Good vs. Godly: Does it Matter?

Well, brethren, in Genesis 1, we have the account of the creation of the heavens and the earth. If you'd like to turn over there, we'll begin today kind of working our way through Genesis 1, Genesis 2, and Genesis 3. But if you want to turn there, we'll go ahead and take a look at what is recorded for us by Moses under inspiration from God. And as you kind of look through Genesis 1, and as we kind of just generally skim through this first chapter, one of the things that you'll notice is you see the days of creation.

And you see that at the end of each day, God stops, and He looks back over what He has done, and He concludes that it is good, that it's pleasant, that it's beautiful, that it is good, that it is tauve as it is in Hebrew. The conclusion as to the quality or the state of the work that God performed in this constant refrain throughout this first chapter of Genesis, ultimately we see this over and over again.

We reach the sixth day of creation, and in Genesis 1 and verse 31, Moses writes the following. It says, then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. And so the evening and the morning were the sixth day. And so we see God come to the conclusion of this sixth day before He rests from the labors on the Sabbath. He stops to look back over what He's done. Have any of you ever done this with your own work? Have you ever built something, and then you find yourself as you pass the place where it's located, kind of stopping and looking like, it looks pretty good.

That looks all right. You know, that seems like something that, you know, is done pretty well. Kind of walking past the room maybe and rubbernecking each time you go by, just to take a look at something that you've done. You know, that sense, that characteristic of accomplishment in us is a characteristic of God. You know, it is something that we have because we are made in the likeness of God. And so we can look at this, and we can conclude much in the same way that God did, that He, as He took that step back, and as He looked at His handiwork, and He concluded, this is very good.

This is very good. We see God creates man, He placed him in the garden to tend and to keep it. Genesis 2, we'll pick it up in verse 9. Genesis 2 and verse 9 says, and out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And so we see inside of this garden that man was placed.

God made every tree grow that was pleasant to the sight. That is beautiful to look upon, those which were good for food. We also see that within that garden was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the tree of life. Verse 16, God speaks to man and He says, the Lord 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.

You know, with this instruction, God placed before man a choice. Not every tree in the garden was created for food. Man's expectation was that God, or sorry, man's expectation, God's expectation was that man would not take the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And within this expectation, God placed before man a choice between eternal life via obedience to God, or death, as a result of sin.

Well, we know the story. It's laid out for us right here in Genesis 3. We see Eve is tempted by Satan, ultimately. She takes of the fruit. She eats, and in that moment it records that their eyes were opened. In that moment, it records that their eyes were opened. In fact, that word opened is the Hebrew word pakai. It's H 6 4 9 1, and it means to open or to unstop.

But contextually, it is almost always used in the context of the eyes, to open the eyes. There's one location where it references the ears, but it is almost always in the context of the eyes. Justinius' Hebrew cal the lexicon states, God is said to open anyone's eyes in a double sense. First, he says to restore sight to the blind, and that's a concept that we find literally and figuratively throughout Scripture. Right? That is a concept we see a lot in Scripture, that God has restored sight to the blind. He has opened the eyes of the blind.

But not only that, he goes on to say that there's a secondary understanding of this, and that is to enable people to see things which were otherwise hidden from the eyes of mortals. In fact, the use of this word pakai is used to describe the events that took place in 2 Kings 6 and verse 17. If you like to jot that down, that's the account where Elisha prays that his servant's eyes might be opened, that he might see who was for them and who was with them. And of course, the servant's eyes were opened, and he sees this spirit army, this mountain of fiery horses and fiery chariots that God had sent to protect the servant and Elisha. Ultimately, his eyes were opened. He was provided the ability to see something that was not for mortal eyes. And in that same sense, Adam and Eve's eyes were opened to an understanding of something that was not originally intended for mankind.

God's desire being instead their obedience. In that moment, in a sense, they became like God, knowing good and evil, understanding both this aspect of goodness and sinfulness, understanding the rebelliousness that leads to transgression, but without the inherent godliness to be able to withstand the desires of this newfound eyesight, without the inherent godliness to be able to withstand these things. We see the effect of this state in Genesis 6.

