Grace Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Sunday,
July 1, 2018
We noted the difference between Divine good [Gk – agathos] or human good [Gk – phaulos] both which are mentioned in 2Co 5:10.
It’s not just what took place on the cross concerning our “personal sins” but also what happened to the “human good” that the old sin nature produced while on earth the cross.
Human good is not judged but is evaluated which is different than sins which were all judged.
Personal sins are judged while the production of human good is rejected.
Our Lord’s evaluation is of the “good” we produced in time to see if it was “human good” or “divine good.”
Prin-Human good is that which Satan tries to steal from us and rob us by causing us to rely on the creature power rather than the power of the word and the power of the Holy Spirit; ROM 1:25.
ROM 1:25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
There is legitimate morality and there is legitimate production of good called divine good.
Human good is the production of the believer who lives in the cosmic system and who does not rely on the power or the filling of the Spirit.
All personal sins were judged on the cross while all human good is waiting to be evaluated at the “Bema Seat Judgment for believers” or at “The Great White Throne Judgment” for the unbelievers, Rev 20:11-15.
Whether it is altruism or asceticism, human good is the production of the believer in Satan’s domain or kingdom, called in the Bible the cosmos or the world system.
It is this world system that the Lord delivered us from says COL 1:13 For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,
To advance in the spiritual life, you must distinguish between human good and divine good; Heb 5:11-14.
The writer of this epistle is addressing those under the influence of human good and legalism, and therefore they are very difficult to teach mainly because they have become arrogant.
JAM 3:14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against doctrine.
Scripture: JUD 1:16 These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.
Scripture: JUD 1:3 Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
Here it is in brief: The Master saved a people out of the land of Egypt. Later he destroyed those who defected.
As Jud 1:6 says And you know the story of the angels who didn’t stick to their post, abandoning it for other, darker missions. But they are now chained and jailed in a black hole until the great Judgment Day.]
The point being that relying upon human good and entering into legalism produces pride and pride makes one stupid; Psa 94:8.
Because once you repeat certain actions over and over again, you reach a place where you just continue to exist in that state or action.
Scripture: EPH 4:22 In reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit.
Even though the OSN is dead to God and is in a state of constant corruption, all the unbelievers will keep on getting worse and worse in eternity, Rev 22:11.
because he is a babe, or immature.
The word good is kalou which refers to the believer with PVTD producing and recognizing divine good, it also means that which is excellent, virtuous, admirable, excellent in its nature and characteristics.
On the other hand, evil is kakou which refers to the function of the royal priest or the believer in carnality, the word means intrinsically worthless, or evil motivation within.
He could have used agathos for good and poneros or kakos for evil. But instead he used kalou for good and kakou for evil to show how easy it is for evil to appear to be good.
Scripture: ISA 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Human good and spirituality can appear to be the same thing overtly but they are not the same in the eyes of God or inwardly.
Scripture: 1Sa 16:7b for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
This is why we are told to stay away from the cosmic system; 1JO 2:15 1JO 2:15 Do not love the world [cosmic system], nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Although Satan is the ruler of this cosmic system, he does not necessarily control the people of this world, that depends upon individual volition.
Eph 2:2 “In which sphere [real spiritual death] you formerly walked according to the lifestyle of the cosmic system [world].”
Human good is a part of Satan’s deception because he wants man to think that God is impressed with our human good or human accomplishments.
Scripture: ROM 8:8 “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
Scripture: HEB 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who DILEGENTLY seek Him.
Human good is a reference to anything produced by man apart from God’s grace provisions.
GEN 2:17 “But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.”
For the unbeliever his human good not his sins but his good deeds are judged evaluated and rejected; Rev 20:11-15.
Ergons = deeds, works, labor, in the NT ergon can also mean that which designates the one who commissions the work. encompasses the unity of human conduct (2Co 10:11).
Frequently ergons is used of a deed done or being done: as a work of God (Heb 1:10) or as work from our Lord (Heb 4:3-4).
In general phrases, ergons can express the personality of relationship to a power or group; (Rom 13:12), they have good works so that ergons is also a criterion for evaluation in judgment.
Scriptural passages on ergons referring to works or deeds and has nothing to do with sins, whether the believer knows it is sin or not, is not the issue; it simply doesn’t matter, MAT 5:16.
MAT 5:16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
The idea that ergons also can refer to the “treasure of good works” taught in 1TI 6:18.
Scripture: 1TI 6:18 Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works [ergons], to be generous and ready to share.
All of the unbelievers, both angels and humans, also have their final day in the Supreme Court of heaven.
Hades is said to be a place where God’s people have gone, ACT 2:27,31, 1Co 15:55.
ACT 2:27 Because Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades, Nor allow Thy Holy One to undergo decay.
ACT 2:31 he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay.
Hades is also a place where unbelievers have gone, Rev 6:8, 20:13-14.
- Paradise is where the Old Testament believers resided after death before the resurrection of our Lord.
- Torments is where all unbelievers reside, Luk 16:23.
- Tartarus is where certain fallen angels, called beni ha Elohim in Gen 6, reside.
- The abyss contains demons who transgress the boundaries of the human race = the location of the demon king, Satan’s right hand man, called Abaddon.
In Rev 9, he breaks out of this jail with the help of Satan who also has now been cast out of heaven in the middle of the Tribulation and can never return to heaven again.
The Tribulation period is a seven year period in which the first three and a half years Satan, as the god of this world, blesses all mankind with great blessings wanting to be worshipped by him.
