Good, But Not THAT Good #1a

Your works are good as a Christian, but they are not that good. In fact, that's the title of the message, good, but not that good. And I want to explain what we mean by that. If we're called as believers to good works, does that mean our works are absolutely good? Well, as Pastor Don Green will remind us today on the truth pulpit, they might be good, but they're not that good. That's in fact the title of the message we're entering into as part of our current series, Breaking the Bonds of Legalism.

Hi, I'm Bill Wright. And Don, what are the important points we can look forward to learning about over the next couple of days? Well, Bill, there are a couple of points of balance that almost seem opposed to one another that are very important for us to keep in mind if we're going to have a healthy perspective on our Christian life. Scripture tells us that God saved us specifically so that we would be zealous for good works. And it's important for us to have a sense of obedience as we follow Christ in the Christian life. But at the same time, in order to keep us from pride, there are several scriptural perspectives that would help us see that our good works are indeed good, but they're not so good that we should be boastful. That's what's ahead for us as we study God's Word together on the truth pulpit.

Thanks, Don. And friend, let's get started right now in the truth pulpit. If we're a proud and boastful, arrogant man in the process, that doesn't help. That is a disfigurement of the gospel. It doesn't matter if we are outwardly moral, if inwardly we are puffed up thinking that we're better than those that are around us. Because, and we cannot go there, we cannot think that way, because we are sinners and the best of us fall short of the glory of God. The best of us find that our righteousness is as filthy rags.

The best of us stumble in many ways. This is just basic Bible teaching. But the challenge for us is for that to sink into the way that we actually think about God and think about ourselves. It is easy to hold these truths in one side of your brain, and yet in the other side of the brain to not make the connection that says, oh, this affects the way that I view myself, this affects the way that I think about others, it affects the way that I think about Christ. And Scripture warns us, tells us, you know, that it's impossible for us to go and humble another man's pride. And one of the reasons we teach God's Word is we believe that it has the power to pierce the human heart, to expose the thoughts and intentions of the heart in a way that all kinds of arguments never could do.

I could give you a lengthy apologetic lecture and you would walk out unchanged. But when we come to God's Word, we find things that diagnose us, that hold a spiritual mirror up to our eyes, up to the eyes of our hearts, and we say, oh, I'm a sinner, and my pride is crushed and humbled by that. And yet in my place of humility, in my place of conviction, I look up and I see Christ, and I see Him crucified and risen, and ascended to the right hand of God to be the representative of sinners, to save them in love, and that I can rely on Him even though my life in itself is not worthy of Him to do that, even as a believer. Now, so keep those things in mind.

One of the great challenges that I'm finding in this series is to try to keep things in balance as we go along. The starting point, I think, in dealing with legalism is to recognize what the gospel is and what it is not, to realize that man in his rebellion against God is on the receiving end of grace, that God in grace, in love, in mercy, in patience, in goodness sent Christ to be the Savior of sinners just like you. And we realize that we relate to God not on the basis of our personal merit, that we do not approach Him on the basis of a life that is righteous enough to merit His attention. We come as those who fall short of the glory of God and trust in the mercy of one outside of us. We trust in the righteousness of one outside of us to be our access to God, and that mercy and righteousness is found in Christ alone. Last time we tried our best to put obedience in its place in our series on legalism, to tell people that they're sinners that cannot earn the favor of God, to tell you as a Christian that you are a sinner that falls short of the glory of God, is to say this, it is to say that your good works cannot earn salvation.

Forget about it. That does not happen. There will be no one in heaven who boasts about the fact that they earned their way there. This is so fundamental to existence. And yet we said that when God saves a man, He changes the man, He imparts a new nature to the man, He declares that man righteous before the law court of God, that man is declared righteous on the basis of the righteousness of Christ credited to his account, a free gift from God given to him and received by faith. So we cannot earn our salvation. But what we saw last time was that Christians will obey. Jesus said, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 says that we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Beloved, I'm not sorry that I'm repeating basic things here.

Repetition is the key to learning. Jesus Christ, speaking to you as though you are Christians, Jesus Christ did not save you because you were good. He saved you despite the fact that you were sinful. But He saved you in part to cleanse you so that you would become an obedient disciple of His.

He saved you not only from the penalty of sin and death and hell, but He broke the power of sin so that you would live a life that is increasingly conformed to His image so that you would reflect His glory as you live during your 70 years here on earth. And what we want to talk about today is the nature of the good works of the Christian life. I'm actually going to break this into two parts.

I had this in one message and the cup isn't big enough to pour this much water into it. So we're going to do it over two messages. Now, I want to define some terms. I want to define some terms to help us think rightly so it's very clear what I'm saying and what I'm not saying here. What do we mean when we say good works? Well, let me preface by saying that an unsaved man is completely incapable of doing works that are good in the sight of God. You cannot do any good work in the sight of God if your mind is hostile toward Him. In your nature, Romans 8 says that those who are in the flesh cannot please God. And so when we talk about good works, we're not even talking about unregenerate men, unsaved men.

