A. Introduction.
1. There are four keys to the production of divine good.
a. Status quo. This means being in the directive will of God, which is tantamount to the filling of the Spirit or residence inside the divine dynasphere under the enabling power of the Spirit.
(1) Whatever counts for God in our lives must be related to the filling of the Spirit.
(2) There is no effective function of good in our lives or effective Christian service apart from the filling of the Holy Spirit.
b. Momentum. This means that Bible doctrine is important in everything. Momentum is understanding and applying Bible doctrine.
c. Attainment. This is advance to spiritual maturity through the execution of the protocol plan of God. Bible doctrine must be learned before divine good can be produced.
d. Impact. This is the function of the mature believer as an invisible hero in the Church Age.
(1) It is possible for any of us to get sucked into a system that appears to be good. We think we are doing something for God when in reality we are fighting against God’s plan. This is often true of Christian activism.
(2) We have to understand how good relates to our impact. Are we here to be visible heroes? Are we here to have a visible glorification of God? No. We are to have invisible impact. Our greatest impact is with angels, not with people.
2. Good is not always good. Wrong motivation parlays good into evil. Good may be dead works or the function of good deeds. Good may be Christian service which is divine good or dead works. Everything depends on the relationship of that good to the first three keys above.
a. Christian service can be fulfilled in the power of your ability, your human energy, your personality rather than the power of God. Anything done with wrong motivation or not under the filling of the Holy Spirit is not divine good.
b. There must be spiritual growth before there can be the production of divine good. All production must come from within the boundary of Bible doctrine. It is the will of God that you learn doctrine before you produce divine good. You do not put baby believers to work doing anything, you teach them. When the baby grows up, it will work and produce naturally as a result of all the training it received.
c. The right mental attitude plus the filling of the Holy Spirit or being in the will of God equals the production of divine good. The believer is only a fruit bearer under the following conditions.
(1) You must have consistent post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation.
(2) You must have resultant spiritual growth.
(3) You must have the correct mental attitude.
(4) Fruit bearing is the production of divine good, not independently of, but as a result of the filling of the Spirit and advance in the spiritual life. d. Producing divine good demands having right priorities. Right priorities are consistent divine viewpoint of life which originates from perception, metabolization, and application of Bible doctrine.
B. Definition.
1. Divine good is primarily the production of the mature believer, but it can also be the production of the growing believer. It is the maximum and most effective production a believer can have in his life.
2. The production of divine good comes from the source of God directly.
3. Mechanically, divine good is produced by the balance of residency between the filling of the Holy Spirit and Bible doctrine applied from the soul, Heb 13:10.
C. There are three types of good in history.
1. Human good is the production of evil. It began in the garden right after the Fall with operation fig leaves. Evil is the thinking of Satan, while human good is the application of that thinking. Human good is the production of the unbeliever and reversionist.
2. Moral good, the observance of the laws of divine establishment, can be produced by both believer and unbeliever.
3. Divine good is the production of the growing or mature believer.
D. The Source of Divine Good.
1. Divine Good is produced from the balance of residency of the Holy Spirit and Bible doctrine in the believer’s soul. The mature believer has maximum production of divine good.
2. There are four sources of divine good.
a. The filling of the Holy Spirit related to some Bible doctrine in the soul.
b. Bible doctrine in the soul through the persistent function of GAP increases production.
c. In spiritual maturity, the mature believer filled with the Holy Spirit can only produce divine good.
d. In ultra supergrace status, the mature believer produces divine good under maximum pressure and undeserved suffering.
3. Divine good is the production of the royal priesthood, Heb 13:16.
E. The believer is designed to produce divine good.
1. It is part of God’s plan for you to produce divine good, Eph 2:10.
2. In eternity past, God knew how much Bible doctrine you would have at any moment, so He prefabricated all the divine good you would produce and entered this information into a prom chip in the computer of divine decrees with your name on it.
3. The only production which counts as divine good is production based on something in your soul which is there as a result of grace. The filling of the Holy Spirit and Bible doctrine exist in your soul as a result of grace.
F. The production of divine good is related to logistical grace. In 2 Cor 9:8, “all sufficiency” refers to God providing everything necessary to keep you alive to take in doctrine, “so that you can have an abundance of every production of divine good.”
G. The production of divine good is related to the function of GAP.
1. Titus 2:7, “in all things show yourself to be an example of the production of divine good by means of soundness of doctrine.”
2. Cf. 2 Tim 2:21 and Col 1:9-10, “that you might walk worthy of the Lord, . . . being fruitful in every good work . . .”
H. The production of divine good is related to supergrace status, 2 Tim 3:16-17.
I. The production of divine good is an issue in the angelic conflict. Rom 12:21, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil by the production of divine good.”
J. The production of divine good is related to surpassing grace status, 2 Cor 5:10. Only mature believers produce divine good which is rewardable in eternity. If you acquire maximum Bible doctrine in the soul, you will produce things in time which will be rewardable in eternity.
K. The production of divine good is related to the believer’s honor, 2 Tim 2:21.
L. Divine good is both verbal and mental, 2 Thes 2:16-17. Every good word and production is in your right lobe. Your right lobe is strengthened every time you produce divine good, whether verbally or mentally.
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© 1989, by R. B. Thieme, Jr. All rights reserved.
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