Children, Part 3

Have you heard some of the news this week? The reports this week have spoken of the world's supply of drinking water is shrinking. The world's source of food is falling due to unprecedented drought and weather conditions, floods, etc. The rainforests continue to clear out rapidly. Climate is bringing unparalleled weather events. There are stronger earthquakes and tsunamis than normal. Fires are hotter and more frequent than in the past. Some 90% of the ocean life in many areas simply is gone and cannot be replaced. It is tipped too far from the levels and the many different varieties that are required to sustain life.

This has been caused by a combination of pollution, but largely from greedy fishing with nets on massive industrial-sized ships that comb the ocean floors and the reefs and take every fish and then kill and dump all those that they're not looking for as a particular species, in particular tuna. Bluefin tuna is almost extinct on the Earth.

Cod is missing from the planet down to only about 10% now. Orange roughy, which used to be so common, has been fished almost into extinction. You won't see that anymore. So on and so forth it goes. We find that countries are filling the skies and seas with pollution. Events like in California sprang up this week, where mosquitoes that carry yellow fever and dengue fever are now permanent in California.

Los Angeles and Fresno residents are being warned about the dangers of yellow fever and dengue fever in this country, and there's no way to eradicate them. In the Atlantic, Caribbean people in Florida a few years ago let six lionfish go, which are Pacific Ocean fish. They're the spiny, dangerous fish, and they let them go. God did not create any fish in the Atlantic or Caribbean waters to be afraid of a lionfish. So they eat everything on all the reefs. Bermuda has basically been stripped of fish and continues. The ones that remain are just devoured in their coral reefs, and there's no way to stop it.

These things go on and on and on. There's a report of an individual who's been sailing from the U.S. to the Orient and back for years, and this year he went and there was no life. The only thing he saw was one whale the entire time that had a tumor on its head. The rest of the time they couldn't sail at night and they couldn't run their engine because of so much trash, so many things in the water, so much netting floating, so much plastic out there, that they were afraid they would get tangled in it.

This planet that we live on is being abused out of greed and has been for so long. And along with that greed comes liberties being taken with law. People who are not conservative with law, but liberal, they take liberties with law. Civil and religious liberties are being alienated, liberalized. Everything from family to gender to executive orders, everything from warfare and how it's done to illegal spying, to killing, to torture.

One man reported this week on television that he was responsible for running a drone and he finally couldn't take it anymore and he resigned from the military. And they gave him a certificate that said he'd killed 1,624 people. And he just is not able to recover from the images of the people that he saw and what happened to them as he pushed his button with the joystick. There was a news report that came out yesterday and it talked of the fact that at the EU Summit, which is going on right now, a divided Europe has finally united. And what brought the uniting of a divided Europe, of all the leaders attending the conference?

The EU has a common enemy, the United States of America, and that has brought them together at last. We see bending of rules regarding torture. We see slavery higher than slavery has ever been in the history of the planet. Legally defrauding of investors, legal killing of citizens, the ignoring of laws on a growing scale at every level by nearly everyone, corruption by nearly everyone involving nearly everything.

We see school shootings, mall shootings. These have become commonplace and hardly are even news anymore. Why? Why all these things? Well, the answer is bad works. These are bad works. They are works of the flesh that are bad. The former Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury stated in an article, The only market that America dominates in the market today is the market for financial fraud. That is our main, our only large industry today, is the market for financial fraud.

That's what we do best and most and get the most profit from. The end time has suddenly become a hot topic for many people. Everyone from Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel to Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann talking about the end time, end time events, things prophesied in the Bible, the sins that we are committing as a worldwide people that God is going to bring us into judgment for because the Bible says so. Not only them, but also Billy Graham's current final call coming up on his 95th birthday is a call for America to repent.

And not only him, Hollywood is launching movies that are about end time events. Not only that, there is a forecast of what are called the blood moons. They only happen very, very rarely. And the blood moons are set to occur on the Hebrew calendar feast during the year 2014 and 2015.

And people are wondering, with all these things happening and some individuals just blindly pushing on in greed and ignorance, while there is word out that there is a fairly good-sized homeland security army that's not only prepared with billions of rounds of ammunition, but thousands of tanks for homeland security on this country, they wonder what is coming and how fast will it get here. Jesus warned that the end time will be the worst that has ever been in all the history of the earth and the worst that will ever be in all the future of the physical earth. Why? Bad works. Bad works will make it the worst of the worst.

Let's go to 2 Timothy 3, verses 1-5, and we'll read a prophecy that the Apostle Paul gave concerning this end time and how bad works are at the heart of it. 2 Timothy 3, verses 1, he says, They will be lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, just pure greed going for the money.

