2 Thessalonians 2.17, and we'll
read verse 16 with it. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself
and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given
us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort
your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. Now these two are inseparable.
We spoke last time of God, and notice that it's the Lord Jesus
Christ himself, even God, our Father, that does this. He comforts us and he establishes
us. He sets our feet on a rock in this regard, in every good word and work. Now, you can't be truly established
in Every good word, the word of truth, unless you are a doer
of the word. To be a hearer only of the word
and not a doer is not established in the word. You haven't understood
it. You haven't heard it. You haven't been given faith
by the Lord to believe it. The good news when believed is
always associated with good works. It's not your response. It's
not your part of salvation. It's what God does. We'll see
that clearly in the scripture. He does both together. He doesn't do one or the other.
That's why they're mentioned together. That's why they go
together all through the scripture. Every good word and work. Be
ye doers of the word and not hearers only. The good news always is associated
with good works. The faith that God gives to a
sinner is faith that worketh. And I want us to see that in
Galatians 5, because it's very clear what faith does and does
not do. Galatians 5, 1 through 6, talking about being established
in every good work. Stand fast, therefore, it kind
of sounds like being established, doesn't it? Stand fast, we're
encouraged and exhorted to do that, but it's Christ himself
that gives us the grace to do that, as our text says. But stand
fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us
free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Now
that's the gospel. It's the gospel of freedom. It's
the gospel of Christ setting a sinner free from the bondage
of the law. Good works. We're set free from
good works as a righteousness before God, as a basis upon which
to have acceptance with God. But let's go on. Don't be entangled
with that yoke of the bondage of the law. Behold, I, Paul,
say unto you that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
And everywhere in the scripture where circumcision is mentioned,
it represents the keeping of the law, the ordinances of God,
the first way that a sinner had any right to be circumcised.
confrontation of the law of God, or the law of God was applied
to any sinner, was on the eighth day after they were born, they're
circumcised according to the law of God. And if you do that,
for the reason given in a minute, Christ shall profit you nothing.
Look at verse three, for I testify again unto you, every man that
is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. If you do
any part of the law for the reason of acceptance with God because
of what you do, I'm gonna live the Christian life, so I go to
heaven with that. Christ shall profit you nothing.
You're a debtor to do the whole law, and you can't do it. In
fact, you can't do any of it. You can be physically circumcised
in an outward sense and not even come close to touching the true
meaning of spiritual circumcision. having the heart of flesh cut
away and given a spiritual nature. Look, verse four, he makes it
even clearer. Christ has become of no effect
unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law. You do
that, you keep the ordinances, you obey the law in order to
be justified before God. You're on a footing of law. You've
fallen from a footing of grace. You're not in a place of favor with God. You're in a place where Christ
profits you nothing, and there is no profit for you in heaven,
earth, or hell if Christ profits you nothing. For we through the Spirit, verse
five, wait for the hope of righteousness By faith, we hope for righteousness,
not by the law, but by believing on Christ. In other words, looking
to him for our law-keeping, looking to his faithfulness as our righteousness. Verse six, for in Jesus Christ,
neither circumcision, law-keeping availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
but faith which worketh." Wait a minute, he just said, we're
free from working. We're free from working as a
means of acceptance with God. We're free from good works in
the sense of righteousness before God. Nothing we do is pleasing
in the sight of God. Nothing is perfect. Nothing meets
his high infinite standard of righteousness that we do. But
how can we be righteous before God then? Are we all going to
hell? Well, if God gives you faith in his son, and you call him the Lord my
righteousness, and believe that, know that,
that your only righteousness before God is Christ, then you
are righteous in the sight of God, in Christ, and you work. You see that faith worketh, But any work without faith, any
work that doesn't look to Christ for righteousness, any work that
you do that looks to self for acceptance with God, you're a
goner. But when God gives you faith,
that faith works. It wants to please God. It says
with Paul, I delight in the law of God after the inward man. Now let me make a statement.
And I want you to consider whether or not this statement is true.
Think about this. Consider whether this statement
is true. Glad y'all are here. All right, here it is, true or
false. Works have nothing to do with your salvation. Works have nothing to do with
your salvation. That might be a trick question,
so don't fall for it. That statement's false, but hear
me out. And I think by asking that question
and another one, it'll clarify what we're dealing with from
the word of God this morning. That statement's false. Works
have nothing to do with your salvation. Well, here's a true
statement. Works have nothing to do with
your righteousness, your relationship with God. That's a true one. Was the first statement false?
Ephesians two, verse one. If you'd turn there with me,
please. Ephesians two, one. Why is it not true? And I don't
mean it's not true in a sense, it's just not true. Works have
nothing to do with your salvation. Why is that a false statement?
