Alright, let's open our Bibles
to the book of 2nd Timothy chapter 3. Last week I preached from this
passage and the message was entitled, Furnished Unto All Good Works. It's the title of the message
today, this is the second part of that. I'm doing several messages
on this subject of good works. And that seems to be among the
many misunderstood, confused, even corrupted truths of the
scripture. I'm going to talk about what
are good works. I concluded last week's message
by giving you several things about what are good works. And
several people indicated to me that I went through them so fast
that you weren't able to catch them all. I realize sometimes
I pack a message so full and I get to talking so fast that
some of you may be inspired to shut out a bid or something.
But I don't mean to do that. I just don't want, you know,
one of the preacher's dilemmas is you don't want to go too fast,
but you don't want to get bogged down. And I don't know. I may
not be able to please you all. I just might be the fact of it. But no, I'm just teasing. But
I want to do several messages on this. Look at what it says
in verse 16 of 2 Timothy chapter 3. Just these last two verses. He says, all scripture. that's
the book you hold in your hand, the Bible, is given by inspiration
of God, breathe of God. And it's profitable for doctrine,
that's the teaching of the scripture. For reproof, that's when the
scripture shows us what's wrong. For correction, that's when the
scripture shows us what's right. and for instruction in righteousness,
that's the godly life, following Christ. A life lived trusting
Christ and resting in Him and following Him. And all this,
verse 17, in order that the man of God, the sinner saved by grace,
not by works, the man of God, the justified person, The one
who's been washed in the blood of Christ and clothed in his
righteousness and brought to faith in Christ may be perfect. And what he's talking about is
completeness there. We want to be complete people.
Now, there is a sense in which we're already complete. And how
is that sense? Well, you'll find that in Colossians
chapter 2 verses 9 and 10. That's just an example. One of
the many examples. And there what it says is that
in Christ, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you
are complete in Him. So as we're considered in Christ,
and listen, I know it takes some thought now. I learned a long time ago when
I began to hear the gospel that this is not just easy believism. I mean, it's not real complicated. We all don't have to be Einsteins
to know this, but it takes some thought. Think about what you're
hearing. Most people don't. You know,
most people gathered together this morning really don't think
about what they're hearing. It's just, you know, something
religious. Somebody reads from the Bible. As one of the old
preachers from Texas said, they might hear a longhorn sermon,
you know, have a point here and a point here and a lot of bull
in between. And that's just the way it is.
Or they'll read a scripture and they'll launch out from it and
never the twain meet again, you know. Think about what you're
hearing because these are the words of eternal life. Remember
when Peter said that to the Lord when the multitude went away?
He said, will you go away also? And Peter said, to whom shall
we go? You have the words of eternal
life. So think about this. Now, we are perfect and complete
in Christ, but we're not yet perfect and complete in ourselves. And if that, you know, I know
that boggles your mind. You just think about it a while.
You know, this is what the whole, this is what separates Christianity
from all other religions. Because Christ is our substitute. He stands for us. Well, we read
that scripture in Hebrews chapter 10. We can come boldly before
the throne of God, boldly into his presence. How? By the body
of Christ. It's based on his death, his
obedience unto death. That's his blood. That's his
righteousness. And so what I am in Christ, which
you cannot see, is a perfect man, a righteous man, a complete
man. But what I am in myself, which
you do see some of it, I'm very, very flawed, and you are too.
We have a treasure, but we have it in earthen vessels. And so
we seek to grow in grace and knowledge, we seek to struggle
through this wilderness of the world, We seek to fight the warfare
of the flesh and the spirit. We want to become better people,
but better in what sense? Not better in that we're more
saved, or more sanctified, or more righteous. We're in Christ,
but in the sense that we want to grow. And that's what this
is about. That the man of God may be perfect.
That he may be a complete person. And then he says, verse 17, thoroughly
furnished, equipped unto all good works. And last week I spent
some time showing you how you cannot deny the necessity of
good works in salvation. It is a necessary thing. But
now good works cannot save us. Good works, listen, there's a
proper place of good works in salvation. And that place cannot
be any part of the ground of salvation or the cause of salvation. Good works are totally excluded
from the ground and cause of salvation. And so, you know,
some claim to be saved wholly or in part by good works, but
God's word says no. How many times have you heard
me quote and others quote Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, for by grace are
you saved through faith. That's not of your say, even
that faith is not a word. That, and it's not of yourself.