It's all for me. And what are their works? They are unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal. These are people with bad works. Despisers of anyone that is good. Notice. Traders, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Having a form of godliness, maybe even being religious or looking to a higher power. But certainly denying that source, denying its power, denying the link, denying the connection, the spirit, the vine, the lifeline.

We are told in the next phrase, from such people turn away. Why are you to turn away from people doing bad works? The answer is a key to becoming a first fruit in the kingdom of God at Christ's return. We're going to talk about today the fact that we need to be not purveyors of bad works, not associated with bad works, not linked together with those of bad works that are alienating and destroying, following Satan, the devil whose name is God. The answer is the destroyer, always fracturing and destroying and blowing up and hurting and killing and ruining relationships and trashing institutions and breaking laws. We're not to be part of that. But rather, the title of this sermon is, Children Who Imitate God With Good Works. Children Who Imitate God With Good Works. This is part three of the sermon series that we've been going through. As we've seen in the first two sermons in this series, God is calling children, and you need to be a child of your new father. Today, we are also going to take a look at what we need to be in a dark world that is going south, what that light is to be that we are called, what that salt is to be that we are called. You and I need to understand that God needs our light and our salt for a reason that might surprise you. We'll see from the scripture what the ultimate purpose of that is. We tend to think of something good, like good works. But when we think of things that are good, we can use that randomly. We can say, oh, the food is good, or that person is good, they're nice, everybody is good, goody two shoes, just good. We can throw that around. We need to understand that the first use of the word good came to creation. God did things. He not only did them well, but He did them as a good work for a purpose, a purpose that would help, a purpose that would serve, a purpose that would bring people ultimately who were nothing and didn't exist into being and into something that would last forever. Those things were called very good. Let's go back to Psalm 92 and the first seven verses. Psalm 92 verses 1-7. What we want to do here is look at the source of good and firmly understand and rivet in our minds what goodness comes from, what good emanates from. It's not from simple things that you and I might refer to as good.

In Psalm 92 verse 1, David said, It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to your name, O Most High, to declare your loving kindness in the morning and your faithfulness every night. God is good. He is loving. He is faithful. The opposite of what we just read over in 1 Timothy about people who are traitors. On an instrument of ten strings and on the lute, we need to praise God. For you, verse 4, have made me glad through your work. Happiness comes through the good work of God. I will triumph in the works of your hands, not in his own, but him, God's. Verse 5, O Lord, how great are your works! And your thoughts are very deep. A senseless man doesn't know, nor does a fool understand this. They don't know God. They don't understand good works. They don't understand the source of good. They don't understand the value of good. The fool and the senseless man takes a different path, wants a different outcome with a different purpose. Verse 7, when the wicked spring up like grass, and when all the workers of iniquity flourish, it is that they may be destroyed forever. So bad works eventually will go away, and they'll be destroyed forever. And God will speak of a time of serving and loving forever in his kingdom, where individuals will actually be created into spirit beings for good works, to serve God, we find in Revelation 22. Serving and loving, and doing the things that the family of God does, which is always good. You know, from nothing he made the things that are, the Bible says. He didn't find some little thing over here and compound it and get it to create. No, from nothing he made the things that are. And you and I didn't used to exist. He made us from nothing. And we became sons and daughters of the God family, and that in itself is a very good work of God. Very awesome work. When you think of yourself and your opportunity to live and think and breathe and do, that's one of God's good works. And he wants you to live life and have it more abundantly, even, than you do now. That's good and good works. God also created humans, and he said it is good. And he put within us a certain goodness. It's a reflection of him. We were created in his image. And mothers love children, and husbands love wives, and people get along, and they're nice people, except they're tricked and entrapped to a wrong path that takes them into bad works. And it's so seductive. It's so attractive. And so man ultimately leaves the source of good and becomes the bad.

You and I fit that description to a degree. We are not good like God is, except for the goodness of God that is in us, except for the Spirit, except for those things when we imitate God and his righteousness works through us. Paul said, for I know that in me, that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells. Nothing good dwells. Of me, there is nothing good. But God is good, and God is the source of goodness. Let's go to Ephesians 2 and verse 10 and note a simple verse, but a profound statement that comes with it.