Their lives are sinful because their lives and what they do flow out of a disposition of hostility toward God. Before you can do any good work, you must first be reconciled to God in the deepest recesses of your heart. And that only comes through a saving work of Christ and putting your faith in Him. So we're not talking about good works from the perspective of an unsaved man.

That's a contradiction in terms. You know, a man can do things that have some measure of civic good, man-to-man philanthropy. Let's not slip for a moment and think that somehow that earns merit with God, that that puts God under obligation, that the favor of God can be bought by what He does.

Perish the thought. Now, when we're talking about good works, here's what we mean. Good works are those acts done in faith by Christians. Good works are those acts done in faith by Christians in obedience to God's Word that are motivated by love for God and the desire to see Christ glorified.

Every clause in that is essential. Good works as God sees them can only be done by Christians, because only Christians are reconciled to a holy God. They are those things that are done with an eye of faith, with an eye toward Christ, that are done believing in Christ and with a desire to please Him. They are deeds that are in conformity with what God has revealed in His Word. We don't make up our own independent list of what we consider to be good and then offer that to God.

I don't dance, I don't drink, I don't chew, and I don't go with girls who do. That kind of mindset that establishes a list of rules outside of Scripture is worthless, because it is not in accordance with the revelation of God. It is the doctrines and precepts of men rather than the doctrines and teaching of God's Word.

And so, when we talk about God's good works, we're talking about things that God has revealed that please Him in Scripture, not what we make up as our own external standards of morality. They're motivated by love for God, the desire to see Christ glorified. And the mindset is this, God, I am a sinner who needs Christ.

And you know what? You have given Christ to me. You have blessed me in Christ. You have drawn me to Christ and now I belong to Him by faith.

I'm a member of your family and I love you for it. I am so grateful, O God, that you saved me and now I want my life to be a reflection of love for you. And as Christ said, I will reflect my love in my obedience to your Word. That's the idea of good works. You see, you see, when we talk about good works, we're taught these things are so fundamental. We are not talking about man-centered rules as if I keep these rules externally, then you know what's going on in my heart doesn't really matter and it's something that isn't really necessary for Christ to be a part of.

That's not what we're talking about. What we're talking about is a Christ-centered faith that looks vertically, that sees that God has saved me, that God has been merciful to me. And out of a sense of gratitude and love for Him, to see Him glorified, I want my life to be a reflection of His character, a reflection, a mirror as dusty and smeared as it might be by my lingering sin. I still want my life to reflect something of the glory of Christ. Do you know those motions in your heart?

Do you know something about those affections in your heart? Because they're there for every true Christian. And then out of a love for Christ, we go to His Word and says, Oh, this is how I am to live. This is how God's moral law directs me. This is my pattern for life and I conform it accordingly. You see, beloved, good works like that are one of the primary purposes of salvation.

The heart, your heart is so captivated by the glory and grace of the God who saved you that all you can do in response and what you want to do is to give your life back to Him. He saved you from sin. You say, I am so grateful. I have to live for Him too, not to earn His favor. I am a sinner. I can't earn His favor by what I do. But oh, do I want to live for Him. Oh, do I want to please Him. Because never has anyone loved me like Christ loved me at the cross.

Never has anyone, never has anyone given to me a love like Christ has given to me. And I, you say, I want to respond like that. I want to respond to Him.

I want to please Him. And He's shown me in His Word what pleases Him. Now, that's the spirit of it. Scripture abounds with illustrations of good works. Well, you know, you can use this phrase and it's a little bit frustrating with some of the theologies that you read. They don't illustrate what they're saying. But Scripture abounds with illustrations of what it calls good works for believers to do.

I just chose three at random. Just to give you a sense of what we're talking about. Jesus said in Matthew 10, whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you he shall not lose his reward. A simple act of mercy done to another believer in the name of Christ.

God looks at that and says, that's what I have in mind. And a simple act of mercy. It's not the kind of perverse self-flagellation that Catholics will do in other countries to beat themselves to try to atone for their sins.

That's not a good work. That's a satanic deception. There's nothing meritorious in that at all. Scripture says in James chapter 1, pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world. The simplicity of showing, of extending your life in care to those who are vulnerable in the name of Christ. Saying God's Word says that this is a good thing.

I see that. I want to please God. I see this vulnerable person.

I want to give myself to them. Pure and undefiled. Scripture says, 2 Timothy 2.15, be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. Going to God's Word, applying your mind to it to understand it, to interpret it rightly, to speak about it rightly.

And we could multiply it. Romans 12, different things that you could look at. The key for what we're saying is that these are deeds that are done by Christians in response to God's Word, motivated by love for Christ and the desire to see God glorified.

