Alright, let's turn back to Matthew
chapter 5. Now my text this morning is just
this one verse, verse 16. Matthew 5 and verse 16. The title
of the message is The Goal of Good Works. The Goal of Good
Works. But I want to go back to verse
13. and read up to there. I want to just make a couple
of points here. Verse 13. You know, these are
two verses that are quoted quite often amongst a lot of different
people, not just those who claim to be Christian. Talk about the
salt of the earth. That's, you know, somebody has
called the salt of the earth. This is where the reference comes
from. And then the light of the world.
But here in verse 13, he says, ye are the salt of the earth.
But if the salt had lost its savor, wherewith shall it be
salted or used? It is thenceforth good for nothing
but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men. Now
the idea there is salt not as a seasoning, which we use it
today as a seasoning. The idea is salt as a preservative. It's what they use to preserve
like meat or something like that. They'd salt it. And so the idea
here, the truth that's being brought forth here is preservation. Preservation. And you can apply
this truth, for example, think about Israel under the Old Covenant. And what the Lord is saying here
is the reason that Israel under the Old Covenant was preserved
as a nation and the world around it, the whole world, was for
one purpose and that is to bring the Messiah into the world. To
bring Christ into the world. That child born, that son given. A lot of people thinking about
this time of year, the birth of Christ. Well, that's the reason. That's the reason Israel was
brought together as a nation at Sinai. That's the reason they
lasted for 1,500 years. And it was all by God's preserving
grace and mercy. And that's the reason they existed.
But Israel had lost its savor. They'd lost it years before Christ
came. They rejected the Messiah. And
that's all men by nature now. When I say things like that,
I'm not saying that so that we can be elevated or exalted and
look down upon that nation. Listen, that's where we'd be
if God's grace hadn't entered our lives and brought us to a
saving knowledge of Christ. But let me take this truth and
apply it to the church. Now the church made up of...
that's spiritual Israel. That's God's chosen people out
of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. And you can look
at this like that. That's why this world is preserved. God's got a people. He's going
to save His people. And so in that sense, the church
is the salt of the earth, the preservative of the earth. God's
saving His people. He's calling them out of the
world. and the church will never lose its saver now why is that
because the church is saved by grace you see israel under that
old covenant that was a conditional covenant they failed so would
we have if we'd been under it but the church is saved by grace
god's grace in christ everything we have in salvation is a product
a fruit and evidence of the sovereign mercy and grace of God in Christ. We cannot boast of anything or
in anything but Christ and Him crucified and risen again. And
because it's by God's grace, it'll never fail. For by grace
are you saved through faith. That's not of yourself. Gift
of God, not of works lest any man should boast. So there's
the preservation. Now, in verses 14 through 16,
he talks about the light. Now, that is about proclamation. And what he's talking about,
the light here. Look at verse 14. You are the light of the
world. Now, Israel had the truth under the old covenant. They
didn't believe it and didn't obey it generally as a nation. Most of their history was one
of rebellion and unbelief. You read it. I mean, we have
the recorded history. But the truth was there, and
that truth is light. He says, you are the light of
the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. You
can't put a light like that on a hill and hide it. And he says
in verse 15, neither do men light a candle, that's like a torch,
or this light, and put it under a bushel, under something that
would hide it, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all
that are in the house. And so he says, now this is the
proclamation, he says, let your light so shine before men that
they may see your good works, here's the good works, and glorify
your father in heaven. Now what I want to talk to you
about is the goal of good works, but there's certain things you've
got to understand now what he's talking about here. Now obviously
the goal of good works is stated right here very simply, that
your father that your father, which is in heaven, would be
glorified. But that's the umbrella, this
goal of good works. But first thing you need to understand
is what exactly is this light that shines? That's number one. What is this light? Well, most
people say, well, that's your godly life, or your works, or
your obedience. And that is not what this light
is. Now this light is a light that
shines upon those works, upon that obedience and reveals them
for what they are. But what is that light? Well,
the first place we need to go is John chapter 1. Go to John
chapter 1. And we could go to all kinds
of passages even in the Old Testament on this. But let's just jump
right into John chapter 1. And what we're going to learn
first of all today is that Christ Himself is that light. Christ Himself is that light. Now look at John 1 and verse
1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. Now that's speaking of Christ,
the Word of God, the living Word of God. He's the living Word. He's the incarnate Word. Down
in verse 14 speaks of His incarnation. That's His birth. And the Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us, tabernacled among us, and
we beheld His glory. The glory is of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. So this word is Christ,
the second person of the Trinity. He was or literally is God and
he was with God. That's his person as the Son.
