Goodness & Faith

Today on Renewing Your Mind with RC Sproul struggles a parent with the child when the son wants to do something and the father says no so I can let you do it and I'm telling you know for your own good. That's so difficult for the child to believe and magnify that a thousandfold. And that's the problem we have with our heavenly father we really think we know better than God.

And really, with the bills down to is a fundamental of the built-in trait that doesn't believe in the goodness or trust with this week. Dr. Sproles been walking us through the list of characteristics that should be apparent in the life of every believer today focuses on our need to grow in faith. In this session were going to continue our overview of the fruit of the spirit and will be considering now the two fruits goodness and faith. Certainly one of most radical statements that we find in the New Testament from the pen of the apostle Paul is actually a quotation from Psalms when he writes in the third chapter of Romans, of the extent of the fallenness of man and the extent of our corruption with that passage. I'm sure you're familiar with that there is none righteous, no not one. There is none who do us what good I think of that from the statement that sounds on the surface that it's outrageous that no one does good. I refer you again to that dialogue between Jesus and the rich young ruler when the rich young ruler said good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life in Jesus said why do you call me good, only God is good man certainly didn't recognize Jesus at that point for the fullness of the deity that was standing before him to take that literally no one does good.

Paul is describing fallen man. We are baffled at times by the fact that from all outward appearances, it seems, in many cases the people who are Christians at all make no claims of the Christian profession in many ways outstrip professing Christians with respect to external acts at least of goodness.

Great heroic acts of sacrifice of honesty and diligence in so the practice of virtue that strains many of us, and we say how can the Bible say no one does good, isn't that hyperbole well of course part of the problem were working with is that goodness as a word is a relative term. Not that ethics are relative ultimately but goodness has to be determined according to a standard and we also understand from a biblical perspective that when God evaluates virtue when God evaluates performance.

He's concerned not only with conformity to external demands of the law, but also is concerned very much with the internal motivation sociologically, we define a good deed, as indeed which externally outwardly conforms to the demands of the law of God, but inwardly is motivated by a genuine desire to please God. Now the fallen man the unbelieving person who is estranged from God may do acts that Calvin called civic virtue, civil righteousness, external conformity to the law, but he's doing it out of his own self-interest to rezone humanitarian values without any particular desire to please his creator and so the lack of the internal motivation.

The lack of the disposition of the heart is what vitiates the final verdict of goodness so we can understand. If we define the good is that which is good as God defines it considering the internal and external why Paul would say no one does good health.

We follow that to its logical conclusion, we would have to say that no fallen person ever does a single genuine good deed, all things considered, we are morally incapable of goodness in this ultimate sense. It is an amazing, but now as a fruit of the spirit goodness is in the last some theologians point to this that as a result of our regeneration. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit because of God's power working in us changing the disposition of the heart.

One of the most dramatic changes that comes about through conversion is that now we have a radically new possibility for goodness for doing the good because now we do have the possibility of desiring to please God. And so in the first instance our understanding of goodness is a fruit is the understanding of this new ability to perform acts of righteousness and obedience out of a new disposition of our heart that we couldn't go on and explore that more finely and talk about the degree to which even in redeemed man our best deeds are tainted by that pound of flesh that is carried over from the old life, but I'll leave that aside for now and just remind you that now is a fruit of the spirit we have a growing capacity for goodness which we lack in terms of moral power before we processed the spirit of God.

Now, as we seen with the other fruits. Goodness is not merely to be understood as an abstract relationship to God and to the law of God, so that there is another dimension.

