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We're gonna finish off of Good 
Works this morning, chapter 16. So chapter 16 in your confession 
of faith, does anyone need one? All right. All quickly, but not with too 
much haste, read through the chapter, and then we'll dive 
into the second portion here, the latter paragraphs of Good 
Works. So this is chapter 16, beginning at verse one, paragraph 
one. Good works are only such as God 
hath commanded in his holy word, and not such as without the warrant 
thereof are devised by men out of blind zeal, or upon the pretense 
of good intentions. These good works, done in obedience 
to God's commandments, are the fruits and evidences of a true 
and lively faith, and by them believers manifest their thankfulness, 
strengthen their assurance, edify their brethren, adorn the profession 
of the gospel, stop the mouths of adversaries, and glorify God, 
whose workmanship they are, created in Christ Jesus thereunto, that 
having their fruit unto holiness, they may have the end eternal 
life. Their ability to do good works is not at all of themselves, 
but wholly from the Spirit of Christ, and that they may be 
enabled thereunto, besides the graces they have already received, 
there is necessary an actual influence of the same Holy Spirit 
to work in them to will and to do of His good pleasure. Yet 
they are not hereupon to grow negligent, as if they were not 
bound to perform any duty, unless upon a special motion of the 
Spirit, but they ought to be diligent in stirring up the grace 
of God that is in them. They who in their obedience attain 
to the greatest height which is possible in this life are 
so far from being able to supererogate and to do more than God requires, 
as that they fall short of much which in duty they are bound 
to do. We cannot by our best works merit pardon of sin or 
eternal life at the hand of God. By reason of the great disproportion 
that is between them and the glory to come, and the infinite 
distance that is between us and God, whom by them we can neither 
profit nor satisfy for the debt of our former sins. But when 
we have done all we can, we have done but our duty and our unprofitable 
servants. And because as they are good, 
they proceed from his spirit, and as they are wrought by us, 
they are defiled and mixed with so much weakness and imperfection 
that they cannot endure the severity of God's punishment. Yet notwithstanding 
the persons of believers being accepted through Christ, their 
good works are also accepted in him. not as though they were 
in this life wholly unblameable and unreprovable in God's sight, 
but that he, looking upon them in his son, is pleased to accept 
and reward that which is sincere, although accompanied with many 
weaknesses and imperfections. works done by unregenerate men, 
although for the matter of them they may be things which God 
commands, and of good use both to themselves and others, yet 
because they proceed not from a heart purified by faith, nor 
are done in a right manner according to the word, nor to a right end, 
the glory of God, they are therefore sinful and cannot please God, 
nor make a man meet to receive grace from God, and yet their 
neglect of them is more sinful and displeasing to God. Amen. Well, just a little reminder 
or review of last time, not to take up too much time at all, 
but we sort of started last time by noting that there's a particular 
demarcating line in historical Christianity that divides true 
biblical faith from that which is untrue or untrue claimants 
to biblical religion, and that That comes forth in paragraph 
5, the first sentence. We noted that historical Protestantism 
has, historical biblical Christianity has always upheld that we're not saved by our works, 
but we're saved solely and alone by the grace of God through faith 
in Christ Jesus. Or, more to the point, at the 
doctrine of good works, it is Christ alone who has done those 
works that are able to merit everlasting life. We do not merit 
it. Christ has perfected that merit, and all those who believe 
are imputed with his righteousness and receive the forgiveness of 
sins. We're not saved by works, we're saved by faith alone, through 
Christ alone, by the grace of God alone. And so last time we 
noted the definition of good works, just very briefly there, 
are sort of three things with regards to the definition of 
good works. There is matter, manner, and character. The matter 
of good works are that they are done in obedience to God's commandments. The first paragraph, good works 
are only such as God hath commanded in his holy word. So the matter 
of good works are the joyful and cheerful obedience to specifically 
the law of God. We're not devising our own good 
works. Man does not, without warrant, 
devise works out of blind zeal, nor does he do any works upon 
the pretense of good intentions, but much rather, joyfully and 
cheerfully obeying the law of God, that is where we see the 
matter of good works. The manner of good works are 
such that they're done by a heart purified by faith, They're done 
by or unto or through love to God and love to our brethren. 
And also we noted last time that they're done to the glory of 
God and they are done freely and cheerfully. So sort of four 
things with regards to the manner of good works. Again, heart purified 
by faith, love to God and our fellows, the glory of God, and 
doing freely and cheerfully that which the law of God revealed 
in the law requires to be done. And then lastly, the character. 
