The Lord’s Work – Part 17
Naturally, we are figures. We, as figures, cannot do truth.
John 3:21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
This is the only time “doeth truth” is in the whole Bible. Also there are no occurrences of “doeth the truth/true”, “do truth/true”, “do the truth/true”, “did truth/true”, “did the truth/true”, “done truth/true”, “done the truth/true”, “done in the truth/true”, “done in true”.
“done in truth” appears 2 times, and both times it is spoken of the Lord’s doing, not man’s.
So… this is a pretty significant occurrence of the phrase “doeth truth”, as it is being applied to men.
Let’s pause here for a moment. Because this passage is also confusing to a lot of Christians. This passage is one that is used (both openly and subtly) to preach works salvation.
John 3:16-18 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Now this is about getting salvation. Clearly. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.
But, without Jesus and without belief in the gospel, all men are condemned already. And so the next part is not about getting saved. The next part is a distinction between the saved and unsaved. The children of God and the children of the devil.
John 3:19-21 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil [who is that? Men!] hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Verse 21 is not describing the salvation of the lost sinner. There is no repentance of works or confession of sins in verse 21. There is no changing of the mind.
This man needs no repentance. This man already “doeth truth”. This man’s deeds are manifested to be true and Godly (wrought in God, in heaven). This is not an unsaved man getting saved!!
This is a saved man, a son of God. And when he comes to the light, he is manifested as such: already perfect.
This passage is NOT saying that an unsaved man who does good works will automatically (as if it were by destiny) or more likely (as if with higher probability) come to Jesus because his works are “done in God”. Aside from the bold devilish LIE that that is, it’s also just stupid. That is impossible. An unsaved man can’t work in God, and then come to the light. Only those who are in God and work in God can be manifest to have wrought all their deeds in God. Only Jesus (and his children/bride – those living in Him) can work in God. So naturally, carnally, a man cannot “doeth truth” outside of being in Christ. He must be saved FIRST.
One must FIRST be in God to “doeth truth”. One does not doeth truth and THEN come to God to be saved.
We must not miss the 1-to-1 dependency. A saved man doeth truth and no one other than a saved man doeth truth.
We must not confuse the order. A man must get saved first, then he “doeth truth”.
Just because the Bible says it like this: “he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God”, does not mean that an unsaved man can doeth truth and then come to the light. Don’t confuse the order.
The Bible also says it like this…
3 John 1:11 … He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.
Does this mean that if an unsaved man simply does good he then becomes “of God”? Of course not! Don’t miss the 1-to-1 dependency. Don’t confuse the order!
But how do I know this? How do I know that an unsaved man cannot change his lifestyle from “doeth evil” to “doeth good”, and thus be saved?
Romans 3:12 … there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Mark 10:18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
If that is what you are teaching, then you’ve made God a liar.
If a carnal natural man can do the true, if he can do TRUE good works, then God is a liar.
And if man has done good, God is unrighteous to throw him in the lake of fire.
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.
Man can do good. We know that from many passages in the Bible. But what I’m teaching you is that man’s good is not TRUE good. No carnal work of man is true good. Man’s works are only shadows and figures of TRUE good. The true good things are heavenly things.
A man doing “good” does not make him “of God”. Don’t confuse the order. Rather, only God does TRUE good, so you cannot do good, unless you already are born “of God”, of His children.
But still, there are some that would contend that (based on John 3:21 and other passages) we must first do good works, in order to be of God, to be born of God, to be saved of Him, or to prove we are true Christians. Because, they say, the Bible says…
1 John 2:29 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.
“Oh well great! Simple enough. If I do right, then I am born of God.”
But is that so? Does this mean that if an unsaved man simply changes his lifestyle and begins to “doeth righteousness” he becomes “born of God”? Of course not. That would be ridiculous. If that were so, then why was there not salvation under the law? What need was there of a Saviour? All men would have to do is “doeth righteousness”. Why would God send His Son to die? He wouldn’t!
That would be ridiculous. What are you then, after you sin again? After you fall off the wagon and start lying, cheating, stealing, gossiping, or drinking, or gambling, or watching pornography, or cheating on your spouse? What if you defraud your neighbor? What if you curse out your brother? What if you sin a lot, what if you sin a little?
