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Well, if you would take your 
Bibles, please, and turn to John chapter 15. John chapter 15. We're going to read verses 1 
through 8, and just pause for a moment at verse 5 and make 
a few comments regarding that before we get into this chapter 
16 of the London Baptist Confession of Faith of Good Works. John chapter 15, verses 1 through 
8. And just as you're turning there, 
a welcome to Michaela from Australia and anybody else. I don't think 
anybody else is new here, but we welcome her and trust that 
this day would be a blessing to her as I trust it will be 
to us. Okay, John chapter 15 verses 
1 through 8. I am the true vine, and my father 
is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does 
not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that bears fruit 
he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean 
because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me and 
I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit 
of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless 
you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in 
him bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. If anyone 
does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered. 
And they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they 
are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, will 
ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, 
that you bear much fruit, so you will be my disciples." Well, 
just a couple of observations here, particularly on verse 5. You'll notice here that there 
is certainty in Christ's words. There is certainty here in Christ's 
words. I am, the you are, and the results 
of the I am, you are relationship, and the without me reality of 
nothingness. Notice here, I am the certainty, 
the vine. There's no question about this, 
who Christ is and who he asserts to be. And the you are, the branches, 
that's what we are. And this relationship of the 
I am and the you are, and that is that there will be this abiding 
fruit and this reality that without Christ and without being in Christ, 
We are nothing and we will be able to do nothing. And so we 
need to continually look to Him. This idea or this truth regarding 
fruit, it speaks of good works. And Birkhoff says this, that 
good works, and this is our subject today in the Confession chapter 
16, good works, these may be called the fruits of sanctification. So we may ask the question, and 
may be asked, well, what is sanctification? Dr. Sam Waldron says that to 
sanctify in the Bible is to set apart from common use to God. 
It means that we become God's special possession. That's what 
we become. Robert Raymond, he talks about 
this definitive sanctification. This was something that I personally 
just recently learned how that our conversion and that justification 
we are definitively sanctified that is to say we are constituted 
holy we are not just set apart but we're actually constituted 
to be holy and we are saints and you see that don't you throughout 
the old the new testament how that over and over again we seek 
called to be saints and we're saints and We're saints and so 
forth. And this is something that ought 
to encourage us. So when we are saved, when we 
come to the Lord, when we are justified, we are constituted 
holy. Well, that asks, perhaps begs 
the question, well, what then is justification? What do we 
mean when we use a big word? like that. And justification 
speaks of a legal declaration of status or a change of status, 
a not guilty verdict. Isn't that amazing news? Isn't 
that wonderful news? That when we come to Christ and 
He draws us to do that, that we are forgiven of sin and Christ's 
righteousness, all of His law-keeping and all of His work at Calvary, 
where He took our sin upon Himself, and He was punished for that 
sin really and actually, that that becomes ours, and this is 
what it means to be justified. What a wonderful, wonderful thing. J.C. Ryle says, all justified 
people are sanctified, and all sanctified people are justified. So therefore, you can't have 
truly good works. Remember what Burkhoff says, 
that good works are the fruit of sanctification. You cannot 
have good works that are acceptable to God. Note that term. We're 
going to come to that later on. You cannot have good works that 
are truly acceptable to God unless you have justification, unless 
you have sanctification. So that's the question for us 
right now, isn't it? Before we go any further. Are 
you justified? Do you know the Lord? Are you 
His? Have you come to Him? And as 
is preached, I think, every single Sunday from the pulpit of this 
church, at one time or another on the Lord's Day, if you haven't 
believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. That's 
the good news. That's what gospel means. And 
that's what we want to remember. So when we come to good works, 
whatever else I say here today, Everything is presupposed by 
those things that we are justified, that we are sanctified, and that 
anything good that we do is because the Lord God enables us to do 
it. Well, chapter 16 is a pretty 
long chapter. There's a lot of content here, 
so in light of that, rather than reading through it and then coming 
back to it as I have in other times to rehearse the paragraph, 
I think what we'll do today is we'll try just to go through 
each paragraph and I hope that you will be able to follow along. So if you have the Confession 
of Faith with you, if you would turn to chapter 16 then of Good 
Works, We're going to go through this, and the first question 
we're going to look at, or the first aspect that we're going 
to look at with regards to the Confession, speaking on good 
works, are what exactly are good works? What good works are, and 
what good works are not? And in the very first paragraph, 
we can look at it positively and negatively. We can consider 
it in two ways. And when we consider positively 
what good works are, we see here good works are only such as God 
has commanded in His holy word. If you turn to Romans 12 verse 
2, we can look this up to support that, that good works are commands 
only as found in God's word. Romans 12 to it says this and 
do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing 
of your mind that you may prove What is that good and acceptable 
and perfect will of God so here the Apostle Paul is talking about? 
