It's an honor to be here, to speak in this conference and to be with you, to have the fellowship with the men who have served so faithfully for so long in many, many places. It's a testimony to the grace of God that when we come together, not having known each other personally or ministerially before, but find out just how God has called us and how God has worked in our lives and what he has done and the things that we believe because we all receive the same We have been given the same affections by the Spirit of God. We have a common Savior in our Lord Jesus Christ. And all the kinds of similarities that we have in that way and the sense of fellowship and sense of oneness. and how the values that we have so far transcend all the other things that we might think about. It's a marvelous testimony to the purpose of God and to the power of the gospel that He brings us together in such times as this, desiring to be instructed in His Word. And so I do pray that during this time we will all have a genuine opportunity to grow in grace and to grow in good works. When I was originally assigned this, the title was Growing in Good Works, which is, of course, similar to Growing in Sanctification. It's the same thing because there is a place within Scripture that defines what good works are. This is the part of this duality of mortification and vivification that you've heard about twice now, that is vivification. It is how is it that we respond to the life that God has given us? How is it that we begin to reflect those values of eternal life that have been placed within us by the Spirit of God at salvation? Eternal life, you know, is not just living forever. There are some conditions of life where you wouldn't want to live like that forever. But eternal life means that it is life in the presence of the only one who is eternal. It is life within the sphere of the eternal one, the ever-existing one, the one who is a spirit, infinite, and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth. It is living in the presence of the beauty of God. It is living in the absence of all sin and of all consternation, of everything that drags down the human person and everything that hides our views from the glory of God. So eternal life means that it is a life filled with all of those immutable, transcendent, infinitely perfect blessings of eternity. It is enjoying the triune God. He has invited us into fellowship with Him, so we'll see what eternity is like. And so the blessings of eternal life are granted us solely by grace. They're granted us by the Lord Jesus Christ and his completed work. But then we begin to participate in the reality of what that eternity is. We begin to share that kind of goodness that constitutes eternity. So we're given eternal life, but we also have that life placed within us. So when we talk about vivification, we're talking about the nurturing of the life within us that constitutes eternal life. We learn to hate sin, to flee from it, to mortify it in its appearances, in mortification. As was mentioned this morning, Thomas Chalmers has this famous line, a beautiful line, the expulsive power of a new affection. That makes us want to mortify, but at the same time we vivify. So you cannot divide these things, mortification and vivification, in very neat categories, even though we can define them very precisely as one thing or another. It is the same kind of idea that Paul had in Romans 12 when he says, Do not be conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. So the world pulls you down. The world puts its values on you. The world wants to fragment you. The world wants its values to be yours. But we are not conformed to that. We see eternal life. We see eternity. And so we're transformed by the renewing of our mind. The Westminster Shorter Catechism puts these things together when it defines repentance unto life. as a saving grace whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, so we have both of these, a true sense of his sin and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, does with grief and hatred of his sin turn from it with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience." So we have mortification in our perceptions of both the hatred of sin and affection for Christ. We have mortification in our actions, turning from the one, endeavoring after new obedience in the other. The definition of effectual calling carries these same realities with them. It says, effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, and enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the gospel. And so the work of the Spirit is to do both of these. The work of the Spirit is to convince us of our sin and our misery. Our sin, its immorality, its divisiveness, its destructiveness. And though it promises pleasure, and though it promises fun, and though it promises freedom, it only gives misery, it gives captivity, it gives destruction. Convincing us of our sin and misery. But effectual calling, that is a true effectual calling to salvation, also enlightens our minds in the knowledge of Christ. We come to see Him in His glory. We come to see Him in the reality of His sacrificial death for sinners. We come to see Him in the fact that He is raised from the dead and sits at the right hand of the Father. We know that He is coming again. We know He will receive us to Himself. We know that He is interceding for us even now. Our minds are enlightened in the knowledge of Christ. And in that knowledge, it does not remain pure cognition with us. We've heard about the affections also in these messages. Our will is renewed. That is the