Would you turn back to Ephesians
chapter 2? I have entitled this message,
Good Works. Now, this is Paul's conclusion
to where he began in verse 1. I said all of that to say this,
for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. good works. What comes to your mind when
you hear this phrase? It's very important. Paul said
in Titus chapter two, verse 14, that God's people are a peculiar
people, zealous of good works. Every one of them. Zealous of
good works. The Lord said in Matthew chapter
5 verse 16, let your light so shine before men that they may
see your good works and glorify your father, which is in heaven. Now you let it so shine in this
way, not that they'll glorify you, but they'll glorify your
father, which is in heaven. Now, what comes to your mind
when you think of this phrase, good works? Well, there'll be some who think
I've got a lot of them. Like that group on judgment day who
will say, in your name, have we not done many wonderful works? The quantity, many. The quality, wonderful. Or you could think, good works,
I need more of them. Surely if I was saved, I would
give more evidence of salvation with more good works. I need
more of them. Or you may stop your ears to
this and say, well, this is legalism. What are you doing talking about
good works? Salvation is not by works, this is legalism. Well, Paul says, for we are his
workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto
good works. The we is every believer. We
are his workmanship created. What do you have to do with creation?
Created in Christ Jesus. unto good works, which God hath
before ordained that we should walk in them. Now, verse one of chapter two, and
you hath he quickened who were dead, dead
in trespasses and sins. Now what can a dead man do to
be saved by his works? Nothing. Dead. Not hurt, not needing help, dead. Wherein in times past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air. The spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature,
by nature, this is the way we were born, the children of wrath,
just like everybody else, even as others. But God, not but you
turned it around, not but you accepted Jesus as your personal
savior, but God, that's correct. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened, given us life 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 and his kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved." I love that sentence. By grace
are you saved, because I know this, like I said last week,
my greatest need is salvation. I need him to save me. I need
Him to save me from Himself. I've sinned against Him. He's
the one who can put me into hell. I need to save from God. I need
to save from myself. The worst thing that could ever
happen to me is for the Lord to leave me to myself. That's all He's
got to do. Leave me alone. He doesn't have to do anything
but leave me alone and I'll go to hell. I need to be saved from
my sins. The condemnation of sin, the
penalty of sin, the power of sin. I need to be saved from
my sins. I need to be saved from my circumstances
that my sins bring on me. I need to have the Lord bring
good out of evil. I need saved by grace. By grace, are you saved through
faith? What's the evidence God has given
you grace? You believe the gospel. That's the only evidence you
believe. By grace are you saved through
faith and that not of yourselves. That faith is not the product
of your free will. That's foolishness. That's evil.
That's giving yourself the credit. That's believing salvation by
works. By grace are you saved through faith and that not of
yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of works. Lest any man should boast for
we are his workmanship. Here's the conclusion of all
of this. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus on two
good works, which he hath before ordained that we should walk
in them. The word workmanship is where
we get the word POAH in our English from. We, speaking every believer,
all of God's elect, we are His poem. We are His workmanship. My favorite line of poetry, I
said this last week, I'm gonna say it again, my favorite line
of poetry is a line by Robert Frost. And every time I feel
like I'm in a bad mood, I like to think of this line. The way
a crow shook down on me a dust of snow from a hemlock tree has
given me a change of mood and saved some part of a day I'd
rude. I love that line. Now, what if
I said I wrote that? It would be what is called plagiarism. It would be a lie. And I would
be seeking to give the glory to myself that was due only to
Robert Frost. It would be plagiarism. We are
his workmanship. We are his poem. Now, the we, as I've already
said, is every believer. Without exception. We are his
workmanship. They're strong believers. They're
weak believers. They're rejoicing believers.
There are struggling believers. And they're all equally saved
for this one singular reason. We are His workmanship. And He never fails in His works.
