Grace Bible Church
Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Wednesday April 15, 2015
2PE 1:20-21, But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
The Purpose of the Seventy Sevens or the 490 years in DAN 9:24.
1. The principle found in the phrase in DAN 9:24, to make an end of sin which means to bring one major sin to its completion, which is the sin of unbelief.
2.DAN 9:24 = "to finish the transgression which not only refers to the payment for sin but also deals with the entire OSN, including the good things that the OSN can produce.
PSA 39:5b (KJV) Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity.
PSA 62:9, Men of low degree are only vanity, and men of rank are a lie; In the balances they go up; They are together lighter than breath.
PSA 118:8-9, It is better to take refuge in the Lord Than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord Than to trust in princes.
PSA 144:4 Man is like a mere breath; His days are like a passing shadow.
MAT 6:23 " If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness.
A lot of believers who do a lot of good things do not realize that they are living in the darkness of producing human good.
They come to you as though they are truly believers.
JOH 6:40 "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life;
Lawlessness is the noun anomos = against the Jewish law; wicked; transgressor. Sometimes the word can also refer to the production of human good.
ROM 8:8, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
To reveal the fact that God the Father, the author of the divine plan, would reject human good or the good deeds man could perform without help from the character and nature of God.
1.The first part of the prophecy deals with the sin of unbelief. 2. The second part = the entire OSN and all of the transgressions of the human race including the production of human good which is also called transgressions or evil.
The Doctrine of Human Good.
Point 1. Definition and Description.
Human good must never be confused with morality or the legitimate production of the believer.
There is legitimate morality and there is legitimate production of good called divine good.
The problem is that there is also the arrogance of morality.
PHI 3:8 I conclude all things [Paul's pre-salvation human celebrityship and achievement] to be loss because of the surpassing greatness of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord,
for whom I have forfeited all things, also, I keep on concluding them to be piles of dung in order that I may win for Christ
Human good is the production of the believer who lives in the cosmic system and who does not rely on the filling of the Holy Spirit.
Whether it is altruism or any form of asceticism or some system of self-sacrifice, human good is the production of the believer in Satan's domain or kingdom, called in the Bible the cosmos or the world system.
Altruism is an unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others.
Not because it makes God angry but because it makes man feel that there is something good about him that impresses God.
This is why to advance in the spiritual life, you must distinguish between human good and divine good.
The writer is addressing those under the influence of human good and legalism, and therefore they are very difficult to teach.
PSA 94:8, "Listen, you senseless among the people; And when will you understand, stupid ones?"
JER 4:22, "For My people are foolish, They know Me not; They are stupid children, And they have no understanding."
They were ignorant of doctrine, and added to that they had become involved in human good and the religious activity of their day.
HEB 5:11 Concerning Him we have many doctrines to communicate [is the corrected translation] and hard to explain because you have become dull of hearing.
They advanced, or should I say regressed, to the place where they became dull of hearing.
Once you repeat certain actions over and over again, you reach a place where you just continue to exist in that state or action.
Kalou = the believer with PCTD producing and recognizing divine good, it means that which is excellent, virtuous, admirable, excellent in its nature and characteristics.
Evil = kakou which refers to the function of the royal priest or the believer in carnality, the word means intrinsically worthless, evil motivation.
The background to this passage is legalism and relying upon human good for acceptance with God.
The problem is that 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.
PRO 14:12, There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
Solid food or advanced doctrine produces the ability to discern between being involved in grace and truth or being involved in legalism, human good and self-righteousness.
People often even give because they are unhappy or trying to make themselves look good.
Cosmic one is Satan's exploitation of believers through their own arrogance.
Cosmic two is Satan's propaganda and indoctrination college to educate and promote antagonism toward anything related to God, especially the grace of God.
Cosmic one emphasizes arrogance and abnormal preoccupation with self.
Cosmic two emphasizes antagonism and intolerance toward the plan, purpose, and will of God, as well as toward all Christians executing it.
The target of cosmic one is yourself; the target of cosmic two is Bible doctrine.
In cosmic one, we destroy ourselves. In cosmic two, we become antagonistic toward Bible doctrine.
The word kosmos means the order, or the government, the system developed by Satan which is alienated from God, and therefore hostile to the cause of Christ.
Loving the cosmic system means deception of your motivation, of your thought pattern, of your decision making and of your action.
In verse 16, the lust of the flesh is the old sin nature seeking to control the soul.
The lust of the eyes is motivational evil in cosmic one.
The boastful pride of life is the arrogant pattern of life, the functional evil of the other forms of arrogance in cosmic two.
Satan has been able to compile a cosmic system which is a mass of thoughts, opinions, speculations, systems of false doctrines, panaceas, plans, systems of all categories for deceit, policies, and objectives by which Satan seeks to control the world which he rules.
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 human goodness.
Human good can be characterized by fanaticism and arrogant concentration without doctrinal inculcation.
a. From the believer living in the cosmic system.
b. Human good of establishment orientation.
c. There is human good of the unbeliever registered in the Book of Works.
Human good is a reference to anything produced by man apart from the grace provisions from God.
Anything God provides in grace for production becomes divine good.
This is why knowledge of human good and evil is not needed for a relationship with God, GEN 2:17.
"The value and delusion of a counterfeit are increased by the nearness of its likeness to the real."
MAT 6:23 "But if your soul-perception is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness or [skotos, your spiritual blindness]!"
This same principle is stated in 2CO 11:13-15, which also has a warning about that which appears to be good overtly but in reality is nothing more than the production of human good.
Notice that in verse 13, "false apostles, deceitful workers, are transforming or disguising themselves into the apostles of Christ."
Then in verse 15, they are "servants or ministers of righteousness."
The purpose of this deception is to imitate the real ministers of Christ and to blind people from the true righteousness of God which is imputed as a gift from God's grace and cannot be earned or deserved by man.
They are promoters of "human good works and righteousness" and they will be very attractive and deceptive since Satan controls them.
He does this because he wants to promote creature credit over creator credit.
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.
These servants or ministers of righteousness will be very well respected in society and their lives will undoubtedly be free from the great scrutiny and temptations that come from the kingdom of darkness toward those who communicate truth.
Many times these false ministers do not necessarily know the real mission they have.
They can be sincere, preaching and teaching the best things the angel of light, their energizing power, is pleased to reveal unto them.
1CO 2:14, A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
They are ministers of righteousness, which message should never be confused with the doctrine of grace.
One is directed only at the reformation of the natural man, while the other aims at regeneration through the power of God.
Any counterfeit system of doctrine which would omit the power of God and the grace and knowledge which accompanies that power, is used by the strategy of Satan to force some secondary truth which blinds one from the real truth.
2CO 7:10, For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation,
Recognition of your need can lead to repentance toward the person of Christ.