deep-seated reality of what causes us to make choices. That is the things we love, the things that we're predisposed to do because we see them as lovely and beautiful and wonderful. He renews our will, and so the affections are inflamed for the things of eternity, and renewing our wills in doing that, the Spirit both persuades and enables us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the gospel. A passage of Scripture that is, I think, generally sets forth these realities is in the book of Philippians, in chapter 2, and I want to call your attention to that. I'm not going to do a straightforward point-by-point exposition or even divide my message according to the points of it, but I hope that there will be a point to having read this. So Philippians chapter 2. Right after the Apostle Paul has described the wonder of both the humiliation and the glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ and how every tongue will confess and every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father, he has another one of these wherefores that we talked about this morning. Because of all of that, because of Christ's humiliation, because of his redemptive work, because of the fact that God the Father has said that every knee is going to bow to him, wherefore 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 worketh in you, both to will and to do, of His good pleasure." He does that. He works in us. to will, to do, of His good pleasure. So do all things without murmuring and disputing, that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke." What a life! What a goal! Blameless, harmless, sons of God, without rebuke. in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world." So the theme is growth in good works. I'm going to divide the message into three parts. The first of these is why good works constitute no part of our justification. The second part is why good works constitute an important part, in fact, define the nature of our salvation. And third, what are the good works that constitute this part of our salvation? For the Salazar handled several of these things this morning in a very admirable and helpful way, and so you may hear some things repeated, but isn't that what the Scripture does to us? So, we're talking about what it means that God works in us, both to will and to do, according to His good pleasure. We're talking about how we can be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke. There is such a thing as good works, that if we claim them and cling to them, they will damn us. We see the witness of Scripture very clear on this issue. Romans 4, verses 4 and 5, Now to him that worketh not, Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness, even as David described the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works." So the person who works, that is, who actually performs good deeds, who does all of those things that he's supposed to do, when he gets a reward, it is not a reward given of grace, but it is something that is of debt. The promise has been made, if you do these things and do them perfectly, then you will get this. He does them, he does them perfectly, he gets that. But the one who worketh not but believes on Him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." If we already have failed, if we already have fallen short, if we have not done what we're told, then we cannot be saved of debt. We cannot be saved because we are owed it. There must be some other way in which the stipulations of eternal life are actually given to us. And so it's said here in the phrase, we believe on him that justifies the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness. Now as we go through the entire discussion there about Abraham and as we learn what it means that faith is counted for righteousness, we understand that it's not his faith that is a righteousness in itself, but it is the object of his faith. It is his understanding in his mind that there is one out there who actually has met all the demands of the law in every way And I want to be found in Him. I want union with Him. He is the one I want pleading for me. And God has made a way that that can be done. We can be united with Christ. We can have faith in Him. We can trust in Him so that all of His working and all of His doing becomes ours. Then righteousness is a real thing. It's not a fiction. It is a real thing that Christ has gained. And His righteousness, when we see Him as the object of our faith, His righteousness is imputed to us. And so David can describe the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works in Psalm 32. Galatians 3.2 says Paul is combating the heresy of the Judaizers, trying to impose the ceremonial law on the Gentiles. Paul is arguing that from a lesser to a greater, if you're going to impose a ceremonial law on the Gentiles, then how much more must you impose the moral law on the Gentiles? But if you impose the moral law on the empire, why am I saying empire? What is going on? It's the moral law on the Gentiles, not on the empire. This is not Star Wars. We're talking about the actual text of scripture here. If you impose the ceremonial law on the Gentiles, then how much more must you impose the moral law on the Gentiles? But if you impose the moral law on the Gentiles, then they stand condemned, they're under a curse, because cursed is everyone that continues not in all things written in the law to do them. You can gain perfection by the law if you do them all, but if you fail in one point, you're under condemnation. And so Paul is arguing that in the book of Galatians, when he says, This only will