1 John 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; …
So if you sin, I guess you are no longer born of God. You’re born of the devil. Better repent of those sins and doeth righteousness again so you can be born again of God, again! … Ridiculous! Doing righteousness does not come before being born of God. Don’t confuse the order!
1 John 2:29 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.
It says “every one”. Not most, not some, not a few. Every one that doeth (has done and can do) right, is born of God. So if a man gives his money to the poor, is he of God? If the cheater instead runs an honest race, is he then born of God? If a thief pays again, is he then born of God? If the serial killer, instead saves a life, is he then born of God?
If those things are TRUE (and not FAKE) righteousness, you bet your butt he is born of God! It says “every one”.
If a man, after the flesh, simply does right or good, is he then born of God? And when he then again does sin or evil? What if the former cheater cheats again? What if the former thief steals again? Does he die again? And then after that, if he does right or good again, then he is born again, again?
It is utter ridiculousness!
An unsaved man cannot do true righteousness. EVERY ONE, only doeth a figure of the true.
Romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Romans 3:12 … there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
How can God say this, when so clearly it is in all men to both do good and go evil? Because carnal man cannot do THE TRUE things good at all.
We must divide flesh from Spirit. We must divide the children of God from the children of the devil. We must divide them that “doeth righteousness” from them that “doeth evil”. We must divide THE TRUE from the FIGURE of the true.
Isaiah 28:17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet:
The Lord will judge the type of righteousness, the type of judgment that each man has.
We need to do true judgment, and true righteousness. We need to judge righteous judgment.
We need to divide the true from the figure, the fake, the lie… because that is how WE will be judged.
1 John 2:29 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.
The false prophet teaches: “If we just do good, pretty good, mostly good, almost only good, then we are born of God!”
Ridiculousness!
And now to make matters MUCH, MUCH worse for the false prophet that teaches this ridiculousness:
1 John 3:7-8 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; …
So now, we must also teach if a man doeth good, or doeth righteousness, he is just as righteous as Jesus Christ.
Are you as righteous as Jesus Christ? You better be! Otherwise, you are “of the devil”.
But if we don’t divide the figure from the true, then we are in a huge pickle. We bounce back and forth. We keep being, of God, and then of the devil. As the false prophets would have to teach it, when you do good, you are born of God, but when you turn and do evil, you are born of the devil. So you are born again of God, then born again of the devil, then born again-again of God, and then again-again of the devil, then born again-again-again of God, and then again-again-again of the devil.
Now this is not how they teach it, because they know that is utterly ridiculous.
What they do is much more subtle: they say if you ever turn away, then you were never REALLY saved to begin with. You must continually work good works for the rest of your life to KEEP, or to PROVE that you are a real Christian and that your faith in Christ was genuine.
But where is the line? How much righteousness do I have to do after salvation to satisfy your subjective and biased, and moving target of one that “doeth righteous” and “sinneth not”?
Is one that “doeth righteousness” one that turns from his gambling and wife-beating and
Is one that doeth righteousness?
Is one that “doeth righteousness” one that does 51% good? 90%? 99%? 99.9999999%?
Is one that “sinneth not” one that does 49% sin? 10%? 1%? 0.00000001? 1 in 100,000,000? That’s pretty good!! So am I born of God now? Can I please be forgiven now? Can I please enter heaven now? Can I now, please be one that “doeth righteousness”, who is born of God, and not one that “committeth sin”, who is of the devil?
This is where the false prophets get a man. Promising him liberty, but putting them in bondage! Almost free, but yet wholly in bondage to sin. This is where false doctrine gets you.
1 John 3:7-8 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; …
But this is not how it appears in the scripture is it? There is “he that no doeth MOSTLY righteousness…”. There is no “he that doeth more righteousness than sin…”. There is no “he that doeth more righteousness now than he did before he repented of his sins…” There is no “he that doeth righteousness is just barely righteous enough before God to enter into heaven”.
It is: “…he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as [Jesus] is righteous.”
WOW!!! That’s got to be a tough one for the false prophets.
No carnal man can claim to be as righteous as Jesus. No false prophet would dare try to teach this. No false brother would dare confess that he is as righteous as Jesus. (oh, but he is trying, walking, following!)
