Join Rick Hughes as he explores the concept of ‘dead works’ from a biblical perspective, detailing how human good, when conducted outside the influence of the Holy Spirit, stands in contrast to divine good. Rick provides listeners with a unique opportunity to understand the ongoing importance of spiritual growth and rewards, and the necessity of aligning one’s actions with God’s protocol plan. With practical guidance and scriptural backing, this episode is an invitation to deepen your faith through informed, intentional living.
Welcome to The Flatline with your host, Rick Hughes. For the next 30 minutes, you’ll be inspired, motivated, educated, but never manipulated. Now, your host, Rick Hughes.
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Good morning and welcome to The Flotline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes, and for the next few minutes, we always would ask you to stick around. Stick around for just about 27, 28 minutes of information, motivation, some education, all designed to help you understand and hopefully verify God’s plan and God’s will for your life. If you can do that, then obviously you have the freedom and the choice to orient and adjust to the plan if you’d like. But remember the things that I always tell you, God gave you two ends, one of those ends you sit on and one of them you think with. And success in life depends on what you think. Heads you’re gonna win, tails you’re gonna lose. This show is about giving you information to think. Thinking is the most important thing in your life. You make decisions based on what you think, not based on what you feel. And arrogant people always make decisions based on what they feel. They react to pressure. Where people with humility make decisions based on what they think, where they respond to pressure. And so it’s important that we learn to think properly. That’s why the Bible says, let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus. That’s why the Bible says, stop thinking of yourself in terms of arrogance beyond what you should think, Romans 12, 3. So it’s always about what you think. You are what you think, the Bible says, as a man thinketh in his heart. So he is now today on this flatline show, 778, that’s 778 Sundays that I’ve been with you across this great nation, 778 Sundays. You know, we always make these shows available under a podcast routine, such as Spotify, Apple, iPod breaker, uh, anchor some of the various podcast venues and we also have them printed printed transcripts for you if you’d like to have them we also have printed up all of our shows from 2019 they’re all available in three different volumes if you’d like to have any of our printed material just go to the website rickhughesministries.org rickhughesministries.org and request it and we will send it free of charge to you ASAP. Just as soon as we get your order in, we’ll send it out. We send out hundreds of orders every month to people all across this country, from Australia to America. And I hope that you’re one of the ones that makes use of this available opportunity. So today I want to talk to you about something that’s little known. Very few people know about this, but it’s very critical in your life. You know, as we talk about those 10 problem-solving devices, the FLOT line is made up of. FLOT, F-L-O-T, that’s the name of the show, Forward Line of Troops. That’s the military acronym for learning those 10 unique problem-solving devices. And when we learn those 10 unique problem-solving devices and function under them, then we’re beginning to live the protocol plan of God for our life. God has protocol just like anyone else, and the right thing has to be done in the right way. And those 10 problem-solving devices, by the way, we have it in a bookmark. If you’d like to stick it in your Bible, just write to us and tell us you’d like to get the problem-solving device bookmarked. It’s a very nice bookmark and fit in. Write in your Bible the marked pages that you want to say. But number one is rebound. That’s confession of sin. Number two is the filling of the Holy Spirit. That’s doing what Ephesians 5.18 says to be filled with the Spirit. Number three is the faithless drill. Number four is grace orientation, living grace, dying grace, surpassing grace. saving grace, and then there’s doctrinal orientation. That’s orienting to the word of God. These first five give you a personal sense of destiny, motivated by your personal love for God. Problem solving device number seven. your impersonal love for all of mankind, problem-solving device number eight, your happiness sharing the happiness of God, problem-solving device number nine, and then occupation with Christ, problem-solving device number 10. All these are available. We’ve gone over them, and we perhaps need to go over them again, but if you need a book on them, we have a book called Christian Problem-Solving that lists all 10 of these for you, and we’ll be more than happy to make them available. I’ve gotten a lot of letters recently, email letters from people that have asked, where is a good local church? How can I begin to study? And when we talk about getting under a well-qualified pastor and learning, God’s plan and moving all the way to spiritual maturity. Sometimes I don’t know pastors in your areas, but I can refer you to people that I know that are genuinely wonderful pastors who teach God’s word and distribute it freely without charge, without obligation, without putting you on any mailing list. but you can tap into their messages hour long. Usually each one is usually an hour long and you can take your Bible and your notebook and sit at your kitchen table or your desk and a cup of coffee and study until God shows you where he wants you to be. This is exactly what I do every day. Listen to my pastor who’s in Texas. Teach me who’s in Alabama, the word of God. Now, what I’m going to teach you today is something I learned from my pastor many years ago. And it’s about something called human good. Human good. Have you ever heard that term before, human good? Let me explain human