And you have he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. He brought you back to life.
You don't do that on your own. Lazarus ain't coming out unless
the Lord of glory says, come out, come forth. Wherein in time
past you walked according to the course of this world, According
to the prince of the power of the air, all you free willers,
you're captive by Satan at his will, the scripture says. You're
at his will, not yours. The spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our
conduct in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, by nature there's
no difference. We were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others, just like everybody else, equal with others. But God, God
did something about it. Not but I made a decision for
Jesus, it's not I, it's but God, but God, who is rich in mercy. Bless his holy name, he's rich
in mercy. "'cause we're goners just like
everybody else, "'without his mercy. "'For his great love wherewith
he loved us. "'Even when we were dead in sins,
"'hath quickened us together with Christ, "'by grace you are
saved. "'And hath 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. We've got nothing to boast of.
God made us alive when we were dead, and not just dead victims,
dead in trespasses and sins. Willfully, obstinately, rebelliously,
hopelessly, helplessly dead and deserved every bit of it. Not of works, for we're his workmanship. Is that salvation? We're his
workmanship. He raised us from the dead, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. That's part of salvation. It's
not your response to salvation. It's not your part in salvation.
It's Him saving you. Created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them. Do works have something to do with your salvation? I
believe it says that, don't you? It's just not, it's a question
of cause and effect. Nothing in you or about you that
you do, say or think is the cause of God saving you. But the cause
of good works is Him saving you. All right, good works are God's
work. You see that there? Good works in us are God's work. You do them, but you do them
because God did something in you. God doesn't grow, flowers
grow. But why do flowers grow? It's not complicated, is it?
It's simple cause and effect. False freewill religion preaches
that something a sinner does causes God to save them. Very
simple. If you will, God will. That's
exactly, I've heard those very words come out of their mouths
many, many times. And now you. If you will, God will. You do
something, God will do something. True gospel preachers preach,
according to the plain word of God, that any good work we ever
do is because God saved us. It's the effect of His grace,
the result of His work for us and in us. And it's only called
a good work in Christ. It still ain't good, except in
Christ. It's a work of faith in Him.
Even the works which we do, which are called good works, are full
of sin. All of them, every one of them.
We're not ever gonna do anything good. Not in this flesh. In my flesh, Paul said, dwelleth
no good thing. We're all full of sin. Our works
are full of sin. And we're only good in Christ.
And our works are only good in Christ. Just like we are accepted
in the beloved, our works are accepted in the beloved. Even
though they're full of false motives, they're full of pride,
we do them desiring to be seen of men, they fall short of his
glory, full of unbelief, full of selfishness, and yet in Christ,
God accepts our works of faith and calls them good. What is a good work then? What
is a good work? Well, very simply and plainly
revealed in scripture. Let's just see what God said
about it. We already defined it in great part when we quoted
Galatians 5. It's a work of faith. It's a
work of God in us. And that's the great part of
the definition of it, but it's faith which worketh So good works
are works of faith, Hebrews 11, four. Start with me over there,
if you would. Hebrews 11, four. I want to be established in every
good work, don't you? We need to know what a good work
is and how that happens, lest we boast. Hebrews 11, four, by faith Abel
offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which
he obtained witness that he was righteous. God testifying of
his gifts, and by it he being dead yet speaketh. By faith Enoch
was translated that he should not see death and was not found
because God had translated him. For before his translation he
had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith, it is
impossible to please God. And that's not the power of positive
thinking that passes for faith in religion. That's looking to
Christ. Without looking to Christ and
trusting Him as your righteousness, you can't please God because
Christ is your only righteousness if you have Him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently
seek him. God has given us examples of
good works in the scripture that define what they are. Mark 14,
let's turn to some scripture. Mark chapter 14, verse three. And being in Bethany, the house
of Simon the leper, as the Lord sat at meat, 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? For it might have been sold for
more than 300 pence and had been given to the poor. And they murmured
against her and Jesus said, let her alone. Why trouble ye her? She hath wrought a good work
on me. What's a good work? Two words,
on me. If you're not doing it for his
glory, for his sake, in his name, don't do it. Don't do it. A good work on me. For ye have
the poor with you always, and whensoever you will, You may
do good to them, but you have not me always. She hath done
what she could. Does that define what a good
work is too? There's a whole lot that I can't do, but by God's
grace, there's some things we can do. We can't do anything
without him, but with him we can, can't we? She did what she could. What else would she give to the
master but the one thing that she had that was precious? And
of course, what's precious to him is the heart that gave it.