You know, he doesn't have a pile over here of failures that didn't
reach the standard. No, every believer, we are his
workmanship. Now this word workmanship is
translated in Romans chapter one. Turn with me there for a
second. Romans chapter one. Make us understand
what this is. Verse 20. For the invisible things
of him, the things that we don't see
physically, the invisible things of him from the creation of the
world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are made. Now that is the same word as
workmanship. Creation, we can see, is his
workmanship. If you don't willfully blind
yourself, you can see that God made the universe. It's his workmanship. He's eternal. Nobody made him
and he's all powerful. He spaked the world into existence. It is his workmanship. If you see a beautiful painting,
You never think that the paint somehow evolved and there's that
beautiful painting on the canvas. You don't think anything like
that. You know a very skilled artist produced that painting. If there's a novel, it didn't
begin with some kind of big bang and all of a sudden the words
turn into this novel. You wouldn't think anything so
foolish. When you see a computer, you
don't think, well, that's a ball from a typewriter. No, not at
all. Somebody very smart with much
ability put together that computer. It's his workmanship. That's what the word means. workmanship. It's the workmanship of somebody
very intelligent. I love what David said in Psalm
100 verse 3, it is he that made us and not we ourselves. We are his workmanship. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. Verse 10, and this is the confession
of every believer without exception, but by the grace of God, I am
what I am. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. What am I? First of all, I'm
a sinner. And it's only by the grace of
God I know that. There are many people who do
not really know that they're a sinner in the scriptural sense.
And by that I mean somebody who all they do is sin. They cannot
not sin. That's what a sinner is. It's
the one who commits the sin. It's the person who cannot look
down their nose in moral superiority at anybody for any reason. It's
the one who has no claims on God. They're sinners. I'm a sinner
and it's by the grace of God. A sinner is a sacred thing. The
Holy Ghost has made him so. I'm an elect sinner. Chosen by
God before time began. You see, I'm His workmanship.
I'm a justified sinner. That means I stand before God
without guilt. That means I stand before God having never sinned.
Perfectly righteous. I'm a redeemed sinner. All my
sins have been paid for by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now that's His workmanship. I didn't have anything to do
with this. I didn't have any hand in this. That's what He did. I'm a regenerated
sinner. I've been given a new nature.
A new heart. One that wasn't there before.
I'm His workmanship. Up to this point, I'm a preserved
sinner. I've not fallen away. I've continued
in the faith. That's his workmanship. And when
I stand before his throne dressed in beauty, not my own, I tell
you what, I'm going to cry. I'm his workmanship. We are his
workmanship, his poem. Don't commit plagiarism. That's
so evil. I had some hand in this. No,
you didn't. No, you didn't. We are his workmanship. And any questioning of that saying
I had something to do with it is evil. That's all it is. It's
evil. We are His workmanship, His poem,
His work. And He says something even stronger
in the next phrase. Turn back to our text in Ephesians
chapter two. We are His workmanship. Now look
what it says next. Created. Created. In Christ Jesus. Undo good works. Create it. Now, humanly speaking,
when we admire the workmanship of somebody, something they produced,
they had something to work with, didn't they? A painter has his
paints, his brush, his canvas. You look at something that is
made of steel. Well, that steel was made from
raw products, iron ore. See, there's iron ore, there's
limestone, there's Well, there's several things that it's got
raw, raw materials that make up the steel. It wasn't created.
It was made from these raw materials. When someone, we admire their
workmanship. Well, they had raw materials
to work with, didn't they? Whatever it was they made. That's
not so in creation. In creation, there were no raw
materials to work with. He made something from Nothing. He created the universe as an
act of His will. Creation. Created. I love that scripture in 2 Corinthians
5, verse 17, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation.
You see, if you're a believer, Not only did God create the universe,
he created you in Christ Jesus. He brought something from nothing.
And if you're a believer right now, this is so important that
you and I understand this. I don't mean understand it, but
believe it. There's no way I can understand it, but I do believe
it. If you're a believer, you have two separate natures. You have the old nature, the
one you were born with, and you have the new nature that you
were given when you were born again. A new nature that was
not there before. A holy nature and an evil nature. A nature that cannot sin and
a nature that cannot not sin. And these two natures come through
one consciousness. It's not like you say, well,
I see that one. That's the new and that's the old. No, they're
all funneled through one consciousness, like hot water coming through
one faucet. But you have two separate natures. And if you're a believer, you
understand this. If you're not a believer, if the Lord hadn't
done anything for you, this doesn't make sense to you. If you only have
one nature, you can't understand having two natures. It's impossible.