good to you. It’s really basically the Bible calls it dead works. In Hebrews 6.1, therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, the writer of Hebrews said, now let’s go on unto perfection. In other words, let’s get past salvation and Let’s begin to grow up. And he says, not laying again, the foundation of repentance from dead works. That was the baptism of John and a faith towards God. So dead works, anything you can do to try to save yourself, anything you can do to try to impress God, apart from the filling of the Holy spirit, uh, What we have is two words, dead works or dead deeds, nekros ergon. Nekros ergon, the Greek words, nekros, dead, and ergon meaning works or deeds. So human good, as I call it, is simply dead works. Dead works. Let’s run by this for a minute, okay? The author that wrote Hebrews, whoever it could have been, is urging these people that he’s writing to to move on beyond the elementary teachings on Christ and to go on to spiritual maturity. Because, you know, point two, after salvation must come spiritual growth. And point three, reviewing the fundamentals of your salvation does not advance you spiritually. This is something we run into quite often when a lot of churches where they’re The pastor is a great pastor. He’s a people person. He loves everybody. He shepherds people and visits people and prays with people. But on Sunday morning, he doesn’t do much expository preaching. He just goes back and gives the gospel again and the gospel again and the gospel again. Nobody grows up that way. Yes, you’ve heard the gospel. You understand the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. You understand redemption and reconciliation. Now it’s time to move on, to learn more things, how the protocol and plan of God operates, and that’s part of what we do here. We try to give you this information so you will see it and be encouraged to grow further in your Christian life. So these dead works he talked about here in Hebrews 6.1 refer to man’s efforts to save his own soul. And you know what that’s called? Organized religion. Organized religion tries to save itself. That’s exactly what religion is. Organized religion is you thinking you’re gonna go to heaven because you don’t do certain sins or because you’re a certain type of individual and nothing could be further from the truth. Human works saves nobody. Human works saves nobody. Human works are what we call dead works or what we call human good. The only thing that saves people is the gospel, and that’s the foundation that we build on in our lives, the foundation of the gospel. Dead works, human good, dead works, all of this that we’re talking about is described as unrewardable human effort for you and me. Human good will not provide salvation to start with. Listen as I read to you from the Bible in Titus 3, 5. Not by works of righteousness which we’ve done. Not by works of righteousness which we’ve done. There’s the human good right there. but according to his mercy.” He saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. Works of righteousness is you trying to impress God, you trying to save yourself by being a morally good person. There’s nothing wrong with being a morally good person. You should be, but that’s not salvation. That’s not you having a personal relationship with God the Father through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. So human good is not ever acceptable to God at any time. So where exactly does human good come from? Let’s answer that question to start with. Where does human good come from? And the answer is this. Human good comes from the area of strength in the sin nature of man. Everyone has a sin nature. You and I both have a sin nature. Even people that are unbelievers can do good works, but it’s not glorifying God. It’s dead works, human good. Human good comes from the sin nature. And when a believer out of fellowship does good deeds, it’s coming from the energy of the flesh, not from the filling of the Holy Spirit. Cain in the Bible first demonstrated this in Genesis 4 when he tried to offer to God something he manufactured from his own efforts, whereas his brother Abel offered a blood sacrifice portraying a picture of what was to eventually come, and that’s the death, burial, and resurrection of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. So there was human good. Many years ago, Cain got mad. God didn’t accept his human good offering, but God accepted the offering of Abel. So Cain just up and murdered Abel out of jealousy. Human good for the believer in the church age is anything you do for God while you’re out of fellowship with known sin in your life. So let’s go back to rebound. If you don’t rebound when you sin… Anything you do for God after that point is human good. In order for there to be divine good, you must be filled with the Holy Spirit. Only good deeds you do under the filling of the Holy Spirit are rewardable. Any good deeds you do while there’s unconfessed sin in your life is human good and it’s non-rewardable. All of this production is evaluated at the judgment seat of Christ in the Bible found in 1 Corinthians 3, 11 through 15. Here’s what it says. For another foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus. Now remember what we saw in Hebrews 6.1. Let us leave the principles of the doctrine of Christ and go on. That was the foundation. So the only foundation that you can have to go to heaven is the solid foundation of faith alone and Christ alone. No other foundation can a man lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus. And then verse 12, if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble. You’ll notice there are two different types of things. Some things will perish such as sticks, hay, and wood. And some things won’t perish like gold, silver, and diamonds, emeralds, rubies, whatever, precious stones. So what this verse is comparing is is your human good, any good you do while you’re out of fellowship with unconfessed sin in your life is a piece of wood, hay, or stubble. For example, if you go to church on