Ephesians 2 and verse 10. For we are his workmanship. We didn't evolve. We didn't come up with this by ourselves. You don't have a couple billion little machines in there copying your DNA and running over and making new DNA to create new cells. Each little machine with no brains and no digestive system and no apparent direction. That's not happening right now in your body by itself. God created you, and you are his workmanship. It is marvelous beyond belief what's going on right now, even in your physical body. But you are created in Christ Jesus for good works. That's why you and I are here. We are created for good works now and eternally. We are called now as an advanced group, a small group, to be lights, examples of good works, and ultimately join Christ in a system in good works through the millennial reign and the second resurrection that's coming when he returns. Created for good works, that's what we're here for. That's why we exist. Why? Because that's what God is. God is a good worker. He works good works. He wants us to be like him. It said, prepared for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So we have a totally different path, a totally different mindset, a totally different focus and goal than our society that's crumbling around us. And all we can do is sigh and cry and say, why can't they see it? Why can't they understand it? Why does humanity have to go through this? God's not making them go through it. It's choice and consequence. It's been established from the beginning of the world. God wrote those prophecies because he knew it was going to happen. He knows the consequence of choice, and he knows the consequence of right choice as well. But he knows Satan and all the forces that be, and he's got it down to a T. And all we're doing is just seeing it unfold. Seeing it unfold. God would like us to repent. God doesn't want people to die. And yet, people are resolute. We can see it right now, today. You would think everybody seeing these news stories would say, hey, let's stop it! Oh, no. No, the big ships are out there fighting over the scraps. You know, the people that are corrupt with all the finance and the money and everything are just pulling out new stops and coming up with new things. The whole thing, the whole planet is corrupt from head to toe. There is no one that's good, no, not one the Bible speaks of. You and I were told that if we have a mindset of agape, like Jesus Christ, you will be recognized as my disciples and targeted like I was. You'll be recognized as, hey, you're like that guy that we killed, that we hated, that we persecuted. Expect that. They're going to see you like me, and they didn't like me, they're not going to like you. So we should be like the God Family, which ultimately will triumph and ultimately will put this earth on its feet. For now, we're to shine in a darkness, but don't expect that light to be appreciated.

On the way here today, my wife and I saw a little flyer in the neighborhood, Fall Festival. It's interesting, because we just came from a Fall Festival about a month ago. This one had demonic stuff on it. Ours was a little different.

Ours was totally opposite, in fact. It was a festival of the day, this is a festival of the night. Ours was a festival of God, this was a festival of Satan. It says so right there. Ours was a festival of life and light, it was a festival of darkness and death. And so that makes sense to humanity.

And you can't talk humanity into thinking like God has given us the gift of thinking. Let's go to Philippians 2, verse 13-15. Just a few pages over here. Philippians 2, beginning verse 13. It says, for it is God who works in you to will and to do for His good pleasure. It's not of us. We can't say, oh, we're better than they are, because we were just as crazy as they were. But God is working in us now to do and to will for, it says in italics, His good pleasure, but for good, good things.

You and I are called to this. In verse 14, do all things without complaining. If you're complaining, how can you complain unless you use the word I? What are you going to complain about? Well, it has to do with me. So get the self out. It's not about you or me getting things or disputing. I want my way. That you may become blameless and harmless.

Satan is about destroying and harming, but we're to be children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world. See how different we're supposed to be? We need to really become strongly different. Otherwise, we're going to float along with the course of this world into destruction.

This is really high time for us to wake up out of sleep, realize that you and I more than ever need to shine and be different than this harmful, bad works generation that we've grown up in. 1 Timothy 2, verses 8-10. I'm going to walk you through a little bit of a complicated passage here, but it's an important one on this topic, so I'll take the time to do so.

1 Timothy 2, verses 8-10. Paul says, I desire therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. Let's just analyze this for a minute. He says, I desire that men everywhere pray.

You and I are to be people of prayer. Prayer is so important because that is our statement, our contact directly with God. We then listen back through the word and through the inspired word that he gives us and through the thoughts that he gives us through his Holy Spirit. If we don't have that connection, we don't have the source, the link, the mindset of the one who is doing good in this evil generation. We would quickly wash away. We would wash out. So prayer is very important. He talks about lifting up holy hands. Rather than praying with your hands in the air, you might remember the peace offerings.

There was the heave offering that was waved and the sheaf offering, the heave and the wave offerings. The priest took those and essentially held them up to God. As we pray, we essentially take our sacrifice. Just as Jesus Christ said, he was lifted up as a sacrifice. We take our prayers to God and we essentially lift up our concerns and our prayers. We pray to God in that type of a sacrifice.

It says holy hands. What the Greek says here from James and Phoset and Brown, it says, the Greek means hands which have committed no impiety and observed every sacred duty. In other words, they're hands that are not filled with worldly, bad works. We're trying. But just as the Jews, before they prayed, before they went in and prayed, they always washed their hands. You always had the water there and washed your hands. So we should have our lives cleaned.

We should be repenting. We should be overcoming. And these hands should be hands of good works, not evil works. So we come to God essentially and we say, God, I'm here imperfect, but you're cleaning me up. I'm coming with the pure hearted. Paul says we need to pray like that without wrath, which is the opposite of agape love, and without doubting or faith.

We have to come to God full of faith and with that spirit of agape love growing in us. Verse 9, in like manner also that the women adorn themselves. Now, we're switching over to women, but see the word likewise. This is good for the goose. It's good for the gander. We all need to be of a mental adornment and a physical adornment here of good works, don't we?

