My text this morning is in 1
Peter, 1 Peter chapter 2. And I just want to read two verses,
verses 11 and 12. I'll read more, but I want to
begin with this. And the title of the message
is Good Works that Glorify God or Works that Glorify God. And
let's just read this, the Apostle Peter in his instructions to
Jewish believers who are scattered throughout the Gentile world.
And this is a message not only for Jewish believers, but it's
a message for Gentile believers too, but Peter's directing it
specifically toward Jewish brethren because of their being in foreign
lands. And that's a particular application
here. But he writes in verse 11, now
he'd already talked about how salvation is by God's grace and
not by the works of men and women. Salvation does not come to us
in any form or fashion to any degree at any stage by our works. But our salvation should be a
gauge and a force that brings us to understand this issue of
works. Obedience, we'll say it that
way, obedience to God. And Peter had said, you're a
chosen generation, you're a royal priesthood, you're a peculiar,
that is a purchased people. for this purpose that you should
show forth the praises of him who called you out of darkness
into his marvelous light." That's what our lives should be as believers,
it should be a testimony to the praise of God, to the glory of
God and so he says in verse 11, dearly beloved, now he's speaking
to believers, I beseech you, I beg you as strangers, foreigners
and pilgrims that is you're in a foreign land, and you're sojourners,
you're pilgrims, you're not citizens of the world, you're citizens
of the kingdom of God. Abstain, cease from fleshly lust,
which war against the soul. Now understand, you know, when
most people hear the term lust, they think of sexual immorality,
and that's included here. But it involves anything that
the world is involved in that is opposed to the Word of God,
even false religion. And I stress this because this
is what man by nature does not know. To be involved in false
religious activity, even though it may call itself Christian,
that is a fleshly lust. And you need to abstain from
that just as much as we're commanded to abstain from sexual immorality
or any human immorality. So understand that this is anything
that the natural man, the unregenerate man or woman is involved in that
opposes the revealed commands of God, the gospel. This is why
and you know, I don't want to I'm not just trying to be negative,
you know, but You know, they have what they call Inner denominational
meetings or prayer meetings. We're not to get involved with
that now You say well pastor you're just being mean or being
exclusive or no, no We're to our fellowship is with brethren
in the faith based upon the truth of the gospel And to be involved
in any form of religion that even false Christianity is a
fleshly lust that we're to abstain from. And I know people will
say all kinds of evil against you. That's what Peter's gonna
be talking about here. Look at verse 12. He says, having your conversation,
your conduct, honest among the Gentiles. Now, that includes
being honest with men and women. Honest in business, honest in
dealings, but you know the mainstay of this? Honesty before God. Be honest. Now that's why I had
Brother Robert read from Psalm 26, if you just want to look
at that just for a second. He talks about his integrity.
David said, judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in mine integrity.
You know what integrity is. That's honesty. Well, what was
David's integrity? He's not saying, God, judge me
based upon my works and grant to me accordingly. He's saying,
judge me for I have walked in my integrity. Look at the next
line in verse one. I have trusted also in the Lord. That's our integrity. Being honest
before God. I'm a sinner. I have no right,
no title for the blessings of God except that which He has
freely given me by His grace through the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's our integrity. Now does that mean that we're
not to think of integrity as being honest with people? No,
not at all. We're to be people of honesty. We're to be fair. And we're to
act that way when our dealings with people. But the integrity
that we walk in is integrity before God, knowing what we are. If God were to judge me right
now, based upon my best efforts to be obedient, what would I
be? I would be damned forever. You
believe that? I do. And that's what he says,
examine me and try me. And he says down here, He says
in verse 11, but as for me, I will walk in mine integrity. Redeem
me and be merciful unto me. My integrity is the fact that
I'm a mercy beggar. Lord, be merciful to me, the
sinner. My foot standeth in an even place. What is that even place? I stand
on the rock, Christ Jesus. The even place is not my walk
because I'm up and down. Me and Brother Leon were talking
about this, how in false religion, how our assurance was always
based upon how we did and how we acted. And we were up on the
mountain one day, down in the valley the next day, and we never
really had any good assurance. And what we had was self-righteousness.
But my foot standeth in an even place, and in the congregations
will I bless the Lord. Now that's what Peter is saying
over, go back to 1 Peter 2, he says, verse 12, having your conversation
honest among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak against you
as evildoers, now they will, that they may by your good works,
which they shall behold, isn't that interesting, glorify God
in the day of visitation. Now I don't know about you, but
when I was in false religion, false Christianity, I always
heard this phrase come up every now and then. People would say,
I'd rather see a sermon than hear one. You ever heard that?
