The Scriptures and Good Works # 2

The Scriptures and Good Works # 2

Speaking to the Jews on another subject, the Lord said, "What...God has joined together, let not man put asunder" (Mark 10:9). Now in Ephesians 2:8-10, God has joined two most vital and blessed things together which ought never to be separated in our hearts and minds - and yet they are most frequently parted in the modern pulpit. How many sermons are preached from the first two of these verses, which so clearly declare salvation to be by grace through faith and not of works. Yet how seldom are we reminded that the sentence which begins with grace and faith is only completed in verse 10, where we are told, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them."

We began this series by pointing out that the Word of God may be taken up from various motives and read with different designs, but that 2 Timothy 3:16-17, makes known for what these Scriptures are really "profitable," namely for doctrine or teaching, for reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness, and all of these that "the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." Having dwelt upon its teaching about God and Christ, its reproofs and corrections for sin, its instruction in connection with prayer - let us now consider how these furnish us unto "all good works." Here is another vital criterion by which an honest soul, with the help of the Holy Spirit, may ascertain whether or not his reading and study of the Word is really benefitting him.

1. We profit from the Word when we are thereby taught the true PLACE of good works. "Many people, in their eagerness to support orthodoxy as a system, speak of salvation by grace and faith in such a manner as to undervalue holiness and a life devoted to God.  But there is no ground for this in the Holy Scriptures. The same Gospel that declares salvation to be freely by the grace of God through faith in the blood of Christ, and asserts, in the strongest terms, that sinners are justified by the righteousness of the Saviour imputed to them on their believing in Him, without any respect to works of law - also assures us, that without holiness no man shall see God; that believers are cleansed by the blood of atonement; that their hearts are purified by faith, which works by love, and overcomes the world; and that the grace that brings salvation to all men, teaches those who receive it, that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, they should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. Any fear that the doctrine of grace will suffer from the most strenuous inculcation of good works on a spiritual foundation, betrays an inadequate and greatly defective acquaintance with Divine truth. Any tampering with the Scriptures in order to silence their testimony in favor of the fruits of righteousness, as absolutely necessary in the Christian - is a perversion and forgery with respect to the Word of God.

But what force has this ordination or command of God unto good works, when, notwithstanding it, though we fail to apply ourselves diligently unto obedience - we shall nevertheless be justified by the imputation of Christ's righteousness, and so may be saved without them? Such a senseless objection proceeds from utter ignorance of the believer's present state and relation to God. To suppose that the hearts of the regenerate are not as much and as effectually influenced with the authority and commands of God unto obedience, as if they were given in order unto their justification - is to ignore what true faith is, and what are the arguments and motives whereby the minds of Christians are principally affected and constrained. Moreover, it is to lose sight of the inseparable connection which God has made between our justification and our sanctification - to suppose that one of these may exist without the other is to overthrow the whole Gospel. The apostle deals with this very objection in Romans 6:1-3).

2. We profit from the Word when we are thereby taught the absolute NECESSITY of good works. If it be written that "without shedding of blood is no remission of sin" (Hebrews 9:22) and "without faith it is impossible to please Him" (Hebrews 11:6) - the Scripture of Truth also declares, "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14).

The life lived by the saints in Heaven is but the completion and consummation of that life which, after regeneration, they live here on earth. The difference between the two is not one of kind, but of degree. "The path of the just is as the shining light, that shines more and more unto the perfect day" (Prov. 4:18). If there has been no walking with God on earth - then there will be no dwelling with God in Heaven. If there has been no real communion with Him in time - then there will be none with Him in eternity. Death effects no vital change to the heart. True, at death the remainders of sin are forever left behind by the saints, but no new nature is them imparted. If then he did not hate sin and love holiness before death - then he certainly will not do so afterwards.

~A. W. Pink~

(continued with # 3)