God floods the earth due to the wickedness of man. God says that the thoughts and the intent of man's heart was upon evil continually. He concluded, as he searched the hearts of men, that there was only one family through whom he could work at that time because of their obedience to him. And that was Noah and his family. God saved them from the flood. We see man continue to spread after that. We get to the time of Jeremiah. We see Jeremiah is inspired to record in Jeremiah 17 and verse 9 that the heart is deceitful above all things. The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is desperately wicked. Who can know it? This is the overall condition of man at this time in our history. This is the condition of our heart overall as you look at mankind on the whole. Let's turn over to Mark 7 as we dig in further here today. Mark 7, to get a look at the Creator's assessment of his creation. Mark 7, in the midst of this assessment of the Pharisees, what we see Jesus Christ provide is an assessment of the challenges that the Pharisees faced, the issues that they individually had and collectively had. And not only that, at that moment the disciples asked Christ about the parable that he just shared and exactly what it is that he meant by that parable. And in that explanation to his disciples, what we see is that Jesus Christ assesses the inward nature and inward character of man. Assesses the nature and the inward character of man. Mark 7, and we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 20. Mark 7 and verse 20.

Mark 7 and verse 20, Jesus Christ says, what comes out of a man that defiles a man? For from within, out of the heart of men, precede evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. And he says, all of these evil things come where from within and they defile a man. Brethren, this is man's natural state.

This is mankind's natural state. We find humankind in desperate need of a savior to reconcile us to God because apart from that reconciling work, we are dead in our trespasses. But Christ's point to his disciples was that it is what comes from the heart of man, what is naturally within us that defiles us. The evil thoughts, the fornication, the murder, the covetousness, the like. It is those things that result in a defiled state of mankind. So in our natural state, in this state where we are apart from God, we are enemies to our Creator. And we realize as a part of God's great plan for mankind, we know the Word became flesh. We know that he dwelt among us. He taught us his way. He died for our sins, ascended to the right hand of the Father, passing through the heavens, becoming our high priest of the tabernacle, not made with hands. He gave us access to God the Father and the ability to be reconciled to him through the blood that he shed. But not only that, he paved the way for a change in the human heart. He paved the way for the Holy Spirit of God to come, which gives us the ability to be transformed within our hearts. You know, it's this plan that God set forth to save mankind. It's this plan that we examine as we work through the annual Holy Days each year. You know, back when I was teaching, I had a couple of people that I really enjoyed talking to. You know, you find people that are kind of fun to have conversations with that, you know, they don't necessarily agree with you, but it's kind of fun to kind of fun to talk stuff out. And one of those was one of them was my custodian, and I say he's my custodian because he was assigned to my hall. Well, he was an atheist and very open about his atheism, and he knew that I was religious, and so we had some really interesting conversations, actually, regarding our faith and regarding... well, my faith, I should say, but regarding kind of our perceptions and our view of the world, so to speak. And in talking with him, it was interesting because in his perception, man was inherently good.

Scripture says 100% otherwise, but in his estimation, man was inherently good. And what's interesting is that as his argument went, and as we talked about this, he said there's no need for a being to make a list of rules. All you have to do, any of us, all any of us have to do, is just choose to be a decent human being. And you don't need commandments, you don't need statutes, you don't need laws. And the argument typically goes that I wouldn't require a list of rules to be a decent human being. Brethren, is that the case? Is that what your Bible says? Who defines that which is decent? Who defines that which is good, that which is evil? Who defines that? How do you determine, as a group of people, what is societally acceptable? What's inappropriate behavior without some sort of an objective metric to then base that determination upon? Turn with me to Romans 2.

Romans 2. You know, it's interesting when you have these conversations, because I think there's times where we can end up in an echo chamber, and we end up in a situation where we talk to people that we agree with, and so of course everyone already agrees with me, so therefore no, not everybody does.