Verse 2, the same was in the beginning with God. All things
were made by him. And without him was not anything
that was made. Now you remember in the creation
of the world, he said, let there be light. And there was light
created. That's physical light. that was
created. It says in verse 4, in him was
life. No life without Christ. No life
without God. God is the source of life. He
says, and the life was the light of men. In other words, whoever
gave life to men, this is it. and this is the light, that's
physical light, when you open your eyes and you see. And verse
5, and the light shineth in darkness, now this is Christ shining forth,
and the darkness comprehended it not. Now he's getting to the
reality of sin, this fallen world created by God, the fallen in
Adam, and it says this light shone forth and the darkness
didn't understand it. Now, we're the darkness, Christ
is the light. By nature, we don't understand.
That's because we're fallen, ruined in Adam. We sin. Darkness
fills our hearts. Fallen human nature, spiritually
dead. Christ said it this way when
he was teaching his disciples about it. They have eyes, but
they don't see. They have ears, but they don't hear. And you
know what that means. That means you can hear an audible
voice, but those things which glorify and honor God, those
things which exalt Christ, those things which bring me down in
humility, we don't want any part of. That's what that means. And
so now he goes to John the Baptist. Look at this, verse 6. There
was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came
for a witness to bear witness of the light. Now what did John
bear witness of? He bore witness of Christ. Behold,
the Lamb of God, which beareth away the sin of the world. He
said, I'm not the Christ. Don't look to me. I can't save
you. I'm not your righteousness. I'm not your forgiveness. Christ
is. He said, he must increase. I must decrease. So he bore witness
of Christ. And he says that all men through
him might believe. Faith comes from Christ. He says
in verse 8, he was not that like. John was not that like. But he
was sent to bear witness of that light. And he says, that was
the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the
world. That's the light of conscience. Romans 1 speaks of that. That's
a natural light in that sense. But he says in verse 10, he was
in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew
him not. There's the darkness of spiritual death. people have
a conscience but they're still spiritually dead and look here
he says in verse 11 he came unto his own and his own received
him not that's man by nature but as many as received him to
them gave he power the word power there is right or privilege to
become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name
which were born not of blood just like when we're born physically
we have physical eyes that's light we have a conscience that's
light moral light but in verse 13 which were born not of blood
nor that's that's a pedigree that's that's natural generation
nor the will of the flesh that's works what that is that could
be the works of the flesh nor the will of man, that is, by
their own will. Man does not, by his own free
will, become born again. He didn't have a free will. The
Bible doesn't teach that. We make choices every day, and
that leads some people to think, well, then I have a free will.
But your will is bound by sin until God, until God intervenes. That's what the Scripture teaches.
Some people don't like that, but I don't care. That's what
God's Word teaches. And he says they're born not
of the flesh, or not of blood, not of the works of the flesh,
not of the will of man, but of God. Born of God. Born again from above. And that
life comes from Christ. So over here in Matthew 5, 16,
this is the way we've got to start. Christ is the light. In the Old Testament, he's called
the light of Israel. He's also called a light to lighten
the Gentiles. In Malachi chapter 4, I believe
it is, he's called the sun, S-U-N, of righteousness. That sun gives
light to the... Christ gives light to His people. In Revelation 21, 23, listen
to this. It talks about the heavenly city
of Jerusalem, that's spiritual Jerusalem. And it says, that
city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine
in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the
light thereof. Christ is the light. In John
chapter 8 and verse 12, listen to this. Christ said to those
listening, He said, I am the light of this world. He that
followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the
light of life. A person can have 20-20 vision
and still walk in darkness if you don't have Christ who is
the light. if you don't have his truth.