Not some selfish individual is trying to get a bunch of attention and show off like the world and get all their physical and mental needs met. No. Modest apparel, propriety, moderation. Not with braided hair and goals and pearls or costly clothing. All about me. If you look at those things, you might, well, maybe I shouldn't wear pearls. No. Braided hair that had gold woven in it, shining in the sun, paraded, wealthy people paraded down, showing their opulence with no regard to other people. That's not what we should be.

No. Verse 10, But that which is proper for women professing godliness with good works.

All of us, men and women, and our children should be marching along on the right path, emulating, imitating our God who performs good works.

In chapter 5 and verse 10, it talks about women again.

And it says that they should be well reported for good works if she has brought up children. And as Peter says, if they remain in the faith. Those are some of the best works a human can be. To bear a child, to bring up a child, and that child has an opportunity to be in the family of God. What greater work can a human do? If she has lodged strangers, if she has washed the saints feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work. Verse 25, The good works of some are clearly evident. And those that are otherwise cannot be hidden. Bad works can't be hidden. They're going to show up. And they're going to stand out in contrast, especially in the Church of God.

You know, you and I have this calling. And I know at this point in the sermon, it's kind of up here. We're talking about good works, whatever that is. We just heard about a little of them. Kind of getting a little feel here, though, aren't we? We really need to be children of our Father. We really need to be doing what our family does. And he is all about good and good works. And he's called us now to be agents of good works, examples of good works, while the world is going to get worse and worse and worse in bad works.

Some of the baddest works that maybe can't even be imagined. Paul told Titus to be a pattern or a model of good works. Do I see myself? You can ask yourself same question. Do I see myself as a model of good works? I fall short. I kind of get busy. I kind of find myself caught up in so many things, I don't have time for a lot of good works. The way I might phrase them, I help on the soup kitchen, I don't run across the neighbor and knock on the door, do you need anything?

I don't know what to do sometimes because of the society we live in. But when you stop and think about it, you and I probably have a lot of interaction with others in encouraging others, in assisting others, motivating others, encouraging them, bringing some back, straightening others out, actually doing a very good work for the family of God, plus desiring to help others, and offering to help others who turn us down.

So don't discount the good works that you are doing as prompted by God's Holy Spirit. They may not seem great because, remember, we are not respected by this generation. At the same time, don't become complacent and think, ah, I got that handled.

Not so. All of us fall so far short in emulating and imitating what Jesus Christ did and what God does for us all the time. We need to get busy and try to catch up. So here, it's very important that we realize we are to be a pattern, a model, a blueprint for others as to what good works are, whether or not they appreciate it, whether or not they recognize it. You know, Jesus said, by this, they will know that you are my disciples.

A disciple wasn't just a student in a classroom. It was one, remember, who was trying to become like the teacher. Become like the teacher. It was a mentoring, partnering situation. And when you were done with that class, a person said, oh, I can tell you, you know, you're of that guy. That's what you and I are striving to be.

Let's look at Titus 2. We'll look in verses 11-14 as Paul talks to Titus. Titus 2, beginning in verse 11. Titus hides there between 2 Timothy and Philemon. This is for the grace or the graciousness of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. God is very gracious. Very gracious. Am I gracious? That is part of doing good. It brings salvation. Are you and I bringing salvation and helping others with salvation?

I don't mean just in the religious term, but salvation means essentially getting saved from an eternal death. Are we helping people find life? Verse 12, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age. It's interesting that he pulls in that present age. We just looked at our present age in the news this week, and we're to live in that way, in a godly way in the present age. Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I bet that's running through your mind. More and more these days. I wonder when Christ will come. Deliver us out of this mess. Put this world on its feet. It is such a Gordian knot that if you're still dreaming, if I was president, I would do something. You're way out of touch. This planet is so far over the hill and gone, there is no way other than to come back and start in with a sickle and a wine press and the removal of the God of this age.

And only Jesus Christ can do that. Only he can do that. Verse 14, this one who were looking for his appearing gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed, every bad work, and purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works. Don't get the idea that you're in the right church with the right governance and the right doctrines, and therefore we're good to go.

You're in some right era and everything is all hunky dory and polished up. You and I need to be zealous for righteousness, zealous for the fruits of righteousness, zealous for good works, zealous as individuals who are hungry and thirsty for that mindset of God and the righteous deeds that the family of God does. You know, Jesus gave us this example a little bit over the top where he said, it involves loving your enemies.

It involves doing what you can, lending, helping people who hate you, that you'll be like us. Doing so, you'll be like your Father in heaven. He tells us that people who do evil things to us, we should turn the other cheek. Let them do it to that side, too. It's not about me. It's not about me changing face, and all of a sudden I'm going to get in there.

