Good vs. good
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” Titus 3:5
Paul put Titus in remembrance to keep the issue of the gospel clear with his congregation.
In our day, the issue has become clouded by a desire to not offend with the reality of the truth.
The issue of works makes witnessing difficult.
a. Moral sinners appear to not need salvation or of possessing special favor with God.
b. Many sinners are more moral and do better deeds than many Christians.
The gospel is distorted when based on human works.
a. The unbeliever is evaluated as one of some who need salvation.
b. Moral sinners are headed to hell as well as immoral sinners.
If you ask sinners today if they believe they would go to heaven if they died, many would say “yes.”
a. They believe they have been mostly good.
b. They believe they are better than most others.
c. Therefore they deserve to go to heaven.
The Issues is Not Works But Birth
Man cannot be settled by his own good works or his own self-effort.
If being good can save you, why did Jesus have to die?
The issue is not your works, but you are dead.
You will not be judged as an individual but by attachment.
a. You are not judged as an individual stalk of wheat.
b. You are judged as a branch attached to a tree, alive or dead.
c. In Adam all die, but in Christ, all will be made alive.
Two Things Are Needed to Give Us Eternal Life
We need a “washing of regeneration.”
a. A supernatural removal of sin and sins it produced.
b. Washing away our sin and sins takes a miracle.
c. We cannot produce this miracle so we must accept God’s supernatural plan.
We need a “renewing of the Holy Spirit.”
a. “Washing” takes care of our sin and sins.
b. “Renewing” gives eternal life and power to overcome sin in the future
Good vs. Evil? Good vs. good
“And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die (dying, you shall die).” Genesis 2:16, 17
Adam and Eve only knew divine good.
The good introduced to man was human good.
Adam introduced good and evil to all mankind.
After they sinned, Adam made clothes from fig leaves.
God made them clothes from animal skins - blood was shed. (Romans 5:12)
The real conflict in Satan’s world is not good versus evil, but Good versus good - divine good versus human good.
If the real battle were good versus evil, man could solve his own problems.
Since the answer has to come from divine good, man must look to the cross.
Human Good is Satan’s Counterfeit for Divine Good
From human good comes every religion, brotherhood, charitable organization, and good deed known to man.
Human good is man’s attempt to merit favor with God.
The means of production for human good is the flesh or self works.
All religion is produced from the nature of the flesh.
a. Religion is the flesh’s attempt to solve man’s problems
b. Religion is Satan's counterfeit gospel for divine good.
Divine good solves man’s problem and offers the solution as a gift.
a. Religion tries to solve man’s problems through good works.
Good works offered to God in exchange for eternal life in heaven. Man gets all of the credit.
b. Christianity offers the work of God to man.
Man receives it. God gets all of the credit
c. “Our own righteousness (human good) before God are as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6).
d. Human good stinks to our Father.
e. Every religion is a stench in God’s nostrils.
f. Only the work of His own Son, Jesus, will satisfy Him.
g. The only “good” God will accept is “divine good.”
Our Source of Good and Evil
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is the nature of the flesh. The tree took up residence in them.
That tree would now be passed down from generation to generation through natural birth.
The nature of the flesh remains in everyone, born again or not.
Both good and evil come from the same source - the flesh.
Mankind is trying to overcome evil with good and both are the problem.
The flesh cannot solve the problems it creates in the sinner or saint (Romans 7:18).
God despises the flesh and everything it produces.
This is why our won works will never save us. They are an abomination to God.
a. Titus 3:5 “ Not by works of righteousness which we have done.”
b. Ephesians 2:9 “… it is the gift of God (divine good), not of works (human good)…”
On Solid Ground
A man caught in quicksand may try to save himself, but everything he does to solve the problem only causes him to tire and move closer to death.
It takes a hand from the edge to deliver him.
What the flesh cannot do - God can.
a. Salvation cannot come from us. Only from God.
b. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with Whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
We who stand on the side, offering the hand of the gospel, used to be in the quicksand ourselves.