And what they meant by that is that I would rather people know
that I'm a Christian or see that I'm a Christian by my godly life
than by hearing what I say. And obviously our lives, our
conduct should be in line with what we believe. There's no doubt
about that. But I'd rather see a sermon than
hear one. That's just not biblical. Somebody said to me one time,
you're the only Bible that some people read. Well, that's not
good for them. If I'm the only Bible you read,
You'll never get anywhere with God. That's not biblical either. One prominent preacher said this.
Now listen to this. This is a man who claims to believe
the doctrines of sovereign grace. But listen to this statement.
He said, the foundation of all Christian witness is what you
do, not what you say. He said, the single greatest
tool then of our Christian testimony and of evangelism is doing right. It's how you live. And he was
preaching on these verses that I'm preaching on this morning.
But my friend, that statement is just not true. Does that mean that we shouldn't
worry or be concerned about how we live? Of course not. Abstain
from fleshly lusts, all fleshly lusts. Fight it. We're in a warfare. If you're a believer, the Holy
Spirit indwells you right now. And He wars against your flesh
and He's given us a spirit that is aligned and allied with Him
to fight these fleshly lusts. My friend, the foundation of
all Christian witness is not what we do, it's the gospel. The message. Paul said, I'm not
ashamed of the... You know, in Romans 7, verses
14 through 25, you know what Paul said? He said, I'm ashamed
of myself. I want to do good, but I can't.
I want to be like Christ. I want to be perfect. I'm a sinner. And every time
I try to fight the flesh and to do good according to the standard
that God has set, sin dwells in me and contaminates everything
I do. I'm ashamed of myself. Here's
my biography. Oh wretched man that I am who
shall deliver me from the body of this death. But the biography
doesn't stop there for a believer. I thank my God through Jesus
Christ my Lord. You see that? He said, I'm ashamed
of myself. But you know what he said in Romans 1, 16? He said,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first,
to the Greek also, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed. From faith to faith, as it is
written, the justified shall live by faith, looking to Christ.
There are times in my life when I'm ashamed of myself, but I
am never ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Never. The foundation of our Christian
witness is not somebody watching us pray in a restaurant. You know what? Unbelievers pray
in restaurants too, don't they? Unbelievable, the Lord spoke
of a man who stood outside the temple praying in front of everybody.
He called him a Pharisee. That's not our witness. Our witness
is the gospel. James 1.18, you know, James is
one of the books of the Bible that speaks of works just about
more than anybody else, isn't it? Faith without works is dead.
Here's what James said in James 1.18, inspired by the Holy Spirit,
of his own will begat he us. with the word of truth. That
we should be kind of first fruits of his creatures. And then think
about this. Christ himself lived a perfect
life here on this earth. But nobody was converted just
watching him in his walk. In fact, he lived a perfect life
and we by nature didn't even recognize it. We called him a
blasphemer. A wine-bibber. He made wine and
he drank some wine and they called him a drunk. He wasn't a drunk. Yes, he made wine and he'd always
say, well that's unfermented grape juice. Are you crazy? That's just self-righteous religion
talking. Listen to this. Just read, I'll
read you some scripture here. Luke 8 21, they, they asked him,
they said about, he was, he was preaching in a home in his hometown
and his mother and his half brothers came up and they said, your mother
and your half brothers want to see you out here. And he said
in Luke 8 21, he answered and said to them, my mother and my
brethren are these which hear the word of God and do it. John 5.24, he said, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, he that heareth my word believeth on him that
sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation,
but is passed from death unto life. You remember, well, let
me just go over and read this. John 6, this is a real telling
passage on this subject. In John 6, and verse 63, the
Lord is here speaking of the Word. And he says in John 6,
63, listen to this, it is the spirit that quickeneth. And that
word spirit there should be capitalized. That's the Holy Spirit. You see,
we have a spirit, but that's the life of Christ imparted to
us by the Holy Spirit. And we don't give ourselves life.
So that's the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that quickeneth.
The flesh profiteth nothing. Here's what the Lord said, the
words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are
life. The multitude began to go away
from him and he turned to his disciples and he said, will you
go away also? Remember what Peter said, where
into can we go? You have the words of life. You see that? It's the gospel. The Bible says faith cometh by
hearing. and hearing by the Word of God.
