Well, we're gonna go ahead and get started. It's 9.30 on the dot, and so we will jump in. Okay, let's pray. Father in heaven, we give you praise. We give you praise for this Lord's Day morning and how you promised to meet with your people. in a special way on the Lord's Day as the means of grace go forth. And this morning as we come to your word and the teaching of the Westminster Confession of Faith that seeks to expound upon scripture and explain it, we pray that you would bless it to our souls. And we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. So we're in this series on the Westminster Confession of Faith, and specifically it's chapters 14 through 18, which in many respects is redemption applied. It's kind of talking about how does God apply Christ's work of redemption. You probably are familiar with kind of the three categories of redemption planned, okay? Redemption accomplished. and redemption applied. Redemption planned, redemption accomplished, redemption applied. The Westminster Confession 14 to 18 is carrying forward this redemption applied part in many ways. But we do have a question that we have to ask and seek to answer, and it's why does this matter? Why does it matter to talk about this? Any answers? Certainly has eternal significance, okay. What else? It has present day significance. This is not, it was mentioned in the sermon last Sunday. Theology might be really high theology, but it has very practical implications. for the day-to-day, and this stuff has very practical implications for the day-to-day. So it is of great importance. We never want simply truth to the mind. The truth of the mind is meant to impact the rest of our lives. It's supposed to go to every other place, okay? And impact what we do on a day-by-day basis. So, we come to chapter 16, good works. We've been making our way through that chapter. And there are a few things to remember about chapter 16. As it's talking about good works, it said that good works are commanded by God. Do we just kind of take that for granted? Some maybe do, hopefully we wouldn't. They're dealing with antinomians, people who kind of just push the law off to the side. And they did want to emphasize, the Westminster Divines wanted to emphasize, hey, good works are actually commanded by God, okay? Good works are also evidence of God's work in our lives. It's the fruit of faith. Good works are enabled by God. The only way that we can do anything good is because of the work of God in our lives. But we also need to be mindful of the grace of God. That will become clearer today as we move forward into chapter 16, section 5, which is where we find ourselves this morning. And in moving through this, we really wanna ask five questions, okay? Five rather simple, straightforward questions, okay? That I'm sure you will make an A on, okay? There'll be a test at the end, okay? And we'll ask all five of these questions, and I'm sure that you got all the answers, okay? Here's the first one. What can't believers do? What can't believers do? Chapter 16, section 5, very beginning. We cannot, by our best works, merit forgiveness for sin or eternal life at the hand of God. Okay? We cannot, by our best works, merit forgiveness for sin or eternal life at the hand of God. Now, take your Bible out, whether that's on your phone or you got a Bible. We want to work through some passages, okay, to help us think through them. Romans chapter 3, verse 20, okay? Romans 3, verse 20. Somebody read that for us. Romans 3, verse 20. What does that verse have to say about this statement? What does it have to say? We cannot be justified by works. Our best works do not merit God's forgiveness or eternal life. We cannot earn it. Just go down a little further or flip over, look over to chapter 4, verses 1 and 2. Somebody read that. Or if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. Okay. Abraham was not justified by his works. He was justified by faith. Uh, it's, it's an example of this statement here. We cannot earn salvation. We cannot merit forgiveness. Look at Abraham. He didn't, neither can we. Okay. Neither can we. And you probably, some of you, you may have Ephesians 2, 8, and 9 memorized. For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and it is not of your own doing, it is a what? Gift of God. Why? So that no one may boast. Okay? So that no one may boast. So, what can't believers do? Our best works cannot merit forgiveness or eternal life at the hand of God. Now, let's think about an example of this, okay? Rich young ruler, remember him? Do you remember the question he asked of Jesus? What must I do to be saved? Jesus tells him, we don't have time to get into all the nitty-gritty, okay? Jesus told him, obey the Ten Commandments. The guy said, I've done that, okay? I'm good to go. Jesus said, one thing, give everything away that you have. Jesus put his finger on the man's idol and told him, sacrifice it, get rid of it. And the guy walked away. Did Jesus chase him down? He let him go. What did the disciples do? Freak out, okay? That's what they did. They were like, this guy can't be saved. Who can? He's rich and he's moral. Jesus said, with man it is impossible to be saved, okay? And you can, we can maybe