No evil words in response are okay. Jesus never uttered an evil word. Nothing came out of his mouth that was bad as he was being scourged by those Roman soldiers and as he was being stuck in the side by a spear and as he was hanging there naked, nailed to a stake. Nothing came out of his mouth that wasn't good. He's given us challenges that are difficult. Sometimes we don't respond that way to the President of our country, the Prime Minister of our country, the King.

We're a little bit slanderous and critical ourselves. We respond with words that he says, do not call anyone a fool. Don't call anybody stupid. If he placed people in certain positions to fulfill certain prophecies, who are we to speak against the Almighty? Sometimes we in our church or in our church groups will condemn others and will say, oh, you're this or you're that. You're Laodicean. You're something. You're Sardis. People of another church organization through the years have known that our church has always referred to them as that Sardis group.

We pigeonholed them. They've spent their whole decades as a group knowing that a church much larger than them have ridiculed them and put them in a box. And then we among ourselves as church groups throw these other things around at each other. That shouldn't be. We have a way to go still in becoming children of good works in all situations. Sometimes in marriages something will be said. It's a little agitating. What comes out of the mouth is not what should come out of one with God's Spirit, of good works, not what we should respond to as children of our Father.

We need to repent of our bad works. He's given us models like Psalm 51 about repenting, clean heart, forgiveness, models such as the model prayer outline showing us how to structure our day, our lives, such as 1 John 1, verses 7-9 about how we have evil, we have sin in us, but we can work through that with God and He'll clean us up and cleanse us and we can move forward.

We need to be about those things, not stagnant, not assuming that we are, I don't know, some thing stuck on a wall that's just there, but rather marching down a path heading for a destination with God leading us.

Here's a path that probably everybody in the church would loathe to apply to themselves. But let's read it. Let's apply it to me. Let's go to Revelation chapter 3 and verse 15. You know, Jesus gave seven lessons to the church. Some 60 years after He died, He came back and gave us these timeless lessons. And who's listening to Him? We loathe that. We come up with other reasons not to apply them. We decided ourselves that these are historical things. They apply to other people and we'll try to find the group to pin them on. Anybody but me. But what does He say? I know your works. If God looks at John Elliot today and says, I know your works, what kind of works do you think He sees? Well, I hope He sees growth. That's all I can say. Because He certainly won't see perfection. But I hope He'll see a child that's maturing. But He says, I know your works that you are neither hot nor cold. How well does that apply to me? I'm all about godliness, but there's this other temptation. I'm all about pursuing righteousness, but here's this opportunity. I'm all about loving and serving, but here's a chance to really fulfill some of the things that I want to do. See? Am I cold or am I hot? That's a good question. If anybody's not asking the question, turn their back and say, oh, I'm not going to look at that. Sad.

He says, I wish you were cold or hot. So then because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. But you can say, I'm partly hot. Lord, Lord, I've done these things. He says, yeah, but you are partly cold. You're doing bad works, too.

Because you say I'm rich, I've become wealthy, I've need of nothing. That sounds like the world, the physical world, pursuing their stuff. God's really blessing me in my job. God's really blessing me in my business. God's really blessing me in my career. Because I'm really piling up the stuff. How many people earning billions of dollars can say that and probably feel that way? Or millions or thousands or just a few bucks? If you get a few things for yourself that make you feel good, don't you say, wow, God loves me.

Do you not know that you're wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked? I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire. God wants pure gold. He doesn't want it to go through the fire. This isn't about the Great Tribulation, as far as anything I can see. He just wants refined gold. He doesn't want it full of impurities. He doesn't want 10-karat gold or 14-karat gold. He wants 24-karat gold with all the dross and the other stuff skimmed off. He wants us clean. That you may be rich in white garments. He doesn't just want garments. He doesn't want filthy garments or dirty garments. He wants white garments, which represent the righteousness of the saints. His righteousness, his mindset, his good works coming through. That you may be clothed.

Verse 19, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Isn't that what Paul says?

God rebukes and chastens all the sons he loves. Are we going to close our eyes to this and say, la, la, la? That's somebody else. That's not me. Well, if so, don't expect to be at the resurrection when Christ returns. Don't expect to what he says. If you have an ear, listen to what I'm saying. We say, no! Stop the music. I repented once and I'm not going to repent again.

Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him and he with me. He wants to help us. He wants to bring us into his family, into his kingdom. Verse 21, to him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne. That's the highest honor given in any one of the seven lessons to the church. To actually sit on his throne with him. Remember the disciples wanted to know who was going to sit on either side of Jesus in the kingdom. Are those seats available on your throne? Well, here's the one. If we will overcome, we'll sit down with him on his throne as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. He who has an heir, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. In this time of chaos, does it make us say, oh, I wonder what I'm going to eat? Oh, maybe I better get my gold. Maybe I better get grain. Maybe I better, I don't know, move to the mountains, dig a hole, rent a cave, you know, fix up myself, protect myself. Wow, silly minds we have. The God who can forecast and create the world, forecast the prophecy, said he will never leave us or forsake us, take care of his children, and even as a place of safety to prepare for you. Is that what our mind is supposed to be on? Or is it supposed to be on good works in every situation, continuing that pattern of godliness?