I learn of you, receive you the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, For it is written, cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident. For the just shall live by faith." We are not justified by works of the law. We cannot be justified by works of the law. The scripture is very clear. If we try to be justified by works of the law, we remain under a curse. Ephesians 2. For by grace ye save through faith, that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." So the works he's talking about there are the perfect works of the law. obeying what God has said in the first table and in the second table. And any positive law, that's moral law, any positive law that he sees fit to give, like, do not eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, for in the day you eat thereof you shall surely die. Every positive law becomes moral law when God gives it, though it may not be intrinsically moral. There's nothing intrinsically immoral about eating the fruit of the tree. He let them eat all of those, but it was a particular test that God gave and so it becomes the single moral test by which their love for God would be shown or would be rejected. And so when the works, we're not saved by works, it means we're not saved by works of the moral law and we're not saved by works of any positive law that God may give us because we've already forfeited that. By grace are ye saved through faith, that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." Philippians 3, 8 and 9. Paul considered himself a Pharisee, considered himself having obeyed all the moral laws. He obeyed all the ceremonial laws. He obeyed the moral law as far as it was interpreted by the Pharisees. He considered himself blameless. according to that law, but then when he saw Christ, he counted all of those things, everything that was gained to him, every bit of morality, every bit of superiority that they had to others because of his position, he counted it all but loss, he counted it as dung, as he says. And then he goes on to say, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, I do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God, by faith." So, he abandoned all hope in his own righteousness. He abandoned any scheme that he had of pleasing God by his own actions of ceremonial law and of moral law. When he saw the superiority of Christ, when he looked at Him, he wanted the excellency of Christ, he knew that he was far above Paul. He became convinced of his own sinfulness. He even considered himself the greatest of sinners because of the great opportunities he had, because of how much scripture he knew, because he should have recognized the Christ, and yet he hated him, he blasphemed him, and he sought to kill those who believed in him. I tend to think that Paul was not really using a hyperbole when he said that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. I think he is talking about the reality that there are relationships that we have to opportunities and to aggravations of sin that can make some more culpable than others and it can intensify the wrath that they would experience in hell. We see Jesus talking about this when he says it would be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for Tyre and Sidon. And Paul is talking about all the opportunities that I had, all the scripture that I knew, all the zeal that I had was all sinful. It was the worst sin that anyone ever could have committed. You talk about sinners, I am the chief. And yet God was patient with him. And the righteousness of Christ overcame all of that. The death of Christ forgave all of that. And so he says that he did not want to be found in his own righteousness of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, or faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God, the righteousness which is reflective of the character of God that is received by faith. Then in Titus 3, he says, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Ghost. which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that, being justified, that is, being pronounced righteous in accordance with all the demands of the law, having it said about us that everything the law requires for eternal life is yours, being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. So not by works of righteousness. If we say, can a man be saved by works? Is a man justified by works? If we use the word saved and we include in that justified, then we certainly say no. Nothing. So that's the scriptural background. So let's review something now. What is the conceptual framework that Paul is working with here when he is, on no uncertain terms, rejecting and resisting any possibility of being set right before God by the works of the law, by our works of the law? One thing, we see that perfect obedience constitutes a merit of eternal life. Had Adam and Eve obeyed perfectly the law that God gave them, had continued and persevered in that, then they would have gained eternal life. Probably not only for themselves, but for their posterity. The human race would have been tested, it would have been set in a place in which a life with God, an unbroken fellowship with God, experiencing all the blessings of eternity would have come to be theirs. It would not have just been periodic walks with God in the garden and enjoying all of His creation and enjoying the fellowship and increasing in the knowledge of God In that way, it would have been entering right into the presence of God and seeing the ineffable nature of His beauty. They would have gained eternal life through perfect obedience. The second thing