TEEN TREE OF LIFE
THE DOCTRINE OF DIVINE GOOD
Part 1
June 4, 2017
BEFORE we begin, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, take a moment to name your sins to God the Father. This will allow you to be filled with the power of The Holy Spirit as you read this booklet (EPH 5:18 & 1JO 1:9). IF YOU HAVE never believed in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you have that opportunity right now. Simply tell God the Father that you are believing on His Son Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you make that decision, you are now a believer and will always be a child of God! When you die, you will spend eternity with Him forever in heaven! (JOH 3:16 & ACT 16:31).
Human good must never be confused with the legitimate production of good by the believer. You must never forget how important this is. Human good is what the believer produces in the cosmic system and it is not valid in God’s Eyes: For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. (ISA 64:6) Human good is the production of evil. It is often a reaction – like helping someone because you dislike a person who wasn’t helping that person or showing someone how much better you are by doing a good deed. People often give or do so-called good things with the wrong motivation. All human good will be burned up at the judgment seat of Christ: …each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. (1CO 3:13)
Human good is produced by the believer who is not relying on the Filling of the Spirit and because of this it is not valid in God’s eyes. Human good is the production of evil in Satan’s kingdom, the cosmos or the world system. To advance in the spiritual life, you must distinguish between human good and Divine good. This is a very simple statement yet it is chock full of meaning.
In HEB 5:11, the writer of the book says in: Concerning Him [The Lord Jesus Christ] we have much to say and it is hard to explain [difficult to teach] because you have become dull of hearing. In this passage, the writer is talking to those under the influence of human good. Because they are involved in human good, they are very difficult to teach. They were not always this way. They were positive for a while, staying away from believing that human good has value. But then they would peel off, come back, peel off again. Finally, they regressed, to the point that they became dull of hearing. Look at HEB 5:12-14: For though by this time you ought to be teachers, [so doctrinal that they should be teaching other people] but you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God [basic doctrines all over again], and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness because he is immature. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.
The word for good in Greek is “kalou.” It refers to the believer with positive volition producing Divine good. The word for evil is “kakou” which refers to the believer in carnality; “Kakou means worthless, evil motivation. The use of these two words for good and evil show how easy it is for evil to appear to be good. The background to this passage is legalism and relying upon human good for acceptance with God. As we have learned, legalism is man’s useless attempt to gain salvation or to continue in God’s plan by way of some system of do’s and don’ts. In legalism, people do good for the purpose of gaining God’s approbation. Legalism is the opposite of grace and is therefore evil. Human good and spirituality can appear to be the same thing but they are not in God’s Eyes. PRO 14:12 says it perfectly: 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. Only the believer with positive volition toward Bible doctrine can distinguish between Grace and legalism or Divine good and human good.
The believer performing human good can be motivated by cosmic one or cosmic two. Cosmic one is Satan’s exploitation of believers through their own arrogance. This is how he controls the human race. Satan invented arrogance; it was his original sin. In cosmic one, the emphasis is on arrogance and abnormal preoccupation with self. You are the target here and eventually, you destroy yourself.
Cosmic two is Satan’s propaganda to educate and promote antagonism toward anything related to God, especially His Grace. Here the emphasis is on intolerance toward the Plan, Purpose, and Will of God, as well as toward all Christians executing God’s Plan. The target is Bible doctrine and we become antagonistic towards anything to do with it. We are talking about that satanic system of deception, where even believers think they are living the spiritual life, but they aren’t. They love the world and we are commanded not to: Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. (1JO 2:15-17)
Human good is a part of Satan’s deception because he wants man to think that God is impressed with human goodness. If Satan accomplishes this, then man becomes so involved in doing good, that his focus is on his own accomplishments and not those of Our Lord Jesus Christ!
Human good, can be very deceitful. MAT 6:23 tells it plaining: But if your eye [soul-perception] is bad [evil], your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! This same principle is taught in 2CO 11:13-15: For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve. This is a remarkable passage concerning the extent of the satanic counterfeit and the promotion of human good. Satan’s ministers are teaching people how to be righteous and humanly good in order to imitate the real ministers of Christ. These same ministers are trying to blind people from the true righteousness of God which is a Grace Gift from God and cannot be earned by man.
This type of person is respected in society and his/her life 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. Their gospel and teaching is based on human viewpoint and appeals to human resources. They are ministers of righteousness, whose message should never be confused with the Doctrine of Grace. Any counterfeit system of doctrine that would omit the Power of God and the Grace that accompanies that Power is used by the strategy of Satan to force some secondary truth which blinds people to the real truth.
Secondary truth is something that is true, but is not being taught or referred to properly. For example, 2CO 7:10 says: For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation. Now, that’s a true statement, however it is not saying that you have to feel sorry for your sins to be saved. It is saying that recognition of your need can lead to repentance toward the person of Christ.
{to be continued}