Transformation isn't he he's talking about proving things 
about testing things about discerning things, about examining things, 
and to determine what is good and what is acceptable, not to 
you, not to me, but to the will of God. And the question might 
be asked, well, how do we know? How do we do that? Let's turn 
over to 2 Timothy. I won't get you to turn to a 
ton of passages today, but early on let's establish this by God's 
Word and let's fortify ourselves in this. 2 Timothy 2 Timothy 
chapter 3 verse 16 and 17. Again, we're looking here positively 
at the Confession and asking the question, what good works 
are? In 2 Timothy 3.16, here we have, 
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for 
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 
that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped, for every 
good word. We might also, you need not turn 
there, but in Isaiah chapter 8 verse 20, the scripture says, 
to the law and to the testimony, if they do not speak according 
to this word, it is because there is no light in them. So when 
we're talking about good works, we need to come to God's word 
to determine what they are, and we need to assess against God's 
word to make sure that they are in fact what we think they may 
be. And this is the scripture here asserting that all scripture 
is given by inspiration of God. That little word, actually it's 
a rather long word, isn't it? Inspiration. It's the Greek word 
theonuspis, which means God breathed. Do you know that over 3,000 times 
in the Old Testament, not sure what the number is in the New 
Testament, It says, God said, the Lord said, God said, the 
Lord says. This is this theonuspis. This 
is this God-breathed-out word. And so now we have a basis of 
authority, don't we? This is huge. This is vital. 
This is important. Because whenever you're talking 
to anybody, whether it's a JW, a Mormon, whether it's somebody 
connected with Islam or any ism any religion anything you fill 
in the blank whatever it is You've got to establish a basis of authority 
And if you don't have a basis of authority you're dead in the 
water and our basis of authority is not our own opinion It is 
not what we think it is not what even our pastors think it is 
not what church tradition says it is what God's Word says now 
hopefully And in our church, indeed, what our pastors say 
and what our church stands for does come back to God's word. 
But here is our basis of authority. And you can be absolutely certain 
when you stand on that and by God's grace seek to rightly divide 
it, that you are on good and you are on solid, solid ground. So positively consider what good 
works are. They are commands only as found 
in God's word. Sam Waldron adds practical or 
working knowledge of God's will can be found only in God's holy 
word. Well, good works, therefore, 
conform to two things. A, the law of God, and B, they 
exhibit, and this is Waldron's comment or statement, they exhibit 
concrete expressions to it. They exhibit concrete expressions 
to it. With respects to the Christian, 
then, the norm of conduct for us with respects to God's Word 
is what? It's the moral law of God, isn't it? There aren't six 
commandments or nine or four or five, there are ten commandments. 
And this is God's moral eternal law. It is abiding, it is everlasting, 
and it is something which we can go to to determine the normative 
use of it for our lives to determine how we ought to live. Now let 
me just jump in here and emphasize that law does not save us, does 
it? There's nothing in the law that we can do sufficiently. 
Well, I suppose if we could keep it all perfectly, then perhaps 
there could be a case for being saved in it, but none of us can, 
none of us have, none of us ever would be able to. And so we need 
Christ to come and obey that law for us, which is what he 
did in his active, obedient life for us. so that his righteousness 
could be accounted to us. Well, when Waldron talks about 
these concrete expressions, then, of the law of God, I was thinking 
of Exodus 20, verse 12. And in Exodus 20, verse 12, it 
says this. It says, honor your father and 
your mother. That's the law of God, isn't 
it? So what is a concrete expression of that, to use Waldron's term? 
How does that work itself out practically? the nine to five 
of everyday life. Well, children, children, they 
are called to obey their daddies and their mummies. Unless their 
daddy and mummy tell them to go and sin, then they do not 
need to obey their daddy and mummy. But if God has said something 
in there, in the Word of God, then it is right that you obey 
that and your daddy and mummy They are seeking to obey God 
and you are to obey them. So it is right when as a child, 
you obey your mummy and your daddy. That is a good thing. 
And it is even pleasing to the Lord. Imagine that, that we can 
actually please the Lord by obeying our daddies and our mummies. Ephesians 6.1 and Colossians 
3.20 speak of that. That seems so simple to us, doesn't 
it? When we talk about children, children, you're to obey your 
parents. This is right. This is pleasing to the Lord. 