we see is disobedience is the ground of eternal death. It is infinite demerit to sin against God, the greatest and best of beings. the most exalted of all beings, the eternal being, the being that brought all of the beings into existence, the being that upholds them, the being that determines their usefulness, the one who has all holiness in himself. We heard this morning about how God is passionately in love with himself and he is the only being who can do that and not be called wrong. He is the only being that can be self-centered and it be exactly what is right because there is no being upon which affection should be rightly focused, morally focused than God Himself. And so, sin against Him Even though there are varying degrees of it, any sin is worthy of eternal death. Think about the difference there is between swatting a mosquito and abusing a child. We immediately see the massive difference there is. We swat the mosquito because it sucks blood and it gives malaria All of that, you abuse the child, you're abusing the image of God, you're a cruel person, and there's a virtually infinite difference between these things. Well, even so, to sin against God is infinitely above that kind of sin, to disobey the Creator. So disobedience is the grounds of eternal death. Therefore, any violation of the law, any violation of any of the laws is worthy of eternal death. We are also corrupt in our hearts and our affections, our moral motivation. By our covenant with Adam and sin, we have added transgression upon transgression of our own and thus we're under the sentence of death and condemnation. He was the race, we were in him. When he sinned, we sinned. By one man's sin, death came upon all men. As in Adam all sinned, so in Christ shall all be made alive. So in this one man's sin, we were corrupt, we sinned, but now we have added our own transgressions. All mine iniquity. Sinful has been, infinite, infinite, sin upon sin. Sin of not loving thee, sin of not serving thee, infinite sin. So we're corrupt in our hearts, There's nothing we can do to change the fact that we are transgressors. There's nothing we can do to make atonement. I cannot give my firstborn for my sin. I cannot atone for my sin in any way. In a real sense, I am totally at the mercy of God. If we were to live perfect from this day on, Never break the law again. Nevertheless, we still are lawbreakers. We have broken it heretofore. If we were to live perfectly from this moment on, we still would be under the condemnation of God, because we have broken the principle of obedience to Him. We receive eternal life, therefore, through the condemnation of another. in our place. If we are condemned, it is but just and we will stay condemned. If another who is worthy is condemned in our place and he is of such a nature as he can absorb that condemnation and fully satisfy the wrath of God in himself, then we can have forgiveness. If there is another who is of such honor to God and yet is in our nature and can take our place not only in death but in obedience, and he fully honors the law of God, and he gains a righteousness, and he is made perfect, and we can be united with him by faith, then we have hope. So scripture tells us that he, during the days of Jesus' life upon earth, he offered up loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent obedience. And, although he was a son, He learned obedience through the things that he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him. He knew the price of death. The further he went in his obedience, the deeper he felt what it was going to cost him. The deeper the specter of the wrath of God hung over him every moment of his obedience, because his obedience took him into greater and greater opposition from men, it took him into more and more threats from men, and it took him into the realization that the wrath he would experience from God was infinitely more profound than any wrath of man. And as he prayed to be delivered from death, he was given the assurance that it would be so. He was heard because of his reverent submission. And though He submitted to a death that included the wrath of God for His people, nevertheless He fully satisfied the wrath of God, and therefore He was raised from the dead. He was rescued from death. He did not stay under the power of death. He did not stay under the wrath of God. In His prayer and in His contemplation of His purpose, as He submitted Himself to death, yea, even the death of the cross, He came to see that He would be raised from the dead. He predicted it before that, but in the internal pressures of sensing the wrath of God, he prayed indeed, according to the will of God, that it would be so. And it was so. And being made perfect. What does that mean? This is too deep. It's too deep for us. The Son of God, the Immutable One, the Impeccable One. God, the Son, eternally generated by the Father, has come to Earth, has taken to Himself our nature, and He subjects Himself to the test of our nature. He subjects Himself to the test of Adam, having to come to a point where perfect obedience was matured. And the text tells us, being made perfect. Being made perfect. Through this total course of obedience, being made perfect. He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him. That's what it took. That's why it is not good works. We are not justified by good works. We do not come out from under condemnation by good works, not ours, only by the one who is made perfect. So we receive life through another who has been in our place. In the sense of meriting eternal life, our works never rise to that level, but only merit eternal death. But, wow, the scripture doesn't let us stop there. The Word of God is rich and powerful. It occupies our minds. It keeps us thinking. It keeps us on our spiritual toes. We get one truth and we've got to realize that that truth is going to penetrate another one and we have to be able to grapple with it also because Like in our text, we learn that we can be blameless. Children of light, sons of God. We are admonished to do good works. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 says, By grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we as workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. which God prepared beforehand for us to do. So we see the witness of scriptures filled with these calls to good works. The minister of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 3 We read, if any man build upon this foundation, that is, the person and work of Christ that he's been talking about, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and stubble, every man's work shall be manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire. The fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide, which he hath built their own, he shall receive a reward by the work he's done. Now this is a reward of faithful labor, both in energy and in truthfulness. I confess, frankly, I don't really understand how any sinner earns reward, but I'm going to try to tease it out somewhat in the rest of this message. But I suspect it is an extension of opportunities and gifts in this life that are faithfully executed. Now we see in Matthew 21 through 16 workers who come and they work all day and those who worked all day didn't receive any more than those who work for just one hour and there was a complaint and the owner said, is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own, is thine I evil, because I am good." This is a matter of sovereign grace and has no relation to the merit of good works, but Matthew 25, 14 through 30, the parable there where the people receive the talents and then some in the end receive more reward than others. Those who pervert the gifts entirely do not receive merely diminished reward, they're consigned to eternal punishment. but those who execute the gifts bestowed upon them and are called to demanding laborers, then they are given rewards commensurate with their gifts and commensurate with the execution of their capacities. So in 1 Corinthians 3, Paul is warning against any departure from the apostolic foundation of truth laid by Paul as a wise master builder, as well as the other apostles. The work of each supposed minister of the gospel will tend toward either the building up of the temple of God or the destruction of the temple of God. One is good and one is bad. Some whose work is inconsistent with the foundation of Christ will lose reward, though they will be saved. These are teachers whose knowledge is defective and whose proclamations, therefore, do not instruct with clarity in saving and sanctifying truth, but they themselves do not intend any harm to the people of God or to the glory of Christ. Others, false teachers who obstinately hold a heretical doctrine, will do work that will bring upon themselves destruction. They did not consent to the finality and fullness of divine revelation, but sought to impose on God's church strange doctrine. Their own destructive works aggravate the judgment of God against them. So we have some who are saved though as by fire, they do not receive the reward of their labors because it was defective, but it was not antagonistic. There are others who are antagonistic and have remained enemies of God, they will receive eternal destruction. But those who have performed well, who understand, who execute with a sense of stewardship, who build up the body of Christ, who build upon the foundation gold and jewel and precious stones, they will receive reward. First Timothy chapter 1 verse 5 where Paul is dealing with some intensity about the issues of law and gospel that have come up and people are perverting the teaching of the law and he summarizes what he sees as the purpose of the law as the Christian reflects upon it. In First Timothy chapter 1 verse 5 he says, now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned." Now everyone who tries to be saved by the law is under a curse. But that doesn't mean that the purpose of the law is thrown away and that we are not to receive benefit from a proper contemplation of the law and efforts to honor God in keeping it once we understand that we are justified solely by the righteousness of Christ. So the end of the purpose of the law, of the commandment is charity. It isn't, isn't it? It's love. Love God with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. That's what the end of the law is. And it's not just external things. It's out of a pure heart and a good conscience and a faith unfeigned. So the law is to work in such a way as to generate these things in us in an increasing measure. We refer to Ephesians 2.10, we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God before ordained that we should walk in them. Though salvation by grace excludes any works which would bring salvation to the sinner, nevertheless one of the goals of our being saved is our walking in good works. Not only does God save us by mere grace, but in the same grace, He crafts us so that we become reflections of the true goodness of the law, His perfect righteousness. The law does not permit of degrees of fulfillment for righteousness, but for the pursuit of holiness out of a regenerated heart, there is endless progress to be