So what is the definitive character of good works? We noted that 
it is that good works are the fruits and evidences of a lively 
faith. They do not, negatively, merit 
pardon of sin or eternal life at the hand of God, but positively, 
they are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith. They 
are the testifications to the veracity of our faith. They witness 
to and they verify that our faith is true, but they are those things 
that are the evidences of faith. They don't merit for us salvation, 
but they evidence the fact that we have been saved freely by 
the grace of our God. We noted that the necessary foundation 
of works is the empowering of God. Paragraph 2, or paragraph 
3 rather, holy from the Spirit of Christ, we're enabled thereunto, 
that is the good works, and we're also further empowered by an 
actual influence of that same Holy Spirit. So we have the ability 
and the action granted by virtue of the empowering Holy Spirit 
given by our great God to us. So the necessary foundation of 
good works is the Holy Spirit given, the requisite power of 
the Holy Spirit given for the execution of good works. And 
just on that, a note, something here from John Gill, a quote 
on this particular point, God working efficaciously in the 
hearts of believers unto the execution of good works in joyful 
obedience to God. Good works efficaciously in the 
hearts of his people, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. 
He opens their hearts, that is God. God opens their hearts to 
attend to the words spoken to them. He bends their wills and 
inclines their hearts to that which is good and gives them 
power and grace to affect it. He circumcises their hearts to 
love Him, the Lord their God. He creates them anew in Christ 
that they may be capable of performing good works, for though without 
Him they can do nothing, yet through Him strengthening them, 
they can do all things. He puts His Spirit within them 
to enable them to walk in His statutes and to keep His judgments 
and do them. So the necessary foundation of 
good works, the power of the Holy Spirit. And then we finished 
off, and we spent a lot of time, and rightfully so, on the non-meritorious 
nature of good works, that good works can't merit for us everlasting 
life. And we noted the fact is clearly 
asserted at the beginning of paragraph 5. Just to very quickly 
finish that off, and that is by the reasons stated why we 
cannot merit everlasting life, notice paragraph 5 again here. 
So, this introductory and very, very important statement, we 
cannot, by our best works, merit pardon of sin or eternal life 
at the hand of God. And then there are reasons given 
here. there are reasons given for the fact that we cannot merit 
everlasting life at the hand of God. First, notice that we 
have here, by reason of the great disproportion that is between 
them and the glory to come. So we sort of capture that by 
saying the contrast between good works and eschatological beatitude, 
when we receive the fullness of joy and glory in the eternal 
bliss of heaven, there's so much of an insurmountable gap between 
our good works, Believer's good works done, but mingled with 
weakness, mingled with corruption, and mingled with sin. There's 
so far of an insurmountable gap between that and the joy and 
the fullness that we have in the eternal bliss of heaven that 
we cannot therefore merit everlasting, we cannot merit everlasting life. 
Also, the insurmountable ascent to divine satisfaction. Notice 
what the confession says here. The infinite distance that is 
between us and God. whom by them we can neither profit 
nor satisfy for the debt of our former sins. So there is an insurmountable 
ascent to divine satisfaction. That simply means that men cannot 
climb up the hill unto God and be saved by their efforts and 
by their doing and by their operations and action. It's insurmountable. 
There is one who has ascended the holy hill. There is one who 
has ascended unto divine satisfaction, and that is Jesus Christ. Only 
He alone can merit, only He alone can win, only He alone can ascend 
unto the mount of divine satisfaction, and He has done so. He can ascend, 
and He has ascended in the perfection of His saving work. The obligatory 
nature of good works for the creature, notice when, as the 
confession reads on, so after for the debt of our former sins, 
but when we have done all we can, we have done but our duty 
and our unprofitable servants. So there is an obligatory nature 
for good works. There isn't some sort of salvific 
economy where God awards us and rewards us for doing which is 
but our duty to do. And so when we have done but 
our duty, we are unprofitable servants and have done simply 
that, our duty, but again, not unto perfection, not unto acceptation 
or acceptability, but rather mingled with weakness and corruption, 
thereby solely and alone relying upon the saving efficacy of Christ 
and the empowering Holy Spirit to do those which are, the fruits 
and evidences of a true and lively faith. And then lastly, under 
the reasons stated that we cannot merit eternal life, we see the 
corruption inherent in man's best performance. The corruption 
inherent in man's best performance notice, and because as they are 
good, they proceed from his spirit, And as they are wrought by us, 
they are defiled and mixed with so much weakness and imperfection 
that they cannot endure the severity of God's punishment. And so we 
see here the corruption that is inherent in man's best, the 
best that he can do. It is the case that they are 
not, they don't approach the acceptability, they don't approach 
the perfection that is required by God. And notice the statement, 
as they are good, they proceed from his spirit. So, this is 
to say that, yes, though man has this mingled weakness and 
corruption in their good works and cannot endure the severity 
of God's punishment, that isn't to somehow impugn the Holy Spirit, 