And it's interesting when you have a chance to step outside of that echo chamber, and just even to gain perspective. Even if it's not a debate, even if it's not intended to be an argument of any kind, just that opportunity to sit down and go, tell me what you think is eye-opening. It's truly eye-opening. Romans 2, we see Paul here writing about the law, he's writing about the judgment of God, guilt, ultimately. He contrasts all these things with the law and those that don't have the law, but within this treatise is something really interesting that I think helps to provide some context and some insight to the statement we just made. Romans 2, beginning in verse 12, Romans 2 and verse 12 says, for as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law. Peranetical statement here, for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified. Verse 14, for when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do the things in the law, he says these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them. He goes on to say in verse 16, in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. You know, Paul holds that God will judge all men, not for their hearing of the law, but for their doing of the law. That it's not enough to just know it, it's not enough to just hear it, that the actions that then follow as a result of the knowledge which we have is what we will ultimately be judged upon. James writes that it's not enough to know what's expected, to fulfill that expectation and following through on that expectation is the obligation that we have. God desires obedience. God desires obedience.

But Paul also makes the point here that the Gentiles which do not have the law of God, do not have the explicit expectations of God provided to them. But he said when they by nature do the things in the law, when they have that innate sense of fairness or that innate sense of justice or innate sense of equity that exists when humans get together and look at something and go, that's not fair! Which we do all the time, right? We do all the time. When they live in such a way that they fulfill the law, even though they may have never heard of the law of God, Paul writes that they are a law unto themselves. And with the works of law written in their hearts, he says the conscience then bears witness in the day when Christ judges the secrets of men. And we have a phrase for this and it's a little bit disrespectful but I'm going to say it anyway. Occasionally a blind squirrel gets a nut.

Right? There are times in which someone stumbles upon something of God. They don't know that it's of God necessarily but it's fair and it's equitable and it seems like the way to live life.

And they're blessed for it. They're absolutely blessed for it. You know, God ultimately looks out for them in that. Now where do these innate senses come from? Where do we get our sense of desire for fairness and equity and justice? It's from God because we were created in His likeness. We were created in His similitude. In fact, just a chapter earlier, Romans 1, you can turn there if you'd like, Paul makes the point that the invisible attributes of God are manifest and have been manifest since creation. That the things that were made ultimately can understand those things.

That through the process of creation, through our looking at creation, we can understand God's power. We can understand His Godhead such that we are without excuse to make claim that we didn't know.

Right? It talks about the consequences that come from those individuals who deny these things.

But as we mentioned, mankind has come across, at times, godly principles as they navigate the world. Many of you have heard of the Code of Hammurabi. Most every kid in the school that has studied human civilization in any way has studied the Code of Hammurabi. Right? Mesopotamian king, roughly 1700s BC, he was the sixth king in the first dynasty of Babylon, and he provided the most complete, best organized, and preserved legal text. Quote-unquote, we say text because it's carved on the side of a basalt rock, basically, but legal text that the world has ever seen, in the sense that it is complete, it is set, it is there. You know, a number of people, as the story goes, believe that the laws were provided to Hammurabi by the Babylonian gods. There's an argument that Hammurabi's laws influenced Moses. There's an argument that Moses's, you know, writings influenced Hammurabi. Right? I think we would agree with the latter rather than the former. We would agree that these individuals and these things that we see are ultimately influenced by God, and by the fact that these nations and peoples moved around as they came from Noah with these principles in mind.

And so laws of nations began to be developed with these things in mind.

The Code of Hammurabi, though, isn't the only ancient codification of law that we see in history, because the reality is certain aspects of human behavior have been a problem since the beginning.

Murder, theft, adultery, kidnappings, all of these things have taken place for some time.

