Open your Bibles with me tonight
to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians the second chapter.
We'll begin reading at verse 1. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse
1. You hath he quickened, made alive,
who were dead in trespasses and in sins. wherein in time past
you walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past. We all had our manner of life
in times past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh, and of the mind and whereby nature, children
of wrath, even as others. But God. But God, who is rich
in mercy. For his great love, wherewith
he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, had quickened us
together with Christ. By grace, you're saved and that
raised us up together. and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might
show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, Created
in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained
That we should walk in them You find the title of my message
in my subject in verse 10 good works good works We know that
faith works by love and and that all who are in Christ Jesus are
admonished to be careful to maintain good works. We're told that we
must do so for necessary uses. James tells us that true saving
faith in the Lord Jesus is faith that is demonstrated and shown
by good works. And it gives two imminent examples
of the display of that faith and the works by which it's displayed.
Abraham in his offering up of Isaac, and Rahab in hiding the
harlots. Both of them acts of great faith,
acts of great love for God, acts of great sacrifice, acts of personal
cost, acts known and seen only by God and those who perform
them. Here in Ephesians 2 verse 10,
God the Holy Spirit tells us, that all who are born of God
are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. We were created in Christ as
God's masterpieces unto good works, which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them. Now, this is what that
means. All who are born of God walk
in good works. The text does not tell us that
we ought to. The text tells us that God created
us, new creatures in Christ, His workmanship unto good works. Good works that God foreordained
that we should walk in them. If God foreordained it, it is
brought to pass. So that all who are born of God,
all who are new creatures in Christ, Walk in good works. Now, let me repeat what I've
said from this pulpit countless, countless times. Three things
I want you to understand. Salvation is by grace alone. Grace alone. Christ is our savior. Christ is our wisdom. Christ
is our righteousness. Christ is our redemption. Our
good works have absolutely nothing to do with the accomplishment
of God's salvation, the continuance of God's salvation, or the crowning
of God's salvation. We are all together accepted
of God in and by Jesus Christ the Lord. By grace are you saved. This grace that cannot be resisted
and cannot be frustrated, this effectual free grace is not in
any way determined by or dependent upon what we do. Number two,
good works have nothing whatsoever to do with the accomplishment,
the preservation or the consummation of this salvation. not in election,
not in redemption, not in sanctification, not in preservation, not in glorification. The moment you begin to mix works
with grace, the moment you begin to make room for your righteousness,
for your works, for your goodness, for your worth, you push grace
out. You have fallen from grace. You've
missed the gospel and Christ shall profit you nothing. Any
mixture of grace with works, anywhere you put it, any mixture
of grace with works in this thing called salvation, any mixture
of grace with works is not salvation, but damnation. That means, Mark,
most of the people you know and most of the people I know don't
know God. I don't say that with any relish. Oh, God be my witness. I don't
say that with any relish. I don't say that with the least
measure of harshness toward perishing men. Not the least. I say that
with utmost honesty for the sake of your souls and those who hear
this message by whatever means God has ordained. Most people
find their hope before God in something they have done in the
past or are doing in the present. They find their hope before God,
trusting Christ and what they've done, trusting Christ and what
they've experienced, trusting Christ and what they know. Salvation
is trusting Christ. That's all. That's all. Number
three. All who are saved by God's free
grace walk in good works. Yes, we are sinners still. You
don't have to have me remind you of that if you're honest.