To be without Christ, to be without faith in him, is to walk in darkness,
spiritually speaking. In John chapter 9 and verse 5,
he said this, he said, as long as I'm in the world, I'm the
light of the world. There's light in him. John 12
and verse 36, while you have light, he said, believe in the
light that you may be children of light. These things spoke
Jesus and departed and did hide himself from them. In John 12,
46, he said, I am come a light into the world that whosoever
believeth on me shall not abide in darkness. Christ is that light. Now, the next thing we have to
understand about this verse is that his church is that light. Now, how can that be? If he's
the light, how can we be the light? Well, we read there in
John 12, 36, he said, while you have the light, believe in the
light that you may be the children of light. That's how. We're children
of Christ. We're children of light in that
sense. First of all, we're children
of light as he shines forth to us in the witness of the gospel
light. You know, that's what the gospel
is. It's a light. It's a light in
darkness. Listen to this in 2 Timothy 1.
Let me read you this one. Talking about the great salvation
that God has freely provided for his people. In verse 9 of
2 Timothy 1, talking about God who has saved us and called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works. That's darkness.
If you preach salvation by works, that's darkness. He says, but
according to his own purpose, what is his purpose? To glorify
himself and his grace. That's the way he does it, through
Christ. Which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began, in verse 10, but is now made manifest. In other words,
with something we can see. By the appearing of our Savior,
Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, how did he do that? By
his death, burial, and resurrection, and hath brought life and immortality
to light, how? Through the gospel. The gospel
of God's grace in Christ. How God saves a sinner like us. How God is just to justify the
ungodly. 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 9,
he says, you're a chosen generation. You're a royal priesthood, a
holy nation, a peculiar, which means a purchased people, that
you should show forth the praises of Him who has called you out
of darkness into His marvelous light. We're children of light.
If we believe in Him, rest in Him, trust Him, Walk after Him,
we're children of light. 2 Peter 1 and verse 19, listen
to this one. Peter said, we have a more sure
word of prophecy, that is than that which was given in the Old
Testament, where until you do well that you take heed as unto
a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn, until
Christ comes again, the day star rise in your hearts. 1 John says this, he said, God
is light and in Him is no darkness. And if we walk in Him, we walk
in the light. So we are the light as He shines
forth to us in the witness of the gospel. We see the light.
We were blind, now we see. Christ said, blessed are your
ears for they hear, blessed are your eyes for they see the light. Secondly, the church is the light
as He shines forth within us in the power of the Holy Spirit.
I love this passage here in 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 6, one of my favorite
verses because it connects the God of salvation to the God of
creation. And it always reminds me of that
passage in Isaiah which speaks of our Maker as being our Redeemer. And listen to what it says. It
says, for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
that's the God of creation, let there be light, hath shined in
our hearts, in our minds, in our affections, in our wills,
in our inner being. Now we don't have that except
through the Holy Spirit in the new birth. And He has shined
in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God, where? In the face of Jesus Christ. Now that word face there refers
to His entire person. It's that by which He's identified
and distinguished. When you see His face, you know
who He is. Colossians 1 and verse 12 speaks
of giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet or fit
to be partakers, participants, or fellowshipers of the inheritance
of the saints in light. Ephesians 5 and verse 8 we could
go on and on with these for we were sometimes darkness But now
we're light in the Lord walk as children of light. That's
how the church is that light One more first Thessalonians
5 and verse 5 you are all the children of light Who's he talking
about their believers? Sinners saved by the grace of
God born again by the Spirit look into Christ as the author
and finisher of our faith We're not of the night. He says nor
of darkness And then one more. Turn over to Philippians. Turn
to this one. Philippians chapter 2. Listen to this. Or read it
with me. Philippians chapter 2. The church
is that light as Christ shines forth in our witness of the gospel
to the world. We're to witness the light. We're to shed forth the light
by the preaching of the gospel, spreading out the gospel. telling
sinners of Christ. Telling thirsty sinners where
they can find the water of life. Telling hungry sinners where
they can find the bread of life. Telling sick, dead sinners where
they can find life and health in Christ. Now that's mainly
what Matthew 5 is talking about. Witnesses of the light. But listen
to, read here Philippians chapter 2 verse 12. He says, Wherefore
my beloved, Verse 12 of Philippians 2, wherefore, my beloved, as
you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now
much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling. Now, of course, you know what
people do with that verse. We'll see there that we're saved by
grace, but we're kept by works. I had a fellow write me. I had
a message that was featured on that sermon audio called Once
Saved, Always Saved. Boy, I got a lot of response
on that. Got a negative. And the guy said, well, that's
not so great a message. Everybody knows that salvation
is conditioned on us. And I wrote him back, and I said,
well, at least you admit salvation is by works. Most people won't.