Satan finds out very quickly once again that God’s word is true because in spite of all the blessings Satan gives to humans they still remain selfish, arrogant, critical, judgmental, and definitely implacable or impossible to please or satisfy.
In all of his frustration, anger, jealousy and especially his bitterness, Satan brings the last three and a half years of the worse time the world has ever or will ever face or go through.
We have the first three and a half years of great blessings and then we will receive 3.5 years of the worse time in all of human history.
HEB 12:15 See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;
The rest of this passage explains what happened to our Lord’s soul between the phrases “having been put to death in the flesh” and “but made alive by means of the Spirit.”
1Pe 3:19 By Whom [God the H.S.] also He went [passive voice i.e. He received transportation] and made proclamation to the spirits [fallen angels and demons] now in prison,
Our Lord went to Hades and spoke a message to all believers and unbelievers who were in Hades along with the rebellious fallen angels who were imprisoned for their rebellion.
As of right now, some of Satan’s fallen angels are held in the Abyss, the maximum security of the prisons the Lord made; as taught in Rev 9.
Some of the fallen angels are already in Hades or Hell because of what he apostle Peter said and what Jude said; 2PE 2:4; Jud 1:6.
This passage says that under the custodianship of God the Holy Spirit, His soul not only went to Paradise but He also visited Tartarus.
Our Lord’s human soul was in Hades for three days and while there, He went to Tartarus, the third compartment or area of Hades and it is the prison of the angels who were involved in Gen 6.
“spirits in prison”= the “beni ha Elohim” or the “sons of gods” of Gen 6 or those fallen angels who were judged and incarcerated in Tartarus for violating the rules of the angelic conflict; Jud 6; 2Pe 2:4.
1Pe 3:19 In which [Spirit] also He went [passive voice i.e. received transportation] and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison,
“made proclamation” means that He proclaimed certain doctrines and informed those demons in prison that they had failed and God’s plan was right on time!
They were informed to stop breaking certain rules of the angelic Conflict or else they would be imprisoned and all their good deeds are found wanting.
They produced what 1Co 3:11-15 calls good works but really it is “disgusting to the Lord at its best”; Isa 64:6.
He was in paradise, and I find it interesting that Dr. Luke tells us that He died with a dying thief beside Him, and the Lord also saw our old friend Lazarus, but He didn’t stay there for long!
So, by means of God the Holy Spirit our Lord made one of the most dramatic visits in all of history, another great title for a message we could call “A Visit to Tartarus.”
“Holy Triune Separation” = our Lord’s resurrection body is placed in the ground, His soul goes to Hades, and His spirit goes to the presence of God the Father.
In this “Holy Triune Separation,” our Lord’s human soul was in Hades in an interim body for three days and during the time that He was there he went to Tartarus.
1Pe 3:20 Who once were disobedient, [in Gen 6] when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah,
The patience of God waited 120 years and during that period they received the most intensive gospel proclamation in all of human history from a great evangelist we know as Noah.
You don’t have to love people to preach the Gospel to them and lead them to salvation.
Just ask Jonah, the non-loving evangelist prophet, who became depressed because the Ninevites responded to the gospel of Jehovah Elohim, the Lord God.
The Lord overruled him with His over-ruling will and the men on the ship threw him overboard because he had cursed the ship and they had to throw Jonah overboard for them to survive.
Because of the righteousness and justice of God we can conclude that every one of the Nephilim had a chance to believe something about TLJC and every one of them said “No!”
God is always righteous and His dedication to us causes us to enjoy the inner rewards and crowns of peace, love, inner happiness, etc.
The fruit mentioned belongs to the believer who will not allow Satan and the kingdom of darkness to give the devil an opportunity, Eph 4.27.
For those who do not obey 2Jo 1:8 to “Watch yourselves, that you might not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.”
This is the type of believer who allows the kingdom of darkness to take away what GAL 5:22 calls the fruit of the Spirit —
In the vacuum of their souls, they continued to worship the gods of Mount Olympus, who were not gods but demons.
PSA 96:5 For all the gods of the peoples are demons.
Note that God kept waiting under the principle that grace always precedes judgment.
This is not and cannot be a reference to water baptism or baptismal regeneration because those who went under the water were destroyed.
The water that drowned the unbelieving world was also used to deliver the eight souls who were believers and true humanity, Noah, his wife, and his three sons and their wives.
What was deliverance for the men on the ship was discipline to Jonah; Gen 50:20; Deu 23:5.
Second Prin-Water was an instrument of destruction for unbelievers but physical deliverance for believers (opposites attract).
At the moment of our salvation, the baptism of the Spirit made us members of the Royal Family of God.
Each member of Noah’s family in the ark is analogous to the believer who is union with the person of Jesus Christ.
Union with Christ delivers each member of the Royal Family of God from any form of divine judgment just like being with Noah and his family delivered anyone from the divine judgment of the flood.
Those eight souls were an anti-type or copy of what happens to us in the baptism of the Holy Spirit which is given only to those believers who are called “Temples or Body” during this Church-age.
For they were delivered from the catastrophe of the flood by being inside the ark just as we are delivered from the lake of fire by being in union with Christ, due to the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Just as they were safe in the ark, so we are safe in union with Christ.
Your conscience was delivered at the moment you believed in Jesus Christ as Savior, when God the Holy Spirit entered you into union with the person of Jesus Christ, making you royal family of God and a new spiritual species.
So the pledge of good conscience toward God begins with knowing that you are a new spiritual species and a member of the royal family of God.