But if you're a believer, you know I have a nature that's completely
evil. And I've got a nature that believes the gospel. That's what
the man cried out in Mark chapter nine. I believe help thou mine
unbelief. The new nature believes, the
old nature never believes. And they're always coming through
that one consciousness. If any man being Christ, he's
a new creation. Now, this is very important,
created in Christ Jesus. created in Christ Jesus. Now, when Adam was created, do
you know everybody was in him? You were in him? You know, when
Adam was created, he was created before Eve, and yet it says before
the creation of Eve, male and female created he them. You see,
when Adam was created, Eve was in him. She was taken out of
his side. And you and I were in him, in his loins. We all
have this in common. Adam. I think it's interesting
how everybody is so interested in their family tree. Well, you
shake it long enough and Adam's gonna fall out. We all have the
same family. Adam. Adam. fallen Adam, and
in Adam all die. Adam, I've heard people say Adam
was the federal head of our race. No, he's not. He's the seminal
head, the seed. All the seed were in him. He's
the seminal head. He's not just a federal head
like the president in the United States, but he's the seminal
head. Christ Jesus, created in him, He is the seminal head of all
the elect, the seed. A seed shall serve him, created
in Christ Jesus. Now, somebody says, explain that
to me. I can't. I can declare it. It's what the
Bible teaches, created in Christ Jesus. Can I give a complete
explanation of how all that is? No, I can't. I don't feel a need
to. Just believe. Can I explain how God is one
God and three distinct persons, God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Ghost? No, I can't, I just believe it. Believe the
gospel. If it's something that you could
understand or wouldn't mean anything to it anyway. If you can grasp it intellectually,
ain't much to it. Oh, the gospel is to be believed
and to be bowed to. created in Christ Jesus unto
good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them. Now, question, question. If God foreordained your salvation,
is there any way that you will not be saved? Repeat, if God foreordained your
salvation, if he determined your salvation, is there any way you
will not be saved? The answer is no. If God determined your salvation,
you must be saved. You can't be anything but saved
if God foreordained your salvation. Now the second question, if God
ordained beforehand that you should walk in good works, is
there any way, is there any scenario in which you will not walk in
good works? If God ordained that you should
walk in good works? The answer to that question is
the same as the answer to the previous question. You will walk
in good works. If God ordained that you should
walk in good works, you will walk in good works. You can't
do anything but walk in good works. Turn with me to Matthew
chapter 25 for a moment. Verse 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 divided his sheep from the goats. And
he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on
the left. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand,
come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. Now, is there any
way that they can fail to inherit this kingdom if it was prepared
for them from the foundation of the world? No, this is the
elect. This is the sheep. They must be saved. Now look
what he says. 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. I was naked, and you clothed
me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you
came unto me. Now, I believe that first, that
represents the preaching of the gospel. I was hungry, and you gave me
meat. Isn't that what happens in preaching? I was thirsty and
you gave me drink. I was a stranger, you took me
in. That's the gospel. I was naked and you clothed me.
That's the gospel, clothed with his righteousness. I was sick
and you visited me. All his divine visitation. I was in prison in
my own nature and you came to me. Then shall the righteous, verse
37, answer him saying, Lord, we don't know about any of this.
We're not aware of ever having done anything. You know, when
it says a believer's zealous of good works, that doesn't mean
he thinks he has plenty of them. He wants to though. That's the
way he's zealous of good. I want to honor the Lord. I want
to glorify the Father by my works. That's what the believer desires.
But does he know he has any? No, we didn't know about any
of this. We didn't know about any of this. If you think you've
performed one good work, Let me give you a hint. You haven't.
You haven't. You don't even know what they
are. A good work is not to, well, I'm going to perform this good
work. You ruined it. It's no good. It's not even real. That's just phony human religion
is all it is. If you think, well, I'm going
to do this. This can be a good work. No, you don't even know what good
works are. You're clueless. They didn't know about these
things the Lord said they did. Then shall the righteous answer
him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee and hungered and fed thee,
or thirsty and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger and
took thee in, or naked and clothed thee? When saw we thee sick or
in prison, came unto thee? And the king shall answer and
say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as you've done
it to one of the least of these my brethren, because they're
united to me, I'm their head, they are in me, you've done it
unto me. Then shall he also say unto them
on the left hand, depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry
and you gave me no meat. You never preached the gospel,
you didn't even believe it. I was thirsty, you gave me no drink.