That's what they believe. This is not teaching salvation
by works. It's teaching perseverance and
endurance In the fear of God and trembling, look at verse
13. For it is God which worketh in
you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. We persevere
by the preserving grace and power of God. Else we will not. But look at verse 14. Do all
things without murmurings and disputings. Isn't that something? Let's go on. Verse 15. Verse
15, I preached on that and I'm not avoiding it, believe me,
but I don't have time this morning to get into all that. All right.
But verse 15, that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons
of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse
nation among whom you shine as lights in the world. Now, how
do we shine as lights in the world? Well, look at verse 16,
holding forth the word of life. setting forth Christ, that I
may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain,
neither labored in vain." Listen, there's no way if we preach Christ
as a light unto the world, witnessing for Him, there's no way this
thing can be a failure. No way it can ever be in vain.
That's right. Think about it. Well, go back
to Matthew 5, verse 16. Now that's the light. Christ
is that light. His gospel is that light, the
witness of the gospel, and we, he says, let your light so shine
before men. That means present Christ, proclaim
Christ, preach Christ to this world. That's how we shine forth. Alright, now here's the next
thing. Secondly, what are these good works? And how are they
to be seen? Now what he says there, verse
16, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good
works. So what are these good works
and how are they to be seen? Well, look, turn the page over
to Matthew 6. I want you to see something here. In this chapter, he speaks of
three acts of obedience. One of them is almsgiving. That's
giving to charity. Another one is prayer. Now, we're
commanded to give to charity. We're commanded to pray. The
other one is fasting. Now, we don't have a specific
command to fast. They had a command to fast on
the Day of Atonement under the Old Covenant. But fasting represents
acts of self-denial. We do have a command to deny
ourself, to cling to Christ. So look at verse 1 of Matthew
6. He says, take heed that you do not your alms before men to
be seen of them. Otherwise you have no reward
of your Father which is in heaven. Now I've heard people say this,
you know. Well, I don't expect to be saved
by my works, but my works are my witness. Not so. It's like praying. Some people
say, well, I wouldn't go into a restaurant and touch a meal
without praying. Well, that's superstition. That's not scripture.
I don't want to offend anyone, but I'm telling you, that's just
superstition. If you eat and get sick, whatever,
it's not. Somebody said, well, that's my
witness. That is not your witness. Now, are we to be praying people?
Yes. Are we to give thanks in all things? Give thanks. But
when he says, let your light so shine that men may see your
good works, I tell you this right now, he's not saying, do these
things to be seen of men as if they are your witness. That's
not what he's saying. In fact, he specifically says,
don't do that. Don't do that. The Pharisees
used to do that. They'd go out and they'd stand
on the street corner and publicly pray. And I got to thinking about
this. You know, a couple of years ago,
there were some fellows who'd go down here on the corner of 13th
Street in Winchester and preach. And we'd pull up. I'd even row
down to win. I couldn't hear a word they were
saying. So whatever they were witnessing for it, it left me. Nobody can hear you. Now, it
looks religious, and I'm sure people go along and smile on
that, but you're not communicating anything there. There's no light
there. You see what I'm saying? And I'm not just saying that
to be critical. I'm just saying this. Our light is the witness
of Christ before me. That's what it is. It's not just
getting out in public and appearing religious because we want people
to know we go to church. Or crowing or anything like that.
