The Scriptures and Good Works by Arthur Pink

2 Timothy chapter 3 verses 16 and 17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The ultimate test of whether we are truly profiting from the Word is not how much we know, but how we live. Scripture never flatters the intellect while bypassing the life. It searches the heart and demands fruit. A head full of doctrine without a life full of good works is a barren tree destined not for praise but for punishment.

The Word of God, rightly received, sanctifies the soul and energizes the hands. It molds the heart after Christ and moves the believer to live for the glory of God in every sphere of life. Good works are not the root of salvation, but they are the necessary fruit. They are not the means of gaining favor with God, but the inevitable result of having received His grace. As it is written, we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

The scriptures instruct us in what is good, rebuke us when we fail, and spur us onward with divine promises and holy examples. A man profits from the Word when he is led to live a life of active godliness, when his thoughts, speech, and conduct begin to reflect that of the Lord Jesus. The love of God revealed in the Scriptures will stir him to love both God and others. The mercy of God extended to him will cause him to show mercy. The humility of Christ displayed in the Gospels will produce in him a servant's heart. The commands of God will no longer be grievous, but his delight.

Let no one imagine that good works consist merely in religious duties and rituals, formal prayer and Bible reading, church attendance, or the use of religious language. True good works flow from faith and are performed with a heart seeking God's approval alone. They adorn the gospel, benefit others, and bring praise to our Father in heaven.

The Word profits us. when it transforms duty into delight and compels us to say, for to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Are we abounding in good works? Has the Word made us more diligent in service, more generous in giving, more faithful in little things? Has it made us zealous for God's glory in our homes, our labors, and our relationships? If not, than we have not truly profited by it.

The Word must not only inform us, it must transform us. Let us take it in daily, prayerfully, and obediently, so that we may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. James chapter 1, verse 22.