You didn't tell me of the gospel. I was a stranger and you took
me not in. I was naked and you clothed me
not. I was sick and in prison, you visited me not. Lord, we've
established hospitals, and soup kitchens, and we've helped all
kinds of people. What's this all about? We thought
we did. Then shall they answer him, Lord, when saw we thee in
hunger, or thirst, or strange, or naked, or sick, or in prison,
did not minister to thee? Then shall they answer them,
saying, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you did it not to
one of the least of these, you did it not to me, and these shall
go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. Who is the only one who can identify
a good work? Who's the only one who can identify
a good work? The Lord Jesus. Me and you wouldn't know a good
work if we saw one, but he does. He does. And do you know there's
only one time that he identified something as a good work? Only
once. Now all kinds of folks thought
they had a lot of good works, many and wonderful, but only
one time did he commend a work as a good work. Now, this is
what every believer is ordained to walk in, and not to do them,
but to walk in them. This is my life. Now, the good
work isn't something you do. It's what you are. You walk in
them. It's not that you, well, I'm
going to do this good work. I need to do that good. No, that's not
good works. Let's look at what the Lord called
a good work. Turn with me to Mark chapter 14. And being, verse three, and being in Bethany, in the
house of Simon the leper, as he said it meet, there came a
woman, a nameless woman, having an alabaster box of ointment
of spikenard, very precious, very expensive. Very costly. And she came without a word.
I have no doubt that she'd heard him preach. And she heard of
the forgiveness of sins that's in Christ Jesus. She heard of
the freeness of grace. And she heard something about
his death. You know, on three different occasions, he said,
I'm going to be crucified and buried and rise again from the
dead the third day. He said that on three different
occasions. And you wonder why weren't the disciples waiting
at his tomb three days later? Well, they either didn't pay
attention or they didn't believe, but this woman did because the
Lord said, she's anointed my body for the burial. She knew
exactly what she was doing. She heard the Lord say this and
what she was doing was very intelligent. She knew why she was breaking
this alabaster box, but she felt led to do it. She heard him preach. She felt led to do this. You
know, a lot of times when we feel led to do something, if
we wait long enough, we'll lose those impressions, won't we?
Just wait. What you feel impressed to do,
it'll die out. But this woman didn't do this. She thought,
I'm going to take that box of ointment, and I'm going to anoint
his body for burial. And being in Bethany in the house
of Simon the leper, as he said to me, there came a woman having
an alabaster box of spikenard. very precious and she break the
box and poured it on his head. And there were some that had
indignation within themselves. They watched what she did and
they criticized her. They criticized You know, anytime
there's anybody that does anything, somebody very small hearted will
be there to criticize. And they criticized her. And
these were the disciples that criticized her. Yeah, I know
Judas was the ringleader, but all of them were thinking this,
all of the disciples. You see, disciples are not very
good at recognizing what a good work is. The Lord does, but not
the disciples. And there were some that had
indignation within themselves and said, why was this waste
of ointment made? For it might've been sold for
much more than 300 pence and have been given to the poor.
And they murmured against her. What a waste of time. What a
waste of money. Look what she could have done. Criticized her. And Jesus said, let her alone. Why trouble you her? She hath
wrought a good work on me. Now this is the only thing the
Lord ever called a good work. She hath wrought a good work
on me. And this is the good works Paul
is referring to that he says were ordained to walk in them.
For the poor For you have the poor with you always, and whensoever
you will, you may do them good, but me you have not always. She's done what she's could.