who is the source and the empowering force behind our ability to do 
good works and that necessary requirement for the continual 
doing of them, it's not as if the Spirit is deficient, because 
as they are good, they proceed from His Spirit. But rather, 
as it pertains to us, those who are in the end doing the good 
works, they are mingled with weakness and imperfection. So, 
the non-meritorious nature of good works, with the reasons 
stated, that is paragraph 5. So, we're going to move on now, 
then, to the acceptability of good works through the Mediator, 
Jesus Christ. This is point number 4, the acceptability 
of good works through the Mediator, Jesus Christ. Notice the language 
of paragraph 6. Yet notwithstanding the persons 
of believers being accepted through Christ, their good works also 
are accepted in Him. So the acceptability of our good 
works, we would want to make a note of some negative things. What does the acceptability of 
our good works not rest upon? So let's talk about a few of 
those things. First off, the acceptability of our good works 
is not by virtue of the simple matter required, that is our 
obedience to the law of God. So because even cheerfully and 
joyfully, we do those things that God has commanded in His 
Holy Word, that is not the ground or the foundation of the acceptability 
of our works. Notice that our works are accepted, 
not in order to merit salvation, but through Christ, by virtue 
of having been saved by amazing and victorious grace, brought 
to life from death through Jesus Christ, and being given the Holy 
Spirit. We do those works as fruits and 
evidences of a true and lively faith, and they are accepted. 
but not by virtue of the simple matter required, that is, that 
we were obedient, even though it's done with a purified heart, 
even though it's done in obedience to God's commandments, even though 
it's done unto love to God and love to men. Even given all of 
those things, it is nevertheless the case that our acceptability 
of good works is not by virtue of that. The acceptability of 
The acceptability of our good works is not by virtue of the 
manner in which they are carried out. We just noted that. So our 
acceptability is not by virtue of the obedience to the law of 
God, the acceptability of our good works, rather. It's also 
not by virtue of the manner in which we perform them. So because 
we do it cheerfully and joyfully, because we do it from holiness 
of heart, from a heart purified by faith, because of all of those 
things, that isn't where the ground of acceptability lies 
for our good works. So, positively, then, the acceptability 
of our good works is by virtue of our union with Christ the 
Mediator. And that's the language of the 
Confession at this point, and that's the language of the Bible. 
In fact, we're going to turn to a passage in a moment. But, 
yet notwithstanding, the persons of believers being accepted through 
Christ. So, first off, the Confession 
is stating that the persons of believers are accepted through 
Christ. So before stating anything about 
good works relative to this point, it notes first off that our persons 
are accepted through or in Jesus Christ. So God accepts us, our 
believing persons, not by virtue of ourselves, but by virtue of 
our union with Christ, ultimately by virtue of the perfection of 
Christ, his person and his work. So the acceptability of our good 
works is by virtue of our union with Christ, our mediator. John 
Gill writes, through the mediation of his Son, by whom, as the persons, 
the souls and bodies of his people, so their spiritual sacrifices, 
whether of prayer or praise, are only acceptable to him." 
So that's, you know, I think that's why it's a good reason 
that when we come to worship, for example, when we come to 
prayer in worship, we pray that God accepts Our spiritual sacrifices 
are oblations of prayer and service to Him, that He accepts them 
not by virtue of them, not by virtue of us, but by virtue of 
our Mediator, Jesus Christ. And so we ought to pray that, 
God, that You would accept our works, that You would accept 
our service, that You would accept our prayers before You. through 
Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, through whom alone we have salvation. So Gil was commenting there on 
Romans 12.1, but we can turn. We can turn to the book of Ephesians 
here for a moment, the book of Ephesians, because here we see 
in Paul's doxological explication of the grace of the triune God, 
the grace of the Father through the work of Father, Son, and 
Holy Spirit, we have some wonderful language with regards to union, 
and the Confession notes one of those passages. with regards 
to the acceptability of good works. And so notice, at Ephesians 
1, beginning at verse 3, blessed be the God and Father of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing 
in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in him before 
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without 
blame before him. Now notice, in love, having predestined 
us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according 
to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of 
his grace, by which he made us accepted in the Beloved. That's 
the language that we have that the Confession is using here, 
and there are other passages that it cites, but this is the 
source of things here. God has made us accepted in the 
Beloved. By virtue of His predestinating 
and electing grace, by virtue of the in time and in history 
regenerating power of the Holy Spirit bringing us forth from 
the deadness of sin, He accepts us in Jesus Christ through justification, 
through adoption, and through all of those saving graces. And 
so because our persons are accepted in Him, so too are our works 
accepted through Christ. And this language that we have 
in the book of Ephesians, it's a wonderful book of adoption. 