Sunday morning and you have a big argument with your wife and your kids before you leave the house, Are you getting mad driving to church about the way somebody cut you off in traffic and you don’t confess your sin? Then when the offering plate goes by and you put in your 10%, whatever you put in, that is human good. You will not be rewarded for that. God cannot accept that. The church will accept it. They’ll spend it and use it, but it won’t go into your account with God. That’s for sure. You understand? If you’re singing in the choir, the same thing. If you have unconfessed sin in your life as recently even as that morning, you are producing human good. You’re doing a right thing singing in the choir. You’re doing a right thing coming to church, listening to the Word of God taught, but you’re doing it in the wrong way. You’re doing it in the energy of the flesh. It is not divine good. So the Bible goes on to say in 1 Corinthians 3, 12, every man’s, 13, excuse me, every man’s work shall be made manifest. In other words, it’ll be revealed. The day shall declare it and it will be revealed by fire and the fire will test every man’s work of what sort it is. So here we go, we have a big fire, and we put in all of me, here’s Rick, and everything I’ve done, every radio show I’ve done, everything I’ve ever done for God, here it goes into the fire. And the things I did while I was out of fellowship with God, with unconfessed sin in my life, even though it looked right, sounded right, did it right, It evaporates. The things that I did while I was in fellowship with God, under control of the Holy Spirit, that’s rewardable. That’s the gold, silver, precious stones. So everything you’ve done for God in your entire life will be judged here. God knows whether you did it in the energy of the flesh, which is human good or dead works, and God knows whether you did it under the filling of the Holy Spirit, which is divine good. It shall be revealed by fire. The fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. It will reveal it. If any man’s work abide, that’s the gold, silver, and precious stones, which he hath built upon his foundation, that’s verse 14, then he will receive a reward, but conjunction of contrast. If any man’s work shall be burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.” yet so as by fire he himself will be saved. So here’s a question. What if everything you did for God since the day you got saved, nobody ever taught you how to be filled with the Spirit, you did it all in the energy of the flesh, and you did good deeds, good things, you were a nice person, Are you still going to heaven? Yes. Yet he shall be saved as though by fire. You see, the foundation won’t burn up. If you build a house and you lay down a concrete foundation and build on that foundation, the house may burn up, but the concrete foundation will be there. I’ve known people whose houses burned and they just took a bulldozer and pushed away the embers and the dead lumber and rebuilt on the same foundation. your faith alone in christ alone is your foundation that’ll never be destroyed but the question is what are you building on the foundation are you building dead works are you building human good are you building wood hay straw stubble sticks or are you manufacturing gold silver precious stones Here’s the principle. Nothing of the flesh ever pleases God. Nothing of the flesh ever pleases God. And two, fleshly activity, or i.e. human good, will be destroyed at the judgment seat of Christ. Three, the believer who never understands this, the believer who never learns what I’m teaching you today, will will wind up never glorifying God to the maximum since he’s producing good from the sin nature’s area of strength. He didn’t do anything that a lost person couldn’t do. A lost person has a sin nature. A lost person can give money. A lost person can help little old ladies across the street. A lost person can be polite to people. You’re no better than him in the energy of the flesh. But if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and you’re filled with the Spirit, even washing dishes will be rewardable. If you’re a housewife and you’re cooking dinner and you’re washing dishes and taking care of your husband and your kids, that’s rewardable. You’re filled with the Holy Spirit. The believer who never understands this will wind up never glorifying God. Point four, divine good. That’s the things that are done while you are filled with the Holy Spirit. Divine good is that which is manufactured under the filling of the Holy Spirit. And it is incorruptible. Whereas human good, just the opposite. Human good is produced from the area of strength of the sin nature. And it’s always corruptible. So point five, Satan is the author of human good in religion. And when you start studying about that, the word that comes up is evil, evil, evil. Evil is the human good energy of religion. And it’s Satan’s lie trying to get you to think you’re going to heaven because you’re good. So good deeds and human good can be two different things. Good deeds, that’s doing something productive for the community, helping in some way or another, a good deed, and human good are two different things. All the human good of the unbeliever, everything the unbeliever does for good is registered in the books of works in eternity. You can see it in Revelation 20, verses 11 through 15. Revelation 20, verses 11 through 15. And this is what’s called the great white throne of judgment. Listen as I read it. And I saw a great white throne. Now you won’t be there. This is for unbelievers. You’ve already been before the judgment seat of Christ. 