They've been a problem for some time. And so what you ultimately see is you see similar collections of laws in various places. In fact, there's the Code of Ur-Namu, which I've never heard of. There's the Code of Lipidishtar, there's the Law of Ashuna. All of these things have certain aspects within them that carry Scriptural principle, because they are defined as how you relate interactions among individuals, and how to treat other people with fairness and equity. For example, you kill someone's livestock, you better replace it. That's your responsibility. You killed it, you fix it. Right? You steal from someone. At least in the Code of Hammurabi, you're losing a hand. Okay? You take someone's life, and your life is taken. These are principles that we see throughout many ancient civilizations. We also see some of these principles in the Law of God as well, at least as they were provided to ancient Israel. But one thing that all of these ancient system of laws have in common is that they govern interactions between individuals within that society. All of these laws, all of these codifications, all of these things, they explicitly state how you interact with, treat, deal, and interact with people inside of your city, inside of your area. Ultimately, they define and they codify societal mores. In other words, they govern goodness. They govern goodness. They govern that state or that characteristic of being virtuous to other people. These collections of laws govern how to treat people with respect and justice and fairness and equity, and not just the understanding of it, but what you actually do with it. What's the application? Well, it tells you what the application is. You accidentally kill this guy's ox, you give him an ox. Make sure you make up for it. You have restitution for what you've done. But you know, it's interesting as you look at all these laws and all these codes, in every circumstance, that's the extent of how far they go. The code of Hammurabi, the code of Urnamu, none of them speak in any way the individual responsibility that that person might have to God as a result of what they've done. None of them speak to sin, aside from the consequences that come as a result. They're strictly civil, they're strictly legal documents. They do address sin, but only in so much as it, you know, causes negative consequences.

They do not, in any way, shape, or form, deal with the responsibility that that individual has toward God for their lack of obedience. They do not address it. You want to turn over to Matthew 22.

In Matthew 22, we see Christ challenged by the Pharisees. You know, one of their own, an expert in the law, asks him a question. Matthew 22. Now, what really happened was the Pharisees learned that Christ essentially very deftly dealt with the Sadducees. You know, the Sadducees had challenged him on questions relating to the resurrection, and ultimately, you know, Christ was able to beat him with one hand tied behind his back, so to speak. It was easy, simple, deft that he dealt with them, and the Pharisees said, fine, we'll get him. We'll trap him in a question on the law. We'll trick him into saying something that we can then hold him responsible for, and ultimately, we'll take care of this problem. So in Matthew 22, what we see is the question that was asked. Matthew 22, we'll pick it up in verse 34. Matthew 22 in verse 34 says, but when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And then one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him and saying, teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? They thought, we'll get him. We'll get him to put one of these as the preeminent law, and we'll get him, because then we'll tell him, no, that's not what the case is.

And so what we see is Christ very deftly responds. Says, Jesus said to them, verse 37, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Verse 40, on these two commandments, hang all the law and the prophets. So instead of falling into their trap, Christ summarizes the mind that's behind these two facets of God's law.

He says it's in place to govern your interaction with your fellow man. Sure, similar to a lot of these other codes that we talked about. It governs your interaction with your fellow man, but with a very notable distinction. It is concerned not just with the negative consequences of your actions. It is also concerned with your responsibility to God as a result of your sin.

Additionally, Christ brings out the point that the law is designed not just to govern our interactions with other people, but it's also designed to show our love for God. As we look at it, the first four or the first five, depending on how you look at it, governing our relationship and interaction with God, the last six or the last five, showing how we show love to our fellow man, and ultimately in doing so, showing love for God as well. In fact, Christ goes as far as saying that all the law and the prophets hang upon these two great commandments. So why the distinction?

Why the distinction between these two things? Why loving God? Why loving your fellow man?

Because goodness, as we discussed with the idea of interactions that we have with one another, moral virtue, the way that we interact with people, goodness is not the same as godliness.