Sin is mixed with and mars everything we think and everything we do
so that our very best righteousness. Our very best righteousness. And our best righteousness is
not what we do. It's what we would desire. What
we would desire to do. Our very best thoughts and aspirations
toward righteousness are just filthy rags. Unfit for God's
acceptance. Our very best righteousness is
just sin. Nothing else. And yet those who
are born of God, who know themselves sinners still, who recognize
and acknowledge and confess to God, to one another, and to themselves
that we cannot do anything good, we carefully seek to maintain
those works on earth that glorify God our Savior. And we're motivated
in this, not by law, not by desire for reward, not by fear that
we're going to lose a crown when we get to heaven, but by gratitude
to God for the grace by which we're saved. But what are those
good works? What are they? Does the Word
of God tell us what they are? Churches and religion of every
kind, Papist and Baptist, Buddhist and Methodist, Jewish and Mohammedan,
Presbyterian and Pentecostal have long list. They have long
list of things they tried to compel people to do or not to
do, by which they speak of good works, even works of righteousness. Many people think they're doing
good works for God by living austere lives of strict separation
from the world. Years ago, A fella came to a
Bible conference, I was preaching it up in northern Michigan, and
he came down from way up in Canada, in the backwoods of Canada. And
he described how he lives. He said the nearest neighbor's
over 100 miles away. I mean, he lived way up in the
backwoods. And they had to fix things so
they could have their means of livelihood or means of sustenance,
water and outhouses and such as that. And all this stuff,
very primitive. And I said, why on earth do you want to live
like that? He said, well, I just don't want
my children to be influenced by the world. And spoke of those
things as being good works, godliness, isolating himself, his wife,
his sons, his daughters from everything around them, thinking
somehow this would make them good. They strictly obey certain
self-imposed rules. Folks obey rules of religious
custom and tradition and think they're maintaining good works.
Most people imagine that outward deeds of morality, outward obedience
to the law of God, the outward performance of religious duties,
going to church, reading the Bible, doing things like that,
dressing proper, those are good works, good works. Religious
people. vainly imagine that their good
works are measured by the clothes they wear, what they eat or don't
eat, what they drink or don't drink, whether they attend movies
or don't attend movies, whether they have a television in the
house or don't have a television. And such things very much impress
men. We're all impressed by austerity. We're all impressed by things
that men deny themselves. They impress men, but they're
not what the Bible calls good works. I know they're not. I know they're not. For this
reason, when God speaks about good works, he is talking about
works of faith. Works of faith. The only good
works are works of faith. And only people who trust Christ
can perform good works, spoken of in our text. All who trust
Christ perform those good works. Now, you don't have to be a believer
not to smoke or drink or cuss or chew or run with folks who
do. So I ask again, what are those good works? Does the word
of God tell us? Are we specifically told in this
book what good works are? Well, open the Bible with me.
Let's begin back in the book of Zechariah. Zechariah chapter
12. The Word of God gives us five
specific things. There may be more, but these
are five specific things I found in this book that are works of
faith. Works that only are performed
by believers. Works that are performed by all
believers. Works that are part of the believer's
life every day. These five things, good works
in which believers walk. If you're a believer, these five
things characterize your life. If I'm a believer, these five
things characterize my life. If these things do not characterize
our lives, we are not born of God and taught of God. All right,
number one. Every heaven-born soul, every
saved sinner, everyone who trusts Christ lives in repentance. Repentance is not an isolated
act. Repentance is a state of being. Repentance is how we live. I have repented, I am repenting,
and I shall repent. I repent of my sin, that's what
I am. I repent of my sins, that's the
evil I do. And I repent of my righteousness,
that which I imagine to be good in myself. Repentance with the
believer causes us to come to Christ continually. to confess
our sin to Christ continually, and seek his grace continually. None but believers repent, and
all true believers repent. Look here in Zechariah 12, verse
10. I will pour upon the house of
David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Now that's talking
about God's elect, the Israel of God, the true circumcision. God says, I'll pour on everyone
of my elect the spirit of grace and of supplications. And when
God pours his spirit upon you, when God sprinkles your heart
with the blood of Christ from an evil conscience, as Larry
read to us about just a moment ago, they shall look upon me
whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth
for his only son. Shall be in bitterness for him
as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn turn back to
Psalm 32 Psalm 32 he's well, that's that's the initial Conversion
of a man. That's the initial conversion
of a woman. Yes, and that's the way believers live before God
Look at Psalm 32 verse what? This is David's one of David's