made in ongoing conformity of one's life to the perfection of God's law. As we have stated in the look at 1st Timothy, the goal of the commandment is perfect love arising out of a pure heart, a good conscience, and unfeigned faith. So there is a large distance in every commandment for moving toward a fulfillment of it. any transgression of it, any lack of perfect fulfillment, is constantly being cleansed by the blood of Christ. If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we're walking in the light, as He is in the light, we're having fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, is cleansing us from all unrighteousness. but those whose hearts have been changed, who have learned to see in the law goodness and holiness and justice and righteousness, who have valued it because Christ himself kept it, and they want to reflect Christ in their life, must necessarily be using their energy, their spiritual energy, to seek to fulfill that righteousness of the law as a means of honoring God, not as a means of justifying himself that is taken care of, that can never be done, but our sins are washed away and being washed away by Christ and there is a massive difference within each law by which we can more and more fulfill the perfections of it. in 1st Timothy 2, 9 and 10, where Paul is talking about how women should adorn themselves. He says, In like manner women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broided hair and gold and pearls or costly array, but which becometh women professing godliness with what? With good works. 1 Timothy 5.10, the widow should be well-reported of for good works. If she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work. And so he gives a list of things that have to do with what it means to love our neighbor and to love the saints as constituting the good works. First Timothy 5, 24 and 25. Some men's sins are opened beforehand, before going to judgment. Some men they follow after, but likewise the good works of some are manifest beforehand, and they that are otherwise cannot be hid. What good works? We're not saved by works. The person whose heart has been purified, the person who loves God, the person who wants to honor Him, what standard does he have for pleasing God other than the law that God has revealed and our seeking to keep it from a pure conscience? And God is looking at these things as good works because they're moved not in rebellion against the law, but as a conscientious effort to honor God in it. First Timothy 6.18, concerning the rich, they that do good that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." And he gives several different things that constitute for the rich good works that show they are loving their neighbor as themselves. 2 Timothy 2.21, excuse me. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work." Here is Paul's instruction to Timothy about his task as a minister and rightly handling the word of truth. He warns against any kind of useless speculative talk unfounded on the realities of divine revealed truth. He points to God's sovereign covenantal love as that which sustains a true believer. The Lord knows those who are his, he says. He is kept not only from heresy, but also from all sorts of wickedness. The evidence of such grace is found in the energy with which God's own people pursue their usefulness to his glory. Paul, therefore, looked to the twin enemies of the soul, untruth and wicked living, pointed to the necessity of our readiness for every good work, which he defined in these terms. Flee also youthful lusts, but follow after righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. First Timothy, Paul reminded Timothy that his work was to result in godly edifying, which is in faith, that the end or the goal of the commandment was charity out of a pure heart and a good conscience and a faith unfamed. in Titus 2, 11 through 14, where he describes how Christ gave himself for us, and he gave himself for us in a substitutionary atonement. And then he says, for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and of our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity, purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of what? Zealous of good works. These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise you. And there are other passages we could look at. I think peculiarly of Ephesians 13, 20, and 21, where the writer there talks about, Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead that great shepherd of the sheep, the Lord Jesus Christ, equip you with everything good for doing his will, And may he work in us that which is well-pleasing to him. And so in the midst of this work that Christ has done in the fulfilling of the eternal covenant, a part of that is that he works in us that which is well-pleasing to him. All right, what is, excuse me, this will pass in just a minute. Again, that's the scripture background, the scripture theological background. What is the conceptual framework now of this? In our relation to the law, we deal with both absoluteness and with degrees. Disobedience to one command is a breaking of them all. For the principle of obedience to the lawgiver has been violated." James 2, 10 and 11. The same one that said, thou shalt not kill said, thou shalt not steal. The same one that said, thou shalt not commit adultery said, thou shalt not covet. And so a breaking of any of the commandments is a breaking of all of them because all the commandments are bound up in the holiness of God and the singular perfection of God. But the law, even in its perfection, presents us with levels of importance. Now follow me here, please. I promise I'm not trying to be a heretic in this and I hope I don't come out as one. I think this is true. The law, even its perfection, presents us with different levels of importance, a hierarchy of greatness. There is a greatest commandment. What is the greatest commandment? Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul, and strength. And the second is likened to it The second greatest commandment is also summarized as love, that is, is likened to it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And Jesus talked about, to the Pharisees, about the weightier matters of the law. So there's a first table and there's a second table. Then within each table there's a hierarchy of greatness that continues, ending with the most internal of the second commandment, of the second table, thou shalt not covet. Within the first table, it is thou shall have no other gods before me is the top one. You have to believe in this existence of God and there is no one like Him. If you don't believe that, then you're doomed from everything. You can't understand all of these. He that would come to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. And then the second commandment is you're not to try to compare anything down here with God. Don't make unto yourself any graven image. And then you're not to take his name lightly because you know him, you do not become familiar with him, you need to make sure you understand him as holy. Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. And then he has set aside a time for worship to contemplate him and think about him. That is the fourth level. And then the fifth, I think this is a part of the first table, his representatives on earth to keep order and authority are parents. Honor your father and your mother. Then the second table, the greatest commandment is to protect the life of the image bearer. Do not kill. I mean, if you kill someone, it doesn't matter what else. If you can talk bad about him, you can steal, you can do all this, but if you kill him, You've done away with his life. That's the top of the second table. And then the most sacred covenantal relationship that he has, or that she has, is with the one that God has given them as a family. Do not commit adultery. And then his possessions, that which he gives his time to gain. Do not steal. And then it is his name. Do not bear false witness. And then it is envy toward him, you shall not covet. Now each of these is a moral command and to break them is a violation of the law of God, but there is within the two tables a hierarchy and there is within each table a hierarchy of importance. Even so, there is within each commandment a hierarchy of levels of obedience to them, levels of conformity to them. And the Christian who has his heart changed, the Christian who now loves God, The Christian who has a faith unfeigned and the Christian who regards the law as holy and just and good and is striving toward obedience to it achieves different levels of obedience to each of the commands. The level of obedience that you achieve is graciously by God called a good work for the purposes of sanctification, for the purposes of godliness, for the purposes of continued conformity to who he is. There are, we can make progress in our worship in regard of His name. through study, through understanding what the Bible says. We can become less flippant when we discuss God and when we discuss holy things. That's a good thing to make progress in that. We can become better in our use of the Lord's Day and thank God for what He has given us that. And we can use it for study and meditation and fellowship. and joy, and we can become better in obeying that command. And when we become better in that, there's a qualitative difference between a flippant and shallow use of the Lord's day and a very pious and joyful and strengthening use. That's better. We can regard people with great love. We can make sure that there is not in our hearts any kind of evil, covetous spirit. toward other people. We can cultivate a satisfaction with God's providence in our lives and his provision for us. And it can be qualitatively different within the commandment, thou shalt not covet. We can make progress in that. That's a good work. So within each commandment, there are varying degrees of goodness in the keeping of them. These differing degrees of goodness and keeping them never qualify for perfect righteousness. If we were to be judged on the basis of any progress we made, we would still be under condemnation. They would never marry eternal life. They do, however, give testimony to a principle of holiness that has been set in the heart and we can increase in the purity and the comprehensiveness of love for God and for neighbor. So that is why we can say it is not of works, and yet we are created in Christ Jesus for good works. And it is the good works that constitute our growth in salvation. It's the good works when we contemplate the law, the goodness of it, and the holiness of it. And we give attention to meditating on it. We give our energy to see how it builds us up in God-likeness. We can improve in those areas. And so, the last point is, what are the good works that constitute a part of our salvation? When God saves us and He wants us to be free from the corruption of sin, What means does he give by which we can increase in good works? What means does he give by which we can be counted blameless and children of light in the wicked of in the midst of a wicked and perverse generation? Well, briefly, we can worship according to Scripture. We know the regulative