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.
Dec 19 2021
The Lord’s Work – Part 30
Downloadable Word document:
The Lord’s Work – Part 30
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.
By Pastor • Christian Doctrine, Good Works • 0