use some sanctified imagination. With man it is impossible. Pause. so that they feel it. Okay? So that they feel it. But with God, all things are possible. Okay? With God, all things are possible. Salvation is impossible for us, but it is possible with God. Why can't we do saving works? Why can't we do saving works? That's our second question. Chapter 16, section 5. This is true because of the great disproportion between our best works and the glory to come, and because of the infinite distance between us and God. We cannot benefit God by our best works, nor render satisfaction for the debt of our former sins." Now, let's think about some verses here, okay? You remember Isaiah chapter 6, verses 1 through 5, okay? What did Isaiah see in that chapter? He saw his own sinfulness. What led him to that conclusion? He saw the glory and majesty of God. He was given a vision of actually John chapter, is it chapter eight or chapter 12? He saw the pre-incarnate Christ, okay, is what he saw. And he's overwhelmed with his own sinfulness. And he says, woe is me, I am undone, okay, I am undone. Why can't we do saving works? Because God is holy and we are not. We cannot do the works necessary to be saved because we are sinners. Somebody look up Romans chapter 8 verse 18. Romans 8 verse 18 and read it please if you don't mind. Yes. So what does that have to do with what the Westminster Divines are saying here? What does that have to do? There's this distance between the things we do here and what is to come. What we do here, even the best things that we do here, will be nothing in comparison to what we will do because we will be perfected, we will be glorified. And so it makes no sense that we would be able to do works that would save us for the life to come. Let's go to Philippians chapter 3, Philippians chapter 3, and look at verses 7 through 9. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake, I have suffered the loss of all things, and I count them rubbish. in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith." Was Paul, pre-conversion, Saul, was he a good Jew? Yes, absolutely. Top notch. He crossed his T's and dotted his Jewish I's. It was boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. He was a Pharisee of Pharisees. What does he say about all his moral good deeds during that time period? What does he call them? Refuge. Refuse. Refuse. Refuse. Yes, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes, absolutely. So you get the idea. He compares his former way of living and the moral uprightness that was there, okay, at least on the outside. He compares that with what Christ has done and says, there's no comparison, okay. It's just utterly preposterous to think that we can do saving works. We have no ability to do that, right? Even our best deeds are filthy rags before the Lord. How about Titus chapter 2 or Titus chapter 3? Titus chapter 3, verses 5 through 7. but according to His own mercy, by the washing of the generation and renewal of the Holy Spirit, who be poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Now, just focus on, for the sake of time, just focus on verse five. What does that verse teach us about ourselves pre-conversion? or even teach us about ourselves post-conversion. We're dirty. We have to be washed, right? There is a sinful filth that contaminates our lives. We are polluted, right? Therefore, we can't do saving works. God is holy. We are not. The world to come is infinitely superior to the world in which we live now. The works we do now are no comparison to that which is to come. Our best deeds are like filthy rags before the Lord. We are filthy in ourselves. Colossians 2, 13 and 14 speak about how our record of debts was nailed to the cross with Jesus Christ. That means we can't pay the debt. We need somebody else to do it. Christ did that. We can't do saving works because we can't pay the debt. We can't pay our bill before God. We have no ability. to do it. So why can't we do saving works? The Westminster divines are teaching us some things here about that. Teaching us about our own sinfulness and also teaching us about God's holiness. And that's why we can't do the works necessary. How about the story that Jesus told the Pharisee and the tax collector? What did the Pharisee think of himself? Exactly. He thought a lot of himself. Praise the Lord, I'm not like that guy over there. He's really bad. What about the tax collector? What did he think of himself? Yes, beat his chest, standing off in the distance. You can imagine tears flowing down his cheeks. Oh Lord, be merciful to me. I am a sinner. He knew that he was dirty, that he was filthy from head to toe with sin, and he knew that God was holy, and the only cry of his heart could be, have mercy upon me, have mercy. That is to be us. That's how we are to respond because we know that we can't do saving works. This has been a problem in the church for a long time. You would think that, oh, Pastor Cliff, this is like Christianity 101, okay? I can't do the works to be saved. I can't do it. But it's like there's this natural default within us to think that we can, okay? You know, we just keep going back in that direction over and over and over again, okay? It's one