It's also a wonderful book of union. We have so many times 
reiterated, just in verses 1 through 15, the language of in Him, in 
Christ, in the Beloved. It's repeated over and over again. 
And that brings forth the blessed doctrine of our union with Jesus 
Christ. We are united to Him as our Head, 
and through Him, we are accepted, and through Him, our works are 
accepted. And so once again, the acceptability 
of our good works is by virtue of our union with Christ, our 
mediator. Turning your confessions here for a moment to chapter 
eight, because in the doctrine of Christ, of Christ the mediator, 
in chapter eight, we have a statement that touches upon the very thing 
we're studying now. So in chapter eight, you can 
turn to paragraph 10. And I want us to see something 
here with regards to the high priestly office of Jesus Christ, 
the mediatorial office of Jesus. Okay, so chapter eight, paragraph 
10, this number and order of offices is necessary that is 
Christ as the office of mediator, but in that threefold function 
or offices, prophet, priest, and king. So this number and 
order of offices is necessary for in respect of our ignorance, 
we stand in need of his prophetical office. And in respect of our 
alienation from God and imperfection of the best of our services, 
we need His priestly office to reconcile us and present us acceptable 
unto God. You see, the mediatorial function, 
the mediatorial office of the Lord Jesus Christ didn't cease 
at His ascension. Now, He had perfected salvation, 
so there is a once-for-all sacrifice perfectly rendered by Jesus Christ 
in time and in history, but He still presents, He still appears 
before God on our behalf. we have this imperfection of 
the best of our services, and so we need that priestly office 
to reconcile us unto God, and to continually present us acceptable 
unto God. Not in some wicked, insufferable 
manner like the Roman Catholic Church, where there is the repetition 
and reiteration of an unbloody sacrifice, but based upon the 
perfection of His once-for-all sacrifice, that was rendered 
for many unto God perfectly, by virtue of that he can appear 
before God, he serves as our priest before God, and we in 
our persons and in our works are acceptable to God. It's all 
by virtue of Jesus Christ our Savior. That language should 
be blessed to our hearts, We need His priestly office to reconcile 
us and present us acceptable unto God. We have imperfection 
in the best of our services, but we have the perfection of 
Christ in His mediatorial services, and in there we have great comfort 
and security unending. So, the acceptability of good 
works through the mediator, Jesus Christ. One thing we ought to 
just simply say is that it is because of Christ that our good 
works are accepted. It's because of Christ that our 
good works are accepted, because of the dignity of His person 
and the virtue of His office. That's sort of a paraphrase of 
Owen's language, a two-fold blessedness to the doctrine of Christ, the 
dignity of His person, but also the virtue of His offices, and 
also the virtue of His offices. So we have the person of Christ, 
and we have the perfection of His work. his vicarious life, 
his substitutionary death. It is by virtue of that, the 
dignity of his person and the virtue of his office. This is 
Matthew Henry writing on Romans 12.1. And in fact, just turn 
there for a quick moment and then we'll read the Henry quote. 
But notice the language of Romans 12. And I believe, turning back 
to chapter 16, I believe it is No, it's not listed there. But 
anyway, Romans 12.1, on this particular point, I beseech you, 
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your 
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God. So we have 
that language of acceptability there, and Matthew Henry notes 
here, Christ, who was once offered to bear the sins of many, is 
the only sacrifice of atonement. But our persons and performances 
tendered to God through Christ our priest, are as sacrifices 
of acknowledgement to the honor of God. And so we have that blessed 
certainty that the acceptation of our good works will come to 
God through our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. One other quote 
here on Spurgeon, and this is Spurgeon using the language of 
Ephesians 1.5, Accepted in the Beloved, and it's a wonderful 
quote here. And this ought to cheer our hearts, 
and for anyone outside of Christ, this will hopefully, by God's 
grace, drive you to the Savior. But notice the language of Spurgeon 
here. In your surety, you are free. He's quoting a hymn here. In 
your surety, you are free. His dear blood was shed for you 
with your Savior's garments on, holy as the Holy One. While you 
have still to bear groans and doubts and fears to fight with 
corruption and to wrestle with temptation, you are still accepted 
in the Beloved. You are never accepted in yourself, 
You are but a condemned sinner in yourself. You are never anything 
but accursed, both of God and of the law, out of Jesus. But 
in Christ never accursed, in Christ never condemned. For he 
that believes in him is not condemned, and he that believes not is condemned 
already, because he believes not on the Son of God. Accept 
it in the Beloved. This sentence seems to me to 
be such a mouthful. It is a dainty all your own. 