Faith doesn't come by watching me and watching you and us watching
each other. It comes by hearing. You must
be born again. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians
121, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. So it's clear in the Bible that
the mainstay of our witness is the gospel. Preaching, telling,
talking, the gospel of Christ from the word of God, the living
word, which is Christ. Now, does that mean that our
manner of life and our conduct doesn't matter at all? Of course
not. Anybody who says that is a fool. Anybody who says, well,
it doesn't matter how we live or what we do or don't, they're
not being biblical. And if they are a believer, they're
a sad, immature believer that need to be taught. But the idea that some say, I
just want to, somebody said this one time, I just want people
to see that I'm a Christian. Well, that's unbiblical. 1 John 3, 1. Behold, what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called
the sons of God? Therefore the world knoweth us
not, because it knew him not. Brother Henry Mahan used to talk
about that hymn that some people sing, let others see Jesus in
you. And he never would sing that
hymn. He said, they didn't see Jesus
in Jesus. And you know what? If they do,
you know what they'll do? John 15 tells us, verse 18, marvel
not if the world hates you. It hated me before it hated you. He said in John 16 too, they'll
put you out of the synagogues, yea, the time cometh that whosoever
killeth you will think that he doeth God's service and these
things they will do unto you because they have not known the
Father and have not known me. Now here's the thing, believers,
true believers in this world, as we go through witnessing the
gospel, we will be accused by those who hate Christ and his
truth. That's why Christ said in Matthew
chapter five, over in the Sermon on the Mount, you remember he
said, verse 10, blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness'
sake, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Now when he said persecuted
for righteousness' sake, I don't believe he's talking about just
being persecuted for human morality. He's talking about being persecuted
for the preaching of the gospel wherein the righteousness of
God is revealed. Because you know what that says?
And he said it over in verse 20 of this same chapter. He said,
except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and the Pharisees who appeared righteous unto men. He said,
you shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven. The gospel
is the revelation, not of the righteousness of men and women,
but the righteousness of God. And when we preach and witness
the righteousness that the gospel sets forth, it declares loudly
that the works and the efforts of men and women to earn their
way into God's favor, work their way into God's favor, are nothing
more than dead works, even dumb. And that's what brings the persecution.
He said in verse 11, blessed are you when men shall revile
you and persecute you, shall say all manner of evil against
you falsely for my sake. Then he said something very,
very outstanding. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad.
For great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they, the prophets
which were before you. Why did they persecute the prophets?
Was it because they didn't drink and didn't do this? No, it's because they preached
the gospel. They told sinners the truth of how God saves sinners
through the righteousness of another and that our works and
efforts in that realm were nothing but dead works and evil deeds. This is the condemnation, John
3, 19, that light has come into the world and men love darkness
and hate the light because their deeds were evil. What deeds is
he talking about? Their efforts to keep the law
aimed at the ground of salvation. But what happens? Now think about
this though. What happens if believers are
accused of doing wrong And they're guilty of what they're being
accused of. What happens then? Look back at 1 Peter 2. Look
at verse 13. He says, Submit yourselves to
every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to
the king as supreme or unto governors as unto them that are sent by
him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that
do well. Submit yourself to every ordinance of man. Now, obviously,
He's talking about those ordinances, those laws, civil laws that do
not cross or oppose God's word. You know that he's talking about
that. He's not talking about, if they pass a law that says,
I haven't watched these movies and I don't suggest you watch
them either. There's one called The Purge. And what it is is
on a given day, the government had passed a law that everybody
could do anything they want to do on that day. They can kill
each other and they won't be prosecuted. Well, that's stupid. That's against God's law. We're
not to obey that law. If the government would pass
a law that would forbid me to preach the gospel, what am I
to do? Am I to submit myself to that?
No, obviously not. The laws that are coming down
concerning homosexuality, the LGBTQ, whatever it is. We're not to obey those laws.