What about us as adults? How are we to exhibit expressions, 
concrete expressions of the law of God in this regards? Well, 
we could turn to Exodus 21, 15 regarding the prohibition against 
striking a parent. We could turn to Leviticus 20, 
the prohibition against cursing a parent. And we might say, I 
would never do such a thing, but can we strike a parent with 
our words? Is that a possibility? Well, 
this might well be a concrete expression where we actually 
violate the law of God. The London Baptist Confession 
of Faith in Chapter 1 concerning the Holy Scriptures, paragraph 
6, I think is very instructive in this as well, where it says 
this, that our actions and those things that we do in everyday 
life are to be ordered by the light of nature, and Christian 
prudence according to the general rules of the Word. And we sometimes 
need great discernment and great wisdom in asking God to show 
us and to help us how we can exhibit concrete expressions 
of the good law of God. And of course, we need His grace 
to do so. Well, let's consider now what 
good works are not. in paragraph 1 halfway down, 
and not such as without, that is, not good works, are such 
as without the warrant, the warrant thereof, that's the warrant thereof 
if I could add to this, of his word which are devised by men 
out of blind zeal or upon any pretense of good intentions. If you would turn to Matthew 
15 with me. Matthew chapter 15. We're going 
to read verses 7 through 11 and then jump down to verse 18. Matthew 
chapter 7. I'm sorry, Matthew chapter 15, 
and we'll start here at verse 16. Number seven again, where are 
we here in our study? We're talking about good works, 
and we're talking now about what good works are not so negatively 
considered Matthew 15 verse 7 hypocrites Christ says well did Isaiah prophesy 
about you saying these people draw near to me with their mouth 
and honor me with their lips, but their heart is Far from me 
and in vain they worship me teaching his doctrines the commandments 
of men When he had called the multitude to himself, he said 
to them, Hear and understand. Not what goes into the mouth 
defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles 
a man. And then jumping down to verse 
18, But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the 
heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed 
evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, 
blasphemies. These are the things which defile 
a man. But to eat with unwashed hands 
does not defile a man. So the doctrines of men here, 
notice in verse number nine, Christ uses that very term, the 
doctrines of the commandments, or as doctrines, the commandments 
of men. These doctrines of men are not 
and should not be considered to be the doctrines of God. Let 
us not mix those things up. John Gill says this, instead 
of the doctrines contained in the Bible, which lay neglected 
by them, they obtruded, that just means forced, on them the 
orders and injunctions of men. And here we need to be aware 
that when the doctrines of men are in play, very often when 
there is no love to God, then there is no real, genuine obedience 
to God. There's form. but there's no 
genuine obedience, because there's no love to the living God. And if there's no heart religion, 
there's typically, well, not typically, there is no scriptural 
good works, though there may be works. Did you get that? There's 
no scriptural good works. And we're going to, at the very 
end of the study, we're going to talk about this, because it's 
important. So there are not scriptural good 
works, but there may indeed B works themselves. All right. Well, when we come to this next 
aspect of paragraph 1 regarding good intentions, I would say 
this, that whatever it is we do, whether it be our liberty 
or whether it be a constraint that we may have, it's got to 
be supported by God's Word. And if it's not, Abandon it abandon 
it and that indeed does cut both ways again that is Including 
things that we might call our liberty and it is also including 
those things that we may not feel Constrained to do make sure 
it flows back to God's Word and flows out of God's Word and then 
you and I both will be on Good ground and by the way whenever 
I'm saying you that includes me That includes me most emphatically 
so. Well, what is it that compels 
us forward in all of these things? What is it that drives us forward 
in 2 Corinthians 5 14? It says that it is the love of 
Christ that that compels us. And this is something that we 
can pray for. Oh Lord, help me to love you 
more because you love me so much and we love you because you first 
loved us. And so whether it's in liberty 
or in constraint, as we do those things that we ought to do, may 
the love of Christ be that which compels us forward to do it. Gil says this, may it be so that 
this holds and keeps us in our station and our duty as soldiers 
are held and kept together as under a banner. Well, let's move 
now to paragraph two, the root and the result of good works. The root and the results of good 
works. These good works done in obedience 
to God's commandments are the fruits evidences of a true and 
lively faith." So what is the confession saying here? It's 
saying that good works are the fruits and evidences of a living 
faith in the believer. Good works are not of any merit 
whatsoever. They are all of a testimony that 
links back to a living faith that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. If you turn just over to chapter 
11 in the Confession of Justification, paragraph 2 touches on this. Faith thus receiving, and get 
this, resting on Christ and His righteousness is the alone instrument 
of justification. But get this word yet. Yet, it 
is not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with 
all other saving graces, and is no dead faith but works by 
love." James 2.20 says, faith without works is dead. And if 
you have been here, for our Sunday evening services. Pastor Butler 
has been preaching on, in the book of James, and has been speaking 
on this very subject. And he says this, I think it's 
pretty much verbatim, a sanctification always follows justification. If not, the profession is false. The good works don't save, but 
show forth by God's grace true saving faith. In short, good 
works evidence that faith is present. This is what the confession 
is saying, this is what Pastor Butler is asserting, and Burkhoff 
adds that such good works spring from the principle of love to 
God and from the desire to do His will, and this is only possible 
if we are in the vine. It's only possible if we have 
living faith. Well, what are the functions? 
What are the results of? And what are the advantages of 
good works? Let's consider that. Paragraph 
2, about a third of the way down, and by them, that is by good 
works, believers manifest their thankfulness strengthen their 
assurance, edify their brethren, adorn the profession of the gospel, 
stop the mouths of the adversaries, and glory God. Well, first of all, good works 
mark thankfulness. Do you remember the story And 
the account, the historical account of the woman who poured costly 
and fragrant oil in Christ in Matthew chapter 26 verse 10. She did that in response to her 
thankfulness. And this showed forth her thankfulness 
with regards to her salvation, what Christ had done for her. 
And Christ said she has done A good work for me. It's good 
for the believer to be thankful. It's good for us to express thankfulness 
tangibly. Do we do that? I used to have 
an expression with the kids and I've kind of forgotten it, but 
I just was reminded of it the other day. And it is this, if 
you see it, say it. If you see it, just say it. Right? So often we don't say anything. 