Bible says that God approves such works and that He will reward them. That there will come a time where we stand before Him and we receive an eternal reward and He will reward us for the good works that were done by us as Christians. And so the possibility of good works exists for those of us who know Christ. That's all by way of introduction. Now I want to get to what we're going to focus on here today.

One of the things that we really need to do as Christians, as a church, is to keep the concept of good works in perspective, lest we fall into a sense of legalistic pride. Look at what I'm doing. I'm better.

I'm good in and of myself. Keep them in perspective, lest as individuals in our lives, in a conformity, some kind of outward morality, we fall into a legalistic sense of entitlement over our behavior. You know, and you would never say this verbally.

You would just have it echoing in your mind as an expectation. You know, God, I'm doing pretty good here. God kind of owes me. As I've said in the past recently, where that gets exposed is when trials hit you that you did not want, that you were not anticipating, and all of a sudden life is very difficult, and your legalistic mind exposes itself. The pressure of trials causes some lingering legalism in your heart to spurt out. And you can recognize it when you think and when you say, what did I do to deserve this? As if your behavior was going to determine and limit and restrict the nature of what God would do in your life. That God is obligated to respond to you because you have behaved in a particular way. Beloved, speaking to you now as Christians, in the context of warning against this sense of pride, your works are good as a Christian, but they are not that good. In fact, that's the title of the message.

Good, but not that good, and I want to explain what we mean by that. A right view of good works will keep you from that sense of legalistic pride. A right view of good works will also protect those on the other end of the spectrum.

It will protect a soft heart, a tender heart from despair. You see, and we have lots of people like this in our church, thoughtful believers who are very sensitive to sin, sensitive to their failures. Their sin bothers them.

It weighs on them. And he knows that his life is flawed. He knows that there is sin in his life that hasn't yet been exterminated. And when you speak to him about good works, he knows his works aren't that good.

He realizes that there are flaws in it. A proper view of good works will guard us from both extremes, guard us from a sense of pride, guard us from a sense of despair. We are sinners, and therefore we are mindful that we're not proud.

We have Christ, and therefore we are not in despair. And a proper view of good works will guard us from both of those extremes. When I say your good works as a Christian are not that good, what do I mean? Because Scripture speaks about good works.

What do I mean when I say they're not that good? Here's what I mean. Again, we're defining terms. A Christian's good works are not meritorious.

That's a really important word. They are not meritorious. Our good works, your good works, are not enough to obligate God to you in response.

Standing alone, standing is something that you yourself have done. Your good works merit nothing from God. When you hear that for the first time, it may sound really stark to your ears. You say, wait, this sounds new, but these are things that are woven into the great confessions of the Christian church. This is what good Christians have been saying from God's Word for hundreds of years.

We're not saying anything new here today. When we say a Christian's good works are not meritorious... Let me be a little more technical here. The theologian Louis Berkhof says this. When we speak of good works in connection with sanctification, we do not refer to works that are perfect, that answer perfectly to the requirements of the divine moral law, and that are of such inherent worth as to entitle one to the reward of eternal life.

Let me say this again. Beloved, if you don't see it now, trust me, we're talking about something that is absolutely essential here and has great ramifications for your spiritual life henceforth going forward. So I'll repeat the definition and add to it with something else he said. When we speak of good works in connection with sanctification, we do not refer to works that are perfect, that answer perfectly to the requirements of the divine moral law, and that are of such inherent worth as to entitle one to the reward of eternal life. What he's saying is that there's nothing that we do that is so good that it entitles us to eternal life. That's not the nature of Christian good works. They're not that good. They're comparatively good.

They're relatively good. They're pleasing in God's sight, but strictly judged, absolutely judged, they're not worthy to the glory that's going to be revealed to us. Birkhoff goes on and says, The good works of believers do not, by their own intrinsic value, make God a debtor to those who perform them. In strict justice, the good works of believers merit nothing. It's true, isn't it? We sometimes look at the checklist of things we've done right in our lives and think, Oh good, I'm earning my salvation pretty well.

Sorry, not true. Only Christ's righteousness earns that. Still we wonder, why don't our good works count even a little? Pastor Don Green will address that question next time here on The Truth Pulpit as he continues our series, Breaking the Bonds of Legalism.

Be with us then. You know, you can hear any part of this series again at your convenience when you visit our website, thetruthpulpit.com. There you can download podcasts or find out how to receive CD copies for your personal study library. Plus, you'll find the link Follow Don's Pulpit. That'll take you to Don's full-length weekly sermons not subject to the time editing we need for radio broadcasts. Again, that's all at thetruthpulpit.com. And by the way, may we also say thank you for your support of this ministry. Without you, this program would not be possible. I'm Bill Wright and we'll see you next time on The Truth Pulpit.