I don't know why the heart of a
worm would be precious to the son of God, but it is. It is. She has come before him to anoint
my body "'to the bearing, and 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.'" Let's remember what a fine woman she was. Now, what
do you remember about her? The Lord was worth it all to
her. How about you? The Lord was more
precious than everything. Everything. She sold all she
had and bought that pearl. A great price. That's worth remembering. Acts chapter nine, we're gonna
read some scripture and then I'm gonna be very brief. Acts
chapter nine, verse 36. Acts 9, 36. Now there was at Joppa a certain
disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas.
This woman was full of good works and alms deeds, which she did. And it came to pass in those
days that she was sick and died, whom when they had washed, they
laid her in an upper chamber. And for as much as Lydda was
nigh to Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there,
they sent unto him two men desiring him that he would not delay to
come to them, Then Peter arose and went with him, and when he
was come, they brought him into the upper chamber, and all the
widows stood by him, weeping, and showing the coats and garments
which Dorcas made while she was with them." Can't you just picture
that? But Peter put them all forth
and kneeled down, prayed, turning him to the body, said, Tabitha,
arise. and she opened her eyes, and
when she saw Peter, she sat up, and he gave her his hand and
lifted her up, and when he had called the saints and the widows,
presented her alive, she was full of good works. What'd she
do? Just a simple thing, just little
acts of love to the Lord's people. She didn't set the world on fire. She just simply loved God's people
because she loved God. That's what it is. That's a good
work. That's a good work. Mark 25, let's look at Matthew
25. I'm sorry, Matthew 25, 31. when the son of man shall come
in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then shall he
sit upon the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered
all nations, and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd
divides his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, but the goats on the left. And then shall the
king say unto them on his right hand, come you blessed of my
father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. For I was hungry and you gave me meat. So simple. Such a small thing, it seems.
But not to the Lord. Not to the Lord. I was hungry and you gave me
meat. I was thirsty and you gave me
drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. Naked and you clothed
me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came
unto me. I couldn't help but think where
it says I was sick and you visited me. I was the sickest I've ever
been in my life. Somebody that loved me brought
me my favorite food in the world. And I'll never forget it. I was a stranger and you took
me in. I was in prison and you came
unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when did we ever do anything
like that? The Lord's sheep don't sit around
thinking, you know, well, I've done my good deeds for the day,
you know. Lord, when? When you did it to one of the
least of these, my brethren, you did it to me. That's what our Lord calls good
work. Simple, it's simple. It's so simple. It's something
that any one of us could do on any day. And what it shows, God doesn't
save people because of that. People do that because God saved
them. That's what he's saying, my sheep. Like he asked Simon, do you love
me? Do you love me? Then do something for me. Is
that clear enough? Do something for me. It's part
of salvation. It's not part of salvation in
that your works contribute to salvation. It's part of what
God did for us. May He establish you in every
good work. And good works are just simple.
It's an act of love. Now, if you're doing it because
it's a good work, it's not a good work. I'm gonna show you that
in a minute. Turn with me to Luke 7, 36. Let's just look at that right now. Luke 7, 36. Behold, a woman in the city,
which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in
the Pharisees' house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,
and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash
his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her
head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. And now when the Pharisee which
had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet,
would have known who and what manner of woman this is that
toucheth him, for she is a sinner.' And Jesus answering, said unto
him, Simon, I have some what to say unto thee, and he saith,
Master, say on. There was a certain creditor
which had two debtors, and the one owed 500 pence, and the other
50. And when they had nothing to
pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which
of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose
that he to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, thou hast
rightly judged. And he turned to the woman and
said unto Simon, seest thou this woman? I entered into thy house
and thou gavest me no water for my feet, but she hath washed
my feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
And our Lord is saying, you didn't do that because you don't love
me. You don't love me. You just had me here because
I've worked some miracles and you want to be able to name drop
or have your flesh impressed in some way. That's the only
reason I'm here. You don't love me. If you cared
anything about me, you'd have respect. You'd condescend to
wash my feet. There's no water. But she hath
washed my feet with tears. That's love. That's what our
savior's calling it. Who loves the most? Who's the
one that loves the master? Wipe them with the hairs of her
head. You didn't give me a kiss. But this woman, since the time
I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. Can you imagine? My head with oil thou didst not
anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore
I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven. For she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven,
the same loveth little. And he said unto her, thy sins
are forgiven. Now look at verse 47 again now. You might read that and say, her sins which are many are forgiven
because she loved much. Is that what that's saying? No, what that's saying is you
can see that her sins are forgiven because she loves much. You can
see that. You can see that. How do you
know that, Chris? Are you just kind of, you know,
is that leaning to your own understanding? No, in the story our Lord told,
did the love come first or the forgiveness? That's our text. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
has done for us what we could never do for ourselves. And may
he establish us in every good word and every good work. There are many other places in
the scripture we could turn to, and you know that. But notice
that these are simple things. Oh, they're all simple things.
