Good morning. Let's open this
morning's service with hymn number 42 from your Softback Spiral
Hymns hymn book. Number 42, and let's all stand
together. ? Let us praise the name of Jesus ?
? Prophet, priest, and sovereign king ? ? To him render adoration
? ? Honor and homage to him bring ? Let us praise the name of Jesus,
God incarnate from above, came to save his chosen people, sent
by God in covenant love. Let us praise the name of Jesus,
who upon Mount Calvary shed his blood and sealed our garden,
died for sin to set us free. Let us praise the name of Jesus,
risen, conquering, gracious Friend, Advocate and Mediator, all our
hopes on Him depend. ? Let us praise the name of Jesus
? ? For he brought us to his home ? ? Come exalt his name
and worship ? ? May the Savior be exposed ? ? Let us praise
the name of Jesus ? ? Till we see Him face to face ? ? And
throughout the endless ages ? ? Praise Him for His love and grace ?
Please be seated. Good morning. Our hope this morning is that
the Lord will send His Spirit in power and enable us to do
what we just sang, praise our Lord, extol Him. If that happens, then we'll be
blessed and He'll be glorified. I ask you if you will turn with
me in your Bibles to Ephesians Chapter 2. Ephesians Chapter 2. Let's go to the Lord and ask
his blessings on our time together. Our merciful, gracious Heavenly
Father. We thank you that you have brought
us here to this place provided for us an opportunity for worship,
put into our hearts a desire to come together, to fellowship
in the spirit and to worship you. Lord, we are completely
dependent upon you. If we're to worship, you'll have
to work in our hearts and cause us, Lord, to rejoice in Christ
and find our rest and our hope in his glorious person and in
his finished work. We pray that you would send your
spirit and power, that you would enlighten the eyes of our understanding.
We pray that you would make our hearts willing, Lord, and that
this would be the day of your power when we would find ourselves
bowing and submitting to all that you've said and done, resting
and rejoicing in Christ. For it's in his name we pray,
amen. You have your Bibles open with
me to Ephesians chapter two. I've titled this message, Good
Works. good works. I fear that some
who are looking to their works for the cause or for the evidence
of their salvation will, as a result of this message, be reinforced
in their false hope. And I also fear that some may
think that I'm compromising free grace and flirting with a works
gospel. I pray the Lord will enable us
to believe all that he has said. And I'm so very thankful that
I don't have to answer to men. I have a duty before God to not
shun the whole counsel of God's word. And. I have one judge. And I. Hope and pray that he
will find me faithful. To declare unto you the whole
counsel of God. And so we're going to spend a
few moments this morning looking at what the Lord says about good
works Ephesians chapter two, you're very familiar with this
passage. For by grace are you saved through faith, not yourself. It is a gift of God, not of works. What is the difference between
Paul in the book of Hebrews speaks of dead works. In Hebrews chapter
six, verse one, the scripture says that we're not to lay again
the foundation of repentance from dead works. It's clear,
it's clear from scripture that we're not saved by works. For by grace are you saved. Our
works have absolutely nothing to do with our salvation. Men go about trying to establish
their own righteousness by their good works. And the Lord calls
good works, dead works. Those works that men trust him
for their salvation, he calls them dead works. In another place, the Lord said,
not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according
to his mercy, he has saved us. There's nothing that we can do
to obligate God to save us, and there's nothing we can do to
make up for our sins. The shed blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the only thing sufficient as a covering for our sins before
a holy God. And the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ is the only thing sufficient to make us acceptable
in his sight. We look to Christ, we look to
his doing and his dying for all the hope of our salvation. Now that having been said, the
Lord has given us in his word a lot of instructions and admonitions
and encouragements when it comes to good works. Romans chapter 11, verse five
says, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. If the Lord doesn't elect us
according to his grace and make us part of his remnant, there
will be no salvation for he goes on to say that it is no more
of works, otherwise grace is not grace. You cannot mix grace
and works, but if it be of works, then it is no more of grace.