1 Corinthians 3. You were there. This is not you. I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away and there was no place found for them. And I saw the books, books, plural, that were opened, and then another book, singular, that was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, plural, according to their works, dead works, human good.” And C gave up the dead that was in it. Death and hell delivered up the dead that were in them. And they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whoever was not found in the book, the Lamb’s book of life, was cast into the lake of fire. How do you get in the book? Well, when you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, your name is saved. It’s bracketed. See, your name is put in the Lamb’s Book of Life when you’re born. If you die without having accepted Christ as your Savior, your name is blotted out. Your name is not there anymore. You’ve died the first death. The second death is being thrown into the lake of fire. It called it the second death. This is the second death. but if you have accepted Christ as your Savior, then your name is not blotted out, and your name is indeed in the Lamb’s Book of Life, but you’re not here. This is not about you, so what this is is a double evaluation. The first one is his name in the Lamb’s Book of Life, Joblo. No, it’s not, so Joblo, why should we let you come to heaven? Well, look over there at all the good things I did. I mean, I tithed, and I never cheated on my wife. I never cheated on my income taxes. I served in the military. I always said yes sir, yes ma’am, and I was a good citizen. Dead works. Won’t cut it. That’s not going to get you into heaven. It’s very honorable, it’s very nice, but it is a good deed. It won’t get you into heaven. It’s not divine good. So if your name is not found in the Lamb’s Book of Life, you’re not gonna get in heaven. And here, all of these people that are here, remember where they came from. They were brought out of hell. They were brought, the sea gave up the dead that were in them and death and hell gave up the dead that were in them. And now they’re being evaluated by the great white throne of judgment. And then once they see their works are not good enough, there’s a verse that said, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did I not do this? Did I not do that? And he said, I will tell them I never knew you. Yes, you did good deeds, dead works, but I never knew you. Human good, this sort of dead works is recognized as filthy rags in the Bible. Isaiah 64, 6 says, all of our righteous deeds, and this may embarrass you. I don’t know whether I should even say it or not on the radio because it probably will embarrass you. But you know when a woman has her period each month, that’s the kind of rag we’re talking about. That’s what’s mentioned here in the Hebrew. All of our righteous deeds are like those kind of rags. The person in the cosmic system is like the person who’s ceremonially unclean, like the woman who’s ceremonially unclean. And the human good is like the time that she goes through. It’s the discarded. It’s not right. So it’s totally unrighteous. So filthy rags is the best the euphemism could come up with here without going into the original Hebrew and embarrassing you and telling you what it really is. I hope you understand. All of our righteous deeds are like filthy rags. So the person in the cosmic system, the unbeliever, is like a woman who is ceremonially unclean with filthy rags. Totally unrighteous. So listen to the verse, the latter part of the verse. And all of us wither like a leaf, and our perversities are like the wind, and they blow away. So that’s what human good is compared to, a filthy rag. So establishment good, that’s open to both believers and unbelievers, you know. Establishment good, what is that? It refers to fulfilling the laws of establishment that are rewardable in time only, such as marriage. That’s a thing God created for all members of the human race. And a person who finds a spouse and gets married has a good thing. And it is a good thing. It’s an establishment good. And that may be the only happiness they have in life unless they married the wrong person. So divine good is not establishment good. Divine good is not human good. Divine good is legitimate good. It’s a legitimate system of works in the protocol plan of God. The protocol plan of God mandates the production of divine good in my life and in your life as well. So the good of mankind is relative, but the good of God is absolute. So if I’m filled with the Holy Spirit, and you’re filled with the Holy Spirit, anything we do, like me doing this radio show right now, if I did it out of the filling of the Spirit with known sin in my life, you wouldn’t know the difference, but God does, and it would be human good. But since I’m sitting here talking to you, filled with the Holy Spirit, I’m producing divine good. It’s absolute. And divine good lasts forever, while human good may last only a day, a month, a year, even less. Divine good is absolute. Divine good is eternal. Human good is relative and temporal. And remember, human good can be performed in the energy of the flesh since human good is both the function of the believer or the unbeliever. And it is related often to the laws of establishment. The believer’s production of divine good is rewardable both in time and eternity. And the believer’s production in the status of carnality or Christian degeneracy is classified as dead works. So if you’re a Christian, you’re out of fellowship, you give money to your church, you go on a mission trip, you sing in the choir, whatever you do, it’s dead works. It’s not rewardable because you didn’t do anything the unbeliever couldn’t do. You did it in the energy of your flesh. I hope you understand what human good is. Human good is dead works. It’s the energy of the flesh. It’s no good. It doesn’t honor God. You must be filled with the Holy Spirit and produce divine good, which is rewardable according to 1 Corinthians 3, 11-16. All right, that’s it. This is your host, Rick Hughes, thanking you for listening. I hope you’ve learned something. Write if you’ve got a question. Until next week, same time, same place. Thank you for listening.
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Thank you for listening to The Floodline with your host, Rick Hughes. If you’d like to contact Rick, please write to him at P.O. Box 100, Cropwell, Alabama, 35054, or online at www.rickhughesministries.org.