Might be a co-worker, it might be whatever it might be. If it's 
something to be thankful, say it. Just say thank you. It's okay to do that. That encourages 
people. And thankfulness, I think, is 
something that truly does adorn the Christian and the gospel. Do we fail in this? Of course 
we do. But here is an exhortation to encourage us to these things, 
even like the woman who poured that costly fragrant oil on Christ. Assurance! is strengthened, assurance 
is strengthened when we do good works. Christ said in Matthew 
7 20, by their fruits you shall know them. Good works manifest 
the master in us, doesn't it? And we ought to be able to look 
at these things and to the contrary if we have a life that is in 
all honesty running completely contrary Habitually so, to those 
things that are opposed to the pattern set forth in God's Word, 
then we do not have any assurance of being saved. We actually have 
the assurance of the contrary, that is, of being lost. And that 
is something to fear. And yet here, on the positive 
sense, assurance is something that we can look to. Sorry our 
works can be something that we can can look to in terms of strengthening 
our assurance of salvation if you could turn to just chapter 
18 just for a moment I don't want to just I just want to linger 
here just for a moment on this topic of assurance because I 
think it's so so very important Chapter 18, paragraph 1, we do 
not have time to read it, but in a nutshell, assurance is possible. In fact, the confession here 
says, three-quarters way down, in this life it might be certainly 
assured that we actually know the Lord God. In paragraph 2, 
How can we say such a thing here it is paragraph two half of the 
way down. Here's the basis of assurance 
It's founded on the blood and righteousness of Christ revealed 
in the gospel and then thirdly this is sort of where we are 
in our study of good works is we see here the fruits of assurance 
or the means of assurance again about three-quarters of the way 
down speaking about peace and joy and love and thankfulness 
and strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience, the 
proper fruits of this assurance. So see, good works are the evidence, 
the assurances of faith being present. Now, lest I mistake 
anyone here or do not communicate effectively, we are not saying 
that good works are something that saves us. And because of 
our good works, we can therefore be assured in and of them. to 
our salvation. Do you understand the difference? 
Instead, as a believer, we can take a little bit of a look and 
say, wow, you know, there are a little bit of good works in 
what I do. There are some good things that 
I actually do, and I'm seeking to do this by the grace of God, 
for the glory of God. And those are good signs. Those 
are Things that can be used, according here to the confession, 
to increase our assurance of salvation. What else does it 
do? We touched on this briefly. Good works build up the brethren 
and beautify the gospel profession. Maybe you're about hospitality, 
and maybe you're somebody who goes and visits the sick. Maybe 
you're someone who anonymously and quietly gives a financial 
gift or an exhortation or a kind deed of some sort. These beautify 
the gospel. These edify and strengthen the 
brethren and with cohesion enable the church to advance harmoniously 
and in a unified manner for the glory of God. Lastly, here in 
this section, concerning the functions and results and advantages 
of good works, quarrels against the believer. At the very least, 
they're diluted, aren't they? They're diluted. If good works 
are truly good works and they're done in a good conscience, bad 
things may be said against us. Criticism may be leveled. against 
us. But, as it says in 1 Peter 3, 
16, having a good conscience that when they defame you as 
evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be The confession here is very strong. 
It says here that, I'm in the wrong chapter now, it says that 
the mouths of the adversaries may be stopped. And I have to 
think about that for a moment. And when we read about the voice 
of the martyrs, and when we read about some of our brothers and 
sisters who are in chains and suffer terrible, terrible persecution, 
how is that? How does that work? How are the 
mouths of the adversary stopped? We've got to face these truths 
and face them head on. Well, I took my thoughts to Matthew 
5 and Christ says this, blessed are you when they revile and 
persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for 
my sake, rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward 
in heaven. That is to say that in the courts 
of heaven, the adversary's mouths are stopped. And so the confession 
here is absolutely dead on, very much so in practical everyday 
life. If you are doing good works and 
with a clear conscience before God, the quarrels against you 
are going to be very diluted at best. And if they are those 
situations where the mouths will not be shut, nonetheless, in 
the courts of heaven, they most certainly are. In fact, Jesus 
even says that you are blessed You are blessed when people revile 
you for the sake of the gospel. Well, let's move now to the ability 
to perform good works. And this is really at the end 
of paragraph 2, the ability to perform good works. And it sort 
of goes into paragraph 3. But look here at the end of paragraph 
2, whose workmanship they are. We're thinking here about the 
ability to perform good works, whose workmanship they are created 
in Christ Jesus thereunto, that having their fruit unto holiness, 
they may have the end eternal life. So the ability to perform 
good works is due to having being created in Christ Jesus. for God's glory. That's it. That's 
how we're able to do good works because we're Christ's workmanship. We're united to him by his virtue. Chapter 13 on sanctification 
talks about this very thing, how that it's the same virtue 
by which we are able to more and more practice all true holiness 
without which no man shall see the Lord. Jerry Bridges says 
this, dependence upon him is what is needed to do the things 
that we must. So utter dependence upon Christ, 
upon God, and we are his workmanship. Would you turn with me to Ephesians 
2? We cannot go through this particular chapter without referencing 
Ephesians 2, 8 and 10, because it is both instructive and very, 
very precious, particularly when we think about the ability to 
perform good works. For by grace you have been saved 
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of 
God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His, 
get this word, workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, get these words, 
for good works. which God prepared beforehand 
that we should walk in them. If you could just run over to 
Titus now, Titus chapter three, two rather, Titus chapter two, 
Titus is just before the book of Hebrews, Titus chapter two, Titus chapter 2 verse 11 and 
14. For the grace of God that brings 
salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying 
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, 
and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope 
excuse me, and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, 
Jesus Christ. So because we are in Christ Jesus, 
because we are His workmanship, we have the ability to actually 
perform good works. And where is it all driving to? 