Edwards, for example, points out that the fruit of goodness carries with it a new ability to appreciate excellence that's contained in the broad concept of goodness in the Bible, of course, are there few terms in the Bible that are more abstract than the word aga thoughts or goodness because goodness cover so many many things and were left with the same problem with this fruit as we've had were some of the others and that is trying to see if there's any specified dimension of goodness that is in view here with respect to the fruit of the spirit work, must we canvass the whole general meaning of goodness. One of the dimensions of goodness in biblical terms is as I say and ability to appreciate excellence in the opening prayer. I mentioned that we have been born again to and ability to appreciate the good, the true and the beautiful. I mentioned that because I think part of our growth in sanctification is an ability to appreciate excellence wherever it manifests itself that we have an ability to appreciate beauty for what it means to us as it, in a sense, mirrors and reflects the order and the harmony of the character of God himself. I think that one of the things that is sadly lacking in the Christian community today is a deep and profound appreciation for aesthetics. If you go back for example and think of how God ordered the building of his tabernacle, and how men and women were craftsmen who were endowed, charismatic by the Holy Spirit for the artwork that was a part of the building in the construction of the tabernacle and later the temple that the tabernacle even though it was an edifice built from the meager possessions of the pilgrim people who had just come from slavery was a majestically beautiful edifice, whose architect was God himself who set down in holy Scripture exact precise detailed instructions for its construction and of course part of what the tabernacle's construction was about was to communicate symbolically and graphically truth, but there was also a dimension of the beautiful and you think of the songs and the quality of their lyric poetry. The majestic character of the music of worship that characterize Israel was again no appreciation for the beautiful. I think in terms of our own church history that there was a time in the past were the church really put a premium on using beautiful forms to communicate the excellence of God, the church degenerated at a time, to a cold dead formalism and empty liturgy that provoked a revolt and, indeed, a Reformation and the Reformation involved architectural and liturgical reform as well. In order to get away from getting caught up in liturgy so much so that Protestantism today tends to be very bland. From an aesthetic perspective and I think we can go back to the very beginnings of creation were God makes an aesthetic catch, as well as a moral judgment about the works of his own hands when after he creates the earth and the fullness thereof in the sea and the hills in the animal world and the vegetation each stage of creation is concluded with the divine benediction and God saw it and said that's good. I never made anything ever painted a picture or build a model of something or whatever and look at it and you see all the flaws in it and somebody else my commitment safe. Who that looks nice but you say, what about this mistake I made over here and maybe one time in your life painting a picture or build a snowman or or done something with the work of your hands would work or whatever and I when we were done he looked at his tremendous instant building.

I think this is part of the fruit of the spirit that we can learn to appreciate goodness in terms of interpersonal relationships. The commentators usually say that what goodness has to do with here on a horizontal level is with basic human integrity and with the spirit of generosity. We talk about people who were generous and to have a sense of moral scruple as being good people. Certainly we have to relative eyes that evaluation a little bit but you know I think what were talking about intuitively that there are certain people who have an ability to resist the more base and more wicked impulses that we all have to struggle with people who have sort of a almost na�ve, pure sense of integrity.

I think that is a manifestation of the fruit of goodness, what about the next, what about faith or den faith is determined both as a gift, and as a fruit and here for faced again with one of those words that is voluminous in scope there is that faith by which we are justified, and by which we are brought into a salvific relationship with Christ. But the basic meaning of faith biblically basic meaning of the Greek verb to believe means to trust and I think that one of the fruits of the spirit has to do again with our relationship to God that we have a growing trust for God no, I'm often made this distinction, it is one thing to believe in God.

It is another thing to believe God can be all the difference in the world and you realize that in our struggle with sin. There is a very real sense in which one of our deepest problem is that we fundamentally don't believe God said again, we fundamentally in our basic root nature, do not believe God. We may believe in God but we don't believe God because of we believe God really believe God, why would we ever said what is it about sin that entices us to risk the displeasure of God to act against God by choosing it or you say what we desire it, and we have such a desire for sin that we get caught up in that desire, and so we choose sin, but why do we desire it.

Why does sin have such an appeal to us because we believe that if we commit the sin we will be more happy than if we don't commit the sin, it's that simple as they want to get right down the rock-bottom, we sin because we want to we want to because were looking for an increase in our happiness and we figure if I do it the way God says I'm going to be somehow cheated or deprived out of personal happiness.

Member I said we looked at that catechetical question that man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

It's very difficult for us to get the glorification of God and enjoyment together. So I think that sin will make me happy. At that point I simply don't believe what God says about, because God's law. Proceeds from at least two dimensions of the character of God in the first instance God's law reflects God's own holiness, God's law reflects his own character of holiness and righteousness's law is good, but not only does it reflect his goodness. But it also reflects his benevolence, God being good is concerned about the well-being of his creatures and his law is designed to keep us from self-destructing to keep us from harm. The law is to be a light to our feet into our pathway lest we stumble and fall and get bruised and become violated and become part and so that law comes out of God's fatherly benevolent concern for his people. So there's a sense in which the law of God reflects the love of God, but the third point is that the law of God reflects the transcendent consummate wisdom of God the struggle, the parent with the child Was repeatedly when the father says the sun when the sun wants to do something and the father says nurse and I can't let you do it and I'm telling you know for your own good. That's so difficult for the child to believe and magnify that a thousandfold. And that's the problem we have with our heavenly father we really think we know better what is good for us than God. When I have people coming in the my study, take a very classic example. I've had women come to me that they want to divorce their husbands because their husbands belittling them the mean them and always ghastly things I see biblically, they don't have grounds for divorce and if the decision were left for me. If I were the ultimate judge of heaven and earth. I would say to that person go on divorce her husband because I can't see how you could ever be happy unless you do it and are plenty ministers who do that to second-guess God. But if it really is God's law there not to do this then I have to believe that the Council people to act against the law of God is to counsel them to unhappiness rather than to happiness because this principle.