two great penitential Psalms. We'll look at the other one in
a moment Nathan came to David and exposed his sin. And David
said, he said, the man that did this thing, here we put to death. And Nathan said, thou art the
man. And David said, I've sinned against God. And Nathan's next
words to David were, the Lord hath put away thy sins. And David
penned this hymn. Blessed is he. Blessed is he
whose transgression is forgiven. whose sin is covered, atoned
for, lifted up, and taken away. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile,
the man who's honest before God. When I kept silence, my bones
waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and
night thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into
the drought of summer. I acknowledge my sin unto thee,
and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said I will confess my transgressions
unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. What a declaration, thou forgavest
my sin, yes, thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. And then
again in a long pause, stop and meditate on this. Now watch verse
six. For this shall everyone that
is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found. Repentance
is a work of godliness. Repentance is something performed
by those who have been made godly who were once ungodly Repentance
is a work of faith God's people are people who acknowledge their
sin They acknowledge their sin People get offended at your pastor
because I deal candidly, honestly, and forcefully with sin and depravity. Because folks don't like to be
told what they are. Folks don't like to be confronted
with what they are. Folks all imagine they're really
good and not evil. But all who are godly acknowledge
and confess their sins. And they acknowledge and confess
their sin before God. They take their place in the
dust at the throne of grace. And this is what God promises
us in his word. If we confess our sin, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. Now look at the next penitential
psalm, Psalm 51. Here's again a psalm written
by David concerning the matter of Uriah the Hittite. Have mercy
upon me, O God. Now, I went through again today
and marked the pleas David makes, the things he asked for. Have
mercy upon me according to the multitude, according to thy loving
kindness, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. Then he
says, blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin, for I
acknowledge my transgressions. My sin as ever before me against
thee, thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight,
that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear
when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity. In sin did my mother conceive
me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts. In the hidden
part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. And then it takes up
his plea again. Purge me with his sip, and I
shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness,
that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy
face from my sins. Blot out mine iniquities. Over
and over again. He uses all three words describing
sin iniquity transgression sin iniquity transgression sin iniquity
transgression sin iniquity missing the mark transgression knocking
over the fences Seeing the corruption that's in me and it says created
me a clean heart Renew a right. Oh, oh God renew a right spirit
within me cast me not away from thy presence Take not thy Holy
Spirit from me restoring to me the joy of thy salvation uphold
me with thy free spirit then Then when I've experienced your
grace, I'll tell others about it When you call me to have a
fresh knowledge of your grace, I'll tell others about it. Then
will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted
unto thee. Verse 14, deliver me from blood
guiltiness, O God. Thou God of my salvation, and
my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open
thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. All right,
that's the first thing. Faith, which works by love, Causes
God's people to walk before God in repentance ever Turning to
God ever Confessing our sin ever seeking his mercy number two
Turn to first John chapter 3 Every believer every believer
Every heaven-born soul walks in love and Not a sham pretense,
not a showy talk of love, but genuine love for God and His
people. Saving faith is faith which worketh
by love, Paul tells us in Galatians. Believers love the Lord Jesus
Christ. They don't brag about it, but
they do. They don't talk much about it, but they do. They love
Him. We loved him. We love him who first loved us. We love him. That's the true
testimony of every heaven born soul. We love him who first loved
us. If any man loved not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be damned. The Lord's coming. Those are
the words of first Corinthians 1622. Believers love God, love
his word. Love his law and love his ways. It's easy to say, I love the
Lord, and it's easy to sing, oh, how I love Jesus. But the
only way love for Christ can be seen. The only way love for Christ
can be demonstrated is by love for his people. Look at first
John chapter three, verse 16. Hereby perceive we the love of
God. We know God's love for us. because
of Christ's sacrifice, because he laid down his life for us.
And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. If we
love one another, we lay down our lives for the brethren. Our Lord said, you are my witnesses. You are my witnesses. Some weeks ago, some of us were
talking back in the back about Fox's Book of Martyrs. It's not
an easy read. I recommend you read it though.