It's driving to heaven. That's where it's driving to. 
That should thrill our hearts. Those things that are eternal 
are not seen. The things that we see are all 
temporal and we put so much emphasis on them. And there is a legitimacy 
to that in its right and proper place. But we are driving, we 
are pressing. heaven and this is what this 
is speaking about here and as we go along that path to heaven 
being conformed to the image of Christ because of him because 
of his virtue in us because we're his workmanship we actually have 
the ability to do something good and that means we have purpose 
and that means we have meaning in our Down to paragraph three. Let's think about this now for 
a moment. The ability to perform good works in a negative sense. It's not at all of themselves, 
but positively it's holy from the spirit of Christ the Lord. Notice 2 here, "...and that they 
may be enabled thereunto beside the graces they have already 
received." We've already touched on this, haven't we? How that 
it's by the previous graces received by Christ, in Christ, that we're 
actually able to do those things which are right and pleasing 
in His sight. Let me just for a moment just state the gospel 
one more time. The gospel is this, that God 
is holy and we are not holy. And we need a Savior, and that 
Savior is not us. It is no other than Christ. And Christ Jesus, He is the one 
who comes. He who is God the Son. And He takes upon Himself a body. The Word takes Him a body. And 
He comes down to this earth. And he obeys the law of God perfectly 
in the place of every single person for whom the Father has 
given him to die for. And he comes and he lives perfectly. And then he takes the sin of 
every single believer upon himself. And all of that wrath is poured 
out on Christ at Calvary. And Christ consumes that wrath. And in so doing, he dies. And 
he's buried. But he rises again the third 
day. And God is well pleased with what He does on behalf of 
all of His people. And when we by faith believe 
on Him, all of that righteousness becomes ours. And that is how 
we are able to stand before God, complete and holy. And we are 
able to stand before Him on that great day, and that great day 
will come. It's a mark on the calendar somewhere for all of 
us. And we are able to stand, be, for God, complete. So come. Do you know that Christ's strife 
to enter into that gate? He doesn't say anywhere, wait 
for the motions of the Spirit to come to Christ. He says, strive 
to enter into that narrow gate. And he says, come unto me all 
ye that labor and are heavy laden. Oh, may we not do violence to 
the things of God's word where he tells us to come and to believe 
on him unto salvation. And we know most certainly that 
we will not be cast out. This is the gospel and this is 
good news. Good news indeed. Well, let's 
carry on here. Halfway down in paragraph three, 
there is necessary and actual influence. Again, getting back 
to good works, speaking of good works here, this actual influence 
of the same Holy Spirit to work in them to will and to do of 
His good pleasure. Would you turn with me to Philippians? Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians 
chapter two. Philippians chapter two. And 
we're going to read verse 12 and verse 13. Philippians chapter 
2, verse 12 and 13. Therefore, my 
beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but 
now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with 
fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you, 
both to will and to do of his good works. Again, thinking about 
the ability to perform good works, this necessary influence of Christ 
enabling us to do His good pleasure. 2 Corinthians 3, 5, you need 
not turn there, but it says this, not that we are sufficient of 
ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but 
our sufficiency is from God. Rest in that. Rest in that sufficiency. Rest in what Christ has done. 
Rejoice in that. But let's carry on here in the 
confession. good pleasure. Instead, we are to stir up the 
grace, but they ought to be diligent in stirring up the grace of God 
that is them. This requires action, doesn't 
it? We have to be deliberate in these things, and we have 
to pursue God by his grace in these things. Our faith really 
does have feet that go along with it. J.C. Ryle touches on 
this. He's really speaking to non-believers in his book here 
at this point, and practical religion, but I think He speaks 
very excellently to the necessity of stirring up this grace that 
is within us for the believer. And he says this, and he's talking 
about this verse in Luke 13, verse 24, striving to enter in. There are means that God has 
appointed to help man in his efforts to approach him. There 
are ways in which a man must walk if he desires to be found 
by Christ. Public worship, reading the Bible, 
hearing the gospel preached, These are the kinds of things 
which I refer. Doubtless no one can change his 
own heart, or wipe away one of his sins, or make himself in 
the least degree acceptable to God. But I do say that if man 
could do nothing but sit still, Christ would never have said 
strive. Strive teaches that man will 
be dealt with by God as a responsible being. The Lord Jesus does not 
tell us to wait, and wish, and feel, and hope, and desire. He 
says, strive. I call that which teaches people 
to be content with saying, we can do nothing ourselves, and 
allows them to continue in sin is a worthless religion. It is 
as bad as teaching people that it is not their fault if they 
are not converted, and that God only is to blame if they are 
not saved. I find no such theology in the 
New Testament. Well, we ought not to be negligent 
as we pursue good works. And may the Lord help us to stir 
up that grace. And how do we do that? We do 
it by prayer, don't we? We do it by being in God's Word. 