Let it lie in your mouth like a wafer made with honey. Accept 
it in the Beloved." That ought to cheer our hearts. And you 
know, I think it's something that has cheered the hearts of 
many throughout the decades, perhaps, who have come out of 
a slavish, irreligious, focus upon performing good works in 
order to be saved. I mean, one can think of Martin 
Luther and others who came out of the Roman Catholic Church 
who saw the righteousness of God as this insurmountable, almost 
tyrannical ascension that could never be achieved. And so, you 
know, Thinking about the fact of God's righteousness, thinking 
about the fact of the law of God and what God demands as far 
as perfection, as far as perpetual joyful and cheerful obedience, 
as far as entire and exact obedience to the law of God, We should 
come to the doctrine of the acceptability of good works through the mediator 
and find great comfort and great joy and hopefully great impetus 
and great motivation to do those things which are the fruits and 
evidences of a lively faith, knowing that Christ has saved 
us unto that, not because of that. And so it's a wonderful 
doctrine that our persons and our works are accepted in Christ 
Jesus, our blessed mediator. So we want to notice now the 
purpose of good works. Fifthly and finally, the purpose 
of good works. What are the purposes? What is 
the purpose? Or what are the purposes of good 
works? We want to, excuse me, first note, negatively, another 
sip of coffee, I guess. Let us note negatively then, 
with a little bit of reiteration on some things that we've covered, 
what good works cannot do. So if we talk about the purpose 
of good works, we'll get to paragraph two in a moment. But negatively, 
we want to note what good works cannot do. And the first thing 
we want to note is that good works can never satisfy the act 
of obedience demands of God. there is one who has satisfied 
the act of obedience demands of God, and that is our blessed 
Savior, Jesus Christ, the Lord. So our good works, and this is 
a reiteration of the first sentence of paragraph five, but our good 
works can never satisfy the act of obedience demands of God. 
And let's think about that for a second. You know, if anyone 
is to say that our good works, even if it's just in part, can 
merit everlasting life, we are casting into the mud the perfection 
of the act of obedience of Jesus Christ. And that is an affront, 
that is an offense unto God. You know, and while to the second 
point, we'll note that in a moment, but we should see the glorious 
perfection of Christ's act of obedience before us, the Christian 
ought to, and realize that the best of his performances, the 
best of his acts, the best of his actions can never merit everlasting 
life. It is to cast into the mud the 
perfection of the act of obedience of Christ to say that we can 
in any way, even the smallest part, merit everlasting life. 
I was thinking of that hymn that we sang last time, Thy Works, 
Not Mine, O Christ. bring gladness to this heart. 
You know, that's the song of the Christian. Heaven forbid 
that it would ever be my works, not thine, O Christ, speak gladness 
to my heart. Or my works plus yours, O Christ, 
speak gladness to this heart. You know, Christ's works tell 
us all is done. That's what the hymn goes on 
to say, and the act of obedience of God was perfected by one alone, 
and that is Jesus Christ. Secondly, good works can never 
overcome the penal justice demands of God. The confession has already 
stated that. The confession has already stated 
that in paragraph five, that it says, whom by them we can 
neither profit nor satisfy for the debt of our former sins. 
So if we could, somehow, now, from this point 
forward, engage in the perfection of active obedience unto God's 
law. We know that we can't, but let's 
just say that we could. We would still have the debt 
of our former sins, and there are no good works that can you 
know, atone for, that can make amends for, that can satisfy 
the penal justice directed towards those particular and former sins. So good works can never overcome 
the penal justice demands of God. This is, again, to cast 
into the mud the substitutionary work of Christ, His passive obedience 
in bearing the curse and the wrath of God for all those whom 
had been given to Him. Christ died in vain is what Paul 
says if righteousness comes through the law. Then Christ's death 
is vanity. So to say that in the smallest 
part, good works can somehow merit divine favor and salvation 
is to do immense violence to the doctrine of penal substitution. And it is to say that the death 
of Christ is vanity. And that's the heart of Christianity, 
the cross of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. So the doctrine 
of salvation by good works or by faith plus works is an affront 
to the crucifixion. It's an affront to the blood 
of Jesus. It's an affront to the perfection of his saving 
cross work. Good works, thirdly, can never 
maintain our covenant status. You know, there are certain perversions 
of Christianity today that have a doctrine of covenantal faithfulness, 
a neo-Nomianism, a new law sort of approach to gospel and law 
where they're conflated and that we keep ourselves in the covenant 
by virtue of our good works. So, you know, we're brought in 
by you know, the new covenant in Christ's blood, but there 
is something to our performance, our faithfulness, however done, 