But we CAN claim this, can’t we!? I can preach this, can’t I?
Why? Because I am dividing flesh from Spirit. We are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.
Because I am dividing true righteousness from the figure of righteousness. Only those born of God in the Spirit can do the true.
So it is not by righteousness that we are born of Him, but it is they who are born of Him who are born righteous, even as righteous as Jesus Christ, without the possibility of sin. We CANNOT sin.
If you don’t draw the line right there, then you are in bondage.
If you don’t COMPLETELY divide flesh from Spirit, then you are still in bondage.
If you are not FIRST born of God, you cannot do a single true good work. You cannot “doeth truth”. Don’t confuse the ORDER!
The Bible says…
1 John 4:7 … every one that loveth is born of God, …
But does this mean that if an unsaved man loveth, that he becomes “born of God”? Of course not! Don’t confuse the order!!
How do I know that?
1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
It is not by love that we are saved. It is by salvation, through the Spirit, in “the true”, that we DO love.
But all an unsaved man can do is feign love. Carnal love is feigned love. Figures and shadows of love! Carnal man does FAKE love. FAKE good works. We must not confuse the order! Get born of God first, then you can do true, unfeigned love. In the Spirit, not in the flesh.
The Bible says…
1 John 5:18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; …
But does this mean that the way to be born of God is to just stop sinning? Of course not!
First of all, its impossible. Second of all, its not what the Bible teaches.
How do I know that?
1 John 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; [WHY? Because he decided to stop sinning (which is impossible), and so he became born of God? No…] for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
Don’t confuse the order. He is not born of God because he cannot sin. He cannot sin because he is born of God. Not because he decided to stop sinning.
It is a 1-to-1. All that cannot sin are born of God, and all that are born of God cannot sin.
Venn diagram, anyone?
| Born of God and Cannot Sin |
It is THIS:
NOT THIS:
Don’t confuse the dependency. Don’t confuse the order. A man must be born of God first, THEN that man cannot sin!
1 John 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; … he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
- CANNOT. SIN. He does not sin less. Rather, he is SINLESS. EVEN AS, Jesus Christ is sinless.
Jun 13 2021
The Lord’s Work – Part 17
Downloadable Word document:
The Lord’s Work – Part 17
The Lord’s Work – Part 17
Naturally, we are figures. We, as figures, cannot do truth.
John 3:21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
This is the only time “doeth truth” is in the whole Bible. Also there are no occurrences of “doeth the truth/true”, “do truth/true”, “do the truth/true”, “did truth/true”, “did the truth/true”, “done truth/true”, “done the truth/true”, “done in the truth/true”, “done in true”.
“done in truth” appears 2 times, and both times it is spoken of the Lord’s doing, not man’s.
So… this is a pretty significant occurrence of the phrase “doeth truth”, as it is being applied to men.
Let’s pause here for a moment. Because this passage is also confusing to a lot of Christians. This passage is one that is used (both openly and subtly) to preach works salvation.
John 3:16-18 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Now this is about getting salvation. Clearly. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.
But, without Jesus and without belief in the gospel, all men are condemned already. And so the next part is not about getting saved. The next part is a distinction between the saved and unsaved. The children of God and the children of the devil.
John 3:19-21 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil [who is that? Men!] hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Verse 21 is not describing the salvation of the lost sinner. There is no repentance of works or confession of sins in verse 21. There is no changing of the mind.
This man needs no repentance. This man already “doeth truth”. This man’s deeds are manifested to be true and Godly (wrought in God, in heaven). This is not an unsaved man getting saved!!
This is a saved man, a son of God. And when he comes to the light, he is manifested as such: already perfect.
This passage is NOT saying that an unsaved man who does good works will automatically (as if it were by destiny) or more likely (as if with higher probability) come to Jesus because his works are “done in God”. Aside from the bold devilish LIE that that is, it’s also just stupid. That is impossible. An unsaved man can’t work in God, and then come to the light. Only those who are in God and work in God can be manifest to have wrought all their deeds in God. Only Jesus (and his children/bride – those living in Him) can work in God. So naturally, carnally, a man cannot “doeth truth” outside of being in Christ. He must be saved FIRST.
One must FIRST be in God to “doeth truth”. One does not doeth truth and THEN come to God to be saved.