Otherwise works is not works. You cannot mix works and grace
when it comes to salvation. Now that's all I'm going to say
about that because we're not going to labor again in laying
the foundation. dead works. We know that our
works, if we're looking to them as the cause or as the evidence
of our salvation. Now I'm not saying that good
works are not evidence of salvation. They are. But as soon as we start
looking to our works as the evidence of salvation, then we're not
looking to Christ. Good works, give to God all the
glory. Turn with me to Acts chapter
14. Acts chapter 14. Look at verse 27. And when they were
come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all
that God had done with them and how he opened the door of faith
unto the Gentiles. They gave to God all the glory
for what he had done through their preaching. Turn with me,
look over in chapter 15 at verse four. And when they were come
to Jerusalem, they were received of the church and of the apostles
and elders. And they declared all things
that God had done with them. Works come from grace. Turn with
me to second Corinthians chapter nine. We're going to be looking
at several passages of scripture. So move with me if you will. Second Corinthians chapter nine. Look with me at verse eight and
God is able, God is able to make all grace abound toward you that
you always having all sufficiency and all things may abound in
every good work. The rest of that passage in Ephesians
chapter two, you know, verse 10 says, and we are his workmanship
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which he hath ordained
that we should walk in them. So we're not saved by works,
but in being found in Christ. The Lord has ordained that we
walk in good works and God's people give to him all the glory
of whatever he does through the works that he causes us to have. He works in us, the scripture
says, causing us to will and to do after his good pleasure. So these These admonitions in
his word for good works come from grace and they result in
giving to him all the credit, all the glory, and all the praise. Turn to me to Luke chapter 17.
Luke chapter 17. I'm encouraged when I look at you, my brethren, and I see
the grace of God at work in your hearts and in your lives desiring
to honor Him with what you do. And I hope that that's mutual. But as soon as any of us begin
looking to ourselves, Yeah, I can't look to anything that I do and
find any encouragement for my salvation. I really can't. You remember the parable the
Lord told about dividing the sheep from the goats and in the
day of judgment and that he would say to the goats on his left
hand, I was hungry and you did not feed me. I was naked and
you did not clothe me. I was in prison and you did not
visit me. I was a stranger and you did not take me in. And one
of the goats say, Lord, when did we see you that way and not
do that for you? We've been doing good works all
our lives. And the Lord responds to them
by saying, depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I never
knew you. So there are some who are going
about trying to establish their own righteousness and they're
looking to themselves and to the evidences of their salvation
for the hope of their salvation. And then the Lord turns to the
sheep and he says the same things to the sheep. I was hungry, you
fed me. I was naked, you clothed me.
I was a stranger, you took me in. I was in prison, you visited
me. And we know that the real application of that is the ministry
of the gospel to the souls of men who are naked before God
and need a clothing of righteousness given to them only by Christ. That the unbeliever lives in
a land that is famished. in the hearing of the word of
God, there's no bread and the preaching of the gospel gives
them sustenance for life. That men by nature are in prison
of their own sin and unable to believe on God until the preaching
of the gospel comes about to deliver them from that bondage
and that they are strangers from God and the preaching of the
gospel brings them in and adopts them into the family of God.
So the primary good work is the prayer and the preaching and
the preparation and the support and the encouragement and the
witnessing of the gospel. And what did the believers say
when the Lord, Lord, when did we see you that way and do that
for you? We don't, we didn't, we didn't
acknowledge anything that we've done. And the Lord said in that
you did it to the least of these, my brethren, you've done it unto
me. You are my workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works that you should walk in them. Now I've asked you to open your
Bibles to Luke chapter 17. Look at verse seven. Look at verse seven. But which
of you having a servant plowing or feeding cattle will say unto
him by and by when he has come in from the field, go and sit
down to meet. Now a servant here is a slave.
It's hard for us to enter into this, but you've got a slave,
he's working out in the field, you're the master, he comes in
from a hard day's work, and you say to him, sit down and take
care of yourself first. And will not rather you saying
to him, make ready wherewith I may sup and gird myself and
serve me till I have eaten and drunken and afterwards thou shalt
eat and drink? Oh, you wouldn't say to the servant,
take care of your own needs, and then you can take care of
mine. No, you say to the servant, you provide for me, and when
you're finished, then you can take care of your own needs.
So likewise you, when you have done all these things which are
commanded you, say, I'm sorry, I skipped a verse, didn't I?
Look at verse nine. Nothing think, that servant because
he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. Does the master thank the servant
because he's done the things that he was commanded to do?