It's instructive. Martyrs, martyrs are men who
laid down their lives for the cause. Women who laid down their
lives for the cause. Do you know what a witness is
Sammy? The word is martyr. martyr. People who laid down
their lives for the cause of Christ, who lose their lives
to Christ for the cause. Whoso hath this world's good,
and seeth his brother had need, and shutteth up his bowels of
compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? If you
don't lay down your life for the brethren, lay down your life
for the cause so that you live not for self, but for Christ
and his people, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little
children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but
in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are
of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him. And this
brotherly love is demonstrated by very specific deeds of love. Love provides for its object. Cost is insignificant. Cost is
insignificant. I have friends whose children
have gotten themselves in trouble and the trouble was their own
doing, their own doing, just their own mischief, their own
rebellion, their own ungodliness. And in the hope of helping their
terribly, terribly needy sons and daughters, I have friends
who just absolutely bankrupted themselves, just bankrupted themselves,
trying to take care of their son, their daughter, Because
of one thing, that's my boy and I love him. That's my daughter
and I love her. You may sit back because you
don't have those circumstances. Well, he ought to let him take
care of himself. You know how easy that is for me to say? You
know how easy that is for you to say? Oh, but when they're in trouble.
The object of your love and you can help. No cost is too much. Love not only provides for its
object, love protects its object. Love watches out for the one
it loves. Love covers weaknesses, flaws,
and sins. Love does. Love does. Hatred
talks about it. Love covers it. Love covers it. Now, you all I know a good many
of my weaknesses and flaws and sins. I wish you didn't, but
you do. I can't cover them up. But I'll
tell you what I do know. I'll tell you what I do know. I know you don't know any of
them. Nobody in the world knows any of them because she told
it. Nobody. Nobody. Not one person
in this world. I'll guarantee you. Has ever
heard that woman say an evil thing about me? Not one person
in this world. Well, you can't say that for
sure. Yes, I can do. How come? Cause she loves me.
She loves me. I'll tell you what I'll do. You
find me somebody whom she said something evil to me about evil
about me. I'll quit preaching. I'll sit down, quit. I'm sure
of it. I'm sure. How can you say that?
She loves me. She loves me. Hatred. Stir it up stripes. That's the
only thing that does. Hatred. Hatred. You have somebody
come talk to you about markings and I don't mean to. I don't
mean to speak evil about Brother Mark, but it's not called love,
not called love for Christ, not called love for God. It's called
hatred. It's called hatred, pride, ungodliness, hatred, stir it
up stripes, but love cover it. all sins. Love goes in backwards like Shaman
Japheth and covers up Noah's nakedness. Love covers sin. Makes excuses for it. Makes excuses
for it. Well, I can't do that. I wouldn't
be honest. You do for your own. You do for your own. Love covers
sins. Love forgives and forbears excuses. The Apostle says, be you kind
one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another even as
God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. A number of times I've tried to
help folks get over injured pride and they say, well I'll forgive
you if you ask for it. Aren't you glad God didn't wait
for you to ask? forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's
sake, hath forgiven you. Be ye therefore followers of
God, imitators of God as dear children, and walk in love as
Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us an
offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. Number
three, number three. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10, passage
Larry read just a little bit ago. Faith in Christ teaches
the believer to practice submission. I said Hebrews 10. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. Turn to the book of Ephesians chapter five. I got
to hear it myself. Ephesians five faith in Christ
teaches believers to practice submission, submission to Christ
as my Lord. The continual submission of myself
to him. Faith in Christ is walking in
the spirit. And walking in the spirit is
walking in submission to Christ, my Savior. Submission of my will
to his will. Oh, Brother Don, I've still got
a lot of rebellion in me. Me too. Me too. But if I'm God's,
he will graciously, sweetly force me to take the Savior's yoke
upon me and find his yoke easy. Faith in Christ submits my will
to his will. Submits to his word, his doctrine,
his ordinances. No matter how they may rub us
the wrong way, faith bows to the Word of God, His doctrine,
His ordinances, His Word. And this submission to Christ
as my Lord shows itself in a very practical way. Believing children submit to
their parents. Believing wives submit to their
husbands. Now, I won't do that. If you
know God, you will. It's just that simple. It's just
that simple. Believing children submit to their parents. And
in exactly the same way, believing wives submit to their husbands.
And believing men submit to God-ordained authority. Believers submit to
God's servants, obeying them that have the rule over you.
