We want to turn the page in our discussion of the Christian doctrine, the Reformed doctrine that is set forth for us in the Heidelberg Catechism to the subject of man's gratitude. We turn the page from Christ's salvation of us to the gratitude we show for that salvation. In Lord's Day 32, Back of Your Psalters, page 44, And Lord's Day 32 is this beginning of the last grand subject of the catechism. We've considered sin and misery and salvation and now our service. And so we're calling this man's gratitude as the catechism does and that is well said And we would do well to remember what man's gratitude is all about. But Lord's Day 32 is the Lord's Day we consider and it's instruction today. And the question we've been delivered from our misery by God's grace alone through Christ and not because we've earned it. And then the question, why then must we still do good? To be sure, Christ has redeemed us by his blood, but we do good because Christ by his spirit is also renewing us to be like himself, so that in all our living, we may show that we are thankful to God for all that he has done for us, and so that he may be praised through us. And we do good so that we may be assured of our faith by its fruits, and so that by our godly living, our neighbors may be won over to Christ. The question then is, can those be saved who do not turn to God from their ungrateful and impenitent ways? By no means the catechism reminds us, because the Bible does. Scripture tells us that no unchaste person, no idolater, adulterer, thief, no covetous person, no drunkard, slanderer, robber, or the like, is going to inherit the kingdom of God. So we have this First Lord's Day. of gratitude, beginning the long section on the exposition of the law of God, the Ten Commandments, and also prayer. And we are those who, at this time, consider questions here. And the question has to do with something very important for theology, not only, but for our life. First, theology. The question is asked, since we're redeemed by Christ, why must we do good works? And that's a theological, Christological question, you see. The great truth that we have just been expounding, the truth of the Reformation, the truth of the recovered gospel, at the time of the Reformation, the truth we cherish, is that we are saved by grace alone, in Christ alone, without any works of merit of our own. So then the question becomes one of how do we preserve good theology and Christology, the glory of Christ, If we're going to be teaching and promoting good works, what place do the good works have in our theology and then in our life? So there's the theological question. And many have erred on the side of this and on this subject. And they have done this to the beginning of much doctrinal error and extreme. Some say good works are not necessary at all. Some continue to say, despite the Reformation, good works are necessary, at least that we might merit partially the salvation that is in Christ. Jesus does his part. We do ours. And together we cooperate, and what this does, of course, is make what is monergistic, that is, the truth of God alone saving the only energy, that converts that into synergy, which is the heresy that teaches God and man together work. God maybe is the pilot, but we're the co-pilot of this plane called our life until we land in heaven. Not to get into that much further, but I want to say there is a practical reason why the question is asked, why we must do good works, not so much presented in the catechism, but which comes up in our lives. The question is, why must we do good works? who know that God is sovereign and holy, and who know, keenly and intently, that we ourselves, in our good works, have only a small beginning, and it doesn't even seem like that much. So we know there's sin, even tainting our good works, and so we say, what's the use? And we believe in sovereignty, and so why pray? And we believe that God will accept us anyway, so why even bother? It's such a bother. And this is how practically we can feel and how we can live even subconsciously. Maybe you're asking the question, why must I love that neighbor who is mean and nasty, who's a Karen, or whatever else you want to call them? Why must we raise these children who are not serving us very well as parents? They're not obeying. Why must we continue to be patient with them? Why must the elders do their good work when nobody seems to respond well? Though, indeed, it is the case in this congregation that you respond well to us, and we're grateful for that, even though we're just weak men. But the question can arise. We can be discouraged. The deacons can, too, when the collection plate isn't seen to be as full as it ought to be. Though, again, the deacons would say, this congregation is so generous and kind, and there must be something working in you to be thankful. And we're thankful for that. But the question can arise. And it can arise in all different ways when we're persecuted for our good works, for example. something that happens because the world is increasingly calling good evil and they're thinking that we're doing evil when in the name of Jesus we do this and that. And so Very good question, why good works, theologically and practically. We want to consider that question. And we want to consider that question, why good works, and consider, first of all, that it's God displaying his own wonderful work. Let's start there with good theology, but with a sort of a twist to it. Secondly, it's for the life of purpose, and the Catechism reminds us of three purposes here. Can you find them in the Catechism? Three purposes why we are to do good works. And finally, we do good works, amazingly, for the approval of God. We would read at this time Ephesians chapter 2 to have a kind of a basis for our and a perspective for our consideration of the question and the answer why good works. Ephesians 2, 1 through 10, let me read that for you. And you, he