So likewise ye, when you have done all those things which are
commanded, you say, You say, we are unprofitable servants. Now the word unprofitable there
means useless or worthless. That's what it means. And so
the Lord's using this analogy to say to us that when we serve
God, when we do the things that we do, that he moves in our hearts
to do, The response that we have to ourselves is, we're just useless
servants. The master could get a lot better
servant than me anytime he wants to. Do you believe that about
yourself? That God could replace you with
something so much better anytime he wanted to. That's what every
child of God believes. You see, we're not looking. We
say of ourselves, we are but unprofitable, useless, worthless
servants. We have done that which was our
duty to do. We don't glory in anything we
do for God. What did the disciples do? They
gloried in what God had done through them. Now that's the
evidence of good works. Dead works, on the other hand,
are men who glory in what they do in hopes that they're going
to earn favor with God. That's the difference. I can't share the gospel with
a religious person hardly ever without them bringing up James
chapter two. Faith without works is dead. When you declare the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ for all of our salvation, their
immediate response is, yeah, but what about good works? And without exception, the person
who asked that question is asking it because they are looking to
their good works. for either the cause or for the
evidence of their salvation. They do not believe themselves
to be worthless servants. They do not believe themselves
to be unprofitable servants. And they're taking that passage
of scripture from James chapter two. And they're saying, yeah,
I agree with what you're saying, but faith without works is dead.
And it is. It is. Faith will produce good
works by the grace of God and to the glory of God. And someone
who says, well, I believe, but I've got no interest in, I, you
meet people all the time. I've got no interest in the things
that have been in the church. I can be a, I can be a believer
out here by myself. I don't have to be a part of
any of that. And, It's antinomianism, it's
lawlessness before God. And what the Lord is telling
us in James chapter two is that kind of faith is not saving faith.
You're not saving faith. Turn to me to Titus chapter one. Titus chapter one. If we're to preach the whole
counsel of God's word, the Lord tells us here in this passage
of scripture that we are to be zealous for good works. We're to be zealous for the gospel.
We're to be zealous for Christ. We're to be zealous for the needs
of our brethren. You remember the woman who broke
open the alabaster jar and anointed the Lord just before his crucifixion. And the disciples began to complain
about the waste. And the Lord said to them, leave
her alone. By the way, this woman is nameless. We don't know who she is. She
anointed the Lord. And the Lord said of her, she
hath done a good work unto me, and what she has done will be
a memorial unto her as long as this gospel is being preached
throughout all the world. And so she has this memorial
of anointing the Lord, but we don't know who she is. What kind
of memorial is there without a name? You see, it's not a memorial
before men. It's not a memorial before men,
it's a memorial before God. That's who memorials to. That's
who we're serving to please. Do what you do as unto the Lord,
not as unto men. You have your Bibles open to
Titus chapter one. Look at verse 16. Speaking of those false prophets and those antinomians,
he says, they profess that they know God, but in works they deny
him. They're not supporting the gospel.
They're not a part of the gospel church. They're not. Being abominable and disobedient
and unto every good work reprobate. But speak thou the things which
become sound doctrine, that the aged men be sober, grave, temperate,
sound in faith and charity and patience, the aged women likewise,
that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers,
not giving too much wine, teachers of good things, that they may
teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love
their children, to be discreet and chaste, keepers at home,
good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Young men likewise exhort to
be sober-minded, in all things showing thyselves a pattern of
good works, in doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity,
sound speech that cannot be condemned, that he that is of the contrary
part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. Exhort
servants to be obedient unto their masters and to please them
well in all things, not answering again, not purloning, but showing
all good fidelity that they may adorn the doctrine of God our
Savior in all things. For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men. teaching us that denying
ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously,
and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us
from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people
zealous of good works. See, when the child of God reads
this passage of scripture, he says, Lord, that's what I want.
That's what I wanna be. I wanna be like that. Lord, would you work in my heart
and enable me to have these kinds of works in my life? And they
have a zealous desire to honor God with their lives. Verse 15, I know there's some,
I'm gonna get some, comments and emails from people say, well,
you know, you're flirting with the works gospel. No, I'm not,
I'm reading scripture. I told you, recently we had a
sister that was sharing the gospel with somebody and she was listening
to a preacher read the Bible. And the person she was trying
to get to listen to the gospel said in response to that, yeah,
that's his opinion. No, it's not his opinion, he's
reading God's word. These things speak and exhort
and rebuke with all authority and let no man despise thee.