principle. Sometimes we feel it's unfair to be bound by something like that. We want to have puppet shows. We want to show a movie and reflect on the life lessons from the movie. Why couldn't we do that on Sunday morning? We want to have a ballet, an interpretive ballet. So we're going to do the prodigal son in an interpretive ballet. Here goes the son. He's going out to the far country. And now, oh, here he comes back. It's got a different, I don't know what the moves would be called. They're probably called stupid, but that's just that we're going to use that. on the Lord's Day for worship. No, the regulated principle is very, very simple. It gives us things that we can do. It says you can pray, and you can sing, and you can have preaching, and you can have public reading of Scripture, and you can have fellowship, and you can admonish one another in songs, hymns, and spiritual songs. You can sing and make melody in your hearts. to the Lord, and you can have the ordinances, and you can give to support the work of the gospel around the world. What better could you do in a worship? God has told us these things, and if you pay attention to them, and if you do what they are, you're going to grow in grace. You're going to grow in good works. And so that's corporate growing in good works. You can have personal transformation according to the Word. Brother Salazar gave us some very wonderful ideas about that this morning. Scripture tells us, pursue holiness without which no one will see the Lord. It's amazing. We're not saved by holiness because our holiness never matches the righteousness of the law. But if you don't have holiness, you won't see the Lord. And so we pursue it because there are varying degrees of how holiness works to conform us to the law and therefore to the godliness that is expressive within them. We can do this by reading the Word, as we've been told. We can meditate on the Word. We can memorize the Word. We can pray We can read the prayers of the Scripture and we can govern our prayers according to the Scripture. We can make sure that we're not being repetitive just of the same old things in the same old way. We don't need to get bored in our prayers. We can take the prayers of Scripture and read them and then think of ways in which those particular expressions could be true about us. As Paul said, Verse 15 of Ephesians 1. After I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love for all the saints, I ceased not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. And here's what he prayed. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. Pray that for your family. Pray that for yourself. Pray that for your friends. May they have the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling. Lord, may we all know the hope of our calling. What are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints? May I see how rich it is that God has inherited His saints. He's put His... He's invested in us and He calls us His rich inheritance. How is that true, Lord? What is the glory of His inheritance in the saints? And what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe? Would we know that power, Lord? Could we pray that that power would be evident in our worship? Can it be present in my life for purposes of sanctification, for purposes of praise, for purposes of courage to do your work? And so forth. So we can pray. We can respond with joyful submission to fatherly discipline. Hebrews 12, 10 and 14, it says, He disciplines us for our profit that we may be partakers of His holiness. and follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord." We can be active in our support of gospel efforts in the world. 3 John 5-8, John describes those who are coming through, and he commends that church for sponsoring them, though they did not know them, they knew that they believed the gospel. He says, you send them on the way in a manner worthy of God, for they received nothing from the Gentiles. So we help those who are in the world preaching the true gospel. That is a means of sanctification. And we can have active love for neighbor. Use of the ordained means for the conversion of the lost, sharing the gospel with them, kindness, gentleness, patience, any means that we can gain in order to speak to them about the glories of Christ. And then we can be engaged in actions of compassion for the needy." As Paul went to preach to the Gentiles, they gave him instructions that says, only do not forget the poor, and he said, which very thing I was determined to do. Then we see his taking up a collection for the poor saints in Jerusalem. throughout his ministry and his admonishing the Corinthians to finish the gift that they had so graciously started so that this testimony to the gospel of God and this testimony to the unity of all people would be made complete. So we grow in sanctification, we grow in God-likeness through good works. as defined by Scripture. And we can increase in good works, we can increase in their purity, and we will do that throughout life because we will never exhaust the goodness of any of those things that the law sets before us. Let's pray together. Father, we come to you thanking you for your Word. We thank you that you have not left us without guidance, that you have not left us without hope, that you have not left us in our corruption, that you have not left us simply in our silliness, but you have set before us those things that are high and lofty and worthy of your image bearers, that we would have love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and an unveiled faith. Grant us this for Christ's sake. Amen.