Goodness and godliness are two different things, and it is critical that we understand the difference and ultimately its implications. The title of the message today is Good versus Godly, and the question is, does it matter? Does it really matter? The law of God is different than these other laws that we see implemented around the world, and even in many ways different than the law that we see governing society today, because the law of God governs both goodness and godliness. It governs both aspects. In that sense, as we think about the law of God, as we think about goodness, as we think about godliness, goodness is an aspect of godliness. But godliness is not inherent in goodness. Godliness is not inherent in goodness. Let's go to the book of James. Let's go to the book of James, because in the book of James, we see a book that is written that is largely a rubber meets the road when it comes to Christianity kind of book. You know, James is all about this place where what we think and what we believe intersects with what we do. It intersects with the action, the things that then follow on the faith that we hold. James 2, we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 14. James 2 and verse 14. James really writes about the importance of these things and these actions in particular in our life. James 2 and verse 14 says, what is it, prophet, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? He says, can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked in destitute of daily food and one of you says to them, depart in peace, be warmed and filled, but you do not give to them the things which are needed for the body, he says, what does it profit? What does it profit? Verse 17, he says, thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Faith and works, they go hand in hand. And the reality is works, what we're talking about here is good deeds, we might say. They're a natural extension of a life that is becoming more like God. As we become more like God, as we grow in godly character, we put forth, they naturally issue from us, good works, because the character of God is now exuding from us. Now, these works don't earn us salvation. We don't do them because we're obligated to do so. It's a natural extension of us becoming more like our elder brother, Jesus Christ, both in our minds and ultimately in our resulting actions. But they extend from our progression in godliness. Now, is it possible to have goodness without godliness? Absolutely. Absolutely it is. Because a person can do good works for selfish reasons. A person can do good works to be seen. They can do good works to, out of a sense of guilt or out of a sense of obligation. They don't really want to, but they kind of have to. Well, it's not the right attitude. That's not issuing from godliness. That's issuing from a sense of obligation or requirement. Some can be coerced into doing good things. And I'm going to give you one example. If you've ever seen the various commercials on TV with the images of the dogs in the shelter, with that Sarah McLaughlin song over the top, if you're wanting to get money, you can be coerced into doing good by pulling on your heartstrings.

Is that godliness? Well, no. This should be something that issues from us as we become more like Jesus Christ, as we become more like God. Goodness is not godliness. It's not godliness.

You know, as followers of Jesus Christ, Ephesians 2 and verse 10, actually goes as far as saying that we are created in Jesus Christ for good works. That we are created for good works. Again, we don't do these things because we're trying to earn our salvation or because we feel obligated or coerced. We're doing them because we are called to become more like God.

And as we become more like Him, these works should issue naturally forth from us. That's the ultimate goal of our calling. That is the ultimate goal of our calling, to become more like Jesus Christ, to put on godly character, the fruit of God's Spirit. One aspect of that fruit is godliness.

And goodness. One aspect is goodness. My apologies. So goodness is an aspect of godliness, but goodness does not necessarily equal godliness. Let's go to 2 Peter 1. 2 Peter 1.

In fact, if you take a look at what Peter writes here, you know, by the time we see 2 Peter, Peter's come to a point in his life by the time he's writing 2 Peter that becomes very clear that his life is short and his time is short. Persecution had reached a crescendo in the early to mid-60s AD. By the time Peter writes his second epistle, he knew that he would soon be dead. You know, he had a knowledge and an understanding of what Christ had provided him as to what ultimately was going to be his end. And so as such, when we see these things in 2 Peter, we need to realize these things have a certain sense of urgency for Peter. In fact, they have a big sense of urgency for Peter because these are the things he's imparting because he realizes his time is not much longer. That realistically, the things he is writing at this time are some of those last-minute things that he wants to make sure that the believers have before his life ends.