That's why I'm so thankful I don't have to answer to men. I have
to answer to God. The Lord's told us these are
the things that we're to exhort your brethren to good works. Remind them of what the Lord
has done for them. Remind them of They're being
zealous unto good works. Look at the next verse, Titus
chapter three, verse one. Put them in mind to be subject
to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready
to every good work. Submit to authority. That's why
it's so important for us to teach our children respect for authority.
They don't learn respect for authority, they'll never bow
to God. And they'll find themselves in opposition. One thing that's
pretty consistent, if you go into the prisons, is that pretty
much every person there has never learned to submit to authority. That's the Lord saying, submit
to magistrates. Now, we don't know what's gonna
happen in November, but whatever happens, it'll be the Lord. It'll
be the Lord, whatever happens. And God give us the grace to
submit to that, whatever he chooses to do. Turn to me, back a page or two
to Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter two. Second Timothy chapter two. Verse 21. If a man therefore purge himself
from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet
for the master's use and prepared unto every good work. Prior to
that, the Lord has told us about the things that were to shun,
the things that were to avoid. And the Lord says, if a man will
do this, we do it to be by God's grace. And again, we're not going
to be, we're not going to be looking to ourselves as the act
being the evidence of salvation, but it'll, it'll be to glorify
God and to the encouragement of our brother. Scripture says
we're to seek to do good unto all men, especially them that
are of the household of faith. There's a good work. When Dorcas
or Tabitha died and they called Peter there, the disciples all
got together and showed, I mean, her friends all got together
and showed the disciples the things that she had done. Look,
she's a woman. And the scripture says she was full of good works,
providing for the needs of the church. Turn to me. over to Colossians. Colossians chapter one. Verse 10 that you might walk
worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being faithful in every good
work and increasing in the knowledge of God. You see, this thing of good works
is we're not saved by works. We're not going to lay that foundation.
You know that. And we're not even to look to
our own works as the evidence of our salvation. If you look
to works either as the cause or the evidence of your salvation,
you're not looking to Christ. Now, does that eliminate the
place for good works? The zeal that we're to have for
good works? The separation from the things of this world that
we're to have for the glory of God? No, it doesn't. The scriptures
are full. Let me show you another one.
Turn with me to Titus, back to Titus again. Chapter three. Verse eight. Titus chapter three,
verse eight. This is a faithful saying. And we often quote that passage
in Timothy where Paul said, this is a faithful saying and worthy
of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief. Well, here's another faithful
saying. These faithful sayings were sayings
that all the church had memorized. There were summary statements
is what they were. Summary statements. And everybody
knew what they were. This is a faithful saying, and
these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they
which have believed in God may be careful to maintain good works. These are good and profitable
unto men. They're not going to increase
your righteousness, but they're going to be good and profitable
unto other men. And the Lord's admonishing us
to maintain these good works. Because you're not saved by works,
don't eliminate. Those are dead works. Look at
verse 14 in the same passage. And let ours also learn to maintain
good works for necessary uses, that they
may not be unfruitful, unfruitful. The Lord makes his children fruitful,
doesn't he? He prunes them. He waters them
with his word. That's what we're hoping right
now. If something's gonna grow, it's gotta be watered, doesn't
it? If it's gonna be fruitful, it's gotta be watered. Everything's
very lush right now because of all the rain we've gotten recently.
And pray that the Lord will open the windows of heaven and wash
our hearts with the water of his word and cause us to grow
and to be fruitful, to be fruitful. That's why we're looking to these
passages that the Lord would bear more fruit. And as he said,
their fruit will remain. It will remain. Look at, um, look at second Timothy chapter
three. Second Timothy chapter three. I need to hear these things,
don't you? Don't you need to hear these things? Doesn't it
want you? Doesn't it make you want to say, you know, Lord,
I want to maintain good works. I want to be zealous for good
works. I want to be like that, that, that older brother or older
sister or young man or young woman that you just spoke about.