She did what she could. What can I do? What can I do? What can you do? Sometimes we don't know what
to do. May the Lord teach us what to do and give us a heart
of love to do it with all of our hearts. Consider how wonderful
it is to think that when we do something like this, the cause
and effect of it is divine. The cause of it is divine. And
the effect of it is divine. It's not limited to our little
act of kindness. It's not only we who are working.
But God is using that. God is bringing to pass the good
effects of that. And they can spread far and wide. The little lad in John 6 only
had five loaves and two fishes. But look what the Lord did with
that. Look what he did with that. Who's
going to say, you know, what a great work that was. He gave
his little fish and bread. No, look what the Lord did. That's
what we're going to say. And who was it that gave him
the five loaves and the two fish to begin with? You see what this is? It was really God doing something
for him, and that's always how it is, publicly worshiping our
God today. I can say from the word of God,
if you're here to honor Christ and to learn of him this morning,
that's a good work. That's a good work. There's no
question about that. Not that your doing of it is
perfect or without sin, that's far from the truth. But it's
a good work if you're looking to Christ. and you're looking
to honor Him and learn of Him and rejoice in Him and trust
Him. But who's the winner here? Who caused it? This lad donated his bread and
fish because God gave him a heart to do that. But he got to see
the creative power of the Son of God. Will we get to see that? 2 Corinthians 9. Please. Boy, all these scriptures in
different ways bring all this into focus, don't they? 2 Corinthians
9.6. But this I say, he which soweth
sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully
shall reap also bountifully. Every man," you wonder what he's
talking about there? Well, it's pretty clear. Every
man, according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give,
not grudgingly or of necessity. And everybody thinks about, oh,
I got to put money in the offering plate. That doesn't define your
giving. That's part of it, it could be
part of it. A gift, a heart of love for the Savior. Didn't the
apostle say in another place that your giving is a proof of
the sincerity of your love? It's not your duty, it's not
checking off a thing on your list. It's not some kind of a
religious requirement. That woman didn't give that precious
ointment and anoint the Lord's feet with it because it was required
of her. She did it because she loved
him. And I tell you this, we love
him because he first loved us. For God loveth a cheerful giver.
Yeah, that's why they're cheerful givers. Every man according as he purposes,
not grudgingly or of necessity." She didn't give that as necessity. For God loveth a cheerful giver. And this is parts particularly
I want us to see about this passage. And God is able to make all grace
abound towards you, that ye, always having all sufficiency
in all things, may abound to every good work. Where'd the
bread and fish come from? He prospers you for that reason. Because of course, because of
His infinite love for us in Christ, We know the definition of love
is that He sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
And of course we want to love Him back, not in word only. Did
He give us a new nature or not? Do we have a new heart or not?
Do we love Him or not? That was the question, wasn't
it? Lord, You know everything. You're
the reason I love You. that you may abound to every
good work. God will make all grace abound
towards you in all sufficiency and all things that you may abound. It is God which worketh in us both the
will and to do of his good pleasure.
You know, part of the very definition, I know we've turned to a lot
of scripture, but look at Matthew 5, I want us to see this. And
I won't, we won't turn to the, well, we got a little bit of
time. Matthew 5. Matthew 5, 14. I don't wanna
go too long, It's Mother's Day, we don't want the Methodists
to beat us to the restaurant. That would be bad. Matthew 5.14. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill
cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle
and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth
light unto all that are in the house. Now let me make a statement
before we read verse 16. A good work is defined by all
these things that we've read, but not the least of which is
this. We're not getting any glory out
of it. If you're getting glory out of
it, it's not a good work. You look at verse 16, let your
light so shine before men that they may see your good works
and glorify your father, which is in heaven. That's a good work. That's a good work. It's God
who must be thanked and praised for the faith and love which
result in good works. So while good works have nothing
to do with our standing before God, our acceptance with God,
our righteousness before God, they are very much part and parcel
to God's saving of us. Titus 2, there's several other
scriptures I wanted us to read, but let's just look at Titus
2.11. In closing, Titus 2.11. For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men. That's where it starts now,
with the grace of God. Teaching us that denying ungodliness
and worldly lusts, 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, purify himself unto himself a
peculiar people, that's a people that belong to him, He owns us,
zealous of good works. That's why the Savior died. Is
that what that said? That he might redeem us from
all iniquity. There's our righteousness right there, not the good works.
He redeemed us from all of our sins by his precious blood. And he purified unto himself,
he made us his own. He made us His own. And by His grace, we're gonna
act like it. In these simple, beautiful ways
that He's privileged us to do so. That word zealous of good works,
zealous means most eagerly desirous of. May God work this in each
of us mightily to His honor and glory. Amen. Let's pray.