Because they're against God's word. So what's he talking about? He says submit yourself to those
civil laws which maintain society. And they don't cross or deny
the law of God. But now look at verse 15. He
says, for so is the will of God that with well doing you may
put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. Well doing, well
what's well doing? It's obeying God's word. Now you can parse it, categorize
it, analyze it however you want, but it's simply obeying God's
word. If God says it, that's it. He says in verse 16, as free
and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but
as the servants of God. If we're saved by God's grace,
we're to be servants of God. He says, honor all men, love
the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. Servants, be subject
to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle,
but also to the froward, even those who you think treat you
wrong. This is thankworthy, verse 19,
if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully,
for what glory is it if when you be buffeted, when you be
punished for your faults, you shall take it patiently? In other
words, if you go out here and you speed and the policeman stops
you and gives you a ticket, what are you gonna tell him? Well,
I'm a Christian, you shouldn't give me that. No, you broke the
law. And you're to accept the punishment.
But he says, but if when you do well and suffer for it, you
take it patiently, this is acceptable, or this is thankworthy to God. And we will be accused. We'll
be accused falsely. And that's a different matter.
But now look back at 1 Peter 2 here, verse 12. He speaks of
this. Now listen, he says, having your
conversation honest among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak
against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which
they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. Now
what is that day of visitation? Well, you can go read a lot of
gospel commentators on that and you're gonna get a lot of different
answers. Some say that the day of visitation
is the day of judgment, when God will bring all things to
light and vindicate his people who were accused of being all
kinds of different things, blasphemers, insurrectionists. And at the
day of judgment, it will be declared before this whole universe that
they were God's people. You know, they told Christ that
he had a devil. Didn't they? You remember that?
You're doing those works by Beelzebub. The Lord of glory, they told
him that. Can you imagine what it's going to be like in the
day of judgment when he is exalted and given that name? He's already
been done that. But I mean, in the eyes of this
even unbeliever, given a name which is above every name. Can you imagine how awful it'll
be for King Herod when it comes forth that John the Baptist was
one of God's greatest preachers? You see what I'm saying? Now
that could be what it's talking about. I don't believe that's
what it's talking about, but that could be. I know that's
gonna happen, isn't it? God's people are gonna be vindicated
at the judgment before the whole universe. But some commentators say this
is a day when God visits them to redeem them, to bring them
to conversion. And then they'll see, I was wrong
and you were right. And it's not just a matter of
us being right. What is it a matter of? That
they may glorify God. Now it says here, that by your
good works which they behold, they may glorify God. Well, what's
that all about? Well, think about this way. The first good work, if you're
gonna talk about good work, I think you have to begin here. The first
good work that glorifies God is the sinner, him or herself
saved by grace. That's the very first one. You
see, the Bible says that. Ephesians 2a, for by grace are
you saved, through faith, that not of yourselves. It's the gift
of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Verse 10, for
you are his workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, not because of good works, but unto good work. Good works are the fruit, the
result, not the cause, but unto good works which God hath before
ordained that you should walk in them. A sinner saved by grace
is a good work, the work of God. And if God ever visits any lost
sinner, any accuser, Or any unbeliever, if he ever visits them with power
in the Holy Spirit to give them eyes to see and ears to hear,
that's the first thing they're going to realize. Salvation's
of the Lord. I didn't earn it, didn't deserve
it, didn't work for it. If God were to judge me there,
I'd be damned forever. But it's all of grace based upon
the righteousness of another, the Lord Jesus Christ. I have
no righteousness. That's what they're going to
realize. That's what you realize. I have no righteousness of my
own. I have no righteousness within. But I have Christ, the
Lord my righteousness. I'm washed in His blood, cleansed
from all my sins by His cross work. And I stand before God
righteous in Him. That's number one. And then here's
another one, secondly. Works that glorify God. Works
that glorify God are the fruit that God produces in us through
Christ by the Holy Spirit. Do we realize that? Didn't Christ
say in John 15? He said, I'm the vine, you're
the branches. You bear fruit from the vine.
You don't produce fruit. I don't produce fruit. The fruit
is the fruit of the Spirit. It's what God does in me. It's
not what I do for myself. Isn't that right? Does that make
sense to you? The fruit of the Spirit. The
Bible tells us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.
For it is God which worketh in you to do His good pleasure. That's what this is all about.