That's not of yourself. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. The book of Titus, chapter 3,
verse 5, speaks of the salvation that God provides and reveals
to men, not by works of righteousness, which we've done, but it's all
according to His mercy. That's undeserved, unearned favor.
Paul wrote in Romans chapter 11 and verses 5 and 6, that's
salvation. He was talking about election.
He said the election of grace. There's an election according
to grace. And he says that if it's by grace,
it cannot be by works, else it's no more of grace. And if it's
works, it cannot be by grace, else no more of works. They don't
mix. You can't mingle these things. And then the Bible teaches us
that by deeds of law shall no flesh be justified. It means
to be declared not guilty. It means to be declared righteous.
It's just impossible. Good works cannot save us. They
cannot cleanse us from sin. They cannot make us righteous.
They're not even good in and of themselves as they come through
us. And I'll show you that later on. But good works cannot earn
God's favor for us. else he would not have had to
send his son into the world. Why did Christ come into the
world? To do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. And it's by
His work alone that we're saved and secured and kept righteous
before God and brought into glory. So as you've heard me say so
often, good works are in no way, at no time, to no degree, at
any stage, the ground or cause of our salvation. But they are
necessary in what sense? As the fruit of salvation. Now, that's what he's talking
about here in 2 Timothy 3. But go over there to that passage
that Brother Joe read in Titus chapter 2. Here he's talking to believers. Justified sinners. Justified
based not on their works, but justified based on the righteousness
of Christ, imputed, charged, accounted to them. And as I think
I mentioned this last week, I was watching TV and I saw two, there
were two people that were talking about, they were, one of them
had converted from being a Calvinist to a Catholic. And the reason
he said he did that, what happened, he married a Catholic, that's
why he did it, but he didn't say it, you know. But the reason
he gave for doing it is he said that he didn't like the doctrine
of imputed righteousness because it left no room for human merit. And I thought to myself, I said,
well, that's a real problem for the natural man because he receives
not the things of the Spirit of God. But the problem is the
Bible leaves no room for human merit. You see, salvation is
not based on our merit, what we earn, what we work for. If it were, then you can just
throw out grace and mercy. We don't need it. You see, it's
all in Christ, isn't it? and what he accomplished. But
look here, in Titus chapter 2, he's talking to believers here,
and he says in verse 7, in all these classes of people that
he's talking about who are in the church, all these different
groups, he says, in all things, showing thyself a pattern of
good works. And that's the way we as believers
are to be. We're to be examples. of good
works. In verse 10 he talks about adorning
the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. And the idea there,
the idea that he's speaking of there is that we're not to be
people who claim to be followers of Christ and who believe in
Him and love Him and then act like the world. In other words,
our conduct is to match our confession. And somebody said, well, you've
got to practice what you preach. Well, that's not bad. I mean, yes, we should practice
what we preach. We're sinners saved by the grace of God, brought
into the kingdom by His grace, who serve the King as willing,
loving bond slaves. And then he talks about grace,
and he gives us here the ground of salvation. Listen to verse
11, Titus chapter 2. For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men. Now he's talking about all
his people there. We know it hasn't appeared to
all men without exception. But look, here's the key I want
you to focus in on. The grace of God that bringeth
salvation. Now what brings salvation? The
works of man? I don't know. The grace of God
brings salvation. The faith of man doesn't bring
salvation. Let me tell you something. The
grace of God even brings faith with it. So it's the grace of
God. All right, verse 12. Teaching
us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, worldly desires,
we should live... And of course, you know, people
go to town on stuff like that now. You know, what's worldly
and what's not. And I'm not going to get into
that today. But he says we should live soberly, means clear-headed,
righteously, following the Lord, godly in this present world. In other words, this is not something
we're waiting for in glory. Now we're waiting for some great
things in glory, aren't we? We've been studying that in the
book of Revelation. Perfection, you know, all of that. But here
in this present world, and then here's how we're to do it. Look
at verse 13. Looking for that blessed hope. Now what is our
hope? It's the assurance of our being glorified in Christ. Not
based on our works, but by what He accomplished. And he says,
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, there's the ground of salvation, and
purify unto himself a peculiar people, that's a purchased people,
redeemed, zealous. That means to be, it has the
connotation of being on fire. In other words, this is a passion.