We do it by being under the sound of the gospel. We do it by being 
in fellowship with other believers, by exhorting one another, by 
fellowshipping with one another, and by having a God-centric disposition, 
by His grace in everything that we're about, whatever that is. Well, are there limitations to 
good works? This is what paragraph 4 is speaking 
about here. 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 do more than God requires 
as that they fall short of much which in duty they are bound 
to. to do. Simply put, supererogate 
means to do more, or supposedly to do more, than duty requires 
us to do, and we reject that. This is really a Roman Catholic 
type of thing. It's in the Roman Catholic system, 
and basically the Roman Catholic system is this, according to 
Webster's Dictionary, that good works done by saints over and 
above those commanded by God. But this is just simply not possible. 
We're running out of time, so I'm not going to linger here. 
But we are stained with sin, and any good higher than what 
is stated beyond what God's Word asserts, that violates the biblical 
teaching of the norm of God's good works themselves. So supererogation, 
we would reject that. And the bottom line is that all 
performance of good works They fall short. They fall short of 
what God requires. We cannot work our way to God, 
not in salvation and in sanctification. And this touches on something 
else, but it's not that God loves us more one week or one day or 
one month or one year because we've just done more good. Remember, 
God, in the doctrine of impassibility, this has to do with His unchangeableness 
with regards to His affections to us. He is an immutable God. He does not change in His glory. 
But He doesn't love us more. And that is based in the whole 
doctrine of justification. Get this. Rejoice in this land 
here. Stay here. Justification is not by degrees. 
Sanctification is but justification isn't it's not by degrees. We're 
not more justified. Did you know that you were as 
justified? as the Apostle Paul Do you know 
that you are as justified as, you fill in the blank, the most 
esteemed individual that you can ever think of in life. And 
so do not fall into this sense of, oh, I haven't had a good 
week and I haven't had a bad week. Well, if you haven't had 
a good week, go to the Lord and confess it as so and say, Lord, 
help me. Drop the ball again. Lord, help. I need your grace. Help, Lord. And, oh, what a gracious 
God we have. I just rejoice in Titus 3. If 
you're there, why don't you turn there? Titus 3 is just a marvelous, 
marvelous passage of Scripture. But if you're lacking assurance, 
get on your knees, and as J.C. Ryle, I think it was J.C. Ryle, 
he says, if you don't have assurance, go get it. If you don't have 
assurance, go and get it. We can have assurance. Confession's 
very clear on that as well, the certainty of it. And here in 
Titus 3, what a wonderful passage of Scripture. If the devil is 
assailing you, if you're feeling in your own soul that you're 
just not measuring up, come to Titus 3. verse 5 to 7 and pray 
this back to the Lord not by works of righteousness which 
we have done you can say that to the Lord say Lord that's me 
it's not by any works that I have done of righteousness but according 
to his mercy he saved us through the washing of regeneration and 
renewing of the Holy Spirit whom he poured out on us abundantly 
through Jesus Christ our Savior that having been justified by 
his grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal 
life. Just a wonderful, wonderful passage, 
and I commend all of us to linger there often. Well, we've got 
to move on here. Paragraph 5, works of merit are 
impossible. We cannot, by our best works, 
the Confession states, 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. Good works do not 
merit the pardon of sin or eternal life." And why is this so? Because 
of the great disparity between our good works and the reward, 
and of the great disparity between a holy God who inhabits eternity 
and us. There's no sum of good works, 
no sum of the parts is sufficient to pay for life eternal or the 
debt of forgiveness of sin, none whatsoever. It's only the true 
righteousness of Christ imputed, accounted to those that look 
to Him that have Heaven is forfeited, isn't it? Heaven is forfeited 
by all of us by sin. And it is only God, Romans 4, 
6, who imputes righteousness apart from works. For if righteousness 
comes through the law, then Christ died in vain, Galatians 2, 21. 
And we know most certainly that Christ did not die in vain. Did I misquote that? If righteousness 
comes through the law, then Christ died in vain, and most certainly 
he did not. It's only divine Messiah, isn't 
it, who can satisfy sin debt. There's other verses that I would 
like to refer to, but we're swiftly running out of time. Well, let's 
move on here. But when we have done all we 
can, we have done but our duty and our unprofitable servants. Don't look at this negatively 
here. We're saying here that works of merit are impossible. That's good news. That should 
make you very happy if you're looking to Christ. So good works, 
though, are our duty, not our merit. Duty, what? Can you think 
of that verse in 1 Corinthians 6, 19 to 20? It says, what, know 
you not that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost 
which is in you, which you have of God, and you're not your own? 
For you've been bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your 
body and in your spirit, which Our gods we have duty and what 
is the basis of duty? It's his love his love to us 
We love him because he first loved us verse John 4 19. And what is the response of that 
true love? What is the responsiveness of 
that true duty? What does it look like? Well, 
if you love me keep my commandments John 14 verse 15 if you would 
look with me in paragraph 5 again about 3 quarters way down and 
because as they are good they proceed from His Spirit. We're back to the root and the 
source of good works. It is the Holy Spirit. I think 
we've touched on this sufficiently. At this point, let's move on. 
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 judgment. End of paragraph 6. Yet notwithstanding 
the person's unbelievers 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." Well, here we have to affirm 
and we have to agree with that though good works are defiled 
with imperfection, and that's sort of the bad news, the good 
news is that because of the root Because of Christ in us, they're 
actually accepted by God. I find that an incredible thing. 