But are we hearing him? Did we plug them with some church-era theory that we had? Are they weapons of our self-righteousness, these lessons that Christ gives us? Let's ask a question. What is good? Who is good? And what are the works of good? What are good works? Jesus himself teaches us quite a bit about good and about good works. Back in Mark 12, verse 35, he'll teach us some things here, beginning in Mark, and we'll move over to Matthew briefly. Important things from his lips. Keys that we don't always mine out of what he says. We kind of skim over. We don't always really sense them. In Matthew 12, verse 35, he says, Now you might say, oh yeah, the good people, they have good thoughts, they bring forth good things. Wait a minute. Beginning in this message, we define what is the source of good. It's God. There's no good in humans. So how did this good man get to be good? He's a person with God's Spirit. He's a person who is linked to God, imitating God. And this good man has in his heart, in his mind, God's Holy Spirit, and out of that treasure brings forth good things. And that's because he's linked on a vine to Jesus Christ and God the Father. Now, an evil man, out of the evil treasure, brings forth evil things. Where did that person get linked to? Well, he's linked to the Father of evil, Satan the Devil. He's linked to the God of this world. He's linked to bad deeds, bad works that are causing this earth to be saved.

To collapse. The question for me is, which is the source of my fruits? Because there's two kinds of fruits. There's fruits of the Holy Spirit, and there's the fruits of the flesh. And you can read about those in Galatians 5, beginning in verse 19. And the fruits of the flesh aren't pretty. They're bad works. They are filled with division. They're filled with hurt and harm, fracturing and destruction all the way through.

Followed by the fruits of a different God, the Holy Spirit, which are all about unity and growing and loveness and joy and peace. What Father is influencing me? Jesus also defines good in conjunction with what we must do to have eternal life. I want eternal life. He's put that in your heart. You want eternal life. What must we do to have eternal life? Interesting question. I didn't think we had to do anything. I thought it was all by grace. I thought he did it for us. I thought all I had to do is show up and say, I like you.

But then he gets asked the question, what must I do to have eternal life? Let's go read his answer. Matthew 19 and 16. We actually have to do things, and those things can be defined as good works. Not that we're saved by good works, but that wasn't what the question was. It wasn't asked, how can I save myself or get myself saved? What can I do to earn my salvation? Matthew 19 and 16.

Now, behold, one came and said to him, good teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? Guy didn't understand that it wasn't something that he would do that would give him eternal life. So Jesus turns this and answers it in suctions. First thing he says is verse 17. Why do you call me good? No one is good, but one that is God.

God is good. Jesus Christ right there tells us what the source of good is. And even he says, he, of course, would be the invisible, eternal God back at the Father's hand when he left the earth. But he deflected that goodness to the divinity, the divine Godhead. He says, first of all, no one is good but God. So in order for us to be considered good and our works to be good, we have to be tied to God. Point 2. Next he said, but if you want to enter into life, there's an if there. If you desire to enter into eternal life, keep the commandments.

Don't be like the lawless one that's promoting lawlessness and the bending and liberalization, taking liberties with law, thumbing our nose at them. No, don't be like that. You keep the commandments. And the person said, well, which one? Notice what they are. You shall not harm people by killing them and harm families by taking family members out. You shall not murder. You shall not break apart marriages and rip apart families by committing adultery. You shall not take away people's ability to feed themselves, clothe themselves, or provide themselves for themselves by stealing. You shall not tear apart a person's character and ruin his life through false witness.

Honor your father and mother in love, your neighbor as yourself. Jesus tells us something very different than the world. It's taking away religion, tearing down the Ten Commandments, getting rid of rules and laws, opening the gates for promotion of self. In verse 20, the young man said, all these things I have kept from my youth, what do I still lack? Now Jesus said to him, if you want to be perfect, mature, fully mature, go sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come follow me.

You can't take this one. It's a package. He's given a package here. First of all, sell what you have, and don't give it to the poor. It's not what he said. Sell what you have, empower yourself with all the stuff that you've got, all these luxuries you've piled around for yourself. Turn those things into money and give to the poor. Be a giver. Be a giver. Be a good doer.

Use it for good. Use what you have to love and to serve and to share. And, in combination with that going on, you will have treasure in heaven. And, why do we have treasure in heaven? Because that is doing good like God. And, come follow me. We have to follow Jesus Christ down the difficult path. We have to follow and imitate him. He was the model of good works. His Sabbath and his good works are indelibly associated. He did six days of good works leading up to the Sabbath so that he could have humans.