reason why in the Protestant Reformation, I've mentioned this before to some of you, this Latin phrase, physere quod insae est. It was very, very popular theology in the days of Luther. The high medieval period, so like 1100s, 1200s, 1300s. This was the primary way that people thought. Do your best and God will take care of the rest. That's the idea of the Latin phrase. Do the best that you can and God will look at your best efforts and show you mercy. So you're earning God's mercy through the things that you do. Just do your best, okay? Just do the best you can and God will take care of everything else. Luther looked at that and said, that is anti-gospel. I can't do anything good. How would I even know what my best is? Instead, the gospel is, I can't do what is necessary to be saved. Jesus has to do it for me. But that does lead to a third question. What are we to do? Here we are, we've been converted, Christians, okay? By the grace of God, we've been ransomed, redeemed, restored, and forgiven. Wonderful, praise the Lord. We're declared righteous in God's sight. Okay, what do we do? Still just kind of sit back and sip on his pina colada, virgin one, of course, okay? And just go on about his merry way, okay? No, of course not. What are we to do? Chapter 16, verse 5, when we have done all we can We have done merely our duty and are unprofitable servants. When we have done all we can, we have done merely our duty and are unprofitable servants. So what are we to do according to that? Our duty. We are to do our duty. What is our duty? the pursuit of good works, okay? Let's look at some passages to think about that. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. This is verses 3 through 7. For this is the will of God, your sanctification. What's God's will for your life? Maybe people want to know that, okay? Yeah, be holy. I'm sure, there's no question, there are kids in our church, you know, college-age students and a little bit above who are like, what's God's will for my life? I don't know what God's will for my life is. That's a real question. But here's one answer. God's will for our lives is sanctification. He goes on and says, for this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God, that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things. And we, as we told you before and solemnly warned you, for God has not called you for impurity, but in holiness. What are we to do? Pursue holiness, okay? Not for our salvation, because we've already established we can't do that. We pursue holiness in view of our salvation as a grateful response for what Christ has done for us. Titus 2, 11 and 12, just skip over to there real quick. Titus 2, 11 and 12. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age." What are we to do? Well, God's grace is training us to renounce ungodliness, to leave it behind, and to pursue new things, to pursue a life that's showing for self-control, that's upright and godly. And then Luke 17, go over to there. Luke 17, verse 10. So also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, we are unworthy servants. We have only done what was our duty. We are called to pursue sanctification, holiness. We are called to deny ourselves and take up the cross and follow Christ, to renounce ungodliness and seek holiness. That's what we're called to. But then at the end of the day, what do we say? We are unworthy servants. We have only done what was our duty. What are we called to do? The duty is set before us in God's word. The word duty. How do people often Think about that word. Drudgery. That is not how the word typically has been used in the Christian tradition. Duty is never meant to be divorced from delight. Not in the Bible. Now we might associate certain duties with our employments and you might think, I've got to do my duty and my job. And there's not a whole lot of delight there. But that's not the way we should think of duty when it comes to the scriptures. God has outlined particular duties. The pursuit of holiness is a general way of describing that. That should be a delight to our souls. Okay. Um, so I think about Paul here, think about his attitude. Paul makes this statement, I am the chief of sinners. Wow! Paul, really? The chief of sinners? Have you read 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and all the things that he did? How he was beaten and tortured and virtually left for dead? The man was a servant of God, extraordinaire. But he says, I'm the chief of centers. He did not say, I was the chief of centers. You might would expect him to say that. I was the chief of centers, you know, before I was converted, no question. No, no, no, no, no. He says, I am, present tense, continuous. I am the chief of centers, ongoingly. He understood this concept. At best, I'm just a center saved by grace, okay? That's who I am. I am an unworthy servant who is only doing my duty, who is only responding to the grace of God in Jesus Christ. How about question four? How do we do good works? We've established our good works cannot save us. We've also established that we are called to good works. So how do we do them? Go to the gym, right? Gets bigger muscles. Have a better diet. You know, like, stay away from all the, stay away from so many chocolate chip cookies, okay? Melinda makes outstanding chocolate chip cookies, okay? Outstanding. No, no, no, no, no. How do we do good works? Chapter 16, section five again. This is because insofar as they are good, these deeds proceed from the Holy Spirit. Okay? So how do we do good works? Only by the power of the Holy Spirit. Only by the power of the Holy Spirit. Look at Galatians chapter 5. Galatians 5. 