made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in what you once walked according to the course of this world, in your sins, According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, were by nature children of wrath just as others, but God who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved, and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you've been saved through faith, and that, not of yourselves. Faith itself isn't of ourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Thus far we read that word of God, and may God bless us with truth and lifestyle, a thankful lifestyle, as we receive by faith the Word of God. So my first point is that there is wonderful purpose of God in our good works, and that's that he would show off his own wonderful work. You see, Christ does everything for us. But he is also concerned, God is, that he would do things in us and be displayed in his glory in us. So this is what this section of the sermon is about. The reason, in fact, for the life of the child of God who's now alive, though he was dead and she was dead, the reason is because of God. It's all a work of God. As Paul has said to the Ephesians in the first part of chapter two, God made us alive when we were dead. And over and over by grace you're saved through this gift of faith and so on. And if there's going to be talk of any works, it's all about God ordaining the works for us to walk in and making us his workmanship. And so God gets the glory. And if you think about it, already in chapter one, and this is the first of 10 points or so I want to make here, how God's work is displayed in us. In Ephesians chapter one, We have the wonderful exposition and doxological exposition of the election of God. And know what the purpose of even the election of God has been in all eternity. Ephesians 1, 3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who's blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love having predestinated us and so on. Note the purpose of election, that we should be holy. Now that's God at work. No, that's God planning even before there was work as we say it on the earth and in our hearts, there was his plan. He was going to show off his great work of salvation from the beginning and to the end in the Son and through the Son, and so that the purpose and the goal is accomplished, that we might be holy as God is holy. And you see that. God already in the plan that he has. He's planning that he's gonna display his own goodness and his own good work in us as we do good works in holiness, and that's the idea. That's the purpose of God. That's the purpose, and that's the answer to the question, why do good works? Well, because God is gonna show off himself in us. And you think how he does that. In this whole world, people dead in sins, and they're all in the grave, as it were, in a cemetery. And this whole world is a cemetery. People don't even know it. They're walking around, but they're the walking dead in the cemetery, which is the world fallen in sin. The whole world given over unto wickedness and dead in trespasses and sins are those who are not redeemed by the blood of Jesus and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Hear that, sinner. If you be not born again, you are dead, and you need to be born again. But God in his mercy has made us to be born again and to live and to walk in the cemetery as those who display by their life and their walking, and not according to the devils anymore, but according to Christ, just how great and how alive and real the God of our salvation is. And all these people in the graves, oh, many of them, they have a religion. They have a religion. They're dead in sins. Imagine, it's hard to picture people in the cemetery having a religion, but they have a church of sorts in their cemeteries. They have all kinds of religions, and whether it's Buddhism, Hinduism, humanism, and paganism, it's all me-ism and so on. But it doesn't make one live. And it doesn't make a man good. And for all the bottles they reach for, and all the drugs, and all the things they think that make for the life, In all the ways they say now you get a life and they're saying you get my life because this is the life to live, they're dead. And there's none that doeth good, no not one, saith the Lord. All according to his plan that God would make us holy. And of course due to Christ who redeems us, that's the fruit of his labors. And that's the second way God, and reason why God himself would show his own work in us. He wants to show off his son. You know, every time you do a good work, beloved, every time you smile at a believer and you encourage a believer by your words and your handshakes and everything, you're reaching out with the hand of Christ. You're reaching out as those who are the image bearers of God and you're saying, Remember Jesus in me, and I'm coming to you as Jesus and as a representative of him and made now by the Spirit after the image of Christ. That's what God wants to show off, his Son, the plan. is executed when he redeems us, and there's this principle of redemption, that there will be this fruition of redemption in the lives of the people of God, so that Paul himself could say, I live, but not I, Christ who lives in me. So the plan now executed in redemption by the Son is also by the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which is what the catechism reminds us of. We do good because Christ by his spirit is also renewing us to be like himself. He's redeemed us by his blood. That's one thing. But that redemption that's accomplished shall be applied. That redemption that's planned shall be accomplished, shall be applied. And God is in the whole thing. The wonderful God of our salvation and of our life of good works. There's a power also that people fail to realize even among theologians, the power of God's grace and justification here. That which God declares to be right shall be set free. Such