We must not miss the 1-to-1 dependency. A saved man doeth truth and no one other than a saved man doeth truth.
We must not confuse the order. A man must get saved first, then he “doeth truth”.
Just because the Bible says it like this: “he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God”, does not mean that an unsaved man can doeth truth and then come to the light. Don’t confuse the order.
The Bible also says it like this…
3 John 1:11 … He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.
Does this mean that if an unsaved man simply does good he then becomes “of God”? Of course not! Don’t miss the 1-to-1 dependency. Don’t confuse the order!
But how do I know this? How do I know that an unsaved man cannot change his lifestyle from “doeth evil” to “doeth good”, and thus be saved?
Romans 3:12 … there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Mark 10:18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
If that is what you are teaching, then you’ve made God a liar.
If a carnal natural man can do the true, if he can do TRUE good works, then God is a liar.
And if man has done good, God is unrighteous to throw him in the lake of fire.
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.
Man can do good. We know that from many passages in the Bible. But what I’m teaching you is that man’s good is not TRUE good. No carnal work of man is true good. Man’s works are only shadows and figures of TRUE good. The true good things are heavenly things.
A man doing “good” does not make him “of God”. Don’t confuse the order. Rather, only God does TRUE good, so you cannot do good, unless you already are born “of God”, of His children.
But still, there are some that would contend that (based on John 3:21 and other passages) we must first do good works, in order to be of God, to be born of God, to be saved of Him, or to prove we are true Christians. Because, they say, the Bible says…
1 John 2:29 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.
“Oh well great! Simple enough. If I do right, then I am born of God.”
But is that so? Does this mean that if an unsaved man simply changes his lifestyle and begins to “doeth righteousness” he becomes “born of God”? Of course not. That would be ridiculous. If that were so, then why was there not salvation under the law? What need was there of a Saviour? All men would have to do is “doeth righteousness”. Why would God send His Son to die? He wouldn’t!
That would be ridiculous. What are you then, after you sin again? After you fall off the wagon and start lying, cheating, stealing, gossiping, or drinking, or gambling, or watching pornography, or cheating on your spouse? What if you defraud your neighbor? What if you curse out your brother? What if you sin a lot, what if you sin a little?
1 John 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; …
So if you sin, I guess you are no longer born of God. You’re born of the devil. Better repent of those sins and doeth righteousness again so you can be born again of God, again! … Ridiculous! Doing righteousness does not come before being born of God. Don’t confuse the order!
1 John 2:29 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.
It says “every one”. Not most, not some, not a few. Every one that doeth (has done and can do) right, is born of God. So if a man gives his money to the poor, is he of God? If the cheater instead runs an honest race, is he then born of God? If a thief pays again, is he then born of God? If the serial killer, instead saves a life, is he then born of God?
If those things are TRUE (and not FAKE) righteousness, you bet your butt he is born of God! It says “every one”.
If a man, after the flesh, simply does right or good, is he then born of God? And when he then again does sin or evil? What if the former cheater cheats again? What if the former thief steals again? Does he die again? And then after that, if he does right or good again, then he is born again, again?
It is utter ridiculousness!
An unsaved man cannot do true righteousness. EVERY ONE, only doeth a figure of the true.
Romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Romans 3:12 … there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
How can God say this, when so clearly it is in all men to both do good and go evil? Because carnal man cannot do THE TRUE things good at all.
We must divide flesh from Spirit. We must divide the children of God from the children of the devil. We must divide them that “doeth righteousness” from them that “doeth evil”. We must divide THE TRUE from the FIGURE of the true.
Isaiah 28:17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet:
The Lord will judge the type of righteousness, the type of judgment that each man has.
We need to do true judgment, and true righteousness. We need to judge righteous judgment.
We need to divide the true from the figure, the fake, the lie… because that is how WE will be judged.
1 John 2:29 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.
The false prophet teaches: “If we just do good, pretty good, mostly good, almost only good, then we are born of God!”
Ridiculousness!
And now to make matters MUCH, MUCH worse for the false prophet that teaches this ridiculousness:
1 John 3:7-8 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; …
So now, we must also teach if a man doeth good, or doeth righteousness, he is just as righteous as Jesus Christ.