I'm sure that it is impossible for sin to bring happiness. It never has. It never does, and it never will.

It brings only Rowan and destruction and misery to the human race where people don't like creatures to talk about sin.

But what is it that makes sin so evil. Other than the fact that what sin does is violates people get the tracks from the well-being of humanity.

I am hurt when you sin against me.

Part of my human fulfillment as a person is wrong, and not only that but the person who sins against another person hurts himself a semi school principal to drive us crazy with the stern lectures every time we got in trouble got sent to the principal officer gives the same lecture every time I heard it until it was going out of my ears. The first part of it was your stabbing your mother in the back and the second line that he gave ad nausea was you're just hurting yourself in ways to make fun of that day: dogface a dogface those they were only hurting ourselves may have been speaking of plant, but he was speaking the truth because sin does hurt the one who commits it violates person go. If that's true, what in the world is the enticement of it. One thing I think it's important for us to recognize. Remember that the doing of theology is the making of many distinctions among the most important distinctions we can grasp.

I think, is the distinction between pleasure and happiness. Sin is pleasurable. Sin does bring pleasure, but it does not bring happiness brings the immediate feeling of goodness or funding or excitement or thrill but it cannot bring what the Bible means by happiness in the fulfillment and peace and contentment of a righteous life.

Look at your own lives and seeing how much unhappiness has been brought into your life by said no, what happens when spiritual growth takes place in the so and faith becomes fruitful is that we have an increased capacity to believe God, and that has a direct impact on our struggle with sin on the minute or so that I have left. Let me just add onto that attack on one other dimension, and that has to do with the fruit of faith in interpersonal relationships.

Disposition of faith is one of trust. I said that the Holy Spirit is not assault force. The Holy Spirit doesn't have a short fuse I let me cite Luther again at this point of the fruit of the spirit, the Holy Spirit is not a skeptic.

The Holy Spirit does not give us a spirit of cynicism. The Holy Spirit gives us a trusting disposition with people sometimes you know it can be na�ve, but the basic disposition of our hearts towards other people is as I said earlier with respect to love to want to give the benefit of the doubt to want to trust and to be trustworthy because part of the meaning of faith is fidelity and that's the whole fruit of faith is enlarged within us. We not only become more trusting of other people, but we also become more trustworthy, so that we are faithful to our vows to our promises to our commitments into our work that's the fruit of the apostle Peter said in his second letter.

If these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ Dr. RC Sproul has led us through the fruit of the spirit this week on Renewing Your Mind and it's our hope that these qualities are increasing in you, if that's your desire to grow in your faith and enter more more resemble Christ in the way you interact with those around you. Let me encourage you to continue your study for making this series by Dr. small available to you. It's called developing Christian character. There are 12 messages on two DVDs and will send them to you for your donation of any amount to look at your ministries. You can call us at 800-435-4343 or you can go online to Renewing Your Mind.org that all of us recognize the fact that as we look around us we see lives lived without the fruit of the spirit lives in shambles. Relationships crumbling Jesus as we know as the light of the world and it's only the light of his gospel that brings hope to those who are hurting.

Look in your ministries exist to proclaim this gospel in your gifts propel that message around the world. So thank you for your generous donation and is our way of saying thank you would like to send your doctor scroll series, developing Christian character, so we hope you'll contact us soon. Next week we have the privilege of presenting a new teaching series by Rev. HP Charles Junior may not be familiar with red trials, but I think you'll enjoy hearing him teach on how God's character is exalted in the benedictions and doxologies that we find in Scripture one is beginning Monday for series titled blessing and praise here on Renewing Your Mind