is the power of the truth of justification. But that sign of the Spirit's own renewal, the Spirit of Christ's own renewal, is this wonderful display of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit at work in us. And, well, we could say all sorts of things as well. works in us to do good works in providences, for example, in response to providences. When he works all things for good to those who love God, who are called according to his purpose, Romans 8, 28, the responses, the all things working together for good, work together for us to do good works and to have good responses. Remember that. Remember that, six months after your marriage, or eight, or as you're getting to be married, as you've been married for five years and 30 years and all of this, the response to God's providence, is it still because it was a good providence, a good thing, a good response that you're having? Being born into a family, having lost this or lost that one in your life or gained another and so on, Is your response still to the wonderful good providences of God, this good work of faith and trust and confidence and not the evil work of complaint and unbelief and sinking under the mile and being troubled by the trouble? God, you see, would be known His own work displayed His goodness, real goodness in providence by our living the life of those who are not lorded over by some fickle providence, but whose Lord is God, God is Savior, and God, my God, in every day and in every way. Yours, isn't He? Mine, this God? Well, we could say also that the reason why men do good work is because God would display his own good work in the church. There's a reason why we must do good works because God, he does a good work in making a church and establishing a church and giving her ordinances like preaching. Do you understand? that the fruit in one way of your good works and mine is the good work of the preaching of the gospel of God our shepherd in Jesus Christ from heaven speaking to your heart. I prayed today with regard to the sermons that God would speak from his heart to mine through you. Is he getting to you? And through you, will he show his own good work in your believing? And you're loving to hear the good work of that word of the shepherd. And responding and saying it was good for us to be in the house of God. Good for us to hear the word. Good for us the day before to hear the pastor when he came to the house. Good for us always to hear the word from our parents. You see, We must do good works because God does this good work in the church and in each of us. We are agents, you know, of good works. We do good works so that others may do good works, as we'll see presently, but this is a way that God himself is glorified in the body. He's glorified in you, beloved, in the body of sovereign grace, United Reformed Church here at 62 Lamoureaux in Comstock Park. today and every day as he has been since our inception and our institution as a church, the house of God, first sermon. The church of the living God, the house of God, that's what we are still by the grace of God, who himself will be glorified in our being a church. The wonderful glories of heaven, you know, are what God wants to show. That's why we must do good works, because God wants to show off heaven in our doing good now. He does. He wants us to give, to be given a foretaste and to give the world a foretaste of this God of heaven, not just of this earth, but of heaven. We long to go to heaven. We don't even know what heaven's about, not really. Because you see, eye has not seen nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for him and for those who love him. That's heaven. Why then, on the way to church or on the way back or in our Sunday night tea times or whatever as we wind down and begin a new week and resolve to begin a new week faithfully. Why then do we talk so much about heaven? Why do we do that? Well, I think because God's our Father and he says, I want you to know my glory. I want you to know that this is something and that you get to see me in the good works of the saints here not only, but you ain't seen nothing yet. I know God has better grammar than that, but you haven't seen anything yet. I'm holding that from you, but it's to give you hope. And you see, there's a foretaste of what I'm all about, and what heaven will all be about. We'll be doing good and nothing evil. Nothing evil, won't that be great? And you see, when the church and when the individual children of God, they begin to do the good works that God has given them, and to show that they are his workmanship, Ephesians 2, and that there's a purpose for living, well, then they show off God. And it doesn't matter what you do. We have all kinds of professions represented here. Doesn't matter. God in your heart, what you do will be good as you yield to him and serve him with all your talents and time and resources. So why must we do good work? It's to display the wonderful work of God. That's the purpose, and it's God's purpose before it was even ours. So you know it's gonna be accomplished There's a divine necessity here. But the wonderful thing is, is that the divine necessity becomes our love. And the works, then, not of machines, but of thankful people. God ordained. We are his workmanship. Sounds like he's the craftsman and we're just the thing that's crafted. Well, yes, that's true. That's the biblical metaphor. But we are his children. We are those who are the heirs of heaven. And we are those who are lovers of God and we're loved of God and it's far more than machine and those who are crafted. It's God and those who are saved and brought into covenant fellowship. So we're thankful. Thankful. And ours is a lifestyle of thanks. Where's workmanship. to walk in the works that God has ordained. That's our text. That's the whole Bible. To walk, not just once in a while to think about doing good and then do it, but to live. That's the idea of the