whatever manner by which they are done, there is something 
to them that can keep us in the covenant. That is to once again 
say that the perfection of Christ's saving work was not efficacious 
for the satisfaction of the covenant. And so clearly we cannot or our 
good works can never maintain our covenant status because it 
is by the perfection of Christ's saving work that we have covenant 
status. The covenant giver became the 
covenant keeper in the incarnation in order that we might have the 
perfection of everlasting life and a covenant reality before 
God not perfected by us, but perfected by one and alone, and 
that is Jesus Christ the Lord. So our good works can never maintain 
our covenant status. Lastly, fourthly and lastly, 
what our good works cannot do. Good works can never arouse human 
praise. They can never feed a self-congratulatory 
appetite or secure horizontal forgiveness. So first off, good 
works are never to arouse human praise. In other words, we don't 
do good works in order to merit human praise. We've already talked 
about, well actually, we'll get here in a moment, the purpose 
of good works. We don't go about doing good works in order that 
we might receive human praise. You know, one of the condemnations 
of the religious leaders of the day by Jesus Christ was that 
very thing. You know, going out and praying 
in public that people might see their prayers and think them 
to be the holy ones of Israel. when they're fasting, going out 
and looking like the most miserable people on earth so that people 
will know they're fasting. We are not to try and elicit 
human praise by the doing of good works. I think this is one 
of the curses of social media is that everybody puts everything, 
not just everybody puts everything, but very often you see a self-congratulatory 
attitude on social media You know, if you went and gave a 
sandwich to a homeless person, the world doesn't need to know 
on Facebook. I don't know why you're putting that on there. 
It was a great opportunity today I had to feed a homeless person 
with a sandwich. I think the implications of Christ's 
condemnation of the Pharisees are that we are to do good works 
unto God. If men see them, we're not to do them so that men may 
see them, but if men do see them, we'll see the virtue of that, 
or we'll see something good in that here in a moment. But we 
are not to have this attitude where we broadcast our holiness 
to the world. Whether it's to do that without 
announcing it on social media, or certainly whether it's announcing 
it on social media. Let's do good works unto the 
glory of God, and if men see, we'll see in a moment here the 
benefit of that. Good works are never to feed a self-congratulatory 
appetite. We just talked about that. Good 
works are never to secure horizontal forgiveness. And what I mean 
by that is the function of good work, the purpose of good work, 
if you have sinned against a brother or a sister, you're to immediately 
ask, repent and ask for forgiveness. I think what sometimes people 
do is we sin against a brother or sister in Christ, we sin against 
someone, and instead of asking for forgiveness, we'll buy them 
coffee, we'll get them flowers, we'll iron their shirt, we'll 
do something other than repent. Because we, for some reason, 
whether in pride or whether in embarrassment, whether in shame, 
whatever it is, we try to avoid repentance and just do something 
good in order to, in a sense, forgive. And that's just not 
Christian. We are to do good things for 
our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are to do good out of love 
to God and love to our fellows, but that's not repentance. Repentance is repentance. And 
so when you have sinned against a brother and sister in Christ, 
certainly buy them a sandwich, but before you do that, immediately 
go and ask for their forgiveness. That is true forgiveness. So 
this horizontal sort of, this replacement for a horizontal 
forgiveness or repentance, that's not the function of good works. 
So what are, then, the purpose of good works? Well, first off, 
we notice that it is to express gratitude. So if we can go back 
to paragraph two, We have the definitive character 
and a definition of good works at the beginning here. These 
good works done in obedience to God's commandments are the 
fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith. And then notice, 
and by them believers manifest their thankfulness. So in the 
doing of good works, we're manifesting our gratitude. We are expressing, 
we are in a manner of action expressing thankfulness to God 
for bringing us out of darkness into marvelous light, for by 
amazing and victorious grace, saving us through Jesus Christ 
the Lord. And so one of the purposes of 
good works is that simple, yet glorious reality, the expression 
of gratitude unto our God. And so I think that's something 
that we ought to take note of and make note of is that are 
we grateful? Are we thankful? Are we demonstrating 
the fact that we are the blessed beneficiaries of amazing grace 
by doing those things that God has called us freely, joyfully, 
and cheerfully to do? we ought to diligently do these 
things, not out of some sort of slavish box-checking, but 
because we've been redeemed, because we're Christians, because 
we have the grace of God in our hearts, because we have that 
blessed gift of an empowering Holy Spirit, and because we have 