So 2 Peter 1, we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 5. 2 Peter 1 and verse 5 says, but also for this very reason, giving all diligence, right? Putting every effort, all the energy that we have into this says, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge, self-control, to self-control, perseverance, to perseverance, godliness, to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, love. It says, for if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things, who lacks these virtues that are outlined here in this kind of foundational stair step and building up of these things, if we lack these things, we are short-sighted even to blindness. We're short-sighted even to blindness, and we've forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Verse 10, therefore brethren be even more diligent, again putting in the effort, putting in the energy, to make your call and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stumble. For so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So Peter speaks to this concept of adding these things to our faith incrementally. So it is a growth process. It is a process with which we are growing and progressing in these things as we move forward. To our faith, to that foundation of our relationship with God, we add not haphazardly, not sporadically, but actively we add with all diligence, moral excellence, morality. To that character that we're building, we add knowledge and understanding how we apply our faith. To that understanding, we add self-control. We add that manifestation of God's Spirit dwelling in us, leading to a change in our behavior, ultimately a change in our actions. That Spirit-led self-control, we add patience, we add endurance, and then we see where to add godliness to that patient endurance. The word that's used for godliness here, Eusebia, is G2150. It's G2150 and it's translated as piety. It's translated as a reverence toward. But as sometimes happens with some languages, most of you are aware of this, some words in languages don't have a direct English translation. There's a sense of things that can really only be expressed in that way, in that language. It just doesn't translate. Eusebia is one of those words. Eusebia has a certain sense in Greek that is difficult to translate directly in English. So we translate it as piety or reverence, ultimately. But Eusebia conceptually is a person who is devoted to god, but it is a dual devotion. There's a devotion to god and a looking to god, but also a looking to your fellow man in service. Berkeley's Daily Study Bible Series in his book on James and Peter states on page three or four, he writes, the man who has Eusebia always correctly worships god and gives him his due, but he always correctly services his fellow men and gives them their due. The man who is Eusebius, which is the corresponding adjective, is in a right relationship both with god and with his fellow man. Eusebia is piety, quote unquote, but it's piety in its most practical aspect. Eusebia is the nearest Greek word that exists for religion. And when we begin to define it, we see the intensely practical character of the Christian religion. When a man becomes a Christian, he acknowledges a double duty to god and to his fellow man. Again, seeing the concepts of Matthew 22 right there in that in that concept.

Brethren, we've been provided a special calling from god, and we have to take very great care that we don't exhibit exceptionalism in that sense or pride when we state that fact. It is true that we have been provided a unique and a special calling. It's something that we've not done to provide to deserve it. It's not something that we've done in any way, shape, or form. It has absolutely been given to us by god, the concept being, but for the grace of god, go I, right? I mean, we are so thankful for the calling that god has provided to us. None of us deserve it. None of us earned it in any way, shape, or form. And so I think sometimes it's difficult for us to understand why god offered us this opportunity to be firstfruits in his plan, but ultimately that is what is on the table for us. That is what's been set before us in this life, and we've been provided a choice.

If we accept the calling of god and we commit ourselves to him in baptism, he promises to follow through on his end by providing his spirit to transform that carnal human nature, which we talked about at the beginning, to become more like his own. And in doing so, in that growth process, we grow incrementally the fruit of that spirit that we see outlined in Galatians 5.

As we allow his spirit to lead us toward increased godliness, in other words, becoming more like him and like Jesus Christ, we grow in self-control, we grow in gentleness, faithfulness, goodness, the list goes on. Those are the things that will issue naturally from us as we become more like Jesus Christ, as we become more like our Father. But not only in the way that we issue with other individuals, but it helps to end up putting us into a stronger and a more right relationship with our God. Are we called to be good, or are we called to be godly? What is our calling?

Are we called to simply be good, or are we called to be godly? Is being a decent person enough?

Is that the metric by which we measure what God is doing in our lives? Is it enough to just be a good person? To be a decent person? Or does God desire us to build a right relationship with him, founded in obedience, and from that relationship a right relationship with man?

You know, it can be tough sometimes to answer this question as we think about the way that Christianity developed during the second and third centuries, the shift of fundamental truths of the Bible to what became a very different set of teachings than what Christ provided his disciples.

What makes it challenging is modern Christians today have a number of Christ teachings. They have a number of Christ teachings. They have, in most circumstances, not all circumstances, but in most circumstances, they use the same set of scriptures that we use, and they're doing everything that they can with what they have to live a life in accordance with what they read in Scripture.

And at times, in certain aspects of that faith, they are able to do incredibly good works.

We see some of our most foundational charitable organizations in the United States formed from individuals who sought to do a good work ultimately, and frequently that goes back to somebody who came out of one of the world's religions. We see effective ministries that are put forth to help overcome addictions and other negative behaviors. There is no question, no question at all, that individuals in the world around us today are doing a number of good works.

But brethren, would you say that the vast majority are godly?