Christian life. It's a lifestyle, as we say. Remember, we said that this world is a cemetery of the dead. Well, they have a death style, not a lifestyle. Don't be seduced by their lifestyle, because it's a death style. Look what they do. This is what we once did before we were born again. We conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh, verse three, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, were by nature children of wrath just as the others, and only because of the God who's rich in mercy were we saved from that lifestyle, which is a death style. We're given this wonderful, wonderful opportunity to show the life, the way, the truth, and the life of Jesus Christ in our lives. So that leads to my second point, the life of purpose. God's purpose is to show off himself. We have purposes, too, three of them. First of all, it's praise, the catechism says. And we may show we are renewed by the spirit that we may show we're thankful to God for all he's done for us. And so that comes with a thankfulness. He may be praised through us. Well, that's the purpose of life, isn't it? Isaiah 43, this people have I formed for my praise. That's why we're here, to praise God. Ever wonder what your purpose and calling in life is? You have to wonder no more. You're here to praise God. Now, how to do that? Yes, God, you find in the Bible how to do that, but it's to praise God. Don't believe me. Believe the scriptures. Believe Jesus himself who said in John 15, verse 8, John 15, verse 8, By this, my father is glorified that you bear much fruit, so you will be my disciples. Jesus is talking as the vine regarding the branches who are joined to him. By this, my father is glorified that you bear much fruit, so you will be my disciples. So Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, let your light so shine that others may see your good work and glorify your Father in heaven. That's the purpose of purposes. What's your purpose in life? Don't start with any lesser thing. It's to glorify God by your good works, by your lifestyle. Peter would say that we're called out of darkness into his marvelous light, that we may show forth the praises of him who hath called us out of darkness into his marvelous light, and that's by doing good works. That's by living and working and doing everything with the praises of God. That's the chief motivation, beloved. Is it yours when you wake up in the morning? Is this your prayer? Lord, help me to praise you today. Before you get up, before you open your eyes, isn't that a marvelous way and a marvelous prayer to begin the day with? God, help me. Help me to love what is good and to do what is good. Help me. Be glorified through me and be done with all the selfishness. Done with all the dirt. Done with all the distractions. Done with all the, all woe is me. Done with all this and that and the other thing. It creeps into our minds, becomes a part of our habitual lifestyle and addictions. Creeps into our way of thinking when we're thinking about the other person who challenges us or who has done us wrong. We want to get even. That's easy to do, isn't it? When God all along is saying, be like my son, when he was reviled, he didn't revile again. And who came and was gentle and kind. And you're all mean and nasty, vindictive, and plotting, and self-righteous. Then assurance. Praise of God is another purpose of good works. We do good, catechism goes on, so that we may be assured of our faith by its fruits. That's the second purpose, assurance. Now there's something here that needs to be explained a little bit, and it's this. Ultimately, good works that we do, they can't be the assurance. They can't be the ground for our assurance. Your good works are going to be the ground for your assurance? Hardly. Because, of course, they're full of sin and they don't merit anything. And if they don't merit anything, how can they stand before God? How can we be assured that we are gods and that he loves us and accepts us if we're just thinking about our works and so on? But the idea of the catechism here, you see, is that the Father in heaven addresses our soul and speaks to our soul whenever we do good and have motivations that are good, and He assures us in our heart by His Spirit, well done, son. Well done, daughter. Well done, little girl, little boy. Well done, young man. Well done, minister. Well done, elders and deacons and wives and husbands and so on. Well done, single people. When you stand up, well done. And it's the well done of a father who knows how weak we are, but who knows our heart. That's how we can be assured by our good works. Just as you know a false prophet by his works, we can know true prophets by what they say and how they say it. And true workers of good by what they do and why they do it and how they do it. Very important. Assurance. See, you know, you're a basketball player when you're on the court and you're practicing and you can play with the team and you can shoot and you can dribble and you can run up and down the court with the best of them. You know you're a Christian when this world is no game to you, but it's life in pursuit of God and you're a disciple. You're in the school of discipleship. You're learning, sitting at Jesus' feet, the school of prayer, and loving God and loving more about him. This is how you know. And when you do these things that bespeak you are a child of God, you will know you're a child of God. On the other hand, if you're living a life of ungratitude and evil, compromise, and you're a Sunday Christian, or you're an almost Christian until it comes down to hurting for Jesus' sake and you just compromise, God's gonna withdraw. It's the Bible, the Bible says that. Like a father who's not pleased, he withdraws, and you sense now his wrath. You sense that you are not right with God, and if you persist in this, you have to wonder, am I a child of God? And the doubts proceed from our unbelieving walk, you