that advocate with our Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous, 
that mediator at the right hand of God, through whom our good 
works are accepted. Notice as well, secondly, for 
encouragement of heart. for encouragement of heart. It 
says here, back in paragraph two, where are we here? Manifest their thankfulness, 
strengthen their assurance. So encouragement of heart. We are the foundation or ground 
of our assurance. Notice the language here says 
strengthen their assurance. It doesn't say that the ground 
and foundation of our assurance is our good works. It's a very important distinction 
here. The ground and foundation of our assurance is the perfect 
work of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Must never mistake that. In 1 
John, John writes, now by this we know that we know him if we 
keep his commandments. And so there is that reality, 
but we need to know that that reality of being in him is the 
ground of our assurance that our good works performed just 
testify to that to that reality. And they strengthen, they strengthen, 
they can strengthen our assurance. We know that we're in him if 
we keep his commandments. But never forget that our assurance, 
and we'll get to that chapter, it's just a couple chapters away, 
but the ground and foundation of our assurance is the perfect 
work of Jesus Christ. So when you're struggling with 
assurance, when you're really struggling with that assurance 
of salvation, look to the mediator. Yes, your good works can strengthen 
your assurance, but if you're struggling in your assurance, 
don't out of some sort of guilt or struggle go out about in public 
and start doing a multitude of good works, but immediately look 
to your Savior and say, Christ, help me. immediately look to 
the Savior who is the ground, His blood, His righteousness 
is the ground of our assurance, as we sang this morning. So when 
you're struggling with assurance, you look to Christ, and if you're 
looking to Christ, then you can know that you are His. Good works 
in a particular function and in their proper place and purpose 
do strengthen, though, that assurance that we have by virtue solely 
and alone of Jesus Christ. for the encouragement of other 
Christians. So thirdly, the purpose of good works is for the encouragement 
of other Christians. Strengthen their assurance. Edify 
their brethren is the next clause. So good works edify our brethren. This is something that we should 
also think about, that if we want to edify our brethren, What 
do we do? We joyfully and cheerfully do 
those things that God's Holy Word commands. Brethren seeing, 
brethren witnessing the doing of good works, again, in their 
proper character and function, it's a cheer to the heart. When 
we see other brothers and sisters, I mean, the good work of worship. 
When we're in the church and when we're together as a band 
of brothers here in church, praying, singing, listening to the scriptures, 
engaging in that central act of worship, the preaching of 
the word, we edify our brethren. And in those other works, in 
those things commanded in his holy word, those other things, 
when we're showing love to God and love to fellows, we are encouraging 
and edifying our brethren. Fourthly, for the decking of 
the doctrine of Christ. Notice what the confession goes 
on to say here, adorn the profession of the gospel. So these good 
works done in obedience to God's commandments, adorn the profession 
of the gospel. What does that mean? It means 
that, first off, let's say, and let's qualify this by saying 
that the gospel itself doesn't need any decking. The perfection 
of Christ's saving work, His perfect life, death, and resurrection, 
His glorious ascension, those don't need decking because they're 
the perfect gems that they are already. We don't need to somehow 
make Christ, you know, the dignity of his person and the virtue 
of his office look more attractive because they're beautiful, they're 
perfect, and they are what they are in that perfection. But, 
or not but, but what the confession is getting at here is that by 
our good works, well, let's use an example here. If we profess 
that we're Christians, and we profess we're Christians, we 
believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we say to a friend 
or something, hey, I believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ. 
But then we go out and we kick our cat, we scream at our wife, 
we drink ourselves to drunkenness, and we do all manner of wickedness. Well, that doesn't adorn the 
gospel of Christ very much. People think, well, this gospel 
of Christ can't be much if the people professing to believe 
in it, if these believers in Christ are doing this, that, 
and the other thing, acting as such devils. And so, that's what 
it means by adorning the gospel, or bedecking the gospel, or ornamenting 
the gospel. By our good works, we beautify, 
in a sense, the profession of the gospel of Jesus Christ. You 
can turn in our Bibles for a moment to the Book of Titus. The Book 
of Titus uses this language, and the Confession is pulling 
language such as this at this particular point. So, in Titus 
chapter 2, Notice at verse nine. Exhort bond servants to be obedient 
to their own masters, to be well-pleasing in all things, not answering 
back, not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity. Notice now 
that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. 
