Is There None Good?

George Whitefield was a well-known contemporary of John Wesley. He was a Methodist, as Wesley was. He parted company with Wesley on the topic of Predestination. Wesley was an Arminian, and Whitefield was a Calvinist. Indeed, many view Whitefield, not Wesley, as the founder of the Methodist Church. Whitefield was known for the sermons he preached in America that were part of the Great Awakening. There were times that he would preach every day for months on end to large crowds ... without projectors, PA systems, or the proper warm-up band. One of his famous sermons was entitled, The Method of Grace. In this sermon he lays out the Gospel, always his fondest subject. In it, of course, he calls for repentance. But Whitefield said some things that might be startling to some Christians.

Before you can speak peace to your heart, you must be brought to see that God may damn you for the best prayer you ever put up; you must be brought to see that all your duties, all your righteousness, as the prophet elegantly expresses it, put them all together, are so far from recommending you to God, are so far from being any motive and inducement to God to have mercy on your poor soul, that he will see them to be filthy rags, a menstruous cloth, that God hates them, and cannot away with them, if you bring them to him in order to recommend you to his favor.

I don't offer the quote because I am a Whitefieldian. I don't give it because we should derive our theology from Whitefield ... or Wesley ... or Calvin. I offer it because I'm hoping that because someone else said it, I won't be construed as being radical.

As many of you know, the reference to "menstrous cloth" is a reference to a well-known verse in Isaiah 64:

We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags ; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away (Isa. 64:6).

The term "filthy rags" was a Hebraism referencing women's used menstrual rags. It's not a pretty sight, and it was Isaiah's intent that it be so. You see, we all know we have sin problems, but very few of us comprehend the depth of it. We see ourselves in varying degrees of sin. We see ourselves as worse than some but not as bad as others. We do some good things. So when Paul writes, "All have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one" (Rom. 3:12), most of us feel as if he is engaging in hyperbole. He's making a point. He's not being serious here. Some people do some good things. In fact, if we were honest, everybody does some good things. But Paul and David (whom Paul quotes) and Isaiah all seem to disagree. Could it be that we are wrong and Whitefield is right?

Remember when Jesus was addressed by the rich young ruler? "And a certain ruler questioned Him, saying, 'Good Teacher , what shall I do to inherit eternal life?' And Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone'" (Luke 18:18-19). Jesus agreed with Paul and David and Isaiah and Whitefield. "There is none good except God alone." It is my belief that we are confused about "good". We see it in relative terms and define it according to our own standards. God sees it quite differently. Everything done by and for Him is good. Anything else is not. Even then, He works all things together for good, so even the bad He works for good. Oh, how confusing it can all get!

Sometimes you think, "I'm not so bad." You think that maybe you're "earning points." Oh, if you're at all like me, you'd never actually say it. But sometimes it just feels like God must be pleased with something you just did that was "good". When you do, remember, Jesus thought differently. Remember that your best righteousness is filthy rags. Only that which is done by and for God is good. Your only option is to allow Him to do that work through you. Of course, in that case you can't think, "I'm not so bad." You are just the conduit. But what a great thing to be ... a conduit for God's work for His glory!