Are you as righteous as Jesus Christ? You better be! Otherwise, you are “of the devil”.
But if we don’t divide the figure from the true, then we are in a huge pickle. We bounce back and forth. We keep being, of God, and then of the devil. As the false prophets would have to teach it, when you do good, you are born of God, but when you turn and do evil, you are born of the devil. So you are born again of God, then born again of the devil, then born again-again of God, and then again-again of the devil, then born again-again-again of God, and then again-again-again of the devil.
Now this is not how they teach it, because they know that is utterly ridiculous.
What they do is much more subtle: they say if you ever turn away, then you were never REALLY saved to begin with. You must continually work good works for the rest of your life to KEEP, or to PROVE that you are a real Christian and that your faith in Christ was genuine.
But where is the line? How much righteousness do I have to do after salvation to satisfy your subjective and biased, and moving target of one that “doeth righteous” and “sinneth not”?
Is one that “doeth righteousness” one that turns from his gambling and wife-beating and
Is one that doeth righteousness?
Is one that “doeth righteousness” one that does 51% good? 90%? 99%? 99.9999999%?
Is one that “sinneth not” one that does 49% sin? 10%? 1%? 0.00000001? 1 in 100,000,000? That’s pretty good!! So am I born of God now? Can I please be forgiven now? Can I please enter heaven now? Can I now, please be one that “doeth righteousness”, who is born of God, and not one that “committeth sin”, who is of the devil?
This is where the false prophets get a man. Promising him liberty, but putting them in bondage! Almost free, but yet wholly in bondage to sin. This is where false doctrine gets you.
1 John 3:7-8 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; …
But this is not how it appears in the scripture is it? There is “he that no doeth MOSTLY righteousness…”. There is no “he that doeth more righteousness than sin…”. There is no “he that doeth more righteousness now than he did before he repented of his sins…” There is no “he that doeth righteousness is just barely righteous enough before God to enter into heaven”.
It is: “…he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as [Jesus] is righteous.”
WOW!!! That’s got to be a tough one for the false prophets.
No carnal man can claim to be as righteous as Jesus. No false prophet would dare try to teach this. No false brother would dare confess that he is as righteous as Jesus. (oh, but he is trying, walking, following!)
But we CAN claim this, can’t we!? I can preach this, can’t I?
Why? Because I am dividing flesh from Spirit. We are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.
Because I am dividing true righteousness from the figure of righteousness. Only those born of God in the Spirit can do the true.
So it is not by righteousness that we are born of Him, but it is they who are born of Him who are born righteous, even as righteous as Jesus Christ, without the possibility of sin. We CANNOT sin.
If you don’t draw the line right there, then you are in bondage.
If you don’t COMPLETELY divide flesh from Spirit, then you are still in bondage.
If you are not FIRST born of God, you cannot do a single true good work. You cannot “doeth truth”. Don’t confuse the ORDER!
The Bible says…
1 John 4:7 … every one that loveth is born of God, …
But does this mean that if an unsaved man loveth, that he becomes “born of God”? Of course not! Don’t confuse the order!!
How do I know that?
1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
It is not by love that we are saved. It is by salvation, through the Spirit, in “the true”, that we DO love.
But all an unsaved man can do is feign love. Carnal love is feigned love. Figures and shadows of love! Carnal man does FAKE love. FAKE good works. We must not confuse the order! Get born of God first, then you can do true, unfeigned love. In the Spirit, not in the flesh.
The Bible says…
1 John 5:18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; …
But does this mean that the way to be born of God is to just stop sinning? Of course not!
First of all, its impossible. Second of all, its not what the Bible teaches.
How do I know that?
1 John 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; [WHY? Because he decided to stop sinning (which is impossible), and so he became born of God? No…] for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
Don’t confuse the order. He is not born of God because he cannot sin. He cannot sin because he is born of God. Not because he decided to stop sinning.
It is a 1-to-1. All that cannot sin are born of God, and all that are born of God cannot sin.
Venn diagram, anyone?
It is THIS:
NOT THIS:
Don’t confuse the dependency. Don’t confuse the order. A man must be born of God first, THEN that man cannot sin!
1 John 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; … he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
By Pastor • Christian Doctrine • 0