And then, on the Sabbath, he could do good works for us, spiritual work for us, encourage, inspire, cause us to repent and grow. We grow more on the Sabbath. When he was here on earth, arguably most of his miracles took place on the Sabbath. The good, physical works that he did. Most of the messages that he gave were probably on the Sabbath. He was in the synagogues, every Sabbath teaching. The people in the middle of the week had more opportunities to be working and going about their daily business. But, in the Sabbath, he was in the Sabbath's teaching. He was doing good works on many different levels. The Sabbath was set aside for holy works.

His teachings today come to us mostly on the Sabbath, and you're hearing one now. And so am I. We're hearing his inspiration on the Sabbath. You know, these Sabbaths are very, very important. He says in Luke 6, we go there in verse 9, that this day is actually a day for good works. Luke 6, verse 9, As much as any other day, the work to be done on the Sabbath is the good work of God. It's the spiritual work. It's the fruits of the Spirit. It's the loving, the sharing, the teaching. Let's look in Luke 6, in verse 9.

Jesus said to him, I will ask you one thing. Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil? To save life or to destroy? What is God doing through his Sabbath? He is doing good, and he is saving our lives eternally, and he's giving us growth. He's with us and helping us. This is a wonderful time for the family of God to be focused on the good works.

I'm not just talking about philanthropy here or some deed that we might do. I'm talking about the full, focused expression with everything else cleared out. We've had six days to prepare for the Sabbath, get ready for it, get all the things that we need, so that those things are sort of on autopilot.

We've got our clothes ready, we've got our car filled, we've got gas in it, we've got food, we've got everything. Now we're ready for good works. Those things just kind of come popping out, and they're covered. But we're focused on good works. We see good works emanate from the good ones that are in heaven.

They're the fruits of Elohim, the fruits of that agape, love completely, selflessly. In Luke 6, now dropping down to verse 43, it says, For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. This is where kind of the rubber meets the road. This is where our selection comes in. We may not prepare for good works, just like we might not prepare for the Sabbath. It's kind of a funny thing that goes on in the church. People say, well, what can or can't I do, or how much can I can't or can't do on the Sabbath?

It's a bad question. God tells us, prepare for the Sabbath. If you're prepared for the Sabbath, you're prepared. But sometimes, and I've fallen in this trap through the years myself, sometimes I've decided I'm not going to prepare for the Sabbath.

And so since I've deliberately come into the Sabbath unprepared, now I have a question. Since I'm unprepared, and I've showed up here unprepared, and I decided to be unprepared, how much work can I do? What does the Bible say without being pharisaical as to how much I can do today of the stuff I should have been doing the other six days to prepare for today? That's not a good question to be answering, is it? We should just simply be prepared. If we prepare for the Sabbath, we're like five of the virgins who were prepared. I mean, you know, when the midnight cry comes and the Lord is here, and your lamp is full of oil, and it's burning, you're prepared.

You just don't really need anything. You just go and show up at the right time. But if you decide, well, I'm not going to prepare, Lord Delays is coming, I've got time, I've got other things on my mind, and you're not prepared, then the question comes, well, let's see, I'm supposed to be over there where the bridegroom is. What can I get away with, or how much can I do to fill this lamp with oil to get over there? So your whole mind is now occupied on something that should have been taken care of.

You and I need to be doing good works. We need to, whenever the opportunity arises, be ready and prepared. Whether it be a weekday, the Sabbath day, whenever, we should be prepared, we should be thinking about wanting to do good works, how we can be ready to do good works, how we can serve, how we can give, so that when the opportunity arises, we are right there. Not saying, oh, well, there's a need, let me think now. Huh, maybe I'd better go start investing in this, or working in that, or something so that I can maybe prepare to fill this need someday that a person has right now.

See, it just doesn't work, does it? A good tree doesn't bear bad fruit, it's prepared. Nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. It's unprepared, for every tree is known by its own fruit, for men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. If you and I are not prepared as a bride full of oil, ready to serve light at any time, all the time, then what are we?

Verse 45, a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good. And an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. Verse 46, but why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do the things which I say? We are to be doers as he was, ready for all good works. And we might examine my own works to see which father they spring from. How can I do that? How can I really clearly examine?

Well, if we go to James 3, verses 11-18, there's a little test we can give ourselves and create our own little test here, as it were. Because the mind is tricky, it's deceitful. It will convince us of opposites very easily. So in James 3, verse 11, it says, Does a spring sin forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?

It's almost like he was just reading Christ's words about fruit on a tree and things like that. And he says, Does a spring sin forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree bear olives in a grapevine bear freaks? Verse 13, Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom, a wisdom from above.