see, as well as our unbelieving heart. That's how God works, and that's how Satan works for evil. But as we're assured, the wonderful thing is we become more assured and more motivated to be glad for Jesus' sake and more fruitful. And then there's salvation, of course. Salvation of yourself. You may prove that you're a Christian indeed. And you may understand that no unchaste person, idolater, adulterer, drunkard, slanderer, robber, or the like, is going to inherit the kingdom of God. And as you're walking in the life of good works, you can assure yourself that you're not walking among the dead as one of the dead. And so the salvation of yourself, this is maybe sounding odd to you. Why must we do good works? Well, to be saved. I believe you can say that, to be saved. Not because you're grounding your salvation on your works, but you know this, that without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. Take that seriously. Even Christians need to have a healthy threat once in a while. The canons of Dort remind us we are preserved by the gospel preaching, by the promises, and also by the threats of God. Knowing the terror of the Lord, the apostles said, we persuade men, and even Christian men, or those who confess Christ, cease from evil and do the good. Lest you perish, Paul himself, champion of the sovereignty of God and of the grace of God, knowing that by the grace of God he was what he was, beat himself. Lest he become a castaway, he says in 1 Corinthians 9, I believe. Amazing. Talk about believing sovereignty and believing responsibility. Talk about being one who's not gonna be flabby in the faith because he will work out his salvation with fear and trembling, even knowing it is God who works in us, both who will and to do of his good pleasure. Even knowing that, he goes to the gym every day, which is called the Church of God, the Closet of God, the altar. That's our gym. That's a wonderful workout room, the cross of Christ. Hey, beloved, so very important, also for others, that we may win others. 2 Corinthians 3, verse 2, Paul says something like this, that there, as Christians, you're advertisements to God. You're like letters of commendation. of the truth of the gospel. You realize that? What you're doing when you're doing good is you are a display of the wonderful, wonderful truth of the good God. And others, they're gained to Christ by that. That's how God does that. He says, this people's real. Their hope is real. People walk in the room. And they come from the neighborhood, as they do here. We're glad for that. They see our works. They see your kindness. They receive our invitations to lunch and so on. They say, well, we know they're Christians. They believe what they talk, and they walk what they talk. This is how people are one to God. And this is why we must do good works. And this is the life that God approves, the life of good works. Final point. Now, to be sure, beloved, when you're walking in good works and you're seeking in the struggle of the Christian faith to be more faithful, and it's a struggle, isn't it? You can wonder sometimes, is God going to be approved? Is he going to approve of me? How can that be? And time and time again, you're led back to this. It's all because of Jesus. And you're doing this workout thing, and you're going to Christ every day, and you're struggling and so on. But you're led to Jesus all the time. That's the key. And the Heavenly Father is yours because of Him and not because of you. He's yours because of Jesus, who paid it all. And it was forsaken that you might never be. Who is your friend to the end? And who has your name written in the palms of his hands? And even though we be discouraged at our little progress, and even though the wicked hate us for it, and they will more, and as we glow, they will hate us more. They will hate that light. We carry on. God says so. Be not weary in well-doing. Be not weary in well-doing. Be steadfast, immovable. Paul says in the light of the resurrection, 1 Corinthians 15 verse 58, And as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord, all your good works that don't seem much, and they're certainly despised of people, especially when you crown your works saying, in the name of Jesus, I do this. They're despised as nothing. In all the good works of the church, it doesn't seem to amount to much. It isn't certainly a lot of influence in this world they despise. God says, you press on. You press on. Because I've given my son, and my son's coming again, remember? I've told you so. In the midst of all the troubles. In the midst of all the glories of men and all their things that seem to be competitors to the Christian faith, my Son is coming, my glorious Son. Glory in Him. boast in his cross work, love his spirit, love the truth as it is in Jesus Christ that sets you free and puts you on the path and sanctifies you to do the good work that's ordained of you. Beloved congregation, the love of Christ is welling up in you. May it spill out in your life that's good. Press on, beloved. Encourage one another in every good work, every good word, everything that glorifies God is an assurance to you and a witness to the neighbor. God will be displayed. He is displayed in you. Press on. Be of good courage. The kingdom is near. Amen. We pray, Father, that you would bless us. As we hear the word of God preached and as we would respond to it by showing the good works that are yours in us and that we are given to do on behalf of you, bless us in our small corner of the world, in our own little beings, in our own little niche in this world and in the body of Christ. May we know the significance of your own work in us, your own goodness in us, and of the wonderful goodness that you give us to love and the good works you give us to do by your grace. Pardon us, Lord, for our sins of preaching and hearing. Give us and dismiss us with your favor and to go in peace. For Jesus' sake, amen.