16 and 17. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit. and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do." How do we walk by the Spirit? What does that even mean, to walk by the Spirit? What do you think that means? Walking obedience to the Spirit. Yes, absolutely. Yes. When we think about walking by the Spirit, there's this concept that Paul later describes as, you've got to put off this, these sins, and you've got to put on this. So if I'm committing some sin over here, I don't just seek to stop doing that. But I've got to do the opposite of that now. I've got to put on something else. Otherwise, I'm just going to go right back to that. So that's part of what we mean by walking the Spirit. We put off ungodliness and put on holiness. What else can we say? Walk by the Spirit. Think about the word by. Walk by the Spirit. Next to. You got like Betty Jo over there, okay? You got a cane. Why do you need a cane? You're depending on that, okay? Walk by the Spirit also means to depend on the Spirit. So here would be a real world example. Let's say that it could be you're married, it could be at work, You can see conflict coming from a mile away. You know it's about to happen. You can read it. It's about to walk through the door. What do you do? Pray right there. Holy Spirit, please help me to say what I should say and not say what I shouldn't say. That is an example of depending on the Spirit. Cry out to the Holy Spirit, please help me. Help me to do what you have called me to do, okay? That's what it looks like to walk by the Spirit. You know these verses right here. It's the fruit of the Spirit, okay? The fruit of the Spirit. We pray, Holy Spirit, please help me to show forth more of the fruit of the Spirit. And then how do we do good works? We depend on the Spirit. What does the Spirit use to produce good works in us? Does He just kind of zoom it down, lightning bolt style? into your life? What does He use? Yes, 2 Timothy chapter 3, 16 and 17, all scriptures breathed out by God. Profitable for training, for rebuke, for correction and righteousness that the man of God may be competent and equipped. We need the Word. The Holy Spirit uses the Word to help us to do good works and to grow in them. So we're to be like Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus, just taking in the Word as much as we can, as it is proclaimed to us. The fact of the matter is, we should be saying as Paul did in Galatians 2.20, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live. but Christ who lives in me, and the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me." Depend upon Christ. Depend upon the Spirit. That's how we can grow in good works, okay? Last question. Why do we struggle with good works, though? Here we are seeking to depend upon the Holy Spirit, but man, it's like tug of war, okay? You ever played tug of war? I used to have to do that when I was a middle school teacher. It was like... Me and one other teacher against all the middle schoolers it felt like, which meant I always lost because there were like 200 of them. But sometimes that's what it feels like. Sanctification feels that way. It's a constant wrestling. Why do we struggle with good works? Chapter 16, section 5, insofar as they are done by us, they are defiled and mixed with so much weakness and imperfection that they cannot endure the severity of God's judgment. So, from one angle, we are learning here that our good works, again, cannot save us. Even our best works that we do cannot save us. They do not contribute one iota to our redemption, our justification. Why? Because they're defiled and mixed with so much weakness and imperfection, they cannot endure the severity of God's judgment. There's one sense in which that's really what they're focused on. But we can also learn something from this statement about why we struggle with good works. Why do we? Go to Romans chapter 7. Romans chapter 7. These are verses that are probably very familiar to you as they describe the wrestling of the Christian. Paul said, so I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members." Do you remember what Paul had described earlier in that section? The good I want to do, what happens? I struggle to do it, okay? There are times when maybe I do it, not perfectly, but I do it. But then there are other times where I fall flat on my face, okay? And then the bad stuff that I want to stay away from, what happens? I end up doing it. There are times when maybe I stay away from it, okay? But then other times... It's like a dog returning to the vomit. That's what I do. Maybe you have felt that way even this week. You're like, well, I can resonate with Paul, let me tell you. Because there's plenty of things that I wanted to do that I did not do very well. There