That's not what it's about, you see. What this is, these are
not works to be seen of men. And here, I'll tell you what
we do want people to know. When they see us in any act of
obedience, and people will see you, you can't hide all of it.
But here's what we want people to know. I want you to know that
whatever work, whatever act of obedience or whatever good works
that God does through me and in me, those things don't save
me. Those things don't make me righteous.
Those things don't justify me. Those things cannot cleanse me
from my sins. Even our good works have to be
presented unto God as they're washed in the blood of Christ.
Even my best efforts to obey fall short of the standard of
holiness and righteousness that God requires. That's why Paul
wrote in Hebrews, he said that these things have to be well-pleasing
in his sight through Jesus Christ. Good works, we've been talking
about this, number one, good works are the works God does
for us and in us by His grace and His power through the Lord
Jesus Christ and by the work of the Holy Spirit. It's the
fruit of our union with Christ, number two. He's the vine, we're
the branches. These good works, thirdly, are
motivated by grace and love and gratitude, not legalism, not
trying to call attention to ourselves. not mercenary promises of earned
reward. I've heard people say, well,
I'm just trying to get a bigger mansion in heaven. That's not
going to listen. All we want in heaven is Christ. And then here's what he's saying.
These are works aimed towards the glory of God. We'll look
at it again. Let your light so shine before
men that they may see your good works. The light is what shines
on these works. You see that? And what does it
say? We'll turn to John chapter 3.
What are these good works and how are they seen? Look at John
chapter 3. Look at verse 18. Now I can show
you a bunch of verses on this too, but I'm not going to go
into all of them. But look at verse 18. Christ says, he that
believeth on him is not condemned. To believe on Christ is, listen,
that means a justified person. If you believe on Christ, that
shows that you've been washed in his blood and clothed in his
righteousness. You're not condemned. There's
therefore now no condemnation of them which are in Christ.
he says but he that believeth not is condemned already unbelief
is an evidence of a state of condemnation already because
he had not believed in the name of the only begotten son of god
and this is the condemnation now listen to this verse that
light is coming to the world and men love darkness rather
than light because their deeds were evil The light shone on
their works, their deeds, and exposed them as being evil. Look
at verse 20. For everyone that doeth evil
hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds
should be what? Discovered. That's what that
means, reproved. That is, the cloak is removed. Verse 21. But he that doeth truth,
now what is it to do truth? It's to believe in Christ and
follow Him who is the truth and the way and the life. Cometh
to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are
wrought in God. That literally means they're
the work of God. In other words, that light exposes
and reveals. Now let me give you a basic example
of this just to clear it all up. Cain and Abel. Go back to
Cain and Abel. Here comes Cain. Bringing the
best works of his hands to be accepted of the Lord. All right? There's Cain. Looks fine. Looks
religious. Looks okay to the natural man.
Here comes Abel. a sinner seeking mercy bringing
the blood of the Lamb. He has no works to offer God.
He has nothing to recommend Him under. He is like that old publican.
God be merciful, propitious to me. I need a substitute. I need a Savior. I need a mediator. I need a righteousness I cannot
produce. And so what happens? God accepts
Abel based on the sacrifice, which is a picture of Christ,
the Lamb of God. God rejects Cain. Now, Cain and
Abel start talking. That's what the Scripture says.
It doesn't really tell us what their conversation... It doesn't
really record the conversation, but it tells us what the conversation
was about. It was about, why did God accept
you, Abel, and not accept me? Well, here's why, Cain. And then
Abel starts proclaiming the light. Because we're sinners, Cain,
and nothing we do is good enough to save us or to wash us from
our sins or to make us righteous. What you brought to God, your
deeds, were evil. They denied the glory of God.