Submission for believers is a way of life. Now, let's look at it
here in Ephesians 5, verse 18. Be not drunk with wine wherein
is excess. A drunk man is a man controlled
by the wine or the liquor he consumes so that he doesn't control
himself. He's under the influence. That's a pleasant way of saying
he's drunk as a skunk. He's under the influence. He's
lost control of himself. But be ye Drunk with the spirit. Filled with the spirit. Oh God,
make me so. Oh God, make me so. What's that
mean? That means speaking in tongues
and waving your hands and rolling your eyes in heaven and trying
to look holy. No. That means speaking to yourselves
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making melody
in your heart to the Lord. That means whistling in the dark,
amazing grace. Brother Frank said in his bulletin
last week, that means we'll be dancing to the tune of amazing
grace, making melody in your heart, giving thanks all way
to God for all things and the Father in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ. But it's something else. Submitting
yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Submitting yourselves. bowing to one another. What difference
does it make? I'm going to prove my point. I wish I could learn to quit
doing that. I'm going to make him know what I'm thinking. I
wish I could learn not to do that. Submitting yourselves one
to another in the fear of God. Fourth, now you turn to Hebrews
10. Believers are people who trust in Christ persevere
in the faith. All believers do, and only believers
do. He that endureth to the end,
the same shall be said. The righteous shall hold on his
way. He that hath clean hands shall
be stronger and stronger. John said concerning those who
had abandoned Christ in the gospel and the worship of God, they
went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they'd been
of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went
out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
Now, look at Hebrews 10, verse 38. The just shall live by faith. But if any man draw back. Just now, I I don't think I'm
gonna go on this way. This requires too much. This
takes too much time, too much effort, too much money, too much
pain. It requires too much. If any man draw back, my soul
shall have no pleasure in him. Now look at verse 39. But we, who's he talking about,
Lindsay? We who believe. We who are born
of God. We who are held by the hands
of God's grace. We are not of them who draw back unto perdition,
but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. The Lord
God said in his covenant promise, I will give them one heart and
one way and they shall not depart from me. What are these good
works which God has before ordained all his election walk in them?
Repentance. Love. submission, perseverance. Believers keep on coming to Christ. To whom coming? To whom coming? To whom coming? Not because we have a stronger constitution
than others. Not because we make better decisions than others.
Not because You have more grace than I have or I have more grace
than you do. We keep coming to Him because
God has fixed it that we can't do otherwise. God has fixed it
that we can't go away. God has fixed it so that we cannot
leave Him. To whom shall we go? To whom
shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And God, the Holy Ghost, dwelling in us, continually,
graciously forces us to keep coming to Christ. Number five,
all believers, all who are born of God, all who are taught of
God, worship Him. We worship Him in spirit and
in truth. We worship Him in the Holy Spirit. We worship Him in our spirits,
in that new man that's in us I spoke to you about this morning.
We worship Him in spirit and we worship Him in truth. That
is, we do sincerely worship Him, our God. Whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. The first time that
word call is used is back in the book of Genesis, when men
began to call upon the name of the Lord. The word means worship,
worship, worship. Not just signing a decision card
saying, I believe in Jesus. Not just repeating a prayer saying,
I believe in Jesus. Not just saying, Lord, save me.
No. Those who are born of God call
on the name of the Lord. They worship God our Savior as
he revealed himself in his son in this book. We are the circumcision. We are the circumcision who worship
God in the spirit and rejoice, boast in, have confidence in,
rely upon Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. No confidence in the flesh. I believe I've had some remarkable
experiences in the grace of God. God radically transformed my
life. Of course, he does that for all
who are born of God. For some it's obvious, for some
it's not. Saul of Tarsus was radically transformed when God
saved him. Lydia, not so much so outwardly. You understand what I'm saying?
Sometimes God's people experience a radical, radical transformation
of their whole lives, inward and outward. And I've had some
marvelous experiences of God's grace. But if you ask me whether
or not I trust Christ, and I say, wait a minute, let me go back
here in the office. I've got a file back there. I
was baptized on this date. I'll show you my baptismal certificate.