1 Corinthians 15, verse 58. Therefore, my beloved brethren, 
be steadfast and movable, always abounding in the work of the 
Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain. Listen carefully. 
In the Lord. In the Lord. If it's in yourself, 
it will be a vain pursuit. It will be an empty pursuit. 
And a couple of warnings and exhortations to us all here. 
Good works. done by the Christian must be 
in the Lord and in his strength. Otherwise, we're liable to resentment, 
we're liable to burnout, we're liable to imbalanced service, 
we're liable to those things that would even lead to bitterness. Do you know that there's a very 
small bridge between hurt and bitterness. Are you aware of 
that? I like to think of it as two lands. Here is the hurt land, 
and here is the bitterness land. Perhaps you have been hurt, genuinely 
hurt, Make no mistake, there is a little, little bridge that 
goes over from hurt to bitterness. And this is a very dark land. 
Now, fortunately, there is also a bridge over here to the land 
of light, if you will, where we can go for healing and we 
can go to Christ and we can go to Him. But make no mistake, 
in that land of darkness, if you are in that land, It's very 
dark and finding that bridge back to that land of light. I 
speak only an analogy here. It's a very difficult bridge 
to find. It is there and God is gracious 
to lead us in it. But know this, that if you're 
doing things in your own strength, if I'm doing things in our own 
strength, We are going to be liable to these sorts of things 
and no good can come from it. You can ask the Lord, Lord help 
me with goodwill to do service as to the Lord and not to men. Sometimes we don't even know 
that we're doing it unto men. Maybe we're trying to prove something 
or maybe we're just trying to measure up or be on the team 
or whatever. But you know, the need, as the 
saying goes, is not always the calling, is it? There's so many 
needs out there, but is it the calling? Well, if it is, I'm 
not saying there's no calling, but... There's so many needs 
out there that we can't possibly get to them all, but the Lord 
calls us to some. And when we do those some, make 
sure, by God's grace, we do it in the Lord. And this leads to 
the next exhortation, and that is that all glory must deflect 
back to God. All glory must reflect back to 
the living God, or deflect back to Him. And again, more verses 
I like to quote, but we're just getting way out of time here. 
So, may the Lord help us to recognize that our good works are not of 
merit, these are impossible, but though our good works, when 
we do not become negligent in seeking to do them, they are 
imperfect and they are weak, yet because we are in Christ, 
they are accepted and well-pleasing to the Lord because of His good 
works. Son, I just referenced 1 John 
3.1, I've got to say it. Behold what matter of love the 
Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the children 
of God. Adoption. What an incredible, what a wonderful, 
wonderful thing. Well, as we close up here in 
the next five or six, seven minutes, the question might be asked, 
well, can unbelievers do scripturally good works? Can unbelievers do 
good works? I mean, we often think of people, 
oh, he did a good thing. Wasn't that great what so-and-so 
did? Well, are these actually considered to be good works in 
the scriptural sense? Let's turn to paragraph 7, the 
last paragraph here. 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 to other the 
first point we'd like to make here is lost people may at least 
certainly in part do what God commands for their and others 
good and good use and well-being in Romans 2 14a for when gentiles 
who do not have the law by nature do the things in the law. So the unregenerate, those that 
do not know the Lord, they can and do things commanded by God. And such good use of God's law 
is rooted in God's common, in his common grace. R.C. Sproul says this in regards to 
common grace, and I think it's very helpful. Common grace refers 
to general, non-saving blessings that God gives to all sorts of 
people. Believers and unbelievers alike 
share them in common. Perhaps the most familiar biblical 
verse describing common grace is Matthew 5.45, which says that 
God makes his Son rise on the evil and on the good, and sends 
rain on the just and on the unjust. James Beakey adds, the root of 
all civil good is God's common grace, but the principle of all 
spiritual good is God's saving grace. Well, if we move along 
here, we're going to flesh this out just a little bit more as 
we wind up. Yet, because they proceed not, that's talking about 
unbelievers. I'm going to call them common 
grace good works. 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 man meet to receive 
grace from God." So what are we saying here? We're saying 
that common grace, good works of the lost and sinful, they 
do not Please God because they are lost and because they are 
sinful and they are not in the root and because there is no 
This is really a repetition of what I just said. There is no 
Saving grace within them and because of that they are not 
Need to receive grace from the living God Augustine and Luther 
both said that such sins are splendid sins and not truly good 
I feel that Dr. Wolter was very helpful helping 
me understand this, because I'll be quite frank, I had to wrestle 
with this. Many years ago, a man said to me in conversation, and 
it was almost in passing, and I said, what did you say? And 
he just asserted that, yeah, the lost, they don't do good 
things, they don't do good works. I said, sorry, I'm not tracking, 
what do you mean? People do good things all the 
time. Of course, what he was speaking about here was with 
regards to those good works that are scriptural good works that 
are accepted. They're accepted before the living 
God. Dr. Waldron says this, a scriptural 
good work must meet four criteria. The criteria one is that it's 
got to hit the right matter. And by matter, what the confession 
means is these are things that God commands in His Word. Okay, 
so a scriptural good work has got to be the right matter. It's 
got to be the right root. And what is the right root here? 