In the sense of the definition of what it means to be godly, to be in a right relationship with God and obedient to His truth, would we say that the vast majority are godly? And I guess the secondary question is, does it matter? Does it actually matter? Let's go to the book of John. Let's go to the book of John. On the evening that Christ was betrayed, if you want to turn over to the book of John here, on the evening that Christ was betrayed, He spoke with His disciples and He informed them that He was going to be going to the Father, that He would come again, but that during that time that He was gone, God was going to provide a helper. Let's go to John 14. John 14. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, there he is. John 14. And what we see in John 14 is that Christ states that this helper, this spirit of God, the mind and the power of God that would be provided to them, would be given to them for a very specific purpose. What is that purpose? Why do we need God's Spirit in our lives? What is it about God's Spirit that is so unbelievably important for us? John 14 and verse 26 is where we'll start.

John 14 and verse 26. Again, given for a very specific purpose. John 14 verse 26 says, But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, of course the Bible here says He, but it will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you. I want you to just leave a piece of paper, a bookmark, or something here in John 14. And then just a couple pages over in John 16. John 16 and verse 13. John 16 and verse 13 says, However, when He, again it, the Spirit of truth, has come, it will guide you into all truth. For it will not speak on its own authority, but whatever it hears it will speak and it will tell you of things to come. God's Spirit is characterized as a Spirit of truth. Its fundamental characteristic is that of God, which is truth, because it's His mind and it's His power. Christ tells His disciples that when that Spirit comes, it will guide them into all truth. It won't speak on its own authority. Whatever it hears, it will speak and it will tell you the things to come. God's Spirit will glorify God's Spirit will glorify Christ. It'll take what is His and it will declare it to us. For those of you that are first-generation Christians, I want you to think back to your own calling. For some of you, that's been a lot of years ago. For some of you, it's been a little more recent.

Think back to your own calling. Many of you came out of the churches of this world. Many of you came out of various denominations. Some of you were Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, Pentecostal.

You know, a variety of backdrops and backgrounds. And when God's Spirit began to work with you, when God's Spirit began to tickle the back of your mind and you started asking questions about some of these long-held beliefs that you had, as that truth of God began to be highlighted in your mind and as God just grabbed a hold and said, hey, what about this? Hey, what about this? Have you ever thought about this? He started asking questions and those questions weren't satisfying to you. He only told you, oh, it's because Christ was nailed to the cross, or it's this, or it's that, or it's whatever. You know, what's interesting is you look at how people progress. Frequently, the Sabbath is the first step. Just frequently, the Sabbath is the first step. Usually then, the Holy Days, food laws, you know, on and on, down the rest of the way it goes.

But in that moment, God opened your mind to truth. God's Spirit opened your mind to truth. It enabled you to see what it was that He was saying in this book.

And possibly, for the first time ever, you understood what God wanted of you.

It's a big deal. A huge deal.

End result? You changed. You changed. You responded to that truth in your life. You yielded to God's Spirit working with you as God called you through Jesus Christ. You heard His voice. You yielded to that calling. If you go back, I told you to keep a finger there in John 14. Go back to John 14, and we'll pick it up in verse 15. Because this gives us an explanation of what the love for God looks like. What does the love of God look like when we exhibit our love for God? How do we do that? What does that look like? What is truly establishing a right relationship with Him? What does that look like? John 14 and verse 15. John 14 verse 15 says, if you love me, keep my commandments. And he says, I will pray the Father, and He will give you another helper, that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth. Notice again, the reference to the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him or knows Him, but you know Him, for He dwells with you ultimately and will be in you. We exhibit our love for God, the foundation of that right relationship which establishes godliness through our obedience to His commandments.

We have a set of laws that govern both our relationship with God, that govern our relationship with one another. That Spirit of truth that God promises to us, it dwells with us, it abides with us, it reveals truth to us, brings to remembrance all the things that God has provided us.

But that Spirit of truth is not available to the entire world at this time. It's not. They cannot receive it until their eyes are opened to it, until God calls them to His way of life.