Here's the test. If you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. So we have to stop and think and meditate about that. Envy? Somebody else got that? Or, I wish I had that? I'm jealous of that. Self-seeking? I want that. I want that for me.

I don't care if I have to step over or step on. This wisdom does not descend from above, but it's earthly, sensual, and demonic. Oh, that would be bad works. That would be works of Satan. That would be works of the wrong father, the devil. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there, including the end time, great tribulation, the worst of the worst.

It all is just a variation on a theme. But, verse 17, the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy, and good fruits without partiality, without hypocrisy. So there's a test. You and I can look and examine ourselves and see and hopefully find that, you know what? I've got a little too much of the wrong kind of fruits and not quite enough of the right time. There's a swing over. You start over here in the darkness and you end up a bright light. And where are you somewhere on the scale?

You start over here a little egg that's fertilized and you end up over here the bouncing baby coming out. You end up over here the little child and you end up here the adult that's teaching and able to speak wisdom. Where are we on some of these scales? You're the grape that was a little tiny berry and there's a big fat bunch of grapes over here that are just succulent and juicy, ready for harvest. Where are we on this scale? We need to contrast all this destruction and fracturing that is not only prophesied to go on, but we're seeing in our own world the get way.

With those who keep the laws, with those who are children of God, who are filled with good works as a way of life in any situation. Let's go to Romans 13 as we wind this down. Romans 13, verses 1-14. We won't read all of it, but begin in Romans 13. Verse 1, let every person be subject to the governing authorities. Wow, there's a place to start. There's such stark contrast right there to anything that we're familiar with in our world today.

Be it in school to teachers, children to parents, citizens to governments, or within even the governments themselves to the law. It's a lawless world. And he says, let every person be subject to the governing authorities. That puts us in a totally different box. How many times do you and I say, oh, you know, we can get around this law. Here's how you do it. Everybody's doing it. We're all doing it.

I mean, it's just part of society. Don't worry about that. Be subject to the governing authorities. You're different or to be different. Verse 7, render therefore to all their due. Taxes to whom taxes are due, custom to whom customs are due, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.

It's different than the world that dishonors, that cuts corners, that doesn't even pay taxes, finds loopholes and weighs around. If you drop down to verse 9, for the commandments. Again, there are those same commandments we talked about. And they're all summed up in this saying, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Total night and day difference that planet earth is experiencing right now. Loving neighbors, not just loving them, as much as you love yourself in the same way. Love does no harm to a neighbor.

Love does no harm to a family. Love does no harm to the environment. Love does no harm to their country. Love notes, does no harm to God or the family of God or other people. Therefore, agape love is the fulfillment of the law. Now, here's some words to us, verse 11. And do this, knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.

You may feel that Jesus Christ's coming is not as soon as you thought it used to be. Well, it's sooner than it was. And we don't know when it'll be. The night is far spent. The day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works, bad works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.

And let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness or lewdness and lust, strife and envy. All those things are the hallmarks of the end time that we read in 1 Timothy. All those things show what the Great Tribulation is filled with. Verse 14. But you put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust.

We are to put on the model, the example, the reflection of the good God who created us, the good God who lives in us, the good God that we are to be disciples of, and emulate. So in conclusion, now that we've talked about all these good works, and we've sort of beaten ourselves up a little bit, and we know that we've got some work to do with this whole agape mindset, good works as an extension. What are the purposes of good works?

Are we buying our way into the kingdom? More good works we have? The higher the score or something? Why does God want you and I to perform good works? Right now, as the end time is approaching, as these things are going to get really bad and could collapse, why does God want us to do good works?

Well, He tells us. 1 Peter 2, verse 12. I'll just read it to you.

That's what they're for. To give God the glory. This is to show that God's family works. God's way works. To give God the glory who created all of us, who made all of this stuff, so that when He finally comes in their life, it might be in the second resurrection, but when He finally comes, they will glorify Him and say, Wow, yes, our way was not right. You got rid of that devil, and now we want to do it your way. And the books will be open, and the book of life will be open, and their names will be in the book of life. And we with Jesus Christ will help them march right into the kingdom of God. It's all about family. It's about being family. It's about doing the family business. It's about showing the family mindset. I'd like to give you an assignment, a personal assignment as we conclude this series, and that is simply to read Colossians chapter 3 and the first part of Colossians 4. Colossians 3 and the first part of Colossians 4. We've talked about this now for three different sermons. Take Colossians 3 and 4 and read through it. Take your time. Take days. Take weeks. Take years. It's fine. Work your way slowly through it. Meditate on it, and let's apply it while there is time. You will grow in good works, and you will glorify your God, and you will represent well your new family if you apply what is written there. So do you really want to be in God's family? If so, be a child that imitates God's good works.