She's come beforehand to anoint my body for the burying. That's
why she came. She had an appreciation of his
death. Do you have an appreciation of
his death? Do you have an appreciation of
his death? What do you mean by that? Do you find all of your
salvation in his death? I don't mean 99% of it. I mean
all of it. If you don't, you have no appreciation
of his death. I want you to think of the appreciation
the father has of his death. That is the same appreciation
every believer is to have. She's come to anoint my body. She knows I'm gonna die. She
knows I'm gonna rise from the dead. And she's come to anoint
my body for the bearing. Verily I say unto you, wheresoever
the gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this
also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of
her. Now let me tell you one thing
that this woman did not do. She didn't think I'm gonna do
good work. Didn't even come into her mind. I'm going to do a good
work. I'm going to do something that
God would call good. That never entered her mind. Now, I love the way the Lord
said in one of the other accounts of this same event, she hath
wrought a good work on me. It's implied here. The poor you
have always, but me you have not always. But she acted from
the impulse of a loving heart. She didn't ask herself, is this
my duty? She didn't ask herself, were
other people doing this? She acted on the impulse of a loving
heart and she did what she did for him. The disciples criticized
her, but she didn't do it for them. She did it for him. Now, when We give. And that's so important. Giving
proves the sincerity of your love. When you give, don't give
because it's your duty. Don't give because you think
this is what I ought to do. Don't give to pay the light bills
and to pay the preacher or to pay anything. Don't look at it in that light.
We give as unto the Lord. Love gives. And she took this alabaster box
of precious ointment, and she didn't think, well, there's too
much sacrifice. This is a lot, this is a great sacrifice. No.
Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far
too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands
my soul, my life, my all. What she did was extravagant
for a good smell. Yeah. Yeah. It was premeditated. She acted on her impulse. She
did it without a word. She didn't broadcast it. She
didn't advertise it. I want people to find out about
this. I want people to know, now that's in our heart, anything
you do for the glory of Christ, you're going to want somebody
to find out about it. It's wrong. It just shows how sinful you
are and how sinful I am. I'm afraid that anything anybody
ever does, somebody's going to find out about it. You ruined
it. You ruined it. Let not your right hand know
what your left is doing. And I'll guarantee you, this
woman did not think this was a good work. She wasn't even
thinking in those terms. She was thinking of the glory
of the Lord and the power of His death. Now, God, let's go
back to our text, Ephesians chapter 2. Verse 10. For we are His poem,
His workmanship created. Oh, that's so powerful. Created. How much do you have to do with
creation? Zero. Nothing. We are His workmanship
created in Christ Jesus. There's my standing. Here's my
only hope. Here's my only desire that I
might win Christ and be found in Him. When God comes looking
for me, I want Him to find me in the Lord Jesus Christ. Created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. Just like this woman. Not advertised,
not thought of as good works. Love to Christ. Love to His people. Anything done out of love to
him is a good work. And it's the walk of the believer. It's the walk. He doesn't say
perform. I mean, he says walk in him.
Don't try to do it. If you try to do a good work,
it's no good. If you think it's a good work,
it's no good. It's not even real. This is not
something I'm going to do this. Don't think that way. By the
grace of God, don't think that way. Walk in them. This is the
walk of a believer. This is the walk of every believer.
It's because God has before ordained that they should walk in them.
Walk in good works. Now, give me a place to begin.
I want to close with two scriptures. The first one was found in John
chapter six. Verse 28, John chapter six, verse
28. Then said they unto him, what
shall we do that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto
them, this is the work of God that you believe. him whom he
hath sent. Let's begin right there. Matter
of fact, better not leave there. What can I do to work the works
of God? Believe on him whom he has sent. Believe he sent him. Believe he did what he sent him
to do and rest in him. You know, if you do that, I don't
have any doubt that you will walk in good works. No doubt
about it. If you just believe on him, whom
he has sent. Last scripture is Titus chapter
three. Verse five. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, But according to His mercy, He
saved us. By the washing of regeneration
and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Lord, that being justified by His grace,
We should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Now this is a faithful saying,
what I've just said. And these things, justified by grace, without
works, these things I will that thou affirm constantly. Now you hear that? By the grace
of God, every time you come to this place, this is what you're
gonna hear. And you're gonna hear it constantly. And you're
not gonna hear anything else. All you're gonna hear is salvation
by grace. These things I will that you
affirm constantly, repetitively, over and over. Same thing. Why? That or in order that. They which have believed in God
might be careful to maintain good works." The only way anybody's
going to be careful to maintain good works is if they constantly
hear free grace. And they will walk in Him. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that we might be just like that woman so many years ago. Lord, we find all of our salvation
in thy son. And we ask that by your grace,
because you foreordained it, and that it's totally the work
of your sovereign grace, we ask that we might be enabled to walk
in good works for the glory of thy name. In Christ's name we
pray, amen.