Romans 7 and verse 5 or 6, I can't remember which, calls it fruit
unto God. In other words, it's a work that
God has brought within me by His power, by His Spirit in giving
me life that He produces the fruit of obedience. Now does that mean that my obedience
is now perfect? No. Because the flesh is still
there. The flesh contaminates everything
I think, say, and do, doesn't it? That's what Paul meant in
Romans 7 when he talked about his ashamedness. I want to do
good, how about you? But let me ask you this, what
is the standard of goodness in God's sight? It's the perfection
of righteousness that can only be found in Christ. Do I ever
measure up to that in anything? No. That's why, as Peter said
over here in 1 Peter 2, that our sacrifices, our praises,
our worship, our obedience, are only acceptable unto God by Jesus
Christ, washed in his blood. That's it. So that's what we
have to realize. Works that glorify God are the
fruit that God produces. in us through Christ by the Holy
Spirit. Here's the third thing. Works that glorify God are works
that testify of His power, God's power, God's goodness, and God's
grace in Christ Jesus. Now that's what that passage
in Matthew 5 means. Matthew 5 16. Let your light shine before men
that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which
is in heaven. You see, these works are not
to draw attention to myself and how good I am and how brave I
am and how hardworking I am and how glorious I am. No, they're
to point to God. And here's the thing, the light
here, you know, I heard this passage preached a lot and the
light was, this is where the idea, you know, I'd rather see
a sermon than hear, like our godly walk is our light. That's
not so. The light is the gospel. The
light is Christ. Do you know that you can't even
know that a work is a good work or a dead work except with the
light of the gospel? You can take two people, both
who are kind, who are moral, generous, sincere. One's an unbeliever,
the other's a believer. How do you know? Let your light
shine. Talk about the gospel, because
the preaching of the cross is to them who are perishing, no
matter what they do, it's foolishness to them. They don't believe it.
But to those who are being saved, it's the power and wisdom of
God. That's the difference. Let your light shine. And if
God gives them eyes to see, they'll see that your works are good,
not because of your sincerity or your morality, but because
of the grace of God, they'll glorify God. They won't glorify
you. We have no glory except in Christ.
We want people, you know, somebody, I'll never forget an old man
one time, he gave some money to a charity. And somebody said
to him, said, well, now I know you're a Christian because you
gave that money. Well, let me tell you what he
told him. He said, my friend, that does not declare that I'm
a Christian. He said, even unbelievers can
give money to charity. And then he began to let his
light shine, told the man the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have
no goodness in myself except Christ. I have no righteousness
in myself except Christ. I'm saved by the grace of God,
I'm kept by the grace of God, and I'll be brought to glory
by the grace of God. It's all of God. Here's the fourth
thing. Works that glorify God are works
done from the motives of love and grace and gratitude so as
to glorify God and not ourselves. Does that mean my motive is perfect?
No, I have a battle there too. Why do we obey God? Why do we
strive to obey Him? Are we trying to earn our way
into His favor? That's legalism. Are we trying
to work our way into God's favor? That's bondage. Did you know
that? Listen, I beseech you, Paul said
in Romans 12, 1, by the mercies of God that you present your
bodies a living sacrifice. Oh, how good God has been to
me. Oh, how gracious, how merciful,
oh, how merciful God has been to me. Is it asking too much
for me to live my life as a living testimony to this? Thank you,
Lord, for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to
me thy great salvation so rich and so free. That's love, that's
grace, that's gratitude. And again, we have them out of
there. But let me close with this. Fifthly, works that glorify
God, works that are done for his glory are works that promote
the gospel witness. They're not works that hinder
the gospel witness. A good work is one that promotes
the glory of God in Christ and the good of others, especially
in the salvation of sinners and the edification of the brethren.
It promotes the gospel, doesn't hinder it. Now sinners will not
be saved by watching my outward character and conduct, but I
do not want my outward character and conduct to hinder the preaching
and the witnessing of the gospel. Get in the way. You know that
happened to David when he committed adultery with Bathsheba. You
remember in 2 Samuel 12, when Nathan brought it to his attention,
he said, God's forgiven your sin, David. But you have brought
consequences down on yourself, and the main reason is because
you've given the enemies of the gospel, the enemies of God, occasion
to blaspheme. I don't want my life to give
the enemies of the gospel, the enemies of God, an opportunity
to blaspheme God. Now they're going to blaspheme
God, don't get me wrong. The enemies of God are going
to blaspheme God, even in their religion. But I don't want me
to be the instrument of that. You see what I'm saying? I want
my life to promote what I preach. Because if they don't hear the
word of God, there's no salvation. Isn't that right? Without God's
word, the word of life, without the gospel, there's no salvation. So Lord, don't let me be a stumbling
block. But let me be one who is a signpost
to point sinners to Christ. That's a work that glorifies
God. All right.