But we are not called to be good, we are called to be godly. He is calling us into right relationship with Him. And it's a relationship that both establishes our devotion to Him, but also the outward connection to others in the world around us. It's a relationship that causes good works to issue forth from us to others as that love of God is poured outward from us to those who are around us. When we respond to that calling, when we repent of our sins, God forgives them. God pours out His Spirit on us. That Spirit leads us to truth, and a greater, more vibrant relationship with Him as we yield ourselves to it, and we build godly character in the process. You know, as we mentioned when we started, because of the sins of Adam and Eve, evil entered the world. Mankind became aware of it, and as a result, now both good and evil exist in the world around us. And our ability to discern the difference between the two becomes that much more critical. We are, as followers of Jesus Christ, expected to know the difference between the spirit of error and the spirit of truth. We have to be able to look and discern between those two things. And what that requires is us to use God's Spirit in discernment, to understand what's true, what's false, to be able to draw conclusions about certain things in accordance with God's word and with his spirit, because those are the two convicting agents that we have in this life.

I'll give you an example. A couple years ago, I read a book by a gentleman named David Goggins. Some of you are familiar with David Goggins. His book is entitled, Can't Hurt Me, and David Goggins is a former Navy SEAL who turned endurance athlete. And he's the guy you might be, might have heard this story. He basically ran the Badwater 100 in Death Valley, California in the middle of the summer before he had any knowledge of how to run an endurance race and ended with, like, every metatarsal bone in his feet were broken. Like, that's how he ended the race, but he just tough through it and finished. I mean, I can't imagine it was comfortable in the least bit, but he has a number of lessons you can learn about endurance. He has a number of lessons that you can learn about discipline from his life experiences. There's many lessons that you can learn from him in that sense. I would not turn to David Goggins for advice or teaching on matters of salvation, because based on his words, based on his actions, it is evident he does not have God's Spirit.

It's evident, based on his words and his actions. Now, does that mean everything he says is invalid? Of course not. Of course not. We have to have discernment. We have to be able to consider those things. What it means is I need to discern using godly wisdom that is derived from God's Spirit, whether there appears to be evidence of his Spirit present in that person's life.

Some questions that we might want to ask ourselves. Is that individual moving toward a greater understanding of the truth of God? Is that person establishing a stronger and a more right relationship with God? Is that person making changes in their life that correspond to that deepening relationship with God? Is this individual in obedience to God? Are they keeping the Sabbath?

Are they keeping the Holy Days? Are they keeping the other laws of God?

Do we see evidence of the thoughts and the words and the actions of that person changing?

Shifting to become something more like God? Do we see fruits of repentance? Do we see fruit of the Spirit? Brethren, if God's Spirit is present in a person's life and working in that person and they're yielding to it, the answers to these questions will be yes. If we have a no, or it's either not present or it's been stifled, and that individual is not yielding themselves to it like they need to be, God's Spirit is a convicting agent. It is a convicting agent, which means that it does not keep someone in the place where they were. That person grows as a result of the conviction from the Spirit of God. It convicts them to change. It convicts them to obey God, which is why those of you who are called out of the churches of the world are no longer Catholic.

You are no longer Methodist. You are no longer Lutheran. You are no longer Pentecostal, because you were convicted by the Spirit of God and the Word of God to change, to develop a right relationship with God as He called you to be one of His firstfruits. You turn over to Romans 8.

Romans 8 as we close today. Romans 8, we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 14. This has been a memory scripture at camp for... I feel like more than one year. I feel like it's been like two or three years. It keeps coming back to Romans 8. Funny how that works. There's a lot in there. Romans 8 in verse 14. What we see is that it says, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are our children of God, and if children, then heirs. Heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified with Him. And without that indwelling Spirit of God, we cannot inherit what God has planned for us. Without that indwelling Spirit of God, we cannot transform to become who God has called us to be. And we won't change, and we won't shift, and we'll be right where we were before. That indwelling Spirit of God helps us grow in godliness. It helps us build a right and obedient relationship with God, and to show love and good works to our fellow man. Goodness isn't enough. God has called us to be godly.

Does it matter? It most certainly does.