And so if we believe and we profess the gospel of Jesus Christ, and 
if others know that we are such as call ourselves Christians 
who believe in that gospel, we are to do those things joyfully 
and cheerfully, which God has called us to do, in order that 
that gospel might not be maligned, that it might not be hated, that 
it might not be looked upon as some bad thing. As well, Fifthly, 
for the shutting up of enemies. So the language again of the 
confession, these good works done in obedience to God's commandments 
are the fruits and evidences of a lively faith. And notice, 
after adorn the profession of the gospel, good works stop the 
mouths of the adversaries. It's a similar connection here 
in a sense. in that in believing in the gospel 
and in doing those good works, not only do we adorn the doctrine 
of Christ, but we also stop the mouths of enemies that would 
try to accuse us as being such that are unlawful. We profess 
this Christ, and in our communities, in the world, we're doing those 
things in obedience to God's commandments, with cheerful hearts, 
and so there isn't an enemy that could, in good conscience and 
legitimately, malign us. or impugn the Word of God or 
the Gospel of Jesus Christ as being terrible things. They might still say that, but 
we are not to give men justification. We are not to give enemies justification. to malign the Word of God and 
the doctrine of Christ. We're not to give them excuses 
to say, oh, those, you know, those miserable Christians. We 
are to believe in the Gospel, and having been saved by victorious 
grace, we are to do those things in obedience to God's Holy Word, 
that the enemies of the Gospel, that the opponents of God, might 
not have cause to speak against us and to speak against the God 
whom we confess. And lastly, excuse me, notice 
that The purpose of good works is for, or good works are for, 
the extolling of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Notice at the 
end here, or just using the language again, these good works done 
in obedience to God's commandments glorify God, is that clause near 
the end of the paragraph. Our good works glorify God. And so that extolling of Father, 
Son, and Holy Spirit is to be in view when we cheerfully obey 
God's commandments. We want to glorify God. We want 
to bring honor to the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 
We want to bring honor to Jesus Christ, our Savior. John Gill, 
in summarizing these things in the stuff of paragraph two, writes, 
and holiness, as it denotes an external course of life, is useful 
and profitable on many accounts. Hereby, God is glorified, the 
doctrine of Christ is adorned, religion is honored and recommended, 
our own credit, reputation, and peace are preserved, and our 
neighbor's good promoted. We see the function of good works. 
And Gil, he had the confession of faith there, but he had the 
Bible. And so he's rehearsing these purposes for good works 
over and against the perversion of the use of good works in some 
meritorious scheme. over and against the acceptability 
of good works before God by virtue of the good works performed themselves, 
the utility of good works are these. And the final one that 
our confession brings forth is the extolling of the triune God. 
And glorify God, notice whose workmanship they are, created 
in Christ Jesus thereunto, that having their fruit unto holiness 
they may have the end eternal life. So we are to think of gratitude, 
we are to think of encouragement of heart for ourselves and the 
encouragement or edification of our brethren, we are to think 
of the adorning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we're to think 
of the shutting up of enemies and the extolling of the triune 
God when we think of good works, when we think of the doing of 
them. We're doing them not to merit, we're doing them not in 
order to gain acceptance to God by virtue of ourselves, but we're 
doing them in order in order for these things to be true. 
And I think having a proper view of good works, as all points 
of doctrine do, having a proper view of good works and understanding 
of good works will drive us to the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. 
First off, when we realize that we cannot, by the best of our 
services, merit everlasting life, what does that do? It drives 
us to the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And well, it should, 
because He's the one who has merited. He's the one who has 
perfected active and passive obedience. He's the one who is 
our Savior and King. And so the study of good works 
is always to drive us to a study of Christ. All things lead back 
to that blessed one, Jesus Christ, our Savior. We are to do good 
works. We are to joyfully and cheerfully 
do those things that God has commanded in his holy word. And 
so we are to see in that, again, the blessed reality that they 
come to God through and in Christ Jesus and are accepted through 
him. We are to see the purpose of good works. What then are 
the purposes for good works? if someone was to ask, other 
than to merit everlasting life, because the perverse perspective 
or view presented out in the world today in sort of this generally 
spiritualized Christianity is that, you know, the good we do, 
if the good we do outweighs the bad we do, we enter into everlasting 
life. It's a Christless, graceless 
picture of Christianity. So if someone is to ask you, 
well, you say that salvation is by Christ alone, what then 
is the use of good works? Well, we have a blessed list 
here of the use of good works. God has saved me freely by His 
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, and 
I do those things cheerfully that He has commanded in His 
Holy Word to express my gratitude unto Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I seek to edify my brethren in 
church and in the doing of those things God has called us to do. 
I seek to go into church, to stand with my brethren, to open 
up my hymn book, to sing hymns, to hear the word given, to hear 
Christ proclaimed. to hear the scriptures read and 
to avail of the revelation of my great God. I do those good 
works in order that the doctrine of my precious Christ might not 
be sullied by the absence of them. by the absence of good 
works. I do those good works in order 
that the mouths of opponents might be stopped, that they might 
see that there is something about this God. There is something 
about Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is something about this 
Christ, crucified and raised again the third day. And we do 
these good works in order that my God, Father, Son, and Holy 
Spirit would be glorified, that He would be honored, that the 
triune God would receive all glory in the doing of those things 
joyfully and cheerfully that He has called us to do, not by 
meriting or not for the sake of meriting everlasting life, 
but as those blessed fruits and evidences of a true and lively 
faith.