is evil; because he CAN sin. Because he is a sinner.
There can’t be a middle ground. There are only two sorts. Man himself is all good or all evil. The work of a man is all good or it is all evil.
What a man is and what he has in his heart comes out of his heart. You know that right?
Well then how do you get out of this?
Ecclesiastes 9:3 … 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.
We are full of evil. What comes out of our hearts is evil. You say, “that CAN’T apply to ME!”
These things are hard for us to hear and believe. Because we are mad with Satan’s blood-lusts-lies.
If a man can sin, he is a sinner and will receive according to his deeds (sins). If a man can work good, he is one that “worketh good” (none do!) and will receive according to his righteousnesses.
If a man CAN sin, he is a sinner, and he cannot go to heaven.
Alternatively, if a man CAN work good, he is righteous, and he cannot go to the lake of fire.
It has to be that black and white. No gray!
A man cannot do both good and evil.
1 John 3:7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
Don’t be deceived by this. There is no gray area!
If a man CAN do true good works, if he CAN make good fruit, the Lord cannot be just to put him in the Lake of Fire. IF a man has worked good in his life, then:
Matthew 10:42 And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.
Hebrews 6:10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
If one can work good, he cannot justly be denied. The Bible says, “he that doeth righteousness is righteous”, and “he that doeth good is of God”. So if one can truly love his neighbor, truly give to the poor, truly raise children, truly wash the saints feet, truly visit the prisoners, truthfully give a cup of water to a thirsty little one, and if in fact he has done it….. He is righteous, he is born of God, and he cannot be denied, and he cannot be unrewarded. Otherwise, God is unrighteous to judge so.
John 5:28-29 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 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.
But, if we can do good things and thus deserve a good reward, yet we can also do evil things and thus deserve an evil reward, then how can God judge righteously? He can’t.
2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
God is not going to judge on a curve (no percentages, no extra credit). 100% Good or 100% Evil. He’s not going to judge in grey area (no partiality, no mixed motivation). He’s not going to add and subtract the good and evil things.
He’s not going to give good things to those that do evil things, or vice versa!
He’s not going to give good things to those that go to the LoF, and he will not give evil things to those that dwell in New Jerusalem.
If we can do both good and evil, we have a big problem! God is found an unrighteous judge. Or, God is found a liar. Which is exactly Satan’s goal – Prove God a liar, or prove Him an unjust judge!
If we allow that man’s good works are true good works, we are in this quagmire of unrighteous judgment. We all do the same things! I doest the same things as others! And if some get life and others get death, when we all do the same things.. there is a problem with the judge!
I have determined that the only way to reconcile this is to admit that our carnal works are not TRUE.
I have determined that mas has done evil, and man has never once done good.
I have determined that man’s work… IT BE bad.
Man’s works LOOK righteous, but they are counterfeit.
Man’s works LOOK good, but they are ALL evil.
Man’s works LOOK true, but they are fake.
Man appears to work good, but he is a reprobate… a spy, an actor, a liar.
We’ve touched on the “WHY?” man’s works are not real, but fake.
Let’s talk about the HOW!?
How are they fake? What are they, if not true?
.
.
.
They are:
Shadows
The wicked does FAKE good works.
FAKE? How are they fake? What are they, if not true?
They are shadows!
Psalms 144:4 Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.
Psalms 102:11 My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.
1 Chronicles 29:15 For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.
Job 14:1-2 Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. 2 He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
For what is your life? It is even a vapour/shadow.
Job 17:7 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.
Man is like a shadow. Our lives are like a shadow. Our bodies are like shadows. They are like a flower, and all the glory of man (and his great and beautiful works) flees away like a shadow.
Song of Solomon 2:17 Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, …
Our works looks good. They look real… But we’re in the night, in the dark. We have (outside of Jesus) no light. And we don’t realize we are like shadows, shadows in the dark! Shadows in the dark don’t stand out. In the night, you can’t tell what they are: real or not. We can’t see the true, because there is no light. Plato’s Cave?
When the day breaks, the shadows flee away! We as shadows, will continue to look good and true, until that day of the Lord when the sun rises, and the shadows (all flesh / all carnal lives) flee away. Then the true will be manifested.
James 1:10-11 But the rich, [let him glory] in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. 11 For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
That is what a flower does – withers in the sun. That is what a shadow does – FADE AWAY in the light.
Hebrews 9:1,10 Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. … 10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.
The first covenant (the old testament, the law) was made of carnal ordinances.
ORDINANCES: laws, rules, commandments, ceremonies, services, signs… works.
The old testament, the first covenant, the law, had carnal works. It stood in carnal things. Thus it was temporary – only for a time. It was a shadow.
For a carnal man to abstain from sin and do the service of the Lord… in truth… it’s just a carnal ordinance. It’s a carnal shadow. It’s just a CARNAL SHOW.
How do I know that? How can I say that doing good according to the law is just a worldly show?
“How can you say that?” What about Moses? What about David and Daniel? What about all their works?
Because the Bible says it. Of those carnal ordinances, Paul says they are a SHOW – shew.
Colossians 2:20-23 Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, [of the law of Moses and all ordinances of the natural law in the world – that is: works of the flesh] 21 (Touch not; taste not; handle not; 22 Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? [not just those ordained by men, but also those carnally ordained by God of the first covenant, for men in the flesh] 23 Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.
Abstaining from sin and doing the services (ordinances) of the Lord… they are like a show of shadows – shadow puppets!
Its just an empty, vain SHOW. They look like true worship, but they are a SHOW.
You say, “no, not the things written in scripture!” Yes, even the OT law. If it is an ordinance/work in the world, it is a show.
Worldly ordinances, whether natural or divine, whether of man, or of Moses and God, are really no different. Blasphemy!?!
That’s how the Bible puts it: the Gentiles do by nature the things contained in the law, these having not the law, are a law unto themselves. They had the work of the law written in their hearts. By nature, they were no different. By nature, “there is no difference” between Jews and Gentiles. The nature of their ordinances are the same: carnal. They are shadows!
Colossians 2:16-17 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: [ordinances, works, laws – these are all the “good things” under the law] 17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
Everything under the law of Moses was a shadow of things to come. They were figures of the true.
There will be TRUE meat, drink, holy days, new moons and sabbaths in heaven and eternity. But those here are shadows of these future true ordinances.
Man’s “good works”, all carnal good works, all works of the law (whether of the law of nature or of the law of Moses) are a mere figure – a shadow – of true good works.
The ordinances of the OT law given by God were more complete shadows than man’s, but shadows, nonetheless!
What about Moses? What about David and Daniel? What about all their works? “How can you say that?”
Because the Bible says it:
Hebrews 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
My shadow has my pattern, but not my very image.
Our good works, those defined by the natural law, they are patterned after God’s works. Like a two-dimensional shadow of a man. Sure, it has the form of a man, but its not true. How can you even be sure that what is making the shadow is even a true man?
Our good works are a shadow of true good works. Like a two-dimensional shadow of your mother. It looks good, but it can’t make you soup when you’re sick. Like a two-dimensional shadow of a police officer. It looks good, but it can’t help you when you’re being robbed.
Ultimately, they are useless shadows, images, patterns. They look great! Maybe they make you feel good. But they’re fake.
The true body, the true works which will be rewarded good, are not done on Earth, under the laws of nature, according to carnal ordinances, but are done in the body of Christ, in heavenly places.
By Pastor • Salvation • 0