Zealous of good works. So this is not an option, you
see, this thing about good works. Yes, they don't save us. They
don't earn God's favor and blessings for us. But what do they do? Well, let's look at what are
good works. And I'm going to go through these slowly. And
I may not get through all of them today. And that's OK. We'll
pick up next week, Lord willing, if he lets us come back. And
we'll start again. But I want you to see these scriptures.
What is a good work? You know, we think by nature
we know what a good work is. It's somebody who gives money
to help the poor. It's somebody who does this,
that, or the other. We don't know what a good work
is according to Scripture. And this is the thing about it.
Over here in 2 Timothy 3, he says all Scripture is given by
inspiration of God. In other words, whatever we know
about a good work or good works, plural, we must know it from
God's Word and not from our own ideas, not from our own opinions. In other words, this has to be
good works as defined by God, not by man. Because in the Bible,
the scripture tells us in Romans chapter 3 and verse 10. Just
turn there for a minute, Romans 3. Now listen to this. And you know me, I always have
to keep repeating these things. You know, I always tell you,
when you read this now, don't get the accept me syndrome, because
that's what people do. Who's he talking about here?
Can't be talking about me. Yeah. Well, yes, he is talking about
me. He's talking about every natural man. This is a great
description. I think this is one of the best
descriptions in the Bible of the natural man and woman. Man born by nature in Adam, ruined
in Adam, dead in trespasses and sins. And here's what he says
in verse 10 of Romans chapter 3. As it is written, now remember
what he said, all scripture is given by, all right, as it is
written, that's what that is. There's none righteous, no, not
one. You weren't born righteous, and you cannot make yourself
righteous by your works. Now, if you can claim righteousness,
and how so? How can that be? Well, it's only
by the grace of God in Christ. I can tell you without blushing
that I am a righteous man only in Christ. By nature, I wasn't
born that way. You say, why is that important?
Well, you know, everybody thinks that we're all born innocent.
We're not. We're born fallen with a depraved
human nature, fallen human nature. But he says, there's none righteous,
no, not one. And then verse 11, there's none
that understandeth, there's none that seeketh after God. And I
always point out that it doesn't say there, there's none that
seeketh after a God. They seek after a God, many gods. The one God, which they believe
is themselves. That's man by nature. But the
true and living God. There's none to see. Man on his
own, of his own will, will not do it. And then verse 12, they
are all gone out of the way, that is God's way. They are together
become unprofitable. Whatever way they choose, it
will not get them salvation or eternal life and glory. And look
at this. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Now, what a statement. Now, you
know, if you think like most people think concerning good
and evil, you ought to read a statement like that and just throw the
Bible away if that's the way you're going to look at it. Or
you better find out what it means. Who does it apply to? That's
talking about us by nature. None, good, no, not one. You say, well, I'm doing my best.
None good, no not one. This is God's standard of goodness.
And God's standard of goodness is perfection. So how can it
be said that any of us, even save sinners, can have good works?
Well, what is a good work? Well, let's look at it. All right.
Let's start with Ephesians 2. Turn over there. We quote that
all the time. But just look over there. Let's
look in some of these scriptures and we'll just go as far as we
can go in the time given. But here's number one. Good works
are works that God does for, underscore for, and in, underscore
in, His people. That's number one. Good works
are works that God does for and in His people. And what I'm saying
there is this. If we do any good works, we are
not the source and power of those works. Christ is. Christ is the
source and power of those works. Let's look at this for his people. It's a work that God does for
his people. Look at verse 8 again of Ephesians
chapter 2. He says, and this whole thing
now, go back up to verse 1. He says, you hath he quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sin. A person who's dead in trespasses
and sin can do no good works. Now they can do acts of morality
that men call good. They can give away money to the
poor. They can set up foundations. They can give a thirsty person
a cool drink of water. They can do all of that, but
they can do no good works in the sight of God. You see, a
person who's dead in trespasses and sins, an unregenerate person,
a condemned person, can do no good works. And I've told you
a hundred times, the most glaring example of that is Matthew 7,
21 through 23. Lord, haven't we preached in
your name? Haven't we done many wonderful works? He called them
works of iniquity. They don't equal out to righteousness.