I have on a few occasions had folks ask me to give them a baptismal
certificate and word gets around. I'll let them know no and let
them know why no. No, that's foolish. That's foolish. If you
were to ask me, are you alive? Well, wait a minute. I've got
my birth certificate back here in this box. Let me show you
my birth certificate. That's nonsense. That's nonsense. We have no confidence in the
flesh. I know I'm alive because here
I stand breathing right now. And I know I trust Christ because
here I stand. trusting Him right now. Yesterday
doesn't matter. This morning doesn't matter.
An hour ago doesn't matter. I trust Him. I trust Him. I worship Him. All who are born
of God, all believers live in repentance and walk in love. We submit to God and submit to
one another. And you say, well, boy, you sure
don't look like it much. I know, I know it, but we do.
God forces our hand. Aren't you glad he does? God
forces our hand. God's people persevere in faith. They continue in the grace of
God and they worship God. Now turn back to the book of
Mark. I'll wrap this up. Let me give you one example of
these five things. An example with which you're
very familiar. Mark chapter 14. After two days
was the feast of the Passover and of unleavened bread. And
the chief priests and scribes thought how they might take him
by craft and put him to death. But they said, not on the feast
day, lest there be an uproar of the people. They were slick
politicians. And being in Bethany in the house
of Simon the leper, As he said it, there came a woman having
an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard, very precious.
And she break the box and poured it on his head. And there were
some that had indignation within themselves and said, why was
this waste of the ointment made? Do you know who those some were?
Judas led the thing. Judas is one who said, why this
waste? What a wasteful thing to do.
So said all the disciples. They all followed Judas' lead
because we're really impressed with what we see and think to
be good or evil. We're really impressed with those
things. Why this waste? It might have been sold for more
than 300 pence. This is something worth a year's
wages. We could have given this to the poor. That would have
fed a lot of poor people. And they murmured against her.
And Jesus said, let her alone. Why trouble you her? And then
he makes this astounding statement. He never said it anywhere in
his word about anything anybody else ever did. She hath wrought
a good work on me. For the poor you have always
with you, and whensoever you will, you may do them good, but
me you have not always. She hath done what she could. She's come beforehand to anoint
my body for the burying. Verily I say unto you, wheresoever
this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this
also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of
her. She hath done a good work. What is this good work? What
is it? It was a work of faith. She took
her riches and just squandered them all. She just she just threw it all
away. That's how Judas read it. That's
how all her brothers and sisters read it. That's not how the master
read it. Oh, no. Sacrificed what she had
to sacrifice and she did it out of gratitude Unlike all the other
disciples Our Lord told them over and over
and over and over and over again I'm going to be delivered to
the hands of the Gentiles and I'm going to be put to death
I'm going to Jerusalem will be delivered to the hands of Gentiles.
I want to put to death and on the third day I'll rise again,
and they didn't pay any attention Nobody except Mary Magdalene,
this woman, this woman. And she came to anoint her redeemer,
who was about to lay down his life for her out of gratitude
because she loved him. Nobody said do it, and no law
was requiring it. No law except the law deep inside
that woman said, This I can do and say to my redeemer,
I love you. This was a work done just for
Christ. Just for him. Just for him. Oh. Oh, I'd like to do something
just for him. Just for him. What was this good
work, the master said? She hath done what she could. God's created us in Christ Jesus. His workmanship unto good works. Oh, brother Don, I'd sure like
to do something for him. I'm convinced you would. I'm
convinced you would. And I'm convinced if you're God's,
you do. Well, what? What? Do what you
can. Just do what you can. Can't all
be preachers and missionaries. Do what you can. You can't all
do great works that men see and applaud. Do what you can. Do
what God gives you the means, the opportunity, the ability,
and the desire to do. And the Master says, you've wrought
a good work on me. You did what you could. Which
means you come to Him in repentance. You walk before Him in love.
You submit yourself to Him. You worship Him. And you keep
on doing so until you see him in glory. We were singing that
hymn, Be Thou My Vision, right before I preached. I remember
the first time I heard Brother Bill Clark sing the hymn. It's
an Irish hymn. And Bill was a, not many folks
knew it. I didn't know it until the time
I heard him sing. Bill was a great Irish tenor. And oh, he sang
that hymn. While we were singing it, I thought
I could almost hear him now. Do what you can. Filled in your soul with Christ
the Lord for his glory. Amen.