They denied God's way of salvation through His Son. They exalted
you. And what happened? Cain hated
the light because his deeds were evil. Abel's deeds were manifest. That's the work of... You know
what Abel presented to God for acceptance? The work of God.
You know that's what we do when we present Christ crucified and
risen again to God for our salvation, our justification. We present
the work of God. Not our works. Our works are
evil when presented to God for that. And that's the difference. Now that's how that light shines.
You see? It shines upon those works and
exposes them for what they are or reveals them to be God's work. Now, therefore, what is the goal? To glorify your Father which
is in heaven. There's the third. What is the
goal of these good works? Here's the summation of the whole
purpose of good works. Not to bring attention to me
or to you. Not to earn people's admiration
for me or for you, but to glorify God in Christ. God gets the glory. Our desire is that our whole
lives, not just individual acts, but our whole lives be a living,
glaring light and testimony to the glory of God in Christ. I'm
a sinner saved by grace. I want people to see the power
of God. I want people to see the goodness
of God, the holiness of God, the righteousness of God. I want
people to see His honor, His grace, His mercy to us. As we
go through this life seeking to live our lives unto Him, seeking
to be conformed to Christ, we want everyone to know that our
works do not save us. It's Christ's work alone that
saves us, preserves us, and will bring us to glory. It's not our
righteousness. It's His righteousness imputed,
charged to us. Christ said in John 15 verse
8, He said, Here is my Father glorified that you bear much
fruit, so shall you be my disciples. We want to bear fruit that glorifies
Him, not us. The goal of our work is to express
our faith in Christ, not our faith in ourselves. You see,
that's what's wrong with these people who think you can be saved
and then lost. Their faith's not in Christ as
the author and finisher, completer of their faith. Their faith's
in themselves. That's right. We want to express
our love for Christ, not love for ourselves. We want to express
our gratitude. Thank you, Lord. That's what
James said about faith in James 2. I'm going to preach on that
passage. He said, faith without works is dead. I want to express
my faith in Him through my life. Galatians 5 and verse 6 says,
for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision,
but faith which worketh by love. The love of Christ constrains
us. Our works are to promote the
salvation of sinners and the edification of the church. Now
our good works will not save anybody. They can't even save
us. Our good works, listen to me,
Our good works will not save anyone. Nobody, listen, nobody
is going to be saved by just simply looking at our lives.
The Bible never teaches, I've heard people say, you're the
only Bible that some people read. If that's the case, they're going
to hell. If that's the case, they're going
to be lost and remain lost. Should we live godly lives? Absolutely,
yes. Our life, our conduct, our attitude
should reflect and testify to the grace of God in our salvation. But nobody is going to be saved
by looking at us. It pleased God by the foolishness
of what? preaching to save them that believe.
The gospel is the what? Power of God unto salvation to
everyone that believe. All right? So our good works
will not save him. But we don't want to discourage
people or hinder people from hearing that gospel because of
our bad behavior, our bad attitude. In the book of Acts, they spoke
of it. Acts 13, 47. It says, For so hath the Lord commanded
us, saying, I set thee to be a light to the Gentiles, that
thou shouldest be for the salvation unto the ends of the earth. We
want to promote people coming to hear the gospel of God's grace
in Christ. Paul wrote to the Corinthians,
he said, whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you
do, do all to the glory of God. Give none offense, neither to
Jews or Gentiles, nor the church of God. Now Paul's not talking
about the offense of the cross there. That's natural to man.
But he said, even as I please all men in all things, not seeking
mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.
I'm doing my best to get people to hear this gospel. I can't
make them hear it. Can't force them. And if they're
under it, I can't save them. I can't change their hearts.
But I want them to be where the gospel is preached, because that's
their only hope of salvation. That's it. Hebrews 10, 24, let
us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works,
not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the
manner of some is, but exhorting, encouraging one another so much
as you see the day approaching. To glorify God. That's the goal
of all good work. Everything we do should be to
glorify Him. To lift up Christ. To say, He
must increase, I must decrease.