Well, look here, he says in verse eight, for by grace are you saved
through faith, that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Even faith
is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. So
don't even dream about it, don't think about it, don't imagine
that salvation is in any way by your works. But look at verse
10. Now here's the work that God
does for us. For we are His workmanship. What does that mean? What I am
as a justified person. What I am as a forgiven sinner. What I am as a regenerate, born
again person. I'm his workmanship. I'm not
my own. I'm not a self-made person at all. This is a work that God
has done for me. You see what he's saying? I didn't
do it. It wasn't done with my cooperation. We are his workmanship. One of
the greatest symbols of this in scripture is the potter and
the clay. The potter and the clay. The
potter is sovereign over the clay. And we are his workmanship. Now God is holy and righteous
and just and whenever he creates this justified person, this workmanship,
this work of art you might call it, or this work of skill, He
has to do it in such a way that He remains holy and just and
righteous. He cannot diminish or deny or
ignore or corrupt His holiness, His justice, or His righteousness. You see, God must be just when
He justifies. We talk about God being a loving
Father. That's true. But He's got to be a righteous
judge too. And that's the issue of issues.
That's the question of questions. How can God be both a righteous
judge and judge righteously, which he always does? Shall not
the judge of the earth do? I'm going to talk tonight. Well,
I may. I don't know about God's absolute. I'm not feeling well. All right.
God's absolute justice. All right. How can God be just
and still justify an ungodly sinner? How can he save me? from my sins and still be righteous
in doing so well look at Ephesians 2 10 where his workmanship here
it is here's the answer created in Christ Jesus there's the answer
There is the grace of God. As sin hath reigned unto death,
even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord. So when God created us in that
sense as justified people, how did He do it? He did it on the
basis on the ground of Christ Jesus, the God-man, God in human
flesh and upon the basis of His obedience unto death. His blood
and righteousness alone. Now he had already talked about
that up here in the first verses of Ephesians 2. But now look
at the next line. For we are His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. And I love the way that's put.
That's a great translation of that original. In other words,
it didn't say in Christ Jesus because of good works. But it
says, unto good works. In other words, issuing forth
out of this creative process that God himself worked out in
Christ, for us comes the good works. What does that tell you?
These are the fruit of salvation. Not the cause, not the ground,
but the fruit of salvation. And he says, which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them. So these good works
are, listen, they're the foreordination of God. In other words, this
is what God had planned and prepared from the beginning. Does that
tell you they're necessary? It sure does. And it's the fruit
and effect of His workmanship for us in Christ Jesus. And that's
what a good work is. Now turn to the book of Philippians.
Look at Philippians chapter 1. So you see, good works, number
one. Works God does for us and works God does in us. Look at
Philippians chapter 1. Here he's talking about the grace
of God to the people, the believers at Philippi, their fellowship. And look at verse 6. Philippians
1 and verse 6. He says, being confident of this
very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you. Now what's he talking about there?
He's talking about their new birth. Regeneration. It's a work God does in them.
That is in the heart, in the mind, the affections, the will,
and the spirit. But notice, who begun the good
work? God did. Now who's going to finish it?
Well, many religions say you will. Not so. In fact, many religions
say you'll finish it, and if you don't finish it, you'll lose
it. Not so. Listen to it. He that begun a
good work in you will perform it. You know what that word perform
is? It's finish it. It's perfect it, complete it.
until the day of Jesus Christ. So God who begun it, God is the
one who finishes it. It's a good work He does for
us and in us, you see. Turn the page to Philippians
2. Look at verse 12. A lot of people quote this verse
and then they stop, but you don't need to stop. It says, wherefore,
my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence
only, this is Paul talking, but now much more in my absence,
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. That fear
there is the reverence and respect for God, not legal fear. Trembling
there means this. It has something of this essence,
is that we are ever aware that without Christ, we would all
be condemned. Isn't that right? Don't you tremble
at the thought of being found before God without Christ. That's
what that is. But look at verse 13. For it
is God which worketh in you both to will and to do His good pleasure. Isn't that something? Go back
to Galatians chapter 2. We read this one last week. Galatians chapter 2. And look
at verse 19. And I've noticed, you know, when
you read the Bible and you study the subject of good works, it's
never recorded in the Word of God concerning good works without
making sure that we understand that the ground and cause and
power of these works is Christ and Him crucified. It's always
there. So look at it here, verse 19,
For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live
unto God. What do you mean through the
law? Through the law's justice being
satisfied. Dead to the law. That is, the
penalty of the law, which is death, the wages of sin, has
been already fulfilled, completed, poured out in full, for what
purpose? That I might live under God.
Now how did all that come about? Look at verse 20. Look at what
he says at the first part. I am crucified with Christ. Never get away from Christ here.