It's a heart purified by faith. It's got to be the right manner. 
That means it's got to be done in God's way, which is according 
to God's word. And then it's got to be done 
to a right and that is the glory of God. When we think about those 
who are not saved doing these good works or common grace good 
works, if they do not proceed from a right route, a heart purified 
by faith, that's a violation of Hebrews 11, 6. For without 
faith, it is impossible to please Him. Similarly, not done in a 
right manner in God's way according to the Word, for all our righteousness 
are like filthy rags. Isaiah 64, 6a, and to me this 
was a clincher. Not done for a right end, for 
the glory of God. Now we often as believers don't 
do things for a right end, do we? But we have the root, we 
have Christ. That's not an excuse to use whatever it might be as 
a cloak of vice. No, but we do have Christ. But 
here was a clincher for me. The ungodly don't do it for a 
right end, and I get this. If not for the glory of God, 
then whose glory is it for? Is it for self? Or is it for 
something other than God? Well, if it is, that's called 
idolatry. And we know that idolatry is bad. Idolatry is sinful. And so these things that come 
out of the ungodly, when we think of it scripturally, Boy, that 
should make us pause when we just think how much man needs 
the Savior, how much we need the Savior. I mean, even our 
good, I shouldn't say even our, but our good works are not perfect 
and they have to come through Christ and through His merit. 
Well, the unbelieving they who do not know the Lord God, how 
much they need Him, how much we all need Him, and how gracious, 
how gracious and good God is. Hebrews 7.25, He is also able 
to save them to the uttermost who come, there's an action word, 
there it is again, who come to God through Him. Well, one more 
thing to say here, and yet their neglect of them, this is the 
unregenerate with respects to doing good works, their neglect 
of them is more sinful and displeasing to God. Christ said to the unregenerate 
in Matthew, concerning the unregenerate in Matthew 25, 42, I was hungry 
and you gave me no food. I was thirsty, you gave me no 
drink. I was a stranger and you did not take me in. Naked and 
you did not clothe me. Sick and in prison and you did 
not visit me. So you see here, by Christ's 
words, that it was more sinful and more displeasing to God than 
if they had done what they should and what they ought to have done. Well, we ought to pray. We ought 
to pray that those who do not know Christ would turn to Christ 
and would love Him. And if they would not, that they 
would nonetheless fear God and that they would obey His commands 
in common grace good works to the end, that we may lead a quiet 
and peaceable life In all godliness and reverence, or all godliness 
and honesty, 1 Timothy 2.2. I'm out of time. Pastor Butler, 
can I just have two or three more minutes? Is that okay just 
to give some application or is that not a good thing? Is that 
okay? So just a couple of items of application here as we close 
off on this pretty long chapter here. I would encourage us all 
to rehearse the gospel often. Rehearse the gospel often. Go 
to Titus 3. Consider those verses in verses 
5, 2, 7. It's the gospel, not good works. It's not performance. It's not 
strivings or anything other than faith in Christ. That saves us 
and makes us accepted in the beloved but know that we are 
accepted in the beloved when we come When we come to him skipping 
a couple of applications here trying to pursue those ones that 
are perhaps most Precious or would be most precious to you 
as a believer. Don't pick Parallel your good 
works or your lack thereof or my lack thereof with the measure 
of God's love towards you God loves you completely not because 
of what you do Christ did it all for us That's not to say 
that we don't go and and seek and pursue righteousness and 
holiness and we ought not to neglect but it is of Christ justification 
is not a Be encouraged in this quote by John Newton. You've 
all heard it before, but perhaps you haven't heard the full extent 
of it. It's just one paragraph, and I will close shortly. I am 
not, John Newton said, what I ought to be. I am yet so imperfect 
and deficient. I'm not what I wish to be. I 
desire to perfectly abhor all evil and cleave to what is good. 
I'm not what I hope to be. I shall soon put off all sinful 
mortality and imperfection. Yet, though I am not what I ought 
to be, nor what I wish to be, nor what I hope to be, I can 
truly say I am not what I once was, a slave to sin and Satan. 
In this I can hardly join with the Apostle and humbly acknowledge 
By the grace of God, I am what I am. Let me close with one more 
quote, and it's Spurgeon. It's a short quote, and he says 
this. When sinners are saved, it is only and solely because 
God will do it to magnify His free, unpurchased, unsought grace. Christians, see your position, 
debtors to grace. Show your gratitude by earnest 
Christ-like lives, and as God has bidden you live, see to it 
that you live in earnest. Well, let us pray. Dear God in 
heaven, we thank you for this study here today on good works, 
and we praise you, O Lord, that Christ is the one who came and 
lived under that law of God perfectly, doing every good work, every 
jot and tittle to the law in our place. We thank you, O God, 
that having been saved, that we are saved unto, not by, but 
unto good works. Help us, O Lord, so to live. 
Help us to live in such a way, Lord, that we will be a light, 
and that we will shine, and that we will honor you. How we need 
your grace for this. Lord, we confess that we are 
so prone to leave the God that we love. We are so, Lord, shrouded 
at times in misty haze before our eyes to those eternal things 
that await us. We pray that you would help. 
We pray that we would continually look to you and that you would 
be glorified in all that we are about. And we pray this in Christ's 
name and for his glory. Amen.