That's what I want. Second Timothy chapter three,
verse 16. We often quote this passage,
all scripture is given by inspiration of God. All scripture, every
word of it. We don't pick and choose what
we like, what we don't like. We believe all the Bible is the
word of God. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God and all scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction. for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
The means by which God moves our hearts and works in us, causing
us to will and to do of his good pleasure is his word. It's his
word. That's why we spend so much time
in his word. We believe that the word of God
is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, and
it's able to divide, and it's a discerner. It's a discerner
of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
10. There's a lot of, a lot of God's word
speaks about having good works. Hebrews chapter 10. Verse 22, let us draw near with
a true heart in full assurance of faith. How are we going to
get full assurance of faith? Are we going to look to our works
to get assurance? Can you look to your works and
get any assurance of your faith? When you look to what you might
do, you think, I'm just an unprofitable servant. I could be replaced
anytime. I'm useless. I'm useless. Well, we don't get assurance
of faith by our works. Let us draw near with a true
heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Now,
what is the sprinkling a picture of? You remember in the Old Testament
when the priest would take the hyssop and put it into the basin
of blood and sprinkle? We've been sprinkled with the
blood of Christ. That's where our assurance of
faith comes. And we've been washed with the water of his word. That's
where our assurance of faith comes. Our assurance of faith
comes in believing what God has said and looking in faith to
the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ for the putting
away of all of our sins. There's where our assurance of
faith comes from. Faith is the substance of things hoped for.
It is the evidence of things not seen. There's a little article
in your bulletin this morning I would encourage you to read
about faith. Because faith is not believing
that you're saved. Faith is believing that Jesus
is the Christ, the son of the living God, the only sovereign,
successful substitute and savior for sinners. And that your only
hope to stand in the presence of a holy God is to be found
in him. Not having your own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that righteousness, which is by the
faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. Assurance of salvation is relative,
isn't it? It comes and goes. But faith
always believes who Christ is and what he did. Whether or not
it's able to believe that it was for them, it never wavers. never wavers in terms of believing
who the Lord Jesus Christ and what he successfully did to save
his people. That's what faith is. I love that statement. I think maybe Charles Spurgeon
once said it, but he said, when I look to Christ, the dove of
peace flies into my heart. And when I look to the dove of
peace, he flies Isn't that your experience? As soon as you start
looking for some evidences of salvation in yourself, all of
a sudden you lose assurance. Verse 23, let us hold fast the
profession of our faith without wavering for he is faithful that
promised. Abraham wavered not at the promises
of God. He was fully persuaded, fully
persuaded that what God had promised he was also able to perform.
You persuaded of that? I'm not asking you, are you fully
persuaded all the time that he did it for you? No. But are you
fully persuaded that what he promised, he performed? That's
faith. And let us, here's what I wanted
to get to. Look at verse 24. And let us
consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works.
How do we provoke one another unto love and good works? By loving and doing good works. That's how. What encourages you
more to love someone than when they love you? What encourages
you to want more to reciprocate good works than when someone
does something for you? And so the Lord says, provoke
one another to love and to good works by loving and doing good
works for one another. Zealous for good works. Maintaining
good works. Let's don't throw the baby out
with the bathwater. Hey, we're not saved by works. Turn with
me to 1 Timothy chapter 6 and we'll close here. 1 Timothy chapter
6. You know, if we didn't have the whole
counsel of God's Word, we wouldn't. You ever have a caricature made
of yourself? Go to the fair or something,
there's an artist there and they'll take some feature of your face
and they'll accentuate it and distort your image by making
one part of your face out of sorts with the rest of it. We
run the danger of caricaturing God if we don't take heed to
the whole counsel of God, don't we? We don't wanna do that. 1 Timothy 6. Look at verse 17. Charge them
that are rich in this world. That pretty much includes all
of us. We live in our little microcosm
of life, but when we compare our lives to the lives of the
people, Tricia rode out a hurricane in
Pensacola this week, and people were worried about her. And I
was concerned. I wasn't there with her. But she said, it was
an inconvenience. It was an inconvenience. You
compare what we go through to the things that men have gone
through in this world, it's just, we're rich in this world. Charge
them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded
nor trust in uncertain riches. You have some material wealth,
don't trust in that. Don't be high-minded thinking
you're better. That's what the unbeliever does. But in the living God who giveth
us richly all things to enjoy. that they do good and that they'd
be rich in good works, ready to distribute and willing to
communicate. There's another reference to
good works. In other words, everything we have belongs to God. We brought nothing into this
world. It's certain that we're not going to take anything out
of it. May God give us the desire and the grace and willingness
to use the things that already belong to him for his glory.
That's what the Lord say. Good works. Good works. May the Lord grow us in his grace
and the knowledge of Christ, increase in our hearts, the desire
and the zeal, the encouragement to one another for good works.
Amen. All right, let's do it.