are lots of things that I wanted to stay away from that I found myself going back to. Why do we struggle with good works? Because there's still a remnant of sin within us. Sin does not reign in us. But it does remain in us, and it will remain in us until the day we die, until our last breath. We will struggle with sin. Hence the reason why the Christian faith is a war. Hence the reason why the church is often called the church militant, fighting against Satan, fighting against our own sin. Think about Paul in the very next verse, chapter seven, verse 24. What did he say in light of this struggle? He said, who will save me from this body of death? What was his answer? Thanks be to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Why do you think Jesus makes it so that in this life we still struggle with sin? Upon our conversion, He could have just zoomed us up into heaven. Why leave us here to struggle with sin? Ultimately, it's for His glory. Let's try to put some flesh on that. Why? Yes, it teaches us something. The fact that we struggle with sin teaches us about the sinfulness of our sin And then it teaches us about the glory of God's grace even more. It makes us more dependent upon Him. It helps us to feel, in many respects, our own filthiness and Christ's loveliness. So that's why John Newton, one of the last things he said before he died, some of you know it, I am," he said, two things I know. He was losing his mind. He probably was battling with dementia, okay, pre-being identified as dementia. But he said, there are two things I remember. I am a great sinner. And do you know the other part? Christ is a great Savior. Okay. Here are two things that I hold on to every day. I am a great sinner. Christ is a greater Savior. That's something we never can get away from. And we're always coming back to these two important truths. I am a sinner. And we don't put a period after that, and then that's it. We keep going. Christ is a great Savior. And we give praise to the Lord. And that should spur us on towards loving good deeds. So, key takeaways here, key takeaways. My spirit-enabled good works can't save me, okay? Even after conversion, I am still sinful. My duty is to grow in godliness. I can't grow, or I can grow, sorry. I can grow by the power of the Spirit. Latch onto that. I can grow. You can grow. There's some, even in the reformed tradition, who pooh-pah spiritual growth. That's just not true, okay? I can grow by the power of the Holy Spirit. I'm not going to be perfect in this life, but I can grow. And yet, I will still struggle with sin all my days, which should lead me back to Christ again and again. By the Spirit, God will produce Christlikeness in me and deliver me finally from sin. That will happen. I am to work out what God works in. Philippians 2, 12 and 13. Implications for salvation? I can't save myself. God's the only one who can do that in Jesus Christ. Implications for understanding Christ? He is a great Savior who loves us, who is interested not just in forgiving us of our sins, but in transforming us now. It starts now. That is something we don't often think about, okay? I know that some of you ladies are in the Hole in Your Holiness study, okay? Kevin DeYoung, he stresses that point throughout that book, that you can grow, and you can grow because Jesus is that interested in your sanctification. He sent the Spirit to do it. And not just many years later, you know, whenever you go to heaven, but it starts now, right now. And so therefore, implications for us, While we are sinners, no question, we can mature in the faith. Let that encourage you, okay? So often we can come to church beat up because we know we are such sinners, and sometimes maybe we do need to feel that, okay? But we also need to be encouraged because God is at work to produce good works in us, and let that strengthen us as we seek to grow in them, okay? Any questions or comments, thoughts, insights? Something you want to bring to bear? Bear your soul? I'm just kidding. Yes? Our sins should get us down, but not hold us down. Right, exactly, yes. If we don't feel bad for our sins, we've got another problem. But if we're wallowing in despair because of our sins over a long period of time, That's just the other side of selfishness, okay, at the end of the day. And it's taking us away from God's grace. Yes. Exactly. Yeah, absolutely. They are. Yes. Praise the Lord for that. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you that you are at work by the power of the Holy Spirit to produce good works in us. You are not interested in simply forgiving our sins. You are interested in eliminating sin in our lives altogether. And that is an encouragement. We don't like sin. We don't like the sin that we do. On one level, yes, we do like it. But there's a war going on within us. We don't want to sin. And we pray that you would help us to want holiness more and more, and to want sin less and less. Let us grow in good works. How do we do that? O Father, would you placard before our eyes Jesus Christ. May we find Christ lovelier than sin and what it offers. Increase our affection for Christ even as we go to worship this morning. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.