You talk about good works without Christ, you might as well be
beating the air. I'm crucified with Christ. I
died with Christ. But now, nevertheless, I live.
I'm living. Out of his death comes my life,
yet not I." What is he doing? Is he talking in circles here?
No. He's saying, I'm not the source of this life. I'm not
the power of this life. It's not me. It's not of me.
But Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. That's what these good works
are. Good works can only be done by those who are justified, sanctified,
and redeemed. And listen to this now. Our good
works do not sanctify us. But let me tell you something.
Our good works are sanctified by the blood of Christ. They're
set apart. Look at John chapter 3. John chapter 3. You know how
John chapter 3 starts out, he's talking about the new birth,
isn't he? You must be born again. By the Spirit, born from above. But look at verse 18 of John
3. He that believeth on him, that is, believe on Christ, is
not condemned. Now why is that? Because there
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ.
He says, but he that believeth not is condemned already. That's
man's state by nature. That's why he means by condemned
already. Because he hath not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation.
That light has come into the world. Men loved darkness rather
than light because their deeds were evil. Their efforts, you
might say. Their attempts at obedience were
evil. Why are they evil? Because they
deny the glory of God in salvation. Because they exalt the sinner
in self-righteousness. And because they deny and denounce
the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, a sinner
who seeks salvation by his works is setting himself up as a rival
to Christ. That's why it's evil. God will
not share his glory. He will not give it to another.
It is God's glory in the salvation of sinners by his free, sovereign
grace in Christ. So don't set your works up as
a rival. Don't sit them alongside of Christ's
righteousness. They will not balance out. You'll
be like Belshazzar in Daniel chapter, what, five, I think?
Or maybe some other chapter. But you'll be found weighed in
the balance and found wanting. That's what those men in Matthew
7, 21 through 23 were doing when they say we preached in his name.
Nothing wrong with preaching in his name, but if I think That
if I try to set my preaching alongside of Christ, what he
accomplished on Calvary in his blood and righteousness, it's
evil in the sight of God. Now, can you grasp that? Because
the world can't. That's hard truth, you see. Well, look at this. Verse 20
of John 3. For everyone that doeth evil,
hateth the light. Now, why do they hate the light?
Well, they think so highly of their deeds. They think their
deeds have to count for something. They think their deeds are good
works. Only to hear Christ say, depart from me, ye that worketh
iniquity. I never knew you. So they hate
the light, neither cometh to the light. I'm not going to listen
to that. You see what I'm saying? They
sit and they listen. I'm not going to hear that. I'm
going to go somewhere where they make me feel better about myself.
Get into the power of positive thinking a little. Now you see,
they neither come to light lest his deeds should be reproved
or discover, exposed. All right? Now look at verse
21. But he that doeth truth, now doing truth means to believe
in Christ. cometh to the light that his
deeds may be made manifest that they are what? Look at that,
wrought in God. They're the work of God. That's
what a good work is, it's the work of God. You're not the source,
you're not the power of those works. One more verse on this
subject, Hebrews 13. You say, well, you just got through
one point. Well, that's OK. Did you get that one point? That's
the thing, isn't it? Did I get it? Look at Hebrews
13. I'll just conclude with this,
if you all don't mind, because I'm really not feeling well.
But let's look at this. Look at verse 20 of Hebrews 13. He says, now the God of peace
that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, his death, burial,
resurrection, that great shepherd of the sheep, the good shepherd
gives his life for the sheep. Through the blood of the everlasting
covenant, there's the ground of it all. That's his death. That's his righteousness imputed.
He was made sin that we might be made. All right. Verse 20,
make you perfect, complete in every good work. to do his will,
working in you or doing in you that which is well-pleasing in
his sight. You see that? Here's what he did for us and
here's what he did in us. He did for us that shepherd of
the sheep died, buried, rose again the third day, put away
our sins. Isn't that something? gave us,
worked out a righteousness for us. Everything, listen, everything
that God requires of us in order to attain and maintain salvation,
we find in perfection in Christ. Not in our works, but in Christ. And out of that, we are made
perfect in every good work to do what? His will, as He works
in us. to do that which is well-pleasing
in his sight. And look at this. Doing that
which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ. Even our works are sprinkled
by the blood of Christ. Our works are not well-pleasing
to God unless they're sprinkled, washed in the blood of Christ. To whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. We'll close there.